Part 41 (1/2)
”Let it go at that, Flapp,” came from Baxter. ”Yes, you can have a half-interest. But that isn't our game.”
”What is the game?”
”On board of this houseboat are two girls who are mighty anxious to get back to their families and friends.”
”Run off with 'em, did you?” cried Pick Loring, and now it must be confessed that he was really astonished.
”We carried them off, yes. And we don't expect to let them get back home unless we can make considerable money out of it,” continued Dan Baxter.
”Are they rich?”
”They are fairly well-to-do, and they have close personal friends who, I feel sure, would pay a good price to see the girls get home again unharmed.”
”You're putty young to be runnin' a game like this,” came from Hamp Gouch.
”Maybe, but I know just what I am doing.”
They walked into the living room, and Lew Flapp made an inspection of the pantry and then of Captain Starr's private apartment. As it happened, the captain used liquor, and several bottles were brought out, much to the satisfaction of the horse thieves.
”This makes me feel more like talking,” said Hamp Gouch, after swallowing a goodly portion of the stuff.
”Perhaps you had better give us the whole game straight from start to now,” said Pick Loring. ”Then we can make up our minds just what we can do.”
Sitting down, Dan Baxter told as much of himself and Lew Flapp as he deemed necessary, and told about the trip on the houseboat which the Rovers, Stanhopes, and the Lanings had been taking. Then he told how Dora and Nellie had been abducted and how the voyage down the Ohio had been started in the mist and the darkness.
”You're a putty bold pair for your years,” said Pick Loring. ”Hang me if I don't admire you!” And he smiled in his coa.r.s.e way.
”Of course you can see the possibilities in this,” went on Dan Baxter.
”Supposing we can make the Stanhopes and Lanings and Rovers pay over fifty or sixty thousand dollars for the return of the girls. That means a nice sum for each of us.”
”Right you are,” came from Hamp Gouch. ”As you say, it beats horse stealing.”
”Have they got the money?” asked the other Kentuckian.
”They have a good deal more than that between them. The Rovers are very rich.”
”But they are only friends?”
”More than that. d.i.c.k Rover is very sweet on Dora Stanhope, and Tom Rover thinks the world of Nellie Laning.”
”Then of course they'll help pay up--especially if they hear the girls are likely to suffer. We can write to 'em and say we'll starve the girls to death if the money don't come our way.”
”Exactly. But we've got to find some place to hide first. We can't stay on the river any great length of time. They'll send word about the houseboat from one town to another and the authorities will be on the lookout for us.”
”I know where you can take this houseboat,” put in Hamp Gouch. ”Up s.h.a.ggam Creek. There is a dandy hiding place there and n.o.body around but old Jake s.h.a.ggam, and we can easily 'buy him off, so as he won't open his mouth.”
”How far is that creek from here?”
”About thirty-five miles.”
The matter was talked over for fully an hour, and it was at last decided that the houseboat should go up s.h.a.ggam Creek, at least for the time being. If that place got too hot to hold them they could move further down the river during the nights to follow.