“Have you seen anything of the ladies?” queried Dick.
“Yes, they are all in the ladies’ parlor. I told them I’d keep a lookout for you.”
They made their way to the parlor, where a great handshaking took place. Mrs. Stanhope and Dora were there, and also Grace and Nellie with Mrs. Laning. The latter was not used to traveling and was in quite a flutter.
“The girls insisted upon my coming,” said Mrs. Laning. “I didn’t think I could do it at first, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“And we are real glad to have you,” answered Dick.
Aleck had been sent off to hunt up Captain Starr and the houseboat, and in the meantime all of the party obtained rooms for the night and then went to supper.
“This puts me in mind of the time we took dinner at Ithaca,” said Dick to Dora, on the way to the dining hall. “Do you remember?”
“Indeed I do,” she answered, with a pretty blush. “But please do not steer me into the smoking room again,” she added, mischievously.
“Don’t you think we are going to have a good time, Dora?”
“If I hadn’t thought that I shouldn’t have come,” answered the miss.
It was a happy gathering, and Hans Mueller kept the young folks convulsed by his odd speeches.
“And you ton’t vos put no salt py mine coffee in dis dime, Tom,” said Hans, referring to a trick which had once been played on him.
“All right, Hansy,” answered Tom. “And please don’t you pour any coffee down my back,” he added, for he had not forgotten how he had been paid back for that joke.
The supper lasted a long time, and after it was over all went to one of the rooms upstairs, where they spent a couple of hours very agreeably.
“We can be thankful that it is such pleasant weather,” said Mrs. Stanhope. “An outing on a houseboat during a wet spell would not be so nice.”
“Oh, we’d try to make things pleasant,” said Tom. “There is a piano on board, and we could have music and singing—”
“A piano! Oh, Tom!” cried Nellie. “How nice! It must be a regular little palace!”
“I haven’t seen the boat yet. Uncle Randolph said there was a piano on board.”
“And I’ve got a guitar,” came from Songbird Powell.
“With which he will sing to the moon on dark nights,” came from Tom.
“I haf got some musics py mine drunk in too,” said Hans.
“What have you got, Hansy?” asked Sam—”a tin whistle?”
“No, a music pox vot mine fadder brought from Chermany. He vos a fine pox, too, I can told you.”
“That’s splendid, Hans,” said Dora. “I love a good music box.”
So the talk ran on until there was a knock at the door and Aleck appeared. The look on his black face showed that he was excited.
“Say, Massah Dick, I would like to see yo’ in private a minute,” he said.
“Certainly,” replied Dick. “Excuse me,” he added, to the others, and went out into the hall with the colored man.
“I didn’t want fo’ to alarm de ladies,” explained Aleck. “But I wanted to tell you as soon as I could.”
“Tell me what, Aleck?”
“Dat I dun seen dat rascal, Dan Baxter, less dan half an hour ago,” was the answer.
CHAPTER XVII
A QUEER CAPTAIN
“You saw Dan Baxter, here in Pittsburg?” ejaculated Dick.
“Dat’s it.”
“You are sure you were not mistaken, Aleck? I thought that rascal was miles and miles away.”
“Dat’s jess wot I dun been thinkin’ too. But it was Dan Baxter, suah. I knows him too well to make any mistake about his ugly face.”
“Where was he?”
“Dat’s de alarmin’ part ob it, Massah Dick. Yo’ know yo’ tole me to find de houseboat.”
“Yes.”
“Well, I found de boat wid dat dar Cap’n Starr on board, an’ we made all dem ‘rangements wot you spoke about. Den I started to leave de boat. Dar was an eleckric light on de dock an’ a man standing near it, a-watchin’ de houseboat. I almost run into him, an’ den I discobered it was dat good-fo’-nuffin Dan Baxter.”
“He was watching the houseboat?”
“Dat’s it.”
“Did he recognize you, Aleck?”
