Clang! clang! clang!
"Fire!"
"Turn out!"
The boys leaped to their feet, and the professor came tearing out of the bedroom, ran into the table, which he overturned with a great clatter of dishes, reeled backward, and sat down heavily on the floor, where he rubbed his eyes, and muttered:
"I thought that fire engine was going to run me down before I could get out of the way."
"Fire engine!" cried Frank Merriwell. "Who ever heard of a fire engine in the heart of the Florida Everglades?"
"Oi herrud th' gong," declared Barney.
"So did I," asserted the professor.
"I heard something that sounded like a fire gong," admitted Frank.
"Pwhat was it, Oi dunno?"
"It seemed to come from beneath the head of the bed in there," said Scotch.
"An' Oi thought I herrud it under me couch out here," gurgled Barney.
"We will light a candle, and look around," said Frank.
A candle was lighted, and they looked for the cause of the midnight alarm, but they found nothing that explained the mystery.
"Whist!" hissed the Irish boy. "It's afther gettin' away from here we'd better be, mark me worrud."
"What makes you think that?" demanded Frank, sharply.
"It's spooks there be around this place, ur Oi'm mistaken!"
"Oh, I've heard enough about spooks! It's getting tiresome."
The professor was silent, but he shook his head in avery mysterious manner, as if he thought a great many things he did not care to speak about.
They had been thoroughly awakened, but, after a time, failing to discover what had aroused them, they decided to return to bed.
Five minutes after they lay down, Frank and the professor were brought to their feet by a wild howl and a thud. They rushed out of the bedroom, and nearly fell over Barney, who was lying in the middle of the floor, at least eight feet from the couch.
"What is the matter with you?" cried Frank, astonished.
"Oi was touched!" palpitated the Irish lad, thickly.
"Touched?"
"Thot's pwhat!"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Oi wur jist beginning to get slapy whin something grabbed me an' threw me clan out here in th' middle av th' room."
"Oh, say! what are you trying to make us believe!"
"Oi'll swear to it, Frankie—Oi'll swear on a stack av Boibles."
"You dreamed it, Barney; that's what's the matter."
"Nivver a drame, me b'y, fer Oi wasn't aslape at all, at all."
"But you may have been asleep, for you say you were beginning to get sleepy. There isn't anything here to grab you."
"Oi dunno about thot, Frankie. Oi'm incloined to belave th' Ould B'y's around, so Oi am."
"Oh, this is tiresome! Go back to bed, and keep still."
"Nivver a bit will Oi troy to slape on thot couch again th' noight, me b'y. Oi'll shtay roight here on th' flure."
"Sleep where you like, but keep still. That's all."
Frank was somewhat nettled by these frequent interruptions of his rest, and he was more than tempted to give Barney cause to believe the hut was really haunted, for he was an expert ventriloquist, and he could have indulged in a great deal of sport with the Irish boy.
But other things were soon to take up their attention. While they were talking a strange humming arose on every side and seemed to fill the entire hut. At first, itwas like a swarm of bees, but it grew louder and louder till it threatened to swell into a roar.
Professor Scotch was nearly frightened out of his wits.
"It is the end of everything!" he shrieked, making a wild dash for the door, which he flung wide open.
But the professor did not rush out of the cabin. Instead, he flung up his hands, staggered backward, and nearly fell to the floor.
"The white canoe!" he faintly gasped, clutching at empty air for support.
Frank sprang forward, catching and steadying the professor.
"The white canoe—where?"
"Out there!"
Sure enough, on the dark surface of the water, directly in front of the hut, lay the mysterious canoe.
And now this singular craft was illuminated from stem to stern by a soft, white light that showed its outlines plainly.
"Sint Patherick presarve us!" panted Barney Mulloy.
"I am getting tired of being chased around by a canoe!" said Frank, in disgust, as he hastily sought one of the rifles.
"Don't shoot!" entreated the professor, in great alarm.
"Av yer do, our goose is cooked!" fluttered Barney.
Frank threw a fresh cartridge into the rifle, and turned toward the open door, his mind fully made up.
And then, to the profound amazement of all three, seated in the canoe there seemed to be an old man, with white hair and long, white beard. The soft, white light seemed to come from every part of his person, as it came from the canoe.
Frank Merriwell paused, with the rifle partly lifted.
"It's th' spook himsilf!" gasped Barney, covering his face with his hands, and clinging to the professor.
"That's right!" faintly said Scotch. "For mercy's sake, don't shoot, Frank! We're lost if you do!"
Frank was startled and astonished, but he was determined not to lose his nerve, no matter what happened.
The man in the canoe seemed to be looking directly toward the cabin. He slowly lifted one hand, and pointed away across the Everglades, at the same time motioningwith the other hand, as if for them to go in that direction.
"I'll just send a bullet over his head, to see what he thinks of it," said Frank, softly, lifting the rifle.
Then another startling thing happened.
Canoe and man disappeared in the twinkling of an eye!
The trio in the hut gasped and rubbed their eyes.
"Gone!" cried Frank.
"Vanished!" panted the professor.
"An' now Oi suppose ye'll say it wur no ghost?" gurgled Barney.
It was extremely dark beneath the shadow of the cypress trees, and not a sign of the mysterious canoe could they see.
"It is evident he did not care to have me send a bullet whizzing past his ears," laughed Frank, who did not seem in the least disturbed.
"What are your nerves made of?" demanded Professor Scotch, in a shaking tone of voice. "They must be iron!"
"Hark!"
Frank's hand fell on the professor's arm, and the three listened intently, hearing something that gave them no little surprise.
From far away through the night came the sound of hoarse voices singing a wild, doleful song.
"Hamlet's ghost!" ejaculated the professor.
