CHAPTER IVJUST ODDS AND ENDSCaptain Joe greeted Teddy Bear with delight. He circled around him snapping playfully at his legs and uttering short, joyous barks. Teddy dropped slowly down on all fours and gave Captain Joe a good-humored cuff that sent him clear to the other side of the cabin. This rebuke administered, he made his way over to where the sugar was kept in one of the kitchen lockers and tried hard to open it, but the boys had taken the precaution to add locks to all their lockers and his efforts were unavailing. At last he gave it up and made his way back into the main cabin and stood gazing at the boys reproachfully.“You’ve got to stop your thieving, Teddy Bear,” said Case with a grin. “Get over there in your old place in the corner and I’ll get you a few lumps of sugar.”Teddy meekly obeyed and quickly received the reward for his obedience.“Well, I finished the best part of my purchases,” Clay remarked, “and I thought I had better come down and spell you for a while. I’ll have time to finish up my list tomorrow, for there will be part of the time when it will take only two of us to work on the motors. I’ve had the dandiest luck in getting a new motor. It’s a daisy and will burn either gasoline or kerosene. They promised to deliver it down here early this afternoon. I took Ike with me when I went to see about getting transportation, and let me tell you, that boy’s some bargainer. I could never have got as cheap rates as he did out of the freight agent. We are to have a flat car for theRamblerand live on board of her until we reach Seattle. But I am keeping you back. Hurry up and get your things before dark if you can.”Case was off like a shot and was soon uptown in the shopping district where he spent a happy afternoon making his purchases. With a grin at his own foolishness, he added to his list a large box of tallow candles. “Of course we will never have to eat such stuff, but they will bring back more than their value, I guess, trading with the Indians,” he argued in justification. It was nearly dusk when he finished his list and arrived at theRamblerto find that Alex had arrived only just ahead of him.Alex was excitedly talking to Clay who was busily preparing their evening meal.“What’s all the fuss about?” Case demanded.“Nothing much,” Clay said, calmly. “Alex’s just a little excited, that’s all. We’ll compare experiences while we’re eating supper. Wash up and get ready. I’ve got fried fish and that’s best when eaten piping hot.”It was not until the first pangs of his hunger was satisfied, that Alex gave vent to his grievance, and then it was in milder tones. “I guess I’m a little touchy,” he confessed, “but it made me sore the way Ike jumped on me this morning, and for nothing too. Just about a little item that appeared in the morning paper about our trip. It took me a long time to convince him that none of us could have put it in, and, by the time I had done it, I was mad myself, while Ike seemed pretty well upset.”“He spoke about that item to me when I went to see him just before noon,” Clay remarked, “but all he said was that he wondered who could have given it to the paper. All I could tell him about it was that there had been a couple of fellows prowling around our boat last night and they might have overheard part of our conversation, though why they should give it to the newspapers was more than I could figure out.”“Would you fellows like to own an interest in two rich gold mines?” Case asked when Clay had finished.“Oh, no,” retorted Alex. “We wouldn’t take one as a gift. Money is the root of all evil and we don’t want to get evil, do we?”“It would not be exactly a gift,” Case replied, ignoring the irony, and he proceeded to tell them of his morning visitor.“What kind of looking fellow was he?” Clay inquired, eagerly, when he had finished.“A big, heavy man, with long, thick whiskers. He was not a bad appearing man. His face was good humored but determined looking. He didn’t impress me as a bad man.”“Did he have a red scar on his right cheek?” Clay demanded.“He did,” Case assented. “Looked to me like an old knife cut.”“Then he is one of those men I told you about last night,” Clay remarked. “He’s the best appearing of the two. The other one could be hung for his looks. Queer how so many little things keep coming up that we can’t explain and which seem to have some connection with each other. First the first meeting between Ike and those men at the news stand, then Ike’s constant suggestions to me all winter about this Yukon trip, then the second meeting at the stand when they had their quarrel, then Ike’s wanting to go with us, then that queer notice in this morning’s paper, and right on top of it, all these men applying for passage. Makes a queer chain, doesn’t it?”“Our little kitten of a mystery seems to be growing into quite a cub,” observed Case, delighted to feel that his prophecy of trouble seemed to promise to bear fruit.“Oh, cut it out!” exclaimed Alex. “Let’s forget it all. Don’t let’s spoil our trip at the start by worrying over trifles that do not concern us anyway. Case, you make me tired. You’re one of those guys that are always looking at the hole while the other chaps are watching the doughnut.”“I don’t know but what you are right,” Case replied shamefacedly. “I soon get rid of that habit when we get started on one of our trips, but the long, gloomy winter in the city seems to bring it back on me again. Just bear with me until we get started and I’ll be all right. But just remember one thing, young man. You have used enough slang the last few days to entitle you to do all the dishwashing from here to the Yukon and back.”“We have all of us been using too much of it lately,” Clay remarked. “We had ought to make a more determined effort to stop it. It’s catchy, but the way we keep on adding new all the time it will not be so very long before our talk will sound like the chattering of a group of monkeys.”“Well,” Alex grinned, “we had better stop our chattering right now and get to work. We have got a lot to do before we go to bed.”Most of their stores had been brought down to the wharf during the afternoon and lay piled in a big heap beside theRambler. As soon as the boys had hurried through the cleaning up, they turned on the prow light and lighting a couple of lanterns went at the task of stowing their cargo. Boxes and packages were carried below, broken open and their contents stowed in the lockers, while the emptied packages were thrown overboard. As each box was opened it was checked off their lists so as to make certain that they received every thing they had ordered. Although they worked hard and with zest, it was midnight when they got all the stuff, but their new motor, safely stored.“I don’t know what we had better do about that motor,” Clay said, looking at it doubtfully. “I hate to put it down in our freshly-painted cabin because there is always such a lot of oil and grease on even a new engine, but we can’t risk leaving it up here all night.”Case tried to lift up one side of it and failed. “I guess there is not much danger of any one running away with it,” he grinned. “It must weigh five hundred pounds.”“Oh, they couldn’t get away with the engine very easily, but there’s a whole lot of brass and copper fittings which they could unscrew or wrench off.”“I’ll tell you what to do,” Alex suggested. “Put a rope on Teddy Bear and tie him up to the engine. There will be no one bother it while he’s around. He has grown so big and strong that he’s got a punch like a prize fighter.”But Teddy did not take kindly to the idea when they tried to lead him up out of the warm cozy cabin. Alex had to fill a big can with sugar and lead the way with it extended invitingly to induce him to leave the boat. While Clay tied him to the engine, Alex scattered the sugar all around in little piles so that it would take Teddy Bear some time to find and lap it all up.This last job done the tired but happy boys turned in, agreeing to be up early in the morning.It seemed as if they had only just fallen asleep when they were suddenly awakened by loud snarling and scuffling on the wharf, followed by a harsh yell.“Wake up and hustle, you fellows,” shouted Clay, as he pulled on his pants and seized his automatic. “Teddy Bear is in trouble.” His two companions were beside him when he gained the dock and the three rushed for the place where Teddy had been tied. Alex had switched on the prow light before leaving the cabin and its rays lit up a circle around the engine where they could see Teddy Bear sitting close to the engine holding up his paws and whining pitifully. The boys looked and listened but could see or hear no one near.“Whoever it was has had plenty of time to get off the dock since we first heard the noise,” Clay declared. “Let’s see what’s the matter with Teddy. I hope he has not been hurt badly.”Teddy extended his left paw with a little whine and Case examined it gently. “Why, he’s been stabbed clear through the fleshy part,” he exclaimed. “Run down into the cabin, Alex, and get that bottle of peroxide, some cloth for bandages, and the box of salve. Now cheer up, Teddy, this isn’t going to hurt you much. It will heal up in a hurry. You don’t use tobacco or drink liquor, and you chew your food well, so your blood is just as pure and clean as blood can be. In a week you will not know you ever were hurt.”Teddy put his head sideways and looked at him with a doubtful grin as though trying to understand what was said to him.“I wish I knew what brute gave him that cut. I’d feel tempted to use my automatic on him,” declared Alex, wrathfully, as he watched Clay, assisted by Case, apply the peroxide until it stopped foaming, follow it up with a liberal application of the healing salve, and then bind up the paw with long strips of white cloth.“What’s the matter with his other arm?” Case asked. “Look how he keeps it doubled up all the time. I believe he’s holding something in it. I can see a bit of black.”“So there is,” Alex agreed. “Hold out your other arm, Teddy, and let’s see what you have got.”But Teddy was reluctant to part with his treasure and it was only after repeated commands that he obeyed.Alex seized the object and bore it down into the brighter light of the cabin, his companions following. He laid the object on the table and all three boys burst into laughter.It was an old battered felt hat and across its top were several long rents where the bear’s claws had raked over; to one of the rents clung a generous patch of skin covered on the outside by long, coarse black hair.“I guess Teddy Bear’s more than evened up things,” grinned Alex. “I am going to bring him down into the cabin and give it to him. It belongs to him. He earned it. That fellow will not prowl in the dark much for awhile.”So Teddy was led below, and received the return of the hat and scalp lock with much satisfaction.“It is near day-break so there is not much use of our going to bed again,” Clay said. “I’ll cook breakfast and we will get to work early. I don’t know what we are going to do about Teddy Bear,” he continued. “He is getting too strong for a pet. We can’t control him and he’s liable to hurt some of us even in play. Get out of here!” he ordered, as Teddy slowly worked his way up to the sugar locker. He raised the knife with which he was slicing bacon and pointed it at the bear to emphasize his command.Teddy fled to the far end of the cabin, whining in fear.