CHAPTER IVA NIGHT ON SHOREThe boys had a hard time getting on board theRambler, but it was accomplished at last, and the sufferer was soon in one of the bunks. Then the boat was headed downstream.Mr. Stagg was left standing on the river bank in the rain. The boys invited him on board, but he explained that he was determined to “get that pesky steer before he went home.”“It’s a wild night to be hunting for cattle,” Clay suggested as the boat was got under way, “but we all hope you’ll find it.”“Say,” said Alex, as the boat started downstream, “do you believe the story that man told?”“Seems like an honest fellow,” was Jule’s reply, “but one can never tell. To tell the truth, he looked to me more like an outlaw than any fellow we caught on board.”“Pretty fierce night to be hunting cattle,” commented Alex, and the discussion was dropped.“How far is it to the Hayes Junction?” asked Case. “We can’t get a surgeon to set that broken leg until we get there, and perhaps not then. I think I’ll study surgery, just to be ready for any emergency, when I go to college,” added the boy.“We’ve got quite a distance to travel before we reach Hayes, and I suggest that we put in the time eating,” said Alex. “I wouldn’t want to get a regular meal,” he continued, “just a large steak and French fried potatoes, and bread and butter, and a couple of pies, and a couple of dozen doughnuts. Just a light luncheon!”“When the time comes for you to die,” Case observed, with a wink at Jule, “you’ll die of starvation because of having swept the world slick and clear of food.”“Go ahead and get up your light luncheon,” Jule advised. “I think I could take a little nourishment myself.”“Oh, well, if you’re going to get up a simple luncheon like you suggest, I don’t know but I’ll take a light snack myself,” said Case, his mouth watering at the mention of pie.“How’ll you have the steak cooked?” asked Alex.“When it comes to cooking steak,” Jule cut in, “I’ve got the crowd up a blind siding with fires banked.”“That comes pretty near being slang,” Clay laughed, putting his head in at the cabin door. “I can see someone washing the supper dishes right now.”While this conversation was going on Paul Stegman, worn out by pain and exposure, was sleeping soundly. At first the boys talked in whispers, but they soon saw that it was a useless precaution, as the roaring of the storm drowned all lesser sounds.Nothing more was heard of the robbers at that time. The boys believed them to be tramps, and so put them out of their minds. How wrong they were in this the future will show.The sky cleared shortly, just as the town of Hayes came into view. There was not much of the place—which was little better than a railroad crossing.Paul still slept soundly, and the boys decided to wait until he awoke before looking over the town for a surgeon.The steak and potatoes being done to a turn, the boys fell to with appetites sharpened by the keen air.“Pie,” declared Alex, “is Nature’s best gift to man! There is green apple pie, dried apple pie, red apple pie, and pie-pie. Pie has all other food on its back with its tongue out!”“When you get to pie,” Jule cut in, “you’re always due for a eulogy. If I had the appetite for pie that you have, I’d feed it to the bears! By the way,” he exclaimed, bounding up from the table, “where is Teddy, Junior? Why isn’t he out here getting filled up?”The boy shot away like he had only a second more to live, but soon returned with the announcement that the baby bear was lying on his belly snoring “to beat the band!”“Who’s got the job of washing the supper dishes?” asked Alex, rolling back in his chair with the air of a millionaire. “Who talked the most slang to-day?”“Jule did,” declared Case.“I should say not!” denied that lad. “If I could talk slang equal to Alex, I’d give the slang dictionary cards and spades and then win out! He’s got a tongue that whirls round and round like a puppy after his tail. The idea of putting me in his class!”“In order to settle this dispute amicably,” interrupted Clay, “I propose that the boys both tackle the job. They have both been talking slang all day.”“All right!” consented Jule. “Only you don’t want to forget and leave any pie on the plates.”“If I had your mouth for pie——”Alex began, but checked himself before completing the sentence—much to Jule’s disappointment.The boys had a merry time over the dishes, and then Clay and Case went to bed, leaving Alex and Jule to watch theRamblerduring the remainder of the night. In a short time all was still on board. The storm which had driven so fiercely against the motor boat in the early part of the night had now passed over, leaving a rim of moon in the west.Directly Alex passed out of the cabin and stood on the deck. Jule was half asleep in the cabin.For a time there was only the roaring of the river to break the silence. The wind had died down to a gentle breeze, and there was the scent of spring in the air.Captain Joe came out on deck after a time and sniffed the air excitedly. In a moment he was on the railing of the boat, looking over to the west shore. Alex spoke to him, but for once his words received no attention.“What is it, Joe?” asked the boy.Captain Joe only wagged his stumpy tail.“I’ll soon find out what’s doing here!” decided Alex. “How would you like a run on shore, Captain Joe?” the boy went on. “It ain’t a very swell night for a ramble, but I feel as if my legs wouldn’t be the worse for a little stretching.”Jule was below, in the cabin, and there could be no possible harm, the boy thought, in leaving the watch to him. Therefore he took the rowboat and started for the shore, accompanied by the dog, who seemed very anxious to get to the land.The moon was setting, but the stars were out, and the boy and the dog had little difficulty in finding their way after gaining the shore. The latter, however, after hastily sniffing the air for an instant, darted away, leaving the boy alone.“That’s a dirty Irish trick, Captain Joe,” said the lad, doing his best to keep up with his four-footed rival. “I wonder what he sees in there, anyway?”The dog was now lost from sight in the underbrush which lined the shore, and Alex could only whistle in an effort to secure his return. The rustle of the dead foliage was the only sound for some time, then the dog set up fierce barking.This was very unusual for Captain Joe, who confined himself, as a rule, to a series of warning growls, and Alex quickened his steps in order that he might see what the dog was at.All was still in the thicket penetrated by the lad, however, and it was dark as a pocket, too. There was little hope of finding the dog in that smother of shadows, so Alex reluctantly turned his steps toward the boat.“I’d like to know what’s got into Captain Joe,” thought the boy as he made his way back to theRambler. “He certainly is acting queerly, and I don’t like the looks of it.”In a few minutes he was back on the shore.“It will be a good joke on the crazy pup to go away and leave him on the shore,” thought the boy. “It will teach him better manners, anyway. Now what’s that?”“That” was a low whistle, evidently a signal. It came again in an instant, louder and clearer.Alex listened again for the dog, but heard nothing indicating his presence. In a moment there was a rustling in the underbrush and then a man’s voice asked:“Are you there, Charley?”There was no answer, and the question was repeated. Still there was no answer. There was another movement in the bushes, and then a figure showed dimly in the starlight.Presently the man who had given the signal was joined by two other men. They talked in low tones for a time, but gradually their voices grew louder and Alex was able to hear what was being said.“I don’t think they succeeded in getting the motor boat,” the first speaker said.“Wonder they wouldn’t show a signal,” commented another.“It’s a sure thing they didn’t get the boat,” a third man said. “If they had, you needn’t be guessing.”“No, they would be holding a celebration now. Wonder why they failed? The job seemed an easy one to me—just to take a boat away from four boys.”There was further talk that Alex could not hear, then the men passed out of hearing.“TheRamblerseems to be in good demand,” was the boy’s comment. “If Captain Joe would show up now, I’d go on board and put the boys on their guard. Somehow that dog always runs away at the wrong time! Perhaps I’d better take another look for him. It doesn’t seem as if he could be very far away. He needs a thumping!”Alex made another trip through the underbrush, but no Captain Joe rewarded his search. At last the boy abandoned the quest and started for theRambler.“The boys will want to know what’s going on, and the dog can be found at some other time,” he reasoned. “It would serve the beast good and right to leave him in a place where he’d get hungry enough to devour his own shadow!”When Alex reached the spot where the boat had been left it was nowhere to be seen. He got away from the locality in quick time.The place was probably being watched. The men who had found the boat would know very well that it couldn’t walk there.The boy slipped back in the bushes, where he was protected from observation by a rocky elevation, and waited. Presently there was the murmur of hushed voices, and then a man’s form appeared, outlined against the sky, which was now showing the first faint traces of daylight.“Wonder if the fellow who went ashore in the boat intends to make his permanent home there?” said a voice. “He certainly stays long enough to give one that impression.”“He’s got to come back here after his boat, and we’ll be right here, waiting for him,” said another voice. “The thing that puzzles me is why the boys didn’t get the motor boat upstream.”There was silence for a time, during which the three men waited for the return of the boy, who was listening to most of their talk. Directly Alex felt a cold nose thrust into the palm of his hand, he knew that Captain Joe had returned.