The Hilltop Boys on Lost Island by Cyril Burleigh

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"Brace up, Jack. It is not like you to give way to despondency. What are
we going to do? We can't stay here even if that fellow with the white
mustache has given orders that we are not to be harmed."

"I tell you what," whispered young Smith. "That window is small, but not
too small to put me through. You have done that before, you know. If you
can get that bar loose it will be easy enough to put me out, and then I
will go straight to the vessel and get the captain, old Ben Bowline, and a
lot of sailors to come and get you out."

"You know the way, do you, Jesse W., you won't get lost!" asked Percival,
catching at the idea. "You are a plucky little fellow, but I don't want
you to take any risks."

"They are nothing but what I can take easy enough," answered the other
quickly. "Don't you suppose I would do anything for Jack? And for you,
too. You have both done a lot for me, and this isn't much. You get me
through the window, and I'll do the rest."

Jack arose quietly, crossed the room, took hold of the iron bar put across
the window and tested it.

"I believe we could pull it loose, Dick," he said in a low tone, not
knowing if there were any one outside who might hear him. "It is only
driven into the frame, and I believe we could pull out frame and all."

"Let me look at it," said Percival, and, taking hold of the bar, he
suddenly swelled up his muscles, gave it a quick, sharp wrench, and had it
out with a part of the frame as well.

"H'h! great protection that was!" he laughed. "I suppose they thought the
window was too small for any one to get through, and it is for most folks,
but Jesse W. is only half size and we can put him through all right."

"And I'll put through the other part," said the younger boy. "I am glad I
can do something for you two, for you have both of you done a lot for me
at one time or another."

"But see here, J.W., do you understand that there is considerable danger
in getting away?" asked Jack in a serious tone. "These fellows may be
watching, and they would handle you roughly if they caught you. And then
it is dark going through the woods, for the moon does not rise till pretty
late, and you might fall down some----"

"And I might not!" interrupted the other in a decided tone. "I have a
pocket light with me. I always carry one now, whether I think I am going
to need it or not, and I can find my way easy enough. Besides, I have a
pocket compass as well, and I know which way the vessel lies, and I am
going to get you boys out of here and that's all there is to it!"

"All right!" and Jack smiled at the smaller boy's determination. "But I
wouldn't let you go if I didn't think you had the pluck to carry it out,
and that the only difficulties are at the outset. Listen at the door,
Dick, and I'll see how the land lies in this direction," and Jack pulled
the chest to the window and looked out.

He could not see very far, but he saw that there were no huts on that
side, and that it was not far to the woods, and calculated that the boy
could get to them without being observed.

"All right, J.W., the coast is clear," he said. "You are sure you know the
way and the general direction? What is it, in fact?"

"About south, and I will get in sight of the water as soon as I can. It
will not be dark for some little time yet, and I ought to get to the yacht
before sunset or a little after at any rate."

"Very good. Keep in the open as much as you can after you get away from
here, and don't run too fast."

"All right. Are you ready?" and the boy stood on the chest beside Jack,
looking up into the latter's face with such an air of determination that
he laughed and said:

"Yes, I'm ready, up with you!" and Jack lifted the little fellow to the
window level, and put him through, Percival saying in a low tone:

"It's all right. I don't hear a sound. I imagine they are all away
somewhere, for I can neither see nor hear anything."

"Out you go!" said Jack, dropping the boy to the ground, and looking out
to see that he was all right. "Now then, cut!"

He watched the boy till he disappeared in the woods, and then as he
neither saw any one nor heard anything of an alarming nature, he said in a
tone of great relief:

"He is all right, and I believe he will get there without trouble. I had
an idea he would, or I would not have let him go."

"There he is, only half a boy, you might say," said Percival, "but ready
to undertake anything for us, no matter how dangerous and there are those
big overgrown bullies, Herring and Merritt, who would go all to bits if
they had the half of this to do. I tell you, Jesse W. Smith is worth both
of them in a lump, and with considerable on his side of the ledger after
that, Jack."

"Yes, so he is," agreed Jack.

"And now we will simply have to wait, I suppose?"

"I don't see anything else. The window is too small for us and the door
seems to be very strong and heavy, and securely locked. No, I considered
these points before I let the boy go."

