CHAPTER V
ANOTHER START
The four young hunters were used to rowing together, so they made rapid progress when once they had caught the stroke. Simon Lundy sat in the stern of the craft, gazing anxiously ahead.
"The wuss o" it is he"s got sech a tarnal good start of us," remarked the farmer. "He must be a mile away by this time."
"Never mind, we"ll catch him before long, if he sticks to the river," said Snap, confidently.
"Wisht I had brung a gun along."
"Yes, that would have been a good thing," was Shep"s comment.
"And that reminds me," he added to his chums, "all of our weapons were left in the rowboat."
"Yes; and the n.i.g.g.e.r is well supplied with guns and pistols,"
came from Whopper. "Maybe he will try to shoot us full of a million holes when he spots us."
"Oh, deary me! Don"t say thet!" groaned Simon Lundy. "I---I don"t want to be shot at, not me!"
"He won"t dare to shoot!" said Giant. "We can pretend that we are all armed, you know."
On and on sped the rowboat, making excellent progress on the smooth-flowing river. About a mile was covered, and they swept around first one bend and then another.
"I see a boat ahead!" roared the farmer. "She"s gone now," he added, as the craft shot behind some bushes, at a point along the river.
The four young oarsmen increased their stroke, and soon gained the point. Then the boat again came into full view and they could see that it was their own craft and that the colored man was rowing along at a good rate of speed.
"There he is!" was the cry.
"Pull, boys, pull!" called out Snap.
They did pull, and soon came closer to the craft ahead. Then the negro chanced to look back and saw them. He was evidently chagrined, and with out delay turned in toward sh.o.r.e, close to where the trees grew thick.
"Stop!" cried Shep. "Stop, you rascal!"
But the negro paid no attention, excepting to renew his efforts to reach the river bank. He sent the rowboat in among the bushes with a loud swish, and hopped ash.o.r.e. Then the other boat came up.
"Stop!" roared Simon Lundy. Give me back my watch!"
"Don"t yo" dar to follow me!" yelled the negro, and showed a big horse-pistol. "If yo" do, somebody is dun gwine to git shot."
"Don"t!" yelled the farmer, and fell flat in the rowboat.
The boys were also alarmed, and for the moment knew not what to do. In that s.p.a.ce of time the negro darted back of some trees and was lost to view.
"Look out, boys, he"ll shoot ye sure!" said Simon Lundy, in a voice full of fear.
"He has gone," announced Snap.
"Are all of our things safe?" asked Shep, anxiously.
"We"ll soon find out," put in Whopper, and leaped from one boat into the other. All made a hasty examination and found everything intact. Even their weapons had not been touched, for which they were exceedingly thankful.
"He wasn"t expecting us," explained Giant. "He thought he"d get time later to go through our belongings." And the others concluded that Giant had spoken the truth.
What to do next was a question. Simon Lundy said he did not want to follow the negro, since the rascal was armed and evidently full of fight.
"I"ll go after him if the others will," said Shep, and the upshot of the matter was that the four boys went on a hunt, leaving the cowardly farmer to watch the two boats. The boys went deep into the woods and even to the road beyond, but saw nothing of the rascal that had disappeared.
"He will be on his guard now and keep out of sight," said Whopper.
"I"ll bet he don"t show himself again in two years."
"Make it ten years while you are at it, Whopper," said Snap, drily.
"Well, do you think he will show up?"
"No. But we may see him some day."
When the four young hunters returned to the boats they found Simon Lundy had hidden himself behind some bushes. He came out rather shamefacedly and asked if they had met the negro.
"Yes; and he said he was coming to chew you up," answered Whopper, with a wink at his chums.
"H-he did!" quaked Simon Lundy. "Sa-say, hadn"t we better be a-goin"?"
"We are not going to bother to look for him any more," said Snap, who was disgusted with the cowardly and miserly farmer. "We are going on our way."
"An" what be I a-goin" tew do?"
"Take Mr. Welby"s boat back," answered Snap, shortly. "You can row, can"t you?"
"A leetle, yes."
"Then, good-by to you," said Shep, and leaped into the rowboat containing the camp outfit.
"Hi! Don"t leave me here alone!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Pop Lundy, in fresh alarm. "Shove the boat out into the stream."
This they did for him, and soon he was rowing away from the spot as best he could, fearful, evidently, that the negro would come, as Whopper had said, to "chew him up."
"He"s about the limit!" was Snap"s comment, when Simon Lundy was out of hearing. "How I would love to play ghost on him!"
"He"d have a fit and die," added Shep.
The negro had not disarranged the boat in the least, so they were soon on their way, Shep and Giant taking the oars. Snap leaned back in the stern and stretched himself.