“Yes, but there’s another hanging over our heads,” returned Will. “Suppose Uncle David should happen to go into that locker and find Hank Chase there?”
“And suppose Leonard Wilson should happen to go to Bellville and tell all he knows about us and our plans?” said Bayard. “That’s another danger that you haven’t thought of.”
“Leonard Wilson!” repeated Seth. “What does he know about us?”
“He knows all about us. Didn’t Edmund and Pierre say that they saw him and Chase going into Mr Gaylord’s yard? Now, what were they going to do in there?”
Seth and Will looked at their cousin, but made no reply. Their wits were not as sharp as Bayard’s, and they did not understand the matter as well as he did.
“Humph!” exclaimed the latter, in great disgust; “can’t you see through it yet? You are the most stupid fellows I ever met in my life. The amount of the matter is, that, while I was telling you my plans yesterday those fellows sneaked up on us and overheard every word I said. We made them mad at us, and they thought they would block our game by putting a flea in Walter Gaylord’s ear. They were on their way to call on him when Edmund and Pierre captured Chase. Wilson was allowed to go free, and of course he will put straight for the village, and tell everything he knows. We’re in a pretty pickle, the first thing you know, but there is one way of escape for us. We must—what’s that?”
It was the sound of a horse’s hoofs that had attracted Bayard’s attention. The boys all heard it now, and, if they had not been so fully occupied with something else they might have heard it long before, for the horseman was close upon them. They did not care to be seen by him, for he might be one of the smugglers. They dived into the bushes with a common impulse, and they were not an instant too soon, for scarcely had they concealed themselves when a chestnut-sorrel pony appeared, running at the top of his speed, his rider bending forward in his saddle, and holding his arm before his face to prevent the bushes and the branches of the trees from coming in contact with it. The pony stopped when he arrived upon the bank of the cove, and his rider straightened up and pushed back his hat, disclosing to view the features of Fred Craven, who opened his eyes in surprise when he discovered the schooner lying at anchor among the bushes.