CHAPTER IX
JACK PLAYS WITH A VOLCANO
After something more than an hour's drive the Jehu pulled his horses up,got down from the box and opened one of the doors.
"Here you are, young gents. This is the spot where I put the last faredown. An' now you know as much about her whereabouts as I do."
The district into which the submarine boys had come was well outside ofthe city, and in a different direction from Craven's Bay and the Fort.
It was bleak and wild here. Even the shanties of the three littlevillages, with their fish-sheds, their racks with nets spread, therickety wharves--all looked dismal. It seemed as though here must beone of the spots where only a scanty living is earned and only by thehardest kind of work.
"Well, we're much obliged to you, driver, and here's the money promisedto you."
"Obliged to you, gents. Will you want to be going back with me?"
"No," Captain Jack answered. "I reckon we're going to be moored herefor a while."
"Now, whereaway? What's the course?" demanded Eph Somers.
Benson glanced at his watch, then up at the sun.
"It'll be dark in about an hour and half," he muttered. "Why not waituntil dark? We can't have been seen from any of the villages yet.Looking out over the water you don't see a craft of any sort headedaway from here. From this point, looking down, we can see if any of theboats in port get ready to put out. So Millard, if he hasn't alreadyescaped, can't get away by sea without our knowing it. If he tries toget away by land, we're right where we can see him coming."
"Then you think we'd better wait here, keeping out of sight, untildark?" asked Hal.
"Most decidedly. Don't you?"
"Yes," nodded Hal.
"But it'll be a mighty tedious wait," growled Eph, the impatient one.
"Well, youngster, we're not here to consult our own comfort," retortedCaptain Jack. "There's something higher to consult--the best interestsof our country."
"Oh, if you put it that way!" grumbled Eph, much mollified.
The submarine boys had stepped into a little hollow, just off the road,and barely below a rise in the ground. There were trees and bushesabout to aid them in concealing themselves. If they saw anyone comingtheir way they could easily find better hiding.
No one came, however. Dark found the boys desperately hungry.
"Of course we didn't think to bring anything to eat," uttered Eph,disgustedly. "What are we going to do about it?"
"We've got to each of us take a village, presently, enter it and search,"replied Captain Jack. "With only one of us to each village, it will betough luck if each one can't find some one who has enough food to sella little of it."
"How soon are we going to start?" asked Eph, hopefully.
"Well, supper time will be the best time to go through the villages,"decided the young submarine skipper "If Millard has taken refuge withanyone who lives in one of these villages, he'll be more likely to showhimself at supper time than at any other."
"It won't take long to look into each of the houses," muttered Hal."There aren't many in any one of the villages."
"If we don't espy our man at table," Captain Jack went on, "we'll haveto try other means of finding him out. You two will know what to dowhen you're on the ground. If Millard is anywhere in the village thatyou go to look through, don't fail to find him--that's all."
Jack chose, for himself, the northernmost village. Hal took the nextone, and Eph the southernmost.
"Now, remember, fellows," breathed Benson, sharply, as they parted,"the one great thing is not to fail!"
The night was dark and the sky overcast as the submarine boys parted togo their several ways.
"I think I can understand how Eph feels about his stomach," grimacedJack, as he strode along. "I don't believe I'd balk, just now, at theplainest food ever cooked. Why, I haven't eaten since this morning!"
The evening being rather warm, most of the houses, as Jack neared thevillage, proved to have open windows. Lights shone, and the fishermenand their families could be seen at table.
No one appeared in the street, at first. Jack strolled down theprincipal street, looking into each house without much difficulty. Yetthe one face that he sought was not visible.
Down at the further end of the street Benson came upon atumble-down-looking grocery store.
"What kind of sandwiches can you put me up?" queried the submarineboy, casually.
"Stranger, eh?" asked the man behind the counter, staring curiously.
"Yes; haven't you had any other strangers here lately?"
"Not as I knows on," replied the man, a shaggy, unkempt-looking fellowof forty.
"None here to-day, eh?" asked Jack, taking out a half-dollar and toyingwith it on the counter.
"Don't remember anybody very special," replied the storekeeper.
"You haven't answered me about the kinds of sandwiches you can put up,"Jack reminded him.
"Not very fancy in that line, young feller. Cheese, or sardines;that's all."