“Not till I spoke to him. I said, `Wot yo’ doin’ heah, Dan Baxter?’ When he heard dat he ‘most jumped a foot. Den he mutters sumthing wot I couldn’t make out an’ runs away.”
“Did you go after him?”
“Yes, but I couldn’t cotch him nohow. Dar was big piles ob boxes an’ barrels on de dock and he got away befo’ I know wot I was at. I hunted an’ hunted, but I couldn’t git on his track.”
“This is certainly unpleasant, to say the least,” mused Dick, biting his lip. “If he is watching us he is doing it for no good purpose.”
“Dat’s de way. I reasoned. But I didn’t want de ladies to heah. Mrs. Stanhope am a powerfully narvous woman.”
“Yes, Aleck, you were wise in keeping them in ignorance. But I’ll have to tell Tom and Sam and the other fellows, and we’ll have to keep our eyes open.”
“Is you’ goin’ to report dis to de police?”
“I may. I’ll think it over first. Now, how about the houseboat? Has Captain Starr done as directed?”
“Yes, sah.”
“What kind of a man does he seem to he?”
“All right, Massah Dick, only—”
“Only what?” asked the eldest Rover, as he saw the colored servant hesitate.
“Well, to tell de truf, he seems kind of funny to me.”
“How funny?”
“Here,” and Aleck tapped his forehead.
“Do you mean that he is crazy?”
“Not dat persackly, Massah Dick, but he said sum mighty funny t’ings when we was talkin’ acted like he was t’inkin’ ob sumt’ing else.”
“Humph! Well, if he isn’t the sort of fellow we want we’ll have to let him go and get another captain.”
Dick returned to the apartment he had left and told the others that Aleck had made the necessary arrangements. Then he gave Tom and Sam a wink which meant a good deal. Soon after this the party broke up, and the boys retired to the connecting rooms they had engaged for the night.
“So Aleck saw Dan Baxter!” cried Tom, when told of the news. “That must mean the rascal is on our trail.”
“Just what I am thinking, Tom,” returned Dick.
“We ought to have the authorities arrest him,” put in Sam.
“Perhaps, but we’ve got to locate him first. Now that he has been discovered he will do his best to keep shady. Maybe he has already left the city.”
They talked the matter over for an hour, but could reach no satisfactory conclusion.
“Better take matters as they come,” said Powell. “He won’t dare to molest you openly.”
“No, but he will molest us in secret, which will be worse,” replied Sam.
“None of the ladies or the girls must hear of this,” said Tom. “It would spoil their whole trip, even if Baxter didn’t show himself again.”
“I ton’t oben mine mouds apout noddings,” declared Hans. “I vos so quiet like an ellerfaunt in a church!”
Bright and early the boys were astir on the following morning, and Dick, Tom, and Sam went off to interview Captain Starr before breakfast. They found the captain a thick-set fellow, with a heavy mustache and big, bushy whiskers. He had eyes of the dreamy sort, which generally looked away when speaking to anybody.
“This is Captain Starr?” said Dick, addressing him.
“I’m your man.”
“I am Dick Rover, and these are my brothers, Tom and Sam.”
Dick put out his hand, but the capt
ain merely nodded.
“Is everything ready for the trip, captain?” asked Tom.
“Yes, sir.”
“You had the boat cleaned up?” said Sam.
“Yes, sir.”
“We’ll look her over,” said Dick.
“Yes, sir.”
They walked over the houseboat from end to end. The craft was certainly a beauty and as clean as a whistle. There was a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and eight sleeping rooms—four of the latter downstairs and four upstairs. Each sleeping room contained two berths. There was also a bunk room below, for the help, and a small room for the captain. In the living room, was the piano and also a bookcase containing half a hundred choice novels.
“This is certainly great,” said Tom.
“Better than I thought it would be,” answered Sam. “It’s a perfect palace.”
“And see how the brasswork shines,” went on Tom. “The captain certainly had things cleaned up.
“But he is a queer stick, if ever there was one.” came from Dick, in a whisper. “I must say, I don’t half like him.”
