CHAPTER XIX.

THE PLAN THAT WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL.

Just as soon as Dory dropped the painter of the tender into the water, the wind drove the boat away from the La Motte in the direction of the shore. Mackwith and Chuckworth, the two robbers who had appeared on the shore after their search in the woods for Angy, were too far off to notice it.

"Now, we must not allow ourselves to be seen or heard," said Dory, as soon as he had let go the painter. "They will find the boat, and come on board."

"But don't you think they will suspect that something is wrong for their side of the question?" asked Mr. Jepson.

"Why should they think so?" asked Dory.

"Since they left the schooner, she has been moved to her present position; and the boat in which Angy left the vessel is found on the beach."

"They may not be able to account for what they see, but it does not follow that they will suspect any thing; though it will not make much difference if they do," replied Dory, shrugging his shoulders.

"Of course, they will understand that the fellows they left on board have moved the schooner; but I am afraid they will suspect something when they find the boat on the beach," continued the machinist.

"Perhaps they will; they have a perfect right to do so: but they have been up all night, and I don't believe they will be very sharp. Possibly they drank beer enough while they were on board of the La Motte to reduce them to the condition of the fellows in the steerage. But it is not so much of a question of what they will think, as of what they will do."

"Well, their actions will be guided by their thoughts."

"That is so; but they will be guided by their conclusions, and not by all the suspicions that come into their heads," argued Dory. "Of course, it is important for us to be able to foresee what they will do, so that we may be prepared for them."

"Then, we must fathom their thoughts if we can."

"They are standing on the beach just now."

"And they are a quarter of a mile from us."

"But they are moving this way, though very slowly."

"I have no doubt they are about worn out, for they have been beating about the woods for an hour or more," said Dory, as he raised himself so as to see over the bulwarks of the schooner.

"Of course, they must see the vessel."

"I don't think they discovered her till this moment, for they have only just begun to move this way. Now what will they do?"

"They will wonder why the position of the schooner has been changed."

"Let them wonder: they will not be able to make any thing of it. When they reach the tender, they will do some more wondering."

"And they will begin to take account of the facts in their possession," added the machinist.

"That will be a sensible thing for them to do. The two principal facts before them will be the change in the position of the vessel and the presence of the tender on the shore. But the first thing they do, will be to hail the La Motte; but they will not get any answer. What will they conclude from the silence of those on board?"

"I have an idea, Dory; but what do you say?" added the machinist, with a smile which seemed to mean more than his words.

"They will conclude that the fellows on board are tired out, and have gone to sleep," replied Dory confidently. "Then they will take the boat, and come on board. About that time, our work will begin."

"I don't quite agree with you, Dory," answered Mr. Jepson. "You are the manager of this enterprise, and I think you have arranged things to lead them to another conclusion from that you suggest."

"What do you think they will do?" asked Dory, disappointed that the machinist did not seem to approve his action.

"When they find the boat on the beach, with the vessel where she is, they will conclude that the two fellows have gone ashore, and are looking for Angy, and for their absent companions," replied the machinist, with more earnestness in his manner than he had displayed before.

Dory bit his lips, for it seemed to him that there was a great deal of force in what his companion said.

"If you had left the schooner where she was, they might have reasoned that the boat was where Angy had left it," continued the machinist.

"But they would not have found the boat in that case. They would not have been likely to see her on the beach, a quarter of a mile away from them. Besides, I was not sure that the boat would be blown where they would be in the way of finding it, if I turned it adrift a mile from this shore," reasoned Dory rather warmly.

"There are difficulties, whichever way you look at the question," said the instructor, laughing at the energy of Dory. "I think we had better drop the discussion, and act upon the facts as soon as they are developed."

"All right: you think they will do one thing, and I think they will do another. The only important thing is, whether or not they will come on board of the vessel. We will wait and see."

"It is too late to alter things as you have arranged them; and I do not say that the course you have taken was not the wisest, Dory. We shall soon know."

They could do nothing but wait. It would be some time before Mack and Chuck reached the beach off the schooner; and Dory went below to see the prisoners, taking care not to show his head above the bulwarks. The two captives in the steerage were still asleep; it was a beer-slumber, though they were doubtless very tired; and they were like a pair of stone posts, so far as their appearance was concerned. Persons who were not boozy could hardly have slept so soundly in the uncomfortable positions in which they were confined.

