“It’s—gone! Mr. Everdail—the life—preserver——”
“Gone? That can’t be!”
“It is, sir!”
“I don’t see how—” Mr. Everdail was thinking, as was Sandy, that with everyone whom they suspected, except the maid Miss Serena had accused, present in that room, the loss of the carefully hidden object must be impossible.
“When did you last see it, wherever you had it?” asked the man from London, cool and practical.
“Just before—the meeting here, sir!”
“It was—where?”
147
“We left it where Dick had discovered it—in the fuselage of Jeff’s airplane. One of us watched, taking turns, all afternoon. Just before we came in here we made sure it was all right, and Larry, who has the longest reach, pushed it in as far as he could get it and still be able to take it out again.”
“Could that girl, Mimi, have come back?” Jeff wondered.
“Whether she did or not,” the pilot, Tommy Larsen, jumped up, “if the life preserver was safe an hour ago, and gone now, it was taken during that hour. Maybe within the last few——”
“Yes—I think it was in the last few minutes!” Sandy declared. “We didn’t talk about the emeralds being hidden in it until almost the last thing before we went to fetch it here.”
“Let’s search the estate!” urged the pilot.
“Come on, everybody—spread out—” cried Jeff. “We’ll get that-there girl——”
“Wait!” begged Sandy. “Everybody will get mixed up and hunt in the same places. We ought to organize——”
“Sound common sense,” commented Miss Serena. “But if you ask——”
Sandy guessed that she would have given her opinion, if asked, that the search was useless.
148
She was given no time for the comment. Leaving her with the white-faced stewardess3 and the pilot, whose injuries prevented him from being of much use due to his evident weakness, the others, under Mr. Everdail, were grouped into parties. Given a definite territory, each set out, one group to search the grove4 under Jeff’s leadership, another to cover the shore section, boathouse and boats, with Captain Parks and his men in the party. Others, under the mate and engineer, divided the rest of the searchers to beat the further and less cultivated woods on the estate and to walk the roads, while Miss Serena gladly agreed to telephone to outlying estates, and to the nearby town to have a watch kept for any unknown person, woman or man.
“Where’s Larry—and Dick?” asked Jeff, as Sandy ran beside him.
“Searching the hangar——”
“But it was locked and all doors down,” Jeff grunted5. “Why waste time there?”
“I guess we thought, just at first, somebody might have hidden the preserver somewhere—we thought we saw somebody in the hangar the day the mystery started, but we found no one, so Dick thought——”
“Well, go tell them to come and help me in the grove. Don’t waste time there!”
149
Sandy separated from the superstitious6 one, as the latter rushed among the trees, muttering that some omen7 had warned him of trouble.
As the beaters separated, and widened the circle of their search, the sounds of calls, shouts, voices identifying one another grew fainter.
Sandy, reaching his comrades, compared notes.
“They’ve organized and started,” Sandy reported. “What have you two found?”
“Nothing,” Dick said dejectedly. “We ought not to have left that thing unguarded.”
“Not with a fortune in it,” agreed Larry. “But we were so sure——”
“Whoever got it can’t be far off,” interrupted Dick. “No one but Miss Serena and Captain Parks—and we three—knew about the hiding place until the last part of the meeting.”
“Let’s lock up, here, and join Jeff,” suggested Sandy.
“Where is he?”
“In the grove, Dick.”
“All right,” Larry moved to the small door. “The spring lock’s set. The place is surrounded. Nobody’s in here—” They were outside as he made the last statement. “Slam the door and try it, Dick. All right. Come on, let’s find Jeff.”
The search took longer than they expected.
150
To all calls the thick grove gave back only echoes.
Dick, rounding a tree, stumbled.
“Larry—Sandy—come—quick!” He called his chums in a strained voice.
When they reached him, in the dying glow of the flashlight Dick trained on a body lying in a heap, they identified the man who had been warned by his gypsy fortune teller8 to “look out for a hidden enemy.” He was lying at full length in the mould and leaves.
“Jeff!” Dick knelt and lifted the man’s head.
“Huh!—uh—oh!”
Slowly, while they held their breath, understanding came into the dazed eyes, the breath was drawn9 in, and Jeff struggled to a half-reclining posture10.
“What happened to you?” begged Sandy.
“The rest—oh, I’m sick!—I got a bang in the solar plexus—I sent the rest of the men out to the edge of—the woods—oh!—my stomach—to beat in towards me—when I come around this-here tree, somebody was waiting and poked11 me—oh!”—
“Then somebody is still close. How long ago?——”
“I don’t—know—I passed out——”
151
“Hey—everybody—yoo-hoo!” Larry cupped his hands and began to shout in various directions.
The crash and call of the beaters coming in began to grow louder.
Unexpectedly, from the water of the inlet, and yet in a muffled12, unnatural13 tone, there came the sputtering14 roar of a motor.