“There’s your answer,” laughed Alex. “We have never punished Teddy like we ought, but he has learned by experience himself that knives hurt. I guess a little punishment now and then when he has done wrong will keep him under control. We began his education wrong, we should have started with discipline first.”CHAPTER VSTARTINGAs soon as the sun was up the boys were at work The first job was to remove the old motors to make place for the new. This was a dirty, greasy job but not hard. The nuts holding the motors to the solidly-built bed were unscrewed and the motors were carried out and stored in a corner of the big warehouse where the aged docktender had offered to keep an eye on them until the boys got back from their trip.But the placing of the new motor was more of an undertaking. Strong as they were, the boys could not lift it aboard.“We will have to have help and plenty of it,” Clay declared, after they had twice made the attempt and failed. “Of course we could get a plank and block and tackle and get it aboard, but if the rope or board slipped just a little bit it would go through the bottom of theRambleras though the boards were made of paper. Then I can see now that the engine bed has got to be fixed. It’s too narrow for this new motor. Now I’ve got a few more things to buy, so I’ll run up town and get them. I’ll stop on my way up and send down a couple of good carpenters with plenty of hard wood to fix up that engine bed right. Then when I come down, I’ll bring four or five good husky men along with me and we’ll have that motor in its place in no time.”He was not gone long before the two carpenters came down bearing their tools and several blocks of oak. The engine hold was a close place to work in, but they made good progress and soon had fitted in a new bed smooth and level to fit the new engine. They had just finished their job when Clay appeared, followed by a loaded wagon and four big strapping Irishmen.With the aid of the Irishmen, and the help of the carpenters who had remained to watch, the motor was lowered down onto the new bed. This done, it only remained to fasten it down with six big bolts and connect the engine up with the shaft. A few minutes sufficed for this. Clay paid the Irishmen and the carpenters double wages for the time they had worked and they departed well pleased with their few hours’ labor.The boys then turned to the task of stowing the load the wagon had brought down. Part of this consisted of three barrels of kerosene, two of which they emptied into theRambler’s tank, the third was placed up on the forward deck. The boxes and packages were taken below and their contents emptied into the lockers. “We haven’t got space for a hundred pounds more stuff,” Alex announced when they finished. “We are just about filled up.”“We are ready to start right now,” said Clay with satisfaction, “but of course we cannot go until tomorrow’s freight, and we can not go without Ike. I saw him this morning and he said he would be down tonight—likely would get down in time for supper. What do you say, boys, if we take a little spin just to try out our new motor and see if there’s anything the matter with it. Turn on the oil at the tank, Alex, and then both of you stand by to cast off when I give the word.”The boys obeyed quickly, eager for the test, while Clay went back and fussed with the motor. Case and Alex waited long by the mooring lines for the signal to let go, but it did not come.“Can’t you start it?” Alex at last shouted impatiently.“Sure,” replied Clay, coolly. “I could start it right off, but it would be ruined in ten minutes without petting it up a little first. I’ve been filling up grease cups, putting oil in the lubricating tanks, and oiling up the working parts. You’ve got to watch those things closely with this kind of a motor or it will run hot and melt away its bearings. But I am about to start now. As soon as she starts throw off the lines, and you, Case, take the wheel.”In a moment there came a series of sharp explosions from the engine room. The boys cast off the lines and Case jumped back to the wheel. TheRamblerbacked slowly away from the wharf. As soon as she was clear of the pier, Clay reversed the engine and theRamblerwas headed up stream.Clay remained in the engine pit tuning up his new charge, trying it out slowly like a new race horse, striving to bring each working part into harmony with its fellows, now turning on a little more oil, or a little more air, again screwing down for less oil and increasing the air; his keen ear attuned to the throb of the exhaust whose varying notes told the story of the changes his tinkering had wrought. It was stuffy in the engine hold and once he raised his head above the coaming for a deep breath of fresh air. He grinned at the scraps of conversation that floated back to him from up forward.“TheRamblerdon’t go like she used to go,” Case was saying, gloomily, “every craft on the stream is passing us. Look at that Vixen behind. She is creeping right up on us now and theRamblerused to make two miles to her one.”“Yes,” Alex agreed, dejectedly. “Clay has handed us a lemon all right. It has turned theRamblerinto a floating hearse. Well, he meant it for the best and we must not show our disappointment. He’ll feel bad enough about it himself when he finds out the mistake he made.”“Sure, there’s to be no roasting of Clay,” Case agreed, heartily. “He’s the best one of us three.”Clay, still grinning, dropped down again into the hold and resumed his tinkering with air and oil tubes. He straightened up at last, and gave a sigh of satisfaction as his ear caught a new note in the throbbing exhaust, a low, mellow throb, throb, throb, regular and even. He had at last secured the right mixture of oil and air for the motor. He filed little notches on the air and oil cocks so that in the future the proper adjustments of air and oil could be made at a moment’s notice. This done, he climbed out of the hold and made his way forward.“Well, how’s she doing?” he asked of the downcast two.Alex tried to answer brightly. “She seems to go a wee mite slower than she used to, but maybe she’ll do better when the new engine gets limbered up a bit.”“It feels dandy to be out in theRambleronce more, doesn’t it?” put in Case, hurriedly.Clay turned aside to hide his grin. “Isn’t that the Dingbat coming down on us from ahead?” Didn’t we used to be able to outrun her?”“No, she always used to beat us a little,” Alex said, gloomily.“Well, it’s time we were turning back anyway,” Clay observed. “When she gets past you, Case, turn around and follow her.” He walked back to the hold grinning at the scraps of conversation that followed him.“Think of him wanting to race the Dingbat, with this one-mule water wagon.”“And the Dingbat is one of the swiftest motor boats around here.”“Think of our hoping that he would tumble to his mistake by degrees and not get so rough a jar.”“Well, he had to know it some time. He isn’t quite blind.”Clay reached the hold and dropping down into it, stood with head above the hatch coaming watching. He saw the Dingbat sweep past like an arrow, and Case, obedient to order, swing theRambleraround in slow, clumsy pursuit. Then he reached down to the motor and shoving over the lever to make a quicker spark, turned on a little more oil and air. He could feel theRamblerleap forward as he clambered out of the hold and walked forward.The boys’ faces were a study. Case, his mouth wide open, was handling the wheel and gazing ahead at the great foamy waves parting away from the bow.Alex, leaning over the side, was watching the foam slip by while amazement and surprise stood out on his freckled face. “Clay,” he shouted, “pinch me and see if I’m asleep or just plain crazy. Five minutes ago I was in a hearse, and now I’m in a flying machine.”“Oh, she isn’t flying yet, laughed Clay. “She’s only just getting off the ground. Face around and have a good look at the Dingbat.”TheRamblerswept past the Dingbat like a trolley car past a loaded wagon. The Dingbat’s captain in assumed rage, rose to his feet and shook his fist at them as they swept by.”“Look here,” he shouted. “I’m willing to race any motor boat around these parts, but I’ll be hanged if I’ll match my boat against a hydroplane.”“Want more speed, Case?” Clay inquired. “I’ve only got three-fourths of the power turned on.”“More speed?” yelled Case as he nearly swamped a passing row boat with the high waves which theRambler’s bows sent rolling away from her. “More power?” he repeated, when the curses heaped on him by the row boat’s crew had died away behind. “The balance of the power would drive her under water, loaded as she is.”“No,” Alex grinned. “It would send all the water in the South Branch clean up into the city in a series of tidal waves.”Clay prudently set the timer at half speed. They made the run back to the dock in less than half the time it had taken them to go. The boys were jubilant over the motor.“I’ll bet she made 18 miles an hour on that first sprint,” Alex exulted.“Under full power and laden light, I am sure we can get twenty-two miles an hour out of her,” Case said, confidently.They found the two applicants for passage waiting on the wharf. “Hallo,” said the big man heartily. “We come as we said we would. This is my partner. Partner Bill, and a right good partner too he is. Me and him have been partners for a right smart number of years. Ain’t we, Bill?”“Yes, Jed, but don’t talk too much,” growled Bill, who, though smaller than his partner, was a man of powerful build and heavily muscled, unlike Jed, however, his hands were dirty and his face bore the stamp of every evil passion.“All right, Bill,” said Jed, good-naturedly. “I guess this chap,” indicating Case,” told you fellows about the talk I had with him yesterday.”“Haven’t I seen you two somewhere before?” Clay demanded before Alex or Case could reply.Bill looked startled and Jed shifted his feet uneasily before he answered. “You might have seen us somewhere,” he admitted, slowly. “We have been in Chicago all winter doing odd jobs to keep our bodies and souls together, ’till the spring thaw. Yes, you may have seen us working somewhere.”“It was last fall at Ike’s news stand on the corner I first saw you,” Clay spoke slowly and watched the two faces. Jed squirmed uneasily but the other came promptly to the rescue.“That’s where it was,” he exclaimed. “We was strangers to the city and we stopped there to ask some directions, and had a right pleasant chat with the boy before we left.”“And I saw you there again,” Clay continued.“Like as not,” interrupted the other. “We have hung around the stand a good deal this winter and Ike and us got to be real good friends.”“Yes, you seemed mighty good friends the last time I saw you together,” Clay said, dryly. “It was only a couple of afternoons ago and you two were trying to rough house Ike and you might have done it too, if I hadn’t seen the fracas and called the police.”Bill seemed at a loss for an answer for a second and then his reckless air came back. “We wasn’t going to hurt him none—just scare him. We asked him for a dime to get a bowl of soup, ’cause we were nearly starved, and that miserable whining Jew——”“Stop right there,” Alex commanded. “Ike is a Jew but he is not miserable and he is not whining. He is manly and straight. He is one of our best friends and he is coming down this evening to go on this trip with us.”Clay had shook his head vigorously at Alex but the boy would not be stopped until he said what he had to say.The effect on the two men was amazing. Anger and evil passions played over Bill’s face like black clouds over a murky sky. Even Jed’s good-humored countenance became downcast and troubled.