CHAPTER VIIIALEX CLIMBS A TREEThe boys looked into faces which had lost the ruddy tinge of health. For a second not a word was spoken.Then Clay laughed. This seemed to set the pace for the men, for they all laughed in unison.Then Case grew sober.“I had a grumble at the end of my tongue,” he said, “but Clay’s laugh made me forget it. What’s the next move?”“Find the boat,” contributed Buck. “As we don’t know which way they went, we’ll split the party, and go in both directions. They can’t be very far away.”“They went upstream,” said Alex. “I had a seat at the table from which the river was in sight, and I’m positive that no motor boat passed in the other direction.”“Still, one might have gone downstream when you were otherwise engaged,” replied Buck. “I’ve noticed that boys have a habit of overlooking many things when the ’possum is cooked just right.”Alex grinned but made no comment.“This is some of Mad Rowell’s work,” said Rube, as the party passed on upstream.“You bet it is,” Case added. “Twice I thought I saw him in the underbrush, but finally decided that it was my imagination working overtime. I wish now that I had investigated.”“If Mad Rowell knows how to operate a motor boat,” said Buck, “the chances are against us. That boat can go some!”The party advanced up the stream half a mile or more without seeing anything in the shape of a motor boat.“Hopeless case, I reckon,” suggested Rube. “It strikes me that we are only wasting time. We should have gone directly to the village and used the wire.The man had hardly ceased speaking when an exclamation from Jule attracted the attention of all in the party.“There she is!”It was indeed true. TheEsmeraldalay rocking in the river some distance farther upstream. Mad Rowell was nowhere in view from where the party stood. The boat was, however, on the opposite bank of the river.Buck appeared lost in a brown study for a moment, and then he said, speaking in his usual drawl:“This may be an ambush.”“If they ever got one of us into the river, they could fill him so full of lead that he’d sink of his own weight,” Clay went on. “The thing to do now is for all to take to the water at once. They can’t kill all of us!”“They might do even that,” put in Rube, “but it seems that we have to risk it. I wish I had my two hands on the man who is responsible for this!”“Well, what’s the decision?” asked Case.“Yes,” answered Alex, “who’s ready for a cold bath?”“If there’s anything I just love to do,” laughed Jule, “it is to go swimming. This water is fine!”“Suppose we all strip?” suggested Case, who did not care to get his new suit wet.“Then we’ll have to leave someone on this side to watch the clothes,” said Jule. “That will be a good job for me.”“In a pig’s wrist,” Case said. “We’ll draw lots to see who stays behind.”Fate decided in favor of Alex, much to the disgust of that young man, who was really anxious to try conclusions with the men who had stolen the boat. He tried his best to get a substitute, but did not succeed, and so was obliged to sit idly on the bank of the stream while the others took to the water.“Come on in. The water’s fine!” taunted Jule.Notwithstanding the optimism of Jule, the water was wretchedly cold. At that time, however, the people in the stream were too much occupied with other matters to pay any attention to the temperature of the water.They spread out in the shape of a fan and made for the opposite shore with no thought of the chill of the water. When at last their feet struck the shelving shore, they kept the old formation.To their great surprise there was no one in or about the boat. They advanced cautiously, not knowing when they might be attacked.They did not see the evil face of Mad Rowell peering out upon them from a clump of underbrush. As a matter of fact, the man had been caught off his guard.He had gone back down the river looking for an old crony to keep him company in the journey he proposed to take. He had returned to theEsmeraldajust a minute too late.This accounted for the boat being in such good condition. If Rowell had abandoned it, it is a sure thing that he would have broken the motor and done other damage which would have made its use impossible, for a time at least.If Rowell had been possessed of a revolver, the chances are that he would have taken a shot at Buck, but, it will be remembered, his weapon had been taken from him at the store.So, weaponless as he was, the tough was obliged to see theEsmeraldataken away by its owner. He resolved, however, to “get even” at the first opportunity.“Now, what do you know about this?” demanded Clay, looking over the boat critically. “The motor is in fine form, and I can’t see a thing the matter anywhere.”Rube pointed to the place where the rowboat had been kept.“The skiff is not here,” he remarked, “and it looks like they had gone away in it.”By this time all the boys were shivering, so they made a hasty departure for the other shore. When only a few yards away they observed Captain Joe acting in a suspicious manner, and turned on more electricity.“What’s that fool dog up to?” asked Case.There was quite a commotion on shore, and the boys did not wait to see that theEsmeraldawas anchored, but sprang into the river and swam ashore. When they reached solid ground neither Alex nor the dog was in sight. And neither were the clothes!“Well, of all the——”Clay stopped right there. All he could say did not half express the situation.A few articles of clothing were scattered about, but they did not represent the five suits which had been left there only a short time before. In fact, a good share of the clothes had disappeared.The shivering lads gathered on the river bank and pondered over the new turn of affairs until joined by Rube and Buck.“Where’s your boy who was watching the clothes?” asked Buck. “I don’t seem to see him anywhere about!”“And where’s your dog?” demanded Rube.“Blessed if I know what’s been going on here!” exclaimed Case, his teeth rattling as with the ague.“Oh, this is a bad dream,” declared Jule. “Turn over and get off your back! You’ll be dreaming of pie in a minute!”“I wish I had any old thing to put on,” grumbled Case.“You know what Eve did when she found herself naked?” remarked Jule. “She made an apron of fig leaves.”“Bring on your fig leaves!” ordered Clay. “Here, waiter, one order of fig leaves.”“Something must be done at once,” declared Rube. “I’m that cold that life in an ice house would be a pleasant recreation!”A movement was now heard in the underbrush which lined the shore of the stream, and Captain Joe made his appearance.The dog was greeted with exclamations of disgust.“Come here, you mongrel cur!” shouted Case, at the same time making a rush for the canine. “What did you do with our clothes?”Captain Joe wagged his quarter of a tail and said in his best dog talk that he would show them later.“Where’s Alex?” asked Case, talking to the dog as if he had the gift of speech.Captain Joe climbed up on his questioner, much to the latter’s annoyance, he being nearly naked, and made further demonstrations which said in plain dog talk that he knew what was being said, but considered it beneath his dignity to make reply.“You’re a naughty dog, and you shan’t have a bit of supper,” threatened Case.Captain Joe got down from his elevated position and walked with great dignity toward the fringe of trees which grew along the east shore of the stream.“He wants us to follow him,” Clay declared, “but how are we going to do it? The wild men of Borneo have us beaten to a frazzle when it comes to clothes.”“It seems as if we might get one good suit out of this mess,” Clay said. “Who’ll be the man to try?”“It seems to me that we all ought to be getting a move on,” said Jule. “For all we know, Alex may be having all kinds of trouble. We appear to be children of fortune this trip! Everything comes our way—in a horn!”It was finally agreed that Jule should remain at theEsmeralda, and that the others should follow the dog, who was still hanging around, in the hope that some of the boys might follow him.When they reached the fringe of trees which stood along the shore of the river, Clay paused and doubled up with laughter.Alex was in sight—up a tree.There was a bear at the foot of the tree—a bear that evidently thought he had a cinch on the boy—a Colorado mountain bear, small but fierce. And Alex was playing a mouth organ with all the energy he possessed for the benefit of the bear!The boys laughed until their sides ached before attempting any interference. Only for the fact that the wind was blowing from the east, while the place where the clothes had been deposited was to the west of that point, the noise of Alex’s shouting for assistance and the music of the organ might have been heard from the first.The bear moved away sullenly, taking an extra swipe at a pair of Buck’s trousers as he did so. He had evidently scented the clothing during a temporary absence of Alex and began work on them.