Chapter 9 RED DECLINES TO TALK

In a moment the ray of moonlight slanting through the west window of the cabin was cut off by a floating cloud, and the faces of the two boys passed out of view. Their voices, however, came to Clay, enquiringly.

"Are you all right?" Alex. asked.

"Have you got any dry guns in there?" was Case's question.

Clay answered both questions in a whispered affirmative and moved softly toward the window. It was necessary that some definite plan of action should be agreed upon, for the lads' presence there might be discovered at any time.

"Is Jule there?" whispered Clay.

"We're all in this neighborhood!" snickered Alex., "including Mose, Teddy and Captain Joe! We came down the river in a busted boat and on a poor raft! We should have passed the Rambler only for the flash of lights in the cabin. What next?"

"First," Clay answered, "I'll get the reserve weapons. One of the outlaws has my gun, but the others are in the lower drawer of the cupboard. I've been trying to get at them for a long time, but this is the first time, since I was set free of bonds, that the men have been too busy to notice me."

Clay crawled to the cupboard and secured three revolvers, held as a reserve stock.

"Now," he directed, "you boys get through the window while the ruffians are busy and the moon is out of business."

As the boys wiggled their way through the small opening, Teddy began uttering growls of joy and welcome. He pranced about the cabin, too, in spite of all Clay could do to restrain him, tipping over chairs and rattling the dishes in a great pan on the floor, where the pirates had left them after their luncheon.

And then, as if to add to the perplexities of the situation, the clouds which veiled the moon drifted away, and a slant of light shone full on the little stern deck, and on the figures grouped there. Case and Jule pulled themselves through into the cabin, but Alex. was left crouching on the outside. Clay passed him a revolver, and started to close the window.

At that moment, attracted by the unusual commotion on the inside, Sam lurched to the door and looked through the glass panel. He saw Clay at the window, and caught sight of a figure outside and called out to Red, who was still busy at the prow, trying to keep the boat out of a mass of wreckage which was coming down faster than the boat was going for the reason that it was farther out in the current.

Almost before Red could turn around, before his brain could grasp the significance of Sam's warning shout, Clay swung the door open and turned the switch which operated the prow light. In an instant the deck of the Rambler was as light as it had ever been at noon. The cabin was still in darkness, save for the light which came through the glass panel of the door.

The hands of both outlaws swung to their hips as the light flashed out, but did not bring forth the weapons carried there. Instead, they came up empty and were pushed out straight and held there. It was Clay who had given the order to keep hands out.

Clay advanced along the unsteady deck to Sam and held his gun within an inch of his crooked nose, at the same time calling to Case to come and relieve the outlaw of his weapons.

Sam's looks would have committed murder, if savage eyes and revengeful frowns could have done so, when the weapons were taken from him. Glancing hastily at Red, Clay thought he saw an amused smile lurking in the giant's eyes.

"Now, Sam," Clay said, "we've got to repair the motors and get the Rambler out of this ruck, where the leak can be repaired, so we've got no time to waste guarding a skunk like you. You would have murdered me if Red hadn't interfered, but I'm going to give you a chance for your life! Can you swim?"

"Fo' de Lawd's sake!" grunted Mose, appearing on the deck, wet and shivering from the river, "dat's de 'dentical question he done ask me!"

Captain Joe, who had come on board from the raft with the negro, sniffed at the heels of the outlaw and seemed to ask permission of Clay to take a bite out of him. The cub pranced around the little waif as if he had found a friend from whom he had long been parted. Sam did not answer the question. He glared at the weapons, at the exposed fangs of the bulldog, and turned a scowling face to Red.

"These rascals seem to be friends of yours," he said. "I don't hear anything about your being given a chance to swim! Is this a frame-up?"

Red's already flushed face darkened at the insulting question, and he would have struck Sam only that Case, whose gun was at his breast, motioned him to desist.

"There'll come a time!" growled Sam. "Me an' you will have a settlement right soon after we get shut of these imitation tramps. Understand that?"

"Yes, kiddo," Red cut in, turning to Clay, "Sam can swim. He's great on giving exhibition stunts in the water. He can do anything with water except drink it."

"Glad to know it!" Clay replied, "for I want to see how far he can swim! Take a run-and-jump, you toy pirate, and get overboard."

"Fo' de Lawd's sake, dat's what he said to dis--"

Sam did not wait to hear the completion of the sentence, for Captain Joe, sensing, doubtless, that the outlaw was in bad with the party, advanced upon him. The pirate sprang for a floating timber, missed it, and went under. He came up in a second and struck out for the shore through a comparatively clear channel. The boys watched him until he crawled out on a mud bank and then turned to Red.

"Well?" asked that individual, a smile on his face. "What next?"

