CHAPTER X
THE MENAGERIE IN ACTION
After the departure of Alex and Case from the _Rambler_, Clay and Juledrew out the two mysterious messages they had received and studiedthem over carefully.
"What do you think about this lost channel proposition?" asked Jule.
"If a channel ever went through the neck of land as shown by the map,that section must have been visited by an earthquake," Clay laughed."There isn't a sign of a channel there. Instead, there's a great highledge of rock crossing the peninsula, just where the line shows thechannel ought to be. It is my private opinion that no water evercrossed that peninsula. There must be some mistake in location."
"The men who made the map might have drawn the line indicating thechannel in the wrong place," Jule suggested.
"Well," Clay concluded, "we'll have a look at it when we go back, butwhat I can't understand is why the map should have been given to thewrong party. If a man had such a map in any way accurate, he wouldhave presented it to Fontenelle in person and demanded a stiff pricefor it."
"It looks that way to me!" Jule agreed.
There was a volume in the cabin of the _Rambler_ descriptive of theSt. Lawrence river from the gulf to Lake Ontario. This the boysbrought out and studied diligently until a late hour.
At last Clay arose, yawned, and looked at his watch.
"I wonder why Alex and Case don't return!" he asked. "It can't bepossible that that little scamp has gone and lost himself again, canit?"
"Just like him!" snickered Jule. "If I had a dollar for every timehe's been lost I'd have all the money I will ever need."
"That's pretty near the truth!" Clay agreed. "However, we've gotCaptain Joe and Teddy left with us to help look him up."
He leaned back in his chair and whistled to the dog, but no CaptainJoe made his appearance. Teddy came shambling into the cabin and heldout a paw, suggesting sugar. Clay glanced up at Jule with puzzledeyes.
"Isn't the dog out on deck?" he asked.
The boy hastened out and returned in a moment with the informationthat the bulldog was nowhere in sight.
"Have you seen him since Alex and Case left?" Clay asked.
"He was here quite a spell after they went away, but he didn't seemcontented. All the time I was on deck he was walking back and forthlooking longingly over into the city."
"Then he's followed the boys," Clay agreed. "We won't see him againuntil they return. The only wonder is that Teddy didn't go with him."
"We'll have to get steel cages made for our menagerie," Jule proposed."We can't keep a single member of our happy family on the boat whenAlex is away. No one else seems to count with them."
The boys were not inclined to sleep, so they sat watchfully in thecabin with the electricity off. Spears of light came from warehouseoffices on the pier, and far up the street a great arc light made thethoroughfare almost plain to the eye as day. The roar of night trafficin the city and the wash of the river drowned all individual sounds,and the boys sat in what amounted to silence so far as any noisesdirectly on the boat were concerned.
Somewhere along toward midnight, when they had about given up hope ofthe immediate return of the boys, there came a quick jar, and the boatswayed as if under the foot of a person mounting the deck.
"There they are, I reckon!" Jule shouted, passing to the cabin doorwhich was open to admit the cool breeze of the night.
Clay stepped forward, too, but paused in a moment and drew Alex back.A crouching figure was now discernible on the prow, and Clay reachedfor the switch which controlled the lamp there.
With his hand almost to the switch Clay stopped and turned back towhere Jule stood, searching his bunk for an automatic which had beenplaced there. Then the boat swayed again, and there were three figureson the deck instead of one. The light from the street showed only bareoutlines. The whole scene was uncanny.
"I don't know what to make of this," Clay whispered. "Shall we turn onthe light, or shall we begin shooting right now?"
"If we turn on the light," Jule whispered back, "they'll see us. Atpresent, they undoubtedly believe the boat to be deserted."
"I think they'll run if we turn on the lights," Clay suggested,softly. "They're probably river thieves looking for plunder."
The men on the deck now grouped together, evidently whispering, andtrying to decide upon some course of action. In the faint light, theyseemed to be hulking, heavily-built men, and the boys were not anxiousto come into close contact with them.
"It may be just as well," Clay finally decided, "to remain quiet for ashort time and see what they intend to do."
"That's easy," Jule whispered, "they intend to steal the boat."
"A good many other people have tried to steal this boat," Clayresponded, "but we still seem to be in possession of it!"
After standing for a minute or two near the prow, the intruders movedstealthily toward the cabin. The door was open, but all was darkinside. As they slouched forward, their footsteps made no sound uponthe deck.
"Shall we shoot to kill?" whispered Jule. "I'm tired of having thescum of the earth always attempting to rob us."
"I'd never get over it if I should kill some one," Clay replied. "We'dbetter frighten them away and see that no more get on board to-night."
As he spoke, the boy reached for the switch and turned it. Greatly tohis amazement, the prow lamp remained dark. In some strange manner theintruders had disconnected the wires or broken the globe. The click ofthe switch seemed to have reached their ears, informing them that someone was on board.
