CHAPTER VIII
FACES AT THE WINDOW
"Look here, Red," the outlaw who had been called Sam said, addressingthe giant, as the _Rambler_ struck the half-submerged tree, "we've gotup against something hard!"
"We never should have put out into the river!" retorted Red. "A fewmore bumps like that, and to the fishes we go! Get a pole out, and seeif you can push away from that consarned tree. Then we'll soon get toshore."
Sam went into the cabin, where Clay sat, side by side with the bearcub, on a bunk.
"Where's your river pole?" he demanded. "You must have something ofthe kind!"
"There's one in hooks at the side of the cabin," replied the boy. "Ifyou'll cut this cord I'll help you get out of the current."
Sam leered savagely at the boy for a moment, picked up the revolverwhich lay on the floor not far away, put it into a pocket, and thensevered the cord.
"Mind you," he said, as Clay sprang for the pole, "if you try anytricks on us we'll chuck you to the fish!"
Without paying much attention to the threat, Clay grasped the pole andran to the prow, which was now entangled in a wilderness of branchesspringing from the bole of the tree the boat had struck. The boy'sstrength was insufficient, and Red came to his assistance. Both priedand pushed, but it seemed impossible to back the boat against thesweep of the current.
As if to make matters worse, a long timber lodged against the sternand added its weight to that of the motor boat and the running water.Sam stood looking on with a cynical smile on his hard face.
"You never can do it," he finally declared. "We'll have to let theboat drift down in company with the tree. Just our luck to strike sucha snag!"
"If that limb wasn't in the way," Red asserted, "we could get the boatout. It binds on the side of the cabin."
Clay hastened into the cabin and soon returned to the prow with anaxe. Both men eyed him sharply as he came forward with the keen-edgedimplement.
"You know what I told you!" Sam shouted, stepping toward the boy.
"Let him alone!" commanded Red. "I reckon the kid knows what he isabout!"
"Now," Clay explained, addressing the big fellow, who seemed moreinclined to be friendly than his companion, "if you'll stand readywith the pole, I'll get over on the trunk and cut that limb away. Thenwe can edge over to the shore."
"Oh, yes!" sneered Sam. "We let you off on the tree, and you go ondown and call out the police at the first landing. Not for youruncle!"
"Go on," shouted Red, to Clay. "I'll steady you with the pole, andwhen the limb is off you give it a poke and come on board. Will you dothat?"
"Sure!" answered the boy. "I have no intention of going off andleaving the _Rambler_! Hand me the axe when I get down on the trunk,will you?"
Without waiting for any further conversation, which was difficultbecause of the roaring of the river, Clay crept over the gunwale andlanded on the tree, which sank lower under his weight. Then he reachedfor the axe, which Red promptly passed to him.
"I wouldn't get down on that tree for a thousand dollars!" cried Sam."If he don't time himself to a second, he'll get knocked into a cockedhat by the boat when she swings loose! I'm not stuck on taking anysuch chances."
"That is some kid!" Red exclaimed, admiringly, as Clay chopped away atthe limb. "I wish we had him with us!"
"You want to look out for him!" Sam cautioned. "He may prove to be toomuch of a kid for both of us, but I've got him covered, so if he triesto----"
The limb dropped away after a few strokes with the axe, and the boatrighted and swung against the trunk. The swaying of the trunk uponwhich Clay stood threw him into the water, but he clung to the treeand tried to work back to the boat. Sam lifted the pole to strike hisunprotected head.
"May as well get rid of him now," he declared, with an ugly oath.
Red struck the would-be murderer a savage blow in the face and reacheddown to assist the boy to the deck. For a moment it seemed that bothof them must be drawn under the boat, but the big fellow's strengthwon, and Clay was hauled, dripping and exhausted, up on deck. Sam eyedhim malevolently and snarled.
"It will come some time!"
Red pushed the boy toward the cabin, the look on his face friendlierthan ever.
"Go and get into dry clothes," he said. "Never mind what Sam says! Hemeans all right, only he don't know how to express himself!"
The _Rambler_ now swung off toward the shore, and Red and Sam werekept busy working wreckage out of her course. They snarled at eachother as they worked, and Clay was in constant fear that Sam wouldplay some treacherous trick on the big fellow in return for the blowhe had received. The marks of the short encounter were still on hisface.
Much to his relief, the _Rambler_ was edged into calmer water next tothe Missouri shore. He had no idea at that time, even, that he wouldlose the boat. He did not know what had become of his chums, but hebelieved that in some way they would be able to come to his rescue.They had never failed him.
The _Rambler_ drifted down for some distance, leaking a little but notseriously, and was finally worked into a little bay where there was nocurrent.
That was a long day for the boy. Several boats passed up and down onthe river, and relief parties searching for flood victims werefrequently seen, but Red always announced that they were in no troublewhatever when questioned.
Clay was not bound again, but was kept in the cabin, with the doorclosed. He could hear calls from passing boats, but did not dare makethe situation known.
During the day the outlaws devoured what cooked food there was in thecabin and gave some to the boy. Once Sam lay down for a short nap. Redwas not communicative, and refused to answer any questions as to hisintentions regarding the _Rambler_.
A fine mist came down as the night shut in, but presently the mooncame out, and the outlaws began discussing the advisability ofproceeding on down the river.
"We can get to our landing," Sam insisted. "Once there, we can getinto the bayou back of the island, where no one will think of lookingfor us. We must get the boat out of sight," he went on, "beforereports of her capture spread along the river. Besides, the boys willbe waiting for us at the shanty."
"All right," Red finally agreed. "I'm willing to take my chance onbeing smashed flat by a tree or floating barn."
Clay listened to the talk with interest. Somehow he began to recognizethe voice of the big fellow! Where had he heard it before? Then, likea flash, the memory came to him! The man had talked with him from theriver at Cairo! There is where he had heard the voice!
At that time the big fellow had been pleading for the safety of a waifwho had come on board the _Rambler_! Both the man and the waif haddisappeared when the officers had come on board. Clay wondered wherethe boy was, and why this outlaw had taken an interest in him. The manappeared to be kind, though his appearance and his modes of life wereagainst him. It was all a deep mystery to the boy.
However, the giant's defense of himself, when Sam would havemistreated and, perhaps, murdered him, led Clay to believe that he wasnot wholly depraved. There might be some powerful motive for hisadopting the life of a river outlaw.
The boy resolved, at the first opportunity, to question Red regardingthe fate of the lad who had so suddenly disappeared from the boat thatnight. He now saw that the willingness of his companions and himselfto aid the waif had led to good results, for it was this willingnesswhich had undoubtedly caused the giant to stand between him and injuryor even death. His little loaf of bread cast on the waters hadreturned to good purpose!
Sam seized the pole, as soon as Red agreed to his proposition to maketheir way down the river without delay, and began working the_Rambler_ out into the current.
"Better wait until that mess of wreckage passes!" Red advised, as acrush of floating timbers made its appearance under the moonlight. "Ifwe get into that bunch we'll never get out again. It will go by in afew moments."
Sam stood looking at the mass with a frown on his sullen face. He wasanxious to be away for more reas
ons than one. The boat had undoubtedlybeen reported seized long before this, and every craft passing up ordown would soon be looking for her. His idea was that the lads who hadleft the boat would soon return and report the disappearance.
He did not know, of course, that Case was at New Madrid, or on the waythere, when they had attacked Clay, nor did he suspect that Alex. andJule had fallen into the hands of a band of bandits in every way asdesperate and unscrupulous as that to which he belonged.
But, aside from the question of safety, there was another matter hewished brought to a conclusion. He had been assaulted by Red, and wasraging for revenge. Once in the company of his lawless fellows, hisrevenge might be gained!
"There is some one on that wreckage," the watchful Sam finallydeclared. "I saw a movement there. Good thing we are not near enoughto be asked for help."
Red looked at the floating raft and shook his head.
"There is a boat lodged against the mess," he said, "but there's noone on board her, and there's no one on the raft, either."
The light of the moon was now shut out by a drive of clouds, and thetwo men waited for a clear sky again. When the raft was revealed theysaw a white bulldog running up and down across the timbers!
"That's the brute I pitched overboard up in the bayou!" cried Sam. "Iwish I had knocked him on the head. Some of those boys are not faroff."
Red laughed at the idea of the boys being there, But Clay, listeningwith every faculty awake, had a different notion of the capabilitiesof his chums.
"If Captain Joe is there," the boy mused, his heart bounding withhope, "the boys are not far off! Anyway, I'll give them a chance tosee the old boat once more!" he continued, reaching out and turning onthe cabin lights.
Sam uttered a fierce oath as the lights flashed out on the rushingwater, and made for the cabin, but Red caught him by the arm and facedhim around.
"Look here!" he snarled, "if you go to making trouble for that boyI'll send your worthless hulk bobbing down to the Gulf! The lightswon't hurt! We don't have to answer any calls for help that may come.Now, edge her out into the current and leave the boy to me. There's nosense in beating up the kid!"
With a word of warning to Clay, not unkindly spoken, Red switched offthe cabin lights, and then went to assist Sam in getting the _Rambler_out into the stream. Clay heard them saying that the raft was, afterall, empty of life except for the dog.
"The boat lodged against it seems to be broken," Red said, and Clay'sheart went into his throat again. He feared that the boys had beencaught in wreckage and drowned. The presence of the dog showed thatthey had been with the broken boat, he thought.
Then, while the two men worked frantically in front, Clay heard thewindow leading to the cabin from the stern deck cautiously pushedaside, and then the faces of Alex. and Case appeared at the opening!