“Come on, partner,” he said, plucking at Bill’s sleeve. “They don’t want you an’ me here. Let’s go and try somewhere else.”Bill, with a string of oaths on his lips, suffered him to lead him off the end of the dock where he turned and shook his clenched fist at the boys on theRambler.“He would sure be a nice one to have along on a trip,” Alex grinned. “I’d be afraid to go to sleep for fear I’d wake up murdered.”“I’m sorry you told them Ike was going with us,” Clay said severely. “If he had wanted them to know he would have told them, but he didn’t. You could see that by their faces when you blurted it out. Well, it’s done now and can’t be helped. It’s your turn to cook dinner, Case. After it is over, I’ll show you both how to run the new motor. It’s very simple. You’ll soon be able to handle it.”CHAPTER VIA MURDEROUS ASSAULTAs Clay had said, it took but a little while for Alex and Case to learn to handle the new motor and they soon became delighted with its simplicity.“The only bad feature about it is that it has to be cleaned more frequently than a gas engine,” Clay observed. “The kerosene soots up the piston and coats the rings and then the motor does not work well. It ought to be cleaned thoroughly at least once a week. I’ve been thinking that we had ought to make the cleaning of it a new punishment for slang using. Our present penalty is too light—the dish washing has been tried and found wanting. After a man has spent a day down in that stuffy hold, covered with grease and oil, it will make him careful of his language for a long time.”“All right,” agreed his companions, but Alex, with an eye to the present, past and future, added craftily: “Of course this doesn’t apply to past offences, nor to future ones. It only goes into effect when we are actually started on our trip up the Yukon?”“That’s about it,” assented Clay.“Then I want to say that we are a lot of boneheads running around wasting our precious oil. We are dippy, all of us. Case has got bats in his belfry, you have a few wheels in your head, and I’m not quite right in my upper story. Let’s go in and overhaul our stores instead of casting money.”All the afternoon the boys labored on the more careful repacking of their hastily stored cargo and overhauling their personal belongings. When the afternoon began to wane, Alex betook himself to the kitchen to prepare the supper which they had agreed should be quite a spread in honor of Ike’s coming. As the sun went down, Case tied a rope around Teddy Bear and led him up on the dock, followed by Captain Joe. “I’m going up the street a bit and meet Ike,” he said. The animals need exercise and I guess Ike will be pretty tired with his luggage before he gets down here.”Alex, assisted by Clay in the preparation of the feast, took but little notice of the passage of time until the cabin grew so dark that they had to turn on the lights to see.“Gee, I wonder what’s keeping Ike so long,” Alex exclaimed. “If he doesn’t come pretty soon the supper will be spoilt.”“Strange Case doesn’t come back,” Clay said uneasily. “He’s been gone over an hour. I hope he didn’t take Teddy up town. If he did, he’s liable to have got into trouble and Ike may be trying to help him out. One of us had better go up and see what’s the matter.”He had scarcely spoken when there came the sound of slow foot-steps on the dock and Alex snapped on the prow light.The first to come inside of the half circle of light was Teddy and Captain Joe, then followed Case, half carrying, half supporting a limp form.Alex and Clay leaped to the wharf to receive the strange possession.“It’s Ike,” said Case, as he stopped, and stood panting, but still supporting his heavy burden. “Give me a hand to get him down into the cabin. I’m about played out.”The three carried him down into the cabin and laid him in a clean bunk, just taking off his shoes and loosening up his clothing so that he might rest easier. In the bright light, he looked ghastly, his face pale and many blood stained handkerchiefs around his head.“Don’t look so scared,” said Case with a smile. “He is not going to die. He will be all right in a day or two. Let’s have supper and I’ll tell you all about it. The supper was placed upon the table and all three fell to eating while Case told his story. “I waited up the street a little ways until I began to feel uneasy and restless, then I moved further up the street, almost opposite that lumber yard. It was almost dark when I saw Ike coming. He was carrying a suitcase and walking fast. Just as he came to the other end of the lumber yard, two men sprang out on him. One hit him over the head and he went down like a stone. The other grabbed the suit case out of Ike’s hand, tore it open as though it was paper and dumped the contents out on the street. While he was pawing it over, the other fellow went through Ike’s pockets. For a full moment I was helpless with surprise, then I ran for the spot. Teddy and Captain Joe right behind me. The men saw me coming, but they stood their ground until I was about one hundred feet away. They evidently wanted to make a thorough search. When I got that close they ran and turned off the street into an alley.”“Did you see their faces?” questioned Clay eagerly.“I did,” Case replied. “They were the two men who wanted to take passage with us. Well, I did not follow them up. I got Ike laid out as comfortable as I could and called for the ambulance and then ran back to Ike. The ambulance got to him as quickly as I did. He soon came to under the doctor’s treatment. The doctor shaved his head, put ointment and sticking plaster on it, and bound it up. To save him a bad night of pain, the doctor gave him some sleeping, quieting dope, and then he ordered the driver to bring us down to the pier and pick him up on the way back. Well, the horses refused to go out over the water and we took Ike out of the wagon. I told the driver that I had a job on my hands. I guess the dope had taken good effect for he was unconscious and breathing heavily. I fairly had to carry him to the boat.”“Did you notify the police?” Clay asked.“No, Ike was conscious all right until the doctor gave him that dope and he begged me not to tell the police, for we might be held as witnesses so long that our trip would be spoilt.”“Well,” said Alex. “I’ll be glad when we are off at last.”“And that will be tonight,” Clay said. “I’m going to run theRambleraround tonight and anchor her close to the railroad dock. We start in the morning and it will be best to have her on hand. Besides I want to get out of here. There’s too much trouble going on around this pier. Do you think the noise of the motor would wake Ike, Chase?”“You would have to hit him again with another pair of brass knucks—that’s what the doctor said was used on him—to wake him up,” laughed Case.So the moorings were cast off. And theRamblerwas run around close to the big railroad dock and anchored, while the boys, deciding that they had had enough excitement for one day, at once turned in. At daylight they were up again and tied up to the railroad dock. Here they passed strong ropes under theRamblerand fastening them above the boat had a strong, well-fixed sling, which would lift equally on all parts of the heavily-ladened boat, when the dock hoist was attached. This done there was nothing to do but wait until their train backed down to take them on.Ike had been awakened by the noise on deck and, when the boys descended into the cabin, they found him sitting up on the edge of his bunk swinging his legs. “No, I ain’t sick, you understand,” he said in answer to their inquiries. “That low-life what hit me over the head he don’t do nothing but make my head ache some. Did them loafers steal anything from me when I no got my senses?”“They broke open your suit case and scattered your things all over the pavement,” Case said. “I picked up all I could find but of course I did not know whether anything was missing.”“Give me my clothes first,” Ike demanded. He examined the pockets of pants and coat and grinned. “They gets nothing here,” he said, “except a Canadian quarter, a lead half dollar, and a dime with a hole in it. I have a false lining here on the inside and it makes a dandy place to carry money, you understand.” He slapped the seat of his trousers and it gave back a crisp rustling as of stiff new bills. A careful examination of the torn suit case discovered nothing missing and Ike, feeling better in mind and spirit, declared he would like a bite to eat.While Clay hustled around to cook him a slice of toast, some soft boiled eggs, and a cup of coffee, Alex ran up town and was soon back with a couple of morning papers.They contained only a brief notice of the assault on Ike, probably given out by the ambulance surgeon, but flaring across on the first front page was:“Chicago’s open season for hold-ups and murders has begun.” Then below the head lines followed.“Mr. Austin, a rather prominent retail merchant, was on his way home last night when he was attacked by foot-pads who darted out on him from the old lumber yard on L street. Mr. Austin had been unable to get to the bank during the day and carried in a wallet in his breast pocket, over $1,000. While one man held him and choked him, the other relieved him of his money, and of the fat wallet. Then they tripped him up and took to their heels, escaping, as there are no policemen and few pedestrians on this lonely street. Mr. Austin describes the two as being very big, roughly clothed men, one of them having a red scar on one cheek. Of course they got away. Even if Mr. Austin had been able to obtain a good photograph of each it is doubtful if our bone-headed police would recognize the men if they accidentally met them.”Just then came the rumble of a train coming down the dock. Clay pushed his head out of the window. “It’s our train,” he shouted. “Take those dishes off the table and set the pots off the stove. She may list a bit when they go to hoist her.”A huge crane swung slowly over theRamblerand from it a huge hook attached to a chain was gently lowered. The boys quickly caught the hook in the sling. The chain slowly tightened and theRamblerwas lifted bodily and lowered gently onto a flat car, where she was quickly shored up with timbers to keep her on an even keel.It was only a few minutes before the train backed off the docks, switched onto the main track and began to crawl slowly out of the dingy city.“Hurrah!” cried Alex in his joy. “We are off, off at last.” And the others joined him in his jubilation.CHAPTER VIITHE GOLD FEVERFour travel-weary looking boys stood on the hurricane deck of the steamerArcticjust landed at St. Michael’s Island which lies somewhat below the Arctic circle and close to the mouth of the great river Yukon. We spoke of the boys as standing, but that was incorrect, rather they were sitting, with legs swinging, on the deck of the motor boatRambler, looking down at the strange scene going on below them. From one gang plank theArctic’spassengers were pushing out eagerly to reach the shore, while up the other gang plank was struggling a line of curious humanity.“Whew, if that’s what the gold-seeker gets to be like, then I don’t want to be one,” declared a boy gloomy looking, unless something exciting was going on around him. “Gee, they are a ghastly looking sight. See how some faces are disfigured by frost bites, and those others at the foot of the plank, notice how pale and wan their faces are, and notice the lines of suffering on them. Famine all winter I’ll bet caused that. See those three fellows coming up now, two with only one arm and one with one leg, been frozen or broken in accidents on the ice. Right behind them are two nearly dead with the scurvy; you can see the marks from here.”