“You’re a bad dog, going off like this!” exclaimed the boy. “What have you to say for yourself?”The dog stretched himself at Alex’s feet and offered no explanation. The matter ended, as all such matters usually did, by the boy taking the dog’s head into his lap and pulling his stubby ears.Daylight was now coming on rapidly, and Alex realized that something must be done. The least of his troubles concerned the manner of getting back to theRambler.So far as that went, he could easily swim that short distance. But the lad had no intention of going back to the boat to be laughed at.Presently the cabin door opened and Jule made his appearance, looking as if he had had a pretty sound sleep.The watching men crouched out of sight in the bushes, and Jule stepped to the railing of theRamblerand looked into the river. The sun would be in sight in half an hour and it would be a bright day.Jule stood looking over the water for a minute and then turned and entered the cabin. Directly Clay and Case came out and the three stood at the rail talking.“I think I know what they are saying,” said Alex with a smile. “They are holding a squaw man’s convention on me. It was a rotten thing to do to go and lose that boat. Perhaps I shall be lucky enough to get it back. I wish those men wouldn’t watch this spot so closely. I half believe they suspect something.”Alex did not know that there were two parties watching the movements on board theRambler, each party consisting of three men. One was up the river perhaps eighty rods, while the other lay on the bank of the stream only a short distance from the spot where Alex was hidden.Directly Captain Joe arose and moved over toward the clump of bushes where the three men lay. The chances are that he knew of their presence, and was willing to overlook it in the interest of harmony, but one of the three launched a rock at his head as he came up.This was an insult by no means to be overlooked. In less time than it takes to tell the story, Joe had him by the throat.All three boys on board theRambler, seeing the dog struggling with superior numbers, were over the rail in an instant, striking out for the spot where the combat was in progress.At that instant the three men who had been up the river, hearing the sounds of a conflict below, emerged from the shelter of the trees and started toward the scene of action.Clay afterward declared that he thought Jule was left in charge of the boat, while Jule declared that Case was the responsible one. At any rate, while the boys were umpiring the fight between the dog and the man the three men plunged into the stream and made off with theRambler. The boys saw their loss too late. The boat was already headed downstream.CHAPTER VA FRIEND IN NEEDReleased from the jaws of the dog in a slightly damaged condition, the man who had been attacked started on a run for the spot where the rowboat had been concealed. Blood was streaming down his neck and throat as a result of the attentions of Captain Joe, and the fellow shook his fist wrathfully as he ran.The next instant he was followed by the two other men, who made many threats as to what they would do to the dog if they ever came upon him again. Captain Joe looked as if he wanted to finish the job he had begun, but was restrained by Clay.The three men were not followed by the boys, for they were too much interested in watching the men on theRambler.For once the boys were unarmed. They had leaped into the river on the spur of the moment, only half dressed, and were absolutely defenseless. They now looked at each other with faces from which every vestige of color had fled.In the meantime the three men were making their way to the spot where the rowboat had been hidden in the thicket. Almost before they could sense what was being done, they had pushed the boat into the water and were away in the wake of theRambler.“There goes our Rio Grande trip!” exclaimed Alex sorrowfully. “What can we do now?”“Just our luck!” was Case’s comment.Jule said not a word, evidently thinking that no words could do justice to the occasion.Clay remained silent for a moment, and then a smile flickered over his face as he observed:“Well, our next stunt will be to get the boat back. No game is played out until the cards are all on the table.”“Oh, you’ll get it back, all right! In a pig’s wrist.”Case was almost ready to cry with anger and vexation.“We never should have left the boat alone,” he declared.“Well, it can’t be helped now,” Clay suggested. “Who has any ideas to offer?”“I would suggest that we take turns kicking each other,” said Alex, wrinkling his nose. “We all deserve the boot good and plenty! Who’ll be the one to begin the ceremony?”“Cut that,” remarked Clay, cheerfully. “We have no one to blame but ourselves. The first thing to do is to get into a decent suit of clothes. I presume such things can be bought here.”“Yes, but we are on the wrong side of the river,” complained Case. “I would advise suicide!”Three of the boys greeted this remark with roars of laughter, but Case was not to be coaxed out of his pessimistic mood.“It’s all right for you boys to think you’ll get theRamblerback again, but I just know you won’t!” he contended. “We’ll be lucky if we catch a ride back to Chicago. Anybody in the crowd got any money? I thought not,” he added as the boys all shook their heads. “Then how’re you going to get any clothes or anything?”“Say,” cried Alex, in a moment, “do you know that we never got Paul Stegman off the boat?”“I wonder if the new proprietors will get his leg set?” Case suggested. “You bet they won’t! Pirates don’t go around doing Red Cross stunts. Not much they don’t.”“If I had your disposition,” ventured Jule, with a grin to take the sting out of the remark, “I’d take it down to the river and drown it. It’s a wonder it doesn’t keep you awake nights.”“Come, boys, we’ve got to get a move on if we ever get anywhere,” suggested Clay. “I move that we begin operations with a morning bath. Bathing suits are barred.”TheRamblerwas now out of sight around a bend in the river, and there was no sense in longer delaying the moment of departure, so Alex plunged into the stream and was soon making his way to the other side. He was closely followed by the dog, who seemed to regret his share in the incident which had cost the boys theRambler.The boys were soon assembled on the opposite shore, and it became necessary to decide upon some course of action. It was now broad daylight, and the people of the town were already astir.“It amounts to just this,” Clay declared. “There isn’t a cent in the crowd, and we are all hungry and in need of wearing apparel. There isn’t even a watch or a piece of jewelry in sight. Now what’s the answer? Shall we spend the time loafing about Hayes until our money gets here, or shall we make a touch and get into action at once?”“For Heaven’s sake,” insisted Alex, “let’s do something that will bring us something to eat. My internal machinery is about run down.”“I’ve been anticipating this,” explained Clay, “and am in a measure prepared for it.”Alex’s face brightened instantly at the thought of something to eat. Clay turned to Case with a smile.“Give me a slice of that cold shoulder you’ve been turning on every suggestion made this morning,” he said.Alex shouted and Jule joined in the demonstration until early risers who were passing paused to inspect the party.“Never again!” said Case, joining in the laughter. “From now on I’ll be the first one to roar at a desperate situation. What an ass a fellow is to be always growling!”“That’s what we all think,” said Alex.No more was said on the subject, and for a time Case really did better.“We are attracting considerable attention here,” Jule remarked, glancing about at the little crowd which had already assembled. “Perhaps we would better select some less conspicuous place for our deliberations.”“Is there anything to eat there?” Alex asked, with a wrinkle in his nose which made his face look very comical. “My stomach feels like the Mammoth Cave.”Before the boys could put their plan into execution and seek a more secluded place in which to find a way out of their trouble Alex caught Clay by the arm and pointed up the street.“Do you see anyone you know up there?” he demanded. “That man looks like something to eat. But how did he make the distance in the storm?”The boys looked in the direction indicated by the pointing finger and saw Rube Stagg making for them with a broad grin on his homely face.“Say,” said Alex, advancing to meet him, “if you’re down here looking for brindle steers, it falls to me to tell you that there’s hot a thing stirring.”Rube walked up to the boys and immediately doubled up with laughter at the figure they cut. All were sopping wet, and Clay, Case and Jule were only half dressed.“They got your boat, did they?” he asked, after he had his laugh out. “And where are the injured lad and the baby bear?”“Gone down the river with the boat,” was the reply.“Too bad, too bad!” mused Rube. “I see,” he added, whimsically, “that you saved the bulldog.”As if in recognition of the mention, Captain Joe advanced to Rube’s side and laid a wet nose in his hand.The dog seemed to know that something was amiss, but could not tell what it was. TheRamblerwas not in sight, and he could not understand that.“Look here, man,” Alex remarked, with a prodigious grin, “have you got any mazuma? I refer to coin of the realm, skads, you know.”“The men who robbed you of your boat also got your money, did they?” and Rube went into another paroxysm of laughter.“I don’t see anything funny about the situation,” frowned Case. “Here we are, half naked in the street, with Paul Stegman, who may be dying for want of medical attention, away on the river, no one knows where. I call it rotten!”“I ask your pardon, young feller,” came the quick answer, “but there’s no harm in a laugh where no harm is intended. Now, what was it this freckle-faced kid said about money?”“Oh, yes, money! I didn’t know as there was any left in the world. Have you really got some?”And the boy regarded Rube with a stare of disbelief.“I had good luck selling my oxen, and therefore am moderately well hooked up. How much do you want, son?”By way of showing that he was both willing and able to supply all their present needs, Rube extracted a wad of bank notes from his pocket that would have, in the language of Alex, “choked a cow.”“Whoop-ee!” shouted that young man. “Lead me to the fodder! Lead me to it!”“First,” began Clay, “tell us whether we can send a message from this place. We’ve got to catch theRambler, you know.”The man took a ponderous silver watch from his pocket and consulted it before replying.“The telegraph office will open in exactly forty minutes,” he said, snapping it shut. “Do we eat first? You see,” he continued, “I was broken of my rest last night, and it always makes me hungry to lie awake.”“There’s a place down the street that looks like something to eat,” and Alex shot ahead to investigate.Several men who had been following the little party now came forward.