Chapter 6 CAPTAIN JOE MAKES A HIT

While the Rambler, in charge of reckless river pirates, was swinging down with the current, threatening to capsize every instant, Alex. and Jule sat flat on a rotten, yielding floor somewhere in the interior of the deserted house, feeling tenderly over their limbs to see if they had received severe injuries during the fall from the room where they had been so inhospitably welcomed by the aged man.

The boys had not fallen far. In fact, it seemed to them that they had only slid down a gentle incline to the story below. A hatch in the floor in front of the hearth had been dropped back, and their chairs had slid into a chute which seemed, from its smoothness, to be in frequent use.

For a minute the boys were alarmed, excited, angry, then the humor of their sudden removal from the apartment above appealed to them. Alex. was first to speak.

"Vot iss?" he exclaimed. "This must be a page of a comic section in one of the Chicago newspapers. How many legs and arms have you broken?"

"Not a one!" answered Jule. "What kind of hospital treatment do you require?"

"If I felt any better," laughed Alex., "I wouldn't know what to take for it."

It was dark as pitch where the boys were, and they felt about until their hands touched. The personal contact gave them new courage.

"What do you make of it?" asked Jule. "This doesn't look good to me!"

"We've simply butted in on some other fellow's game," Alex. replied. "We seem to have visited a crank who thinks it best to be prepared in advance for unwelcome guests."

"A moonshiner or a river pirate!" Jule suggested.

"That's about it!" Alex. answered. "We've interrupted the industry of a set of illicit whisky makers or warehouse thieves. The valley is said to swarm with bandits whenever the river is out of its banks. Now, the question is how are we going to get out and back to the Rambler?"

They did not know that at that moment Clay and the motor boat were in a situation far more serious than that in which they now found themselves!

"I wish it wasn't so dark here!" Jule whispered.

"Why the soft pedal?" asked Alex. "We've got a right to talk as loudly as we like, I take it, being alone in a dark old donjon keep!"

"There's some one in the room with us!" Jule explained, in a whisper which barely reached his chum's ears, so faint it was. "I hear him breathing."

"Hello!" Alex. called out, then. "Hello! Come on out an' be a good fellow!"

There was no answer, and then Alex., reaching into a capacious pocket, brought out a small electric torch and pushed the button. On board the Rambler or on shore, it was a rule of the boys never to move about without an electric torch and an automatic revolver ready for use.

When the light flashed out, its round circle showed only a room twenty feet square in size, with bare discolored walls. Plastering hung to broken lath, so they knew that they were on the ground floor of the deserted house, and not in the cellar. The floor was worn, and the rough boards which half protected the broken windows showed signs of having been long in position. There was no furniture at all in the place.

"Looks like we might rip off a board and walk out," Jule said, still speaking in a very low tone of voice.

"Don't you ever think we're not watched!" Alex. hastened to say. "I don't know but I made a mistake in showing this light."

"There's only one way to discover whether we are watched or not," said the other, "and that is to try to get away. I'm going after that window."

As Jule spoke he moved toward a window which seemed to open on the bayou, as a gleam of water could be seen through the cracks in the window-guard. The instant his hand touched a crumbling board a voice came out of the darkness.

"I wouldn't do that, boys!"

That was all. Jule stopped at the uncanny interruption with a hand suspended in air, and Alex. quickly flashed his light in the direction from which the sound had come.

There was no one in sight. Rats or other creeping, crawling, things seemed to be working in the disreputable walls, for there was a continuous scratching noise, but there were no other sounds. Alex. shut off the light and sat down on the floor again.

"I guess it is no use!" he said. "We'll have to surrender!"

"There will always be someone here to see that you don't get away!" said the voice. "If you make any trouble, you won't get anything to eat! Now, be good!"

"You can keep me as gentle as a lamb by feeding me right!" Alex. said, with a chuckle which was rather forced. "Why don't you show up?"

"You'll see me soon enough," the voice went on. "In the meantime, don't show that electric light again, and if you have any weapons lay them on the floor in this corner."

"I haven't any," lied Alex. "I brought the light instead."

As he spoke the boy nudged Jule, and he, understanding, slid his revolver along the floor in the direction of the voice. It struck against the wall with a metallic thud.

"That's right!" the voice in the darkness said. "Now, you with the light, send it over here. I might want to use it!"

Alex. slid his torch along the floor. In its progress the button was pressed and a round illumination sprang up on the wall. Almost in the center of this they saw the white hair and beard of the old man who had invited them into the room above!

