"Guess I ought to. I"ve been dorymate with Code when the old man was skipper. A finer young feller ain"t on this island."
"Do you happen to know where he is?" asked Templeton. "I came to Grande Mignon on several important matters, and one of them was to see him. I"ve tried to locate the fellow, but he seems to have disappeared."
"Why, I seen him to-day myself in Castalia!" cried Thomas. "He"s up there hirin" men to ship with him. Said he was goin" to stay all night. I know the very house he"s in."
"You do?"
"Yes."
"Do you think I could get there to-night?"
"You might." Jimmie looked at his watch. "The Seal Cove mail-wagon"s gone long ago, but I"ll take you down in my motor-dory if you"ll come right now."
Templeton did not even wait to finish his supper, but went out with Thomas immediately. A few minutes" walk brought them to the little beach where the dory was drawn up and they were soon on their way. But before they left, Templeton scribbled a message on a piece of paper and left it with Mrs. Shannon to be given to Nat Burns, who, he said, was to call for him at half-past seven.
Thomas kept the nose of his dory pointed to the lights of several houses that gleamed across the bay. They were not, however, the lights of Castalia, which were almost invisible farther south. But Templeton, who had never been on Grande Mignon before, sat blissfully ignorant of this circ.u.mstance.
Later, however, he remembered that his accommodating guide had chuckled inexplicably during most of the trip.
Twenty minutes" ride in the chill night air brought them to a long, low pier that extended out into the black water. Above on the hillside the windows of the big fishing settlement on Long Island gleamed comfortable and yellow.
Thomas ran his dory close to the landing-stage and then reversed the engine so that at the time most convenient for Templeton to step off the boat had lost all motion. The lawyer landed, but Jimmie did not shut off his engine. Instead he turned it on full speed and backed away from the dock.
"Hey, you, where are you going?" called Templeton, vaguely alarmed for the first time.
"Back to the village," answered Thomas, sending his motor into the forward speed. "I got something very important to do there."
"But in which house is Schofield?" cried the other. "You said you would show me."
There was no reply, and it is possible that, due to the noise of the engine, Thomas had not heard the protest at all.
Nat Burns arrived at Shannon"s boarding-house slightly in advance of the time named, and read Templeton"s note saying that he had gone to Castalia to nab Code while he had the chance.
"Who did Templeton go with?" he asked fearfully of the landlady.
"Mr. Thomas," replied that worthy.
"My G.o.d!" rapped out Burns in such a tone of disgust and defeat that she shrank from him with uplifted hands. But he did not notice her.
Instead he rushed out of the house and along the road toward Freekirk Head.
The boarding-house was a full half-mile from the wharfs of the village, and after a hundred yards Burns slowed down into a rapid walk.
"The fool took the bait like a dogfish," he snarled. "Lord knows where he is by this time. I"ll bet Schofield is at the bottom of this."
He had not as yet found out where Code was, and his first step when he reached the village was to go to the Schofield cottage and verify Templeton"s note.
Josie, the orphan girl, was there alone, and was on the point of tears with having been left alone so long with night coming on.
When questioned the girl admitted readily enough that Mrs. Schofield had taken a bundle of Code"s clothing and gone to Castalia in the afternoon, she having overheard the conversation that took place between her mistress and Pete Ellinwood.
When he had gained this information Burns hurried from the house and toward the spot on the beach between the wharfs where his dory lay.
He had not the remotest idea what had become of Templeton, but he was reasonably sure that if Thomas had taken him to Castalia, Schofield was no longer there.
What Thomas had really done did not occur to him, and his one idea was to get to the neighboring village as soon as possible and ascertain just what had taken place.
His dory was beached alongside the pier where the _Charming La.s.s_ had lain for the past week. Now, as he approached it, he suddenly stopped, rooted in his tracks.
The _Charming La.s.s_ was gone.
CHAPTER IX
ON THE COURSE
"All dories aboard? All hands set tops"ls! Jimmie Thomas, ease your mainsheet! Now, boys, altogether! Yo! Sway "em flat! Yo! Once more!
Yo! Fine! Stand by to set balloon jib!"
It was broad daylight, and the early sun lighted the newly painted, slanting deck of the _Charming La.s.s_ as she snored through the gentle sea. On every side the dark gray expanse stretched unbroken to the horizon, except on the starboard bow. There a long, gray flatness separated itself from the horizon--the coast of southern Nova Scotia.
There was a favorable following wind, and the clean, new schooner seemed to express her joy at being again in her element by leaping across the choppy waves like a live thing.
While the crew of ten leaped to the orders, Code Schofield stood calmly at the wheel, easing her on her course, so as to give them the least trouble. Under the vociferous bellow of Pete Ellinwood, the crew were working miracles in swiftness and organization.
The sun had been up two hours, and now, as Schofield glanced back at the wake that foamed and bubbled behind them, his eyes fell upon the white sails of a vessel far astern. Even at the distance, it was plain that she was of schooner rig, and probably a fisherman.
"Wonder who she is?" asked Code, pointing her out to Ellinwood.
"Don"t know. Thought perhaps you"d seen her before, skipper. I"ve had my eye on her for an hour. Fisherman, likely; you"ll see "em in all directions every day afore we"re through."
The explanation was simple and obvious, and it satisfied Schofield. He promptly forgot her, as did every one else aboard the _La.s.s_. And reason enough. The cook, sticking his head out of the galley, bawled:
"Mug-up! First ta-a-able!" and the first table made a rush below.
When the five men sat down it was the first time they had been able to relax since the evening before, when, without lights, and under headsails only, the _Charming La.s.s_ had stolen out between the reefs of Freekirk Head to sea.
"Wal, boys, I cal"late we"re safe!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Ellinwood with great satisfaction. "The _La.s.s_ is doin" her ten knot steady, an" I guess we"ll have left Cape Sable astern afore the sleepy heads at home find out what"s become of us."
"You saved the day, Pete. If it hadn"t been for you I would never have got beyond St. John"s." It was Code who spoke.
"And you pretty near spoiled what I _did_ do," rumbled Pete.
"How"s that?" interrupted Thomas interestedly. "I don"t know everything that happened to you fellers. I was busy at the time givin"
a friend of ours a joy-ride. Tell me about it!"