He was a level-headed, practical boy, and had not a grain of superst.i.tion in his whole body. Many a time had he and Andy argued and disputed upon this very score, and the one whose ancestors had come from the island across the sea had apparently so far as outward appearances went, at least, been convinced of the error of his ways, only to have the old belief crop up again unexpectedly on the first occasion. It was in the blood; and what is there cannot be argued away.
"Stop and think, Buster, and you, Andy," Jack went on to say, impressively, "ghosts wouldn"t be apt to wear big boots, would they, and come creeping along, when they are popularly supposed to have the power of making themselves invisible?"
"That"s so, Jack, you"re right!" burst out George, enthusiastically.
"Get your gun, and we"ll take a look for the rascal, and make him stand and deliver."
But Jack paid no attention to this fiery threat; if they tried to carry out one-tenth of the things impulsive George suggested, it would surely keep them busy, well and good.
"And whoever heard of a hungry ghost?" Jack went on to say, so as to rub it in, good and hard. "This fellow, whoever he could have been, must have been hungry; for he cribbed our ham and stuff the first shot. Well, it"s gone; but thank goodness we"ve got plenty more; so I say, don"t let"s have such a little thing make us feel bad. Get busy, some of you, and fix the cook up with a second ration. Herb, cut two more slices off the ham, and Buster, you turn your hand at carving that hunk of fish we"ve still got. Such a trifle shouldn"t upset fellows who had been through all we have, you know."
"No more it hadn"t!" cried Buster.
"Bully for the Commodore; he"s the right stuff!" exclaimed Josh, waving the stick of wood he happened to be holding in his hand at the time; and looking very much like a real French chef with his cute little white cap on his head.
"But hey, let"s first of all get every bit of our stuff in the tent, and keep a close watch on the same," observed suspicious George. "First thing you know we"ll just have to abandon our week of fun down here because we"re starved out. We didn"t agree to feed all the stray fishermen, or hoboes in the country, when we laid in our supplies this time; ain"t that a fact, Jack?"
It was strange how all the other boys almost invariably turned to Jack when they had advanced a proposition; as though his guarantee was all that was necessary to stamp the suggestion as a clever idea.
"Yes, you"re right there, George; and while the rest of you are doing all you can to help Josh out, I"ll be collecting the duffle in the tent, and fixing the same so it won"t bother us much. If any chap manages to hook more of our stuff from under our very noses, he"ll deserve it, that"s all."
So saying, Jack started to carry things in under the canvas, for the tent had been about fully erected at the time Josh made his astonishing statement; and only needed to be fastened down a little more securely at the base, so as to be ready to stand any sort of a blow, such as might come along in the spring time here on the upper Mississippi.
The air was getting a little "nippy," as Buster called it; so that several of the motorboat boys had donned their sweaters. This made Buster start to again bemoaning the strange disappearance of his new one, that had the blue moon on the breast. He never could convince himself that he had mislaid it in the shed where the boats had been housed for the winter; and fancied that one of his chums must be hiding it from him; because every little while he would watch each one in turn, and with hope struggling afresh upon his rosy, plump face, only to have it die out again when he realized they were not dragging the familiar object out of their clothes bags.
Secretly Buster was determined that at the first chance he would rummage through each one of those bags himself, and make positive that his missing property was not reposing where it never should be found.
The supper preparations went on apace, and soon the most delightful odors ever sniffed by hungry cruisers began to permeate the surrounding atmosphere. Buster went into the tent, calling back over his shoulder:
"Just going to lie down a while on my blanket, to see how she goes, fellers. Fact is, I"m that cramped after a session aboard the speed boat that I c"n hardly stretch out. And then, to own up to the real truth, them smells make me just wild, and I can"t stand it around the fire any longer. Just call me when everything"s ready, Josh, that"s a good feller. Oh! my! but that coffee is scrumptious; and the ham, goodness gracious! whoever smoked that pig knew how to fix things so"s to set a hungry boy half crazy. Yum! yum! Don"t forget to wake me, now, Josh!"
But of course it was not long before supper was declared ready, and the boys proceeded to gather around the spot where Josh had set things.
Buster was not called, in fact there was no need, for he burst out of the tent like a young cyclone just at this time, and hastened to find a place to deposit his fat form in the circle.
"Hey! thought"d you steal a march on me, didn"t you, fellers?" he demanded, trying to look very fierce, which was impossible, for he only screwed up his face and seemed comical at such times; "meant to just eat up my share, and then tell me you forgot all about giving me the high sign. But I was on to your little game, let me tell you. Could hear every word you said, and when Josh here told George to pa.s.s out his pannikin, that gave me my cue. Thank you, Josh, I believe I will dip in next; and Herb, fill my tin-cup with that coffee, please. Oh! ain"t I glad we"ve got started at last. That last ten minutes was just awful to me!"
So Buster rattled on until the others begged him to stop it.
"Let the food close that trap of yours, Buster, please," said George.
"That"s the way he goes, ding-dong, the whole blessed day, fellows; until I can hardly think straight, when I"m trying to figure on how to bridle that high-stepper of a motor of mine."
They were soon all hard at work, and after the first keen edge of their appet.i.tes had been taken off, it was a merry group that gathered near the fire, eating, chatting and with a continual flow of wit pa.s.sing back and forth.
Nevertheless Jack could not forget about the mysterious disappearance of the food, and every little while he would get up, to take a stroll around to the other side of the tent; just as though he half feared that some daring intruder might try to cut into the back of the canvas, with the intention of continuing his depredations.
