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author: nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> 2025-03-03 04:49:49 -0800
committer: nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> 2025-03-03 04:49:49 -0800
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+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35728 ***</div>
+<div class="document" id="motor-boat-boys-on-the-st-lawrence">
+<h1 class="document-title level-1 pfirst title">MOTOR BOAT BOYS ON THE ST. LAWRENCE</h1>
+</div>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<div class="container" id="pg-produced-by">
+<p class="noindent pfirst">Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at <a class="reference external" href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="margin-left: 30%; width: 40%" id="figure-2">
+<img style="display: block; width: 100%" alt="images/motor-fpc.jpg" src="images/motor-fpc.jpg" width="100%"/>
+<div class="caption italics">
+“Promise to read to me the log of your last trip, when you
+went down the big river.”</div>
+</div>
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost">
+<div class="line"><span class="x-large">MOTOR BOAT BOYS</span></div>
+<div class="line"><span class="x-large">ON THE ST. LAWRENCE</span></div>
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst">OR</p>
+<p class="center pnext"><span class="larger">Solving the Mystery of the Thousand Islands</span></p>
+<p class="center pnext">By</p>
+<p class="center pnext">LOUIS ARUNDEL</p>
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost">
+<div class="line">Chicago</div>
+<div class="line">M. A. DONOHUE &amp; CO.</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">COPYRIGHT 1913</div>
+<div class="line">BY M. A. DONOHUE &amp; COMPANY</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">Made in U.S.A.</div>
+</div>
+<div class="contents level-2 section" id="id1">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title">Table of Contents</h2>
+<ul class="toc-list">
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-iafter-the-game" id="id2">CHAPTER I—AFTER THE GAME</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-iichums-tried-and-true" id="id3">CHAPTER II—CHUMS, TRIED AND TRUE</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-iiia-chance-clew" id="id4">CHAPTER III—A CHANCE CLEW</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-ivblocking-a-sly-move" id="id5">CHAPTER IV—BLOCKING A SLY MOVE</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-vthe-guardian-of-the-fleet" id="id6">CHAPTER V—THE GUARDIAN OF THE FLEET</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-vithe-flash" id="id7">CHAPTER VI—THE “FLASH”</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-viijosh-scents-trouble" id="id8">CHAPTER VII—JOSH SCENTS TROUBLE</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-viiiin-the-midnight-watch" id="id9">CHAPTER VIII—IN THE MIDNIGHT WATCH</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-ixthe-ghost-of-the-island" id="id10">CHAPTER IX—THE GHOST OF THE ISLAND</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xfollowing-a-trail" id="id11">CHAPTER X—FOLLOWING A TRAIL</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xibuster-gets-an-idea" id="id12">CHAPTER XI—BUSTER GETS AN IDEA</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xiiyankee-stubbornness" id="id13">CHAPTER XII—YANKEE STUBBORNNESS</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xiiithe-ghost-hunter" id="id14">CHAPTER XIII—THE GHOST HUNTER</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xiva-strange-ride" id="id15">CHAPTER XIV—A STRANGE RIDE</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xvanother-night" id="id16">CHAPTER XV—ANOTHER NIGHT</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xvijacks-daring-venture" id="id17">CHAPTER XVI—JACK’S DARING VENTURE</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xviithe-secret-out" id="id18">CHAPTER XVII—THE SECRET OUT</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xviiithe-escape" id="id19">CHAPTER XVIII—THE ESCAPE</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xixa-race-in-the-moonlight" id="id20">CHAPTER XIX—A RACE IN THE MOONLIGHT</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xxoverhauled" id="id21">CHAPTER XX—OVERHAULED</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xxia-clean-sweep" id="id22">CHAPTER XXI—A CLEAN SWEEP</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xxiibusters-hour-of-triumph" id="id23">CHAPTER XXII—BUSTER’S HOUR OF TRIUMPH</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xxiiihappy-daysconclusion" id="id24">CHAPTER XXIII—HAPPY DAYS—CONCLUSION</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote><div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">MOTOR BOAT BOYS SERIES</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">THE MOTOR CLUB’S CRUISE DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI</div>
+<div class="line">THE MOTOR CLUB ON THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER</div>
+<div class="line">THE MOTOR CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES</div>
+<div class="line">MOTOR BOAT BOYS AMONG THE FLORIDA KEYS</div>
+<div class="line">MOTOR BOAT BOYS DOWN THE COAST</div>
+<div class="line">MOTOR BOAT BOYS RIVER CHASE</div>
+<div class="line">MOTOR BOAT BOYS DOWN THE DANUBE</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">List Price 60c Each</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div></blockquote>
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost">
+<div class="line"><span class="x-large">THE MOTOR BOAT BOYS ON THE ST. LAWRENCE;</span></div>
+<div class="line">or</div>
+<div class="line"><span class="larger">Solving a Mystery of the Thousand Islands</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-iafter-the-game">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id2">CHAPTER I—AFTER THE GAME</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“That was a hard game for Macklin to lose,
+fellows!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I should say it was, Herb.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He nearly pitched his head off, too. Wow!
+how they did come in like cannon balls!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And talk about curves and drops, Little
+Clarence was roight there wid the goods,” said
+a stout boy; whose freckled face, carroty hair
+and blue eyes, as well as the touch of brogue
+to his voice, told of Irish blood.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But Jack met his hot pace, and went him
+one better. Clarence may be a cracker jack in
+the box, but he can’t <em class="italics">just</em> come up to good old
+reliable Jack Storm ways, of the high school
+baseball club.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh, shucks! enough of that taffy, fellows,”
+laughed the object of this praise, as he swung
+the bat he was carrying; “why, you know right
+well I was up against the fence when they made
+that ninth inning rally. They had found me
+with the goods on. And you know who won
+that game for us—our never failing, heavy
+pinch-hitter, Buster Longfellow. When his
+bat got up against the horsehide I knew it was
+all over but the shouting for Clarence.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Wasn’t he mad, though? Hurrah for Buster!
+He’s not built for a runner, they say,
+but he’s got the batting eye. That hit was a
+peach!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Thanks, George. I believe I did help
+Brodie dash home with the winning tally. It’s
+awful nice of you fellows to appreciate talent!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">The boy called Buster made a mock bow as
+well as he was able. He was fat and chunky,
+so that his baseball suit seemed moulded to his
+figure. While his name was understood to be
+Nick Longfellow, he seldom heard it save at
+home or in school. To his fellows he was
+known by such significant names as “Buster,”
+“Pudding,” and “Hippopotamus.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">There were just five in the bunch, dusty,
+tired fellows, all on the way home from a most
+exciting game with a rival team, and the most
+bitter rivals for supremacy in the little river
+town along the upper Mississippi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Besides Buster and Jack, there were the
+Irish lad, Jimmie Brannagan, who lived with
+the Stormways, being something of a ward of
+Jack’s father; Herb Dickson, and George Rollins,
+all of them members of the high school
+team.</p>
+<p class="pnext">These five boys, with the addition of another
+who was not present just then, composed the
+membership of a motor boat club, and between
+them owned three very clever craft. George’s
+was a narrow speedboat, called the <em class="italics">Wireless</em>,
+the powerful engine of which had a faculty
+for getting out of order just when most
+wanted. The one of which Jack was skipper
+was named the <em class="italics">Tramp</em>, and while not so fast as
+its dangerous competitor, could still make
+great time. Herb possessed a commodious
+launch, which he had very wisely christened
+the <em class="italics">Comfort</em>, for she was as staunch and reliable
+as a houseboat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">During the preceding autumn, taking advantage
+of the school being closed until New
+Year’s because of an epidemic in the town,
+these boys had made a long trip down the Mississippi
+river to New Orleans, being given permission
+by their parents or guardians.</p>
+<p class="pnext">To make the run more interesting Jack’s
+father had contributed a silver cup as a
+trophy; and the annals of that adventurous
+race have already been given in the first volume of
+this series. The boys for some time
+had been laying their heads together and planning
+another outing for the coming vacation;
+but for various good and sufficient reasons
+they were keeping their intended cruising
+ground a dead secret from everybody.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Where’s Josh Purdue?” asked Herb, as
+the party swung into the main street of the
+town. “We want him along when we talk
+over that letter Jack had from Clayton, where
+our boats are going. What did you do about
+hiding their destination, Jack?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes,” said George, quickly. “You know
+we agreed that those chaps were nosing all
+about, trying to get a clew. Clarence has ordered
+a rattling motor boat from some eastern
+maker, and if he could only learn where we’re
+going to hang out this summer, wouldn’t he
+just try to make it warm for us, though? Ten
+to one you hadn’t left the station five minutes
+after fastening on the tags before he was reading
+the same.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I expected that, fellows,” laughed Jack,
+“and did the best I could to fool him. The
+boats are only sent to the address in Milwaukee.
+From there they will be rebilled to Clayton
+and shipped on a steamer through the
+lakes.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But he might even have the nerve to write
+to that agent and make some excuse for asking
+where they were sent. How about that, Jack?”
+asked Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I even thought of that,” replied the other.
+“You see, when you’re dealing with wide-awake,
+unscrupulous fellows like Clarence
+Macklin, and his toady, Joe Brinker, it pays
+to insure against trouble. And I’ve done it as
+well as I knew how.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Tell us about it, please,” asked Buster,
+anxiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” replied the one addressed, “I wrote
+the agent in Milwaukee, stating the circumstances.
+He turned out to be a jolly good chap;
+for he answered me and promised that if Clarence
+or Joe make inquiries he’ll put them on
+the wrong track.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Bully for him!” ejaculated Nick. “We’ll
+vote him thanks at our next meeting, fellows,
+that’s what, and call on him in a body as we
+go through to the steamer when on our way.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I wish the time was two weeks later,” remarked
+Herb. “I don’t see just how I’m going
+to stand it until after the exams are over.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh, well, the days manage to pass along;
+and this glorious victory ought to make you
+feel that life is worth living,” remarked Jack,
+with mock seriousness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“As for me,” remarked Buster, taking in a
+long breath, as if in anticipation. “I just
+dream of the bliss of cruising aboard a steady,
+roomy boat like the <em class="italics">Comfort</em>. You can talk
+all you want, George, about the delights of
+flying through the water at the rate of twenty-five
+miles an hour; but me to the cozy home-like
+cruiser every time. Once is out for me,
+you remember.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Do we, boys?” jeered George, looking at
+the rest. “Well, will I ever forget how Buster
+used to sit there in the stern of my flier, looking
+like a stuffed pillow, with a cork life preserver
+belted around him all the time, and trying
+to keep his balance. And the less said
+about his cooking the better. It haunts me
+still.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! but I’ve improved in that respect,
+George, very much,” the fat boy hastened to
+exclaim. “Don’t you worry about it, Herb.
+I’m taking lessons from our colored cook right
+now, and expect to branch out as a real prize
+box. You know when I once set my mind to a
+thing I generally get there, even if it does take
+time. Great bodies move slowly, they say.
+Didn’t I learn to swim after all my disappointments;
+tell me that, George Rollins?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure you did, thanks to Jack here,” replied
+the other. “But all through that trip you
+gave me the nightmare because you had lost
+some silly——”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hold on! you solemnly promised you’d
+never say another word about that business
+and I’m going to keep you to it, George,” cried
+Buster. “We did have a glorious time of it,
+you know. And I can do a little once in a
+while to help the crowd forget their troubles,
+can’t I?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why, to be sure you can, Buster, and I’m
+the last one to deny it,” declared George. “I
+don’t mean half I say. You know my weakness
+is a quick tongue. And after the grand
+way you belted that ball today, I’d be willing
+to forgive almost anything you’d ever done.
+Shake on that, old partner of my joys and
+woes.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“The boats got off all right, that’s a comfort,”
+observed Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“How do ye know?” demanded Jimmie.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I saw them on the cars, and moving out of
+town, just in that ninth inning, when things
+looked so black for us,” was the reply. “You
+know my position out in right gives me a
+chance to look across the big field to the railroad.
