Chapter XIX: Rube Tells a Story

For a moment Buck and Rube looked as if they could not believe the evidence of their senses, then both broke into a hearty laugh. Then they shook hands and laughed again.

"Well," said Clay, "I hope, when you fellows get done with your monkey-work, that you'll condescend to tell us what you find so funny. It won't take long to give it a name."

Buck and Rube rushed out of the little cabin and gazed long and earnestly into the fast-gathering night. They walked to the side of the boat and looked over into the water. Then they roared again, to the disgust of the boys.

Alex tapped the top of his head significantly.

"They've gone mad!" he said.

The boys had followed Rube and Buck out to the deck, and now stood in a little circle about them.

"I don't see any evidences of insanity," laughed Thede, "but they will doubtless become raving mad in a moment!"

"Too bad!" cried Jule.

In the meantime Rube and Buck had had their laugh out and settled back on the seat which ran along the inner side of the railing. The faces of the two men were blank with amazement.

"Did you tie him tight?" asked Buck.

"You know it!" was the reply.

Again the men arose and walked into the cabin.

"He's sure gone!" Rube said.

"He's gone, all right!" answered Buck.

"When you have had your fun out, perhaps you'll tell us who it is that's gone!" ventured Alex, wrinkling his nose and attempting to speak very sternly, and, of course, making a failure of it, "because, you've had quite a time at this foolishness."

"Well," replied Rube, "we had a surprise for you, but there don't seem to be anything doing in the astonishment line! We had little old 'To the Death' nicely trussed up in the cabin, but it seems that he got away!"

"Got away!" exclaimed Case and Jule in a breath.

"Yes, sir, got away!" replied the giant.

"Nice fellows you are!" exploded Case, sourly. "Why didn't you tie him up so he wouldn't get away?"

By this time Buck and Rube were almost as well acquainted with Case's temper as were the other boys, so no attention was paid to this outburst of grouch.

"Where do you think he went?" asked Thede.

"You know as much about it as I do," answered Rube. "Just take a look into the cabin."

The cabin was a sight! Clothing was scattered over the floor, the mirror which hung above the sideboard was in tiny pieces, and the general appearance of the place was "on the bum," as Alex expressed it. The boys gazed at the disorder for a moment and then returned to the deck to think it out.

By this time it was quite dark. A storm was coming up, and the boys decided to tie up for the night where they were.

There was plenty of provisions on the _Esmeralda_, and the hungry boys made a hearty meal. Thede and Clay shortly returned to the _Rambler_ to acquaint Paul with what was going on.

"It seems to me," said Buck, straightening up the disordered cabin, "that you boys have something in your minds that we ought to know, being as we are to sail together for a few days."

"I don't think we have anything on you, if we have!" Alex replied. "What's it about those private interviews between Paul and yourselves?"

"You caught on, did you?" asked Rube, with a laugh. "Well, it is about time for a show-down, I reckon, don't you think so, Buck?"

Buck nodded, and Rube continued.

"I don't know whether I can tell this story accordin' to Hoyle, but I'll try. Once upon a time, as the story books say, there was an old miser who wanted the earth and the fullness thereof. Is that O. K., Buck? Does she start out right?"

Buck laughed good-naturedly, nodding his head again, and Rube went on.

"This old gazabo was the uncle and administrator of the estate of a minor heir. Don't I get any help in this narration?"

Rube waited a moment for a reply, but, none coming, he went on again, stammering and making a great mess of it. To tell the truth, Alex and Jule were too much interested in the story which was still coming to do anything to interrupt it.

"The old uncle was also guardeen of this minor heir, and it is easy to guess what a life he led the boy. By the way, it may be well to state right here that this old man was next of kin, and would inherit a fortune if the heir should die."

Rube paused a moment to wipe his forehead, and then went on, after casting an appealing glance in Buck's direction.

"This lad, who was only sixteen, thought the guardeen's plans all wrong, and, after thinking the matter over a long time, decided to elope with himself, which he did!"

"Why don't you mention names?" demanded Jule. "The boy's name was Paul Stegman, wasn't it?"

"You just wait until the story is finished," answered Rube, with a broad grin. "Well, the old geezer tried his level best to catch the boy and land him in a home for imbeciles, or some such shop, but the kid had disappeared.

"One day the old man thought of one kink that hadn't been worked, and that was the West. So he entered into correspondence with three men--a surgeon, and two officers of the law."

"Now, you're getting down to brass tacks!" shouted Jule. "Did these men catch the kid?"

"Yes, they discovered his whereabouts, but they hadn't the heart to disturb him. You see, he had fallen into good hands. After being robbed of his boat and beaten almost to death, one of the searchers found him, one wild night, lying on his back in the rain."

"Thought it was Paul," Alex announced. "Why didn't these men take him back to his uncle?"

"Not so you could notice it!" was the reply.

Alex and Jule both arose and gravely shook the hands of both men. Then they returned to their seats.

"But I don't yet understand how the surgeon came to be standing on the river bank in the rain," Jule cut in.

"He had just been put off the _Rambler_, then in possession of the pirates," Alex added.

"Not so fast!" Rube continued. "He had been put off the _Rambler_ some time before, after setting a broken leg for the boy. At that time the pirates began to see that the boy was worth more to them alive than dead. In other words, they decided to hold him for ransom."

