THE "WIRELESS" IN TOW.
"What's that?" exclaimed Mr. Gregory, hardly able to grasp the
astounding news that Jack Stormways so modestly launched at him.
"Why, you see, we camped in a little cove last night," continued the
boy; "and as luck would have it, these fellows had entered another one
close by. Seems that an accident had happened to their boat, so that,
with a hole stove in her bow, they could not go any farther. So they
figured on stealing our dandy little _Tramp_, you know, and leaving us
to hold the bag."
The police officers looked at each other and nodded their heads, as if
to say they knew a smart young fellow when they saw one.
"Yes, and naturally you objected to such a bold procedure, Jack, and
determined to turn the tables on them; was that it?" asked the bank
president, smiling broadly, as though he might be the happiest man in
the country just then.
"Yes, sir," Jack made answer. "We set a little trap, and they tumbled
into it. So we tied them up, as you see, though we tried not to treat
the poor chaps too roughly while doing it, and have fed them as well as
we could. I found that bag, and we expected to go ashore at Covington
to turn the men and the property over to the right authorities. And
seeing that it's yours, sir, will you please take it off my hands? I
hope it's all there."
While the boats drifted down-stream Mr. Gregory, with trembling hands,
opened the bag, and proceeded to hastily look over the papers. There
were some thousands of dollars in bank notes tied up in packages; but
he hardly gave these any attention, for the bonds represented the
solvency of his bank.
"Good!" he presently cried, aloud; "I believe they're here, every one.
I'm the happiest man going right now. And, Jack, shake hands with me,
my boy. Your father will have cause to feel proud of you when I tell
him how you've acquitted yourself."
"Don't forget Jimmie Brannagan, Mr. Gregory," said Jack. "He had as
much to do with it as I did. Now, don't you say a single word against
that, Jimmie, do you hear? And, Mr. Gregory, since you've got back
everything, please go as easy as you can with these fellows. They're
hardly more than boys, you see, and perhaps one more chance might be
the making of either of them."
"That speaks well for your heart, Jack, although I'm afraid you're
mistaken in the matter. But I promise you to get as light a sentence
as I can for them. I ought to feel in a forgiving mood, for a terrible
load has been taken off my mind this day, thanks to you boys."
"And how about that same reward we do be hearin' talk of, sir?" asked
Jimmie.
"Jimmie!" exclaimed Jack, frowning; but Mr. Gregory only laughed.
"He's quite correct, Jack," he said promptly. "Jimmie knows his
rights, and isn't afraid to press them. There was a reward offered for
the capture of the thieves, and a larger one for the recovery of the
stolen property. After you come back from this little excursion I want
both of you to drop over and call on me. I'll have something for you
worth while. Perhaps it may be an engrossed resolution of thanks from
the directors of my bank; and possibly it may be something more."
So, after all, Jack did not set foot ashore at Covington when they
arrived opposite the place. The two prisoners had been transferred to
the police launch, with something more substantial in place of the
cords that Jimmie had wound around their wrists; and after each of the
officers had warmly shaken hands with the boys, Mr. Gregory gave them a
last grip, when the larger boat was turned in toward the bank.
"Well, that was an adventure worth while!" remarked Jack, as he settled
down to look after his engine and hit up a livelier pace; for Memphis
was a long ways off, and that had been settled on as their next station.
"I do be having to laugh whin I think of poor Buster," observed Jimmie,
with a broad grin on his good-natured countenance.
"Why about the Hippopotamus?" queried the skipper, without looking up.
"What d'ye suppose he will be afther saying now, whin he hears what
happened till us again? Didn't ye listen whin he said, 'Oh, splash!
nothin' iver happens till the wan of us save Jack and Jimmie!' And by
the token it do same to be thrue. We're the broth of boys that git in
the ruction ivery toime."
"I wonder if Buster has been overboard again?" mused Jack, smiling at
the recollection of the tremendous splash the fat boy had made the time
he dropped into the Mississippi, and held on by the trailing rope.
"I do be thinkin' ivery toime a big wave comes along; 'there's Buster
takin' wan of his headers again, and makin' the river quake!'" chuckled
Jimmie.
So they beguiled the minutes while lunch was being prepared; which,
since it was only a cold one, did not take much time. Then they sat
and enjoyed themselves, while the _Tramp_ bustled merrily on her way,
and the speeding shore panorama interested them constantly, on account
of the changes taking place.
Occasionally Jack consulted his maps, in order to find out what the
name of some town they were passing might be, and in this way locate
their position.
"Will we make it, do yees think?" asked Jimmie, after one of these
periods of study on the part of the skipper.
"I think so; I hope so," replied the other. "Because, you see, we
ought to pull up there and get ready for a fresh start. So far we've
done just elegant work; but there's no telling what trouble is waiting
for us below. The river gets bigger all the time, until there are
places where you can hardly see across to the low shore on the other
side. And those false cut-off channels will give us the time of our
lives, maybe."
"Of course, ye ixpect that George will be waitin' for us all the while
at Memphis?" remarked Jimmie a little later, as he swept the watery
horizon to the south, and the shore line closer by with the fine
glasses.
"Well, I suppose so," replied Jack. "That is, if he's managed to pull
through without another blowout or breakdown."
"Sure, ye have another guess coming Jack, me bye, and that's no lie,"
remarked Jimmie, a smile beginning to creep over his wide face.
"Then you've seen something," declared the other. "Here, take hold of
this wheel and give me the glasses."
