Page 117 - Adventure Magazine, 1921, July 18th

II2 Adventure

It _was the old caretaker conferring his We waited until the chugging of the de-
blessings from the quarterdeck rail of the parting boat -s he crossed our stern and for
big yacht where he seemed to make his some moments we rather expected to have
headquarters. to make a dash-was very faint; then moved
Not a light showed on the Sea Breeze, ahead again.
though within the fold of his blanket Lord
Bob occasionally gave a flash at the face of I AM not a man of the sea, but I
his watch. In the distance the light s of have never grown weary yet with
many cities sparkled, and an occasional water under me, and the nearest
ferry-boat, like some fairy craft far off, that I ever approach to t;hat dream idyllic
slipped along, festooned with rows of lights; sta te which poets seem to evoke at will is
and now and then we caught the red or when darkness and water make an impalpa-
green glimmer of some vessel at her anchor- ble chorus of their incantations. But I have
age. never written any poetry about it.
"See," said Lord Bob, pointing back- So I rather lost track of time and place
ward . "There's where we'll all stop a while and direction.
-if we get caught," and he laughed. Lord Bob began more frequently to look
He had indicated Alcatraz Island, where at his watch, and spoke often to Jackman.
the government has a Federal prison. Then came:
Later- "All right, Jack. Let 'er go. We'll be
"There's where Hurgronje is-some- late."
where there." The boat started up; the speed grew,
He had pointed toward a small cluster of faster,. faster until the chug-chug-chug be-
lights that seemed set in sheer ebony. came almost a steady noise, slightly accen-
Lord Bob and Jackman steere,d easily tuated; and the Sea Breeze seemed to spring
enough by their knowledge of the lights; -forward and make straight for land.
and the boat moved slowly, often silently, A light flashed from the shore and went
sometimes almost motionless except for the -0ut; another: flash appeared and was in-
tossing of the small, sturdy little waves stantly extinguished, then two 1onger
and whatever action the tide may have had. flashes.
Suddenly out of the pure darkness, per- At once our engine stopped.
haps a mile away, a stream of light shot and Lord Bob swore.· The fools, he said, had
slowly swept along the surface of the water. held the electric-torch straight above their
"Kill 'er," said Lord Bob; and the engine heads to signal, instead of sheltering it
died. more.
We were .out of range of the searchlight Straight for the shore we went, and, glid-
which some lurking police-boat had sud- ing ahead with Lord Bob's light gleaming
denlyreleased in the hope of catching some- low in the water, came alongside a landing
thing by surprize. from which steps · ran into a house that
"Other nights," · said Lord Bob cheer- bulked black right on the water's edge.
fully, "one of 'em opened up not a hundred "Know where we are?" said Lord Bob.
yards away. Awfully meddlesome, those "No."
water cops." ''Belvedere.''
I asked more about them. He explained Then he began swearing at the four dark
that, having taken a "shot" around and shapes on the landing, one of whom had
found nothing, they would-with all lights told him to wait.
out-chug along a couple of miles to some "Wait --! Why ar n't you ready?
other likely spot, kill the engine and lie still Bang! Biff ! Boom-alingl Think I am a
for a half-hour; then if nothing drifted barge or something? Wow! xadsrgadcxas!
along worth looking into they would sweep What a crew!" he exclaimed as more men
the water again. appeared from th shadows, carrying some-
"Been <loin' that for a month. Experi- thing under which appeared to be very
mentin', I guess.. Darn fools; they ought to heavy.
move about with sails. Might catch some- "What the--!" he demanded. "Think
body." I'm an ocean liner-got a hold, or some-
It is easy to make fun of the police as thing?"
Jong as one is not caught. The big long package was placed on th