"Slow down! Stop her! Reverse!" he shouted in rapid succession, as they bore down.
"On board the yacht!" hailed Frank, as they glided up alongside, "throw us a line."
The desired rope came snaking through the air, falling across the _Sea Eagle"s_ bow. Harry bounded forward and made it fast.
"Now haul in," ordered Dr. Perkins, as soon as the propellers had ceased to beat the air; "easy now; we don"t want to foul the wings."
His order was obeyed; and before long the _Sea Eagle"s_ bow was sc.r.a.ping the side of the _Wanderer_. Fortunately, the sea was smooth, or the maneuver would have been impossible of execution. As it was, however, on the easy swell that was running it was made with comparatively small difficulty.
"Well, great Caesar"s ghost!" blurted out a stout, blond man in yachting costume, who occupied, apparently, the position of owner of the yacht, "if this isn"t the twentieth century with a vengeance. Just think of it, Griggs-rescued by an aeroplane!"
The man addressed, a good-natured-looking man, almost as corpulent as the first speaker, nodded appreciatively.
"We don"t really know how to thank you folks," continued the stout man; "we haven"t much longer to stay above water, as you see. We hit a derelict at dusk, and stove in our port bow. The water came rushing in so fast that I had barely time to flash that wireless that you so providentially caught."
"It was feeble enough, I can tell you," Frank a.s.sured him; "fortunately, we were not far off, and so managed to catch your appeal for help."
The stout man was again warmly thanking his rescuers, when Dr. Perkins interrupted.
"Suppose you come on board," he said; "by the looks of your craft she is likely to take a plunge at any minute. I"d like to be able to cut loose from her before that happens."
Taking this hint, the stout man clambered on board the _Sea Eagle_ with more agility than might have been expected from a man of his heavy build. This done he extended a hand to his friend, and then came the turn of the third occupant of the cabin roof to disembark. This third man was evidently, from his costume, a paid hand on board the _Sea Eagle_. He was slight and dark and foreign looking, with beady black eyes, and a not over-prominent chin.
Directly all were on board, Dr. Perkins ordered Frank to "cast off" from the sinking yacht. It was well this order was obeyed promptly, for hardly had the _Sea Eagle_ been disengaged from the other craft"s side, than the _Wanderer_ gave a sudden plunge, bow downward, under the waves.
For one instant her stern upreared itself vertically, showing the rudder and propeller, and then, as if by magic, the whole craft vanished, to find a grave in the ocean bed.
All this was seen by the searchlight, which Dr. Perkins had kept concentrated on the yacht while the last act of this ocean drama was being consummated. As the yacht vanished a deep sigh broke from the stout man.
"Good-by, poor old _Wanderer_," he said, "there"s an end of this cruise."
"I am sorry that she was not in a condition to tow to Brig Island,"
remarked Dr. Perkins.
"My dear sir, so far as the actual monetary loss is concerned it was fully covered by insurance," responded the stout man; "my only regret is to see a craft I was very fond of end her days in such a fashion. Also, I am afraid my friend Griggs here will be disappointed at the failure of our cruise."
"Good heavens!" cried Mr. Griggs, who appeared to be a highly nervous individual, "I"m glad to have my life, Sterrett-glad to have my life. If I don"t catch my death of cold over this I"ll be fortunate indeed."
"In the meantime," struck in the man addressed as Sterrett, "we are forgetting in our own troubles the debt of grat.i.tude we owe to our friends here. In the first place, let me introduce ourselves. I am Paul Sterrett, late owner of the _Wanderer_. This is my friend, Samuel Griggs, and yonder," indicating the foreign-looking third man, "is Francis Le Blanc, our cook and general handy man. We left New York on a cruise up the coast sometime ago, and up till to-night experienced no mishaps. However, as my friend says, we must not repine; we should consider ourselves fortunate indeed to be onboard your remarkable craft instead of being in a watery grave, as we must have been had it not been for your opportune arrival."
"We consider ourselves fortunate to have been of service to you,"
responded the inventor, and then went on in his turn to introduce himself and his party, and also give a brief explanation of the _Sea Eagle_, which had, as may be imagined, excited the liveliest curiosity on the part of the rescued castaways.
"But as we shall now get under way without further loss of time," he concluded, "you will be able to see for yourselves just how the _Sea Eagle_ is controlled, and what she can do."
As he finished this speech, Dr. Perkins extinguished the searchlight, which had still been playing on the oil-streaked waters which marked the burial spot of the ill-fated _Wanderer_. This done, he gave Frank the "come ahead" signal. Obediently, as usual, the motor began its song, and the propellers took up the whirring, buzzing refrain. Mr. Sterrett and his companions sat perfectly still in the positions in the stern which had been a.s.signed to them. Had it been light enough to read the expressions on their faces one would have said that they were absolutely dumbfounded.
Of course both Mr. Sterrett and his friends-as well informed men-knew the wonderful capabilities of the modern aeroplane. They had witnessed many flights, and in common with the generality of progressive Americans, knew the general principles of aerial locomotion. But when the _Sea Eagle_ from a "boat" turned suddenly into a hydroplane, they exchanged swift expressions of the utmost astonishment. Only their companion, the paid "hand" from the yacht, sat sullenly unimpressed. In fact, since he had boarded the _Sea Eagle_, he had not uttered a syllable, only mumbling his thanks when Mr. Sterrett and his companion had finished expressing their grat.i.tude for their rescue.
