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

by Samuel E. Lowe

  CHAPTER XXIV

  SOMETHING DOING ALL THE TIME

  Jule was at a loss what course to pursue. The boy who had left thehouse might be Chet, in which case he felt that he ought to follow andinduce him to return to the _Rambler_, if that were possible.

  The diamonds which had been placed in the deposit vault belonged toChet. At least the boy had had them in his possession when he cameaboard the boat, and in the absence of any other claim upon them theybelonged to him. If they did not belong to him, then their owner oughtto be found. If they did, he ought to have possession of them.

  Just how a boy had become possessed of a fortune in precious stones,Jule was not trying to figure out at that time. What was in his mindwas the thought that the question of ownership ought to be settled atonce. This question, he believed, could best be settled by the boyhimself.

  He waived, for the time being, all consideration of the possibleconnection of the gems with the Rock Island robbery, all considerationof the possible connection of the boy with the man known to him asRed, the Robber. Chet himself could best decide the question ofownership, and Jule thought he ought to be taken back to the boat, byforce if necessary.

  Just as the boy was on the point of pursuing the figure, now fastdisappearing in the shadows along the levee, Mose pulled at his armand pointed to Captain Joe. The dog, with short ears and tail rampant,was crouching close to the closed door of the house, uttering lowgrowls as his paws moved toward the threshold.

  "Alex. in dar!" the little negro exclaimed.

  Then there came a heavy, stumbling footstep along the walk, and aburly man in the garb of a riverman paused at the door, overlookingthe boys crouched at the angle of the house, but cursing the dogdrunkenly. Captain Joe behaved remarkably well under the kicksdelivered at him, and the newcomer took a key from his pocket andopened the door. Before he could enter the dog had disappeared in thedarkness of the interior.

  "I reckon Alex. is in there, perhaps Case, too," Jule muttered.

  "Yo' sure cain't fool dat purp!" Mose whispered.

  The boys did not attempt to follow on into the house by the opendoorway, but passed on to the window and entered there. All was stilldark inside. They could hear the man who had just entered movingabout, still striking at and cursing the dog.

  Directly another key was turned, and then all was confusion. Juleswitched on his flashlight and the circle it cut in the darknessrevealed the man standing in a doorway with a long-barreled revolverin one shaking hand. The casings of the doorway appeared to be oftwo-inch plank, and the door itself was crossed by iron bands.

  The man turned as the light flashed out and fired, the bullet goingwide of the mark. Then a voice came from the interior of the room, avoice which brought joy to the hearts of boys outside. The voice ofAlex.

  "Get him, Joe!" the voice cried. "Get him good!"

  The man wheeled and shot at the springing dog, but the bullet went offinto the ragged ceiling instead of into Captain Joe's head, asintended. Directly the dog and the man were in a struggle on thefloor, the only light Jule's electric.

  Alex. and Case came out of the room, leaping over the fighters, andseized Jule and Mose in enthusiastic embraces.

  "Wait!" Jule commanded. "Get the man on the floor first. The dog willtake his life. Joe!" he added, "let go!"

  "Take him away!" shrieked the man. "He's chewed my arm off now!"

  Jule picked up the fallen man's revolver and held it to his head whileAlex. forced the dog away. There was blood on Captain Joe's jaws, andthe man on the floor was breathing heavily.

  "Shut the door and put down the window!" Alex. said, presently, "andput the light out! There's no more fight in this chap just now."

  "Here, I'll fix him," Case said. "I'll chuck him into thisrefrigerator and lock him up. See how well he likes his own medicine."

  "But he'll get right out!" advised Jule.

  "Oh, will he!" Alex. answered. "Then he'll do more than we could. I'llbet the walls of that hole are a foot thick! And the air? I'm chokedto death."

  "We tried our best to get out and couldn't," Case added.

  "Suppose we see if he is badly hurt before we leave him?" Jule put in.

  An examination showed that the dog had seized the fellow by theshoulder and bitten through the flesh, making an ugly though notserious wound.

  "That won't hurt him!" Alex. declared. "His chums will come and gethim in the morning, anyway. Chuck him in and lock the door and we'llclimb out of this!"

  "Isn't the place watched?" asked Jule, peering out cautiously.

  "It would be if the outlaws weren't drunk," Alex. replied. "There's acopper over on the other side of the street. Probably he heard theshots. We'll duck out of a back window and make for the _Rambler_."

  The boys were watched furtively by the policemen in that section ofthe city as they made their way along the streets with the dog, butthey were not molested. When they came to the residence district wherethere was little fear of their being followed, Jule turned to Alex.with a grin.

  "How did you like the play?" he asked?

  "You saw about as much of it as we did!" was the reply.

  "How did you come to get into such a scrape?" was the next question.

