CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ISLAND HUT.
Rob, in his place of concealment, could hear the two men talking as theyrowed.
Their conversation related, in the main, to the affairs of the night.Apparently, so far as Rob could gather, the stealing of the plans of thesubmarine was not yet complete. It appeared that Barton was to remain onthe island in his capacity as trusted aide to Mr. Barr, and to gather upall he could of the details of the new submarine, down to the smallestparticular.
Scarcely daring to breathe, Rob listened with all his might to theconversation of the oarsmen.
At the same time the thought was running through his mind that he hadacted rashly in taking the step he had. But the boy pluckily made uphis mind to stick to his resolution of discovering just what was goingon inimical to the plans of the United States Government and Mr. Barr.
Before very long the prow of the boat grated on a sandy beach, and thetwo men, gathering up some rolls of paper and several bulky-lookingobjects, left the craft, first securing it by an anchor and line.
As their footsteps died away, Rob ventured to raise his head above thegunwale of the boat and follow them with his eyes. He saw them ascendthe beach and enter the hut, apparently a structure once used byfishermen or hunters.
After an interval a light shone from the solitary window of the hut, andRob came to a sudden resolve to find out just what was going forward.With this object in view he clambered out of the boat, taking everyprecaution against making unnecessary noise. On hands and knees he thenapproached the lighted window.
The night was dark, and, standing at a fair distance from the casement,he did not feel much fear of being seen from within. It is hard forpersons in a brightly lighted chamber to perceive what is going onoutside.
Seated around a rough table in the hut, which consisted of only oneroom, Rob saw three men. Two of them, undoubtedly, were those who hadunconsciously rowed him to the island. The other he recognized with astart as the possessor of the face which had peered through the transomon the memorable night in Hampton, when plans for the experiments on theisland were in process of being formulated. In other words, the thirdmember of the party was none other than Nordstrom Berghoff, the spy.
Instantly many things that had been vague to Rob crystallized into aclear understanding of the situation. The signals from the island, theindignation of Barton over the presence of the Boy Scouts, and thestealing of the plans and models, all stood out plainly now as beingpart of an elaborate plot of which Berghoff was the mainspring.
A wave of indignation swept over the boy as he contemplated the rascalswithin the hut gloating over the things they had obtained from thetreacherous Barton.
"The scoundrels," he thought; "so they think they can rob Uncle Sam ofone of the greatest submarines ever invented, and do so with impunity! Idon't care what happens, I'll fool them if I can."
With this resolve firmly embedded in his mind, Rob crept closer to thewindow. By skillful maneuvering he was at last almost under thecasement. In this position every word uttered within the hut was clearto him.
He heard Berghoff chuckling gleefully over the manner in which thenight's work had been carried out.
"Undt not a vun of dose Boy Scouts knew anting aboudt idt," heexclaimed.
"No," rejoined one of his companions, a swarthy man with a pallid faceon which there stood out a bristly beard; "those kids were out of thegame so far as we were concerned. That Barton is a slick one, allright."
"Well, he's getting well paid for the job," struck in the third man, whowas short and stocky, with a crop of rough, reddish hair and aprotruding chin that gave him a "bull doggy" aspect.
"Of course, he gedts vell paid," rejoined Berghoff; "dis job is vorth denaval supremacy of the worldt to der country vot I represent."
"As if we didn't know that as well as you," rejoined the red-haired man."It was lucky we worked in the same machine shop in Bridgeport withBarton and knew he was a man who could be bought."
"Yes, there isn't much that he wouldn't do for money," chimed in thepallid-faced man.
"Vell, ledt us see if dese plans are all righdt, or if ve must get somemore of dem," remarked Berghoff.
From his manner of examining the intricate prints and plans, Rob knewthat the man, as were most probably his two companions, was an engineerof no mean ability. With a small pocket scale he went over every scrapof paper and then fell to examining the models. From his expression, Robjudged that Barton had served the rascal well. Berghoff declared theplans and the models all that would be required to produce a_Peacemaker_ almost the exact duplicate of Mr. Barr's diving-boat.
"Well, when do we make our getaway?" queried the red-haired man when theexamination was concluded.
"To-morrow ve go," declared Berghoff. "In New York I catch der steamerfor Europe undt you two scatter verefer you like."
Rob felt his face flush with indignation, and at the same time heexperienced a sort of hopeless feeling of indecision. The plans and themodels lay there, almost within his reach, but so far as the possibilityof recovering them was concerned, they might as well have been in China.
"If only all the boys were here," he thought, "it would be possible to'rush' those scoundrels and secure all their loot."
Finally Rob came to the decision to remain where he was for the presentand see if some opportunity would not present itself to recover thearticles of such vital importance to Uncle Sam's Government.
The men talked on, conversing in low tones, and presently the red-headedman started to prepare some food on an oil stove, which must have beenbrought from the motor boat earlier in the day. Till sundry appetizingodors began to drift out to him from the plotter's cookery, Rob did notrealize that he was hungry. Before long, however, his desire for foodbecame almost overwhelming. It was tantalizing to lie out there in thedark, tired and hungry, and hear within the hut the clatter of knivesand forks and inhale the odors of what was evidently a hearty meal.
At length the men stopped eating, and Rob heard them discussing whetherthey should sleep in the hut or on board their motor boat. The boypricked up his ears as he listened. If only they decided to sleep on theboat and leave the models and plans in the hut, he would have a chanceto recover the stolen property and make away with it in the beachedrowboat before dawn.
Rob could hardly restrain an exclamation of delight when the men came tothe decision to pass the night on their boat.
"What are you going to do with this stuff?" inquired the pallid-facedman with the stubbly beard, indicating the mass of papers and models.
"Oh, we'll leave that here till morning," was Berghoff's response; "dereis no use in taking idt by der boat now."
"Goodness," thought Rob, "I sure am in luck! It will be no trick at allto get that stuff as soon as they have gone, and carry it back to theisland. I almost wish it was going to be a harder task. It's a bit toomuch like burglary to suit me."
But Rob was not to have such an easy time of it as he anticipated.