At first their motive in so doing had been plain enough to Nat, or atleast he had thought it was. Now, however, he was by no means so certainthat the destruction or injury of the wireless was the sole object oftheir call. This striking off through the dark to the southerly point ofthe island was inexplicable to the boy, and as they made their wayalong, sometimes stumbling over rocks and clumps of beach-plum bushes,he confided his bewilderment to Joe.
“I wonder what all this means?” he said. “There’s nothing to the south,so far as I know, but some low cliffs and waste land.”
“I’ve no more idea than you have,” rejoined Joe, equally puzzled. “Onething is sure and certain, though, they are not out for a pleasantstroll.”
“No, they’ve got some definite object in view, and I’m inclined tobelieve that we don’t figure in it as prominently as we thought we did,”was Nat’s rejoinder.
They paced on in silence, always keeping the three figures in front ofthem in view, but creeping along as close to the ground as they couldand taking advantage of every bit of cover that offered.
“Say, Nat,” exclaimed Joe after a while, “it’s my belief that they aremaking for those old ruins!”
“You mean the remains of that mission that the early missionaries fromSpain built here?” asked Nat, referring to a jumbled pile of adobe ruinswhich were supposed to mark the site of one of the early religioushouses of California.
“That’s what. See, they’re striking off to the right.”
“That is the direction, sure enough, but what would they want there?”
“We can only find out by following them. Hullo, what are they doingnow?”
The group ahead had halted not far from the pile of debris and heaped-upstone and wood that marked the remains of the monks’ establishment.
One of them stooped low while the others shielded him from the wind.Then came a sputter of flame as a match was struck, and then the steadyglow of a lamp or lantern. With this means of illumination kindled, theparty that the boys were breathlessly trailing proceeded once more.
Suddenly Nat stopped short and seized Joe’s arm.
“The lamp, Joe, it’s gone!” he cried, pointing to the midst of the ruinswhere the lamp had been last seen.
Sure enough, the lantern had suddenly vanished, leaving the boys deeplymystified as to the cause of its sudden disappearance.
“They must have some hiding place among the ruins,” exclaimed Natexcitedly, “That is why old Israel was so mad about our being on theisland! What shall we do?”
“Follow them,” said Joe determinedly. “We’ve started on this thing,let’s see it through.”
They struck out toward the ruins at a half run. In their excitement,prudence was temporarily thrown to the winds. Soon they were stumblingand barking their shins amidst the ruinous pile. In the dark it wasalmost impossible to see their way. All at once Nat, who was in thelead, gave a sharp exclamation:
“Get back, Joe! Back, as quick as your legs will let you!”
CHAPTER XXVI.
DING-DONG’S CLUE.
Ding-dong Bell, released early from the, to him, irksome task ofstock-taking in his father’s store, was making the last adjustments onthe new shore wireless station which was to place him in communicationwith his chums on Goat Island. He hummed away at the work he loved, asbusy as a bee and as active as a squirrel. The new station was in thebackyard of his home and at some distance from the house, owing to Mrs.Bell’s nervous fears that it would attract lightning.
The boy had tried to explain to her that a properly grounded apparatuspresents no such danger, but the good lady would not be convinced; soDing-dong had been compelled to set up his instruments in an old toolshed, rather than in his own room as he had fondly hoped. He was nowrigging up a “wireless alarm-clock,” connecting it with his room so thatwhen anyone called him he could be summoned day or night.
He was stringing the wires for this when, from the road outside, camethe sharp “chug-chug-chug” of a motorcycle. It stopped at the back ofthe shed and a cheery voice hailed:
“Hello, Ding!”
“He-he-hello, yourself, Pepper,” cried Ding-dong, as, hurrying out ofthe shed at the summons, he came face to face with a lad of about hisown age whose head was thatched with a mop of brilliant red hair. He hadbeen nicknamed Red Pepper, shortened to Pepper, and his last name wasRodman.