“What you doing up that tree?” Clay called out, as he approached the spot, from which Alex was now descending. “We left you guarding the clothes.”“He had to entertain the bear, didn’t he?” put in Case. “Bears just love music.”“Where was your automatic?” asked Rube, breaking into another fit of laughter at the general appearance of the party.Buck had succeeded in finding a vest and a pair of drawers, Rube was dressed in an undershirt and a pair of trousers, Clay wore a ruined sweater and a pair of trousers, while Case sported about in a coat and trousers and a soft felt hat.“The bear made new business for the merchant,” laughed Clay. “How’s your money holding out, Rube? Big contract you took when you set out to supply this bunch with clothes!”“Don’t you worry about the money,” Rube answered. “I’ve got a roll that would choke a cow yet.”The man suddenly clapped his hand to his side with an anxious look and brought it away empty.“Well, I’ll be—”He never completed the sentence, but dashed off in the direction of the place where the clothes had been.Alex had remained silent under all the chaffing to which he had been subjected. Now, however, with an exclamation of dismay he started away after Rube.“What’s coming off?” asked Buck.“Blessed if I know,” answered Clay.“I’ll bet that Rube has lost his money!”It was Clay who made the remark, and it served to set both boys and Buck in motion.“This a fine trip, I don’t think!” grumbled Case, as they ran for the spot where the clothing had been left.When the party gained the spot they had so recently left, neither Jule nor theEsmeraldawas in sight!“Where’s the boat, and where’s Jule?” demanded Buck. “We appear to be having the time of our lives!”“Well,” said Clay, “the boat got away, not being anchored, and Jule set out to catch it. The time of our lives, well, I should say so! Did you find the roll. Rube?”Rube, who was down on the ground turning over everything in sight, looked up with a comical grin on his face.“Say,” he said, with a chuckle, “if we don’t find that roll, we’ve got someone to lay it to. Eh? We can charge it to the bear!”“You may charge our present plight to me!” Alex said. “If I hadn’t laid my automatic aside for a minute, I might have killed the bear, and all these complications never would have happened.”“It was to be!” observed Clay.“You bet it was!” Case added.“You just say that to make me feel better,” Alex replied, almost in tears. “I’m a blunderer, anyhow.”“We wouldn’t know what to do without you!” responded Case, tapping the boy on the shoulder. “Now, brace up. Things have got to change for the better before long!”At that instant they saw Jule walking dejectedly up the river.“I don’t see any boat with him,” Case commented.CHAPTER IXTHE RAMBLER HEARD FROM“He’s got the motor boat in his pocket—perhaps!” Clay said, dejectedly. “We’ll have to walk back to Chicago, I take it! Well, we may as well laugh as cry, so here goes for the merry side of things. It might be worse, you know!”“I fail to see how it could be much worse,” Case observed. “We are shy clothes and everything! Right now we look like a lot of monkeys dancing about in the forest!”Jule was by this time within hailing distance, and Buck called out to him, asking where the boat was. For answer the boy pointed down the river.“I knew it!” said Case, with a shiver.“How did it happen?” asked Buck.“It drifted away,” replied Jule, when he came within speaking distance, “but some men down the river caught it. It will be up here in a few minutes.” “Whoop-ee!” shouted Case.“I’ve got a picture of our walk back to Chicago!” Clay exclaimed, dancing about in his ruined sweater and trousers. “Not yet—not for your Uncle Zeke!”“Why didn’t you get into the boat and ride up?” asked Buck.“There was no place to land,” was the reply. “There comes the boat now, with three men aboard of her.”“I give it up,” declared Rube, rising to his feet. “At the present time if cows were selling for a cent apiece, the whole party couldn’t buy a piece of cheese an inch in size!”“Don’t you be too sure about that!”And Jule took the missing roll from a pocket in his shirt and presented it to the owner. The moment of blank amazement over, the boys placed the roll of money on the ground, and, joining hands, circled around it until they were all out of breath.“I found it on the ground where the bear left it,” said the boy in explanation. “Wasn’t he a good, kind bear to leave anything at all?” he added, whimsically.“How do you know there was any bear?” demanded Case. “The fix the clothes were in might have been the work of mischievous boys, for all you knew.”“Not much,” Jule replied. “Boys wouldn’t have a nest in that hollow tree, would they? And boys wouldn’t be sliding down, and raking the bark off the tree, would they?”“Then you knew just what we were to meet?” demanded Clay.“I thought Alex had been caught without his automatic, and that the bear had chased him away,” answered Jule.“That’s exactly what happened,” said Alex. “The bear came out of the tree and I had to run for it. When I got to the tree I found the bear close to my heels. I think he would have got me only for the mouth organ. How I did long for my automatic!”“Why didn’t you run while the bear was attending to the clothing?” asked Rube, who was so glad to get his money back that his face wore a chronic and perpetual grin.“To tell the truth,” replied Alex, with a sly smile, “I wasn’t here when the brute showed up! I was away on a little trip of my own. Now you have the whole story.”“Well,” said Rube, “as we have to make another trip to the village, and it’s getting along toward the middle of the afternoon, perhaps we’d better be deciding who’s to go. We can’t all go in the rigs we have on, that’s a sure thing. The bear didn’t leave us too many clothes—not enough to hurt any.”“I’ve got an idea!” suggested Alex. “It will save us a trip to town and, at the same time, expedite matters. What’s the matter with my going to the burg and buying for us all?”“Well, if you’ll promise not to follow off any bears; that’s the ticket!” said Buck.“The bears are likely to follow Alex off!” laughed Case.The motor boat now dropped anchor in front of where the boys were standing, and the party was subjected to no end of “roasting” because of their disreputable appearance.“Looks like the Garden of Eden!” roared the man who seemed to be in charge. “Where are your clothes?” he went on. “If I was the proprietor of that layout, I’d be looking around for a rag man!”“The bear caught sight of our clothes first,” Clay answered. “Got time to take one of the boys back to the store?” he asked. “As you see, we are in need of clothes.”“I should say so!” replied the other.The story was soon told, and the men were off for the town in a hurry. For once, Alex did the job of buying the clothes as it should have been done, and was soon on his way back to the boys.As he understood the motor thoroughly, it was not necessary for the boatmen to return with him. They left him with many expressions of good will, and many admonitions to give all members of the bear family a wide berth in future.It was fortunate that the provisions purchased by Buck and Rube were intact, they having been hidden in a separate place.The clothes fitted all the boys very well indeed, but Rube, owing to what Alex called “his length of beam,” was forced to don a suit about a foot too large for him and a foot too short.“These clothes are all right, only they don’t fit!” said Rube, looking down at his protruding legs. “They fit me too quick the long way, and they are about the size of an elephant the short way.”“You shouldn’t notice it!” volunteered Alex. “If this thing keeps on, you’ll be short in your bank account.”“How much is there left in that roll?” asked Clay.“Now, don’t you worry about the roll wasting away,” replied Rube, “for there’s more where that came from.”