  "The outlaws followed us from the boat," was the answer. "Oh, yes theydid," the boy insisted as Jule grinned. "They were waiting for the_Rambler_ to come down stream! They thought we had the diamonds andwere going into the city to dispose of them. They swore they'd keep usin that hole, without food or drink, until we told them where thestones were! I wish I'd never heard of the diamonds!"

  "Who was the other boy?" asked Jule.

  "The other boy? Where? When? Oh, that was Chet! We'll settle withhim!"

  "The lad who jumped out of an open window just before we got in andducked away toward the river. Was that Chet?"

  "Blessed if I know!" Alex. answered. "It might have been."

  "I believe that really was Chet!" Jule declared. "It looked like him."

  "How did you get here?" asked Case. "You're a wonder! And Mose andJoe, too!"

  As the boys walked along the story of Mose's runaway expedition wastold, and Alex. immediately grasped the little negro boy by thecollar.

  "You're a little brick!" he exclaimed, "and I'm going to see that youhave a 'possum for dinner to-morrow--or to-day, rather--if there isone to be found in the city."

  "It is a wonder," Case commented, "that the fellows didn't make anattack on the _Rambler_! After they searched us, they talked for along time in whispers and then started away. I believe they did go tothe boat--and Clay there alone!"

  "We ought to make better time," Jule observed. "Where do we get thetrolley?"

  "Unless we get an owl car," Alex. replied, "we'll get none at alluntil the early run, and that will be after five o'clock. Guess we'vegot to walk it."

  Eager, yet almost dreading, to learn the exact state of affairs on themotor boat, the boys traveled fast, breaking into a run now and then,much to the wonder and amazement of the few negroes they encounteredmaking their way to the business section.

  At last, just before daylight, they came in sight of the boat. A shortdistance up the bank a bright camp-fire was burning, and severalfigures could be seen moving around it. All was quiet on board the_Rambler_. No lights were in sight, either from the cabin or the prow.The boys waited a short time, wondering, and then Jule went to thelevee and looked for the rowboat. It was not there.

  "They've got possession, I reckon," he said, when he came back.

  "Then all we've got to do is to take it away from them!" Alex.suggested.

  "But how?" asked Jule. "We can't go on board without their seeing us."

  "First," Alex. went on, "I'm going to make a sneak up to that fire andfind out what those men are talking about. They may be all-rightfellows, for all we know."

  The others waited breathlessly for the boy's return. When he came backhe said:

  "They've been on board and ransacked the cabin. They found no onethere! Now, what d
o you think has become of Clay?" he added.

  "It's a wonder they didn't run off with the boat," Case said.

  "Oh, they wouldn't do that," Alex. ventured. "They want to get us. Ihalf believe the men are officers. What gets me is what they builtthat fire for?"

  "Probably thought we were fools enough to run up to it," hazardedJule.

  "But where is Clay?" demanded Case. "We've got to find him. Do youknow if they left any one on board the boat?"

  "I didn't hear anything said about that," was the reply, "but it is acinch that they did. And I believe there's more than one on board,too."

  "Hard luck to lose the boat after getting so far on our journey!" Julecommented.

  "We don't lose the boat, if they are officers," Alex. hastened to say."What they want is the crew! We'll fool 'em at that. I'm going to swimover and see what's doing on board. If everything is all right, I'llmake a noise like an owl."

  "That's a nice long swim," Case objected. "I don't think you can makeit."

  "Mose made it, didn't you, coon?" Alex. replied. "I'm the boy thatpoured the water into the Mississippi! Nice adventure this?" hecontinued. "I'm going to give the residents of the valley a chromoeach for the manner in which we have been entertained by them! Heregoes for the _Rambler_!"

  "You act like you meant to walk back to Chicago," Case suggested, asAlex. started away, turning away from the river in order to avoid thepeople at the fire.

  "Oh, I'm only going to walk up a little way and drift as I swim down."

  "Come up on the other side, then," Case cautioned. "Then you won't beseen."

  When Alex. started away on his perilous trip Mose disappeared, andCaptain Joe was nowhere to be seen the next minute. Case searched andgrumbled, but did not find them.

  "They've gone with Alex.," he suggested. "They always do. Well, letthem go, they can swim better than I can! Wish I was along, also."

  "If they are officers, the men at the fire," Jule asked, "why don't wego right up to them and find out what's doing? They won't lock us up,will they?"

  "That is just about what they will do if they get us," was the slowreply. "We would get out of jail in time, but who wants to lie in acell when there is so much fun to be had on the river? These fellowshave been wired to head us off, probably by the sheriff we met upthere. It may be that the diamonds Clay put in the deposit box havebeen identified as the ones stolen from Rock Island. I wish Chet wouldshow up right now!"

  "Oh, well, if they want to coop us up," Jule agreed, "we'd better cutour luck until they find out who stole the diamonds--or, at any rate,find out that we didn't."

  The boy ceased speaking suddenly, for the motor boat was getting underway, heading down toward the business wharves!