Chapter V: A Friend in Need

Released from the jaws of the dog in a slightly damaged condition, the man who had been attacked started on a run for the spot where the rowboat had been concealed. Blood was streaming down his neck and throat as a result of the attentions of Captain Joe, and the fellow shook his fist wrathfully as he ran.

The next instant he was followed by the two other men, who made many threats as to what they would do to the dog if they ever came upon him again. Captain Joe looked as if he wanted to finish the job he had begun, but was restrained by Clay.

The three men were not followed by the boys, for they were too much interested in watching the men on the _Rambler_.

For once the boys were unarmed. They had leaped into the river on the spur of the moment, only half dressed, and were absolutely defenseless. They now looked at each other with faces from which every vestige of color had fled.

In the meantime the three men were making their way to the spot where the rowboat had been hidden in the thicket. Almost before they could sense what was being done, they had pushed the boat into the water and were away in the wake of the _Rambler_.

"There goes our Rio Grande trip!" exclaimed Alex sorrowfully. "What can we do now?"

"Just our luck!" was Case's comment.

Jule said not a word, evidently thinking that no words could do justice to the occasion.

Clay remained silent for a moment, and then a smile flickered over his face as he observed:

"Well, our next stunt will be to get the boat back. No game is played out until the cards are all on the table."

"Oh, you'll get it back, all right! In a pig's wrist."

Case was almost ready to cry with anger and vexation.

"We never should have left the boat alone," he declared.

"Well, it can't be helped now," Clay suggested. "Who has any ideas to offer?"

"I would suggest that we take turns kicking each other," said Alex, wrinkling his nose. "We all deserve the boot good and plenty! Who'll be the one to begin the ceremony?"

"Cut that," remarked Clay, cheerfully. "We have no one to blame but ourselves. The first thing to do is to get into a decent suit of clothes. I presume such things can be bought here."

"Yes, but we are on the wrong side of the river," complained Case. "I would advise suicide!"

Three of the boys greeted this remark with roars of laughter, but Case was not to be coaxed out of his pessimistic mood.

"It's all right for you boys to think you'll get the _Rambler_ back again, but I just know you won't!" he contended. "We'll be lucky if we catch a ride back to Chicago. Anybody in the crowd got any money? I thought not," he added as the boys all shook their heads. "Then how're you going to get any clothes or anything?"

"Say," cried Alex, in a moment, "do you know that we never got Paul Stegman off the boat?"

"I wonder if the new proprietors will get his leg set?" Case suggested. "You bet they won't! Pirates don't go around doing Red Cross stunts. Not much they don't."

"If I had your disposition," ventured Jule, with a grin to take the sting out of the remark, "I'd take it down to the river and drown it. It's a wonder it doesn't keep you awake nights."

"Come, boys, we've got to get a move on if we ever get anywhere," suggested Clay. "I move that we begin operations with a morning bath. Bathing suits are barred."

The _Rambler_ was now out of sight around a bend in the river, and there was no sense in longer delaying the moment of departure, so Alex plunged into the stream and was soon making his way to the other side. He was closely followed by the dog, who seemed to regret his share in the incident which had cost the boys the _Rambler_.

The boys were soon assembled on the opposite shore, and it became necessary to decide upon some course of action. It was now broad daylight, and the people of the town were already astir.

"It amounts to just this," Clay declared. "There isn't a cent in the crowd, and we are all hungry and in need of wearing apparel. There isn't even a watch or a piece of jewelry in sight. Now what's the answer? Shall we spend the time loafing about Hayes until our money gets here, or shall we make a touch and get into action at once?"

"For Heaven's sake," insisted Alex, "let's do something that will bring us something to eat. My internal machinery is about run down."

"I've been anticipating this," explained Clay, "and am in a measure prepared for it."

Alex's face brightened instantly at the thought of something to eat. Clay turned to Case with a smile.

"Give me a slice of that cold shoulder you've been turning on every suggestion made this morning," he said.

Alex shouted and Jule joined in the demonstration until early risers who were passing paused to inspect the party.

"Never again!" said Case, joining in the laughter. "From now on I'll be the first one to roar at a desperate situation. What an ass a fellow is to be always growling!"

"That's what we all think," said Alex.

No more was said on the subject, and for a time Case really did better.

"We are attracting considerable attention here," Jule remarked, glancing about at the little crowd which had already assembled. "Perhaps we would better select some less conspicuous place for our deliberations."

"Is there anything to eat there?" Alex asked, with a wrinkle in his nose which made his face look very comical. "My stomach feels like the Mammoth Cave."

Before the boys could put their plan into execution and seek a more secluded place in which to find a way out of their trouble Alex caught Clay by the arm and pointed up the street.

"Do you see anyone you know up there?" he demanded. "That man looks like something to eat. But how did he make the distance in the storm?"

The boys looked in the direction indicated by the pointing finger and saw Rube Stagg making for them with a broad grin on his homely face.

"Say," said Alex, advancing to meet him, "if you're down here looking for brindle steers, it falls to me to tell you that there's hot a thing stirring."

Rube walked up to the boys and immediately doubled up with laughter at the figure they cut. All were sopping wet, and Clay, Case and Jule were only half dressed.

"They got your boat, did they?" he asked, after he had his laugh out. "And where are the injured lad and the baby bear?"

"Gone down the river with the boat," was the reply.

"Too bad, too bad!" mused Rube. "I see," he added, whimsically, "that you saved the bulldog."

As if in recognition of the mention, Captain Joe advanced to Rube's side and laid a wet nose in his hand.

The dog seemed to know that something was amiss, but could not tell what it was. The _Rambler_ was not in sight, and he could not understand that.

"Look here, man," Alex remarked, with a prodigious grin, "have you got any mazuma? I refer to coin of the realm, skads, you know."

"The men who robbed you of your boat also got your money, did they?" and Rube went into another paroxysm of laughter.

"I don't see anything funny about the situation," frowned Case. "Here we are, half naked in the street, with Paul Stegman, who may be dying for want of medical attention, away on the river, no one knows where. I call it rotten!"

"I ask your pardon, young feller," came the quick answer, "but there's no harm in a laugh where no harm is intended. Now, what was it this freckle-faced kid said about money?"

"Oh, yes, money! I didn't know as there was any left in the world. Have you really got some?"

And the boy regarded Rube with a stare of disbelief.

"I had good luck selling my oxen, and therefore am moderately well hooked up. How much do you want, son?"

By way of showing that he was both willing and able to supply all their present needs, Rube extracted a wad of bank notes from his pocket that would have, in the language of Alex, "choked a cow."

"Whoop-ee!" shouted that young man. "Lead me to the fodder! Lead me to it!"

"First," began Clay, "tell us whether we can send a message from this place. We've got to catch the _Rambler_, you know."

The man took a ponderous silver watch from his pocket and consulted it before replying.

"The telegraph office will open in exactly forty minutes," he said, snapping it shut. "Do we eat first? You see," he continued, "I was broken of my rest last night, and it always makes me hungry to lie awake."

"There's a place down the street that looks like something to eat," and Alex shot ahead to investigate.

Several men who had been following the little party now came forward.

"Say, stranger," a man who appeared to be the leader said, "if you'll step aside and answer a few questions, I'll take it as a favor on your part. A bank was robbed of $100,000 by a man answering your description--red head and all. The robbery was pulled off Monday night."