CHAPTER X
THE ESCAPE
Pierre was in a great hurry. He pressed all sail on the schooner and started the engine, with the result that she began to cover the course at a great rate. A new moon was in its first quarter, but the sky was clouded, as it usually is on that coast, and acted as an effectual screen. Nevertheless, there was a lightening of the intense blackness which had marked the previous voyage.
The ship carried lights until she picked up the mainland, then she cloaked them. Pierre was taking the shortest route to the cave and was hugging the coast, which he evidently knew by heart, to use a local phrase. No man not completely confident as to his knowledge of that coast would have dared sail as Pierre did that night. The land loomed up visibly and now and then the crew even caught sight of a white fringe of breakers.
There was some excitement on board, and a little grumbling. The men hated to have their leave cut short, but the moodiness caused by this was to a great extent submerged in curiosity as to the reason for the sudden change of plans. Pierre never did anything without a very good reason, and it was not likely that he would risk entering the cave with the tide still two hours to fall without there being urgency of an unusual kind.
Dare and Ben shared in the curiosity and excitement. But their chagrin at having failed to get away from the Mary in time to be able to make use of their knowledge in regard to the cave's whereabouts, was great. Ben was able to resign himself to circumstances more than Dare, who, in fact, could not resign himself at all.
All the while the Mary was forging along the coast, a white wave at her prow, he was trying desperately to think of some way of escaping and getting word to his father.
Could one escape in the cave? Or would Pierre lock them up again as he had done formerly, as soon as they neared the coast where it was situated? He eyed the land, which loomed up darkly. It was no more than a quarter of a mile away. If he were ashore there he could cut across country and get to Saltern in an hour. He knew the lie of the land well enough for that, for he had observed it closely as they had passed it on their way to St. Pierre.
But the land might as well have been ten miles away for all the chance there was of his reaching it. Quarter of a mile! He could swim it easily on a night like this. At that thought his heart leaped. Why not swim it? But how to escape so as to avoid pursuit? He took a step backwards in his excitement and stumbled. His hand caught the rail and he steadied himself. The incident showed him a way out. He would pretend to fall overboard. He could do it easily, shout "cramp," dive, and come up some distance away from the schooner. Then, after waiting for the excitement which would follow his loss to cool down, he could strike out for the land.
He had no sooner visualized the feat than he decided on it, despite its hazardous nature. It was a chance, and a sporting chance, to get the news to his father in time to plan the great coup that would end, he felt sure, in the capture of the smugglers. Though his father was lame, he could go to the cave by boat. A crew of loyal men could be raked up somehow. He did not stop to think much of these difficulties. His great desire was to get word to Saltern.