When he who was evidently the leader of the party walked toward Dave to acquaint him with the pleasing fact that the search had been successful, Pedro darted from one room to another, and the studs and sleeve-b.u.t.tons, which the boys had noted, did not escape his eager gaze.

"These shall not be taken charge of for all hands," he whispered half to himself, and the articles had but just been secreted when Dave came to the door.

"Do you want to spoil everything by loafin' 'round here?" he asked angrily. "These kind of chances don't come every day, an' if our plans are upset owin' to such nonsense I'll split you like a mackerel with your own knife!"

That the Mexican was a rank coward could be told by the pallor which came over his yellow face as these words were spoken, and with a muttered but inaudible reply he followed Dave to the companion-way ladder.

"Now what are we to do?" the thin man asked when the three were ready to go on deck; and the leader of the villains replied readily:

"Nothin' yet awhile. Some chance will turn up before we're under way; but if it don't, the matter must be settled at night while they're below. It won't be a hard job, for they can't stay on deck together all the time, and when the crowd is separated it'll be like child's play.

Don't act as if anything was in the wind, but be sweet as mola.s.ses till the flies are where we want 'em!"

Then the three men ascended the ladder, and from the benign expression on their faces the most suspicious would hardly have fancied they had been plotting to murder those who befriended them in a time of need.

CHAPTER XVI.

TRICKED.

When the conspirators came on deck, and before they finished smoking, the boys cleaned the cabin, ate their own dinner in the galley, and were at liberty to remain idle until it should be time to prepare supper.

After the heat of the day had pa.s.sed Bob proposed that all the brig's lower sails should be set; adding, in conclusion:

"'Cordin' to my way of thinkin', there's goin' to be a decent kind of a breeze about sunset, an' if we're ready for it jes' so much time will be saved in leavin' this place."

The three strangers appeared even more eager than he to see the brig under canvas once more, and all hands turned to with a will, pulling, hoisting, and sheeting home as if the wind which was to waft them toward the United States had already begun to blow.

By the time this work was done there could no longer be any question but that a generous breeze from the south was near at hand. Thin, filmy clouds formed in the sky, while every now and then the heated air would be set in motion slightly, as a token of what might be expected.

"There's no doubt now but that we'll be under way by sunset," Joe said, as he stood on the quarter-deck where the boys had taken refuge from the heat, "and it would be a good idea for me to be bringing my dunnage out of the tug, since it ain't likely I'll ever see the little craft again."

"Ain't you goin' to try and save anything else?" Jim asked.

"There isn't much that we can take. Suppose all hands go aboard and see if there's anything belonging to the crew that'll pay for carrying away?"

The boys accepted the invitation readily, for they did not care to move about the deck of the brig very much lest they came in contact with the red-nosed man and his friends, and all four went into the tiny after-cabin of the Sea Bird, where Joe at once began his work of investigation.

There were four chests here in addition to the one owned by Joe, and these were broken open without ceremony, for the engineer did not intend to burden himself with anything that might not be of considerable value to the owners.

"We'll unpack 'em, and then put the things back carefully, in case the little craft is carried home again," he said, going to work systematically, while the boys watched him with mild curiosity.

There was no apparent necessity for haste, therefore Joe set about his task leisurely because of the intense heat, which made the slightest exertion almost painful, and but two of the chests had been overhauled when Bob came below to learn what was going on.

"Gettin' ready to leave, eh?" he asked, after looking at the perspiring engineer in silence several moments. "Well, it's time; for unless I've made a big mistake in them light clouds we'll start from here mighty soon."

"If we were going alone I'd feel tiptop," Joe said, as he paused for an instant in his work; "but as it is, I'm afraid we'll have trouble with that crowd before the United States coast heaves in sight, even if they do talk so fair just now."

"We must keep our weather-eyes liftin' every minute, an' at the first sign of a row pitch in so's to take 'em unawares;" and Bob stretched himself out on the port locker as if determined to enjoy all possible comfort before the serious work of sailing the brig without an experienced navigator was begun. "I wouldn't hesitate to give 'em the slip by leavin' the whole crowd here; but there's no chance of their goin' ash.o.r.e after the wind rises."

"No," Joe replied, with a long-drawn sigh, "we shall have to grin an'

bear it, I reckon; but----"

He ceased speaking very suddenly, for just at that moment a footstep was heard on the steamer's deck, and an instant later the unpleasant-looking face of the man with the red nose appeared at the companion-way.