"But where does the surgeon come in?" asked Alex. "He says he was engaged in the practice of medicine in a little town up the river--was he?"

"Yes, I think he told the truth about that," was the reply. "I reckon he wasn't making any too much money though, and was about ready to quit when the miser offered his reward."

"Offered a reward, did he?" said Jule. "This will be news to Paul! How much is the reward?"

"Five thousand."

"Gee!" shouted the boy. "I'd like to get my hands on that sum myself."

"I think I've got all the parties in this story sized up now but I'd like to know if you ever had a ranch?"

"Now look here, kid," Rube answered, "don't get too personal in your remarks! Why, of course I've got a ranch! The only lie I told you boys was about that brindle steer! I've got a brindle steer, but I didn't lose him that rainy night."

"You're a fraud!" exclaimed Jule. "I infer, then, that Buck and yourself are officers of the law!"

Buck turned the lapel of his coat and showed the badge of a United States marshal.

"There you are!" he said "If you want any papers served, you have come to the right shop!"

"Now I see," remarked Alex, "how the _Esmeralda_ came to be so handy! I never suspected it at the time."

"You are a pair of frauds! Just as Jule said," ventured Alex, speaking after a pause. "How long have you known each other?"

"A matter of ten years!" Rube answered, with a chuckle. "I reckon it's been about that time, eh, Buck?" he added, with a grin that spread over his face. "And we've been pretty good friends, at that, never went back on each other, eh?"

"I guessed that you had something to do with the law, yourself," cried Jule, remembering a time when Rube had hastily put a silver badge out of sight. "Out with it!"

"Well, you see, the boys up in our neck of the woods seemed to think I'd make a fair sheriff, and so they elected me," Rube stated, coloring as he did so, for it had been no part of his program that the boys should know him as the sheriff of his county.

"Now, if you'll tell how you came to know Thede, we'll call it square," Alex suggested.

"Oh, he belongs up in my county, and of course I know him," was Rube's reply. "But," he added, "I'm afraid we've got to lose him, for the hard-luck story he told you boys was about right. He's a right pert boy, and we hate to lose him."

By this time the wind was blowing a gale, and Buck arose to make the _Rambler_ and the _Esmeralda_ more secure. Vivid flashes of lightning lit the sky, and presently the rain began to fall in torrents.

It was hot, too, and the boys were stripped to their shirts, Alex, who was short and fat, was fanning himself with a newspaper. He gave a little start of surprise at something he saw in the sheet, but said not a word.

Case and Thede called out that they were all right, and that Clay was in the cabin, sitting by Paul, who was sound asleep.

"We heard nearly everything Rube said," laughed Case, "and the parts he missed Thede told me! And so, you see, you are discovered--taken with the goods!"

"For the love of Mike!" shouted Alex. "Do you suppose Paul heard, too?"

"He's sound asleep," was the reply.

"It makes no difference if he did," suggested Buck. "He has been wise to the game since the first day."

"Oh, all right, then," was Alex's answer. "What does the kid think about your program? Is he enjoying this trip on the Rio Grande? He's in no shape, with his broken leg, to take much comfort."

"He thinks he's lucky to be alive, after the treatment given him up the river," Buck said. "You see, he got beaten up before they got the notion of holding him for ransom."

"I don't understand," interposed Jule. "If the old miser wanted him murdered, he must have gotten into communication with the robbers, and offered them a large sum to do the job!"

"That's just the point!" answered Buck. "That's what we want to find out! That's just what we are taking this trip for--to give the brutes a good chance to show their hands. Ordinarily, it would be enough to frustrate the old miser and the robbers, but someone must be punished for this mix-up, and we want to get the right ones."

"And so the robbers are double-crossing the miser?" asked Alex. "They are going to play the blackmail game? Well, if he bargained with them to do murder, they can get about all he has!"

Alex, cutting his talk short, and pointing to a rim of trees standing not far away. Through the slanting rain a low clicking sound, the clicking of metal on metal.

"What's doing over there?" the lad asked. "Sounds like a machine shop."

All listened intently for a time. The sound had ceased now, and there was only the patter of the falling rain.

Buck arose to his feet and stood just outside the cabin, regardless of the fast-falling rain. He was listening for the sound to be repeated. Presently it came again.

"Counterfeiters!" exclaimed Rube.

The spot was a lonely one, one to fit well with the making of illegal coin. A range of low hills lay close to the river on the Mexican side, where the two boats lay.

It was too dark to see them now, but Buck explained that they were there, and that the spot was one frequented by outlaws of every description.

"Suppose we land and make sure," Alex suggested.

"Yes," said Jule, in a whisper, "I vote yes on that proposition--it will be jolly to catch a gang of counterfeiters. We have never had any such luck!"

"You are likely to get a bullet through your anatomy!" Buck answered. "Counterfeiters are not river thieves."

"We carry a surgeon to cut it out if we do!" laughed Jule. "I'm going anyhow! The idea of catching a live counterfeiter appeals to me. What do you say, Alex?"

"I'm game!" was the reply.

Buck and Rube laughed softly.

They knew that the lads would go, rain or shine, and were already making preparations to go with them. Thede was called over to the _Esmeralda_ and given instructions, and the two men, accompanied by the boys, started away through the storm, taking the direction from which the sounds came.