THE LEATHER BAG MISSING
When Clay went to the cashier's desk to pay the check for the meals
the two boys had eaten, also with a view of finding out what was known
there of the red-headed man, he asked the first question which came
into his mind.
"Is that the sheriff--the tall man with the red hair?"
The cashier eyed the boy keenly for a moment and then answered the
question by asking one, as many who wait on the public have a habit of
doing.
"Why? Do you want to see the sheriff?" he asked, suspiciously.
Clay was provoked, but tried not to show it as he replied,
"I thought I knew the man, that's all. Perhaps I was mistaken, for he
would have recognized me, I'm certain, if he had ever seen me before."
"Well, that's not the sheriff," the cashier replied, more civilly; "I
don't know who he is. He came in here this forenoon, for the first
time, with those two men, and he has been in here twice since. There
are others with him, too, for people kept coming in and making reports
of some kind to him. One made a sign to him, through the glass, while
you were eating. He may be a crook, for all I know."
Clay thanked the cashier and went away, turning in the direction of
the river front immediately. At the next corner he came face to face
with the cashier of the bank where he had secured the deposit box. The
banker extended a hand in greeting.
"I was just wishing," he said, "that I could run across you this
afternoon. I have a little spare time, and I'd like to look over that
wonderful boat of yours. Not long ago I saw a full-page description of
your river trips in a Chicago newspaper."
"Come along, then," Clay replied. "You'll have a good chance to see it
by daylight if you go now. It isn't very much of a boat, but we're
proud of it. It is just an ordinary motor boat, with electrical
attachments which provide for lighting and cooking. There's also a
little refrigerator, cooled by water, and a container for holding
electricity in storage, so we have plenty of light when the boat is
not running. But come along and take a look at it."
As the two walked arm-in-arm down the street two men fell in behind
them, moving as they moved, fast or slow, and stopping whenever the
cashier drew up to explain some city feature to the boy. After a
couple of blocks of this work, the two walked faster and, coming in
advance of the two they had followed, turned about and greeted the
cashier warmly. They were promptly introduced to Clay as Hilton and
Carney.
"We're just going to the river to look over the _Rambler_, the famous
motor boat we have talked so much about," Benson, the cashier said.
"If Mr. Emmett, here, has no objections, I'd like to have you go along
with us."
"No objections whatever," Clay responded. "There isn't much to see,
but such as it is you are welcome to have a look."
Clay did not observe the significant look which passed from the
cashier to the two men, as they walked along toward the boat. They
soon reached the pier and went aboard the _Rambler_, finding Case,
Chet, Jule and Mose there. The bear cub attracted a great deal of
attention, and Chet seemed to take special interest in the doings of
the party.
The three men did not hurry themselves at all, but took their time
about everything. They inspected the bunks and the cupboard, and even
looked into the storage places under the decks and the cabin floor.
Clay was with them most of the time, but now and then they halted and
conversed together in low tones, so, of course, the boy dropped away
from the group. He considered this a strange proceeding on the part of
the guests, but said nothing.
Finally they asked Clay all sorts of questions about their progress
down the river, when they left Rock Island, when they touched at St.
Louis, and when they reached Cairo. The boy, though wondering,
answered the rather personal questions frankly.
It was almost dark when the visitors left the boat. Their last visit
had been made to the cabin, to inspect the electric stove, and they
passed the boys on the prow as they went ashore. For a time after
their departure the boys discussed the unusual conduct of the
visitors, and then Chet and Clay went in to prepare supper.
Taking advantage of a momentary absence of Chet from the cabin, Clay
looked in the hiding-place where he had left the leather bag in which
the diamonds had been brought on shore. The bag was gone! Clay
hastened out on deck to meet two astonished boys.
"Say," Case said, "what's come over Chet? He came out of the cabin
like a shot and jumped off on the pier. Then, without even stopping to
look back, he ran down into the city! What have you been doing to
him?"
Clay stood for a moment like one incapable of speech, then he dropped
into a deck-chair and laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks.
Captain Joe and Teddy joined the others in their criticism of his
strange actions.
"You didn't get too many high balls while in the city, did you?" asked
Case.
"You might have kept sober enough to bring Alex. back with you!" Jule
put in.
"Ah believe yo' done scare dat lad off de boat!" little Mose
suggested.
"Well," Clay explained, presently, "I suppose I ought to treat the
matter more seriously, for we may have lost Chet for good, but it is
funny for all that."
"Why don't you pass it around?" demanded Case. "Let us in on the
laugh!"
"You all know what I did with the articles we found on Chet," Clay
responded. "Well, when I took the valuables out of the leather bag, I
put burrs from the repair kit and pieces of broken dishes into the bag
and hid it where I thought Chet might find it if he looked long
enough."
"I don't see anything funny in that," observed Case, with a frown.
"Just wait! When I looked for the bag, just now, it was gone, and the
next thing I hear is that Chet has taken to his heels. You see what
has happened!"
"The poor little chap!" exclaimed Case. "I'm sorry for him."
