"Have it your own way," he said. "But I won't tell you a thing."
Robbins was exasperated. He made a threatening gesture, but Jack laid a hand on his arm.
"All right," said Robbins, grinning. "I wouldn't strike him, anyhow.
Against regulations. Wait a minute, you fellows, till I turn him over to somebody aboard."
Taking the prisoner by an arm, he marched him to the rail of the Sub Chaser, where a sailor who had been an interested observer to what went forward, was leaning. Returning, Robbins, not much older in appearance than Bob but of slighter build, said:
"What's to be done?"
He respected the boys for their quick thinking and courage in emergencies, and deferred to them. All four looked at each other in silence. It was a ticklish situation for young heads.
"Ensign Warwick told you not to leave the boat, didn't he?" asked Jack.
Robbins nodded.
"It probably would be foolish for all of us to go chasing off up the canyon without knowing any more than we do, anyhow," said Jack.
"Look here, you fellows," said Frank. "What's the matter with our going scouting up the trail, the three of us? We know there is danger ahead and have a pretty good idea of what it is, and so we ought to be able to guard against it. Three men would make a likely reinforcement in case we find our friends hard pressed."
"Yes, but nine men would be better," said Robbins. "If there was only some way you could send back word, in case you find our men bottled up, I could bring up my outfit."
"Well, I can run back," said Jack.
"He's some jackrabbit, too," Frank assured the young sailor. "You ought to see him in our school field meets."
"Yes, but suppose you get five or six miles inland," objected Robbins.
"You couldn't be back here in under an hour, and it would be more than double that time before we could get there with help."
Big Bob looked thoughtful. Then he kicked against the side of the portable radio outfit at their feet.
"If only this weren't so doggone heavy," he said, "we might carry it with us, and give you a call when we discover anything."
"I have it," cried Jack delightedly. "The very thing."
"What?" asked Robbins.
"Why, we can take that portable radio without any trouble at all. This creek runs back a considerable distance into the mountains through the canyon. We can set up the radio in a boat and go up stream that way. The trail is bound to parallel the stream. Moreover, we stand a better chance to proceed unobserved, for they will be watching the trail and not the stream."
"Why not?" said Frank. "Looks like a good idea to me."
"All right," said Robbins, "if you fellows want to try it. Here's a boat right here, tied to the pier. Let's rig her up."
Everybody worked enthusiastically, and the portable radio apparatus was quickly in place, except for the aerial.
"There's not sufficient stretch for the aerial," said Jack. "But if we do get a chance to use the radio to call you, we can string the antennae to some trees in no time at all, make our connections, and be all fixed.
I should say this would send about eight or ten miles."
Frank steering, and Bob and Jack at the oars, the boat shot away upstream and almost immediately disappeared from sight, so dark was the night. Robbins listened intently, but the beat of the oars soon died down.
"Expert oarsmen," he commented to himself. "Wonder who those fellows are, anyhow? They certainly act in a hurry."
Then he went aboard to caution one of his men to remain at the radio, ready to catch the boys' message should they call.
Meantime with oars so skilfully handled as to make scarcely any sound, the boys forged upstream. Minute after minute flew by, without a shot, or any human sound, breaking the stillness. Bend after bend was cautiously rounded, but nothing lay ahead. Several times Frank looked at his watch. An hour had passed.
"We must have come three or four miles," he whispered. "Let's take a breather. I'll spell Jack when we go on. Pull in under this left bank.
The trail is on the right side, and we'll keep away from it."
Bob and Jack pulled slowly over as Frank swung the tiller, and the boat came to rest beneath the drooping branches of a pepper tree that grew on the very edge of the stream.
"I'm afraid we can't go much further in the boat," Jack said anxiously, his voice barely audible. "Stream's getting very shallow."
"Suppose one of us pushes ahead to reconnoiter while the others stay in the boat," suggested Frank.
"I expect that's what we better do," said Jack. "It's getting quite shallow."
After some further whispered conversation it was decided that while one of the trio to be chosen by lot should push ahead on foot, the others should busy themselves stringing the aerial.
"If I find out anything to tell Robbins," said Frank, who had been the one selected to spy out the land, "the radio will be working when I come back."
Scarcely had he stepped ashore on the left bank than the sound of revolver fire, ahead and seemingly close at hand, was heard. Frank jumped back into the boat.
"Put me ashore on the other side," he said. "I'll go up the trail. That shooting can't be far away."
"Be careful," warned Jack, anxiously, as his young chum again leaped ashore.
A quarter of an hour passed, during which Jack and Bob busied themselves stringing the aerial between two trees on opposite sides of the stream.
They stopped work frequently to listen. One more burst of firing was heard, and a faint sound of shouting. Then Frank's voice hailed them, and he scrambled aboard.
"Nobody along the trail," he explained as soon as he could recover breath, for he had been running. "But around the bend ahead the canyon broadens out into a rather wide valley, and up above it on a hilltop on the right is a stockade. Our men are in there, and the smugglers are besieging them. The way I could tell the smugglers are outside was by blundering almost on top of a clump of Chinamen directed by 'Black George.'"
"Guess we better radio Robbins to come up with his men," said Jack. "Bob and I just completed stringing the aerial. Now to see if the outfit will transmit."
He began adjusting the tuner and detector knobs and sending out his signal.
CHAPTER XXVI-A SURPRISE ATTACK ------------------------------
"I hear someone coming," whispered Bob.
While Jack continued working at the radio, Bob and Frank listened intently. Jack began speaking into the transmitter, indicating he had opened communication with the Sub Chaser. Bob put a hand on his arm, and set his lips to Jack's ear.
"Tell 'em to wait," he whispered. "Someone coming. Mustn't risk being overheard."
Nodding, Jack breathed an injunction to wait into the transmitter. All three chums sat silent and tense. The faint sound first noticed by Bob grew louder. Footsteps were approaching along the trail. Not those of one man but of a number. Fortunately, the bank of the stream was high and they were sheltered below it. Besides, down here at the bottom of the canyon, with the narrow walls not far from the stream on either hand, it was dark as a wolf's mouth. Even to each other they were almost undistinguishable thickenings in the gloom.
The footsteps came closer. They could hear men passing on the trail above. Frank, who was nearest, suddenly swung ashore. Bob divined he was going to clamber up to watch the trail, and considered it a risky proceeding. He put out a hand to stop Frank, but too late.