“I wish you would,” said Jack. “It will pass the time away pleasantly.”
“Back fifteen years ago I was mate of the brig Nancy Lee,” began the captain. “We sailed out of ’Frisco on the Fourth of July, bound for the islands on a trading cruise. Two days out we ran into as nasty a sample of weather as ever I saw. We lost our mainmast, and two of the men were killed in its fall.
“Then, when the storm had blown itself out, the captain took sick, and, worse than that, our provisions began to get low. Things went from bad to worse. We did not sight a sail of any kind; the men grew ugly and mutinous. Then one night the ship took fire and——
“Dash my lee scuppers, what’s up now?” exclaimed the amazed captain, as Jack and Tom suddenly leaped to their feet and dashed off, leaving him in the most exciting part of his story.
“It’s those men, there they go—look!” shouted Jack, flinging back the words as he ran.
It was indeed Jake Rook and Radcliff. They turned as they heard the boys shout, and then, recognizing them, took to their heels. The boys ran in and out amid the maze of traffic, and for a time kept the two rascals in sight. But finally in the crush and crowd they lost them, and had to admit that there was but little likelihood of their ever finding them again.
Regretfully they retraced their steps, but on their return they found that Captain Andrews had been called away on business, leaving word with the men on board the schooner that he would visit them at their hotel later in the day.
“We do seem to have the very worst sort of luck,” declared Tom, as the two lads trudged back to their hotel in very low spirits. “If only we could have caught up to those rascals!”
“We made a big mistake when we shouted out as we did,” said Jack. “If we had followed them in silence we might have managed to track them to wherever they have their hang-out.”
Tom reluctantly agreed that this was so. “But, just the same,” he added, “we do have hard luck, and more than our fair share of it.” After lunch they set out for Mr. Bowler’s office, having already telephoned to the police that the men were actually in Boston. Just as they were leaving the hotel, however, they met with an unexpected interruption to their plans. Dick Dangler hurried up to them, his ordinarily grave face flushed and excited.