The Secret of the Old Mill/Chapter 12
CHAPTER XII
Seasick
The Hardy boys were not prepared for this sudden change of front on the part of the stranger. They gazed incredulously at the revolver, but the coldly determined face of their passenger convinced them that the man meant to use force if necessary.
"Keep right on toward Bayport!" he ordered. "Don't turn back."
"What's the big idea?" demanded Frank indignantly.
"The idea is that I want to go to Bayport, and if you won't take me there of your own free will, I'll just have to persuade you, that's all. This gun is loaded, so don't make any foolish moves."
The boys looked at one another, and the stranger began to chuckle.
"Be reasonable now," said the man with the gun. "I have to catch that train, or I'll miss the wedding. I can't let you bring me back to the village. My friends would never let me hear the end of that joke. It's just by luck I had this revolver in my pocket—but still, if you turn this boat around, I'll use it."
He was trying to pass the affair off as more or less of a joke but there was no mistaking the steely glint in his eyes or the hardness of his voice.
Frank looked at his brother, and shrugged.
"I guess there's nothing else for it but bring him to Bayport," he muttered. "I don't want to get shot."
"That gun looks bad," agreed Joe. "There's not much joking about that part of it."
Frank bore down on the wheel and corrected the course of the boat so that they were soon bound directly for Bayport again.
"We'll take you to the city," he said to the stranger, "but I'm going to warn you that we'll turn you over to the police if we get a chance. That's a dangerous game you're playing, even if you say it is only a joke. It's a hold up."
"You'll think differently after we reach Bayport," promised the man. "I'll have my wife write you a letter of thanks after the wedding. I hate to use this revolver, but I can't miss that train."
The stranger's insistence on his story that he had to catch a train did not convince the Hardy boys by any means. They were still suspicious of their passenger, the more so now that he used force to induce them to take him to Bayport.
"I'd like to get that gun away from him," whispered Frank, as he bent over the wheel.
"Not much chance. He's watching us too closely."
"Trying to fix up some plot to get hold of this revolver?" asked the stranger. "You needn't bother. I hold the whip hand here."
"We know it," retorted Frank. "But wait till we get to Bayport."
The motorboat raced on down the bay. The storm clouds that had been collecting all morning now hung heavily in the sky. The bay was sullen and slate-colored, and a heavy sea was running. White caps broke on the surface of the water.
"Looks like a storm," Frank muttered. "Perhaps it's just as well we didn't turn back."
A streak of lightning split the sky; it was followed by a distant rumble of thunder. The Sleuth was riding the waves well, but there was a rocking motion that could not be avoided. The boat swayed from side to side as it plunged on.
After about five minutes Frank glanced behind.
The stranger was no longer standing up; he was sitting back against the cushions again and he still held the revolver levelled at the Hardy boys, but there was a curious expression on his face, an expression of nausea; his eyes were staring and his face was pallid.
For a moment Frank could not understand what the matter was. Then, as the boat gave a lurch more violent than usual, he understood.
He nudged his brother.
"Getting seasick!" he whispered.
Joe glanced back, and when he saw that the stranger's florid face had changed in hue from a deep red to a greenish white he knew that the motion of the boat was indeed taking its effect. He forebore an impulse to chuckle at their passenger's plight.
"Give her a little more gas," ordered the stranger, in a curiously feeble voice. "You're not going fast enough."
He brandished the revolver threateningly.
Frank obligingly increased the speed of the Sleuth but the rocking motion only became more pronounced.
The stranger gulped, but he did not lower the weapon.
"That's better," he said, without enthusiasm.
"I'm going to give him something to be seasick about," whispered Frank.
Without warning he suddenly bore down on the wheel and swung the motorboat about so that it was lying broadside to the waves.
"Here—what's the matter?" asked the stranger. "Where are you going now?"
"We're off our course. I'm heading in toward shore a little more so we can get out of the wind."
This explanation satisfied the stranger, although it became speedily apparent that the new course did not.
The Sleuth received the full force of the long rollers. The waves were not high enough to be dangerous, but the swells gave an undulating motion to the craft that swiftly increased the stranger's illness.
"He's slipping," whispered Joe.
Frank glanced back again.
The stranger was indeed "slipping." He teeth were tightly clenched. His face was almost green. His expression was that of a man who is deathly sick. But he still clung to the revolver and he still waved it feebly at the boys.
"Head her in toward Bayport," he demanded. "Do you want to make me sick?"
"This'll fix him," said Frank. "Get ready."
He bore down on the wheel again.
The Sleuth swung around at right angles to her previous course. The abrupt, swerving motion finished the stranger.
With a groan, he slumped forward in his seat, and bowed his head on his arms.
Joe sprang up. With one bound he reached the man with the gun.
The stranger realized what was happening, and struggled to his feet. He raised the weapon, but Joe struck out and dashed the revolver from his hand. It described a flashing arc, then fell into the water with a splash.
Sick as he was, the man swung out viciously and his fist caught Joe on the side of the face, staggering him. Joe quickly recovered himself and plunged forward, grappling with the man. They swayed to and fro in the middle of the boat, then fell, still struggling.
But although Joe was young and wiry he was not strong enough to cope with his antagonist and Frank soon saw that the stranger was having the better of the battle. He glanced ahead, saw that the Sleuth was heading into a long, low bank of fog but that there were no other boats in sight, then abandoned the wheel.
He leaped back to the assistance of his brother, crooked his elbow about the stranger's neck, and dragged him back. The man struck out, wildly, twisted around and staggered Frank with a blow in the ribs. He managed to struggle to his feet, they saw his hand flash to his pocket, and then he produced a small package and flung it far out over the side.
It had only taken a second, but that second was sufficient to serve for his undoing.
Frank scrambled to his feet in the swaying boat, and for a moment they sparred. Then Frank's right fist shot out and the blow landed directly on the point of the stranger's jaw.
The man was not knocked out, but he staggered back and the wild lurching of the boat sent him off his balance. He stumbled and fell. His head struck against the side of the boat and he crumpled up in a heap.
The blow had knocked him unconscious.
Frank bent over him. He saw that the man was not badly hurt, but that he had been stunned by the impact. He pointed out a coil of rope in the stern.
"Tie his ankles, Joe, in case he wakes up. I've got to get back to the wheel."
The Sleuth by this time was off her course, and was wallowing in the trough of the waves. Quickly, Frank swung the craft about, but when he peered ahead to locate Bayport he gave an exclamation of alarm.
The city was nowhere to be seen. The heavy cloud of mist that had been gathering over the bay now totally obscured the shores.
How far the boat had departed from her course he did not know, and in the fog bank he had but a vague idea of their location. He began to look around in hopes of finding a compass, but there was none in the boat.
"Have you got a pocket compass, Joe?"
Joe, who was busily engaged in tying the unconscious stranger's ankles together, looked up and shook his head.
"Isn't there one in the boat?"
"No—and here we are in a fog bank. I don't know whether we're in the right direction for Bayport or not."