CHAPTER X
RADIO TO THE RESCUE
As the sun dipped towards, the mountains to the west and the boys didnot return, Mr. Pauling became worried.
"I was a fool to permit them to go off alone," he declared to Mr.Henderson. "Even with a compass they might go astray in the swamp.Boys are always careless and they do not realize the danger of gettinglost."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry yet," replied the other. "They have their radiosets along and would call us if they had any difficulties. Bancrofthas been listening for the past hour and nothing's come in."
"Yes, I know," rejoined Tom's father, "but if they don't turn up soonI shall start after them."
Rawlins, who had returned from his scouting trip and had reported thathe had been unsuccessful in seeing a sign of smoke across the bay, nowapproached.
"I hardly think they're in trouble," he said, "I I'd suggest callingthem before starting a search, provided they don't arrive. They canhear much farther than they can send and I don't believe our messagescould be heard by the gang in the sub. We've been several miles aroundthe bay and know those rascals are not near."
"Yes, we can do that," agreed Mr. Pauling. "Even if they should hear,it is of little consequence in comparison with getting word to theboys. I'm about ready to abandon the attempt to locate the men anyway.Our information is too indefinite to rely upon."
As time slipped by and still there was no sign of the missing boys andno word came by radio, Mr. Pauling became terribly worried and evenRawlins' optimism became shaken.
Finally, as the afternoon shadows lengthened, Tom's father could standit no longer and he told Bancroft to call their names and see if hecould get in touch with them. But when, after fifteen minutes, theoperator reported that no response had been received Mr. Pauling grewfrantic.
"Something's happened," he declared. "They've either gone too far tohear or to reply or they've been drowned or have met with someaccident. We must set out on a search at once."
Accordingly, the boat was manned, a radio set was placed in it and Mr.Pauling, Rawlins and Bancroft embarked, leaving Mr. Henderson, who wasthe only remaining member of the party who understood radio, in chargeof the submarine. Sam also went along, for, as Rawlins explained, hehad eyes like a cat and at Mr. Henderson's suggestion Smernoff wasincluded.
"You may hear those rascals talking," he said, "and if you do you'llneed him."
Rawlins remembered hearing the boys speak of the island they wished toexplore and knew more or less the direction they had gone. It was noeasy matter to find an island in the swamp largely by guesswork, butluck favored and just before dark they sighted the higher trees andfirm land of the island where the boys had lunched. Callingfrequently, both by voice and by radio, the searching party pulledaround the island and came to the beach. Something white upon the sandattracted Rawlins' attention and landing they found the paperwrappings of the boys' lunch.
"They stopped here to eat," announced the diver. "Now the question isin which direction they went. They might have gone up any one of thesecreeks or they might have started for the mainland. It's allguesswork."
It was now dusk and the swamp was black with impenetrable shadows, butas they circled around the swamp in vague hopes of finding some clueor of hearing the boys by the radio instruments, Sam's sharp eyescaught sight of a bunch of water plants.
"Tha' boat parsed by here, Chief," he announced, pointing to thebruised and bent stems. "Ah'm sure of that, Chief."
Rawlins examined the plants carefully. "Yes, either their boat or someother," he agreed. "We'll follow up this channel."
By the time they reached the open lagoon it was pitch dark and theironly hope lay in getting in touch with the boys by radio.
"If we don't look out we'll get lost ourselves," announced Rawlins."You watch the compass, Quartermaster, and keep track of our courseand the bearings."
"Aye, aye, Sir," replied the old sailor, and once more the boatproceeded through the black swamp, Rawlins peering ahead andoccasionally shouting, Bancroft constantly speaking into theinstruments and listening at the receivers and Mr. Pauling, nearly madwith worry, fears and regrets.
For hour after hour they continued, following waterway after waterway,traversing lagoon after lagoon, forcing their way through the denseswamps to the mainland of the island and even emerging on the broadcalm bay.
"If they're lost and unable to get back they'll probably camp," saidRawlins. "They have matches and can make a fire. In fact they've senseenough to think of making a fire for a signal. I believe it will be agood plan to go ashore; I'll ascend a hill, and Sam can climb a treeand look about. If there's a fire anywhere in sight we should see it."
All agreed this was a good plan and accordingly the boat was headedtowards the nearest point and at last grated upon the rocks. With Sam,Rawlins pushed into the brush, stumbling over roots, bumping intotrees in the darkness, barking shins and tearing clothes, butsteadfastly clambering up the steep slope until they reached thesummit. Selecting a tall palm, Sam proceeded to "walk" up the trunk inthe native Indian fashion and soon reached the huge leafy top.