“Glad to know it—we may want to make another touch!” was Alex’s reply. “We’re pretty deep in that roll now, if anybody should ask you,” he added, with a wink at Jule.“Now, see here,” Rube responded, “don’t you ever think I take any chance whatever in losing this money. You boys haven’t said a word to me about how you are hooked up! We’ve been too busy for that. But don’t you ever suspect that I don’t know. You haven’t mentioned any names, except Clay, Alex, Case and Jule, but I read all about you and theRamblerin a Chicago newspaper, and the minute you referred to theRamblerI had you located.”“It seems that we are getting notorious,” suggested Clay. “We can’t make a move that some newspaper don’t record.”“Lucky for you that it is so,” Rube continued.“Why is it lucky for us?” demanded Jule, interrupting.“Well,” Rube went on, “when you picked up Paul Stegman last night in the rain, and began talking about theRamblerand Captain Joe, I had you sized up. So when Buck came down the river in his motor boat, I got aboard, thinking you kids might need a little lookin’ after. Now you’ve got the whole story.”“And so, without knowing it, we had a bodyguard from the time we rescued Paul from the river?” Case interrupted. “It was mighty good of you both.”“I wonder how Paul is faring?” Clay suggested.“Oh, the boat thieves probably threw him overboard,” Case declared. “I’d like to wring their necks!”“Now,” Rube said, “I’ve got a hunch that you boys are able to look out for yourselves, so I’ll ride as far as theRamblerand quit you there. I have a little work to do for myself. If you are as level-headed in future as you have shown yourselves to be in the past, you won’t need any watching.”“How do you know we’ll catch theRambler?” asked Jule.“I’m just supposing a case,” replied Rube with a grin.“You just bet we’ll catch her!” Alex contributed. “And when we get her next time, we’ll keep her. This chasing after boats all the time ain’t what it’s cracked up to be.”It was late in the afternoon when theEsmeraldagot under way, just as Clay had planned. A close watch was kept on both shores as the boat proceeded downstream.Naturally, theRamblerwould take the easiest course, which was downstream, but for this very reason the boys decided to search every foot of water until they came to it. As soon as it was dark enough, the thieves might seek to baffle pursuit by heading up the river.At last darkness settled down on the water. Had the night been made to order it could not have served the purpose of the boys better. If theRamblerhad crept into some hiding place along the stream her lights would show them where she lay.In case her lights were not burning and her motors were not running it would be a difficult thing to locate the boat, and for this reason theEsmeraldawas kept slowed down.From the first Clay had not believed the story told by Rube. He might be interested in a ranch, and Clay did not doubt that he was, but that was not the reason for his appearance on the scene just at that time. The boy did not care to make himself disliked by prying too openly into the affairs of the others, yet he was positive that there was a hidden motive back of the one reason given.Clay talked the matter over with the other boys, but could not reach a satisfactory conclusion.“Perhaps he’s an officer,” suggested Jule.“In that case,” replied Clay, “he would be apt to know some of the other officers.”“From first to last,” answered Jule, “we haven’t met a single man who has shown any authority. I guess he’s just helping out for the fun he’s getting out of it.”“And Buck? What about him?” asked Case.“Give it up, boys,” cried Alex. “You’re all tangled up now, and the more you guess the more you’ll get tangled.”TheEsmeraldaslipped downstream with no lights in sight. Whenever they came to a long stretch of river the motor was set in motion, but ordinarily it remained silent.Of course the boys were unable to pick out the localities for speeding, they being strangers to that section of country, but here Buck and Rube proved very capable guides.They knew the upper Rio Grande as the schoolboy knows his primer. In fact, knowing the stream so well, it was remarkable that they had never before landed at Hayes. But Hayes is a small place, and, besides, they had never had occasion to visit the burg.At ten o’clock a slow rain began falling, and, the boat at the time being just around a point of land from a creek, Buck, who was in charge, shut off the power and permitted the craft to drift.“Do you see anything that looks like a light?”It was Rube who asked the question.At that instant, almost before the words were off his lips, came a low whistle of warning.“There they are!” said Case.“Keep still,” admonished Clay.The boat drifted on, past the mouth of the creek, and let an anchor drop silently into the water.“I don’t know what we’ve struck, but we know that wasn’t no coyote’s call,” declared Case.“It had a human sound,” interrupted Jule.“Listen!” warned Buck. “We’ll hear it again in a moment. I thought I heard it then.”“That was only rain,” explained Alex. “The first one might have been that, too.”At that instant, before another word could be spoken, a great light flashed out, followed by a shrill scream.CHAPTER XA BIT OF DYNAMITE“That’s Tommy!” whispered Jule.“But the light? Who turned that on?” Alex whispered in reply to the suggestion.“It doesn’t seem to be the thing to do—showing a light just at this time,” Clay commented.“Well, what’s the next move?” asked Case. “Shall we board the boat? Or shall we wait for the next move of the robbers?”“Give him some Peter Pratt,” suggested Clay. Rube and Buck, who had remained silent during this conversation, nearly jumped out of the motor boat when Jule opened up with:“What are you doing in my boat? Get out, and get out quick, or I’ll knock your block off!”“Who was that talking?” asked Rube.The boys snickered.“Sounds like he meant business, whoever it is!” suggested Buck. “Say, but he gave me a start!”“You’ve got a heap of nerve, taking my boat without my consent! I think you’ve got a trimming coming!”“Who’s doing all this talking?” demanded Rube. “It ain’t his boat, nohow.”Before anyone could reply, a figure, strongly outlined against the light of theRambler, rushed to the deck and crouched down behind the railing, from which position only his head could be seen, his body being concealed by the framework of the railing.“What’s coming off here?” Jule’s voice went on. “If you don’t get away from that railing, I’ll shoot, and shoot to kill!”Whoever the man was who had sought shelter behind the railing, he was game. He never moved, only the watchers could see the gleaming barrel of an automatic.“Now if Tommy would only lip in,” Clay suggested, “we would have quite a menagerie. I wonder if that fellow we see is the only man aboard theRambler?”There was a fringe of bushes along the shore, and, clearly outlined against the light of the prow lamp, a figure could now be seen making his way through the shrubbery in the direction of the boat.The watchers being in the shadows were not visible from the position occupied by the prowler.“He’ll be aboard the boat in a minute if something ain’t done to stop him,” remarked Rube, “and then there’ll be a mix-up that will be worth the price of admission.”The two men had evidently been completely deceived by the talk put up by Jule. They really believed that another claimant for theRamblerhad put in his appearance.“That talk you heard was made by Jule,” explained Case. “He thinks nothing of being two or three people at a time!”“Not that talk in which the intruder was ordered off the boat, under penalty of having his block knocked off?” Buck answered.Jule laughed softly.“That’s the size of it,” he explained. “Made the fellow get a move on, eh?” he added.“How do you do it?” asked Rube.The question was never answered, for Tommy called for the attention of the entire company.“Get off the boat!” he croaked. “Eat ’em alive! He eats ’em alive! Out of the way!”“What’s that?” demanded Buck. “Sounds like the devil has come to town!”The watchers could hear the man on the deck swearing under his breath, and could see the man prowling in the bushes advancing toward theRambler.“Now’s the time to get theRamblerback,” whispered Case. “I am positive there is only the person in sight on board.”“But where have the others gone?” asked Buck. “There were six on board.”“There is a man in the shrubbery,” said Rube. “Well,” Case said, getting to his feet, “who’s going to make the first break?”