THE PURSUIT.
The first impulse of the angry givers of the feast was to start in
pursuit of the thieves; and Bill Foss had begun to clamber out on the
dock in order to get the boat, when Bob stopped him by saying:--
“Hold on! It’s no use to do that! We couldn’t catch ’em now with only
one pair of oars, for they’ve got too much of a start. The best way
will be to lay for ’em to-night over on the other side.”
“But they’ve stole all our grub!” Bill replied angrily as he halted,
“an’ if we wait two or three hours there’ll never be a chance of
gettin’ it back.”
“There’s no show of catchin’ them anyhow, so what’s the use of pullin’
all ’round the river for nothin’?”
By this time Bill began to realize that pursuit would be useless, and
he came back to where his companions were standing as if dazed by the
bold outrage.
“I knew it was Sim Jones gettin’ into that boat on the other side jest
before I came below; but what beats me is, how he found out where we
was? He must have follered me this afternoon.”
“I don’t reckon there was any need of that,” Tom added. “They could see
us all the time while we were comin’ over, an’ after you got inside I
reckon they rowed mighty hard. It wouldn’t be a great job to sneak up
under the stern of this boat, an’ then, while one of the fellers made
a noise on deck, the others crawled in through the windows. That’s the
way of it.”
There was but little satisfaction in thus settling the method of the
robbery; and Bill asked impatiently as he looked at each of his friends
in turn:--
“What’er we goin’ to do ’bout it? Seems pretty tough to let them
fellers break our good time up when we’ve counted on stayin’ here all
the afternoon an’ evenin’. There won’t be any fun loafin’ ’round with
nothin’ to eat.”
“S’posen all hands of us go ashore an’ buy somethin’ more?” Jimmy
suggested. “We ain’t got the cash to get so much as we had before; but
what we can scare up’ll be better’n nothin’.”
Bob and Tom looked at each other in dismay.
They had spent all their surplus money on the trip to Coney Island, and
had no more than enough to buy their supply of papers when Josiah’s
visit should have come to an end and they resumed work once more.
Therefore it was impossible for them to act upon Jimmy’s suggestion,
and at the same time they felt decidedly awkward in refusing.
It seemed as if Master Skip could read their thoughts, for he added
almost immediately:--
“We don’t expect you two fellers to buy anything. We started to get up
a reg’lar dinner here, an’ are goin’ to do it ourselves, or go without
any.”
“Bob an’ I would like to chip in our share if we had the cash; but we
was flyin’ kinder high yesterday, an’ are mighty nigh broke now.”
This remark served as a reminder to Bill Foss that he accepted the
hospitality of these two on the previous day, and at the same time had
acted decidedly disagreeable. Therefore, in order to make amends, he
very quickly adopted Jimmy’s plan.
“Come along,” he said as he clambered on the dock once more. “If we’re
goin’ to do the thing there’s no use foolin’ ’round, an’ after we’ve
had our time out, all hands of us’ll go for Sim Jones an’ his crowd.”
The other subscribers to the feast followed him without delay, and the
young gentlemen from Baker’s Court were left to “keep ship” until their
companions returned.
“It’s kinder tough for them to put out all the money,” Tom said
reflectively; “but I don’t see how we can help it.”
“I mighter done my share,” Josiah replied thoughtfully; “but I wanted
to save what I had to get presents for father an’ mother, an’ I’d
rather do that than have anything to eat.”
“There’s no use talkin’ about it,” Tom said, more than willing to put
the very unpleasant subject from his mind. “If them fellers invited us
here, it was ’cause they wanted us, an’ now they can go ahead an’ do
as they please. Some other time we’ll get even with ’em. I wish I’d
thumped Sim Jones when I had a chance this mornin’. It seemed to me
that I oughter done it.”
“Why, what was he doin’?” Josiah asked.
“Nothin’, only kinder lookin’ as if he was tryin’ some mischief. He
acted too sweet, that’s what’s the matter with him; an’ when Sim gets
on such a face you wanter watch out for him.”
“Do you s’pose the other fellers will catch him?” Josiah asked.
“Course they will! I’d agree to set up all night rather’n lose the
chance of payin’ him off for what he’s done,” and Bob shook his fist in
impotent rage toward that point where the thieves had last been seen.
