This time an answer came, but hardly in the manner expected.
A m.u.f.fled, rattling, rackety noise came from within the cabin, the door of which seemed to be closed. It sounded as if someone were pounding and kicking the walls like an insane patient in an unpadded room.
"What in the world does that mean?" Cub demanded, giving utterance to the apprehension that thrilled every other member of the party.
"I don"t know," his father replied; "but I"m going to find out pretty quick. You boys stay here with the prisoner. I"m going down there to investigate."
With this announcement, he drew his automatic for ready use and began to descend the steps they had fashioned in the stony hill before establishing their camp on Friday Island.
CHAPTER XXVII
Chased Out
The investigation did not take long. The boys watched Mr. Perry as he crossed the moonlit deck of the Catwhisker and entered the cabin. A few minutes later he returned on the deck and with him were two men, whom the observers on sh.o.r.e recognized as Mr. Baker and the Canadian officer. Then Mr. Perry called out:
"Come on down here, boys."
A minute later they were on board the yacht with their prisoner. Cub, the most impatient of their number, was first to speak.
"What"s the matter?" he asked.
"Matter enough," growled the officer. "Those scoundrels outwitted us, locked us in the stateroom, and our prisoner is gone."
The boys were so astonished that not one of them uttered a sound.
"I haven"t heard their story yet," Mr. Perry interposed. "We"ll all get it together."
"It won"t take long to tell how they did it," Mr. Buckley began. Then he seemed to hesitate, glancing in some embarra.s.sment at Mr. Baker.
"I"ll take all the blame," the latter confessed at this juncture. "In fact, there"s n.o.body to blame but me. I wasn"t asleep at my post, but my wits must have been slumbering, for one of those fellows stole up behind me and gave me a rap on the head that put me to sleep sure enough. When I woke up I was in a pitch dark stateroom, with the door locked. Luckily my searchlight had not been taken out of my pocket, and soon I had the place well enough lighted to determine where I was. I also found something else; I found Mr. Buckley in the same condition that I had been in--unconscious. Mr. Buckley can tell you the rest."
"There"s absolutely nothing for me to tell," Mr. Buckley replied, "I went to sleep on the cot in the cabin and woke up with a headache in the stateroom. Mr. Baker was working over me as if I"d been sh.e.l.l-shocked on the battlefield. I think we both were sandbagged, for there were no bruises on our heads. We were locked in and probably would have been driven to the necessity of breaking the door open if Mr. Perry hadn"t come when he did and let us out."
"I found both the stateroom door and the cabin door locked with the keys on the outside," Mr. Perry explained. "Well, we have this consolation at least: While we were losing one prisoner, we were capturing another."
"What do you mean by that?" Mr. Buckley; demanded quickly.
"Here"s the new prisoner right here," was the other"s reply, indicating the catapult victim who had suddenly found himself able to stand with his weight on his uninjured leg and aided by two of the Catwhisker boys.
"Who is he--one of that gang?" asked the officer.
"He"s a son of one of them, probably the one who was rescued from you."
"Lock him up in that stateroom at once, and I"ll have something more to tell you," Mr. Buckley ordered.
The order was speedily obeyed; then all gathered eagerly about the government officer.
"The situation is this," the latter began. "When those rascals raided this boat they robbed me of my gun and I suppose they got yours, too, didn"t they, Mr. Baker?"
The father of the missing freshman slapped his hand on his "pistol pocket" and then gasped:
"Yes, it"s gone."
"I thought so," continued the officer. "Now, we have an armed enemy to contend with. If they get wind of the fact that we have the son of one of them a prisoner on this yacht, you can expect a fusillade of bullets popping through your portholes any time. My advice is to get out of here as soon as possible."
"Where"ll we go?" asked Mr. Perry.
"We"ll decide that after we get away. If you want to keep your prisoner, don"t stay here."
"Dad"s got his automatic yet," Cub reminded with youthful confidence in a chamber full of sh.e.l.ls.
"And I"ve got my slingshot," chimed in Bud.
"Tee-hee," laughed Hal.
"Oh you can laugh all you want to, Tee-hee, but if it hadn"t been for my slingshot, we wouldn"t have any prisoner at all right now," Bud flung back with a suggestion of resentment.
"Yes, we must give Bud credit for all he"s done," Mr. Perry agreed. "We owe a good deal to his ingenuity."
"We ought to take our prisoner over to Rockport and put him in jail,"
suggested Mr. Baker.
"On what ground?" asked Mr. Buckley. "What would you charge him with? He hasn"t done anything except spy around your camp here. You couldn"t put him in jail for that and keep him there any time. Besides, his father claims to own these islands--maybe he does."
"Well, what are you in favor of doing?" asked Mr. Baker.
"I think we ought to move your entire camp outfit to this boat and then stand off from the sh.o.r.e for a while and keep our eyes on this place with spygla.s.ses--have you got a pair?"
"Yes," Mr. Perry replied; "two good strong pair."
"Then we"d better get busy at once before they suspect what has become of this boy we have here."
"All right, let"s get busy at once," said Mr. Perry. "The boys, however, must stay here on the boat. We don"t want to run any risk of their falling into the hands of the enemy."
"Oh, Mr. Perry, let me go along with you and get my radio outfit,"
Hal begged.
The yachtsman looked at the pleading youth for a few moments in hesitating manner.
"I don"t know," he replied slowly. "Still, I suppose we could protect one of you if anything happened. Well, inasmuch as we men don"t know anything about disconnecting a radio hook-up. I guess we"ll take you for one trip. Come on; no more delay. Keep a good lookout, Cub and Bud, and set up a holler if anything goes wrong. And, Bud, be careful not to mistake us for the enemy when we return; we don"t want to be hit by that sling of yours."
"We ought to have a signal, so we could be sure to recognize each other,"
Bud suggested.