“Look here,” Alex put in, “what’s the matter with the rear deck? I can get to that in a jiffy.”“Seems to me that you have all the fun,” Jule expostulated. “Why don’t you give someone else a chance?”But Captain Joe settled the matter of priority in his own way. He had been roaming about the deck of theEsmeraldalike a lost spirit ever since the conversation had opened.He evidently knew that he belonged on board theRambler, and was peeved at the idea of being kept out of his rights. At any rate he sprang into the river and struck out for the shore.In a moment all was confusion on board theEsmeralda. Knowing that the dog would be recognized as the canine which had made the attack on the robber at the bank of the river higher up, the boys all sprang to their feet and started pellmell for the railing of the boat. It was Rube who stopped them.“Now see here, boys,” he expostulated, “you’ll only get cold lead in your systems if you make the attempt to board theRamblernow. The robber will see the dog coming and, doubtless, shoot at him. The dog will give him about one shot, then there’ll be a mix-up.“The chances are about even the way I’ve got it figured out, but I’m betting on the dog. He has the speed and——”Rube got no farther. The dog had by this time reached the boat and mounted to the deck, clearing the railing at one leap, aided by driftwood which gave him footing.The attack was so sudden that the robber fired only one shot and that one an ineffectual one, and then the dog was upon him.“Come on, boys!” shouted Alex.“And the grit,” continued Rube, picking up the sentence, “and I’m bettin’ on the dog!”There was no time to reach theRamblerby boat, so the boys plunged into the river and started to swim. But the man in the bushes had to be reckoned with.No sooner were the boys in the river than he opened fire. In a moment, however, he turned his attention to theEsmeralda, which had been left unguarded.Before the boys in the water saw what he was up to, he was climbing over the prow of the boat. Then it was too late, and, leaving his chum to his fate, the man in the boat started the motor and was soon around a bend in the river.Buck gave a regretful look at theEsmeraldaas she disappeared from sight, but kept on toward theRambler. His regret was that someone had not been left on the boat, but that was now a past issue. TheEsmeraldawas gone, and would undoubtedly be annexed by the pirates who had captured theRambler.In the meantime, Captain Joe was having the time of his life with the robber, who happened to be the identical fellow the dog had sampled up the river. It being necessary to leave someone on board the boat, the fellow’s mates had chosen him as the one to remain, he being still suffering from the wounds made by the dog.Alex was the first one to mount the deck of theRambler, and the sight he saw sent him off in peals of laughter, in which he was soon joined by the other members of the party.Tommy, the parrot, having been long parted from the dog, was standing erect on his back, talking all the words he knew, which were not a few. Teddy, the baby bear, was curled up a few feet away, sound asleep.Alex’s first act on gaining the deck was to lift the robber’s revolver from the place where it had been thrown in the struggle and place it in a secure position on the prow.Next he gave his attention to the robber, who by this time was hurling all kinds of oaths and imprecations at Captain Joe, who, by the way, paid not the slightest attention to what was being said.The dog had taken the robber by the back of the neck, so his throat was in good working order, and he filled the atmosphere of the rainy night with such a collection of oaths as one seldom hears.“Swear away if it makes you feel any better!” laughed Alex. “You certainly are a peach at it.”“Call the dog off!” roared the prostrate man. “Wait till I get hold of him!”“All right!” replied Alex. “I’ll wait as long as you like, but in the meantime you’ll be eaten up!”“For the love of Mike, call him off!” cried the prostrate man. “He’s killing me!”“That’s just the fate you deserve!” commented Buck. “One of your chums stole my boat.”“And the whole crew will be on top of us if we don’t get a move on!” declared Case. “Let the man up, and let’s get out of this.”The fallen man was assisted to his feet, and Alex rushed to the cabin to see what had become of Paul Stegman. Much to his surprise he found him there, alive and thriving.“Hello, Paul!” the boy shouted. “You don’t appear to be much the worse for your association with the robbers!”“Do you know what one of them did for me?” asked Paul. “Bet you never can guess!”Alex gave a number of guesses and then gave it up.“He set my leg!”“What’s that?”“Sure thing!”Alex sat weakly down. This was too much to believe.“Yes, sir! He set my broken leg!”“He must have been a surgeon, wanting practice!” Alex said, with a wrinkling of the nose. “I’ve heard of such people before now.”“No, sir,” insisted Paul, with a shrug of the shoulders, “he wasn’t any such thing. He was a regular surgeon, duly qualified, and all that. Yes, sir, he was a regular practitioner.”“This thing is too good to keep!” exclaimed Alex, ducking out of the cabin door. “I’ll have to spread the glad tidings!”When the boy got to the deck he found it in confusion. Captain Joe was occupying the center of the stage, with Tommy a close second. The parrot was talking and the dog was barking.In the distance theEsmeraldawas shoving her nose through the rain. The thieves, it seemed, were not satisfied to let theRamblergo in that way.Her cabin lights were ablaze, and her deck was crowded with people. Her appearance at that point effectually blocked the entrance to the creek.Tommy was doing his best to scold the intruder away, while Captain Joe was exerting himself to get away from Clay, who had him by the scruff of the neck.“Giving a party?” asked Alex.“Yes,” Buck replied, “and it’s likely to be a necktie party before it’s over. TheEsmeraldalooks right pert with all those people on board! I suppose we’ll have to wade in blood to get out of this hole they’ve got us into!”“TheEsmeraldais stopping,” said Case. “I wonder what’s next on their program?”A hail now came from the boat.“Hello!” the voice said.“Hello yourself!” came the reply.“What you doing with that boat?”The answer was a baying of the dog and another scream from the parrot. The hailing party consulted together for a second and then called out:“Guess you’ll have to submit to capture, boys.”“You don’t see anything green, do you?” was Alex’s answer. “If you want us why don’t you come and take us?”“We can do that, too, but we thought we’d give you a chance for your lives.”“Never mind the chance,” Jule called back. “If you have nothing more to offer, perhaps you’ll get out of the way. We’re going to want the space you occupy in about a minute. We’ve got business down the river.”“All right!” the robber answered. “Have it your own way, but you must not expect any favors from us if you keep up your impudent talk. We’ve had about enough of that already.”“Go as far as you like,” was Jule’s reply.“It beats the Old Scratch that we have to get into the clutches of river pirates wherever we go,” said Case. “One would suppose that some one of the rivers visited would be free of them.”“Now,” said Clay, “suppose we give them a little fireworks. It will be just the thing for their systems, don’t you think?”“Sure!” exclaimed Alex.The boy ran into the cabin and returned almost immediately with several sticks of dynamite in his arms.Buck and Rube did not wait for the stuff to be placed on the deck. They began climbing over the railing.“Just you wait a second,” Rube began, “until I get out of this boat! I’m not ready, yet, to lead a procession to the cemetery! I prefer to live a spell longer.”Again a hail came from theEsmeralda.“We’ll give you five minutes to decide!”“That’s about four minutes too much!” shouted Clay. “If you object to being blown to Kingdom Come, just lie still when we are passing through the opening.”“Make ’em give up theEsmeralda!” said Buck.
CHAPTER VIII
ALEX CLIMBS A TREE
The boys looked into faces which had lost the ruddy tinge of health. For a second not a word was spoken.
Then Clay laughed. This seemed to set the pace for the men, for they all laughed in unison.
Then Case grew sober.
“I had a grumble at the end of my tongue,” he said, “but Clay’s laugh made me forget it. What’s the next move?”
