CHAPTER XIII.
INTO THE SWAMP.
Needham, Pete, Grove and Brady had not been long carrying out theirwork of recovering the cached goods. They were returning from the edgeof the bushy timber, ascending the slight elevation of the "island" ontheir way to the Hawk, each bearing an armful of plunder.
In his stealings, Brady had not bothered with bulky articles but hadconfined himself to "lifting" smaller and richer loot. The stuff wasall in small sacks.
As the men walked past the "roost" on their course to the air-ship,Matt and the girl withdrew from the door to avoid being seen. Through acrack in the wall, however, they were able to keep close track of whatwent on.
On reaching the Hawk, the bundles were deposited on the ground.Whipple, leaning on his rifle, stood watching while the bags wereheaped up at the side of the air-ship.
For a few moments the villainous crew had their heads together in closeand earnest conversation. Now and again their eyes were lifted aloft,evidently on the alert for some sign of the Eagle. Brady, it couldbe seen, did most of the talking. Suddenly, after a sharp scrutinyoverhead, Brady whirled around and started for the hut.
"He's coming after you!" half sobbed the girl.
"What's the reason I can't escape through that window in the rearwall," asked Matt, hurriedly, "and take refuge in the swamp?"
The idea seemed to electrify the girl.
"I hadn't thought of that," she whispered, catching his arm andstarting for the window. "The back of the hut is close to the trees andbushes on this side of the island, and I know something about the reefsof dry ground running through the swamp in the vicinity of this place.Come!" she added; "we must hurry."
Her despair had vanished in a flash, and her steadiness and resolutionhad all come back. She climbed through the window and, as Mattfollowed, she was picking up a small bag that had stood close to therear wall.
Without speaking, and once more clasping his arm, she hurried him intothe tangled bushes that came up to within a few feet of the hut. There,screened by a dense thicket, they paused to note further developments.
Their position, of course, rendered it impossible for them to see thefront of the hut, but they were so close they could hear Brady's oathof astonishment and alarm when he discovered that Matt was missing.
The next moment Brady could be seen rushing around the side of the hutand a little way in the direction of the group standing beside the Hawk.
"He's gone!" roared Brady. "The cub's got loose and skipped!"
The rest were roused into frantic activity.
"I'll sw'ar he didn't git out while I was watchin' the Hawk," criedWhipple. "Anyways, he can't be fur off."
"Hustle around!" fumed Brady. "Get into the swamp, every man-jack ofyou, and find that whelp wherever he is. I wouldn't have him get clearfor a thousand, cold!" All the gang forthwith became exceedingly busy.They darted off in various directions, and Brady himself, accompaniedby Grove, started for the side of the island from which Matt and thegirl were watching.
"We'll have to get away from here!" breathed the girl, turning. "Followme, Matt, and be careful where you step. If you're not careful, you mayfind yourself mired in the swamp."
"Trust me for that," answered Matt. "I'll carry this," he added, takingthe bag from the girl's hands.
The swamp, into which they were now headed, presented a matted tangleof undergrowth growing among the trees. Through the bushes could beseen a glimmer of stagnant water, and the whole place seemed as dankand loathsome as a tropical jungle.
The girl picked her way carefully, parting the bushes ahead of her andstepping from hummock to hummock. Finally they reached a little bareuplift of dry earth, and halted to listen. They could hear nothing ofpursuit, and the girl drew a long breath of relief.
"Dad don't know that I've explored this swamp," said she. "I have livedon the island for nearly six months--dad used to keep me here while hewas doing his thieving in South Chicago, so I wouldn't be able to tellwhat I know and give him away, I guess."
She sank down on the flat piece of turf for a few moments' rest. Theground, although dry, shivered under them as they moved, and seemedevery moment as though about to give way beneath their weight and letthem down into the morass.
"This is a treacherous-looking place," remarked Matt, peering off intothe trees and bushes that hemmed them in on every side.
"It's all of that," replied the girl.
"It would be easy for a person to get lost."
"Not easy for me, as I know it too well."
"If I can get away in the Hawk," went on Matt, after a brief silence,"this will make it necessary for you to go with me."
"Why?" she queried, lifting her wide, dark eyes to his.
"Can't you understand? Your father and his men will discover that youare not on the island, and they will suspect that you helped me out ofthe hut. What will your father do when he finds that out?"
A shiver swept through the girl's slight form.