+And as I was getting my breath,
+after chasing that tricky ball Carson Beggs
+whacked out, with two on bases, I had a
+glimpse of a freight passing, and counted all
+three boats on gondolas, fastened up in their
+waterproof covers. It just seemed to give me
+heart to go in and root harder than ever. It
+was a lucky omen, too, fellows.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” Jack said, “of course they’ll be waiting
+for us at Clayton when we get there. And
+although we talked of taking the steamer ourselves,
+I think, on the whole, it would be wise
+to go by train. In that way we’ll save a couple
+of days. Besides, some time we mean to cruise
+all through the great lakes, and we’d better
+keep the trip until we can do it in our own
+motor boats.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That sounds good to me!” cried Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And I’m sure it hits my case to a dot, because
+it means less time to wait,” and Herb
+nodded his head in a way that plainly told
+how his mind was made up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That settles the lake trip, then,” laughed
+George, “because I never did care much about
+going that way. Jimmie, how do you stand
+on it?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Wid both feet,” replied the party addressed,
+emphatically. “The sooner we kin
+arroive at the Thousand Islands, the better
+I’ll be plazed.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! well, let’s forget we ever mentioned
+going the other way,” said Jack. “But that
+won’t prevent our passing through Milwaukee,
+stopping to shake hands with that obliging
+agent, and finding if the boats got off all
+right.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“You can learn that by writing in a few
+days, Jack,” observed Herb, sagaciously. “I
+only hope Clarence doesn’t have a friend in
+Milwaukee who would spy around and discover
+the truth, that’s all.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“If he writes the agent you can make up
+your mind he hasn’t,” said Nick, as the party
+came to a pause on a corner, where, as a rule,
+they were accustomed to separating, each one
+heading for his own home.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Wait a little, boys. I think I see Josh coming
+away back there,” remarked Jack, when
+one of the others made some remark about
+“seeing you later, fellows!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Looks like he was in a big hurry, too?”
+suggested Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, he is half running, to be sure,” admitted
+George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And there he goes waving his hand to us,”
+mentioned Herb. “I guess Josh wants us to
+wait up for him here. Perhaps he’s got something
+to tell us.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Or it may be he just wants to wring the
+hand of our friend Buster, and tell him, with
+tears in his eyes, how delighted he was to have
+him save the day for our team,” and Jack, as
+he said this, winked at George; for it was a
+notorious fact that Josh and the fat boy were
+forever playing pranks on each other, and
+often saying disagreeable things; that, however,
+ended in nothing harder than a little
+froth and bubble, since it was only surface and
+make-believe animosity after all.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Don’t you believe it,” declared the hero of
+the late game, shaking his head in an aggressive
+way. “Josh was the next batter up, and
+I just know he thinks I swatted that ball to
+cheat him out of the glory. For he had his
+mind made up to send the horsehide over the
+fence for a home run.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” laughed Jack, “never wait to see
+what the next batter is going to do. When the
+chance comes you just poke that ball out into
+deep center, and then roll down to first as fast
+as you can. Then perhaps he’ll bring you
+home with his big hit. But Josh is getting
+here, and we’ll soon know now what ails him.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Don’t you go to borrowing trouble too
+soon?” warned Herb. “I know Josh pretty
+well, and how he likes to joke. He’s a false
+alarm, that’s what.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But he looks serious enough right now,”
+said George, with whom the runner was to
+keep company on this new cruise they had
+planned; and who, therefore, felt an especial
+interest in Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The newcomer was a rather slender fellow,
+taller than any of the others, and the best runner
+on the team. In times past Josh had been
+troubled with indigestion; but the month and
+more spent during their memorable Mississippi
+cruise had about cured him of this, so
+that he was looking better than ever before in
+all his life. That was one reason why his
+parents were only too glad to allow him the
+chance of getting in the open again during the
+coming vacation; for they believed it would be
+the making of the lad.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh stopped running when close to the
+others, as though husbanding his wind so that
+he could communicate the news he bore.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It’s all up, fellows!” he cried, as he finally
+reached the corner, where the other five gathered
+around him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What do you mean?” asked Jack, anxiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, explain, Josh. What’s up?” demanded
+George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“They know where our boats have gone!”
+gasped Josh, excitedly. “Somebody must
+have leaked, that’s what. And they’re going
+to have their new motor boat shipped to the
+Thousand Islands, too. Now, see what a
+peck of trouble we’re going to have this
+summer!”</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-iichums-tried-and-true">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id3">CHAPTER II—CHUMS, TRIED AND TRUE</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“Josh, hold up your hand, and look me in the
+eye!” said Jack, sternly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! you don’t believe me, do you? But I
+never was more serious in my life!” exclaimed
+the newcomer, meeting Jack’s look squarely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Then I’m sorry, that’s all,” declared the
+other. “If Clarence Macklin has found out
+where we expect to cruise this summer, he’ll
+lie awake nights trying to lay plans how to
+give us all the trouble he can.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“How d’ye know all this, Josh?” demanded
+Nick, rather tremulously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I just happened to be near where Clarence
+and Joe were having their heads together, and
+the idea came to me to listen. I only thought
+they were explaining how the game was lost,
+and I wanted to hear Clarence say how somebody
+sent a ray of sunlight into his eyes with
+a pocket mirror, just when he was handing out
+that ball Buster knocked out in deep center.
+You know his way, fellows, and how he squirms
+out of every hole so smoothly?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, yes, of course we do, Josh; but go
+on;” cried Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Don’t you see you’ve got us keyed up to
+the breaking pitch? Let loose, and tell what
+you heard!” exclaimed George, always nervous
+and anxious to make speed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, it wasn’t much, but it counted for a
+heap,” replied the narrator. “About as near
+as I can remember, and repeat, this was what
+Clarence said: ‘Never mind, Joe, we’re going
+to get even soon. Wait till our dandy boat
+gets to Clayton. Say, mebbe there won’t be
+a lot of surprised fellows then, as we cut circles
+around ’em, and make ’em wish they hadn’t
+blackballed us. You wait and see, that’s all.’”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Various exclamations broke out from the
+other boys.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh, yes, they must know, all right!” said
+Herb, bitterly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All I can say is it’s mighty queer, after
+we’ve taken such pains to keep everything a
+dead secret, so even our folks don’t know yet
+where we’re going,” Josh continued to say,
+meaningly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Somehow or other, as if by mutual arrangement,
+every eye seemed to be gradually focussed
+on poor Nick, who turned as red as a
+turkey cock.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! yes, look at me, won’t you?” he exclaimed,
+spluttering more or less as was his
+habit when unduly excited. “You think I’m
+the one who leaked, just because I stopped to
+talk with Clarence the other day on the street,
+and George saw me. He never even said a
+single word about boats, but asked me something
+else. Look all you want too, but I tell
+you, once for all, that if there <em class="italics">was</em> a leak, it
+didn’t come through me! I never told a single
+soul!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! nobody has accused you, Buster,” said
+Jack, soothingly, for he was fond of the good-natured
+fat boy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s all right, but I guess I’ve got feelings,
+and I can tell what every one of you is
+thinking,” the other went on, in an aggrieved
+tone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Just forget it, Buster,” Jack continued,
+for he knew only too well how the fat boy liked
+to harp on anything that worried him, and in
+this way make life miserable for the others of
+the club. “The mischief is done. Like as not
+we may never know how it happened. And
+there’s no need of our bothering our heads now
+about spilt milk. The question is, shall we
+change our plans, and go somewhere else this
+summer?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I say no!” exclaimed Herb, immediately
+and with firmness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s my case, too,” Josh echoed. “After
+we’ve made all our fine arrangements, it would
+be cowardly to back down just because those
+two mean skunks choose to tag after us and
+try to give us trouble.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Niver give up the ship! Thim’s my sintiments!”
+observed Jimmie, aggressively. “And
+I say the same,” remarked Nick. “Sooner or
+later you’ll find out how they learned our
+plans, and then you’ll all be sorry for putting
+it on me, that’s what.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Then it seems settled that we make no
+change,” said Jack, with a stern look on his
+face; “for I’m of the same opinion as the rest.
+We’ll go to the St. Lawrence, and if Tricky
+Clarence and Bully Joe try to upset our plans,
+they’ll find themselves barking up the wrong
+tree, that’s all.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And so he thinks he’s got a wizard boat
+that will cut circles all around my <em class="italics">Wireless</em>,
+does he?” said George, with the light of anticipated
+rivalry in his black eyes. “All right.
+Perhaps Clarence has got another guess coming.
+He’ll find me on the job all right, and
+ready to give him a warm run for his money.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“When did we start talking seriously for
+the first time about choosing the Thousand
+Islands, and the St. Lawrence for our summer
+outing?” asked Herb, who seemed almost
+as anxious as Nick to find out the truth concerning
+the leak.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I can tell you that,” replied the fat boy,
+quickly. “It was that afternoon when Jack
+asked us to stay after school, and meet him in
+the clubroom for a little talk. Don’t you remember,
+he read that letter he had from Clayton,
+the first one; and we soon voted to make
+the St. Lawrence our cruising ground this
+summer.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Buster is right about that, for I remember
+it distinctly,” remarked Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That was the little room in school that Mr.
+Sparks allows the various clubs and organizations
+to use when they ask permission—the
+one on the second floor? Am I right, fellows?”
+Herb went on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure ye arre,” declared Jimmie. “Doan’t
+I just remember that we wint till the door
+ivery two minutes to say if the inemy would
+be sphyin’ around in the hall.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But there was no sign of them, you also
+remember that?” observed Jack, quickly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Niver a wan,” Jimmie hastened to reply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Then it would stand to reason that they
+didn’t overhear us talking. I know you
+couldn’t in the next room, for I’ve been in
+there during recitation, and the wall is dead.
+I only mention this, because that same day,
+after I left the rest of you down-town, I found
+that I’d forgotten a book I needed to study,
+and hurried back to the school. And I met
+Clarence coming along the street. He said
+he had been kept in by Miss Stryker to do a
+task. But it looks as though the leak could not
+have been at that time.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Somebody must have talked in their
+sleep,” suggested Josh, humorously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Perhaps some one in the post office got on
+to Jack receiving a letter from Clayton, and
+writing there,” Herb put in.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, now,” remarked Jack, “there may
+be something in that idea; though just now I
+can’t think of anybody in the post office who
+would be that mean. I know all the clerks,
+and none of them have ever been thick with
+either Clarence or Joe.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Suppose we give the matter a rest,” said
+Herb, with an uneasy look toward Nick; for
+the fat boy was to be his partner during the
+coming cruise, and he feared lest Buster would
+get to brooding on the unjust suspicions that
+had been directed toward him, with the result
+that he must be forever speaking about it, and
+suggesting the most astonishing explanations
+of the riddle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Agreed,” Jack replied, readily, falling in
+with the idea. “After all, the coming of these
+fellows may add some spice to our trip, who
+knows.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">It certainly did, as will be made manifest
+shortly; but just then none of the motor boat
+boys suspected what a strange series of exciting
+adventures was to be their portion, all
+through the decision of their rivals to choose
+the same cruising grounds for their summer
+outing, and to be as malicious and troublesome
+as possible.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nick seemed to have thrown aside the temporary
+gloom that had fallen upon him, because
+of the unjust suspicions of his mates.
+He was naturally so cheery that trouble and
+he could never hitch up together for any great
+length of time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“If those two cronies do chase after us,” he
+said, “perhaps the long standing trouble between
+Joe and myself may be settled. You
+know we’ve been growling at each other for
+going on a year now. And some day there’ll
+be a surprise due him.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">When Nick talked in that vein the others
+knew he was himself again, and ready to joke.
+So Jack, pretending to be surprised, went on
+to remark:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why, Buster, do you mean to say you’d
+pick on that poor fellow, who has never been
+able to whip more than three boys at a time
+in all his life? I’m surprised to hear you talk
+so savagely.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! well, the thing is brooding, and bound
+to come off some day. Bully Joe will go just a
+little too far, and get his. Why, there was
+one time, not so long ago either, when I’d just
+about made up my mind to lick him for keeps.
+And I give you my word, fellows, I’d have
+wiped up the ground with him, only that I
+was grabbed from behind and held back!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Wow! listen to the war chief, would you?”
+exclaimed Josh, pretending to shrink away
+from the belligerent fat boy, who was doubling
+up his pudgy fists, and assuming a warrior’s
+pose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He’s sure got on his fighting togs today!”
+echoed Herb, soothingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Say, Buster,” remarked George, when
+Jack nudged him in the side, “tell us who
+was so mean as to grab you that way, and
+hold you back!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Shucks! I just knew you’d never rest till
+you asked that!” cried the other, as he pretended
+to show disgust. “Why, that was Joe,
+don’t you see!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">At that there was a howl; and Jimmie
+doubled up like a jack-knife in the violence
+of his merriment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I can see Joe’s finish, if he keeps on trying
+such tricks,” whooped George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh!” Buster went on, in a calm manner,
+“I’ll try and be as easy with him as any one
+could expect. Perhaps after he’s had one
+good lesson, Joe may reform. It’s keeping
+bad company that’s been his downfall. Clarence
+Macklin has oodles of money; and his
+dad used to be a sporty sort of a Wall street
+man they say, when he lived east; so he don’t
+care much what his hopeful does, so long as
+he keeps out of jail.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, if he goes on much longer the way
+he has, I reckon he’ll land there after a bit,”
+Herb remarked, soberly; for he had suffered
+on several occasions at the hands of the vindictive
+Clarence, as was well known to his
+chums.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All right,” Jack put in. “And now, if
+there’s nothing further before the house, I
+move we adjourn. For one I know I’m as
+hungry as a bear, and ready to tackle a good
+dinner after all that hot work on the diamond.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Dinner!” exclaimed Buster, whose one
+weak point lay in his love of eating. “Wow!
