Motor Boat Boys on the Great Lakes; or, Exploring the Mystic Isle of Mackinac

“Well, I promise you I won’t,” smiled Nick; “at least so long as you keep up the same sort of bill of fare we’ve had today. Yum! yum! what’s the use of wasting a fine piece of browned trout like that? I call it a wicked shame. Here, Josh, don’t you dare throw that away. Set it aside on that nice clean piece of birch bark. Somebody might get hungry later on, and enjoy a bite.”

This standing joke of Nick’s clamorous appetite seemed never to lose its edge. The rest of the boys could always enjoy seeing him make way with his share of the meal. In fact, had a change come over the fat boy, they would have felt anxious, believing him sick.

So Jack went back to his fishing, of which he seemed never to tire, and the others found something to employ their time and attention while the afternoon sun dropped lower toward the western horizon.

By now the Big Lake looked like a lookingglass, so still had the waves become. A haze prevented them from seeing any great distance away—one of those mid-summer atmospheric happenings that are apt to develop at any time when the weather is exceedingly warm.

Evening came at last, and they sat as usual around the camp fire, having enjoyed the meal Josh and his willing assistants, Jimmie and Nick, had placed before them. Everything looked favorable for getting off in the morning; and should the lake remain calm Jack believed they might be able to make the Soo by another night.

Suddenly, and without the slightest warning a disturbing factor was injected into this quiet restful camp. Jack thought he heard a sound like a groan near by, and raised his head to listen. Yes, there was certainly a movement at the west side of the camp, as though something was advancing. And as he stared, his hand unconsciously creeping out toward the faithful little Marlin shotgun, a figure arose and came staggering toward the group.

Loud cries broke out as the boys scrambled to their feet. And there was a good excuse for their consternation; for in this ragged, dirty, and altogether disreputable figure they recognized, not a wandering hobo, but Bully Joe, the crony of Clarence Macklin!

CHAPTER XXII

TO THE RESCUE

Joe Brinker was a sorry sight as he staggered forward, and fell almost at the feet of Jack. He certainly looked as though he had been through a rough experience since last they saw him with Clarence aboard the Flash.

“Why, it’s Joe!” exclaimed Nick, as though he had just recognized the intruder.

Jack had jumped forward, and was now bending over the newcomer.

“Here, Josh, any hot coffee left in the pot?” he demanded, seeing that the other looked utterly exhausted, as though he might not have partaken of food for many hours.

Josh immediately poured out a cup, and handed it to Jack.

“Sit up here, and swallow this, Joe,” said Jack, supporting the fellow with one arm, and holding the tin cup to his lips.

Joe eagerly gulped down the warm drink. It seemed to do him a world of good right on the spot; for when a cup of hot tea or coffee is available, it is utter folly to think strong drink is necessary in reviving a chilled or exhausted person.

“Oh! that tastes fine. Got any more, boys? I’m nearly starved,” he exclaimed, almost crying with weakness.

Already had Nick hurried over, and seized upon several cold flapjacks that possibly he had placed away, against one of his little bites between meals. Surely Nick ought to know what an awful thing hunger was. One of the most dreadful recollections of his life was a time when he had been compelled to go all of eight hours without a solitary scrap of food passing his lips!

Soon Joe was devouring the flapjacks with the eagerness of a hungry dog, to the evident delight of Buster, who always found pleasure in seeing any one eat heartily.

“Now tell us what happened, Joe?” said Jack, after they had watched the other make away with the last scrap, and look around for more.

“Yes, don’t you see we’re just crazy to hear?” Josh exclaimed.

“Did you get caught in that storm?” demanded George, suspecting the truth.

Joe nodded his head in the affirmative, and they could see a shudder pass over his form, as though the remembrance was anything but cheerful.

“Then the Flash must have been wrecked?” George went on, horrified as the remembrance of Clarence’s face came before him.

“Gone to flinders!” muttered Joe. “Smashed on the rocks, and not a scrap left to tell the story. Gee it was tough, all right!”

“W—was Clarence drowned?” Nick gasped, with awe-struck face; and quivering all over like a bowl full of jelly.

