And as the two fugitive thieves had chanced to come down that side of the island they must have picked this out for a stopping-place, where they could hide their craft.
Rapidly did the running Jack, backed up by his allies, near this point of land. Once it was reached, and he believed he would be able to see what lay beyond; though somehow Jack did not appear to entertain any doubt as to the nature of this discovery.
He had already reached its outer edge, and in another ten seconds must have been able to push directly through, when, just as he feared, he heard sounds that announced the finish of that stage of the game.
The loud crackle of a motor’s exhaust broke the silence; and from the rapidity with which it worked he knew that the engine had been started at almost full speed.
“Oh! rats!” burst out George, who had been doing his best to get alongside Jack, and succeeded too, “they’ve got away from us!”
They kept on running, however, and speedily broke through the fringe of shrubbery that shut off their view. As they did so it was to hear a loud hoarse laugh, that came rolling in from the water, and to see a white boat rushing away over the glistening surface of the river.
“It’s all off!” grunted Josh, evidently vastly disappointed by the outcome of their adventure.
“Yes, they’ve given us the slip!” declared Jack, who was already trying to think up some new plan whereby they might further harrass the bold thieves who had thus far carried things all their own way.
“How’d you come to let ’em go?”
This from the panting Buster, and he really meant it, too, which was the strangest part of it all; he had come rumbling along like an ice-wagon, as Josh was accustomed to saying, swinging that long club of his in a way that was as dangerous to friends as foes.
“Huh! let ’em!” Josh went on to say, mockingly. “I like that, now, sure I do. As if we had anything to do with their skipping out. They were ready to flew the coop when they heard us a-comin’, and only had to start the engine. Jenks, here he got that fixed a little too soon. If he’d only let her go till morning he’d not be minus a boat now, see?”
All of which was true, but nobody sucked any consolation out of it. When a horse has been stolen, how little the unlucky owner cares when some neighbors come along and show him how he might have avoided his loss; what he thinks of most of all is the matter of getting the lost animal back again into his barn.
And Jack was built that way. He seldom spent any time mourning over the milk that was spilt; but immediately proceeded to try and remedy conditions.
One thing sure, if ever they hoped to give these fellows any further trouble, it would not be accomplished by sitting down, and trying to discover why they could not have navigated that little patch of timber faster; or pushed through at a more direct line, so as to have saved that fatal angle.
The mill will never again grind with the water that is past—how frequently Jack could remember hearing his teacher in school say that; and he had often applied it to his own actions.
No, the robbers were done with that island, and had also abandoned their own boat, for it could be seen tied up there, just ahead. If they were to be met again it must be on the river.
That would mean a hot pursuit on the part of the motor boat boys; and this was what Jack was turning over so quickly in his mind while he stood there looking out after the disappearing craft.
“Oh! they left it after all!” exclaimed Algernon, as he too came up, considerably the worse for wear, because of the frequent arguments he had had with various unseen branches and logs and such things, in his hasty run.
“He thinks that white boat is his,” exclaimed Josh, pointing as he spoke, “but that’s all wrong, Algernon, and you’re off your trolley, sure. They had one of the same color, if not as good a boat as yours; and they’ve kindly left it for you, with their compliments. That was about what he meant when he shouted across the water, you know.”
“Jack, what are you thinking about now?” demanded George, who knew from the signs that the other was turning some sort of idea over in that active mind of his.
“I was wondering whether we wanted to take another turn with these fellows, that’s all,” replied Jack, immediately.
“But—they’ve cleared out, you know!” said Buster, blankly, as he looked over the bright surface of the river, as though wondering however a fellow was going to walk on the water.
“Well, haven’t we got boats to follow them with?” demanded Josh, who was quicker-witted than his stout chum.
“And one of ’em a crack-a-jack for speed,” added George, proudly.
“When it’s going, you mean, George,” corrected Josh; at which sly thrust the party indicated simply curled his lip, and disdained to reply.
“Well, whatever we decide to do, the sooner we settle the matter the better,” remarked Jack, impatiently, something rather uncommon with him.
“Sure thing, because they’re putting up a hefty run of it right now, and can do it right along with that boat,” added Josh.
“What speed can she make, Algernon?” queried George.
“Fifteen miles an hour when she’s run by one that knows how to handle her; but by myself I could never beat eleven at the best,” came the frank admission, which told just why he had hired the mechanician to accompany him in his run down river in competition with another “chappie” who also owned an expensive boat.
“Huh! I have had eighteen, and I think nearly twenty out of mine,” said George, trying to seem as though he were not boasting, but simply telling the plain truth, “and I think she could do that last, with the current to help out. So you see we’d be apt to come up on those fellows hand over fist. All of you could pile aboard the Wireless with me, and given an hour or so, I reckon we’d bring up alongside your stolen property, Algernon.”
At that there was a scornful outbreak from Buster.
“Glory, don’t I see this whole bunch aboard your Wireless, though? It’d be a sight to make a feller weep, the way they’d have to sit in the middle, and never so much as wink an eye for fear they’d turn the speed boat upside-down. Excuse me from being in the party, George. I like your boat all right—from a distance. If I had company I’d rather stay on this blessed old island than get on the Wireless with such a crowd as this. Please let me go with you, Herb, if I have to be taken along.”
“Sure we will,” said George, cheerfully, “and only too glad of the chance. But if we’re going to do any chasing after that runaway it’s time we made a start.”
“Then come on, everybody!” cried Jack, once more starting away on a run, and this time following the beach down toward the lower end of the island.
The whole eight of them were immediately in motion. As before, Buster and Algernon quickly fell behind, though they persisted manfully, and meant to come up before the boats could be poled out of the cove and the start made.
Jack was even then and there fixing things in his mind, so that there would be no confusion once they started. He decided that as Herb would be hopelessly distanced by the other two boats, and could not be depended on to assist in any way, if he started at all he should take aboard as his crew Buster and Algernon; for they could not be expected to prove of any great assistance, should matters come to a conflict of any kind. In fact, Jack would feel more comfortable with the fat boy missing, for Buster so often upset all calculations by some ill-advised if well-meant play.
