THE CHASE ON THE LAKE
"He means to give us as much of a chase as possible," remarked
Tom, as he glanced over his shoulder. "If I remember rightly,
Baxter was always a pretty fair oarsman."
"Yes, that was the one thing he could do well," returned Dick.
"But we ought to be able to catch him, Tom."
"We could if we had two pairs of oars. One pair can do just about
so much and no more."
"Nonsense! Now, both together, and put all your muscle into it,"
and Dick set a stiff stroke that his brother followed with
difficulty.
Baxter had been rowing down the lake, but as soon as he saw that
he was being pursued he changed his course for the east shore. He
was settled to his work, and for several minutes it was hard to
tell whether he was holding his own or losing.
"Hurrah! we are catching up!" cried Dick, after pulling for five
minutes. "Keep at it, Tom, and we'll have him before he is half
over."
"Gosh, but it's hot work!" came with a pant from Tom Rover. "He
must be almost exhausted to row like that."
"He knows what he has at stake. He sees the prison cell staring
him in the face again. You'd do your best, too, if you were in
his place."
"I'm doing my best now, Dick. On we go!" and Tom renewed his
exertions. Dick set a faster stroke than ever, having caught his
second wind, and the rowboat flew over the calm surface of the
lake like a thing of life.
"Keep off!" The cry came from Baxter, while he was still a
hundred yards from the eastern shore. "Keep off, or it will be
the worse for you!"
"We are not afraid of you, Baxter, and you ought to know it by
this time," answered Dick. "You may as well give in now as later
on."
"Give in! You must be crazy!"
"We are two to one, and you know what we have been able to do in
the past."
"Humph! I don't intend to go to jug again, and that is all there
is to it."
"Maybe you can't help yourself."
"We'll see about that. Are you--going to keep off or not?
"Don't ask foolish a question."
"You won't keep off?"
"No."
"If you don't I--I'll shoot you."
As Dan Baxter spoke he stopped rowing and brought from a hip
pocket a highly polished nickel-plated revolver.
"Do you see this?" he demanded, as he pointed the weapon toward
the Rover boys.
Both Dick and Tom were taken aback at the sight of the weapon.
But they had seen such arms before, and had faced them,
consequently they were not as greatly alarmed as they right
otherwise have been. They knew, too, that Dan Baxter was a
notoriously bad shot.
"Put that up, Baxter," said Dick calmly. "It may only get you
into deeper trouble."
"I don't care!" said the bully recklessly. "I'm not going back to
jail and that is all there, is to it!"
"You won't dare to shoot at us, and you know it," put in Tom, as
the two boats drifted closer together.
"I will, and don't you fool yourself on it."
"Drop those oars or I'll fire, as sure as my name is Dan Baxter,"
and the revolver, which had been partly lowered, was raised a
second time.
It must be confessed that Dick and Tom were much disconcerted.
The two rowboats were now less than fifty feet apart, and any kind
of a shot from the weapon was likely to prove more or less
dangerous. Baxter's eyes gleamed with the hatred of an angry
snake ready to strike.
"You think you are smart, you Rover boys," said the bully, after
an awkward pause all around. "You think you did a big thing in
rescuing Dora Stanhope and in putting me and my father and Buddy
Girk in prison. But let me tell you that this game hasn't come to
an end yet, and some day we intend to square accounts."
"There is no use in wasting breath in this fashion, Baxter,"
returned Dick, as calmly as he could. "We are two to one, and the
best thing to do is for you to submit. If you fire on us, we may
do a little shooting on our own account."
"Humph! Do you imagine you can scare me in that fashion? You
haven't any pistol, and I know it. If you had you would have
drawn the weapon long ago."
At this Dick bit his lip. "Don't be too sure," he said steadily,
as the boats drifted still closer together. "The minute I heard
you had escaped from jail I went and bought a pistol in
Cedarville." This was the strict truth, but Dick did not add that
the weapon lay at that moment safe in the bottom of his trunk at
the Hall.
"Got afraid I'd come around, eh?"
"I knew there was nothing like becoming prepared. Now will you--"
Dick did not have time to finish, for, lowering the front end of
the pistol, Dan Baxter pulled the trigger twice and two reports
rang out in quick succession. One bullet buried itself in the
seat beside Tom, while the second plowed its way through the
bottom, near the stern.
