The River Motor Boat Boys on the Mississippi; Or, On the Trail to the Gulf

by Samuel E. Lowe

  CHAPTER X

  MORE RIVER OUTLAWS

  "And I have a notion that we'll run across that waif again," Casesaid. "I imagine that he is somewhere down the river, and that Redwill not be far away when we come to him. Somehow, we bunt intomysteries wherever we go!"

  "I've got a hunch," Alex. exclaimed, "that we are headed for news ofthat warehouse robbery at Rock Island! It seems to me too, that theboy had something to do, with it, or is mixed up in it in some way."

  "He looked pretty lean and shabby for a chap who had been interestedin a diamond robbery!" Jule suggested. "Perhaps he's not guilty--justsuspected!"

  The day was fine and the flood was running out. The river showed lesswreckage than had been seen the day before, for the lowering watercaused much of it to land on headlands and sandbars. During theforenoon the _Rambler_, which was still leaking a trifle, passedseveral river shanties and houseboats, tied up below half-submergedislands, where they were protected from wreckage.

  These houseboats are common all along the Ohio, Cumberland, Tennesseeand Mississippi rivers. Fishermen and indolent river characters livein them the year round. Some of the boats are of good size and wellbuilt and furnished, while others are merely shanties built on raftsof logs and other spoils taken from the waters.

  Many of the boats carry whole families, and go sailing toward the Gulfwith streamers of shirts and petticoats blowing from clotheslines.Others carry two or three men and numberless dogs. Those who reside onthe boats live principally on fish, and on corn meal and porkpurchased with the proceeds of fish sales.

  Shortly after dinner the boys were asked to come on board a shantyboat navigated by two men and numerous dogs, so the _Rambler_ was runalongside and Clay and Alex. went aboard, where they were warmlywelcomed by two Chicago young men who were making the river trip inthe way of a winter vacation. Their quarters were crude butcomfortable. They had had a rough voyage because of the flood, butdeclared that they were going down to the Gulf if the raft held out.

  Almost the first question Clay asked was about the Rock Islandrobbery.

  "So you have been overhauled by the officers, too, have you?" laughedone of the young men, called Ben by his chum. "We had a bit of that,also, but the officers didn't remain with us very long. It doesn'ttake a week to search our craft!"

  "Are you sure they were officers?" asked Clay.

  "Oh, yes, they were officers, all right. They asked for a boy of abouttwelve, who, they declared, had been seen down the river, and who isbelieved to have been associated with the Rock Island robbers. Theyalso asked for a man of six feet and over, with red hair."

  Clay looked at Alex. significantly and asked for any news they mighthave of the robbery--any details they might have learned.

  "Oh, we got the story from a St. Louis newspaper we begged of asteamer captain," was the reply. "It seems that the silks, furs, anddiamonds stolen were stored in the warehouse one day and taken out bythieves that same night. A boy answering to the description of the onethe officers asked for was seen about the premises during theafternoon, and at one time he was observed in the company of a giantof a man with red hair.

  "It is the theory of the police that the thieves captured the boy andforced him to enter through a broken window and unfastened the door,a~la Oliver Twist. They believe that if he can be caught he will beable to identify the robbers if they are caught. The red-headed manwas seen in the city, wandering about the streets, aimlessly, on thenight of the crime. It is not believed that he was interested in therobbery personally. However, they want him because he seemed to take agreat interest in the boy."

  "Have the officers found any of the stolen property?" asked Alex.

  "Not that we know of," was the reply. "The robbers got off handily,and it is believed they put the goods on board some river boat andsent them down toward New Orleans. Diamonds, silks and furs can behidden in a small space."

  The boys visited with the strangers for an hour or more and then wenton down the river, sailing a very little faster than the shanty boat,which depended entirely on the current, and which was obliged to tieup at intervals to avoid wreckage.

  "I've got a notion," Alex. said, as the boys left the shanty boat inthe distance, "that the newspaper story is the right one. That boynever took part in that robbery of his own free will, though. I amsure of it! And the man? That was Red he described, eh?"

  "It undoubtedly was," Clay replied, thoughtfully.

  "That's your bosom friend!" Alex. grinned. "You let him escape!"

  "What else could I do, under the circumstances?" demanded Clay. "Thefellow saved my life! Sam would have murdered me only for him!"

  "Well, if he's on the level, what's he doing with a man like Sam?"questioned Alex., still grinning.

  "We shall have to leave that question to the future," was the shortreply.

  "You believe that Red had a hand in the robbery at Rock Island?"persisted the boy.

  "I don't think anything about it! I'm waiting for additionalinformation!"

  "Well, we've got a long way to go yet," Case cut in, "and we may meetwith the red-headed man again. We may meet him in some jail yet, ifour luck doesn't change!"

  "Speaking about jails," Alex. questioned, "what do you make of the oldjail of a house Jule and I were locked up in? What do you think theywanted to hold us for?"

  "Probably to keep you from spying on what was going on there," Claysuggested.

  "But what was going on there?" asked Alex. "That is what _we_ didn'tfind out!"