“Say, stranger,” a man who appeared to be the leader said, “if you’ll step aside and answer a few questions, I’ll take it as a favor on your part. A bank was robbed of $100,000 by a man answering your description—red head and all. The robbery was pulled off Monday night.”CHAPTER VIALEX GETS A SQUARE MEAL“And you think I turned the trick?” asked Rube.“I don’t think anything about it,” was the answer, in an unpleasant tone of voice. “I just asked you to step aside for a minute so I could find out. If you get gay, I’ll have to put the irons on you—just for luck.”“See here, stranger, if you ever get irons on me, you’ll have to put up a fight for it,” Rube remarked with a scowl. “And,” he continued, “I may as well tell you right now that I’m not here to answer any fool questions.”Both men drew revolvers at the same instant, and would have used them had Clay not stepped in between them.“There goes my beefsteak,” Alex whispered to Jule. “Our good thing will be in the village lockup in about half a second.”“Just our luck!” declared Case.“Gentlemen,” began Clay, but he was stopped by a man who came pushing his way through the crowd impetuously.“None of that, gentlemen,” he drawled. “If I want any shooting done, I’ll do it myself. What seems to be the trouble?”“I don’t see where you get cards in this game,” sneered a bystander.“I can tell you where this man was last night,” put in Alex, who was resolved not to lose his steak. “He was up the river about thirty miles helping four boys load a wounded boy on a motor boat.”“What of that?” demanded the spokesman of the party. “Last night wasn’t Monday night.”“That’s so,” said Alex, looking very much ashamed, “it was Tuesday night. Pardon me.”“Where’s the wounded boy and the motor boat?” inquired a man who stood in the crowd.“Yes, where be they?” asked another. “I fail to see any motor boat, or boat of any kind, with them. In fact, I know that they came swimming up to the landing like a lot of dock rats. I’m in favor of locking the whole bunch up.”“Do it, Mr. Officer,” urged several men in the crowd.The constable stepped forward as if to make the arrest, but the man who had spoken against any shooting, offering to do it himself, if any was done, stepped in front of him.He was an alert looking fellow, with a businesslike air which seemed to proclaim that he would be as good as his word.“You heard what I said about doing the shooting myself if any was started,” he said, with a drawl. “I’m from Missouri and you’ve got to show me.”“What kind of a bluff is this, anyway?” demanded the constable, but he put up his weapon, as if he had decided not to call the bluff at that time.“I’m looking for that steak,” suggested Alex, wrinkling his nose. “When does it come?”“I’m Buck Eldred,” announced the man with a businesslike air, “and I know this man,” pointing to the giant of a man, with a smile on a clean-cut face, “just as well as if I had helped wheel the dirt to make him. Anybody in the crowd that knows Buck Eldred?”No one seemed to know Buck Eldred, and the chances for a battle seemed very good. At that moment, however, an interruption took place which put an entirely different face on the incident.A posse of officers came in from the East with the man who had robbed the bank in custody.Instantly there was a friendly sentiment, and the men who had denounced the boys in savage terms could not do enough for them.To all such offers, however, the boys turned deaf ears.“We might have had a load of beefsteak by now,” said Alex, “that a dog couldn’t bite through. Just wait until I get to the table and watch my motions.”“You’ll be there directly,” said Rube, with a chuckle. “I feel as if I could enjoy a snack myself.”The tavern sought by the men seemed to be the best in the town, but that was not saying much. However, it was neat and clean, and the steaks were soon sizzling over the coals.“Will you tell me how you got down the river so soon?” Clay asked as soon as the first edge was off the appetites. “We leave the Point, get here in time to have our boat stolen, and then we run across you. How did you make it? We haven’t been here over two hours, and you show up like a Christmas present—all the more welcome because unexpected.”“Now, son, just remember this: It ain’t all the questions that are asked that are answered. What you don’t find out you can’t repeat. And there you are.”“I didn’t mean to be inquisitive,” answered Clay, with a flush of vexation. “It is none of my business how you got here, so long as you are here.”“Now don’t misunderstand me,” continued Rube, in an apologetic tone, which seemed to be something new for him. “There’s reasons for keeping my mouth closed tighter’n a drum. Enough that I got here in time to help you out with a little cash, which you may return at any time most convenient.”“Thank you for the loan,” replied Clay. “I hope to return it almost immediately—just as soon, in fact, as we hear from Chicago.”No more was said on the subject at that time. The boys were busy plying their knives and forks, and, the meal over, there was the visit to the telegraph office and then the search for theRamblerwas begun.To tell the truth, the fate of Paul Stegman troubled the lads not a little. They had no idea what disposition the robbers would make of him. They might toss him overboard, and they might leave him to die of his wounds. It would be just as the mood seized them.There was no news of theRamblerat first. The boys were becoming discouraged when a telegram from a point thirty miles down the river gave them courage.A boat answering the description of theRamblerwas anchored off the mouth of a small creek which ran into the Rio Grande just below the Mexican line.“Of course it’s theRambler!” shouted Case. “No other boat looks like theRambler. Wonder what’s been going on since we left the boat? Seems like a week.”“How are we going to get to her?” inquired Jule. “Thirty miles is a long distance—when you have to swim.”“And the robbers may be up and away long before we are anywhere near them,” Alex cut in. “Is there a boat of any kind that we might borrow, beg or steal in the town?”“There ought to be,” Clay contributed hopefully. “This is a river town, and there ought to be plenty of boats in sight.”“Can we get one that will speed up?” asked Case.“That’s to be found out,” said Clay.“I hope we find Paul Stegman all right,” Case said, rather dubiously. “It would be just like the robbers to pitch him overboard. Their time of reckoning will come.”A search of the town revealed nothing available in the boat line. There were rowboats and skiffs in plenty, but not a thing in the line of a motor boat.“We’ve just got to get down to the Mexican line, and get there in jig time,” declared Alex. “The baby bear needs my care.”“That’s poetry,” Jule announced. “Baby bear needs my care. It scans, too. First thing you know, Alex, you’ll be selling your verses at the rate of a dollar a yard.”Alex grinned, but made no reply.“I wonder where Rube and Buck Eldred took themselves off to?” asked Case in a moment. “They seem to have mysteriously disappeared.”“Here they come now!” cried Jule.The two men came from the direction of the river, only higher up than the boys had penetrated. They now approached the lads with their faces wreathed in smiles.“Got a boat, boys?” Buck asked.“Not so you could notice it,” Alex answered.“See here, kids,” Buck went on, “Rube here has been telling me something of your story, and we’ve decided to make common cause against the pirates. How will that suit you?”“Fine!” cried Alex.The other boys were equally frank in their pleasure at the announcement, and Buck went on.“Now, we’ve got a little motor boat down the river which——”The man got no farther than that.The boys set up such a hubbub that it was impossible to hear a thing. They ended by giving three cheers and a tiger for Rube and Buck.“This is great!” exclaimed Clay.“Great is no name for it!” Alex declared. “Say, fellows, in order to celebrate this event properly, we ought to have another beefsteak. This good news makes me hungry.”“I’d like to see something that wouldn’t make you want to eat. You certainly have a whale of an appetite,” was Clay’s comment.“I know what I’d like right now,” Alex went on, regardless of the laughter of Buck and Rube, “and that is a ’possum pie. I can see myself on board theRambler, feasting on one right now.”“That’s all right, but you’re not on board theRambleryet,” Case complained. “We’re a long ways from it, worse luck!”“That reminds me that I haven’t had anything to eat in about two hours,” said Rube, with a grin, “and that it is about time we met at the festive board.”“But how are you going to get a meal cooked in the middle of the forenoon?” asked Buck. “It strikes me that the cooks will be busy at this time. Better wait until noon.”“Not much,” laughed Alex, with a prodigious wrinkling of his nose. “Not when I’ve got a man back of me that stands six feet and a half in his stocking feet!”“Go to it,” said Clay, with a grin. “If this thing keeps on you’ll swell up and burst.”“I guess I’ll take a chance on bursting myself,” announced Jule. “Two bust-ups won’t make any more noise than one, and no more mess, either.” The three started away toward the tavern, while the others set out to walk to the motor boat, which was some distance away.“Tell you what I think,” Buck observed, as they passed a clothing store where about everything was sold from handkerchiefs to threshing machines, “you boys have been walking the street undressed about long enough. I’ll buy you good suits if you’ll come inside. You won’t make any hit with the natives by going around in that rig.”Clay looked down at his scanty apparel and laughed. The suit did look inappropriate for use on the street.“All right,” said the boy. “If you want to take chances on losing your investment, go ahead.”“How do you know that you’ll ever get the money back?” asked Case. “Perhaps we only borrowed theRamblerand turned it over to the owners here.”“You didn’t borrow the faces you have, did you?” answered Buck, with a smile. “If you ever set out to be robbers, you’ve got to get new faces.”“You may be mistaken in regard to the faces,” replied Clay. “You can never tell by the looks of a porcupine how far he can throw his quills. What is that man looking at?”He certainly was as evil-faced a fellow as one could come upon in a day’s walk.CHAPTER VIISTOLEN—A MOTOR BOAT“I’ve seen that face before, unless I am much mistaken,” was the reply. “It must be Mad Rowell, a person who just thinks he’s the toughest man that ever came down the pike.”The boys were in the store by this time with a meager supply of clothing in front of them. Mad Rowell was evidently looking for trouble. He kept his evil eyes fixed upon the party in an effort to stare them out of countenance.