Chapter XXIV: Something Doing All the Time

Jule was at a loss what course to pursue. The boy who had left the house might be Chet, in which case he felt that he ought to follow and induce him to return to the _Rambler_, if that were possible.

The diamonds which had been placed in the deposit vault belonged to Chet. At least the boy had had them in his possession when he came aboard the boat, and in the absence of any other claim upon them they belonged to him. If they did not belong to him, then their owner ought to be found. If they did, he ought to have possession of them.

Just how a boy had become possessed of a fortune in precious stones, Jule was not trying to figure out at that time. What was in his mind was the thought that the question of ownership ought to be settled at once. This question, he believed, could best be settled by the boy himself.

He waived, for the time being, all consideration of the possible connection of the gems with the Rock Island robbery, all consideration of the possible connection of the boy with the man known to him as Red, the Robber. Chet himself could best decide the question of ownership, and Jule thought he ought to be taken back to the boat, by force if necessary.

Just as the boy was on the point of pursuing the figure, now fast disappearing in the shadows along the levee, Mose pulled at his arm and pointed to Captain Joe. The dog, with short ears and tail rampant, was crouching close to the closed door of the house, uttering low growls as his paws moved toward the threshold.

"Alex. in dar!" the little negro exclaimed.

Then there came a heavy, stumbling footstep along the walk, and a burly man in the garb of a riverman paused at the door, overlooking the boys crouched at the angle of the house, but cursing the dog drunkenly. Captain Joe behaved remarkably well under the kicks delivered at him, and the newcomer took a key from his pocket and opened the door. Before he could enter the dog had disappeared in the darkness of the interior.

"I reckon Alex. is in there, perhaps Case, too," Jule muttered.

"Yo' sure cain't fool dat purp!" Mose whispered.

The boys did not attempt to follow on into the house by the open doorway, but passed on to the window and entered there. All was still dark inside. They could hear the man who had just entered moving about, still striking at and cursing the dog.

Directly another key was turned, and then all was confusion. Jule switched on his flashlight and the circle it cut in the darkness revealed the man standing in a doorway with a long-barreled revolver in one shaking hand. The casings of the doorway appeared to be of two-inch plank, and the door itself was crossed by iron bands.

The man turned as the light flashed out and fired, the bullet going wide of the mark. Then a voice came from the interior of the room, a voice which brought joy to the hearts of boys outside. The voice of Alex.

"Get him, Joe!" the voice cried. "Get him good!"

The man wheeled and shot at the springing dog, but the bullet went off into the ragged ceiling instead of into Captain Joe's head, as intended. Directly the dog and the man were in a struggle on the floor, the only light Jule's electric.

Alex. and Case came out of the room, leaping over the fighters, and seized Jule and Mose in enthusiastic embraces.

"Wait!" Jule commanded. "Get the man on the floor first. The dog will take his life. Joe!" he added, "let go!"

"Take him away!" shrieked the man. "He's chewed my arm off now!"

Jule picked up the fallen man's revolver and held it to his head while Alex. forced the dog away. There was blood on Captain Joe's jaws, and the man on the floor was breathing heavily.

"Shut the door and put down the window!" Alex. said, presently, "and put the light out! There's no more fight in this chap just now."

"Here, I'll fix him," Case said. "I'll chuck him into this refrigerator and lock him up. See how well he likes his own medicine."

"But he'll get right out!" advised Jule.

"Oh, will he!" Alex. answered. "Then he'll do more than we could. I'll bet the walls of that hole are a foot thick! And the air? I'm choked to death."

"We tried our best to get out and couldn't," Case added.

"Suppose we see if he is badly hurt before we leave him?" Jule put in.

An examination showed that the dog had seized the fellow by the shoulder and bitten through the flesh, making an ugly though not serious wound.

"That won't hurt him!" Alex. declared. "His chums will come and get him in the morning, anyway. Chuck him in and lock the door and we'll climb out of this!"

"Isn't the place watched?" asked Jule, peering out cautiously.

"It would be if the outlaws weren't drunk," Alex. replied. "There's a copper over on the other side of the street. Probably he heard the shots. We'll duck out of a back window and make for the _Rambler_."

The boys were watched furtively by the policemen in that section of the city as they made their way along the streets with the dog, but they were not molested. When they came to the residence district where there was little fear of their being followed, Jule turned to Alex. with a grin.

"How did you like the play?" he asked?

"You saw about as much of it as we did!" was the reply.

"How did you come to get into such a scrape?" was the next question.

