DISAPPOINTMENTS
"Come On, Dick, the man must not escape!" cried Jack excitedly.
"Excuse us, Doctor, we've got to watch him. Come ahead, Dick!"
Both boys left the cottage in haste, seeing the man running toward
the river when they reached the outside.
"Hello! stop that man!" shouted Dick.
"Catch him!" echoed Jack.
Jack's boat was at the shore, not hauled up on the bank as usual,
and now this man made directly for it, sprang in, started the engine
in a few moments, and was out on the river as the two boys and some
others came running down.
"I am going to take your boat, J.W., if it's ready!" shouted Jack
to young Smith whom he saw approaching. "I must catch that fellow!"
"All right, Jack!" cried the boy. "Do what you like with it."
Jack sprang into the smaller boy's boat, started the engine and set
off after the runaway at a good speed.
The man was going up the river, and already had a good lead, but Jack
did not hesitate, relying on getting help to stop him before he had
gone much farther, or, at any rate, when he reached town, where he
was evidently making his way.
The fugitive kept as close in to shore as possible, and made the
highest speed he could; Jack realized that his boat was a good one,
and would have some trouble to keep it in sight, although young
Smith's boat was capable of making good time.
"I am glad I know what young J.W.'s boat can do," he said to
himself, "and if that fellow had not had a lead on me I would have
been up to him by this time. I think I can beat him in the long
run, as he does not know my boat as well as I do, and I know this
one now."
Jack hoped that by the time he reached town he might get aid to stop
the man even if he had not overhauled him, and he kept on at a good
rate.
"That fellow must know something about motor-boats," he thought,
"for he is managing mine in good shape. I could do better with her,
but he is doing very well. I only wish some one would come along so
as to head him off. I don't like to lose him."
When they neared the mouth of the kill Jack shot a hasty glance ahead
to see if there was any one coming to whom he could shout, and saw a
little tug put out from the railroad dock.
He was about to shout to them when to his great annoyance he saw the
man in his boat shoot into the kill and disappear.
"H'm! I don't know where he will go now!" he muttered in disappointment,
hurrying after the fugitive.
He was not far behind as it was, and as he entered the creek, having
put on extra speed, he saw the man only a short distance ahead.
Not far away there was a turn in the creek, and the runaway presently
disappeared around it, Jack following and gaining ground.
In a short time he came in sight not of the man, but of his boat, tied
up at the bank, the man having disappeared.
"Well, I have my boat at any rate," laughed Jack rather ruefully, "and
that is something I suppose. I wanted the man, but I shall have to
be satisfied with what I can get."
He got into his own boat, and towed the other out of the creek and
down the river, disappointed, of course, but, on the whole, glad that
it was no worse, and that he had not lost his boat.
He met Percival and some of the boys on his way back, the boys
questioning him excitedly as they came up.
"Did you get him, Jack?"
"You have got your own boat back anyhow. Did you catch him?"
"How did he get away, Jack?" asked Percival. "Did he put up a fight?"
"No, he ran into the kill, and as soon as he got out of sight around
a bend tied up my boat and skipped out," said Jack in a tone of
disgust.
"That's too bad. I hoped that you would catch him"
"Young J.W. will think all the more of his boat after this," said
Billy Manners. "You made it go, Jack."
"Haven't I told him that he could get speed out of a canal-boat?"
Percival retorted with a laugh.
"No one will want to race with Jesse W. after this," remarked
Arthur. "They won't make fun of his boat now, nor of him either."
"Well, he got away from me," said Jack, as the boys turned and went
back with him, "and now I suppose he will be harder than ever to
find. He has not got the watch anyhow."
When the boys reached camp supper had already started, but Bucephalus
looked after them, and the doctor readily excused them on account of
the importance of their errand.
"He got away from me, Doctor," said Jack, "but I recovered my
boat and that is something."
"Percival told me of the conversation you heard this afternoon,
and so I readily, understood why you were so anxious to apprehend
the man. I was prepared to turn the watch over to him, being
convinced that he was the owner, and your accusation came as a
great surprise, therefore."
After supper Jack suggested to Percival that they go up to the
Van der Donk house and see the nurse, as they might learn more
about the man who had claimed the watch.
"It is a good idea, Jack," said Dick, "but I guess you will need to
be careful how you proceed with that excitable creature, who is
ready to go up in the air at the slightest notice."
"Yes, it will be necessary to observe caution if we wish to learn
anything. These foreigners are very excitable, especially the women,
and one has to be cautious in dealing with them."
Early in the evening the two boys went up to the Van der Donk house,
being met by Margaret, who seemed very glad to see them, and said:
"We have been busy putting things to rights, and if it does not look
very tidy here you must excuse it. Gabrielle has gone away, no one
knows why or where."
Jack glanced significantly at Percival, and said carelessly:
"Gabrielle? She was the nurse?"
"Yes, and I have been obliged to look after the baby, to help the
maids with the cleaning and dusting, to assist the cook, to look
after things generally and to keep father and mother from getting
into the dumps."
"Did Gabrielle do all these things?"
"Oh, no, but when one maid goes the others want to, and it has been
a difficult matter to keep them all contented and busy. Gabrielle
was a good nurse, but a bit flighty and quite excitable."
"But you don't know that she has gone for good?"
"She took her boxes, and went away very unexpectedly. It may have
been on account of the fire, but we don't know. She has never gone
away like this before, but I suppose an excitable person, such as
she was, is liable to do strange things at any time."
"It must be very awkward to be without help at such a time, and
if we are any trouble---"
"Oh, no, don't think of going," said Margaret hurriedly. "By the
way, did you find an owner for the watch?"
"We have had several claimants, but no real owner," said Jack. "It
is a very handsome one, and almost anybody might be excused for
wanting it."
"Yes, indeed. I would like very much to have it myself. How could
it have been here when it does not belong to any one in our family?"
"There were strangers here last night, and we think that the man who
stole it put it in Jack's pocket by mistake when he saw that the
police were watching him."
"But we did not miss anything ourselves. One would think that if
thieves were about they would try to pick up something when there
was so much excitement. It seems very mysterious to me."
"Yes, and to every one," said Percival. Mr. and Mrs. Van der Donk
came in shortly, and for a time there was a very pleasant
conversation, but at last the old gentleman got upon the subject of
his family, and before long the boys were yawning, and the old lady
fast asleep.
"You will have to excuse us," said Percival, getting up, "but we
boys had very little sleep last night, and we have to be back at
nine o'clock in any event."
The boys took their leave, and when once clear of the house Percival
said with a grin:
"I could not stand the old man and his genealogy, although we could
have stayed an hour longer easily."
"I saw that you were beginning to yawn, and I must confess that I felt
a bit drowsy myself."
"We won't find out anything about the watch through that girl, Jack,"
said Percival a little later. "Our plans of being cautious and all
that did not amount to anything."
"No, and we are as much in the dark as before regarding the real
owner. We may never know who he is, Dick."
"It looks like that," said Dick.