“This looks like a mix-up with the fellow,” whispered Case. “I wish I had my gun with me.”“No need of a gun, son,” was the reply. “You wouldn’t get a chance to use it if you had it,” with a quick motion toward a breast pocket.“Hands up!”The command was given in the usual tone, but Mad Rowell obeyed instantly. His hand, already bringing a weapon from his pocket, dropped to his side, the weapon clattering to the floor.By this time the store was in confusion. Customers were getting out of range in any way they could.They were hiding under counters, and rushing to the door in a panic which threatened to depopulate the place of business.“Leave the gun where it is,” came the voice of Buck.His tone was low and musical, but there was a glitter in his smiling eyes which commanded obedience.The fellow stood sullenly awaiting the next move.“I ought to fill you full of lead,” went on the voice, “but I can’t find it in my heart to shoot such a low-down coyote as you. Got another gun on you?”The man shook his head.“I’ll find that out for myself, I reckon. Cattle like you ain’t to be trusted.”When the search had progressed as far as the pistol pocket a wicked looking knife was discovered.“You cur!” said Buck. “I make you a present of your life, and this is the way I’m paid.”The blow which followed the remark had nothing to break its force. Mad Rowell was lifted clear of the floor by the force of it, whirled around a couple of times, and fell unconscious to the top of a heap of green wood.Then Buck turned to the counter and proceeded with his bargaining as if nothing had occurred. Gradually the customers returned to the store, but not until Buck and the boys had made their purchases and left the store was there any comment whatever.Then opinions, both for and against the unknown man who had dealt with the man known as Mad Rowell so summarily were heard.“Served him good and right,” said the storekeeper, lifting the fallen tough in his arms and throwing him out of doors. “The fellow has run this town too long already.”And that was the general sentiment, though Rowell had his friends too.Clay and Case, clothed in new suits, proceeded on their way to where the motor boat had been secreted.“Tell you what,” Buck suggested, “I think some of us had better remain on the spot, in case prowlers should take a fancy to theEsmeralda. Nice name, eh? Named for an old sweetheart.”“Who’ll be the one to stay?” asked Clay, looking keenly at his chum. “You know the money was ordered in my name from Chicago, and no one else can receipt.”“That puts it up to me, I take it,” Case replied. “Have you any idea when the other boys will be along?”“When Alex gets full to the neck,” replied Clay. “If you want to see an eating contest that is a corker, just get Alex and Jule pitted against each other.”Alex seemed to be a long time getting “full to the neck,” and Buck and Clay finally left for the town, leaving Case to watch the boat.When they reached the tavern there seemed to be nothing unusual going on. There were no people standing about, and everything appeared normal and in place.“Now, I wonder where the boys and Rube are?” Clay said. “They ought to be here, making a noise!”The two found no one in the front of the house, so they made bold to invade the kitchen. Before they reached that apartment, however, they heard Alex’s voice. They stopped and listened.“And you take a fat ’possum and fix it up for the pan,” he was saying, “and when you’ve done that, take strips of fat pork and lay them lengthwise through the dressing. Oh, yes, about the dressing! I didn’t tell you how to fix that, did I?”Clay was so full of laugh that he exploded right there.“Tell the cook about the sweet potatoes!” he reared, half choking with laughter. “Perhaps you’ll make a pretty good cook of him before we have to leave the town.”Alex opened the kitchen door and looked out.“Oh, you!” he said with a broad grin.Then he caught sight of the new suit worn by Clay and looked toward Jule with a wrinkling of the nose.“Don’t you wish you’d been present when they were passing ’em around?” he said. “Now go away and let me continue my lesson to the cook. He got up a peach of a steak for us, and I’m giving him a few instructions to guide him in future years. Go away, now, and leave us alone. Skedaddle!”The cook was black as the ace of spades, and was evidently a native of the South. He stood by the cook stove with a broad grin on his face. If he knew a lot about roasting ’possums that Alex had never heard of, he said not a word about it!Rube sat in the corner of the room holding his sides.“You sure take the whole bakery!” was his comment.“Perhaps you don’t think I can cook a ’possum?” Alex announced. “Well, just you bring on your ’possum, and I’ll show you that I can! The idea!”This was greeted with a burst of laughter.“All right!” declared Alex, “just you bring on your ’possum! I’ll show you a thing about cooking the bird!”“There isn’t a ’possum within a thousand miles!” roared Buck.“Now, don’t yo’ make too sho’ o’ dat!” grinned the cook. “Yo’ sho’ got to show me!”The cook went to a woodshed just outside the door and produced about the fattest ’possum ever seen.Immediately there was commotion in that little kitchen.Alex bounced up and down like a rubber ball, while Jule showed his excitement by rolling over and over on the floor.“The cook called your bluff!” shouted Buck.“Think that was a bluff?” asked Alex.The lad took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves.“I’m going to make good right now!” he explained.The cook looked nervous about turning the ’possum over to Alex. He finally made up his mind that the boy couldn’t make much of a failure of the cookery with him there looking on, so he permitted him to go ahead. Buck looked dubious and Rube only laughed.“Now you fellows get out of the kitchen!” ordered Alex. “How do you think I can cook this ’possum with you standing around? When the meal is ready to serve, I’ll tell you.”“You don’t think of eating again, do you?” asked Clay.“Do you think I’m going to miss that ’possum? Not much, I ain’t! No, sir, that ’possum’s going to be cooked, and cooked right! Then it’ll be eaten right!”The two boys left the kitchen, accompanied by Buck and Rube, leaving Alex and the cook to do business with the ’possum.After leaving the tavern Clay and Jule went to the railroad station, hoping to find a money order there. They were doubly disappointed. Not only was there no money for them, but that was not a money-order office.“Now what?” asked Jule as they turned away from the little station house. “This seems to be one of our lucky trips. Anything else likely to happen?”“Tell you what I’d do if I was in your place,” advised Rube. “I’d let the consarned money go and borrow enough to see me through to El Paso. That’s the way I look at it.”“That’s what you’d better do,” said Buck.“Guess we’ll be obliged to,” Clay said in a disgusted tone.“Why didn’t the clerk tell us that it wasn’t a money-order office at first?” demanded Jule.“Perhaps he didn’t know,” laughed Buck. “There’s sometimes a heap o’ ignorance connected with these way stations.”“I should say so!” agreed Jule.“Now who shall we borrow of?” asked Clay.By way of an answer Rube took the roll of bank notes from his pocket and began stripping them off.“How much did you say you wanted?” he asked. “Better take enough for emergencies while you have the chance. I may be broke flat as a flounder by to-morrow.”“This will give us a chance to get away at once,” said Clay, placing the money in his pocket. “If Alex was here, we could be on our way immediately.”Jule broke into a laugh at the idea of prying Alex away from that ’possum.“You’ll not do it,” he announced, “as long as there is a bone left. Alex is some feeder.”“There’s no hurry,” Buck said, looking at his watch. “The men who stole the boat will lie in hiding all day and go on at night. They will be on the lookout for officers, and will do a lot of skulking. They may even abandon the boat for a time, but they will come back to it.”“And they may put up a fight,” Jule argued. “For one, I’d like nothing better than taking a shot at them.”“They won’t do much in the fighting line,” Buck contended. “It all depends on how many of us there are. There seems to be four of them and they won’t stand for more than that in the attacking party. You see,” he added, “there’s the Colorado penitentiary in sight, and they’ll make a desperate run to keep out of it.”“But they may fight,” suggested Clay.“Oh, of course,” answered Buck, “but we’ll be on the spot, ready and waiting for them.”It seemed to the waiting boys that there never was such a long day. Alex, of course, had his ’possum to attend to.When served at dinner the ’possum was declared to be the best ever. Rich and juicy, and done to a turn, it left nothing to be desired.The cook declared on his word of honor he had not even made a suggestion regarding the cooking of the dainty.“Ah sure don’t need to,” he insisted, “for dat lad he know all there is to know ’bout cookin’ ’possum! ’Deed he do!”This endorsement was music to Alex’s ears, and he tried hard to accept it modestly. His three chums knew, of course, his skill in the culinary line, but there were Rube and Buck who had to be shown.Case had been relieved of his watch at the boat in order that he might join the boys at dinner, and immediately after the meal was served started away to resume his guardianship, accompanied by Jule.Alex and Clay remained with Rube and Buck, who had provisions to buy. They did not know how long the chase might be, and were determined to be prepared for it.After making their purchases they set out for the motor boat, but were met halfway by Case and Jule with the statement that the boat had been stolen while the ’possum was being discussed.
CHAPTER IV
A NIGHT ON SHORE
The boys had a hard time getting on board theRambler, but it was accomplished at last, and the sufferer was soon in one of the bunks. Then the boat was headed downstream.
Mr. Stagg was left standing on the river bank in the rain. The boys invited him on board, but he explained that he was determined to “get that pesky steer before he went home.”