"Pwhat the Ould Nick does thot mane?" cried Barney.
"Hark!" Frank again cautioned. "Let's see if we can understand the words they are singing. Be still."
"We sailed away from Gloucester Bay,And the wind was in the west, yo ho!And her cargo was some New England rum;Our grog it was made of the best, yo ho!"
"We sailed away from Gloucester Bay,And the wind was in the west, yo ho!And her cargo was some New England rum;Our grog it was made of the best, yo ho!"
"A sailor's song," decided Frank,"and those are sailors who are singing. We are not alone in the Everglades."
"They're all drunk," declared the professor. "You can tell that by the sound of their voices. Drunken men are dangerous."
"They're a blamed soight betther than none, fer it'sloikely they know th' way out av this blissed swamp," said Barney.
"They may bub-bub-be pup-pup-pup-pirates!" chattered the professor.
"What sticks me," said Frank, "is how a party of sailors ever made their way in here, for we are miles upon miles from the coast. Here is another mystery."
"Are ye fer takin' a look at th' loikes av thim, Frankie?"
"Certainly, and that without delay. Come, professor."
"Never!"
"What do you mean?"
"I am not going near those ruffianly and bloodthirsty pirates."
"Then you may stay here with the spooks, while Barney and I go."
This was altogether too much for the professor, and, when he found they really intended to go, he gave in.
Frank loaded the rifles and the shotgun, and took along his bow and arrows, even though Barney made sport of him for bothering with the last.
They slipped the canoe into the water, and, directed by Frank, the professor succeeded in getting in without upsetting the frail affair.
"Oi hope we won't run inther the ghost," uttered the Irish boy.
"The sound of that singing comes from the direction in which the old man seemed to point," said Frank.
This was true, as they all remembered.
The singing continued, sometimes sinking to a low, droning sound, sometimes rising to a wild wail that sounded weirdly over the marshland.
"Ready," said Frank, and the canoe slipped silently over the dark surface of the water course.
The singing ceased after a time, but they were still guided by the sound of wrangling voices.
"They are quarreling!" exclaimed Frank, softly.
"This is tut-tut-terrible!" stuttered the professor.
Suddenly the sound of a pistol shot came over the rushes, followed by a feminine shriek of pain or terror!
Frank and his two companions were profoundly astonished. As soon as he could recover, Frank asked:
"Did you hear that?"
"Av course we hearrud it!" returned Barney, excitedly.
"It sounded very much like the voice of a woman or girl," said Professor Scotch, who was so amazed that he forgot for the moment that he was scared.
"That's what it was," declared Frank; "and it means that our aid is needed in that quarter at once."
"Be careful! be cautious!" warned the professor. "There's no telling what kind of a gang we may run into."
"To thunder with thot!" grated Barney Mulloy, quivering with eagerness. "There's a female in nade av hilp."
"Go ahead!" directed Frank, giving utterance to his old maxim.
The professor was too agitated to handle a paddle, so the task of propelling the canoe fell to the boys, who sent it skimming over the water, Frank watching out for snags.
In a moment the water course swept round to the left, and they soon saw the light of a fire gleaming through the rushes.
The sounds of a conflict continued, telling them that the quarrel was still on, and aiding them in forming their course.
In a moment they came in full view of the camp-fire, by the light of which they saw several struggling, swaying figures.
Frank's keen eyes seemed to take in everything at one sweeping glance.
Six men and a girl were revealed by the light of the fire. Five of the men were engaged in a fierce battle,while the sixth was bound, in a standing position, to the trunk of a tree.
The girl, with her hands bound behind her back, was standing near the man who was tied to the tree, and the firelight fell fairly on the faces of man and girl.
A low exclamation of the utmost astonishment broke from Frank's lips.
"It can't be—it is an impossibility!" he said.
"Pwhat is it, me b'y?" quickly demanded Barney.
"The man—the girl! Look, Barney! do you know them?"
"Oi dunno."
"Well, I know! There is no mistake. That is Captain Justin Bellwood, whose vessel was lost in the storm off Fardale coast! I am certain of it!"
"An' th' girrul is——"
"Elsie Bellwood, his daughter!"
"Th' wan you saved from th' foire, Frankie?"
"As sure as fate!"
"It can't be possible!" fluttered Professor Scotch. "Captain Bellwood has a new vessel, and he would not be here. You must be mistaken, Frank."
"Not on your life! That is Captain Bellwood and his daughter. There is no mistake, professor."
"But how——"
"There has been some kind of trouble, and they are captives—that is plain enough. Those men are sailors—Captain Bellwood's sailors! It's likely there has been a mutiny. We must save them."
"How can it be done?"
"We must land while those ruffians are fighting. We are well armed. If we can get ashore, we'll set the captain free, and I fancy we'll be able to hold our own with those ruffians, desperate wretches though they are."
"Wait!" advised the timid professor. "Perhaps they will kill each other, and then our part will be easy."
Frank was not for waiting, but, at that moment, something happened that caused him to change his plan immediately.
The fighting ruffians were using knives in a deadly way, and one man, bleeding from many wounds, fell exhausted to the ground. Another, who seemed to bethis one's comrade, tore himself from the other three, leaped to the girl, caught her in his arms, and held her in front of him, so that her body shielded his. Then, pointing a revolver over her shoulder, he snarled:
"Come on, and I'll bore the three of ye! You can't shoot me, Gage, unless you kill ther gal!"
The youngest one of the party, a mere boy, but a fellow with the air of a desperado, stepped to the front, saying swiftly:
"If you don't drop that girl, Jaggers, you'll leave your carcass in this swamp! That is business, my hearty."
Frank clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from uttering a great shout of amazement. The next moment he panted:
"This is fate! Look, Barney! by the eternal skies, that is Leslie Gage, my worst enemy at Fardale Academy, and the fellow who ran away to keep from being expelled. It was reported that he had gone to sea."