“Well, maybe they have been well paid for their sufferings, Case,” observed Alex, whose good-humored, freckled face was always cheerful. “They’ll most of them get well quick as soon as they get to the States and get proper food and medicine.”“They don’t look as though they make much money,” observed Ike, the Jew boy, dubiously. “Most of them has on rags and the best of them I could fit out better in a cheap second-hand shop.”“You can’t tell a man by his clothes,” said Clay, the fourth boy, who was looking over at the distant town of Nome, a cluster of tents and rough shanties on the mainland.“You’re right there,” said a voice behind them and the four wheeled around to find the captain of the steamer standing behind them. “No, you can’t judge those men by their looks or clothes. That fellow in rags has a claim up near Dawson that has turned him out over two million already. He wants a change. His folks have a kind of a farm up in the States. He’ll go there and lay around under the trees for a while and then drift back. That big man next to him is one of the richest miners in the north. He’ll go out for a month perhaps, spend a quarter of a million having what he calls a good time, then he’ll drift back. Maybe more than half of that crowd coming on board have made good stakes. Of the balance most are tenderfeet, who have simply got cold feet and have given up the game. But, boys, three-fourths of that crowd will be back in a year. I can’t understand it myself, but there is a lure to this Northland that seems to draw men back to her in spite of the awful punishments she gives. But all this isn’t what I came to see you about, boys. I wanted to say that we can lower your boat down any time, but its pretty rough now so I would advise you to wait until tomorrow.”“Thank you, Captain,” said Clay, after a questioning glance at his companions. “We thank you very much, but we have been delayed so much on the journey that we have got to hustle to see much of the Yukon before the ice sets in. We want to see Nome this afternoon, and tomorrow begins our trip up the Yukon. I am sure theRamblercan ride those waves—she has gone over much bigger ones in her time. If the slings are placed right so that she will hit the water evenly, she will be all right.”“All right, boys,” smiled the Captain. “Have your own way about it. Good-bye, and I hope it will be our fortune to go back on the same boat in the fall. I’ll send the boatswain right up to fix the slings. He’s an artist at that kind of work. We will have your boat in the water in a jiffy.”He was gone but a moment when the boastswain appeared and with deft fingers adjusted the slings. At a signal the steamer’s big crane, hoisted high, swung in over their heads. The boys clambered aboard theRamblerand took their places—Case at the wheel, Clay at the motors, and Alex and Ike at the slings ready to cast off when the time came.The big crane lifted them over the rail, held them poised for a minute, then lowered them gently down into the rough water below. The moment the slings slacked, Ike and Alex cast off the iron hooks that connected them to the crane. Clay started the motors, Case swung the wheel around, and theRambler—like a bird freed from captivity—darted away, followed by the cheers of the steamer’s crew.Alex danced up and down the deck, while the others could hardly refrain from joining him in their joy at being once more afloat on their beloved craft.Case headed theRamblerfor the straggling village. The little motor boat rode the sea valiantly and by mid-afternoon they were safely moored in the lea of a short pier running out from the beach. “Alex, you and Case run out and take in the sights while Ike and I stay by the boat,” Clay said. “We had not ought to leave theRambleralone with all her valuable cargo. As soon as you get through with your sight-seeing, come back again and give Ike and me a chance. Better take Captain Joe and Teddy Bear with you. They need a walk after their long confinement. The two eagerly obeyed and Alex led Teddy away with Captain Joe at his heels.An ancient looking prospector who had been sitting on a wharf post and who had been listening to the boys’ conversation with unabashed interest, got up and strolled over to where they were sitting.“Chekakos, ain’t you?” He questioned laconically. “Young ones, too, at that.”“We’re young, all right,” Clay admitted with a smile, “but we don’t exactly know what you mean by ‘chekakos.’”“Old timers’ name for a greenhorn or tenderfoot. I knowed you was greenhorns from the States as soon as I laid eyes on you,” he continued. “Your faces haven’t been painted with lines and scars yet by old North now; then, too, I heard you talk, and that showed you didn’t know the region around the Arctic. You can leave your boat alone with the cabin unlocked at any miner’s camp and nothing will be touched. We hang thieves on mighty slim evidence up here. It’s a worse crime here than killing. Run on and see the town if you want to. No one will bother your boat.”Clay was convinced by the rugged honesty of the miner’s face.“Come on, Ike,” he called. “Let’s go and stretch our legs for a while and see what Nome looks like. Slip your automatic in your pocket. One always needs one when they haven’t got it. Hurry up, perhaps we can catch up with the boys. They haven’t been gone long.” But although they hastened their pace, they could not catch sight of Alex and Case. At last they gave up the attempt to find them and turned their attention to the busy scene around them. Everywhere upon little plots of ground heaps of dirt were being reared skyward from holes in which brawny men in their short-sleeves toiled with shovels and hoisting-pails; the whole place looked like a grouping of ant hills.The boys paused beside several of these holes and watched the steady labor of digging and hoisting. Every man appeared to be working so against time that the boys did not want to butt in with questions. At one hole, however, they found a great giant of a man clad in overalls who was handling a bucket. He greeted them cordially with a demand for the latest news from the States.“Yes, these claims are rich, but gold ain’t all in life,” he said in answer to Clay’s questions. “I used to figure out if I was only rich I’d be happy, but that thar hole holds a million dollars apiece for me and my partners and I don’t feel happy. Seem like I’d give it all now to think that I’d been kinder to mother and sister when they were alive or had tried to help dear old dad when he was struggling to find clothes and food for us all. Hold on a minute,” he said, as the boys started to bid him good-bye. “I never let a stranger off my claim without a souvenir, so to speak.” He gathered up a miner’s pan almost full of the fresh gravel and taking it down to a little running stream and filling the pan, tipped it up on edge, and gave it a peculiar whirling motion which sent the sand and gravel out over the edge. This was repeated several times and then he extended the pan out for their view. In its bottom lay fine flakes of yellow and resting upon them as upon a bed glistened eight nuggets varying in size from a grain of corn to a small marble. “Take them and you can have them made into scarf pins as a reminder of the trip when you get back home. No, no, thanks. Just take them and run along. I’ve got to get to work.”Ike eyed the gold with a calculating eye. “I bet that gold’s worth $20.00 he said. Suppose we stop and talk to some of the other men what hoists the buckets. Perhaps they give souvenirs too.”“Not much, I guess,” laughed Clay. “That man’s an exception; all are too busy to waste time on strangers.” He stopped at the next claim to inquire if anything had been seen of two boys, a dog and a grizzly. The man scratched his gravel splashed hair. “Yep, I did see a bear some time ago. He was licking it for town in a hurry. He had a rope dragging behind him so I reckon he was some one’s pet. A little after a boy, all covered with gravel and mud, passed a-running, an’ I made up my mind he was the bear’s owner. Didn’t see no dog or other boy.”“Let’s make for town as fast as our legs will carry us,” Clay said. “Alex has had trouble with Teddy and no telling how it will end. I wonder how he got separated from Case. I never intended for him to be on shore alone. He always gets into trouble.”A few minutes of running brought them to the edge of the town, which consisted of one main street bordered on each side by long ramshackle buildings or dug-outs. Every building seemed to be a dance hall, saloon, or gambling den; often one building seemed to combine all three. The din of pianos and the harsh discord floated out on the street, disgusting the two boys who had carefully kept away from unclean things.They hurried down one side of the street and back on the other side without catching sight of either of the missing ones. “I wonder what could have become of them,” Clay repeated for the twentieth time. He stopped by a man sitting in a doorway and inquired of him if he had seen anything of the boy and bear.“Sure, they are both in the Golden Nugget, that saloon over there, where so much noise comes from. It’s a tough place and y’d better get your partner out of there right away. Wait a second till I get my belt and gun an I’ll walk over there with you. I know most of the fellows and may be able to save you trouble.” It took the man but a moment to buckle on his heavy belt, laden with cartridges and two long barreled Colts. Then he led the way across to the cheaply-gaudy saloon. As he flung open the door a curious sight greeted the boys’ eyes. Leaning against the bar with the air of an old toper, his head tipped to one side and his mouth parted in a silly grin, was Teddy, his eyes fixed on a pail of beer the bartender had drawn and which, when full, he set before the bear.Alex, in the far corner, tears of sheer rage in his eyes, was pulling with all his strength and repeating commands for him to come away. He had not noticed the entrance of the boys. Suddenly he dropped the rope and his hand sought his coat pocket.“Look here, you fellows,” he called, his eyes flashing through his tears. “That’s my bear and I want you to leave him alone. Don’t give him another drink; why, he’s getting as drunk as some of these men and he hasn’t got much more sense than they have when he’s this way. He would not be in here if you hadn’t coaxed him in with sugar and got him to boxing and drinking beer. Now stop it, cut it out and cut it out quick.”“What are you going to do about it, my young bantam,” sneered the bartender.“That’s simple,” said Alex, in steady tones. “I’m going to shatter that mirror. I’ve heard one was worth $2,500.00 up here. Then those rows of bottles on the shelves—I’ve seen you sell some at $10.00 per bottle—that I think will about pay for Teddy.”“What do you think I’ll be doing all that time,” sneered the bartender.“You’ll be smiling sweetly and holding up your hands as high as you can get them,” came the cool retort; “otherwise I might take you for an enlarged whiskey bottle and make a mistake in my shooting. Stop!” he cried, as the bartender reached under the bar.“It’s time to interfere,” said the stranger by Clay’s side.
