Part 7 (1/2)

Inside of ten minutes the whole four were splas.h.i.+ng in the river close to the bank. The water was cool and invigorating, and, being l.u.s.ty boys, they certainly seemed to enjoy it.

Frank saw to it that no one stayed in too long; and after getting aboard they rubbed down with towels brought for this very purpose. Then every one declared himself as hungry as a bear, and preparations for breakfast were in order.

As Jerry had const.i.tuted himself chief cook for the trip, to be relieved at intervals by one of the others, Bluff volunteered to lay in a supply of firewood for the little stove.

”Give me the axe, and I'll go ash.o.r.e to cut up a log,” he remarked.

Frank was secretly amused to see that the fire-eater also carried his gun ash.o.r.e with him. Evidently he had a little suspicion that the bothersome man might be still hovering around the vicinity, and would have to be ”shooed off” by a threatening display of hardware, in the shape of a gun that could shoot six times without being removed from the shoulder.

Presently the steady strokes of the axe told that Bluff was exercising his muscles to good advantage, and that they could count on at least two days' supply of firewood as a result of his labors.

The breakfast was ”prime,” everybody admitted; and Jerry was advised to keep a line or two out for stray catfish every time they tied up for a stop. There were buffalo fish to be caught, Mr. Whittaker had a.s.sured them, that, while a little coa.r.s.e, would be found good eating; and all of them happened to be rather fond of fish as a diet, which was a good thing, under the circ.u.mstances.

”It isn't such a hard job to get a start on the old boat, anyhow,”

remarked Jerry, as with poles they pushed away from the bank, until the slow current near the sh.o.r.e began to catch them in its grip, and they found the _Pot Luck_ moving.

Once they had attained the proper distance from sh.o.r.e, really there was little to do all day long, but keep an eye on things, and make sure the boat did not turn sideways to the stream.

By keeping away from the channel they avoided all danger from such boats as pa.s.sed up or down the river.

During the morning Will, who had been looking steadily back over the course they had come, called the attention of the others to something which he seemed to think merited their notice.

”That d.i.n.ky little power-boat yonder keeps hovering just so far behind us,” he said, uneasily.

”Well, the fellows aboard have a right to go and come just as they please,” Frank remarked, though he gave the object in question a long look, and then went into the cabin for the field gla.s.ses.

”Sometimes he comes as close as he is now,” Will went on to say; ”and then he seems to stop still, till you can hardly see him in the dim distance, when he'll start up again. I think sometimes they're fis.h.i.+ng, and anchor in favorite places. Then again I seem to think that perhaps he may be aboard.”

”By that you mean our visitor of last night, Marcus Stackpole, I reckon?” Jerry asked.

”What do you see, Frank; any fellow without his head-covering on?” Bluff inquired, at the same time.

”There seem to be several men aboard, but I don't see them fis.h.i.+ng,”

Frank replied. ”The fact is, one of them just pointed down the river; but whether he was calling the attention of the others to this boat, or something else, I can't say.”

He took another look through the field gla.s.ses, and immediately laughed.

”Well, one of them has something in his hands now that looks like the gla.s.ses I'm handling,” he said. ”Yes, and there he goes, leveling it at us!”

”That settles it!” exclaimed Jerry. ”They're interested in this boat, and, ten to one, the fellow we had aboard last night came from that same launch. Well, if that doesn't knock the high persimmon down, though! We thought this M. S. was a common, every-day tramp; and here it turns out that he owns a private power yacht, and can go cruising on his own hook, just where he likes.”

”Tell you what, boys,” remarked Will; ”chances are, he's some sort of rascal, perhaps a real river pirate; and that squatty little power-boat is being used for robbery on the big water highway!”

”Well, the boat looks dingy and dark, like all buccaneer craft are, they say, you know,” Will went on, quite undismayed by this reception of his startling theory.

Frank himself was more than puzzled. He could not seem to get an inkling as to what the truth might be.