“He acts as if he was asleep,” was Tom’s comment.
“Or else as if he had something on his mind.”
“Anyway, he comes highly recommended,” said Sam.
When they came out on the deck they found Captain Starr sitting on a bench smoking a corncob pipe.
“She is in fine shape and I congratulate you, captain,” said Dick, pleasantly.
“Thank you,” was the short answer.
“You will be ready to have us taken down the river as soon as we get our things on board?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Confound him,” thought Dick. “Why doesn’t he say something else? He is a regular automaton.”
“By the way, captain,” put in Tom, “have you noticed a stranger watching the Dora the last night or two?”
At this question Captain Starr leaped to his feet, allowing his corncob pipe to fall to the ground.
“What made you ask that question?” he demanded.
“We have an enemy, named Dan Baxter. We suspect he is following us and is spying on us.”
“Yes, I have seen a young fellow around half a dozen times. In fact, I caught him on the houseboat once.”
“You did!” cried Dick. “What was he doing?”
“Going through the stuff in the living room.”
“What did you do to him?”
“I yelled at him, demanding to know what he wanted. As soon as he heard me he ran ashore and disappeared.”
“Did you try to find him?”
“No, because I didn’t want to leave the houseboat alone.”
“Did you see him last night—while our colored man was here?”
“I saw somebody, but it was too dark to make out exactly who it was.”
CHAPTER XVIII
ON BOARD THE HOUSEBOAT
After questioning Captain Starr as closely as possible all three of the Rover boys came to the conclusion that it must have been Dan Baxter who had visited the Dora on the sly.
“I don’t like this at all,” said Sam. “He is going to make trouble for us—no two ways about that.”
“The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to get away without delay,” said Tom. “He won’t find it so easy to follow us then.”
“I’m going to throw him off the scent,” said Dick.
“How?”
“By pretending to go to one place, while we can really go to another.”
“That’s a scheme.”
A small tug had been chartered to tow the houseboat, and the captain of this was ordered to be ready for moving at eleven o’clock.
“We shall go to Camdale first,” said Dick, naming a place about forty miles away.
“All right, sir—wherever you say,” said the tug commander.
Returning to the hotel, the boys found the others finishing breakfast and sat down to their own. They said the Dora was in perfect trim and that the trip down the Ohio was to begin without delay.
“Well, I am sure I am ready,” said Nellie. “I am just dying to see the houseboat.”
Aleck hurried around to buy the necessary stores, which were taken to the Dora in a wagon, Then two carriages brought down the ladies and the boys and a truck brought along the baggage.
“What a beautiful boat!” cried Dora after going on board. “And how tidy everything is!”
“Then you are not ashamed to have her called the Dora?” said Dick, well satisfied.
“Ashamed? Oh, Dick, I am delighted!”
“This boat is a gem,” was Songbird Powell’s comment. “Say, folks on the Ohio will take us, to be millionaires.”
“Dis ship is besser dan a ferrypoat,” was Hans’ comment.
“A ferryboat!” shrieked Grace. “Oh, Hans!”
“I mean von of dem double-decker ferrypoats vot runs from New York to Chersey City—dem kind vot has got blate-glass vinders und looking-glasses der sthairs on,” explained the German cadet. “Da vos peauties, too.”
“If we don’t enjoy this trip it will be our fault,” said Fred.
The lines were cast off, the steam tug puffed, and in a moment more the houseboat had left the dock and the voyage down the Ohio was begun.
“I’ll not be sorry to leave Pittsburg behind,” said Nellie. “There is so much smoke.”
“Well, they have to have smoke—in such a hive of industry,” answered Dick.
By noon Pittsburg and Allegheny were left behind and once more the sky was clear and blue above them. The sun shone brightly and there was just enough breeze to keep the air cool and delicious. All sat on the forward deck, under a wide-spread awning, watching the scenery as they floated onward.
