"Looks like he's afraid of something," said Pod.
"Sure; this is the haunted sloop you've read about," Fleet responded.
"If you can make a sloop out of a catboat, you're a dandy, Fleet Kenby,"
said Pod. "Don't you know that a sloop has a bowsprit and a jib?"
Fleet was silent. He saw that his anxiety to bring in the "haunts," had
led him into making a nautical error, so he subsided.
As the canoes approached the catboat, the lad at the tiller held his
hand to his lips for silence, then pointed significantly toward the
cabin.
"It may be a catboat, but it's haunted all right," said Fleet. "Don't
you think we'd better clear out of this?"
"I don't see as this is half as scary as that hut I was shut up in on
the east side of the river the night Kenton Karnes and his gang played
kidnappers," said Pod.
"Well, let's see what this boy wants," said Chot. "He is evidently in
great fear from someone in that cabin."
"Some_one_?" said Fleet. "You mean some_thing_!"
"I mean what I said."
"Push up alongside, fellows," said Tom, "and keep quiet unless the boy
talks. He's trying to impress us to be silent."
The lad was still holding the nose of the boat to the wind, and the sail
still flapped in the breeze.
The boys paddled up alongside, worked their way around to the stern,
where again the lad held a finger to his lips. On the stern of the
catboat were the words: "Nellie B. of Troy."
"What's the matter?" asked Chot in a low tone.
"Sh! Easy there," was the lad's reply. "Captain's drunk. Can you fellows
take me off this blooming boat?"
"Why do you want to leave?"
"Because I don't belong here. He kidnapped me--shanghaied me, I guess
you'd call it."
"He did?"
"Yes; my name is Ted Lanham. I live at Greenbush. He got me while I was
in swimming. He's awful, fellows," and to prove the truth of his
assertion, he pulled up his sleeve, showing several large black and blue
spots on each of his arms.
"Why, that's a dirty shame!" cried Fleet "And you say this captain is in
that cabin?"
"Sh! Yes; he's in there, but he's about half shot."
"Well, we'll get him for this!" said Fleet, whose sympathies had gone
out to the unfortunate lad.
"You can't do it; he's six-foot tall and weighs over two hundred."
"Don't care if he weighs a million. There's enough of us to take care of
him."
"I have a better plan," said Chot. "You say you live at Greenbush?"
"Yes."
"Well, we're headed in that direction. Your canoe will hold two, Fleet.
Suppose we just take Ted off and leave the catboat to drift where she
pleases."
Fleet did not like this idea. Of course, he wanted to take Ted in his
canoe and carry him home; he had intended doing just that. But first,
seeing the lad had been mistreated, he wanted to mete out some sort of
punishment to the captain.
The plans of the boys were taken out of their hands in a most sudden
manner. There was a bellow as if from a mad bull, and the next moment
their startled gaze was focused upon the burly figure of a man in the
cabin doorway. As the boy had said, he was a big man, and just now his
eyes were inflamed, his hair tousled and his face as red as a beet,
which made him look more ferocious than ever.
"What does this mean?" he roared. "Who stopped my boat?"
"I did," said Ted Lanham, a defiant note in his voice. Now that he had
the Comrades and Pod to back him up, his courage began to return.
"Oh, ye did, did ye?" cried the captain. "You stopped my boat, did ye?
Well, I'll learn ye how to interfere with my plans--I'll learn ye!"
"He's never been to school," piped Pod. "He said, I'll learn ye'," at
which there was a laugh from the other boys.
Ted Lanham left the tiller and ran around the cabin, as the big captain
staggered toward him.
"Did you kidnap that boy?" asked Chot.
"Well, what if I did?" was the leering reply. "Who are you, that you
interfere in my business?"
"The boy's business is our business, and we'll make your business our
business until we get that boy out of your clutches."
"So ye're goin' to try an' take the boy, are ye? Well, just come ahead.
I'm good for th' whole pack an' parcel of ye."
"Oh, you are?" cried Chot, his eyes blazing with anger. A peculiar smile
played about his lips, which Tom and Fleet had grown to recognize as
denoting great emotion. And now, as Chot sprang on to the deck of the
catboat, yelling for Tom and Fleet to follow, the boys knew there would
be "something doing."
"Do you want me?" asked Pod.
"No; you stay and watch the canoes. And you, Ted, climb over the stern
into Fleet's canoe--that big one over there on the end."
By this time Tom and Fleet had followed Chot on to the deck of the
catboat, and with a bellow of rage the big captain rushed toward them.
"Into the water with him!" cried Chot, "and keep out of the way of his
fists. If he thinks he can beat the Experience Club, he's badly fooled."
"That he is," said Fleet.
