"But hold on, Jack, don"t do that if the two sh.e.l.ls are all you"ve got.
A nice sort of thing that"d be, to scare the game, and not have anything to pink "em with afterwards," Josh went on to say, in alarm.
"Oh! I"ve got a few more in my pocket," returned the other. "I was wise enough to slip some sh.e.l.ls in my coat before we left camp the first time. Don"t worry about that, Josh. There! wasn"t that a man"s head bobbing up above the stern of the other boat just then?"
It certainly must have been, for immediately there came a hoa.r.s.e hail across the intervening water.
"h.e.l.lo! there, you in the motor boats!"
"h.e.l.lo! yourself! what d"ye want?" demanded George; before Jack could say a word; for George did everything so quickly it was hard to get ahead of him.
"We want you to sheer off, and mind your own business, hear that?"
replied the party aboard the white boat belonging to Algernon.
"That"s just what we are doing," Jack called out. "You"ve made a mistake and gone off with the wrong boat. Yours is up above, on the island; and that one belongs to a friend of ours. We want it; and what"s more, we"re going to take it back. Do you get that?"
The two men could be heard talking hurriedly together. Possibly they were trying to figure out just what the boy meant and if it could be that their real ident.i.ty were as yet unsuspected. If the boys simply looked on them as boat thieves, perhaps they might manage to deceive them in some way. But when the man spoke once more it was evident that they could not wholly reconcile themselves to this idea.
"We want to warn you to keep off, or you"re apt to get hurt right bad.
We"re heavily armed, and will shoot straight, take that from me."
"Oh! say you so?" called out George, mockingly, "well, perhaps there are two who can play at that game, mister. Guess we"ve got firearms along, too; and can pepper your hides with Number Seven shot till you"ll look like a Christmas plum pudding. Jack, shall we give "em a volley right now?"
CHAPTER XIX
ABOARD THE FLOATING RAFT
Now, of course George must be only saying this for effect. He was aware of the fact that they had only one gun among them; and also that Jack would hardly be the person to use that recklessly.
"Listen to George talkin" through his hat," whispered Josh, to the skipper of the Tramp, as they continued to draw closer and closer to the white boat.
Again they could hear the two men exchanging hurried words. It looked as if the situation was none of their choosing, and that they did not particularly fancy it.
"If you won"t keep back, then take that!" suddenly shouted the heavy-voiced man; and immediately following his words there came a bright flash, and the report of a pistol.
"Oh!" exclaimed some one aboard the Wireless; and Jack had a shock.
"Anybody hurt over there?" he sang out, as he s.n.a.t.c.hed up his shotgun, and made ready to use it; if the answer was to the effect that damage had been done, Jack might turn the weapon directly on the fleeing craft, and scatter the contents of a sh.e.l.l in that quarter.
"Er, no, guess not," replied George, "but say, that bullet hummed right past my head, and I nearly broke my neck trying to dodge it. Jack, give "em a return shot, please do!"
"Bang!" went a second discharge.
This time the man in the fugitive motor boat had evidently turned his attention toward the Tramp, for Jack and those with him plainly heard the peculiar whistle of the pa.s.sing lead.
It was too much. Jack could stand for a good deal, but this thing of being made a target to suit the whim of a rascally thief galled him.
There was one way in which it might be stopped; and this was to let them understand that when George said they were armed it was no idle boast, although they might not be bristling with weapons, as he would have had the others believe.
And so Jack let fly with one barrel of his Marlin, aiming to one side of the white boat, now close at hand.
The charge of shot ploughed up the water. It also caused the head to vanish from the stern of the boat. Evidently that shot created something like a little panic aboard the Saunterer. How were those two men to know but what every fellow pitted against them gripped some sort of dangerous firearm, and with boyish abandon was ready to make use of it?
They did not shoot again, and from this circ.u.mstance Jack believed that they were ready to change their plans. If the pursuers could not be frightened off by threats, perhaps they might be content to withdraw, if they could only recover the stolen boat again.
"They"re going to pa.s.s the raft by, Jack!" ventured Josh, just then.
"Think so?" the other went on to remark, "well, I"m just guessing otherwise, and that they mean to run alongside. Look sharp, Josh, and you"ll see how they keep on edging that way."
"What if they leave the motor boat and make a run for the log cabin on the raft--will you crack away at "em, Jack, and try to hit the fellers in the legs?" was what the excited Josh wanted to know.
Jack had to laugh softly at that.
"You talk as if any one could put a load of shot just where he wanted it, without doing any serious damage," he remarked. "If that was easy, I"d like to tickle those chaps; but there"s too serious a chance of crippling them for life, or even worse than that. We"re so close now that a load of Sevens would go just like a great big bullet. I"m not ready for that and won"t be unless they hurt one of our crowd. If that happens, they"ll have to look out."
"There they go, heading in to the logs, just like you said, Jack!" cried Josh, more worked up than ever. "Oh! please give "em another shot if they jump on the raft. P"raps it might scare the pair so much they"d just throw up their hands, and surrender."
"Do you see the men who are running the logs down-stream?" demanded Jack.
"Of course I do, two of "em, and they look like they hardly knew what all this racket means," Josh continued. "Now, wouldn"t it be just great if they jumped our birds, and got "em. All we"d have to do then would be to take charge of the scamps, hand over a little reward to the raftsmen, and start back. Look! Jack, there, they are going to strike the logs now. They"ve shut off the motor, you see, and that tells the story. Take it from me we"ve got the fellers bad scared right now. Whoop! George, knock "em both over with your elephant gun! Quick! soak it to "em, fellers!"
Of course Josh was only shouting this last in order to further alarm the two fugitives. For some reason or other the men had determined to abandon their boat. Perhaps they found it was commencing to balk, and could not be depended on. Then again, as the others had overtaken them, it was plain that they must open up some other means for escaping.
Jack still clung to his former idea that the men hoped the boys would be satisfied with recovering the stolen Saunterer; and finding that they were ready to defend themselves would withdraw. Then they could force the raftsmen to steer the clumsy craft over to whichever sh.o.r.e they thought safer, and in this way they might escape with their booty.
The white boat came alongside the raft, and b.u.mped heavily.
Two flying figures were seen to leave the boat, and find a footing on the slippery logs. Immediately they did so they started headlong toward the center where the little log-cabin shelter stood; just as though their plans had all been arranged beforehand.
Whether that shout from Josh calling on George to blaze away gave them additional cause for excitement, or the fact of the logs being wet and slippery made them lose their footing more than a few times, the fact was that they took a number of headers, and found the pa.s.sage a rocky one.
George was still shouting at the top of his voice, and the others joined in, so that the clamor was quite deafening. No wonder the loggers stood there unable to understand what it was all about, and why those two had abandoned the fine white boat that was now drifting alongside the raft.
"Too bad, Jack!" Josh was saying, when the two fugitives, after making their way along the logs finally vanished inside the door of the rude little cabin shelter.
"What is it?" asked the skipper, who had also shut off power, and was bent on bringing the Tramp alongside the raft just below the Saunterer; so that the white boat could be caught and secured, which would be one part of their plans brought to a successful completion.
"He"s got the boodle, Jack, plague take the luck!"
"Yes, I saw that the small man was carrying a bag with him, and of course that holds the stolen bank papers and cash," Jack went on to say, as the Tramp"s nose came with a gentle b.u.mp against the outside log.
"Tell me what to do, Jack!" Josh demanded, knowing that the other must have a plan of some sort in view in making this landing, if their hugging the raft could come under that name.
"Just jump off and take the hawser with you," said the skipper, quickly.
"Then you mean to tie up here?" asked Josh, as he started to obey directions.