"I won't sell one, but I'll give you one," again interposed the other.
"Here, take it!" And he added under his breath with an ugly oath,
"You double-dyed fool!"
Hugh lay still, breathing deeply and heartily wishing the men would go away. He began to fear they would spend the day there in hiding. Presently, however, they rose from the table and went out, closing and locking the door behind them. He was a prisoner! He sprang up and rushed over to the door.
"Let me out!" he cried, beating on it with clenched fists. "You crooks'll have to pay for this when you're caught!"
A loud laugh was the only answer.
CHAPTER VI
THE PLIGHT OF THE "ARROW"
Hours later, when the Arrow was finally clear of the bar, she veered around and made down the coast, passing the little bay where the canoe had landed. So occupied with the distressing problem of Hugh's disappearance had her crew been,—-for not one of the party could believe him drowned,—-and so busy in trying to keep the sloop from being pounded to pieces by the waves while stranded, that no one aboard had noticed the canoe on its return trip across the strait.
When sailing order had been restored and Captain Vinton had ceased to rage and swear at the mischance, his one idea was to return to the waters where he knew the Petrel was cruising. Strange to say, he was the only one who guessed that Hugh had fallen into the hands of "coast-prowlers" as he called them,—-with adjectives too lurid to mention!—-and was, being held captive lest he betray their plans. With this idea in mind, he was determined to bring the revenue cutter to Hugh's rescue; he knew the Petrel could cope with the situation.
By an unlooked-for stroke of fortune, he had not gone very far down the coast before he sighted the cutter, and soon he brought the Arrow within hailing distance. He communicated the news to the officers on board, and a sort of council of war took place immediately. Together, they were not long in forming a plan of reprisal.
It was decided that they should proceed forthwith to a small fortress a few miles southward, where a squad of regulars was stationed. The place was called Fort Leigh, but it scarcely deserved the name, being in reality only a temporary camp located on the site of an old fortification which had been a military headquarters during the Seminole wars. Its nearness to the vicinity in which, according to the Petrel's reliable information, the smugglers were operating was the reason why all decided to go there for assistance.