"But suppose our man with the white mustache should return and miss him?"
asked Percival.

"Well, we will put the bar back in its place, put the chest in the corner,
and place our coats in a neat pile over there where it is darkest. There
are things that we can put under them, and there is the boy fast asleep
after his tramp through the woods."

"A good idea, Jack! You are full of resources. Now I would never have
thought of a way out of the trouble, but only of the trouble itself."

They replaced the bar so that no one would know by a casual glance that it
had been tampered with, put the chest back where they had taken it from,
and, gathering up a few loose articles from the floor, made a bundle of
them and spread their coats over it.

"A mere reference to the boy being asleep will be enough," said Jack. "The
look of the thing is enough to carry out the idea, and they will accept it
without question."

"To be sure, and in the meantime the plucky young fellow is hustling to
get back to the vessel and bring us help."

Having settled all this the boys sat down and waited, now and then
conversing, and occasionally listening for any sound that would denote the
return of the so-called Rollins and the men with him.

It was getting on toward sunset when Jack heard Rollins and another man
talking outside, although he could not see them when he went to the little
window and looked out.

"You say there is a vessel in the bay?"

"Yes, inside the reefs."

"Government vessel?"

"No, private yacht, the one these boys belong on. It's a school on a
vacation or tour or something."

"Do they know the way through the reefs!"

"I guess not. They were washed in the other night when there was a cyclone
or tidal wave."

"They did not come here after us?"

"No, they didn't know anything about us. They have been here for some
time, a week I guess, and can't get out."

"H'm! let them stay here then!" growled the man with the white mustache.
"They can't bother us any. If they don't know the way out, which very few
do, they'll have to stay here for all I can see."

"But suppose we want to get in on that side ourselves?"

"They could not make us any trouble. We don't want to get in there at this
time, although it is a better hiding place than this."

"Then you're going to let them stay there?"

"Certainly. They can't do us any harm. After we get away with our cargo we
don't care what happens to them."

The men went away or stopped talking, at any rate, and Jack did not hear
any further conversation between them.

"They will probably let us out as soon as they are ready to go," he said
to Percival, "but we don't want to stay here till they get ready to let us
out, and then there is just a chance that they may forget us altogether.
It was just as well that we sent Jesse W. off on his errand."

"I think so myself, and I don't doubt that he will carry it out."

"If Rollins knows the way out through the reefs," said Jack presently, "we
might either force or persuade him to pilot us out. If we should capture
him we might force him to do it. Otherwise, I might persuade him to do it
on consideration of allowing him to escape after we were perfectly safe
outside. Very few know of the way out, and it is not likely that the
vessel which they are sending to our relief will have any good pilot for
these waters on board."

"You don't know positively that this man knows the passage!"

"No, I do not, but he does know some one who does, to judge by his talk,
and if he cannot be bargained with perhaps the other man can. I am averse
to having anything to do with the man, as you can readily understand, but
I do not want to see the whole Hilltop Academy kept prisoners here for an
indefinite time."

When it began to grow dark one of the men who had brought them to the
place came in with some food and a bottle of wine, and said, as he put it
on a chest:

"There's something for you to eat. Other boy asleep, h'm? Well, there is
all the more for you then."

Then the man went away, never noticing the little bit of deception which
the boys had practised, locking the door after him.

"The things to eat are all right," said Jack, after the man had gone, "but
we would better not touch the wine. I never do, anyhow. This is likely to
be drugged to make us sleep, so that we will give no trouble."

"I don't want it anyhow," said Dick.

The boys ate a supper, and then, as it grew dark, sat and waited for some
sign of their friends, and at last when it was quite dark hearing a
peculiar whistle somewhere outside.

"That's the Hilltop signal!" whispered Percival "Aid is at hand!"

CHAPTER XVI

BEN'S STRANGE STORY

Jack jumped upon the chest, which he quickly dragged to the little window,
and answered the signal, one generally used by the Hilltop boys when they
wished to communicate with each other at a distance.

In a moment it was answered, and then young Smith ran up under the window,
and said eagerly:

"You are all right, boys, you are there still, and safe!"

"Yes," answered Jack. "Who is there?"

"Some of the boys, Ben Bowline, the captain and Buck, all ready for a
fight if necessary."

