"Or, maybe, make a friend who will come over to our side," said Bob suddenly. The big fellow was slower in his mental processes than his two chums, but when he spoke it usually was to the point.
"That's right, Bob," said his father, brightening, "of course, of course. Why hadn't I considered that possibility before? A cruel man like Folwell must make some enemies among his men, especially if they have finer instincts and are not content merely to get their pay and carouse."
"I was thinking of Matt Murphy," said Bob.
"Speak of the devil," said Frank, but so low his words were not heard.
For at that moment, Murphy put his head in through the door.
"We're off," he said. And it was true. The engines began to clank, the screw to churn. The trawler quivered and headed out into the channel.
"In ten, fifteen minutes, we'll be passin' through the Golden Gate,"
said Matt Murphy. "Them portholes ain't big enough to jump out, so I ain't worried. But put your eye to 'em an' ye'll see."
Abruptly then, as if half sorry for his display of interest, he closed the door and they were once more alone. They looked from one to the other, and Mr. Temple nodded satisfaction.
"You're a discerning lad, Bob," he said.
The others nodded. That was all. But, rightly or wrongly, the impression was beginning to grow upon them that in Matt Murphy, "Black George's"
right-hand man, they might eventually find a friend.
CHAPTER XI
"BEST LAID PLANS"
"How fast do you imagine this boat is going, Mr. Temple?"
Jack asked the question at the breakfast table next morning. None of the four were seasick. At their homes on the far end of Long Island they maintained a speed boat. Bob and Frank, in addition, owned an airplane.
All, as a consequence, were long since seasoned to the pitch and toss to which they were now subjected.
Breakfast had been served in the salon by several Chinamen under the eye of Matt Murphy. The room, as well as their cabins, they saw had been refitted luxuriously. The quarters were considerably larger than one would expect to find aboard a trawler, and the furnishings were those of a wealthy sportsman's yacht. In addition to the two cabins opening from one side of the salon and which they occupied, two others were similarly located opposite. One was occupied by Matt Murphy who, apparently, was captain of the vessel, and the other by "Black George."
"Oh, I don't know," said Mr. Temple in answer to Jack's question. "But a boat such as this is not built for speed. Its especial quality is staunchness."
"Well, but how fast do you imagine it is going?"
"About eight knots an hour or thereabouts," said Mr. Temple, considering. "That would be nine to ten miles. A nautical mile, or knot, you know, is between one and one-sixth and one and one-seventh land miles. But, why, Jack? What have you in mind?"
Jack glanced at "Black George's" door. It was closed. The other, he knew, lay there helpless to move, under care of a man whom they had not yet seen. So much had been gathered from Matt Murphy. The latter had disappeared above deck. Leaning closer, Jack lowered his voice.
Instinctively, to hear him better, all put their heads together.
"It was midnight when we came aboard," said Jack. "It is ten in the morning now. That means we have been at sea ten hours. We have gone one hundred miles, if you are correct about our speed. Now we are heading south. Our cabins are on the port side and the sun from the east is in our portholes.
"Do you know what?" He leaned closer.
"What?" asked Frank.
"I believe we are heading for the smugglers' cove. And that's in the south somewhere."
The others nodded.
"Well," continued Jack, "I've been thinking this over. San Diego is about six hundred miles south of San Francisco, isn't it, Mr. Temple?"
"Roughly that. Go on. What have you in mind?"
"Just this. The smugglers' cove is either above or below San Diego, said Inspector Burton, and not far from it in either direction. We shall reach San Diego in forty-eight hours more, at this rate, or about this time day after tomorrow. If the cove is this side of it, probably we would make it tomorrow night. If it is below San Diego, probably we would reach there the following night.
"Now, hold your horses, Frank," Jack interrupted, good-naturedly, as he saw Frank growing impatient. "I'm coming to the point.
"What I have in mind is simply this: With 'Black George' _hors de combat_, and Matt Murphy lukewarm, we may have a chance to seize the ship before we reach the smugglers' headquarters. If we don't do it before landing, our chance to gain our freedom later will be slim. And the way I figured it out, we can't reach the smugglers' cove until tomorrow night at the earliest, which gives us the best part of two days in which to see what we can do."
Warm approval was voiced by Frank and Bob. Mr. Temple, however, spoke of the almost insuperable handicaps-their lack of any sort of weapons, their ignorance as to the numbers or composition of the crew, or even as to the physical characteristics of the ship. He pointed out they had been forbidden to go above deck and, consequently, would know nothing beforehand of their field of battle.
"I agree with you, boys, of course," he added, in conclusion, "that, if we can seize the ship, we must do so. But it is one thing to conceive an idea, and a far more difficult matter to work out the details. However, let us go into my cabin and leave the door open into the salon. There we can discuss the situation from every angle with less fear of discovery."
"There is one thing I haven't mentioned yet," said Jack. "I've been so excited that it slipped my mind this morning. That is, I have a radio receiving set that may come in handy."
"Yes. That ring set which Inventor Bender showed us. I persuaded him to sell it to me, you remember?"
The boys nodded.
"Well, when we went out sightseeing last night, I wore it on my left hand, and there it still is." And Jack held up the device for inspection. "The inventor said it had a receiving radius of ten miles.
It may mean a lot to us before we see the end of this adventure."
The ring-radio of Inventor Bender is worthy of more extended mention and, inasmuch as later it was to play a noteworthy part in the adventures of the boys, perhaps it would be well to describe it at this time.
In the first place, Inventor Bender's ring-radio was not, strictly speaking, his own invention, but rather an adaptation of a similar device earlier invented by Alfred G. Rinehart, a young radio wizard of Elizabeth, N. J.
The young inventor had not patented his device, but to an interviewer representing The Radio Globe of New York he had given a sketchy description of its operations, suppressing details. This had come to Inventor Bender's attention. With no desire to steal another's idea, but merely for his own amusement, he had taken up the matter and devised his own ring-radio, and this it was which he had sold to Jack.
The head phones and connecting wires from the ring to the phones and to aerial and ground were intact in his traveling bag, Jack already had ascertained. Whoever had searched the bag for possible concealed weapons had not considered it important to take them.
"Even my umbrella is strapped to my bag," said Jack. "You remember Inventor Bender said I could connect a lead to the metal stem of the umbrella for aerial and stick a screwdriver into the earth for my ground connection. Of course, there is no earth here, but salt water will do even better."
The ring of this set was the coil, slender, only slightly more than an eighth of an inch in diameter, and encircling the finger. The mounting comprised the controls and measured only 1 1-2 7-16 of an inch.
These measurements included the brightly polished bakelite panel on which were mounted a diminutive crystal detector and small switch control connected with the coil by nine taps, permitting of nine different tuning adjustments by means of a movable band making connections in the heads of nine tiny brass studs set in the panel in the form of a semicircle. The whole was no larger than many ornate rings, and resembled one in appearance.
"Mr. Bender said it would receive on wave lengths up to and including 550 meters," Jack explained. "This trawler undoubtedly has radio. In fact, I saw the aerial when we came aboard. Probably, sooner or later, it will open communication with the radio at the smugglers' cove, and we can hear it."
"But any conversation would be in code," protested Frank. "Besides, they might use a very high meter wave length, and your set would be unable to receive."
Jack looked thoughtful.
"I've considered that," he said. "Naturally. Nevertheless, I have the feeling that this little radio ring will be mighty handy, indeed."