Case slept a long time in his chair on the deck of the _Rambler_. The
currents pulled at the anchor chain, and now and then a floating
derelict of a log or discarded box bumped against the sharp-nosed prow,
but the boy was tired, mentally and physically, and did not mind in the
least.
Teddy, the bear cub, nosed close to him, seeking physical warmth from
the chill of the night, and finally went to sleep himself. When Alex and
Captain Joe looked back from the rim of sand which lay between the shore
line and Chimney Peak, there were no lights to be seen on board the
motor boat—only the bulk of the craft outlined against a starlit sky.
Finally, when Case did awake, it was with a sense of impending danger.
There is a quality in the human brain which stirs at the vibrations of a
hostile influence, and Case felt it now.
It was not long before he understood this threat fully, for his chair
was knocked from under his body and he fell with a bump on the deck,
lighting on Teddy, who set up a most dismal howling. While the cub
scrambled out from under the boy’s legs, there came a commotion in the
cabin. Case tried to get up, for he knew that a struggle was on there.
But he was not permitted to get up. There was a strong hand at his
throat and a knee which dripped water on his chest.
“All right!” some one said, in the direction of the cabin.
“All right here!” the figure above Case replied, and then the boy was
jerked to his feet. “I’ll bring him along in. Get a move on, kid!”
At first Case thought it was King’s voice, but in a second he saw that
it was not, for the fellow broke into a series of oaths and cries of
pain as Teddy seized him by the leg and set his sharp teeth together.
“Come out here!” the fellow shouted. “Come out here and kill this bear!
He’s chewing my leg off. Hurry up! Bring a gun, too!”
There was a movement in the cabin and the door opened. Case saw that
Clay and Don were in no better shape to prevent the murder of the cub
than himself. He was afraid that the little bear had used his teeth once
too often. But Case usually acted on the theory that a game is never out
until it is played out, and he did so on this occasion.
“Take a swim, Teddy!” he shouted to the bear, giving him a push with one
foot. “Take a run and jump into the river. Get busy now!”
The cub had often heard these words. When the boys were ready for a
river bath Teddy was usually ready, too, and he was always addressed in
the words Case used now, or some almost exactly like them.
So the bear, thinking, doubtless, that a new game was on, gave one
parting snap at the fellow’s leg and went headfirst into the river. Case
tripped the man who ran to the railing with a revolver in his hand, and
was rewarded by a violent blow on the head.
“Coming! Coming, Teddy! Get a move on!” Case called out to the bear, and
it was with a good deal of satisfaction that he heard the intelligent
animal snorting with the race spirit as he made clumsily for the shore.
Doubtless the bear wondered why Case was not at his heels on this, as on
other occasions, but he kept on swimming and so escaped death.
Dazed as he was by the blow he had received, Case heard the fellow
shooting at Teddy, and heard Clay and Don arguing with the men who were
the cause of the commotion in the cabin.
“Come!” the boy heard a hoarse voice saying, “we have no time to lose.
“You boys went to a bank at Yuma to-day and drew out a lot of money and
a package of government bonds. We want them! Produce!”
“You are mistaken,” Clay replied, his voice sounding harsh and strained,
as if he was just out of a struggle. “We put our money in the bank, and
the bonds in the bank. We drew nothing out. Take what I have in my
pocket and go. There’s nothing else here for you.”
Case heard one of the men rattling the coal stove, and a shudder of
horror went through him. Would the midnight raiders be brutal enough to
resort to torture? He had heard of terrible, inhuman things that river
pirates had done. He tried to get up, but was held fast.
“Here!” a voice in the cabin said. “Don’t wait to heat up that old
stove! Just turn the electric current on this coil. That will prevent
his going to bed with cold feet to-night!”
“He is telling the truth about the money and bonds,” Case said to his
captor. “They were left in the bank at Yuma, and he gave another lad
money enough to get to Chicago, so we're about broke.”
“Tell that to the marines!” chuckled the other. “We know what we are
doing, all right. You were seen to take the money away from the Yuma
bank! He’ll remember about it as soon as the coils get hot, too!”
