THE TWO MEN
The girls need have had no fears. The youth in the boat seemed to know
what he was doing. He was pulling up the anchor rope now, and a moment
later he had the grapple in his scow. Then he let his craft slip down
stream until he was below the _Gem_ and in a position to tow it.
As he did this there was a swirl in the water just above him, and a
queerly-shaped body half arose, falling back with a splash.
The girls had a glimpse of something like a seal, with a queer head, not
unlike that of a small hippopotamus.
"Look!" cried Mollie. "That was no alligator! What in the world is it?"
"That's a manatee--a sea-cow, some folks call 'em!" answered the ragged
youth, as he poled his boat toward them, towing the _Gem_. "They're
harmless, but I had to shoot this one to make him let go. I didn't hurt
him much. I never see one so far inland as this, though. I'll have your
boat there in a minute."
"Don't hurry," said Betty kindly. "As long as she's safe we are all
right. It's awfully kind of you to get her for us. We thought an
alligator had her."
"It was rather queer," said the ragged youth. "I never see a boat towed
by a manatee before. I'll be ashore in a minute."
He was poling his scow over toward the girls, towing their boat in,
aided by the current. A little later he had leaped ashore with the rope,
pulling the anchor after him.
"We're a thousand times obliged to you!" exclaimed Mollie, impulsively.
"We never should have known what to do without our boat. We're from
Bentonville."
"Yes? That's quite a ways down." The youth, in spite of his rags, had a
good-looking face and a pleasant manner. He seemed restless and afraid,
and was constantly glancing about him, as though in fear of seeing
someone or something he did not care to encounter.
"Would you--I mean, can we do anything for you?" half stammered Betty.
She wanted to offer him money, but she did not quite know how he would
accept it. "If you are going down stream," she went on, "we could take
you as far as we are going. If you would come with us, perhaps----"
"Oh, no, I couldn't think of it!" the youth cried--cried out in very
fear, it seemed to Mollie, who was observing him narrowly. "I must go
on--go on alone. I am going for help!"
"For help!" exclaimed Betty. "What is the trouble? Perhaps we can help
you. We are from Mr. Stonington's orange grove, and if we told him you
needed help----"
"No, no!" interrupted the youth, glancing about him nervously. "It isn't
that kind of help. I am trying to help someone else. I--I can't tell
you. But I must be getting on. And will you do me a favor?" he asked
suddenly.
"Of course!" cried Betty. "We will be only too glad to, since you did so
much for us. Only for you our boat might be far up the river now. What
can we do for you?"
"Don't tell anyone you saw me," begged the youth, earnestly. "There are
those who would stop me--take me back where I came from. They are after
me--they may be below me, trying to head me off. If you meet them--meet
any rough-looking men who ask for me--don't tell them about me. Don't
set them after me, please."
"You may be sure we will not!" exclaimed Betty, warmly. "Are you
from----"
"Please don't ask me!" he exclaimed. "It is so much easier to throw
them off the trail if you really know nothing. So don't question me."
"Very well, we won't. But if you are escaping, perhaps you need
money----"
"No, I have some, thank you," and he showed a small roll of bills. "He
gave it to me," and he seemed to indicate, by a nod, someone farther up
the stream.
"Then do you think you will be all right?" asked Mollie. Amy and Grace
had taken no part in the talk. They seemed to be content to look at the
strange youth who had rendered the outdoor girls such a service.
"Oh, yes, I'll be all right," was the answer, but the ragged youth
looked about him apprehensively. "I must be getting on now, after
help--for him. Don't say you saw me--don't tell them anything about me."
"We won't," promised Betty. "You may rely on us."
"Thank you--good-bye!" He stepped into his skiff and quickly poled out
from shore, dropping down with the current. The girls gazed after him
for a moment. Strangely had he come into their lives, and as strangely
gone out, without revealing his identity. And he had done them such a
service, too.
"Well, we have our boat back," remarked Betty, with a sigh of
thankfulness. "I wonder what possessed that sea cow to swim off with
it?"
"Probably it was only an accident," said Mollie. "Well, we certainly
have had a day of it. Now let's get back before anything else happens.
Gracious, how swiftly he is poling along!"
She pointed to the youth, who was almost out of sight at a bend in the
river.
"He wants to get away from those who are after him," observed Grace. "I
wonder if he is a desperate criminal?"
"He didn't look at all like a criminal," spoke Amy. "I think he had a
nice face."
"He wasn't bad looking," admitted Betty. "Poor fellow, he was very
nervous, though."
"And no wonder--meeting four girls at once!" laughed Mollie.
"What shall we do if we meet those men who are after him?" asked Grace.
"I shall be so frightened!"
"We won't meet them!" declared Betty. "If we do we need not speak to
them. But if they insist we can say truthfully that we don't know who
that young fellow was, nor where he went."
"He's out of sight now, at all events," spoke Amy. "I wonder whom he is
going to get help for? I wish he had told us more."
"I don't," answered Betty, promptly. "The less we know the less we can
tell if any men question us. Now let's get aboard and get back. No more
manatees for me!"
The _Gem_ was none the worse for her queer tow, and soon, with the girls
aboard, was dropping down stream again. The strange youth was not in
sight, even when the turn of the river was made, but he may have poled
off into one of the many little bayous, or tributary streams, that
joined the main one.
"I'm glad he's out of sight," murmured Grace. "If those men should come
after him----"
She stopped suddenly, and stared ahead. There, coming around a turn in
the river, was a small motor boat containing two men, who, at the sight
of the _Gem_, headed directly for her, at the same time indicating by
gestures that they wished to speak to those aboard.