CHAPTER XXVI
MR. BARCLAY LAYS HIS PLANS
It appeared that one of the letters which Harry had secured was from Mr.Barclay, and shortly after the boys got back to the ranch Mr. Oliversent them off to Bannington's with the sloop. Mr. Barclay, he said, wasexpected down by the next steamer and they must be there in time to takehim off. It proved to be an uneventful trip and they returned to thecove with their passenger just as a gloomy day was dying out. Mr. Oliverwas shut up with his guest for an hour after supper that night, but atlength he called the boys into his room, where Mr. Barclay lay in a bigchair with a cigar in his hand. He looked up with a smile when they camein.
"No doubt you'll be pleased to hear that we expect to round up yourdope-running friends before the week is out," he said. "Anyway, I fancyit was a relief to my host."
"There's no doubt on that point," Mr. Oliver assured him. "I don't mindadmitting that the suspense and the uncertainty as to what they might dowere worrying me rather badly."
Frank was surprised to hear it, for the rancher had certainly shown nosign of uneasiness.
"You mean you're going to break up the gang once for all and corral thewhole of them?" he asked.
"Something like that," answered Mr. Barclay lazily. "If there's no hitchin the proceedings, I don't expect many of them will be left at largewhen our traps are sprung, though the affair will have to be managedwith a good deal of caution."
Harry smiled. "There oughtn't to be any hitch. You have been a mightylong while fixing up the thing."
"That remark," said Mr. Barclay, "is to some extent justified. Over inEurope they say 'slow and sure,' though I don't suppose it's a maximthat's likely to appeal to young America. We'll paraphrase it into thisform: 'Don't move until you know exactly what you mean to do and howyou're going to set about it, and then get at it like a battering ram.'"
"A battering ram must have been a clumsy, old-time contrivance," Harryobjected.
"There are reasons for believing it could strike very hard," said hisfather with a smile.
"It would naturally take a long while to work the thing out," Frankbroke in, addressing Mr. Barclay.
"It did," the little, stout man assented. "We had to get hold of a cluehere, and another there, and follow them up as far as possible withoutgiving anybody the least idea what we were after. It might have beenmore difficult if one hadn't been purposely placed in our hands a weekago."
"Somebody has been giving the gang away?" asked Frank.
"That doesn't quite describe it," Mr. Barclay answered. "To be precise,somebody has sold them. It appears that one man a little smarter thanthe rest discovered that the gang was being watched. That scared him,and, as it happened, he'd had a difference of opinion with the bossesabout the share he claimed to be entitled to. He didn't point hissuspicions out to them, but when, as he said, they couldn't be inducedto do the square thing he came along to one of my subordinates, who senthim to me. I'm not sure that I'd have got much information out of himthen if I hadn't been able to convince him that he and his partnerswere already more or less in my hands."
Frank was impressed by what he had heard. Indeed, he was conscious thathe was half afraid of the man who sprawled lazily in his chair smilingat him. He appeared so easy-going and he had bantered Harry sogood-humoredly, but all the time he had been following up the smugglers'trail with a deadly unwavering patience and a keenness which missed thesignificance of no clue, however small. Now when at last the time foraction had come the boy felt that he would strike in the swiftest andmost effective manner.
"If there's any small part you can give us--" he said hesitatingly.
"There is," said Mr. Barclay, to the delight of Frank and his companion."It appears that they intend to land a parcel of dope and some Chinamenat a place down the Straits of Fuca. It will be done at night--the moonwill be only in her first quarter next week--and the schooner will standout to the westward, keeping clear of the traffic to wait for the nextevening before going on to the place where she's to make another call.The men and the dope will be seized soon after they're put ashorewithout anybody on board the vessel being the wiser if our plans workout right, but it's important that we should know as soon as possible ifanything has gone wrong and it will be your business to bring me on amessage. We'll have a small steamer and a posse hidden ready at thisend, and when the schooner runs in two nights later she'll fall into ourhands with the rest of the gang, who'll be waiting for what she brings."
Frank looked at Mr. Oliver, who nodded his consent.
"Yes," he said, "I've promised to let you go, though in this case you'llhave to take Jake along."
Then Mr. Barclay spread out a chart upon the table and pointed first toan inlet which appeared to lie at some distance from any settlement.
