The robbers thought it best to follow Sam's advice. They clambered down into the yawl, and the Crusoe men took their seats in the skiff, and were about to shove off from the pier, when Tom, upon putting his hand into his pocket to assure himself that his incendiary materials were safe, found, to his dismay, that he had forgotten something.
"O, now, hold on, governor," he drawled. "How am I going to set fire to that yacht without any matches, I'd like to know!"
"You're a purty feller, aint you?" exclaimed Atkins, who had all along shown a distaste for the dangers that attended their preparations for the cruise. "We'll have to give up burnin' the sloop now, an' I am glad of it. There aint no kind o' sense in it, no how. It's runnin' a big risk fur nothing."
"O, now, I want you to quit calling me a pretty fellow," whined Tom, who, if he had possessed the courage, would have been glad to fight somebody. "I won't give up my splendid idea. There's just as much sense in it as there is in stealing provisions. I am provoked at myself for forgetting those matches. Haven't you got some, governor?"
"Nary match," replied Sam. "But I'll tell you what you can do, cap'n. You can run up to the store an' get some. You'll find plenty there, an' Harding can't hinder you from takin' as many as you want."
"But it is dark, isn't it? How can I find the matches without a light?"
"Them bugglars left their lantern on the counter. Just turn the slide, an' you'll have light enough. Hurry up, now, an' we'll wait here fur you."
Tom, whose thoughts were so completely wrapped up in his grand project that he did not stop to consider that it might prove to be a very disagreeable piece of business to go groping about the store in the dark, sprang out of the skiff and ran up the wharf. "I'll see Johnny Harding," said he to himself. "The governor said that those burglars left him tied and gagged, and so I can do what I please with him. Perhaps I'll give him a punch or two, just to show him that I have not forgotten how badly he has treated me since I had that yacht built. I told him that I would get even with him some day."
Tom involuntarily increased his pace when he thought how pleasant a sight it would be to his eyes to see his tormentor bound hand and foot, and powerless to reply to his taunts, or to resist him if he concluded to punish him for what he had done, and when he reached the store he pushed the door open and entered without hesitation. He came to a stand-still, however, before he had fairly crossed the threshold, and his heart seemed to stop beating when his ear caught the sound of a light foot-step. Tom was almost on the point of turning and running for his life, but the remembrance of his "splendid idea," which he was on the very eve of carrying into execution, restrained him. He listened, but the sound was not repeated, and, calling all his courage to his aid, he walked boldly across the store. As he passed his hands over the
counter they came in contact with the lantern, which blazed up when he opened the slide. He turned the bull's eye toward every corner of the store, almost expecting to see somebody advancing upon him, and he drew a long breath of relief when he found that he was alone. Having satisfied himself on this point, he glanced at the safe, emptied the contents of the match box into his pocket, and then started toward the office to look at Johnny Harding. As he approached the door, he was surprised to see that the bed was empty. There lay the rope with which Johnny had been confined, and the towel that had been used as a gag, but Johnny himself was nowhere to be seen.