IN WHICH SILAS MASLIN FAILS TO RECOVER HIS RUNAWAY.
In the morning the boat was hauled across to the other side of the
canal, the side on which the towpath ran; a tandem mule team in charge
of a boy who sported the biggest and most disreputable straw hat Dick
had ever seen, was hitched on, and the boat began to move slowly down
the canal.
As they approached the bridge at Cobham’s Corner, Dick got out of sight
of the shore.
He knew there would be trouble if any member of the Maslin family
caught a glimpse of him on board the Minnehaha.
So he squatted down inside the limited bit of hold in the eyes of the
canal-boat which he and Joe had used for sleeping quarters, while his
chum sat on the combings of the hatch with his legs swinging down and
his gaze fixed on Cobham’s Corner.
“I don’t see anybody about,” reported Joe, as the boat drew near the
bridge which crossed the canal at this point and connected the two
sections of the county road.
Captain Beasley came forward and called on Fletcher to help detach the
tow-line so that the boat could pass under the bridge.
While they were doing this, Luke Maslin appeared at the door of the
store.
His eyes roamed over the canal-boat from stem to stern and finally
fixed themselves on Fletcher, whom he recognized, having seen and
spoken to him many times when Joe called at the store to get supplies
for Nathan Boggs or to see Dick.
Suddenly he ran out on the bridge and took his position just above
where the boat had to pass under.
“Hello, Fletcher!” he shouted.
“Hello, yourself,” growled Joe, casting a side glance at him.
“What are you doing aboard that boat?”
“Taking a sail.”
“What for?”
“For my health,” snorted Joe, as he pitched the end of the tow-line
ashore.
“Have you left Nathan Boggs?” continued Luke, with a grin.
“Better ask him when you see him,” answered the boy, squatting down
with his back to young Maslin, a pretty good sign that he wanted no
further communication with his questioner.
But Luke wouldn’t take the hint.
“Seen anything of Dick Armstrong?” he persisted. “He’s run away from
here with some of my father’s money. Constable Smock is hunting for
him. Father is going to have him put in the village lock-up.”
Joe didn’t answer him.
“Maybe you’ve got him hid away aboard the boat,” added Luke,
suspiciously. “If you have, you’d better give him up, or it will be the
worse for you.”
As those words passed his lips the forward end of the canal-boat passed
under the bridge, and Luke ran over to the other side of the structure
to meet it as it floated clear.
Dick easily overheard his young enemy’s remarks from the spot where he
was screened from Luke’s line of observation.
He forgot, however, to change his position below as the boat passed
under the bridge, not thinking that Luke, by crossing the planks to the
opposite rail, would be able to obtain a different focus down into his
hiding-place if he was wideawake enough to keep his eyes well employed.
As this is exactly what Master Maslin did do, the result was he
discovered Dick’s crouching figure in the narrow hold as soon as the
head of the canal-boat shot out into sight again.
“I see you down there, Dick Armstrong!” he cried, of a sudden,
triumphantly.
Then he rushed off to the store to tell his father.
“I’m afraid it’s all up with me,” said Dick, as he scrambled out of his
hiding-place.
“Well, I’d like to see them try to take you off this boat if you
don’t want to go,” said Joe, rolling up his sleeves, while a look of
determination came over his freckled features.
“It won’t do to resist the constable,” warned Dick. “I won’t have you
get into trouble over me.”
“But the constable isn’t around here now,” put in Joe.
“They’ll send him word as to my whereabouts, and he’ll get a rig and
cut me off further along down the canal, don’t you see?”
“The only thing for me to do now is to leave the boat before I’m
overhauled,” Dick continued. “For if I wait until Constable Smock comes
along and invites me to go ashore I’ll be deprived of my savings by Mr.
Maslin, even if he doesn’t follow up his threat to put me in jail.”
“I dare say you’re right, Dick; but you can’t skip yet a while, for
here comes the old man and Luke across the bridge. They’ll be down
on us in a couple of minutes. You needn’t be afraid that Captain
Beasley’ll make you go ashore to oblige that old rhinoceros. And if
he attempts to board us, he’ll be trespassing, and a douse in the canal
would be the proper thing to cool him off.”
Captain Beasley was leaning negligently against the forward end of his
cabin, smoking his favorite briar-root pipe in the autumn sunshine,
when Mr. Maslin came running down the tow-path and hailed him, his son
following along behind.
“You’ve got a boy on board your boat I want. He’s runnin’ away from my
place yonder, after stealin’ a five-dollar bill. I want you to put him
on shore,” demanded Silas Maslin, keeping pace with the canal-boat.
“I’ve got two boys aboard,” said the captain, in an indifferent tone.
“Which one do you refer to?”
“The one with the new suit of clothes on,” replied the storekeeper,
pointing to Dick. “His name is Armstrong.”
“All right,” agreed Captain Beasley. “He came on board of his own
accord, and if he’s willing to go ashore he can go now.”
“I want you to make him come on shore whether he’s willin’ or not,”
said Silas Maslin, energetically.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” said the skipper, shaking his head.
“Why can’t you? You’re captain of that boat, and I reckon you can do
’bout as you please on board of her. If he doesn’t come back with me
and hand over the money he took from me, I’m going to have him arrested
and put in the lock-up.”
Captain Beasley walked forward to where the two boys were standing, Mr.
Maslin hastening his steps to keep abreast of him.
“That’s the man you’ve been living with, ain’t it, Armstrong?” asked
Captain Beasley.
“Yes, sir,” admitted Dick, respectfully.
“You’ve heard the charge he made against you and his demand that you
leave this boat and go back with him?”
“Yes, sir,” replied the boy, beginning to fear that he was to be given
up.
“Have you any of his money about you?”
“No, sir; I never took one cent of his money from the store,” replied
the lad, stoutly.
“Are you willing to go ashore as he wants you to do?”
“No, sir; I’d rather you’d throw me overboard,” said Dick, with
flashing eyes.
“You hear what he says,” said the skipper, turning to the storekeeper.
“I reckon I ain’t deaf,” replied Mr. Maslin, in a surly tone.
“I’m afraid I can’t do anything for you,” said Captain Beasley, turning
on his heel and walking away.
“Ain’t you going to make him come on shore?” demanded the storekeeper,
angrily.
“No, sir; I’ve nothing whatever to do with your quarrel with the boy.”
“The boy is a thief, and you’re helpin’ him to get away,” cried Mr.
Maslin. “Don’t you know that’s ag’in the law and that I can make you
sweat for it?”
“He has denied the charge, and as there is no proof against him his
word is as good as yours,” replied the skipper, resuming his former
station against the cabin wall.
“I’ll have you up before the justice for this,” shouted Mr. Maslin,
coming to a stop and shaking his fist at the captain of the Minnehaha.
“And what’s more, I’ll have that boy took up by the constable afore you
get many miles further down the canal.”
After hurling his threats after the receding boat he and Luke turned
about and hurried back the way they came.
“I guess the storekeeper means to send the constable after you with a
warrant for your arrest, Armstrong,” said the captain when the two boys
ranged up alongside of him after Mr. Maslin took his departure, “in
which case you’ll have to go along with the officer. Now, if you will
take my advice, young man, you’ll get ashore at Caspar’s, a mile below
here, and make your way by land to Albany, where we’ll lay up a week or
so, as I’ve got to load up there for New York after discharging what
I’ve brought on from Buffalo and Syracuse. You can leave your bundle
aboard--your friend will look out for it.”
As the captain’s advice was good, Dick determined to act on it.
After receiving explicit directions where to rejoin the boat at Albany,
Dick bade all hands good-bye for the time being and left the boat at
Caspar’s.