THE MENAGERIE IN ACTION
After the departure of Alex and Case from the _Rambler_, Clay and Jule
drew out the two mysterious messages they had received and studied
them over carefully.
"What do you think about this lost channel proposition?" asked Jule.
"If a channel ever went through the neck of land as shown by the map,
that section must have been visited by an earthquake," Clay laughed.
"There isn't a sign of a channel there. Instead, there's a great high
ledge of rock crossing the peninsula, just where the line shows the
channel ought to be. It is my private opinion that no water ever
crossed that peninsula. There must be some mistake in location."
"The men who made the map might have drawn the line indicating the
channel in the wrong place," Jule suggested.
"Well," Clay concluded, "we'll have a look at it when we go back, but
what I can't understand is why the map should have been given to the
wrong party. If a man had such a map in any way accurate, he would
have presented it to Fontenelle in person and demanded a stiff price
for it."
"It looks that way to me!" Jule agreed.
There was a volume in the cabin of the _Rambler_ descriptive of the
St. Lawrence river from the gulf to Lake Ontario. This the boys
brought out and studied diligently until a late hour.
At last Clay arose, yawned, and looked at his watch.
"I wonder why Alex and Case don't return!" he asked. "It can't be
possible that that little scamp has gone and lost himself again, can
it?"
"Just like him!" snickered Jule. "If I had a dollar for every time
he's been lost I'd have all the money I will ever need."
"That's pretty near the truth!" Clay agreed. "However, we've got
Captain Joe and Teddy left with us to help look him up."
He leaned back in his chair and whistled to the dog, but no Captain
Joe made his appearance. Teddy came shambling into the cabin and held
out a paw, suggesting sugar. Clay glanced up at Jule with puzzled
eyes.
"Isn't the dog out on deck?" he asked.
The boy hastened out and returned in a moment with the information
that the bulldog was nowhere in sight.
"Have you seen him since Alex and Case left?" Clay asked.
"He was here quite a spell after they went away, but he didn't seem
contented. All the time I was on deck he was walking back and forth
looking longingly over into the city."
"Then he's followed the boys," Clay agreed. "We won't see him again
until they return. The only wonder is that Teddy didn't go with him."
"We'll have to get steel cages made for our menagerie," Jule proposed.
"We can't keep a single member of our happy family on the boat when
Alex is away. No one else seems to count with them."
The boys were not inclined to sleep, so they sat watchfully in the
cabin with the electricity off. Spears of light came from warehouse
offices on the pier, and far up the street a great arc light made the
thoroughfare almost plain to the eye as day. The roar of night traffic
in the city and the wash of the river drowned all individual sounds,
and the boys sat in what amounted to silence so far as any noises
directly on the boat were concerned.
Somewhere along toward midnight, when they had about given up hope of
the immediate return of the boys, there came a quick jar, and the boat
swayed as if under the foot of a person mounting the deck.
"There they are, I reckon!" Jule shouted, passing to the cabin door
which was open to admit the cool breeze of the night.
Clay stepped forward, too, but paused in a moment and drew Alex back.
A crouching figure was now discernible on the prow, and Clay reached
for the switch which controlled the lamp there.
With his hand almost to the switch Clay stopped and turned back to
where Jule stood, searching his bunk for an automatic which had been
placed there. Then the boat swayed again, and there were three figures
on the deck instead of one. The light from the street showed only bare
outlines. The whole scene was uncanny.
"I don't know what to make of this," Clay whispered. "Shall we turn on
the light, or shall we begin shooting right now?"
"If we turn on the light," Jule whispered back, "they'll see us. At
present, they undoubtedly believe the boat to be deserted."
"I think they'll run if we turn on the lights," Clay suggested,
softly. "They're probably river thieves looking for plunder."
The men on the deck now grouped together, evidently whispering, and
trying to decide upon some course of action. In the faint light, they
seemed to be hulking, heavily-built men, and the boys were not anxious
to come into close contact with them.
"It may be just as well," Clay finally decided, "to remain quiet for a
short time and see what they intend to do."
"That's easy," Jule whispered, "they intend to steal the boat."
"A good many other people have tried to steal this boat," Clay
responded, "but we still seem to be in possession of it!"
After standing for a minute or two near the prow, the intruders moved
stealthily toward the cabin. The door was open, but all was dark
inside. As they slouched forward, their footsteps made no sound upon
the deck.
"Shall we shoot to kill?" whispered Jule. "I'm tired of having the
scum of the earth always attempting to rob us."
"I'd never get over it if I should kill some one," Clay replied. "We'd
better frighten them away and see that no more get on board to-night."
As he spoke, the boy reached for the switch and turned it. Greatly to
his amazement, the prow lamp remained dark. In some strange manner the
intruders had disconnected the wires or broken the globe. The click of
the switch seemed to have reached their ears, informing them that some
one was on board.
