"Keep those feet quiet now," whispered Tom in the little fellow's ear.

"We've got to the point where nonsense won't be safe for you. Now open your mouth!"

Ted firmly pressed his lips together, gritting his teeth. Yet Tom knew a trick of wrestling that forced the young man to open his mouth. Plump into that mouth went one of Halstead's wadded handkerchiefs, stopping the youngster's tongue down and holding his jaws apart.

Satisfied that Ted was gagged, Tom forced another handkerchief between the teeth, knotting it behind the smaller boy's head. Then, with abrupt suddenness, the young skipper bent the little fellow's hands behind him, though not too roughly, and bound the wrists in the best sailorman's fashion. Now Tom turned about, using more of the cord in his pockets to lash the heels of the Dunstan heir securely together. This accomplished, Captain Tom examined all his knots to make sure that none of them was so poorly tied as to cause him regret later on. Then, on tip-toe, he stole over to the door. There was a bolt on it unsecured. Tom softly slipped the bolt into place. There was now no danger of unannounced interference from that direction.

Going back to the angry and astounded Dunstan heir, Halstead knelt beside him.

"Master Ted, I know you feel ugly about me and you hate me just at this minute. You think I'm your enemy and your father's. The scoundrels you've been running with have told you that. The truth is, your father, though not an old man, is aging fast on account of the agony your disappearance has caused him. The time isn't far away when you'll know that we've all been doing our best, in the face of many dangers, to serve a boy who was foolish enough not to want to be served."

Captain Tom had raised young Dunstan's head and had looked into the latter's eyes while telling him this. But Master Ted glared back only a message of distrust and defiance.

"I've got you now where you can't stand in the way of your own good luck, if only I can once get you away from this house," Tom went on in a whisper, his mouth close to one of the youngster's ears. "_You_ can't hinder, anyway."

Then, with one hand resting heavily on Ted, to prevent any slight possibility of movement by that youngster, Halstead continued kneeling and listening.

At last there came to him the sound for which he had waited-the crunching of feet on the gravel outside. Now Halstead became busy again.

Uncoiling the rope at his waist he rigged a secure slip-noose at one end. This he made fast around Ted's body, under his bound arms. When the sounds without indicated that the eight men were again leaving for the sh.o.r.e, the young captain raised his light human burden, stealing toward the window.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tom Pushed the Heir Through the Window.]

There was not a sound outside. Tom Halstead pushed the Dunstan heir through the window, lowering him swiftly to the kitchen annex. The young motor boat captain then descended by the lightning rod. He carried Ted, naturally unresisting, to the edge of the annex, lowering him to the ground. Halstead went down himself at a bound, landing on his feet. In a fever of anxiety he found his shoes, swiftly lacing them on.

Now slipping off the noose, Tom loosely coiled the rope about one arm.

Lifting Ted Dunstan, Captain Halstead fled straight across the rear yard and in among the trees.

"There, I hope we've got you away from that crowd," panted Tom, putting his unwilling companion down. "But we've got to hustle, so you'll have to use your own feet a bit. Woe unto you, though, if you try any tricks on the stranger who happens to be your best friend at this moment!"

Hiding the rope in a thicket near by; Halstead quickly slashed away the cord at Ted Dunstan's ankles.

"Now you'll come along with me and you'll come mighty fast!" breathed Captain Tom resolutely, as he seized one of the boy's arms.

At first Ted acted as though he intended to drag, but the quality of muscle in the young motor boat skipper's arms must have shown him the folly of such tactics, for presently he trotted at the older boy's side.

Yet they had not gone more than two hundred yards before something else happened. Out from behind a tree shot a human figure. Its owner sprang at Tom Halstead, locking him in a st.u.r.dy embrace. Down to the ground went Halstead and his a.s.sailant, rolling over and over in fierce, battling embrace.

Ted Dunstan lost not an instant in seeing and seizing his opportunity.

His feet, at least, free and able, that youngster whirled and dashed back toward the farmhouse.