"Give me three of each, then," begged Jack. He seized the first sandwichthat was prepared and began to eat it.
"Hungry, eh!" asked the storekeeper.
"Yes," Jack admitted; "for want of anything better to do."
"Foller the sea, don't ye?"
"Depends," muttered Jack, his mouth half full of sandwich. "When I'mgoing before a brisk fair wind, sometimes the sea follows me."
"'Spose so," grinned the storekeeper, passing over the second sandwich.After that, the fellow got in slightly ahead of the submarine boy'sappetite, though Benson finished the whole meal in a few minutes.
"Now, if you've got a bottle of soda water, to wash that all down with,"hinted Benson. It was forthcoming, also a smoky-looking glass.
"So you haven't had any strangers here lately," hinted Captain Jack.
"Nope."
"Any craft been fitting out to sail to-night or first thing in themorning?"
"Nope."
"Gracious, but this is a dead place," laughed Jack. "Must be a lot ofshacks for rent around here?"
"There was one place," stated the storekeeper, "but a dude feller hiredit last week. Said some sort o' fishing club'd be down this way tofish, once in a while. That kinder minds me," went on the storekeeper."I guess maybe some o' that crowd are down, 'cause I saw a light upthere at the house, jest come dark."
"If there's a fishing club down here, that ought to make business goodfor you," suggested Captain Jack.
"Dunno. They can start tradin' as soon as they like. I'm ready."
"Which house has the fishing club hired?" was Jack's next question.
"Why, I guess you can make it out from the door," replied thestorekeeper, coming out from behind the counter and going to the frontof his establishment. "There, if yer eyes are good, you can jest makeout a building over there on the point. See it? Well, there's a littleboat wharf in front that ye can't see until you get closer."
Jack had found out just what he wanted to know. He had the veryinformation for which he had been fishing, nor did he believe thestorekeeper suspected him of undue curiosity.
"Well, I've got to be moving along, now I'm fed," announced young Benson."The yacht I belong to is some distance from here. Good night!"
Nor did Captain Jack linger in the village. Had anyone stood still inthat street and stared after Benson, he would have seen the boy vanishin the darkness.
Captain Jack, however, had not disappeared from the scene. He wasmerely shifting to the part of it that interested him most. Cautiouslyhe stole out along the further side of a ridge of land, toward therickety old house on the point.
"Not a sign of a light, now," breathed the submarine boy. "If Millardwas really there, I hope he hasn't had time to get away for good."
All was silent and dark about the old house, as Captain Jack stolecloser. At nearer range he made the circuit of the house, only tofind every window shuttered, and the place as dismal as the gr
ave.
"I'm afraid the game has escaped," muttered Benson, with a sinkingfeeling at his heart. "Yet he didn't escape, by sea or land, while wewere watching outside the village. And it was just at dark that thestorekeeper saw a light here. I wonder if it would be easy to--"
Right there Jack Benson's train of thought broke off. From the oppositeside of the house came a sound exactly like that of the opening andclosing of a door.
"Can that be our man coming out?" wondered Skipper Jack.
He started cautiously around the house, but soon drew back around thecorner of the building. Dropping to the ground, and lying flat, thesubmarine boy allowed only the top of his head to show as he peeped.
Glory! Jack knew, well enough, that tall figure striding off into thegloom. It was Millard, and under his left arm the fellow carried alarge package that might be a bulky portfolio well wrapped.
"He has his drawings--his maps of American fortifications and fortifiedharbors--the very stuff that we want to get!" throbbed the boy. "Andnow--we're going to get them!"
Keeping Millard's receding figure zealously in sight, Jack, crouchinglow, started after the long-legged one as soon as the distance betweenseemed sufficient to keep Millard from guessing at pursuit.
"Oh, how I wish Hal and Eph were here!" muttered Captain Jack, in keendisappointment.
"I need help on this!"
Within two minutes Millard had struck into a well-beaten path that lednorthward over succeeding ridges of laud. In a way, it was easierfollowing here, for there were occasional trees and clumps of bushesbehind which the young shadow could drop at need.
Two minutes in this path, and Jack Benson's heart gave another quickleap. Some one else was coming stealthily behind him. Jack dodgedaround a clump of bushes and waited.
"Hal!" breathed Jack, almost wild with joy, as the two chums claspedhands fervently for one brief instant. Then:
"See here, Hal, I've got to dart forward again, or Millard will be outof sight. But I'll tell you what--while I trail Millard, you concernyourself only with following me."
