Ned remarked, "I thought Danny said this place was uninhabited."
"I'm sure it is," Nancy said. "No one could possibly live in that cabin."
They all struggled up to the hut and stared. Its roof was sagging and the building, made of mangrove branches, was ready to fall apart.
"I've seen enough," Dave announced. "Now I can be a walking encyclopedia myself on the subjects of mangrove trees and coral rocks."
Bess was about to say something, but screamed instead, "Look out!"
"What's the matter?" George asked her.
Bess continued to scream and pointed at the branches of trees over their heads. Large black snakes were falling from them in profusion!
Everyone ran, and the reptiles missed all of them except Ned. One slimy creature landed on his shoulders and instantly wound itself around the young man's neck.
"Ugh!" he cried out, trying to pull the snake away.
Burt and Dave jumped to help him. Burt grabbed the snake just behind its head, while Dave closed his fingers around the body near the end of the tail.
Bess was still screaming, with the result that all the other snakes scurried off into the underbrush, apparently frightened.
Within seconds Burt and Dave yanked the reptile from Ned's neck and shoulders. They flung it away, and with swift humping motions, the snake crawled out of sight.
"Thanks, fellows," Ned said. "I'm glad that thing didn't fasten its fangs in my throat!"
Bess's continued screaming had brought Danny dashing through the bushes.
"What happened?" he asked.
George told him, and he said, "Don't worry, Ned. Those snakes are harmless. They live in the water part of the time, but come ashore to hunt for food. I guess they climb the trees to sleep and dry off."
Nancy told Danny his passengers were ready to return to the skiff. After they had reached it and climbed aboard, the boy pointed out a police launch in the distance.
"I wonder where it's going," he said.
Nancy asked, "Isn't that the direction of Crocodile Island?"
"Yes, it is," he replied, "Want to follow it and see what's happening?"
"You bet," everyone replied.
As they neared the crocodile farm they saw the police launch pull up to the pier. Four officers jumped out and went ashore. Nancy and her friends could hear indistinct voices. They assumed the police were ordering everyone on the island to come out of hiding. When no one appeared, the officers blew whistles. At the same time, the men spread out on the island.
"I wish we could do something to help," Nancy said.
Danny suggested that they go around to the other side of the island and see if any of the suspects were trying to escape in a boat. He put on power and presently the Pirate was rounding the tip of the key.
"Look!" George exclaimed. "There's a boat and men are climbing into it!"
Nancy and Bess cried out together, "The Whisper!"
"Oh, they're getting away!" Bess wailed. "What'll we do to stop them?"
"We should tell the police!" George declared.
CHAPTER XIXTriple Sleuthing
"After them!" Bun shouted, and Danny quickly guided the skiff toward the fleeing boat.
The Whisper was a more powerful craft, however, and stayed well ahead of them. They followed it through the green waterway and it became smaller and smaller in the distance. By the time they reached the ocean, The Whisper was only a tiny dot.
Nancy heaved a sigh. She felt completely defeated. "I was so sure we would close in on those men," she said. "Now they've slipped through our fingers!"
Ned patted her shoulder lightly. "Don't give up," he said kindly. "We're bound to get a break."
George said, "I think the break is coming right now!" She looked into the sky. A helicopter was making its way toward their skiff.
"It's a police helicopter!" Burt pointed out.
The craft lowered until the young people in the skiff could see the officers aboard. They were shouting through a megaphone, but those on the water could not understand a word.
"Too bad we don't have a ship-to-shore or ship-to-ship telephone," Danny said.
The only way Nancy could get a message across to the men above was to point in the direction The Whisper had taken. She made motions with her hands to indicate that it was going very fast. Then she put her finger to her lips, hoping the men might translate it to mean "whisper!"
She could see the pilot bobbing his head and assumed he understood what she meant—that they should follow the suspect boat to the ocean. The copter turned and set off in that direction.
Dave spoke up. "Too bad we can't be on hand to witness the capture. I'll bet the men in The Whisper put up a real fight,"
Bess said, "Well, I for one would just as soon not witness a battle. Let's go back."
The skiff returned to Crocodile Island. The police launch was gone, but two officers stood on the dock and invited the young people to come ashore. They introduced themselves as Patman and Fifer.
"Aren't you Danny Cosgrove and these girls detectives?"
"Yes."
Nancy smiled and said Ned, Burt, and Dave were friends.
"We've made some arrests," Patman reported. "For one, we caught the man named Yunki."
"Oh, the one who hit Mr. Gonzales with a golf ball?" Bess cried out.
"Yes." Putnam said they had found him hiding among some bushes. He had readily confessed to hitting the deadly shot toward Gonzales. But Yunki also said that he had not done it of his own accord. Gimler and Sacco had hired him to do not only this but several other illegal jobs. Yunki was well paid for his dastardly work."
"Where is he now?" Ned asked.
Patman told him that the police launch had taken away Yunki and all the other workers, who admitted helping Gimler and Sacco in some illegal secret work but would not say what it was. Two of the men had escaped, however.
"It's important that we catch them. They're the ones who made phone calls and acted as spies whenever necessary."
"As far as we know, they are still on the island. They are Gimler and Sacco's special henchmen named Stryker and Jackson. Unfortunately for them they were not quick enough to follow Gimler on The Whisper, which set off in a hurry when you people showed up at the key."
Nancy asked if Gimler had gone off with Matt Carmen and Breck Tobin. Patman nodded. "Yunki told us that. We sent word for a police helicopter to go out and intercept the craft."
The listening group also learned that the fake Mr. and Mrs. Cosgrove and their daughter, who had posed as Miss Boonton, had been arrested. They were part of the Gimler-Sacco gang. The weapon E-fee dug up belonged to Sacco, who buried it so the police would not find it if they visited Crocodile Island. He left the dog on the deserted key because E-fee had almost bitten one of the men on The Whisper, whose cruelty he hated.
Nancy looked at the police officers and asked, "Did I understand you to say that you think two of the workmen are still on the island?"
"Yes. A couple of Sacco's special buddies, and bad, both of them. They have records."
"Where did they go?" Nancy asked.
"We don't know," Patman replied. He walked off to join his fellow officer in another hunt.
Nancy said to her friends, "Why don't we start a search?"
"Great idea!" Ned agreed.
The others were eager to begin but Bess was cautious. "Maybe the men are armed. If so, we're walking into danger!"
Ned hurried off to ask the officers about the firearms. Patman replied, "According to Yunki they were not armed—didn't have time to go for any. I doubt that you'd be in any danger if you want to look around. Fifer and I must stay within sight of the beach until the launch returns. It took all the captives to jail."
Nancy had followed Ned and was alarmed at its import. She asked quickly. "Was one of the prisoners a man named Sol?"