CASE HAS HIS DOUBTS
As may well be imagined, Case was waiting impatiently on board the
_Rambler_ while the events described in the last chapter were taking
place in the forest. It is one thing to face a desperate situation in
the company of helpful friends. It is quite another to consider a
grave peril alone, especially when chums are in danger.
Several hours passed, and Case heard nothing from the wanderers in the
forest. Then an unexpected visitor arrived. The boy saw an Indian
canoe paddled swiftly up the river.
He had not had a good chance to observe the visitor who had cut the
cable, thus bring about the meeting with the steamer people, but it
was his opinion that the canoeist was none other than the boy who had
given his name as Max Michel. He anxiously awaited the arrival of the
craft.
"If that is Max," he thought, "he certainly has a well-developed nerve
to come back to the _Rambler_ after doing what he did."
In a short time the canoe, coming steadily upstream, touched the hull
of the motor boat, and its occupant clambered alertly to the deck.
Case stood for a moment regarding him with disapproval, no welcome at
all in his face. The boy approached with a confident smile.
"What are you doing here?" demanded Case.
"I came," was the quick reply, "because I have news which may interest
you. I know you have good reason to doubt my friendship, but I hope
you will listen to me. It will be in your interest to do so."
"News of my friends?" asked Case quickly, forgetting in the impulse of
the moment that the boy's information was more than likely to be
misleading. "Have you seen any of the boys to-day?"
"No," was the slow reply, "but I have heard from them. They crossed
the peninsula early this morning, were lured into a boat passing down
a parallel stream, and must now be somewhere on or near the St.
Lawrence."
"How do you know all this?" demanded Case half-angrily.
"Ever since the night I cut your cable," Max began, "I have been more
than ashamed of myself. I was ordered to do the work, and believed
that there was nothing else for me to do except to obey. I was not far
from St. Luce yesterday when you boys went aboard the _Sybil_. The
steamer touched at St. Luce and I afterwards heard the captain telling
a friend of meeting you. Then I decided to return to you, if you were
still in this vicinity."
"And so you come here and tell me a fairy tale about my chums?" Case
exclaimed. "You don't expect me to believe a word you say, do you?"
"And yet it is the truth," Max insisted. "I was up this morning early,
paddling across the St. Lawrence, for I knew from the Captain's
conversation that you were over here. Not long ago I came upon a boat
leaving the river to the west. From the man who was rowing, I learned
that your friends had been attacked and captured."
Case still doubted. He did not like the look in the eyes of the boy.
He remembered the treacherous act which had sent the disabled
_Rambler_ drifting down the St. Lawrence. He thought fast for a moment
and then asked abruptly:
"Will you tell me what your interest is in this matter?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Why did you cut our cable?"
The boy hesitated a moment, glanced casually over the west bank of the
stream and then lowered his eyes to the deck.
"I was ordered to do so," he said in a moment.
"Ordered to disable our motors and cut our cable?" demanded Case
indignantly. "Don't you know that you might have been the cause of our
death? Is everything you have told me to-day just as true as the fairy
tales you told us that night? You may as well be frank."
Again the boy hesitated. To Case it seemed that he was listening for
some sound or signal from the shore.
"Will you tell me," continued Case, "who it was that ordered you to
cut our cable and disable our motors?"
The boy shook his head. His manner was now anxious and uneasy, and
Case turned his own eyes toward the shore which was being watched so
closely.
"I can't give you the name of my employers," the boy finally said.
"Then tell me this," insisted Case. "Why did the men who ordered you
to do the work want it done?"
"I don't know," was the brief reply.
"I presume," Case went on, "that you would have destroyed the
_Rambler_ with a stick of dynamite if you had been told to do so."
"I wouldn't have committed murder," was the quick reply.
"Now let us get back to your story of to-day," Case said. "Who was it
that told you of the capture of my chums?"
"I can't tell you that."
"Was it one of your employers?"
"It was not."
"Was it a man with whom you are acquainted?" asked Case.
"I never saw him until to-day," he replied.
"How did he come to speak to you of the boys at all?"
"He mentioned that he had seen three boys evidently under a restraint
in a boat with three men farther up the stream."
"So the boat held three men and three boys? Anyone else?"
"He did not mention any one else."
