"No knife used, then, you mean?" asked Frank, jumping at conclusions.
"Nixy a knife," came the answer, in a positive tone.
"Then that settles it," Frank went on, turning to his comrades. "Our cable turned out a bad one, boys; and in the storm, when the wind struck the side of the cabin, the rope snapped off short!"
"Wow! what do you think of that, now?" cried Jerry.
"Then it wasn"t Ossie and his crowd; nor yet Marcus Stackpole, that did the little job for us?" observed Bluff, bottling some of his wrath for another occasion.
"We can lay it all to the storm," Frank went on to say, as he too examined the frayed end of the piece of cable still hanging from the trunk of the tree; and which it was plain to be seen had never been severed by a sharp instrument.
"But that"s just about as bad," Will plaintively struck up just then.
"Perhaps our fine boat has been knocked to pieces before now; or even if she hasn"t, then she must be booming along in the middle of the river, turning around and around as she floats. Why, Frank, this happened half an hour ago, and by now where do you think the _Pot Luck_ can be?"
"If she hasn"t been snagged and sunk in the storm," replied Frank, "or upset by the hurricane wind, why, by now she may be floating peacefully along, all by herself, say about two miles, perhaps three, below here."
"Think of that! And I was expecting to sleep aboard to-night!" Will exclaimed.
"I hope you may yet, if there"s any way by which we can overtake a runaway houseboat," Frank said, as he tried to think.
Was there any means of obtaining a team of horses, and by following the country road, getting ahead of the houseboat that had gone adrift in the storm? The countryman ought to know, for he had been born and raised in that section of the State, and must be familiar with the lay of the land.
So Frank turned to Seth Groggins.
"You understand what has happened to us; don"t you, Seth?" he asked.
"Reckon I does; the pesky boat"s gone an" played you all a mean trick."
"Now, perhaps you might help us overtake our boat, Seth."
"You jest tell me how, then, an" see me jump," answered the farmer, quickly, and with a friendly ring in his voice that pleased Frank very much.
"Have you got any fast horses at your place?" he asked next.
"That"s what I hev, as good a pair as kin be found "raound these hyar parts. An" I sees wot you mean to try, Frank. Think it kin be did?"
"How far does this road follow the river?" Frank asked.
"Oh! many a mile," came the answer. "She runs alongside the Mississippi for mebbe four miles, then takes a straightaway course two miles "cross a neck o" land, savin" somethin" like five miles, and strikes the winding water agin beyond."
"Just let me figure on that," Frank went on, calmly, for he knew nothing could be gained by getting excited like Bluff and the others seemed to be. "Six miles from here by the road, and then we strike the river again. Now, how far do you suppose that boat would have to drift with the current before it struck that same point?"
"They do say that five miles kin be saved by cuttin" acrost that neck. I reckon as haow it"d be all o" three anyway," the farmer declared, positively.
"We ought to be able to go twice as fast as the boat, I should think,"
Frank continued, "and counting the saving, I believe we would have plenty of time to get to your place and be off, if you agreed. We"re willing to pay you five dollars for your trouble."
"Five dollars nothing!" exclaimed the young farmer. "What d"ye think I am, when, if it hadn"t been for you, like"s not I"d been crazy enough to hev camped, under thet same big tree, and jest think whar I"d be naow?
Done it afore, more"n a few times. Reckon that ere lightnin" was a layin" for me, an" she"d got me to-night sure. But come along, boys; my place ain"t far off."
He led the way to the road, and up it at a fast run; the four chums following after him as best they could.
Inside of ten minutes they arrived at a wayside farmhouse; and without waiting to answer the calls of the old lady on the porch, who wanted to know all about the fire, country fashion, Seth led his new friends straight out to a big stable and barn.
The way that expert young countryman got out his horses, and hitched them to a light road wagon, made Frank ready to give him the palm for fast work. Why, in almost no time the ends of the lines were tossed over the seat.
"Jump in, boys, and we"ll be off, jest as soon as I shut the stable doors. You see, I never leave "em open. Robbins lost his hull outfit one night, and I ain"t a-goin" to take any chances with mine."
Another minute, and they were making for the open gates, which Seth had seen to at the time they entered his grounds. The last the boys saw of the old lady she was standing there, where the light of a lamp issued from an open door, and looking after her boy, as though she wondered if he had taken leave of his senses.
"Tell her all erbout it, arter I gets back to hum," Seth very sensibly remarked, as he used the whip, to send his horses galloping down the river road. "She allers arsks so many questions, you see, I jest natchly couldn"t hold up to satisfy her right now, when minutes are a-goin" to count. Giddup, Bob! Hi! thar, f.a.n.n.y, show us what you kin do!"
Both horses were already making great speed. Frank and Will sat beside the driver on the seat, while the others found as comfortable places as they could on the bottom of the light wagon.
The road was not everything that could be wished for, and in consequence, when they came to a little depression, or a "thank-you-mum," which was intended to deflect running water, and save a washout, both Jerry and Bluff found it difficult to keep anything like an upright position. The latter especially, being still burdened with his gun, could only use one hand with which to hold on to the side of the wagon; and as a consequence he was bounding all over the bed of the vehicle, until Frank, noticing what hard lines had fallen to poor Bluff, took the gun away, which allowed him to have the use of both hands.
Mile after mile they put behind them in this fashion.
"Oh! I hope we will make it, Frank," Will would say every little while; and at such times the other thought it his duty to cheer the doubting chum up by declaring that he felt sure they would, as they were making such splendid time.
"But even if we do see the poor old Noah"s Ark away out in the middle of the river, floating along, however in the wide world can we get to her?"
Will asked.
"No use crossing a bridge till we come to it," Frank told him. "When we understand the situation we"ll have some plan ready to meet it. Here"s where we leave the river; isn"t it, Seth?" as the driver urged his team over a little plank bridge at a point where the road turned abruptly to the left.
"Yep, that"s the ticket," replied the other. "Two mile now, and then we strike her agin. Go "lang thar, f.a.n.n.y; gaddup, Bob, ye lazybones!"
But this was only "talk," as Bluff expressed it, for both horses were doing the best they knew how, and making splendid time. After a while, Frank knew from the signs that they must once more be approaching the river. He could hardly still his own excited heart, so very much depended on the events of the next half hour.
Finally they burst into view of the swiftly flowing Mississippi again.
Out over its broad bosom every eye went, seeking for some sign of the floating houseboat.
"Doan"t see nuthin" o" her, mister!" announced Seth, in a disappointed tone; "but then, I reckons as haow she ain"t hed time yet to float this far. Inside harf a hour we kin spect to see the runaway, if it stays as light as it is naow."
Frank had not been looking in the same quarter as the others, who seemed to have taken it for granted that the houseboat, when she appeared, would be found far out on the flood.
He cast his eye closer to the sh.o.r.e that stretched away toward the north, until it became dim and uncertain in the starlight; for the heavens were now clear from horizon to horizon, and the air wonderfully pure after the thunder squall of the earlier evening.
"I think I see her coming up yonder, boys!" said Frank, as he pointed a trembling finger, to a.s.sist his chums locate the dark moving blur that had just caught his eye a little distance above the spot where they sat in the wagon.
CHAPTER XV-ON BOARD THE POT LUCK AGAIN
"Frank, you"re right!" exclaimed the delighted Will.
"It"s the _Pot Luck_, as sure as you"re born!" cried Bluff.