CHAPTER XXVIII

TO THE RESCUE

Harry was not altogether astonished, for he had suspected that he would find the aged inventor here. Mr. Akers was asleep, but he awoke with a start.

“Don’t give me any more of that medicine!” he cried. “I don’t want it, and I won’t take it! It makes me dizzy!”

“Mr. Akers, don’t you know me?” asked Harry. “I am one of the boys who found you when you fell from the biplane.”

“Oh!” The man stared at Harry and sat up. “Yes! yes! I know you! You are Harry Westmore! How did you get here? Are you in league with those who are keeping me here?”

“No, I am not in league with those men,” answered the boy, quickly. “But I haven’t time to talk now. Have they been keeping you a prisoner?”

“Yes. They say they are my friends, but I know better.”

“Do you want to get away from them?”

“Of course I do! But they won’t let me go. They give me medicine that makes me dizzy, and they want me to sign papers, and----”

“Yes, yes, I understand,” interrupted the youth. “But we haven’t got time to talk now. If you want to get away, come with me at once.”

“Where will you take me?” asked the old inventor, as he struggled to his feet. He was so weak that Harry had to support him.

“I’ll take you to my home. My folks will take good care of you--and you shall have what is coming to you.”

“Good! I knew I could trust you from the day I first saw you! I will go with you. But Mason and Chase----”

“Mr. Mason has gone away and Mr. Chase just went off to get a pail of water. That is why we must hurry--to get away before he returns. Come.”

Harry took the aged and weak man by the arm and led him from the hut. Then, struck by a sudden idea, he ran back, closed the inner door, and set the stick against it as before.

“Maybe he won’t know you are gone for some time,” he told the sufferer. “Anyway I hope so. Now come with me. Can you walk?”

“A short distance. I cannot go far, I am still too weak from my fall--and from the way they have been treating me. They have given me medicine that keeps me weak and sets my head in a whirl. They want me to sign papers I do not want to sign. They want to get all my property away from me.”

“They shan’t do it--not if we can help it,” answered Harry, firmly. “You come home with me, and my father and Mr. Rush will see to it that you obtain your rights.”

He continued to support the old inventor, and both proceeded slowly in the direction of the island shore where Harry had landed. As they went on the boy kept his ears on the alert for an alarm, but it did not come.

Once at the shore Harry was in a quandary, for he knew the old man could not leap from rock to rock as he had done, and it might give him his death of cold if he attempted to wade along the sandbars.

“If I only had a rowboat,” he murmured to himself.

“Let us hide in the bushes,” suggested the old inventor. “I must rest.” He was out of breath and quite pale.

“Come on, just a little further,” answered the youth, and led the way along the shore to a thick patch of undergrowth. They crawled over the rocks and down among the bushes, and here the boy concluded they would be safe, at least for the time being.

“I don’t believe Mr. Chase has found out yet that you are missing,” said Harry. “If he had, he’d be running around calling to you.”

A few seconds later, while both were wondering what to do next, there came from down the stream the explosions of a motor. The sounds caused Harry to give a start.

“Si Voup’s motor boat!” he exclaimed. “Just the thing! He’s got to help us, whether he wants to or not!”

“What is that you say?” asked Andrew Akers. He had sunk down among the bushes to rest.

“Mr. Akers, you stay here, and don’t make a sound,” went on Harry. “I am going after a boat, in which to take you to my home. Be sure to keep out of sight if Mr. Chase comes near here.”

“You won’t forget to come back?” asked the old inventor, anxiously.

“No, I’ll be back sure,” answered the boy.

Regardless of getting wet, he leaped from rock to rock and sandbar to sandbar, in a wild scramble to reach the main shore. Then he found his bicycle, and mounting the wheel, pedaled down the road at top speed.

It took Harry but a few minutes to reach the point opposite to where Si’s motor boat had been stranded. Si and Ike had just succeeded in getting the craft afloat, and the latter was bailing out some water that had leaked in, while the owner was adjusting the motor.

“Hi, you! I want to talk to you!” shouted the younger Westmore boy, and in his excitement he forgot all about the happenings earlier in the day.

“Hello, if he hasn’t had the nerve to come back here!” cried Ike.

“What’s the matter with you?” bawled Si. “Did you come back to get our bicycles for us?”

“No, I didn’t,” answered Harry, and regardless of adding to his wetness he plunged into the river once more and waded towards the motor boat, causing both Si and Ike to stare in amazement. “I need your help, fellows, and I need it right away.”

“Why, what’s the matter?” demanded the rich bully. He could see by Harry’s actions that something far out of the ordinary had occurred.

“There is an old man up here who is in great danger. He needs help at once. Si, can you run the motor boat up to Shag’s Island?”

“Why, er--I--who is the old man?” stammered Si.

“Never mind that now, Si. Come, can’t you run the boat to the east shore of the island? If you can, get busy right away, and I’ll help you if you’ll let me. This is no joke--it’s a matter of life and death,” went on Harry, earnestly. “Every minute counts. If you help the man you may get a fine reward,” he added.

“But our bicycles----” protested Ike.

“Leave them where they are, they are safe enough. I left mine over there on the rocks,” and Harry pointed it out.

“And this isn’t any joke?” demanded the bully.

“Not at all, I give you my word. Come, Si, here is your chance to do something worth while,” urged Harry. “But don’t lose any time,--or we may get there too late.”

“What’s the matter with the old man?” asked Ike, as the motor boat was turned around and those on board prepared to make the run between the rocks and sandbars to the island.

“He is in great danger. You’ll see after you get there.”

Harry purposely did not mention who the sufferer was, or what the danger that threatened. He remembered what Thomas Mason and Lamar Chase had said about two boys in a motor boat, and he also remembered the fact that Si and Ike had been missing at the same time that Andrew Akers had disappeared. He wished to see Si and Ike confronted by the old inventor and hear what all might have to say. Maybe he might learn much concerning the first disappearance of Andrew Akers.

Ordinarily the run up the river would have occupied but a few minutes, but with the water so low, those aboard had to be careful, and consequently the motor was run only at half speed. Si was at the wheel and Harry stood at the bow, directing the course, while Ike had a pole in his hand, ready to use in case there was danger of hitting a rock or running up on another sandbar.

“Now to your left,” said the Westmore boy, presently. “Head for that clump of bushes, Si, and shut off the power.”

Harry’s directions were carried out, and silently the motor boat moved towards the shore of Shag’s Island. When close enough, Harry leaped out and prevented the craft from hitting the rocks.

“Hello!” he cried. “I’m back! Come on out, Mr. Akers!”

At the sound of his voice there was a movement in the bushes and the old inventor stepped into view.

At the sight of the old man both Si and Ike gave a gasp, and the rich bully turned pale. Andrew Akers, on his part, gazed at the boys in the motor boat in alarm.

“You!” he exclaimed. “You! No! no! I’ll not go with you again! You helped to carry me off from the Runnell place!” And he shrank back as if to hide once more.

“It’s the old man--the crazy man!” muttered Ike.

“So I see,” answered Si. He looked thoroughly uncomfortable.

“Wait, Mr. Akers!” said Harry, as he ran to the old inventor’s side. “Don’t be afraid. They won’t hurt you.”

“But they helped to carry me away from the Runnell place,” murmured the sufferer. “They took me out on a big lake and to an island. They are in league with Mason and Chase!”

“We are not!” almost shouted Si. He was much disturbed by the unexpected turn of affairs.

“But you aided those men,” answered Andrew Akers, feebly. The excitement was beginning to tell on him.

“Because they said you were crazy,” answered Ike. “We thought we were doing right.”

“Of course we did,” broke in Si, eagerly. “They said you were crazy and a relative of theirs at that.”

“Well, don’t talk about that now,” broke in Harry. “What we want to do is to get Mr. Akers to Lakeport, to my house. He isn’t crazy, and those two men have been keeping him on this island against his will.”

“I--er--I don’t know as I want to take him to Lakeport,” answered Si, lamely.

“You’d better do it, Si. If you don’t help me it will go that much harder with you--when it comes to showing up those two rascals, Chase and Mason, in court,” replied Harry, pointedly.

“We didn’t do anything wrong!” cried the bully, in alarm.

“You helped those two men to carry Mr. Akers off.”

“Yes, but they said they had a right to do it.”

“Never mind, they had no right to touch him. Now if you want to help yourself out of the mess the best thing you can do is to aid Mr. Akers as much as possible. I have promised to take him to my house and have him cared for. Will you run us over to Lakeport or not?”

“Oh, I’ll do that,” was the hasty answer. “If--er--those men had no right to touch him I am--er--sorry I helped them.”

“We only did what we thought was right,” put in Ike, anxious to clear his own reputation.

Harry said nothing to this, having his own opinion of both boys. He helped Andrew Akers into the motor boat, and jumped in himself, and the craft was shoved from the shore and poled around. Then Si got ready to start up his motor.

“Stop! stop! What is the meaning of this?”

The cry came from down the shore, and looking in that direction all on board the motor boat saw Lamar Chase running towards them, shaking his fist savagely.

“Don’t pay any attention to him!” exclaimed Harry. “Start her up, Si!”

“Come back here, I say!” roared the man on the shore, and now he came as close as the water permitted. “Bring that man back!”

“I am not coming back!” answered Andrew Akers.

“Turn that motor boat in here!” went on Lamar Chase. “Don’t you dare to carry that man off!”

“Mr. Chase, you listen to me!” answered Harry, firmly. “You know my father, Mr. Horace Westmore, of Lakeport. Well, I’m going to take Mr. Akers to our house. If you and Mr. Mason want to see him there, you can do so, provided my father is willing.”

“Ha! what do you know of this affair?” burst out Lamar Chase, half in rage and half in fear.

“I know a great deal--and my father and Mr. Rush, and some other men are going to try to find out a good deal more.”

“You can’t find out anything. That man is crazy.”

“He isn’t any more crazy than you are. Now if you want to do any more talking you’ll have to do it at our home--or in court,” concluded Harry. “Go ahead, Si.”

The motor was started up and the craft swung away from Shag’s Island. Si was plainly nervous, and in his excitement he turned on full power. Forward shot the boat, past a long sandbar into deep water. Then came a sudden crash, as the craft hit a submerged rock. One side of the bow was stove in, and in a few seconds more the motor boat began to fill and sink.