"You all got outer sight so quick that I thought p'rhaps you'd gone overboard," he said with a leer, glancing inquisitively around the cabin, but making no motion to descend.

"Joe is overhaulin' this dunnage, to see if there's anything worth carryin' back to the States," Bob replied carelessly, as the engineer continued his work in silence.

The man lowered his head as if to see the interior more plainly, and, unperceived by any one in the little apartment, made a quick motion with his hand, evidently for the benefit of those aboard the brig.

During nearly five minutes he stood there carelessly pushing the hatch back and forth, until the Mexican waved his hat, when the red-nosed man suddenly shut both doors, shoving into place the bolts which fastened them together.

The little party in the cabin looked up in surprise at this singular maneuver, but it was not until the sound of quick footsteps was heard on the deck as the man ran swiftly aboard the brig that any one thought of treachery.

"They've locked us in here so's they can steal the Bonita!" Bob shouted, as he leaped to the companion-way and began pounding on the bolted doors.

The oaken timbers were firm as a bulk-head, and, without a weapon, he might have worked there all day in vain.

Joe had sprung to the windows; but his efforts were quite as useless as Bob's. Heavy iron gratings, intended to keep out intruders and break the force of the waves, were screwed so firmly in the wood-work that they could not be removed from the inside save by the use of proper tools.

They were securely imprisoned, for the cabin had no outlet except at the companion-way, and two or three hours of hard work would be absolutely necessary before they could escape by the doors.

While Bob and Joe were darting from one possible point of vantage to another, shouting for help and uttering wild threats in the same breath, the boys had gathered at one of the port windows which looked directly on the brig's bulwarks.

"They ain't gettin' under way!" Jim cried, as if trying to persuade himself that the strangers were not intending to desert them.

"There's no need for the pirates to hurry," Bob said hoa.r.s.ely, as he stood in the center of the cabin, his face convulsed by rage and trembling like one in an ague fit. "If I had jumped on 'em with the belayin'-pin when Joe held me back, all of that crowd wouldn't be able to get away. Come here, you cowards, an' give us a fair show! Open this hatch or I'll foller you till your lives won't be worth the livin'!"

"The hawsers have been cast off, an' now the brig is beginnin' to move through the water!" Jim reported, as he pressed his face close to the iron bars.

This information gave fresh impetus to Bob's wrath. He rushed from one corner of the cabin to another shouting the wildest threats, and behaving generally like an insane person.

Joe was quite as angry as the old sailor, but not to such an extent that his common sense had deserted him. While Bob strode back and forth he was working on the screws which held the bars in place. By breaking off the end of the largest blade in his pocket-knife quite an effective tool was made, and he had accomplished no slight portion of his task when Jim made the last report.

Rapidly as the engineer might labor, however, he knew it would be impossible to remove this one particular barrier to freedom before the Bonita would be beyond their reach. The promised wind had come sooner than it was expected, as could be told by the rapidly increasing speed with which the black bulwarks of the brig slipped past the window, and the task was not half completed when blue water could be seen as the vessel's stern swept by, leaving a wake which bubbled and danced merrily in the sunlight.

"There must be a pretty good breeze," Jim continued, speaking excitedly, as if the tears were very near his eyelids, "for the upper sails are all drawing. Now I can see that red-nosed bully at the wheel, an' he's wavin' his hat!"

Joe continued to work at the bars, and now, when it was too late to effect anything, Bob recovered from his anger sufficiently to make at least an attempt at a.s.sisting, while Harry and Walter stood near the companion-way, so thoroughly bewildered by this last blow of a cruel fate that speech was well nigh impossible.

The brig remained within Jim's range of vision but a few moments longer, and when she disappeared entirely he threw himself on a locker, trying to stifle with its cushion the sobs which convulsed him.

Without speaking, breathing like one after a long race, and heeding not the wounds on his fingers inflicted by the sharp edge of the knife, Joe worked on until the iron grating was held in place only by a couple of screws on one side. Then, standing on the locker, he used his foot as a battering-ram until the wood-work gave way, and the bars fell to the deck with a clatter and a crash that must have been heard by those on the brig.

If it had been possible to overtake the thieves the prisoners could not have clambered out through the window more quickly, and on gaining the deck the uselessness of any further efforts was painfully apparent.