CHAPTER XIX.-PLUMBO FOUND WANTING.
They were still talking in this vein when they reached the wharf. The crowd had, by this time, thinned out somewhat, and they made their way to the _Sea Eagle_ without difficulty. They found Dr. Perkins talking with a most peculiar looking individual. He was long and lanky as a bean pole, and his thatch of bright red hair was crowned by a hat that a scarecrow might have disowned.
"Wonder who our new-found friend can be?" laughed Harry, as they clambered down a rough ladder to _the Sea Eagle"s_ deck.
They soon found out. Dr. Perkins, it appeared, had decided to spend the night at Bayhaven, and had engaged quarters at the hotel which the boys had pa.s.sed. The man with whom he was talking rejoiced in the name of Plumbo Boggs, and was a village character. However, he was honest, though not overmuch endowed with brains, and had been recommended to the inventor as a reliable man to leave in charge of the _Sea Eagle_.
Immediately Dr. Perkins had introduced this strange character, Plumbo broke out into rhymed speech which was a peculiarity of his. Some odd twist in his brain made it impossible for him to express himself in prose.
"I"m Plumbo Boggs of old Bayhaven; from harm your air ship I"ll be savin"," quoth he, striking an att.i.tude.
"Do you always talk that way?" inquired Frank.
"Yes; I"m a poet, though you didn"t know it," was the response.
"Well, I don"t know that that will keep you from being a good watchman,"
smiled Dr. Perkins.
"I"ll watch by day or I"ll watch by night; you"ll soon find that I"m all right," was the quick response, while Plumbo"s blue, rather watery eyes, flashed feebly.
"That"s satisfactory. Mind, you are to let no one on board, under any pretext whatever."
"Pretext is a word that I don"t understand; but I"ll keep them off though they come in a band," rejoined Plumbo.
"How much will you do the job for?" asked Dr. Perkins.
"Two dollars will be my price to stay here; pay it and then no trouble you"ll fear."
"I"ll agree to that," said Dr. Perkins, "we are going uptown now. I"ll have your supper sent down to you and you are to remain here till you are relieved by us early to-morrow."
"I"ll stay right here, watchful and steady; you"ll find me here when to go you"re ready," declared Plumbo.
"And now that everything is well I guess we"ll start for the hotel,"
said Frank, and not until both Dr. Perkins and Harry burst into a roar of laughter did he realize that he had caught the rhyming "infection"
from the poetical Plumbo.
"Be sure and don"t forget my supper; I like pork and beans and bread and b.u.t.ter," called Plumbo after them as they left the wharf, and he took up his vigil.
"An eccentric sort of character, but I guess he"ll take good care of the _Sea Eagle_ while we"re gone," said Dr. Perkins.
It was on the tip of Frank"s tongue to tell about their encounter with Duval; but the next instant he decided not to speak of it. Dr. Perkins had several important matters on his mind, and after all, the boy argued, Duval could not do them any harm now. After supper the editor of the local paper called round at the hotel to elicit from the aerial voyagers the story of their trip as far as it had gone. He was also correspondent for the a.s.sociated Press, he informed them. Dr. Perkins granted him a careful interview, in which he described part of their adventures, but was cautious not to reveal any of the details of the _Sea Eagle"s_ construction. Shortly after the newspaperman had taken his departure the party retired, having left an early call for the morning, for it had been determined to get under way as soon as possible the next day.
Bayhaven retired early to its rest, and the streets were deserted when, soon after midnight, three men walked down the main street, taking care to keep in the shadows of the buildings as they proceeded. One of the men was Duval, and the others were the Daniels, father and son. Their presence in Bayhaven is soon explained.
As we know, the elder Daniels had offered to get money to finance the trip to the Black Bayou, and it was from relatives in Bayhaven that he calculated on getting it. The trio had arrived in the town the day before, and Daniels had promptly obtained the money as a loan, he having represented that the treasure was undoubtedly to be found in the long-forgotten wreck.
They had been on the streets the day before when the approach of the _Sea Eagle_ was announced, and Duval instantly guessed that the oncoming air ship was the same that had rescued him and his employers from the illfated _Wanderer_. Neither the Daniels nor Duval himself knew anything of the destination of the _Sea Eagle_, nor did they guess for an instant that Harry Chester carried with him an exact duplicate of Duval"s stolen plan. But their evil natures prompted them to do all the harm they could to the party, and it was with this end in view that they were making their way down the badly lighted and deserted streets of Bayhaven at such an hour. Duval"s dislike of the boys had been roused to fever heat by their chase of him in the afternoon, and he was burning to do them some injury. From one of the elder Daniels" relatives the rascals had learned that Dr. Perkins and his two young friends were registered at the hotel, leaving the _Sea Eagle_ in charge of Plumbo. At once they had decided to visit the air ship and see what harm they could do it.
Stealthily they advanced toward the wharf, revolving in their minds as they went what they would do when they got there.
"We"ll have to get that half-witted chap out of the way," declared Duval, in a low tone, "or he may make an outcry and arouse the whole place."
"Leave that to me," Daniels a.s.sured him; "we"ll fix him up all right."
"You don"t mean to hurt him? I don"t want to get mixed up in anything like that," whimpered Duval, who was somewhat of a coward, as we know.
Daniels actually chuckled.
"Waal, you are a chicken-hearted fool," he muttered, "but don"t you be scared. There won"t be no necessity of hurtin" this Plumbo. I can recollect him from a time when I was here years ago. He"s soft-headed and talks poetry. Them two things most allers goes together I"ve found."
Nothing more was said till they reached the wharf. It was dark and deserted, but in the starlight the dim outlines of the _Sea Eagle_ could be seen as she lay at her moorings.
"I"ll bet a cruller that chap"s asleep," whispered Zeb, as they crept forward cautiously.
"Hope so. It"ll make our work a lot the easier," chuckled his worthy father.
But the next moment they had undeniable proof that the watchman was not slumbering. From amidst the ghostly outlines of the _Sea Eagle_ came Plumbo"s voice.
"Who"s there so late? Answer up, mate."
"Is that you, Plumbo?" said the elder Daniels.
"Yes, this is me, as you can see."
"How are we goin" ter see you when it"s so confounded dark?" growled Daniels.
"Well, what do you wish? To bathe or fish?" inquired Plumbo, ignoring this remark. Then he continued:
"You"d better skip. You"ll not board this ship."
"That"s just what we came here to do," replied Daniels, in an unruffled tone; "your mother is very ill and we come down to take charge of the air ship while you go home as quick as possible."
Now poor Plumbo"s love for his widowed mother was a matter of common talk in the village, and the cunning of the elder Daniels had suggested this scheme to him as they came along. It worked even better than he had dared to expect. The rhyming watchman gave a gasp of pained astonishment.
"I must go home; though I ought not to roam," he said.
"Make your mind easy about that, lad," Daniels a.s.sured him; "we"ll watch this cloud clipper while you"re gone. Dr. Perkins told us to stay here while you are gone."
"I"ll go home in a hurry; be back in a scurry," declared Plumbo, who was completely taken in. His none too acute brain had been easily imposed upon by Daniels" rascally trick. He scrambled up on the wharf and at once set off on a run for his home, crying as he went:
"Watch every crack till I can get back."
"Oh, go to the d.i.c.kens while we get our pickin"s," growled out young Zeb Daniels, at which specimen of wit his father laughed heartily, though in a subdued way.
"Now, then, boys," said Daniels, as Plumbo"s footsteps died away, "get busy and spile this cruise for that bunch of fine gentlemen. We"ll show "em what it means to try to take folks" livings away."