XXI
TOM’S SCOUTING SCHEME
DURING breakfast the talk was, of course, about the smugglers andthe chances of capturing them. In the course of it the lieutenantmanifested some confusion or uncertainty of mind as to the exactposition of the smugglers’ rendezvous and of the approaches to it.
“Won’t you please clear that up a little for me?” he asked Larry, aftera vain attempt to clear it up for himself. “I don’t quite understand.Perhaps you can make it plain to my dullness.”
“Cal can do that better than any other member of our party,” Larryanswered. “He was all about there three or four years ago, while therest of us have been there only once. Besides, Cal has a nose forgeographical detail, and he observes everything and remembers it.Explain the thing, Cal.”
“After such an introduction,” Cal replied, smiling, “I fear I shall notbe able to live up to the character so generously attributed to me.Still, I think I can explain the thing; it is simple enough. May Ihave paper and a pencil?”
These were promptly furnished, and Cal made a hasty diagram.
“You see, Lieutenant, there is a little creek or estuary here. It isvery narrow, especially at the mouth, and it runs inland for only a fewmiles. I can’t find it on the chart. Probably it is too insignificantto be noted there. You observe that it runs in a tortuous course,‘slantwise’ to the shore, and keeping always within a comparativelyshort distance of the broad water, thus forming a sort of tongue ofland.
“A little further along the shore of the broader water is anotherlittle estuary or cove, only a few hundred yards in its total length,but that length extends toward the creek on the other side, so thatonly about half a mile or less of swamp and thicket separates the two.
“Right there, about midway between the two, those thieves have theirden. They can approach it in their boats from either side, coming upthe creek or entering the cove, and in either case landing within lessthan a quarter of a mile of their thicket-hidden rendezvous. As boththe creek and the smaller estuary make a sharp bend near their mouths,a boat slipping into either of them is at once lost to view. I wonderif I have made the geography clear?”
“Perfectly so, and I thank you. Our plan will be to send boats up boththe little waterways at once. Can we find their mouths, think you?”
“I can, and Tom knows both of them. He and I will be your pilots.”
“Thank you. But you know you may get shot in the mêlée and you areunder no sort of obligation to take that risk.”
“Oh, we want to see the fun,” said Tom. “We’ll be with you, you maydepend.”
“Is it your plan,” Larry asked after dinner that day, “to attack bydaylight?”
“I think we must make the descent as promptly as possible. So I intendto make it to-day, as soon as we get to that neighborhood.”
Larry made no reply and the officer observed the fact.
“What is it you have on your mind, Larry?” he asked. “Have you anysuggestion to offer?”
“No, I would not presume to do that. I was only thinking that in adaylight descent you might miss the game.”
“Go on, please. Tell me all you had in mind.”
“Well, for one thing, those rascals have a lookout tree from whichthey can see for miles in every direction. We used it for purposesof observation when we were there. It is true that they seem to visitit very seldom, but they might happen to climb it just in time to seethis cutter hovering around. In that case they would probably go intohiding somewhere. If not, they would at least keep a sharp lookout foryour boats. If you kept entirely away from there until night you wouldprobably take them by surprise. But of course you know best.”
“I’m not so sure of that. What you suggest is a matter to beconsidered. But I’m afraid to wait until night lest in the meantime therascals leave the place.”
“That is possible,” said Cal, joining in the conversation for the firsttime, “but it seems to me exceedingly unlikely.”
“Why so, Cal?”
“Well, we’ve pretty closely observed those gentry, and they seem to meof that variety that does most of its comings and goings under coverof darkness. If they were in their camp this morning they are prettysure to remain there until to-night. There is another point that Larrydidn’t suggest. If you attack the camp in daylight the ruffians caneasily save themselves by scattering and making their escape throughthe well-nigh impenetrable swamp. They would have the advantage overyour men in that, as of course they know every little blind trail andcould avoid tangles in which your men would become hopelessly involved.”
“But wouldn’t they be at still greater advantage in a night attack?”
“I think not. They will probably get blind drunk by night, for onething. They’re apt to sleep profoundly. We can land without being seen,and once ashore, we can creep clear up to their lair without alarmingthem. Then we’ll be on them with our boot heels as it were.”
“Why do you think they won’t be on the alert at night, with pickets outand all that?”
“Because we’ve experimented,” answered Cal. “We’ve crept up to the veryedge of their camp and watched them there by the hour. Tom here evenentered one of the hovels where they bestow the smuggled goods.”
The officer was much impressed with these suggestions. He meditated fora while, and then exclaimed:
“If I could only know whether they are still there or not! I’d give tendollars to know that!”
“You can get the job done for less, Lieutenant,” said Tom, who wasalways eager for perilous adventure and almost insanely reckless in hispursuit of it. “If you’ll bring the cutter to anchor somewhere aroundhere and let me go ashore, I’ll find out all about it and not chargeyou a cent either.”
“What’s your plan?”
“It isn’t much of a plan. It is only to go to the smugglers’ den, seeif they are there, and then come back and tell you.”
“But—”
“Oh, it’s easy enough. The smugglers can’t see the cutter so long asshe’s in this bay, even if they climb to the top of their lookout tree.I’m sure of that, because I’ve tried to see the bay from there andcouldn’t, although I knew just where it lay.”
At this point the lieutenant interrupted:
“Pardon me a moment. I’ll bring her to anchor.”
Before he returned to the company a minute or so later, the enginesstopped, and as he sat down the boys heard the chains rattle as theanchor was cast overboard.
“Now go ahead, please, and tell me all about your plan,” the officersaid with eager interest.
“Well, it isn’t more than three or four miles, I should say, from thispoint to the mouth of our creek, and the tide is with me all the way.If you’ll set our dory in the water and Cal will go with me to helprow—”
“We’ll all four go, of course,” said Larry.
“In that case, we can put ourselves back at our old camp in about anhour with such a tide as this to help us. When we land there I’ll go atonce to the lookout tree, climb to the very top of it and see what isgoing on. Then, if there’s anything more to be found out, I’ll creepdown to the neighborhood of the rascals’ place and take a closer look.When the dory gets back here I can tell you all you want to know.”
“Excellent!” exclaimed the officer. “Only, instead of having you boysrow the dory all that way, I’ll have you taken to the place you want toreach in a ship’s boat.”
“They might see that,” objected Tom, “and take the alarm, while if theysee the dory returning to her old anchorage they’ll think nothing aboutit. Besides, we don’t mind a little rowing. The tide’s with us going,and if necessary, we can stay up there in the creek till it turns andis ready to help us come back.”
“There won’t be any waiting,” said Cal. “It’ll turn just about the timewe get there—or even before that if we don’t get away from here prettyquick.”
“Very well,” said the lieutenant. “The plan is yours, Tom, and youshall have your own way in carrying it o
ut.”
A hurried order from the commanding officer, a little well-directedscurrying on the part of the seamen, and the _Hunkydory_ lay alongside,ready for her crew to drop from a rope ladder into her.
They nimbly did so, and as they bent to their oars they passed around apoint and out of sight of the cutter.