CHAPTER XI
"BEST LAID PLANS"
"How fast do you imagine this boat is going, Mr. Temple?"
Jack asked the question at the breakfast table next morning. None of thefour were seasick. At their homes on the far end of Long Island theymaintained a speed boat. Bob and Frank, in addition, owned an airplane.All, as a consequence, were long since seasoned to the pitch and toss towhich they were now subjected.
Breakfast had been served in the salon by several Chinamen under the eyeof Matt Murphy. The room, as well as their cabins, they saw had beenrefitted luxuriously. The quarters were considerably larger than onewould expect to find aboard a trawler, and the furnishings were those ofa wealthy sportsman's yacht. In addition to the two cabins opening fromone side of the salon and which they occupied, two others were similarlylocated opposite. One was occupied by Matt Murphy who, apparently, wascaptain of the vessel, and the other by "Black George."
"Oh, I don't know," said Mr. Temple in answer to Jack's question. "But aboat such as this is not built for speed. Its especial quality isstaunchness."
"Well, but how fast do you imagine it is going?"
"About eight knots an hour or thereabouts," said Mr. Temple,considering. "That would be nine to ten miles. A nautical mile, or knot,you know, is between one and one-sixth and one and one-seventh landmiles. But, why, Jack? What have you in mind?"
Jack glanced at "Black George's" door. It was closed. The other, heknew, lay there helpless to move, under care of a man whom they had notyet seen. So much had been gathered from Matt Murphy. The latter haddisappeared above deck. Leaning closer, Jack lowered his voice.Instinctively, to hear him better, all put their heads together.
"It was midnight when we came aboard," said Jack. "It is ten in themorning now. That means we have been at sea ten hours. We have gone onehundred miles, if you are correct about our speed. Now we are headingsouth. Our cabins are on the port side and the sun from the east is inour portholes.
"Do you know what?" He leaned closer.
"What?" asked Frank.
"I believe we are heading for the smugglers' cove. And that's in thesouth somewhere."
The others nodded.
"Well," continued Jack, "I've been thinking this over. San Diego isabout six hundred miles south of San Francisco, isn't it, Mr. Temple?"
"Roughly that. Go on. What have you in mind?"
"Just this. The smugglers' cove is either above or below San Diego, saidInspector Burton, and not far from it in either direction. We shallreach San Diego in forty-eight hours more, at this rate, or about thistime day after tomorrow. If the cove is this side of it, probably wewould make it tomorrow night. If it is below San Diego, probably wewould reach there the following night.
"Now, hold your horses, Frank," Jack interrupted, good-naturedly, as hesaw Frank growing impatient. "I'm coming to the point.
"What I have in mind is simply this: With 'Black George' _hors decombat_, and Matt Murphy lukewarm, we may have a chance to seize theship before we reach the smugglers' headquarters. If we don't do itbefore landing, our chance to gain our freedom later will be slim. Andthe way I figured it out, we can't reach the smugglers' cove untiltomorrow night at the earliest, which gives us the best part of two daysin which to see what we can do."
Warm approval was voiced by Frank and Bob. Mr. Temple, however, spoke ofthe almost insuperable handicaps--their lack of any sort of weapons,their ignorance as to the numbers or composition of the crew, or even asto the physical characteristics of the ship. He pointed out they hadbeen forbidden to go above deck and, consequently, would know nothingbeforehand of their field of battle.
"I agree with you, boys, of course," he added, in conclusion, "that, ifwe can seize the ship, we must do so. But it is one thing to conceive anidea, and a far more difficult matter to work out the details. However,let us go into my cabin and leave the door open into the salon. There wecan discuss the situation from every angle with less fear of discovery."
"There is one thing I haven't mentioned yet," said Jack. "I've been soexcited that it slipped my mind this morning. That is, I have a radioreceiving set that may come in handy."
"Yes. That ring set which Inventor Bender showed us. I persuaded him tosell it to me, you remember?"
The boys nodded.
"Well, when we went out sightseeing last night, I wore it on my lefthand, and there it still is." And Jack held up the device forinspection. "The inventor said it had a receiving radius of ten miles.It may mean a lot to us before we see the end of this adventure."
