TRICKED.
When the conspirators came on deck, and before they finished smoking, the boys cleaned the cabin, ate their own dinner in the galley, and were at liberty to remain idle until it should be time to prepare supper.
After the heat of the day had passed Bob proposed that all the brig's lower sails should be set; adding, in conclusion:
"'Cordin' to my way of thinkin', there's goin' to be a decent kind of a breeze about sunset, an' if we're ready for it jes' so much time will be saved in leavin' this place."
The three strangers appeared even more eager than he to see the brig under canvas once more, and all hands turned to with a will, pulling, hoisting, and sheeting home as if the wind which was to waft them toward the United States had already begun to blow.
By the time this work was done there could no longer be any question but that a generous breeze from the south was near at hand. Thin, filmy clouds formed in the sky, while every now and then the heated air would be set in motion slightly, as a token of what might be expected.
"There's no doubt now but that we'll be under way by sunset," Joe said, as he stood on the quarter-deck where the boys had taken refuge from the heat, "and it would be a good idea for me to be bringing my dunnage out of the tug, since it ain't likely I'll ever see the little craft again."
"Ain't you goin' to try and save anything else?" Jim asked.
"There isn't much that we can take. Suppose all hands go aboard and see if there's anything belonging to the crew that'll pay for carrying away?"
The boys accepted the invitation readily, for they did not care to move about the deck of the brig very much lest they came in contact with the red-nosed man and his friends, and all four went into the tiny after-cabin of the Sea Bird, where Joe at once began his work of investigation.
There were four chests here in addition to the one owned by Joe, and these were broken open without ceremony, for the engineer did not intend to burden himself with anything that might not be of considerable value to the owners.
"We'll unpack 'em, and then put the things back carefully, in case the little craft is carried home again," he said, going to work systematically, while the boys watched him with mild curiosity.
There was no apparent necessity for haste, therefore Joe set about his task leisurely because of the intense heat, which made the slightest exertion almost painful, and but two of the chests had been overhauled when Bob came below to learn what was going on.
"Gettin' ready to leave, eh?" he asked, after looking at the perspiring engineer in silence several moments. "Well, it's time; for unless I've made a big mistake in them light clouds we'll start from here mighty soon."
"If we were going alone I'd feel tiptop," Joe said, as he paused for an instant in his work; "but as it is, I'm afraid we'll have trouble with that crowd before the United States coast heaves in sight, even if they do talk so fair just now."
"We must keep our weather-eyes liftin' every minute, an' at the first sign of a row pitch in so's to take 'em unawares;" and Bob stretched himself out on the port locker as if determined to enjoy all possible comfort before the serious work of sailing the brig without an experienced navigator was begun. "I wouldn't hesitate to give 'em the slip by leavin' the whole crowd here; but there's no chance of their goin' ashore after the wind rises."
"No," Joe replied, with a long-drawn sigh, "we shall have to grin an' bear it, I reckon; but----"
He ceased speaking very suddenly, for just at that moment a footstep was heard on the steamer's deck, and an instant later the unpleasant-looking face of the man with the red nose appeared at the companion-way.
"You all got outer sight so quick that I thought p'rhaps you'd gone overboard," he said with a leer, glancing inquisitively around the cabin, but making no motion to descend.
"Joe is overhaulin' this dunnage, to see if there's anything worth carryin' back to the States," Bob replied carelessly, as the engineer continued his work in silence.
The man lowered his head as if to see the interior more plainly, and, unperceived by any one in the little apartment, made a quick motion with his hand, evidently for the benefit of those aboard the brig.