Then the hosts returned, each carrying a parcel, and once more the
locker was covered with a varied collection of dainties.
“There!” Bill said, when he had arranged the provision on the impromptu
table to his entire satisfaction. “We won’t leave this place agin with
so much stuff spread out, if every feller in Jersey jumps on the deck.
They sha’n’t fool us twice in the same way. I reckon Sim was mad ’cause
we didn’t invite him to chip in with us, an’ that’s why he got away
with the dinner.”
There was no delay in beginning the feast after it had been made ready.
Bill invited the guests to commence, by saying, with a majestic wave of
his hand toward the locker:--
“Pitch right in, fellers, an’ fill yourselves up. This ain’t no
twenty-five cent chowder at Coney Island; but I’ll bet you’ll feel a
good deal better when you get through with it than we did down there
yesterday.”
During the next fifteen minutes but little conversation was indulged
in, for every boy seemed to think it his solemn duty to eat as fast and
as much as possible.
Josiah was the first to retire from what seemed very like a contest,
and then one by one the others fell out until the feast had come to an
end.
Bill added to the illumination of the cabin by lighting the entire
stock of candles, and then, as a fitting finale to the festival,
produced a package of cigarettes.
“Don’t you smoke?” he asked, as Josiah refused the proffered tobacco.
“I promised mother I wouldn’t, so you see I can’t,” the boy from
Berry’s Corner replied, and the other guests looked at each other as
if they thought there was something comical in the reply; but no one
ventured to laugh.
Josiah was the only member of the party who did not indulge in smoking;
and the result was that in a short time the cabin, closed as it had
been to prevent intrusion, was filled with the pungent odor, greatly to
the annoyance of the boy from the country.
He did his best to hold out against the noisome vapor, lest by making
a complaint he should bring the party, arranged in his honor, to
an untimely end; but when the hosts lighted their second supply of
cigarettes, it was impossible for him to remain silent.
“I guess while you fellers are smokin’ I’ll go up on deck, an’ look
’round. I never saw a canal-boat before, an’ this is a good chance.”
“Don’t feel sick, do you?” Tom asked solicitously.
“No, not exactly; but I’d rather go up-stairs.”
“Too much smoke here, that’s what’s the matter,” Bill Foss said
pityingly, as if pained because the boy for whom the feast had been
particularly prepared was not sufficiently hearty to indulge in the
alleged pleasures of men of the world like himself.
Josiah did not venture into the cabin again, but, after filling his
lungs with fresh air, seated himself at the head of the stairs where he
could hear what was being said by his friends below, and also take part
in the conversation.
It seemed to him a very long while before the young gentlemen were
willing to leave the scene of the festivities; and they might have
remained much longer, to his discomfort and disquietude, had there been
a larger stock of cigarettes on hand.
As it was, however, when the tobacco was exhausted, the cabin of the
craft had no further attraction for the merry-makers; and Bill said as
he rose to his feet:--
“Come on, fellers, we might as well start for Sim Jones now. It won’t
do to wait too long, for fear he’ll sneak off home.”
The chase for the boy who had robbed them offered quite as many
inducements in the way of pleasure as an additional supply of
cigarettes would have done, therefore no objection was made to the
proposition; and, five minutes later, all the party were on board the
leaking boat, pulling rapidly toward the New York side of the river,
leaving behind them only the fragments of candle and the offensive odor
of tobacco.
As a starting-point for the search, it was decided to go directly to
the pier from which Bill believed he had seen Sim leave for the Jersey
shore; and there was found the boat in which he had probably rowed
across to the basin, but with her ended all clew to the direction taken
by the thieves.
Master Foss was too good a general to allow anything of this kind to
distress him. In fact, he rather prided himself on his abilities as an
amateur detective, and lost no time in making what he believed to be a
proper disposal of his party.
Two of the boys were sent toward the Battery, two more in the opposite
direction, and the remainder ordered to proceed toward City Hall Square.
Bill’s instructions to his subordinates could hardly be mistaken, so
simple and expressive were they.
“Keep right on huntin’ till you find ’em, an’ then come down to Dick
Murray’s stand where I’ll be waitin’. Don’t let them know you wanter
get hold of ’em; but scoot back so’s all hands of us can do the rest
of the job. We need the whole crowd, ’cause there ain’t less’n five in
their gang.”