The others could be apportioned to the Tramp and the Wireless; with three of them keeping Jack company, Jenks one of the number, as he promised to be a valuable ally when the finish came around.
Running along the open beach was not anything so difficult as trying to make progress through all that wild jungle; and in an exceedingly brief space of time the familiar cove loomed up, with its attendant boats, all tied up snugly to convenient trees, and in deep water at that, which prevented any possibility of their getting aground by a sudden fall of the river during the night, as sometimes happened.
Each skipper made directly for his own boat the moment he reached the scene. It was no time to think of taking down the beloved khaki-colored tent; if Herb did think it worth while to tag after the others, then things on the island would have to look after themselves until such time as the boys could return. And just when this would be, not even Jack could so much as guess at this early stage in the expected chase.
Although doubtless more or less excited, neither George nor Jack seemed apt to make a serious blunder in the start. They clambered aboard their respective boats and meanwhile Jack was shouting directions:
“Andy, you go with George, while Josh and Jenks will come aboard here. And be quick to cast off, and get the push poles handy, so we won’t be wasting time. George, for once you’ve got to promise me on your honor not to run ahead. There are only five of us, and we’ll need every hand against such hard cases. Remember now, I’m expecting you to keep alongside. The Tramp can overtake that boat all right, never fear.”
George said he would try and do just as the Commodore said. At the same time they knew how great a disappointment it must be to the reckless chap to have to give such a promise; for George was no coward, whatever other shortcomings might be placed against him; and given half a chance he would have readily hurled himself at the two fugitive burglars with any sort of backing.
Everybody worked with the utmost haste.
Why, it seemed as though they had hardly gained a footing on the boats before both hawsers were cast loose, and the push poles could be heard splashing in the water.
The sound thrilled every one of them; for there may be times when even such a simple thing as water splashing seems to give warning of serious times coming. And with such desperate men as the two bank thieves to overhaul and perhaps capture, surely Jack and his chums had a “a hard nut to crack,” as Josh expressed it.
As soon as the first boat, which happened to be the Tramp, was well out of the sheltered nook, Jack gave the crank a turn, and with a whirr the engine started to working. He immediately took charge, for no one knew so well as he how to get the best that was in that motor in action.
Jack was a bit nervous concerning the other boat. It was a toss-up as to whether the machinery of the “freaky” Wireless could be made to start, just when it was of the utmost importance, for George never knew a thing about it, and always approached the subject with his heart in his mouth, so to speak.
So all of them held their breath when they saw him get ready to give the crank its customary whirl.
Then all at once there broke out the welcome sound of the explosions that told them the story. Wireless stock went up fifty per cent just then; Wireless was going to be good, and behave!
And so the two motor boats carrying the determined little band of intended pursuers swung out upon the broad and heaving bosom of the mighty Mississippi, and headed south.
Doubtless those boys would never be apt to forget that chase on the river, even though in times to come they might have a part in many other exciting scenes.
The moon was very bright at this hour, not a cloud dimming its lustre; and upon the water objects could be seen for quite some distance away. Although these might not be as distinct as in the daytime; still, if it was a moving boat, any one could recognize familiar features about it. And should it happen to be a peculiar boat, or one that was painted snow white, surely they could tell it, once they chanced to come within a certain radius.
George was of course fidgety.
That old spirit of wanting to let loose, and shoot away at the very top of speed of which his high-powered motor was capable, must be gripping the boy, for it is hard to make one of his impulsive temperament act in reason.
But Jack was bound that both boats must keep in touch all the time, and that George should hold his “bucking broncho” engine, as Buster called it, in sufficiently to avoid leaving the Tramp behind.
There were lots of good reasons for this, too.
In the first place Jack knew only too well that on most occasions when George had had trouble with his engine, it was when he was playing all sorts of pranks with it, taking chances, in the hope of causing his boat to make a record for the class to which it belonged. And if he were compelled to moderate his speed just a little, there would be a far better opportunity for him to keep right along to the finish.
Then again, this was no good-natured race intended to test the racing abilities of the two rival boats. Jack had always admitted frankly enough that if the Wireless only behaved herself, she was in a class by herself, insofar as the other boats of the fleet were concerned. The only trouble was, that six times out of seven she insisted on “cutting up” just when George was congratulating himself that he had finally conquered that turbulent spirit.
They would, provided they caught up with the stolen Saunterer, find themselves pitted against a couple of bad men, who would not hesitate at anything in order to escape with their stolen plunder.
And that was the main reason why Jack had insisted upon George binding himself to an agreement to stay by the others, come what would. Why, he was that reckless, that, should he overtake the fugitive thieves, with only Andy back of him, chances were he would dash at them, and somebody was bound to get hurt, probably George himself.
Everything seemed to be going along nicely, after they had gotten well away from the island. Jack wondered whether Herb would insist on following after them in his slow boat, or stay by the camp. Perhaps finding that Buster and Algernon were both eager to get on the move, no matter if they could not hope to arrive in time to lend a helping hand, Herb might make the start.
“Josh, can you see the island still?” the skipper of the Tramp called out, for he was himself too busy watching how his machine worked to take his eyes off it; and then, again, what was the use, when he could get the information second-hand just as well.
“Yep, though it’s getting kind of faint now, Jack,” came the reply. “You see, this here moonlight ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’ve proved it, too. ’Nother feller’d me we made a wager that we could tell anybody half a mile away; then we went outside to prove it! My conscience! there was a black thing in the country road just about sixty yards away; he said it looked like a bear, and I was just dead certain ’twas a cow a-lyin’ down. Well, we walked up to it, and what d’ye think, it was only an old stump after all.”
