CHAPTER XXI.-A RASCALLY TRICK.
While all this had been occurring on the wharf Plumbo Boggs had discovered the deception that had been practiced on him, and was hastening as fast as he could to the hotel. Even he, whose mind could not be called quick acting, realized that he was the victim of a trick, the object of which was, in all probability, to injure the _Sea Eagle_.
Arousing the night clerk, Plumbo begged to be directed to Dr. Perkins"
room. The night clerk knew the eccentric character, and lost no time in escorting him to the doctor"s quarters. Plumbo thundered on the door with noise sufficient to arouse the other guests.
"What is it? What"s happened?" shouted Dr. Perkins, thinking for an instant that the place must be on fire at least.
"Oh, doctor, come quick! They"ve played us a trick!" yelled Plumbo.
"Who? Where? What do you mean?" exclaimed Dr. Perkins, coming to the door.
"Two men and a lad; they"ve fooled me bad."
"Do you mean that they persuaded you to leave the _Sea Eagle_ alone and unguarded?"
"They told me a story to get me from there; or I"d have given your air ship the best of good care," pleaded Plumbo, seriously alarmed at the angry look that had come over the doctor"s face. "Don"t be angry with me, I pray; if they hurt it I"ll ask you no pay."
"As if that would help," cried Dr. Perkins angrily; "wait there till I get some clothes on."
He retreated into the room and as he hastily donned some garments he wondered who the men could be who had induced the soft-witted poet to leave his position of trust.
"For the life of me I can"t imagine who they can be," he was thinking, while he hurriedly laced his shoes, when the door opened and in walked Harry fully dressed.
"I heard the noise in the corridor, and heard Plumbo telling you that something had happened to the _Sea Eagle_," he said excitedly.
"I don"t know that anything has happened yet," cried Dr. Perkins anxiously; "I"m hoping not. But from what I can gather from Plumbo"s foolish talk three men induced him, on some pretext, to leave the ship unguarded. I must say it looks suspicious. But I cannot think who there is in this place where we are unknown who would want to harm us."
The thought of Duval flashed across Harry"s mind. He and Frank had decided not to tell Dr. Perkins about their encounter lest it should worry him; but surely the time to tell about it had come now.
"We ought to have told you," he said, rather falteringly, "but we did not want to cause you undue anxiety,-we saw Duval this afternoon."
"What!"
Dr. Perkins almost shouted the question, or rather exclamation, in a thunderstruck tone.
"Yes. We tried to catch him, but he escaped us. Frank can tell you all about it. By the way, where is Frank?"
"Isn"t he in your room?"
"No; when I was awakened by the noise in the pa.s.sage I saw that his bed was empty. I supposed that he had got out of bed ahead of me and had come in here."
"I haven"t seen him since we retired."
"Then where can he be?"
The inventor and the boy aviator stared at each other for an instant.
"Good gracious, this looks serious, indeed," exclaimed Dr. Perkins; "not in his room, and not in the hotel, apparently. Where can he have gone to?"
"That"s what"s worrying me," cried Harry, in a rather quavering tone; "I"m sure, perfectly sure, that that rascal Duval knows something about him wherever he is. Maybe he heard some word of a plot to injure the _Sea Eagle_ and has gone down to see if he can frustrate it. Duval--"
"Yes; but Duval, if it is he, is not alone in this thing. Plumbo says there were two men and a lad."
"Two men and a lad," cried Harry joyously, "then the lad must have been Frank."
"But who could the others have been? They all came together and sent our watchman away."
"It"s all a deep mystery, doctor. I think our best plan is to make all the speed we can to the wharf. Perhaps we can find some solution there."
"Yes; let us do so at once. I am all ready, are you?"
"Yes; I hurried to get dressed as soon as I heard the noise in the corridor."
Plumbo was waiting, and as they hastened down the street he explained in his odd rhyming speech just what had happened. He could not describe the men except to say that one had whiskers on his chin. In a part of the country where this is a favorite facial adornment this information was not much of a clew.
It took the alarmed party much less time to reach the wharf than they would have thought was possible. In fact, almost the whole distance was traversed at a run. But when they arrived at the wharf and a lantern, which Dr. Perkins had had the foresight to bring along, had been kindled, they found nothing to inform them as to what had taken place.
The doctor had not expected to find Plumbo"s three men there, but he had had an idea that he would find something damaged about the _Sea Eagle_.
But as careful an examination as it was possible to make by lamplight failed to reveal any trace of damage.
Naturally this, instead of helping to clear the mystery, only deepened it. What object could the men have had who had sent Plumbo off on his wild goose chase if it had not been to wreak injury to the _Sea Eagle_?
"Maybe they were some inventors who wanted to steal your ideas,"
suggested Harry, recalling some experiences of their own with unscrupulous aviators.
But Dr. Perkins shook his head.
"Every important feature of the _Sea Eagle_ is fully covered by patents," he said; "there isn"t a single idea they could appropriate in the short time they could have spent here anyhow."
Harry had to admit that this was so, but to tell the truth his thoughts were centered more on Frank and on the strange circ.u.mstances surrounding his disappearance than they were on the _Sea Eagle_.
"I"m as certain as that daylight will come again that Frank fits into this mix-up somewhere," he said, voicing his thoughts, "but the question is where?"
"Well, he"s not here now, that"s certain," declared Dr. Perkins. "I propose that we should return to the hotel now that we have discovered that no damage has been done. He may meet us there."
"Let"s search the wharf first," said Harry, but, naturally, even their painstaking search failed to reveal any trace of Frank"s fate till, all at once, Harry, who was carrying the lantern, came upon his brother"s cap lying where it had fallen in the scuffle among the boxes.
The bit of headgear had been kicked close to the string-piece of the wharf, and a fearful fear that made Harry"s head swim shot into his mind. Could Frank have come down to the wharf, suspecting mischief was on foot, and have either fallen or been thrown into the water?
"Look-look here, sir," he exclaimed in a shaking voice, as Dr. Perkins asked him what was the matter.
"What is it?" asked the doctor, coming forward. "A clew?"
"Yes; it"s-it"s Frank"s cap, doctor. Pray heaven no harm has befallen him."