CHAPTER XIX
ABOARD THE FLOATING RAFT
Now, of course George must be only saying this for effect. He was awareof the fact that they had only one gun among them; and also that Jackwould hardly be the person to use that recklessly.
"Listen to George talkin' through his hat," whispered Josh, to theskipper of the Tramp, as they continued to draw closer and closer to thewhite boat.
Again they could hear the two men exchanging hurried words. It lookedas if the situation was none of their choosing, and that they did notparticularly fancy it.
"If you won't keep back, then take that!" suddenly shouted theheavy-voiced man; and immediately following his words there came abright flash, and the report of a pistol.
"Oh!" exclaimed some one aboard the Wireless; and Jack had a shock.
"Anybody hurt over there?" he sang out, as he snatched up his shotgun,and made ready to use it; if the answer was to the effect that damagehad been done, Jack might turn the weapon directly on the fleeing craft,and scatter the contents of a shell in that quarter.
"Er, no, guess not," replied George, "but say, that bullet hummed rightpast my head, and I nearly broke my neck trying to dodge it. Jack, give'em a return shot, please do!"
"Bang!" went a second discharge.
This time the man in the fugitive motor boat had evidently turned hisattention toward the Tramp, for Jack and those with him plainly heardthe peculiar whistle of the passing lead.
It was too much. Jack could stand for a good deal, but this thing ofbeing made a target to suit the whim of a rascally thief galled him.There was one way in which it might be stopped; and this was to let themunderstand that when George said they were armed it was no idle boast,although they might not be bristling with weapons, as he would have hadthe others believe.
And so Jack let fly with one barrel of his Marlin, aiming to one side ofthe white boat, now close at hand.
The charge of shot ploughed up the water. It also caused the head tovanish from the stern of the boat. Evidently that shot created somethinglike a little panic aboard the Saunterer. How were those two men toknow but what every fellow pitted against them gripped some sort ofdangerous firearm, and with boyish abandon was ready to make use of it?
They did not shoot again, and from this circumstance Jack believed thatthey were ready to change their plans. If the pursuers could not befrightened off by threats, perhaps they might be content to withdraw, ifthey could only recover the stolen boat again.
"They're going to pass the raft by, Jack!" ventured Josh, just then.
"Think so?" the other went on to remark, "well, I'm just guessingotherwise, and that they mean to run alongside. Look sharp, Josh, andyou'll see how they keep on edging that way."
"What if they leave the motor boat and make a run for the log cabin onthe raft--will you crack away at 'em, Jack, and try to hit the fellersin the legs?" was what the excited Josh wanted to know.
Jack had to laugh softly at that.
"You talk as if any one could put a load of shot just where he wantedit, without doing any serious damage," he remarked. "If that was easy,I'd like to tickle those chaps; but there's too serious a chance ofcrippling them for life, or even worse than that. We're so close nowthat a load of Sevens would go just like a great big bullet. I'm notready for that and won't be unless they hurt one of our crowd. If thathappens, they'll have to look out."
"There they go, heading in to the logs, just like you said, Jack!" criedJosh, more worked up than ever. "Oh! please give 'em another shot ifthey jump on the raft. P'raps it might scare the pair so much they'djust throw up their hands, and surrender."
"Do you see the men who are running the logs down-stream?" demandedJack.
"Of course I do, two of 'em, and they look like they hardly knew whatall this racket means," Josh continued. "Now, wouldn't it be just greatif they jumped our birds, and got 'em. All we'd have to do then would beto take charge of the scamps, hand over a little reward to the raftsmen,and start back. Look! Jack, there, they are going to strike the logsnow. They've shut off the motor, you see, and that tells the story. Takeit from me we've got the fellers bad scared right now. Whoop! George,knock 'em both over with your elephant gun! Quick! soak it to 'em,fellers!"
Of course Josh was only shouting this last in order to further alarmthe two fugitives. For some reason or other the men had determined toabandon their boat. Perhaps they found it was commencing to balk, andcould not be depended on. Then again, as the others had overtaken them,it was plain that they must open up some other means for escaping.
Jack still clung to his former idea that the men hoped the boys would besatisfied with recovering the stolen Saunterer; and finding that theywere ready to defend themselves would withdraw. Then they could forcethe raftsmen to steer the clumsy craft over to whichever shore theythought safer, and in this way they might escape with their booty.
The white boat came alongside the raft, and bumped heavily.
