“Quick!” called Jerry. “Put us over there, Ned!”
“I will! Something has happened. I wonder—”
“Oh, why doesn’t the moon come out from behind that cloud,” exclaimed Rose, for she and the other girls were nervously afraid.
“Maybe they have both toppled over the cliff,” suggested Nellie.
“More likely only one of them did,” said Bob. “I only heard one cry. What’s the matter, Ned?”
“Something’s gone wrong with the engine.”
“Here, let me have a look,” called Jerry, and he went to the cockpit.
There was a lantern aboard, and, by the light of it, Jerry saw that one of the battery wires, leading to a spark plug, had become loosened, breaking the circuit, and preventing the gas from exploding in the cylinders. He soon had it fixed and the engine started, sending the boat toward shore.
By this time the moon was out again, flooding the scene with radiance. Eagerly the boys and girls looked toward the spot on the cliffs, where the odd scene had taken place. To their surprise they saw Mr. Blowitz standing there, and they were close enough to note that he was smoking a cigar.
“Well!” exclaimed Nellie, for that was all she could say, so great was her astonishment.
“Guess nothing happened after all,” added Ned. “We have had our fright for nothing.”
“There certainly was another man there,” declared Jerry, “and he’s gone now.”
“And I’m certain I heard a cry for help,” said Bob.
“We all heard a cry,” admitted Jerry, “but it might have been a call for a boatman, or something like that. However—”
He did not finish what he was going to say for, at that instant, Blowitz heard the noise of the approaching motor boat. The muffler. was not working just right, and the usually noiseless engine of the Ripper was making quite a fuss. Blowitz was in a listening attitude, standing in bold relief in the moonlight, and, having, apparently, satisfied himself as to where the boat was, he started to descend the cliff.
“He’s coming down,” said Ned.
“Is that the Ripper?” called Blowitz suddenly.
“Yes,” replied Jerry, wondering how the man knew.
“I thought I recognized her engine. Are you coming ashore? If you are, I’d like to speak to you.”
“We’re coming,” answered Ned.
“Don’t come too close then, for there are dangerous rocks. Make for that little point up there,” and the man pointed so that the boys could see where he meant. “There’s deep water right up to the edge. It’s a sort of natural dock, but go slow. I’ll meet you there, I want to tell you something.”
“Shall we ask him about the man?” inquired Bob in a low voice.
“No, don’t,” advised Nellie quickly. “It might make trouble. See what he has to say, and then let’s hurry home. I’m afraid of him.”
“What? With we three aboard?” asked Jerry with a little laugh. “We are complimented.”
“Oh, I don’t mean that,” Nellie hastened to say. “I mean that Mr. Blowitz is a dangerous man.”
She spoke low for she did not want him to hear her, and they were quite near to shore now.
Ned steered for the little point of land, and found he could send the boat quite close with no danger of hitting the rocks. Presently Blowitz, who had momentarily vanished amid the shadows at the foot of the cliff, appeared.
“Good evening, boys,” he said. “I—” he stopped suddenly, “I didn’t know you had young ladies aboard.”
“Yes, we have been taking a moonlight run,” Jerry explained. “We saw you up there on the cliff, and—”
“I was there with a friend of mine,” Blowitz spoke quickly. “We were talking about the derelict brig. I was to meet a sea captain there, but he did not come. My friend had to leave in a hurry, and just then I heard the noise made by your boat, so I called to you. Did you hear a call?”
“We heard some sort of a call,” spoke up Bob, “but we thought it was—”
“That was me,” interrupted Blowitz, “I recognized the Ripper by the peculiar sound of the exhaust. I have quite a trick of recognizing boats that way. I was afraid you’d get past, so I called. But I didn’t know you had the young ladies with you, or I would not have bothered you.”
“That’s all right,” said Jerry. “We were coming ashore anyhow.”
“You were? What for?” and Blowitz looked sharply at the boys. “Oh, I suppose you saw me and wanted to tell me you would accept my offer—but excuse me, perhaps the young ladies—”
“Oh, we have told them of it,” answered Ned. “You can speak before them.”
“All right then. I was going to say perhaps you came in after seeing me, to tell me you had accepted my offer and would search for the derelict. Is that it?”
“Well, we hadn’t quite decided,” replied Jerry.
“What! Not decided!” exclaimed Blowitz. “Why I want you to start at once—or—that is—to-morrow morning. I have just received news that makes it important that the search begin at once. I am depending on you. You will go at once, won’t you? Come, I’ll increase my offer,” he said. “I’ll pay you two thousand dollars for your time and trouble, stand all expenses, and, if you find the brig, and tow her in, I’ll give you three thousand dollars. That’s a fair offer. Now you can start to-morrow morning, can’t you, boys?”
“I don’t know,” began Jerry, slowly.
“Isn’t that money enough?” and Blowitz seemed much excited.
“Oh, yes, the offer is a very good one. But I think we should consult with some one—We—”
“No, there is no need of consulting with any one,” interrupted Blowitz. “I have the papers all made out. We can go before a notary-public to-night, for it is not late yet, and sign them, and you can start by to-morrow noon. What do you say? Will you go?”
It was a hard question to decide. The trip was alluring to the boys, even had there been no prize money connected with it. But there was something about Blowitz that made them hesitate. His very eagerness to have them start, almost at once, made them feel there was something queer back of it all. Still they had undertaken, before this, more difficult and risky tasks. Why not this one?
