CHAPTER VIII
THE BLAZING BEACON
Had it been daylight, the boy scouts on picket duty would have seen the same long, low, gray craft something like a built-for-speed tug boat, which had surprised Captain Vinton when it first appeared among the Keys, now coming to anchor outside Durgan's Cove, in the darkness.
As it was, however, they could see nothing after the Esperanza's lights went out; but, waiting impatiently, they presently heard the dip of oars, the faint rattle and squeaking of row-locks, and then a low whistle which seemed to come out of the quiet that brooded over the ocean.
"It's a boat from the Esperanza!" muttered Norton. "One of us had better steal back to the camp, and see what our friends are doing. Dave, you——-"
"Oh, let me go!" interposed Alec. "I can run the motor boat over to our camp and bring the soldiers here in about twenty minutes—-or less."
"My dear boy, those fellows out there who are coming ashore would be sure to hear a motor boat," declared Norton. "Even with a muffler on, the sound would reach them."
"But it's the only boat we have, .sir," said Mark, "and, when all's said, that's why Billy and Dave took it—-to bring the men over sooner than they could tramp across these flats."
"You're right, Mark; but——-"
Again he was interrupted by one of his eager young friends—-Chester, this time.
"Perhaps Dave could pole the motor boat over," he suggested.
"Could you, Dave? It's not a large boat by any means."
"Uh-huh, sure!" assented the guide. "But slow work—-lose heap time."
"No matter. Anyway, we've got to give those fellows time to land and to get to the cabins before we surround them. Go ahead, Dave; and Alec, you go with him to run the boat back. I guess you know more about a gasoline engine than any of us. Hurry now—-and good luck!"
The intrepid young scout needed no urging. Before Dave had found a suitable pole, Alec had taken his place at the stern and was pointing her in the direction of the peninsula on which Lieutenant Driscoll and his men were waiting.
In a few minutes Dave was pushing the light but substantial launch along the waterway, and almost immediately it disappeared from sight, swallowed up in the darkness.
It returned in about half an hour, crowded to the gunwales, carrying the dozen men. In the meantime, a rather startling incident had occurred.
Dave and Alec had been gone only ten minutes or so, when the assembled pickets observed a bright light burst forth from the surrounding gloom and rapidly increase until it assumed the proportions of a large bonfire.
The outlaws were carrying out the first part of their plan, which was to attract the revenue men away from the vicinity of the cabins while they effected a loading of their munitions or other contraband goods upon the Esperanza's boat. They counted on the probability that the revenue men would hasten to put out the fire on the coast—-which was quite a little distance from the cabins—-and would be unaware of other operations at the same time.
But in this scheme they reckoned without their pursuers; for the crew of the Petrel—-even now hurrying to the scene of action—-had received information of this very ruse, and had decided to ignore it and to make directly for Durgan's Cove.
Not knowing that the Arrow was lying near, or that the dozen men from the fort, with the scout pickets, were already on the scene, those energetic seamen of the Petrel were bending every effort to reach the smugglers' headquarters on time.
Captain Bego, of the Esperanza, however, knew that the Petrel was on his trail, and he was all the more anxious to make "a getaway with the goods."
The bonfire, instead of dying down at last, seemed to rise higher and higher, casting a lurid glow over the marshes and streams, and even upon the dark waters of the ocean. Made of driftwood, bundles of dried saw-grass and withered cypress boughs—-industriously piled on by Max, the half-breed, who had been sent there for that very purpose—-it blazed merrily, and a shower of sparks swirled around it, veering toward the cabins. To all appearances, the three cabins seemed doomed to take fire; in which case nothing could save them or their contents.
The soldiers from the fort and Dave had disappeared into the darkness of the deeper shadows.
Eager to see the fire and to find out what was going on in that vicinity, Billy, Alec, and Roy Norton crept forth from their hiding place and approached the glowing beacon.
For the most part, they followed the bank of a creek or inlet which, like all its fellows, wound and zig-zagged through the springy turf of the marsh. This particular waterway reflected the glow of the bonfire more brightly than the others, from which fact they deduced that it would be the most direct path.
On getting nearer, the hum of human voices showed them that a number of men had assembled, some of whom were engaged in throwing water over the blaze, others in patrolling the beach. Evidently the bonfire was burning too high and casting too much light to suit their purposes.
"Who are they?" queried Alec in a whisper.
"I don't know," answered Norton as quietly.
"Look!" Billy exclaimed softly. "There are three mulattoes in that bunch over by the dune. And see that tall, skinny, dark man with the oilskin coat over his left arm? That must be Captain Bego."
"He certainly looks like Vinton's descriptions," Norton observed.
"And he's giving orders as if he——-"
"Hark! What's that noise?"
Breathlessly they waited and listened.
After another full minute they again heard the sound—-a low rumbling, like distant thunder.
"Gee! it sounds dangerous," said Billy.
"I wish we knew what it was."
"I can make a pretty good guess," Norton added, still whispering.
"It's a——-"
In the middle of his sentence he was interrupted by a shout from one of the mulattos.
"Boat! Boat comin'!" cried the man, running toward the others, who by this time had almost extinguished the bonfire. His announcement was distinctly heard by the three hidden scouts.
"Wonder if he has seen our captured launch or a boat out at sea?" said Alec.
"Boys, he means—-the Petrel!"
"Oh!" the other two exclaimed dubiously.
"How do you know?" demanded Billy. "How can you tell?"
"It's just a guess on my part," Norton admitted readily; "but before we came ashore today, Vinton told me that he wouldn't be at all surprised if the Petrel came cruising back this way by evening; and so, when that fellow came running up with the news, my first thought was that the Petrel was not far off."
"But where are the soldiers all this while?" asked Alec. "Why haven't they followed us here?"
"They may have gone to the cabins, instead," replied Norton.
"Perhaps Dave has guided them to the bonfire by another way, and they're just waiting to make an attack when that fire-raising gang start toward the cabins."
"I guess you're right, Billy. Come on, let's get nearer."
With one accord, the three moved forward.