CONCLUSION
"What"s all this fuss going on out here?" demanded Josh Purdue, as he came crawling from under the folds of the tent.
It must have been well on to high noon at the time. The tired boys had been sleeping pretty much the whole morning away.
No wonder the thin member of the squad was surprised, for there was Buster Longfellow hurrying around as though the house had been afire.
Nick could never accomplish anything worth while without a tremendous amount of spluttering; as all his mates knew only too well.
Wonderful to relate there was a pretty healthy odor of cooking in the air, that made Josh sniff approvingly; for of late his once poor appet.i.te had grown to respectable proportions; and the thin boy could demolish his share of "grub" with the best of them.
Buster glanced around, and grinned.
"Oh! say, but I"m glad somebody else has had the good sense to wake up, and come out," he began to say.
"Looks like you might be doing the breakfast stunt all by your lonely,"
remarked Josh, coolly, as he started toward the edge of the water, no doubt intending to dash some of the same in his face, and thus refresh himself.
"I seemed to have had all the sleep I wanted," continued Buster; "and after I waked up I lay there for a long time, wondering if anybody had started in to get breakfast; but I couldn"t get the first whiff of coffee."
"That"s right, and an old habit of yours, I guess, Buster; always laying around waiting for the birds to come and put something in your mouth,"
Josh flung over his shoulder, with all the scorn he could summon.
"Well, p"raps it is one of my faults," admitted the fat boy, humbly enough; "we"ve all got our weaknesses, you know, Jack says, and you ain"t any exception, Josh. But I felt as empty as an old tomato can, and just couldn"t stand it any longer; so I crawled out, and I"m doin" the best I know how to get breakfast. But of course it ain"t goin" to equal what you"d be givin" us, if you had hold here. Cookin" is one of your best stunts, Josh; fact is, I never knew any feller that could come near you."
When Buster wanted he could "soft soap" equal to the best of them; and while Josh understood full well that this was a plain invitation for him to shoulder some of the responsibility for that coming meal, he found it impossible to resist the bland smile of the stout chum.
"Rats! you just spread that honey on thick so as to drag me in; but I"m on to your curves, Buster. All the same, hold the fort while I throw some of the Mississippi into my face, and I"ll relieve you," he called out as he walked away.
"You"re all right, Josh, and I don"t care who hears me say so," cried Buster, who never could do the cooking act without getting so much pungent smoke in his poor eyes that he appeared to be weeping.
Possibly Josh found himself on edge for some refreshment, and that might account for his unusual kindness; for he speedily did show up, and took entire charge of the business.
About this time others began to crawl out of their blankets; and even George poked his head over the side of the Wireless; for, as was his usual custom, he could not feel perfectly happy away from his beloved if troublesome boat, even for a single night, and had slept aboard.
"Pretty late for breakfast, ain"t it?" demanded Herb as they began to gather around while Josh started to divide the contents of the two fryingpans between them all.
"Oh! call it a warm lunch if you like," sang out Buster, who was feeling fine; "I began to think when n.o.body seemed to stir, that our next meal would be supper. So, as that was too much, I just determined I"d show you all that I could be progressive for once, and I started this bully meal agoing, didn"t I, Josh?"
"That"s right, Buster, so you did," nodded the one addressed, who was also in an unusually good humor, after the lively events of the preceding night. "But what are you alookin" at me like that for, Jack?"
"I was wondering if you felt like taking a little run with me, that"s all," came the reply from the Commodore.
"In the Tramp, d"ye mean?" queried Josh, eagerly, for it struck him that Jack had honored him highly in thus deliberately picking him out when there four other fellows present.
"Yes. We may be gone the balance of the afternoon, but will surely get back before night sets in," the other went on to say.
"What"s all this mystery mean, I want to know?" demanded George, pretending to look hurt; though he would not have cared to be a pa.s.senger on any other craft besides his precious if tricky Wireless.
"Yes," Jimmy broke in, "tell us about it, that"s a good boy, Jack!"