"All right. I don't think you will need to make one."

Percival was at the door now, and in a moment he heard the outer one fall
in with a crash, and then came the rush of many feet.

There were shouts outside, but these were drowned by the yells of the
boys, and of the old sailor.

"Are yo' dere, sah?" the boys heard Bucephalus say in a few moments, just
outside the door.

"Yes, but we are locked in."

"Nevah min' dat, jus' lemme get mah head at it an' Ah'll break it down in
a hurry, sah."

"Here, stop that!" roared Ben Bowline. "You'll crack yer skull!"

"No, sah, Ah's used to dem things!" guffawed Bucephalus.

"Don't you know that his name means 'ox-headed,' Ben?" cried Percival with
a laugh. "Why, he could split a two-inch plank with that head of his. Let
him do it, but first wait till I get out of the way."

It was not necessary for Bucephalus to butt the door down, however, as one
of the men with Rollins had been captured, and was forced to open the door
with his key.

It was the same man who had brought them food and wine, and at the sight
of the boys, for lights had been brought, he exclaimed:

"Guess you boys didn't drink anything?"

"No, we did not," said Percival. "Won't you have it your self?"

"Huh! I think not. But where's the little fellow? The one that was asleep
when I come in."

"Here I am!" piped up Jesse W. himself, "and you'll find that I am pretty
wide awake."

The boys picked up their coats, and put them on, and the man muttered, his
eyes opening wider every moment:

"Huh! that was a neat trick! Then the boy was not there at all?"

"No, he was on his way for help," said Jack. "Never judge too much by
appearances. Still, I am glad you did this time."

The boys and their friends now left the house, the man being taken a short
distance to prevent his giving the alarm, although the natives had already
scattered in many directions at the coming of Ben, Buck and the boys.

"Young Smith got to us all right," said Harry to Jack and Dick, "and we
set out without delay. You must have had quite an adventure."

"So we did, and it might have been worse. Rollins is on this part of the
island, sir," to the captain. "He got in yesterday or to-day, I am not
sure which. I do not believe he has seen the man who was signaling to him
last night, and I do not think he knows anything about him. He does know
that government vessels are on the watch for him, however, and I think he
will shortly get away from here."

"I wish we could get word to them so as to stop him," growled the captain.
"These smugglers give honest traders a bad reputation, for folks think we
are all alike."

A considerable number of the Hilltop boys had come to the rescue of the
two boys, and these were now carried on the shoulders of the others, and a
triumphal march back to the vessel was begun, young Smith being taken up
as well as Jack and Dick, the boys saying that he had traveled enough for
one day and that he needed a rest.

Many of the boys had pocket lights with them, and others cut pine branches
and made torches of them so that there was light enough to show them the
way, and it was not necessary to wait for the moon to rise.

The boys sang and shouted, and made a lot of noise on the way back so that
if the smugglers or any of the natives had had any idea of attacking them
they would have been deterred by the very din.

They reached the shore at length, and were taken on board the yacht,
Bucephalus presently announcing that supper was ready, the boys having the
best of appetites for it, and making it a feast in honor of Jack, Dick and
young Jesse W., who was considered as much a hero as his older
schoolmates, and was certainly regarded so by them.

Not all the boys had gone over to the other side, some staying away on
account of the fatigue of the journey and others, noticeably Herring and
his cronies, because they were either not asked or would not have gone if
they had been.

It was a feast in honor of the three boys, nevertheless, and those who
were not ready to join in praise of the heroes were wise enough to keep
quiet and not to make any dissent.

After supper Jack and a few of the boys discussed the situation, and tried
to calculate how long it would take the vessel which Mr. Smith had sent
out to reach them.

"If we knew that, we would know how long we would have to wait," observed
Arthur. "Some vessels are faster than others."

"It would take at least three or four days," said Jack, "and if he has
sent a fast vessel and given directions to make all speed they might be
here in less time. Then they must pick up a pilot who would be likely to
know these seas, and who is used to making difficult passages. Any
ordinary pilot would not do. He should have a special one."

"And he cannot tell just what is required till he gets here, and, perhaps,
would have to hunt one up, and there is more lost time," said Harry
dolefully. "It's a pity we are wasting so much time."