+don’t you remember what bully good meals
+we had when we all got together on that dandy
+Mississippi trip, and Josh here slung the pots
+and pans? He’s sure the best cook in seven
+counties. I hear he’s getting up a book on
+camp dinners. And right now I subscribe for
+the first copy that’s printed; if it don’t cost
+over ten cents.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Just you wait,” returned Josh, with one
+of his wide grins. “It won’t be long now
+before you’ll have to get up and hustle the
+tin pans and things, whenever you have that
+longing for grub steal over you. No sitting
+down to the table and cleaning up everything
+in sight for you then. It’s work before you
+can eat. Herb is going to keep you down to
+brass tacks, ain’t you Herb?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! Buster and myself expect to get on
+first rate,” the one addressed hastened to say;
+for Herb was a lover of peace. “I’m ready
+to pitch in and help him out on occasion.
+Everything is going to be lovely, and the goose
+hang high, aboard the good, staunch old
+<em class="italics">Comfort</em>, when we sail the stormy waters of
+the St. Lawrence, eh, Buster?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” remarked Josh, as he started away,
+“anyhow, I’m glad you’ve decided to give our
+friend Buster the upper berth!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">A shout followed after him, and the last
+glimpse he had of the fat boy, Buster was
+shaking both fists in his direction, and pretending
+to display tremendous rage, though
+secretly chuckling with good-natured laughter.
+Happy the boy who is so constituted that he
+can in the best of humor take a joke that is
+leveled at himself; and that was Nick Longfellow
+to a dot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The rest of the bunch soon scattered, as
+their homes lay in various directions; and this
+particular corner usually served as a gathering
+point as well as the place where they
+separated.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack may have allowed the mystery of the
+suspected “leak” to crop up in his active
+mind from time to time after that; but he
+knew just how sensitive Buster really felt
+over it, and he always religiously refrained
+from ever introducing the subject.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Some of the other boys of course must have
+discussed it as the days slowly passed; but
+they too seemed desirous that their fat chum
+might not have his feelings further injured,
+and nothing was said in his presence. But all
+the same Buster did not forget, as Herb was
+fated to learn to his sorrow.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-iiia-chance-clew">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id4">CHAPTER III—A CHANCE CLEW</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“Why, hello Jack!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was the first day of vacation, and being
+at the tail end of the week, the motor boat
+club had wisely decided to defer their departure
+until the following Monday morning,
+when they would say goodbye to the home
+town, and start across the state for Milwaukee.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The speaker was no other than Clarence
+Macklin; and Jack had come face to face with
+his bitter enemy upon the main street of the
+town, as he passed out from a shop where he
+had been making a little purchase.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Clarence was smiling, after his usual manner;
+but there was always something crafty
+about this look of his that made most boys
+suspicious. Had he been given his choice in
+the matter Jack would have passed on with
+a mere nod; for he did not believe in pretending
+to show anything like friendliness toward
+this tricky lad, who had once tried to get into
+the motor boat club, and been blackballed, a
+fact he had vowed to get even for if it took
+him a year.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Clarence evidently had a reason for
+wishing to talk with the other. He even thrust
+himself squarely in Jack’s way; and the latter
+saw no reason why he should avoid an encounter.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” continued Clarence, “I suppose
+you fellows are in high feather, now that vacation
+has come, and you can break away?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure we are,” replied Jack, trying to seem
+good-natured; though secretly he was wondering
+what the other had concealed up his sleeve,
+and why he insisted on stopping him in this
+way; for it happened that just a day or so
+before Jack had been reading that good old
+precept of warning, to “Beware of the Greeks
+bearing gifts.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And I suppose, also, you mean to get away
+soon?” Clarence went on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Monday sees us off, unless something we
+don’t look for detains us,” was Jack’s response,
+as he watched the play of emotions on
+the face of the other, and noted how the pretense
+of friendliness was fading away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” Clarence suddenly burst out with,
+“I just wanted to let you know what me and
+Joe Brinker think of your sly trick in finding
+out where we meant to go this summer, and
+then arranging to copy after us! It was just
+what I’d expect such low-down sneaks as
+Herb Dickson and George Rollins to do; but
+I am surprised to know how you fell in with
+such a dirty game, that’s what!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Really, Jack never had a greater shock in
+all his life than when Clarence said this. It
+seemed to almost take his very breath away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, do you know, Clarence,” he said,
+steadily, watching that sarcastic face, “the
+shoe seems to be on the other foot with us. To
+tell the truth, we’ve been believing all this time
+that you’d copied after us. In fact, poor
+Buster has been suspected of giving our
+secrets away, not intentionally, of course, just
+because he was seen talking with you. Queer,
+ain’t it, how great minds often run in the same
+channel; and both of us thought of going to
+the St. Lawrence this summer.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Aw! now you’re just trying to crawl out of
+a hole,” the other sneered. “But you needn’t
+think you can spoil our summer fun for us,
+if you are six to two. I told my dad about it,
+and he advised me to go on, regardless. Just
+make up your minds to keep clear of Joe and
+me, if you know what’s good for you!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Even while the other was saying this there
+suddenly flashed upon Jack’s mind the true
+reason for his being held up in this way by
+“Tricky Clarence,” as young Macklin had
+come to be known among the boys of the town.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He wanted to rub it into Jack, and exult
+in the consternation which he expected his
+declaration would cause in the other’s mind.
+But there was undoubtedly something more
+than this. If trouble did follow the meeting
+of the rivals among the many channels of the
+Thousand Islands, Clarence wished to make
+it appear that he and Joe were the aggrieved
+parties, and that they had been actually set
+upon by the members of the motor boat club,
+who had a grudge against them of long
+standing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a clever bit of sharp practice, worthy
+of a shyster lawyer. Perhaps Clarence may
+have inherited some of the shifty trickery by
+which his respected father had laid the foundation
+to his big fortune in the wilds of Wall
+street.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Jack had no desire to stand there and
+enter into a wordy war with Clarence, who
+had a ready tongue, and never cared very
+much where it led him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">So instead of taking up the challenge, as
+Clarence doubtless wanted him to, Jack simply
+elevated his eyebrows, and remarked:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! is that so? Well, I’m going to tell
+you just one thing for good and all, Clarence.
+Neither myself, nor any one of the club, want
+to set eyes on you or Joe; and if it rests with
+us, we’ll not run across each other all summer.
+But, understand me,” and his eyes flashed
+dangerously, “we mean to strike back, and if
+there’s trouble it will have to be of your seeking.
+You can have all you want of it. Now,
+that’s enough. I’m done talking.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Clarence hardly knew what to say. He
+looked at the other as though tempted to blurt
+out the ugly things he had passing through
+his mind. But somehow he realized that it
+would not be safe pressing Jack Stormways
+too far. He was not the fighter Bully Joe had
+always been; for as a rule he managed to get
+some one else to carry out his battles for him.
+And Jack looked really dangerous just then.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Pooh! words come cheap with some fellows,”
+he muttered, as he turned away. “But
+you’ll find they cut no figure with my partner
+and me. As to our keeping away from any
+particular spot you chumps choose to patronize,
+that for your silly warning,” and he
+derisively snapped his fingers, for he was now
+twenty feet away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack held himself in with an effort. He
+felt in a humor to have given the exasperating
+Clarence the drubbing he deserved; but it
+would hardly be nice to create such a disturbance
+of the public peace so soon before they
+expected to leave home. If it seemed fated
+that he must teach this contemptible fellow
+the lesson he so richly deserved it might be
+wise to wait until they were far away from
+the town where they lived.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was looking after the departing Clarence
+when he saw him take out his handkerchief
+to wipe his forehead, for the day was
+warm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Something fell to the ground, something
+that, even at that distance reminded Jack of a
+yellow telegram blank. He could just as well
+walk from the sporting goods store in the
+direction Clarence had gone as any other way.
+And it was his full intention to call after the
+other, if the paper seemed worth while.</p>
+<p class="pnext">So, in this spirit Jack bent down and
+secured possession of the crumpled yellow
+paper.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just as he had expected it was a telegraph
+blank, written on but not signed. It seemed
+to be a message that some one had started,
+and upon making a mistake in the wording
+had crammed in his pocket while he started
+afresh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That some one, of course, could only be
+Clarence, since the paper had fallen to the
+ground at the time he took out his handkerchief.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ordinarily Jack would not have been guilty
+of looking at a telegraph message that had
+come into his possession under such circumstances.
+It seemed excusable now. Clarence
+was a secret enemy, and had been plotting to
+make trouble for the members of the motor
+boat club that had declined to allow him and
+Bully Joe membership.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And the very first glimpse he had of the
+writing gave him a thrill; for he read the
+address, which was:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Jared Fullerton, Clayton, N. Y.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the spur of the moment Jack changed
+his mind. Instead of calling out after the departing
+Clarence, and notifying him that he
+had dropped something, Jack just crammed
+the yellow paper in his pocket, and wheeling,
+strode away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was considerably excited, and eager to
+learn what sort of communication the other
+could be sending to Clayton that required the
+use of the wires. And as he walked hurriedly
+away, with his nerves on edge, he half expected
+to hear Clarence shouting after him, demanding
+the return of his property.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I never would be guilty of doing such a
+thing,” Jack was saying to himself, on account
+of the mean feeling he had, “only that sometimes
+it’s just necessary to fight fire with fire.
+If I’m wrong in my suspicions then there’s
+no harm done. But I must know what he’s
+telegraphing to Clayton. Who Jared Fullerton
+is I don’t know from Adam; but I bet
+he’s cut from the same pattern Clarence and
+Joe were.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">By then Jack had turned a corner. Unable
+to withstand the temptation any longer, he
+looked around to make sure Clarence was not
+in sight; and then drawing out the crumpled
+piece of paper, read what had been written
+on the blank.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Glad to hear boat arrived, and is such a
+corker. I’m bringing that hundred with me,
+and hope you’ve earned it before we arrive.
+Don’t get in trouble for——”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Apparently Clarence did not like the way
+that last sentence looked, for he had started to
+change it several times. Then, thinking he
+had better write the whole message over again,
+he had doubtless thrust the first draft into his
+pocket, and entirely forgotten it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack read it over twice, and looked grave.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now what that snake’s up to, I’d give
+something to know,” he said to himself, as he
+started to walk on, after placing the message
+away in his pocket. “Some sort of dirty
+scheme has been mentioned in a letter, and he’s
+meaning to pay this Fullerton for doing the
+thing. What could it be? He says it’s to be
+done before he and Joe get there. A hundred
+dollars is a lot of money. Oh! I wonder could
+he mean to have this other scamp injure our
+boats in some way?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a dreadful suspicion that beset him
+right then. How easy for any one to put a
+lighted match to the canvas tarpaulins that
+covered the three boats on the steamer’s dock
+at Clayton. Why, they might be either entirely
+ruined, or else so badly injured as to be
+useless for the whole season.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Would Clarence be equal to conspiring to do
+such a serious thing as this? Jack was sorry
+to admit that he believed the other was not
+past it in the least. He had known him to
+play pranks that savored of the criminal before
+now; and it had always been his rich
+father’s money and influence that had saved
+Clarence from getting the punishment he so
+richly deserved.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Obeying a sudden inspiration Jack turned
+and chased back to the railroad station where
+the telegraph office was located. He knew
+that the strict orders of the operating company
+would prevent his seeing the message
+that Clarence had finally given in, unless they
+were compelled to show it by a decree of the
+court. But Jack had no desire to go that
+deeply just then.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He knew the operator quite well, a young
+fellow who also sold tickets.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Clarence Macklin was in here sending a
+message to Clayton, New York, wasn’t he,
+Bert?” he asked, trying not to appear at all
+excited.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, that’s so, Jack,” came the reply from
+the agent; who was really an admirer of the
+young high school pitcher.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“How long ago was that—could I find him
+in town now, do you think?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Note how cleverly this question was framed;
+and the operator fell into the trap without
+even a suspicion that he was yielding up valuable
+information.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I reckon you might,” he said, promptly,
+“because he went out of here not more than
+fifteen minutes ago, after sending his message.