“Some one lied to you about the transaction at the bank,” Case insisted.
“Who said we took the money and bonds away?”
“I wish I had that fool bear back here!” Case’s captor snarled. “I’d
burn his teeth out of his head! I shall be lame for a month.”
“Who told you we took the money and bonds away?” persisted the boy.
“Why, an old gentleman who stood close by saw you, and we heard him
speaking about it later. He said it wasn’t safe for boys like you to
have so much ready money in this wild country, and we agreed with him.
So we are going to help you take care of it. You’ll hear that fresh kid
inside telling the truth as soon as his feet touch the hot coils.”
“If you brutes burn Clay,” Case declared, “we’ll give up our trip up the
river and follow you to the end of the world but we’ll bring you to the
gallows! You just remember that!”
“You’ll crow lower when your own feet feel the fire!” laughed the other.
“You’re brave, all right, but you’re a fool, too!”
Case threw himself back on the deck and closed his eyes. Every instant
he expected to hear Clay’s cries of anguish as the torture began. There
seemed to be no help anywhere. Don was as helpless as himself.
All around the boat the night shut down, chill, silent, inscrutable. Far
up the stream the lights of a small town shone indistinctly. To the west
the peaks of Chimney mountain rose into the starlit sky. From the ocean,
a long distance away, a light wind ruffled the water.
Everywhere was peace, and everywhere the great facts of Nature stood in
friendly attitude to each other. It was only the human element that was
warring! There seemed to be no hope of rescue anywhere!
Case blamed himself for sleeping while on watch. He blamed Captain Joe
for not giving the alarm when these ruffians sneaked on board. But where
was the dog? He had not seen him since his rude awakening. And where was
Alex? He had not heard the boy’s voice in the cabin. He knew that Alex
would be doing a lot of talking if present!
The boy knew that there were four men on board. He could hear a craft of
some kind bumping against the side, and so he knew that they had
followed the _Rambler_ from Yuma by way of the river. He could not see
the faces in the cabin, for the door was kept closed, but he could hear
the preparations for torture going on!
He lay not far from the hatch which covered the motors when the boat was
at anchor. If he could only get a little closer and run his hand down
into the pit he might be able to switch off the electric current so the
coils would not heat. He resolved to try.
Things were not going well in the cabin, for the boy heard the captors
snarling and cursing at the coils. They did not seem to understand how
to turn on the current, and so there was delay. Case pushed along to the
hatch. As he did so his enemy released his hold for a moment and turned
toward the cabin, saying as he did so:
“If you chumps don’t know how to run that stove come out here and guard
this kid and I’ll do the work myself! It is easy enough!”
The fellow started for the cabin and one of the men inside turned toward
the deck. For just an instant Case was free. He reached over to the
hatch, lifted it so as to get his hand into the pit and turned off the
electric current from the containers. In a second the boat was in
darkness, and the pirates were groping about for their prisoners!
Case made a quick motion toward the railing, but was seized and drawn
back. Clay and Don, who had succeeded in getting out of the cabin, were
thrust back again. Still, the turning off of the current had resulted in
delay, and that was something.
Clay called out to Case to know if he was still alive, and was given a
courageous reply. Case’s guard bent over him with clenched fists.
“You turned off the electricity!” he shouted.
“Turn it on again, or I’ll spoil your face for you. Do it quick, too!”
There seemed to be no help for it. Case took all the time he could in
lifting the hatch and turning the switch, but at last the lights flared
up again, making the boat as light as day, for during the dark interval
one of the men had turned the switch which fed the prow light.
While Case lay there, not daring to move hand or foot, his mind went
back to Alex and the dog. Had they been killed at the first moment of
invasion? Had they resisted and been thrown into the river?
“Come, now,” a voice in the cabin said, “you may as well tell us where
the money is. We are bound to have it, you know!”
“I have told you the truth about the money?” Clay responded.
“Heat up the coils!” shouted the first speaker. “We’ll have to warm his
feet for him! It is a cool night, anyway, and it may do him good.”