Straddling the base of an immense frond, he slowly and carefully sweptthe horizon with his eyes. From his lofty perch, nearly one hundredfeet above the earth and fully two hundred feet above the water, theentire swamp, the numerous lagoons and even the broad bay lay spreadbefore him like a map. Although the moon would not rise untilmidnight, yet the sky was bright with myriads of stars which cast afaint glow upon the water and served to distinguish; it from thedarker masses of mangroves and land. At first he could see nothingthat resembled the glow of a fire, but after several minutes his eyesdetected a faint light among the trees several miles away andapparently on the mainland across the bay.
As he watched, the spot grew brighter, it took on a pinkish tint andseemed to spread, until at last, it was a distinct ruddy light whichhe knew beyond the shadow of a doubt was a fire. Carefully takingbearings by the stars and the dark masses of the swamp, he slid to theground.
"Tha's a fire yonder, Chief," he announced. "Ah' seed it plain an'clear, an' it's just started, Chief. Ah seed it fla'in' up an'a-makin' brighter all the time. Ah reckon tha' young gentlemens 'sa-makin' it fo' a signal, Chief."
"That's blamed good news!" exclaimed Rawlins. "You say it's over onthe other side of the bay and you've got its bearings. All right,we'll get over there, but how the deuce those kids got across the baywithout knowing it, stumps me."
Reaching the boat, Rawlins reported their success and with allpossible speed the boat was pulled through the winding channels of theswamp in the direction Sam indicated. But it is one thing to take asight and bearings from a tree top on a hillside and quite anothermatter to follow those bearings and directions through a mangroveswamp filled with twisting, devious channels. How Sam could manage tokeep the general course at all was little short of marvelous, but asthe boat turned bend after bend, doubled on its track, found its wayblocked and made detours, the Bahaman never missed his general senseof direction, and at last the searching party emerged from the swampand on the broad expanse of the bay.
Sam glanced about, squinted at the stars and indicated the course tofollow. As they rowed swiftly across the bay towards the oppositeshores, Rawlins spoke.
"Say!" he exclaimed. "It may not be the boys after all. I've beenpuzzling all along how they could get over there and I'm beginning tothink it's those chaps we're after and not the boys."
"Jove! you're right," cried Mr. Pauling, "and, good Lord! perhapsthey've found the boys and taken them prisoners! If the boys usedtheir radio to call us the others may have heard it and located them.What an addle-headed fool I've been to take such risks! No wonder wehaven't heard them or got them. Probably they're helpless--bound andgagged and those devils are chuckling to themselves as they hear ourcalls and are luring us into a trap."
"Well, if they've touched those kids I'll say there'll be somerough-house work when we step into that trap," declared Rawlins, "andthey'll find they've bi
tten off a darned sight bigger hunk than theycan swallow without choking. We've got arms, I slipped 'em in theboat, and we're no crew of tenderfeet. Sam's some little scrapper andthe quartermaster was champion middle-weight of the Atlantic squadron,old Smernoff's itching for a fight with those whiskered friends ofhis, and I guess you and Bancroft can take care of yourselves and I'mno quitter myself."
"Yes, yes, Rawlins," replied Mr. Pauling, "but you forget that if theyhave the boys they can protect themselves by threatening harm to Tomand Frank. They can make their own terms and they are ruthlessbeasts."
"Well, Mr. Pauling, don't let's cross our rivers till we get to 'em,"said the diver. "We don't know if the boys are prisoners yet. We'll goeasy and find out how the land lays first. Remember we can see theirfire and what's going on a long time before they can spot us. That'sthe worst of a fire. The other fellow can see you, but you can't seethe other fellow."
"Yes, but the great trouble is, if we call for the boys by radio we'llwarn our enemies instead," Mr. Pauling reminded him.
"If they _are_ prisoners it won't be any use hollering for them,"replied Rawlins sagely. "I guess the best plan is just to lie low,keep quiet and sneak in. If the boys are alone and it's their firewe'll find them just as well without calling and if it's the 'reds'fire and the boys are not there we'll spring a surprise."
A few minutes later the boat had gained the shelter of the treesbeyond the bay and, still guided by Sam's almost uncanny instinct orskill, they pushed into the nearest channel among the mangroves. Onthis side of the bay, however, there was much more open water; thetrees were more scattered, and, instead of being made up ofinnumerable creeks flowing through dense masses of mangroves, theswamp consisted of large lake-like expanses dotted and interrupted bynarrow belts and isolated clumps of trees.
They had proceeded for an hour or more and felt that they must beapproaching the spot where Sam had seen the fire when they noticedthat the darkness was less dense, that there was a subdued light uponthe water, and that the clumps of trees were sharper and clearer.
"Hanged if the moon isn't rising!" exclaimed Rawlins. "Crickey, itmust be near midnight."
Mr. Pauling looked at his watch. "It's after eleven," he announced."We've been searching for five hours."
"I'll say those kids are some little travelers!" declared Rawlins."They must have thought they were rowing for a bet to get clean overhere."