“Look as close as you can, and tell me if you see anything of another boat coming out,” Jack went on, as soon as he could work a few words in; for when Josh felt the inclination to tell one of his little stories, nothing in all creation could stop him, unless some one threw a lump of mud squarely into his open mouth, as once happened when he was in swimming; and even then, as soon as he had managed to get rid of it, he had gone on deliberately, “As I was a-sayin’——” and so on.
“Why,” he went on to remark, dubiously, “I c’n see somethin’ a-movin’ over there, somethin’ dark, too, and just in the same place we came out of; but whether it’s a boat, say, Jack, don’t ask me to take my affidavy, for I won’t, that’s all.”
“I won’t ask you, because I’m sure now it must be a boat, and of course Comfort, with the rest of the crowd aboard,” remarked Jack.
“But shucks! everything’ll be over, even the shouting, when that tub comes along. What’s the use in Herb startin’ at all, Jack?”
“He had that privilege,” returned the skipper. “I didn’t just want to tell him he had ought to stay by the camp, to look after things. And besides, there’s our new friend, Algernon, of course he’ll be just as anxious as anything to know as soon as he can whether we’ve recovered his Saunterer or not. But I guess you don’t see anything of that moving thing, now, eh, Josh?”
“That’s right, she’s blotted out; and I could crack my eyes lookin’ without getting a peep,” replied Josh, immediately he had looked again.
“All right, let’s forget all about Herb, and the rest from now on, because there’s little chance that they’ll have anything to do with the finish of the race. George is holding in pretty well, you see, Josh. He can put a crimp in that speed mania, when he wants to.”
“But gee! listen to him growling, would you?” remarked the other, with a dry chuckle, for he dearly loved to see George held under Jack’s thumb, for the skipper of the Wireless was so boastful most of the time. “I pity poor old Andy havin’ to play crew for such a bear with a sore head. Wouldn’t surprise me a whit, Jack, if the Wireless man just found he couldn’t stand bein’ held in, and let go for all he’s worth, shootin’ up ahead like fun.”
“No, you’re way off there, Josh; you heard George give me his word; and no matter what other faults George may have, he never goes back on his promises. That’s his best point. I’d as soon take his word as lots of fellows’ binding written agreement.”
“Well, I guess that’s so, Jack,” said Josh, slowly, for he wanted to be fair toward his impulsive chum; and in spite of his many faults, these comrades, tried and true, loved George Rollins; strange, but impulsive, hot-tempered people always make more and warmer friends than cold, calculating ones, no matter how much these latter show themselves to be honest and true.
For some little time they continued to shove along down the river, with both boats doing splendidly. Just how many miles an hour they were making Jack could not say positively; but he thought it must be in the neighborhood of fifteen.
George called out a number of times, and begged the other skipper to do something more than just crawl. It seemed to be a painful experience to the captain of the Wireless, and yet when he was taken to task later on for his impatience, and made to see how well his engine had behaved when not constantly meddled with, and pushed to its utmost limit, George candidly admitted that Jack’s plan was by long odds the best for all concerned, indeed, the only one they could have followed, under the circumstances.
They were certainly putting the miles behind them as they kept on flying down with the current. Jack had to figure it out, so as to see about what sort of a lead the fugitive white boat had on them.
He could give something of a guess as to about how many minutes had elapsed between the time the other craft had started past the lower end of the island, and that marking their own departure. That was not over ten minutes all told, he believed, though had any of the others been asked they would have said twice that because they were excited at the time, and seconds were drawn out doubly long.
Well, saying that it was ten minutes, and the boat was going at the rate of twelve miles an hour that would mean the stolen craft had a lead of about two miles all told. Jack knew that they should cut this down before an hour had crept by, unless something happened to hold them up, an accident to the Wireless, or to his own motor.
So when something like half an hour had gone, he began to exhibit more or less anxiety as to whether any signs of the white boat could be seen down-stream. In order to find this out at the earliest opportunity Jack had stationed his “crew” up forward in the bow, where he could have nothing in the way; and as the moon was about in the east he was not compelled to stare into its bright shaft of silvery light.
Every once in a while Jack would call out to ask whether there had anything appeared in sight. Josh answered him three separate times, and then laughingly said:
“Say, d’ye know what you make me think of, Jack? Remember in the old nursery tale of Bluebeard, where the poor wife, whose head is going to be cut off by the bad man keeps calling up to her sister, who is watching the road for the coming of their brothers: ‘Sister Ann, Sister Ann, is there anything coming?’ Well, just now, Jack, I can’t even say I see a cloud of dust in the distance, as Sister Ann—hold on there, Josh, don’t be in such a big hurry. Is that a moving object, or are you seeing things that hadn’t ought to be there?”
He bent forward the better to look. Just then from the other boat the voice of Andy was heard to call out eagerly:
“Sure, ’tis something I say beyant there; and to me way of thinkin’ it looks as much loike a white boat as two peas resimble aich ither!”
That started Josh, who did not exactly relish the idea of having to play what he called “second fiddle.”
“Right you are, Andy, though a bit late, because I was just telling Jack here that our intended prey was in sight. But I’m real glad to hear you say you can see it too, better two heads than one, even if—well, I won’t finish that sentence, because you might think I was comparing your coco to a mere vegetable. There, Jack, look for yourself and see,” he went on, as the skipper managed to leave his engine long enough to push forward a little.
So Jack did take a good look, and when he had done so, he added his opinion to that of the other two boys.
“Guess there isn’t a shadow of doubt about that, fellows; because I can see the thing moving right along; yes, that’s the runaway motor boat, and we’re going to catch up with the same inside of twenty minutes, unless something that isn’t down on the bills comes to pass.”
“Well, I like that!” George was heard to exclaim; and it was noticed that he seemed to be greatly amused over something or other.
“What d’ye mean, George?” asked Josh; for the two boats were so close together all this while that those aboard could exchange comments without great difficulty; although they had to raise their voices considerably, because of the furious rattling of the exhausts.
“It must be a joke, be the powers;” broke in Andy, “because he’s been laughin’ that quiet loike till himsilf this long toime.”