CHAPTER IV
JUST ODDS AND ENDS
Captain Joe greeted Teddy Bear with delight. He circled around him snapping playfully at his legs and uttering short, joyous barks. Teddy dropped slowly down on all fours and gave Captain Joe a good-humored cuff that sent him clear to the other side of the cabin. This rebuke administered, he made his way over to where the sugar was kept in one of the kitchen lockers and tried hard to open it, but the boys had taken the precaution to add locks to all their lockers and his efforts were unavailing. At last he gave it up and made his way back into the main cabin and stood gazing at the boys reproachfully.
“You’ve got to stop your thieving, Teddy Bear,” said Case with a grin. “Get over there in your old place in the corner and I’ll get you a few lumps of sugar.”
Teddy meekly obeyed and quickly received the reward for his obedience.
“Well, I finished the best part of my purchases,” Clay remarked, “and I thought I had better come down and spell you for a while. I’ll have time to finish up my list tomorrow, for there will be part of the time when it will take only two of us to work on the motors. I’ve had the dandiest luck in getting a new motor. It’s a daisy and will burn either gasoline or kerosene. They promised to deliver it down here early this afternoon. I took Ike with me when I went to see about getting transportation, and let me tell you, that boy’s some bargainer. I could never have got as cheap rates as he did out of the freight agent. We are to have a flat car for theRamblerand live on board of her until we reach Seattle. But I am keeping you back. Hurry up and get your things before dark if you can.”
Case was off like a shot and was soon uptown in the shopping district where he spent a happy afternoon making his purchases. With a grin at his own foolishness, he added to his list a large box of tallow candles. “Of course we will never have to eat such stuff, but they will bring back more than their value, I guess, trading with the Indians,” he argued in justification. It was nearly dusk when he finished his list and arrived at theRamblerto find that Alex had arrived only just ahead of him.
Alex was excitedly talking to Clay who was busily preparing their evening meal.
“What’s all the fuss about?” Case demanded.
“Nothing much,” Clay said, calmly. “Alex’s just a little excited, that’s all. We’ll compare experiences while we’re eating supper. Wash up and get ready. I’ve got fried fish and that’s best when eaten piping hot.”
It was not until the first pangs of his hunger was satisfied, that Alex gave vent to his grievance, and then it was in milder tones. “I guess I’m a little touchy,” he confessed, “but it made me sore the way Ike jumped on me this morning, and for nothing too. Just about a little item that appeared in the morning paper about our trip. It took me a long time to convince him that none of us could have put it in, and, by the time I had done it, I was mad myself, while Ike seemed pretty well upset.”
“He spoke about that item to me when I went to see him just before noon,” Clay remarked, “but all he said was that he wondered who could have given it to the paper. All I could tell him about it was that there had been a couple of fellows prowling around our boat last night and they might have overheard part of our conversation, though why they should give it to the newspapers was more than I could figure out.”
“Would you fellows like to own an interest in two rich gold mines?” Case asked when Clay had finished.
“Oh, no,” retorted Alex. “We wouldn’t take one as a gift. Money is the root of all evil and we don’t want to get evil, do we?”
“It would not be exactly a gift,” Case replied, ignoring the irony, and he proceeded to tell them of his morning visitor.
“What kind of looking fellow was he?” Clay inquired, eagerly, when he had finished.
“A big, heavy man, with long, thick whiskers. He was not a bad appearing man. His face was good humored but determined looking. He didn’t impress me as a bad man.”
“Did he have a red scar on his right cheek?” Clay demanded.
“He did,” Case assented. “Looked to me like an old knife cut.”
“Then he is one of those men I told you about last night,” Clay remarked. “He’s the best appearing of the two. The other one could be hung for his looks. Queer how so many little things keep coming up that we can’t explain and which seem to have some connection with each other. First the first meeting between Ike and those men at the news stand, then Ike’s constant suggestions to me all winter about this Yukon trip, then the second meeting at the stand when they had their quarrel, then Ike’s wanting to go with us, then that queer notice in this morning’s paper, and right on top of it, all these men applying for passage. Makes a queer chain, doesn’t it?”
“Our little kitten of a mystery seems to be growing into quite a cub,” observed Case, delighted to feel that his prophecy of trouble seemed to promise to bear fruit.
“Oh, cut it out!” exclaimed Alex. “Let’s forget it all. Don’t let’s spoil our trip at the start by worrying over trifles that do not concern us anyway. Case, you make me tired. You’re one of those guys that are always looking at the hole while the other chaps are watching the doughnut.”
“I don’t know but what you are right,” Case replied shamefacedly. “I soon get rid of that habit when we get started on one of our trips, but the long, gloomy winter in the city seems to bring it back on me again. Just bear with me until we get started and I’ll be all right. But just remember one thing, young man. You have used enough slang the last few days to entitle you to do all the dishwashing from here to the Yukon and back.”
“We have all of us been using too much of it lately,” Clay remarked. “We had ought to make a more determined effort to stop it. It’s catchy, but the way we keep on adding new all the time it will not be so very long before our talk will sound like the chattering of a group of monkeys.”
“Well,” Alex grinned, “we had better stop our chattering right now and get to work. We have got a lot to do before we go to bed.”
Most of their stores had been brought down to the wharf during the afternoon and lay piled in a big heap beside theRambler. As soon as the boys had hurried through the cleaning up, they turned on the prow light and lighting a couple of lanterns went at the task of stowing their cargo. Boxes and packages were carried below, broken open and their contents stowed in the lockers, while the emptied packages were thrown overboard. As each box was opened it was checked off their lists so as to make certain that they received every thing they had ordered. Although they worked hard and with zest, it was midnight when they got all the stuff, but their new motor, safely stored.
“I don’t know what we had better do about that motor,” Clay said, looking at it doubtfully. “I hate to put it down in our freshly-painted cabin because there is always such a lot of oil and grease on even a new engine, but we can’t risk leaving it up here all night.”
Case tried to lift up one side of it and failed. “I guess there is not much danger of any one running away with it,” he grinned. “It must weigh five hundred pounds.”
“Oh, they couldn’t get away with the engine very easily, but there’s a whole lot of brass and copper fittings which they could unscrew or wrench off.”
“I’ll tell you what to do,” Alex suggested. “Put a rope on Teddy Bear and tie him up to the engine. There will be no one bother it while he’s around. He has grown so big and strong that he’s got a punch like a prize fighter.”
But Teddy did not take kindly to the idea when they tried to lead him up out of the warm cozy cabin. Alex had to fill a big can with sugar and lead the way with it extended invitingly to induce him to leave the boat. While Clay tied him to the engine, Alex scattered the sugar all around in little piles so that it would take Teddy Bear some time to find and lap it all up.
This last job done the tired but happy boys turned in, agreeing to be up early in the morning.
It seemed as if they had only just fallen asleep when they were suddenly awakened by loud snarling and scuffling on the wharf, followed by a harsh yell.
“Wake up and hustle, you fellows,” shouted Clay, as he pulled on his pants and seized his automatic. “Teddy Bear is in trouble.” His two companions were beside him when he gained the dock and the three rushed for the place where Teddy had been tied. Alex had switched on the prow light before leaving the cabin and its rays lit up a circle around the engine where they could see Teddy Bear sitting close to the engine holding up his paws and whining pitifully. The boys looked and listened but could see or hear no one near.
“Whoever it was has had plenty of time to get off the dock since we first heard the noise,” Clay declared. “Let’s see what’s the matter with Teddy. I hope he has not been hurt badly.”
Teddy extended his left paw with a little whine and Case examined it gently. “Why, he’s been stabbed clear through the fleshy part,” he exclaimed. “Run down into the cabin, Alex, and get that bottle of peroxide, some cloth for bandages, and the box of salve. Now cheer up, Teddy, this isn’t going to hurt you much. It will heal up in a hurry. You don’t use tobacco or drink liquor, and you chew your food well, so your blood is just as pure and clean as blood can be. In a week you will not know you ever were hurt.”
Teddy put his head sideways and looked at him with a doubtful grin as though trying to understand what was said to him.
“I wish I knew what brute gave him that cut. I’d feel tempted to use my automatic on him,” declared Alex, wrathfully, as he watched Clay, assisted by Case, apply the peroxide until it stopped foaming, follow it up with a liberal application of the healing salve, and then bind up the paw with long strips of white cloth.
“What’s the matter with his other arm?” Case asked. “Look how he keeps it doubled up all the time. I believe he’s holding something in it. I can see a bit of black.”
“So there is,” Alex agreed. “Hold out your other arm, Teddy, and let’s see what you have got.”
But Teddy was reluctant to part with his treasure and it was only after repeated commands that he obeyed.
Alex seized the object and bore it down into the brighter light of the cabin, his companions following. He laid the object on the table and all three boys burst into laughter.
It was an old battered felt hat and across its top were several long rents where the bear’s claws had raked over; to one of the rents clung a generous patch of skin covered on the outside by long, coarse black hair.
“I guess Teddy Bear’s more than evened up things,” grinned Alex. “I am going to bring him down into the cabin and give it to him. It belongs to him. He earned it. That fellow will not prowl in the dark much for awhile.”
So Teddy was led below, and received the return of the hat and scalp lock with much satisfaction.
“It is near day-break so there is not much use of our going to bed again,” Clay said. “I’ll cook breakfast and we will get to work early. I don’t know what we are going to do about Teddy Bear,” he continued. “He is getting too strong for a pet. We can’t control him and he’s liable to hurt some of us even in play. Get out of here!” he ordered, as Teddy slowly worked his way up to the sugar locker. He raised the knife with which he was slicing bacon and pointed it at the bear to emphasize his command.
Teddy fled to the far end of the cabin, whining in fear.
“There’s your answer,” laughed Alex. “We have never punished Teddy like we ought, but he has learned by experience himself that knives hurt. I guess a little punishment now and then when he has done wrong will keep him under control. We began his education wrong, we should have started with discipline first.”