“Oh! no, neither of us went under,” replied Joe, promptly, to the great relief of all the boys. “But we came mighty near it, I tell you, fellers. I’m a duck in the water, you know, and I guess I helped Clarence get ashore. He said I did, anyway. And there we was, far away from everything, with not one bite to eat, or even a gun to defend ourselves against wild animals.”

“Wow! that was tough!” admitted Nick, sympathetically; as he remembered his own exploit when the Canada lynx invaded the camp, and how useful the shotgun proved on that occasion.

“But it wasn’t the worst, fellers! There’s more acomin’!” Joe went on, shaking his head solemnly.

“My gracious! did wild animals get poor old Clarence after all?” George asked.

“No,” Joe went on, with set teeth, “but a couple of men did that was as bad as any wild animals you ever heard tell of. They found us trying to make a fire to dry our wringing wet clothes; and they just treated us shameful. See this black eye I got just because I dared answer back. They kicked poor Clarence like he was a bag of oats.”

“Two men, you say?” Jack asked, frowning darkly. “What sort of men could they be to act like that toward a pair of shipwrecked boys?”

“They looked like lumber cruisers, or prospectors that never struck it rich,” Joe continued. “They had a grouch agin everybody. First thing they took what money we had, and Clarence’s fine watch that was water-soaked and wouldn’t run. Then they found out who we was by reading some letters he carried. I saw ’em talking it over; and then they tied us to a couple of trees.”

“Why, I never heard of such a wicked thing!” ejaculated the startled Nick; whose mouth kept wide open while he listened to this thrilling story of Joe’s.

“Do you think they meant to try and force blackmail?” asked the far-seeing George, whose father was a lawyer, it may be remembered.

“They said something about him writing home for more money to buy another motor boat,” Joe replied. “And Clarence said he never would do it, not even if they tortured him. But I’m afraid a few more kickings like they gave us will break down his spirit.”

“Then you managed to escape?” Jack went on, wishing to learn the whole thing.

“Yes. I worked loose, and slipped away when neither of ’em was lookin’,” answered the ragged and dirty figure. “But give me some more grub, fellers. I’m starving, I tell you. They refused to give us a bite to eat till Clarence agreed to do all they wanted of him. Anything, so’s I can fill up. I’ve got a hole down there that feels like Mammoth Cave.”

Again it was Nick who hastened to procure another stock of eatables, crackers and cheese, or anything else that came handy.

“When did you escape, Joe?” asked Jack, seriously as though some plan had already started to form in his active brain.

“Don’t know for sure,” replied the exhausted one. “Sometime after noon, though. They was layin’ down and snoozing when I got free. I wanted to find a knife, and cut Clarence loose too; but the risk scared me. And Clarence, he told me to hurry and get off for help. You see, one of the men was sitting up, and rubbing his eyes; so I just sneaked away.”

“Did they follow after you, Joe?” asked George.

“Never waited to see,” replied the other, “but just cut stick, and hurried off. Oh! I’ve had an awful time getting along near the shore. Dassent get out of sight of the lake because you see I was that scared I’d get lost. I tumbled a thousand times, cut my head and hands on the rocks, nearly slipped into the lake twice, and was just ready to lay down and die, when night came on. Then I saw a fire over here, and just managed to make the riffle. Give you my word, fellers, if it’d been half a mile more I never’d got to camp.”

“Then Clarence is still in the hands of those two rascals?” Jack asked.

“I reckon he is, ’less they saw fit to let him go free; and from what I seen of ’em, that ain’t their game.”

“How far do you suppose that place was away from here?” came from careful George.

Joe sat silent for a minute. He seemed to be trying to figure what manner of slow progress he may have made since effecting his freedom.

“I thought I’d gone nigh twenty miles, judgin’ by the way I felt,” he finally said; “but come to figger it out I reckon it mightn’t abeen more’n five.”

“Toward the west, you mean; for you came from that direction?” Jack continued.

“Yes, that’s so, over that way,” pointing as he spoke.

Jack turned to his chums.

“It’s up to us, boys,” he said soberly. “Clarence has never been one of us; but he belongs to our school. We’d never forgive ourselves if we went back to the Soo tomorrow, and left him in the hands of these scoundrels. Do you agree with me?”

