The Six River Motor Boat Boys on the St. Lawrence; Or, The Lost Channel
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CHAPTER XIV
AN OLD FRIEND APPEARS
"How did this channel get lost?" Alex asked with a whimsical smile.
"Well," replied the other, "I don't believe there is a lost channel.You may go down the St. Lawrence river, up one side and down theother--and I've been over every inch of it--and you can't find anyplace for a lost channel, unless you locate it at a headland which wasonce an island. In that case, there might be a lost channel. But thecharts of the river for two hundred years show no such change inconformation."
"That seems to be conclusive," Clay suggested.
"Conclusive? Of course it is, but you can't make this man Fontenellebelieve it. Now, look here, stranger," he went on, "I've read what thenewspapers say about you, and I know that you intend to go back thereand look for that lost channel. Is that right?"
"It seems to me that the newspapers are advertising us prettythoroughly," Clay observed. "Every one seems to know all about us."
"Of course!" assented the older man. "You boys and your boat are aboutas well known on this river, by reputation at least, as Lawyer Martin,and he's been doing a heap of traveling up and down lately. Why,Lawyer Martin was right here the very day the Quebec newspapersprinted the story that you boys were going to find the lost channel.He read the story and jumped.
"Yes, sir! He jumped like a man going to locate an oil claim. I rowedhim out to the first steamer that came along, and heard him offer thecaptain a big wad of money if he would gain time on the trip toQuebec."
"Do you think the story about the lost channel had anything to do withhis sudden departure?" asked Clay.
"Yes, sir. Yes, sir," was the reply. "He didn't tell me what hesuspected or feared, but he hurried away to find out what was going onjust the same. And he hurried away right soon."
"Is he in any way interested in the Fontenelle charter?" asked Clay.
"Interested?" repeated the other. "I should say he was! Why, he's thelawyer for all of us fellows who will be turned off our farms if thecharter should be found and sustained."
"I see," said Clay, "I see!"
"Now," whispered Jule, giving Clay a nudge in the side, "we'll findout who the disguised man was. It might have been this Lawyer Martin."
"What kind of a looking man is Mr. Martin?" asked Clay.
"Mighty nice looking fellow," was the reply. "Shows breeding andculture all the way through, just like a thoroughbred horse shows whathe's got in him. His face is as white as a woman's and his eyes are asclear as a girl's!
"He neither drinks nor smokes, and he is about the best play actor youever saw on the stage. Put a river man's rig on him and he looks likea river man.
"Dress him up like a preacher, and you'd think he had the bible byheart. He's been in our schoolhouse many a time on his trips here,showing the boys and girls how to conduct a commencement exhibition.Oh, he's mighty popular all along the river!"
Another nudge and whisper from Jule.
"Blonde or black?" the boy suggested.
"I think I know the man," Clay went on, following the lead again. "Hehas very black eyes, hasn't he? And a nose with a little hump on it,and a wide, straight mouth and thin lips."
"No, sir. No, sir," was the reply. "He's got light hair and blue eyes,and a straight nose, and a mouth that isn't wide nor straight. Mightyhandsome man, is Lawyer Martin. We all like him up here!"
"And you will lose your farm if this charter is found and sustained?"asked Clay. "You and many of your neighbors?"
"That's what they say," replied the other, "though, of course, it willdepend upon what young Fontenelle says about it."
"The courts might not sustain the charter," suggested Clay.
"Oh well, we're not worrying about it," was the reply. "We're leavingthe whole case to Lawyer Martin."
As the night advanced the residents left the campfire and returned totheir homes, while the boys sought their bunks on board the _Rambler_.
"What was it some one said about a small world?" asked Clay. "Who wasit that said that a face once seen was sure to cross our paths infuture years? Was it the same man who said that a note of music oncestruck revolves around the earth for countless millions of years,never ceasing, never reaching mortal ears, but making its way throughspace forever?"
"Hold on!" Alex cried. "Come down from the stars if you want to talkto us."
"Well," Clay went on, "every person we have met at our stopping-placeshas been seen or heard of at the next stopping-place. We meet adisguised man on the street at Montreal. We come to a campfire by theriverside, miles above the city, to learn why he was disguised, andwhy he was following us. As we have said several times lately, this isa pretty small world. The man you meet to-day may walk in your pathforever!"
The boys were astir early in the morning. They cooked breakfast on theshore, watched by inquisitive boys and girls, and then proceededupstream. They passed beautiful Lake St. Frances long before noon, andjust as night fell tied up at a lower pier at Ogdensburg. As soon assupper had been eaten, Alex and Captain Joe started away together.
"Here, where are you boys going?" asked Clay. "I say boys becauseCaptain Joe has more sense than Alex," he added, turning to theothers. "At least Captain Joe doesn't get lost very often."
"Right over here on the river front," Alex replied, "is where theRutland Transit Company boats dock. Those boats are fresh fromChicago, and I'm going over to see if I can get a drink of LakeMichigan water!"
"If you go over there with that dog," Case declared, "the sailors willsteal him. That dog is about as well known in Chicago as Carter H.Harrison. He's had his picture in every one of the Chicagonewspapers."