After a consultation it was decided that the first stop should be made at a small village on the river called Pleasant Hills. Mrs. Laning had a friend there whom she had not seen for years, and she said she would be pleased to make a call.
“All right,” said Dick, “Pleasant Hills it is.” And he called to the tug captain and gave the necessary directions.
“That will throw Dan Baxter off the track a little,” whispered Sam.
Aleck Pop was highly pleased with the cooking arrangements. There was a first-class gasolene stove, and the kitchen was fitted with all sorts of appliances for rendering cooking easy.
“I’se gwine to do my best fo’ you,” said the colored man, and dinner, which was served at one o’clock, proved to be little short of a genuine feast, with oxtail soup, breast of lamb, mashed potatoes, green peas, lettuce, coffee, pudding and cheese.
“Why, Aleck, this is a surprise,” said Dora. “Some day they will want you to become the chef in a big hotel.” And this compliment tickled the colored man greatly.
“T’ank yo’ Miss Dora,” he answered. “But I don’t want to be no chef in a hotel. All I wants to do is to stay wid de Rober boys so long as I lib.”
During the afternoon the boys tried their hands at fishing and caught quite a mess. By four o’clock Pleasant Hills was reached and they tied up in a convenient spot. All of the girls and Mrs. Stanhope went ashore with Mrs. Laning, to visit the friend that had been mentioned.
“Bring them down to the houseboat to-night, if they care to come,” said Dick.
“Thank you, Dick, perhaps we will,” answered Mrs. Laning.
“Let us take a swim while they are gone,” suggested Tom. “That water is too inviting to resist.”
“Agreed!” shouted the others, and ran to their rooms, to get out their bathing suits. Soon Tom was ready, and leaping to the end of the houseboat, took a straight dive into the river. Sam followed and Fred came next, and then Dick, Songbird, and Hans came down in a bunch. The water was just cold enough to be pleasant, and they splashed around in great sport.
“This is what I call living!” yelled Tom and diving under, he caught Hans by the big toe.
“Hi, hi! let go mine does!” shrieked the German lad. “Somedings has me py der does cotched!”
“Maybe it’s a shark,” suggested Fred.
“A shark! Vos der sharks py der Ohio River?”
“Tons of them,” came from Sam. “Look out, Hansy, or they’ll swallow you.”
“Du meine Zeit!” gasped the German cadet. “Vy didn’t you tole me dot pefore, hey? I guess I don’t schwim no more.” And he started to climb up a rope ladder leading to the deck of the houseboat.
“Don’t go, Hans!” sang out Songbird. “They are fooling you.”
“Dere ton’t been no sharks in der river?”
“No, nothing but sawfish and whales.”
“A vale! Dot’s chust so bad like a shark.”
“No, not at all. A shark bites. A whale simply swallows you alive,” put in Sam, with a grin.
“Swallows me alife, hey? Not on your life he ton’t!” returned Hans, and started again for the rope ladder. But Sam pulled him back and ducked him, and was in turn ducked by Fred, who went under by a shove from Dick; and then followed a regular mix-up, the water flying in all directions.
“By golly, dat’s great!” cried Aleck, from the deck. “I dun’ t’ink a lot ob eels was dancin’ a jig down dar!”
“Come down here, Aleck, and get some of the black washed off!” shouted Tom, gleefully.
“Not fo’ a dollah, Massah Tom—leasewise, not while yo’ is around.”
“What are you afraid of?” asked Tom, innocently.
“Yo’ is too full ob tricks fo’ dis chile. When I wants a baf I’se gwine to take dat baf in a tub, an’ when yo’ ain’t around,” answered Aleck. “Yo’ am—Oh—wough!” And then the colored man retreated in great haste, for Tom had sent up a shower of water all over him.
“Here comes a big river boat!” cried Songbird, presently. “Let us go out and catch the rollers!” And out they swam and waited until the swells, several feet high, came rolling in. It was immense fun bobbing up and down like so many corks.
“Wish the steamers would continue to come past,” said Fred. “This suits me to death.”
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 131