The newcomer wore motor-cycling togs and was hatless. He had dismountedfrom a spick-and-span-looking two-cylindered machine which stood leaningagainst the fence.
“Come on in,” invited Ding-dong cordially.
“I wouldn’t mind a drink of ice-water,” responded Pepper. “I’ve justcome back from a long spin in the country and I’m mighty thirsty, I canassure you.”
“I’ll do bub-bub-better than ice-water,” promised Ding-dong hospitably;“how about some lemonade?”
“Oh, yum-yum,” exclaimed young Pepper joyously; “lead me to it.”
“In a jiffy. This way,” said Ding-dong, leading the way into the house,where he soon set before his guest a big glass pitcher full to the brimof the cold and refreshing drink. Pepper did full justice to it, tossingoff three glasses.
“My goodness, Pup-Pup-Pepper, but you must be as hot as yournu-nu-nickname,” exclaimed Ding-dong as he watched.
“Well, I was mighty dry, for a fact,” agreed Pepper, smacking his lips;“I feel a lot better now. I’ve ridden all the way in from beyondPowell’s Cove, and it’s a mighty dusty trip.”
“How’d you get that tut-tut-tear in your coat?” asked Ding-dong,regarding a rent in Pepper’s neat khaki motor-cycling coat.
“Why, that happened out at Powell’s Cove,” was the response. “I meant totell you about it. I was dry as an old crust out there, and I saw asmall ranch house standing quite a way back from the road. It was alonesome-looking sort of a place, but I judged I could get a drinkthere, so I chugged up to the door.
“It was open, and not seeing anyone about, I went in uninvited. From aroom in the back I heard voices, and so I walked in there, too. Therewere two men sitting at a table. One of them was explaining something tothe other, and they had on the table what looked to me like a model of atorpedo, or something of that sort.”
Ding-dong pricked up his ears.
“A mu-mu-model of a tut-tut——”
“Yes, of a torpedo. Then, too, there were a lot of plans.”
“Her-her-hold on!” cried Ding-dong, his words tripping all over eachother in his excitement. “Wer-wer-what did the men lul-lul-look like?”
Pepper looked rather astonished.
“How do you expect me to get on with my story if you keep butting in?”he asked in an aggrieved tone of voice.
“I’ve a per-per-particular reason,” cried Ding-dong.
“Well, one had a big black beard, an ugly-looking customer, and theother——”
But he got no further.
“Hokey!” yelled Ding-dong, while Pepper looked on in a rather alarmedway, as if he thought his young companion had gone suddenly insane;“it’s Minory for a bet! Minory, the fellow that swiped the wirelesstorpedo!”
“What, the one you told me about? That invention of the ProfessorWhat’s-his-name?”
“The same fellow,” cried Ding-dong. “What a shame the professor has goneEast! I’ll wire him at once.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to wait and see if you haven’t made a mistake?”asked Pepper soberly. “You know it might not be the same at all. Othermen than Minory have black whiskers. My pop has, for instance.”
“That’s so,” said Ding-dong in a chastened voice. “But go ahead, Pep,and tell me the rest.”
“All right, I’d have finished by this time if it hadn’t been for you,”said Pepper. “Well, the minute I appeared, both men jumped up and glaredat me as if I’d been a mountain lion or something. The black-beardedfellow made a run for me and shouted out to know what I wanted there. Itold them I was after a drink
of water, but the fellow grabbed me by thearm. I wrenched free, but I tore my coat in doing it. That was the rentyou saw.
“You can bet I lost no time in running for the door where I’d left mymotorcycle. The black-whiskered chap came after me, but the other oneheld him back.
“‘Don’t grab him, Miles,’ I heard him say. ‘He’s nothing but a fool kid.You’re so nervous I think you’d be suspicious of a cat’.”
“Mum-Mum-Miles!” shouted Ding-dong Bell. “That was Minory’s first name!Oh, Eureka! We’ve got him! But I beg your pardon, Pep; how did you getaway?”