Being unacquainted with the city, Josiah was allowed to remain with the
leader of the forces; and when the scouts had set out, Bill conducted
the boy from Berry’s Corner to the rendezvous.
Dick Murray, who had arrived at the dignity of owning a newsstand only
a few months previous, was a friend of all those who were so eagerly
searching for Sim Jones, and at once made the new-comers welcome by
inviting them into the tiny apartment which he occupied during very
cold weather.
“Sim Jones is goin’ to get hisself inter trouble some of these fine
days,” Dick said, shaking his head sagely. “That feller’s actin’
altogether too smart.”
“In case we catch him to-night, he’ll be in trouble mighty soon,” Bill
replied with a show of anger. “If he thinks he can steal things the
way he did this afternoon, an’ then get off without a thump, he’s
mistaken. I ain’t got much time to hunt ’round for sich as him; but I
sha’n’t go to sellin’ papers agin till this thing is squared.”
“The trouble is, Bill, he’s got his gang with him, an’ you know it
won’t do to have a row on the street, ’cause you wouldn’t wanter get
locked up.”
“I’d like to see the cop what could catch me, if I knew he was comin’,”
Master Foss replied.
Then he proceeded to tell a long yarn about an encounter he once had
with some newsboys from Brooklyn, which was interrupted by the police,
when only his legs saved him from arrest.
By the time this story, in which Master Foss posed as a hero of the
first water, was concluded, Tom arrived, breathless from rapid running.
“All that crowd are down by the Vesey Street Market now, an’ they’ve
got a good deal of the stuff with ’em. If our fellers would only come
in this minute, it wouldn’t take us a great while to clean out the
whole gang.”
Bill was immediately plunged into a state of the greatest excitement,
and but for the fact that Sim’s party numbered five, he would have
insisted on making the captures single-handed.
“We’ll have to wait, I reckon,” he said with a sigh, “an’ it’ll be jest
our luck to find ’em gone when we get there.”
If “luck” had any part in this evening’s doings, then it certainly
favored Master Foss; for in less than five minutes from the time Tom
arrived, every member of the party returned to report his inability to
find the boy who had attempted to destroy their pleasure.
Bill did not wait to give the new-comers any particulars regarding the
information brought by Tom; but simply commanded them to “foller the
best they knew how,” and set off at a rapid pace with Tom and Josiah by
his side.
Upon reaching a point a short distance from where the evil-disposed
crowd was supposed to be, the leader of the force halted, and thus
mapped out the plan of battle:--
“We’ll sneak right up on ’em, so’s they won’t hear a thing, an’ then
make a rush. I’d like to tie their hands, an’ leave ’em on the sidewalk
till most mornin’. I reckon that would serve ’em out for stealin’ the
grub. Now come on!”
The attack was successful so far as surprising the enemy was concerned,
but the captures were not made as readily as Bill had fancied.
Sim and his friends, knowing full well the possibility of pursuit and
an attempt at punishment, were prepared for just such an onslaught;
and the result was that instantly Bill’s force appeared, each of the
plunderers was ready to defend himself to the utmost.
As a matter of course, a pitched and exciting battle ensued.
Josiah, to whom no orders had been given, save in a general way when
Master Foss instructed all the party on their duties, felt it incumbent
upon himself to assist his friends, and the first blow had hardly been
delivered when he was in the thickest of the fray, receiving more in
the way of punishment than it was possible for him to return.
It appeared as if Sim and his friends had some especial cause for
complaint against this boy from the country, and were doing their
utmost to pummel him, while they paid but little attention to the
others.
It was just at the moment when Josiah began to realize he had placed
himself in a very awkward position, that the fight was stopped as if by
magic, at the cry:--
“Cops! Cops!”
It was Jimmy Skip who gave the alarm; being too small to make much of
a show as a belligerent, he had assumed the part of sentinel to guard
against just such a danger.
“Come on!” Tom shouted; and Josiah, not a little bewildered by the
suddenness with which his friends departed, each in a different
direction, stood motionless, unable to so much as take a single step.
He heard Tom and Bob shouting from a distance, and yet paid no
attention to anything until a heavy hand was laid upon his shoulder,
and, looking around quickly, discovered that he was in the clutch of a
burly policeman who appeared far from friendly.