"How about that old paper Andy brought with him?" asked George, after they had eaten all that was possible; and even Buster was seen to shake his head when Josh asked if anybody would have any more coffee, baked beans, crackers, or cheese.
"Say, that"s a fact!" cried Herb, "we went and forgot all about it. You see, Jack crammed it in a pocket of his old jacket; and all of us were that anxious to be off we didn"t remember to have the account of the robbery read out. Got it yet, haven"t you, Jack?"
"Sure I have," replied the other, "and if you wait a minute I"ll get the same, so we can enjoy the thrilling story right here and now. Those kind of yarns always sound better around the blazing camp fire, you know."
"Kinder go with ghosts, and all that sort of thing, eh?" came from Buster, who was eyeing the remnant of ham in the fryingpan, and heaving a sigh, as though it really gave him a pain to think that his capacity seemed to have been reached before the last bit had been disposed of; that was next door to a sin with Buster, who would gorge himself rather than see the least thing wasted, or thrown away.
"Ghosts don"t burgle any that I ever heard of," observed Josh, calmly picking up the said skillet, and with a fling sending a small portion of the fatty end of ham flying into the bushes, at which Buster sank back, disappointed.
"Arrah, sure they do the quarest things ye iver heard till on," declared Andy; and then gave a quick look at Jack, as though half expecting to be taken to task because of his clinging belief in hobgoblins, and all such things.
But Jack did not see fit to pay the slightest attention to anything so trifling just then. He pa.s.sed into the tent, to where he had hung his coat; for with his sweater on he had not felt the need of extra covering. And presently he came out again, carrying the paper in his hand.
"Now, isn"t that too mean for anything, boys?" he remarked.
"What"s gone wrong now, Jack; I hope more of our provisions haven"t taken wings, and skipped out?" observed George; while Buster just sat there, hugging his fat knees and holding his breath while he waited to hear the worst.
"Oh! no; nothing like that," came the answer, "but you see I had this coat on a good part of the morning, and I guess the paper must have got wet somehow, for there"s only part of the first page left; most of the account of the robbery is gone. But I"ll read you what there is, if you want. It"s the tail end, of course. Too bad it had to happen that way."
"Go on, then, and let"s have what there is, Jack," urged Josh.
"About where the lines begin to run even it starts in this way,"
remarked Jack. ""The only clues they have of the robbery consist, first of all, in several tools which Mr. Hasty, the blacksmith, identified as part of his machinist"s outfit, showing that they had entered his shop; and the fact that yesterday a dapper little naphtha launch, painted white, with a red band around the upper part, was known to be anch.o.r.ed just above town. Two parties occupied the same, one a well-dressed young fellow, with a sharp look about him; and the other a heavy man, more like a mechanic. The police have no doubt that these parties are the ones who broke into the bank, and cleaned out the vault. The smart looking young fellow must have planned the scheme. He was seen in the bank during the day, getting some information, and a big bill changed, and it is supposed that he took his bearings at that time he was chatting with the cashier. From the description the latter was able to give of his visitor it has been learned from St. Paul that the smooth faced young fellow was positively a well known and skilful crook called by the name of Slim Jim. The authorities hope to be able to get on to their track up or down the river shortly.""
Just as Jack ended this report Buster was heard to give a startled cry.
"What ails him now?" demanded Josh, looking toward the fat boy.
"Just what I thought, he"s gone and overfed, and now he"s feeling a gripe coming on; he"ll sure burst some fine day," grumbled George, groaning to think that all during the trip he must put up with such a rolypoly of a crew as Buster Longfellow.
""Tain"t neither," snapped the other, indignantly. "I c"n breathe as well as any feller present. I gave that little gasp-like because I was staggered, when Jack, he read about that trim little boat painted white, with the red trimmin" around the gunnel. Want to know why, don"t you?
Well, the fact is, fellers, I set eyes on that pirate craft myself, and not so very long ago either; fact is, just half an hour before we struck here. Now, what d"ye think of that, hey?" and Buster expanded perceptibly, doubtless feeling his own importance as the bearer of startling news.
CHAPTER VI
A STARTLING INTERRUPTION
"Whee!" exclaimed Josh, hardly able to believe his ears when he heard the fat boy make this astonishing declaration so positively.
George also expressed more or less surprise, though from the look on his face it was evident that he was beginning to guess something in connection with what his "crew" was stating.
Jack immediately took Buster in hand. It was the only way of making him tell all he knew, without forever "beating about the bush," and giving himself lots of airs; for Buster seldom found himself in the center of the stage; and when such an event did come along he wished to make the most of it. What boy, wouldn"t, tell me?
"See here," Jack went on to say, "you want to tell us all about that, now, Buster; because you"ve just made a startling statement; and we hope you can back it up. How could you see that boat, and none of the rest of us notice it; tell us that in the first place."
"Shucks! that"s easy enough, fellers," replied the other, bent on making the most of his advantage. "Tell you how that was. You may remember that George found himself away ahead, near the close of the run; and as George, he doesn"t like to hold up even a little bit, what did he do but spin away over to the other sh.o.r.e, and go down that, say about five miles above the upper end of this blooming old island."
"Oh! get a move on, old Ice-Wagon; you"re as slow as mola.s.ses in winter!" groaned impulsive George; whereupon the fat boy turned deliberately toward him to say: