surprise at the bold claim of their rivals held the three boys almost spellbound for a moment. the possibility that someone should seek to get possession of the whale they had brought ashore after such labor, and almost as soon as they landed, had never occurred to them. yet the fishermen seemed determined, for one of them began casting off bob’s anchor line, and several more of the burly chaps, in their long rubber boots, leaped overboard from the boat, and waded ashore.
“what had we better do?” asked andy of his brother. “are you going to let them take our whale?”
“not much!” exclaimed frank, with a determined tightening of his lips. “i’m going to fight every inch. they shan’t take it away.”
“let’s appeal to the crowd,” suggested andy. “tell ’em just how we found the whale, and they won’t let these men take it away from us.”
frank looked doubtful as to the wisdom of that course. meanwhile the men were busily preparing to tow the whale away out to sea in their powerful motor boat.
“if my father was only here,” began bob, “he would know what to do, and what our rights were. there are certain laws about whales and things found at sea, and he’d make these fellows skip out if they were in the wrong.”
“of course they’re in the wrong!” cried andy. “didn’t we see the whale first, and didn’t we tow it home?”
“but they say they harpooned it,” said bob.
“yes, and there was only one iron in it, andy, when it broke your boat,” added frank. “now there are two harpoons in the back. one might be theirs. i’m going to notify justice fanchard and see what he says.”
“lively now, men!” called bill, as frank started off.
there was another movement on the outskirts of the throng, and someone pushed his way in.
“it’s dad!” cried bob. “hey, dad!” he shouted. “these men are going to take our whale! we just towed it in, frank and andy racer and me! can these men take it?”
“of course we can, kid!” cried one of the fishermen. “get out of the way, if you don’t want to be knocked down.”
“oh, it’s you, is it, jack kett!” exclaimed captain trent. “and bill lowden and his crowd. well, you fellows would take anything, whether it was yours or not. now jest hold on a bit. luff up and let’s see where we’re at. maybe you’re on the wrong course and need new clearance papers. avast there, and let me know the particulars.”
“there ain’t any particulars except that we harpooned this whale, and it’s ours,” growled bill lowden. “you needn’t be putting your oar in, cap’n trent. we know our rights. there’s our iron, and it’s got the name of our boat branded in it—the scud—you can see if you light a match,” for it was now dark.
“hum! when did you strike it?” asked the captain, amid a silence, for, as an old whaling master and one of the most influential residents of harbor view, the captain was universally respected.
“we were going along just outside the shark’s teeth reef day ’fore yesterday,” spoke jack kett, “when our lookout spied the whale. we keep a couple of irons aboard for sharks, dogfish and the like, and it didn’t take long to sink one in this critter. then he sounded and we couldn’t pick him up again. we’ve been looking for him ever since, and to-day we thought we saw someone in a motor boat towing our whale away. i explained how we got on the wrong course,” and he detailed what is already known to my readers.
“then we found the whale here,” went on jack kett, “and we’re going to have it.”
“hum,” mused the captain. “it looks as if they had the right of it, boys,” he said in a low voice, to his son and the latter’s chums.
“ask them if the whale wasn’t about dead when they harpooned it, and if it didn’t already have an iron in it?” suggested frank.
“another iron; eh? that’s a different story. somebody bring a lantern,” called the captain quickly.
one was procured, and the crowd made way while the aged whaleman approached the dead beast.
“here, you can see our iron,” said bill lowden eagerly. “there it is, as plain as day, with our boat’s name burned in the handle.”
“hum, that’s right,” admitted captain trent, as he noted the harpoon. “but what about this?” he asked quickly, pointing to a second one, lower down, and in such a position that it could not be readily seen. “is that yours too?” and captain trent held the lantern so that the gleam shone on the other implement.
“what’s that? another harpoon?” cried kett. “did we use two, boys?” and he turned to the group of his men.
“no, only one,” somebody answered.
“this has a brand on it too,” went on bob’s father. he held the lantern nearer. “the flying fish” he read as he saw the burned letters. “guess that was in some time before your iron, lowden, for it’s pretty well worn by sea water. there’s a prior claim to this whale, and as long as no one is here from the flying fish this prize belongs to the boys that towed it in. if you don’t agree with that jest say so, an’ we’ll go to law about it. but i know my rights, and these boys will get theirs.”
“that’s right!” cried several in the crowd.
“the whale belongs to the boys.”
jack kett and bill lowden looked at each other. this was something for which they had not bargained. there was a murmur among their men.
“we—we didn’t know the whale had been struck before,” admitted bill.
“that’s right,” chimed in his partner. “we only want what’s fair,” he went on, in more conciliatory tone than at first.
“that’s the way to talk,” commented captain trent. “i admit you have some claim on the whale, for your iron helped to kill it. the law gives you a tenth part, after other parties have landed the prize, and i’ll see that you get it. now if it’s settled you fellows can go, and i’ll notify you when the money’s ready.”
