Chapter XIV: Ready for Trouble

“Jack, you’re right,” remarked George, after the whole of them had stood there, listening eagerly for a minute or so. “That sounds louder all the time.”

“P’raps the wind’s shifted?” suggested Josh.

“No, I don’t believe it has, even a little bit,” Herb observed, on his part.

“Then what d’ye think it means?” asked Bumpus, who was just as much interested as any one of his boat-mates.

“Why, he changed his course, that’s what,” declared Josh.

“Oh! that’s it, eh?” Bumpus went on to say, “and as he was running up-stream before, why, that means he’s coming down now.”

“Seems like it, Bumpus,” admitted George.

“Why?” the fat boy kept asking; for when anything puzzled him he never gave his comrades any peace until they had explained the particulars; for Bumpus could be a standing interrogation point when he chose.

“Now you’ve got me,” admitted Josh, “’cause I don’t know.”

“He ain’t doing that just for fun, you believe, don’t you? He’s got a card up his sleeve, as they say; and means to play it on us. Started up the river in the beginning just to use a little time, and pull the wool over our eyes, fellers. Now he comes a-spinnin’ down again in a little different direction. Why? Again I wait to hear some wise head say it,” and Bumpus assumed an expectant attitude as he went on in this manner.

“Jack, c’n you answer him?” Herb questioned; for, as usual they began to turn toward the Commodore at such a time, just as though he might be an unabridged dictionary, and able on any and all occasions to supply the crowd with information.

“Well, if, as we seem to believe, this bold scamp is one of those bank robbers, there’s only one way open for him to escape from any pursuers, and that’s down the Mississippi,” Jack started to say; when George uttered a sudden mild whoop.

“I’ve got it!” he cried, excitedly.

“Bully for you, then, George,” said Buster, eagerly, “and suppose you tell us before you burst. The cooper that put hoops around your barrel didn’t fasten ’em any too tight, believe me. Now, all at once, and have it over with--why should that feller turn around, and start back this way again, after getting safe off?”

“Why, because he suddenly remembered that he had a chum somewhere on this same old island,” George announced, triumphantly; “how’s that, Jack?”

Jack patted him on the back approvingly.

“Looks like you’d guessed it the first crack, George,” he declared. “Yes, whether he forgot that fact for a few minutes, or has been playing a little game to make us believe he was aiming to go up-river, there’s no doubt but what he’s heading back now so’s to pick the other one up. These sort of fellows stand by each other through thick and thin, you know; that’s their best quality, always.”

“And Jack,” piped up Buster just then, “don’t you think that there might be something else adrawin’ him back here--f’r instance, that stuff they took away from the busted Lawrence bank?”

“Hurray for Buster; he’s all right; and this time he’s struck a brilliant idea! Great head, old man, better be careful of your brains after this. You’re waking up at last; ain’t he, Jack?” but Buster did not deign to pay any attention to all this talk on the part of Josh, because he knew the other must be secretly envious of him.

“That’s really a bright thought, Buster,” admitted Jack, immediately. “This fellow might be ready to stick by his crony; but we know he’s bound not to desert the plunder; and that must still be on the island here, aboard their boat, wherever they’ve got her hidden. You know, boys, we kind of thought they’d hide here, and try to paint the boat some dark color, so it wouldn’t give them away; for every sheriff and marshal down-river way will be on the watch for a white boat with a red streak along the gunnel.”

“Mercy me! and think of the warm times I’ll be apt to have after this, on the way to St. Louis,” remarked Algernon, throwing up his white hands in dismay.

“That is, if ever you’re lucky enough to get your boat back again,” reminded Josh, who rather like to “nag” such a dandified fellow as Algernon and see him squirm.

“All of you noticed the fellow was wearing that sweater with the blue moon on its front,” Jack continued to say, as he explained matters more fully, “and we know that belongs to Buster here; also that it was in that boathouse of the builder where we left our three boats last night, when we locked up; because I handled it myself. Don’t you see what that means, boys?”

“That man was in there; is that it, Jack?” George asked.

“He certainly must have been, else how could he get my sweater?” demanded Buster, swelling with importance, since his name was bound to be mentioned in connection with this affair every time the story was told, and all on account of that new and remarkable garment which he had lost.

“But if they had looted the bank up at Lawrence, tell me why they’d be foolish enough to land in our town, and start in breaking open stores and boat building establishments? Seems funny business for a pair of smart yeggs?” Josh asked.