They rushed toward the cabin and came solidly against the door which
was quickly shut, almost in their faces. The lock rattled sharply
under the assault of a muscular hand, and the whole front of the cabin
quivered and creaked under the weight of a burly body.
"Open up here!" shouted a gruff voice. "Open up, or we'll break the
door down. We knew you were here all the time!"
"This begins to look serious," whispered Clay. "We may have to shoot."
"Say the word," Jule suggested, "and I'll make the front of the cabin
look like a sieve, and every bullet will count, too."
"I'd like to aid in the capture of a couple of those fellows," Clay
said, "and I wonder if one of us couldn't get out of the rear window,
jump over on the pier, and call the police. Such ruffians ought not to
be at liberty."
"All right," Jule whispered. "You go, and I'll stay here and talk to
them until you get out. I can keep them amused all right."
While this short conversation had been in progress the pounding at the
door had continued, and now something heavy, like a timber or a very
heavy foot, came banging against the panels.
"Just a minute more," one of the midnight prowlers shouted, "and we'll
break this door down and get you boys good!"
Clay moved to the rear of the cabin, drew in the swinging sash, and
stepped lightly out on the after deck. The lights along the river
front were fewer now, and the windows of the warehouses, illuminated
an hour before, were dark. A roaring wind was blowing up the river,
and the wash of the waves was rocking the _Rambler_ unpleasantly.
In all the long street in sight from the pier there was no sign of a
uniformed officer. Clay did not know how far he would have to run to
find one, so he decided to remain where he was for a time and, if
necessary, perhaps attack the intruders from the rear.
Crouching low on the after deck, he could hear Jule talking to the
outlaws, and smiled as he listened to the boy's attempts to interest
them.
"If you break down that door," he heard Jule say, "you'll have to pay
for it! That door cost money."
A volley of oaths and river billingsgate followed the remark, and
blows which fairly shook the cabin came upon the sturdy panels.
While Clay sat listening, half resolved to make his way over to the
pier and fire a few shots over the heads of the ruffians, a figure
dropped lightly on the deck at his side and Teddy's soft muzzle was
pressed against his face. He stroked the bear gently.
"I don't blame you for getting out of there, Teddy," he said. "They'll
wreck the boat if we don't do something pretty soon. What would you
advise, old chap?" he added whimsically.
Teddy sniffed the air in the direction of the pier and clambered
clumsily up to the top of the cabin.
"I wouldn't go up there if I were you," Clay advised.
Teddy continued his way over the roof and finally came to the forward
edge. Clay raised his head to the level of the roof and watched him.
As he did so a round circle of light sprang up at the head of the
pier, flashed toward the river for a moment, and died out. The next
moment a sound of some one stumbling over a bale of goods reached his
ears. Then the light flashed out again, and the pounding on the cabin
door ceased.
"Now I wonder," Clay pondered, "if that isn't Alex and Case! They
usually have their searchlights with them, and Case is always
stumbling over something. It would be fine to have them appear now!"
Directly a finger of light shot down the pier, and under it a white
body swung toward the boat. Clay crawled back through the window and
approached the door, where Jule was still standing with his automatic
in his hand.
The pounding had now ceased entirely, the men evidently having been
warned by the light. It seemed to Clay that the unwelcome visitors
were now crouching in the darkness ready to attack any one who might
attempt to come on board.
"Just wait a minute," whispered Clay in Jule's ear. "Just you wait a
minute, and there'll be something pulled off here! If I'm not
mistaken, this drama is going to shift to a comedy in about one
minute."
"I don't understand what you mean by that," Jule declared. "What new
deviltry are those fellows planning?" he added.
"In just about a second you'll see," Clay repeated. "The only wonder
is that Captain Joe hasn't pulled off his stunt before this."
"Captain Joe isn't here," replied Jule doubtfully.
Then the boat swayed frightfully, tipping toward the pier. There was a
heavy thud on deck, and cries of fright and pain, followed by another
thud.
"Captain Joe isn't here, eh?" shouted Clay unlocking and opening the
door. "Just look at that mess out there."
The white bulldog was mixing freely with the intruders, who seemed to
be devoting their best energy to getting off the boat. There was a
struggling, cursing, growling mass in the middle of the deck, and then
from the roof of the cabin leaped another combatant!
Seeing the dog mixing with the pirates, and evidently believing that
some new game was in progress, the cub leaped fairly into the midst of
the struggling mass! If the men had been frightened before, they were
now wild with terror. It seemed to them as if the bear had dropped
from the clouds. They felt his teeth and claws, and the rough hair of
him appeared to bristle like the quills of a porcupine.
Frightened beyond all measure, rendered more desperate still by the
onrush of the boys from the cabin, the outlaws finally succeeded in
breaking away and springing to the pier. As they did so, they nearly
fell over Alex and Case who were making all haste to ascertain the
cause of the excitement on the _Rambler_.
In a moment, however, they were up and away, clattering like
race-horses up the pier.