Chapter XV: The Leather Bag Missing

When Clay went to the cashier's desk to pay the check for the meals the two boys had eaten, also with a view of finding out what was known there of the red-headed man, he asked the first question which came into his mind.

"Is that the sheriff--the tall man with the red hair?"

The cashier eyed the boy keenly for a moment and then answered the question by asking one, as many who wait on the public have a habit of doing.

"Why? Do you want to see the sheriff?" he asked, suspiciously.

Clay was provoked, but tried not to show it as he replied,

"I thought I knew the man, that's all. Perhaps I was mistaken, for he would have recognized me, I'm certain, if he had ever seen me before."

"Well, that's not the sheriff," the cashier replied, more civilly; "I don't know who he is. He came in here this forenoon, for the first time, with those two men, and he has been in here twice since. There are others with him, too, for people kept coming in and making reports of some kind to him. One made a sign to him, through the glass, while you were eating. He may be a crook, for all I know."

Clay thanked the cashier and went away, turning in the direction of the river front immediately. At the next corner he came face to face with the cashier of the bank where he had secured the deposit box. The banker extended a hand in greeting.

"I was just wishing," he said, "that I could run across you this afternoon. I have a little spare time, and I'd like to look over that wonderful boat of yours. Not long ago I saw a full-page description of your river trips in a Chicago newspaper."

"Come along, then," Clay replied. "You'll have a good chance to see it by daylight if you go now. It isn't very much of a boat, but we're proud of it. It is just an ordinary motor boat, with electrical attachments which provide for lighting and cooking. There's also a little refrigerator, cooled by water, and a container for holding electricity in storage, so we have plenty of light when the boat is not running. But come along and take a look at it."

As the two walked arm-in-arm down the street two men fell in behind them, moving as they moved, fast or slow, and stopping whenever the cashier drew up to explain some city feature to the boy. After a couple of blocks of this work, the two walked faster and, coming in advance of the two they had followed, turned about and greeted the cashier warmly. They were promptly introduced to Clay as Hilton and Carney.

"We're just going to the river to look over the _Rambler_, the famous motor boat we have talked so much about," Benson, the cashier said. "If Mr. Emmett, here, has no objections, I'd like to have you go along with us."

"No objections whatever," Clay responded. "There isn't much to see, but such as it is you are welcome to have a look."

Clay did not observe the significant look which passed from the cashier to the two men, as they walked along toward the boat. They soon reached the pier and went aboard the _Rambler_, finding Case, Chet, Jule and Mose there. The bear cub attracted a great deal of attention, and Chet seemed to take special interest in the doings of the party.

The three men did not hurry themselves at all, but took their time about everything. They inspected the bunks and the cupboard, and even looked into the storage places under the decks and the cabin floor.

Clay was with them most of the time, but now and then they halted and conversed together in low tones, so, of course, the boy dropped away from the group. He considered this a strange proceeding on the part of the guests, but said nothing.

Finally they asked Clay all sorts of questions about their progress down the river, when they left Rock Island, when they touched at St. Louis, and when they reached Cairo. The boy, though wondering, answered the rather personal questions frankly.

It was almost dark when the visitors left the boat. Their last visit had been made to the cabin, to inspect the electric stove, and they passed the boys on the prow as they went ashore. For a time after their departure the boys discussed the unusual conduct of the visitors, and then Chet and Clay went in to prepare supper.

Taking advantage of a momentary absence of Chet from the cabin, Clay looked in the hiding-place where he had left the leather bag in which the diamonds had been brought on shore. The bag was gone! Clay hastened out on deck to meet two astonished boys.

"Say," Case said, "what's come over Chet? He came out of the cabin like a shot and jumped off on the pier. Then, without even stopping to look back, he ran down into the city! What have you been doing to him?"

Clay stood for a moment like one incapable of speech, then he dropped into a deck-chair and laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks. Captain Joe and Teddy joined the others in their criticism of his strange actions.

"You didn't get too many high balls while in the city, did you?" asked Case.

"You might have kept sober enough to bring Alex. back with you!" Jule put in.

"Ah believe yo' done scare dat lad off de boat!" little Mose suggested.

"Well," Clay explained, presently, "I suppose I ought to treat the matter more seriously, for we may have lost Chet for good, but it is funny for all that."

"Why don't you pass it around?" demanded Case. "Let us in on the laugh!"

"You all know what I did with the articles we found on Chet," Clay responded. "Well, when I took the valuables out of the leather bag, I put burrs from the repair kit and pieces of broken dishes into the bag and hid it where I thought Chet might find it if he looked long enough."

"I don't see anything funny in that," observed Case, with a frown.

"Just wait! When I looked for the bag, just now, it was gone, and the next thing I hear is that Chet has taken to his heels. You see what has happened!"

"The poor little chap!" exclaimed Case. "I'm sorry for him."