“Wait,” said Jack, “go back a little. Suppose now, while they were coming down the river, that idea about the paint just bobbed up in their heads, and it seemed such a clever scheme that they wanted to kick themselves because they hadn’t just thought of it before, and had some of the right kind of stuff on hand. So when they came to our town, this fellow, who must be a pretty bold sort of chap, we know, made up this plan to sneak ashore, break into some paint shop, and get away with a supply.”

“Now I’m on to what you mean, Jack,” George hastened to remark, “and when he struck the boat-yard of Mr. Kedge, he just up and thought he’d sure find paint in there, because it’s used on boats. And as Buster had left his new sweater lying around loose, like he always does with his things, why, Mr. Burglar, feeling the night air on the river a bit cold, just swiped the same. That’s as plain as the nose on Josh’s face here.”

“Just you let my nose alone,” muttered Josh, like a flash, “it may be a little bigger’n yours, but it knows how to keep out of other people’s business.”

“Then you think, do you, Jack,” George went on, “that something might have happened to their boat, and crippled the same, so that they put in here some time yesterday morning, if you can call it that, though this is still the same day?”

“Yes, it looks as if they needed a new boat to continue their voyage down the river; and seeing this fine chance, while Algernon and Jenks were fast asleep, this man started to sneak it away. He might have done it, and never a thing would they have known until morning, only for the sneeze that Buster here gave.”

“See that,” cried the fat boy, triumphantly, “you all have poked heaps of fun at me because I sneeze so much; but here’s a time that it paid right handsomely.”

“Sure, Buster,” said George, quickly, “when it comes to waking people up, the flock of geese that once saved Rome from a night attack didn’t have anything on you, with your fine sneeze. I give you my word, you’d arouse a whole city, once you let loose.”

“Bah! just jealous, that’s all; but don’t you dare to imitate me, because I give you warning right now I’m going to get that sneeze copyrighted, that’s what,” Buster went on to declare emphatically.

“Seems to me,” remarked Herb, “there’s a heap of engines getting into trouble about now; George has his spell; then Jenks had to work on the one in their boat; and now we suspect that these runaway robbers had a breakdown of their own.”

“That shows you that I ain’t the only one that gets into a mess with motor trouble,” George hastened to tell them.

“But arrah, now, phat arre we goin’ to do about this same broth of a bye comin’ back till the island for frind?” Andy wanted to know just then.

“Sensible of you to ask that, Andy,” remarked Jack, “because it might be possible for us to surprise the pair, if only we could guess about where he meant to land along the shore.”

“Whee! is that what’s on the bill, Jack?” exclaimed Buster, “then how glad I am that you’ve got that splendid little Marlin gun of yours handy. If there’s going to be a scrap, every one of us ought to pick up some sort of club, so’s to make a respectable showing. And right here I see one I’m going to cabbage on the spot.”

“Which spot?” queried Josh; but no one paid the slightest attention to jokes at such a critical moment.

“Listen again, boys,” ordered Jack, “and see if you can tell whether he’s coming down this side of the island, or the other one; because that would mean a whole lot for us.”

For a minute no one uttered a sound. The quick pulsations of the exhaust belonging to the stolen motor boat could be plainly heard, for the night was as still as death, all but that murmur of the breeze among the treetops on the island, and perhaps the gentle lapping of the river on the rocks along the shore.

“I think he’s started down the other side, Jack,” said George.

“Same here,” echoed Josh.

“I don’t seem to be able to guess,” complained Buster, “one time I think it is the other side of the island and then again seems to me he’s heading right back the way he went.”

“Other side of me,” Herb went on to say, wishing to be counted.

“Sure, that’s me ijee to a dot, so ’tis,” declared the Irish lad, vehemently.

“Other side have it, five to one,” Jack went on, somehow forgetting that there were others present, though for that matter Algernon was so bewildered by all the strange things that were happening, he did not seem able to gather his wits together, and Jenks was apparently quite satisfied to leave the whole matter of the attempted recovery of the motor boat to the charge of these six wide-awake young chaps who had shown themselves to be so clever; though if it ever came to a crisis, doubtless the sturdy machinist would be only too willing to throw himself into the fight, and do his full duty.

“There, it’s stopped now, boys!” cried George suddenly.

“You’re right,” declared Jack, “and as near as I can place it, seems as if the last sound came from across the island, too, perhaps a little further up. Come on, everybody, and let’s see if we can push right through the place. The trees are scattered, and the moon shows bright enough to give us some light.”

“We’re off!” exclaimed Josh, exultantly, for he liked to be in action.

“Who’s afraid?” demanded Buster, waving the big billet of wood he had picked up, as though anxious to do some service with the same.

“Keep still, everybody, and look where you’re going,” warned Jack, leading off.