"We can"t see the Cove yet from here," whispered Jack. "Our first glimpse of it won"t come until we move forward a bit farther. We"ll either have to try to climb over this or go out on the beach to get around it. It doesn"t go down to the water, does it, Bob?"
"No, and I didn"t see it when I was here several days ago," Bob replied in a low voice. "I suppose it must have been here then, but I didn"t see it. There was no fence on the beach, and I was following the water"s edge."
"There"s a big tree close to it," said Frank, pointing. "And, look.
There"s a limb projects over the fence. We might shin up the tree and out on that limb and drop."
"I"m afraid I couldn"t do it," said Captain Folsom, simply. "This arm----"
"Oh, I forgot," said the sensitive Frank, with quick compunction, silently reproaching himself for thus reminding the other of his loss.
"I"m not sensitive," said Captain Folsom, and added grimly: "Besides, the German that took it, paid with his life."
There was an awkward silence.
"Anyhow," said Jack, breaking it, "it would be ticklish work for any of us to get over that fence by climbing the tree. The fence is a good ten feet high, and the strands of barbed wire curve forward at the top. That limb, besides, is twelve feet or more from the ground, and not very strong, either. It looks as if we would have to make our way around the fence and out on the beach."
"Let"s go, then," said Bob, impatiently. "Now that I"m here I want a look at Starfish Cove. I have one of Frank"s hunches that there is something doing there."
He started moving forward toward the edge of the grove, which here was out of sight, being some distance away, as Jack had led the way well within the shelter of the trees because of the radiance cast by the moon.
"Wait, Bob, wait," whispered Frank, suddenly, in a tense voice, and he restrained his companion. "I heard something."
All crouched down, listening with strained attention.
In a moment the sound of voices engaged in low conversation came to their ears, and a moment later two forms appeared on the opposite side of the fence, moving in their direction.
CHAPTER XI
PRISONERS
"I heard a fellow shouting and beat it, or I"d"a done a better job.
Anyhow, that"s one plane won"t be able to fly for a while."
One of the two men dropped this remark as the pair, engrossed in conversation, pa.s.sed abreast of the party on the outside of the boundary fence and not ten feet from them. The speaker was a short, broad, powerfully built man in appearance, and he spoke in a harsh voice and with a tw.a.n.g that marked him as a ruffian of the city slums.
He wore a cap, pulled so low over his features as to make them indistinguishable. And he walked with a peg leg!
The moonlight was full on the face of the other, and the boys recognized him as Higginbotham. There was an angry growl from Bob, farthest along the line toward the beach, which he quickly smothered.
Apparently, it did not attract attention, for Higginbotham and his companion continued on their way oblivious to the proximity of the others.
"The young hounds," said Higginbotham, in his cultivated, rather high voice. And he spoke with some heat. "This will teach them a lesson not to go prying into other people"s business."
The other man made some reply, but it was indistinguishable to those in hiding, and the precious pair proceeded on their way, now out of earshot. But enough had been overheard. It was plain now, if it had not been before, where lay the guilt for the attempt to destroy the airplane. Plain, too, was the fact that Higginbotham was engaged in some nefarious enterprise.
For several seconds longer, after Higginbotham and his companion had gotten beyond earshot and were lost to view among the trees, Jack remained quiet but inwardly a-boil. Then he turned to Captain Folsom and Tom Barnum, crouching beside him.
"What an outrage," he whispered, indignantly. "Poor Bob and Frank. To have their airplane damaged just because that scoundrel thought we were prying into his dirty secrets. I wish I had my hands on him."
Suddenly his tone took on a note of alarm.
"Why, where are Bob and Frank?" he demanded. "They were here a moment ago."
He stared about him in bewilderment. The others did likewise. But the two mentioned could not be seen. With an exclamation, Jack rose to his feet.
"Come on," he urged. "I"ll bet Bob decided to go for the fellow who burned his plane and take it out of his hide. When that boy gets angry, he wants action."
He started striding hastily down toward the beach, alongside the wire fencing. The others pressed at his heels. Presently, they caught the glint of water through the trees, and then, some distance ahead, caught sight of two figures moving out from the grove onto the sands on the opposite side of the fence. Jack increased his pace, but even as he did so two other figures stole from the woods on the heels of the first pair.
Involuntarily, Jack cried out. The second pair leaped upon the backs of the first and bore them to the ground. The next moment, the air was filled with curses, and the four figures rolled on the sands.
"Come on, fellows," cried Jack, breaking into a run, and dashed ahead.
He broke from the trees and discovered the boundary fence came to an abrupt end at the edge of the grove. It was here Bob and Frank, he felt sure, had made their way and leaped on Higginbotham and the thug.
For so he interpreted what he had seen.
As he came up the fight ended. It had been bitter but short. Frank was astride Higginbotham and pressing his opponent"s face into the sand to smother his outcries. Bob had wrapped his arms and legs about the city ruffian and the latter, whose curses had split the air, lay face uppermost, his features showing contorted in the moonlight. Bob knelt upon him. As Jack ran up, he was saying:
"You want to be careful whose airplane you burn."
An exclamation from Captain Folsom drew Jack"s attention from the figures in the immediate foreground, and raising his eyes he gazed in the direction in which the other was pointing. Some fifty yards away, on the edge of Starfish Cove, a half dozen objects of strange shape and design were drawn up on the sand. They were long, shaped somewhat like torpedoes and gleamed wet in the moonlight.
Not a soul was in sight. The moonlit stretch of beach was empty except for them.
"What in the world can those be?" asked Captain Folsom.
"They are made of metal," said Jack. "See how the moonlight gleams upon them. By George, Captain, they are big as whales. Can they be some type of torpedo-shaped boat controlled by radio?"
"This is luck," exclaimed Captain Folsom. "That"s just what they are.
Probably, those two scoundrels were coming down here to see whether they had arrived, coming down here from their radio station. Come on, let"s have a look."
He started forward eagerly. Jack was a step behind him. An inarticulate cry from Tom Barnum smote Jack"s ears, and he spun about.
The next instant he saw a man almost upon him, swinging for his head with a club. He tried to dodge, to avoid the blow, but the club clipped him on the side of the head and knocked him to the ground. His senses reeled, and he struggled desperately to rise, but to no avail.
A confused sound of shouts and cries and struggling filled his ears, then it seemed as if a wave engulfed him, and he lost consciousness.
When he recovered his senses, Jack found himself lying in darkness. He tried to move, but discovered his hands and feet were tied. He lay quiet, listening. A faint moan came to his ears.
"Who"s that?" he whispered.
"That you, Jack?" came Frank"s voice in reply, filled with anxiety.
It was close at hand.
"Yes. Where"s Bob?"
"He"s here, but I"m worried about him. I can"t get any sound from him."