He swept the shore line with a careful scrutiny.
"I see him," he remarked presently. "And it's just as you said,
Jimmie; George is in a peck of trouble again with that cranky
high-power engine. They've tied up to the shore and have got the red
flag flying that was to be our signal of distress. Poor Nick; I can
just picture him right now, grunting over all the misfortunes that
haunt them, while the rest of us have had so little trouble. I'm
afraid he'll waste away to mere skin and bones yet."
The _Tramp_ was soon headed for the spot where they could see their
comrades waving their arms wildly as if afraid the second boat in the
race might pass them by.
"Same old story?" asked Jack, as he brought alongside and gripped the
hands of the forlorn shipwrecked travelers.
"Rotten luck!" groaned Nick, shaking his head dolefully. "I'm pining
away, fellows, inch by inch. Why, my clothes are ready to drop off me,
I'm getting so like a scarecrow. Mebbe you don't believe me, but it's
a fact. And I'm that nervous I keep quivering all the time like
a--a----"
"A bowl full of jelly;" burst out Jimmie. "Sure, I do belave ye,
Buster. And as Jack and me sail along so cheerful loike, me thoughts
often fly till ye, and I fale that only for that stubborn will ye'd
have gone and given up long ago."
"What's wrong this time, George?" asked Jack.
"Oh! everything now," replied the disgusted skipper of the _Wireless_.
"No use in my trying to tinker with the job. It will take a practical
machinist to overhaul the plagued contraption. I guess you'll have to
give us a tow to Memphis, where I can put a man to work getting this
engine in some sort of shape."
"All right!" Jack exclaimed. "And the sooner we start the better, if
we want to make it before dark. Get a line out, and we'll fasten to
this cleat at our stern. Then we can talk as we move along; because
Jimmie and myself have got a lovely little fairy story to tell you, to
pass away the time."
Nick looked at the others suspiciously.
"Now, what's been coming your way, I'd just like to know?" he grumbled.
"Never saw such luck as you have in all my life. 'Tain't fair, that's
what. Here I have all the tortures, the scares and the duckings, too,
when I've lost my swimming wings; and you fellows gobble everything
that comes along in the way of fun."
"Sorry," laughed Jack; "but they will keep piling these things upon us.
We have nothing to do with it at all, Buster. Only when it happens, we
just have to get out of the hole the best way we can, you know."
"I just bet, now, you've met up with them old bank smashers again.
Look at 'em grin would you, George. Ten to one they grabbed the
fellers and recovered all that fine boodle we read about! It would be
just like Jack's luck!"
"We did that same, thank ye, Buster," said Jimmie, assuming a proud
attitude, with a hand thrust into the bosom of his coat, and his chest
thrown out.
"They did!" shrieked Buster, falling back. "Do you hear that, George?
Ah, me! why was I born under an unlucky star? Get busy now, Jack, and
tell us all about it. Next to being a hero myself I like to hear about
you doing big things. Reel off the yarn now, and don't you dare hold
back a single thrill."
Of course the other boys were deeply interested in what Jack had to
tell. They stopped him many times to ask questions, under the belief
that he was not going deeply enough into details. But finally the
story was told.
Toward four in the afternoon they began to realize that they were
drawing near a large and busy city on the eastern shore. Boats could
be seen upon the river, and cotton began to be in evidence everywhere.
"This is Memphis, all right," said Jack, as he looked through the
glasses at the buildings on the high bank of the river.
"How long will we stay here?" asked Nick, who had some idea on his
mind, as the others readily understood from his abstracted manner.
"A day or two," replied Jack. "All depends on how long it will take to
have the _Wireless_ engine overhauled thoroughly; and then you know, we
have to wait until the other boys drop along. They may get here
tomorrow. But what do you ask for, Buster?"
"Why, I was thinking that perhaps I might be able to find a pair at
some store here. They would be apt to keep such splendid life saving
things, I guess," replied Nick, anxiously.
"A pair of socks?" asked Jack, pretending not to understand.
"Sure, 'tis a pair of oilskin pants he manes," cried Jimmie. "Didn't
ye say how the wans he had on filled out wid air the toime he wint
overboard. 'Tis ilegant loife presarvers they make whin naded!"
"Oh! quit your kidding, fellows!" said Nick, in disgust. "You know
what I've been shy on all this blessed trip. A pair of wings; not
angel wings, but canvas ones, to keep a new beginner swimmer from
sinking. I tell you I'd never lost all this flesh with worry on this
cranky, wobbly boat if I'd known I had those jolly things along. I do
hope I'll find them in Memphis."
"You just bet I do," declared George, with a sigh. "Because I've heard
nothing else all the journey but your whines about those pesky missing
silly wings. Get a whole dozen sets if you can, Pudding, and it'll
make you any happier. I'll stand the bill, for the sake of the peace
of mind it brings."
"That's just the way he goes on, fellows," said Nick, pretending to
look deeply injured, but slyly winking at Jack. "I never can make a
peep but what George comes down on me. I'm afraid he's getting
dyspepsia. What do you think, why he even began to complain of my
cooking."
George made no verbal reply, only pressed both hands across his
stomach, and looked forlornly at the skipper and crew of the _Tramp_,
who shouted with laughter.
And in this fashion, with the derelict _Wireless_ bobbing behind, they
finally drew up at the wharf in front of the Memphis levee, where a
score or two of black roustabouts and loungers flocked around them to
look with evident delight upon the two neat little cruisers from the
north.