As Dory had nothing else to do, he took a more careful survey of the cabin of the La Motte. One of the bunks in the steerage appeared to have been occupied, while the other five beds had not been disturbed. In the cabin were several valises and travelling-bags. One of the former bore the initials of the chief of the robbers. As it was not locked, he opened it.

If there was any plunder on board, it had not been put into this valise, for it appeared to contain nothing but wearing-apparel. In the pocket he found a letter, addressed to "M. A. Spickles, Esq., Plattsburg, N.Y." It was postmarked at New-York City. Dory felt that it was his duty, in connection with the enterprise in which he was engaged, to obtain all the information in his power; and he did not scruple to read the epistle, as he would not have done under ordinary circumstances.

The letter contained a great deal of slang, a good portion of which the reader could not understand. The writer, who signed himself "Fred Ripples," promised to be at Ticonderoga on Friday night, and the La Motte must take him and his party on board at that point. If the schooner was not there at that time, the party would take the first train for Westport, and would be there early Saturday morning.

With the letter in his hand, Dory went on deck, and joined the machinist under the bulwarks. Mr. Jepson read the document, and looked at Dory, though its contents did not appear to affect the present situation.

"These fellows are the other members of that club. They must be at Westport by this time," said the instructor.

"Probably they are, for a train comes along very early in the morning," replied Dory. "But Mr. Fred Ripples had nothing to do with the robberies at Plattsburg, or the one at Beech Hill; so that we have no particular business with him."

"Then, we had better drop him; for the two fellows who did have a hand in them are within a short distance of the tender," added the machinist in a lower tone.

Dory looked out through an opening in the bulwarks which he had arranged for the purpose. The two robbers looked as though they were worn out, for they moved with a very heavy step. But they were talking very earnestly together, as shown by their gestures; though what they said could not be heard on board of the La Motte. They were evidently discussing the change in the position of the vessel, and the discovery of the boat on the beach. The first thing they did was to haul the tender out of the surf, which was banging it on the gravel.

"Wick! Wick!" shouted one of them.

Then they waited some time for a reply to their hail, but none came.

"Sang! Sang!" called the other of the two.

"On board the La Motte!" yelled Mack, whose voice Dory recognized.

They seated themselves on the rail of the boat, and continued to yell for half an hour. Then an argument seemed to be in progress between them, in which one of them frequently pointed to the woods in the direction from which they had come. Presently they rose from their seats, and walked off, following the beach by the way they had come.

"Well, Dory, what does that mean?" asked the machinist, as soon as they were out of hearing.

"It means that you were right, and that I was wrong," replied Dory candidly. "I should have done better if I had left the schooner where she was."

"I don't say that; and if I had thought so at the time, I should have spoken. We will deal with the present situation," added the instructor.

"I thought the plan would work all right, and I am disappointed," said Dory. "Those fellows believe that Sang and Wick, as they call them, have gone ashore in the boat, and they have started to look for them. My strategy has failed, and I am disgusted with it."

"What shall we do? That is the question now," suggested the machinist.

"I don't like to go back to Beech Hill without those fellows, after we have spent so much time in hunting them down," added Dory.

"They will come back when they fail to find their companions."

"But I don't care about waiting all day for them. If you will go with me, we will go on shore, and take the bull by the horns. We can handle them."

"All right, Dory; but how can we get ashore? We have no boat," replied the machinist, who was quite as impatient as his younger companion.

"I will bring off the boat for you, and I will go ashore on one of the fenders."

Dory handed his revolver to the instructor, and prepared for his trip to the shore by taking off his coat and shoes. It was a trifling feat for him, and in a few minutes he was on the beach. It was a harder matter to get the boat into the water; but he had carried a line to the shore with him, so that his companion could assist in the work. The machinist hauled the boat alongside the schooner as soon as it put into the water.

They embarked, and were on the beach in a minute more. They hauled the tender to a safe place, and then walked along the beach towards the place where Mack and Chuck had disappeared in the woods. But they had proceeded only a short distance before Dory discovered a small steamer buffeting the sea beyond Bluff Point. But she leaped the waves, and seemed to be making good weather in spite of the roughness of the water.

Both of them were satisfied that the steamer was the Marian.