"And the six people were the sole occupants of the boat, were they?"
"That is what the man told me."
"Before you concocted this story," Case declared scornfully, "you
ought to have jogged your memory a trifle. You saw Captain Joe and
Teddy on board the _Rambler_ the night you cut our cable. Why didn't
you add to your story and say that the dog and the bear were with the
three boys?"
"The man I saw said nothing to me about the dog and the bear," Max
insisted stubbornly. "I had only a moment's talk with him."
"And then you came directly to the _Rambler_ to tell me of the
incident?"
"I came directly to the spot where I believed the _Rambler_ would be,"
was the answer. "Of course, I didn't know exactly where you were, but
Captain Morgan said that when you left him it was your intention to
ascend this stream. I was lucky in finding you."
"And now," Case asked, with a scornful smile on his lips, "what do you
expect me to do under the circumstances? What would you advise?"
"I thought," replied Max, "that you would go down the river, and make
your way to the mouth of the other stream."
"Why do your employers want me to leave my present location?" asked
Case. "Do they want the boys to come out of the forest and find the
_Rambler_ gone? Is that what you were sent here for?"
"Oh, well," Max exclaimed, "if you don't believe what I say, and won't
take advantage of the honest information I have given you, I may as
well be on my way."
He moved toward the gunwale of the boat, as he spoke and began untying
the line which held his canoe to the _Rambler_. Case stepped forward
and laid a detaining hand on his shoulder.
"Just a moment," the boy said. "You are not going to leave the
_Rambler_ until my chums return, and perhaps not then."
"Do you mean that you intend to keep me prisoner?" flashed Max.
"That is just exactly what I mean to do," Case responded. "I don't
know what your object in coming here really is, for I believe that as
a prevaricator, you have Ananias backed off the board. I dislike to
use the shorter and uglier word, Max, but you certainly are the
greatest liar I ever came across. You'll stay here until we know more
about you."
"You'd better do a little thinking before you keep me here," Max
threatened. "You are making a lot of trouble for yourself."
"I'll have to risk that," Case replied. "Have you got any weapons
about your person? If you have, give them up."
Max shook his head angrily.
"If I had had a weapon," he declared, "you would have known all about
it the minute you laid a hand on my shoulder."
"Will you promise to remain on the boat without attempting to escape
if I leave you your liberty?" Case asked.
"I will promise nothing!" was the ugly reply.
"All right," Case said.
There was a rush and a little struggle, but in the end, Max was
overcome and stowed away bound hand and foot in the cabin.
Leaving his prisoner there, foaming with rage and searching a limited
vocabulary for words to express his feelings, Case went out to the
prow of the _Rambler_ and sat down to think over the situation.
"That boy," he mused, "was sent here to induce me to take the
_Rambler_ out of this place. Why?"
The boy considered the problem for a long time. He was hoping that
some of his chums would make their appearance. He disliked very much
to take the _Rambler_ away from the place where they had left it, and
still there might be a grain of truth in what Max had said.
The day was bright and still. The deep green foliage of the forest
shone and shimmered in the sun. There were birds in the air, and here
and there timid creatures of the jungle came out to the stream to
drink and peer with questioning eyes at the stranger who had invaded
their leafy retreat. There were no signs of human life anywhere except
on board the _Rambler_. The continued absence of the boys seemed
unaccountable.
"Well," the boy decided, presently, "I'll take a chance on a visit to
the St. Lawrence. It won't take long to run down, swing up to the
other end of the peninsula and investigate the west stream. If the
boys come back while I am gone, they'll probably hear the motors
clamoring and know that I am not far away. Still, I don't think
they'll come."
Case was slowly reaching the uncomfortable conclusion that the boys
had, indeed, been overcome by the outlaws. In that case, his first act
ought to be to secure help. If he returned to the St. Lawrence, he
might meet a friendly captain who would be willing to assist him in
the rescue.
So, with this idea in his mind, the boy drew up the anchor, started
the motors to popping and headed the _Rambler_ down stream. The boat
proceeded at full speed, and soon the arm of the bay which closed in
behind the peninsula came in view.
Anchored there, in a sheltered cove on the north shore of the river,
was a trim little launch. Case could see four men moving about in the
cockpit at the rear of the little trunk cabin. He immediately directed
the _Rambler_ toward the craft and hailed across the water. He was
answered promptly.
"Is that the _Rambler_?" was asked.
"The _Rambler_ it is," answered Case. "Are you looking for her?"
"Not especially," was the reply. "We were told that you were here by
Captain Morgan, whom we saw up the river."
"Come aboard," invited Case, and in a few moments two bright-looking
young men ascended from a small boat to the deck of the _Rambler_.
"I am Joseph Fontenelle," one of the young men said, "and this is my
friend, Sam Howard. We were just going up the river when we saw you
coming down. Are you alone on board?"
"My friends are somewhere back in the forest," Case explained, certain
that it was safe to trust the visitors. "I seem to have lost them."
"Then we have probably arrived just in time," Fontenelle went on. "As
you probably know from my name, we are here on the old search for the
charter. Captain Morgan, I am told, related the story to you. For
myself, I have little faith in the quest, but father insists that I
make a try to solve the mystery every summer. This is my third visit
to what we call Cartier island. I expect to make them annually as long
as father lives."
"You have no faith in the story of the lost charter and the missing
family jewels?" asked Case.
"Oh, they were lost, without doubt, and possibly in this country, but
there is no clew whatever to their whereabouts."
Case was wondering if the Fontenelles had a copy of the crude map
which had been so mysteriously brought to the _Rambler_. He was
wondering, too, if it would be safe for him to tell this youthful
representative of the French family all that he knew of the two
communications and the attacks which had been made on the _Rambler_.
The question was virtually settled by Fontenelle himself.
"I am told," the young man said, "that you boys were placed in peril
by being mistaken for us."
"We had a scrap with river pirates, if that is what you mean," Case
replied, "and Captain Morgan helped us to get away from them."
"I'm afraid," Fontenelle went on, "that the men you term 'river
pirates' are pirates only for the purpose of this occasion. We have
always been opposed in our quest for what father calls the lost
channel."
"Opposed everywhere in your searches?" Case asked, "or opposed only
when you come to this section?"
"Opposed only in this vicinity," answered Fontenelle, gazing keenly at
the boy. "I see what you mean," he added. "At least, your inference is
that those who are opposing us really know more about the location of
the charter and the jewels than we know ourselves, and that they
believe them to be here."
"That is the way it seems to me," Case answered, "still if they think
they know that the property sought for is in this vicinity, their
knowledge fails when they try to put their hand upon it. They can only
hope for success in case of your failure, and so they oppose your
every effort."
"That is the way in which we look at it," Fontenelle replied. "In
fact, father is positive that the search for the charter goes steadily
on in this vicinity throughout most of the year.
"Last year, we had quite a merry picnic with a scout sent up to
obstruct our search, and one of our men was seriously wounded. Our
enemies are certainly becoming desperate, and if, as you say, your
chums appear to be lost in the forest, we ought to be getting up there
to look after them. They may be sorely in need of help."
"I thank you for your offer of assistance," Case replied, "and it is
my opinion that we can't get back there too quickly. Come over here
and look through the cabin window," he continued, "pointing through
the glass panel to where he had left Max lying bound on the bunk."
Then the look of amusement vanished from the boy's face, and he opened
the door and passed quickly into the cabin. Max was nowhere to be
seen. He had disappeared as completely as if the hull of the _Rambler_
had opened and dropped him into the stream. The ropes with which he
had been tied lay on the floor, but the boy was gone.
The open window at the rear of the motor boat, told the story. In
answer to Fontenelle's looks of inquiry, Case briefly told the story
of Max's visit and capture. The young man pondered a moment and then
said:
"I don't believe the boys have been captured at all. The chances are
that they are still in the forest, probably looking for the boy who
disappeared last night.
"This boy Max, if your description tallies with my recollection, has
appeared in the game before to-day. He is a wharf rat at Quebec, and
is being used by these outlaws to further their treacherous ends. I
wish we had found him here."
As the boys passed out on deck, the barking of a dog came from up the
river. There was no mistaking the voice. It was Captain Joe, and he
was deploring the absence of his floating home. Case smiled happily at
the sound, and then his face grew serious, for gunshots followed the
echo of the dog's voice.