Thus they had wrestled.
As Frank shakily, with Della"s a.s.sistance, was getting to his feet, there came a panting cry from Bob, another scream from Miss Faulkner.
Then through the air went flying the form of Bob"s a.s.sailant. He had fallen victim to Bob"s famous wrestling grip, which lifted the man from his feet and sent him flying over Bob"s head. But into the propulsion this time Bob put all his great strength. The result was that, instead of falling immediately behind Bob, the fellow cannoned through the air a distance of several yards.
As luck would have it, this human meteor descended upon one of Jack"s a.s.sailants, and the pair went down to the ground together. At this, the other man turned and fled incontinently into the woods.
The first round had been won. But there were still five a.s.sailants left. And all armed, while the boys were without weapons. Frank saw the danger of delay and called:
"Bob, Jack, quick. We must get the girls home."
Shaking his head to clear it, he seized Della by the hand and started running towards the house. A glance sufficed to show him the others saw the danger of delay, and were pelting after him with Marjorie Faulkner. Bob was bringing up the rear.
But their troubles were not ended. Thus far the attackers had refrained from using revolvers in order to avoid bringing others to the scene. But, seeing their prey escape, several now whipped out weapons and began to fire.
Bob, the last in line, groaned:
"Got me."
He fell. Jack spun around, took in the situation, then called:
"Girls, you run on home and get help. Frank and I will stay with Bob."
"I"m not hurt much," Bob declared. "Just put my leg out."
He struggled to regain his feet.
Several more shots whistled unpleasantly close. Their a.s.sailants were approaching, shooting as they came.
"Run, girls," cried Jack.
They darted away.
Suddenly Tom Barnum came crashing through the woods, service revolver gripped in his hand. He had been aroused, as he slept nearby at the Hampton radio plant, by the cries of the girls on first being attacked. In the moonlight, it was not difficult to see at which party to fire, and Tom did not hesitate. He sent a half dozen bullets whistling about the attacking party in quick succession. The arrival of reinforcements completed the discomfiture of the latter. They fled back towards the beach.
Tom was all for pursuing them, but Jack called to him.
"Here, Tom, let "em go. Bob"s hurt. Help us get him to the house."
CHAPTER XXI
THE MOTOR BOAT STOLEN
When the boys and Tom Barnum arrived at the Temples", they found the household in a great state of excitement. Some of the maids were hysterical. But Frank and Della, with a few sharp-spoken words, shamed the women and brought them to their senses. However, it was not to be wondered at that hysteria prevailed, as there were few men about to give protection in case of an attack on the house, the butler being an oldish and timorous man and the chauffeur absent.
Frank a.s.sured the women, however, that they need not fear attack, and they retired to the servant"s quarters.
Meantime, Jack and Tom Barnum had a.s.sisted Bob to his rooms and examined his injury. It was found he had been struck by bullets not only once but twice. In neither case, however, was the injury serious.
One had creased his right thigh, the other pierced the calf without touching the bone. The wounds were bandaged and dressed.
Then a consultation was held, which both Della and Marjorie Faulkner insisted on attending. Both had been thoroughly frightened, but were plucky spirits, and the boys were loud in praise of their behavior.
Frank could not thank Della enough for her interference to save him from the ruffian who had felled him.
It was decided that, due to their isolation and the nature of the country, it would be highly unwise as well as unprofitable to attempt to go in search of the ruffians. Tom Barnum, however, was instructed to send a warning by radio to the government men at the Brownell radio plant that these fellows were in the neighborhood, and this commission he duly carried out on his return to his quarters.
The boys were of the opinion that they had seen the last of the smugglers, and that, thwarted in their attempt to gain revenge, the latter would now make their way to the railroad and return to Brooklyn and Manhattan. For that the attack upon them was caused by a desire to obtain revenge, they had no doubt. It was what Captain Folsom had told them they might expect.
What was their dismay, however, the next day when, on arriving at the boathouse they discovered the door broken open, and the new speed boat, pride of the trio, gone. Bob who had hobbled along by the aid of a cane groaned as he stared at the vacant s.p.a.ce where the boat had been stowed on their return the night before.
