CHAPTER XV.--BUDD ENTRAPPED.
Just before Budd reached the wharf he noticed another poster tacked upon the side of a storehouse, and paused to read it, that he might besure of the terms under which the reward was offered.
As he stood there a well-dressed stranger came up behind him, and alsopaused to read the notice.
"That is quite a reward," he remarked, after reading it; "a nice littlesum for some one to earn. Do you know whether any particular persons aresuspected of the crime?"
"They are simply believed to have been experts," answered Budd.
"It was a neat job, that's a fact," said the man, complacently.
Then as Budd turned away he asked, politely:
"Do you know of any one about the wharf here who has boats to let?"
"I have a sloop," replied Budd, "that I use to take outsailing-parties."
"Is it near here? Could I see it?" asked the man, looking Buddcarefully over from head to foot.
The lad led the way down to the dock and pointed out the Sea Witch.
"She would do nicely," said the man, jumping into her and examining hercabin. "Is she a fast sailer?"
"Nothing of her size on this bay can overhaul her," replied Budd, with atouch of pride.
"Indeed!" remarked the man, with apparent satisfaction. "What do youask a day for her use?"
"We never let her except myself or my partner go with her," explainedBudd, "and our prices depend on the party and the time we are gone."
"Which of course is a very nice way to arrange it, I'm sure," said thestranger.
"Well, to come to business. My name is Wilson--Thomas KortrightWilson--a direct descendant of James Wilson, of Philadelphia, one of theSigners of the Declaration of Independence, and once a Judge of theUnited States Supreme Court. Doubtless you have heard of him;" and Mr.Wilson said this with an air and tone that implied "You are veryignorant if you have not."
Budd modestly admitted that he had heard of that distinguishedgentleman, and then his companion went on:
"I am camping out with a party of friends upon Patience Island. We havebeen there a week, but we can stand it no longer. It is horriblylonesome there; not a house on the island, not a solitary person therebut ourselves. There is no gunning or fishing worth speaking of, andthis morning the boys voted for a change, and sent me over here to hirea boat to take us and our camping outfit to Block Island, so I rowedover in that boat," and Mr. Wilson here pointed to a small skiff a fewrods below the wharf, "and walked up the street till I met you. It iswonderful good fortune that I should have run in with you at once. Now,what will you ask to move our camp?"
"How many are there in your party, and how much of an outfit have you?"asked Budd.
"There are five of us, and we have only a few traps; you can carryeverything at one trip," said Mr. Wilson, briskly.
"I ought to have five dollars," Budd declared: "and I shall have to gohome before I can make the trip."
"Well, can you go right after dinner?" asked the stranger.
"Yes, at one o'clock I'll be here," said the lad.
"All right; we'll give you your price. Meantime, where can I get a gooddinner?"
Budd gave him directions how to find the leading hotel, and then castoff the fastenings of the sloop and sped away for the island.
Promptly at one o'clock he was at the village, and as he took Mr. Wilsonon board he asked if he should run down and take the gentleman's skiffin tow; for, expecting to do this, he had left his own yawl with Judd.
"No, never mind that; it isn't worth taking with us," replied Mr.Wilson.
Budd thought it a little strange, but had not the slightest suspicionthat the skiff was not the property of the stranger, and that his storyabout crossing over in it that morning was a sheer fabrication.
There was another statement in the man's story that would have seemedvery strange to Budd had he only thought of it. He had stated that heand his party had been camping out on Patience Island for a week; yetthe island was small, and Budd had himself been down by it but five daysbefore, and at that time there was no sign of a camping-party upon it.But utterly unconscious of the man's falsehoods, the lad sailed straighton into what was destined to be the most trying experience through whichhe had yet passed.
The gentleman chatted away pleasantly as he sat by Budd in the stern ofthe sloop. He asked questions about the islands and the main-land theywere passing. He wanted to know how long before they would reachPatience Island, and how long it would take to run out to Block Islandwith that breeze. He assured Budd his companions would have everythingpacked on their arrival, and there would be no unnecessary delay instarting on their long trip.
As they neared the island of their destination he informed the lad thatthe camp had been on the east side, and on running around the south end,Budd saw, no great distance away, the place of the encampment. It wastrue the tent was down, and the boxes and bags were piled close by theshore, but this was just as Mr. Wilson had said it would be; and whenfour men came out from behind a large rock, and walked down to the heapof stuff, Budd said:
"They are ready and waiting for us, it seems, Mr. Wilson; but I can'tget in to the shore with the sloop, and how will you get your goods onboard? You ought to have brought your skiff."