The boys sat for a long time in serious thought after that, well knowing that every word uttered would be heard by their guardian. Alex. was more than hopeful in his views of the situation.

"If these fellows were professionals," he mused, "they wouldn't take any chances on us not having more weapons and more lights. They would make sure by searching us! I don't believe they ever took a prisoner before, or that they are very anxious about keeping us. I guess we just butted in where we're not wanted, and they'll let us go after a time. Anyway, they're easy!"

Directly loud noises were heard in the old house, and the insecure walls shook under heavy burdens. It seemed to the listening lads that huge boxes and barrels were being transferred from one room to another.

There were excited voices, too, although no words could be understood. It seemed to the two prisoners that the old mansion was being deserted, and their impression was that the thieves were removing their plunder because their hiding-place had been intruded upon. In that case, they thought, they might soon be released.

After what seemed a whole day, food was pushed into the room, and the boys ate heartily of the fresh pork sausages, corn pones, and sweet potatoes given them.

"You're all right on the feed!" Alex. called back in the direction of the corner where for an instant the old man had been seen.

There was no answer, but, somehow, the boys were convinced that there was some one there in the room with them. It does not always require the eyes, or the hands, or the ears, or the sense of smell, to show one that others are close by.

There is a tingling of the nerves which warns of the presence of hostile elements, and this it was which showed the prisoners that they were still under guard.

That was a long afternoon. For the most part there were no sounds in the old house; still, now and then, there came the jar of heavy burdens on the floors, and the sharp and angry voices of men, speaking in a tongue the boys did not understand.

When the cracks in the boards at the windows began to darken, they knew that night was falling. They thought of the comfortable cabin of the Rambler, and of the companionship of the other boys with spasms of anger and regret. As the darkness became more complete outside, they arose and walked up and down the floor of their little room.

"Say, Mister!" Alex. called out to their invisible guard, directly, "how many acts are there in this drama? When do the persecuted c-h-e-i-l-d-s return to their agonized and heart-broken parents?"

"I'm as weary of it as you are!" was the remarkable answer, still in that calm voice they had heard before.

"Then why don't you cut it out?" asked Jule.

"There are men in the party who advise that," was the significant answer. "They are at present discussing your fate. Many declare that it is not wise to permit you to leave the place! I'm sorry for you, but you had no right to snoop in here!"

"Next time," Alex. replied, "you hoist a piracy flag, and we'll keep away."

"When will this strategy board you refer to make a report?" asked Jule.

"I may receive orders at any moment," was the answer.

Silence followed. There were crunchings and chatterings, in the walls where rodents were busy making nests, but no sound of human action. In the long wait the boys heard a low, inquisitive sniff!

Alex. drew Jule's head over to him and whispered in his ear:

"That's Captain Joe, for a dollar and a half!"

"You're on!" Jule responded. "I'll be glad to lose the bet at that, too!"

"I guess I know that inquisitive snort!" Alex. went on. "Besides, I told you that the dog would find some way to get to us!"

"Aw, Clay sent him!" declared Jule. "He never found his way here alone."

"The boys may be with him," Alex. suggested, as the sound came again. "I hope he won't make enough noise to disturb his nibs, over in the corner. Good old dog!"

After a time they heard the patter of the dog's feet, and then the guard whistled softly, as if attempting to make friends with whatever animal was approaching.

"Come here, you foolish dog!" he said. "Why don't you come in out of the dark?"

The pat-pat of the dog's soft feet came nearer, and the guard spoke again:

"How the Old Harry did you get in here?" he demanded. "Whose dog are you, anyway?"

The dog growled and there came a flash of light. The guard, becoming afraid of this thing which had found its way into a room supposed to be secure from intrusion, and had switched on the electric.

The light revealed the two prisoners, grouped together in the middle of the room, the old man, standing with weapon extended and with staring eyes, Captain Joe all ready for a spring, an open window, and, lastly, the black face of Mose overlooking the scene with eyes which seemed too large for his head!

"Get him, Joe!" cried both boys in unison.

The light dropped as the dog leaped, and a revolver clattered to the floor. Alex. had hold of the dog in an instant, his other hand reaching for the rolling flashlight.

"Don't eat him up, Joe!" the boy said, tearing the dog away from the fallen man. Captain Joe fell away with a sullen growl.

"The brute has bitten my arm!" the old man moaned.

"If you remain quiet," Alex. said, "you won't have any more wounds to complain of. We'll just tie you up and get out! After we are gone some one will come and let you out. What sort of a place is this, anyway?"

The old man groaned and made no reply, so the boys secured him and crept out of the window into the darkness.