"Ye're roight, Frankie," agreed the no less excited Irish lad. "It's thot skunk, an' no mistake!"
"It is Leslie Gage," agreed the professor. "He was ever a bad boy, but I did not think he would come to this."
"An' Oi always thought he would come to some bad ind. It wur thot spalpane thot troied to run Frank through with a sharpened foil wan toime whin they wur fencing. He had black murder in his hearrut thin, an' it's not loikely th' whilp has grown inny betther since."
"Keep still," whispered Frank. "Let's hear what is said."
The man with the girl laughed defiantly, retorting:
"You talk big, Gage, but it won't work with me. I hold the best hand just at present, and you'll have to come to terms. Keep back!"
"You don't dare shoot," returned the young desperado, as he took still another step toward the sailor.
In a moment the man placed the muzzle of the revolver against the temple of the helpless girl, fiercely declaring:
"If you come another inch, I'll blow her brains out!"
"The dastard!" grated Frank. "Oh, the wretch! Wait. I will fix him, or my name is not Merriwell!"
He drew an arrow from the quiver, and fitted the notch to the bow-string. His nerves were steady, and he was determined. He waited till the man had removed the muzzle of the weapon from the girl's temple, and then he lifted the bow.
Barney and the professor caught their breath. They longed to check Frank, but dared not speak for fear of causing him to waver and send the arrow at the girl.
The bow was bent, the line was taut, the arrow was drawn to the head, and then——
Twang! The arrow sped through the air, but it was too dark for them to follow its flight with their eyes. With their hearts in their mouths, they awaited the result.
Of a sudden, the ruffian uttered a cry of pain, released his hold on the girl, and fell heavily to the ground.
The firelight showed the arrow sticking in his shoulder.
"Ugh!" grunted a voice close beside the canoe. "Very good shot for a white boy. Not many could do that."
The trio turned in amazement and alarm, and, within three feet of them, they saw a shadowy canoe that contained a shadowy figure. There was but one person in the strange canoe, and he immediately added:
"There is no need to fear Socato, the Seminole, for he will not harm you. He is the friend of all good white men."
It was an Indian, a Seminole, belonging to the remnant of the once great nation that peopled the Florida peninsula. Frank realized this in a moment, and, knowing the Seminoles were harmless when well treated, felt no further alarm.
The Indian had paddled with the utmost silence to their side, while they were watching what was taking place on shore.
The arrow had produced consternation in the camp. The fellow who was wounded tried to draw it from his shoulder, groaning:
"This is not a fair deal! Give me a fair show, and I'll fight you all!"
"Where did it come from?" asked Gage, in dismay.
The two canoes were beyond the circle of firelight, so they could not be seen from the shore.
Gage's two companions were overcome with terror.
"This swamp is full of Indians!" one of them cried. "We've been attacked by a band of savages!"
Gage spoke a few words in a low tone, and then sprang over the prostrate form of the man who had been stricken down by the arrow, grasped the girl, and retreated into the darkness. His companions also scudded swiftly beyond the firelight, leaving Captain Bellwood still bound to the tree, while one man lay dead on the ground, and another had an arrow in his shoulder.
Close to Frank's ear the voice of Socato the Seminole sounded:
"Light bother them. They git in the dark and see us from the shore. Then they shoot this way some."
"Jupiter and Mars!" gasped Professor Scotch, "I don't care to stay here, and have them shoot at me!"
"White boys want to save girl?" asked Socato, swiftly. "They pay to get her free? What say?"
"Of course we will pay," hastily answered Frank. "Can you aid us in saving her? If you can, you shall be——"
"Socato save her. White man and two boys go back to cabin of Great White Phantom. Stay there, and Socato come with the girl."
"Begorra! Oi don't loike thot," declared Barney. "Oi'd loike to take a hand in th' rescue mesilf."
"Socato can do better alone," asserted the Seminole. "Trust me."
But Frank was not inclined to desert Elsie Bellwood in her hour of trouble, and he said:
"Socato, you must take me with you. Professor, you and Barney go back to the hut, and stay there till we come."
The Indian hesitated, and then said:
"If white boy can shoot so well with the bow and arrow, he may not be in the way. I will take him, if he can step from one canoe to the other without upsetting either."
"That's easy," said Frank, as he deliberately and safely accomplished the feat.
"Well done, white boy," complimented the strange Indian.
"Pass me one of those rifles," requested Frank.
"White boy better leave rifle; take bow and arrows," advised Socato. "Rifle make noise; bow and arrow make no noise."
"All right; what you say goes. Return to the hut, Barney, and stay there till we show up."
"But th' spook——"
"Hang the spook! We'll know where to find you, if you go there."
"The Great White Phantom will not harm those who offer him no harm," declared the Indian.
"I am not so afraid of spooks as I am of—— Jumping Jupiter!"
There was a flash of fire from the darkness on shore, the report of a gun, and a bullet whirred through the air, cutting the professor's speech short, and causing him to duck down into the canoe.
"Those fellows have located us," said Frank, swiftly. "We must get away immediately. Remember, wait at the hut."
Socato's paddle dropped without a sound into the water, and the canoe slid away into the night.
The professor and Barney lost no time in moving, and it was well they did so, for, a few seconds later, another shot came from the shore, and the bullet skipped along the water just where the canoes had been.
Frank trusted everything to Socato, even though he had never seen or heard of the Seminole before. Something about the voice of the Indian convinced the boy that he was honest, for all that his darkness was such that Frank could not see his face and did not know how he looked.
The Indian sent the canoe through the water with aspeed and silence that was a revelation to Frank Merriwell. The paddle made no sound, and it seemed that the prow of the canoe scarcely raised a ripple, for all that they were gliding along so swiftly.