"You'll run in here in the dark and lie close in with the beach untilyou're hailed by a mounted messenger, which will probably be early onthe following morning. When he has given you his message you must manageto deliver it to me here"--he laid his finger on another spot on thechart--"at the latest by the second evening following. That's important,as it's impossible for me to get the news by mail or wire."
He gave them some further instructions, and half an hour had slipped bybefore he seemed satisfied that they knew exactly what they were to do;then he nodded.
"I think you've got it right," he said. "The great thing is not to beseen if you can help it, and if it's possible you must only run in ateither place in the dark."
The boys spent the next two days in a state of eager anticipation,which, however, became much less marked when one lowering afternoonafter a long, cold sail they beat the sloop out to the westward down theStraits of Fuca. They had kept watch alternately with Jake during theprevious night, throughout most of which it had rained hard, and nowFrank, who admitted to himself that he had had enough sailing for awhile, was feeling rather limp and weary. He sat beneath the coaming, asfar as he could get out of the bitter wind. When at last he raised hishead to look about him, he saw nothing very cheerful in the prospectbefore him.
The light was dim, the low gray sky to windward looked hard andthreatening, and a long gray blur which he supposed to be land rose upindistinctly over the port hand. Ahead dingy, formless slopes of waterheaved themselves up slowly one after another in dreary succession. Theywere ridged and wrinkled here and there, and now and then a little wispof white appeared on one of them, for the long swell of the Pacific wasworking in. The breeze was very moderate as yet, and each time the sloopsluggishly swung up her bows and lurched over one of the undulationsher mainboom jerked and lifted amidst a harsh clatter of blocks, whilethe water inside her went swishing to and fro. The noise presentlyaroused Jake, who was sitting silently at the helm.
"One of you had better get her pumped out," he said. "You haven't doneit since we started, and you won't find it easy by and by."
"It doesn't look nice up yonder," said Harry, glancing windward.
"It's either blowing hard in the Pacific or going to do it, and we'llget it presently. I'd be better pleased if we were nearer that inlet.It's eight or nine miles off, and the wind's dead ahead."
"The dope men would rather have a black, wild night, wouldn't they?"suggested Frank.
"They're going to be gratified," Harry answered significantly.
Frank, glad to do something to warm himself, set to work at the littlerotary pump, and a stream of water splashed and spread about the deck,which slanted and straightened irregularly. He was still busy when Jakecalled to him.
"You can let up and get that jib off her. Strip it right off the stay.We're not going to have any use for a sail of that kind. Get out thesmall one, Harry."
"There's no wind to speak of yet," Harry protested.
"Well," said Jake grimly, "you'll have plenty before you're through."
Harry dragged up the small sail, and when Frank had lowered the largerone they proceeded to strip it off the stay. It took them some littletime, but Frank, glancing at the slowly heaving, lead
en water, fanciedthat there was no need for haste until as he and his companion bundledthe canvas off the deck Jake called to them.
"Up with that jib!" he ordered. "Get a hustle!"
They had the halliard in their hands, and the sail was half set, when itblew out suddenly and there was a sharp creaking. The sloop slantedover wildly and a curious humming, rippling sound broke out to windward.Glancing around a moment Frank saw that the swell was growing white, anda rush of cold wind nearly whipped his cap away. Then jamming his feetagainst a ledge with the deck sloping away beneath him he struggledfuriously to hoist the jib, while disjointed cries reached him from thehelmsman.
"Heave!" Jake roared. "I can do nothing with her until you have it set!"
They got the sail up somehow, though by the time they had finished thesloop's lee rail was in the sea, and then flung themselves upon themainsail. They were breathless with the effort before they had tied tworeefs in it, and Frank wondered at the change in their surroundings whenat length he sat down in the well.
The sea, which had run in long and almost smooth undulations before theybegan to reef, now splashed and seethed about the boat, and each bigslope of water was seamed with innumerable smaller ridges. Bitter spraywas flying thick in the air, water already sluiced about the deck, andit was disconcerting to recollect that they were still eight miles fromthe inlet. This would not have mattered so much had it not lain dead towindward, which meant that they must fight for every yard they made.
