CHAPTER II
ALEX. GOES FISHING
"Things seem to be coming our way!" Alex. observed. "Can either of youboys see the fellow who is doing the talking?"
Clay stepped to the cabin door and opened it. The night had fallenswiftly, and the deck was quite dark. The boy started toward theswitch which controlled the prow light, but the voice checked him,coming, not from the pier, but from the water at the side of the motorboat.
"Don't turn on any lights!" the voice said. "I'm right here under theoverhang. I came to ask you to do me a favor! You look like decentsort of chaps!"
"Thanks for the compliment!" Alex. put in, from the cabin door, wherehe stood with a freckled nose wrinkled to its full capacity--and thena little more!
"Keep still a minute, can't you?" demanded Clay. "Let us see what itis the man wants us to do for him. Why don't you come on deck?" theboy added, bending over in the hope of getting a view of the strangevisitor.
"I don't come on deck," was the reply, "because I'm not lookin' fortrouble! I'm in bad here, strangers, an' I want you to take the boydown the river with you!"
The lad who had recently come on board now came up to the cabin doorand stood in a listening attitude. In the deep dusk his face could notbe seen plainly, but Alex., who stood close to his side, knew that hewas shaking with the chill of the water.
"The boy says he is running away," objected Clay, bending still lowerover the deck railing. "We are not going to aid in any such a game,"he added.
"Shucks!" came the answer, still from the water. "He ain't got nobodynor nothin' to run away from, that kid ain't! Hide him until you getout of Cairo, an' then I may be able to do something for him."
"What's the answer?" Alex. cut in. "Why should he want to be hidden?Perhaps you're the man that robbed the warehouse at Rock Island! Hejust told us that he knew who did it! Come on deck, and we'll talk itover."
"If you want to get away from Cairo without sampling all the jails inthe county," the unseen man continued, "you'll slip anchor an' getdown the river right soon! The men who are watchin' you are comin'down the pier now. I reckon they saw me talking from the bosom of theriver. Before I duck under an' head for Missouri, I'll tell you thatthe kid you've got there is O. K. Take him along with you!"
Then, much to the amazement of the boys on the motor boat, a shot cameout of the darkness in the direction of the pier, and a bullet cut thewater close to where the man lay, near the prow, half afloat and halfclinging to the hull of the _Rambler_.
"You see!" the unseen man said. "Drop down until this excitement isover!"
"That's a cheerful kind of a merman," Alex. declared. "He heard theshot and took his own advice to disappear, anyway! What do you thinkof him? Heading a lot of gunmen in this direction an' then advising usto run away!"
For a moment nothing was heard save the sighing of the wind and thewash of the river. Lights were showing in the city, which was not farfrom the pier, and one large street lamp disclosed the figures of adozen men running toward the motor boat! The man who had done theshooting stood near the foot of the pier, a revolver in his hand. Claysprang for the switch which controlled the prow light.
"That's more like it!" came a voice from the shore, as the lightflared out on the cluttered pier and the swirling waters of the river."Why didn't you do that before?"
"Quit your shooting and come on board!" Clay advised. "We understandthe use of firearms ourselves! Come aboard and tell us what all thisis about."
"We'll come, fast enough!" said one of the advancing party. "Keep yourlights on."
In a minute more the little motor boat was crowded with rough-lookingmen, all armed, and all insisting that every nook and corner of the_Rambler_ should be searched.
The boys offered no objections, but sat on the deck railing waitingfor the men to perform their task and go away. Captain Joe and Teddy,however, objected strenuously, and it required the efforts of allfour, before the search was completed, to keep the pets from beingshot by those whose legs had been nipped by sharp teeth.
Finally one of the men, who seemed to be in command, demanded of Clay:
"Where did the boy who came on board go?"
"He must have gone into the river," was the reply. "Just after theshooting I looked for him, but he was not here. Who is he, and what ishe wanted for?"
"He belongs to the man who robbed the warehouse office up at RockIsland," was the gruff reply. "If you shelter him you'll be breakingthe law. What was that swimmer saying to you?" the fellow continued."That's the man we want! Why should he come to you, anyway?"
"I don't know why he should come to us any more than I know why youmen should come on board with your insulting suspicions," Clayanswered. "When you make up your minds that neither the man nor theboy is here, we'll go on down the river."
The search continued for some moments, and the men reluctantly wentashore.
"Honest!" Alex. then asked of Clay. "Honest, now! Where did the boygo?"
"He must have taken a jump into the river," was the boy's reply. "Hecertainly is not on board the _Rambler_. He just disappeared whenthose men appeared."
"Then he's probably drowned!" Alex. commented. "No one could swim longin that current. And the man, too, probably went under! Too bad!" headded, soberly.
"Well," Clay declared, "I've got enough of the hospitality of thiscity. Suppose we drop down to-night? It will be risky sailing becauseof the flood, but at the same time it may keep us all out of jail.Those men may come back after they get a few more drinks."