"We"re out of luck," he said. "That"s all."
"Airplane damaged, motor boat stolen," said Frank. "What next?"
But Jack refused to lament. His eyes blazed with wrath.
"This is too much," he said. "We"ll have to do something about this.
That"s all."
After a consultation, it was decided to call Captain Folsom by radio at the Custom House and apprise him of the latest turn in the situation. By great good luck, Captain Folsom was in the Custom House at the time, on business connected with the disposal of the vast amount of liquor taken from the Brownell house. He commiserated with the boys on their hard luck, as well as on their lucky escape the previous night when unexpectedly attacked.
He promised to notify the New York police who would keep a lookout for the motor boat along both the Brooklyn and Manhattan water fronts.
Furthermore, he agreed to undertake to notify the police authorities of towns along the Long Island sh.o.r.e between the Temple estate and the metropolis, so that in case the smugglers made a landing and abandoned the boat, the boys would be notified where to recover it.
In conclusion, he added that the big raid and the arrest of Paddy Ryan and others at the Brownell house had not as yet brought to light the princ.i.p.als in the liquor-smuggling ring. The lesser prisoners, questioned separately, maintained that Ryan and Higginbotham were the sole princ.i.p.als known to them. Higginbotham had not been found, and Ryan refused to talk. It was Captain Folsom"s opinion, however, that one or more men of wealth and, possibly, of social or financial position, were behind the plot.
"You boys have been of such a.s.sistance," he said, "that I"m telling you this, first, because I know you will be interested, but, secondly, because I want to put you on the lookout. You have shown yourselves such sensible, clever fellows that, if you keep your ears open, who knows but what you will stumble on something of importance. I believe the man or men behind the plot may live in the "Millionaire Colony"
down your way."
What Captain Folsom had told the boys opened a new line for thought, and they discussed the matter at some length after finishing the radio conversation. The girls also were keenly interested.
"It"s so romantic," said Della. "Just like the olden days when smuggling was a recognized industry in England, for instance, and big merchants holding positions of respectability and honor connived with the runners of contraband."
"You needn"t go that far from home," said Frank, a student of Long Island colonial history. "There was a time when, on both coasts of Long Island, pirates and smugglers made their headquarters and came and went unmolested. In fact, the officials of that day were in league with the rascals, and there was at least one governor of the Province of New York who feathered his nest nicely by having an interest in both kinds of ventures."
The boys knew the names of most of the owners of great estates along the Long Island sh.o.r.e up to Southampton and beyond, and some time was spent in laughing speculation as to whether this or that great man was involved in the liquor-smuggling plot.
"Captain Folsom said," explained Jack, "that so much money necessarily was involved in the purchase and movement of all that liquor, in the radio equipment, the buying of the Brownell place, the hiring of ships, the employment of many men, and so on, that he was pretty certain the men captured were only underlings and not princ.i.p.als. And, certainly, the business must have taken a great deal of money."
Several days pa.s.sed without the boys hearing further from Captain Folsom, nor was any word received that their motor boat had been recovered. They came to be of the opinion that it had been either scuttled or abandoned in some lonely spot upon which n.o.body had stumbled, or else that the thieves had managed to elude police vigilance in the harbor of New York. That the thieves might have used it to make their way to sea to a rendezvous where the ships of the liquor-smugglers" fleet gathered did not occur to them, for the reason that despite the knowledge they had gained of the contraband traffic they were not aware as yet of its extent. Yet such was what actually had happened, as events were to prove.
Meantime, both Mr. Temple and Mr. Hampton returned to their homes, to be amazed at the tale of developments during their absence. Over their cigars in Mr. Hampton"s library, the two, alone, looked at each other and smiling shook their heads.
"I had to scold Jack for running his head into trouble," said Mr.
Hampton. "But--well, it"s great to be young, George, and to have adventure come and hunt you out."
Mr. Temple nodded.