"The outlaws followed us from the boat," was the answer. "Oh, yes they did," the boy insisted as Jule grinned. "They were waiting for the _Rambler_ to come down stream! They thought we had the diamonds and were going into the city to dispose of them. They swore they'd keep us in that hole, without food or drink, until we told them where the stones were! I wish I'd never heard of the diamonds!"

"Who was the other boy?" asked Jule.

"The other boy? Where? When? Oh, that was Chet! We'll settle with him!"

"The lad who jumped out of an open window just before we got in and ducked away toward the river. Was that Chet?"

"Blessed if I know!" Alex. answered. "It might have been."

"I believe that really was Chet!" Jule declared. "It looked like him."

"How did you get here?" asked Case. "You're a wonder! And Mose and Joe, too!"

As the boys walked along the story of Mose's runaway expedition was told, and Alex. immediately grasped the little negro boy by the collar.

"You're a little brick!" he exclaimed, "and I'm going to see that you have a 'possum for dinner to-morrow--or to-day, rather--if there is one to be found in the city."

"It is a wonder," Case commented, "that the fellows didn't make an attack on the _Rambler_! After they searched us, they talked for a long time in whispers and then started away. I believe they did go to the boat--and Clay there alone!"

"We ought to make better time," Jule observed. "Where do we get the trolley?"

"Unless we get an owl car," Alex. replied, "we'll get none at all until the early run, and that will be after five o'clock. Guess we've got to walk it."

Eager, yet almost dreading, to learn the exact state of affairs on the motor boat, the boys traveled fast, breaking into a run now and then, much to the wonder and amazement of the few negroes they encountered making their way to the business section.

At last, just before daylight, they came in sight of the boat. A short distance up the bank a bright camp-fire was burning, and several figures could be seen moving around it. All was quiet on board the _Rambler_. No lights were in sight, either from the cabin or the prow. The boys waited a short time, wondering, and then Jule went to the levee and looked for the rowboat. It was not there.

"They've got possession, I reckon," he said, when he came back.

"Then all we've got to do is to take it away from them!" Alex. suggested.

"But how?" asked Jule. "We can't go on board without their seeing us."

"First," Alex. went on, "I'm going to make a sneak up to that fire and find out what those men are talking about. They may be all-right fellows, for all we know."

The others waited breathlessly for the boy's return. When he came back he said:

"They've been on board and ransacked the cabin. They found no one there! Now, what do you think has become of Clay?" he added.

"It's a wonder they didn't run off with the boat," Case said.

"Oh, they wouldn't do that," Alex. ventured. "They want to get us. I half believe the men are officers. What gets me is what they built that fire for?"

"Probably thought we were fools enough to run up to it," hazarded Jule.

"But where is Clay?" demanded Case. "We've got to find him. Do you know if they left any one on board the boat?"

"I didn't hear anything said about that," was the reply, "but it is a cinch that they did. And I believe there's more than one on board, too."

"Hard luck to lose the boat after getting so far on our journey!" Jule commented.

"We don't lose the boat, if they are officers," Alex. hastened to say. "What they want is the crew! We'll fool 'em at that. I'm going to swim over and see what's doing on board. If everything is all right, I'll make a noise like an owl."

"That's a nice long swim," Case objected. "I don't think you can make it."

"Mose made it, didn't you, coon?" Alex. replied. "I'm the boy that poured the water into the Mississippi! Nice adventure this?" he continued. "I'm going to give the residents of the valley a chromo each for the manner in which we have been entertained by them! Here goes for the _Rambler_!"

"You act like you meant to walk back to Chicago," Case suggested, as Alex. started away, turning away from the river in order to avoid the people at the fire.

"Oh, I'm only going to walk up a little way and drift as I swim down."

"Come up on the other side, then," Case cautioned. "Then you won't be seen."

When Alex. started away on his perilous trip Mose disappeared, and Captain Joe was nowhere to be seen the next minute. Case searched and grumbled, but did not find them.

"They've gone with Alex.," he suggested. "They always do. Well, let them go, they can swim better than I can! Wish I was along, also."

"If they are officers, the men at the fire," Jule asked, "why don't we go right up to them and find out what's doing? They won't lock us up, will they?"

"That is just about what they will do if they get us," was the slow reply. "We would get out of jail in time, but who wants to lie in a cell when there is so much fun to be had on the river? These fellows have been wired to head us off, probably by the sheriff we met up there. It may be that the diamonds Clay put in the deposit box have been identified as the ones stolen from Rock Island. I wish Chet would show up right now!"

"Oh, well, if they want to coop us up," Jule agreed, "we'd better cut our luck until they find out who stole the diamonds--or, at any rate, find out that we didn't."

The boy ceased speaking suddenly, for the motor boat was getting under way, heading down toward the business wharves!