CHAPTER XX-BLIND MAN'S BUFF IN FEARFUL EARNEST

For a few seconds the two combatants fought strenuously in the darkness.

"Now, I've got you!" growled the a.s.sailant, wrapping his arms around young Captain Halstead.

But that astounded youth only gasped:

"Joe!"

"Tom! Pompey's ghost! Is this you?"

Joe Dawson rolled swiftly from his point of vantage, and the chums sprang instantly to their feet.

"That was Ted Dunstan who got away," quivered Halstead.

"I know it," admitted Joe. "I thought you were one of the other crowd. I had eyes only for him, when I saw him."

"Quick, then!"

They could hear Master Ted running, somewhat uncertainly, in the woods, with which he seemed to be unfamiliar. Yet he was nearing the opening where the house stood.

After him pelted both motor boat boys. Ted heard them coming, of course, and increased his speed. Yet Ted must have gotten into the opening, but for an accident. One of his feet tripped over something. Down he went, and, with his hands tied behind him, it was not the simplest task in the world for him to get on his feet again. Just as he did accomplish it, Tom and Joe reached him, grasping him on either side. Ted made a slight, useless struggle, but what he did succeed in doing was to kick a tree rather resoundingly.

The busy eight, unsuspicious until then, had just returned to the rear yard. Some of them heard that kick against the tree.

"What was that noise?" demanded Don Emilio.

"Nothing," replied Jonas French.

"Come on! I want to make sure, anyway. Hasten!"

Tom, leading the way, and Joe, bringing up the rear with Ted Dunstan gripped in his arms, were in motion, but Don Emilio and several of his comrades pursued at lively speed.

"There's some one running in these woods," called back Don Emilio.

"Spread out, and travel fast!"

When they had gone some little distance Tom fell back, s.n.a.t.c.hing Ted from Joe's arms. They ran until they came to a low-hanging thicket.

Burdened as the motor boat boys were, the race must prove an unequal one. Joe halted at the thicket, holding out his arm to stop Tom. The two crept in under there with their burden, Joe holding the Dunstan heir's feet.

And just in time, too, for Don Emilio and Jonas French went by within striking distance.

"Whoever it was didn't get as far as the road," the boys heard Don Emilio declare, not far away. "French, you stay here. If you see a living figure in the road you'll know what to do. I'll send another man to watch with you. These woods have got to be searched."

Just at that moment some one else must have reached Don Emilio Alvarez and must have reported, for the Honduran's voice screamed:

"What do you say? The youngster's gone from the attic? Listen, men! Let nothing stand in your way, now. We must have that boy back. We'll watch the road and drag the woods. Waste no sympathy on any meddler you find!"

It was at once made plain to the motor boat boys that Don Emilio and his comrades were now frantic. Everywhere could be heard the steps, or the low voices of the searchers. Tom and Joe dreaded capture at each instant. Dawson had made it his task to secure Ted's feet again, and to hold them doubly secure with his own hands.

Once, as some of the searchers went by, Gambon's voice was heard. Joe nudged his chum; the latter understood how the young engineer of the "Meteor" had come so handily upon the scene through trailing the Frenchman here. Not once, after they had hidden themselves, did the motor boat boys dare to stir. Their covering, though dense enough in the dark, was thin at best. Two or three times some of the searchers pa.s.sed by within a yard of those they sought. At such times Ted Dunstan's body shook with suppressed emotion. But he was so tied and held that he could not make a sign to betray himself. Whenever the seekers came close Halstead reached out a hand holding the young heir's nostrils closed, so that he could not even sniff.

The conviction of Don Emilio that his longed-for prey was close at hand was shown by the repeated searchings over an area of barely more than five acres. The time even slipped into hours without the hunt being abandoned.

Half the time Tom and Joe felt as though their hearts were up in their throats, so close did discovery seem. The first gray streaks of dawn showed at last, but Don Emilio would not agree that the chase extend beyond this strip of lonely woods.