“I’m all right,” he called softly. “I’m going to stay here and see if I can’t find out what the game is. They don’t know who I am. Keep away—they may be keeping a watch now. I’ll get away without any trouble whenever I want to. Harding was bluffing—the wireless was from him. He isn’t in this—not directly.”
CHAPTER XXXI
DISCOVERY—AND AN ESCAPE.
Jim wondered, when he awoke in the morning, if they would really let him go ashore. He thought it unlikely, and yet, he decided, Barrows might well hesitate at showing his hand, which an effort to detain him against his will would surely require. Personally, Jim was not disposed to put up much of a fight against staying on board the Marina, for the present, at least, because he was decidedly anxious to learn everything there was to learn about the plot that menaced the success of Yale in the coming race. This was different from a baseball game, because the direct responsibility was not on his shoulders, and yet Jim felt that, so long as he had the chance, he was quite as much charged with the duty of bringing the victory to Yale as was Murchison or any other man on the crew.
He knew, too, that, even if Barrows had not recognized him, he could not be sure of escaping detection indefinitely. Anything he accomplished would have to be done quickly. If they found he was Jim Phillips, his chance of making a discovery would be gone, and, in addition, he was pretty certain to be detained securely until the race was over.
Harding might come back, though that seemed unlikely. But he knew that Barnes, who, of course, knew his face perfectly, was in New London, and would probably visit the Marina. Moreover, a good many newspapers had printed pictures of the famous Yale pitcher, and Jim, while he took little stock in such fame, realized that there must be some one on board able to recognize him as a result of these pictures, some of which had been excellent likenesses.
Barrows came to his room while it was still early, and brought with him Jim’s clothes, dried now, and ready for use, except for his coat, which was lost, of course, with his shoes. But the gambler offered a jersey as a substitute for the coat, and had found some canvas shoes, which Jim found were a sufficiently good fit, so that he was able to go on deck soon after the sun was up, and look around with genuine pleasure at the lovely sight. Two yachts, glistening white in the rays of the early sun, were steaming slowly in between the points, and the soft haze of the summer morning seemed to transfigure the whole scene.
Svenson, heavy-eyed, with the traces of a debauch the night before still plain on his face, greeted Jim with a surly nod, and the Yale man found that the three of them had the deck to themselves. The three small motor boats had gone from the deck, but one of them was still lying close to the Marina, and Jim, looking at her idly, and with pretended indifference, saw that the great coil he and Dick had seen was still there. But its position had been changed, and it was attached now, by delicate wires, to what looked like a big electric battery.
That gave Jim the shadow of a clew at once. He was no engineer, but he could see that the coil was part of a powerful electromagnet, and wondered why they had not guessed that the night before. That fitted in perfectly, too, with a theory that he and Bill Brady had evolved, which was, actually, though they did not know it, one of those on which Dick Merriwell had been basing his ideas.
“We’re not very shipshape,” said Barrows, “as you can see. But, the fact is, we’re very short-handed, and we weren’t expecting any visitor. So you’ll have to excuse all this mess about the decks. We’re not going to take the Marina up for the race. Svenson and I will go up in a small boat, and take our view that way. We couldn’t make the lane of yachts look any more picturesque, I’m afraid, and we can see just as well from a small boat. Now, we’d better have some breakfast. I’m afraid you’ll have to accept our hospitality until later in the day. But we’ll get a chance to put you ashore then.”