“But if it should chance to be the Magpie, she could easily overhaul us,” Jones remarked. “She goes by steam, while we have nothing but this very light breeze to depend on.”
“She might catch us, and then again she might not,” said Enoch, who did not seem to be at all uneasy. “This little sloop can be pushed ahead at a pretty fair rate of speed with a pair of long sweeps, and this fog is in our favor. The Magpie might have hard work to find us. We could hear her exhaust, and that would make it easy for us to keep out of her way; but we should move so silently that she couldn’t follow us.”
Enoch, who knew just what ought to be done and how to do it, assisted Pete to get his canoe overboard, and then the boys leaned against the rail and waited in silence to see what was going to happen. Barr had been gone fully a quarter of an hour, and nothing had been heard of him; but now a light shot up through the darkness, glowed brightly for a moment and then disappeared. The boys could not tell where it came from—they could only see its reflection in the fog.
“What was it?” whispered Jones.
“The flash of a dark-lantern,” answered Enoch. “Barr is trying to find the ducks. Some hunters ignite a pinch of gun-powder, but a lantern is much better because——”
Just then the air was rent by a terrific concussion, followed almost instantly by a roar, which sounded so much like the noise made by an approaching storm, that Lester could scarcely refrain from crying out, so frightened was he. The first was the report of the big gun, and the second was the tumult made by the survivors of the flock, as they arose in the air and sought safety in flight. Jones and Lester were full of questions, but Enoch and Pete could not stop to answer them. The latter sprang into his canoe and paddled away with all speed, to assist in picking up the ducks that had fallen before the murderous fire of Barr’s blunderbuss, while Enoch ran forward and seized the jib halliards.
“Lend a hand here,” said he, in low but excited tones. “This is a dangerous moment, and we must be ready to show our heels at an instant’s warning. We have given notice over a wide stretch of country that we are here, and if there are any police about, they will be along directly. No, there were not millions in the flock, but there were thousands, undoubtedly. I never heard such a roar of wings before.”
“What will Barr do with his ducks after he has picked them up?” inquired Jones, as he gave a pull at the port sheet, while Enoch belayed the halliard. “I should think he would be afraid to take them to market.”
“Oh, no, he won’t. He’ll take them up to Havre de Grace and sell them to a man who will ship them north, or to Baltimore. Shall we go with him, or go back to the Firefly and turn in for the night?”
“Didn’t you tell me that the detectives who are sent down here to break up this night-shooting make their headquarters at Havre de Grace?” asked Lester.