“That’s right, Jack!” sang out George.

“Sure we would be cold-blooded to think of it,” Josh declared.

“Them’s my sentiments,” Herb spoke up; and both Nick and Jimmie nodded their heads violently, to prove that they were in no way behind their comrades in wishing to do a good deed toward one who had long been an open enemy.

“Then let’s consider what way we ought to go about it,” Jack proceeded, with an air of business. “It’s out of the question for us to try and go back the way Joe came. We couldn’t make it under hours; and from his looks none of us are hankering after the experience. But there is a way to get there quickly.”

“The boats?” George put in.

“One boat ought to carry all who will go, and let that be the Comfort, with five of us on board, taking the two guns to make a good show,” Jack proceeded.

Nick immediately set up a whine.

“I guess I have feelings,” he declared. “Don’t I know you’re just going to shut me out of this rescue game? I’m ready to do my part as well as the next one, ain’t I? What you want to leave me behind for?”

“You’ve got to obey orders, Buster,” said George.

“And besides, with so many aboard, the bully old Comfort might founder,” Josh thought it necessary to remark.

“Besides, you are going to have your share of the work, and along a line you always like,” Jack went on; “for while we’re gone, it shall be your duty to make a new brew of coffee, fill Joe here cram up with all he can eat, and have something ready for Clarence when we bring him back. So you see, Buster, your duty is as important as any of ours. Every one in their particular line. You can’t fight as well as Jimmie here; but you do know how to provide against starvation.”

Nick smiled broadly again, entirely appeased.

“Count on me, Commodore,” he said, briskly. “Where’s that coffeepot right now? I’ll do my duty to the letter. Why, it’s a pleasure to look after the wants of a hungry fellow. It gives me something of an appetite just to think of the work I’ve got cut out for me.”

Jack put Nick and Joe out of his mind, after trying to get a little information from the latter, with regard to the character of the place where the Flash had been wrecked, and the two hard looking customers were supposed to be still stopping.

They went aboard the Comfort. Jack himself decided to run the boat, with the assistance of Herb and George. Above all things, silence was of more value to them just then than speed, if they hoped to steal up on the captors of Clarence without being detected.

“Good luck!” called Nick, as the broad beamed motor boat started quietly away.

CHAPTER XXIII

HOMEWARD BOUND

“Look! isn’t that a fire over there?” asked sharp-eyed George, as he gripped Jack’s arm suddenly.

They had been moving cautiously along for the better part of an hour, striving in every way possible to avoid any drumming sound, such as nearly always betrays the presence of a motor boat near by.

And in all that time they may have only covered some four miles, or possibly five; for no effort was made to drive the Comfort at even half speed.

“Looks like it,” Jack replied, after a quick survey. “But how is it we didn’t glimpse it before?”

“I think a point of rocks must stick out between, and we’ve just opened the pocket,” George replied, in a whisper.

Of course Jack had immediately shut off the power, so that old reliable Comfort stopped her forward movement, lying there on the dark waters like a log; for not a light of any description did they carry aboard.

“Do we go ashore now?” asked Josh, softly; for all of them had been warned not to speak above a whisper from the time they started forth on their errand of mercy.

“Yes,” Jack replied. “That’s one reason we’ve been keeping so close in. I’ll drop into the dinky, and use the paddle. Foot by foot I can pull the motor boat to shore, and then we’ll land.”

“How lucky there’s not a breath of wind,” Herb remarked, as he helped Jack draw the small tender alongside, and then crawl over the side.

Presently Jack was working away, having attached the painter of the boat to a cleat at the bow of the Comfort. His method of using the paddle insured utter silence. Had it been an expert hunter, moving up on a deer that was feeding on the lily pads along the border of a Canada stream, he could hardly have manipulated that little spruce blade with more care.

And so, foot by foot, the motor boat was coaxed in nearer the rock-bound shore. When Jack had finally succeeded in accomplishing his end he next sought some place where those still aboard could disembark, and the Comfort be tied up while they went about the business that had brought them there.

“Now, what next?” asked Herb, when the entire five had reached land, and the boat was amply secured to a split rock, with little danger of any injury resulting, because there was no wind and hence no movement to the water.

