Case had expressed the situation exactly in answering Frank’s question
as to why the boys did not go into the cabin and release Captain Joe.
The prow light cast a circle of illumination over the forward deck and
also over the water between the prow and the shore.
Anyone stepping into that circle would simply be a mark for the bullets
of his enemies. The only way in which the boat could be safely entered,
with the bushmen and the boys watching each other, would be to shoot out
the light and make a rush for it.
This Clay did not care to do, for he had hope that the boys back in the
forest might in time come to his assistance. He had understood from the
few words spoken in his hearing by the intruders that Case and Frank had
been attacked by the fellows, but he did not know the exact situation,
of course. And even if Case and Frank were in as great need of help as
he himself was, there was still Jule—resourceful, courageous, and quite
likely to turn up in the most unexpected place at the right time.
The Englishmen, also, hoped to take the boat without destroying the prow
light, for they knew very well that they would have need of it in the
hasty journey they had planned to start out on the minute they gained
possession of the _Rambler_. The outcome of all this was that the two
parties remained hidden in the forest, each watching the other, and each
hoping that the other would make a rush for the deck of the boat.
This was the situation when Jule plunged into the creek and, under
water, in a slow current, struck out for the rear of the boat, protected
by the boughs of the tree and the bulk of the cabin from the rays of the
light on the prow. The last thing he heard as he leaped into the warm
waters of Ruination creek were the words of Case and Frank promising to
follow him by the under-water route to the cabin and the noisy
expostulations of Captain Joe at being kept out of the fight!
“The dog will be frantic when he hears me opening the window,” thought
the lad, as he turned on his back and came up for a mouthful of air. “I
hope he won’t advertise the fact that I’ve come aboard.”
So, while Frank and Case were waiting in the keenest anxiety at the
point from which Jule had entered the water, while Clay and Alex were in
the bushes not far away, watching with all the eyes in their heads for a
shot at their enemies, and while the two Englishmen were trying to
mature some plan for getting into the boat without running the risk of
passing under the light, Jule made his way along the bottom of the
creek, rising to breathe only at rare intervals, and finally came up,
without being discovered, at the rear of the boat.
The rear deck, or platform, for it was little more, was entirely out of
sight and range of the fighters in the forest on the bank the boy had
just left, so he climbed up on it with confidence. But a new peril
awaited him. Captain Joe set up such a volley of barks, and growls, and
scratchings that it seemed to the boy that those on shore must
understand that something unusual was going on in the boat and make a
rush for it. The dog was certainly doing his duty, so far as noise went,
in guarding the _Rambler_!
“Captain Joe!” called Jule.
The dog let out a fiercer challenge than before.
“Captain Joe!” repeated the lad. “If you don’t quit that I’ll come in
there and crack your crust!”
Jule checked himself and broke into a chuckle. He had been much given to
the use of slang in the old days, and it still seemed to come
involuntarily to his lips, so did more than his share of the
dish-washing as a result. There was never anything profane or coarse
about his lapses into the dialect of the street, but by common consent
all slang had been barred. Now he was glad that Clay was not near to
hear this new outburst.
The dog began sniffing at the window on the inside. He would have
recognized Jule, doubtless, in a moment only for the odor of sulphur
with which his clothes, even though they were wet, was permeated.
“Lie down, dog!” Jule whispered.
Then Captain Joe recognized the voice and gave forth a low whine of
recognition and reproach—recognition in spite of the sulphur, and
reproach because of his having been left there alone while the others
took an outing in the forest!
Jule finally managed to unfasten the window and crawl into the cabin.
Captain Joe gave him an appropriate reception, and then sat down to look
from the boy to the door, and back and forth, until his eyes and the
motions of his head seemed to say:
“Well, why don’t you hurry up and let me out?”
“All right, old chap!” Jule answered the look. “I’ll let you out just as
soon as it is safe for you to go.”
Captain Joe insisted that he wanted to go at once, in order that he
might see what was going on outside, but Jule consoled him with a caress
and stood waiting for Case and Frank to make their appearance. Before
long a commotion in the water back of the boat told of the approach of
someone.
Jule crept back to the platform and waited, thinking that Frank might
need assistance in getting out of the water. When he turned to look back
he saw that Captain Joe had followed him to the window and was now
trying his best to follow his example and get through. However, he
seemed to have stuck in the narrow opening, not knowing how to bring his
hind legs up to the sill.
The dog whined a warning and Jule turned back to the dark pool of river
at the stern. A head lifted darkly from the surface and a face masked by
heavy whiskers and seen only in outline regarded the boy blankly. The
attacking party, it seemed, had adopted the same tactics to get into the
boat as had the boy.
“Come off there!” commanded the gruff voice of the fellow, as he took
hold of the boat “Come off or I’ll be the death of you!”
“What do you want here?” demanded Jule.
The intruder made no reply, but exerted himself climbing to the
platform, from which he could have taken possession of the boat in spite
of the efforts of the boy, who was unarmed, having left his automatic
and searchlight with Case on shore.
He looked about for some weapon with which to repel the boarder, but the
platform was clear. Then he sprang to the window, hoping to get through
it and barricade himself in the cabin.
But he found Captain Joe stuck in the opening! The dog was doing his
best to wiggle out, his eyes flaming fiercely, his snarling jaws showing
two rows of capable teeth, as he eyed with disfavor the faint figure of
the man who was already climbing on the boat. It was a desperate
situation, but at the same time it had its humorous features, as Captain
Joe certainly was in a comical plight, half in and half out of the
window.
“Get him, Joe!”
Jule urged the dog on by pointing as he spoke. Captain Joe licked his
chops, as if anxious to sample the intruder, but he was stuck fast, and
the boarder was now half out of the water.
“Get him, Joe! Get him!”
The boy gave a yank at the dog’s head as he gave the command, and then
something happened. The dog slipped out of the window opening, passed
through Jule’s arms like a white flash of light and launched himself on
the man who was almost on the platform.
The two, the dog and the bearded man, went over the rear together with a
great splash, and directly two heads were dimly seen on the surface.
Captain Joe had caught the Englishman by the shoulder, and a stain of
red dropped from his jaws before his head disappeared from sight again.
The boy did not want to see the dog kill the man, and he shouted to
Captain Joe, entreating, commanding, coaxing, but the water was deep and
the unequal combat was going on beyond the reach of words.
While Jule waited for the fighters to come to the surface again, hoping
that he might be able to do something toward releasing the man, Alex
came bobbing around the corner of the boat. At the first sound of Jule’s
voice on the boat he had leaped into the water and made for the stern
platform. This interruption saved the man’s life, for Captain Joe,
coming to the surface, recognized his master and, releasing his hold,
swam toward him.
Though half drowned and seriously injured by the teeth of the dog, the
intruder managed to make his way to the dark shore. When, a moment
later, the boys looked for him he had disappeared in the thicket. Jule
had blazed the way to the boat, and in a short time all the boys were on
the stern deck or in the cabin.
There was no indication of a fresh attack from the shore, and when a
single shot was fired, some distance away, the boys took that for a
signal from one ruffian to his mate. One was now on the north side of
Ruination creek and the other on the south side, and it would be some
time before they could plan any more mischief together.
Clay looked at Jule’s face as he climbed to the platform and burst into
a laugh. There was a good showing of phosphorus still in sight.
“Where did you get it?” he asked.
“No wonder that man hustled off into the woods!” Alex added.
“That didn’t frighten him a bit!” Jule explained. “He seemed to be wise
to the trick. Anyway he would have been in charge here now if Captain
Joe hadn’t risen to the occasion. Good old Captain Joe!” he continued,
patting the dog on the head.
“We’d better be moving,” Clay said, presently, after Case and Frank had
briefly explained the events of the night in the forest. “Those men will
hang around us as long as we remain here.”
“But Frank wants to get his cargo!” Jule laughed.
“Indeed I do,” put in the boy.
“It seems to me,” Case suggested, “that Frank has already secured his
cargo—a cargo of experience!”
“We can’t exchange experience for money!” Jule declared, “not always!”
“I’ve jut got to get that cargo,” Frank insisted. “It is too dark to
attempt to move out of this narrow creek anyway,” he urged, “and so we
may as well remain here until morning.”
“That won’t be very long,” Clay said, “for there is a faint smudge of
daylight in the east.”
“If it is most morning,” Alex cried, “that accounts for the empty
condition of my stomach. I’m going to get something to eat!”
“That suits me,” Jule grinned, and Case and Clay were not slow in
agreeing to the proposition.
Frank seemed lost in thought. He said nothing regarding supper, or
breakfast, rather, and sat quietly near the door of the cabin while the
boys, now apparently safe from attack, fried bacon and made pancakes and
coffee. When the bacon, pancakes and coffee were steaming on the table,
Clay turned to the forward deck and called to the boy. But Frank was not
there.
It was now quite light in the eastern sky, though the forest still
showed dark and dreary. Clay went to the side of the boat and looked
down to the place where he had tied the row-boat, which had been brought
out soon after the disappearance of the man who had been attacked by the
dog. The boat was nowhere to be seen.
“Frank has gone!” Clay shouted.
“He’s determined to have that cargo!” Alex explained. “It is a risky
thing to do, this going into the jungle alone, but I can’t say as I
blame him!”
The boys did not enjoy their early meal very much, for they were anxious
over Frank’s disappearance. They knew well enough where he had gone. The
cargo he insisted on securing must be somewhere near the scene of the
night’s adventures in the jungle, and he had gone there—alone!