CHAPTER V
STARTING
As soon as the sun was up the boys were at work The first job was to remove the old motors to make place for the new. This was a dirty, greasy job but not hard. The nuts holding the motors to the solidly-built bed were unscrewed and the motors were carried out and stored in a corner of the big warehouse where the aged docktender had offered to keep an eye on them until the boys got back from their trip.
But the placing of the new motor was more of an undertaking. Strong as they were, the boys could not lift it aboard.
“We will have to have help and plenty of it,” Clay declared, after they had twice made the attempt and failed. “Of course we could get a plank and block and tackle and get it aboard, but if the rope or board slipped just a little bit it would go through the bottom of theRambleras though the boards were made of paper. Then I can see now that the engine bed has got to be fixed. It’s too narrow for this new motor. Now I’ve got a few more things to buy, so I’ll run up town and get them. I’ll stop on my way up and send down a couple of good carpenters with plenty of hard wood to fix up that engine bed right. Then when I come down, I’ll bring four or five good husky men along with me and we’ll have that motor in its place in no time.”
He was not gone long before the two carpenters came down bearing their tools and several blocks of oak. The engine hold was a close place to work in, but they made good progress and soon had fitted in a new bed smooth and level to fit the new engine. They had just finished their job when Clay appeared, followed by a loaded wagon and four big strapping Irishmen.
With the aid of the Irishmen, and the help of the carpenters who had remained to watch, the motor was lowered down onto the new bed. This done, it only remained to fasten it down with six big bolts and connect the engine up with the shaft. A few minutes sufficed for this. Clay paid the Irishmen and the carpenters double wages for the time they had worked and they departed well pleased with their few hours’ labor.
The boys then turned to the task of stowing the load the wagon had brought down. Part of this consisted of three barrels of kerosene, two of which they emptied into theRambler’s tank, the third was placed up on the forward deck. The boxes and packages were taken below and their contents emptied into the lockers. “We haven’t got space for a hundred pounds more stuff,” Alex announced when they finished. “We are just about filled up.”
“We are ready to start right now,” said Clay with satisfaction, “but of course we cannot go until tomorrow’s freight, and we can not go without Ike. I saw him this morning and he said he would be down tonight—likely would get down in time for supper. What do you say, boys, if we take a little spin just to try out our new motor and see if there’s anything the matter with it. Turn on the oil at the tank, Alex, and then both of you stand by to cast off when I give the word.”
The boys obeyed quickly, eager for the test, while Clay went back and fussed with the motor. Case and Alex waited long by the mooring lines for the signal to let go, but it did not come.
“Can’t you start it?” Alex at last shouted impatiently.
“Sure,” replied Clay, coolly. “I could start it right off, but it would be ruined in ten minutes without petting it up a little first. I’ve been filling up grease cups, putting oil in the lubricating tanks, and oiling up the working parts. You’ve got to watch those things closely with this kind of a motor or it will run hot and melt away its bearings. But I am about to start now. As soon as she starts throw off the lines, and you, Case, take the wheel.”
In a moment there came a series of sharp explosions from the engine room. The boys cast off the lines and Case jumped back to the wheel. TheRamblerbacked slowly away from the wharf. As soon as she was clear of the pier, Clay reversed the engine and theRamblerwas headed up stream.
Clay remained in the engine pit tuning up his new charge, trying it out slowly like a new race horse, striving to bring each working part into harmony with its fellows, now turning on a little more oil, or a little more air, again screwing down for less oil and increasing the air; his keen ear attuned to the throb of the exhaust whose varying notes told the story of the changes his tinkering had wrought. It was stuffy in the engine hold and once he raised his head above the coaming for a deep breath of fresh air. He grinned at the scraps of conversation that floated back to him from up forward.
“TheRamblerdon’t go like she used to go,” Case was saying, gloomily, “every craft on the stream is passing us. Look at that Vixen behind. She is creeping right up on us now and theRamblerused to make two miles to her one.”
“Yes,” Alex agreed, dejectedly. “Clay has handed us a lemon all right. It has turned theRamblerinto a floating hearse. Well, he meant it for the best and we must not show our disappointment. He’ll feel bad enough about it himself when he finds out the mistake he made.”
“Sure, there’s to be no roasting of Clay,” Case agreed, heartily. “He’s the best one of us three.”
Clay, still grinning, dropped down again into the hold and resumed his tinkering with air and oil tubes. He straightened up at last, and gave a sigh of satisfaction as his ear caught a new note in the throbbing exhaust, a low, mellow throb, throb, throb, regular and even. He had at last secured the right mixture of oil and air for the motor. He filed little notches on the air and oil cocks so that in the future the proper adjustments of air and oil could be made at a moment’s notice. This done, he climbed out of the hold and made his way forward.
“Well, how’s she doing?” he asked of the downcast two.
Alex tried to answer brightly. “She seems to go a wee mite slower than she used to, but maybe she’ll do better when the new engine gets limbered up a bit.”
“It feels dandy to be out in theRambleronce more, doesn’t it?” put in Case, hurriedly.
Clay turned aside to hide his grin. “Isn’t that the Dingbat coming down on us from ahead?” Didn’t we used to be able to outrun her?”
“No, she always used to beat us a little,” Alex said, gloomily.
“Well, it’s time we were turning back anyway,” Clay observed. “When she gets past you, Case, turn around and follow her.” He walked back to the hold grinning at the scraps of conversation that followed him.
“Think of him wanting to race the Dingbat, with this one-mule water wagon.”
“And the Dingbat is one of the swiftest motor boats around here.”
“Think of our hoping that he would tumble to his mistake by degrees and not get so rough a jar.”
“Well, he had to know it some time. He isn’t quite blind.”
Clay reached the hold and dropping down into it, stood with head above the hatch coaming watching. He saw the Dingbat sweep past like an arrow, and Case, obedient to order, swing theRambleraround in slow, clumsy pursuit. Then he reached down to the motor and shoving over the lever to make a quicker spark, turned on a little more oil and air. He could feel theRamblerleap forward as he clambered out of the hold and walked forward.
The boys’ faces were a study. Case, his mouth wide open, was handling the wheel and gazing ahead at the great foamy waves parting away from the bow.
Alex, leaning over the side, was watching the foam slip by while amazement and surprise stood out on his freckled face. “Clay,” he shouted, “pinch me and see if I’m asleep or just plain crazy. Five minutes ago I was in a hearse, and now I’m in a flying machine.”
“Oh, she isn’t flying yet, laughed Clay. “She’s only just getting off the ground. Face around and have a good look at the Dingbat.”
TheRamblerswept past the Dingbat like a trolley car past a loaded wagon. The Dingbat’s captain in assumed rage, rose to his feet and shook his fist at them as they swept by.”
“Look here,” he shouted. “I’m willing to race any motor boat around these parts, but I’ll be hanged if I’ll match my boat against a hydroplane.”
“Want more speed, Case?” Clay inquired. “I’ve only got three-fourths of the power turned on.”
“More speed?” yelled Case as he nearly swamped a passing row boat with the high waves which theRambler’s bows sent rolling away from her. “More power?” he repeated, when the curses heaped on him by the row boat’s crew had died away behind. “The balance of the power would drive her under water, loaded as she is.”
“No,” Alex grinned. “It would send all the water in the South Branch clean up into the city in a series of tidal waves.”
Clay prudently set the timer at half speed. They made the run back to the dock in less than half the time it had taken them to go. The boys were jubilant over the motor.
“I’ll bet she made 18 miles an hour on that first sprint,” Alex exulted.
“Under full power and laden light, I am sure we can get twenty-two miles an hour out of her,” Case said, confidently.
They found the two applicants for passage waiting on the wharf. “Hallo,” said the big man heartily. “We come as we said we would. This is my partner. Partner Bill, and a right good partner too he is. Me and him have been partners for a right smart number of years. Ain’t we, Bill?”
“Yes, Jed, but don’t talk too much,” growled Bill, who, though smaller than his partner, was a man of powerful build and heavily muscled, unlike Jed, however, his hands were dirty and his face bore the stamp of every evil passion.
“All right, Bill,” said Jed, good-naturedly. “I guess this chap,” indicating Case,” told you fellows about the talk I had with him yesterday.”
“Haven’t I seen you two somewhere before?” Clay demanded before Alex or Case could reply.
Bill looked startled and Jed shifted his feet uneasily before he answered. “You might have seen us somewhere,” he admitted, slowly. “We have been in Chicago all winter doing odd jobs to keep our bodies and souls together, ’till the spring thaw. Yes, you may have seen us working somewhere.”
“It was last fall at Ike’s news stand on the corner I first saw you,” Clay spoke slowly and watched the two faces. Jed squirmed uneasily but the other came promptly to the rescue.
“That’s where it was,” he exclaimed. “We was strangers to the city and we stopped there to ask some directions, and had a right pleasant chat with the boy before we left.”
“And I saw you there again,” Clay continued.
“Like as not,” interrupted the other. “We have hung around the stand a good deal this winter and Ike and us got to be real good friends.”
“Yes, you seemed mighty good friends the last time I saw you together,” Clay said, dryly. “It was only a couple of afternoons ago and you two were trying to rough house Ike and you might have done it too, if I hadn’t seen the fracas and called the police.”
Bill seemed at a loss for an answer for a second and then his reckless air came back. “We wasn’t going to hurt him none—just scare him. We asked him for a dime to get a bowl of soup, ’cause we were nearly starved, and that miserable whining Jew——”
“Stop right there,” Alex commanded. “Ike is a Jew but he is not miserable and he is not whining. He is manly and straight. He is one of our best friends and he is coming down this evening to go on this trip with us.”
Clay had shook his head vigorously at Alex but the boy would not be stopped until he said what he had to say.
The effect on the two men was amazing. Anger and evil passions played over Bill’s face like black clouds over a murky sky. Even Jed’s good-humored countenance became downcast and troubled.
