CHAPTER XIX.--PLUMBO FOUND WANTING.
They were still talking in this vein when they reached the wharf. Thecrowd had, by this time, thinned out somewhat, and they made their wayto the _Sea Eagle_ without difficulty. They found Dr. Perkins talkingwith a most peculiar looking individual. He was long and lanky as a beanpole, and his thatch of bright red hair was crowned by a hat that ascarecrow might have disowned.
"Wonder who our new-found friend can be?" laughed Harry, as theyclambered down a rough ladder to _the Sea Eagle's_ deck.
They soon found out. Dr. Perkins, it appeared, had decided to spend thenight at Bayhaven, and had engaged quarters at the hotel which the boyshad passed. The man with whom he was talking rejoiced in the name ofPlumbo Boggs, and was a village character. However, he was honest,though not overmuch endowed with brains, and had been recommended to theinventor as a reliable man to leave in charge of the _Sea Eagle_.
Immediately Dr. Perkins had introduced this strange character, Plumbobroke out into rhymed speech which was a peculiarity of his. Some oddtwist in his brain made it impossible for him to express himself inprose.
"I'm Plumbo Boggs of old Bayhaven; from harm your air ship I'll besavin'," quoth he, striking an attitude.
"Do you always talk that way?" inquired Frank.
"Yes; I'm a poet, though you didn't know it," was the response.
"Well, I don't know that that will keep you from being a good watchman,"smiled Dr. Perkins.
"I'll watch by day or I'll watch by night; you'll soon find that I'm allright," was the quick response, while Plumbo's blue, rather watery eyes,flashed feebly.
"That's satisfactory. Mind, you are to let no one on board, under anypretext whatever."
"Pretext is a word that I don't understand; but I'll keep them offthough they come in a band," rejoined Plumbo.
"How much will you do the job for?" asked Dr. Perkins.
"Two dollars will be my price to stay here; pay it and then no troubleyou'll fear."
"I'll agree to that," said Dr. Perkins, "we are going uptown now. I'llhave your supper sent down to you and you are to remain here till youare relieved by us early to-morrow."
"I'll stay right here, watchful and steady; you'll find me here when togo you're ready," declared Plumbo.
"And now that everything is well I guess we'll start for the hotel,"said Frank, and not until both Dr. Perkins and Harry burst into a roarof laughter did he realize that he had caught the rhyming "infection"from the poetical Plumbo.
"Be sure and don't forget my supper; I like pork and beans and bread andbutter," called Plumbo after them as they left the wharf, and he took uphis vigil.
"An eccentric sort of character, but I guess he'll take good care of the_Sea Eagle_ while we're gone," said Dr. Perkins.
It was on the tip of Frank's tongue to tell about their encounter withDuval; but the next instant he decided not to speak of it. Dr. Perkinshad several important matters on his mind, and after all, the boyargued, Duval could not do them any harm now. After supper the editor ofthe local paper called round at the hotel to elicit from the aerialvoyagers the story of their trip as far as it had gone. He was alsocorrespondent for the Associated Press, he informed them. Dr. Perkinsgranted him a careful interview, in which he described part of theiradventures, but was cautious not to reveal any of the details of the_Sea Eagle's_ construction. Shortly after the newspaperman had taken hisdeparture the party retired, having left an early call for the morning,for it had been determined to get under way as soon as possible the nextday.
Bayhaven retired early to its rest, and the streets were deserted when,soon after midnight, three men walked down the main street, taking careto keep in the shadows of the buildings as they proceeded. One of themen was Duval, and the others were the Daniels, father and son. Theirpresence in Bayhaven is soon explained.
As we know, the elder Daniels had offered to get money to finance thetrip to the Black Bayou, and it was from relatives in Bayhaven that hecalculated on getting it. The trio had arrived in the town the daybefore, and Daniels had promptly obtained the money as a loan, he havingrepresented that the treasure was undoubtedly to be found in thelong-forgotten wreck.
They had been on the streets the day before when the approach of the_Sea Eagle_ was announced, and Duval instantly guessed that the oncomingair ship was the same that had rescued him and his employers from theillfated _Wanderer_. Neither the Daniels nor Duval himself knew anythingof the destination of the _Sea Eagle_, nor did they guess for an instantthat Harry Chester carried with him an exact duplicate of Duval's stolenplan. But their evil natures prompted them to do all the harm they couldto the party, and it was with this end in view that they were makingtheir way down the badly lighted and deserted streets of Bayhaven atsuch an hour. Duval's dislike of the boys had been roused to fever heatby their chase of him in the afternoon, and he was burning to do themsome injury. From one of the elder Daniels' relatives the rascals hadlearned that Dr. Perkins and his two young friends were registered atthe hotel, leaving the _Sea Eagle_ in charge of Plumbo. At once they haddecided to visit the air ship and see what harm they could do it.
Stealthily they advanced toward the wharf, revolving in their minds asthey went what they would do when they got there.
"We'll have to get that half-witted chap out of the way," declaredDuval, in a low tone, "or he may make an outcry and arouse the wholeplace."
"Leave that to me," Daniels assured him; "we'll fix him up all right."
"You don't mean to hurt him? I don't want to get mixed up in anythinglike that," whimpered Duval, who was somewhat of a coward, as we know.
Daniels actually chuckled.
"Waal, you are a chicken-hearted fool," he muttered, "but don't you bescared. There won't be no necessity of hurtin' this Plumbo. I canrecollect him from a time when I was here years ago. He's soft-headedand talks poetry. Them two things most allers goes together I've found."
Nothing more was said till they reached the wharf. It was dark anddeserted, but in the starlight the dim outlines of the _Sea Eagle_ couldbe seen as she lay at her moorings.
"I'll bet a cruller that chap's asleep," whispered Zeb, as they creptforward cautiously.
"Hope so. It'll make our work a lot the easier," chuckled his worthyfather.
But the next moment they had undeniable proof that the watchman was notslumbering. From amidst the ghostly outlines of the _Sea Eagle_ camePlumbo's voice.
"Who's there so late? Answer up, mate."
"Is that you, Plumbo?" said the elder Daniels.
"Yes, this is me, as you can see."
"How are we goin' ter see you when it's so confounded dark?" growledDaniels.
"Well, what do you wish? To bathe or fish?" inquired Plumbo, ignoringthis remark. Then he continued:
"You'd better skip. You'll not board this ship."
"That's just what we came here to do," replied Daniels, in an unruffledtone; "your mother is very ill and we come down to take charge of theair ship while you go home as quick as possible."
Now poor Plumbo's love for his widowed mother was a matter of commontalk in the village, and the cunning of the elder Daniels had suggestedthis scheme to him as they came along. It worked even better than he haddared to expect. The rhyming watchman gave a gasp of painedastonishment.
"I must go home; though I ought not to roam," he said.
"Make your mind easy about that, lad," Daniels assured him; "we'll watchthis cloud clipper while you're gone. Dr. Perkins told us to stay herewhile you are gone."
"I'll go home in a hurry; be back in a scurry," declared Plumbo, who wascompletely taken in. His none too acute brain had been easily imposedupon by Daniels' rascally trick. He scrambled up on the wharf and atonce set off on a run for his home, crying as he went:
"Watch every crack till I can get back."
"Oh, go to the dickens while we get our pickin's," growled out young ZebDaniels, at which specimen of wit his father laughed heartily, though ina subdued way.
"
Now, then, boys," said Daniels, as Plumbo's footsteps died away, "getbusy and spile this cruise for that bunch of fine gentlemen. We'll show'em what it means to try to take folks' livings away."