The Missing Chums/Chapter 22
CHAPTER XXII
The Chase
Chet Morton leaped back with such violence that he collided with his chum. He had seen the serpent in the nick of time, and his backward leap had been so instinctive and so involuntary that he somehow evaded the swift, whiplike thrust of the evil head that plunged at him.
The snake missed, although its body writhed against Chet's boot for a second and the fangs stabbed against the heavy leather. The boot saved the boy. Had the snake struck against his leg he would have been bitten.
The chums plunged blindly through the thicket.
There was no thought of caution now. They were filled with unreasoning terror of the blacksnake, the instinctive revulsion that fills most people at the sight of such a reptile, and they went crashing through the bushes. The noise of their flight did not escape the two rascals who had been searching for them.
"I see them!" shouted one of the men. He came plunging through the deep grass at the outskirts of the thicket to intercept the boys.
Chet saw him in time and veered to one side. He just managed to evade the outflung arm, then went running desperately to the top of the hillside overlooking the sea. Biff came thundering behind, outdistanced the second gangster, dodged the other man, and raced after Chet.
They went slipping and sliding down the slope. Chet had no clear idea of where they were bound, but he was determined to keep running either until he was captured or overcome with exhaustion.
But when he came over the brow of the hill and began the steep descent, he saw something in the sea below that made him give an exultant yell.
It was a motorboat, and one that he recognized immediately. The boat was none other than the Napoli, and in it were three figures. Even at that distance he knew them for Tony Prito, Phil Cohen and Jerry Gilroy. Behind the motorboat were two other craft, being towed.
He had not been seen as yet, for he saw that the Napoli was cruising leisurely around the island. He shouted hoarsely to attract attention.
He saw Tony look up, then speak excitedly to his comrades. They waved frantically in reply. Then the bow of the Napoli began to head in toward the shore.
Could they reach the boat in safety? Biff was thundering down the slope only a few feet behind Chet. Rocks and pebbles went bouncing and bounding along in front of them; sand and gravel flew from about their boots. And, coming in swift pursuit, were the two gangsters who had so nearly captured them in the thicket. These men were shouting hoarsely to them to stop.
But the two chums had no intention of stopping. They saw safety in sight. Could they reach the shore and gain the boat before the two gangsters overtook them?
Then, out from among the rocks along the beach emerged three figures. Chet's heart sank. They were the other gangsters and they were directly in the path. At the same time, he saw that Tony Prito was bringing the Napoli around, and away from the shore.
Spent and exhausted, he tried to dodge the three men ahead, but the effort was short-lived. One of the three leaped forward and grappled with him. They fell struggling into the sand. The other two leaped at Biff.
The boys fought bravely and desperately. Chet struck out and his fist crashed into the face of the man who had tackled him. The fellow sagged back for a second and Chet tried to free himself from the grasp around his waist, but as he did so one of the other two gangsters came rushing up and launched himself on him.
Biff battled with equal ferocity, but he was powerless against the three rascals. He kicked and struggled, but they had him down and they dragged him back behind the rocks, where the others soon brought Chet.
The red-headed man, with a bruise over one eye, produced a length of stout cord from his hip pocket.
"Tie 'em up!" he snapped. "We've got 'em this time for keeps."
Pete grabbed the cord, and in a few minutes Chet's wrists were bound tightly behind his back and his ankles were securely tied. Pete cut the cord and used the remainder for binding Biff. The two chums were helpless.
As for Tony Prito, in the Napoli, he had quickly seen that it would be impossible, even foolhardy, to attempt to rescue his two chums. In the first place, there were five boys against five men, the latter desperate and fully armed. The only result would be the capture of them all and the capture, as well, of the three motorboats by the gangsters.
"I hate to see them caught with us so close, but what can we do?" he said, turning to the others, as he slowly brought the Napoli around.
"If the men catch us and the motorboats, the boys will only be worse off than they were before."
"I guess you're right," agreed Jerry Gilroy. "I sure thought for a minute that we were going to be able to save them. Between the crowd of us we could have held off those other two toughs long enough to get Chet and Biff on board, but when the others showed up I knew it was all off."
"The fellows put up a good fight, anyway," declared Phil Cohen. "I hope those villains don't treat 'em too rough."
"We'll get them free yet," asserted Tony. "I don't know how it's going to be done, but we'll get 'em free. We've still got all the motorboats and the gang can't leave the island, that's sure."
When he had brought the Napoli out a safe distance from shore, Tony decided to drop anchor.
"We'll stick around," he decided. "They'll know that we aren't going to desert them anyway."
So the Napoli, with the two captured motorboats drifting behind, remained at anchor, while the three chums scanned the rocky shore. Once in a while they saw one or another of the gangsters emerging from behind the boulders to gaze at them, then return.
"We've got them guessing," chuckled Tony. "They don't know what to make of us. They know we have their boats, but they don't know who we are or how we got 'em."
Two hours passed. The sun rose higher in the sky. Blacksnake Island, in all its sinister ugliness, simmered in the morning heat. There was no further sign of life from the shore. Although the boys in the motorboat did not know it, the boulders behind which Chet and Biff had been carried hid the trail up to the grove and thence to the cave in the rocks. The gangsters had decided to return to this cave and Chet and Biff, with their ankle bonds untied, had been roughly ordered to their feet and bade proceed with the gangsters up the hidden trial. They had not been seen from the boat because a heavy veil of overhanging branches from the trees masked the trail where it wound up the hillside.
Toward mid-morning Tony chanced to look up and gaze out toward the mainland. He leaped up with a frantic yell.
"Here they come!" he shrieked. "Here they are!"
The others rose and stared. Then, as the meaning of what they saw dawned on them, they cheered hoarsely, and danced with delight until the motorboat rocked and swayed beneath their feet.
Cleaving the waves, came a low, rakish craft, speeding along with white wings of foam at her prow. It rushed silently toward them with the grace of an arrow. It was a United States revenue cutter, and when the boys in the boat witnessed its approach they knew that the Hardy boys had been successful in obtaining the aid they had gone to seek.
The boys cheered and waved their arms, trying to signal to the cutter that they had located Chet and Biff. Finally, Tony started up the engine and brought the Napoli alongside. The cutter slowly came to a stop, there was a clank and a clatter as the anchor was sent over.
A husky revenue officer with a revolver strapped to his waist leaned over the side and hailed them.
"Did you find them?" he roared.
"They were caught again, right on this shore!" shouted Tony. "The gang are still here."
"Fine! We'll be right over. Tie your craft alongside and come along in our boat!"
The lads needed no second urging. A ladder was flung over the side and, after securely tying the Napoli, they clambered up on the deck of the cutter where they found the Hardy boys awaiting them.
In a few swift words Tony acquainted them with the circumstances surrounding the recapture of Chet and Biff. The revenue officer who had first hailed them nodded with satisfaction.
"As long as we know that those rascals haven't left the island, it's all right," he declared. "We'll have them in hand before long."
He turned and gave a curt order to one of his men and in a remarkably short space of time there were a dozen broad-shouldered chaps in readiness, with rifles and revolvers. Another order, and a boat was lowered over the side.
"Away we go!" announced the officer. "It won't be long now."