“Well, they told me that if I ever said anything about them, they’d findme out and kill me,” went on Pepper, “and they looked fierce enough tocarry out their threat. One of them asked me if I’d seen anything on thetable, and of course I said ‘No.’ I guess if I’d admitted seeing thatmodel or anything, I’d have been there yet.”
“I don’t der-der-doubt that a ber-ber-bit,” agreed Ding-dong. “So afterthat they let you go?”
“Yes, and told me never to come near there again, and not to do anytalking if I valued my life. Of course that was just a bluff, but I madeout to be scared to death by it.”
“The wisest thing to do,” agreed Ding-dong, and then he began to speakearnestly and rapidly.
“Say, Pepper,” he said, losing as he often did in moments of stress hisimpediment of speech, “are you game to help me out on a big enterprise?”
“What do you mean?” asked the other.
“Just this. Your motorcycle will carry two, won’t it?”
“Yes, I’ve got an extension seat behind. I take my brother out on itonce in a while.”
“Will you ride me out to that ranch house while I reconnoiter?”
“When?”
“To-night.”
“Gee whiz, Ding, it’s a pretty risky thing to do, isn’t it?”
“I don’t think so. I’m not going into the house or anything. I just wantto prowl around and see what I can find out. Then if everything is O. K.and Minory’s there, I’ll notify the police and he can be arrested atonce.”
“That sounds reasonable,” admitted Pepper, “but say, Ding, don’t goputting your head into a hornet’s nest. I’ve heard you’ve got a kind ofhabit of doing that.”
“Who says so? I’m as careful as—as an old lady carrying eggs to market!”
“All right then, I’ll do it. I’ll be here at seven o’clock.”
“Good boy. I won’t be able to keep still till that time arrives.”
The boys ... fell in a heap down the steep steps.—_Page_264.]
CHAPTER XXVII.
A LONELY TRAIL.
The hours crept by with leaden feet for Ding-dong until the chugging ofPepper’s motorcycle was heard soon after supper. The young wirelessoperator had tried to communicate with Goat Island in the meantime, but,as we already know, had failed in his attempt. As a last resource,therefore, he had entrusted a message to the operator at Station O.
“All ready?” demanded Pepper, as he came dashing up.
“Been rur-rur-ready ever since you left,” declared Ding-dong; “let’s getoff as soon as possible.”
“All right, run along behind, and when I tell you to, swing into theseat,” ordered Pepper.
He started his motor with a whirr and a bang and the speedy machinedashed off down the street, with Ding-dong clinging on behind with allhis might. But he enjoyed the ride and waved to several of his youngacquaintances as the motorcycle sped through the town and then out uponthe country road.
“How far is it out there?” asked Ding-dong of Pepper, as they chuggedalong at a fast gait.
“Not more than ten or twelve miles, but it is in a lonesome canyon nearthe sea, and as the ground is very unproductive out that way, thereisn’t another ranch within miles. It makes a fine hiding place for a manlike you describe this fellow Minory to be.”
“Yes, I’ll ber-ber-bet he thought he could stay there for a year withoutbeing found out. It’s a lot less rer-rer-risky for him than toter-ter-try to take a train, for he knows all the depots and steamersare watched.”
“What puzzles me is how he came to take up his residence there. He’dhardly be likely to stumble on such a place by accident,” said Pepper,“especially as he is an Eastern product.”
“That’s all b-b-b-beyond me,” declared Ding-dong, “but I g-g-g-guessafter his arrest that will be straightened out.”
“Gracious, talk about counting chickens before they’re hatched! You’vegot the handcuffs on him already.”
“If it’s Mum-Mum-Minory he’ll be in safe hands before long,” declaredDing-dong stoutly.
“Well, don’t you go messing up in it,” implored the cautious Pepper.“From what I saw of those fellows this afternoon, they wouldn’t stop atmuch if they thought they were going to be betrayed to the authorities.”
“Oh, I’ll be c-c-c-careful,” promised Ding-dong.
