CHAPTER III
ARRESTED FOR PIRACY
The _Rambler_, drifting broadside to the current, threatened to strikefull upon a rocky promontory projecting from the island which lay inthe course of the boat. In vain Case tugged at the tiller ropes. Therewas no steerage way, and the boat was beyond control.
"It looks like the last of the _Rambler_!" Case cried as the boatdrifted down. "The rock ahead will cut her in two if we strike it."
But there was a current crossing the rocky point from north to south,and the boat, catching it, was drawn away, so that in time, she came,stern first, to the curve of a little channel into which the watersdrew. For a moment, the prow swung out, and the possibility of acontinuation of the vagrant journey was imminent.
However, before the sweep of water turned the prow fairly around, Alexwas over the gunwale, clinging with all his might to the broken cable.Clay and Jule were at his side in a moment and, half swimming, halfstumbling, quite up to their chins in the cold water, they held theboat until the current swept it farther over on the sandy beach thatbordered the cove.
"There you are!" shouted Alex, wading, dripping, from the river. "Thenext time I take a trip on the _Rambler_, I'm going to wear a divingsuit. I'm dead tired of getting wet."
"You're lucky not to be at the bottom of the river!" Clay announced.
The rowboat, which lay upon the roof of the cabin, was now broughtdown, a cable was taken out of the store room, and the _Rambler_firmly secured to a great rock which towered above the slope of thecove.
The boys stood for a moment looking over the surface of the river,still bathed in moonlight, then Alex rushed into the cabin and broughtout a field glass.
"What I want to know just now, is who cut that cable," he said.
"That's easy," Jule replied. "It was the innocent little boy who hadread all about the _Rambler_ in the Quebec newspaper."
Alex swept the river with the glass for a time and then passed it toClay.
"There he goes," he said, "away up the river, heading for St. Luce!That's the boy who disconnected the electricity and cut the cable.That's the boy who we will even up with when we catch him, too."
"And you're the boy who'll wash dishes for a week for talking slang!"Jule taunted.
"I'd wash dishes for a month if I could get hold of that rat,"answered Alex, angrily. "He came near wrecking the _Rambler_!"
"Well," Clay said, "we may as well be getting the motors into shape.We can't stay on this island long."
"If we do, there's no knowing what will happen," Jule suggested."We've had two letters and a runaway to-night and the next thing islikely to be a stick of dynamite."
"Say, suppose we repair the electric apparatus and get away from thisvicinity right now," suggested Case, "I don't like the looks ofthings."
"Now, look here," Alex cut in, "I'm ready to get out of this section,but do you mind what the first letter said about going north? Now thatmeans something. If the first letter hadn't told us to go north, andthe men who threw the second letter hadn't believed that we wereobeying instructions, we wouldn't have been interfered with. Now,there's a friendly force here, and a hostile force. The friendlypeople may be mistaken in our identity, but that doesn't alter thefact that the hostile element is out to do us a mischief.
"I'd like to find out what it is the friendly force expects us to do.If we can learn that, we'll know why the hostile force is opposing us.And so, it looks to me that instead of running away, we would betterfind out what is wanted of us. How does that strike you, fellows?Isn't that deduction worthy of Sherlock Holmes?"
"All right," Clay declared, "I'm willing to investigate, but wemustn't spend all our time looking into one mystery, for if we havethe same luck we had on other trips, we are likely to come acrossseveral more before we go back to Chicago."
"I'd like to know," Case said, as they brought up an extra anchor anda new cable, "why we were dumped on this island."
"To get us out of the way, probably," Jule commented. "Theyundoubtedly expected to steal or wreck the _Rambler_."
"But the _Rambler_," Alex laughed, "has the luck of the Irish, soshe's still able to travel."
The island upon which the boat had been cast, lay only a shortdistance from the south shore of the river. In fact, at low water,when the tide was out, it might have been possible to pass to themainland on dry ground.
Its location was not more than two miles below the little landing atSt. Luce. In fact, as the boys afterwards decided, it must have beenfrom this island that the signal flame had burned early in theevening.
Working busily on the repairs, the boys did not notice the arrivalupon the island of two roughly dressed fellows, who landed from asmall boat and who took great pains to keep rocky elevations betweenthemselves and the cove where the boat lay.
"I wonder," Jule asked, sitting down on the prow after a struggle withthe new cable, "whether the stories I have read about wreckers alongthe St. Lawrence are true."
While the boys discussed the possibility of wreckers working along thestream, one of the two men clambered to an elevation which was in turnhidden from the cove by a higher one and waved a red and bluehandkerchief toward the shore.
The tide was now running out, and the channel between the island andthe mainland swirled like a mill-race. This, however, did not preventthe launching of a boat from the shore, the same being manned by fourmen. They edged along the shore and then, passing boldly into thecurrent, landed on the island at a point east of the cove. There theysecreted their boat and moved on toward the place where the boys, allunconscious of their presence, were repairing the damages wrought bytheir treacherous guest.
It was Captain Joe who gave the first intimation of the presence ofothers on the island. He sprang from the boat, paddled through theshallow water between the hull and the shore, and set out for theelevation where the man who had signaled had been standing.
The boys heard a cry of pain, a shout of anger and a pistol shot, andthen Captain Joe came running back to where the _Rambler_ lay.
"What was it you said about wreckers?" Case asked with a startledlook. "No beast or bird fired that shot!"
"I was only wondering," Jule answered, "whether there are reallywreckers at work along the river. That's the answer!"
"Well," Clay said, "we'll get on the boat to talk it over! In themeantime, we'll be putting space between the _Rambler_ and thisisland. If ever a wrecker's beacon told where to lure a boat to beplundered, that flame we saw on the island told our sneaking guestwhen to cut the _Rambler_ loose!"
The boys hastened on board and Clay ran to the motors. At thatinstant, four men made their appearance on the ledge above the cove,beckoning with their hands and calling out to the boys that they hadsomething of importance to say to them.
"They look to me like triple-plated thieves," Alex commented, "and Iwouldn't be caught on an island with them for a farm."
Captain Joe seemed to approve of this decision, for he stood with hisfeet braced, growling furiously at the beckoning men.
"Boat ahoy!" one of the men cried. "We have a message for you."
"All right," Case answered, "you may send it by wireless."
"But it is important!" came from the man.
During this brief conversation, the motors were slowly drawing the_Rambler_ out of the sandy cove, the electric connection having beenmade, and the men were rapidly approaching the shore. The boat movedslowly, for the keel was dragging slightly in the sand, and thewreckers, if such they were, stood at the water's edge before thecraft was more than a dozen yards away.
Directly, all appearance of friendship ceased, and the men stoodthreatening the boys with automatic guns.
"Run back!" one of the men cried, "or we'll pick you off likepigeons!"
The boys had already taken their automatic revolvers from the cabin,and now, instead of obeying the command of the outlaws, they droppeddown behind the gunwale and sent forth a volley not intended toinjure, but only to frighten.
Apparen
tly undismayed by the shots, the outlaws passed boldly down theshore line seeking to keep pace with the motor boat as she drew out ofthe cove. Every moment the motors were gaining speed. In anotherminute, the _Rambler_ would be entirely beyond the reach of theoutlaws.
Apparently hopeless of coercing the boys into a return, the outlawsnow began shooting. Bullets pinged against the gunwale and imbeddedthemselves in the walls of the cabin but did no damage.
A tinge of color was now showing in the east. Birds were astir in themoving currents of the air, and lights flashed dimly forth from thedistant houses of St. Luce. Against the ruddy glow of the sky, a riversteamer lifted its column of smoke. Observing the approach of thevessel, the outlaws redoubled their efforts to frighten the boys intoinstant submission.
However, the _Rambler_ was gaining speed, and the incident would havebeen closed in a moment if the connection made between the batteriesand the motors had not become disarranged. In the haste of making therepairs, the work had not been properly done.
The propeller ceased its revolutions and the boat dropped back towardthe cove. Evidently guessing what had taken place on board, theoutlaws gathered at the point where it seemed certain that she wouldbecome beached.
Understanding what would take place if the motor boat dropped back,the boys fired volley after volley in order to attract the attentionof those on the steamer. There came a jangling of bells from theadvancing craft, and she slowed down and headed for the point. Theoutlaws fired a parting volley and disappeared among the rocks.
The steamer continued on her course toward the little island, butpaused a few yards away and the boys saw a rowboat dropped to theriver. The _Rambler_ continued to drift toward the beach she had sorecently left and the rowboat headed for that point.
Fearful that the boat would again come within reach of the outlaws,Clay and Case now rushed to the prow, and threw the supply anchor overjust in time to prevent a collision between a nest of rocks and thestern of the boat.
The outlaws were now out of sight, and the boys felt secure in theprotection of the steamer, but directly the situation was changed, fora show of arms was seen on board the rowboat, and the boys weresuddenly ordered to throw up their hands.
"You fellows are nicely rigged out--fine motor boat, and all that,"one of the men in the boat shouted, "but the days of river pirates onthe St. Lawrence are over. You are all under arrest."
"Gee whiz!" shouted Alex. "Is this what you call a pinch?"
"It is what we call a clean-up," replied one of the men in the boat,rowing up to the _Rambler_. "We've been watching for you fellows, andnow we've got you."
"And what are you going to do with us?" asked Clay restraining hisanger and indignation with difficulty.
"We're going to take you up to Quebec and put you on trial forpiracy!"
"That'll be fine!" Jule commented.
The boys tried to smile and make light of the situation as the fourmen from the steamer boarded the _Rambler_, but they all understoodthat it was a very serious proposition that they were facing.