They rushed toward the cabin and came solidly against the door whichwas quickly shut, almost in their faces. The lock rattled sharplyunder the assault of a muscular hand, and the whole front of the cabinquivered and creaked under the weight of a burly body.
"Open up here!" shouted a gruff voice. "Open up, or we'll break thedoor down. We knew you were here all the time!"
"This begins to look serious," whispered Clay. "We may have to shoot."
"Say the word," Jule suggested, "and I'll make the front of the cabinlook like a sieve, and every bullet will count, too."
"I'd like to aid in the capture of a couple of those fellows," Claysaid, "and I wonder if one of us couldn't get out of the rear window,jump over on the pier, and call the police. Such ruffians ought not tobe at liberty."
"All right," Jule whispered. "You go, and I'll stay here and talk tothem until you get out. I can keep them amused all right."
While this short conversation had been in progress the pounding at thedoor had continued, and now something heavy, like a timber or a veryheavy foot, came banging against the panels.
"Just a minute more," one of the midnight prowlers shouted, "and we'llbreak this door down and get you boys good!"
Clay moved to the rear of the cabin, drew in the swinging sash, andstepped lightly out on the after deck. The lights along the riverfront were fewer now, and the windows of the warehouses, illuminatedan hour before, were dark. A roaring wind was blowing up the river,and the wash of the waves was rocking the _Rambler_ unpleasantly.
In all the long street in sight from the pier there was no sign of auniformed officer. Clay did not know how far he would have to run tofind one, so he decided to remain where he was for a time and, ifnecessary, perhaps attack the intruders from the rear.
Crouching low on the after deck, he could hear Jule talking to theoutlaws, and smiled as he listened to the boy's attempts to interestthem.
"If you break down that door," he heard Jule say, "you'll have to payfor it! That door cost money."
A volley of oaths and river billingsgate followed the remark, andblows which fairly shook the cabin came upon the sturdy panels.
While Clay sat listening, half resolved to make his way over to thepier and fire a few shots over the heads of the ruffians, a figuredropped lightly on the deck at his side and Teddy's soft muzzle waspressed against his face. He stroked the bear gently.
"I don't blame you for getting out of there, Te
ddy," he said. "They'llwreck the boat if we don't do something pretty soon. What would youadvise, old chap?" he added whimsically.
Teddy sniffed the air in the direction of the pier and clamberedclumsily up to the top of the cabin.
"I wouldn't go up there if I were you," Clay advised.
Teddy continued his way over the roof and finally came to the forwardedge. Clay raised his head to the level of the roof and watched him.As he did so a round circle of light sprang up at the head of thepier, flashed toward the river for a moment, and died out. The nextmoment a sound of some one stumbling over a bale of goods reached hisears. Then the light flashed out again, and the pounding on the cabindoor ceased.
"Now I wonder," Clay pondered, "if that isn't Alex and Case! Theyusually have their searchlights with them, and Case is alwaysstumbling over something. It would be fine to have them appear now!"
Directly a finger of light shot down the pier, and under it a whitebody swung toward the boat. Clay crawled back through the window andapproached the door, where Jule was still standing with his automaticin his hand.
The pounding had now ceased entirely, the men evidently having beenwarned by the light. It seemed to Clay that the unwelcome visitorswere now crouching in the darkness ready to attack any one who mightattempt to come on board.
"Just wait a minute," whispered Clay in Jule's ear. "Just you wait aminute, and there'll be something pulled off here! If I'm notmistaken, this drama is going to shift to a comedy in about oneminute."
"I don't understand what you mean by that," Jule declared. "What newdeviltry are those fellows planning?" he added.
"In just about a second you'll see," Clay repeated. "The only wonderis that Captain Joe hasn't pulled off his stunt before this."
"Captain Joe isn't here," replied Jule doubtfully.
Then the boat swayed frightfully, tipping toward the pier. There was aheavy thud on deck, and cries of fright and pain, followed by anotherthud.
"Captain Joe isn't here, eh?" shouted Clay unlocking and opening thedoor. "Just look at that mess out there."
The white bulldog was mixing freely with the intruders, who seemed tobe devoting their best energy to getting off the boat. There was astruggling, cursing, growling mass in the middle of the deck, and thenfrom the roof of the cabin leaped another combatant!
Seeing the dog mixing with the pirates, and evidently believing thatsome new game was in progress, the cub leaped fairly into the midst ofthe struggling mass! If the men had been frightened before, they werenow wild with terror. It seemed to them as if the bear had droppedfrom the clouds. They felt his teeth and claws, and the rough hair ofhim appeared to bristle like the quills of a porcupine.
Frightened beyond all measure, rendered more desperate still by theonrush of the boys from the cabin, the outlaws finally succeeded inbreaking away and springing to the pier. As they did so, they nearlyfell over Alex and Case who were making all haste to ascertain thecause of the excitement on the _Rambler_.
In a moment, however, they were up and away, clattering likerace-horses up the pier.