+Start on Monday, I hear, Jack? Well, I only
+wish I was along. You fellows do have the
+best times going; while some of the rest of us
+have to keep our noses to the grindstone.
+Good luck to you all, and a bully trip on the
+river,” for Jack, having picked up all the information
+he wanted, had turned abruptly on
+his heel and was leaving the station.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That settled it, then. Clarence had sent a
+message to the unknown Jared Fullerton, that
+was presumably along the same lines as the
+one he had first started. And doubtless that
+individual would be only too glad to try and
+earn his hundred-dollar fee before Clarence
+and Joe arrived.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Since none of the motor boat boys would be
+in Clayton to be injured, the only way in
+which he could do anything would be to scheme
+to bring some miserable catastrophe upon the
+precious motor boats that had arrived and
+were waiting to be claimed by their young
+owners at the steamboat docks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was surely a time for quick thinking, and
+action, unless they wished to take the chances
+of having their whole summer outing spoiled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And Jack, as he hurried home, was laying
+out a plan of campaign in his mind calculated
+to outwit the miserable plotting of the reckless
+Clarence and his equally unscrupulous crony,
+Bully Joe.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-ivblocking-a-sly-move">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id5">CHAPTER IV—BLOCKING A SLY MOVE</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“Is that you, Jack?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“No other. Say, George, can you come
+over here at once?” asked the boy who was
+at the other end of the telephone wire; and
+there was that in his voice to arouse the interest
+of George Rollins to fever heat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why, sure I can. My wheel is handy,
+and you’ll see me drop in on you inside of a
+jiffy. But what’s the row, Jack; no bad news
+about our boats I hope? They haven’t been
+dropped overboard in the middle of Lake
+Erie, and sunk?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh, nothing half so bad; but I must see
+you,” Jack went on saying. “And George,
+start some of the rest along too, won’t you?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Buster and Josh are on my way, and if
+they’re home I’ll jolly both into coming.
+But you’d better try to poke out Herb over
+the wire,” came the reply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I will. So-long, George. Get a move on
+you now. Important!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then Jack put up the receiver, to sever
+connection; although a moment later he was
+asking Central to give him the Dickson house.
+By great good luck Herb happened to be up
+in his den, doing some packing; for this was
+the last day he would have at home saving
+Sunday, and he was a very careful fellow.</p>
+<p class="pnext">After hearing the “call of the wild,” as
+Jack expressed it, Herb consented to head for
+the Stormways domicile without any delay.
+He, too, made use of his wheel to cover the
+intervening distance; and quite a bunch of
+boys drew up in the yard about the same time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack and Jimmie met them at the side door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, what under the sun has he got hold
+of, fellows?” queried George, nervously, as
+they filed up to Jack’s snug den; for the serious
+expression on the faces of Jack and Jimmie
+gave him considerable concern.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nick was puffing like a steam engine. The
+little rush had winded him more or less; but
+at the same time he also looked anxious. For,
+as they were on the eve of starting out on their
+anticipated summer vacation, this sudden
+summons to headquarters gave him a shock.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I only hope it ain’t anything about the
+boats,” he remarked plaintively, as he dropped
+down in a capacious chair that just suited his
+stout figure to a dot, and was hence invariably
+appropriated by Buster every time he came
+to see Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” remarked Jack, “I might as well
+admit right in the start that it does concern
+our three motor boats.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Don’t tell me that any tragedy has happened
+to ’em, Jack?” pleaded George, who
+was known to have a great affection for his
+<em class="italics">Wireless</em>, even though the cranky speed boat
+did seem to delight in playing many cruel
+tricks upon its skipper.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“No, not yet, I believe,” came the answer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Good! You make me feel better already,
+Jack!” exclaimed George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But hold on!” cried Herb; “you noticed
+that he said ‘not yet,’ didn’t you, boys? Don’t
+you see what that means? The boats are in
+danger; ain’t that so, Jack?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’ve pretty good reason to believe so,”
+replied the owner of the den; and then he
+whipped out the crumpled telegraph blank.
+“Here, read that, fellows, and tell me what
+you think. It fell from the pocket of Clarence
+Macklin not half an hour ago. And I
+understand that he sent off a message along
+these lines, after he had changed the wording
+a little.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Eagerly four heads were clustered above
+the yellow paper which he had smoothed out
+on the chess table. Clarence wrote a plain
+hand, so that there was no trouble in making
+out every word.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, wouldn’t that knock you?” gasped
+Nick, who had as yet failed to entirely recover
+his wind after his quick passage on his wheel
+to Jack’s home, followed by the climb up two
+lights of stairs to the attic den.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Jack, you’re right; he means our boats!”
+ejaculated Herb, with a trace of indignation
+and horror in his voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! the miserable skunk, what wouldn’t
+I give for the fun of punching his head for
+him. Just wait, the chance will come some
+fine day. Let them dare do anything to
+my bully little <em class="italics">Wireless</em>! Why, Jack, they
+could be sent to prison for a long term if they
+destroyed the boats.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of course that was Skipper George, whose
+father being a lawyer, visions of the stern
+hand of justice were always cropping up in
+the boy’s mind.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“The way I look at it is this,” Josh went
+on, deliberately; “Clarence has a crony in
+Clayton, some fellow he knows by the name
+of Jared Fullerton. Seems to me I’ve heard
+him mention that name, too, though I don’t
+remember anything about him. But he’s
+meaning to hire this chap to do something
+worth an even hundred. Fellows, we can give
+a quick guess that something has to do with
+our three boats, which by now must be lying
+on the steamboat dock there, waiting for us
+to arrive.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“You hit the nail on the head that time,
+Josh,” declared Jack. “And I’ve asked you
+all to come here so we could talk the matter
+over, and decide what ought to be done.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">An animated discussion followed. Some
+suggested one thing, which was debated <em class="italics">pro</em>
+and <em class="italics">con</em>; then another new idea would crop
+up, which they eagerly seized upon, being
+deeply concerned about the safety of the precious
+craft.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Whatever do you suppose that sneak of a
+Fullerton could do, to put our craft out of the
+running?” asked Nick, finally.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, he might accidentally drop a lighted
+match under the tarpaulin cover of one. You
+know it would flame up pretty quick, and
+might set the whole bunch going like a pack
+of fire-crackers,” Josh observed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, I hardly think any one would take
+such chances at that,” Jack remarked; “because,
+you see, they are lying on a public dock,
+and if a big fire resulted it would mean the
+penitentiary for Jared. But no matter, if a
+fellow only happened to be mean enough he
+could find lots of ways to injure boats like
+ours. And for one, I don’t propose to take
+the chances.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Tell us your plan, Jack; we’ll stand by
+you,” cried Buster.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All right,” said the other, quickly; “then
+listen. I propose that George and myself go
+and see his father, and ask his advice. You
+fellows make yourselves at home here; and
+after we’ve got things going we’ll come back
+to report. How does that strike you?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I say yes!” Josh hastened to cry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the others were of the same mind, Jack
+and George hurried away. It being Saturday
+morning, George knew that his father would
+not be very busy at his law office and could
+easily spare them a little time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They found Judge Rollins without any
+client, which Jack considered lucky, since
+haste was an element in their calculations just
+now. And after he had heard the whole story,
+scanned the incriminating telegraph blank,
+and asked numerous questions, the lawyer
+smiled, and said he was ready to give his
+advice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Here is the address of a party I know in
+Clayton, and whose name just came to me
+while you were talking, Jack,” he observed.
+“Try and get him on the long distance phone,
+and explain the circumstances to him as you
+have to me. I feel sure that if you can reach
+Amos Spofford everything will be all right.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Accordingly the two lads immediately
+hustled around to the central station of the
+telephone company, where they could use the
+long distance phone to better advantage than
+in a drug-store.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Having the local number of the party to
+whom the judge had referred them, Jack, who
+had taken it upon himself to do the talking,
+because George was apt to get excited, and
+splutter in a way that might interfere with
+the carrying of his message to such a long
+distance, asked to be connected with the
+Clayton office.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of course, there was more or less delay, as
+usual, and the two boys became quite nervous
+before there finally came a faint call.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When Jack learned that it was really Mr.
+Spofford who was at the other end of the wire,
+he started to explain that it was Judge Rollins
+who had told the boys to get in touch with
+the Clayton man.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then as briefly as possible, for time was
+valuable, he told about the trouble, and what
+they feared might happen. Happily, the man
+to whom he was talking seemed capable of
+seizing on facts, and building a plan of campaign
+instantly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Telegraph the agent of the steamboat
+Company to let me have the boats. I happen
+to know him very well—his name is James
+Matthews. Then forget all about the matter,
+boys. Depend on me! Your boats will be
+guarded, day and night, every minute of the
+time until you arrive. That is all. Goodbye!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hurrah for Amos!” exclaimed George
+when his chum had related what the man in
+Clayton had said. “He’s all to the good!
+That was a bright thought of yours, Jack,
+when you suggested going to ask my father’s
+advice!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But let’s get back to the others,” laughed
+Jack, as they paid the bill and left the telephone
+office; “for they’ll be burning up with
+anxiety to know what’s going on.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes,” grinned George, now as happy and
+light-hearted as he had previously been
+gloomy, and oppressed with fears. “By now
+poor Buster will have lost a pound or two in
+weight. He’s the greatest fellow ever to fret
+over things.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">At that Jack fairly shouted.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I know another of the same breed, George,
+and you can’t deny it,” he said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! well, what’s the use?” admitted the
+other. “I know I do see mountains often, that
+turn out to be ant hills when you get up close.
+But I’m feeling particularly jolly right now.
+Bully for Amos. Won’t we shake him by the
+hand till he yells out for mercy. His name will
+be emblazoned on the annals of our St. Lawrence
+cruise as the best friend the motor boat
+club had, barring none.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of course, they were set upon as soon as
+they entered the den in the top story of the
+Stormways home, and made to tell what had
+happened. When the balance of the club
+learned how neatly a spoke had been put
+in the wheel of Clarence, they voted thanks
+to Mr. Edison for all he had done in the
+interests of modern science.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And it can be set down as positive that those
+lads spent a much more healthy Sunday than
+would have been the case had their minds still
+wrestled with the problem of what the mysterious
+message sent by Clarence stood for.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then came the final morning when they
+were scheduled to leave the home town, headed
+for the far distant Clayton, to begin their summer
+vacation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A score and more of boys were at the station
+to see them depart, besides those persons
+who constituted the various families of the
+club members. Their baggage was properly
+seen to, and then the last goodbyes said. Clarence
+and his crony, Joe Brinker, came sauntering
+along, and stood watching the passing
+of the expedition.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He can’t just help grinning all the time,”
+Buster said aside to Herb, as they were waiting
+at the car steps for Jack and George, still
+talking with a group of friends.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure he is,” replied George, looking out
+of the corner of his eye, “and every little while
+he says something to Bully Joe that tickles
+him to beat the band. But we can afford to
+keep quiet, because we happen to know how
+the game is going. I’m putting my faith in
+Amos right along; he’s going to make good.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But why ain’t Clarence and Joe starting,
+too?” demanded Nick at this juncture.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! they’re too sly for that, you see,”
+George replied, knowingly, his lawyer blood
+standing him in good stead. “Like as not
+they’ve got through tickets right through
+Chicago, while we stop over in Milwaukee.
+And even if they slip away this afternoon they
+could get to Clayton as soon as we do.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“There’s the conductor calling ‘all aboard!’
+We’re off, fellows!” cried Buster, as he started
+to climb up the steps of the car, an operation
+that required more labor on his part than in
+the case of more agile lads.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The entire bunch grouped on the last platform
+of the parlor car at the end of the train,
+and as they pulled out, waved their hats in
+salute to the cheering of the crowd at the
+station.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Faster went the train, and presently a turn
+hid the home town from the sight of the six
+vacationists. If any of them felt badly over
+parting from loved ones they succeeded in
+concealing the fact as they passed inside to
+take their seats, and while looking from the
+windows at new scenes, lay delightful plans
+concerning the glorious time they anticipated
+would be their portion when they got fully
+started on their St. Lawrence river cruise.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-vthe-guardian-of-the-fleet">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id6">CHAPTER V—THE GUARDIAN OF THE FLEET</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“Well, here’s the steamboat dock, all right;
+but I don’t see anything of our boats!”