"Where are you going?" whispered Frank, observing that they were leaving the camp-fire astern.
"White boy trust Socato?"
"If I didn't, I shouldn't be here. Of course, I do."
"Then keep cool. Socato take him round to place where we can come up behind bad white men. We try to fool 'um."
"Good!"
The light of the camp-fire died out, and then, a few moments later, another camp-fire seemed to glow across a strip of low land.
"See it?" whispered the Indian, with caution.
"Yes. What party is camped there—friends of yours, Socato?"
"Not much!"
"Who, then?"
"That same fire."
"Same fire as which?"
"One bad white men build."
Frank was astonished.
"Oh, say! how is that? We left that fire behind us, Socato."
"And we have come round by the water till it is before us again."
This was true, but the darkness had been so intense that Frank did not see how their course was changing.
"I see how you mean to come up behind them," said the boy. "You are going to land and cross to their camp."
"That right. They won't look for us that way."
"I reckon not."
Soon the rushes closed in on either side, and the Indian sent the canoe twisting in and out amid their tall stalks like a creeping panther. He seemed to know every inch of the way, and followed it as well as if it were broad noonday.
Frank's admiration for the fellow grew with each moment, and he felt that he could, indeed, trust Socato.
"If we save that girl and the old man, you shall be well paid for the job," declared the boy, feeling that it was well to dangle a reward before the Indian's mental vision.
"It is good," was the whispered retort. "Socato is poor."
In a few moments they crept through the rushes till the canoe lay close to a bank, and the Indian directed Frank to get out.
The camp-fire could not be seen from that position, but the boy well knew it was not far away.
Taking his bow, with the quiver of arrows slung to his back, the lad left the canoe, being followed immediately by the Seminole, who lifted the prow of the frail craft out upon the bank, and then led the way.
Passing round a thick mass of reeds, they soon reached a position where they could see the camp-fire and the moving forms of the sailors. Just as they reached this position, Leslie Gage was seen to dash up to the fire and kick the burning brands in various directions.
"He has done that so that the firelight might not reveal them to us," thought Frank. "They still believe us near, although they know not where we are."
Crouching and creeping, Socato led the way, and Frank followed closely, wondering what scheme the Indian could have in his head, yet trusting everything to his sagacity.
In a short time they were near enough to hear the conversation of the bewildered and alarmed sailors. The men were certain a band of savages were close at hand, for they did not dream that the arrow which had dropped Jaggers was fired by the hand of a white person.
"The sooner we get away from here, the better it will be for us," declared Leslie Gage.
"We'll have to get away in the boats," said a grizzled villainous-looking, one-eyed old sailor, who was known as Ben Bowsprit.
"Fo' de Lawd's sake!" gasped the third sailor, who was a negro, called Black Tom; "how's we gwine to run right out dar whar de critter am dat fired de arrer inter Jack Jaggers?"
"The 'critter' doesn't seem to be there any longer,"assured Gage. "Those two shots must have frightened him away."
"That's right," agreed Bowsprit. "This has been an unlucky stop fer us, mates. Tomlinson is dead, an' Jaggers——"
"I ain't dead, but I'm bleedin', bleedin', bleedin'!" moaned the fellow who had been hit by Frank's arrow. "There's a big tear in my shoulder, an' I'm afeared I've made my last cruise."
"It serves you right," came harshly from the boy leader of the ruffianly crew. "Tomlinson attempted to set himself up as head of this crew—as captain over me. You backed him. All the time, you knew I was the leader in every move we have made."
"And a pretty pass you have led us to!" whined the wounded wretch. "Where's the money you said the captain had stored away? Where's the reward we'd receive for the captain alive and well? We turned mutineers at your instigation, and what have we made of it? We've set the law agin' us, an' here we are. TheBonny Elsiehas gone up in smoke——"
"Through the carelessness of a lot of drunken fools!" snarled Gage. "She should not have been burned. But for that, we wouldn't be here now, hiding from officers of the law."
"Well, here we are," growled Ben Bowsprit, "an' shiver my timbers if we seem able to get out of this howlin' swamp! The more we try, the more we seem ter git lost."
"Fo' goodness, be yo' gwine to stan' roun' an' chin, an' chin, an' chin?" demanded Black Tom.
"The fire's out, and we can't be seen," spoke Gage, swiftly, in a low tone. "Get the boats ready. You two are to take the old man in one; I'll take the girl in the other."
"It's the gal you've cared fer all the time," cried Jaggers, madly. "It was for her you led us into this scrape."
"Shut up!"
"I won't! You can't make me shut up, Gage."
"Well, you'll have a chance to talk to yourself andTomlinson before long. Tomlinson will be jolly company."
"You've killed him!" accused the wounded man. "I saw you strike the blow, and I'll swear to that, my hearty!"
"It's not likely you'll be given a chance to swear to it, Jaggers. I may have killed him, but it was in self-defense. He was doing his best to get his knife into me."
"Yes, we was tryin' to finish you," admitted Jaggers. "With you out of the way, Tomlinson would have been cap'n, and I first mate. You've kept your eyes on the gal all the time. I don't believe you thought the cap'n had money at all. It was to get the gal you led us into this business. She'd snubbed you—said she despised you, and you made up your mind to carry her off against her will."
"If that was my game, you must confess I succeeded very well. But I can't waste more time talking to you. Get the boats ready, boys. I will take the smaller. Put Cap'n Bellwood in the larger, and look out for him."
The two sailors obeyed his orders. Boy though he was, Gage had resolved to become a leader of men, and he had succeeded.
The girl, quite overcome, was prostrate at the feet of her father, who was bound to the cypress tree.