Under the skillful guidance of Dr. Perkins, and the constant attention that Frank paid to the whirring motor, the _Sea Eagle_ made a quick run back to the island, being guided, when she was still some distance away, by the ruddy glare of a big beacon fire lighted by Ben Stubbs. It was an instance of the veteran adventurer"s thoughtfulness and resource that he had thought of doing this, for in the hurry of the departure, no such instructions had been given him. But on his own responsibility he had kindled the blaze which materially aided the swift return of the _Sea Eagle_ to her eyrie.
Reaching the island, the aerial wonder was sent swinging in decreasing circles, till Dr. Perkins was sure of a safe drop to the workshop on the summit of the little spot of land, and then, with a breath-catching rapidity, the helmsman sent his wonderful vessel earthward, bringing it to a stop within the ruddy glow caused by the blazing bonfire which had guided them.
As the _Sea Eagle_ settled to the earth the party that had been left behind on the adventurous night flight pressed to the side of the novel craft. A glance showed them that the mission of Dr. Perkins" craft had been crowned with success, and Billy and Pudge began plying the returned voyagers with eager questions. Ben Stubbs was slightly in the background, and it was not till Mr. Sterrett and his companions had stepped out on to the ground that he got a good look at them.
When he did, he gave a deep-drawn gasp of surprise. An expression of supreme amazement overspread his weather-beaten countenance. But his eyes did not fix on Mr. Sterrett or his companion, Griggs. Instead they traveled beyond the nattily clad yachtsmen and rested on the slim figure of the paid "hand."
"Raoul Duval, as sure as there"s a north star!" choked out Ben, half to himself, "waal, if this ain"t a small bit of a world!"
CHAPTER XIV.-BEN"S PLAN STOLEN.
For his part Duval was no less quick in recognizing Ben Stubbs. At the moment, Dr. Perkins and the rest were standing in a group a little apart, and discussing their adventure, while Mr. Sterrett was loud in his praises of the _Sea Eagle_, which he described as the most wonderful craft on earth. Giving a swift look round to see that he was un.o.bserved, Duval pressed a finger to his lips to enjoin silence on Ben, and then beckoned him to come a short distance out of the firelight.
Ben, in wonderment as to this unexpected reappearance of the young man who had exercised such sharp practice on him, obeyed the summons. But when he addressed Duval it was in an angry tone.
"What"s this mean," he exclaimed, "how did you come here?"
"As you see, by that air ship," was the reply; "I never expected to see you here, however. I tell you, Stubbs, I"ve had a lot of hard luck. When those boys and that professor-chap rescued us I had been compelled to ship as a deckhand and cook on that yacht. Just think of it."
"A mighty good thing for you, say I," grunted Ben brusquely, "a little good, honest, hard work will take some of the crooked kinks out of your brain. My recommendation to you, Duval, is to stick to that sort of a job, and in time you"ll learn to be a man."
Duval shot a look full of malice at the blunt old fellow. But his face was in the shadow, and Ben did not notice it. Instead he continued:
"But I ain"t the one to bear a grudge, Duval, although you did come mighty near shipwrecking my faith in human natur". Shake hands, mate, and for your old father"s sake I"ll do what I can fer you. I ain"t one to kick a man when he"s down."
Duval extended his thin, long-fingered hand, and Ben seized it in his rough paw and shook it with a heartiness that made the dark-skinned Duval flinch.
"There!" exclaimed the old fellow heartily, as he relinquished his grip, "that"s all ship-shape and in good trim. Now let"s get back to the rest of "em afore they see us talking apart."
"You"re not going to give me away to them?" asked Duval, almost breathlessly. "Sterrett thinks I"m all right, and may give me a better job some time."
"I won"t stand in your way, lad," heartily rejoined Ben. "In fact, I"d like to help you get on your feet again."
"How about that plan of the location of the _Belle of New Orleans_?"
asked Duval, without paying any attention to Ben"s last remarks.
"Safe enough in my pocket, mate," replied Ben, tapping his worn coat; "why do you want to know?"
"I wondered if you had investigated my story."
"No, I haven"t yet; but I don"t mind telling you that I may do so before very long. And I"ll tell you right now, Duval, that if we recover anything valuable from that wreck I"ll see to it that you get a good share of it, and then you can set up in business again and make a new start."
Duval expressed what appeared to be very deep thanks for Ben"s generosity. But, in reality, his thoughts were busy elsewhere. An idea had come into his head that was to bear strange fruit before very long.
They joined the group cl.u.s.tered about Dr. Perkins without their absence having been noticed. Billy and Pudge had seen to it while the _Sea Eagle_ was on her mission of rescue that a good hot lunch should be ready on the return of the expedition. A few moments after Ben and Duval joined the others Pudge announced this fact, and the party trooped into the hut, nothing loath, to fall to with hearty appet.i.tes on a good meal.
Soon after they "turned in," the boys insisting on the strangers taking their bunks, while they and Ben Stubbs put up with "shake-downs" on the floor.