"First," Clay said, "I want to thank you for saving me from that ruffian, and then I want you to sit down and wait until we get up the greatest dinner that ever was served on the Mississippi. I'm half starved, and I know that the boys are. Of course, if you want to land right now, we'll put you ashore."

"I reckon," Red replied, with a slight tremble in his gruff voice, "that I can't do better than to stick here for a time!"

"Well," Clay went on, "the boys are wet and cold, as well as hungry, and so I'll have to do the cooking. Will you come in the cabin and sit by me while I do it?"

"Will I? I'm lucky not to be out there on the shore with Sam!"

The two passed into the cabin, after the boys had put on dry clothes and warmed themselves at the coal stove, and Clay set about cooking a mammoth steak which had been bought at Cairo and kept in the tiny refrigerator. Then he boiled potatoes, and made light biscuit, and the coffee he produced was a hearty meal in itself! There were tinned beans, and sardines, and salmon, and many other things when the meal began, but when it was over the table was bare of everything in the provision line!

In the joy and comfort of being full-fed, Mose, Captain Joe, and Teddy rolled up in a common rug on the floor, in a corner where they would not be in the way, and went to sleep. Clay and Red went out on deck while the others washed the dishes.

"Are you thinking of sticking about this section all night?" asked the latter.

"Only for a short time," Clay answered. "We'll fix the motors, directly, and go on down the river. Why do you ask the question? Don't you want to stay here?"

"I was thinking," Red observed, quite coolly, "that, with the lights going, and the shore not far away, Sam might be thinking of taking a shot or two at the boys!"

"But he hasn't any gun!" Clay exclaimed.

"Yes, he has," Red returned. "He has a gun that wasn't found on him. He keeps it in a watertight sack under his left arm. He's used to taking to the water!"

"And you think he will hang about the bank, walking down from where he was put off, and try to pick us off?" asked Clay. "How far are we now from the mud bank he mounted?"

"Not more than a couple of miles," was the reply. "We are in water that shows only a trace of current now, because there is a great headland just below, and the flood has packed the curve full. He probably has been able to keep up with the boat."

"That isn't going very fast!" laughed Clay, "for it has been at least two hours since he left the boat. The moon, which is in the first quarter, sets about eleven, and it is hiding itself in the trees already!"

"I wouldn't advise sticking hereabouts," insisted Red. "I can say no more!"

"All right!" Clay replied. "We'll fix the motors and start on down. Here, Case," he called out, "did you bring the repairs?"

"Surest thing you know!" was the answer, and in a short time Clay was at work on the motive power, which was not much out of repair and was soon fixed.

"You know, of course," Clay said to Red, as the Rambler, under perfect control, started down stream at a pace which kept the driftwood from lunging against her stern, "that I recognize you as the man who talked with me out of the river at Cairo?"

"I never suspected it!" was the slow reply. "How do you know I'm the man?"

"Your voice!" was the reply. "It puzzled me at first, though."

"I'll have to trade voices with some river rascal!" grinned Red.

"You spoke, that night, about a boy who had come on board?" Clay said, tentatively.

"That was my business there," Red replied, with a slight frown.

"Where did the boy go that night? We never saw him after the officers came on board. He must have swum to the Missouri shore."

"He did," was the hesitating reply. "He made it, too!"

"Why didn't he remain with us?" asked Clay.

"He got scared! If I had kept away he might have done so."

"Is he your son?" was the next question Clay asked.

Red looked the boy in the face steadily for a moment and then asked:

"You don't want to harm the lad, do you?"

"I want to help him," was the reply. "He looked so forlorn, and wet, and cold, and hungry, that I've thought of him a lot since. Where is he now?"

"Well," Red said, in a perplexed tone, "that is what I can't tell you."

"Because you don't know where he is?" demanded Clay.

"No; not that. I know where he is, but I can't tell you."

"Is the child implicated in any crime?" Clay asked, looking sharply into the man's flushed face. "Is there any reason why he can't go with us?"

"Why do you suggest crime in connection with the kid?" demanded Red, a frown on his face. "He may be associated with criminals, innocently, and yet be worthy of all your confidence and esteem!"

They talked a long time about the boy, about the events of the day, and about the future plans of the Rambler boys. The boat made good progress during the night while all save Clay and his strange companion slept. With the first flush of dawn Red asked to be put ashore, refusing to give any reason for wanting to leave the boat.

"You've used me mighty white," he said at parting, "and there'll come another day! Don't you ever forget that, lads! There'll come another day! And if you come across that waif again, just feed him, and warm him, and clothe him, and pass him on to wherever he wants to go. Thank you all!" and he was gone!

"What do you think of that for a mystery?" Clay asked as the man disappeared in a grove near the landing. "We shall hear from Red again."