"It is more important than anything else could be that we should find the boy," Tom heard the Honduran explain to Gambon. "And daylight will show that they have not gotten away from here. It was here that the sounds of flight stopped. Somewhere, within a stone"s throw or two we shall yet come upon the meddlers in hiding. I shall not give up."
"Confound him," whispered Joe, a little later, in his chum"s ear.
"Before this I always admired persistency."
Following the first dawn the light came in more strongly. Now, the two chums crouched more closely than ever, also seeing to it that Master Ted was forced to lie as flat as possible.
Joe Dawson, lying flat on his stomach, peering out beyond their retreat, moved one of his feet restlessly. Something made him turn to glance behind him. With that he began to slide slowly backward. His feet went further and further into a narrow hole. Then, after nudging Halstead in one leg, Dawson crept back until only his shoulders were exposed. Tom watched his chum in overjoyed wonder. Joe"s next performance was to vanish from sight. Then, very soon, he wriggled silently out again, until his lips were beside one of his comrade"s ears.
"There"s a hole running into that hummock there," Dawson explained. "It is a crampy little bit of a hole, but it will conceal all three of us.
Let"s work Ted in there first."
This they proceeded to do, though with intense stealth and no hurry.
They got Ted out of sight under the ground, at last, then more speedily concealed themselves.
"Fine, Joe, fine!" cheered Halstead, in a chuckling whisper. "Our chances of not being found have improved a hundred times!"
"If only Alvarez and his infernal crew will get away from this spot,"
Joe whispered, in answer. "But the day that is beginning is absolutely the last day to save Ted"s fortune to him. If we trip up to-day there isn"t a chance of any kind left. He"ll simply lose!"
Tom kept his face close enough to the opening in the ground so that he could see outside for some little distance, and yet was sure that he himself was enough in the shadow not to be seen from outside.
By the time that the sun was well up Don Emilio insisted on another keen search. This time French and Gambon even trod through the edge of the thicket that had concealed the boys during the darkness. But the mouth of the hole under the hummock was still hidden from their eyes by other bushes.
By the time that the sun had been up for some time quiet had fallen in these woods. Tom and Joe might have felt tempted to make a sudden break for freedom, but the scratch of a match, not far away, warned them that at least one watcher was still in hiding.
"I wonder what time it is," thought tormented Halstead, his mind ever upon that fateful session of probate court over at Nantucket. He got his watch out, holding it before his face. Then he made an appalling discovery. He had forgotten to wind up the time-piece, and it had run down.
"Your watch going, Joe?" the young skipper asked.
"No," Dawson whispered back, after a moment spent in investigation.
"This is a pretty fix. We can"t even guess how much time we have left to get out of here and over to Nantucket."
It was not long after that a gentle sound attracted Halstead"s notice to his friend. Sleepless and worn out, Dawson had fallen into slumber.
"That"ll be all right," thought Tom, "if only he doesn"t snore. If he does, I"ll have to hold his nose and pull him out of it."
As for Ted, the idea of making a snoring sound didn"t seem to have occurred to him, or he would have tried it. Tom moved closer to the little fellow, that he might be at hand to prevent any such attempt to send warning outside their cramped retreat.
Whizz-zz! It was an automobile going by at high speed. It pa.s.sed and was gone, almost at once, but the sound gave Tom a good idea how close they lay to the road. Yet it was surely a lonely road, little traveled, for time went dragging by without any other sound of travel.
"I"d feel starving if I weren"t so fearfully anxious," thought Tom. "Joe is lucky that he can sleep. He"ll forget how awfully hungry he is. As for poor Ted, his mixture of feelings must be something wonderful!"
In time, Halstead found himself fighting drowsiness. The very thought that he might fall asleep so filled him with fright that he became alertly awake. Slumber and a snore or two might be enough to break their last slim chance of winning out for the Dunstans.
CHAPTER XXI-THE LAST DASH TO WIN
"What time is it, anyway?" breathed Joe.
That youth had awakened at last. He and Tom were discussing in whispers what it was best to do. While they were still deliberating, a sc.r.a.ping as though of a knife in a pipe-bowl, not a hundred yards away, had told them that watchers were still about. That had brought out Joe"s question.
"I don"t know. I"m going to see if I can make a guess," hazarded Halstead.
He crawled forward, thrusting his head a little beyond the mouth of the hole, though still concealed by the thicket.
He tried to get at the position of the sun in the sky, but at first the limited view he could obtain was bewildering. At last, however, Halstead guessed at the position of the sun with a result that made him feel heartsick.
"Joe," he faltered, after wriggling back into the hole, "I"m sure it must be afternoon. At that rate, we"re in our last minutes of chance. If we reach Nantucket later than four o"clock we might about as well not get there at all."
"I"m with you for the dash, then," breathed Joe, hard. "I don"t doubt though, that the Alvarez crowd will go to any extreme, even shooting, if they get sight of us. They"re just as desperate as we feel. However, when you"re ready to lead the dash, pa.s.s the word, and I"ll hand Ted Dunstan out."
An impatient snort came from that helpless young man.
"Now, see here," whispered Joe, warningly, as he gripped tightly at the heir"s arm, "just leave any sign of noise out. If you don"t-well, you"ll find me bad-tempered when I get roused."
Tom once more stuck his head out into the thicket. He had no doubt that it was already afternoon. Yes, surely, all must be risked on the one last dash to win.
As he looked about him, and listened, he heard a new sound. It made his heart beat fast. The sound was such as would come from the slow-running gear of an automobile.
"Hear it, Joe?" he whispered, drawing his head in.
"Yes!"
"Stay here. Don"t venture out, unless I call you, Joe. But I"m going to try to get out and stop that machine. The Alvarez crew wouldn"t, or oughtn"t, dare do anything too ugly with other folks at hand. I"m going to risk it, anyway."
An instant later Tom Halstead"s body was half-way out of the hole, though still concealed by the friendly thicket. He waited until he judged that the approaching automobile was close at hand on the nearby road.
Just as he was about to spring forth Halstead realized that even the auto might be a part of the Alvarez equipment. Yet, on the one last breath of a chance nothing was to be wasted by hesitation.
Judging the sound intently, Captain Tom suddenly leaped forth from the hole, out of the thicket, and sprinted headlong for the road. Nor had he misjudged his time. A touring car was coming along, less than fifty feet away, as Halstead reached the low stone wall. There were, including the man at the steering wheel, four men in the car.
"Stop! stop!" shouted Tom, waving his cap. "It"s fearfully important!"
As the car rolled to a stop, and the men in it leaned forward, Captain Tom experienced another great throb. One of the men in the rear seat he recognized as an officer who had joined in the search on the first day of Ted"s disappearance.
"Oh, Mr. Warren, get out here, quick!" appealed the young skipper.
"There"s real and swift work in your line as deputy sheriff!"
Halstead"s excited manner and white face were enough, in themselves, to carry conviction. Warren and another man leaped from the tonneau, each reaching carelessly at a hip pocket as though to make sure that a weapon was securely there.
"Yes, yes!" cried, the delighted young motor boat skipper. "Get your pistols out. You may need "em."
Then, wheeling, Tom shouted back: