Part 31 (1/2)
”I'm going to try to catch him.”
”Keep away, Phil. He'll have you in the river. He has a fit.
Wait till he comes out of it.”
”Why, the boat is moving backwards,” cried Phil.
”No!”
”Yes, it is.”
”Maybe January has kicked the machinery out of gear.”
The circus people were by this time on deck, and, like Teddy and Phil, many of them were in their pajamas. They had heard the cry, ”the animals have escaped,” and many of the people were gazing apprehensively about.
”It's all right,” shouted Teddy. ”It is only January, taking his morning exercise.”
About that time Phil, who had run around to the other side of the pilot house, discovered that it was empty. There was no pilot there.
Understanding came to him instantly. January had either kicked or frightened c.u.mmings out.
”The boat is running wild!” he called. ”Find the pilot or we shall be on the sh.o.r.e before we know it.”
Phil did not wait for them to find the pilot. Instead, he climbed in through one of the broken windows and grasped the wheel.
”I've got to stop this going astern first of all,” he decided.
He could see the banks now, and they seemed perilously near in the faint morning light. The other boats of the fleet were steaming up in answer to the signals of distress that c.u.mmings had blown in his excitement.
”What is it? Are you sinking?” called a voice through a megaphone from the deck of the ”River Queen.”
”No, we are all right,” answered Phil, leaning out of the window.
”You'll be high and dry on the Iowa sh.o.r.e if you don't watch sharp. Where are you going?”
”Don't know. Keep out of the way or we're liable to run you down.”
Phil grabbed a bell pull and gave it a violent jerk. The engines stopped suddenly, to the Circus Boy's great delight. January had ceased his bombardment and now stood with head thrust though one of the broken windows, gazing in inquiringly at Phil Forrest.
”If one bell stopped the engine, another bell should be the signal to go ahead,” reasoned the lad, giving the bell pull two quick jerks. He was right. The machinery started and he could hear the big paddle wheel beating the river into a froth.
The lower deck was in an uproar. Men were shouting and running about, trying to discover what animals had escaped, as the pilot insisted that the hurricane deck was alive with them.
”Get that pilot up here, if you have to drag him. I don't know where the channel is, and I am liable to put the whole outfit aground any minute,” shouted Phil Forrest. ”Teddy, never mind that idiotic donkey. We're in a fix. Get downstairs, at one jump, and see that the pilot is brought up here lively.”
”I'll fetch him. You watch me,” answered the irrepressible Teddy, starting off on a run.
January had all at once grown very meek. He stood gazing thoughtfully off over the river.
”What is the trouble here?” roared Mr. Sparling das.h.i.+ng up to the pilot house at that moment.