“Find the boat,” contributed Buck. “As we don’t know which way they went, we’ll split the party, and go in both directions. They can’t be very far away.”
“They went upstream,” said Alex. “I had a seat at the table from which the river was in sight, and I’m positive that no motor boat passed in the other direction.”
“Still, one might have gone downstream when you were otherwise engaged,” replied Buck. “I’ve noticed that boys have a habit of overlooking many things when the ’possum is cooked just right.”
Alex grinned but made no comment.
“This is some of Mad Rowell’s work,” said Rube, as the party passed on upstream.
“You bet it is,” Case added. “Twice I thought I saw him in the underbrush, but finally decided that it was my imagination working overtime. I wish now that I had investigated.”
“If Mad Rowell knows how to operate a motor boat,” said Buck, “the chances are against us. That boat can go some!”
The party advanced up the stream half a mile or more without seeing anything in the shape of a motor boat.
“Hopeless case, I reckon,” suggested Rube. “It strikes me that we are only wasting time. We should have gone directly to the village and used the wire.
The man had hardly ceased speaking when an exclamation from Jule attracted the attention of all in the party.
“There she is!”
It was indeed true. TheEsmeraldalay rocking in the river some distance farther upstream. Mad Rowell was nowhere in view from where the party stood. The boat was, however, on the opposite bank of the river.
Buck appeared lost in a brown study for a moment, and then he said, speaking in his usual drawl:
“This may be an ambush.”
“If they ever got one of us into the river, they could fill him so full of lead that he’d sink of his own weight,” Clay went on. “The thing to do now is for all to take to the water at once. They can’t kill all of us!”
“They might do even that,” put in Rube, “but it seems that we have to risk it. I wish I had my two hands on the man who is responsible for this!”
“Well, what’s the decision?” asked Case.
“Yes,” answered Alex, “who’s ready for a cold bath?”
“If there’s anything I just love to do,” laughed Jule, “it is to go swimming. This water is fine!”
“Suppose we all strip?” suggested Case, who did not care to get his new suit wet.
“Then we’ll have to leave someone on this side to watch the clothes,” said Jule. “That will be a good job for me.”
“In a pig’s wrist,” Case said. “We’ll draw lots to see who stays behind.”
Fate decided in favor of Alex, much to the disgust of that young man, who was really anxious to try conclusions with the men who had stolen the boat. He tried his best to get a substitute, but did not succeed, and so was obliged to sit idly on the bank of the stream while the others took to the water.
“Come on in. The water’s fine!” taunted Jule.
Notwithstanding the optimism of Jule, the water was wretchedly cold. At that time, however, the people in the stream were too much occupied with other matters to pay any attention to the temperature of the water.
They spread out in the shape of a fan and made for the opposite shore with no thought of the chill of the water. When at last their feet struck the shelving shore, they kept the old formation.
To their great surprise there was no one in or about the boat. They advanced cautiously, not knowing when they might be attacked.
They did not see the evil face of Mad Rowell peering out upon them from a clump of underbrush. As a matter of fact, the man had been caught off his guard.
He had gone back down the river looking for an old crony to keep him company in the journey he proposed to take. He had returned to theEsmeraldajust a minute too late.
This accounted for the boat being in such good condition. If Rowell had abandoned it, it is a sure thing that he would have broken the motor and done other damage which would have made its use impossible, for a time at least.
If Rowell had been possessed of a revolver, the chances are that he would have taken a shot at Buck, but, it will be remembered, his weapon had been taken from him at the store.
So, weaponless as he was, the tough was obliged to see theEsmeraldataken away by its owner. He resolved, however, to “get even” at the first opportunity.
“Now, what do you know about this?” demanded Clay, looking over the boat critically. “The motor is in fine form, and I can’t see a thing the matter anywhere.”
Rube pointed to the place where the rowboat had been kept.
“The skiff is not here,” he remarked, “and it looks like they had gone away in it.”
By this time all the boys were shivering, so they made a hasty departure for the other shore. When only a few yards away they observed Captain Joe acting in a suspicious manner, and turned on more electricity.
“What’s that fool dog up to?” asked Case.
There was quite a commotion on shore, and the boys did not wait to see that theEsmeraldawas anchored, but sprang into the river and swam ashore. When they reached solid ground neither Alex nor the dog was in sight. And neither were the clothes!
“Well, of all the——”
Clay stopped right there. All he could say did not half express the situation.
A few articles of clothing were scattered about, but they did not represent the five suits which had been left there only a short time before. In fact, a good share of the clothes had disappeared.
The shivering lads gathered on the river bank and pondered over the new turn of affairs until joined by Rube and Buck.
“Where’s your boy who was watching the clothes?” asked Buck. “I don’t seem to see him anywhere about!”
“And where’s your dog?” demanded Rube.
“Blessed if I know what’s been going on here!” exclaimed Case, his teeth rattling as with the ague.
“Oh, this is a bad dream,” declared Jule. “Turn over and get off your back! You’ll be dreaming of pie in a minute!”
“I wish I had any old thing to put on,” grumbled Case.
“You know what Eve did when she found herself naked?” remarked Jule. “She made an apron of fig leaves.”
“Bring on your fig leaves!” ordered Clay. “Here, waiter, one order of fig leaves.”
“Something must be done at once,” declared Rube. “I’m that cold that life in an ice house would be a pleasant recreation!”
A movement was now heard in the underbrush which lined the shore of the stream, and Captain Joe made his appearance.
The dog was greeted with exclamations of disgust.
“Come here, you mongrel cur!” shouted Case, at the same time making a rush for the canine. “What did you do with our clothes?”
Captain Joe wagged his quarter of a tail and said in his best dog talk that he would show them later.
“Where’s Alex?” asked Case, talking to the dog as if he had the gift of speech.
Captain Joe climbed up on his questioner, much to the latter’s annoyance, he being nearly naked, and made further demonstrations which said in plain dog talk that he knew what was being said, but considered it beneath his dignity to make reply.
“You’re a naughty dog, and you shan’t have a bit of supper,” threatened Case.
Captain Joe got down from his elevated position and walked with great dignity toward the fringe of trees which grew along the east shore of the stream.
“He wants us to follow him,” Clay declared, “but how are we going to do it? The wild men of Borneo have us beaten to a frazzle when it comes to clothes.”
“It seems as if we might get one good suit out of this mess,” Clay said. “Who’ll be the man to try?”
“It seems to me that we all ought to be getting a move on,” said Jule. “For all we know, Alex may be having all kinds of trouble. We appear to be children of fortune this trip! Everything comes our way—in a horn!”
It was finally agreed that Jule should remain at theEsmeralda, and that the others should follow the dog, who was still hanging around, in the hope that some of the boys might follow him.
When they reached the fringe of trees which stood along the shore of the river, Clay paused and doubled up with laughter.
Alex was in sight—up a tree.
There was a bear at the foot of the tree—a bear that evidently thought he had a cinch on the boy—a Colorado mountain bear, small but fierce. And Alex was playing a mouth organ with all the energy he possessed for the benefit of the bear!
The boys laughed until their sides ached before attempting any interference. Only for the fact that the wind was blowing from the east, while the place where the clothes had been deposited was to the west of that point, the noise of Alex’s shouting for assistance and the music of the organ might have been heard from the first.
