Harvey produced Haley"s revolver.
"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Stanton, "keep it handy and stand by. When I step out, you follow."
Peering through the doorway, they saw the skiff come in to sh.o.r.e and two persons step out-one a large, powerfully built man, the other a youth of about Harvey"s age. The two came up a path leading from the sh.o.r.e, toward the cabin. Their boots crunched the ice just outside the door when Mr.
Stanton, motioning to Harvey, stepped quickly outside. Harvey followed.
"Hold up there," cried Mr. Stanton, "I put you two under arrest till I find out-"
He stopped abruptly and jumped with surprise when Jack Harvey, uttering a whoop and a yell, darted past him.
"George Warren!" bawled Harvey, rushing up to the astounded youth; "where did you come from? How in the world did you ever get here? Any more of the fellows with you? Is Henry Burns out aboard? I was right. I saw you weeks ago through Haley"s telescope. Tom, come on out. They"ve come for us. Hooray!"
Mr. Stanton, wide-eyed with wonder, lowered his weapon and bowed to the man with George Warren.
"The arrest is off," he said. "I apologize, sir. Come inside and I"ll explain."
George Warren, embracing his friend Harvey, was almost too dumfounded to speak. But Harvey continued to ply him with questions.
"How did you happen to come to look for me?" he asked.
"We didn"t," replied George Warren, while an expression of anxiety overspread his face; "we are looking for Henry Burns."
"For Henry Burns!" repeated Harvey. "Why, what"s become of him-you don"t mean he"s been carried off, too? Say, it"s making my head swim. Come in and explain."
The four entered the cabin where Artie Jenkins lay sleeping by the fire.
George Warren introduced his companion as Will Adams. Then he turned to Harvey.
"Who"ll explain first, you or I?" he asked.
"Why," replied Harvey, "you know about us, or you wouldn"t be here-you got the note I sent ash.o.r.e, I suppose. It"s a long story, all that"s happened. I want to know about Henry Burns. Is he lost?"
George Warren recounted the events leading up to the disappearance of their friend; and then, how they had discovered, on the morning of the 27th of December, that Henry Burns was missing; how they had found the skiff adrift in the Patuxent; how they had learned, by questioning the river men, that Haley"s bug-eye had been seen that night in the Patuxent; and how they had set out in the sloop, Mollie, to hunt for him, after notifying the authorities. There were, out aboard the sloop, the other two Warren boys and Edward Warren, their cousin.
"And you"ll have to make room for two more," cried Jack Harvey. "Tom Edwards and I can tell Haley"s old bug-eye a mile away. You won"t find him on this sh.o.r.e, though. He"s on the Eastern sh.o.r.e, among the islands."
"That"s what we thought most likely," said Will Adams, "but we thought we"d clean up this side first, to make sure. We saw your smoke and ran in to inquire-"
He stopped abruptly and turned to Tom Edwards.
"Say, was it you two that slept in Warren"s barn?" he asked.
"I guess it was his barn, sure enough," replied Tom Edwards; "and wasn"t it a piece of hard luck that he didn"t catch us? We"d all be home by this time,-and they wouldn"t have lost the other boy. What a shame!"
"Things do happen queerly, sure enough," said Will Adams. "But who"s this man asleep here?"
Tom Edwards turned and pointed to Artie Jenkins, shaking his finger at the sleeping figure.
"That chap," he said, "is the cause of it all. Isn"t it a queer situation, that he should be here too?"
He told the story of their experience with Artie Jenkins.
"And what are you going to do with him?" asked Will Adams.
Tom Edwards knelt by the sleeper and turned down his shirt collar.
"Take a look here," he said, pointing to the red marks upon the youth"s shoulder. "When I was out aboard Haley"s bug-eye," he continued, "I used to spend hours thinking what I"d like to do to this fellow, if I ever found him. I had nine hundred and ninety-nine different ways all thought out of making him pay for my troubles. But"-Tom Edwards arose and folded his arms-"I think he"s had his punishment. Somebody put him just where he put us-aboard a dredger; and he must have struck a Tartar as bad as Haley. I think we"ll let him go. That is, if we can. Mr. Stanton, what do you say? We shall not need your help now, to get to Millstone. We"re going with this sloop to the Eastern sh.o.r.e; but we can"t leave this fellow, Jenkins, here, deserted."
"Leave him to me," replied Mr. Stanton. "He won"t be the first one we"ve had on our hands. I"ll go back and hitch up the horse and take him to the settlement, and we"ll ship him up the bay the first chance we get. But you ought to prosecute him. Ten to one, if he ever gets his health again, he"ll go back to the business."
Tom Edwards shook his head vigorously.
"No, he won"t," he said; "I"d stake my last dollar that he"s had enough of it. He"s been beaten, and he"s had the heart all taken out of him. He hasn"t got the nerve left to try it again."
And Tom Edwards was right.
They shook hands with Mr. Stanton, took a last look at the unhappy object by the fire, and went down the path to the landing. Soon the sloop Mollie, with her new recruits aboard, was standing away from the creek, tossing the spray as the search for Haley"s bug-eye and for Henry Burns was resumed.
CHAPTER XX THE PURSUIT OF THE BRANDT
There was a warm welcome for Harvey aboard the sloop, although Arthur and Joe Warren could hardly believe their eyes at first, when they saw him step over the rail on deck. When they did recognize, in the weather-beaten, bronzed and rough-looking figure, their comrade of Benton, they fell upon him and dragged him below into the cabin, followed by Tom Edwards and Will Adams.
And as they sailed across the Chesapeake a little later, on their long course, east by north in the direction of Hooper strait, Harvey recounted his adventures-a.s.sisted by Tom Edwards, who filled in the parts which Harvey omitted, recounting in glowing terms how Harvey had stood by him through thick and thin, refusing to desert his friend when the opportunity had offered for him to escape, alone.
Edward Warren looked serious, as Harvey described the life aboard the Brandt, and the treatment of the men at Haley"s hands.
"I wouldn"t have had young Burns taken off on that craft for all the money in Maryland," he said, gravely. "I feel somehow to blame for it, too," he added, "though I hadn"t the least idea he would attempt to leave the house at night. Give her all the sail she"ll stand, Will," he called to Will Adams, who, with George Warren, had returned on deck; "let"s get across as quick as we can."
"She"s making good time," replied George Warren, hurrying down below again, to hear the story; "we"ll be in the strait by early afternoon."
The old Mollie was, indeed, doing her prettiest, and carrying a "bone in her teeth" under a fresh westerly breeze.
George Warren vowed vengeance on Haley, for his hard treatment of Harvey and Tom Edwards. Young Joe groaned in sympathy as Harvey told of the food served to the crew of the Brandt.
"There"s a big chicken pie, over in that locker, Jack," he said, with a longing look in the direction indicated.
"No, thanks, Joe," laughed Harvey; "we had a good, square meal before we set out this morning; and we"ve been making up for what we lost, these last few days."
"No use, Joe, you"ll have to wait till dinner time before you get any more of that pie," said Arthur Warren, slyly.
Young Joe scowled in high indignation.
"I didn"t want any," he declared.
"Well, I"ve done all I can," said Edward Warren. "I"ve put the authorities on the track, and a police boat will pick up Haley, I expect, before we do. We"ll have some news as soon as we get over among the dredging fleet."