Their ready sympathy proved almost too much for the stranger.
"Won"t you come over and visit us?" was their invitation.
"Thanks, I"ll be glad to do so," was the reply.
"I was just a bit lonesome in there, to tell the truth. I"m better now."
"What shall we call you other than Bob White?" asked Harry.
"My name is Charley Burnett," answered their new friend. "I belong to the Bob White patrol of Boy Scouts in St. Louis."
"And you came down the Mississippi in a launch called the "Spray," and were set upon by a gang of thugs and pirates!" cried Arnold. "How am I for a mind reader or clairvoyant?"
"You"re just fine," declared Charley following the lads into the front room. "I wish I were half as good. I certainly do."
"What would you do if you were?" inquired Harry.
"I"d go into a trance and see if I could locate my chum."
"You don"t have to do that," declared Arnold. "Just cross my palm with a piece of silver and I"ll locate him for you," he added with a laugh.
Then pretending to take an imaginary piece of money from Charley, he went on, "Your chum is on a boat called the "Fortuna." He is in the hands of friends who wish him well. He has been seeking diligently for you but cannot find you. Where have you been?"
"Well," laughed Charley, amused at the joke, "I"ve been sailing around and around and around. Most of the time I have been on a shrimping schooner on the Gulf. This morning the men aboard of her said that I was dangerous, so they were going to put me out of the way. They brought me here and tied me up. That"s all."
"Didn"t you whistle "Bob White," at us when we were coming into the harbor here?" inquired Harry breathlessly. "I know you did."
"Maybe I did," admitted Charley. "I whistled "Bob White," at all possible and impossible times until they threatened to kill me."
"The brutes. I almost believe they"d dare do anything."
The tender sympathy that was evident in the tones of his new found friends proved almost too much for the fort.i.tude of the late captive. It was only with a great effort that he restrained the tears.
"Well," at length Harry decided, "if you lads are rested, I move that we get busy, break out of here and go back to the--"
A heavy footstep sounded on the gallery outside the door. Lopez and Doright entered through the door. Doright carried a tin pail. He was followed by Lopez with one of the boys" automatics in his hand. His face darkened instantly when he saw the lads.
"You sure are tough customers," declared he. "I guess, Doright, youall better go get them old slave chains. They won"t break them."
"Yaas, Sir, Boss," replied the negro hastening away.
"If you"re hungry, better get at that grub while you got the chance,"
offered Lopez. "In a minute that n.i.g.g.e.r"ll be back with the irons, and then you won"t be runnin" around loose."
Urged on by their hunger the boys lost no time in attacking the tin pail. It contained but "grits," a small hominy, cooked with a piece of bacon, yet never it seemed to the lads had they tasted better food. Only the merest crumbs remained when Doright entered bearing an armful of clanking chains. These he threw on the floor.
"Make "em fast," ordered Lopez, keeping the muzzle of his automatic pistol ever trained on the group before him. "Put them leg irons on good and tight. Make sure of your work this time."
Obediently the negro clamped the irons tightly about their ankles. Then drawing a longer chain through the leg irons he lifted a board from the floor to pa.s.s the long chain under a heavy hewn joist.
A padlock securely fastened the ends of this longer chain and thus the boys were shackled beyond hope of releasing themselves.
"Now, just to make sure, we"ll leave Doright on guard and he"ll have a gun in his hand. He likes to shoot, too. And he knows how."
Never had the voice of the outlaw sounded so coa.r.s.e and disagreeable as now when hope seemed gone. His villainous face lighted with evil triumph as he surveyed the plight of his captives.
"Looks like old times," he gloated, "only now you boys are wearing irons that have graced the leg of many a slave. And there"s a black boy guarding the white boys now. That"s funny."
Throwing back his head he gave vent to peal after peal of laughter.
"What are you expecting to do with us?" inquired Arnold, who was longing to get at the throat of his jailor.
"Well, Wyckoff hasn"t decided yet," replied Lopez. "He has found out that it"s a mighty uncomfortable job keeping prisoners and feeding them.
He couldn"t keep this other boy on the schooner for it was too public.
When you came chasing into port, he got scared. I was uncomfortable, too. If you had hailed me then, I guess I"d have let you take the boy off the schooner. When we got Wyckoff, though, he said it wouldn"t do.
Youall will never have a chance at the Treasure."
"No? Just wait and see what happens," taunted Arnold. "They say there"s many a slip between the cup and the saucer. Watch us."
"You are right, I"ll watch you," declared the outlaw. "When we let you go this time, you"ll say Good Bye for keeps."
"You can"t let things come any too swift for us," boasted Harry. "We are from Chicago, and if you"ve ever been on a Halsted street trolley at six o"clock of an evening, you"ll know what we live on. Send along your hard times. We eat those things."
"Maybe," gritted Lopez. "You boys better sharpen your teeth."
With this he left the cabin with instructions to Doright to watch the boys and not permit any talking or communication.
Doright was at least faithful to his trust. After one or two attempts the boys gave over trying to engage the negro in conversation. Becoming cramped in their sitting positions, they shortly stretched themselves on the floor and presently were fast asleep. Awakened later by a rough hand on their shoulders, they sat up in bewilderment. The chains on their legs soon apprised them of their location and surroundings. Lopez stood over them.
"Unlock "em, Doright," he commanded. "Get the hand irons on "em first and watch out, for they"re tricky. They may get you."
The boys were marched out of the little cabin and down to the river, where they boarded a boat under the direction of Lopez.
Doright at the oars had plenty of work to pull the craft with its heavy load. At last they approached a vessel lying at anchor in the stream.
Lopez"s hail brought an answer immediately.
"Up you go," commanded the outlaw to the boys, as Doright loosened the shackles. "Over the rail with you now and no monkey work."
So deeply loaded was the schooner--a large three-masted vessel--that the boys had little difficulty in reaching her rail and vaulting it.
Arriving on deck they found an officer and two or three members of the crew standing ready to receive them.
"Well, here are the three men you wanted," stated Lopez to the officer.
"I had hard work gettin" them, but they wanted a vessel bad so I signed "em on. Now to settle up if you please."
"Take these men forward, Johnson, and break "em in," commanded the mate, pa.s.sing some money over to Lopez. "Get a jump on "em."
A tug took the schooner in tow. As she pa.s.sed the shipyard Charley whistled, "Bob White." The mate"s fist descended on his head.