"I suppose he will half kill me," she answered. "But I shall stay withhim. I am his daughter, and it's my duty to be with him to the end."
"You mustn't be foolish," said Matt, inclined to get out of patience."You're carrying your idea of duty to your father altogether too far."
"I've thought it all out," she answered firmly, "and my mind is madeup. Please don't try to argue with me. It may not be possible for youto get away in the air-ship now," she added, with a sigh of regret."If you can't, I will try and get you through the swamp. I don't knowanything about it, though, after we get a little away from the island."
"Then," proceeded Matt, not giving up his argument that Helen Bradyshould go away with him, "your father will be madder than ever when hefinds out you have taken the goods stolen from Hartz & Greer."
"That's what I expect, but it's right that the stuff should bereturned. A person ought to have principles, Matt, and I don't think aperson amounts to much if he or she can't stand a little suffering onaccount of their principles."
"That's right, too," muttered Matt.
"There's fifteen thousand dollars' worth of diamonds and jewelry inthat bag," Helen went on, "and Hartz & Greer have offered a reward oftwenty-five hundred to any one who will return the property."
"That money will go to you," said Matt, promptly. "It's right that itshould. Look at the risks you're taking to have it put into the handsof its rightful owners again! Some time, Helen, you will be rid of yourfather, and then the money will come handy."
She was gazing at him steadily, and there was something of rebuke inher eyes.
"You don't mean that, Matt," said she, quietly.
"Why not?" he demanded.
"Would it be right for me to take a reward for returning property myown father had stolen?"
Matt was amazed by the simple directness of the girl's reasoning.And she was right, entirely right. Nevertheless it took one of finecharacter to reason and to act as the girl was doing.
"If you succeed in getting away with the bag," Helen continued, "I wantyou to give it back to the rightful owners. Tell them it comes fromHector Brady's daughter, and that she hopes they will not be too hardon her father."
"You bet I'll tell them," said Matt. "What's more, I'll get throughthis swamp on foot, if I have to, and I'll consider it a mighty finething to lug the bag along and turn it over to Hartz & Greer."
"I felt sure you'd help me," murmured the girl. "There was something inyour face that told me you could be depended on the moment I looked atyou at the door of that Hoyne Street house."
"Then the impression was mutual," said Matt. "If I hadn't read honestyin your face, along with a desire to help me, I'd have made a rush outof that room in the Hoyne Street place the moment I read your warningon the fly leaf of the book."
"It was well you didn't do that. You'd have been caught. Pete wasbehind the window curtain all the time. That was why I had to writewhat I wanted you to know, and call your attention to it indirectly. Ifyou had----"
The gi
rl was interrupted by a distant rustle of bushes. Stifling thewords on her lips, she sprang erect.
"Dad's coming this way," she whispered. "I don't think he has the leastidea where we've gone, but he seems to be blundering in the rightdirection. We'll have to hurry on."
Once more they resumed their flight, Matt carrying the bag andcarefully following in his companion's footsteps.
The way became increasingly difficult, and the bushes even denser thanthey had been at the point where they had entered the swamp. Then, too,the hummocks which offered them foothold became farther apart so thatit was necessary to leap almost blindly through the brush in gettingfrom one to another.
Occasionally they halted and listened, but were unable to hear anysound behind them to indicate that Brady and Grove were still on theright track.
Just as Matt was congratulating himself that they had again eludedtheir pursuers, a cry from the girl, muffled but full of distress,reached him.
Between him and her a screen of bushes intervened, and the cry had comea moment after she had taken a headlong plunge through the leafy tangle.
Not knowing what could have happened, and fearing the worst, Mattshifted the bag to his other arm, drew his leather cap well down overhis forehead so that the visor would protect his eyes, and leapedboldly after the girl.
By good luck, rather than by any calculation on his part, he landed ona shaking hummock, and found that Helen had plunged into the waterymorass.
Dropping the bag, he reached down, grasped her about the waist anddragged her from the clutching grip of the swamp.
"We'll have to go back," were the girl's first words, as he held her onthe narrow foothold.
"Why?" he asked.
She waved her hand in the direction toward which they were going.
An open space, clear of trees and bushes, lay before them--a veritablequagmire with not a place in all its extent where they could set theirfeet.
They would have to go back! With Brady and Grove on one side of them,and this impassable bog on the other, it looked as though they had beencaught between two fires.