There was a look of pain and despair on the face of the old captain. His heart bled as he looked down at his wretched daughter, and he groaned:
"Merciful Heaven! what will become of her? It were better that she should die than remain in the power of that young villain!"
"What are you muttering about, old man?" coarsely demanded Gage, as he bent to lift the girl. "You seem to be muttering to yourself the greater part of the time."
"You wretch! you young monster!" grated the old shipmaster. "Do you think you can escape the retribution that pursues all such dastardly creatures as you?"
"Oh, you make me tired! I have found out that the goody-good people do not always come out on top in this world. Besides that, it's too late for me to turn back now. I started wrong at school, and I have beengoing wrong ever since. It's natural for me; I can't help it."
"Spare my child!"
"Oh, don't worry about her. I'll take care of her."
"If you harm her, may the wrath of Heaven fall on your head!"
"Let it go at that. I will be very tender and considerate with her. Come, Elsie."
He attempted to lift her to her feet, but she drew from him, shuddering and screaming wildly:
"Don't touch me!"
"Now, don't be a little fool!" he said, harshly. "You make me sick with your tantrums! Come on, now."
But she screamed the louder, seeming to stand in the utmost terror of him.
With a savage exclamation, Gage tore off his coat and wrapped it about the girl's head so that her cries were smothered.
"Perhaps that will keep you still a bit!" he snapped, catching her up in his arms, and bearing her to the smaller boat, in which he carefully placed her.
She did not faint. As her hands were bound behind her, she could not remove the coat from about her head, and she sat as he placed her, with it enveloping her nearly to the waist.
"Is everything ready?" asked Gage. "Where are all the guns? Somebody take Tomlinson's weapons. Let Jaggers have his. He may need them when we are gone."
"Don't leave me here to die alone!" piteously pleaded the wounded sailor. "I'm pretty well gone now, but I don't want to be left here alone!"
Gage left the small boat for a moment, and approached the spot where the pleading wretch lay.
"Jaggers," he said, "it's the fate you deserve. You agreed to stand by me, but you went back on your oath, and tried to kill me."
"And now you're going to leave me here to bleed to death or starve?"
"Why shouldn't I? The tables are turned on you, my fine fellow."
"Well, I'm sure you won't leave me."
"You are?"
"Yes."
"Why won't I?"
"This is why!"
Jaggers flung up his hand, from which a spout of flame seemed to leap, and the report of a pistol sounded over the marsh.
Leslie Gage fell in a heap to the ground.
"Ha! ha! ha!" wildly laughed the wounded sailor. "That time he did not escape! Leave me to die, would he? Well, he is dead already, for I shot him through the brain!"
"That's where you are mistaken, Jaggers," said the cool voice of the boyish leader of the mutineers. "I saw your move, saw the revolver, and dropped in time to avoid the bullet."
Gage sprang to his feet.
A snarl of baffled fury came from the lips of the wounded sailor.
"The foul fiend protects you!" he cried. "See if you can dodge this bullet!"
He would have fired again, but Gage leaped forward in the darkness, kicked swiftly and accurately, and sent the revolver spinning from the man's hand.
"You have settled your fate!" hissed the boy, madly. "I did mean to have you taken away, and I was talking to torment you. Now you will stay here—and die like a dog!"
He turned from Jaggers, and hurried back to the boat, in which that muffled figure silently sat.
"Are you ready, boys?" he called.
Captain Bellwood had been released from the tree, and marched to the other boat, in which he now sat, bound and helpless.
"All ready," was the answer.
"All right; go ahead."
They pushed off, settled into their seats, and began rowing.
Gage was not long in following, but he wondered at the silence of the girl who sat in the stern. It could not be that she had fainted, for she remained in an upright position.
"Which way, cap?" asked one of the men.
"Any way to get out of this," was the answer. "We will find another place to camp, but I want to get away from this spot."
Not a sound came from beneath the muffled coat.
"It must be close," thought Gage. "I wonder if she can breathe all right. I wish she would do something."
At last, finding he could keep up with his companions without trouble, and knowing he would have very little difficulty in overtaking them, Gage drew in his oars and slipped back toward the muffled figure in the stern.
"Elsie," he said, softly.
No answer; no move.
"Miss Bellwood."
Still no answer.
"You must not think too hard of me, Miss Bellwood," he said, pleadingly. "I would not harm you for anything. I love you far too much for that, Elsie."
He could have sworn that the sound which came from the muffling folds of the coat was like a smothered laugh, but he knew she was not laughing at him.
"I have been wicked and desperate," he went on; "but I was driven to the life I have led. Fate has been against me all along. When I shipped on your father's vessel it was because I had seen you and knew you were to be along on the cruise. I loved you at first sight, and I vowed that I would reform and do better if you loved me in return, Elsie."
He was speaking swiftly in a low tone, and his voice betrayed his earnestness. He passed an arm around the muffled figure, feeling it quiver within his grasp, and then he continued:
"You did not take kindly to me, but I persisted. Then you repulsed me—told me you despised me, and that made me desperate. I swore I would have you, Elsie. Then came the mutiny and the burning of the vessel. Now we are here, and you are with me. Elsie, you know not how I love you! I have become an outcast, an outlaw—all for your sake! Elsie, dear Elsie! can't you learn to love me? I will do anything for you—anything!"
Again a sound came from beneath the coat. He was sure she was sobbing. It must be that he was beginningto break down that icy barrier. She realized her position, and she would be reasonable.
"Elsie—little sweetheart!"
He began to remove the muffling coat.
"Do not scream, Elsie—do not draw away, darling. Say that you will love me a little—just a little!"
He pulled the coat away, and something came out of the folds and touched cold and chilling against his forehead.
It was the muzzle of a revolver!
