"You"d better, unless you want to discover that we haven"t yet started in with rough handling," retorted Eph valiantly.
Young Benson eased his hold on Millard"s wind-pipe. Yet all three of the submarine boys watched their prisoner, cat-like, for any new outbreak.
"Now, roll over on your face, if you want us to believe you"re going to be good," ordered Jack.
Though he swore, under his breath, Millard obeyed. Then something flashed in the night--handcuffs that Jack had brought away from his meeting with Lieutenant Ridder at the hotel.
Click! The steel band snapped into place around Millard"s right wrist.
"Hold on--not that!" protested the prisoner, hoa.r.s.ely.
"Yes; even that!" mocked Eph, picking up a fragment of rock. "And keep quiet, unless you want me to batter your head in!"
It was this rough, vigorous sea-talk, backed by a belief that young Somers would prove equal to his threat, no doubt, that made Millard allow his left wrist to be brought over to meet the right.
"You"ve got those things on too tight," complained Millard, sullenly.
"No-o-o, I don"t think so," retorted Captain Jack, after looking. "We need "em as tight as we can have "em, without causing pain, when we have a fellow like you to deal with. Now, what was that explosion?"
"Wait a second!" broke in Eph, in a low voice. "Millard had a pal here.
It was the pal I shadowed here. And that pal is running, now, with a fair-sized bundle that he came here to get."
"He was running when you jumped into this business?" demanded Benson.
"Yes."
"Then the pal is too far away, by this time, for us to catch him by running after him," decided Skipper Jack. "Now, about that explosion!"
"This wretch had a mine planted up on the hill," explained Hal Hastings.
"I was watching, at the rear, you know, and it happened that I stopped right close to the hollow where you found me. Then I saw Millard drop into that hollow, and I took a look-in. I was just in time to see him bending over to reach for the handle of a magneto battery. Now, I happened to know that magneto batteries are made for the purpose of touching off explosives at a safe distance. So I jumped in on him.
Just at that second I heard you, Jack, old fellow, striking with the shovel up above there. I had to guess fast, so the whole thing struck me like a flash. Millard had been digging, up there, just to lead on anyone who might be shadowing him. While you were bent over the spot where he had been digging, he meant to touch off a mine that must have been planted and laid days ago. Millard, you rascal, if you suspected that you were being watched, it was your idea to lead the shadow out here, get him over that mine and touch it off!"
The prisoner"s eyes flashed.
"That was your game, wasn"t it?" demanded Benson, angrily.
"Find out, if you can," growled the prisoner.
"You"ve guessed it, Hal," nodded Jack, then shuddered. "Had I followed this villain out here alone, and then gone to digging, unwarned, where I had seen him digging, my remains would have come down in four counties.
But, you mean scoundrel, you never happened to think that you"d be trailed by three different fellows, all at different points along your trail."
"This is where my account comes in," interposed Eph Somers. "You remember the village you sent me to, Jack? Well, all I could find out was that, a few days ago, a chap named Gray had come along and hired a little schooner that"s about twice as fast as any other sailing craft in these parts. He hired two fishermen to sail it for him--when he got ready. His crew have been wondering, since, when he"d be ready.
Since he made the deal, Gray has just been hanging around and doing nothing."
"My informant pointed out Gray to me. Right after that, I vanished.
But I kept an eye on Gray. When he left the village, so did I. The trail led up here. Gray went to a pile of dead brush that had been heaped up. He prowled under the brush, brought out a wooden box that had been hidden there, and, from the box, took a bundle. He started off with it. I figured that bundle was what we wanted. I didn"t want to take the chance of tackling him and having him get the best of me, so I started to follow. Just then I heard the rumpus up here. Maybe I did wrong, but I figured we could get Gray again, so I hustled up here to help."
"This wretch, Millard, and I had a pretty rough-and-tumble time of it,"
Hal broke in. "At last, though, he gave me a blow in the wind that put me right down and out, for a little while. Then he got the handle of the magneto and pumped it."
"Glad I started down the slope just when I did," nodded Skipper Jack, dryly. "If I hadn"t--well, what"s the use of talking about it?"
Forcing Millard to get upon his feet, the boys inspected, first the magneto battery, to which was attached wire buried in the ground.
Then up the slope they went, to find a miniature crater, some ten feet deep and at least fourteen feet across, where the mine had been exploded.
"Say, it"s hard, even yet, to understand why I wasn"t killed," muttered Jack Benson. "But here we are, standing here, thinking about ourselves, when that fellow, Gray, is getting away with a package that we ought to have. Come along, fellows! And you, Millard, if you try to bold back on us, you"ll learn some new things in the way of discomfort!"
Thus warned, and realizing that his determined young captors were in a savage frame of mind, the long-legged one didn"t try to lag. All four appeared in the village in which Eph had prowled for information.
The appearance of the handcuffed prisoner stirred up a lot of curiosity.
Eph, however, showed his written authorization for taking Millard in the name of the United States government, so no one offered the captive any aid or sympathy.
But the submarine boys met with disturbing news. They heard that a little more than a half an hour before, Gray, still carrying a big package, had embarked on his chartered schooner, and had put to sea.
"Had we better charter something and go in chase?" wondered Hal.
"What"s the use?" demanded one of the fishermen. "The "Juanita" is four miles or more out to sea, by this time, and the night"s dark you couldn"t see her. And there"s no craft hereabouts fast enough to catch the "Juanita.""
"Besides," whispered Jack, in his chum"s ear, "we have no power to overhaul a craft at sea."
So, making the best of the situation, the submarine boys hired a driver, horse and wagon at the village, and started on their return to town.
CHAPTER XI
FACING THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
Jack was the first to enter Lieutenant Ridder"s room at the hotel. The young engineer officer jumped up out of his chair, looking somewhat angry.
"Look here, Benson," expostulated the lieutenant, "what sort of way is this to use me? Here I"ve been loafing about here for hours, and you haven"t sent or brought me word of any kind. You--"
"We"ve brought you something better," smiled Jack Benson, throwing the door further open. "Here is Millard, himself."
Millard came in, a policeman at his side, for the submarine boys had hailed the first policeman they met inside the city limits, and had explained to him.
"This man is wanted as a United States prisoner, is he, sir?" inquired the policeman.
"Yes, if his name is Millard," replied Lieutenant Ridder.
"Oh, this is Millard, all right," confirmed Jack Benson.
"Then shall I leave the fellow with you, sir?" inquired the policeman.
"Yes, of course; and thank you."
"You"ll give me a receipt for the fellow, as a United States prisoner?"
hinted the policeman.