University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XVII
NEWS OF THE BRIG

"OH!" exclaimed Rose, rather excitedly, "take us off please! Our boat is sinking!"

"No, it isn't," declared Jerry. "We're all right only we're aground. Can't get off until high tide I suppose."

"Then perhaps I had better take the young ladies ashore," proposed Mr. Blowitz. "I have a large boat here, and they will be more comfortable than sitting there waiting for the tide to rise. Besides, you'll heel over quite a bit, I should judge by the way you're listing now."

There was no doubt of this, as the Ripper was, even now, far from being on an even keel. The boys did not relish having this man, whom they disliked, take off the girls, but there was no help for it.

"Say, we ought to go to some kindergarten and learn to run a motor boat," grumbled Ned in a low voice, as the girls were getting into Mr. Blowitz's craft. "We're peaches, we are!"

"It was my fault," admitted Jerry, rather embarrassed over the accident.

"Not in particular," remarked Bob. "Any one of us would have done the same thing. Lucky the boat isn't damaged any, but I hate to be under obligations to him," and he nodded toward Mr. Blowitz, who was helping Nellie into his boat. "I don't like him," he went on in a low voice. "There's something queer about him."

"We oughtn't to feel that way," said Jerry. "He's doing us a favor."

"Of course," admitted Bob. "I know it, and I suppose I shouldn't feel that way, but I do, and I can't help it. I don't want any favors from him. He's the kind, who, if he does something for you, will want you to do twice as much for him in return."

"Well, I'll be more careful next time I run this motor boat," said Jerry. "It's too bad."

"Might be worse," said Ned as cheerfully as he could.

"Don't you want to go ashore, boys?" called Mr. Blowitz.

"I guess we'd better," murmured Bob. "The water is quite deep except for the place where the Ripper went on the rocks."

"The motor boat will stay there all right until high tide," the man went on. "Better anchor her well, however, it might come on to blow."

Jerry attended to this, throwing over a strong anchor which was aboard. Then the three boys joined the others in the rowboat.

"Can you find your way to shore, through this fog?" asked Rose.

"Oh, yes, we're not far from the beach," replied Mr. Blowitz. "I've been out to see an old fisherman, on business, and I was slowly coming back through the fog, when I saw your boat. I didn't know you owned that."

"We don't," replied Jerry shortly, for he did not want to get too friendly with Mr. Blowitz, even if that man did show a desire to do so. "We hired it."

"I thought I'd seen it in the bay before," went on the man. "It's a fine boat. I suppose you could go out quite a way to sea in her."

"You could," said Bob. "It's big enough to weather quite a gale, and you could carry provisions enough for two weeks."

"It certainly is a fine craft," went on Mr. Blowitz, as if he was thinking of something. "A fine craft."

"Did you ever hear anything more of your brig, the Rockhaven?" asked Nellie.

"Yes, I did," was the unexpected answer. "In fact that was why I went out rowing to-day. I had a telegram from the captain of the brig last night. It seems she did not sink as at first supposed, but is a derelict, drifting about somewhere off this coast."

"Has any one seen her?" asked Ned.

"Yes, the captain of a fishing smack. He was the man I went to interview to-day. He says as he was cruising along, day before yesterday, he sighted what he took to be a small boat. When he got closer he saw it was an abandoned brig. From his description I knew it was the one I was interested in."

"But if you only got a telegram from the captain of the brig last night, telling you it had not sunk, how did you know the fishing smack captain had sighted her, and how did you go out to see him to-day?" asked Jerry, for he thought there was something queer in the story Mr. Blowitz told, while the man's manner did not favorably impress him.

"Oh, that," and Mr. Blowitz glanced sharply at Jerry, and then resumed his rowing toward

shore. The fog had lifted a bit, and the beach could be made out. "Well, that was rather queer," admitted the man, slowly, as if searching about for a good answer. "You see I didn't know the fishing captain had seen the derelict. When I got the telegram, telling me the brig was still afloat, I thought it might be a good plan to go about among the fishermen, making inquiries."

"And you happened to strike the right one?" asked Jerry.

