Chapter XVII: Up the River

Neale O'Neil, who had been steering the houseboat during the operation of locking it from the canal into the river, sprang away from the tiller toward the side of the craft at Ruth's cries. There was no immediate need of guiding the _Bluebird_ for the moment, as she was floating idly with the momentum gained when she was slowly pulled from the lock basin.

"Are those the men?" asked Neale, pointing to two roughly dressed characters in a small motor boat.

"I'm sure they are!" asserted Ruth. "That one steering is the man who grabbed 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, was Hank Dayton with the two mules, the services of which would no longer be needed.

"Hank! Hank! Stop those men!" cried the lawyer.

The driver dropped his reins, and sprang to the edge of the bank. Near him was a rowboat, empty at the time, and with the oars in the locks. It was the work of but a moment for Hank to spring in and shove off, and then he began rowing hard.

But of course he stood no chance against a motor boat. The two men in the gasoline craft turned on more power. The explosions came more rapidly and drowned the shouts of those on the houseboat. Hank soon gave up 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 was quite excited. "Isn't there a motor boat around here--a police boat or something? 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, except rowboats and canalers."

This was true, and those on board the _Bluebird_ had to suffer the disappointment of seeing the men fade away in the distance.

"But something must be done!" insisted the lawyer. "An alarm must be given. The police must be notified. Where's the keeper of the lock? He may know these ruffians, and where they are staying. We must do something!"

"Well, they're getting away for the time being," murmured Neale, as he gazed up the river on which the motor boat was now hardly discernible as it was turning a bend. "But we're going the same way, and we may come across them. Are you sure, Ruth, that these are the same men who robbed you?"

"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 attacked us. But it was raining so hard, and we were in the doorway, and the umbrella 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 the face of at least one of the men in the boat, and I know it was he who took my box! Oh, if I could only get it back I wouldn't care what became of the men!"

"It ought to be an easy matter to trace them," said the lawyer. "Their motor boat must be registered and licensed, as ours must be. We can trace them through that, I think. Neale, would you know the men if you saw 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 pulled down over their faces. As Ruth says, however, they looked rough and desperate."

"We must take some action," declared the lawyer, with his characteristic energy. "The authorities must be notified and that motor boat traced. We shall have to stop here to register our own craft and get a license, and it will give us an opportunity to make some inquiries."

"Meanwhile those men will get away!" exclaimed Ruth. "And we'll never get our jewelry back. If we could get mother's ring," she added, "it wouldn'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 outlet from that. If we have to pursue the men all the way to the lake we'll do it."

"Well, then let's get busy," suggested Neale. "The sooner we have our boat 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 than ours. But we can trace them."

"I hope we can," murmured Ruth, gazing up the river, on which there was now 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 or not--anything but the ring."

"Let us hope we get both," said the boy.

Then followed a busy hour. Certain formalities had to be gone through with, in order to enable the _Bluebird_ to make the voyage on the river and lake. Her motor was inspected and passed. Neale had seen to it that the machinery was in good shape.

Mr. Howbridge came back from the boat registry office with the necessary permit 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, and they came only to get some supplies. It appears they are camping on one of 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 it we can give the authorities no clue. Motor boats up here don't have to carry their number plates in such large size as autos do. That craft was not registered at this office, but it was, very likely, granted a permit at the office at the other end of the river or on the lake. So we can only keep on and hope either to overtake the men or to get a trace of them in some other way."

"We can never overtake them if they keep going as fast as they did when they left here," said Agnes.

"They won't keep that speed up," declared Neale. "But we had better get started. We'll be under our own power now, and can travel whenever we like, 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 leave the mules behind, having no place for them on the _Bluebird_. I think I will dispose of them, for I probably shall not go on a vacation along the canal again."

"But it was a delightful and novel one," said Ruth.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," her guardian remarked. "It would have been little pleasure to me--this trip--if you young folks had not enjoyed it."

"I just love it! And the best part is yet to come!" cried Agnes, with sparkling eyes. "I want to see the islands in the lake."

"And I want to get to Trumbull and see if my father is there," added Neale. "I think I'll send him a letter. I'll mail it here. It won't take but a moment."

"You don't know his address," said Agnes.

"I'll send it just to Trumbull," said the boy. "Post-office people are sharks at finding people."

He wrote the note while the final preparations were being made for leaving on the trip up the river. Mrs. MacCall had attended to the buying of food, which was all that was needed.

And then, after Neale had sent his letter to the post-office, he went down in the engine room of the _Bluebird_.

"Are we all ready!" he called up to Mr. Howbridge, who was going to steer until Neale could come up on deck after the motor had been started.

"All ready!" answered Ruth.

Neale turned the flywheel over, there was a cough and a splutter, and then a steady chug-chugging.

"Oh, we're going! We're going!" gayly cried Tess and Dot. Almost anything satisfied them as long as they were in motion.

"Yes, we're on our way," said Mr. Howbridge, giving the wheel a turn and sending the houseboat out into the stream.

The trip up the Gentory River was no less delightful than the voyage on the canal had been, if one may call journeying on such a quiet stream a voyage. 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 with Neale, "I haven't anything to do. I miss the mules."

"Oh, I guess there'll be enough to do. Especially when we get up on the lake. You'll have to help manage the boat," remarked Neale. "I hear they have pretty good storms on Macopic."

"They do," confirmed Hank.

They motored along until dusk that evening, and then, as their way led for a time through a part of the stream where many craft navigate, it was decided to tie up for the night. It passed without incident, and they were on their way again the next morning.

It was calculated that the trip on the river would take three days, but an accident to the motor the second day delayed them, and they were more likely 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 stopping the craft and tying up, Neale announced, after an examination, that he and 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, and soon she and her sisters and Mr. Howbridge were on the bank of the beautiful stream.

The twilight lingered long that night, and it was light enough to see some distance ahead as Ruth and the others strolled on. The river bank turned and, following it beneath the trees, the party suddenly heard voices seemingly coming from a secluded cove where the stream formed an eddy.

"Must be fishermen in there," said Mr. Howbridge. "We had better not disturb them."

As they were turning away the voices became louder, and then on the still night air there came an exclamation.

"I don't care what you think!" a man's voice shouted. "Just because you'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 the speaker's mouth.