“It’s a wild night to be hunting for cattle,” Clay suggested as the boat was got under way, “but we all hope you’ll find it.”
“Say,” said Alex, as the boat started downstream, “do you believe the story that man told?”
“Seems like an honest fellow,” was Jule’s reply, “but one can never tell. To tell the truth, he looked to me more like an outlaw than any fellow we caught on board.”
“Pretty fierce night to be hunting cattle,” commented Alex, and the discussion was dropped.
“How far is it to the Hayes Junction?” asked Case. “We can’t get a surgeon to set that broken leg until we get there, and perhaps not then. I think I’ll study surgery, just to be ready for any emergency, when I go to college,” added the boy.
“We’ve got quite a distance to travel before we reach Hayes, and I suggest that we put in the time eating,” said Alex. “I wouldn’t want to get a regular meal,” he continued, “just a large steak and French fried potatoes, and bread and butter, and a couple of pies, and a couple of dozen doughnuts. Just a light luncheon!”
“When the time comes for you to die,” Case observed, with a wink at Jule, “you’ll die of starvation because of having swept the world slick and clear of food.”
“Go ahead and get up your light luncheon,” Jule advised. “I think I could take a little nourishment myself.”
“Oh, well, if you’re going to get up a simple luncheon like you suggest, I don’t know but I’ll take a light snack myself,” said Case, his mouth watering at the mention of pie.
“How’ll you have the steak cooked?” asked Alex.
“When it comes to cooking steak,” Jule cut in, “I’ve got the crowd up a blind siding with fires banked.”
“That comes pretty near being slang,” Clay laughed, putting his head in at the cabin door. “I can see someone washing the supper dishes right now.”
While this conversation was going on Paul Stegman, worn out by pain and exposure, was sleeping soundly. At first the boys talked in whispers, but they soon saw that it was a useless precaution, as the roaring of the storm drowned all lesser sounds.
Nothing more was heard of the robbers at that time. The boys believed them to be tramps, and so put them out of their minds. How wrong they were in this the future will show.
The sky cleared shortly, just as the town of Hayes came into view. There was not much of the place—which was little better than a railroad crossing.
Paul still slept soundly, and the boys decided to wait until he awoke before looking over the town for a surgeon.
The steak and potatoes being done to a turn, the boys fell to with appetites sharpened by the keen air.
“Pie,” declared Alex, “is Nature’s best gift to man! There is green apple pie, dried apple pie, red apple pie, and pie-pie. Pie has all other food on its back with its tongue out!”
“When you get to pie,” Jule cut in, “you’re always due for a eulogy. If I had the appetite for pie that you have, I’d feed it to the bears! By the way,” he exclaimed, bounding up from the table, “where is Teddy, Junior? Why isn’t he out here getting filled up?”
The boy shot away like he had only a second more to live, but soon returned with the announcement that the baby bear was lying on his belly snoring “to beat the band!”
“Who’s got the job of washing the supper dishes?” asked Alex, rolling back in his chair with the air of a millionaire. “Who talked the most slang to-day?”
“Jule did,” declared Case.
“I should say not!” denied that lad. “If I could talk slang equal to Alex, I’d give the slang dictionary cards and spades and then win out! He’s got a tongue that whirls round and round like a puppy after his tail. The idea of putting me in his class!”
“In order to settle this dispute amicably,” interrupted Clay, “I propose that the boys both tackle the job. They have both been talking slang all day.”
“All right!” consented Jule. “Only you don’t want to forget and leave any pie on the plates.”
“If I had your mouth for pie——”
Alex began, but checked himself before completing the sentence—much to Jule’s disappointment.
The boys had a merry time over the dishes, and then Clay and Case went to bed, leaving Alex and Jule to watch theRamblerduring the remainder of the night. In a short time all was still on board. The storm which had driven so fiercely against the motor boat in the early part of the night had now passed over, leaving a rim of moon in the west.
Directly Alex passed out of the cabin and stood on the deck. Jule was half asleep in the cabin.
For a time there was only the roaring of the river to break the silence. The wind had died down to a gentle breeze, and there was the scent of spring in the air.
Captain Joe came out on deck after a time and sniffed the air excitedly. In a moment he was on the railing of the boat, looking over to the west shore. Alex spoke to him, but for once his words received no attention.
“What is it, Joe?” asked the boy.
Captain Joe only wagged his stumpy tail.
“I’ll soon find out what’s doing here!” decided Alex. “How would you like a run on shore, Captain Joe?” the boy went on. “It ain’t a very swell night for a ramble, but I feel as if my legs wouldn’t be the worse for a little stretching.”
Jule was below, in the cabin, and there could be no possible harm, the boy thought, in leaving the watch to him. Therefore he took the rowboat and started for the shore, accompanied by the dog, who seemed very anxious to get to the land.
The moon was setting, but the stars were out, and the boy and the dog had little difficulty in finding their way after gaining the shore. The latter, however, after hastily sniffing the air for an instant, darted away, leaving the boy alone.
“That’s a dirty Irish trick, Captain Joe,” said the lad, doing his best to keep up with his four-footed rival. “I wonder what he sees in there, anyway?”
The dog was now lost from sight in the underbrush which lined the shore, and Alex could only whistle in an effort to secure his return. The rustle of the dead foliage was the only sound for some time, then the dog set up fierce barking.
This was very unusual for Captain Joe, who confined himself, as a rule, to a series of warning growls, and Alex quickened his steps in order that he might see what the dog was at.
All was still in the thicket penetrated by the lad, however, and it was dark as a pocket, too. There was little hope of finding the dog in that smother of shadows, so Alex reluctantly turned his steps toward the boat.
“I’d like to know what’s got into Captain Joe,” thought the boy as he made his way back to theRambler. “He certainly is acting queerly, and I don’t like the looks of it.”
In a few minutes he was back on the shore.
“It will be a good joke on the crazy pup to go away and leave him on the shore,” thought the boy. “It will teach him better manners, anyway. Now what’s that?”
“That” was a low whistle, evidently a signal. It came again in an instant, louder and clearer.
Alex listened again for the dog, but heard nothing indicating his presence. In a moment there was a rustling in the underbrush and then a man’s voice asked:
“Are you there, Charley?”
There was no answer, and the question was repeated. Still there was no answer. There was another movement in the bushes, and then a figure showed dimly in the starlight.
Presently the man who had given the signal was joined by two other men. They talked in low tones for a time, but gradually their voices grew louder and Alex was able to hear what was being said.
“I don’t think they succeeded in getting the motor boat,” the first speaker said.
“Wonder they wouldn’t show a signal,” commented another.
“It’s a sure thing they didn’t get the boat,” a third man said. “If they had, you needn’t be guessing.”
“No, they would be holding a celebration now. Wonder why they failed? The job seemed an easy one to me—just to take a boat away from four boys.”
There was further talk that Alex could not hear, then the men passed out of hearing.
“TheRamblerseems to be in good demand,” was the boy’s comment. “If Captain Joe would show up now, I’d go on board and put the boys on their guard. Somehow that dog always runs away at the wrong time! Perhaps I’d better take another look for him. It doesn’t seem as if he could be very far away. He needs a thumping!”
Alex made another trip through the underbrush, but no Captain Joe rewarded his search. At last the boy abandoned the quest and started for theRambler.
“The boys will want to know what’s going on, and the dog can be found at some other time,” he reasoned. “It would serve the beast good and right to leave him in a place where he’d get hungry enough to devour his own shadow!”
When Alex reached the spot where the boat had been left it was nowhere to be seen. He got away from the locality in quick time.
The place was probably being watched. The men who had found the boat would know very well that it couldn’t walk there.
The boy slipped back in the bushes, where he was protected from observation by a rocky elevation, and waited. Presently there was the murmur of hushed voices, and then a man’s form appeared, outlined against the sky, which was now showing the first faint traces of daylight.
“Wonder if the fellow who went ashore in the boat intends to make his permanent home there?” said a voice. “He certainly stays long enough to give one that impression.”
“He’s got to come back here after his boat, and we’ll be right here, waiting for him,” said another voice. “The thing that puzzles me is why the boys didn’t get the motor boat upstream.”
There was silence for a time, during which the three men waited for the return of the boy, who was listening to most of their talk. Directly Alex felt a cold nose thrust into the palm of his hand, he knew that Captain Joe had returned.
“You’re a bad dog, going off like this!” exclaimed the boy. “What have you to say for yourself?”
The dog stretched himself at Alex’s feet and offered no explanation. The matter ended, as all such matters usually did, by the boy taking the dog’s head into his lap and pulling his stubby ears.
Daylight was now coming on rapidly, and Alex realized that something must be done. The least of his troubles concerned the manner of getting back to theRambler.
So far as that went, he could easily swim that short distance. But the lad had no intention of going back to the boat to be laughed at.
Presently the cabin door opened and Jule made his appearance, looking as if he had had a pretty sound sleep.
The watching men crouched out of sight in the bushes, and Jule stepped to the railing of theRamblerand looked into the river. The sun would be in sight in half an hour and it would be a bright day.