The motorcycle began to hum along roads that grew wilder and lessinhabited. It was still twilight, and they could see lone ranchessetting back among dismal bare hills, with a few scrawny cattle or sheepgrazing behind apparently interminable stretches of barb-wire fences.
“Nice cheerful sort of country,” commented Pepper. “I don’t wonder yourfriend figured that nobody would come nosing around here unless they hadto.”
“But you rode out here this afternoon,” said Ding-dong; “go-g-g-g-goodthing you did, too.”
“That remains to be seen,” commented Pepper laconically.
It grew dark. They came to a cross-roads where stood the ruins of whatonce had been a store. But it had long since fallen into decay and stoodthere deserted and ruinous like the tombstone of past prosperity.
“Are we near there now?” asked Ding-dong.
“Yes, it’s about half a mile up this road and then quite a distance backfrom the sea-beach.”
“Then as we’re so close, you’d better shut down your machine. They mighthear it and be on the lookout.”
“That’s so. Get ready to dismount then. All right? Whoa!”
The motorcycle stopped and the boys jumped off. Pepper leaned hismachine up against the ruined store and prepared to follow Ding-dong andguide him. But the latter protested. There was no sense in Pepper’srunning the risk of being captured, he argued; and besides, if he(Ding-dong) got into trouble, it would be the better plan to have Pepperout of harm’s way so that he could go back and give the alarm.
Pepper was forced to agree to this logic, and it was decided that ifDing-dong didn’t return in an hour Pepper was to ride at full speed backto town and get help. The boys shook hands and parted, Pepper assuringDing-dong that he could not mistake the house, as there was only one inthat direction.
It would be idle to deny that Ding-dong felt a thrill that was notwholly excitement as he struck off down the dark road alone. To makematters worse, it began to drizzle and blow; the storm which had alreadystruck Goat Island was sweeping inland.
“Suppose this should all turn out to be a wild goose chase,” the boythought as he trudged along, “I’d look like a fine idiot. But somehow Idon’t think it will be. I’ve got a strong feeling that Minory’s jig isup at last. However, we’ll soon see.”
At length, to his right, and back from the road, he spied a solitarylight.
“I guess that is the place,” he thought with a sudden sensation oftightness in his throat as if his heart had just taken up quartersthere. To the boy there appeared something sinister, something like theevil glare of a one-eyed man in this solitary light in that lonely partof the country.
But Ding-dong didn’t hesitate long.
“I’ve got to take the bull by the horns if we ever want to get Minory byhis whiskers,” he said to himself, and struck into a narrow sort ofcow-track that appeared to lead toward the distant light. Behind him thesea moaned and crashed on the beach; ahead of him towered the solitaryhouse in the gloomy canyon.
It was a rough track, little more than a trail, that the boy had decidedto follow, but he found that it was steadily bringing him nearer to thelight. Once he almost turned heel and ran for his life, such was thetension on his nerves. Out of the darkness before him had loomedsuddenly a white face. It looked like a ghostly skull, and Ding-dong wasso startled that he almost cried out aloud. The next minute he got madwith himself, for with a “Whoof!” the “baldy” steer, for that was whatthe white-faced apparition was, turned and clattered off.
“Wow! I’m getting as nervous as a girl on graduation day,” saidDing-dong to himself. “Bother this rain! I’ll catch one thing sure outof this, and that’s a fine young cold.”
The light was quite close now, and he advanced more cautiously. At lasthe could see the outlines of the ranch house bulking blackly against theslope of the bare hillside beyond. Like a cat stalking a mouse,Ding-dong crept forward. His heart beat so loudly that it sounded to himlike the banging of a hammer against his ribs.
“Wish I could muffle it,” he said, in vain trying to compose his nerves.
It was a risky thing that the boy was doing, and one which a lot of menwould have hesitated at. He knew Minory’s character, and was pretty surethat the man who would harbor him could not be much better than hisguest. He might expect small mercy if he fell into their hands. Yet hewas doing what he deemed to be his duty, and that thought gave himcourage to proceed.