THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE BOAT
"Something is wrong sure!" exclaimed Snap, as the cry from the
farmhouse was repeated.
He looked below and saw that Pop Lundy was running away, in the
direction of the cry for assistance.
"Now is our chance to get away!" cried Whopper, and dropped to
the ground, while the others did the same.
"Wait!" came from Snap. "That sounds as if somebody was in great
trouble. Hadn't we better go and see what it means?"
"And get caught by Pop Lundy?" queried Giant.
"I don't care," put in Shep. "If I can help a lady I am going
to do it."
He hurried off in the direction Simon Lundy had taken and one
after another his chums followed. To get to the back door of
the farmhouse they had to pass around a chicken house and a pig
sty, and as they were doing this they saw a burly negro leap a
rail fence not far away.
"What is it, Jane?" they heard the farmer cry, as he dashed into
the house.
There was no reply, and coming to the door, the four boys saw
that the farmer's wife lay back in a kitchen chair in a dead faint.
"Sumbuddy hez killed her, I guess!" moaned Simon Lundy. "Oh,
where is the villain?"
"She isn't dead, only fainted," answered Shep, who had assisted
his father on more than one occasion. "Got some smelling salts
in the house?"
"I dunno. Ye kin look in the closets."
Shep and the others did so, and soon the son of the physician
found something that was beneficial. Yet it was several minutes
before the lady of the farm came to her senses and opened her
eyes.
"Where is he?" she murmured. "Take him away! Take him away!"
"Who are ye a-talkin' about, Jane?" demanded the husband.
"Thet---he---oh, Simon, is it you? Why didn't you come before?"
"Couldn't---cos I had these young whelps up an apple tree. But
wot is it all about anyhow?"
"The big negro---he wanted something to eat, and then he got saucy
and he picked up your watch from the mantelpiece-----"
"My watch!" The miserly farmer sprang to the mantelpiece. "It's
gone, sure enough!" he groaned.
"I saw the negro!" cried Snap. "He jumped that fence out there
as we came up."
"That's right," put in Whopper. "He was running like a house
afire, too."
"Where did he go?"
Nobody knew, but some thought he might have taken to the road.
Finding his wife had not been harmed, only badly scared, Simon
Lundy ran out to the road and gazed up and down, and the boys
did the same.
"I don't see nuthin'," said Pop Lundy.
"Let us run down the road a bit, fellows," suggested Shep.
"Will ye come back?" asked the farmer, anxiously. "I---er---I
won't say nuthin' about them apples."
"Yes, we'll be back," answered Snap.
The boys spent the best part of an hour on the road, hunting up
and down for some trace of the negro, but without success. They
knew he was short and stocky and wore a light, checked suit, but
that was all.
When they returned to the farmhouse they heard Mrs. Lundy's story
in detail. She had been on the point of sweeping the sitting-room
when the negro had appeared and asked for Mr. Lundy. She had
told him her husband was out, and then the colored man had wanted
something to eat. She had refused to give him anything, and then,
seeing the watch on the mantelpiece, he had snatched the timepiece
and run. She had screamed for assistance and then fainted from
excitement.
"Was the watch a valuable one?" asked Snap.
"Yes, it was," answered Simon Lundy. "It was gold and given to
me by my father years ago. I wouldn't take a hundred dollars
fer it nohow. I was mighty careless to leave it on the mantelpiece,
but I didn't want to carry it around in the orchard when I picked
apples."
"What will you do about it?" asked Shep.
"I dunno. Go tew teown an' tell the constable, I guess. Be yeou
goin' to town?"
"No; we are off on a hunting trip," answered Giant. "And, by the way,
we had better be getting back to the boat," he added to his chums.
"Mr. Lundy, we'll give you a quarter for those apples," said Shep.
"All right, as ye please," said the old farmer. He was so upset
over the loss of his watch he could think of nothing else.
The boys passed over the money---that is, Shep did, for he had
been appointed treasurer of the expedition. Then, after a few
words more, the young hunters hurried back through the orchard
to where they had left their rowboat among the bushes.
"Gosh! what a mean man!" was Whopper's comment. "To take that
money after what we did to catch that negro."
"It isn't likely that he'll get his gold watch back," said Giant.
"That nigger will shake the dust of this locality from his feet
as fast as he can."
"More than likely he belongs in some big city," was Whopper's
comment. "That is the way those chaps do---go to a lonely farmhouse
and make sure the men are away and then take what they can lay
hands on. If he hadn't heard Pop Lundy and us coming he would
most likely have ransacked the house from end to end."
They were soon at the river bank and forcing their way through
the bushes. Then Snap looked around in perplexity.
"Isn't this the spot where we left the boat?" he questioned, gravely.
"I think so," answered Shep.
"Well, I don't see it."
"Don't see it!" exclaimed Whopper, who was in the rear. "Why, it
must be here."
All came out on the edge of the river and gazed up and down the
shore in alarm. Not a sight of the boat was to be seen anywhere.
"Wonder if she floated off?" suggested Giant.
"She couldn't," answered Shep. "I tied her up, and did it good,
too. There is the exact spot," and he pointed out a stout bush.
In the dirt of the bank was the mark of the rowboat's sharp bow.
"Look there!" ejaculated Whopper. "See the size of those
footprints---as big as canal-boats. Do you know what I think?" he
almost shouted.
"That nigger ran off with our boat!" came in a chorus from the others.
"That's it. See, there is where he came along the shore. He
meant to hide here, when he came across the boat. He saw it was
well filled with things and jumped in, and I suppose he rowed
off as fast as he could," added Whopper, bitterly. "Oh, wouldn't
I like to catch him! I'd make mince-meat of him, I would!"
Whopper stopped short, and all of the boys looked at each other
blankly. For some seconds nobody spoke, but each was busy with
his thoughts.
"If we can't find the boat-----" began Snap.
"We'll have to return home and give up the trip," finished Giant.
"Oh, I don't want to do that!"
"Nor I!" came from the others.
"We must find our boat, that is all there is to it," said Snap.
"I don't believe he went up the river, consequently he must have
gone down."
"Then let us get another boat and follow him."
"That's the talk!"
But where to get another boat was a question.
Snap ran back to the farmhouse and met Pop Lundy at the door.
"Thought you boys was a-goin' down the river," said the farmer,
suspiciously.
"We have learned what became of that nigger."
"What?"
"He took our boat and ran off with it."
"Well, I vow! Ain't he the pesky rascal, though! Wot be yeou
boys a-goin' tew do neow?"
"We want to get another boat, if possible, and follow him. Do
you know where a boat can be had?"
"Yes; Ike Welby has a boat. His farm is the next one down from
mine. I'll go along. I want to catch him ez much as yeou do."
In a few minutes they were off in a body, all of the boys accompanying
the farmer to the next farm. Ike Welby was not at home, but his
wife said they could have the boat and welcome, and procured for
them two pairs of oars from the barn.
"I am glad that negro didn't come here," she declared. "I should
have fainted dead away, too, and he would have gotten everything
in the house. I trust you catch the rascal."
"We be a-goin' to try mighty hard," answered Simon Lundy.
There was a small boathouse at the end of the grounds and here
was a good round-bottomed boat built for speed as well as pleasure,
for in his younger days Ike Welby had been quite an oarsman and
had won more than one race. They ran the rowboat into the river,
and all jumped in. Then Snap shoved off, and all of the boys
got at the oars.
"Now, then, to make things hum!" said Shep. "We must try to spot
that nigger before he thinks of going ashore."