“all right,” assented bill, after a conference with his partner and men. “i guess it’s the best we can get out of it. but it’s hard to lose a prize when you think you’re got it. i’m not blaming you boys,” he added quickly, “for i guess you had a hard pull with it. come on, men, we’ll leave our case with captain trent.”
it was an unexpected turn of affairs, and the boys were glad the contest had ended in their favor. they were congratulated on all sides, and jokingly asked what they were going to do with the money, which was likely to be quite a large sum.
“we’re going to buy a whaling vessel, make mr. trent captain, and go into the business,” said andy with a laugh. he looked around for his brother, and saw frank talking to kett.
“i heard you say something about seeing a boat towing something you thought was the whale, but which turned out to be a wrecked motor boat,” began the elder racer lad. “what sort of a boat was the wrecked one?”
“well, it was pretty big, with a hood up forward, and it looked as if it had been in a fire. it was all blacked.”
“a fire!” cried frank eagerly, as the memory of the boat from which paul gale had been rescued came to him. “are you sure of this?”
“certain. we were right close to ’em. that’s what made us lose so much time. if we’d taken after you boys in the first place we might have found the whale ourselves.”
“bob trent sighted the whale before he came for us,” explained frank, “so he’d have first claim on it anyhow. but which way was the motor boat going?”
“along toward seabright. then it got hazy and we lost sight of it.”
“did you notice whether there was a tall, dark man aboard?” asked frank eagerly.
“yes, there was such a chap,” broke in bill lowden. “and he seemed mighty anxious about the wrecked boat in tow. why, do you know him?”
“i don’t know—i’ve met him,” said frank, as he quickly turned to join his brother. then he whispered to andy: “come away, i’ve got on the track of the mysterious man and the wrecked motor boat. i want to talk to you.”
wonderingly, andy followed. there was no need to stay and guard the whale, as kett and his crowd were preparing to leave. soon andy had been told all that frank had learned.
“what are you going to do?” asked the younger brother.
“we’ll go to seabright the first thing in the morning. maybe we can find the man there. i believe we’re on the right track. let’s go and tell paul.”
there was no little excitement in the racer home when andy and frank arrived with their tale of the sea, the whale, and the quarrel about it. so interested were mr. and mrs. racer that they did not chide their sons for their partial disobedience of orders. as for paul, he leaned forward eagerly in the easy chair, listening to the tale of the brothers.
“oh! if i would only get strong enough to go with you!” he exclaimed regretfully.
“don’t worry, you will be strong soon,” said mrs. racer kindly.
“it was rather mean of us to go away and leave you all alone, momsey,” spoke frank. “and paul, too. but when bob called us we just couldn’t resist.”
“i’ll forgive you,” said the mother. “i won my golf match after all, and perhaps if you had followed me over the links i might not have done so.”
“and i didn’t mind being left alone,” added paul. “i’m so glad you got the whale.”
“and we may get your motor boat, and find out who that strange man is,” said frank.
“now go slowly,” advised mr. racer. “i don’t want you boys getting into trouble and danger. i think i had better attend to this matter myself, only i can’t very well stay away from the office to-morrow.”
“oh, we can do the work all right,” declared frank. “we’ll go in our sailboat, it won’t take us long. perhaps paul will be strong enough to come along.”
“i wish i was,” and the invalid shook his head. “but somehow i don’t feel so well to-night.”
“then we must have dr. martin look at you,” decided mr. racer, and, in spite of paul’s protests the physician was summoned by telephone.
“it is nothing,” he said after examining paul. “he exerted himself a little too much to-day. he must be quiet for a couple of weeks yet and he’ll be all right”
“then that means no trip for you to-morrow,” said mrs. racer kindly. “never mind, i’ll amuse you while the boys are away pretending they are detectives,” and she smiled at paul.
it was about nine o’clock when frank happened to remember that he had left aboard their sloop gull a book of adventures in which he was much interested.
“i’m going down and get it,” he announced. “i won’t be long.”
“i’ll go with you,” offered andy, and the two started off toward the mooring place, which was near the big public pier. the boys kept a light skiff tied to the float and in this way they used to row out to the sailboat.
as they approached the pier they heard confused shouts and cries coming from the direction of the bay.
“something’s going on!” cried frank, breaking into a run.
“yes. sounds like someone in trouble,” added andy as he followed.
once more came the cry, and this time the brothers could make it out:
“fire! fire! fire!”
they turned a corner of the street that led straight out on the long pier, and there caught sight of a cloud of smoke in the moonlight, and saw dancing flames near the surface of the water. then frank uttered a cry of alarm:
“it’s our boat—the gull—she’s on fire!” he yelled.