“Well, I must have your answer soon,” said Blowitz, approaching nearer to the boat.
“Will you wait just a moment?” asked Jerry. “My chums and I will go in the cabin and talk it over. We’ll let you know right away.”
“I’ll wait five minutes,” said the man. “Time is precious to me. I have lots to do. But I know you’ll go. I’ll raise the offer five hundred dollars. Now, that’s the best I can do. But you must start as soon as possible to-morrow.”
“Come in here,” called Jerry to his chums, entering the small cabin, where the three girls had already gone as they did not wish to seem to listen to the talk between Blowitz and the boys.
Jerry closed the sliding doors, and, by the light of a small lantern which hung from the cabin ceiling, looked at his companions. Outside they could hear Blowitz pacing up and down on the rocky shore.
“Well, what do you fellows say?” he asked.
“I’d like the trip,” said Ned, wistfully.
“The money is a large sum,” added Bob.
“Then you want to go?” asked Jerry. “I’ll do just what ever you do. I’ll tell him we’ll go.”
“No! Don’t!” cried Nellie in a tense whisper. “Jerry—boys—don’t have anything to do with this man. He may be all right, but there’s something mysterious about him. Why should he want to hire you when, for the same money, or less, he could get a company of fishermen, who know these waters well, to make the search? Take a girl’s reason, for once, and don’t have anything to do with him!”
She had risen to her feet, her eyes were flashing and her cheeks flushed with the excitement of the moment. The boys looked at her in admiration.
“I admit there is something queer in his offering to increase the prize money,” spoke Jerry, after a pause. “He must be very desperate.”
“And why this sudden rush?” inquired Ned. “This afternoon he was in no such hurry. Something must have occurred in the meanwhile—I wonder if it was the man on the cliff—”
“Now don’t let’s go to guessing at too much,” cautioned Jerry. “The question to be settled now is: Do you want to go on a search for the derelict brig? Yes or no? That’s what we’ve got to settle now.”
There was silence for a moment, broken only by the tick of the clock in the cabin. Involuntarily Nellie glanced at it. The hands pointed to the hour of nine, and she felt that she and her sisters should be home. Jerry looked at his two companions.
“I guess we’d better not go,” said Bob slowly.
“I hate to give it up, but maybe it will be for the best,” added Ned. “I’m suspicious of him. Tell him we’ll not go, Jerry.”
“Very well.”
Jerry stepped to the cabin door and slid it back. At the sound Blowitz came eagerly forward.
“Well?” he queried. “Are you going? Can you start at once’?”
“We have decided not to go,” replied Jerry, slowly. “I—that is my chums and I—do not feel just right about it. It is not our boat, and—”
He hesitated, for he did not want to give the main reasons that had influenced him and his chums. But Blowitz did not give him a chance to continue.
“Not go!” the man fairly cried. “Why I’m surprised at you! You led me to believe, all along, that you would go. Here I’ve gone and wasted a lot of time on you, gone to a lot of trouble, made all my arrangements, expecting you would go, and—”
“We never gave you any reason to think we would go,” declared Jerry very positively. “You are wrong, there, Mr. Blowitz. We only said we would consider it. We have done so, and have concluded not to go. I am sorry—”
“Sorry? You’ll be sorrier than this before I’m through with you!” threatened the man. “You’ll wish you had gone before very long, let me tell you. You’ve spoiled all my plans. I depended—Oh! I’ll get even with you for this!” and the man, in a fury threw his cigar down on the rocks, whence it bounded up amid a shower of sparks. “You’ll regret this!” he cried in angry tones, as he turned away and started off up the cliff, muttering to himself.
“You’ve made him mad,” said Bob.
“Can’t help it,” replied Jerry. “I’m glad we are not going to have anything to do with him. I believe he is a dangerous person. Certainly he had no right to talk about us as he did.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re not going!” exclaimed Nellie, as she and her sisters came out of the cabin. “I was afraid you would give in when he got so angry. But let’s get away from here. Somehow, I don’t like this place. Besides we should have been home some time ago. Papa may have returned, and we always try to be in before ten o’clock. We’ll hardly get home by that time now.”
“Yes, we will,” said Ned. “I’ll send the Ripper along at a good clip.”
He started the engine, and, as the boat swung out from beside the rock dock, the form of Blowitz could be seen going up the cliff in the moonlight. In less than an hour the boat was at San Felicity and the girls were put ashore. They found Ponto down at the dock to meet them.
“Massa Seabury done got worried after he got home,” said the colored man, “an’ he sent me to see if yo’ was heah.”
“Ponto,” asked Jerry, “do you think you can take the young ladies safely home, without falling asleep?”
“Suttinly I can,” Massa Jerry. “Fall asleep! I gess I doan’t fall asleep at night. I’se only sleepy when de sun shines, I is.”
“Then I guess you’ll do all right. See that they get home safe.”
“Why, aren’t you boys coming too?” asked Nellie, in some surprise.
“Not now,” replied Jerry.
“Why not?”
“I think we’ll go back to the foot of the cliffs and see if we can’t find the man to whom Blowitz was talking. I don’t like the way he acted, for that certainly was a cry for help, and there may have been foul play!”