"They have a boat, a better one; that's why I left the other," said he;"but run in as close as you can and anchor, and I'll tell them to loadup and come on board."
Not a shadow of the coming evil was as yet apparent to the unsuspiciousboy. Giving his whole attention to his sloop, he only cast the merestglance at the men on shore until he had anchored. At liberty now,however, he looked steadily at the men, to whom Mr. Wilson was alreadyshouting. Then he gave a sharp cry of alarm, and drawing hispocket-knife he sprung forward to cut the anchor-cable. His words were:
"Gracious! There is Bagsley, and you are the robbers!"
But quick as he was, Mr. Wilson was quicker. Springing upon the lad, hebore him down upon the forward deck and called loudly for help. Two ofthe men on shore jumped into a yawl that lay hidden behind a projectingrock, and without stopping to load their stuff pushed out to the sloop.One of the men was Bagsley himself, and when he had assisted Mr. Wilsonin tying the lad, hand and foot, he gave a look at him, and then with aterrible oath exclaimed:
"It is Budd Boyd! Where did you run in with him?"
Mr. Wilson briefly explained how he had hired the boy, not supposing foran instant that he knew any of the gang. "But," he went on, "the momentthe lad caught sight of you he called your name, and said we were therobbers. He then tried to cut the anchor-cable, but I spoiled thatlittle game. The question is, what shall we do with him?"
"Tie a big stone to his neck and to his feet and drop him overboard,"answered Bagsley. "I told him I'd kill him the next time I saw him.He'll be sure to give us away, too, if we let him go, and our onlysafety is to put him out of the way."
Budd, as he lay bound only a few feet away, shuddered at the coolnesswith which the villain said these words, and felt that his very momentswere numbered. To his surprise, however, the man who had come off fromthe shore with Bagsley, and whom he recognized as the leader of the gangwhen they were at Fox Island, said:
"No, there is to be no murder, boys, as long as we can get along withoutit. Put the boy into the yawl and take him ashore. We'll change ourplans, and put him where he cannot give any alarm until we are out ofall danger."
Wilson and Bagsley lifted the lad into the boat, and the captainfollowing them, they rowed ashore.
A hurried consultation was now held, but in such low tones that Buddcould only catch here and there a word. He was able to recognize,however, in one of the two men who had remained on the island while thecaptain and Bagsley came to Wilson's help, the third man of the triothat had been at his home. The other man, like Wilson, was a stranger,and had evidently joined the gang since the time of that visitation.After awhile he caught the words of the leader of the party:
"I tell you, boys,
that is the only safe way for us to do. As we'll fixthe lad, he can't get away for a day or two, perhaps longer, and by thattime we will be where he cannot harm us."
"If he ever gets away he'll mark me for this affair, and will leave nostone unturned till I'm found," said Bagsley, moodily.
"I think even you will be satisfied with the way we'll fix him," laughedthe leader. "Untie his feet, get another rope, and bring him on."
Bagsley obeyed with alacrity, and the captain led the way over into thecenter of the island where a small depression in the surface cut off allview of the bay. A tree stood very near the lowest point of the hollow,and standing Budd up against the trunk of this, the captain, withBagsley's help, tied him so firmly to it that there seemed nopossibility of his untying himself.
The captain with Bagsley's help tied Budd so firmly tothe tree that there seemed no possibility of his untying himself.]
"There, Bagsley," the leader now said, stepping off a few feet to viewthe lad, "he is where he can see no one, and no one can see him. He maypossibly attract the attention of some passing boat by hallooing, but itis a mere chance. He may possibly untie himself after awhile, but that,too, is a mere possibility. His friends, searching for him, will go toBlock Island first; and if, after awhile, they think of coming here,they may be in time to rescue him, and they may not. Still you and Idon't know that he will die here, and our consciences need not betroubled with any thoughts of his murder, for we know, and can make oathto it, that we left him here alive and in good health; only, hisopportunities for locomotion are exceedingly limited."
With this heartless remark the two villains walked slowly away, leavingBudd to his uncertain fate.
Budd Boyd's Triumph; or, The Boy-Firm of Fox Island Page 15