There was shelter to lee of them. They could put up the helm and run,but though they were wet through in a few minutes they braced themselvesfor the struggle, while the savage blast screamed about them and theominous sound Frank had noticed--the splash of waves that curled andbroke--came more loudly out of the gathering gloom ahead. Though hisphysical nature shrank from the task before him Frank would not havechosen to go back. It was a big thing they were taking a hand in, theclimax which all their previous adventures had led up to, and herecognized that they must see it through at any cost.
At last he was playing a man's part, acting in close cooeperation withthe Government of his country, and Mr. Barclay, who had elaborated thescheme with infinite patience and foresight, counted upon him and hiscomrade. That they should fail him now was out of the question, butFrank was glad that Jake sat at the tiller. Harry was quick and daring,but he was young, and in this fight there was urgent need for theinstinctive skill which comes from long experience. The helmsman'sstolidness was more reassuring. He gazed up to windward, gripping thetiller, with the spray upon his rugged face, ready for whatever actionmight be necessary. Loud talking and an assertive manner were of noservice here; what was wanted was raw human valor and steadfast nerve.It was fortunate that Jake, who was tranquil and good-humored, possessedboth.
Darkness shut down on them suddenly as they thrashed her out to westwardfull and by, lurching with flooded decks over the charging seas. Theirwhitened tops broke over her, her canvas ran water, and every otherminute she plunged into a comber with buried bows. The combers, growingrapidly higher, broke more angrily, and her progress changed into aseries of jerks and plunges, which at times threatened to shake thespars out of her. Frank could see the black mainsail peak above himswinging madly up and down, and it seemed at times that half her lengthwas out of the water, which was not improbably the case, for the foamupon her hove-up deck poured aft in cascades over the low coaming andsplashed about their feet. By and by, for she was shallow-bodied likemost centerboard craft, it began to gather in a pool which washed to andfro across the floorings in her lee bilge, and at a shout from Jake hestarted the pump. It needed no priming, for as soon as he unscrewed thecovering plate the sea ran down, and there was now nothing to show whatwater it flung out, because half the lee deck was buried in a rush ofgurgling foam and the combers' tops broke continuously over the bows.
Still, the work roused and warmed him, and he toiled on, battered andalmost blinded by flying brine, while he wondered how long the boatwould stand the pressure of her largely reduced sail. He did not thinkthey could tie another reef in, because it seemed certain that somethingmust burst or break the moment a rope was started. Besides, even had itbeen possible, reefing was out of the question. Their harbor lay toweather, and a boat will not sail to windward in a vicious breeze unlessshe is driven at a speed which is greater than the resistance of theopposing seas.
They thrashed her out for two anxious hours, since it appeared doubtfulthat she would come round and a failure to stay her would be perilous inthe extreme, but at last Jake called to the boys.
"We've got to do it somehow," he said. "Stand by your lee jibsheet andtail on to the mainsheet the moment you let it run. Hold on till I tellyou. We'll wait for a smooth."
A smooth, as it is termed by courtesy, is the interval that now and thenfollows the onslaught of several unusually heavy seas, and at length asthe boat swung up with a little less water upon her deck Jake seemedsatisfied.
"Now! Helm's a-lee!" he shouted.
They let the jib fly, and jumping for the mainsheet hauled with alltheir might, while Jake helped them with one hand as the boat came up tothe wind. Then as a comber fell upon her they sprang back to thejibsheet and hauled upon it, while the spray flew all over them. Itstruck Frank that if the boat did not come round there would veryspeedily be an end of her. While he watched, holding his breath, thebows swung around a little farther, and working in frantic haste theylet the sheet fly and made fast the opposite one, which was now to lee.She forged ahead on the other tack--and the most imminent peril waspast.
It was two hours later when they raised the land again, and though oneor the other of them had pumped continuously the water was splashinghigh about their feet. Jake had, however, made a good shot of it, for herecognized a ridge of higher ground marked upon the chart, and theydrove in toward it, battered, swept, and streaming. Frank felt strangelylimp when at length they ran into smoother water, and Jake made onesignificant remark.
"We're through," he said, "but if we'd had to make another tack it wouldhave finished her."
The black land grew higher until they could make out masses of shadowypines, and eventually dropping the jib and peak they ran her in behind apoint with very thankful hearts and let go the anchor. Half of theirtask was finished, and they could take their ease until morning broke.