  "Whatever it was," Jule observed, "the people interested in keeping itsecret took long chances when they left us in the dark room with onlyan old man to guard us. And imagine them never knowing that Mose andthe dog were in the grounds!"

  At mention of Mose Alex. burst into a roar of laughter.

  "I never saw a human face that showed real fear until I saw Moselooking in at the broken window!" he said, directly. "I have seen menand women show fright, but never anything like that! He thought he hadcome on a collection of ghosts! I presume he thought we, Jule and I,were dead and buried in the cellar, and that our spirits had comeforth to haunt the murderers! And he streaked it away like a flash oflight!"

  "There's probably nothing worse than the manufacture of moonshinewhisky going on in the old house," Case contributed. "Or the loot fromthe warehouse may have been stored there," he added. "The boys heardheavy articles being moved, though they may have been scared stiff andmistook the footsteps of a mouse for the heavy noises!"

  "I hope you'll get in just such a predicament some day!" growled Jule."It wasn't any fun, sitting there in the dark! And I expected thatcrazy old man to shoot us any moment! I believe he was crazy! He actedas if he was!"

  "That's right!" exclaimed Case. "Keep on talking, and I won't have towash a dish all the way to the Gulf. I love to hear you get funny."

  "That will do for you!" cried Jule, gleefully. "I see you washing thesupper dishes right now!"

  "I'd like to go back and investigate that old house," Alex. observed."It would be great fun! I believe it stood there when thecave-dwellers lived along the Chickasaw bluffs, and that was before DeSoto discovered the river and was buried in its depths."

  "I thought La Salle discovered the Mississippi," Case said, with awink at Clay.

  "He made a stab at navigating it from the Illinois river down," Alex.answered, seeing that Case was prodding him in the desire of receivinginformation. "But he gave the wrong course to the stream. The realMississippi turns at St. Louis and runs off toward the RockyMountains."

  "Yes it does!" exclaimed Jule. "You're in need of mental rest, youngman."

  "Certainly it does," Alex. insisted. "The longest stretch of watertakes the river name, doesn't it? Well, the Missouri is about threethousand miles long from the fountain-heads of the Gallatin, Madisonand Red Rock lakes to the junction with the Mississippi, while fromthe junction to headwaters the Mississippi is only about twelvehundred miles long!"

  "It does seem as if the longest river should c
arry the name," saidCase. "In that event, this would be the Missouri river!"

  "Sure it would," insisted Alex. "The river from the Red Rock lakes tothe Gulf is the longest river in the world--eight hundred miles longerthan the Amazon, though not so wide! Some day the name of the Missouriwill become the Mississippi, or the Mississippi will be called theMissouri!"

  The boys argued over the proposition for a long time, until it wastime to get supper, and then Clay and Alex. began watching for ducks,with which the river swarms at times. While they secured threefair-sized birds, Alex. caught fish, and insisted on their beingcooked with the ducks.

  "I'll never get enough to eat if I leave the menu to you boys," hedeclared, "and Mose feels about it just as I do!" he added, pullingthe little negro's ear.

  "Ah sure do feel empty!" answered Mose, rolling up his eyes.

  The Mississippi is a tangle of channels and islands above Memphis, andthe boys decided to tie up for the night on the down-stream side ofone of the little "tow-heads" which are so frequently seen close tolarger islands. These are formed by deposits of sand and vegetablematter, but they increase in size rapidly as soon as cotton-wood brushtakes possession of the new ground, assisting materially in resistingthe encroachments of the current.

  The islands of the Mississippi are numerous and uncertain as tolocation. They have all been formed by the cutting of new channelsacross headlands. The river itself winds like a very crooked snakethrough the soft bottom lands of the south, and the water is foreverfinding new and shorter ways to reach the Gulf.

  From the junction of the Ohio, there are one hundred and twenty-fivenumbered islands from Cairo to Bayou la Fourche, in Louisiana, andbesides these there are nearly as many more which bear the names ofthe owners. Many of these islands are grown up with impenetrablethickets or show only deserted fields.

  In proceeding down the great river the boys had kept on onlysufficient power to gain steerway, as they were in no haste to reachthe Gulf of Mexico, which was their final destination on that trip.They decided that day to travel nights no more.

  After supper had been eaten the boys switched on all the lights andsat out on deck. There was a brilliant moon, but they preferred to leteverybody in that vicinity know that they were there--hence theelectric lights.

  "If any one sneaks up on us now," Alex. laughed, "he'll have to get tous by the under-water route! And, even then, one of us would be apt tosee him. Captain Joe is losing his record as a watch dog, but I guessTeddy can take his place."

  Captain Joe, as if he understood every word that had been said, andresented the insinuation, walked up to the prow and sat in ameditative mood, looking over the small "tow-head" which sheltered theboat from the current. He sat there motionless so long that Alex.finally called attention to him.

  "Ah knows what he's done seein'!" exclaimed Mose. "Dar's a big fatcoon watchin' us from dat mess ob bushes. Ah done seen him long timeago!"

  An inspection of the spot pointed out showed half a dozen evil-lookingnegroes watching the boat.