The boys listened for some sound of life on the river—for some trading
boat to come creeping up! But there were no indications of the approach
of any river craft whatever. Still, there was a slight jar!
Perhaps the _Rambler_ had been struck by a floating log! Perhaps an eddy
had sent the boat pulling harder against her chain! There was a slight
movement on the aft deck. Perhaps the dog had been asleep there, or
perhaps Teddy had returned to the _Rambler_ and was creeping up out of
the water The deck guard stepped to the prow to shut off the light.
Then a shot came from the rear, and the pirate threw up his hands,
balanced unsteadily on the rail for an instant, and fell into the river
like a stone. Case sprang out of the way as the fellow’s companions
rushed from the cabin, brandishing their guns and demanding to know who
had done the shooting.
Other shots came in quick succession, and another pirate dropped limply
to the deck while the remaining two sprang over the railing and, not
stopping to secure their small launch, struck out for the shore.
When Clay and Don came out of the cabin they found Alex and Captain Joe
watching the two heads bobbing in the water. Case had arisen to his feet
and was looking with all his eyes at Teddy, perched in a boxing attitude
on the roof of the cabin.
There was little excitement in Alex’s face as he turned to Clay.
“I ought to shoot them both,” he said, pointing to the swimmers. “I know
what they were about to do. Shall I shoot them?”
Clay shook his head and Alex put up his revolver.
“How did it happen?” the latter asked. “Who are those men?”
“They are river pirates,” Clay replied, “and I don’t know how it
happened. Case was on guard, but the first thing I knew the men were in
the cabin, holding a gun in my face. I guess Case must have been
asleep.”
“I was,” Case said, sheepishly. “I ought to be shot!”
“He was asleep when I went away,” Alex, with a sly wink, contributed. “I
ought to have got him up, but he looked too sleepy!”
“Where did you go?” demanded Case. “You’re a fine boy, not to make me
get up and attend to business! And Captain Joe must have been sound
asleep, too, or he would have given the alarm!”
“Captain Joe went to the beach with me,” the boy cut in. “We were just
striking out for the mountain when we saw that something unusual was
going on on board the _Rambler_. Then I saw Teddy swimming to shore and
he told me what was doing! At least he insisted with his teeth on my
returning right off. Guess we got back here just in time!”
“I guess you did!” Clay admitted. “The pirates were thinking of warming
my feet! I almost wish you had killed them all!”
A motion on the deck caught the attention of the boys, and Clay went out
to find the pirate who had fallen at the second shot trying to crawl to
the railing. The boy did not interfere. The wounded man reached the
railing at last and threw himself into the river.
“I don’t believe he is strong enough to swim ashore,” Clay said, “but
we’ll leave that part to him. If he lives, he’ll be hanged some day, so
he may as well drown now. Any man who will resort to physical torture to
extort money has no claims whatever on humanity.”
“Now,” Don observed, with a quiet smile, “suppose we go on up the river?
You boys were having trouble enough with me before this pack of pirates
took the notion to steal my money from you. It seems to me that the only
safe place for us is up in the Grand Canyon! I move that we get under
way to-night and keep going as long as the river will permit.”
“That’s good advice,” Clay replied. “We’ll get as far away from this
country as possible before daylight! This thing is getting on my own
nerves! I’ve been looking for a quiet week or two, but I haven’t found
them.”
The boys lost no time in getting the motors started. Then followed
beautiful days on the river. The boys fished and slept and held boxing
tournaments with Teddy, and sailed on under the sun and under the stars
until the banks grew higher, the mountains closer to the river, and they
knew that they must begin to take great care in navigating, for the
Colorado river is not noted for its peaceful disposition!
One night they drew into a little creek running into the Colorado from
the California side and built a roaring fire on the shore.
“Across the river,” Case said, pointing, “are the Blue Ridge mountains,
and the summits you see are Mount Perkins and Mount Davis. Ten or
fifteen miles up the river is Black Canyon, and thirty miles above the
entrance to the canyon is Fortification Rock! There the Colorado turns
to the east. Here our wild sport begins.”