The bear moved away sullenly, taking an extra swipe at a pair of Buck’s trousers as he did so. He had evidently scented the clothing during a temporary absence of Alex and began work on them.
“What you doing up that tree?” Clay called out, as he approached the spot, from which Alex was now descending. “We left you guarding the clothes.”
“He had to entertain the bear, didn’t he?” put in Case. “Bears just love music.”
“Where was your automatic?” asked Rube, breaking into another fit of laughter at the general appearance of the party.
Buck had succeeded in finding a vest and a pair of drawers, Rube was dressed in an undershirt and a pair of trousers, Clay wore a ruined sweater and a pair of trousers, while Case sported about in a coat and trousers and a soft felt hat.
“The bear made new business for the merchant,” laughed Clay. “How’s your money holding out, Rube? Big contract you took when you set out to supply this bunch with clothes!”
“Don’t you worry about the money,” Rube answered. “I’ve got a roll that would choke a cow yet.”
The man suddenly clapped his hand to his side with an anxious look and brought it away empty.
“Well, I’ll be—”
He never completed the sentence, but dashed off in the direction of the place where the clothes had been.
Alex had remained silent under all the chaffing to which he had been subjected. Now, however, with an exclamation of dismay he started away after Rube.
“What’s coming off?” asked Buck.
“Blessed if I know,” answered Clay.
“I’ll bet that Rube has lost his money!”
It was Clay who made the remark, and it served to set both boys and Buck in motion.
“This a fine trip, I don’t think!” grumbled Case, as they ran for the spot where the clothing had been left.
When the party gained the spot they had so recently left, neither Jule nor theEsmeraldawas in sight!
“Where’s the boat, and where’s Jule?” demanded Buck. “We appear to be having the time of our lives!”
“Well,” said Clay, “the boat got away, not being anchored, and Jule set out to catch it. The time of our lives, well, I should say so! Did you find the roll. Rube?”
Rube, who was down on the ground turning over everything in sight, looked up with a comical grin on his face.
“Say,” he said, with a chuckle, “if we don’t find that roll, we’ve got someone to lay it to. Eh? We can charge it to the bear!”
“You may charge our present plight to me!” Alex said. “If I hadn’t laid my automatic aside for a minute, I might have killed the bear, and all these complications never would have happened.”
“It was to be!” observed Clay.
“You bet it was!” Case added.
“You just say that to make me feel better,” Alex replied, almost in tears. “I’m a blunderer, anyhow.”
“We wouldn’t know what to do without you!” responded Case, tapping the boy on the shoulder. “Now, brace up. Things have got to change for the better before long!”
At that instant they saw Jule walking dejectedly up the river.
“I don’t see any boat with him,” Case commented.
CHAPTER IX
THE RAMBLER HEARD FROM
“He’s got the motor boat in his pocket—perhaps!” Clay said, dejectedly. “We’ll have to walk back to Chicago, I take it! Well, we may as well laugh as cry, so here goes for the merry side of things. It might be worse, you know!”
“I fail to see how it could be much worse,” Case observed. “We are shy clothes and everything! Right now we look like a lot of monkeys dancing about in the forest!”
Jule was by this time within hailing distance, and Buck called out to him, asking where the boat was. For answer the boy pointed down the river.
“I knew it!” said Case, with a shiver.
“How did it happen?” asked Buck.
“It drifted away,” replied Jule, when he came within speaking distance, “but some men down the river caught it. It will be up here in a few minutes.” “Whoop-ee!” shouted Case.
“I’ve got a picture of our walk back to Chicago!” Clay exclaimed, dancing about in his ruined sweater and trousers. “Not yet—not for your Uncle Zeke!”
“Why didn’t you get into the boat and ride up?” asked Buck.
“There was no place to land,” was the reply. “There comes the boat now, with three men aboard of her.”
“I give it up,” declared Rube, rising to his feet. “At the present time if cows were selling for a cent apiece, the whole party couldn’t buy a piece of cheese an inch in size!”
“Don’t you be too sure about that!”
And Jule took the missing roll from a pocket in his shirt and presented it to the owner. The moment of blank amazement over, the boys placed the roll of money on the ground, and, joining hands, circled around it until they were all out of breath.
“I found it on the ground where the bear left it,” said the boy in explanation. “Wasn’t he a good, kind bear to leave anything at all?” he added, whimsically.
“How do you know there was any bear?” demanded Case. “The fix the clothes were in might have been the work of mischievous boys, for all you knew.”
“Not much,” Jule replied. “Boys wouldn’t have a nest in that hollow tree, would they? And boys wouldn’t be sliding down, and raking the bark off the tree, would they?”
“Then you knew just what we were to meet?” demanded Clay.
“I thought Alex had been caught without his automatic, and that the bear had chased him away,” answered Jule.
“That’s exactly what happened,” said Alex. “The bear came out of the tree and I had to run for it. When I got to the tree I found the bear close to my heels. I think he would have got me only for the mouth organ. How I did long for my automatic!”
“Why didn’t you run while the bear was attending to the clothing?” asked Rube, who was so glad to get his money back that his face wore a chronic and perpetual grin.
“To tell the truth,” replied Alex, with a sly smile, “I wasn’t here when the brute showed up! I was away on a little trip of my own. Now you have the whole story.”
“Well,” said Rube, “as we have to make another trip to the village, and it’s getting along toward the middle of the afternoon, perhaps we’d better be deciding who’s to go. We can’t all go in the rigs we have on, that’s a sure thing. The bear didn’t leave us too many clothes—not enough to hurt any.”
“I’ve got an idea!” suggested Alex. “It will save us a trip to town and, at the same time, expedite matters. What’s the matter with my going to the burg and buying for us all?”
“Well, if you’ll promise not to follow off any bears; that’s the ticket!” said Buck.
“The bears are likely to follow Alex off!” laughed Case.
The motor boat now dropped anchor in front of where the boys were standing, and the party was subjected to no end of “roasting” because of their disreputable appearance.
“Looks like the Garden of Eden!” roared the man who seemed to be in charge. “Where are your clothes?” he went on. “If I was the proprietor of that layout, I’d be looking around for a rag man!”
“The bear caught sight of our clothes first,” Clay answered. “Got time to take one of the boys back to the store?” he asked. “As you see, we are in need of clothes.”
“I should say so!” replied the other.
The story was soon told, and the men were off for the town in a hurry. For once, Alex did the job of buying the clothes as it should have been done, and was soon on his way back to the boys.
As he understood the motor thoroughly, it was not necessary for the boatmen to return with him. They left him with many expressions of good will, and many admonitions to give all members of the bear family a wide berth in future.
It was fortunate that the provisions purchased by Buck and Rube were intact, they having been hidden in a separate place.
The clothes fitted all the boys very well indeed, but Rube, owing to what Alex called “his length of beam,” was forced to don a suit about a foot too large for him and a foot too short.
“These clothes are all right, only they don’t fit!” said Rube, looking down at his protruding legs. “They fit me too quick the long way, and they are about the size of an elephant the short way.”
“You shouldn’t notice it!” volunteered Alex. “If this thing keeps on, you’ll be short in your bank account.”
“How much is there left in that roll?” asked Clay.
“Now, don’t you worry about the roll wasting away,” replied Rube, “for there’s more where that came from.”
“Glad to know it—we may want to make another touch!” was Alex’s reply. “We’re pretty deep in that roll now, if anybody should ask you,” he added, with a wink at Jule.