“That’s what it is, a joke!” declared George; “and by that, I mean the wonderful Saunterer. Our new friend, Algernon, didn’t you hear him call his expensive craft a speed boat? Say, it’s a wonder, that’s what! The only thing I’m surprised at is his giving her such a gentle name. He ought to have called her Chain-Lightning, Blue Streak, or something like that. Why? Because she goes like a shot—nit. A speed boat, that thing? Well, and her doing about twelve miles an hour at her best too! I could cut circles all around her, if only you’d let me go, Jack. And look at the Tramp walking up on her; yet when did you call your craft a speed boat, I’d like to know?”
“Oh! that’s what’s so funny to you, is it?” Jack went on to say. “But you must remember who owns the Saunterer, George. Perhaps, when she’s doing her best she seems to be flying through the water like mad to Algernon. Everybody doesn’t happen to be built the same as you, George.”
“Well, I should say not,” declared the other, immediately.
“And there are a whole lot of people who are mighty glad of it,” put in Josh.
“Arrah! that’s thrue, ivery word av it,” echoed Andy. “Sure the world’d be turned upside-down in a hurry, av there were many Georges runnin’ around loose, thryin’ to bate ivery other George. I do be sayin’ ’em wid their tongues hangin’ out av their mouths and, always lookin’ for a race. Now, belave me the ould Comfort is a hape more to me likin’ than a boat that cuts through the wather loike a knife; and kapes ye thinkin’ ye are sittin’ on the sharp edge all the while.”
“Oh! well, there have to be different kinds of people in this old world,” sang out the undaunted George, “and we happen to be built on different models, that’s all. You never saw a race horse, one of the thoroughbred type, but what he was nervous, and finely strung. I suppose that’s the way I am constructed. Can’t help it, to save me. I’m really unhappy to be going slow at any time.”
And that was really a fact, for George ate his meals in a hurry, studied his lessons with a rush; and when he played football was always a terror upon the lines, carrying things with him; though apt to prove a weak defense in the end from over-exertion.
While this little heart-to-heart talk was going on, they kept drawing steadily closer to the white boat.
Jack had begun to speculate on what was apt to happen when finally the pursuers were able to overtake the fugitive craft. He knew that the desperate men who were aboard would not be apt to think of surrendering easily, and especially when they knew or suspected that their foes consisted for the most part simply of half-grown boys.
They were armed, too, which was a fact calculated to make Jack act cautiously. True, he carried his reliable Marlin along with him, and at close range a shotgun is a serious weapon to consider, especially one of hard-shooting, modern kind, but Jack did not much fancy having to use this, except as the very last resort.
One thing surprised him not a little; he wondered why the escaping bank thieves had not thought to run their boat ashore, and escape to dry land. Surely they must have realized before now that the motor boats were in pursuit of them, and bound to overtake them at that, before long.
Perhaps they were still a little in doubt. Then, again, it might be they scorned to show the white feather in connection with a pursuit conducted by mere striplings. But Jack secretly believed there must be another and more likely reason for their sticking to the boat. If they landed, they were going to have a hard time of it avoiding the many officers who, spurred on by the reward that had likely been offered for their apprehension, and the return of the stolen plunder, would be on the lookout at every cross road in the country south.
Now, if only they could get a chance to change the color of their craft they might keep right on moving down the great river, and snap their fingers at every inquisitive person; for it would be a white boat that these watchers would be looking for.
Yes, these things must weigh heavily with the two men, and make them want to stick by the stolen motor boat as long as possible. They may have laid out their plans, and hated to alter them; and these had to do with a voyage on the river, running by night, until they reached a certain place of refuge; it might be down at St. Louis, for all Jack knew.
No matter what the reason, there was the white boat, still keeping to the middle of the wide river, and apparently doing her best to outrun the two pursuing craft.
When ten minutes had passed they had cut down that lead to less than half; and it really looked as if Jack’s prediction was about to come true.
“What can that dark thing away ahead be, I wonder?” Jack heard Josh saying about this time.
As it was of the utmost importance that he keep in close touch with everything that went on, no matter how trivial it seemed, the skipper immediately raised his head, and asked:
“Where-abouts, Josh?”
“Why, look beyond the white boat, and you’ll see something low down on the water, Jack. Yes, and there’s a dark spot in the middle of it, too, just like a cheese box on a raft. Can that be another island, d’ye reckon; and are they meanin’ to go ashore there, and hold us off?”
“Oh! I guess not,” remarked Jack, after taking a good look, “what you see, Josh, is what you’d call a raft of logs floating down the river. We’ve seen such pass up our way many a time. And generally the two men aboard will have a little cabin, where they take turns sleeping, when voyaging at night, which they don’t often do, I reckon. Yes, I believe I can see signs of a couple of lighted lanterns. They’re to tell steamboats to sheer off; and they always do, because a collision with all those big logs would go hard with any boat.”
“Guess you’re right, Jack,” admitted the other, yielding readily to the argument which he realized was convincing. “But say, d’ye think our men see that same old raft? Could they be making for it, now, meanin’ to board the same, and keep us off?”
That idea had flashed into Jack’s mind, but as yet he could not say; for he was unable to see just what advantage such a course would be to the fugitives. True, the pursuers had been overhauling them so fast of late that it began to appear as though they were having trouble with the engine Jenks had fixed. If that proved to be the case, then they might have been seized with a fear that they were going to be overhauled; and as it was too late now to reach land, the next best thing would be to make a floating battery of the raft, and keep their persistent enemies off, until they could steer the clumsy float nearer the shore.
“What’s the programme, Jack?” called George, who was doubtless fairly quivering with excitement, and eager for hostilities to begin.
“You come up on the left, while we take the right,” replied the other, just as though he had figured all this out, as he undoubtedly had.
“Do we board the pirate boat?” George went on.
“We’ll have to, if we expect to retake it for Algernon,” Jack answered.
“They’ll put up a stiff fight, Jack, don’t forget that,” the skipper of the Wireless went on to say.
