"You never saw a motor do better than mine did coming down river, and you know it. I have had a lot of trouble with the thing in the past; but that"s all over now; and I"m on Easy Street with my dandy Wireless.
Oh! you can laugh all you want to, Josh, but wait and see."
"Proof of the puddin" lies in the eatin" of the same, George," said Josh, "and I know you too well to believe you"ll ever be satisfied to run along like Jack and Herb do. But see there, our fire kindler"s got up to the shack, all serene. And now he"s bending down to fix his kindlin" right. We"ll soon know, George, and if she goes, since it"s your scheme, I"m willing to say you done it with your little hatch-it."
Just as Josh said, the logger had managed to gain the shelter of the back wall of the shack. Now, in order to keep out the rain without bothering with a door, the cabin had been made with its only opening on the side up-river; so that what the boys had been calling its back was really the front side.
And with the movement of the raft always down-stream; and the night air being from the south just then, if the fire were ever properly started, it would be fanned constantly, and helped along by this process.
Jack kept watch on the dark opening that stood for the entrance, and means of exit. He meant to shoot, if any figure was seen to appear outside this; not with the idea of doing bodily injury, but in the expectation of frightening the man back, before he could make use of his weapon upon the fire-kindler.
So the seconds crept along, until several minutes had pa.s.sed.
"Gee! why don"t he get a move on?" remarked George, to whom the time hung as if it were weighed down with lead.
"Let him be," said the other logger, named Hanky. "Fritz is sum slow, but then he gits there in the end. Watch his smoke, son, an" see!"
CHAPTER XXII
"DROP THAT BAG"
They kept waiting, but George was very nervous because nothing seemed to happen. He growled to himself more than a few times; but none of the other boys paid any attention to that; because they knew George pretty well, and had run up against his little failings many a time.
George had no use for "slow-pokes." He expected to see Rome built in a day, and strange to say, while he met with lots of trouble on account of this very desire for haste, it did not seem to effect any permanent cure in his disposition; for as soon as the unpleasant result had worn off, he was the same old George again,--Hurricane George, they used to call him at home.
"There, looks like he"s about got it fixed now," announced Josh, presently.
"Oh! thank goodness!" said the skipper of the Wireless with a sigh of gratification that welled up from his very heart. "Now perhaps there"ll be something doing."
"He"s getting out a match," Josh went on.
"You mean he"s hunting all through his pockets for one," corrected Jack.
That gave George another spell of the blues.
"Chances are he won"t have a blessed match about him," he observed, despairingly. "And I"ve got half a notion right now to crawl out there, and do the business for Fritz."
"No need," remarked Josh, "he"s found one!"
Then they watched again, while the logger went through with a lot of what seemed to George utterly useless actions, fixing the kindling up a little better. And finally he started to strike the match.
The boys held their breath as they saw it flame up.
"Now, look out, Fritz, or you"ll lose your eyebrows!" George was heard to mutter; as the logger leaned over to apply the little flame, which he had been shielding with both hands, after the manner of an old smoker.
"Wow!"
Josh did not mean to call out, but the cry was almost forced from his lips as he saw a vivid flash of fire, that seemed to jump as high as the roof of the little log shack.
"That was the gasolene!" remarked George, coolly.
"Fritz got stung, I guess, because he tumbled over backwards," Josh ventured, as his opinion; but although Jack had imagined that something along those lines might have happened, he did not see the man show any signs of suffering, as he started to crawl away from the spot, glancing over his shoulder now and then, as if to rea.s.sure himself that everything was going well.
"Naw, he"s all right; Fritz kin be quick when he wants to get out o" the way o" things that hurts," the fellow logger advanced.
"Wonder if she"s going to take hold?" Josh ventured, as he watched the fire eat into the kindling merrily.
"Wouldn"t be s"prised if she did, now?" Hank remarked, as though he had experienced a change of heart since the match had been applied. "Looky thar at the way it"s eatin" up the logs. Gosh! that makes a hot fire, boys, with them oil rags to keep her a-goin". And sure as yuh live I c"n see it getting a grip o" the logs right now. Guess we won"t hev airy shanty, come morning. But who keers. A little saw-buck o" a ten dollar bill wud make that squar."
Jack looked around.
If the cabin really caught fire, and began to burn furiously, it would not be long before those within would have to vacate. He wanted to get a good idea as to what their next move would be; and for that reason he took this observation, so as to be posted.
And the first thing he saw was that the current of the river had swung the log raft in to the western sh.o.r.e during the last ten minutes or so.
Why, it was not more than a hundred yards away; and as the moon hung in the east, the whole sh.o.r.e line was brightly illuminated.
Would not that prove an irresistible attraction to the pair of hunted thieves, provided they could swim? As a last resort might they not think to make a run for the edge of the raft, and spring overboard?
That was all right, provided they left the little bag behind. If on the other hand they tried to carry it off, Jack must know what to do about it. He feared that sooner than give up their plunder the scoundrels would deliberately throw it into the river, and thus defraud the depositors and stockholders of the Lawrence bank out of their valuable property, as well as sink the evidence that might be used to incriminate them as the looters of the inst.i.tution.
How to prevent this was the question that was bothering Jack.
Would he be justified in trying to cripple one of the robbers in case they attempted to carry out such a bold scheme?
He decided this quickly, when he remembered what misery would likely follow the loss of the bag, with its contents. Yes, what was one wretch"s suffering when compared with that which would follow the closing of the bank"s doors, and a sign on the outside telling that it would never be able to open again, because of the loss of the entire funds, and negotiable papers, as the paper had said.
Well, there did not seem to be any more doubt about the success of the fire, at any rate; for already were the flames beginning to creep up the wall of the cabin, licking greedily at the wood. They had gained such a good start that unless some fire-fighter got busy in a hurry, that shack was doomed, for the breeze fanned the flames wonderfully.
"They"re coming out!" snapped George.
"Get ready, Jack, to drop "em!" shouted Josh.
"There"s the old Comfort drawing alongside the raft by our boats!" Jack sent back at them just then.
Perhaps those in the cabin had already discovered the other boat coming down with the current, for the opening was toward the up-river end of the float, it may be remembered.
If so, it must have surely added to their uneasiness. They could see a number of persons aboard, and in the deceptive moonlight how were they to know that these pa.s.sengers on the big launch were hardly to be cla.s.sed with fighters, at least not very ferocious ones?
Imagine the astonishment of Herb and Buster, not to speak of Algernon, when, on nearing the dark object they had discovered ahead, it was to suddenly discover a blaze shooting up; and then on looking further to see Jack, George, Josh, Andy and the man Jenks, as well as two strange raftsmen ranged, about on a raft of logs, watching the burning cabin, as though it contained something they were greatly interested in.
And then to find the stolen white launch tied up to the raft--that must have given them a clue so they could figure things out fairly well.
The men had thrust their heads out at the time George and Josh seemed so positive they were coming. They could not have fancied the situation much; but then the sight of land so near by may have put some heart into them.
As the fire got hotter their condition must be growing more and more unpleasant. Jack knew that it was only a question of minutes, or more properly, seconds, before they would be forced to expose themselves, and he was nerving himself for that crisis.