+exclaimed George, as he and his five chums
+came to a full stop close to the local office of
+the lake line running to Buffalo, Milwaukee
+and Chicago.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! dear me, I hope we don’t have trouble,
+after all,” started Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Here, let up on that misery whine, Buster.
+Will you ever learn never to squeal till you’re
+hurt?” said Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, if you’d lost as much flesh as I have
+lately, you’d be a nervous wreck too,” replied
+the fat boy, aggressively.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“If I’d lost all you say you have, there
+wouldn’t be anything more of me left than a
+grease spot, and that’s right!” grinned Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What shall we do, Jack?” and Herb turned
+to the one upon whom they usually depended
+to steer them clear of the shoals.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, here’s the office right handy,” replied
+Jack, smiling. “Suppose we crowd inside,
+and make the agent give up some information.
+He ought to know what’s happened
+to our boats, because we understood they got
+here safe.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“A bully idea, Jack; you’re the goods when
+it comes to doing the right thing!” Josh
+remarked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Accordingly they fell in line, and rushed into
+the little office, where a gentlemanly fellow,
+who was working at some freight accounts, in
+his shirt sleeves, because of the heat of the
+day, glanced up in more or less surprise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“We’re looking for some motor boats, sir,
+that arrived on the vessel from the west. They
+were billed from Milwaukee by your line.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">As Jack said this the agent smiled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Which one of you wired our Mr. Matthews?”
+he asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I did. My name is Jack Stormways,” replied
+that individual.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“You gave him authority to turn the three
+boats over to some party, didn’t you?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, if that party’s name was Mr. Amos
+Spofford,” Jack replied.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All right. We gave them into his keeping.
+Let me see, that was last Saturday afternoon
+about one o’clock he was here,” the other
+went on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But,” Jack remarked, blankly, “we’ve
+been looking all around, and have seen no sign
+of our boats on the wharf.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And they couldn’t have flown away like
+aeroplanes,” put in Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I should hardly think so,” laughed the
+other. “But have you looked beyond the end
+of the dock, in the water?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“No. Do you mean to say Mr. Spofford
+had the three boats launched?” cried Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, there was something doing that way,
+I remember, on Saturday. He had quite a
+gang of men working under him. That Mr.
+Spofford seems to be something of a hustler.
+Over toward that point, boys.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were already trooping across the big
+dock, as excited as any eager lads could be.
+And no sooner had they reached a certain
+point than a series of whoops burst from every
+throat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“There they are, fellows! Don’t they make
+a bully show, though, the brave little boats?
+Say, ain’t this like old times again?” cried
+Nick, as he discovered the three craft anchored
+close together at a point where they would
+not be in the way of any steamboat landing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“There’s somebody aboard, too!” exclaimed
+Jack, as a head was poked out of the deck tent
+of the <em class="italics">Comfort</em>, which was the only one of the
+trio to be thus honored, the others being in
+cruising trim.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That must be Mr. Amos Spofford,” declared Herb; “and
+he knows a good sleeping
+boat when he sees it, too; for you notice he’s
+camped in the Old Reliable.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack waved his hand, and then called out.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“We’re coming aboard. Are you Mr. Spofford?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s my name. Glad to see you, boys.
+Come right along. You won’t be fired into
+the harbor if you try to get aboard!” came
+back the answering hail.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Gee! I wonder if that’s what happened
+to Jared,” remarked Nick, as the party made
+for the landing, where a rowboat could be obtained
+in which to paddle out to the anchored
+flotilla.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Every boy had his eyes glued on the boat
+that, to his mind, represented all that was delightful.
+Many a happy day and night had
+they spent aboard these same craft in times
+that were gone; and the future opened up possibilities
+just as joyous.</p>
+<p class="pnext">One by one they climbed aboard the <em class="italics">Comfort</em>
+and shook hands with the jolly old gentleman
+whom they found there. None of the other
+boats could have accommodated them as
+readily as the big launch.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Glad you got here safe and sound, boys.
+I imagine this is Jack Stormways. Introduce
+me to your chums, please, Jack. Told you not
+to worry. Camped right here ever since getting
+your message. Would have stayed a week
+if necessary, because you see I happen to be
+an old bachelor, without any family ties.
+Greatest pleasure I’ve had for many a year.
+Used to knock about myself, once upon a time,
+before I took on flesh. And let me tell you,
+lads, you’ve got the greatest little cruising outfits
+here I ever set eyes on. In my day we
+never knew such comforts, any more than we
+did such bully boats.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">In this fashion did Mr. Amos Spofford
+rattle on, for he was a great talker, and a
+retired lawyer as well. He quite staggered
+poor Buster by the immensity of his girth; for
+he was simply <em class="italics">tremendous</em>, and no mistake.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Gracious!” Nick whispered to Herb, when
+he found the chance; “you don’t think, now,
+I’ll ever get to be like that, do you, Herb? Oh,
+if I thought so I’d starve myself.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, it would end your knocking about,
+just as it did his, so beware!” answered the
+other; and chuckled to see poor Buster shiver.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All the time they were in contact with Mr.
+Amos Spofford Nick could not keep his eyes
+off the wheezy old lawyer; and every now and
+then he would shake his head and sigh most
+dismally. It was really an awful lesson for
+Buster, as Josh often declared.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Then you’ve really enjoyed camping here
+since Saturday afternoon, sir?” asked Jack,
+as the party clustered around the guardian of
+the motor boat fleet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Beyond measure,” came the quick reply.
+“I haven’t let the boats go unwatched a minute
+of the time. On Monday I hired a man to stay
+aboard while I finished up some little business
+that was pressing. Then I came back in the
+afternoon with a new supply of grub, and
+determined to hold the fort. Why, boys, it’s
+been the happiest days of the last ten years
+to me. And I’ve made up my mind that I’m
+going to throw business to the dogs, have a
+boat like this, only larger, built especially for
+a heavy man, and take to the water. I thank
+you for the opportunity you threw in my way
+for this pleasure.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And on our part we feel that you’ve been
+mighty kind to us, sir,” said Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Don’t mention it. Besides, I’m only too
+glad to do something for Rube’s boy. He was
+good to me once upon a time, and helped me
+get back on my feet.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Perhaps our anxiety was all for nothing
+though?” remarked George; not because he
+really believed what he was saying, but hoped
+it would tempt Mr. Spofford to “open up,”
+and tell anything he knew.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The stout lawyer chuckled until he shook
+like a bowl full of jelly. He reminded Jack of
+Santa Claus around Christmas time, both with
+regard to his white beard and the size of his
+paunch.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Ah! that was a chip of the old block that
+spoke then,” laughed Mr. Spofford, “Rube for
+all the world; and a born lawyer, too. Follow
+in the footsteps of your illustrious dad,
+George, and the world is yours. No, to tell the
+plain, unvarnished truth, your anxiety <em class="italics">was</em>
+well placed, I have reason to believe.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">He looked over the side at the water, and
+chuckled again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It is pretty wet in there for a fact, boys,”
+he said, “and when a fellow flops over with all
+his clothes on, he feels kind of squeamish, I
+suppose.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Do you mean to say, sir, that Jared Fullerton
+actually attempted to come aboard in the
+night, and that you dumped him into the
+river?” asked Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I didn’t bother asking his name; and
+so far as I know he never had the politeness to
+leave one of his visiting cards behind him,”
+remarked the big lawyer, still shaking, so that
+the staunch old <em class="italics">Comfort</em> actually quivered in
+sympathy. “In fact, to tell the truth, he was
+so set upon leaving in a hurry after he discovered
+that there was a tenant ahead of him,
+that lots of things were sadly neglected.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And you threw him overboard, sir?” asked
+Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That was the easiest part of it,” replied
+the other, calmly. “You see I used to be a
+great athlete in my day, when Rube knew me;
+and the fellow wasn’t anticipating running up
+against a lodger. I just gave him a neat push,
+and you ought to have heard the splashing that
+followed.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Wow! I’d have liked to, first rate!” declared
+Josh, in ecstacy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But he managed to climb out again, of
+course, Mr. Spofford?” Jack asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! yes, after a lot of floundering around.
+I saw him climbing that spile yonder, dripping
+at every move. And I’ve had no trouble
+since.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Then we owe you a vote of thanks for helping
+us out in this way,” declared George,
+warmly. “Only for your guardianship something
+serious would have happened to our
+boats; and you can understand, sir, that they
+are precious to all of us, after serving us so
+well on that Mississippi cruise.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I want to hear all about that at the first
+chance, boys. But now I’ll move out, and give
+the rightful owners possession. This is a very
+well named boat, Herbert. I give you credit
+for knowing how to get full enjoyment out of
+a trip. Now, that speed boat doubtless pleases
+George, but you see it would hardly do for a
+fellow of my heft. I’m going to get the builder
+of this outfit to put me one up that will be a
+dream, a fat man’s paradise.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hold on, Mr. Spofford,” said Jack, who
+knew he was voicing the sentiments of the entire
+club when he spoke as he did; “we are
+going to stay around here until another morning,
+for we’ve got a lot to do, stowing our
+stores, you know. And tonight, if you can do
+so, we invite you to a little dinner, to be held
+on this boat. We hope you will please us by
+coming; and let me tell you we’ve got the boss
+cook among us, who can tickle your palate
+the best ever.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">All eyes were turned toward Josh, who got
+up and gravely bowed, pushing back Buster,
+who had impudently been in the act of accepting
+the honor himself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’ll do it on one condition, boys,” said the
+lawyer, as he started to deposit his bulk in the
+boat Herb was holding to the side of the
+<em class="italics">Comfort</em>.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What is that, sir?” demanded Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That you promise to read to me the log of
+your last trip, when you went down the big
+river; also tell me the many adventures that
+I’m sure must have come your way during
+those glorious weeks.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Done!” cried one and all, as they shook
+hands with the jolly retired lawyer, and Herb
+started to paddle him to the dock.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What time is dinner hour, fellows?” sang
+out Mr. Spofford, just as heartily as though
+he might be one of the youngsters.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Six sharp; but we’ll wait for you any
+length of time you say, sir,” replied Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Look for me before that time; and remember,
+boys, I’m a man of some size, so be
+warned,” laughed the other, waving his hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! we know all about that, sir; because,
+you see, we’ve got a shining example of the
+same with us,” called Josh, motioning toward
+Buster.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s so; but I’m afraid you mean a
+<em class="italics">horrible</em> example; for we fat fellows are to be
+pitied,” floated back to their ears.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nick sank back on his seat, looking plainly
+troubled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! my, if I thought there was any danger
+of my ever getting like that I’d—I’d, well,
+I don’t know what I’d do; but something
+pretty desperate—skip a meal once a week,
+perhaps,” he remarked to George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The other was already trying to draw his
+own boat alongside, so that he might
+aboard; for naturally each skipper had
+thought of the craft that was dearest to his
+mind; and Herb returning, both Jack and
+Jimmie used the rowboat to reach the anchored
+<em class="italics">Tramp</em>.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-vithe-flash">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id7">CHAPTER VI—THE “FLASH”</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">For an hour or more the boys were busily
+engaged in rummaging.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then they began to think about getting their
+luggage aboard, as well as the necessary supplies.
+Jack had his lists made out to the fraction.
+Previous experience would prove of considerable
+benefit to them now, since they knew
+just what was most needed, and what things
+to leave behind.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I say, Jack!” called George, across the
+scant space that separated their boats.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hello! what is it?” asked the skipper of
+the <em class="italics">Tramp</em>, looking up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“We’ve all been so busy we haven’t thought
+to look around,” remarked George; “and consequently
+missed seeing that dandy craft lying
+off there a couple of hundred yards. Nobody
+seems to be aboard, as far as I’ve noticed. My!
+but ain’t she a beaut, though? Such graceful
+lines. I warrant she can just skim the water,
+and make you <em class="italics">dizzy</em> watching her. Do you
+know what struck me, Jack?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That this might be the swift boat Clarence
+has had built, and which he said was going to
+cut capers all around our fleet,” replied the
+other, promptly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Guessed it the first shot. Am I right?”