“We’ve got to advance,” Jack replied. “So as to get around that point; when we’ll see the camp Joe told us about. Those fellows have got a big rowboat, he said, but hate to work the oars. He said they first talked of making the boys do the rowing; and then that scheme for getting more money came up. Are you ready for the job?”

“I am that,” said Jimmie, promptly, flourishing a club that looked like a baseball bat; and which would be apt to prove a formidable weapon in hands that were as clever as those of the stout Irish lad.

“Count me in,” remarked Herb, who was carrying a hatchet; having nothing else to serve him as a threatening weapon that might strike terror to the hearts of the enemy.

“And I’m only too anxious to look in on ’em. Let me eat ’em up!” Josh growled, flourishing the camp bread knife in a most dreadful fashion.

George had his rifle, and of course Jack carried the repeating Marlin shotgun which had proven its value on many another occasion.

“Then come on, and be mighty careful, everybody,” Jack cautioned, as he led off.

They remembered what Joe had said about the “rough sledding” he had found in his endeavor to keep close to the water’s edge, so that he might not get lost. And every one of the five were willing to admit that Joe spoke the truth when he told this; for they made the slowest kind of progress.

Still, every yard passed over took them so much closer to the goal. And so long as they did not tumble and make a noise that would warn the enemy, it mattered little or nothing about the time they took in covering the ground.

After a long time spent in this sort of crawling business Jack believed he could see what seemed to be a fire flickering among the stunted trees.

Calling the attention of the others to this, he changed his course a bit, in order to find an easier route, and perhaps come upon the camp from behind.

For tenderfeet the five boys seemed to be making a pretty clever advance. They could now see a man stretched at full length near the fire, as if sleeping; though now and then a puff of smoke told that he was only taking it easy, and indulging in his pipe.

A little farther and they glimpsed the second fellow. He towered up like a house, being all of six foot-three, and bulky in proportion. But then, as Jack well knew, a man is only a man, no matter what his size, when he is looking into the muzzle of a rifle and modern repeating shotgun. And even this giant might well quail when brought to book.

The boys were now creeping through the bushes, and getting very close in. All the while Jack was eagerly trying to see what had become of Clarence. At first he could discover nothing of the other; and became chilled with a deadly fear that these cowards might have gone to extremes; though he could hardly bring himself to really believe it.

George was the first to find out what had been done with the prisoner.

“I see him,” he whispered close to Jack’s ear. “He’s lying on the ground over by that stump of a tree.”

Guided by these directions Jack was enabled to also place Clarence. There was certainly a figure lying there, and it must be the companion of Joe; for the latter had said there were only two of the scoundrels.

Jack bobbed his head back in a hurry, after he had made this little survey of the enemy’s camp. For the big man had arisen to his feet, and started toward the very place where Clarence lay.

“Be ready!” muttered Jack, seeming to understand that the crisis must now be very close upon them.

Arriving at the spot, the giant bent over, and they could hear his growl as he spoke harshly:

“Made up yer mind yet, younker? Will ye write thet letter jest as we tell ye, and let a couple o’ honest though unfortunit men have a square chanct to rake in a leetle pile? Speak up, now, d’ye hear?”

He accompanied his words by a brutal kick that gave Jack and George a spasm of anger.

“No! no! no!” shouted the obstinate Clarence, still undismayed; for his pluck was the best part of him, and had always been.

At that the big brute raised his heavy boot with ugly words. It was doubtless his full intention to dash it against the side of the helpless boy, regardless as to what the consequences might be. But he changed his mind.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, mister!” said Jack, in an even, clear voice, as he and George suddenly stood up in full sight.

He had covered the giant with his gun, and George was ready to do the same for the man with the pipe the instant he bounded to his feet.

“Stand still, both of you, or we’ll shoot!” George shouted.

This was a signal for the other three who were behind, and they suddenly made their appearance, waving their crude weapons menacingly.

The two men were apparently taken completely by surprise. They saw that the tables had been suddenly turned. And somehow, although these were only boys who confronted them, there was a grim air of business about those unwavering guns that neither of the cowards fancied at all.