"Keep still!" commanded a voice that was full of chuckling laughter. "If you chirp, I'll have to blow the roof of your head off, Gage!"
Leslie Gage caught his breath and nearly collapsed into the bottom of the boat. Indeed, he would have fallen had not a strong hand fastened on his collar and held him.
It was not Elsie Bellwood!
"I don't want to shoot you, Gage," whispered the cool voice. "I don't feel like that, even though you did attempt to take my life once or twice in the past. You have made me very good natured within the past few moments. How you did love me! How gently you murmured, 'Do not draw away, darling; say that you love me a little—just a little!' Ha! ha! ha! Really, Gage, you gave me such amusement that I am more than satisfied with this little adventure."
"That voice—I know it!" grated Gage, through set teeth. "Still, I can't place you."
"Indeed, you are forgetful, Gage. But it is rather dark, and I don't suppose you expected to see me here. We last met at Fardale."
"Fardale?"
"Yes."
"And you are—Frank Merriwell!"
Gage would have shouted the name in his amazement, but Frank's fingers suddenly closed on the fellow's throat and held back the sound in a great measure.
"Now you have guessed it," chuckled Frank. "Oh, Gage! I can forgive you for the past since you have provided me with so much amusement to-night. Howyou urged me to learn to love you! But that's too much, Gage; I can never learn to do that."
Leslie ground his teeth, but he was still overcome with unutterable amazement and wonder. That Frank Merriwell, whom he hated, should appear there at night in the wilds of the Florida Everglades was like a miracle.
What had become of Elsie Bellwood? Had some magic of that wild and dreary region changed her into Frank Merriwell?
Little wonder that Gage was dazed and helpless.
"How in the name of the Evil One did you come here?" he finally asked, recovering slightly from his stupor.
Frank laughed softly once more. It was the same old merry, boyish laugh that Gage had heard so often at Fardale, and it filled him with intense anger, as it had in the days of old.
"I know you did not expect to see me," murmured Frank, still laughing. "I assure you that the Evil One had nothing to do with my appearance here."
"It was trickery—magic! I left her in the boat a few moments. What became of her? How did you take her place?"
"I will let you speculate over that question for a while, my fine fellow. In the meantime, I fancy it will be a good idea to tie you up so you will not make any trouble. Remember I have a revolver handy, and I promise that I'll use it if you kick up a row."
At this moment, one of the sailors in the other boat called:
"Hello, there, Mr. Gage! where are you?"
Gage was tempted to shout for help, but the muzzle of the cold weapon that touched his forehead froze his tongue to silence.
"Hello! Ahoy, there, cap'n! Where are you?"
Ben Bowsprit was growing impatient and wondering why Leslie did not answer. It had occurred to the old tar that it was possible the boy had deserted them.
The voice of Black Tom was heard to say:
"He oughter be right near by us, Ben. 'Smighty strange dat feller don' seem to answer nohow."
"Shiver my timbers!" roared Bowsprit. "We'll pull back, my hearty, and take a look for our gay cap'n."
They were coming back, and Gage was still unbound, although a captive in Frank Merriwell's clutch.
Frank thought swiftly. There would not be enough time to bind Gage and get away. Something must be done to prevent the two sailors from turning about and rowing back.
"Gage," whispered Frank, swiftly, "you must answer them. Say, it's all right, boys; I'm coming right along."
Gage hesitated, the longing to shout for help again grasping him.
"Do as I told you!" hissed Frank, and the muzzle of the revolver seemed to bore into Gage's forehead, as if the bullet longed to seek his brain.
With a mental curse on the black luck, Gage uttered the words as his captor had ordered, although they seemed to come chokingly from his throat.
"Well, what are ye doing back there so long?" demanded Bowsprit.
"Tell them you're making love," chuckled Frank, who seemed to be hugely enjoying the affair, to the unspeakable rage of his captive. "Ask them if they don't intend to give you a show at all."
Gage did as directed, causing Bowsprit to laugh hoarsely.
"Oh, you're a sly dog!" cackled the old sailor, in the darkness. "But this is a poor time to spend in love-makin', cap'n. Wait till we git settled down ag'in. Tom an' me'll agree not ter watch ye."
"Say, all right; go on," instructed Frank, and Gage did so.
In a few seconds, the sound of oars were heard, indicating that the sailors were obeying instructions.
At that moment, while Frank was listening to this sound, Gage believed his opportunity had arrived, and, being utterly desperate, the young rascal knocked aside Frank's hand, gave a wild shout, leaped to his feet, and plunged headlong into the water.
It was done swiftly—too swiftly for Frank to shoot, if he had intended such a thing. But Frank Merriwell had no desire to shoot his former schoolmate, even though Leslie Gage had become a hardened and desperate criminal, and so, having broken away, the youthful leader of the mutineers stood in no danger of being harmed.
Frank and Socato had been close at hand when Gage placed Elsie Bellwood in the boat, and barely was the girl left alone before she was removed by the Seminole, in whose arms she lay limp and unconscious, having swooned at last.
Then it was that a desire to capture Gage and a wild longing to give the fellow a paralyzing surprise seized upon Frank.
"Socato," he whispered, "I am going to trust you to take that girl to the hut where my friends are to be found. Remember that you shall be well paid; I give you my word of honor as to that. See that no harm comes to her."
"All right," returned the Indian. "What white boy mean to do?"
"Have a little racket on my own hook," was the reply. "If I lose my bearings and can't find the hut, I will fire five shots into the air from my revolver. Have one of my friends answer in a similar manner."
"It shall be done."
"Give me that coat. All right. Now skip with the girl."
Frank took the coat; stepped into the boat, watched till Gage was approaching, and then muffled his head, sitting in the place where Elsie had been left.
