CHAPTER XXII
WHAT THE EDDY BROUGHT UP
When Case and Jule gained the deck of the _Rambler_, crying that Alexwas back in the forest pursued by the outlaws, Captain Joe laid out achoice assortment of automatic revolvers along the deck behind thestarboard gunwale. The dripping boys crouched down and waited.
"He wasn't very far behind us," Case said directly.
"Yes," Jule put in. "He ought to be here before long."
Captain Joe, watching the boys whimsically, pushed the revolversaround so they would be within easy reach. The deck looked like anarmory.
"You outrun him, did you, lads?" the old captain asked.
"We wanted to stay back and come in with him," Case explained, "but hewouldn't have it. He said that if we separated and ran in differentdirections, one party would be pretty sure to get in, while we mightall be captured if we stuck together. He was right, of course, but wehated to leave him. He ought to be here in a minute or two."
"Did he say where Clay was?" asked Captain Joe.
"We didn't have much chance to talk with him," Case answered. "Theoutlaws were swarming over the peninsula, and kept us ducking anddodging most of the time. There must be a dozen or more toughs inthere."
There was no more firing from the shore for a time, and those on boardthe _Rambler_ hoped that Alex had succeeded in eluding his pursuers.
Presently the bushes at the margin of the stream parted and a facelooked out--a heavy bearded face with fierce eyes.
"Good evening, pard!" Jule called out. "Come aboard!"
The fellow disappeared without making any reply.
"That settles it!" Case exclaimed. "We won't see Alex right away. Theoutlaws haven't caught him, and so they are watching along the shorein the hopes of picking him up when he leaves the thicket. I'd like tothrow a stick of dynamite in there and blow up the whole outfit."
The supposition that Alex would not be seen at that time proved to beincorrect, however, for a shout was now heard from the launch, andAlex was seen waving a cap from the cockpit.
The cap soon disappeared from sight, however, for bullets begandropping down from the shore. On the _Rambler_, the boys were behindthe heavy gunwales, and Alex was hidden by the cockpit walls so,beyond splintering the railings and making havoc in thefinely-decorated cabin of the launch, the bullets did no damage.
"Now, how do you think that little customer got out to the launchwithout getting perforated?" asked Case.
"He swam out, of course," replied Jule, "--he just ducked under andswam out. I wish we could get him on board the _Rambler_."
"Now, that tow-line," Case said, "is too long. The boy can't swimunder water all that distance. Can't we pull the launch up?"
"Nothing in the world to prevent it," said Captain Joe. "If we can getthe end of the line into the cabin, the launch will come up like aduck. Then Alex can come aboard without much danger."
This plan was adopted. The _Cartier_ was easily drawn up to the sternof the _Rambler_ and Alex stepped aboard.
In a moment he was lying behind the gunwale with the others.
"Where did you say Clay was?" asked Captain Joe.
"I haven't seen him for a long time," was the reply. "We saw thatwharf rat, Max, in the forest and I started away to follow him. Atthat time Clay was coming toward the boat. I thought he might behere."
"And so Max has shown up again, has he?" cried Case. "We'll have toland that boy where he won't be so active."
While the boys were discussing the situation a grating, flopping soundwas heard in the cabin, and Jule rushed in just in time to see thecable which had held the _Cartier_ to the _Rambler_ drawing throughthe open window. In the excitement of getting Alex on board, the boyshad neglected to secure the line and the launch was now dropping downstream.
Jule sprang for the end of the line, but did not reach it. It droppeddown to the after deck and was drawn into the water.
"That's a nice thing!" shouted the boy, rushing to the motors. "Nowwe've got to go down and catch that boat!"
It was some moments before the anchor could be lifted and the_Rambler_ turned and sent down stream, so the _Cartier_ was halfway tothe little bay running in behind the Peninsula before the boys caughtup with her.
"She won't get away again," Captain Joe declared shortening up theline and making it fast to the after deck cleats of the motor boat."We haven't got any time to go chasing runaway launches!"
As the old captain spoke, Case laid a hand on his arm and pointed tothe projection on the peninsula behind which Captain Joe had listenedon the night he had left the _Rambler_ during his watch.
"There's a blaze over there," the boy said. "They must have a lot ofmen here to keep a force over there and another one between the tworivers."
"Young man," Captain Joe replied, "the man who is responsible for thiswhole mix-up is over there on the point, with a band of cutthroats."
"Why don't they go up and help the others?" asked Jule.
"It's just this way," Captain Joe replied, "we disappointed them verymuch when we got the _Cartier_ out of the water. That rascal on thepoint wanted to have the pleasure of raising the boat himself."
"Then why didn't he do it?" asked Alex. "He had time enough before wegot here."
"I don't know why he didn't," answered the captain, "but he didn't,and now he's sore because we got to it first. It seems to me that hemight have ordered his wrecking apparatus here and got the boat outbefore we arrived."
"What do you think he wants of the launch?" Case asked. "According toall accounts, he's rich enough to buy a dozen."
"I can tell you about that," Captain Joe replied with a grin. "Youremember when I stood watch one night, and you all said I lookedsleepy the next day. Well, that night, I paddled over to the point andheard what those people were talking about. There is something onboard the _Cartier_ they want. I couldn't understand exactly what theysaid about it, but it is something in some way connected with a safe."
"The safe on the wall in the lost channel!" laughed Alex. "They thinkFontenelle knows how to get to the safe if he can only get to the lostchannel first."
"Well, we got to the launch first, anyway," Jule suggested. "And itstrikes me that we'd better go aboard and look her over. Did you seeanything remarkable when you were there, Alex?" he added.
"Didn't see a thing," was the reply. "I flopped out of the water intothe cockpit and never even looked inside the cabin. I wish now that Ihad."
"Come on, then, let's you and I take a look through the cabin whileCaptain Joe and Case run the _Rambler_ back to her old position," Julesuggested.
The two boys sprang down into the cockpit, paused a moment to gettheir balance and opened the cabin door. As they did so, a scramblingnoise was heard inside, and both were knocked nearly off their feet asa body launched against them, turned to the railing and shot over intothe river.
From his position on the deck where he had been thrown by the impactof the collision, Alex looked up at Jule with a whimsical smile on hisface.
"Did you see that?" he asked.
"I felt it," Jule replied, rubbing his head.
"What did it feel like?" asked Alex
"Like a battering ram," was the reply.
"Well," Alex said, "it might have been a battering ram, but it lookedto me like Max, and it's dollars to apples that he caused the_Cartier_ to start downstream. A few pulls from the water would havestarted the line running out."
"That's just it!" Jule exclaimed. "That's exactly the idea!"
Captain Joe now leaned over the gunwale of the _Rambler_ and criedout:
"Which one of you boys fell overboard?"
"That was Max," Alex replied. "He's been here in the cabin of thelaunch for nobody knows how long, ransacking the lockers anddestroying papers. He must have come aboard about as soon as it waslifted out of the water. The scamp certainly keeps busy, anyway."
Captain Joe passed over to the launch, and a long search was madethrough the owner's secretary and the drawers a
nd boxes containingdocuments. The papers were wet, of course, and many of them were badlytorn, but the purport of each was by no means doubtful. The great massconsisted of bills, newspaper clippings, personal letters and thehundred and one memoranda made by the captain and owner of a pleasurelaunch.
"I guess we'll have to give it up," the captain said, after a time."There's one good thing about it, and that is that Max didn't meetwith any more success than we did."
"How do you know?" asked Case.
"Because," answered the Captain, "he would have been off the boatbefore we ever got to it."
"Perhaps he wasn't here as long as you think he was," Alex put in."Clay and I saw him up in the woods when we first went ashore."
The papers were spread out neatly and left to dry, and everything inthe drenched cabin placed in as good shape as possible. Then the boysall returned to the _Rambler_, now nearing her old position in thewest river.
Much to the surprise of all on board, there were no signs of theoutlaws when the boat came to her old anchorage. Night was falling andthere were no indications of hostile influences anywhere. Beforedarkness settled down over the scene, the boys drew the _Rambler_ alittle farther up the stream and prepared to pass a watchful andanxious night.
Alex proposed that he go ashore with the bulldog and make an effort tofind Clay, but the proposition was instantly vetoed by the others.
"You'll get lost yourself," Case declared, "and we'd have two boys tolook up instead of one. I think we'd better all stay on the boat."
"And that's good sense, too," Captain Joe put in. "Clay knows where weare, and he'll come to us if he can get away. If he doesn't comeduring the night, we'll get out after him in the morning."
"He may be waiting for darkness," Case suggested. "In that case, heought to be here soon. He must be hungry."
"He surely will, and we'll keep supper waiting for him in this cabinall night," said Alex "When the outlaws had me pinched, they didn'tgive me anything to eat. I'll get even for that!"
The night passed slowly, drearily, and Clay did not come. As thereader understands, all through the dark hours, the boy lay bound in atent not far from the west shore of the east river.
Shortly after daylight, breakfast being over, the boys began planningfor a visit to the shore.
The canoe and the rowboat were both on the bank still in plain sight.
"You swim over and get the boats, Jule," Case said. "You haven't hadas many open air baths as we have since we started on this trip."
"Now, boys," interposed Captain Joe, "I wouldn't touch those boats ifI were you. If there are any outlaws in those woods at all, they'rewatching those boats. The first boy that swims up to one of them willbe captured."
"Then we've all got to swim," declared Case ruefully.
"We're getting used to it this time," cried Alex
"I don't believe there's any one over there," Jule said. "Theywouldn't keep still so long."
"I notice that you don't get your head up above the gunwale veryoften," Alex laughed.
"Look here, boys," Captain Joe said, pointing out of the cabin window."Here's a place where the river widens without any good excuse fordoing so. I talked to Clay about that, and his idea was that anunderground stream runs in in this vicinity. Now, your eyes are betterthan mine. Look upstream and see if you can observe any current whichmight be made by the flowing in of a subterranean river."
"You're all right, Captain Joe," Case exclaimed. "You can't forgetthat lost channel any more than we can."
"I don't know whether there's a lost channel or not," the captainreplied, "but I do know that there's a fresh supply of water cominginto this stream right about here."
Case took a field glass and looked up the stream.
"There surely is a current starting in close to that bank," he finallysaid. "I can see sticks and bubbles popping up from the bottom.There's a spring there, all right."
Alex took the glass and studied the river for a long time. Then heseized Captain Joe by the shoulder and pointed.
"Say," he said, "there's a nude body coming up out of that eddy Casesaw. You can see it under the water, drifting down this way."
The boy dropped the glass clattering on the deck and sprang into thewater.
"Here, here, boy! Come back!" cried Captain Joe.
"It's Clay!" shouted Jule. "Can't you see it's Clay!"
In a moment, Jule was in the water, too, and both boys were divingafter the figure they had seen in the eddy.
They caught it in a moment, and managed to get it to the boat. CaptainJoe and Case supplied ropes, and in an incredibly short space of time,Clay lay stretched out on the deck.
"He's dead!" cried Alex "I just know he's dead!"
"They stripped him of his clothes and threw him in!" wailed Jule.