+asked George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Looks to me like a regular black, piratical
+craft,” observed Josh. “Just notice how low
+she sits in the water, would you? And there’s
+something sneaky in her whole make-up. Yes,
+that sort of a boat just seems to fit in with a
+fellow like Clarence Macklin, ‘Sneaky Clarence,’
+you remember.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“There’s a name in gold letters on her bow,
+but I can’t quite make it out. Here, Buster,
+just hand me my glasses, will you?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">A minute later George, having adjusted the
+marine glasses to his sight, gave utterance to a
+low whistle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’ve got the name all right, fellows,” he
+remarked, “and what d’ye think it is? Just
+the plain word <em class="italics">‘Flash.’</em> I guess that stands
+for speed all right.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It also stands for what Clarence and Bully
+Joe represent,” Herb observed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Often, as they busied themselves during the
+balance of that day, George’s eyes would
+wander toward that long, narrow boat that sat
+upon the heaving water with the grace of a
+black swan from Australia. George believed
+he could see the times when it would be nip and
+tuck between the <em class="italics">Flash</em> and his own hitherto
+unbeaten <em class="italics">Wireless</em>; and he confessed that perhaps
+the boast of the rival of the motor boat
+boys might not have been without reasonable
+foundation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Knowing how many times they must go
+ashore before the stores and supplies were all
+aboard, the motor boat boys realized that it
+would be a saving of time if they raised anchor,
+and moored alongside the dock.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This was accordingly done. As noon had
+come, they went in detachments to the nearest
+hotel, and secured a meal; after which their
+baggage was taken aboard. Then, leaving the
+others to stow it away, as on the previous
+cruise, Jack, Herb and George went into town
+to purchase what their long list called for.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nick called out after them three times, begging
+them on each occasion to be sure and not
+forget a certain thing of which he happened to
+be particularly fond. Josh poked a whole lot
+of fun at the fat boy, and warned him to beware
+lest he equal the enormous girth of Mr.
+Amos in a short time if he did not curb that
+tremendous appetite.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! don’t you fret about that,” Nick answered.
+“In good time I expect to gradually
+cut down my rations until I become as skinny
+as you. Then, like enough, I’ll want to jump
+overboard and end it all.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">That was always Nick’s way—<em class="italics">tomorrow</em> he
+meant to start in regulating his diet; but as
+usual with those who put off the evil day, tomorrow
+never seemed to come.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That was a busy afternoon with them all.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack saw to it that the eatables were put up
+in three separate packages all around, so that
+they could be handed over to the several boats
+without division. This helped wonderfully,
+for there was no choosing, and no ill feeling because
+one happened to get a better looking
+assortment than the others.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It’s near stopping time, fellows!” called
+Nick, as he squatted on a seat, like a big toad,
+Josh said, and wiped the perspiration from his
+rosy face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, I guess everything’s ready,” added
+Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Ditto here,” came from Herb. “And Josh
+is already rustling the kettles, as if he meant
+business. So I move we pull out again and
+anchor. When the gent comes we can get him
+aboard with the help of this rowboat he hired
+for us.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">That sort of talk seemed to satisfy every
+one; and accordingly they set about working
+the motor boats to the positions they had occupied
+previously, at the time their mudhooks
+were down.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then began great preparations for a feast.
+Both the other boats handed over their several
+batteries for cooking. Their previous experience
+had taught George and Herb a lesson,
+so that they had discarded their cumbersome
+oil lamps, and now each rejoiced in a fine new,
+brass Jewel gas oil-stove, of the same reliable
+German brand as that which Jack carried
+when on the famous Mississippi trip, now but
+a fond memory.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And they were surely a busy lot, every one
+working under the directions of the head <em class="italics">chef</em>.
+Josh might play second, and even third fiddle,
+many times; but when it came to cooking he
+was right there, as he himself said, “with the
+goods.” Some boys may seem gifted in one
+way, and a comrade shine in another; it was
+the privilege of Josh Purdue to be a natural
+born cook. He could throw together the most
+appetizing dishes with apparently little effort.
+Everything he touched had a decidedly delightful
+taste. And even Buster admitted that
+he stood without a peer, monarch of all he
+surveyed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">So it came about that when Mr. Spofford arrived
+on the dock, and was ferried across by
+Herb, he found some mighty fine odors wafting
+hither and thither.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“My goodness!” he said, as he sniffed vigorously,
+“I hope dinner won’t be long delayed,
+boys, because you’ve just got me keyed up to
+a desperate pitch, with all these joyful smells
+afloat.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Ready right now, sir!” sang out Josh, who
+had donned a snow-white baker’s muslin cap,
+which he had fetched along with the intention
+of coaxing Buster to wear, when engaged in
+his culinary tasks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were a jolly crowd gathered in the
+roomy <em class="italics">Comfort</em>, and discussing the glorious
+dinner prepared under the direction of the
+head <em class="italics">chef</em>.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Josh, you haven’t forgotten how,” observed
+Jack, as he started in on the savory
+mess piled up on his pannikin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Which pleases me a whole lot,” said
+George; “because you see, Mr. Spofford, on
+this trip Josh sails with me in my <em class="italics">Wireless</em>.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Alas! poor Josh! I see his finish. These
+are funeral meats, fellows,” giggled Buster,
+already warmly engaged.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And so they laughed and joked as the meal
+progressed. Mr. Amos was as merry as any
+one of the six boys. Again he seemed carried
+back to the days when he loved this sort of
+life; and many times did they hear him declare
+positively:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“You’ve opened up the fount that has been
+closed for many years, boys. And after this
+it’s me for the free life and the fresh air. Perhaps
+that may reduce my overabundant flesh
+somewhat. Anyway, it will delight my heart.
+Away with dull care; and from this time on
+I’m going to study Nature again! And I have
+you to thank for opening my eyes. It was a
+lucky day my old friend Rube thought of me,
+and put his boy in touch with Amos Spofford.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Perhaps you’d like to go out a few days,
+sir, with us,” remarked Herb, quite overwhelmed
+by the cordial ways of the retired
+lawyer. “This boat is roomy, you see, and we
+might get along. The only difficulty would
+be about sleeping quarters.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Poor Nick held his breath in suspense.
+If so be Mr. Spofford accepted, he believed
+he saw his finish. But the other only laughed
+heartily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s awfully kind of you, Herb, but I
+couldn’t think of accepting,” he said; and
+Nick breathed easy again. “When I go out, I
+shall have a boat that is suited to my heft.
+Every time I move here, something seems to
+groan, and threaten to give way. I guess you
+will have all you can manage with my friend,
+Buster.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">And after the hearty meal was finished they
+made themselves as comfortable as possible,
+while Jack read the official log of the other
+cruise, for the particular benefit of Mr. Amos.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The latter asked a thousand questions, and
+in this way managed to get a comprehensive
+history of all the stirring adventures that had
+fallen to their lot between their home town
+on the great river and the Crescent City.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was quite late when he left them, giving
+to each a squeeze of the hand that would not
+soon be forgotten.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“If I can only find a boat suited to my size,
+boys,” he said, as he left them; “I’m going
+to get afloat this very season. But at any rate
+another year will find me fully prepared for
+the season, with the greatest motor boat you
+ever struck. Goodbye, you fine and dandy
+fellows! My heart will be with you all along.
+Think of me sometimes, won’t you, Buster?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">He chuckled as he fancied he heard a hollow
+groan from Nick; as if the memory of Mr.
+Spofford’s tremendous girth could ever long
+leave the troubled mind of the fat boy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A quiet night followed. Jack advised that
+they keep on the alert, lest some peril drop
+in upon them; but fortunately his fears were
+not realized, and morning coming found the
+little fleet all serene.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Look, there he is!” said Nick, as they
+were gathered on the <em class="italics">Comfort</em> enjoying one of
+Josh’s little spreads, that included some of
+the lightest flapjacks ever put before hungry
+campers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Clarence, as sure as anything!” ejaculated
+Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And wasn’t I right about that boat?”
+asked Jack. “You can see he’s meaning to
+go out to it right now. But one good thing,
+we’ll be likely to have twenty-four hours’
+start of them. And on these broad waters
+they may have some trouble looking us up.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“There’s Bully Joe, too,” remarked George.
+“See him look over this way and scowl! Somehow
+the sight of our gallant little fleet doesn’t
+seem to please Mr. Brinker a whole lot. He’d
+be better satisfied if he could only set eyes on
+them awash, with their decks level with the
+water.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Clarence did not seem to glance once toward
+the three motor boats. A third party joined
+them, and it was not hard for Jack and his
+friends to guess that this must be the unlucky
+Jared Fullerton, whom the stalwart Mr. Spofford
+had dumped into the waters of the St.
+Lawrence when he attempted to board the
+<em class="italics">Comfort</em> one night not so very long since.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just as soon as they were well through with
+breakfast, the motor boat boys got ready to
+put out on the broad waters which were, from
+now on, to serve them as a field of recreation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack gave the signal, when he had learned
+that both the others were ready. Immediately
+there was a tremendous amount of energetic
+popping, as the motors once more got into
+service after their spell of idleness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Clarence and the others aboard the long
+dark boat looked after the three departing
+craft; and while none of our friends bothered
+waving a hand in parting, Jack could see that
+the owner of the <em class="italics">Flash</em> and his crony, Bully
+Joe, were talking earnestly, as though laying
+some sort of plan for the near future.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He even saw Clarence pointing after them,
+and then sweep his hand half way around, as
+if declaring that no matter where the departing
+boats might vanish, he would have little
+trouble in locating them if he wanted to do so.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And to himself Jack was saying that there
+could be no doubt but that Clarence, with that
+vindictive, cruel disposition of his, would put
+himself to almost any trouble in order to get
+the laugh on those he hated so bitterly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The sun shone brightly as they pulled out
+of Clayton, and all of them believed it was a
+good sign. The last they saw of the suspicious
+dark boat with the contour of a river greyhound,
+Clarence was still talking to his mates,
+and doing a great deal of pointing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But before them was spread as lovely a
+stretch of water, with its green and rocky
+islands, as ever a motor boat cruiser could
+wish to see. And none of the boys believed
+on that glorious July morning that they could
+wish for anything finer than fortune seemed
+to be placing at their feet.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-viijosh-scents-trouble">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id8">CHAPTER VII—JOSH SCENTS TROUBLE</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“What luck, Jack?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was just a week later. The three motor
+boats were anchored in a little cove near one
+of the numerous rocky islands that give this
+part of the wide St. Lawrence river its great
+reputation for summer outings.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Herb was leaning over the side of his boat,
+engaged in rubbing some dingy part of the
+brass railing; and Jack at the time happened
+to be approaching, seated in a little dinky or
+tender, which each larger boat now trailed
+behind every time they made a move from one
+anchorage to another; and which proved so
+useful in going ashore, fishing or visiting.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! pretty fair,” replied the one who
+handled the short oars, as he turned in his
+seat to reach for something that lay in the
+bow of the skiff. “We can have a fish dinner
+tonight, anyway.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then he held up a monster muskalonge, that
+must have weighed all of twenty pounds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Great Jupiter, what a sock-dollager!”
+cried George, who was taking it easy in his
+boat; while Nick thrust up his head to shout:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Bully for you, Jack! Now we won’t
+starve to death! The country is saved!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, I like that,” said Herb. “To hear
+him talk you’d think I’d cut him down to one
+meal a day, when to tell the truth he——”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Stop right there, Mister Skipper!” cried
+the fat boy, threateningly. “It’s rank treachery
+to betray your boatmate to the common
+enemy. But that is a dandy fish, Jack. Where
+did you catch him?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I think in the upper jaw,” replied Jack,
+solemnly, at which there was a shout.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I see you did,” replied Nick, bending over,
+“for there’s a broken hook sticking out of his
+mouth right now. Ugh! look at the cruel
+teeth, would you? I’d hate to let him close
+his jaws on my finger. But if the gimp snell
+gave way, how under the sun did you ever get
+him aboard, Jack?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’ll tell you,” came the calm reply. “It
+happened that I had to play this old pirate for
+nearly twenty minutes before I could tire him
+out. You’d have laughed to see how he towed
+my little punkin-seed of a boat around. But
+finally he seemed all but exhausted, and I kept
+reeling in until I had him right up close,
+where I could bend over and touch him with
+my hand.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Wow! you couldn’t hire me to do that
+now,” exclaimed Nick, shuddering as he gazed
+at that array of sharp, vicious looking teeth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I could see right then and there,” Jack
+continued, quietly, “that the gimp had been
+twisted until it was ready to break away. So
+I knew I didn’t dare try to lift him aboard
+by the line; and I had no gaff hook along. So
+I just let my hand slide over his back until I
+reached his opening and closing gills. Then I
+suddenly inserted several of my fingers, and
+gave a quick fling. He came aboard all right;
+but the line parted. So you see, Nick, it was
+a close shave for our supper, all right.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh, having made sure the fierce-looking
+fish was actually dead, by pounding it on the
+head several times with a piece of wood,
+started to get it ready for the pan. It was
+really the first one of decent size that they had
+thus far hooked; though several meals had
+been made of small-mouth black bass, taken
+either by casting, or trolling with a spoon.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It strikes me as rather queer,” remarked
+Jack, as he lay there resting, “while Jimmie
+was starting to get supper for the two aboard
+the <em class="italics">Tramp</em>, that so far we’ve neither seen nor
+heard a thing of Clarence and Joe.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And haven’t we had a great old week of it
+though?” George remarked. “Outside of one
+stormy day the weather has been just prime;
+and even my engine has given no trouble. I’m
+beginning to have hopes that it’s entirely
+cured of those tantrums that used to bother
+me so. Or perhaps the Jonah has shifted to
+your boat, Herb.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That ain’t fair,” called out Nick, from
+some unseen place, where he was wrestling
+with the cookery department, and slyly taking
+peeps in his notebook as to whether salt pork
+was used in frying fish, or butter. “Tell the
+gentleman, Herb, that I never brought you
+the least bit of bad luck. Why, we’ve been getting
+along here in a perfectly harmonious way,
+haven’t we?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Y—yes, I guess so,” replied Herb, a little
+dubiously, “but I’d be a heap happier if only
+you could forget that business about who
+leaked, and let out our secret to the enemy.