"Well, listen and I will," the other started in to say; "you must remember that we"ve got a pretty hefty bunch of money along with us right now; and for one I won"t feel easy so long as it"s in our charge."
"Whew! that"s a fact!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Buster.
"P"raps there"s all the stuff they hooked from that bank in the bag you tied up with that heavy cord, Jack," suggested Herb.
"No doubt of it," agreed the Commodore, "all but the twenty I took out to hand over to those two loggers to pay for their burnt cabin, and the help they gave us. But just stop and think what a terrible condition all the good people of Lawrence must be in right now, will you? I reckon half those in the town will feel the pinch of the broken bank, one way or another."
"Correct you are, Jack; because in all these towns the bank is supported by business men, widows with money to invest, and even laboring men deposit their little savings. You ought to know, Jack, because banking runs in your family," and George nodded, as though he wanted every one to see that he was in full agreement with the other in all he said.
"Well, to relieve their minds, and give them the first decent night"s sleep they"ve had up to now since the bank was broken open," continued Jack, "I want to take Josh here, and run down river a ways to that town we noticed the light of when we were shooting past in the night."
"Oh! I see," remarked Buster, with what was a wonderfully quick perception, for him, "mebbe now you mean to wire on about it all, Jack."
"I expect to send a dispatch, telling them that the plunder has been recovered, and is coming back by express as fast as we can get it there; the full particulars will have to keep until the Motor Boat Boys get back from their little cruise down the Mississippi."
"And of course the news will float over to our little borough, in the natural course of events," suggested George, proudly.
"I c"n just see the good people waitin" to receive us with the bra.s.s band, and all the town run wild over the doings of the wonderful heroes of the old Mississippi!" cried Buster, waving his fork above his head excitedly, as he pictured the stirring scene in his mind"s eye.
"Well, hardly that," said Jack, quietly, for he disliked all such exhibitions exceedingly; "because we won"t let anybody know just when we expect to strike town again. In fact, if I can fix it up that way we"ll be apt to arrive after sunset."
"You mean sneak in like a dog with his tail between his legs?" complained George. "That"s too bad, Jack. If we"d done anything we ought to be ashamed of it might go; but when a bunch of valiant lads carry on like we have, and not only chases the bank thieves to a successful finish, but manages to recover the stolen stuff, seems to me we"d only be getting our due if we let our admiring fellow townsmen make a little ado over us.
You"re too modest, Jack, and that"s a fact."
"Well, we can settle all that later on," laughed the other, as he arose; "if you"ve had all you want to eat, Josh, suppose we get ready to take our little run."
"Weather looks O. K. out there, for one thing," observed Buster, as he scanned the serene surface of the mighty river, which of course was not to be compared with what the boys had seen hundreds of miles further down on their trip to New Orleans, though wide enough even at that.
"Little that would matter to a couple of well seasoned old tars like me"n Jack!" declared Josh grandly.
Going into the tent Jack speedily reappeared bearing the wonderful little bag which they had so cleverly forced the thieves to drop on the preceding night, when that lively fracas occurred on the floating raft out upon the river.
Josh was already aboard the Tramp, and grinning for all he was worth, such was his satisfaction over having been chosen by the Commodore as his companion in this very important mission.
"Do we take the Marlin along with us, Jack?" he demanded.
"What for? Better leave it here for the boys to use if anything comes along," was the reply he received, as Jack clambered aboard.
"Oh! just as you say," remarked Josh, half reluctantly, as he handed the gun over to Andy. "Only I thought, you see, that we might happen to run across them precious rascals again, and if they tried to board us, we"d want something along to stand "em off with."
George laughed mockingly.
"Listen to Josh, would you?" he cried. "He"s sure going to dream of those two bad men for a whole month of Sundays. Why, they turned out to be kind of chicken-hearted after all. They gave up the bag as easy as you please, when Jack told "em he"d send the second charge around their legs."
"And swim!" echoed Andy. "I niver saw annything to equal the loikes in all me loife. They was crazy to ra"ch the sh.o.r.e, so they was."