Part 18 (1/2)

”I'll show you whether we will or not!”

All this time the raft had been drifting down stream, and the _Rambler_ had, of course, remained stationary. As the man uttered this implied threat, he cast off the line of a boat, motioned to two men who stood near, and the three entered and began rowing toward the sand bar.

”We'll overtake you in a half an hour,” the man who had done most of the talking from the raft called out to his companions, ”and we'll bring back something cheering if it is to be had on that boat.”

”About the only thing you'll get on this boat,” Case shouted, ”will be bullets. If you don't sheer away, you'll get a volley right now.”

The men stopped rowing and backed water as the boys drew their automatics and stood in a row at the edge of the bar.

”Aw, come on kids, give us a couple of cases and we'll go on our way.

We're going to get it anyhow.”

”There isn't a drop of intoxicating liquor on board,” Clay a.s.sured the man. ”This is not a b.u.mboat. We're just boys out on a pleasure trip.”

”That's what they all say!” roared a husky brute from the fast disappearing raft. ”Go on, Steve, and get the goods.”

”You bet I will!” answered the raftsman, and again the men bent to their oars. Clay fired a warning shot and the boat paused again for a moment.

”Will you send us a case?” shouted the leader of the boat party.

”Send you a case of cartridges!” laughed Alex.

Two of the men now turned to the oars in order to keep the boat from drifting farther down, while the leader sat close to their seat, saying something to them in a low tone. The two oarsmen were shaking their heads, but the other was beating one hand against the other vigorously.

”I know,” the boys heard him say, raising his voice as he became excited ”that that is the same boat, and that these are the same boys.

You remember what I told you when I came up the river on a fast boat and hired out on the raft!”

The boys could not hear the reply, but presently the leader's voice sounded again above the wash of the river. He was evidently under great excitement, and was speaking rapidly and vehemently.

”There is more value in that motor boat,” he said, ”than there is in the whole raft. What does it matter if the timber does float down without us? We've got a boat and can put up any old yarn that comes to mind.”

The rowers still seemed to object to the plan the leader seemed to be urging, and finally the boat was allowed to drift down with the current.

”This old world is a pretty small place after all,” Clay remarked as the stern of the rowboat disappeared around a little bend. ”If you don't believe it, just consider the events of this trip. We meet Max on the river and he laps over on us at Quebec. We meet outlaws on a rocky island three hundred miles away, and they show themselves at the mouth of the Jacques Cartier river.”

”And we're likely to meet them again, unless I'm very much mistaken,”

Case warned. ”I don't believe they went down after the raft at all.”

”What was that you said about swimming over to the sh.o.r.e?” asked Alex.

”To get a fish for dinner,” Jule cried.

Alex dashed into the cabin, tumbled about in the wreckage for a short time, and came out clad only in a bathing suit.

”I'm going to swim to sh.o.r.e all right,” he said, ”but I'm not going over there to get a fish for dinner.”

”If you see one, catch him by the tail,” Case shouted as the boy entered the water.

Alex wrinkled a bruised nose in the direction of the sand bar and dived under, to reappear on the sh.o.r.e line a couple of seconds later.