"Ah 'spec' tha' tide made to help them, Chief," remarked Sam. "Itmakes right strong an' po'ful up these creeks."
"Yep, that must have been it," agreed Rawlins. "Hadn't thought of itbefore, I'll bet they got caught in a strong current and couldn't pullagainst it. Hello! What the----"
Instantly the men stopped rowing. From far away, as if from the airitself, came a low throbbing vibration, a sound felt rather thanheard, and those in the boat stared at one another questioningly.
"Thunder!" suggested Mr. Pauling, in a low tone.
Rawlins shook his head. "Nix," he replied crisply. "Thunder doesn'tkeep up like that and it doesn't throb that way. Sounds to me morelike a ship's screw half out of water."
"Some bird then," suggested Mr. Pauling. "Bittern or owl, perhaps."
"I'll say it's _some_ bird--if 'tis a bird!" exclaimed Rawlins."What is it, Sam?"
The quartermaster spat into the water and before the Bahaman couldreply he remarked: "'Course 'taint possible, Sir; but if I wasa-hearin' o' that 'ere soun' an' was in the South Seas 'stead o' herein the West Injies--I'd say as how 'twas a tom-tom, Sir--you knowswhat I means, Sir--savage drum such as they uses for a-havin' of acannibal feast, Sir."
"Well we're not in the South Seas," returned Rawlins, "and therearen't any cannibals here. Say, what the devil's the matter with you,Sam?"
It was no wonder Rawlins asked. The Bahaman was staring open-mouthedacross the water, his eyes rolling, his face drawn and awful feardepicted upon his black features.
"Here, wake up! Seen a ghost?" cried Rawlins, shaking the negroroughly. Sam's jaws came together, he licked his dry lips and interror-striken, shaking tones murmured, "Voodoo!"
Something in his tones, in the way he pronounced the one word, sentshivers down his hearers' backs.
"Voodoo?" repeated Rawlins, recovering himself. "What in thunder areyou talking about?"
"Ah knows it!" replied the negro, in a hoarse whisper. "Tha's thedevil dance! Yaas, Sir, tha's Voodoo goin' on!"
"Well, I'll be sunk!" ejaculated the diver. "A Voodoo dance! By glory!I didn't think they had 'em over here. I've heard of 'em in Martiniqueand Haiti, but I never took much stock in the yarns. Are you sure,Sam?"
The cowering negro had sunk to his knees in the boat. All thelong-dormant superstition of his race, the soul-racking fear of theoccult and supernatural which was the heritage of his Africanancestors had been stirred into being by the throbbing pulsationsborne through the night, and he was an abject, terror-strickencreature.
Rawlins jerked him to athwart. "Brace up, you fool nigger!" hecommanded. "No one's hurting you yet! You're a blamed coward, Sam!What if 'tis Voodoo? What in thunder are you scared of?"
Slowly the negro came back to his senses; shaking like a leaf, sicklyashen with fright, he steadied himself. "Ah aint 'fraid," hestuttered, his tones belying his words. "Ah was jus' flustrated,Chief. But Ah don't mek to meddle with Voodoo, Chief. Better go back,Chief."
"You bet your boots we'll go back--not!" declared Rawlins. "I'd likeright well to see a Voodoo as you call it. And if there's any folksaround here--black or white, tame or savage, we're out to find 'em andhave a pow-wow with 'em. Maybe the boys saw their fire and made forit, and maybe the fire's nothing to do with the tom-tom, and morelikely than all it's not a devil dance at all but just those blamedBolsheviks having a vodka spree all on their own--celebrating theboys' capture or something. Come on, men, let's get a move on."
"Perhaps we'd better try to call the boys," suggested Mr. Pauling."Your hint that they may have seen the fire, or that they may haveheard the drum is reasonable, but they are cautious and might be near,hesitating to approach the fire or the sound. The noise of thatdrum--supposing it should be the 'reds' and not from a negrodance--would prevent others from hearing us."
"Sure, that's a good idea," agreed Rawlins. "Maybe they're near, rightnow."
As Rawlins spoke, Bancroft was adjusting his instruments and the nextinstant gave an exultant cry.
"I hear 'em!" he announced.
Then: "Tom! Frank!" he called into the microphone. "Can you hear me?It's Bancroft! We're near! We can hear a drum and are making for afire! Where are you? Can you see the fire or hear the noise?"
Faint and thin, but clearly distinguishable, now the throbbing rumbleof the drum had ceased, Bancroft heard Tom's voice.
"We hear!" it said. "Come quick! We don't know where we are, but we'rehere by the fire--we're prisoners--a lot of savages have us!"
Bancroft, in a strained voice, repeated the words.
"Good Lord!" cried Mr. Pauling, "they're captives of those crazydevil-worshipers."
"Attaboy!" yelled Rawlins. "Lift her, boys! Pull for your lives!"