“What’s that?” cried Dick.
“One of the airplanes—somebody’s in the hangar——”
“No, Sandy, it’s from the water.”
“But there’s no boat out—the only boat with an engine is the hydroplane——”
“The yacht tender’s tied to the wharf15,” Dick reminded Larry.
They raced down the sloping woods path.
“Where’s the guard—where’s everybody?” Sandy shouted.
The men came running. They had scanned the place by the wharf, and, satisfied that no one lurked16 there and that the tender was secure, they had gone further along the inlet coast.
“No one’s in the tender!” Larry exclaimed.
“It’s the hydroplane, then!” Dick decided17. “It’s coming from the water-dock inside the boathouse, now—there it is. Hey! You! Stop!”
Seamen18, the mate, Pilot Tommy Larsen, servants, dashed up.
152
“What’s happened? What’s the excitement? The hydroplane—there it goes!”
Their shouts came in a chorus of helpless questions and suggestions.
“Man the yacht tender!” ordered Captain Parks. His men tumbled into it.
“That isn’t fast enough!” objected Pilot Larsen. “I’d fly that amphibian19 crate20 only—I’m too weak and dizzy——”
“Jeff’s hurt, too,” said Dick, desperately21. “I guess they’ll get away with the emeralds!”
“Why can’t Larry fly the ‘phib’?” demanded Sandy.
“At night? I haven’t had any experience.”
“But Jeff could go along.” Dick took up the idea eagerly. “Couldn’t you, Jeff? And tell him what to do in an emergency!”
“Yes—sure I could! Not in the ‘phib’ because we don’t know how much gas—the gauge22 is out of whack—but we got the airplane ready this morning—if it wasn’t the night of the thirteenth I’d have said something about it long ago!”
“Forget about the thirteenth—remember the thirty emeralds!” cried Sandy. “Come on, all—help us get that crate out and started. It’s a flight for a fortune!” They took up the cry. Dick and Larry ran off.
153
Those of the servants and seamen who were not too excited by the escape of the hydroplane to hear, followed the Sky Patrol as they raced through the grove. Jeff, supported by Sandy and friends among the men, came more slowly, still unwell from the blow in a tender spot.
“Mr. Everdail could fly the crate if he was here—he’s an old war pilot,” said Larsen, but they did not wait to locate him. As soon as the engine was warmed, the instruments checked, in spite of the delay at cost of precious moments, Larry donned the Gossport helmet, Jeff got in behind him, Sandy and Dick, without waiting for invitations, snapped their belts—the engine roared—and they were off!
Larry was keyed up to a high tension; but he had no lack of confidence in himself. Night flying, of course, differed from daytime piloting. But Jeff was in the second seat, with the Gossport tube to his lips.
Sandy and Dick were in their places, ready to observe and to transmit signals by using the flashlamp—one flash, directed onto the dash before Jeff so it would not distract Larry, meant turn to the right, two meant a left turn, three quick flicks23 would tell of the discovery of the hydroplane.
154
Jeff was too upset to pilot; and since the morning adventure he had no second control stick; but he could give instructions.
“I see a light,” Sandy said as the airplane swung far out over the dark water. “A green light, but the hydroplane wouldn’t carry lights.”
As they swung in a banked turn to circle over the Sound, the green disappeared and its place was taken, as it seemed, by red.
“Dick!” Sandy turned and gestured, pointing.
“I see it!” Dick located the tiny light well below them.
“The hydroplane must have its electric running light switched on,” Sandy mused24, unable to convey his idea, because Larry had the engine going full on.
“That must be the hydroplane,” Dick decided. “He—whoever is in it—is afraid to run without his lights.”
Three swift flicks of his own flash showed to Jeff.
“Larry, they’ve spotted25 that-there boat,” Jeff spoke26 through the tube to the young pilot. “Yep. More to the left. That’s it—both at the same time! Stick to the left, rudder, too. Good boy. Now the stick comes back to neutral. Hold her as she is—better cut down the throttle27 a little as we bank and turn to the left.”
Thus began their flight for a fortune!
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
plunged
|
|
| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
gasps
|
|
| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
stewardess
|
|
| n.空中小姐，女乘务员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
grove
|
|
| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
grunted
|
|
| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
superstitious
|
|
| adj.迷信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
omen
|
|
| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
teller
|
|
| n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
posture
|
|
| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
poked
|
|
| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
muffled
|
|
| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
unnatural
|
|
| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
sputtering
|
|
| n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
wharf
|
|
| n.码头，停泊处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
lurked
|
|
| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
seamen
|
|
| n.海员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
amphibian
|
|
| n.两栖动物；水陆两用飞机和车辆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
crate
|
|
| vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
desperately
|
|
| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
gauge
|
|
| v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
flicks
|
|
| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的第三人称单数 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
mused
|
|
| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
spotted
|
|
| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
throttle
|
|
| n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |