CHAPTER XVII
UP THE RIVER
Neale O'Neil, who had been steering the houseboat during the operationof locking it from the canal into the river, sprang away from the tillertoward the side of the craft at Ruth's cries. There was no immediateneed of guiding the _Bluebird_ for the moment, as she was floating idlywith the momentum gained when she was slowly pulled from the lock basin.
"Are those the men?" asked Neale, pointing to two roughly dressedcharacters in a small motor boat.
"I'm sure they are!" asserted Ruth. "That one steering is the man whograbbed the box from me. Look, Agnes, don't you remember them?"
Mr. Howbridge, who heard what was said, acted promptly. On the towpath,near the point where the river entered the canal through the lock, wasHank Dayton with the two mules, the services of which would no longer beneeded.
"Hank! Hank! Stop those men!" cried the lawyer.
The driver dropped his reins, and sprang to the edge of the bank. Nearhim was a rowboat, empty at the time, and with the oars in the locks. Itwas the work of but a moment for Hank to spring in and shove off, andthen he began rowing hard.
But of course he stood no chance against a motor boat. The two men inthe gasoline craft turned on more power. The explosions came morerapidly and drowned the shouts of those on the houseboat. Hank soon gaveup his useless effort, and turned back to shore, while Ruth and Agnes,leaning over the side of the rail, gazed at the fast-disappearing men.
"There must be some way of stopping them!" cried Mr. Howbridge, who wasquite excited. "Isn't there a motor boat around here--a police boat orsomething? Neale, can't you get up steam and take after them?"
"The _Bluebird_ could never catch that small boat," answered the boy."And there doesn't seem to be anything else around here now, exceptrowboats and canalers."
This was true, and those on board the _Bluebird_ had to suffer thedisappointment of seeing the men fade away in the distance.
"But something must be done!" insisted the lawyer. "An alarm must begiven. The police must be notified. Where's the keeper of the lock? Hemay know these ruffians, and where they are staying. We must dosomething!"
"Well, they're getting away for the time being," murmured Neale, as hegazed up the river on which the motor boat was now hardly discernible asit was turning a bend. "But we're going the same way, and we may comeacross them. Are you sure, Ruth, that these are the same men who robbedyou?"
"Positive!" declared the girl. "Aren't you, Agnes?"
"No, I can't be sure," answered her sister with a shake of her head."The men looked just as rough--and just as ugly--as the two who attackedus. But it was raining so hard, and we were in the doorway, and theumbrella was giving such trouble--no, Ruth," she added, "I couldn't be_sure_."
"But I am!" declared the oldest Kenway girl. "I had a good look at theface of at least one of the men in the boat, and I know it was he whotook my box! Oh, if I could only get it back I wouldn't care what becameof the men!"
"It ought to be an easy matter to trace them," said the lawyer. "Theirmotor boat must be registered and licensed, as ours must be. We cantrace them through that, I think. Neale, would you know the men if yousaw them again?"
"I might," answered the boy. "I didn't have a very good look at them,though. They both had their backs toward me, and their hats were pulleddown over their faces. As Ruth says, however, they looked rough anddesperate."
"We must take some action," declared the lawyer, with his characteristicenergy. "The authorities must be notified and that motor boat traced. Weshall have to stop here to register our own craft and get a license, andit will give us an opportunity to make some inquiries."
"Meanwhile those men will get away!" exclaimed Ruth. "And we'll neverget our jewelry back. If we could get mother's ring," she added, "itwouldn't be so bad."
"They can't get very far away if they stick to the river," said Mr.Howbridge. "The river flows into Lake Macopic and there is no outletfrom that. If we have to pursue the men all the way to the lake we'll doit."
"Well, then let's get busy," suggested Neale. "The sooner we have ourboat registered and licensed, the sooner we can start after those men.Of course we can't catch them, for their boat goes so much faster thanours. But we can trace them."
"I hope we can," murmured Ruth, gazing up the river, on which there wasnow no trace of the boat containing the rough men. "We have two quests,now," she added. "Looking for our jewelry box, and your father, Neale.And I hope we find your father, whether I get back my things ornot--anything but the ring."
"Let us hope we get both," said the boy.
Then followed a busy hour. Certain formalities had to be gone throughwith, in order to enable the _Bluebird_ to make the voyage on the riverand lake. Her motor was inspected and passed. Neale had seen to it thatthe machinery was in good shape.