+You ding-dong about that thing morning, noon
+and night. And then you turn around to Mr.
+Amos, and fret your head off because you’re
+afraid some day you’re going to be as much of
+a whopper as he is.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” grunted Nick, without even taking
+the trouble to poke his head out, “you know
+right well this is a world full of trouble,
+fellows. If it wasn’t for my worrying the way
+I do, just imagine how I’d be taking on flesh.
+I say, Josh, do you put the salt pork on first,
+and try it out, before dusting the fish in
+cracker crumbs and dropping it in the frying
+pan?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was not long before the appetizing odors
+that arose around the anchorage of the motor
+boat fleet announced that supper was well
+under way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">One thing pleased Nick; being the cook
+aboard the <em class="italics">Comfort</em> he was in a position to
+prepare a sufficient quantity to suit his generous
+ideas of what constituted a meal for a
+healthy person’s appetite; and consequently
+there was no complaint about short rations.
+But when, as was inevitably the case, the <em class="italics">Comfort</em>
+had to borrow from the other boats, the
+powerful effect of the fat boy’s appetite became
+very apparent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Say, Jack, did you have any particular
+reason in picking out this place for our next
+stop?” asked George presently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why, yes, lots of them,” laughed the one
+addressed. “In the first place it was an extra
+big island, and situated near the Canadian
+shore, you see. Then again, the place looked
+kind of fishy, don’t you know; and I had an
+idea we might pick up some large muskies.
+From the fact that I did bring in a dandy,
+first start, it seems as if my guess hit the
+mark.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It sure did,” George went on. “But you
+don’t know anything out of the way about this
+heavily wooded island here, do you?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“To be sure I don’t, since I couldn’t tell you
+right now what name it is known under,”
+answered Jack, who knew the other had some
+object back of his questions, for George always
+led up to things, and never took delight in
+springing a surprise on his chums, as most of
+the others would invariably do.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I just wondered if you could know any
+reason for it, that’s all,” George said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Reason for what? Now you’ve got me
+guessing; and that’s probably just what you
+wanted to do,” observed Jack. “Speak up,
+and tell me what you’ve noticed.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, we seem to be objects of considerable
+curiosity to some people.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Ashore, do you mean?” and Jack turned
+his head, to glance at the frowning bank of the
+big island, the grim rocks of which were
+crowned with a dense growth of trees and
+underbrush, so that it certainly looked rather
+mysterious as the sun began to set.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, no, I don’t believe any of us have
+seen a living thing there, except a coon, fishing
+on the edge; and a kingfisher flying from
+stump to stump along the rim of the water.
+But three separate times a boat has come along
+just out there, and the people in her would
+just stare at us without saying a single word.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Three, you say—the same boat and the
+same people?” Jack asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Not at all,” George replied. “That would
+not have seemed so queer, you know; for I
+could believe that they happened to have an
+interest in this cove, and disliked seeing us
+stop here; or else that the Canadian authorities
+thought Yankees had no right to be fishing
+over on their side of the broad river. It
+was the same boat.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Three different boats, eh?” Jack mused.
+“And they looked unhappy at seeing our fleet
+quartered here?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I thought they looked mad,” Josh put in
+right then, popping his head up like a jack-in-the-box;
+for he still persisted in wearing that
+white cap while engaged in his department of
+the pots and pans.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Were there any women or children aboard
+the boats?” Jack continued.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“How about that, fellows?” asked George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“One boat had two men, another three, and
+the last one five,” Herb remarked, in his
+positive way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And they all stood off some distance, just
+looking at us. Perhaps there are thieves in
+these waters, just as we found down on the
+Mississippi,” Josh added.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Maybe we’d better change our anchorage
+after supper, and hunt a new place. There’s
+going to be a bully moon tonight, fellows,”
+from Nick, still unseen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I don’t think there’s any call for us
+to run away—yet,” Jack laughed. “No doubt
+the men were from the Canada side, and there
+was some reason why they looked at our little
+fleet so queerly.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” Josh said, as if he had been worried
+more or less about the matter, “I only hope
+one thing; that this blessed old island ain’t
+haunted, that’s all!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack laughed at that, it put such a new
+aspect on affairs. At the same time he could
+not help thinking that superstitious Josh certainly
+had some ground for allowing such an
+idea to seize hold of his mind; for the island,
+with its dense vegetation, and its rough shore
+line, did look out of the common. No doubt,
+when night dropped her blanket over the
+broad river with its myriad of islands, both
+large and small, this spooky place could easily
+be believed to shelter uncanny things.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Don’t give yourself any more uneasiness
+on that score, Josh,” Jack urged. “If there
+ever was a ghost anywhere near this place it
+took wings long ago, when the thousands of
+summer tourists began coming here for their
+vacations. What with the big hotels, and the
+hundreds of cottages perched on the islands,
+small chance a poor spirit would have today.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">While he said nothing more about the three
+boats with their unfriendly crews, Jack did
+not entirely forget them. Perhaps there might
+have been some deep reason for the strange
+actions of these men. Perhaps—but then,
+without any foundation for a theory, what was
+the use bothering himself forming any such?</p>
+<p class="pnext">The night came on; but even while they were
+eating supper a change had begun to take
+place in the weather conditions. Nick’s prediction
+of a beautiful moonlight night gave
+promise of being far from the actual fact; for
+clouds had drifted over the heavens, some of
+them dark and threatening, though as yet
+broken.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“We may get a storm before morning,”
+observed George, looking up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And I wager Jack foresaw that same thing
+when he picked out this cove for our anchorage,”
+declared Herb. “You notice that it is
+to the eastward of the island; and don’t you
+see about all the storms up here come out of
+the west. In that way we will be protected
+against a heavy blow.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack might have kept still, and allowed his
+chums to heap honors on his unworthy head;
+but that was not his style.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hold on, you’re doing me too much credit,
+boys,” he observed frankly. “I took to this
+cove just because it looked good to me, and
+never for a minute thinking how it would serve
+us in case of a blow. But just as Herb says,
+we are protected here, and that’s another reason
+for not changing, as Nick hinted we should
+do.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">They ate supper before the dusk turned into
+night, and the whippoorwills were calling
+from back on the wooded island, to be answered
+from the further Canada shore.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The three boats were close enough together
+to allow the boys a chance to exchange any
+remarks they wished.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Better get ready in case we have a downpour
+tonight,” remarked Jack, as he cast a
+look upward to where the moon was just starting
+to peep out from behind a threatening
+bank of clouds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“For one I’m glad I got that hole in my tent
+mended in time,” observed Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Me too,” spoke up Buster, “because, you
+see, it was so nicely fixed right over my poor
+head. Think of a stream turned on while you
+slept! Ugh! when I take my cold baths I’ll
+choose my time.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’ve known when you didn’t all the same,”
+ventured George, chuckling.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s mean of you,” Buster replied, reproachfully,
+“bringing up old happenings.
+Yes, I did fall overboard into the river; but
+who wouldn’t, in that cranky speedy boat of
+yours, shivering and jumping to beat the band.
+Why, hello! what ails Josh there?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, what are you staring so hard at,
+Josh?” demanded George, turning his head.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Didn’t any of the rest of you see it?” asked
+the other, eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“See what? Are you beginning on that
+ghost racket already?” insinuated Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Ghost nothing,” exclaimed Josh; “and yet
+truth to tell it did glide out of sight behind the
+point yonder like a phantom boat. Then the
+moon went under, and I lost it again!”</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-viiiin-the-midnight-watch">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id9">CHAPTER VIII—IN THE MIDNIGHT WATCH</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Everybody sat up and took notice when
+Josh delivered himself after this strange fashion.
+If it had been a mere glimpse of some
+white object which he claimed to have seen
+ashore they might have smiled, and let it go
+at that. But a boat was a different proposition.
+They were interested in boats; and
+indeed, expecting sooner or later to be visited
+by a certain dark craft, fashioned along a
+piratical type.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Where did you see it, Josh?” asked
+George, hastily jumping to his feet; and
+almost taking a header into the water; for his
+delicately balanced speed craft did not allow
+such energetic movements with impunity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, give a feller a chance, won’t you?”
+grumbled the other, as he clutched the brass
+railing just in time to save himself. “I’m not
+in such a hurry to go after the phantom boat
+as to want to <em class="italics">swim!</em> Besides,” he added, as
+an afterthought, “I haven’t forgotten that
+savage musky Jack brought in today. If they
+hang out around this region you don’t catch
+Josh Purdue doing any bathing, not much.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But tell us, where did you see this queer
+boat that moves along as silent as a specter?”
+asked Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Didn’t you get on to what I said?” continued
+the other, impatiently. “Around that
+point yonder it seemed to glide. I lost it in
+the shadows.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Listen to him hedge, fellows!” cried Nick.
+“Now he says it ‘seemed to glide.’ That is as
+much as saying he ain’t sure whether he was
+awake or dreaming.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I tell you the boat was there,” Josh persisted;
+“and if the mean old moon hadn’t just
+bobbed behind that cloud up yonder, all of
+you might have had a chance to glimpse her.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But you had one look at her, didn’t you?”
+asked Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure I did. And because I didn’t hear
+any noise of a motor I just had to stare,” came
+the ready reply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Was it a white pleasure boat?” continued
+Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Not much. I could have seen that sort
+right along, moon or no moon. I know what
+you’re thinking, Jack.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All right. Was it a dark-colored launch,
+then?” the other demanded.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“This time it’s yes—a long, low, narrow
+craft, that seemed to just spin along like a
+shadow itself. But I know it was a boat,
+because I could see the water curling over,
+where the bow cut through,” Josh went on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“You hear that, fellows?” Jack remarked.
+“And of course, you understand what it means
+to us?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That boat was the <em class="italics">Flash</em>, and Clarence has
+found us out at last?” said George; not without
+a trace of eagerness in his voice; for so
+well had his speed launch been behaving of
+late that he was anxious to test her against the
+newer craft of Clarence Macklin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Just like him to come sneaking around at
+night to see how he can do us some rotten
+injury,” grunted Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Lit him thry it, that’s all,” remarked
+Jimmie, popping his head up. “I’m thinkin’
+the gossoon will be sorry for it, wan way or
+t’other.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But that means we shall have to keep
+watch, doesn’t it, Jack?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of course it was Herb who said this, for
+he might be set down as the most timid of the
+six boys; though there had been times in the
+past when even Herb had risen to the occasion,
+to prove that he could show valor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“No doubt about that,” returned the other,
+seriously. “You know the benefit we found
+in being prepared when on that trip to Dixie
+land. It pays to be ready for trouble. Meeting
+it half way often ends in victory. Oh!
+yes, the squad will have to turn out, and take
+turns tonight.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">All this had been carefully arranged beforehand.
+Jack knew his crowd, and also what
+little failings they might be apt to develop.
+For instance, he understood that it was hardly
+the part of wisdom to allow Nick to stand his
+spell of sentry duty alone. However willing
+the fat boy might declare himself he was apt
+to be overcome by drowsiness and fall asleep
+at his post.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Think we’d better move out a bit from
+the shore?” asked Josh, after they had talked
+matters over for a further spell, and looked
+in vain for the mysterious dark motor boat to
+appear again around the point of the wooded
+island.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What for?” asked George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure, the howlding’s foine roight here,”
+asserted Jimmie, who had personally seen to
+it that the <em class="italics">Tramp’s</em> anchor was well placed;
+though it could be readily tripped in case of a
+sudden need for a move during a storm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But to tell the honest truth, fellows, I
+don’t just like the looks of this old island
+here,” admitted the cook of the <em class="italics">Wireless</em>,
+boldly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I don’t see anything the matter with it?”