Jule stood looking over the water for a minute and then turned and entered the cabin. Directly Clay and Case came out and the three stood at the rail talking.
“I think I know what they are saying,” said Alex with a smile. “They are holding a squaw man’s convention on me. It was a rotten thing to do to go and lose that boat. Perhaps I shall be lucky enough to get it back. I wish those men wouldn’t watch this spot so closely. I half believe they suspect something.”
Alex did not know that there were two parties watching the movements on board theRambler, each party consisting of three men. One was up the river perhaps eighty rods, while the other lay on the bank of the stream only a short distance from the spot where Alex was hidden.
Directly Captain Joe arose and moved over toward the clump of bushes where the three men lay. The chances are that he knew of their presence, and was willing to overlook it in the interest of harmony, but one of the three launched a rock at his head as he came up.
This was an insult by no means to be overlooked. In less time than it takes to tell the story, Joe had him by the throat.
All three boys on board theRambler, seeing the dog struggling with superior numbers, were over the rail in an instant, striking out for the spot where the combat was in progress.
At that instant the three men who had been up the river, hearing the sounds of a conflict below, emerged from the shelter of the trees and started toward the scene of action.
Clay afterward declared that he thought Jule was left in charge of the boat, while Jule declared that Case was the responsible one. At any rate, while the boys were umpiring the fight between the dog and the man the three men plunged into the stream and made off with theRambler. The boys saw their loss too late. The boat was already headed downstream.
CHAPTER V
A FRIEND IN NEED
Released from the jaws of the dog in a slightly damaged condition, the man who had been attacked started on a run for the spot where the rowboat had been concealed. Blood was streaming down his neck and throat as a result of the attentions of Captain Joe, and the fellow shook his fist wrathfully as he ran.
The next instant he was followed by the two other men, who made many threats as to what they would do to the dog if they ever came upon him again. Captain Joe looked as if he wanted to finish the job he had begun, but was restrained by Clay.
The three men were not followed by the boys, for they were too much interested in watching the men on theRambler.
For once the boys were unarmed. They had leaped into the river on the spur of the moment, only half dressed, and were absolutely defenseless. They now looked at each other with faces from which every vestige of color had fled.
In the meantime the three men were making their way to the spot where the rowboat had been hidden in the thicket. Almost before they could sense what was being done, they had pushed the boat into the water and were away in the wake of theRambler.
“There goes our Rio Grande trip!” exclaimed Alex sorrowfully. “What can we do now?”
“Just our luck!” was Case’s comment.
Jule said not a word, evidently thinking that no words could do justice to the occasion.
Clay remained silent for a moment, and then a smile flickered over his face as he observed:
“Well, our next stunt will be to get the boat back. No game is played out until the cards are all on the table.”
“Oh, you’ll get it back, all right! In a pig’s wrist.”
Case was almost ready to cry with anger and vexation.
“We never should have left the boat alone,” he declared.
“Well, it can’t be helped now,” Clay suggested. “Who has any ideas to offer?”
“I would suggest that we take turns kicking each other,” said Alex, wrinkling his nose. “We all deserve the boot good and plenty! Who’ll be the one to begin the ceremony?”
“Cut that,” remarked Clay, cheerfully. “We have no one to blame but ourselves. The first thing to do is to get into a decent suit of clothes. I presume such things can be bought here.”
“Yes, but we are on the wrong side of the river,” complained Case. “I would advise suicide!”
Three of the boys greeted this remark with roars of laughter, but Case was not to be coaxed out of his pessimistic mood.
“It’s all right for you boys to think you’ll get theRamblerback again, but I just know you won’t!” he contended. “We’ll be lucky if we catch a ride back to Chicago. Anybody in the crowd got any money? I thought not,” he added as the boys all shook their heads. “Then how’re you going to get any clothes or anything?”
“Say,” cried Alex, in a moment, “do you know that we never got Paul Stegman off the boat?”
“I wonder if the new proprietors will get his leg set?” Case suggested. “You bet they won’t! Pirates don’t go around doing Red Cross stunts. Not much they don’t.”
“If I had your disposition,” ventured Jule, with a grin to take the sting out of the remark, “I’d take it down to the river and drown it. It’s a wonder it doesn’t keep you awake nights.”
“Come, boys, we’ve got to get a move on if we ever get anywhere,” suggested Clay. “I move that we begin operations with a morning bath. Bathing suits are barred.”
TheRamblerwas now out of sight around a bend in the river, and there was no sense in longer delaying the moment of departure, so Alex plunged into the stream and was soon making his way to the other side. He was closely followed by the dog, who seemed to regret his share in the incident which had cost the boys theRambler.
The boys were soon assembled on the opposite shore, and it became necessary to decide upon some course of action. It was now broad daylight, and the people of the town were already astir.
“It amounts to just this,” Clay declared. “There isn’t a cent in the crowd, and we are all hungry and in need of wearing apparel. There isn’t even a watch or a piece of jewelry in sight. Now what’s the answer? Shall we spend the time loafing about Hayes until our money gets here, or shall we make a touch and get into action at once?”
“For Heaven’s sake,” insisted Alex, “let’s do something that will bring us something to eat. My internal machinery is about run down.”
“I’ve been anticipating this,” explained Clay, “and am in a measure prepared for it.”
Alex’s face brightened instantly at the thought of something to eat. Clay turned to Case with a smile.
“Give me a slice of that cold shoulder you’ve been turning on every suggestion made this morning,” he said.
Alex shouted and Jule joined in the demonstration until early risers who were passing paused to inspect the party.
“Never again!” said Case, joining in the laughter. “From now on I’ll be the first one to roar at a desperate situation. What an ass a fellow is to be always growling!”
“That’s what we all think,” said Alex.
No more was said on the subject, and for a time Case really did better.
“We are attracting considerable attention here,” Jule remarked, glancing about at the little crowd which had already assembled. “Perhaps we would better select some less conspicuous place for our deliberations.”
“Is there anything to eat there?” Alex asked, with a wrinkle in his nose which made his face look very comical. “My stomach feels like the Mammoth Cave.”
Before the boys could put their plan into execution and seek a more secluded place in which to find a way out of their trouble Alex caught Clay by the arm and pointed up the street.
“Do you see anyone you know up there?” he demanded. “That man looks like something to eat. But how did he make the distance in the storm?”
The boys looked in the direction indicated by the pointing finger and saw Rube Stagg making for them with a broad grin on his homely face.
“Say,” said Alex, advancing to meet him, “if you’re down here looking for brindle steers, it falls to me to tell you that there’s hot a thing stirring.”
Rube walked up to the boys and immediately doubled up with laughter at the figure they cut. All were sopping wet, and Clay, Case and Jule were only half dressed.
“They got your boat, did they?” he asked, after he had his laugh out. “And where are the injured lad and the baby bear?”
“Gone down the river with the boat,” was the reply.
“Too bad, too bad!” mused Rube. “I see,” he added, whimsically, “that you saved the bulldog.”
As if in recognition of the mention, Captain Joe advanced to Rube’s side and laid a wet nose in his hand.
The dog seemed to know that something was amiss, but could not tell what it was. TheRamblerwas not in sight, and he could not understand that.
“Look here, man,” Alex remarked, with a prodigious grin, “have you got any mazuma? I refer to coin of the realm, skads, you know.”
“The men who robbed you of your boat also got your money, did they?” and Rube went into another paroxysm of laughter.
“I don’t see anything funny about the situation,” frowned Case. “Here we are, half naked in the street, with Paul Stegman, who may be dying for want of medical attention, away on the river, no one knows where. I call it rotten!”
“I ask your pardon, young feller,” came the quick answer, “but there’s no harm in a laugh where no harm is intended. Now, what was it this freckle-faced kid said about money?”
“Oh, yes, money! I didn’t know as there was any left in the world. Have you really got some?”
And the boy regarded Rube with a stare of disbelief.
“I had good luck selling my oxen, and therefore am moderately well hooked up. How much do you want, son?”
By way of showing that he was both willing and able to supply all their present needs, Rube extracted a wad of bank notes from his pocket that would have, in the language of Alex, “choked a cow.”
“Whoop-ee!” shouted that young man. “Lead me to the fodder! Lead me to it!”
“First,” began Clay, “tell us whether we can send a message from this place. We’ve got to catch theRambler, you know.”
The man took a ponderous silver watch from his pocket and consulted it before replying.
“The telegraph office will open in exactly forty minutes,” he said, snapping it shut. “Do we eat first? You see,” he continued, “I was broken of my rest last night, and it always makes me hungry to lie awake.”
“There’s a place down the street that looks like something to eat,” and Alex shot ahead to investigate.
Several men who had been following the little party now came forward.
“Say, stranger,” a man who appeared to be the leader said, “if you’ll step aside and answer a few questions, I’ll take it as a favor on your part. A bank was robbed of $100,000 by a man answering your description—red head and all. The robbery was pulled off Monday night.”
CHAPTER VI
ALEX GETS A SQUARE MEAL
“And you think I turned the trick?” asked Rube.
