Part 11 (2/2)
The other eagerly seized upon the gla.s.ses and had hardly leveled them than he uttered an exclamation.
”You're right, Frank, it's that _Lounger_, as sure as shooting!” he cried.
”Let me see!” exclaimed Jerry, eagerly.
”She's coming down the river like a bird, with her engine working again,” Bluff went on to say; ”so they must have got the broken part mended, or a new piece sent on from St. Paul.”
”I'm afraid our troubles are going to begin again,” sighed Will; ”and I was just saying this very morning what a jolly good and restful time we were having.”
”Say, they're whooping it up at a great rate, all right!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Jerry, when he had a chance to look; ”either he's in a big hurry, or else he wants to carry out some scheme to hurt us, if he can-perhaps run us down!”
”Let him try that, if he dares!” growled Bluff, staring hard at the now rapidly approaching power houseboat, bearing down upon them under the combined influence of a gasolene engine and the current.
”Would he try that sort of risky business, Frank, do you think?” asked Will. ”It seems to me he'd take big chances of getting his own boat injured.”
”Oh! perhaps some gla.s.s would be s.h.i.+vered,” Bluff took it upon himself to say, ”but you see the _Lounger_ is so much heavier than our boat, and, coming down so fast, she'd be apt to knock a hole in us, if that Ossie managed right. And as sure as anything, Frank, they keep on straight for us, notice.”
”I'm watching,” said Frank, who gripped the big sweep, a determined look on his face; while Bluff dodged into the cabin again, bringing out his ”machine-gun,” which he seemed to think must be a cure-all for every ill that threatened.
”Don't shoot, Bluff!” said Frank, ”no matter what happens.”
”Oh! I don't mean to,” replied the other; though he made very extravagant gestures, so as to show those on the other boat that he was ”ready for business at the old stand,” as he expressed it.
The boys stood there, watching with increasing uneasiness; for just as Bluff had a.s.serted, the big power-boat was swooping straight down for them. On board several youths seemed to be running this way and that, calling out all sorts of excited things, just as though they had lost control; though Oswald himself could be seen in the pilothouse, swinging the wheel back and forth in an uncertain way, as though hardly knowing whether to take the chances of a collision or not.
Another sixty seconds, and nothing could save the two heavy craft from coming together with cras.h.i.+ng force, perhaps with serious consequences.
Frank watched, and made ready to swing the big sweep at the slightest indication of a change of direction on the part of the other houseboat, that would afford a loophole of escape from the dire consequences of Oswald Fredericks' folly.
CHAPTER XII-A RED GLOW IN THE SKY
Cras.h.!.+
Only for a sudden change of heart on the part of Oswald Fredericks the coming together of the two boats would have been of a much more serious character. At the last moment, almost, he had apparently changed his mind, and tried to whirl the wheel rapidly in one direction. Frank, seeing that the other was now endeavoring to avoid a collision, tried to a.s.sist by every means in his power.
And the others, springing to his help, caused the sweep to plough the water at the stern in such a manner that the _Pot Luck_ must have altered her course considerably.
The other boat came with a slanting blow. As the young fellow who ran the engine had had the good sense to shut off power previous to their coming together, there was no great amount of damage done. One window aboard the _Pot Luck_ and several on the _Lounger_ went to pieces, the jingle of broken gla.s.s adding to the confusion.
”Whoop!” yelled Jerry, as he came near falling overboard, when the boat staggered from the force of the slanting blow.
”Are we sinking?” cried Will, who was flat on his back, his legs thres.h.i.+ng the air in a helpless fas.h.i.+on.
Frank hung to the sweep; while Bluff, having his gun to look after, and antic.i.p.ating something of a knock, had settled upon the deck beforehand, like a wise boy, so that he saved himself a nasty tumble.
”Why didn't you get out of the way?” called Oswald, from the pilothouse of the other boat, now floating alongside. ”Didn't you see the machinery had jammed, and we couldn't control her?”
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