Chapter XXIII: What Came of a Ramble on Shore

The boat was only a short distance from the mouth of the Pecos when the discovery was made that the propeller had ceased to operate. The boat was drifting in the rather swift current.

Clay threw out the anchor and turned to Alex with a look of inquiry on his face.

"Shall we let her drift?" he asked. "It's not far to the town of Viaduct, which is at the mouth of the Pecos. It is likely that we can get a supply of gasoline there."

"Perhaps we had better wait until daylight," argued Alex. "We can then get a good night's sleep."

"Not much!" Clay returned. "I don't know how much sleep you want, but it appears to me that two nights ought to be enough!"

"Then let's get in the rowboat and go on shore!" Alex said, wrinkling his nose. "It seems a pity to lose this fine night. We can give Captain Joe a run on the bank and return before any of the boys wake up. The dog will enjoy the outing.

"The boat will watch itself. We won't go far, and we won't be gone long. Come on!"

Clay very reluctantly consented, and Captain Joe was brought from the cabin, much to his delight, and made a member of the party. The instant his feet touched the shore, however, he was off, taking a wide circle. Clay looked at Alex in consternation.

"How'll we ever get him back?" he asked, ruefully. "He will stay half the night. And we ought to be back on the boat. I'm sorry we ever left it!"

"Is that the _Esmeralda_?" asked Alex, pointing out into the river, where the lights of a motor boat showed. "It looks like it, and yet it doesn't. She seems narrower, and sits lower in the water."

"_Esmeralda_? Nothing! We'd better be making tracks for the _Rambler_! I don't like the looks of this!"

Clay's wounded arm prevented his taking an oar, but he could assist Alex immensely by sculling, and this he did. Captain Joe was left on shore until such time as would suit the convenience of his dogship to return, and the lads started for the _Rambler_ at top speed.

But, fast as they speeded over the water, the strange boat traveled faster, and reached the _Rambler_ first. Then the boys stopped rowing and watched the performance on their motor boat.

In a minute's time six husky men were transferred to the deck of the _Rambler_, and the boys could see that they were not at all welcome. They saw Thede bound and laid aside, then Case and Jule shared the same fate. The boys were helpless, as, by a strange circumstance, their automatics had been left behind.

They had intended bringing them, but they now lay on the prow of the boat, where they had been placed by Clay.

In a moment the men on board the _Rambler_ caught sight of the rowboat and invited the boys to come on board. The invitation was declined, and the outlaws opened fire.

The boys dropped into the bottom of the boat and lay still until the men exhausted their charges, and then rowed with all speed for the shore, where they took shelter behind a slight elevation.

"We've gone and done it now, after all we've been through!" exclaimed Clay, grinding his teeth at the thought of what might be going on on board the motor boat. "We've been captured a dozen times, but never like this! What shall we do now?"

"Give the thing up!" was Alex's answer. "It's all my fault. I dragged you ashore against your will, and against your better judgment Yes, I did, and you know it."

"You are mistaken, for I was just aching to come!" answered Clay. "Try to think clearly for only a second. I think my reasoning powers are wool-gathering."

"I think mine are in the same boat," Alex answered. "But look there! What's coming off now?"

The boys saw, in the clear moonlight, Case and Jule led to the railing of the _Rambler_ and released from the ropes which held them. Then they were unceremoniously kicked into the river!

Case at once started to swim for the shore, but Jule was not seen again. The boys looked long and anxiously, but he was nowhere to be seen. They looked into each other's faces with eyes which held a suspicious moisture.

"Jule's drowned!" Alex moaned, starting forward. "I hope I can get to the place where he went down in time to save him!"

"You will only throw your life away if you go out there now. The outlaws are looking for you to do something like that. Let's wait for Case to swim in."

"But we might be able to save his life if we went out with the boat," urged Alex.

"Wait for Case," was all Clay would say.

The outlaws, who had reloaded their weapons, fired volley after volley at the lad who was swimming, but their bullets all went wide of the mark, and Case was soon on shore, looking about for Clay and Alex. He saw them when they arose in the rowboat and came running to meet them.

"Where's Jule?" asked Alex.

"I'm afraid he's drowned," was the sober reply.

"When did you see him last?" asked Clay.

"I never saw him after he went down. He just dropped to the bottom like a piece of lead," said Case. "I guess the _Rambler_'s gone this time!" he added.

"If we only had Jule back it could go to the bottom, for all we'd care!" exclaimed Clay.

There were strange doings on board the _Rambler_. The parrot was calling shrilly for the outlaws to "Come off the perch," and the baby bear was clawing an outlaw with all his strength, which, after all, was not great.

An outlaw seized the parrot and started for the side of the boat with him, intending to pitch him to the stream below, but the fellow who seemed to be the leader of the gang stopped him.

The _Rambler_ was near the shore, and every word spoken was distinctly heard.

"Cut that!" said the harsh voice of the outlaw. "Well keep him for a pet!"

"Nice pet!" snarled the pirate. "If I had my way, the doctor would go overboard, too."

"The surgeon will be needed to care for the boy," was the reply. "He can be attended later on."

The man dropped Tommy to the deck with an oath on his lips, and stood watching him with malice in his glance. Paul and the surgeon were huddled close together in the cabin, not knowing when their own time would come.

The outlaws all seemed to speak good English, and the boys listened to their talk for several minutes without learning anything of their plans. Then the leader proposed going to the shore in quest of the boys, who were sure to hang around until the departure of the boat.

"We made a mistake in letting the two we had get to the shore," he said. "We should have tied them up and then decided what to do with them. We can at least get the rowboat if they are not to be found."

"Yes," said another, "we don't want the kids about, for they will put the officers on our track, and the officers will do a lot of hunting for that millionaire boy we have."

"I'm thinking whether the old man will give down enough to pay for all this trouble," said another. "Why not collect the reward and let it go at that?"

"It strikes me that is the better way," declared another. "The fellow who didn't know that the kid was good and dead, at the point up the river, made a mistake."

"Well, who's going to the shore?" asked the leader, giving an order for the rowboat to be brought from the other motor boat.

The boys did not hear the reply, for at that minute there came the sound of footsteps on the country road. In another second the lieutenant made his appearance, closely followed by a dozen men.

The lieutenant spoke softly from the heavy shade of the trees which crowded hard upon the highway at that point.

"Stay where you are," he said. "I have plenty of men, and will capture the whole kaboodle. We have been watching you for a long time. Are you all right?"

"All except Jule," was the grave reply. "The outlaws threw him out of the boat, and he's drowned!"

"Keep still, now, here they come!"

There were four men in the rowboat, and they came on at good speed, the leader standing up in the boat in order to get a better view. He stepped to the shore and stood talking with his men a moment.

"How do I know the boys are unarmed?" he said, evidently in reply to a question. "Why, I saw two automatics lying on the prow of the _Rambler_! Just as if the kids had intended taking them with them, and then forgotten them!"

Then his eye caught a movement in the shadow, and the next moment he was looking down the barrel of a loaded musket.

"Keep still!" a voice said. "Lay your weapons on the ground. Not there. Here!"

The men were tied almost before they knew what had happened, and the three boys, sitting in the boat behind the little elevation, were instantly on their feet.

After thanking the lieutenant over and over again, they turned their thoughts to the missing Jule.

"We've just got to find him!" Clay cried. "We have been chums too long to be parted so!"

Before anyone could make a suitable reply the _Rambler_ again became the center of the scene. The lads could scarcely believe their senses. The outlaws were deserting the _Rambler_!