“Come on, partner,” he said, plucking at Bill’s sleeve. “They don’t want you an’ me here. Let’s go and try somewhere else.”
Bill, with a string of oaths on his lips, suffered him to lead him off the end of the dock where he turned and shook his clenched fist at the boys on theRambler.
“He would sure be a nice one to have along on a trip,” Alex grinned. “I’d be afraid to go to sleep for fear I’d wake up murdered.”
“I’m sorry you told them Ike was going with us,” Clay said severely. “If he had wanted them to know he would have told them, but he didn’t. You could see that by their faces when you blurted it out. Well, it’s done now and can’t be helped. It’s your turn to cook dinner, Case. After it is over, I’ll show you both how to run the new motor. It’s very simple. You’ll soon be able to handle it.”
CHAPTER VI
A MURDEROUS ASSAULT
As Clay had said, it took but a little while for Alex and Case to learn to handle the new motor and they soon became delighted with its simplicity.
“The only bad feature about it is that it has to be cleaned more frequently than a gas engine,” Clay observed. “The kerosene soots up the piston and coats the rings and then the motor does not work well. It ought to be cleaned thoroughly at least once a week. I’ve been thinking that we had ought to make the cleaning of it a new punishment for slang using. Our present penalty is too light—the dish washing has been tried and found wanting. After a man has spent a day down in that stuffy hold, covered with grease and oil, it will make him careful of his language for a long time.”
“All right,” agreed his companions, but Alex, with an eye to the present, past and future, added craftily: “Of course this doesn’t apply to past offences, nor to future ones. It only goes into effect when we are actually started on our trip up the Yukon?”
“That’s about it,” assented Clay.
“Then I want to say that we are a lot of boneheads running around wasting our precious oil. We are dippy, all of us. Case has got bats in his belfry, you have a few wheels in your head, and I’m not quite right in my upper story. Let’s go in and overhaul our stores instead of casting money.”
All the afternoon the boys labored on the more careful repacking of their hastily stored cargo and overhauling their personal belongings. When the afternoon began to wane, Alex betook himself to the kitchen to prepare the supper which they had agreed should be quite a spread in honor of Ike’s coming. As the sun went down, Case tied a rope around Teddy Bear and led him up on the dock, followed by Captain Joe. “I’m going up the street a bit and meet Ike,” he said. The animals need exercise and I guess Ike will be pretty tired with his luggage before he gets down here.”
Alex, assisted by Clay in the preparation of the feast, took but little notice of the passage of time until the cabin grew so dark that they had to turn on the lights to see.
“Gee, I wonder what’s keeping Ike so long,” Alex exclaimed. “If he doesn’t come pretty soon the supper will be spoilt.”
“Strange Case doesn’t come back,” Clay said uneasily. “He’s been gone over an hour. I hope he didn’t take Teddy up town. If he did, he’s liable to have got into trouble and Ike may be trying to help him out. One of us had better go up and see what’s the matter.”
He had scarcely spoken when there came the sound of slow foot-steps on the dock and Alex snapped on the prow light.
The first to come inside of the half circle of light was Teddy and Captain Joe, then followed Case, half carrying, half supporting a limp form.
Alex and Clay leaped to the wharf to receive the strange possession.
“It’s Ike,” said Case, as he stopped, and stood panting, but still supporting his heavy burden. “Give me a hand to get him down into the cabin. I’m about played out.”
The three carried him down into the cabin and laid him in a clean bunk, just taking off his shoes and loosening up his clothing so that he might rest easier. In the bright light, he looked ghastly, his face pale and many blood stained handkerchiefs around his head.
“Don’t look so scared,” said Case with a smile. “He is not going to die. He will be all right in a day or two. Let’s have supper and I’ll tell you all about it. The supper was placed upon the table and all three fell to eating while Case told his story. “I waited up the street a little ways until I began to feel uneasy and restless, then I moved further up the street, almost opposite that lumber yard. It was almost dark when I saw Ike coming. He was carrying a suitcase and walking fast. Just as he came to the other end of the lumber yard, two men sprang out on him. One hit him over the head and he went down like a stone. The other grabbed the suit case out of Ike’s hand, tore it open as though it was paper and dumped the contents out on the street. While he was pawing it over, the other fellow went through Ike’s pockets. For a full moment I was helpless with surprise, then I ran for the spot. Teddy and Captain Joe right behind me. The men saw me coming, but they stood their ground until I was about one hundred feet away. They evidently wanted to make a thorough search. When I got that close they ran and turned off the street into an alley.”
“Did you see their faces?” questioned Clay eagerly.
“I did,” Case replied. “They were the two men who wanted to take passage with us. Well, I did not follow them up. I got Ike laid out as comfortable as I could and called for the ambulance and then ran back to Ike. The ambulance got to him as quickly as I did. He soon came to under the doctor’s treatment. The doctor shaved his head, put ointment and sticking plaster on it, and bound it up. To save him a bad night of pain, the doctor gave him some sleeping, quieting dope, and then he ordered the driver to bring us down to the pier and pick him up on the way back. Well, the horses refused to go out over the water and we took Ike out of the wagon. I told the driver that I had a job on my hands. I guess the dope had taken good effect for he was unconscious and breathing heavily. I fairly had to carry him to the boat.”
“Did you notify the police?” Clay asked.
“No, Ike was conscious all right until the doctor gave him that dope and he begged me not to tell the police, for we might be held as witnesses so long that our trip would be spoilt.”
“Well,” said Alex. “I’ll be glad when we are off at last.”
“And that will be tonight,” Clay said. “I’m going to run theRambleraround tonight and anchor her close to the railroad dock. We start in the morning and it will be best to have her on hand. Besides I want to get out of here. There’s too much trouble going on around this pier. Do you think the noise of the motor would wake Ike, Chase?”
“You would have to hit him again with another pair of brass knucks—that’s what the doctor said was used on him—to wake him up,” laughed Case.
So the moorings were cast off. And theRamblerwas run around close to the big railroad dock and anchored, while the boys, deciding that they had had enough excitement for one day, at once turned in. At daylight they were up again and tied up to the railroad dock. Here they passed strong ropes under theRamblerand fastening them above the boat had a strong, well-fixed sling, which would lift equally on all parts of the heavily-ladened boat, when the dock hoist was attached. This done there was nothing to do but wait until their train backed down to take them on.
Ike had been awakened by the noise on deck and, when the boys descended into the cabin, they found him sitting up on the edge of his bunk swinging his legs. “No, I ain’t sick, you understand,” he said in answer to their inquiries. “That low-life what hit me over the head he don’t do nothing but make my head ache some. Did them loafers steal anything from me when I no got my senses?”
“They broke open your suit case and scattered your things all over the pavement,” Case said. “I picked up all I could find but of course I did not know whether anything was missing.”
“Give me my clothes first,” Ike demanded. He examined the pockets of pants and coat and grinned. “They gets nothing here,” he said, “except a Canadian quarter, a lead half dollar, and a dime with a hole in it. I have a false lining here on the inside and it makes a dandy place to carry money, you understand.” He slapped the seat of his trousers and it gave back a crisp rustling as of stiff new bills. A careful examination of the torn suit case discovered nothing missing and Ike, feeling better in mind and spirit, declared he would like a bite to eat.
While Clay hustled around to cook him a slice of toast, some soft boiled eggs, and a cup of coffee, Alex ran up town and was soon back with a couple of morning papers.
They contained only a brief notice of the assault on Ike, probably given out by the ambulance surgeon, but flaring across on the first front page was:
“Chicago’s open season for hold-ups and murders has begun.” Then below the head lines followed.
“Mr. Austin, a rather prominent retail merchant, was on his way home last night when he was attacked by foot-pads who darted out on him from the old lumber yard on L street. Mr. Austin had been unable to get to the bank during the day and carried in a wallet in his breast pocket, over $1,000. While one man held him and choked him, the other relieved him of his money, and of the fat wallet. Then they tripped him up and took to their heels, escaping, as there are no policemen and few pedestrians on this lonely street. Mr. Austin describes the two as being very big, roughly clothed men, one of them having a red scar on one cheek. Of course they got away. Even if Mr. Austin had been able to obtain a good photograph of each it is doubtful if our bone-headed police would recognize the men if they accidentally met them.”
Just then came the rumble of a train coming down the dock. Clay pushed his head out of the window. “It’s our train,” he shouted. “Take those dishes off the table and set the pots off the stove. She may list a bit when they go to hoist her.”
A huge crane swung slowly over theRamblerand from it a huge hook attached to a chain was gently lowered. The boys quickly caught the hook in the sling. The chain slowly tightened and theRamblerwas lifted bodily and lowered gently onto a flat car, where she was quickly shored up with timbers to keep her on an even keel.
It was only a few minutes before the train backed off the docks, switched onto the main track and began to crawl slowly out of the dingy city.
“Hurrah!” cried Alex in his joy. “We are off, off at last.” And the others joined him in his jubilation.
CHAPTER VII
THE GOLD FEVER
Four travel-weary looking boys stood on the hurricane deck of the steamerArcticjust landed at St. Michael’s Island which lies somewhat below the Arctic circle and close to the mouth of the great river Yukon. We spoke of the boys as standing, but that was incorrect, rather they were sitting, with legs swinging, on the deck of the motor boatRambler, looking down at the strange scene going on below them. From one gang plank theArctic’spassengers were pushing out eagerly to reach the shore, while up the other gang plank was struggling a line of curious humanity.
