CHAPTER XIV
ALEX. BREAKS FURNITURE
"Unless Red, the Robber, has a twin who is an exact duplicate ofhimself," Clay whispered, "that is just who it is!"
"When I passed here," Alex. explained, "the three were just sittingdown to dinner, and I knew that I could get you back here in time tosee Red, the Robber, before he could finish the big steak he had justtackled. There he is! Now what?"
"It doesn't seem possible that that finely-dressed, well-groomed manis really the one who talked with us out on the river at Cairo, andwho afterwards captured the _Rambler_ by holding a gun about the sizeof a cannon on me," Clay declared.
"And the man who bespoke kind treatment for Chet, the waif," Alex.went on. "I guess we're both seeing things not present to the senses!There ain't no such man!"
"It can't be!" Clay tried to convince himself. "It can't be the sameman!"
Yet he knew deep down in his heart that it was the same man! If therehad been any doubt of the complete identification at the start, therewas none when the man spoke to the cashier in the full, deep voicewhich Clay knew that he had heard while he was tied up in the cabin ofthe _Rambler_!
"I have heard that river thieves sometimes make up to look likebankers and high-up politicians," Alex. whispered.
"And I have heard that bankers and high-up politicians occasionallyassume the disguises of river characters for some purpose of theirown," Clay returned.
"Do they mix with murderers and steal motor boats when they do that?"asked Alex., with a provoking snicker. "'Cause if they do, this may beone of the high-ups!"
"He must recognize us," Clay went on. "Watch and see if you catch inhim any signs of joy at the meeting!"
"He hasn't yet shown that he knows we are in the room," Alex. replied.
"There's one way to find out who he is," Clay suggested. "When heleaves here, you follow him until he enters some house or office andask questions about him after he goes on. I'll do the same here--thatis, I'll see what the cashier knows about him."
Alex., glad of an opportunity of showing what he could accomplish as adetective, readily agreed to this arrangement, and, the man leavingthe restaurant at the moment, Alex. darted away after him, leavingClay to question the cashier.
The big man, still in the company of his two companions, walkedbriskly toward the river front, after leaving the restaurant, andfinally came to a stop at a pier some distance down the stream fromthat at which the motor boat lay. Alex. watched the three men shakehands gravely and part, the one he believed to be Red going on board asmall steamer which lay close by with smoke pouring from her stacks.
"Now," thought the boy, "shall I give it up, or shall I sneak on boardthe boat and see what I can learn of this man who poses as a riverpirate one day and as a gentleman of great respectability the next?"
Alex.'s horse sense told him to wait about the pier until some onecame off the boat and engage that person in conversation in an effortto learn the identity of the man he was following, but his naturallove of adventure told him to make his way on board and learn therewhat he could, not only of the man, but of the steamer and itsdestination and cargo.
The spirit of adventure won, and Alex., waiting until there was no onein sight on the freight deck, ventured on board. There was still noone in sight when he reached the staircase leading to the cabin, andhe proceeded to climb up, listening between steps for indications ofhuman life.
He found the indications he sought with a vengeance at the head of thestairs. As he stepped up a husky negro seized him by the collar anddragged him toward the prow. Alex. kicked and struggled to no purpose.The negro was too strong for him. All the time he was carrying himalong, almost as he would have carried a kitten, the negro kept up arunning fire of comment.
The boy gathered from this comment that he was regarded as a sneakthief, and tried more than once to explain, but the negro kept ontalking to himself and paid no attention to the words of his prisoner.Alex. administered a sturdy kick and gave it up.
Presently a door was opened at the very front end of the cabin and theboy was thrust into a small stateroom. The force of his entrance senthim against a berth and he crawled up and lay down to think thingsover. He heard the door behind him locked.
"This is a pretty kettle of fish!" grunted the boy, as he looked aboutthe room.
It was just an ordinary stateroom, with one bunk, a dresser, and achair. The window looking out on deck was covered by greenslat-blinds, and ornamental metal-work covered the glass panel of thedoor opening into the cabin.
After taking in the room in all its details, Alex. arose and tried toopen the green blinds so as to get a look outside. To his surprise hefound that they would not open. They were of steel, and were there toprotect the window! The room was as stoutly guarded as a prison cell!
"Red, the Robber, seems to have use for a cell," the boy thought,"that is, if this is his boat! I wonder what he thinks he's going todo with me?"
Alex. had now no doubt that Red had recognized Clay and himself at therestaurant. He wondered if Clay, too, had been trapped! He could notmake up his mind as to whether the man was a robber or a gentleman ofbusiness standing, but he knew that he was in a most undesirablesituation.
