_ CHAPTER VII
The two men stopped and listened a moment, when Tom Pearce started to go toward the door, exclaiming:
"Something has scared Renie!"
"Hold on! Nothing is the matter with the girl," said Garcia.
"How do you know?" retorted the old smuggler; and he made another step toward the door, when the man Garcia suddenly dealt him a blow with a club.
The blow was a powerful one, and it brought the old man to the floor, which laid him insensible upon the broad of his back.
Meantime, the detective had overheard the scream; and had slid away from his hiding-place, and started to run toward the point from whence the cry had come.
Spencer Vance was convinced that the scream had been uttered by Renie, and, remembering Sol Burton's attack upon the girl, he suspected the man had renewed his attempt.
The detective ran for some distance, and saw no one; and his anxiety became intense lest some real harm had befallen the helpless girl. He could not understand what had become of her. When he first heard the cry, it did not appear as though the screamer could be more than a few hundred feet distant from where he lay ensconced; but he had covered thousands of square feet, and could see nothing of the girl, or, indeed, was there a living soul visible.
The detective was straining his eyes in glances in every direction when he caught sight of the figure of a man moving stealthily across the sand.
The detective started to follow the man, and speedily discerned that the stealthy prowler was the man Garcia.
The latter had not seen the detective, and our hero kept upon his track, following him to the shore. On the beach were gathered a group of men, and in their midst Vance beheld the girl Renie.
At a glance the detective took in the situation, Garcia, despairing of success with the old smuggler, had determined to kidnap the girl.
There were three men besides the man Garcia, and four to one was pretty good odds; besides, the detective knew the men to be desperate and well prepared to fight. What should he do? He could not stand by and see the fair, helpless girl carried oft; and yet he was alone, and had no one to call upon for assistance.
Lying off the shore was a sloop-yacht, and on the beach was a boat; the intention of the men was apparent. It was their purpose to carry the girl off to the yacht.
Spencer Vance was an experienced officer, well posted in all the tricks and devices of his craft, and he at once began to carry out a scheme.
He took up a position behind a sand-rift, and commenced to shriek and scream like a woman; and a moment later he became aware that his ruse was successful; two men came running toward the place where he lay concealed and as they approached the detective leaped to his feet. He had the men at a disadvantage; they were not expecting an attack, and were unprepared.
The detective, however, was ready to receive them as they ran down the incline, and quick as lightning sprung upon the two men. The men were both stunned, and were down before they had a chance to make an outcry.
Having disposed of the two men, the detective advanced toward the point on the beach where the two remaining men stood. He walled straight up to the kidnappers, who stood and gazed at him in amazement.
"Heh, Renie!" he called, "are you going willingly with these men?"
The men answered for the girl:
"Yes; she is going with us. Who are you, and what have you got to say about it?"
"When I speak, it will be from these; you fellows get in your boat or I fire!"
"Who are you?" came the question.
"Get in your boat, and leave, or down you go! The other two chaps are settled."
"But give us an explanation."
One of the men made a movement to draw his weapon, but the detective called:
"Hold on there, my friend! And now, you fellows, get in your boat, or at the call of three it will be too late!"
"One!" called the detective, and he made one step nearer the men.
"Two!" he called a second later, and he advanced another step.
The men did not wait for the third call, but leaped into their boat.
The detective advanced to the spot where Renie stood, and in a low voice, he said:
"Am I right?"
The girl made no reply.
A suspicion of the truth flashed through the detective's mind, and he said:
"Renie, run to your father's cabin, the road is clear!"
The girl, who had stood speechless during the whole time that the exciting incidents we have described were transpiring, suddenly bounded away, but without speaking one word.
The detective called to the two men in the boat:
"Don't you fellows land again, or it will cost you your lives!"
The men made no reply, and the detective moved away in the same direction that had been pursued by Renie. He had gone less than a hundred feet, when he met the girl coming toward him.
The detective was both amused and pleased. He realized that in case of an emergency the girl would be of great help.
"Never mind, my child, I've settled 'em!" he said:
Still the girl made no reply, and it was then the detective discovered that she had been gagged. He also discovered that her arms had been secured, so she could not raise them to her head.
