CHAPTER X
THE WOODED ISLAND
Captain Broadbeam gave pretty strict orders at dusk. A watch was setwith directions to allow no one to leave the _Swallow_. All the smallboats were chained stoutly.
"We'll have to defer going ashore, or report our plans to the captain,"said Bob Vilett about eight o'clock, coming up on deck with a wry face.He was in overalls and his hands covered with oil. "No go, Dave," hereported.
"You mean you can't join me?" asked Dave, in disappointment.
"That's it, Dave. There's work till twelve. I've got to stay. Say, whydon't you tell the captain your idea and have him send men and a boatafter Schmitt-Schmitt?"
"No," said Dave, "Captain Broadbeam wouldn't entertain the project for amoment. He is a first-class captain, but hint at anything outside of hisship, and he won't take the risk."
"What are you going to do, then?"
"Try it alone."
"Be careful, Dave. Don't undertake too much. You can never manageSchmitt-Schmitt alone. Why don't you impress Stoodles into service?"
"Mr. Stoodles is willing enough," answered Dave, "but he might bungle.It will be all I can do to get off the _Swallow_ alone."
Dave managed this, however, a little later, without discovery. Once onthe sand flat, he dragged some planks and ropes the ballast crew hadleft there to the other side of the island. Dave constructed quite araft and pushed it into the water. Swimming, he propelled it beforehim. Within half an hour he was on the wooded island.
The first thing that caught his eye was a blue light strung from a treeat the end of the island nearer the town. Here there was a favorablenatural landing-place.
"The bunting signal didn't attract attention," reasoned Dave, "soSchmitt-Schmitt has tried the lantern. Wonder if he is at the hut? I'llwork my way around that direction and find out."
Dave had the bold idea in mind of capturing this man. As he went alonghe thought of plan after plan. If he could get Schmitt-Schmitt helplessin his power, he could convey him to the _Swallow_ on the raft.
"The very thing," said Dave gladly, as he neared the vicinity of thehut. Lying across the top of some bushes was a fishing net. It hadlong rope ends. Dave with his pocket knife cut these off and thrustthem in his pocket.
"Hey, what are you up to there?"
Dave thrilled at the sharp call, and turned quickly to face hischallenger.
It was Schmitt-Schmitt. He had abruptly emerged from the greenerysurrounding the hut. He carried a big cudgel, and as the clearmoonlight revealed the face of the intruder plainly he uttered a quickgasp.
"Ha, I know you!" cried Schmitt-Schmitt, advancing with a scowling face.
"It seems so," answered Dave coolly, cautiously retreating. "You areMr. Gerstein."
"No, you don't!" spoke the man, with a speedy leap forward.
Dave dodged, but not soon enough. The cudgel came down directly on topof his head. He saw stars, sank flat, and knew no more for fully fiveminutes.
Then, his lower limbs wound round and round with ropes, he struggledupon the floor of a hut.
At a table on which burned a candle sat Schmitt-Schmitt. He had justopened a bottle of lime juice and was about to pour some of its contentsinto a glass to refresh himself.
He suspended operations, however, as Dave struggled to an uprightposition, attracting his attention.
"Well," he spoke with a coarse chuckle, "how did that wallop suit you?"
Dave rubbed his sore head and made a wry grimace.
"You don't treat visitors very politely, do you?" he said.
"You're a spy, you are," spoke Gerstein sullenly, "and don't you denyit. I know you. Now then, what brought you here?"
"What brought you?" retorted Dave.
"Don't you get saucy," warned Schmitt-Schmitt. "All along you did thebig things that were done in baffling the Hankers. I hear, too, youhave been pretty smart with your tricks since you came to MinotaurIsland."
"Of course I've been trying to do all I could to protect my rights,"said Dave. "I knew you were in hiding here."
"Ha! eh?" exclaimed Schmitt-Schmitt, pricking up his ears. "How did youknow that?"
"Oh, we have kept track of you," answered Dave lightly. "As soon as wefound you were back of the governor and the pilot in bothering us, wenaturally watched you."
Schmitt-Schmitt stared in stupefaction at Dave.
"Knew it, did you?" he muttered.
"Of course we did. We knew what you were up to. Now I can tell you,Mr. Gerstein, you will never get that treasure away from theWindjammers' Island, no matter how hard you try."