“Now, see here,” Rube responded, “don’t you ever think I take any chance whatever in losing this money. You boys haven’t said a word to me about how you are hooked up! We’ve been too busy for that. But don’t you ever suspect that I don’t know. You haven’t mentioned any names, except Clay, Alex, Case and Jule, but I read all about you and theRamblerin a Chicago newspaper, and the minute you referred to theRamblerI had you located.”
“It seems that we are getting notorious,” suggested Clay. “We can’t make a move that some newspaper don’t record.”
“Lucky for you that it is so,” Rube continued.
“Why is it lucky for us?” demanded Jule, interrupting.
“Well,” Rube went on, “when you picked up Paul Stegman last night in the rain, and began talking about theRamblerand Captain Joe, I had you sized up. So when Buck came down the river in his motor boat, I got aboard, thinking you kids might need a little lookin’ after. Now you’ve got the whole story.”
“And so, without knowing it, we had a bodyguard from the time we rescued Paul from the river?” Case interrupted. “It was mighty good of you both.”
“I wonder how Paul is faring?” Clay suggested.
“Oh, the boat thieves probably threw him overboard,” Case declared. “I’d like to wring their necks!”
“Now,” Rube said, “I’ve got a hunch that you boys are able to look out for yourselves, so I’ll ride as far as theRamblerand quit you there. I have a little work to do for myself. If you are as level-headed in future as you have shown yourselves to be in the past, you won’t need any watching.”
“How do you know we’ll catch theRambler?” asked Jule.
“I’m just supposing a case,” replied Rube with a grin.
“You just bet we’ll catch her!” Alex contributed. “And when we get her next time, we’ll keep her. This chasing after boats all the time ain’t what it’s cracked up to be.”
It was late in the afternoon when theEsmeraldagot under way, just as Clay had planned. A close watch was kept on both shores as the boat proceeded downstream.
Naturally, theRamblerwould take the easiest course, which was downstream, but for this very reason the boys decided to search every foot of water until they came to it. As soon as it was dark enough, the thieves might seek to baffle pursuit by heading up the river.
At last darkness settled down on the water. Had the night been made to order it could not have served the purpose of the boys better. If theRamblerhad crept into some hiding place along the stream her lights would show them where she lay.
In case her lights were not burning and her motors were not running it would be a difficult thing to locate the boat, and for this reason theEsmeraldawas kept slowed down.
From the first Clay had not believed the story told by Rube. He might be interested in a ranch, and Clay did not doubt that he was, but that was not the reason for his appearance on the scene just at that time. The boy did not care to make himself disliked by prying too openly into the affairs of the others, yet he was positive that there was a hidden motive back of the one reason given.
Clay talked the matter over with the other boys, but could not reach a satisfactory conclusion.
“Perhaps he’s an officer,” suggested Jule.
“In that case,” replied Clay, “he would be apt to know some of the other officers.”
“From first to last,” answered Jule, “we haven’t met a single man who has shown any authority. I guess he’s just helping out for the fun he’s getting out of it.”
“And Buck? What about him?” asked Case.
“Give it up, boys,” cried Alex. “You’re all tangled up now, and the more you guess the more you’ll get tangled.”
TheEsmeraldaslipped downstream with no lights in sight. Whenever they came to a long stretch of river the motor was set in motion, but ordinarily it remained silent.
Of course the boys were unable to pick out the localities for speeding, they being strangers to that section of country, but here Buck and Rube proved very capable guides.
They knew the upper Rio Grande as the schoolboy knows his primer. In fact, knowing the stream so well, it was remarkable that they had never before landed at Hayes. But Hayes is a small place, and, besides, they had never had occasion to visit the burg.
At ten o’clock a slow rain began falling, and, the boat at the time being just around a point of land from a creek, Buck, who was in charge, shut off the power and permitted the craft to drift.
“Do you see anything that looks like a light?”
It was Rube who asked the question.
At that instant, almost before the words were off his lips, came a low whistle of warning.
“There they are!” said Case.
“Keep still,” admonished Clay.
The boat drifted on, past the mouth of the creek, and let an anchor drop silently into the water.
“I don’t know what we’ve struck, but we know that wasn’t no coyote’s call,” declared Case.
“It had a human sound,” interrupted Jule.
“Listen!” warned Buck. “We’ll hear it again in a moment. I thought I heard it then.”
“That was only rain,” explained Alex. “The first one might have been that, too.”
At that instant, before another word could be spoken, a great light flashed out, followed by a shrill scream.
CHAPTER X
A BIT OF DYNAMITE
“That’s Tommy!” whispered Jule.
“But the light? Who turned that on?” Alex whispered in reply to the suggestion.
“It doesn’t seem to be the thing to do—showing a light just at this time,” Clay commented.
“Well, what’s the next move?” asked Case. “Shall we board the boat? Or shall we wait for the next move of the robbers?”
“Give him some Peter Pratt,” suggested Clay. Rube and Buck, who had remained silent during this conversation, nearly jumped out of the motor boat when Jule opened up with:
“What are you doing in my boat? Get out, and get out quick, or I’ll knock your block off!”
“Who was that talking?” asked Rube.
The boys snickered.
“Sounds like he meant business, whoever it is!” suggested Buck. “Say, but he gave me a start!”
“You’ve got a heap of nerve, taking my boat without my consent! I think you’ve got a trimming coming!”
“Who’s doing all this talking?” demanded Rube. “It ain’t his boat, nohow.”
Before anyone could reply, a figure, strongly outlined against the light of theRambler, rushed to the deck and crouched down behind the railing, from which position only his head could be seen, his body being concealed by the framework of the railing.
“What’s coming off here?” Jule’s voice went on. “If you don’t get away from that railing, I’ll shoot, and shoot to kill!”
Whoever the man was who had sought shelter behind the railing, he was game. He never moved, only the watchers could see the gleaming barrel of an automatic.
“Now if Tommy would only lip in,” Clay suggested, “we would have quite a menagerie. I wonder if that fellow we see is the only man aboard theRambler?”
There was a fringe of bushes along the shore, and, clearly outlined against the light of the prow lamp, a figure could now be seen making his way through the shrubbery in the direction of the boat.
The watchers being in the shadows were not visible from the position occupied by the prowler.
“He’ll be aboard the boat in a minute if something ain’t done to stop him,” remarked Rube, “and then there’ll be a mix-up that will be worth the price of admission.”
The two men had evidently been completely deceived by the talk put up by Jule. They really believed that another claimant for theRamblerhad put in his appearance.
“That talk you heard was made by Jule,” explained Case. “He thinks nothing of being two or three people at a time!”
“Not that talk in which the intruder was ordered off the boat, under penalty of having his block knocked off?” Buck answered.
Jule laughed softly.
“That’s the size of it,” he explained. “Made the fellow get a move on, eh?” he added.
“How do you do it?” asked Rube.
The question was never answered, for Tommy called for the attention of the entire company.
“Get off the boat!” he croaked. “Eat ’em alive! He eats ’em alive! Out of the way!”
“What’s that?” demanded Buck. “Sounds like the devil has come to town!”
The watchers could hear the man on the deck swearing under his breath, and could see the man prowling in the bushes advancing toward theRambler.
“Now’s the time to get theRamblerback,” whispered Case. “I am positive there is only the person in sight on board.”
“But where have the others gone?” asked Buck. “There were six on board.”
