Chapter XIX: Aboard the Floating Raft

Now, of course George must be only saying this for effect. He was aware of the fact that they had only one gun among them; and also that Jack would hardly be the person to use that recklessly.

“Listen to George talkin’ through his hat,” whispered Josh, to the skipper of the Tramp, as they continued to draw closer and closer to the white boat.

Again they could hear the two men exchanging hurried words. It looked as if the situation was none of their choosing, and that they did not particularly fancy it.

“If you won’t keep back, then take that!” suddenly shouted the heavy-voiced man; and immediately following his words there came a bright flash, and the report of a pistol.

“Oh!” exclaimed some one aboard the Wireless; and Jack had a shock.

“Anybody hurt over there?” he sang out, as he snatched up his shotgun, and made ready to use it; if the answer was to the effect that damage had been done, Jack might turn the weapon directly on the fleeing craft, and scatter the contents of a shell in that quarter.

“Er, no, guess not,” replied George, “but say, that bullet hummed right past my head, and I nearly broke my neck trying to dodge it. Jack, give ’em a return shot, please do!”

“Bang!” went a second discharge.

This time the man in the fugitive motor boat had evidently turned his attention toward the Tramp, for Jack and those with him plainly heard the peculiar whistle of the passing lead.

It was too much. Jack could stand for a good deal, but this thing of being made a target to suit the whim of a rascally thief galled him. There was one way in which it might be stopped; and this was to let them understand that when George said they were armed it was no idle boast, although they might not be bristling with weapons, as he would have had the others believe.

And so Jack let fly with one barrel of his Marlin, aiming to one side of the white boat, now close at hand.

The charge of shot ploughed up the water. It also caused the head to vanish from the stern of the boat. Evidently that shot created something like a little panic aboard the Saunterer. How were those two men to know but what every fellow pitted against them gripped some sort of dangerous firearm, and with boyish abandon was ready to make use of it?

They did not shoot again, and from this circumstance Jack believed that they were ready to change their plans. If the pursuers could not be frightened off by threats, perhaps they might be content to withdraw, if they could only recover the stolen boat again.

“They’re going to pass the raft by, Jack!” ventured Josh, just then.

“Think so?” the other went on to remark, “well, I’m just guessing otherwise, and that they mean to run alongside. Look sharp, Josh, and you’ll see how they keep on edging that way.”

“What if they leave the motor boat and make a run for the log cabin on the raft--will you crack away at ’em, Jack, and try to hit the fellers in the legs?” was what the excited Josh wanted to know.

Jack had to laugh softly at that.

“You talk as if any one could put a load of shot just where he wanted it, without doing any serious damage,” he remarked. “If that was easy, I’d like to tickle those chaps; but there’s too serious a chance of crippling them for life, or even worse than that. We’re so close now that a load of Sevens would go just like a great big bullet. I’m not ready for that and won’t be unless they hurt one of our crowd. If that happens, they’ll have to look out.”

“There they go, heading in to the logs, just like you said, Jack!” cried Josh, more worked up than ever. “Oh! please give ’em another shot if they jump on the raft. P’raps it might scare the pair so much they’d just throw up their hands, and surrender.”

“Do you see the men who are running the logs down-stream?” demanded Jack.

“Of course I do, two of ’em, and they look like they hardly knew what all this racket means,” Josh continued. “Now, wouldn’t it be just great if they jumped our birds, and got ’em. All we’d have to do then would be to take charge of the scamps, hand over a little reward to the raftsmen, and start back. Look! Jack, there, they are going to strike the logs now. They’ve shut off the motor, you see, and that tells the story. Take it from me we’ve got the fellers bad scared right now. Whoop! George, knock ’em both over with your elephant gun! Quick! soak it to ’em, fellers!”

Of course Josh was only shouting this last in order to further alarm the two fugitives. For some reason or other the men had determined to abandon their boat. Perhaps they found it was commencing to balk, and could not be depended on. Then again, as the others had overtaken them, it was plain that they must open up some other means for escaping.

Jack still clung to his former idea that the men hoped the boys would be satisfied with recovering the stolen Saunterer; and finding that they were ready to defend themselves would withdraw. Then they could force the raftsmen to steer the clumsy craft over to whichever shore they thought safer, and in this way they might escape with their booty.