"Yes, but I don't see how we are going to help ourselves."

"No, perhaps not."

Late that night Jack was awakened as he lay asleep in his berth, not by a
flash, as before, but by hearing some one say, as he went by the door:

"It can't be, it's too much like the flying Dutchman."

"That's what I say, but all the same I was sure I saw one come in through
the reefs."

"You didn't see any lights?"

"No, but I could make out her masts and rigging."

The two men went on, and Jack heard no more.

"There has some vessel come in through the reefs," he said to himself as
he sat up in bed. "I must try to find them to-morrow. I have always said
that I thought it possible for a vessel to get through if one knew the
passage, and this shows that it has been done. No wonder these men thought
it was a phantom ship."

Partially dressing himself he went on deck, and looked around him.

He could see nothing, and he hardly expected to do so, but had yielded to
impulse and had come on deck.

Ben Bowline presently came up, looked at him, touched his grizzled
forelock, and said:

"Sir to you. Come up to get the air?"

"Yes," Jack answered shortly.

"Kind of a pretty night, don't you think, sir!" the old sailor said after
a pause during which he stood balancing himself first on one foot and then
on the other.

"Yes, it is a fine starlight night. The moon ought to be coming up soon,
and then we can see things better."

"Yes, so we can. Was you looking for anything particular, sir?" in a
mysterious tone.

"How about that vessel, Ben?" asked Jack in a low tone. "Are you sure you
saw her? What was she, the long, low, rakish craft we read of in old
stories or a saucy steam yacht with tremendous speed?"

"Sh! the old man might hear us," cautioned Ben Bowline. "Do you know I
don't want to think it were the Flying Dutchman 'cause it's plumb bad luck
to see her, but how is a live ship going to get in here?"

"Easy enough, if she knows the way, Ben. Don't say anything about it, but
are you sure you saw something?"

"Well, I dunno, but I think I did. She was out yonder, just where you can
see the open water, and she was only there half a jiffy, as you might say.
Tom saw her, too, or I would have thought I was dreaming."

"Steamer, Ben?" asked Jack, sure now that there was something in the old
fellow's story.

"Reckon she was, though I did see something white, which gave me a creepy
feeling like as if I'd seen a apparition or something similar. Maybe she
had sail on to help her steam. Some of 'em do."

"And you saw her for a short time only!"

"Yes, sir, not half a minute nor half that even. There wasn't time to say
'Jack Robinson' twice, sir, before she was out of sight."

"Well, if she came in she can get out, and so can we, Ben. Keep this quiet
till I speak to the captain about it. It will be just as well not to have
every one know it, and have it talked about all over the vessel."

"Shouldn't wonder if it would, sir," and as Jack walked away the old
sailor continued his own passage up and down the deck.

"There are probably places to hide that we have not seen," thought the
boy, as he took a turn of the deck, and then started to go below, "and we
may not be able to see this vessel in the morning. I shall have a look for
her, nevertheless. If there is to be a bargain made and I don't see why
there should not be, unless we trade directly with lawbreakers and assist
them. That we could not do, of course, but if we hire a pilot we are not
supposed to know whether he is honest or not."

The question was a puzzling one, and Jack had not solved it when he went
below, turned in and quickly fell asleep.

In the morning, nothing having been seen of any strange vessel from the
deck of the yacht, Jack told Percival quietly what he had heard, and after
breakfast they went ashore and set out for a search for the stranger.

"If she is here," Jack said, "she is one of the smugglers, and will not
want to be seen. If we can find her it may mean that we can get out of our
strange prison."

"How are we going to find her, Jack? There are probably plenty of hiding
places about here that we don't dream of."

"I know it, Dick, but we must find them if we want to leave here. I do not
think that Smith will be able to get us out, and if we can do it
ourselves, so much the better."

"Yes, and all the more credit to us, Jack."

CHAPTER XVII

DISCOVERIES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS

The boys landed at the point where they had first gone ashore, well up in
the bay, as that would give them less walking, and pushed toward the
north, keeping as near to the shore as they could in the hope of being
thus better able to see the hidden smuggler in case she was still at the
island.

Making their way over rough ground, they at length came to an opening in
the rocks which was quite high enough for them to enter, and Jack said in
an eager tone:

"It is possible we may find something here, Dick. This seems to be a cave,
and smugglers and men of that sort make such places convenient."

