The Boy Scouts on Picket Duty | Page 3

must want to speak the Arrow. That's plain. I'm
goin' to ease in more and see who's aboard. Look! the dinged old boat
is comin' out from behind the bar now."
Pondering some contingency which he did not explain to the boys,
Vinton shifted the helm; and his sloop, hitherto heading in a
southwesterly direction, now began to edge closer to the line of keys.
Had Vinton not known his course so thoroughly from long experience
in sailing these channels, inlets, and lagoons, it would have been
dangerous; but he dexterously eluded the various reefs and oyster bars
and brought the Arrow safely into smoother water. Meanwhile, the
boys noticed that the wind, which had blown so strongly, was
beginning to slacken, thus allowing the steamer to gain on the Arrow
quite perceptibly. They saw then that she was a small steamer, like a
steam yacht, and light gray in color,---perhaps one of the United States
revenue cutters.

Captain Vinton was astonished. He had already begun to have serious
doubts that this could be the same mysterious vessel he had seen
cruising about the islands the night before. All at once, unexpectedly,
his doubts were resolved into a certainty that it was not the same, for
even while he was wondering, a strange thing happened:
A long, low, gray shape, something like a built-for-speed tug-boat with
a short funnel, darted into view from between two keys, and, crossing
the wake of the revenue cutter, glided swiftly along the very course the
Arrow had taken, heading back toward Snipe Point. Before the sloop
and the steamer had come within hailing distance of each other, the
strange craft, not depending on the dying easterly wind, was well along
the course, sending back---toward a trail of darker smoke.

CHAPTER II
A CONTRABAND CARGO
"Well, what d'you know about that?" queried Billy, easily relapsing
into slang when the first few minutes' surprise had worn off.
"Dunno much about it," Captain Vinton answered in a somewhat gruff
tone, "but it looks to me mighty like a filibuster's craft, or p'rhaps a
smuggler's."
At the word "filibuster," the boys---figuratively speaking---pricked up
their ears.
"What on earth can they be trying to smuggle?" was Hugh's eager
question, to which the captain replied promptly:
"Arms,---leastways, cartridges or gunpowder. They ain't tryin' to
smuggle 'em into Fluridy, but out of it," he explained. "Some gang of
raskils is buyin' small quantities of war goods up state---or else from
Cuby---totin' 'em down the coast an' through th' Everglades, and gettin'
'em aboard some steamboat like that one, and so away where they'll do

the most harm. Get me?"
"Yes," replied Alec, "but I never would have thought such tricks were
possible in these days."
"Boy, you can't never tell what's just possible or what ain't, in these
days," gravely asserted Captain Vinton. "All sorts o' things is like to
happen, and sometimes it's durned hard to know just what's goin' on.
But if that's any filibustin' outfit, they'd better make tracks out o' these
waters as fast as they can lay beam to wind'ard."
So saying, he shifted the helm again and bore away at an angle that
would enable them to come close to the revenue cutter, now scarcely a
quarter of a mile astern. Lighter and lighter came the wind, slower
glided the Arrow over the long heavy swells, nearer and nearer came
the cutter, going at a steady, rapid rate. Soon the two vessels were
within hailing distance, and a megaphone call came across the water,
clear and distinct:
"Sloop, ahoy! Can you understand?"
"Aye, aye!" called Vinton.
The five boys gathered around him, eager to hear the interchange of
calls. Even Dave rose and shambled over to the little group at the tiller.
On the other vessel they could now see a number of men in blue
uniforms and one in a civilian's suit of gray tweeds.
"Who've you got aboard?" came the next question from the captain of
the Petrel.
Vinton briefly stated his passenger list and explained the purpose of
their cruise.
"Bound for Key West now?" shouted the _Petrel's_ captain, whom
Vinton, studying him through the marine glass, recognized as James
Kelsey. "Trying to dodge that craft that just passed us, or trying to
catch her?"

"We were goin' to report as how we seen her las' night off Snipe Point,"
bawled Vinton, speaking through a megaphone which Dave had handed
to him. "Thought you fellows were at Key West."
"We were until this morning," came the answer. "We've been chasing
that boat. She's the _Esperanza_, a smuggler. Have you seen her
throwing anything overboard, or picking up stuff---like boxes or small
kegs?"
Then a light of understanding broke upon Vinton's mind. So that was
what the smuggler had been doing all night! Not grappling