Then the boys scattered so that, turn as he might, there was always a
boy behind the captain. He realized that he was in a tight corner, but
in his half-drunken rage he was blind to his best interests, so he
rushed at Chot, who seemed to him to be the aggressor in the fight.
Chot easily evaded the rush, stepped lightly to one side, put out his
foot, and the captain stumbled over it and sprawled his length on the
deck. He arose, cursing, and rushed again. This time Tom was in his way.
Tom, too, sidestepped and when the captain was even with him, gave him a
blow in the stomach that doubled him up and sent him reeling on to the
roof of the little cabin.
"My turn now!" cried Fleet, and before the captain could recover from
Tom's blow, or realize what was about to happen, the fleshy lad had
lifted him almost bodily, shoved him to the edge of the boat and toppled
him into the river. At this there were shouts of delight from Pod and
Ted.
The captain came up, puffing, and shaking the water out of his eyes
after the fashion of an expert swimmer. The water had somewhat cooled
his ambition for a fight, and he looked rather meek as he swam toward
the side of the boat and started to scramble up. Here he met with a
surprise, however. The Comrades blocked his way, and the moment he put a
hand on the rail, it was loosened by one of the boys and the captain
shoved back into the water.
"You're not goin' to let me drown, are ye?" he demanded.
"Oh, no--not yet, at least, but before you are allowed aboard the boat,
we want to hear you say that you kidnapped Ted Lanham, and that you now
relinquish all claim to his services," said Chot.
"I don't know what his name is, but I picked him up. I had to have
someone to work my boat."
"While you could drink and sleep, eh?" demanded Tom. "A fine specimen of
humanity, you are."
"Oh, let up, won't ye? I know when I've had enough. It was three against
one, an' no man can fight such odds."
"Glad you realize it," said Fleet. "Do you relinquish all claim to his
services?"
"See nothin' else to do," he sputtered, "lemme aboard. You go your way
an' I'll go mine. But if I ever meet ye again, look out!"
"You'll never meet us again," said Chot.
"Not if we see you first, anyway," said Fleet.
They allowed him to scramble on deck, watching him warily, however,
fearing treachery. But the captain was evidently sincere when he said
that the odds were too great, and when the boys scrambled over the stern
into their canoes, he was unlashing the tiller. Then the catboat swung
around so that wind caught her sail, and moved off down the river. The
captain sat in the stern, gazing stolidly ahead. Not once did he turn to
look at the boys in the canoes, or even signify that he knew they were
there. The matter was evidently a forgotten incident with him.
"Well, he's a cool one all right," said Fleet
"Too cool for me," said Ted Lanham, who was now sitting comfortably in
the bow of Fleet's canoe, while Fleet had moved his cushions toward the
stern to balance the craft.
"Do your folks live at Greenbush, Ted?" asked Chot, as the canoes moved
off up the river.
"My mother," said the boy. "Guess she's wondering where I am."
"When did the kidnapping occur?"
"About three hours ago. I take a swim in the river every morning, and
when the catboat came toward me, I thought the captain wanted to ask me
some questions. So I got my clothes and climbed on board, at his
request. Then he shut me in the cabin until he got out of sight of the
village, when he took me out and licked me, and told me I belonged to
him."
"What nerve!" cried Tom. "Sorry we didn't duck him again for that."
"May have a chance yet," said Fleet.
"I hope we've seen the last of him," said Chot.
"I'll be careful when I go swimmin' after this," said Ted. "Guess I was
a little too far from shore."
"Well you had no means of knowing that he was going to kidnap you.
Kidnapping is an unusual occurrence on the old Hudson," said Tom.
The canoes were moving rapidly up stream now, and during the afternoon
Ted's home was sighted. Greenbush was a pretty village on the east bank
of the river, and the Comrades stayed over long enough to partake of the
hospitality of Ted's mother. Mrs. Lanham received them warmly, after Ted
had told of his experience, and thanked them for their efforts on behalf
of her son.
She fixed a fine dinner for them, greatly to Fleet's delight. During the
meal one of the boys happened to mention Winton, at which Mrs. Lanham
became immediately interested.
"I hope to have money enough to send Ted to Winton next year," said she.
"We're all from Winton, and we'd like nothing better than to have Ted
there in the fall," said Chot.
"Well, if that's where you fellows belong, it won't be my fault if I'm
not there," said Ted.
It was nearly two o'clock when they took leave of Ted and his mother,
and pushed off into the river again. They liked Ted and resolved to make
his stay at Winton a pleasant one should he be so fortunate as to enter
the academy at the beginning of the fall term.
It was but a short distance from Greenbush to Albany, and toward evening
the young canoeists found themselves in the river off that city, with
the great dome of the capital building shining against the western sky.