The _Rambler_ was a staunch little motor boat, fully competent to makeher way in almost any body of water, but the boys were afraid ofdriftwood and wreckage, and also of running off into bayous which ranout into swamps for miles, with almost as strong a current as the mainchannel. Those who have read previous volumes of this series willdoubtless recall the adventures of the four boys in Brazil on theAmazon river, on the Columbia river, far up in British Columbia, andon the Colorado river, as far up as the Grand Canyon.
A month before that night in Cairo, the boys had launched the motorboat on the Mississippi far up near its source. They had struggledwith sandbars and falls, but had at last worked round the Falls of St.Anthony and struck better water. They had met with plenty ofadventures on the way, but nothing of the character of the happeningsof that evening. The portion of their journey really worthy of recordbegins at Cairo on this early November night.
The pets, of which the boys were very fond, had, as already stated byone of the boys, been acquired in Brazil and British Columbia, CaptainJoe having been bought by Alex. at Para, and Teddy having been rescuedfrom a tree wreck in the great river of the north. Both animals hadbeen taught all sorts of tricks by the boys.
"That's all right, about our being in danger here," Case observed,"but, at the same time, if we leave now, in the night, with the riverup, we shall only confirm the suspicions of those on shore. Suppose wemove away from this pier, so as to be out of the way of the mob, andanchor in another place, where those whose duty it is to look upsuspicious river boats can find us if they desire to? For one, I don'tlike the idea of being chased down the river."
"Solomon had nothing on you!" Alex. agreed. "We may as well remainhere until morning. I must confess that I don't like the way theFather of Waters is acting!"
"Well, let us get somewhere and settle down for the night!" Julesuggested. "I'm still hungry! Those fellows spoiled my supper. Whowants more ham?"
"Say," Alex. cried, with one of his inimitable grins, "why not have afish for supper? I won't be able to sleep much, on account ofwatching, and may as well have a good square meal! Then I'll sit upand you boys can go to bed."
"Where can you get a fish to-night?" demanded Jule. "Think one isgoing to climb up on the deck? Ham is good enough for me right now!"
But Alex. did not abandon the idea of having a fish supper. After the_Rambler_ had been taken a short distance up the river and anchored ina little bay which promised protection from the rushing current,loade
d at times with driftwood and the wreck of houses and barns, thelad again broached the subject.
"I can get the rowboat out," he insisted, "and let her down streamwith a line. Then I can fish under that bank to the east. Don't youever think all the river fish have moved into top flats because of theflood! I saw one jump up just a moment ago! You boys keep a good fireand I'll guarantee to bring the fish!"
"Go it!" Clay laughed. "I wouldn't go out in a rowboat for a dozenfish suppers, but you seem to have the luck of the Irish on suchoccasions, so get to going!"
"You'll eat the fish, all right!" Alex. taunted, "so help me get theboat down."
The skiff was lowered from the roof of the little cabin and placed inthe water, with a great splash. It tugged and strained at the cordwhich held it, and now and then received severe bumps from floatingdebris, but Alex. insisted on drawing it up and jumping in. Then heset about getting his fish for supper!
For a long time the boy fished without receiving any intimation thatthere was a fish left in the river! The boat caught plenty ofdriftwood, however. At times great masses of trees and timbers wouldgo sailing down, advancing out of the darkness into the circle oflight about the _Rambler_ as if brought to life by the presence ofmankind. Then the darkness would receive them again and the waterwould run clear for a time.
The little bay where the _Rambler_ was moored was in a measure out ofthe sweep of the strong current, still the water eddied and swirledaround the little rowboat in a threatening manner. Sometimes the boyhad all he could do to keep the craft from turning turtle and dumpinghim into the river. The other boys, watching from the deck of themotor boat, often called to him to draw up on the line in order toavoid a mass of wreckage drifting that way.
The strong, high prow-light of the motor boat cast a sharpillumination over the river for some distance up stream, revealing theapproach of dangerous wreckage, and the lone fisherman was often gladto heed the warnings of his chums. At last, however, just as he wasplaying a fish which seemed to him as large as a whale, and twice asferocious, he heard a call which he disregarded for a second.
"There's a roof coming down!" Clay shouted to the boy. "It is likelyto pay you a visit! Better come aboard!"
"And there's something moving on it!" Jule shouted. "It looks like ababy!"
Alex. was busy with his line. The fish supper was almost in sight! Ifhe heard what was said to him he did not heed the warning, for he kepton playing his fish, which seemed inclined to take the rowboat downthe river to the Gulf of Mexico!
The piece of roof to which the boys pointed swung around the side ofthe _Rambler_ and was pulled in toward the shore by the eddy which haddrawn so many lesser objects in. Then, for the first time, Alex. sawhis danger. If the mass struck the boat it might crush it. At the veryleast it would be likely to break the line with which it was attachedto the _Rambler_ and send him adrift!
The boy seized the cable and began to draw the boat up to the_Rambler_, seeking protection under its bulk. Then he heard a cry comefrom the raft, and saw a mite of a boy reaching out his hands. Theboat dropped back and the mass, edging in below the _Rambler_, struckit full on the prow!