Then he began to wonder if Red knew that he was on board! The man hadgiven no intimation that he had knowledge of being followed. He,Alex., had sneaked on board, like a veritable wharf rat, and the huskynegro had been fully justified in taking him into custody! Still, thenegro should have listened to his explanations and given him a chanceto prove his innocence.
This last view of the case was much more to the liking of the boy thanthe previous one, for Red had shown a friendly spirit while on boardthe _Rambler_, and might now set him free as soon as informed of hiscapture. Clay had permitted Red his freedom under much more tryingconditions!
"If he's a river thief," Alex. concluded, "he'll keep me here until heis sure I can't injure him by telling of his raid on the motor boat,but if he is on the level--if he was, for some purpose of his own,masquerading while in company with Sam--he will release me as soon ashe knows I am here--for Clay's sake, if not for my own!"
This was a rather comforting conclusion, so the boy began beating withall his might on the panels of the door. He pounded away for somemoments without hearing the least response, and then sat down to rest.
While he sat there on the berth, panting from his unnoticed exertions,the boat quivered in all its timbers, the noise of escaping steamreached his ears, and then he knew that the steamer was under way.This was the worst thing that could happen to the boy, and he knew it.
The steamer might go to Cuba, or to the upper reaches of the Missourior the Mississippi, separating him from his chums for weeks. If Redreally was a robber, he would not take the chance of releasing him,for that would give him an opportunity to warn those on board the_Rambler_, as well as to report to the police the illegal seizure ofthe motor boat!
"I'm going to find out about this!" Alex. declared, springing off theberth. "I'm going to do an English suffragette stunt and smashwindows!"
As his whole mind was set on making a noise so as to attract theattention of the man he had followed on board, the boy was by no meansconservative in his next move.
First he took the light-framed chair which stood by the berth andsmashed it against the fancy metal work which protected the glasspanel. The chair went to pieces without touching the glass, so Alex.took up a slender leg and, poking it through in between the metalwork, punched out the pane.
It fell back into the cabin with a rattle, and then Alex., putting hisface close to the opening, let out a yell which would have done creditto an Apache Indian on the warpath! In the meantime the steamer wasbacking out into the current.
"I guess that will let 'em know they have a cabin passenger!" Alex.grunted, as he began tossing the fragments of the chair out on thecabin floor.
The boy was just considering the firing of his automatic, which hadnot been taken from him by the negro, when a he
avy voice near at handbroke into a hearty laugh, and the face of the red-headed man appearedbefore the opening, half-shielded by an arm, for the boy was stilllooking for things to throw through.
"What seems to be the difficulty?" the man asked, and Alex. thought hesaw a twinkle of humor in the blue eyes fixed upon him.
"No difficulty at all," Alex. answered, with a touch of irony in histone. "I'm just doing this for exercise, and to make business for boatbuilders!"
"Of course," laughed the man, "you wouldn't come out if I shouldunlock the door?"
"Oh, I don't know," Alex. replied. "I've got a good deal of work to doin here yet, and I might bring back an axe to help out."
"You'll find that the berth is of steel," the red-headed man said."You can't chop that up. How long will it take you to finish thedresser? I might come back and let you out as soon as you have gotthrough with that!"
"All right!" grinned the boy, "anything to oblige," and he went at thedresser with the leg of a chair!
The giant unlocked the door, stepped inside, and, taking Alex. by theear, marched him out of the wrecked room. Once in the cabin he let goof the ear and walked toward the stern with a hand on the boy's arm.
"You wasn't so giddy the last time I saw you!" declared the boy.
The man laughed, opened the door of a large stateroom toward thestern, pushed the boy inside, and stepped in after him. This was ahandsome room, elaborately furnished. Alex. dropped into a chair andlooked about.
The steamer now seemed to be making fast time down the river, andAlex. looked out of a window in the hope of seeing the location of the_Rambler_.
"Say," he finally asked, wrinkling his freckled nose at the man, "whatis the answer to this? I give it up!"
"What was it you boys put in the deposit box at the bank?" asked theman.
"I didn't put anything in; I didn't go to any bank."
"But your chum did. You met him at the bank entrance, and brought himback to look at me! You know what he put in the vault box. What wasit?"
"It was a long package marked bonds," was the boy's reply.
"But did the package contain bonds?"
"I don't know; I never saw the inside of it," answered Alex.,wondering if this man had followed all their movements since beingallowed to leave the _Rambler_.
"Perhaps the lad you call Clay will tell," smiled the giant. "Or theboys on the _Rambler_ may give the information I seek--when you bothfail to return to-night."
"So you've got Clay, too, have you?" shouted Alex., and he make a rushfor the door!