"Good enough," whispered Hastings, nodding. "Now, you start again!"
For just an instant Millard had disappeared. However, by moving forwardquickly, Benson was soon able to make out the quarry through thedarkness.
For some five minutes more the chase continued. Then, his long bodyrather sharply defined against the sky, Millard began the ascent of alow hill that ended in a cliff overlooking the broad ocean.
As Millard's course forward could end only in the sea, Jack now crouchedlow, stealing along a parallel course behind a low ridge of rock.
Then Millard suddenly stepped into a clump of tall bushes. Though hisgame was now out of sight, Jack did not lose his nerve, for he couldhear the fellow.
Spink! spank! clank! The noise came from a shovel, vigorously used.
"Not a hard one to guess," throbbed Captain Jack Benson, exultantly."He has brought his maps and his stolen records with him, and isburying them in this lonely spot until some other time when he'll feelsafe about coming back for them. Talk about luck! Why, Hal and I canpounce on this fellow, when he comes out over yonder, and, after we gethim, we can next dig up whatever it is that this foreign agent thinksis worth burying!"
Then, with a shade of curiosity, Benson added to himself:
"I don't know, yet, how it happened that Hal was on my trail. Therewasn't time for him to tell me."
Clank! clank! But after a while the noise of the shovel ceased for awhile. Captain Jack craned his neck eagerly, trying to pierce thedarkness of the night. He could make out nothing, though he heardsome one still moving inside the clump of bushes.
Then again the noise of the shovel on the dirt was heard.
"He's filling in, now, beyond a doubt," thought Captain Jack. "He isburying--what? The maps and records? Hiding them here that he maydig them up at some later date?"
Benson chuckled noiselessly.
"If that's Millard's game I reckon some one else will do some diggingover yonder before he pays this place a second visit!"
Ah, the noise had stopped, at last. Now, Millard came out of thethicket.
"He hasn't that bundle he brought up here!" throbbed Jack Benson. "Andhe isn't bringing a shovel out, either, so it must be hidden right handy.Great!"
Mr. Millard could depart, now, if he wanted. Jack trusted to his chum,prowling somewhere about, to have the good judgment to follow thelong-legged fellow away. As for Benson, he didn't mean to do anotherthing until he had found the shovel, and had determined just what hadbeen so carefully buried on this dark night!
So Jack watched, rather indifferently, as Millard slunk off into thedarkness. After three minutes or so had passed, Jack rose and ranstraight for the thicket.
There it was--new ground, that had just been turned over with a shovel.There was no mound, but the fresh earth showed just where to dig.
"Oh, this is as easy as making change for a blind man!" chuckled theyoung submarine skipper, rubbing his hands ecstatically.
What about the shovel? Jack turned to feel around in the darkness.Really, Millard couldn't be such a very clever fellow! Jack had nodifficulty in finding the shovel. Its handle was sticking out fromunder a mass of dead brush.
Jack Benson drew out the implement, brandishing it.
"Hal had the good sense to shadow that chap away," decided the youngskipper. "Otherwise, he'd have been here by this time. Goodhaul--rascal and records in the same night. For, if Hal goes onMillard's trail, then Millard is pretty sure to be a prisoner beforethe night is over. Oh, I wish Eph would turn up."
Then Jack took a good grip on the shovel. Clank! spink! spink!
Having been so recently moved, this dirt was easy to dig.
Yet, suddenly, there came a new note on the night air.
"Jack, O Jack!" sounded in Hal's frantic tones. "Quick!"
"Eh?" called Captain Benson. "What's the row? Come here and see what Ican show you!"
"No! You come here--quick!"
"That's queer," pondered Jack Benson, leaning on his shovel, trying tounderstand what it could all mean.
Then he heard, even at the distance, the sound of Hal Hastings panting,as though engaged in hard physical effort.
Again rose Hastings's frantic voice, though somewhat muffled in itssound.
"If you don't hustle, it will be too late!"
Jack dropped the shovel on the ground, wheeled, and ran down the slopeto where Hal's voice sounded.
"I'm coming, old fellow!" quivered the submarine skipper, starting torun.
Boom! A terrific explosion shook the ground. The air seemed full offlying fragments of rock.