"It looks rather dark, Jack," murmured Percival. "We had a pretty gruesome
experience in a dark cave when we first came to the island and I don't
want to repeat it."

"You won't find any devil fish in there, Dick," said Jack reassuringly.
"Besides, we have our flashes with us and are armed as well, and if we do
find anything uncanny we can put up a good fight, I imagine."

"That's all right, Jack, but once I have an experience of that sort I am a
little shy at venturing into a place anything like it. The mere look of
this cave made me think of the other."

"But there is no water here and it may be only a hole in the rocks after
all. Then it may lead to some retreat of these smuggler folk, and if it
does, so much the better."

"All right, Jack, I am with you," said Percival, and the boys entered the
hole in the rocks, as Jack called it.

It was more than that, as they presently discovered, for they found that
it extended much farther than they thought, and Jack, turning on his
pocket flash when there began to be less and less light to guide them, saw
that the passage went on for some distance.

It was high enough for them to walk upright and wide enough for three or
four persons to walk abreast, there being a few turns, but none sharp
enough to cut off the view ahead for some distance.

"Well, we won't get under water as we did in the other place, Jack,"
observed Percival as they walked on, meeting the first sharp turn and
being now unable to see behind them, "for we are going toward the interior
of the island and not toward the sea."

"No, and there will be no one to tumble down rocks upon us and shut us in,
or think they did, as happened before. In fact, the place seems to be
decidedly uninteresting, Dick."

"Nothing has happened so far, if that is what you mean," laughed the
other, "but you never can tell."

They made one or two more sharp turns and at length came to an opening of
greater magnitude where they could see three or four passages leading in
different directions, some very narrow and one wide enough for them to
walk side by side.

"Which one shall we take, Jack?" asked Percival. "The place begins to grow
interesting now that we have several routes to choose from. Does it look
as if men had been here? Do you see any smudges on the walls or any
footprints in the dust? Is this just an accident, or has it been cut out
and made of use for a hiding place?"

"No, there are no smudges which might have been made by torches, Dick, and
I don't see any footprints except our own. I don't believe any one has
been in here for years."

"Then you think that there may have been some one here at some time, Jack?
It has been used?"

"Yes, for it has not the looks of a natural cavern which has not yet been
discovered. It has been cleaned up to a certain extent. Still, I do not
think that the particular gang of malefactors we are looking for has ever
occupied it."

"Then there is not much use in our going any farther, Jack?"

"No, not if we want to find Rollins and the rest."

"Suppose we take the widest passage, Jack!"

"Very well. Come ahead."

They went on for twenty feet, when the floor of the passage began to take
a sudden decline which increased at every step.

"Hold on, Dick," said Jack, holding his light low and flashing it along
the rough floor. "This thing may take a sudden drop and----"

"So it does!" gasped Percival, lying at full length on the floor and
crawling carefully forward a pace or two. "It takes a drop for fair. It is
a lucky thing you noticed it."

"Then we may as well go back, for I don't care to take a drop I don't know
how deep."

"I'll see," muttered Percival, picking up a loose stone as big as his fist
and tossing it ahead of him.

Not until several seconds had passed did the boys hear the sound of the
stone falling into water, and Percival said with a sigh of relief:

"Well, we didn't go that way, at any rate. Come on, Jack, there is nothing
to be seen in that direction."

The boys returned to the place where the passages diverged, and Percival
suggested that they take one of the narrower paths and follow it for a
time.

"All right," laughed Jack, "but I don't believe we shall find any more
than we have already found. In fact, I don't believe the smugglers know of
this place at all and we won't find out anything."

However, they proceeded down the narrow path till they suddenly found
themselves at the end, where the place widened into a chamber about ten
feet square, and here they saw a sight which made Percival tremble.

It was a pile of human skeletons reaching nearly to the roof of the vault
and thrown promiscuously about like so much rubbish.

"I say, I've got enough of this!" gasped the young fellow. "Let's get out
of this, Jack, before we find anything worse. First the bottomless pit and
then a charnel house. I am satisfied!"

"It is not a very pleasant sight," said Jack musingly, "but they cannot do
us any harm. They have probably been here for years."

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