“Whew, if that’s what the gold-seeker gets to be like, then I don’t want to be one,” declared a boy gloomy looking, unless something exciting was going on around him. “Gee, they are a ghastly looking sight. See how some faces are disfigured by frost bites, and those others at the foot of the plank, notice how pale and wan their faces are, and notice the lines of suffering on them. Famine all winter I’ll bet caused that. See those three fellows coming up now, two with only one arm and one with one leg, been frozen or broken in accidents on the ice. Right behind them are two nearly dead with the scurvy; you can see the marks from here.”
“Well, maybe they have been well paid for their sufferings, Case,” observed Alex, whose good-humored, freckled face was always cheerful. “They’ll most of them get well quick as soon as they get to the States and get proper food and medicine.”
“They don’t look as though they make much money,” observed Ike, the Jew boy, dubiously. “Most of them has on rags and the best of them I could fit out better in a cheap second-hand shop.”
“You can’t tell a man by his clothes,” said Clay, the fourth boy, who was looking over at the distant town of Nome, a cluster of tents and rough shanties on the mainland.
“You’re right there,” said a voice behind them and the four wheeled around to find the captain of the steamer standing behind them. “No, you can’t judge those men by their looks or clothes. That fellow in rags has a claim up near Dawson that has turned him out over two million already. He wants a change. His folks have a kind of a farm up in the States. He’ll go there and lay around under the trees for a while and then drift back. That big man next to him is one of the richest miners in the north. He’ll go out for a month perhaps, spend a quarter of a million having what he calls a good time, then he’ll drift back. Maybe more than half of that crowd coming on board have made good stakes. Of the balance most are tenderfeet, who have simply got cold feet and have given up the game. But, boys, three-fourths of that crowd will be back in a year. I can’t understand it myself, but there is a lure to this Northland that seems to draw men back to her in spite of the awful punishments she gives. But all this isn’t what I came to see you about, boys. I wanted to say that we can lower your boat down any time, but its pretty rough now so I would advise you to wait until tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Captain,” said Clay, after a questioning glance at his companions. “We thank you very much, but we have been delayed so much on the journey that we have got to hustle to see much of the Yukon before the ice sets in. We want to see Nome this afternoon, and tomorrow begins our trip up the Yukon. I am sure theRamblercan ride those waves—she has gone over much bigger ones in her time. If the slings are placed right so that she will hit the water evenly, she will be all right.”
“All right, boys,” smiled the Captain. “Have your own way about it. Good-bye, and I hope it will be our fortune to go back on the same boat in the fall. I’ll send the boatswain right up to fix the slings. He’s an artist at that kind of work. We will have your boat in the water in a jiffy.”
He was gone but a moment when the boastswain appeared and with deft fingers adjusted the slings. At a signal the steamer’s big crane, hoisted high, swung in over their heads. The boys clambered aboard theRamblerand took their places—Case at the wheel, Clay at the motors, and Alex and Ike at the slings ready to cast off when the time came.
The big crane lifted them over the rail, held them poised for a minute, then lowered them gently down into the rough water below. The moment the slings slacked, Ike and Alex cast off the iron hooks that connected them to the crane. Clay started the motors, Case swung the wheel around, and theRambler—like a bird freed from captivity—darted away, followed by the cheers of the steamer’s crew.
Alex danced up and down the deck, while the others could hardly refrain from joining him in their joy at being once more afloat on their beloved craft.
Case headed theRamblerfor the straggling village. The little motor boat rode the sea valiantly and by mid-afternoon they were safely moored in the lea of a short pier running out from the beach. “Alex, you and Case run out and take in the sights while Ike and I stay by the boat,” Clay said. “We had not ought to leave theRambleralone with all her valuable cargo. As soon as you get through with your sight-seeing, come back again and give Ike and me a chance. Better take Captain Joe and Teddy Bear with you. They need a walk after their long confinement. The two eagerly obeyed and Alex led Teddy away with Captain Joe at his heels.
An ancient looking prospector who had been sitting on a wharf post and who had been listening to the boys’ conversation with unabashed interest, got up and strolled over to where they were sitting.
“Chekakos, ain’t you?” He questioned laconically. “Young ones, too, at that.”
“We’re young, all right,” Clay admitted with a smile, “but we don’t exactly know what you mean by ‘chekakos.’”
“Old timers’ name for a greenhorn or tenderfoot. I knowed you was greenhorns from the States as soon as I laid eyes on you,” he continued. “Your faces haven’t been painted with lines and scars yet by old North now; then, too, I heard you talk, and that showed you didn’t know the region around the Arctic. You can leave your boat alone with the cabin unlocked at any miner’s camp and nothing will be touched. We hang thieves on mighty slim evidence up here. It’s a worse crime here than killing. Run on and see the town if you want to. No one will bother your boat.”
Clay was convinced by the rugged honesty of the miner’s face.
“Come on, Ike,” he called. “Let’s go and stretch our legs for a while and see what Nome looks like. Slip your automatic in your pocket. One always needs one when they haven’t got it. Hurry up, perhaps we can catch up with the boys. They haven’t been gone long.” But although they hastened their pace, they could not catch sight of Alex and Case. At last they gave up the attempt to find them and turned their attention to the busy scene around them. Everywhere upon little plots of ground heaps of dirt were being reared skyward from holes in which brawny men in their short-sleeves toiled with shovels and hoisting-pails; the whole place looked like a grouping of ant hills.
The boys paused beside several of these holes and watched the steady labor of digging and hoisting. Every man appeared to be working so against time that the boys did not want to butt in with questions. At one hole, however, they found a great giant of a man clad in overalls who was handling a bucket. He greeted them cordially with a demand for the latest news from the States.
“Yes, these claims are rich, but gold ain’t all in life,” he said in answer to Clay’s questions. “I used to figure out if I was only rich I’d be happy, but that thar hole holds a million dollars apiece for me and my partners and I don’t feel happy. Seem like I’d give it all now to think that I’d been kinder to mother and sister when they were alive or had tried to help dear old dad when he was struggling to find clothes and food for us all. Hold on a minute,” he said, as the boys started to bid him good-bye. “I never let a stranger off my claim without a souvenir, so to speak.” He gathered up a miner’s pan almost full of the fresh gravel and taking it down to a little running stream and filling the pan, tipped it up on edge, and gave it a peculiar whirling motion which sent the sand and gravel out over the edge. This was repeated several times and then he extended the pan out for their view. In its bottom lay fine flakes of yellow and resting upon them as upon a bed glistened eight nuggets varying in size from a grain of corn to a small marble. “Take them and you can have them made into scarf pins as a reminder of the trip when you get back home. No, no, thanks. Just take them and run along. I’ve got to get to work.”
Ike eyed the gold with a calculating eye. “I bet that gold’s worth $20.00 he said. Suppose we stop and talk to some of the other men what hoists the buckets. Perhaps they give souvenirs too.”
“Not much, I guess,” laughed Clay. “That man’s an exception; all are too busy to waste time on strangers.” He stopped at the next claim to inquire if anything had been seen of two boys, a dog and a grizzly. The man scratched his gravel splashed hair. “Yep, I did see a bear some time ago. He was licking it for town in a hurry. He had a rope dragging behind him so I reckon he was some one’s pet. A little after a boy, all covered with gravel and mud, passed a-running, an’ I made up my mind he was the bear’s owner. Didn’t see no dog or other boy.”
“Let’s make for town as fast as our legs will carry us,” Clay said. “Alex has had trouble with Teddy and no telling how it will end. I wonder how he got separated from Case. I never intended for him to be on shore alone. He always gets into trouble.”
A few minutes of running brought them to the edge of the town, which consisted of one main street bordered on each side by long ramshackle buildings or dug-outs. Every building seemed to be a dance hall, saloon, or gambling den; often one building seemed to combine all three. The din of pianos and the harsh discord floated out on the street, disgusting the two boys who had carefully kept away from unclean things.
They hurried down one side of the street and back on the other side without catching sight of either of the missing ones. “I wonder what could have become of them,” Clay repeated for the twentieth time. He stopped by a man sitting in a doorway and inquired of him if he had seen anything of the boy and bear.
“Sure, they are both in the Golden Nugget, that saloon over there, where so much noise comes from. It’s a tough place and y’d better get your partner out of there right away. Wait a second till I get my belt and gun an I’ll walk over there with you. I know most of the fellows and may be able to save you trouble.” It took the man but a moment to buckle on his heavy belt, laden with cartridges and two long barreled Colts. Then he led the way across to the cheaply-gaudy saloon. As he flung open the door a curious sight greeted the boys’ eyes. Leaning against the bar with the air of an old toper, his head tipped to one side and his mouth parted in a silly grin, was Teddy, his eyes fixed on a pail of beer the bartender had drawn and which, when full, he set before the bear.
Alex, in the far corner, tears of sheer rage in his eyes, was pulling with all his strength and repeating commands for him to come away. He had not noticed the entrance of the boys. Suddenly he dropped the rope and his hand sought his coat pocket.
“Look here, you fellows,” he called, his eyes flashing through his tears. “That’s my bear and I want you to leave him alone. Don’t give him another drink; why, he’s getting as drunk as some of these men and he hasn’t got much more sense than they have when he’s this way. He would not be in here if you hadn’t coaxed him in with sugar and got him to boxing and drinking beer. Now stop it, cut it out and cut it out quick.”
“What are you going to do about it, my young bantam,” sneered the bartender.
“That’s simple,” said Alex, in steady tones. “I’m going to shatter that mirror. I’ve heard one was worth $2,500.00 up here. Then those rows of bottles on the shelves—I’ve seen you sell some at $10.00 per bottle—that I think will about pay for Teddy.”
“What do you think I’ll be doing all that time,” sneered the bartender.
“You’ll be smiling sweetly and holding up your hands as high as you can get them,” came the cool retort; “otherwise I might take you for an enlarged whiskey bottle and make a mistake in my shooting. Stop!” he cried, as the bartender reached under the bar.
“It’s time to interfere,” said the stranger by Clay’s side.