Two flying figures were seen to leave the boat, and find a footing onthe slippery logs. Immediately they did so they started headlong towardthe center where the little log-cabin shelter stood; just as thoughtheir plans had all been arranged beforehand.
Whether that shout from Josh calling on George to blaze away gave themadditional cause for excitement, or the fact of the logs being wet andslippery made them lose their footing more than a few times, the factwas that they took a number of headers, and found the passage a rockyone.
George was still shouting at the top of his voice, and the others joinedin, so that the clamor was quite deafening. No wonder the loggers stoodthere unable to understand what it was all about, and why those two hadabandoned the fine white boat that was now drifting alongside the raft.
"Too bad, Jack!" Josh was saying, when the two fugitives, after makingtheir way along the logs finally vanished inside the door of the rudelittle cabin shelter.
"What is it?" asked the skipper, who had also shut off power, and wasbent on bringing the Tramp alongside the raft just below the Saunterer;so that the white boat could be caught and secured, which would be onepart of their plans brought to a successful completion.
"He's got the boodle, Jack, plague take the luck!"
"Yes, I saw that the small man was carrying a bag with him, and ofcourse that holds the stolen bank papers and cash," Jack went on to say,as the Tramp's nose came with a gentle bump against the outside log.
"Tell me what to do, Jack!" Josh demanded, knowing that the other musthave a plan of some sort in view in making this landing, if theirhugging the raft could come under that name.
"Just jump off and take the hawser with you," said the skipper, quickly.
"Then you mean to tie up here?" asked Josh, as he started to obeydirections.
"Yes."
"Say, Jack, shall I get a grip on the painter of that other boat whileI'm on the raft and make her fast?" continued Josh.
"Try and see if you can, because we want to take her back with us, evenif we fail to capture the men," Jack replied.
No doubt George was bringing his Wireless alongside the raft on theother side, for he could see across, and note what the crew of the Trampseemed to be doing.
Josh was quite active, when spurred on by excitement. When he had made athree-base hit in a game of baseball, he could stretch it to a home runbetter than any other fellow in town, with the shouts of the crowds toinspire him.
He began to hunt around for some place to fasten the rope, as soon as hehad jumped on to the raft. This was so difficult a task, because therewere many pegs showing, where the logs were held together. And besides,here and there was a heavy rope passed along, to keep the waves made bysteamboats from scattering the logs, which might have been of especialvalue.
Josh had just managed to accomplish this, and was turning to try and gethold of the bow of the white boat, which was still bumping against theside of the raft, when a terrific splash was heard from across on theopposite edge of the logs.
"George is overboard!"
whooped Josh, thinking that the impulsive onemust have been in such a big hurry to gain a footing, afraid lest a chumwould be ahead of him, that he had miscalculated.
"You're wrong, it's Andy; and he's all to the good; climbing on the logsright now," came in the well-known tones of the Wireless skipper, andwith a touch of sarcasm connected with the words, as though Georgewanted them to know that he was not the only fellow who could, in hishaste, make blunders.
"Sure I am!" echoed Andy, "and the wather 'tis foine, I'm tilling ye, meladdybucks. Now, George, me darlint, whereabouts shall I tie up at?"
"Anywhere, so long as we hold fast," came the order.
Well, here was a strange condition of affairs, to be sure, Jack thought.He was a little puzzled to know what they ought to do next. The twodesperate men had retreated within the shanty on the raft, which theyundoubtedly meant to hold, after the manner of a fort, having abandonedAlgernon's motor boat. The pursuers already had this in their possession,so if nothing more were accomplished, they could feel fairly wellsatisfied with their night's work.
But Jack felt that George, and for that matter the other two chums,would not wish to drop out of the game then and there. Knowing that themen in the shanty were the robbers, whose apprehension would bring greatjoy to the bereaved depositors in that robbed Lawrence bank, it would bejust like them to want to keep going until they had either accomplishedthat end, or else found that they were not equal to the task.
Yes, and deep down in his own heart Jack was thinking along pretty muchthe same lines. He knew what it was to be greeted with cheers; and thedesire to accomplish things worth while had a lodgment in Jack's heart.
They had the two rascals bottled up, as it were; and surely some waycould be found whereby they might force their surrender.
But it was not going to be an easy task. Those men knew what they mustaccept once they were taken into custody; and doubtless they would fightto the last gasp before showing the white flag.