"Treasure! The Windjammers' Island!" gasped the man."How--when--where--the--the treasure was lost at sea."
"Not a bit of it, as you and I both know," asserted Dave blithely,reading in the confusion and excitement of the man a confirmation of hissuspicions. "I say the _Swallow_, with or without me, sails in searchof that treasure at daylight. Come, sir, you have gone in with a measlycrowd who will only rob you in the end. Come to Captain Broadbeam, saveus the trouble of a long search, and my father will pay you all right."
Schmitt-Schmitt got up and paced the floor. He seemed thinking over whatDave had suggested. His face, however, gradually resumed its customaryferocity and cunning.
"No," he said finally, striking the table with his fist and taking inhis captive's helpless situation with a good deal of satisfaction. "Ihave the upper hand. I keep it."
"What upper hand?" asked Dave.
"You are my prisoner. Soon the pilot will be here in response to mysignal with his launch. I will take you to the island with me. I willhide you. They will not get along so grandly without you. They willdelay to search for you, and delay is all I ask. Yes, yes, that is theprogramme."
Some whistles from craft in the bay echoed out. Schmitt-Schmitt wentoutside, apparently to see if some answer was coming to his signal.
"I am in it--deep," mused Dave. "Pshaw! I hate to think I shall delayand bother Captain Broadbeam."
Dave found that the ropes securing him were not very tightly arranged.They had been drawn to a loop about his waist and caught with snap andhook behind.
"If I had time I could work loose," he thought. "I have not time, so Isuppose I must wait meekly and take what comes to me. Oh, by theway--that's an idea!"
The "idea" in question was suggested by a glance at the bottle and glasson the table. Dave's eyes sparkled. He fumbled under the ropes andbrought out wrapped up in a fragment of paper the sample of opium he haddiscovered the night previous.
Frog-like he began hitching himself across the floor. Dave kept his eyeanxiously fixed on the open doorway. He got to the table, reached up,dropped some grains of the drug into the glass there, and nimbly as hecould hitched his way back to his former position.
Two minutes later Schmitt-Schmitt reappeared. He went at once to thetable, poured out a drink, settled back in his chair, and saidcomplacently:
"My friend will soon be here. Do your friends also know I am here?"
"Oh, dear, you mustn't expect me to tell any secrets to a fellow whowon't join in with us," said Dave.
"Maybe after a little solitude you will be willing to talk," observedSchmitt-Schmitt meaningly.
"All right--we'll see," said Dave, with affected unconcern.
Dave's eyes sparkled as Schmitt-Schmitt began to blink. He wasdelighted as the man fell back drowsily in the chair.
"Now's my chance," said Dave, as a prolonged snore announced thecomplete subjugation of Schmitt-Schmitt to the influence of the drug.
Dave did some brisk moving about. He managed to get to a cupboard. Hecould not reach his own pocket knife. In the cupboard he found a caseknife and set at work sawing away the ropes that bound him.
He laughed at his rare success, as stretching his cramped limbs he wentoutside for a moment.
"I don't want to delay," he thought. "That signal may bring the pilotat an
y moment, and that means two to handle instead of one. This is justfamous. Better than I planned out. How shall I get Schmitt-Schmitt tothe raft?"
Dave found an old wicker mattress on the rude porch of the hut. It hadrope ends to attach as a hammock. He took the precaution to tieSchmitt-Schmitt's wrists and ankles together with ropes.
Then Dave dragged the insensible man from his chair across the floor andlet him down flat on the wicker mattress.
It required all his strength to pull this drag and its burden the twohundred feet required down the beach.
"The mischief!" cried Dave, as, panting, he reached the spot where hehad left the rudely improvised raft.
It was nowhere in sight, and he readily surmised that he had carelesslyleft it too near the surf, which had carried it away.
"Whatever am I to do now?" thought Dave. "I can't swim to the _Swallow_with this man. I must find the material for a new raft. Pshaw! there's acall to time."
Dave glanced keenly seawards. Then with due haste he dragged mattressand burden back into the brush out of sight.
Peering thence, he watched a little launch making for the wooded islandat the point where the blue signal shone.
"The pilot, of course," said Dave. "He has come to see his friend.What will he do when he fails to find him?"
With some anxiety Dave Fearless watched the little launch come nearerand nearer to the wooded island.