JACK IN TROUBLE.
It seemed to Jack that he plunged down to a great depth, and when he
finally rose to the surface, he was gasping for breath. His first
thought was to free himself from his raincoat, and as soon as this was
done, he struck out for the east side, as he thought he was a little
more than half way across. Although a powerful swimmer, the choppy
sea, caused by a brisk wind, and his clothing, which seemed to drag
him down, made his progress difficult. He weakened rapidly, and before
he was half way to the shore, fear struck him that he might not be
able to reach it. Raising himself as far out of the water as possible,
he looked about him, but it was very dark, and he could see but a few
feet. No help was at hand, and summoning all his strength, he started
to swim once more toward the lights, which now seemed farther away
than at first. But his strokes were now very weak and his progress
slow; still he kept doggedly on, for he was not a boy to give up so
long as a particle of strength remained.
After what seemed to him hours of struggle, he felt that he could keep
up but a few moments more, and a dread fear seized his heart as he
gave up hope. He thought not so much of himself, but of the father and
mother, who might never know what had happened to him, and the thought
nerved him to one more last effort.
"It's no use," he thought, after taking a few feeble strokes, "I can't
hold out any longer, I'm so tired."
He tried, but his arms seemed numb and utterly refused to obey his
will, and he was about to go under, when he felt himself seized by the
collar and in another moment, found himself lying on his back on the
bottom of a skiff, gasping for breath.
As he slowly began to recover his strength, he looked up and saw that
the boat contained two men, but he was unable to see their faces in
the darkness.
"Well, here's a rum go," he heard one of them say.
"Right you are," replied the other. "That chap was about all in, I
reckon. Lucky for him we came along when we did."
"He'd sure gone down in another minute," declared the first speaker,
"I'd never have seen him, it's so tarnational dark, if I hadn't
happened to hit him wid the oar."
"What'll we do with him?" asked the other.
"Dunno, guess we might's well take him to the hole; might have
something on him worth while," was the answer.
They evidently thought that the boy was unconscious, and, in fact, so
nearly played out was he, that he was unable to speak. The man at the
oars, began to row again and soon the light boat was going at a lively
pace, as they were rowing with the wind. Shortly, Jack became
conscious that they were passing under a wharf, as the pace became
slow, and occasionally the boat hit against the piling. The continued
in this way for perhaps ten minutes, and then he felt the bottom of
the boat grate on the shore.
"See if he's come to, Jake," whispered the man who had been rowing.
His companion reached over and shook him roughly by the arm.
"I'm very much obliged to you for pulling me out," said Jack, weakly.
"I sure thought it was all up with me."
"That's all right," said the man in a low voice. "Think ye can stand
up?"
"I don't know, but I guess so. I'll try."
Helped by the man, he succeeded in getting to his feet and crawled
over the side of the boat to the ground.
"I'm pretty wobbly," he gasped, "but I guess I'll be all right in a
few minutes."
"Here, Pete, you take hold of one arm and I'll take the other, and I
guess we'll get him along all right."
Jack stumbled along between the two men, for what seemed a long ways,
but which was in reality only a few rods. He was too tired to take
much notice of his surroundings, but soon saw, by the light of a dark
lantern, which one of the men carried, that they were passing between
heavy piles. Soon they came to a stone wall and it seemed to Jack that
they must be at the end of their journey, but as they came closer, the
light of the lantern showed a small hole, just large enough for a man
to creep through.
"I'll go first," said the man with the lantern, "then let the kid
follow."
He reached through and set the lantern down on the other side, and by
dint of much squeezing and grunting, managed to push himself through.
"Now you go, kid," ordered the other man.
Jack was much smaller than the man who had gone first and crawled
through without much difficulty, followed a moment later by the second
man.
"Now follow me, and mind you, keep close to the wall," whispered the
man who carried the lantern, "and don't ye make any noise."
Jack began to fear that he had fallen into evil hands, but there was
nothing for him to do but to obey and follow where they led.
The light was turned off, and they crept along in the darkness, Jack
keeping one hand against the wall for some distance, when the man who
led whispered, "Now, ye wait here a minute." Jack stopped, and in a
minute heard the man give four raps on what sounded like a door.
Almost instantly he heard a bolt shot back, and the next instant a
door was flung open, letting out a flood of light. By its rays he
could see that they were in a narrow passageway between two stone
abutments.
"What ye got there, Jake?" asked a woman's voice.
"Dunno," was the somewhat surly reply. "Some kid we pulled out the
harbor. Was about all in when we fished him out."
"Well, seems to me yer taking a mighty big risk fetching him in here,"
said the woman somewhat sharply.
"Now don't ye go to butting in, old woman," snapped the man. "I guess
me and Pete knows what we're about."
They had entered the room, and Jack tumbled into a chair, too tired to
stand up. He looked about him and saw that he was in a small room
with a low ceiling and dirty with what seemed the accumulation of
years. The woman who had admitted them might have been anywhere
between thirty and sixty years old, but so dirty and slack looking was
she, that it was impossible to guess her age any nearer. He now got a
good look, for the first time, at the men who had saved him, and saw
that their appearance was wholly in keeping with their surroundings.
The older of the two might have been sixty, while the younger was ten
or fifteen years his junior. Both had hard rough faces, and his heart
sank as he realized how completely he was in their power.
"Well, boy, have ye got yer wind back yet?" asked the older man.
"I guess so," replied Jack, "but I still feel pretty weak.
