THE SUNKEN ROWBOAT
"Three o'clock, and twenty minutes after!"
Frank found it difficult to believe his eyes. Only an hour and twenty
minutes had passed since he started away from home on his wheel to
deliver that urgent message for his father; and all these exciting
events had happened.
"Better go and see where Helen is," his father had suggested, when they
found that Mrs. Allen was lying down with a headache, and the gentleman
decided it would be unwise to excite her with the story just then.
That caused Frank to remember that his sister had stated her intention
of going for a row upon the river about the time he started off, and
that her particular chum, whom Frank himself thought the sweetest girl
in all Columbia, was expected to accompany her.
It was only with the desire to be with the girls, and not that he
feared any peril could have overtaken them, that Frank immediately
started out.
"Let me see, I rather think Paul would like to go along," he mused,
with what might be termed a knowing smile; for in thinking of his
chum's pleasure Frank perhaps had an ax to grind himself--two boats,
two girls, and a fellow in each to do the rowing!
"Is Paul home?" he asked, as he stood outside the door of the
"Bird-cage," as his friend's sisters denominated their house.
"Why, yes, I believe he is, Frank. I heard him talking over the 'phone
a minute ago; and here he comes tumbling down the stairs right now,"
replied Amelia, the oldest of the Bird girls.
Paul gave a whoop at sight of the boy on the stoop.
"Was just going to dash over to your house and demand an explanation.
What's all this Molly Manners was telling me over the wire just now?
Been doing it some more, have you? Fortune knocks at your door right
frequently, pard, it seems. Come in and tell us how you captured those
two hobo robbers, with the moral backing of Molly, and a few other
paper chase runners!"
"Oh! is it possible, Frank? How wonderful, and how grand! Please come
in and tell us all about it. I'm always so fond of everything along the
line of the heroic!" exclaimed the girl, enthusiastically; but Frank,
blushing, shook his head.
"Sorry that I can't do it now, but really I haven't time. Father wants
me to go and find Helen, who went rowing down the river after dinner,
with Minnie, of course; and I thought Paul here might want to go with
me. I haven't any boat, truth to tell, since one is lying smashed up
the river and she has the other. Come on, get your cap, Paul, and
oblige me."
"Then you won't come in and tell us about your adventure, Frank?" said
Amelia, in a disappointed voice, for she was just at the romantic age,
when novels were beginning to appeal to her love of chivalry.
"Glad to do so, later. I guess you'll soon hear all about it, for the
boys will be getting in, and the story must go around in a hurry. But
there wasn't any thing especially heroic about it, Amelia, give you my
word for that."
"I don't believe you, there!" said the girl, as the boys raced off.
"Now string me the yarn, Frank!" appealed Paul.
"Wait till we're on the river, and I'll accommodate you," was the reply.
"But is it true, and are both those men under arrest?" insisted Paul,
whose natural curiosity could not be entirely held in restraint.
"I guess they are, for the last I saw of them Chief Hogg and one of his
men were marching them to the lockup, and each had a shiny pair of
steel handcuffs decorating his wrists."
"Gee!"
That was all Paul said, but the look of admiration which he bent on his
chum spoke volumes. He could already read between the lines, and felt
positive that Frank must have been deeply concerned in the capture of
the rascals. The boy who could baffle a pair of clever rogues, as Frank
had done the fellows with the stolen buggy, might be depended on to
accomplish anything.
Paul had a boat of his own. It was arranged for two, and many times had
he and Helen floated upon the bosom of the Harrapin in the moonlight,
while canoes and other craft surrounded them, and the mellow voices of
Columbia's sons and daughters blended in the musical sounds that stole
over the rippling waves.
"Is it down-stream we go, Frank?" he asked, as they unshipped their
oars.
"So I understood Helen to say she intended going. Father has always
insisted that she tell her intentions before starting out. And I've a
faint notion she expected you and I would come searching after them
later in the afternoon. She said they would have asked us to go along
only Minnie thought we might be tired out after such a morning's work,
and want to rest. That's to make you laugh, son!" and both of them
indulged in a little merriment.
They certainly did not show any signs of being utterly pegged out as
they swung the oars and sent the boat flying with the current.
"Now spin the yarn, please," remarked Paul, after they had gotten
fairly started.