“I don’t think anything about it,” was the answer, in an unpleasant tone of voice. “I just asked you to step aside for a minute so I could find out. If you get gay, I’ll have to put the irons on you—just for luck.”
“See here, stranger, if you ever get irons on me, you’ll have to put up a fight for it,” Rube remarked with a scowl. “And,” he continued, “I may as well tell you right now that I’m not here to answer any fool questions.”
Both men drew revolvers at the same instant, and would have used them had Clay not stepped in between them.
“There goes my beefsteak,” Alex whispered to Jule. “Our good thing will be in the village lockup in about half a second.”
“Just our luck!” declared Case.
“Gentlemen,” began Clay, but he was stopped by a man who came pushing his way through the crowd impetuously.
“None of that, gentlemen,” he drawled. “If I want any shooting done, I’ll do it myself. What seems to be the trouble?”
“I don’t see where you get cards in this game,” sneered a bystander.
“I can tell you where this man was last night,” put in Alex, who was resolved not to lose his steak. “He was up the river about thirty miles helping four boys load a wounded boy on a motor boat.”
“What of that?” demanded the spokesman of the party. “Last night wasn’t Monday night.”
“That’s so,” said Alex, looking very much ashamed, “it was Tuesday night. Pardon me.”
“Where’s the wounded boy and the motor boat?” inquired a man who stood in the crowd.
“Yes, where be they?” asked another. “I fail to see any motor boat, or boat of any kind, with them. In fact, I know that they came swimming up to the landing like a lot of dock rats. I’m in favor of locking the whole bunch up.”
“Do it, Mr. Officer,” urged several men in the crowd.
The constable stepped forward as if to make the arrest, but the man who had spoken against any shooting, offering to do it himself, if any was done, stepped in front of him.
He was an alert looking fellow, with a businesslike air which seemed to proclaim that he would be as good as his word.
“You heard what I said about doing the shooting myself if any was started,” he said, with a drawl. “I’m from Missouri and you’ve got to show me.”
“What kind of a bluff is this, anyway?” demanded the constable, but he put up his weapon, as if he had decided not to call the bluff at that time.
“I’m looking for that steak,” suggested Alex, wrinkling his nose. “When does it come?”
“I’m Buck Eldred,” announced the man with a businesslike air, “and I know this man,” pointing to the giant of a man, with a smile on a clean-cut face, “just as well as if I had helped wheel the dirt to make him. Anybody in the crowd that knows Buck Eldred?”
No one seemed to know Buck Eldred, and the chances for a battle seemed very good. At that moment, however, an interruption took place which put an entirely different face on the incident.
A posse of officers came in from the East with the man who had robbed the bank in custody.
Instantly there was a friendly sentiment, and the men who had denounced the boys in savage terms could not do enough for them.
To all such offers, however, the boys turned deaf ears.
“We might have had a load of beefsteak by now,” said Alex, “that a dog couldn’t bite through. Just wait until I get to the table and watch my motions.”
“You’ll be there directly,” said Rube, with a chuckle. “I feel as if I could enjoy a snack myself.”
The tavern sought by the men seemed to be the best in the town, but that was not saying much. However, it was neat and clean, and the steaks were soon sizzling over the coals.
“Will you tell me how you got down the river so soon?” Clay asked as soon as the first edge was off the appetites. “We leave the Point, get here in time to have our boat stolen, and then we run across you. How did you make it? We haven’t been here over two hours, and you show up like a Christmas present—all the more welcome because unexpected.”
“Now, son, just remember this: It ain’t all the questions that are asked that are answered. What you don’t find out you can’t repeat. And there you are.”
“I didn’t mean to be inquisitive,” answered Clay, with a flush of vexation. “It is none of my business how you got here, so long as you are here.”
“Now don’t misunderstand me,” continued Rube, in an apologetic tone, which seemed to be something new for him. “There’s reasons for keeping my mouth closed tighter’n a drum. Enough that I got here in time to help you out with a little cash, which you may return at any time most convenient.”
“Thank you for the loan,” replied Clay. “I hope to return it almost immediately—just as soon, in fact, as we hear from Chicago.”
No more was said on the subject at that time. The boys were busy plying their knives and forks, and, the meal over, there was the visit to the telegraph office and then the search for theRamblerwas begun.
To tell the truth, the fate of Paul Stegman troubled the lads not a little. They had no idea what disposition the robbers would make of him. They might toss him overboard, and they might leave him to die of his wounds. It would be just as the mood seized them.
There was no news of theRamblerat first. The boys were becoming discouraged when a telegram from a point thirty miles down the river gave them courage.
A boat answering the description of theRamblerwas anchored off the mouth of a small creek which ran into the Rio Grande just below the Mexican line.
“Of course it’s theRambler!” shouted Case. “No other boat looks like theRambler. Wonder what’s been going on since we left the boat? Seems like a week.”
“How are we going to get to her?” inquired Jule. “Thirty miles is a long distance—when you have to swim.”
“And the robbers may be up and away long before we are anywhere near them,” Alex cut in. “Is there a boat of any kind that we might borrow, beg or steal in the town?”
“There ought to be,” Clay contributed hopefully. “This is a river town, and there ought to be plenty of boats in sight.”
“Can we get one that will speed up?” asked Case.
“That’s to be found out,” said Clay.
“I hope we find Paul Stegman all right,” Case said, rather dubiously. “It would be just like the robbers to pitch him overboard. Their time of reckoning will come.”
A search of the town revealed nothing available in the boat line. There were rowboats and skiffs in plenty, but not a thing in the line of a motor boat.
“We’ve just got to get down to the Mexican line, and get there in jig time,” declared Alex. “The baby bear needs my care.”
“That’s poetry,” Jule announced. “Baby bear needs my care. It scans, too. First thing you know, Alex, you’ll be selling your verses at the rate of a dollar a yard.”
Alex grinned, but made no reply.
“I wonder where Rube and Buck Eldred took themselves off to?” asked Case in a moment. “They seem to have mysteriously disappeared.”
“Here they come now!” cried Jule.
The two men came from the direction of the river, only higher up than the boys had penetrated. They now approached the lads with their faces wreathed in smiles.
“Got a boat, boys?” Buck asked.
“Not so you could notice it,” Alex answered.
“See here, kids,” Buck went on, “Rube here has been telling me something of your story, and we’ve decided to make common cause against the pirates. How will that suit you?”
“Fine!” cried Alex.
The other boys were equally frank in their pleasure at the announcement, and Buck went on.
“Now, we’ve got a little motor boat down the river which——”
The man got no farther than that.
The boys set up such a hubbub that it was impossible to hear a thing. They ended by giving three cheers and a tiger for Rube and Buck.
“This is great!” exclaimed Clay.
“Great is no name for it!” Alex declared. “Say, fellows, in order to celebrate this event properly, we ought to have another beefsteak. This good news makes me hungry.”
“I’d like to see something that wouldn’t make you want to eat. You certainly have a whale of an appetite,” was Clay’s comment.
“I know what I’d like right now,” Alex went on, regardless of the laughter of Buck and Rube, “and that is a ’possum pie. I can see myself on board theRambler, feasting on one right now.”
“That’s all right, but you’re not on board theRambleryet,” Case complained. “We’re a long ways from it, worse luck!”
“That reminds me that I haven’t had anything to eat in about two hours,” said Rube, with a grin, “and that it is about time we met at the festive board.”
“But how are you going to get a meal cooked in the middle of the forenoon?” asked Buck. “It strikes me that the cooks will be busy at this time. Better wait until noon.”
“Not much,” laughed Alex, with a prodigious wrinkling of his nose. “Not when I’ve got a man back of me that stands six feet and a half in his stocking feet!”
“Go to it,” said Clay, with a grin. “If this thing keeps on you’ll swell up and burst.”
“I guess I’ll take a chance on bursting myself,” announced Jule. “Two bust-ups won’t make any more noise than one, and no more mess, either.” The three started away toward the tavern, while the others set out to walk to the motor boat, which was some distance away.
“Tell you what I think,” Buck observed, as they passed a clothing store where about everything was sold from handkerchiefs to threshing machines, “you boys have been walking the street undressed about long enough. I’ll buy you good suits if you’ll come inside. You won’t make any hit with the natives by going around in that rig.”
Clay looked down at his scanty apparel and laughed. The suit did look inappropriate for use on the street.
“All right,” said the boy. “If you want to take chances on losing your investment, go ahead.”
“How do you know that you’ll ever get the money back?” asked Case. “Perhaps we only borrowed theRamblerand turned it over to the owners here.”
“You didn’t borrow the faces you have, did you?” answered Buck, with a smile. “If you ever set out to be robbers, you’ve got to get new faces.”
“You may be mistaken in regard to the faces,” replied Clay. “You can never tell by the looks of a porcupine how far he can throw his quills. What is that man looking at?”
He certainly was as evil-faced a fellow as one could come upon in a day’s walk.
CHAPTER VII
STOLEN—A MOTOR BOAT
“I’ve seen that face before, unless I am much mistaken,” was the reply. “It must be Mad Rowell, a person who just thinks he’s the toughest man that ever came down the pike.”
