Part 17 (1/2)

Chet at once took to the pets of the boat, Mose, Captain Joe, and Teddy, the bear cub, and they immediately recognized him as a member of the family.

While he was playing with the cub on the prow, Clay made an oblong package of the diamonds, scattering them in between sheets of paper, and marked them ”Bonds.” The bag in which they had been found was half filled with burrs, and small bits of a broken dish and tied tight. It resembled the bag as it had stood before any change had been made when Clay had finished with it.

This bag Clay resolved to keep in his pocket until he could place it under the eyes of the boy who claimed it, the idea being to see if he really would s.n.a.t.c.h the supposed prize and take to the river again.

Clay hoped that he would not, for all liked the little fellow. That afternoon they ran down to a Memphis pier and Clay went ash.o.r.e with the gems.

He was in time to secure a deposit box at a bank and stow the diamonds away. The cas.h.i.+er with whom he did business asked questions regarding his age and permanent residence, and seemed satisfied with his answers. He was, indeed, especially interested in Clay's description of the _Rambler_ and the voyages the boys had made in her, and asked permission to visit the party that evening if he found time.

Clay gladly gave the required permission, ordered supplies sent to the pier, and then started out for a look at the beautiful city. Almost at the entrance to the bank he met Alex., who had the flushed appearance of a boy who had been walking pretty fast.

The two walked together for a block without speaking, save for the initial greeting, and then Alex. proposed that they go to a restaurant and have a ”steak about as big as a parlor rug,” as he expressed it.

Clay agreed, but laughed at the notion.

”Why not take it on board?” he asked. ”We can cook it much better than any city chef,” he added.

”Well,” Alex. replied, ”I saw a neat little restaurant back here, not far from the river front, and I thought I'd like to go there and have a feed.”

So the two turned into the restaurant, when they came to it, and took a small table at a rear corner of the room. It being late for dinner and early for supper, there were few in the place.

One party, at the front of the room, at once attracted Clay's attention. There were three men in the party, one young, smiling and flas.h.i.+ly dressed; one old, grizzled and clad in a well-worn business suit; and another dressed expensively and with great care. This man had a surprising growth of red hair which showed evidences of great care. His face was smooth-shaven, and had the appearance of having recently been divested of a beard, the flesh showing soft and white, as if not long exposed to the weather.

When this man arose to pay the check and laid a hand on the back of a chair, Clay noticed that the hand was very large and finely kept. The man was something over six feet in height! Clay gave Alex. a kick under the table and directed his gaze to the large man, then pa.s.sing over to the cas.h.i.+er's window.

”Take a good look at that man,” he whispered. ”Ever see him before?”

”I saw him when I pa.s.sed,” was the reply, ”and brought you here.

That's Red, the Robber.”

CHAPTER XIV

ALEX. BREAKS FURNITURE

”Unless Red, the Robber, has a twin who is an exact duplicate of himself,” Clay whispered, ”that is just who it is!”

”When I pa.s.sed here,” Alex. explained, ”the three were just sitting down to dinner, and I knew that I could get you back here in time to see Red, the Robber, before he could finish the big steak he had just tackled. There he is! Now what?”

”It doesn't seem possible that that finely-dressed, well-groomed man is really the one who talked with us out on the river at Cairo, and who afterwards captured the _Rambler_ by holding a gun about the size of a cannon on me,” Clay declared.

”And the man who bespoke kind treatment for Chet, the waif,” Alex.

went on. ”I guess we're both seeing things not present to the senses!

There ain't no such man!”

”It can't be!” Clay tried to convince himself. ”It can't be the same man!”

Yet he knew deep down in his heart that it was the same man! If there had been any doubt of the complete identification at the start, there was none when the man spoke to the cas.h.i.+er in the full, deep voice which Clay knew that he had heard while he was tied up in the cabin of the _Rambler_!

”I have heard that river thieves sometimes make up to look like bankers and high-up politicians,” Alex. whispered.