In the meantime, the Seminole was bearing the girl swiftly and silently away.
Thus it came about that Gage made love to Frank Merriwell, instead of the fair captive he believed was muffled by the coat.
When Gage plunged into the water, the small boat rocked and came near upsetting, but did not go over.
But the fellow's cry and the splash had brought the sailors to a halt, and they soon called back:
"What's the matter? What has happened?"
"I rather fancy it will be a good plan to make myself scarce in this particular locality," muttered Frank.
Gage swam under water for some distance, and then, coming to the surface, he shouted to the men in the leading boat:
"Bowsprit, Black Tom, help! Turn back quickly! There is an enemy here, but he is alone! We can capture him, boys! Be lively about it!"
"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Frank, merrily. "You will have a fine time catching me. You have given me great amusement, Gage. I assure you that I have been highly entertained by your company, and hereafter I shall consider you an adept in the gentle art of making love."
"Laugh!" fiercely shouted Gage from the water. "You are having your turn now, but mine will soon come!"
"I have heard you talk like that before, Gage. It does not seem that you have yet learned 'the way of the transgressor is hard.'"
"You'll learn better than to meddle with me! I have longed to meet you again, Frank Merriwell, and I tell you now that one of us will not leave this swamp alive!"
"This is not the first time you have made a promise that you were not able to keep. Before I leave you, I have this to say: If Captain Bellwood is harmed in the least, if he is not set at liberty with very little delay,I'll never rest till you have received the punishment which your crimes merit."
Frank could hear the sailors rowing back, and he felt for the oars, having no doubt that he would be able to escape them with ease, aided by the darkness.
Then came a surprise for him.
When Gage stopped rowing to make love to the supposed Elsie he had left the oars in the rowlocks, drawing them in and laying them across the boat. In the violent rocking of the boat when the fellow leaped overboard one of the oars had been lost.
Frank was left with a single oar, and his enemies were bearing down upon him with great swiftness.
"I wonder if there's a chance to scull this boat?" he coolly speculated, as he hastened to the stern and made a swift examination.
To his satisfaction and relief, he found there was, and the remaining oar was quickly put to use.
Even then Frank felt confident that he would be able to avoid his enemies in the darkness that lay deep and dense upon the great swamp. He could hear them rowing, and he managed to skull the light boat along without making much noise.
He did not mind that Gage had escaped; in fact, he was relieved to get rid of the fellow, although it had been his intention to hold him as hostage for Captain Bellwood.
It was the desire for adventure that had led Frank into the affair, and, now that it was over so far as surprising Gage was concerned, he was satisfied to get away quietly.
He could hear the sailors calling Gage, who answered from the water, and he knew they would stop to pick the fellow up, which would give our hero a still better show of getting away.
All this took place, and Frank was so well hidden by the darkness that there was not one chance in a thousand of being troubled by the ruffianly crew when another astonishing thing happened.
From a point amid the tall rushes a powerful white light gleamed out and fell full and fair upon the smallboat and its single occupant, revealing Frank as plainly as if by the glare of midday sunlight.
"Great Scott!" gasped the astonished boy. "What is the meaning of this, I would like to know?"
He was so astonished that he nearly dropped the oar.
The sailors were astonished, but the light showed them distinctly, and Gage snarled.
"Give me your pistol, Bowsprit! Be lively!"
He snatched the weapon from the old tar's hand, took hasty aim, and fired.
Frank Merriwell was seen to fling up his arms and fall heavily into the bottom of the boat!
"Got him!" grated the triumphant young rascal, flourishing the revolver. "That's the time I fixed him!"
The mysterious light vanished in the twinkling of an eye, but it had shone long enough for Gage to do his dastardly work.
The sailors were alarmed by the light, and wished to row away; but Gage raved at them, ordering them to pull down toward the spot where the other boat lay.
After a time, the men recovered enough to do as directed, and the smaller boat was soon found, rocking lightly on the surface.
Running alongside, Gage reached over into the small boat, and his hand found the boy who was stretched in the bottom.
"Here he is!" cried the young rascal, gleefully. "I'll bet anything I put the bullet straight through his heart!"
And then, as if his own words had brought a sense of it all to him, he suddenly shuddered with horror, faintly muttering:
"That was murder!"
The horror grew upon him rapidly, and he began to wonder that he had felt delight when he saw Frank Merriwell fall. The shooting had been the impulse of the moment, and, now that it was done and he realized what it meant, he would have given much to recall that bullet.
"Never mind," he thought. "I swore that one of us should not leave this swamp alive, and my oath will not be broken. I hated Frank Merriwell the first time I saw him, and I have hated him ever since. Now he is out of my way, and he will never cross my path again."
There was a slight stir in the small boat, followed by something like a gasping moan.
"He don't seem to be dead yet, cap'n," said Ben Bowsprit. "I guess your aim wasn't as good as you thought."
That nettled Gage.
"Oh, I don't think he'll recover very fast," said the youthful rascal, harshly.
He rose and stepped over into the smaller boat.
"Give me some matches," he ordered. "I want to take a look at the chap. He must make a beautiful corpse."
"You'll find I'm not dead yet!" returned a weak voice, and Frank Merriwell sat up and grappled with Gage.
A snarl of fury came from the lips of the boy desperado.
"So I didn't finish you! Well, you'll not get away!"
"You'll have to fight before you finish me!" panted Frank.
But Merriwell seemed weak, and Gage did not find it difficult to handle the lad at whom he had shot. He forced Frank down into the bottom of the boat, and then called to his companions:
"Give me some of that line. I'll make him fast."
A piece of rope was handed to him, and Black Tom stepped into the boat to aid him. Between them, they succeeded in making Frank fast, for the boy's struggles were weak, at best.