The boys were in the store by this time with a meager supply of clothing in front of them. Mad Rowell was evidently looking for trouble. He kept his evil eyes fixed upon the party in an effort to stare them out of countenance.
“This looks like a mix-up with the fellow,” whispered Case. “I wish I had my gun with me.”
“No need of a gun, son,” was the reply. “You wouldn’t get a chance to use it if you had it,” with a quick motion toward a breast pocket.
“Hands up!”
The command was given in the usual tone, but Mad Rowell obeyed instantly. His hand, already bringing a weapon from his pocket, dropped to his side, the weapon clattering to the floor.
By this time the store was in confusion. Customers were getting out of range in any way they could.
They were hiding under counters, and rushing to the door in a panic which threatened to depopulate the place of business.
“Leave the gun where it is,” came the voice of Buck.
His tone was low and musical, but there was a glitter in his smiling eyes which commanded obedience.
The fellow stood sullenly awaiting the next move.
“I ought to fill you full of lead,” went on the voice, “but I can’t find it in my heart to shoot such a low-down coyote as you. Got another gun on you?”
The man shook his head.
“I’ll find that out for myself, I reckon. Cattle like you ain’t to be trusted.”
When the search had progressed as far as the pistol pocket a wicked looking knife was discovered.
“You cur!” said Buck. “I make you a present of your life, and this is the way I’m paid.”
The blow which followed the remark had nothing to break its force. Mad Rowell was lifted clear of the floor by the force of it, whirled around a couple of times, and fell unconscious to the top of a heap of green wood.
Then Buck turned to the counter and proceeded with his bargaining as if nothing had occurred. Gradually the customers returned to the store, but not until Buck and the boys had made their purchases and left the store was there any comment whatever.
Then opinions, both for and against the unknown man who had dealt with the man known as Mad Rowell so summarily were heard.
“Served him good and right,” said the storekeeper, lifting the fallen tough in his arms and throwing him out of doors. “The fellow has run this town too long already.”
And that was the general sentiment, though Rowell had his friends too.
Clay and Case, clothed in new suits, proceeded on their way to where the motor boat had been secreted.
“Tell you what,” Buck suggested, “I think some of us had better remain on the spot, in case prowlers should take a fancy to theEsmeralda. Nice name, eh? Named for an old sweetheart.”
“Who’ll be the one to stay?” asked Clay, looking keenly at his chum. “You know the money was ordered in my name from Chicago, and no one else can receipt.”
“That puts it up to me, I take it,” Case replied. “Have you any idea when the other boys will be along?”
“When Alex gets full to the neck,” replied Clay. “If you want to see an eating contest that is a corker, just get Alex and Jule pitted against each other.”
Alex seemed to be a long time getting “full to the neck,” and Buck and Clay finally left for the town, leaving Case to watch the boat.
When they reached the tavern there seemed to be nothing unusual going on. There were no people standing about, and everything appeared normal and in place.
“Now, I wonder where the boys and Rube are?” Clay said. “They ought to be here, making a noise!”
The two found no one in the front of the house, so they made bold to invade the kitchen. Before they reached that apartment, however, they heard Alex’s voice. They stopped and listened.
“And you take a fat ’possum and fix it up for the pan,” he was saying, “and when you’ve done that, take strips of fat pork and lay them lengthwise through the dressing. Oh, yes, about the dressing! I didn’t tell you how to fix that, did I?”
Clay was so full of laugh that he exploded right there.
“Tell the cook about the sweet potatoes!” he reared, half choking with laughter. “Perhaps you’ll make a pretty good cook of him before we have to leave the town.”
Alex opened the kitchen door and looked out.
“Oh, you!” he said with a broad grin.
Then he caught sight of the new suit worn by Clay and looked toward Jule with a wrinkling of the nose.
“Don’t you wish you’d been present when they were passing ’em around?” he said. “Now go away and let me continue my lesson to the cook. He got up a peach of a steak for us, and I’m giving him a few instructions to guide him in future years. Go away, now, and leave us alone. Skedaddle!”
The cook was black as the ace of spades, and was evidently a native of the South. He stood by the cook stove with a broad grin on his face. If he knew a lot about roasting ’possums that Alex had never heard of, he said not a word about it!
Rube sat in the corner of the room holding his sides.
“You sure take the whole bakery!” was his comment.
“Perhaps you don’t think I can cook a ’possum?” Alex announced. “Well, just you bring on your ’possum, and I’ll show you that I can! The idea!”
This was greeted with a burst of laughter.
“All right!” declared Alex, “just you bring on your ’possum! I’ll show you a thing about cooking the bird!”
“There isn’t a ’possum within a thousand miles!” roared Buck.
“Now, don’t yo’ make too sho’ o’ dat!” grinned the cook. “Yo’ sho’ got to show me!”
The cook went to a woodshed just outside the door and produced about the fattest ’possum ever seen.
Immediately there was commotion in that little kitchen.
Alex bounced up and down like a rubber ball, while Jule showed his excitement by rolling over and over on the floor.
“The cook called your bluff!” shouted Buck.
“Think that was a bluff?” asked Alex.
The lad took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves.
“I’m going to make good right now!” he explained.
The cook looked nervous about turning the ’possum over to Alex. He finally made up his mind that the boy couldn’t make much of a failure of the cookery with him there looking on, so he permitted him to go ahead. Buck looked dubious and Rube only laughed.
“Now you fellows get out of the kitchen!” ordered Alex. “How do you think I can cook this ’possum with you standing around? When the meal is ready to serve, I’ll tell you.”
“You don’t think of eating again, do you?” asked Clay.
“Do you think I’m going to miss that ’possum? Not much, I ain’t! No, sir, that ’possum’s going to be cooked, and cooked right! Then it’ll be eaten right!”
The two boys left the kitchen, accompanied by Buck and Rube, leaving Alex and the cook to do business with the ’possum.
After leaving the tavern Clay and Jule went to the railroad station, hoping to find a money order there. They were doubly disappointed. Not only was there no money for them, but that was not a money-order office.
“Now what?” asked Jule as they turned away from the little station house. “This seems to be one of our lucky trips. Anything else likely to happen?”
“Tell you what I’d do if I was in your place,” advised Rube. “I’d let the consarned money go and borrow enough to see me through to El Paso. That’s the way I look at it.”
“That’s what you’d better do,” said Buck.
“Guess we’ll be obliged to,” Clay said in a disgusted tone.
“Why didn’t the clerk tell us that it wasn’t a money-order office at first?” demanded Jule.
“Perhaps he didn’t know,” laughed Buck. “There’s sometimes a heap o’ ignorance connected with these way stations.”
“I should say so!” agreed Jule.
“Now who shall we borrow of?” asked Clay.
By way of an answer Rube took the roll of bank notes from his pocket and began stripping them off.
“How much did you say you wanted?” he asked. “Better take enough for emergencies while you have the chance. I may be broke flat as a flounder by to-morrow.”
“This will give us a chance to get away at once,” said Clay, placing the money in his pocket. “If Alex was here, we could be on our way immediately.”
Jule broke into a laugh at the idea of prying Alex away from that ’possum.
“You’ll not do it,” he announced, “as long as there is a bone left. Alex is some feeder.”
“There’s no hurry,” Buck said, looking at his watch. “The men who stole the boat will lie in hiding all day and go on at night. They will be on the lookout for officers, and will do a lot of skulking. They may even abandon the boat for a time, but they will come back to it.”
“And they may put up a fight,” Jule argued. “For one, I’d like nothing better than taking a shot at them.”
“They won’t do much in the fighting line,” Buck contended. “It all depends on how many of us there are. There seems to be four of them and they won’t stand for more than that in the attacking party. You see,” he added, “there’s the Colorado penitentiary in sight, and they’ll make a desperate run to keep out of it.”
“But they may fight,” suggested Clay.
“Oh, of course,” answered Buck, “but we’ll be on the spot, ready and waiting for them.”
It seemed to the waiting boys that there never was such a long day. Alex, of course, had his ’possum to attend to.
When served at dinner the ’possum was declared to be the best ever. Rich and juicy, and done to a turn, it left nothing to be desired.
The cook declared on his word of honor he had not even made a suggestion regarding the cooking of the dainty.
“Ah sure don’t need to,” he insisted, “for dat lad he know all there is to know ’bout cookin’ ’possum! ’Deed he do!”
This endorsement was music to Alex’s ears, and he tried hard to accept it modestly. His three chums knew, of course, his skill in the culinary line, but there were Rube and Buck who had to be shown.
Case had been relieved of his watch at the boat in order that he might join the boys at dinner, and immediately after the meal was served started away to resume his guardianship, accompanied by Jule.
Alex and Clay remained with Rube and Buck, who had provisions to buy. They did not know how long the chase might be, and were determined to be prepared for it.
After making their purchases they set out for the motor boat, but were met halfway by Case and Jule with the statement that the boat had been stolen while the ’possum was being discussed.