Part 32 (1/2)

Just how a boy had become possessed of a fortune in precious stones, Jule was not trying to figure out at that time. What was in his mind was the thought that the question of owners.h.i.+p ought to be settled at once. This question, he believed, could best be settled by the boy himself.

He waived, for the time being, all consideration of the possible connection of the gems with the Rock Island robbery, all consideration of the possible connection of the boy with the man known to him as Red, the Robber. Chet himself could best decide the question of owners.h.i.+p, and Jule thought he ought to be taken back to the boat, by force if necessary.

Just as the boy was on the point of pursuing the figure, now fast disappearing in the shadows along the levee, Mose pulled at his arm and pointed to Captain Joe. The dog, with short ears and tail rampant, was crouching close to the closed door of the house, uttering low growls as his paws moved toward the threshold.

”Alex. in dar!” the little negro exclaimed.

Then there came a heavy, stumbling footstep along the walk, and a burly man in the garb of a riverman paused at the door, overlooking the boys crouched at the angle of the house, but cursing the dog drunkenly. Captain Joe behaved remarkably well under the kicks delivered at him, and the newcomer took a key from his pocket and opened the door. Before he could enter the dog had disappeared in the darkness of the interior.

”I reckon Alex. is in there, perhaps Case, too,” Jule muttered.

”Yo' sure cain't fool dat purp!” Mose whispered.

The boys did not attempt to follow on into the house by the open doorway, but pa.s.sed on to the window and entered there. All was still dark inside. They could hear the man who had just entered moving about, still striking at and cursing the dog.

Directly another key was turned, and then all was confusion. Jule switched on his flashlight and the circle it cut in the darkness revealed the man standing in a doorway with a long-barreled revolver in one shaking hand. The casings of the doorway appeared to be of two-inch plank, and the door itself was crossed by iron bands.

The man turned as the light flashed out and fired, the bullet going wide of the mark. Then a voice came from the interior of the room, a voice which brought joy to the hearts of boys outside. The voice of Alex.

”Get him, Joe!” the voice cried. ”Get him good!”

The man wheeled and shot at the springing dog, but the bullet went off into the ragged ceiling instead of into Captain Joe's head, as intended. Directly the dog and the man were in a struggle on the floor, the only light Jule's electric.

Alex. and Case came out of the room, leaping over the fighters, and seized Jule and Mose in enthusiastic embraces.

”Wait!” Jule commanded. ”Get the man on the floor first. The dog will take his life. Joe!” he added, ”let go!”

”Take him away!” shrieked the man. ”He's chewed my arm off now!”

Jule picked up the fallen man's revolver and held it to his head while Alex. forced the dog away. There was blood on Captain Joe's jaws, and the man on the floor was breathing heavily.

”Shut the door and put down the window!” Alex. said, presently, ”and put the light out! There's no more fight in this chap just now.”

”Here, I'll fix him,” Case said. ”I'll chuck him into this refrigerator and lock him up. See how well he likes his own medicine.”

”But he'll get right out!” advised Jule.

”Oh, will he!” Alex. answered. ”Then he'll do more than we could. I'll bet the walls of that hole are a foot thick! And the air? I'm choked to death.”

”We tried our best to get out and couldn't,” Case added.

”Suppose we see if he is badly hurt before we leave him?” Jule put in.

An examination showed that the dog had seized the fellow by the shoulder and bitten through the flesh, making an ugly though not serious wound.

”That won't hurt him!” Alex. declared. ”His chums will come and get him in the morning, anyway. Chuck him in and lock the door and we'll climb out of this!”

”Isn't the place watched?” asked Jule, peering out cautiously.

”It would be if the outlaws weren't drunk,” Alex. replied. ”There's a copper over on the other side of the street. Probably he heard the shots. We'll duck out of a back window and make for the _Rambler_.”