“There is a man in the shrubbery,” said Rube. “Well,” Case said, getting to his feet, “who’s going to make the first break?”
“Look here,” Alex put in, “what’s the matter with the rear deck? I can get to that in a jiffy.”
“Seems to me that you have all the fun,” Jule expostulated. “Why don’t you give someone else a chance?”
But Captain Joe settled the matter of priority in his own way. He had been roaming about the deck of theEsmeraldalike a lost spirit ever since the conversation had opened.
He evidently knew that he belonged on board theRambler, and was peeved at the idea of being kept out of his rights. At any rate he sprang into the river and struck out for the shore.
In a moment all was confusion on board theEsmeralda. Knowing that the dog would be recognized as the canine which had made the attack on the robber at the bank of the river higher up, the boys all sprang to their feet and started pellmell for the railing of the boat. It was Rube who stopped them.
“Now see here, boys,” he expostulated, “you’ll only get cold lead in your systems if you make the attempt to board theRamblernow. The robber will see the dog coming and, doubtless, shoot at him. The dog will give him about one shot, then there’ll be a mix-up.
“The chances are about even the way I’ve got it figured out, but I’m betting on the dog. He has the speed and——”
Rube got no farther. The dog had by this time reached the boat and mounted to the deck, clearing the railing at one leap, aided by driftwood which gave him footing.
The attack was so sudden that the robber fired only one shot and that one an ineffectual one, and then the dog was upon him.
“Come on, boys!” shouted Alex.
“And the grit,” continued Rube, picking up the sentence, “and I’m bettin’ on the dog!”
There was no time to reach theRamblerby boat, so the boys plunged into the river and started to swim. But the man in the bushes had to be reckoned with.
No sooner were the boys in the river than he opened fire. In a moment, however, he turned his attention to theEsmeralda, which had been left unguarded.
Before the boys in the water saw what he was up to, he was climbing over the prow of the boat. Then it was too late, and, leaving his chum to his fate, the man in the boat started the motor and was soon around a bend in the river.
Buck gave a regretful look at theEsmeraldaas she disappeared from sight, but kept on toward theRambler. His regret was that someone had not been left on the boat, but that was now a past issue. TheEsmeraldawas gone, and would undoubtedly be annexed by the pirates who had captured theRambler.
In the meantime, Captain Joe was having the time of his life with the robber, who happened to be the identical fellow the dog had sampled up the river. It being necessary to leave someone on board the boat, the fellow’s mates had chosen him as the one to remain, he being still suffering from the wounds made by the dog.
Alex was the first one to mount the deck of theRambler, and the sight he saw sent him off in peals of laughter, in which he was soon joined by the other members of the party.
Tommy, the parrot, having been long parted from the dog, was standing erect on his back, talking all the words he knew, which were not a few. Teddy, the baby bear, was curled up a few feet away, sound asleep.
Alex’s first act on gaining the deck was to lift the robber’s revolver from the place where it had been thrown in the struggle and place it in a secure position on the prow.
Next he gave his attention to the robber, who by this time was hurling all kinds of oaths and imprecations at Captain Joe, who, by the way, paid not the slightest attention to what was being said.
The dog had taken the robber by the back of the neck, so his throat was in good working order, and he filled the atmosphere of the rainy night with such a collection of oaths as one seldom hears.
“Swear away if it makes you feel any better!” laughed Alex. “You certainly are a peach at it.”
“Call the dog off!” roared the prostrate man. “Wait till I get hold of him!”
“All right!” replied Alex. “I’ll wait as long as you like, but in the meantime you’ll be eaten up!”
“For the love of Mike, call him off!” cried the prostrate man. “He’s killing me!”
“That’s just the fate you deserve!” commented Buck. “One of your chums stole my boat.”
“And the whole crew will be on top of us if we don’t get a move on!” declared Case. “Let the man up, and let’s get out of this.”
The fallen man was assisted to his feet, and Alex rushed to the cabin to see what had become of Paul Stegman. Much to his surprise he found him there, alive and thriving.
“Hello, Paul!” the boy shouted. “You don’t appear to be much the worse for your association with the robbers!”
“Do you know what one of them did for me?” asked Paul. “Bet you never can guess!”
Alex gave a number of guesses and then gave it up.
“He set my leg!”
“What’s that?”
“Sure thing!”
Alex sat weakly down. This was too much to believe.
“Yes, sir! He set my broken leg!”
“He must have been a surgeon, wanting practice!” Alex said, with a wrinkling of the nose. “I’ve heard of such people before now.”
“No, sir,” insisted Paul, with a shrug of the shoulders, “he wasn’t any such thing. He was a regular surgeon, duly qualified, and all that. Yes, sir, he was a regular practitioner.”
“This thing is too good to keep!” exclaimed Alex, ducking out of the cabin door. “I’ll have to spread the glad tidings!”
When the boy got to the deck he found it in confusion. Captain Joe was occupying the center of the stage, with Tommy a close second. The parrot was talking and the dog was barking.
In the distance theEsmeraldawas shoving her nose through the rain. The thieves, it seemed, were not satisfied to let theRamblergo in that way.
Her cabin lights were ablaze, and her deck was crowded with people. Her appearance at that point effectually blocked the entrance to the creek.
Tommy was doing his best to scold the intruder away, while Captain Joe was exerting himself to get away from Clay, who had him by the scruff of the neck.
“Giving a party?” asked Alex.
“Yes,” Buck replied, “and it’s likely to be a necktie party before it’s over. TheEsmeraldalooks right pert with all those people on board! I suppose we’ll have to wade in blood to get out of this hole they’ve got us into!”
“TheEsmeraldais stopping,” said Case. “I wonder what’s next on their program?”
A hail now came from the boat.
“Hello!” the voice said.
“Hello yourself!” came the reply.
“What you doing with that boat?”
The answer was a baying of the dog and another scream from the parrot. The hailing party consulted together for a second and then called out:
“Guess you’ll have to submit to capture, boys.”
“You don’t see anything green, do you?” was Alex’s answer. “If you want us why don’t you come and take us?”
“We can do that, too, but we thought we’d give you a chance for your lives.”
“Never mind the chance,” Jule called back. “If you have nothing more to offer, perhaps you’ll get out of the way. We’re going to want the space you occupy in about a minute. We’ve got business down the river.”
“All right!” the robber answered. “Have it your own way, but you must not expect any favors from us if you keep up your impudent talk. We’ve had about enough of that already.”
“Go as far as you like,” was Jule’s reply.
“It beats the Old Scratch that we have to get into the clutches of river pirates wherever we go,” said Case. “One would suppose that some one of the rivers visited would be free of them.”
“Now,” said Clay, “suppose we give them a little fireworks. It will be just the thing for their systems, don’t you think?”
“Sure!” exclaimed Alex.
The boy ran into the cabin and returned almost immediately with several sticks of dynamite in his arms.
Buck and Rube did not wait for the stuff to be placed on the deck. They began climbing over the railing.
“Just you wait a second,” Rube began, “until I get out of this boat! I’m not ready, yet, to lead a procession to the cemetery! I prefer to live a spell longer.”
Again a hail came from theEsmeralda.
“We’ll give you five minutes to decide!”
“That’s about four minutes too much!” shouted Clay. “If you object to being blown to Kingdom Come, just lie still when we are passing through the opening.”
“Make ’em give up theEsmeralda!” said Buck.