Mr. Howbridge came back from the boat registry office with the necessarypermit and license, and Ruth asked him:
"Did you find out anything about the men?"
"No one here knows them," he said. "They were never here before, andthey came only to get some supplies. It appears they are camping on oneof the islands in Lake Macopic."
"Was their boat registered?" asked Neale.
"Yes. At least it is presumed so. But as we did not see the number on itwe can give the authorities no clue. Motor boats up here don't have tocarry their number plates in such large size as autos do. That craft wasnot registered at this office, but it was, very likely, granted a permitat the office at the other end of the river or on the lake. So we canonly keep on and hope either to overtake the men or to get a trace ofthem in some other way."
"We can never overtake them if they keep going as fast as they did whenthey left here," said Agnes.
"They won't keep that speed up," declared Neale. "But we had better getstarted. We'll be under our own power now, and can travel whenever welike, night or day."
"Are we going to take the mules with us--and Mr. Hank!" asked Dot,hugging her "Alice-doll."
"Hank is going to accompany us," said Mr. Howbridge. "But we'll leavethe mules behind, having no place for them on the _Bluebird_. I think Iwill dispose of them, for I probably shall not go on a vacation alongthe canal again."
"But it was a delightful and novel one," said Ruth.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it," her guardian remarked. "It would have beenlittle pleasure to me--this trip--if you young folks had not enjoyedit."
"I just love it! And the best part is yet to come!" cried Agnes, withsparkling eyes. "I want to see the islands in the lake."
"And I want to get to Trumbull and see if my father is there," addedNeale. "I think I'll send him a letter. I'll mail it here. It won't takebut a moment."
"You don't know his address," said Agnes.
"I'll send it just to Trumbull," said the boy. "Post-office people aresharks at finding people."
He wrote the note while the final preparations were being made forleaving on the trip up the river. Mrs. MacCall had attended to thebuying of food, which was all that was needed.
And then, after Neale had sent his letter to the post-office, he wentdown in the engine room of the _Bluebird_.
"Are we all ready!" he called up to Mr. Howbridge, who was going tosteer until Neale could come up on deck after the motor had beenstarted.
"All ready!" answered Ruth.
Neale turned the flywheel over, there was a cough and a splutter, andthen a steady chug-chugging.
"Oh, we're going! We're going!" gayly cried Tess and Dot. Almostanything satisfied them as long as they were in motion.
"Yes, we're on our way," said Mr. Howbridge, giving the wheel a turn andsending the houseboat out into the stream.
The trip up the Gentory River was no less delightful than the voyage onthe canal had been, if one may call journeying on such a quiet stream avoyage. It was faster travel, of course, with the motor sending the_Bluebird_ along.
"The only thing is, though," said Hank, who sat near the wheel withNeale, "I haven't a
nything to do. I miss the mules."
"Oh, I guess there'll be enough to do. Especially when we get up on thelake. You'll have to help manage the boat," remarked Neale. "I hear theyhave pretty good storms on Macopic."
"They do," confirmed Hank.
They motored along until dusk that evening, and then, as their way ledfor a time through a part of the stream where many craft navigate, itwas decided to tie up for the night. It passed without incident, andthey were on their way again the next morning.
It was calculated that the trip on the river would take three days, butan accident to the motor the second day delayed them, and they were morelikely to be five than three days. However, they did not mind the wait.
The break occurred on a lonely part of the stream, and after stoppingthe craft and tying up, Neale announced, after an examination, that heand Hank could make the needful repairs.
"We'll start in the morning," said the boy.
"Then we'll just go ashore and walk about a little," suggested Ruth, andsoon she and her sisters and Mr. Howbridge were on the bank of thebeautiful stream.
The twilight lingered long that night, and it was light enough to seesome distance ahead as Ruth and the others strolled on. The river bankturned and, following it beneath the trees, the party suddenly heardvoices seemingly coming from a secluded cove where the stream formed aneddy.
"Must be fishermen in there," said Mr. Howbridge. "We had better notdisturb them."
As they were turning away the voices became louder, and then on thestill night air there came an exclamation.
"I don't care what you think!" a man's voice shouted. "Just becauseyou've been in the Klondike doesn't give you the right to boss me!You'll give me an even half of the swag or--"
And then it sounded as though a hand had been clapped suddenly over thespeaker's mouth.