"So am I," Clay agreed, "but he ought to have been honest with us."

"We knew what to expect," Jule suggested. "He said he'd get the gems back if he could, didn't he? Now he thinks he's got them, and is lugging off a lot of truck not worth a cent! I call that a shame!"

Clay looked thoughtful for a second and then burst out:

"But is he? Look here, fellows," he went on, excitedly, "suppose he never took the bag at all! Suppose Chet found it and changed his mind about running off with it! Suppose one of the visitors took it! Suppose that is what they were here for; suppose Chet missed it as soon as they went away and chased on after them!"

"You said the visitors were bankers!" exploded Jule. "What about that?"

"One of them was, but I don't know anything about the others. Strange they should all be so eager to inspect the _Rambler_! Strange they should get off by themselves and talk in whispers! I reckon we're knee-deep in mystery!"

"Well, where did you leave Alex.?" asked Jule. "He hasn't come back yet!"

"And here's another funny thing," Clay went on, without answering the question, directly. "We saw Red, the Robber, up town, dressed like a gentleman! Alex. followed him out of the place where we saw him, and may have got into trouble!"

"Then the stealing of the bag is Red's work!" decided Case. "No need to guess about that any more! How he got his men in with the banker I don't know, but he did it, and one of them took it, and poor Chet saw that it was gone, and now he is following a bag filled with crockery about the city!"

"Pshaw!" Jule exclaimed. "It is dollars to doughnuts that Chet got the bag himself! He said he'd swipe it if he got a chance. You all know that!"

A figure now came dashing down the pier at break-neck speed and Alex. leaped on the deck and dropped into a chair, wiping the sweat from his face.

"Did you find who he was?" asked Clay, as the boys all gathered around Alex.

Alex. told the story of the steamer and the wrecked stateroom, and ended with the talk he had had with Red, while the boys looked on in wonder at the odd twist things were getting into. Even Teddy Bear seemed impressed by the mystery, Jule declared!

"And how did you get away from him?" demanded Case. "How did you get back here?"

"I jumped and ran, and he caught me," was the reply. "Then he made me promise not to say a word about his escapade on the _Rambler_ and let me go! Can you beat it?"

"What did he have you locked up for?" asked Clay. "I don't understand that."

"Just because he wanted that promise," Alex. suggested. "Is that the answer?"

"It may be," Clay admitted, "but here's the question: Is he a robber or a detective? Is he on the level, or is he just a clever scoundrel?"

"Perhaps Alex. can judge better of that when he knows what has taken place here," Case suggested, going on with the story of the disappearance of the leather bag.

"Red's gang got it," laughed Alex., without a moment's hesitation, as Case finished the story. "He knew Clay put something in the bank, and asked me what it was. Yes, we know all about it now!"

"I just believe Chet took the bag, thinking the gems were in it," insisted Jule.

"We'll never know the truth until we find the lad," Clay said, with a sigh.

"Unless Red, the Robber, shows up again in a confidential mood," Alex. laughed.

"If the supplies I ordered are all in," Clay went on, "I think we'd better be on our way. There's mystery in the very air here!"

"If we stay here long," Alex. prophesied, "the coon I biffed on the shin may show up, lookin' for revenge, or Red may come after pay for the furniture I smashed!"

"What did he say about that furniture?" grinned Jule. "You've got the nerve!"

"He never mentioned it," was the reply. "Say," the lad went on, "I believe that chap is all to the good, after all! He seemed to think the smash act was funny."

During the afternoon Case and Mose had caught a large fish and Chet had succeeded in bringing down a wild duck, so the cooking of supper was an elaborate affair. Then Clay made light biscuits and coffee, and fried potatoes, and the boys were as happy as well-fed boys with no one to "boss," usually are, except that they missed Chet.

After supper they discussed the proposition of waiting there a day in the hope of finding the runaway boy, but it was finally decided that he could find them easier than they could find him, so they started the motors and went on toward the Gulf.

The early part of the night was bright, so the boys ran down about twenty miles, as the river ran, and then tied up below a "tow-head" which stuck up out of the water below an island of good size. They found it necessary to take this precaution always, for the wash of large steamers passing up and down would have rattled things in the _Rambler_, if the motor boat was not capsized.

At midnight the sky became overcast with threatening clouds and the wind blew in fitful gusts. There seemed to be no danger of their being disturbed by visitors that night, but all the same they thought best to station a watchman, and Case volunteered to keep awake and see that "no one flew away with the boat," as he expressed it.

Somewhere about two o'clock in the morning, the boy, who was having hard work keeping awake, heard the puff and bellow of an approaching steamer, toiling up against the strong current. Almost at the same instant he felt a jar, as if the boat had been struck by floating driftwood. He switched on the prow light to see what was doing, but quickly extinguished it as the steamer came up and a heavy rowboat dropped away from her!