The ring-radio of Inventor Bender is worthy of more extended mentionand, inasmuch as later it was to play a noteworthy part in theadventures of the boys, perhaps it would be well to describe it at thistime.
In the first place, Inventor Bender's ring-radio was not, strictlyspeaking, his own invention, but rather an adaptation of a similardevice earlier invented by Alfred G. Rinehart, a young radio wizard ofElizabeth, N. J.
The young inventor had not patented his device, but to an interviewerrepresenting The Radio Globe of New York he had given a sketchydescription of its operations, suppressing details. This had come toInventor Bender's attention. With no desire to steal another's idea, butmerely for his own amusement, he had taken up the matter and devised hisown ring-radio, and this it was which he had sold to Jack.
The head phones and connecting wires from the ring to the phones and toaerial and ground were intact in his traveling bag, Jack already hadascertained. Whoever had searched the bag for possible concealed weaponshad not considered it important to take them.
"Even my umbrella is strapped to my bag," said Jack. "You rememberInventor Bender said I could connect a lead to the metal stem of theumbrella for aerial and stick a screwdriver into the earth for my groundconnection. Of course, there is no earth here, but salt water will doeven better."
The ring of this set was the coil, slender, only slightly more than aneighth of an inch in diameter, and encircling the finger. The mountingcomprised the controls and measured only 1 x 1-2 x 7-16 of an inch.These measurements included the brightly polished bakelite panel onwhich were mounted a diminutive crystal detector and small switchcontrol connected with the coil by nine taps, permitting of ninedifferent tuning adjustments by means of a movable band makingconnections in the heads of nine tiny brass studs set in the panel inthe form of a semicircle. The whole was no larger than many ornaterings, and resembled one in appearance.
"Mr. Bender said it would receive on wave lengths up to and including550 meters," Jack explained. "This trawler undoubtedly has radio. Infact, I saw the aerial when we came aboard. Probably, sooner or later,it will open communication with the radio at the smugglers' cove, and wecan hear it."
"But any conversation would be in code," protested Frank. "Besides, theymight use a very high meter wave length, and your set would be unable toreceive."
Jack looked thoughtful.
"I've considered that," he said. "Naturally. Nevertheless, I have thefeeling that this little radio ring will be mighty handy, indeed."
Meanwhile, the party had adopted Mr. Temple's suggestion and retired tohis cabin. The conversation now was directed by the older man into aconsideration of the possibilities. If they were to make an attempt tocapture the ship, he declared, it was vitally necessary to their plansto know something of the composition of the crew and the physical aspectof the vessel itself.
Frank, Mr. Temple believed, seemed to have won Matt Murphy's regard tosome extent by his breezy manner. To him, therefore, was delegated thedelicate task of sounding Murphy in an effort to learn how strongly hewas attached to "Black George."
"Be careful, however, not to give him any indication of what we have inmind," warned Mr. Temple. "If you report that you saw any sign inMurphy's words or manner that we could construe favorably, why then,I'll have a talk with the man if possible."
It was Mr. Temple's thought that he might appeal to the cupidity of MattMurphy by the offer of a substantial reward and to his fear by lettinghim k
now how close upon his leader's trail were the officers of thegovernment.
Like many well-laid plans, however, this was to come to naught. All thatday the barometer acted queerly and Matt Murphy kept the deck. And atnightfall, after a growing mugginess that made it almost unbearably hotbelow deck, the sky which had been growing steely, as they could seefrom their cabin portholes, became entirely overcast. Soon the entirepatch of sky visible from the portholes was black as ink, and had it notbeen for the switching on of the lights by a Chinese attendant sent downby Matt Murphy it would have been similarly black in the cabin.
"Isn't a storm in this part of the ocean at this time of year unusual,Dad?" asked Bob. "I understood never a storm occurred along theCalifornia Coast between June and late September."
"Yes, Bob, it is unusual," answered his father, occupied in reading asea story which he had found on a shelf of books in the salon. "Listen.What's that?"