"I suppose I'll have to, since I promised; but you'll hear a better
account of the conclusion than I can give you. But with regard to the
part where I figured most, listen then and you'll hear about it."
Paul asked numerous questions as the story progressed. He also did not
hesitate to declare that Frank had shown considerable nerve in defying
those two reckless scamps as he did.
"And they even planned to break into jail and clean out the safe, did
they? Well, all I can say is they were the toughest couple of hoboes I
ever heard of. My! but I wish I had been in that paper chase! I missed
the event of a lifetime when I stayed out to rest up. What wouldn't I
give to have been on the spot at the time you yelled out 'Columbiad'!
It must have sounded thrilling," he remarked.
"It was some exciting just then," admitted Frank; "and the boys behaved
fine. You ought to have seen the way they piled onto those men. George
even kicked the pistol out of Martin's hand! My heart gave a jump when
I heard it go off, for I was afraid one of them might have been hurt;
but it was all right. They downed both fellows as if on the gridiron.
I'll never forget that sight, never!"
Paul groaned.
"What tough luck comes my way. I'm never around when these things come
about. It's either Lanky or Ralph who happens to be with you, and in
this case a whole raft of the fellows; but of course not me. Can't
you arrange it so that I'll be along next inning, Frank?" he said,
dolefully.
"Try; but like the boy with the apple, perhaps there ain't going to be
any core; and possibly my string of adventures has played out," laughed
Frank.
Paul turned his head to look ahead.
"Don't seem to see anything of the girls," he remarked, as if
anxious to change to some other subject that offered him a chance to
distinguish himself.
"They must have gone down pretty far, then. Keep your eye on the right
bank as we move along, and I'll cover the other. The boat is green like
my lighter one, and I reckon we can see it easy enough. If we don't,
the girls are apt to give up a 'cooie' when they sight us coming."
"I hope they won't be cruel enough to let us sail past after taking all
this trouble to join them," muttered Paul.
"No danger of that, if I know Helen, and I think I do," remarked Frank.
"And as for Minnie, I think she would be apt to spy you a mile away,
and wave," observed Paul, hastily, in order to hide his own confusion.
"Two men in a boat!" sang Frank, at which both laughed.
"Why, we've come over three miles already, and Bellport isn't much more
than that below. Do you think they would venture this far?" asked the
other, presently.
"Certainly not below the island around that bend. I've never known
Helen to go beyond that in her exercise. She's unusually fond of a
boat, as you understand, and particularly _this_ boat," Frank went
on.
"Oh! rats, any boat would answer just as well," but all the same Paul
chuckled as if pleased at this suggestion of the brother of Helen.
But even Frank was getting a bit worried now, because they had
discovered no signs of the girls.
"What's that over yonder near the shore?" asked Paul, suddenly.
"Where? Oh! yes, I see what you mean. Looks like a sunken boat of some
kind. I suppose an old broken craft that's been cast loose, and gone
under with the ice last winter," remarked Frank, carelessly.
"Perhaps," continued Paul, slowly, "but I don't recollect seeing it
there before, and I've been down this way often. And look here, Frank,
as it bobbed up just then it seemed to me as if it might be a green
boat!"
"What?" almost shouted Frank, starting half out of his seat to stare
at the object in question; and a moment later he too uttered the same
words: "It _is_ a green boat!"
"What shall we do?" asked Paul, looking alarmed, and a little white.
"Pull over there like mad. Perhaps it may be a mistake after all, and
the thing turn out to be an old derelict. Pull!" exclaimed the other.
"Oh! I hope so," breathed Paul, uneasily.
Under the hearty strokes of the two boys the boat quickly arrived
close beside the object that had attracted their attention. It was
undoubtedly a boat, and a green one at that. Frank stretched out his
hand and took hold of it.
"Waterlogged," he said, as he drew himself along the sunken craft in
order to reach the bow.
"Frank, it looks to me like _your_ boat!" cried Paul, huskily.
"It is my boat; see here," and Frank, drawing the sunken craft up by
main strength until a fair portion of its bow was exposed, pointed to a
name painted there.
"It's the _Undine_, as sure as you live! What in the wide world
can have happened to the girls?" muttered Paul, staring at that
telltale name as though it might speak, and answer his question.