“Well, if only they’d get cold feet it’d make it all the easier for us,” Josh broke in with, just then. “And don’t I wish every fellow had a gun like Jack, here. Then we’d have ’em dead to rights, and they’d soon throw up the sponge, when we started in to bombard the lot with shot. Say, Jack, you expect to use that same little Marlin, I hope; for what’s the good of a gun when you won’t make it squeal?”
“I’ll use it to let them know we’re armed, first of all,” Jack explained, “and that might go a good ways toward making them surrender.”
“But hold on, Jack, don’t do that if the two shells are all you’ve got. A nice sort of thing that’d be, to scare the game, and not have anything to pink ’em with afterwards,” Josh went on to say, in alarm.
“Oh! I’ve got a few more in my pocket,” returned the other. “I was wise enough to slip some shells in my coat before we left camp the first time. Don’t worry about that, Josh. There! wasn’t that a man’s head bobbing up above the stern of the other boat just then?”
It certainly must have been, for immediately there came a hoarse hail across the intervening water.
“Hello! there, you in the motor boats!”
“Hello! yourself! what d’ye want?” demanded George; before Jack could say a word; for George did everything so quickly it was hard to get ahead of him.
“We want you to sheer off, and mind your own business, hear that?” replied the party aboard the white boat belonging to Algernon.
“That’s just what we are doing,” Jack called out. “You’ve made a mistake and gone off with the wrong boat. Yours is up above, on the island; and that one belongs to a friend of ours. We want it; and what’s more, we’re going to take it back. Do you get that?”
The two men could be heard talking hurriedly together. Possibly they were trying to figure out just what the boy meant and if it could be that their real identity were as yet unsuspected. If the boys simply looked on them as boat thieves, perhaps they might manage to deceive them in some way. But when the man spoke once more it was evident that they could not wholly reconcile themselves to this idea.
“We want to warn you to keep off, or you’re apt to get hurt right bad. We’re heavily armed, and will shoot straight, take that from me.”
“Oh! say you so?” called out George, mockingly, “well, perhaps there are two who can play at that game, mister. Guess we’ve got firearms along, too; and can pepper your hides with Number Seven shot till you’ll look like a Christmas plum pudding. Jack, shall we give ’em a volley right now?”
Now, of course George must be only saying this for effect. He was aware of the fact that they had only one gun among them; and also that Jack would hardly be the person to use that recklessly.
“Listen to George talkin’ through his hat,” whispered Josh, to the skipper of the Tramp, as they continued to draw closer and closer to the white boat.
Again they could hear the two men exchanging hurried words. It looked as if the situation was none of their choosing, and that they did not particularly fancy it.
“If you won’t keep back, then take that!” suddenly shouted the heavy-voiced man; and immediately following his words there came a bright flash, and the report of a pistol.
“Oh!” exclaimed some one aboard the Wireless; and Jack had a shock.
“Anybody hurt over there?” he sang out, as he snatched up his shotgun, and made ready to use it; if the answer was to the effect that damage had been done, Jack might turn the weapon directly on the fleeing craft, and scatter the contents of a shell in that quarter.
“Er, no, guess not,” replied George, “but say, that bullet hummed right past my head, and I nearly broke my neck trying to dodge it. Jack, give ’em a return shot, please do!”
“Bang!” went a second discharge.
This time the man in the fugitive motor boat had evidently turned his attention toward the Tramp, for Jack and those with him plainly heard the peculiar whistle of the passing lead.
It was too much. Jack could stand for a good deal, but this thing of being made a target to suit the whim of a rascally thief galled him. There was one way in which it might be stopped; and this was to let them understand that when George said they were armed it was no idle boast, although they might not be bristling with weapons, as he would have had the others believe.
And so Jack let fly with one barrel of his Marlin, aiming to one side of the white boat, now close at hand.
The charge of shot ploughed up the water. It also caused the head to vanish from the stern of the boat. Evidently that shot created something like a little panic aboard the Saunterer. How were those two men to know but what every fellow pitted against them gripped some sort of dangerous firearm, and with boyish abandon was ready to make use of it?
They did not shoot again, and from this circumstance Jack believed that they were ready to change their plans. If the pursuers could not be frightened off by threats, perhaps they might be content to withdraw, if they could only recover the stolen boat again.
“They’re going to pass the raft by, Jack!” ventured Josh, just then.
“Think so?” the other went on to remark, “well, I’m just guessing otherwise, and that they mean to run alongside. Look sharp, Josh, and you’ll see how they keep on edging that way.”
“What if they leave the motor boat and make a run for the log cabin on the raft—will you crack away at ’em, Jack, and try to hit the fellers in the legs?” was what the excited Josh wanted to know.
Jack had to laugh softly at that.
“You talk as if any one could put a load of shot just where he wanted it, without doing any serious damage,” he remarked. “If that was easy, I’d like to tickle those chaps; but there’s too serious a chance of crippling them for life, or even worse than that. We’re so close now that a load of Sevens would go just like a great big bullet. I’m not ready for that and won’t be unless they hurt one of our crowd. If that happens, they’ll have to look out.”
“There they go, heading in to the logs, just like you said, Jack!” cried Josh, more worked up than ever. “Oh! please give ’em another shot if they jump on the raft. P’raps it might scare the pair so much they’d just throw up their hands, and surrender.”
“Do you see the men who are running the logs down-stream?” demanded Jack.
“Of course I do, two of ’em, and they look like they hardly knew what all this racket means,” Josh continued. “Now, wouldn’t it be just great if they jumped our birds, and got ’em. All we’d have to do then would be to take charge of the scamps, hand over a little reward to the raftsmen, and start back. Look! Jack, there, they are going to strike the logs now. They’ve shut off the motor, you see, and that tells the story. Take it from me we’ve got the fellers bad scared right now. Whoop! George, knock ’em both over with your elephant gun! Quick! soak it to ’em, fellers!”