"I--that is--well, I had inquired among several before I met Captain Deckton of the smack Sea Girl. He saw the derelict. But I'd like to have a talk with you boys, when you are at liberty," added Mr. Blowitz, quickly. "I have a proposition to make to you. I think you will be interested."

"Please put us ashore first, before you talk business," begged Olivia. "It is long past noon, and I'm afraid my father will be worried about us."

"We'll land at the dock in ten minutes," said Mr. Blowitz. "I'll talk to the boys later."

"I wonder what he wants?" thought Jerry. "Something of a favor, I'll bet. I know his kind."

"Let me take the oars and relieve you," proposed

Ned, who saw that the man was having rather hard work with the boatload of young people.

"Thank you, there's another pair in the stern, if you want to try them," said Mr. Blowitz, and Ned got them out. They made better time after that, and were soon at the dock.

"We must hurry home," said Rose.

"Perhaps you boys had rather talk with me later," suggested Mr. Blowitz. "There is no special hurry. Some time this afternoon will do as well, and you might like to go home with the young ladies."

"I guess it would be better," decided Jerry. "Where shall we see you?"

"If you will call at the refreshment booth here about five o'clock this evening, I'll be taking my usual afternoon drink of chocolate there, and I'll be pleased to have you join me."

"We will be here," promised Jerry, as, with his chums, he followed the girls along the dock and toward the bungalow.

"Why didn't you ask him what he wanted?" inquired Ned, when they were beyond hearing distance.

"Because, I want a chance to think some matters over," replied Jerry. "I believe Mr.

Blowitz is up to some game, and I want to see if I can't discover what it is."

"It seems a mean thing to say," added Rose, "but I don't like that man, in spite of the fact that he has been kind to us. I'm sure we ought to appreciate what he did for us to-day, in saving us a wetting, but I can't feel that he is sincere."

"I, either," admitted Olivia and Nellie, while the latter added:

"I hope you boys don't go into any business dealings with him. Perhaps you had better consult with my father, before you do."

"I guess it would be a good plan," said Jerry. "I hope Mr. Seabury will not be angry at us for taking you out and getting fog-bound, as well as involving you in a shipwreck."

"Oh, no!" answered Rose with a laugh. "He knows we are all right, for we have been on the water, more or less, all our lives. He sometimes worries a little, but, when we get home safe, he's so glad to see us that he never scolds." Nor did he this time. He inquired about the trip, and expressed his regrets at the mishap to the Ripper.

"It will be all right if we don't get a storm before high tide," he said. "I'll inquire of

Ponto what the weather signs are. Ponto! I say Ponto! Where are you?"

"Comin' Massa Seabury! I'se comin'," answered a sleepy voice and Ponto came from the garden to the veranda, where Mr. Seabury, his daughters and the boys were.

"Do you think we are going to have a storm?"

"Storm? No, sah. No storm to-day."

"How can you tell?"

"Easy, Massa Seabury. When it's goin' t' storm, I cain't never sleep well, an' now, I can fall asleep as easy as a baby."

"I believe you. Well, that's what I wanted to know. He's a very good weather prophet," he added in a low voice to the boys. "I guess the boat is safe. Have you seen Professor Snodgrass lately, Ponto?"

"Yais, sah, I done saw him 'bout half an hour ago. He were huntin' around de' lower end ob de garden, after some web-footed grasshoppers, I t'ink he said."

"Web-footed lizards," corrected Ned.

"Yais, sah, dat's what it were. Web-footed lizards an' horned toads. Golly, I hopes he don't cotch none when I'se around!"

The boys told Mr. Seabury of Mr. Blowitz, and their host advised them to be careful about entering into any arrangement with the man.

"I don't know him," he said, "but I have heard from different persons here that there is something queer about him. However, he may only want some favor that you can easily do."

Shortly before five o'clock the three boys started to keep their appointment with Carson Blowitz. Professor Snodgrass had not succeeded in finding any horned toads, and announced his intention of making a search near the bed of a dried-up river that evening, as he had heard there were some there. The girls were too tired to care for further excursions that afternoon, and they remained on the shady veranda, as the boys started off.

"I wonder what Blowitz can want?" mused Ned, as he and his chums neared the chocolate pavilion.

"We'll soon know," said Jerry.