"Now it is my turn!" cried Leslie, gloatingly. "At Fardale Frank Merriwell triumphed. He disgraced me, and I was forced to fly from the school."
"You disgraced yourself," declared the defiant captive. "You cheated at cards—you fleeced your schoolmates."
"And you exposed the trick! Oh, yes, I was rather flip with the papers, and I should not have been detected but for you, Merriwell. When I was exposed, I knew I would be shunned by all the fellows in school, and so I ran away. But I did not forget who brought the disgrace about, and I knew we should meet some time, Merriwell. We did meet. How you came here I do not know, and why my bullet did not kill you is more than I can understand."
"It would have killed me but for a locket and picture in my pocket," returned Frank. "It struck the locket, and that saved me; but the shock robbed me of strength—it must have robbed me of consciousness for a moment."
"It would have been just as well for you if the locket had not stopped the bullet," declared Gage, fiercely.
"By that I presume you mean that you intend to murder me anyway?"
"I have sworn that one of us shall never leave this swamp alive."
"Go ahead, Gage," came coolly from the lips of the captive. "Luck seems to have turned your way. Make the most of it while you have an opportunity."
"We can't spend time in gabbing here," came nervously from Bowsprit. "Let's get away immediately."
"Yes," put in Black Tom; "fo' de Lawd's sake, le's get away before dat light shine some mo'!"
"That's right," said the old tar. "Some things happen in this swamp that no human being can account for."
Gage was ready enough to get away, and they were soon pulling onward again, with Frank Merriwell, bound and helpless, in the bottom of the smaller boat.
For nearly an hour they rowed, and then they succeeded in finding some dry, solid land where they could camp beneath the tall, black trees.
They were so overcome with alarm that they did not venture to build a fire, for all that Gage was shivering in his wet clothes.
Leslie was still puzzling over Frank Merriwell's astonishing appearance, and he tried to question Frank concerning it, but he could obtain but little satisfaction from the boy he hated.
The night passed, and morning came.
Away to the west stretched the Everglades, while to the north and the east lay the dismal cypress swamps.
The party seemed quite alone in the heart of the desolate region.
Leslie started out to explore the strip of elevated land upon which they had passed the night, and he found it stretched back into the woods, where lay great stagnant pools of water and where grew all kinds of strange plants and vines.
Gage had been from the camp about thirty minuteswhen he came running back, his face pale, and a fierce look in his eyes.
"I have heard of it!" he kept muttering. "I have heard of it! I have heard of it!"
"Avast there!" cried Bowsprit, with an attempt at cheerfulness. "What are you muttering over? What is it you have heard about, my hearty?"
"The serpent vine," answered Gage, wildly.
"What is the serpent vine?"
"You shall see. I did not believe there was such a thing, but it tangled my feet, it tried to twine about my legs, and I saw the little red flowers opening and shutting like the lips of devils."
"Fo' de Lawd's sake! de boss hab gone stark, starin' mad!" cried Black Tom, staring at Leslie with bulging eyes.
"Not much!" shouted Leslie, hoarsely. "But I have thought of a way to dispose of Frank Merriwell. I will feed him to the serpent vine! Ah, that will be revenge!"
Frank had listened to all this, and he noted that Gage actually seemed like a maniac.
Captain Bellwood, securely bound, was near Frank, to whom he now spoke:
"God pity you, my lad! He was bad enough before, but he seems to have gone mad. He will murder you!"
"Well, if that's to be the end of me, I'll have to take my medicine," came grimly from the lips of the undaunted boy captive.
"My child?" entreated the captain, anxiously. "What became of her? Can you tell me? Where is she now?"
"She is safe, I believe. She is with friends of mine, and they will fight for her as long as they are able to draw a breath."
"Thank Heaven! Now I care not if these wretches murder me!"
"I scarcely think they will murder you, captain. They have nothing in particular against you; but Gage hates me most bitterly."
"That's right!" snarled Leslie, who had overheardFrank's last words. "I do hate you, and my hatred seems to have increased tenfold since last night. I have been thinking—thinking how you have baffled me at every turn whenever we have come together. I have decided that you are my evil genius, and that I shall never have any luck as long as you live. I shall keep my oath. One of us will not leave this swamp alive, and you will be that one!"
"Go ahead with the funeral," said Frank, stoutly. "If you have made up your mind to murder me, I can't help myself; but one thing is sure—you'll not hear me beg."
"Wait till you know what your fate is to be. Boys, set his feet free, and then follow me, with him between you."
The cords which held Frank's feet were released, and he was lifted to a standing position. Then he was marched along after Gage, who led the way.
"Good-by," Frank called back.
Into the woods he was marched, and finally Gage came to a halt, motioning for the others to stop.
"Look!" he cried, pointing; "there is the serpent vine!"
On the ground before them, lay a mass of greenish vines, blossoming over with a dark red flower. Harmless enough they looked, but, as Gage drew a little nearer, they suddenly seemed to come to life, and they began reaching toward his feet, twisting, squirming, undulating like a mass of serpents.
"There!" shouted Leslie—"there is the vine that feeds on flesh and blood! See—see how it reached for my feet! It longs to grasp me, to draw me into its folds, to twine about my body, my neck, to strangle me!"
The sailors shuddered and drew back, while Frank Merriwell's face was very pale.
"It did fasten upon me," Gage continued. "If I had not been ready and quick with my knife, it would have drawn me into its deadly embrace. I managed to cut myself free and escape."
Then he turned to Frank, and the dancing light in his eyes was not a light of sanity.
"Merriwell," he said, "the serpent vine will end your life, and you'll never bother me any more!"
He leaped forward and clutched the helpless captive, screaming:
"Thus I keep my promise!"
And he flung Frank headlong into the clutch of the writhing vine!