"S'pose so," grunted the man. "Now how'd ye get into the wet?"
"I was crossing on a ferryboat and some one came up behind me and
pushed me over."
"Pshaw, ye don't say so!" exclaimed the younger man. "Now what de ye
suppose he did that for?"
"I'm sure I don't know," replied Jack, and then as nothing more was
said for a moment, he continued, "I feel stronger now, and if you will
kindly show me to the street, I think I'll go, and," he added, taking
a pocketbook from his inside coat pocket, "if you'll take this
ten-dollar bill for your trouble, I'll still feel very thankful to you
for saving my life." From the look on the faces of the two men, as
they saw the pocketbook, he realized that he had made a grave mistake,
but it was too late now.
"Not so fast, sonny," said the older man, "don't ye think yer life is
worth more than ten dollars? Anyhow, Pete," he said, turning to the
other man, "I reckon we can make mor'n that out of him, eh?"
"Well, I'd hope so," was the reply.
"How much money ye got there, kid?" asked the man called Jake.
"About one hundred dollars," answered Jack, for he saw that they
intended to have it, "and I'll give it all to you if you'll let me go
now."
"What yer say, Pete?" asked Jake, but it was the woman who answered.
"Don't yer let him get away, Jake. Mebby his father'll think his
life's worth a lot mor'n one hundred dollars."
"Good for ye, old woman, mebby we can work that gag." Then, turning to
Jack, he asked, "Who's yer old man, boy?"
Jack hesitated a moment, and the man grabbed him roughly by the arm
and said, "Speak up now, and no funny business, we're not to be fooled
with."
Seeing that it would be useless to resist, he answered, "My father's
name is Golden, and he lives in Maine."
"Got any rocks?" eagerly asked the woman.
"A little, I suppose."
"Huh," she grunted, "I guess when a kid like you runs round with one
hundred dollars, and carrying a gold watch like this," she added,
taking it from his vest pocket, "his old man's got plenty more."
"Well, what do you intend to do with me?" asked Jack more boldly, for
he was not easily scared, and, realizing that he was in the hands of a
gang of harbor thieves, he had made up his mind to put on a bold
front, trusting to his luck to get away. But no one answered him.
"Where's Jim and Joe?" suddenly asked Jake, turning to the woman.
"Gone over to the city."
"When'll they be back?"
"Not much 'fore morning, likely. The boss sent for 'em; said that he
had a job on hand that might take all night."
He then turned to Jack, "Hungry?"
"No," replied Jack, "I had supper, but I'd like to get these wet
clothes off and lie down if you aren't going to let me go."
"Well, I s'pose they do feel kinder oneasy. Say, Mag, take him
upstairs and lock him in the middle room. He can take his duds off,
and they'll dry out by morning. I'm hungry's a bear and want supper,
quick."
"Seem's if you're always hungry," she growled, as she motioned Jack to
follow her. "I'll be back in a jiff, and supper'll be ready's soon I
can git it."
She led him up a flight of dark rickety stairs and, passing along a
narrow hallway, pushed him into a room, saying, "There's a cot there,
and ye can strip and wring out yer duds and they'll dry by morning.
But say, kid, don't yer try to get away, for take it from me, if Jake
catches ye trying anything, he'll do ye up for keeps."
She left him a small lamp with which she had lighted the way up, and
going out, closed and locked the door.
"Guess they forgot all about that one hundred dollars," thought Jack,
as he held up the light and looked about him. The room contained no
window, but there was a small opening in the ceiling, which seemed to
open into a room above. The only thing in the room was an old broken
cot.
"Well," he thought, as he set the light on the floor, "I wasn't long
in getting into trouble after I landed in Boston, that's sure; still I
don't see how I could have avoided it. It must have been that man Reed
who threw me over. He probably followed me, but I don't see why he
tried to kill me. Perhaps he thought I had a clue as to where Bob is,"
he mused.
While these thoughts were running through his mind, he had been taking
off his wet clothes. Stripping to the skin, he wrung out what water he
could, and then spread them out on the floor. "Good thing it's so
hot," he muttered, "or I'd get a fine cold, but I guess there's no
danger in here, as it's hot enough to fry eggs. Well, guess I might as
well take things as easy as possible."
The cot was covered with an old sheet, which, strangely enough, seemed
to be fairly clean, and wrapping it around him, he threw himself on
the cot, too tired even to think any more, and in spite of the heat,
was soon fast asleep.
He dreamed that he was in a baker's shop, where many workmen were
busily engaged baking bread. In some unaccountable manner, he was
changed into an immense loaf of bread, and although he tried his best
to tell the baker that he was a boy and not a loaf of bread, he was
thrown into the oven. The heat grew more and more intense, until
finally, when it seemed that he must be about done, he suddenly awoke.
"Well," was his first thought, "that was a funny dream." Then he sat
up, trying to think where he was. Soon remembrance returned, and with
a groan he sank back.
"Whew, but it's hot in here," he said to himself. "Don't believe I can
get to sleep again; guess I'll turn up the light and see if my clothes
are drying." As he stepped to the floor, the boards seemed almost hot
to his feet.
"Wonder what makes it so awful hot," he thought, as he turned up the
light. Just then, he thought he heard a faint snapping sound from
below, and an instant later, the odor of burning wood came to his
nostrils, while he saw thin puffs of smoke curling up through the
cracks of the floor.
"My goodness," he thought as he realized his position, "the house is
on fire and I'm locked in here!"