THE ADVENTURES OF SANDY AND BUD RICKS
CHAPTER 10- STATEGY AND MOVEMENT
Bud found himself tethered to a tree in a similar manner to the other two boys. He was sat down and a leather belt put round his waist and from his back, a long rope was fixed to and around the trunk of a palm tree. Once settled, he found he could have easily moved within a large circle so he could clearly get to the water's edge and to inside the stand of trees; however, at this precise moment he just leant against the tree whilst they all ate and drank. He had hoped to able to talk freely to the other boys but the two smugglers sat and ate as well, although the younger when finished just sat and grinned at Bud.
After a boring half an hour or so, the man stood and handed a flare gun to the teen and once having delivered to him another speech in Spanish, departed for the camp carrying the empty sack. Bud wanting to take this opportunity to talk to the boys, only received a finger against the taller boy's lips which with simple gestures indicating to wait till their guard was asleep. Bud wanted to tell the boy that the guard did not speak English but it seemed pointless; then, it occurred to him that perhaps it was the man that spoke poor English, so he settled down to wait.
Sandy was woken by noise on the bedroom stairs. He entangled himself from Van who was still snoring. The bedroom door opened and light shone in, exposing Chip who seemed to be out of breath. Quickly he told the blonde to come to the operations room but to leave Van asleep- as the teen got up from the bed, Chip added that he was to cover himself up with more than just his jock as they did not wish to be distracted. Chip disappeared allowing Sandy to don his jock and cut-offs before following him out of the bedroom.
There was a group around the map table and Sandy immediately noticed Brad Nash still in his red stitch basketball shorts but now with a sweatshirt above- as well as Frank happily clinging to his side whilst clearly a seat had been left for Sandy which once sat upon attracted Joe to hang onto the blonde.
There was as Chip put it little time to engage in play, at this time, although if did not prevent Joe's fingers from finding Sandy's right nipple. Chip gave the information and plans.
A message had been received that a spotter plane had noticed two ginger headed boys in a boat being towed towards Great Smeaton Island earlier in the evening ^Ö by now Sandy had realised that it was past ten o' clock. There was already belief that it was Bud and Dan as they could also see a dolphin in the vicinity. At this point Brad anguished over having not found Dan and although Sandy's thoughts were mainly for his brother he did find Brad's second comment on firmly dealing with Dan when eventually he caught up with him as more than interesting. Chip continued that although this complicated matters, as regard the M and C's actions, they now intended to do an early reconnaissance which they would form a part. It was already known from the plane that the smugglers had a camp on Great Smeaton and that their ship was anchored offshore. The movement time for action was for 9.00 a.m. the following morning, but, now partly to see if they could locate Bud and Dan plus to provide additional information, a party lead by Chip would leave at daybreak tomorrow.
Chip would lead the boat out from here and rendezvous with another boat manned by Mason in the Outer Sound, and they would proceed to Little Smeaton from where they would travel to the northern end of Great Smeaton equipped with radio, walkie-talkies and binoculars. Van would accompany them and after an argument both Brad and Sandy were admitted to the group.
Sandy made known that he and his brother had a secret cave and store on Little Smeaton and that it would be a suitable place to hold up once the conflict was underway.
Much to both Joe and Frank's annoyance, they were to stay and man the operations room. As a further disappointment, they heard that the relief and his wife were reporting back after their night shift so it would be full uniform when they arrived. Joe made a mumbling sound at this order but when Frank retorted that it would by then their bedtime, Joe grinned and as Sandy looked over at Frank he noticed that somehow during the meeting Frank's hand had found its way inside both Brad's basketball shorts and scarlet swimbriefs and at that moment it was hardly still.
Chip now ordered Frank and Joe to man the operations room with a reminder to wake him up at 4.30 a.m. and with that he ordered Brad to the spare bedroom. When Brad suggested he share with Sandy, Chip informed him of Van, so the college boy announced that sleeping alone in the spare bed would have to do. After Brad had left, it only took the look on the corporal's face for Sandy to realise that the teen would not be sleeping alone.
Bud had nodded off and when he awoke it was dark although he could see a glow from a fire at the other end of the island. He let his eyes adjust to the moonlight and then realised that all the others were asleep.
He was able to slide over to the taller boy and once having put a hand over his mouth, woke him. The black haired boy woke uneasily but soon remembered his situation and pointed to the back of the trees where, after moving as quietly as they could, talked quietly, although the boy was quite happy to snuggle into Bud's lap before their conversation began.
The information Bud gleaned was that the boy's name was Ben and that his friend was Peter but was called Petey. They had been unintentional passengers on the motor launch and they had travelled from the Florida Keys. The boat was part of Petey's father's fleet and they had expected him to be on the boat and they were going to surprise him- but he wasn't there- it had been Petey's uncle and to say he was unhappy to see them was an understatement. He was doing some wrong kind of deal according to Petey and the smugglers had bought them up here, stripped them to their whities and tied them up They'd been treated ok and promised they'd not be harmed, but they were to stay here till tomorrow. Bud could se that Ben was still anxious so he told him that people would be looking for him, as he only lived along the coast. Then he added that if they could slip their tethers then they could swim across to the other island where they would be safe. Ben suggested that the plan was good although Petey wasn't a strong swimmer- to which Bud added that he'd help him. Ben then turned to kiss Bud on the cheek. Finally before settling back, Bud asked Ben for his second name and once he knew it was Nash, he realised the connection.
As Sandy climbed back into bed, Van pulled him into him and asked where he had been, Once the full explanation had left the teen's lips, Van sighed and explained to the blonde that they had better sleep for they would both need all their energy for tomorrow's tasks.
Bud opened his eyes. Ben was lying across his lap; in the moonlight he saw Dan had been brought from the camp. Wearing what could only be descried as a crude grass skirt, he was snuggled up to the now naked young smuggler.