"All right," replied Alex. "If they catch him and take him back toChicago, they'll have to take me with him."
The boy took his departure, accompanied by the dog, and the others satdown to a quiet evening in the cabin. They had had several pleasantdays and many thrilling adventures on the St. Lawrence river.
There remained now only about a hundred miles of travel, Lake Ontariobeing only that distance away. But included in that hundred miles wereall the beautiful islands, great and small, which have made the St.Lawrence river famous.
The pleasantest part of their trip was yet to come.
While the boys lay in the cabin, with the lights all out as usual, aheavy step sounded on the deck, and there came a sharp rap at thecabin door. The boys sprang out of their bunks instantly.
"What's coming off now?" whispered Jule. "Anyway, this fellow has moremanners than our other night visitors."
Clay stepped to the door, searchlight in hand, and turned a circle offlame on the face of the newcomer. Then he dropped the electric andsprang forward. The boys were getting ready with their automatics whenthey heard his voice speaking in great excitement.
"Captain Joe!" he cried. "Captain Joe! Where the dickens did you comefrom? What are you doing at Ogdensburg?"
"I might ask the same question of you," replied the hearty oldex-captain. "To tell you the truth, lad," he went on, "I've been solonesome ever since you boys left the South Branch that I've donequite a lot of traveling, for an old man. Several times I've beenalmost up with you but you always got away."
"You never came all the way up here to visit us?" asked Case.
"To be honest about it, boys," the ex-captain replied, "I just didthat very thing. I've got a friend who is captain of the Rutland boatwhich arrived this evening, and I came on with him. Mighty fine tripwe had, too. And how are you all, and where is Alex and my namesake?"
"You wouldn't know Captain Joe," laughed Clay. "He's got to be thebiggest, fiercest, wisest, pluckiest bulldog in the world."
"And Teddy bear! You remember him of course," Jule put in. "He ate uptwo pirates down the river, body and bones, and is so fat that we haveto help him out of bed. Great bear, that!"
"Boys, boys," warned Captain Joe. "Don't exaggerate. I've always toldyou not to exaggerate. Do you think Captain Joe will know me?"
"Of course he will," said Case. "Capta
in Joe never forgets a friend."
"And now that you are here," Clay put in, "you are going to remainwith us while we go back down the St. Lawrence to St. Luce and returnhere. Then we'll either ship the boat to Chicago or take her slowly upthe lakes. Won't that be a fine old trip?"
"It listens pretty good to me," Captain Joe answered. "To be honestwith you, boys," he continued, "I've been wanting a trip on the_Rambler_, but I never felt like getting away until now."
"You sailed on the St. Lawrence once a good many years ago, didn'tyou, Captain Joe?" asked Jule.
"Did I?" asked Captain Joe extending his stubby forefinger by way ofemphasis. "Did I sail on the St. Lawrence river? Boys, I know everyinch of it, up one side and down the other and through the middle."
"Then you'll be a great help to us," Clay suggested.
"Oh, you boys don't need any help navigating a boat on any river,"Captain Joe asserted. "You boys are all right! But I was going to tellyou about the St. Lawrence river."
"A few years ago, there wasn't an eddy, nor a swirl, nor an island,nor a channel, on the whole stream from Wolfe island to the waters ofthe Atlantic that I didn't know all about. I've sailed her night andday and I could take a ship down the rapids now. Only the governmentwon't give me a license because I can read and write," he added in asarcastic tone.
"Well, Captain Joe, you're just the identical man we've been lookingfor," cried Clay. "Several hundred years ago an old Frenchman by thename of Cartier mislaid a channel down the river. Now we want you tohelp us find that channel!"
"Oh, you want to find a channel, do you?" laughed Captain Joe. "Well,now, I'll tell you, boys, if that channel has been open at any timewithin the past hundred years, I can find it. Of course I wasn't onthe river as long ago as that, but my old dad was, and he taught me toread the St. Lawrence like a boy reads the stories of Captain Kidd."
"That is fine!" the boys exclaimed in a breath.
Then Clay laughed and nudged his companions and said:
"Captain Joe, did you ever hear anybody say that this is a mightysmall world? If so, do you think it's true?"
"It is bigger than I have ever been able to get over," replied CaptainJoe, not understanding. "I've seen quite a lot of it, but not all."
Then Clay told the captain of their adventures on the St. Lawrence,showing him the two mysterious communications, with the understandingthat he was never to mention their existence to any one.
"And so there really is a lost channel?" asked Captain Joe.
"You bet there is! There is more than one lost channel. Go bite himdoggie!"
The voice came from the doorway, and the next moment, Alex and CaptainJoe, the bulldog, came tumbling into the room.
"Say, my namesake is getting to be some dog," shouted the Captain,after the greetings were over. "He's big enough to find a lost channelanywhere. And he looks fierce enough, too."
"He's always perfectly willing to do his share of the looking," Alexgrinned. "And we're perfectly willing to give him a chance to help."
"Then I'll take him into partnership," Captain Joe, the man, said,"and we'll go out hunting for what you seek. If there is a lostchannel anywhere it will go hard if we don't find it!"