"You villain!" cried Dick, and in his excitement hurled his oar at
Dan Baxter, hitting the fellow across the fact with such force
that the bully's nose began to bleed. The shock made Baxter lose
his hold on the pistol and it went over the side of his craft and
sank immediately to the bottom of the lake.
"My, but that was a close shave!" muttered Tom, as he gazed at the
hole through the seat. "A little closer and I would have got it
in the stomach."
A yell now came from Sam, and a shriek from the girls, all of whom
had heard the pistol shots. They were too far away to see the
result of the shooting and feared both Tom and Dick had been
killed or wounded.
As quickly as he could recover from the blow of the oar, Dan
Baxter picked up his own blades, and without paying attention to
the blood which was flowing from his nose, began once again to
pull for the shore.
"Come on, his pistol is gone!" shouted Dick, and then his face
fell. "Confound it, I've thrown away my oar! There it goes!" And
he pointed some distance to their left.
"That isn't the worst of it!" groaned Tom. "Look at that hole in
the bottom, made by that pistol shot. The water is coming in just
as fast as it can."
There was small need to call attention to it, for the water in the
bottom of the boat was already an inch deep. Dick started in
perplexity, then, struck by a sudden idea, drew a lead pencil from
his pocket and rammed it into the opening. It fitted very well,
and the water ceased, to come in.
"Now we'll have to bail out and pick up that other oar," said Tom.
"It was foolish to throw it away, Dick."
"I don't know about that. It deprived Baxter of his pistol.
Paddle over, and I'll pick it up." Tom did so, and the blade was
speedily recovered.
But Dan Baxter had made good use of the precious moments lost by
the Rover boys, and hardly were the latter into shape for rowing
once more than they saw the bully beach his craft and leap out on
the shore. "Good-by to you!" he cried mockingly. "I told you
that you couldn't catch me. The next time we meet I'll make you
sorry that you ever followed me," and he started to run off with
all possible speed.
Tom and Dick were too chagrined to answer him, and pulled forward
to the shore in silence. They ran the craft into some bushes and
tied up, and then started after Baxter, who was now making for the
woods south of the village of Nelson.
When the highway skirting this portion of Cayuga Lake was gained
Dan Baxter was a good five hundred feet ahead of them. A turn in
the road soon hid him from view. Gaining the bend they discovered
that he had disappeared from view altogether.
"He has taken to the woods," sighed Dick.
"If that is so we may as well give the hunt up," answered his
brother. "It would be worse than looking for a pin in a haystack,
for we wouldn't know what direction he had taken."
"I wish I had a bloodhound with which to trail him. He ought to
be run down, Tom."
"Well, let us notify some of the people living near and see what
can be done."
They ran on to the spot where they supposed Baxter had left the
highway. On both sides were dense thickets of cedars with heavy
underbrush. All in all, the locality formed an ideal hiding
place.
Night was coming on by the time they gained the nearest farmhouse.
Here they found three men, to whom they explained the situation.
All of the men smiled grimly.
"If he went into the woods it would be a hard job to trail him,"
was the comment from Farmer Mason. "If he ain't careful he'll
lose himself so completely he'll never git out, b'gosh!"
"Well, I don't know but what that would suit me," responded Tom
dryly.
The search was begun, and several others joined in. It lasted
until night was fairly upon the party and was then given up in
disgust.
"It's no use," said Dick. "He has slipped us!"
"But we ought to notify the authorities," said Tom. "They will
probably put a detective on his track."
"Yes; but a detective can't do any more than we can, up in this
wild locality."
"He won't remain in the woods forever. He'll starve to death."
"Well, we can send the police a telegram from Cedarville."
This was done, and the Rover boys returned to Putnam Hall by way
of the side road leaving past the homes of the Stanhopes and the
Lanings. They found Sam and the girls very anxious concerning
their welfare.
"We were afraid you had been shot," said Dora. "I am thankful
that you escaped."
"So am I," put in Sam. "But it's too bad that Baxter got away. I
wonder where he will turn up next."
They all wondered, but could not even venture an answer. Soon the
boys left the girls and hurried to the academy, where their story,
had to be told over again. Captain Putnam looked exceedingly
grave over the narrative.
"You must be careful in the future, lads," he said. "Remember,
you are in my care here. I do not know what your uncle would say
if anything should happen to you."
"We will be on our guard in the future," answered Dick. "But I am
awfully sorry we didn't catch him."
"So am I. But perhaps the authorities will have better luck," and
there the talk came to an end, and the boys retired for the night.