It took him but a moment to release her with his knife, when she exclaimed:
"I thank you for coming to my aid; but where are the villains?"
"I reckon they've gone off to their boat; but come, we will see. With such a noble and brave ally I would not hesitate to invite a scrimmage with half a dozen of them."
The detective's guess proved correct. The two men whom he had first dropped had evidently recovered their senses, and had joined their pals on the beach, as a boat bearing four persons could be seen moving off toward the yacht.
As our readers can well imagine, it was not because of the detective's warning that the men pulled away to their boat. Garcia remembered that he had stricken down the old smuggler, and it was the consequences of that act which made him anxious to get away.
"There they go, Renie!"
"Yes; thanks to you, I am not going with them;" answered the girl.
"Why was the assault made upon you, my child?"
"You are my friend; I will tell you all now. That man Garcia is a villain! He has made all manner of propositions to me to induce me to leave the coast and go to the city with him, but I knew the man to be a villain, a murderer, and criminal of the worst sort, and I refused all his offers."
"On what pretense did he make offers to you, my child?"
"Oh, he told me I was fitted to adorn a mansion, that this life with these rough fishermen was no life for me, and that he would take me to live as his child in luxury and splendor."
"In one respect, Renie, the man told you truly. You are not fitted to dwell among these rough men around here."
"I know that well enough, but I will not leave my father, and when I do I shall not place myself under the protection of a man like Garcia."
"Who is this man Garcia?"
"He is a Cuban, or rather his father was a Cuban, and his mother, as I've heard him say, was an Irish lady. I think he is one of the capitalists engaged in the smuggling trade; and that he is a villain and scoundrel I know!"
"He had a long interview with Tom Pearce to-night."
"Yes; I requested you to be a listener to their talk. What did you overhear?"
"Tom Pearce is an honest and good man, as far as you are concerned; the fellow Garcia was seeking with the offer of bribes to induce the old man to take you to New York and surrender you to his keeping. He used the same arguments with your father that he used with you."
"And what did my father say to his propositions?"
"He gave no decided answer; but one thing is certain, the old man would never surrender you to that fellow if he had the least suspicion that any harm would come to you."
"What has occurred this night will convince him, I reckon."
"Yes, I should say so," responded the detective.
"I would not have gone to that man's house even had my father consented. I have a mind and will of my own; and now that I am on my guard I will take care of myself against any such attacks in future."
"I don't know, Renie; I do not think you will be safe here."
"The men around here will protect me."
At that moment a diminutive shadow was cast on the sand in front of Renie and the detective, and a moment later a little fellow, a mere child seemingly in years, appeared before them.
"Hello, Tommy, where did you come from?" demanded Renie.
"I want to speak to you, Renie."
"Well, speak out, Tommy."
"I won't speak before anyone. I've awful news to tell you."
"Go and hear what the lad has to say to you," suggested Vance,
Renie stepped aside with the lad, when the latter whispered in a low tone:
"Sol Burton has made trouble."
"What has he done?"
"He told the men that you gave that man warning, and they're awful mad at you, and they've put up a job to get the man into a quarrel."
"Where are the men now?"
"Down to Rigby's."
"They expect the detective down there to-night?"
"Yes."
"And Sol Burton was the man who told them I gave the detective warning?"
"Yes."
"You go down to Rigby's and listen to what goes on, and in about an hour come up and report to me."
"Where will you be?"
"At the cabin."
Tom Pearce's house was generally called the cabin, as the timbers and other materials of which it was constructed were portions of a wreck that had come ashore many years previously.
Tommy bid the girl good-night, and the latter returned to the detective.
"Well, is the communication confidential?"
"You are in great peril."
"Am I?"
"You are."
"From which quarter does the danger threaten me?"
"Sol Burton has reported against me."
"What has he reported?"
"He has told the men that I warned you, and that is the reason you did not go off in the yacht."
"The men will not harm you, I reckon."
"No, they will not harm me."
"Then I reckon no harm is done."
"The men have sworn to get square with you tonight!" _