"So am I," Clay agreed, "but he ought to have been honest with us."
"We knew what to expect," Jule suggested. "He said he'd get the gems
back if he could, didn't he? Now he thinks he's got them, and is
lugging off a lot of truck not worth a cent! I call that a shame!"
Clay looked thoughtful for a second and then burst out:
"But is he? Look here, fellows," he went on, excitedly, "suppose he
never took the bag at all! Suppose Chet found it and changed his mind
about running off with it! Suppose one of the visitors took it!
Suppose that is what they were here for; suppose Chet missed it as
soon as they went away and chased on after them!"
"You said the visitors were bankers!" exploded Jule. "What about
that?"
"One of them was, but I don't know anything about the others. Strange
they should all be so eager to inspect the _Rambler_! Strange they
should get off by themselves and talk in whispers! I reckon we're
knee-deep in mystery!"
"Well, where did you leave Alex.?" asked Jule. "He hasn't come back
yet!"
"And here's another funny thing," Clay went on, without answering the
question, directly. "We saw Red, the Robber, up town, dressed like a
gentleman! Alex. followed him out of the place where we saw him, and
may have got into trouble!"
"Then the stealing of the bag is Red's work!" decided Case. "No need
to guess about that any more! How he got his men in with the banker I
don't know, but he did it, and one of them took it, and poor Chet saw
that it was gone, and now he is following a bag filled with crockery
about the city!"
"Pshaw!" Jule exclaimed. "It is dollars to doughnuts that Chet got the
bag himself! He said he'd swipe it if he got a chance. You all know
that!"
A figure now came dashing down the pier at break-neck speed and Alex.
leaped on the deck and dropped into a chair, wiping the sweat from his
face.
"Did you find who he was?" asked Clay, as the boys all gathered around
Alex.
Alex. told the story of the steamer and the wrecked stateroom, and
ended with the talk he had had with Red, while the boys looked on in
wonder at the odd twist things were getting into. Even Teddy Bear
seemed impressed by the mystery, Jule declared!
"And how did you get away from him?" demanded Case. "How did you get
back here?"
"I jumped and ran, and he caught me," was the reply. "Then he made me
promise not to say a word about his escapade on the _Rambler_ and let
me go! Can you beat it?"
"What did he have you locked up for?" asked Clay. "I don't understand
that."
"Just because he wanted that promise," Alex. suggested. "Is that the
answer?"
"It may be," Clay admitted, "but here's the question: Is he a robber
or a detective? Is he on the level, or is he just a clever scoundrel?"
"Perhaps Alex. can judge better of that when he knows what has taken
place here," Case suggested, going on with the story of the
disappearance of the leather bag.
"Red's gang got it," laughed Alex., without a moment's hesitation, as
Case finished the story. "He knew Clay put something in the bank, and
asked me what it was. Yes, we know all about it now!"
"I just believe Chet took the bag, thinking the gems were in it,"
insisted Jule.
"We'll never know the truth until we find the lad," Clay said, with a
sigh.
"Unless Red, the Robber, shows up again in a confidential mood," Alex.
laughed.
"If the supplies I ordered are all in," Clay went on, "I think we'd
better be on our way. There's mystery in the very air here!"
"If we stay here long," Alex. prophesied, "the coon I biffed on the
shin may show up, lookin' for revenge, or Red may come after pay for
the furniture I smashed!"
"What did he say about that furniture?" grinned Jule. "You've got the
nerve!"
"He never mentioned it," was the reply. "Say," the lad went on, "I
believe that chap is all to the good, after all! He seemed to think
the smash act was funny."
During the afternoon Case and Mose had caught a large fish and Chet
had succeeded in bringing down a wild duck, so the cooking of supper
was an elaborate affair. Then Clay made light biscuits and coffee, and
fried potatoes, and the boys were as happy as well-fed boys with no
one to "boss," usually are, except that they missed Chet.
After supper they discussed the proposition of waiting there a day in
the hope of finding the runaway boy, but it was finally decided that
he could find them easier than they could find him, so they started
the motors and went on toward the Gulf.
The early part of the night was bright, so the boys ran down about
twenty miles, as the river ran, and then tied up below a "tow-head"
which stuck up out of the water below an island of good size. They
found it necessary to take this precaution always, for the wash of
large steamers passing up and down would have rattled things in the
_Rambler_, if the motor boat was not capsized.
At midnight the sky became overcast with threatening clouds and the
wind blew in fitful gusts. There seemed to be no danger of their being
disturbed by visitors that night, but all the same they thought best
to station a watchman, and Case volunteered to keep awake and see that
"no one flew away with the boat," as he expressed it.
Somewhere about two o'clock in the morning, the boy, who was having
hard work keeping awake, heard the puff and bellow of an approaching
steamer, toiling up against the strong current. Almost at the same
instant he felt a jar, as if the boat had been struck by floating
driftwood. He switched on the prow light to see what was doing, but
quickly extinguished it as the steamer came up and a heavy rowboat
dropped away from her!