Of course Josh was only shouting this last in order to further alarm the two fugitives. For some reason or other the men had determined to abandon their boat. Perhaps they found it was commencing to balk, and could not be depended on. Then again, as the others had overtaken them, it was plain that they must open up some other means for escaping.
Jack still clung to his former idea that the men hoped the boys would be satisfied with recovering the stolen Saunterer; and finding that they were ready to defend themselves would withdraw. Then they could force the raftsmen to steer the clumsy craft over to whichever shore they thought safer, and in this way they might escape with their booty.
The white boat came alongside the raft, and bumped heavily.
Two flying figures were seen to leave the boat, and find a footing on the slippery logs. Immediately they did so they started headlong toward the center where the little log-cabin shelter stood; just as though their plans had all been arranged beforehand.
Whether that shout from Josh calling on George to blaze away gave them additional cause for excitement, or the fact of the logs being wet and slippery made them lose their footing more than a few times, the fact was that they took a number of headers, and found the passage a rocky one.
George was still shouting at the top of his voice, and the others joined in, so that the clamor was quite deafening. No wonder the loggers stood there unable to understand what it was all about, and why those two had abandoned the fine white boat that was now drifting alongside the raft.
“Too bad, Jack!” Josh was saying, when the two fugitives, after making their way along the logs finally vanished inside the door of the rude little cabin shelter.
“What is it?” asked the skipper, who had also shut off power, and was bent on bringing the Tramp alongside the raft just below the Saunterer; so that the white boat could be caught and secured, which would be one part of their plans brought to a successful completion.
“He’s got the boodle, Jack, plague take the luck!”
“Yes, I saw that the small man was carrying a bag with him, and of course that holds the stolen bank papers and cash,” Jack went on to say, as the Tramp’s nose came with a gentle bump against the outside log.
“Tell me what to do, Jack!” Josh demanded, knowing that the other must have a plan of some sort in view in making this landing, if their hugging the raft could come under that name.
“Just jump off and take the hawser with you,” said the skipper, quickly.
“Then you mean to tie up here?” asked Josh, as he started to obey directions.
“Yes.”
“Say, Jack, shall I get a grip on the painter of that other boat while I’m on the raft and make her fast?” continued Josh.
“Try and see if you can, because we want to take her back with us, even if we fail to capture the men,” Jack replied.
No doubt George was bringing his Wireless alongside the raft on the other side, for he could see across, and note what the crew of the Tramp seemed to be doing.
Josh was quite active, when spurred on by excitement. When he had made a three-base hit in a game of baseball, he could stretch it to a home run better than any other fellow in town, with the shouts of the crowds to inspire him.
He began to hunt around for some place to fasten the rope, as soon as he had jumped on to the raft. This was so difficult a task, because there were many pegs showing, where the logs were held together. And besides, here and there was a heavy rope passed along, to keep the waves made by steamboats from scattering the logs, which might have been of especial value.
Josh had just managed to accomplish this, and was turning to try and get hold of the bow of the white boat, which was still bumping against the side of the raft, when a terrific splash was heard from across on the opposite edge of the logs.
“George is overboard!” whooped Josh, thinking that the impulsive one must have been in such a big hurry to gain a footing, afraid lest a chum would be ahead of him, that he had miscalculated.
“You’re wrong, it’s Andy; and he’s all to the good; climbing on the logs right now,” came in the well-known tones of the Wireless skipper, and with a touch of sarcasm connected with the words, as though George wanted them to know that he was not the only fellow who could, in his haste, make blunders.
“Sure I am!” echoed Andy, “and the wather ’tis foine, I’m tilling ye, me laddybucks. Now, George, me darlint, whereabouts shall I tie up at?”
“Anywhere, so long as we hold fast,” came the order.
Well, here was a strange condition of affairs, to be sure, Jack thought. He was a little puzzled to know what they ought to do next. The two desperate men had retreated within the shanty on the raft, which they undoubtedly meant to hold, after the manner of a fort, having abandoned Algernon’s motor boat. The pursuers already had this in their possession, so if nothing more were accomplished, they could feel fairly well satisfied with their night’s work.
But Jack felt that George, and for that matter the other two chums, would not wish to drop out of the game then and there. Knowing that the men in the shanty were the robbers, whose apprehension would bring great joy to the bereaved depositors in that robbed Lawrence bank, it would be just like them to want to keep going until they had either accomplished that end, or else found that they were not equal to the task.
Yes, and deep down in his own heart Jack was thinking along pretty much the same lines. He knew what it was to be greeted with cheers; and the desire to accomplish things worth while had a lodgment in Jack’s heart.
They had the two rascals bottled up, as it were; and surely some way could be found whereby they might force their surrender.
But it was not going to be an easy task. Those men knew what they must accept once they were taken into custody; and doubtless they would fight to the last gasp before showing the white flag.
All was silent over yonder where the makeshift little cabin shelter stood about the middle of the raft. The men had vanished inside, and were no doubt waiting to see what their enemies attempted next. Perhaps they indulged in the hope that the troublesome boys, assisted by Jenks, would draw off, and leave them to play their game to a finish in their own way.
At the same time they must be ready to defend their new place of refuge bitterly. Jack knew the folly of trying to carry a fort by assault, and he was not silly enough to think that with only George, Josh, Andy and Jenks back of him such a desperate undertaking could be carried out. Even if they received reinforcements in the shape of the two husky loggers, that would not mean the thing would be a walk-over.
Jack was himself on the logs by this time, and Jenks followed him. He hoped the men at bay would not start shooting toward them, for they were more or less exposed to any fire unless they managed to drop down behind a stray log that had at some time gotten loose, and was hauled on top of the raft by the men in charge, rather than have it lost.
“Keep by your boat, George!” was the first thing Jack called out, “or better still, if you can work it around to where the Tramp lies. Perhaps we’d be wise to keep in a bunch, you know.”
“A good idea, Jack,” came the reply. “Andy, do you dare walk across, while I get a move on, and swim around?”