Jack had not known what the result was going to be. He hardly anticipated that the men would dare attack them in the face of those weapons. And he had arranged with George that should they show signs of flight, no one was to raise a hand to prevent them.

When therefore the giant gave vent to a whoop and turning, galloped toward the water’s edge, neither of the boys pulled trigger; though Josh let out a shout as though he might be chasing after; which he was not, all the same, for he did not fancy the looks of either of the rascals.

The second man took to his heels also, dodging to the right and left in a ridiculous manner, as if expecting every second to hear the crash of Jack’s gun, and feel himself being peppered with bird shot.

They could be seen tumbling madly into their rowboat, and pushing out on the lake with all possible speed.

“Let ’em go!” said Josh, grandly, as he replaced his bread knife in the leather scabbard he had made for it, so as to avoid any chance of cutting his fingers by coming in contact with its keen edge, when rummaging in the locker aboard the Wireless, where the cooking things were kept.

Jack was already stooping over Clarence, and in a jiffy had severed the cords that bound him hand and foot.

“I’m awful glad you came, Jack!” said the other weakly. “I believe that coward would have killed me if I didn’t give in to him.”

“Here, work your arms and legs as fast as you can, Clarence!” said George. “We’ve got to get out of this in a hurry now, or they might even find the Comfort, and run away with her. You’re going back with us, you know. Joe got in and told us.”

The two men having put what they thought a safe distance between themselves and the boys, began to shout insulting remarks, and make the most terrible threats. Although they could not be seen out on the lake, it was not so difficult to know in what quarter they chanced to be at the time.

Angered by the insults, as well as the cruel manner in which they had treated Clarence and Joe, George picked up the shot gun which Jack had lain down for a minute, and before any one could stop him had discharged it.

That some of the many little lead pellets in that shell had stung the profane scoundrels in the rowboat, the boys understood from the howl that arose, followed by the splashing of oars, telling that they were pulling madly away before a second shot added to their troubles.

“Now come with us, Clarence,” said Jack.

They did not have to be so careful making their way back to where they had left the steady going old Comfort. And once aboard, the return trip was quickly accomplished. In camp Clarence was soon given all the food and coffee he could manage; and he professed himself as very grateful for all the motor boat boys had done for him.

Since his speed boat had met with so tragic an end, Clarence declared that he had had enough of cruising, and would start straight home as soon as they reached the Soo, if the boys would lend them enough money to buy tickets—which programme he and Joe carried out; nor were our six friends at all sorry to see them vanish from view.

Leaving the Soo, Jack and his chums spent almost two weeks upon the crooked St. Mary’s river, camping, fishing and enjoying themselves to the utmost. But never did they touch on Canadian soil but that poor Buster seemed to be dreadfully uneasy, sticking close to the fire, and breathing a sigh of genuine relief when once more afloat, with no unpleasant reminders wafted after them.

Jack and Nick had made up a little programme for themselves, which they sprung upon their comrades later, when leaving the three boats at Milwaukee to be sent by rail to the home town on the Upper Mississippi.

This was nothing more nor less than saying good-bye to the rest of the boys in Milwaukee, and taking a little run down to Chicago, “to see the sights, you know,” as Nick cleverly put it. But everybody guessed that the greatest attraction which all Chicago could boast for the deserters would be found within the borders of Oak Park, and under the roof of the banker, Mr. Roland Andrews.

And so the great cruise had finally come to an end. Looking back the boys found no reason to regret their course. True, there might be a number of incidents that would stand out for a long time with a bit of harshness; but time mellows all such things; and even Buster would laugh just as heartily as any of his chums when his adventure with the bull, or the pretty Canada pussy-cat, were mentioned.

They had had such a glorious time of it that undoubtedly other trips must be talked over during the coming winter; and with the coming of the holiday season once again the motor boat boys would be found ready to set out again on their search for new adventures.

Jocko went home with George and was a source of considerable costly amusement in the Rollins’ home.

We shall surely hope and expect to continue the pleasant acquaintance formed in the pages of the several books already published; and in new fields accompany Jack Stormways and his chums, with their gallant little boats, through other scenes, where true American pluck and endurance, such as they have always shown, must carry them through all perils to success.

THE END