The white boat came alongside the raft, and bumped heavily.

Two flying figures were seen to leave the boat, and find a footing on the slippery logs. Immediately they did so they started headlong toward the center where the little log-cabin shelter stood; just as though their plans had all been arranged beforehand.

Whether that shout from Josh calling on George to blaze away gave them additional cause for excitement, or the fact of the logs being wet and slippery made them lose their footing more than a few times, the fact was that they took a number of headers, and found the passage a rocky one.

George was still shouting at the top of his voice, and the others joined in, so that the clamor was quite deafening. No wonder the loggers stood there unable to understand what it was all about, and why those two had abandoned the fine white boat that was now drifting alongside the raft.

“Too bad, Jack!” Josh was saying, when the two fugitives, after making their way along the logs finally vanished inside the door of the rude little cabin shelter.

“What is it?” asked the skipper, who had also shut off power, and was bent on bringing the Tramp alongside the raft just below the Saunterer; so that the white boat could be caught and secured, which would be one part of their plans brought to a successful completion.

“He’s got the boodle, Jack, plague take the luck!”

“Yes, I saw that the small man was carrying a bag with him, and of course that holds the stolen bank papers and cash,” Jack went on to say, as the Tramp’s nose came with a gentle bump against the outside log.

“Tell me what to do, Jack!” Josh demanded, knowing that the other must have a plan of some sort in view in making this landing, if their hugging the raft could come under that name.

“Just jump off and take the hawser with you,” said the skipper, quickly.

“Then you mean to tie up here?” asked Josh, as he started to obey directions.

“Yes.”

“Say, Jack, shall I get a grip on the painter of that other boat while I’m on the raft and make her fast?” continued Josh.

“Try and see if you can, because we want to take her back with us, even if we fail to capture the men,” Jack replied.

No doubt George was bringing his Wireless alongside the raft on the other side, for he could see across, and note what the crew of the Tramp seemed to be doing.

Josh was quite active, when spurred on by excitement. When he had made a three-base hit in a game of baseball, he could stretch it to a home run better than any other fellow in town, with the shouts of the crowds to inspire him.

He began to hunt around for some place to fasten the rope, as soon as he had jumped on to the raft. This was so difficult a task, because there were many pegs showing, where the logs were held together. And besides, here and there was a heavy rope passed along, to keep the waves made by steamboats from scattering the logs, which might have been of especial value.

Josh had just managed to accomplish this, and was turning to try and get hold of the bow of the white boat, which was still bumping against the side of the raft, when a terrific splash was heard from across on the opposite edge of the logs.

“George is overboard!” whooped Josh, thinking that the impulsive one must have been in such a big hurry to gain a footing, afraid lest a chum would be ahead of him, that he had miscalculated.

“You’re wrong, it’s Andy; and he’s all to the good; climbing on the logs right now,” came in the well-known tones of the Wireless skipper, and with a touch of sarcasm connected with the words, as though George wanted them to know that he was not the only fellow who could, in his haste, make blunders.

“Sure I am!” echoed Andy, “and the wather ’tis foine, I’m tilling ye, me laddybucks. Now, George, me darlint, whereabouts shall I tie up at?”

“Anywhere, so long as we hold fast,” came the order.

Well, here was a strange condition of affairs, to be sure, Jack thought. He was a little puzzled to know what they ought to do next. The two desperate men had retreated within the shanty on the raft, which they undoubtedly meant to hold, after the manner of a fort, having abandoned Algernon’s motor boat. The pursuers already had this in their possession, so if nothing more were accomplished, they could feel fairly well satisfied with their night’s work.

But Jack felt that George, and for that matter the other two chums, would not wish to drop out of the game then and there. Knowing that the men in the shanty were the robbers, whose apprehension would bring great joy to the bereaved depositors in that robbed Lawrence bank, it would be just like them to want to keep going until they had either accomplished that end, or else found that they were not equal to the task.

Yes, and deep down in his own heart Jack was thinking along pretty much the same lines. He knew what it was to be greeted with cheers; and the desire to accomplish things worth while had a lodgment in Jack’s heart.

They had the two rascals bottled up, as it were; and surely some way could be found whereby they might force their surrender.

But it was not going to be an easy task. Those men knew what they must accept once they were taken into custody; and doubtless they would fight to the last gasp before showing the white flag.