“Me, is it ye arre afther askin’ that? Well, till me what’s to hinder me from doin’ the same?” and with the words the dripping Andy started to clamber along the slippery logs with utter abandon; he had been in the river once, and was just as wet as he could be, so why should he care if he went overboard again?
George started up and was seen to leave the float.
“Good-bye, and good riddance to you!” the big man shouted, as he thrust his head out of the opening in front of the cabin on the raft; from which remark it might be set down that he had not heard what Jack said, and really believed the motor boat was about to pull out for good.
“All right,” replied the other, for it was not difficult to please Josh under most circumstances.
George had gone around the raft, passing below, so that he was now coming up the river, and it was easy for him to bring his boat alongside the raft without any bumping worth mentioning.
He quickly leaped on to the logs, rope in hand, and found a place to fasten his hawser without much trouble.
“Where are they, fellows?” he asked, breathlessly, as he joined the group.
“Still in the shack, but we’re going to try and get them out,” Jack answered.
“That’s right,” Josh broke in just then; “you see, Jack’s going to try a scheme of mine, and offer the men a chance to get off, on condition that they hand over that bag they got. We don’t want to bother with persons, if only we c’n trap that little bag, and take it back with us.”
“Rats!” said George, immediately, for he never had the least bit of faith in any idea which Josh might originate; it would have put a different face on it if Jack had advanced the scheme; but with the other as its sponsor, the thing was impossible in the start and condemned before he heard the particulars.
“Well, you never know,” Josh went on to say, as if he felt hurt at George being so positive before the proposition had even been tried, “they might be that bad scared they’d agree to anything that left ’em their liberty. Anyhow, guess there ain’t any harm in doin’ it, is there?”
“Wait and see!”
And with that Jack turned toward the center of the raft, where the little refuge lay, which the two loggers made use of as sleeping quarters, and to keep themselves dry during a downpour of rain.
“Hello! you in the cabin?” he called out.
“Well, what d’ye want?” came the answer, and as before, it was evidently the big man who did all the talking, for as yet they had not once heard the voice of Slim Jim raised above a low murmur, when he was arguing with his companion.
“We’ve got an offer to make you,” continued Jack.
“Oh! have yuh? Then spit her out, and be quick about it,” came from inside.
“We’ll agree to let you both go, if you hand over that bag, and all that’s in it,” Jack continued. “We’ve got you caged, anyway, and it’s only a question of going for the officers in one of our boats, when we come to a large town; and you’ll be taken, bag and all. Better think it over. And we don’t mean to let you work the sweep of this raft, so you can’t ferry it to the shore. What do you say?”
He was answered with a mocking laugh, and some hard words.
“What d’ye take us for, younker, a pair of fools? Think we went to all that trouble and risk to turn the proceeds over to a passel o’ kids so easy? Don’t you worry ’bout us, now. We got the guns to hold the fort; and when we get good and ready p’raps we’ll skip out. There’s more ways to skin a cat than one. Get that, now?”
“I thought so,” said George, with one of his irritating little laughs. “Now just get busy, Josh, and think up some more fool plays, won’t you? Or else leave the job to your betters, Jack’n me, we’ll play the game for keeps, eh, Jack?”
“Well, what are we going to do next, Jack?” asked Josh, pretending not to hear those irritating words spoken by George; and evidently determined to keep himself “in the swim” if anything was going on.
“The question is whether we’d better try to force their hand now, or wait a while,” the one spoken to remarked.
“Why should we wait?” queried George, impatiently.
“First of all, there’s some sort of chance that Herb may be along pretty soon, with his Comfort, and that would give us three more fellows,” Jack observed.
“Huh! such as they are, yes,” the skipper of the speed-boat admitted.
“Three would make good showing, anyhow,” Josh broke in to say, seeing his opportunity to agree with Jack, and in this way put George on the other side. “And how’d they know, tell me, that Buster, Herb and our new friend, Algernon, ain’t much on the scrap? Numbers look big, sometimes.”
“Then again,” Jack continued, “as we float down the river we’re apt to sight the lights of some town or city. And then George could go ashore to tell the police what a great chance was passing their doors. I’m not greedy about it, and willing enough to let the proper authorities do the fighting, and get what there is in the game. And yet, it kind of goes against my grain to just lie around here, doing nothing all the time.”
“Yes,” said George, eagerly, “and just think if we happen to drift anywhere near the bank these fellows are apt to give us the laugh and jump overboard, to swim ashore. Before we could get a boat started to chase after ’em they’d land, and snap their fingers at the lot. I say get a move on, and find some way to make ’em surrender. Let’s scare the pair half to death. We c’n do it by setting the cabin on fire, and paying for the damage done!”
“Whew! that’s just like George!” Josh was heard to say, breathlessly.
Jack glanced toward the two loggers.
“Is that sort of a thing possible; could the shanty be burned if we tried?” he asked them.
“Don’t think it kin, son,” came the reply. “Course we never seen it tried; but them logs are kinder green yet, and the spray’s jumped up over the cabin sometimes when we had a headwind. They ain’t no winder in the shack, jest a openin’ like round on the back. I cud crawl up and try the fire game, if so yuh stand ready tuh pony up fur any damage tuh the logs.”
Jack was thinking again.
“Well, it might pay us to make the try,” he said, presently.
“No harm done,” said George, giving Josh a triumphant look, as though he would have him take notice that when really smart fellows started to do things, they meant business every time.
Josh shrugged his shoulders, as much as to say that he was ready to be convinced. Meanwhile Jack was talking with the two loggers, trying to find out what their ideas might be with regard to getting a supply of kindling ready. One of them strode off, and presently returned with an ax. The other had picked up several strips of wood that seemed to be fairly dry; and as soon as the sharp-edged tool came he started to cut this into long splinters.
“By the way,” said George, “I’ve got some cotton waste aboard my boat that’s just soaked with oil, and would burn like fun. I’ll get it.”
“And if you go aboard my boat, too, you’ll find a lot more close by the engine, that I was going to throw overboard, because it was getting so sticky,” Jack went on to tell the other, as he was hurrying off.
