“Intercepting that wireless,” he went on, “has taken one great load off my mind. We know that those we are in search of are safe, and we know, in addition, that they are confined in one of the hemp-making buildings.”
“And that’s a whole lot important to us right now,” supplemented Captain Andrews. “Whole campaigns have been won with less knowledge of the enemy’s country than we have.”
They went on deck. Outside the bar a light showed where the Tarantula lay at anchor. Herrera must have been chuckling to himself at that very instant. According to his knowledge of the situation, he had his foes completely “bottled up.” All that remained for him to do was to capture them and attain possession; of the coveted precious stones at his leisure.
While the Mexican was pondering such thoughts as these and nursing his revenge, the company of the Vagrant were busy,—very busy.
It was too risky a thing to chance making the noise that raising the anchor would have caused. So the cable was slashed and the engine started with the underwater exhaust in operation. Noiselessly the little craft glided up the stream and then turned her nose toward the bank. A break in the line of trees, showing against the star-sprinkled sky, gave the location of the creek mouth, and, feeling his way with the utmost caution, Captain Andrews drove his temporary command into it. It was driving, in a literal sense, for the brush and trees overhung the creek so densely that the Vagrant had to push her way among them. When she had proceeded about a hundred yards up the stream she was masked from the view of the river with complete effectiveness.
“Glory be!” sighed Jupe, in a voice of intense relief, when Captain Andrews ordered the second anchor “let go.”
CHAPTER XV—A DASH ALOFT
“It will be safe enough to light up now, I guess,” announced Captain Andrews, when the anchorage had been accomplished. Jack had told him previously that they would need deck lights to work by when it was possible to use them without danger of detection.
When the incandescents on the after deck were switched on the boys at once fell to work on their “Flying Road Racer,” as Jack and Tom had christened the craft. There was much to be done, and they worked quickly. The tank was supplied with crystals and water, and the gauge before long showed a pressure which the lads knew was sufficient to inflate the bag when occasion arose.
This done. Jack determined to make a test of the engines. First, seeing that the neutral clutch was in working order, he pressed a button which set the self-starting apparatus,—run by electricity from a storage battery of great power and lightness,—into action. With a buzz and a whirr the machinery started, and bit by bit the lad speeded the motor up to its maximum number of revolutions per minute,—namely, two thousand. While the crank shafts whirled round he carefully examined the lubricating appliances. They worked as well as everything else, and fully satisfied with his test, the young inventor shut down the engine, with the announcement that so far as the machinery was concerned everything was in readiness for an immediate flight, or ground cruise.