"If it has, swift vengeance is going to overtake somebody," declared Dr.
Perkins, clenching his hands; "where did you find the cap?"
"Close to the string-piece. You-you don"t think he could have fallen over?"
"Nonsense," declared Dr. Perkins with a confidence he was far from feeling; "we"ll get him back again safe and sound, never fear."
But Harry"s heart sank as he fingered his brother"s cap.
"I"m trying to think so, too, sir," he said miserably; "but-but--"
He paused abruptly, for he could not have gone further without breaking down. Harry had gone through some anxious moments in his life, but never had his heart sunk so low as it did that night on the Bayhaven wharf.
In the meantime, let us see how it was faring with the boy whose disappearance had caused such cruel fears-fears which even the vengeful tempers of Daniels and his son would have been satisfied with. We left Frank gagged and bound on the bottom of the dory, while Zeb and his father were pulling with strong, swift strokes for the open water.
The dory shot swiftly and silently seaward, with Frank completely in the dark as to what was to be his fate. It occurred to him, though, that perhaps they meant to maroon him on some island. This thought did not give him so much anxiety as might have been expected, for he knew that the waters about Bayhaven were fairly populous with boats, and did not suppose that his captors meant to keep him a prisoner any longer time than would be necessary for them to take their departure from that part of the coast before the authorities could be notified.
Imagine, then, his thrill of surprise when the boat suddenly stopped and the barrel, into which some big stones had been thrown to keep it upright in the water, was lowered from the dory. This done, Frank was lifted by main force and placed in it.
A brutal laugh broke from Zeb and his father as they shoved the barrel containing its helpless captive away from the side of the dory. Duval said nothing, but his white teeth showed in a grin in the starlight.
Frank, gagged as he was, could not utter a word or move a limb. He could only realize, with dumb agony, the terrible nature of his fate.
Still laughing, the brutal rascals who had conceived the idea of setting him adrift, rowed off at a quick rate, leaving the barrel and its helpless occupant bobbing up and down on the swells of the starlit sea.
CHAPTER XXII.-REUNITED!
Frank"s heart sank as he cast a look about him and perceived the helplessness of his position.
"If I could only get this gag off and shout for help," he thought, "maybe somebody would hear me."
But there seemed to be no means of compa.s.sing this end, try as he would to think of some way. All at once, as the stars were beginning to fade and a faint flush of gray appeared in the east, he perceived a nail sticking up on the rim of the barrel. This gave him an idea. By bending slightly he would be able to bring the edge of the gag against the sharp pointed bit of metal, and possibly tear it out. At any rate, it was worth trying, and Frank at once proceeded to put his plan into action.
It was a hard job to bend low enough to bring his mouth on a level with the nail, but fortunately the barrel was a large one, and consequently he had not so very far to stoop. By making a desperate effort he succeeded at last in dragging the gag across the nail. In doing this he scratched his chin, but he did not mind that, for the nail caught and held the rag, tearing it out of his mouth as he moved his head.
"Hurray!" breathed Frank, inhaling a great lungful of fresh air. "Now I can at least make a racket, and maybe that will bring some one."
With all his might he began shouting for help. In the still morning air his voice carried clearly across the water, and to the lad"s huge delight it was not long before he perceived, coming toward him a small fishing boat, which, from the "chugging" sound it made, was evidently furnished with a gasolene engine.
But the question that now agitated the boy was, "Would they see him or hear his voice above the loud noise of the motor?" If they did not, Frank realized that his plight would pa.s.s from a serious to a desperate state, for the barrel was, by this time, caught in a current which was rapidly increasing the distance between himself and the sh.o.r.e.
To his intense relief, however, he saw the fishing boat suddenly change her course, and before long she was close enough for him to read the name "_Two Sisters_" on her broad, bluff bow.
"Waal, by the tarnal!" came a gruff voice, "who and what are yer out here in a ba"rl?"
The speaker, a burly-looking fellow, with a rough but kindly countenance, regarded Frank"s face, which was all that was visible of him, with the most intense astonishment, as well he might. In a long experience off sh.o.r.e, covering all sorts of adventures, Captain Elihu Carney of the _Two Sisters_ had never before beheld a floating barrel with a human head projecting from it.
"It"s a kid-a boy!" shouted one of his mates from the stern of the _Two Sisters_, where he held the tiller.
"Crack-e-e! so it air. Hey, kid, what yer doin" out here? Takin" a cruise, or is this one of them new-fangled health cures?"
"It"s neither, I a.s.sure you," cried Frank; "get me out of this and I"ll tell you all about it."
"I"ll run alongside and you can climb out."
"No, I can"t," returned Frank; "I"m bound hand and foot."
"What! Say, you be"ant one of them movin" picter fellers makin" a fillum be yer?"
Captain Carney"s rugged face held a look full of suspicion. Once not long before his boat had been boarded by a beauteous maiden, apparently fleeing from a band of desperadoes. The gallant captain had fished her out of the dory in which she was rowing from her pursuers and had threatened the apparent rascals with all sorts of dire things. Then to his chagrin a voice had hailed him:
"Hey, you old mossback! You"ve spoiled a grind!"
A "grind" being moving picture language for a film.
"I certainly am not," returned Frank indignantly; "no moving pictures about this, I can tell you. This is the real thing."
"Waal, as I don"t see no camera about I reckon it"s all right. Put her head round, Eph, and we"ll pick him up, but "once bitten twice shy," you know."
Eph, the helmsman, brought the bow of the _Two Sisters_ round and slowed up the engine. A minute later the fishing boat"s side was sc.r.a.ping the barrel, and Captain Carney"s muscular arms lifted Frank out of his floating prison as if he had been an infant.
"Waal, I"ll be double decked consarned!" he roared, as he saw the ropes that confined the boy"s limbs. "Who done this?"
"Some rascals who had good cause to wish me harm," said Frank. "I suppose they thought they could get rid of me while they made their escape."
"What"s the world comin" to?" cried the rugged skipper, throwing up his hands.
He reached into his belt for a tarry sailor"s knife and cut Frank loose in a few strokes of the keen blade. But the boy was so stiff from loss of circulation that it was some time before he recovered the use of his limbs. The _Two Sisters_, it turned out, was headed for Bayhaven, to which port she belonged, but so far had Frank drifted in his-or rather somebody else"s barrel-that he was able to tell his whole story before the wharf was reached.
As they neared it the skipper ordered Eph to blow the compressed air whistle so as to apprise every one ash.o.r.e that something unusual was happening. Among the crowd that hastened to the wharf in response to the frenzied tooting Frank recognized Dr. Perkins and Harry. As they drew close he saw how white and strained their faces were, and realized what anxiety they must have been through on his account. He shouted loudly, and at the sound of his voice both Harry and the staid inventor set up a series of cheers that drowned the tooting of the whistle. As for Plumbo Boggs, who was also on the wharf, he burst into rhyme at once.
"Home again! home again from the stormy sea; now that your chum is found all right, don"t blame me!"
So saying he capered about, snapping his fingers and performing a dozen odd antics while the _Two Sisters_ was making fast. Without waiting for Frank, who was still stiff and sore, to come up on the wharf, Harry and Dr. Perkins jumped to the deck of the _Two Sisters_, and the former fairly threw his arms about his brother"s neck.
"If you only knew how glad I am you have come back," he exclaimed.
"What ever happened to you?" demanded Dr. Perkins.
"It"s a long story," said Frank, "and I"m famished. Suppose we ask Captain Carney and Eph to breakfast with us and while we are eating I"ll tell you all about it."
CHAPTER XXIII.-OFF ONCE MORE.