It really began to look like business, at any rate. Josh found himself interested in spite of himself. No matter whose plan it might be, if it won out he must show a spirit of fairness, and render all the aid he could. Josh was not a small minded fellow, though he did love to tease poor Buster on occasion; and often went out of his way to get a sly dig at the good-natured fat boy.
The strips of wood having been reduced to kindling, and George coming back with the cotton waste, saturated with oil that would burn, even if it was not explosive, it began to look as though the thing was now up to the logger who had offered to make the attempt.
“Here’s a little bottle, and it’s full of gasoline too,” remarked George, as he handed the article over. “When you’re ready to set fire to the pile, just scatter that stuff over it, and take care of your eyebrows, for she goes off with a whoop.”
“Say, they’re on to us,” announced Josh just then.
Looking toward the cabin, Jack could detect a head thrust around the corner; and from this he knew that one of the men had issued forth, wishing to learn what the forces arrayed against himself and his partner might be doing all this while.
So Jack made suggestive motions with his gun, as though tempted to shoot; and the head was withdrawn immediately.
“Is there any opening on the back of the shack?” he asked the men.
“Nope, not that yuh cud notice, son,” came the reply.
“Course, they might dodge out and run around to blaze away at our fire kindler, and then get back under cover again,” suggested George.
“I was thinking if I could work it so as to keep them quiet,” said Jack. “Let’s all move around so as to cover the side where the open door is. Then they’ll be liable to think we’re all there in a bunch. And if we see either man trying to sneak out, I’ll give him a scare, all right.”
To do this they had to go some little distance from the three tied-up motor boats; but Jack knew they could reach them long before the fugitives might, should they conceive the wild idea of making a dash that way. Besides, as a last resort, did he not have his gun, and were there not two trusty shells in its barrels?
Having taken up their position they gave the man who had remained behind the signal that he should get busy. And he started to advance toward the rear of the cabin on the raft.
When he had gone perhaps half way, a figure was seen to push out of the opening. Jack immediately called out:
“Get back there, or I’ll fill you full of shot!” at the same time brandishing his gun in a very threatening manner; which warning appeared to have an influence upon the fellow, since he slipped back again.
But no doubt he had discovered the logger who was advancing toward the rear of the shack, his arms filled with fuel; and it would have to be a very dull person who could not guess what his object must be.
Then there sounded a sudden report. One of the men in the shack had found some small chink between the logs, through which he was firing his revolver. Perhaps he had shot at the logger; and then again it might have been done just to alarm him, and thus cause the scheme for firing the cabin to be given up.
When the man seemed to drop, Jack’s heart was in his throat, for he thought he was looking on a tragedy; but the other logger chuckled, as he remarked:
“Don’t be skeered ’bout Fritz; he ain’t teched a whiff; but jest drapped so’s to crawl out’n range. See him gittin’ over ground right smart now, and notice thet he ain’t let go any o’ the stuff, be he?”
“You’re right, Hanky,” said Josh, promptly enough.
“Bully for Fritz!” burst out the gratified George, whose heart had no doubt taken just as quick a jump as had Jack’s, when that report sounded in a half muffled way, from being inside the cabin.
Another shot followed. But the marksman was evidently shooting at random, and without having a target. At any rate, the logger kept right on creeping toward the shack, and it began to look as though he were bound to get there, too.
But would he be successful in getting the logs to burn?
Jack was rather inclined to doubt it, though of course much depended on whether they were fairly dry, or wet with the spray that may have dashed up over the raft when the wind, being up-river, had made a choppy sea.
“What if the whole blooming raft goes up in smoke?” was the awful suggestion which Josh put forward.
George laughed out loud, it seemed to strike him as so absurd.
“Yes, and worse still, Josh, whatever will we do if we set the river on fire? They’ll certainly have it in for us, believe me. But one thing sure, no danger of you ever setting the river afire with any scheme you think up.”
“Shucks! I don’t believe it’ll work a cent,” remarked Josh. “’Cording to my calculations it’d take more’n that kindlin’ to set logs a-goin’.”
“Don’t forget the oiled rags, Josh,” said George, tauntingly; “yes, and the little bottle of gasolene I let our friend have. Seems to me all that’s going to build up some fire. And as for the rest we’ll have to trust to luck. Perhaps it’ll catch fire, and again she may kick and balk.”
“Like some engines we know about, f’r instance,” Josh wound up with.
“You never saw a motor do better than mine did coming down river, and you know it. I have had a lot of trouble with the thing in the past; but that’s all over now; and I’m on Easy Street with my dandy Wireless. Oh! you can laugh all you want to, Josh, but wait and see.”
“Proof of the puddin’ lies in the eatin’ of the same, George,” said Josh, “and I know you too well to believe you’ll ever be satisfied to run along like Jack and Herb do. But see there, our fire kindler’s got up to the shack, all serene. And now he’s bending down to fix his kindlin’ right. We’ll soon know, George, and if she goes, since it’s your scheme, I’m willing to say you done it with your little hatch-it.”
Just as Josh said, the logger had managed to gain the shelter of the back wall of the shack. Now, in order to keep out the rain without bothering with a door, the cabin had been made with its only opening on the side up-river; so that what the boys had been calling its back was really the front side.
And with the movement of the raft always down-stream; and the night air being from the south just then, if the fire were ever properly started, it would be fanned constantly, and helped along by this process.
Jack kept watch on the dark opening that stood for the entrance, and means of exit. He meant to shoot, if any figure was seen to appear outside this; not with the idea of doing bodily injury, but in the expectation of frightening the man back, before he could make use of his weapon upon the fire-kindler.
So the seconds crept along, until several minutes had passed.
“Gee! why don’t he get a move on?” remarked George, to whom the time hung as if it were weighed down with lead.
“Let him be,” said the other logger, named Hanky. “Fritz is sum slow, but then he gits there in the end. Watch his smoke, son, an’ see!”