+remarked George. “In fact, simply because
+it seems deserted is no reason we ought to
+cut loose, and change moorings. If it belonged
+to some millionaire, and had a cottage perched
+on the rocks, the chances are ten to one we’d
+have been asked to move long before now.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I agree with George,” Jack remarked.
+“And that was the main reason why I determined
+to come here, where it looked so attractive.
+When fellows are off on a little trip like
+this, the very places they should avoid are
+those where too much civilization is found.
+Give me the wild spots every time.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! well, I withdraw my motion then,”
+grumbled Josh. “But don’t blame me if anything
+happens, that’s all.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Would ye be afther listenin’ till him?”
+exclaimed Jimmie, hilariously. “Sure he do
+be thinkin’ still about that banshee. And
+Jack, since ye are to sthand watch wid Josh,
+be warrned in toime, to look out for throuble.
+If wishin’ would bring ghosts it’s me honest
+belafe Josh would raise a whole raft of thim.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">But in talking of many other things the
+boys soon seemed to forget about these fears
+on the part of the one who confessed to a
+belief in hobgoblins.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When several of the inmates of the gathered
+boats started to yawn at a tremendous rate,
+word was given that they turn in.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It’s eleven o’clock, boys, just think of it?”
+said Herb, as he lighted a lantern in order to
+make up his bed more comfortably; for Herb
+believed in getting all the benefit possible out
+of things, even when on a cruise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And we can count on broad daylight by
+four o’clock, though we needn’t get up till
+five,” Jack observed. “So I’ve divided the
+six hours into three watches. Josh and myself
+will stay on duty until one. Then Herb and
+Jimmie will take our places, and at three they
+are to wake up George and Buster. Understand
+that, fellows?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes,” came the response, in some cases
+very sleepily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“How about you, Josh; think you can stay
+awake two hours now?” Jack asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I drank more coffee for supper than
+usual,” the other answered, “and the way I
+feel now, I don’t seem to care one bit whether
+I get a wink of sleep tonight or not.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">As things were reduced to a pretty good system
+by this time, with regard to the making
+up of beds, it did not require much time to get
+these in readiness. Herb was the only fussy
+one; and they were threatening to call him an
+old maid, and get a cap and gown for him, if
+he kept on that way. But Herb paid no attention
+to all this talk. When he had his mind
+made up it required an earthquake to change
+it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Finally his lantern went out, although Josh
+kept it within reach of his hand, in case he
+needed light in a hurry while doing his trick
+as sentinel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He and Jack could converse in low tones
+without disturbing the sleepers, should they
+care to do so. Jack meant to exchange a few
+words occasionally, if only to convince himself
+that the other had not been overtaken by
+drowsiness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">No longer did the moon peep out from the
+dark curtains above. The cloud banks had
+effectually covered the face of the heavens as
+with a pall. Still it did not rain, and thus far
+there were no other indications of a brooding
+storm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was impossible to see for any distance
+around. Even out upon the water objects were
+indistinct at fifty feet; and as for the nearby
+island it rested there like a black hillock, above
+which the tips of the inky pines could be seen
+outlined against the less opaque sky.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now and then the night breeze moaned dismally
+through these treetops, making a queer
+sound. Jack noticed that every time this happened there
+would be a slight movement in the
+<em class="italics">Comfort</em>; and he understood that Josh must be
+turning his head to stare toward the island.
+Josh, then, had not entirely given up the idea
+of seeing a ghost; and this uncanny sound
+made him remember his prediction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was impossible to note the passage of time
+by the stars, for they were quite out of sight,
+and no clock striking could give warning; for
+there was not a church within many miles of
+their anchorage.</p>
+<p class="pnext">So when Jack began to wonder how much
+longer he and Josh ought to hold the fort, he
+had to strike a match and consult the little
+nickel watch he carried.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Gosh! how you scared me!” exclaimed the
+other sentry, as the match crackled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Half past twelve,” Jack remarked, in a
+low tone. “That means another half hour for
+us, Josh. How are you feeling about now?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” admitted the other, “I guess I was
+near dozing that time. Thought somebody
+shot at me when you scratched that match.
+How loud everything sounds at this time of
+night. Wish that old bird would let up on that
+screeching, over on the Canada shore. He
+makes me tired, for a fact.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Depends on the way you look at things,”
+chuckled Jack. “Now, for my part I rather
+like to hear a whippoorwill call. Never yet
+kept me awake either, like some things would
+do. Have a bite of this gingerbread, Josh.
+Keeping watch is hungry work, after all, I
+find. Besides, while your jaws are working,
+you won’t get sleepy.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh was nothing averse to a “snack,” and
+so they sat there, eating, and occasionally exchanging
+some remark, while the balance of
+the crowd slept on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The boats were anchored far enough apart
+to avoid striking should a wind arise. But on
+account of his desire to keep in touch with
+Josh, Jack had seen to it that the stern of each
+craft was drawn toward the other. In this
+fashion then they could have shaken hands by
+leaning over the intervening foot or so of
+water.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It so happened that while Jack was devoting
+most of his attention to the watery expanse
+that stretched away toward the east, Josh on
+the other hand found the neighboring island
+more interesting.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Each acted on his own idea as to the nature
+of the danger that might come upon them.
+With Josh it was the peril that stalks during
+the middle of the night, and frightens men
+through its connection with spectral forms.
+Jack, on the other hand, suspected that Clarence
+and his crony, Bully Joe, might be planning
+some sort of a mean raid, that would spoil
+the pleasure of the motor boat club.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Jack!” whispered the occupant of the
+<em class="italics">Comfort</em> in a hoarse voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, what do you want?” replied the
+other lad, serenely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I am sure I heard a suspicious noise ashore
+just then!” Josh continued.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! rats! You’re always hearing things,
+Josh. Like as not it was only a poor old ’coon,
+hunting around on the beach for a fish that
+has been cast up. Get it off your mind. It’s
+only a little time longer, and then you to
+dreamland.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“There it goes again, Jack! Didn’t you
+catch it that time? I tell you it means something.
+Hark! now will you believe me?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh was growing more and more excited.
+He even raised his voice above the low tone in
+which up to now they had conversed. But
+small danger of any of those sound sleepers
+being so easily awakened. It would require a
+shaking to accomplish that.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack certainly did hear the sounds now.
+These consisted of a strange clacking, the
+nature of which it was impossible to guess.
+Then would come a plain, unmistakable groan!
+No wonder poor Josh shivered, and turned
+cold with apprehension, considering what his
+recent belief had been.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh, my! there’s sure something moving
+up there, Jack! Don’t you see it—over by
+that place where we saw the silver birch?
+Watch it, Jack! There, look! look!” and as
+he spoke Josh raised his voice still more until
+it almost became a shout.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Movements told that he had finally succeeded
+in arousing the sleep squad. Nick was
+heard to yawn, and grumble, as usual; while
+Herb poked his head out from the side curtains
+to ask what all the row meant.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Didn’t I tell you it would come?” shouted
+Josh suddenly. “Just look there on that
+blamed island, and see what we get for sticking
+here! Now laugh at me for believing in
+ghosts, will you? Herb, can’t we cut the
+anchor rope, and make a quick getaway?
+Please say yes, because I’m that scared I’m
+shaking all over!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">And every eye was by this time glued upon
+the strange spectacle ashore that had given
+poor Josh his fright.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-ixthe-ghost-of-the-island">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id10">CHAPTER IX—THE GHOST OF THE ISLAND</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“Wow! it’s sure a banshee!” whooped
+Jimmie.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“A-am I dreaming, fellows?” exclaimed
+Herb, rubbing his eyes desperately.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“O-oh! look at it shake its fist at us, would
+you! It’s ten feet high, if it’s one!” came
+from the quivering lips of Buster.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Jack as yet had not said a word, though
+he was staring just as hard at the remarkable
+sight ashore as any of them. It was something
+different from anything that had ever
+before crossed his path. Perhaps Jack might
+have felt a little chilly sensation as he looked;
+but he was not at all frightened.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Up on the rise of the mysterious island there
+had appeared a dim figure that seemed, just as
+Nick vowed, to be all of ten feet in height. At
+first it was like a curling column of smoke,
+when a certain kind of wood has been thrown
+on the fire. Then it seemed to take form, and
+change to a flickering yellow glow.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The groaning sounds continued all the
+while, as though this disturbed spirit from
+the other world might be in great pain. And
+certainly the figure was waving one of its
+arms as though waving them off.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All of this Jack saw, yet no panic gripped
+him as it seemed to do the rest, who were
+crouching there, staring, and gasping for
+breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Jimmie, hand me my shotgun, and let’s
+see if it can stand Number Threes!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack called this out in a loud, clear voice.
+Not that he wanted the gun to any great extent;
+but he had an object in saying it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Jimmie really believed he meant what
+he said. While he groped for the gun he was
+saying aloud:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure, now, ’tis mesilf as doan’t belave ye
+kin knock the daylight out of that banshee
+wid little shots, Jack, darlint. But if so be ye
+mane to thry, take the gun, while I shut me
+eyes.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“’Tain’t any use,” broke in George; “the
+thing’s disappeared!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">And so it had, vanishing as mysteriously as
+it had come, and leaving only a black void in
+front of them. Even that steady groaning had
+stopped, proving conclusively that it had had
+to do with the appearance of the spectre.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack laughed, to the utter astonishment of
+the rest.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I don’t see anything funny about this business,”
+complained Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, p’raps you fellers will quit quizzing
+me after that experience!” said Josh, with
+just a little ring of triumph in his unsteady
+voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And will you please stop shaking that
+way?” remarked George. “For you make the
+boat rock the worst kind. It was bad enough
+seeing that blessed thing, without taking a
+header overboard right now.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Jack, what makes you laugh?” asked quiet
+Herb, who knew that the other would not
+have acted in the way he did unless with good
+and sufficient cause.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Do you really want to know?” asked Jack,
+quietly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Somehow the fact that one of their number
+did not seem to be affected by the panic that
+had swept over the rest began to make George
+and Jimmie ashamed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure we do, Jack,” remarked the latter,
+eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I was laughing because it was so funny to
+see how our fine ghost bobbed out of sight the
+very instant I called to Jimmie to hand me my
+Marlin,” said Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I see now!” cried George; “you mean
+that ghosts needn’t be afraid of a handful of
+bird shot. Is that it, Jack?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s what I meant. I’ve read lots of
+ghost stories, just like Josh here; though I
+never believed them for one minute. But in
+every case the fellow who tells the yarn declares
+that bullets have no effect at all on real
+goblins. Am I right, Josh?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It’s true, every word of it, Jack!” the
+other answered, promptly. “Why, I’ve heard
+where a soldier whacked the head off a ghost,
+who coolly picked it up and stuck it on again
+as neat as you please. Oh! no, they needn’t
+be afraid of little bird shot, not a bit of it.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, this ghost was timid, you see,” Jack
+proceeded. “He fell over just as soon as I
+called out about my gun.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Look here, you mean something by that,
+sure you do!” remarked Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Fellers, he’s hinting that it was a job set
+up on us—that’s what Jack means,” declared
+Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Out with it, Jack. Don’t you see that
+we’re all in a blue funk over this queer deal?
+If you know anything, share it with your
+pards,” said Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s it,” observed Josh, who had by now
+somewhat recovered from his fright; “put us
+wise old commodore. What d’ye think it was,
+now?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’ll tell you, boys,” Jack said, impressively.
+“In my opinion, honest Injun, now, somebody
+was trying to frighten us away from
+here.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Say, it did wave its long, bony arm, all
+right!” exclaimed Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“We all saw that,” Herb put in; “but what
+do you suppose anybody would want to make
+us move our anchorage so much as to go to all
+that fuss and feathers to scare us?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” answered Jack, “that’s a thing I
+can just tell—yet! You all admit it did keep
+waving its arms. And you heard those lovely
+groans stop just at the same time the thing
+disappeared. I thought I heard a sound like
+something falling to the ground. Did anybody
+else get that?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I heard some noise,” admitted George.
+“But, Jack, you certain must have some little
+suspicion about who engineered this silly
+game, if it was a set-up job?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, Josh saw a boat,” calmly remarked
+the one addressed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Listen to that, would you?” exclaimed
+Nick. “He means that it was Clarence who
+got up that cute game right now—Clarence,
+our old friend of the baseball diamond. And
+perhaps the ghost that groaned was only
+Bully Joe. Fellers, it sound good to me.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, it would be just like Tricky Clarence,
+as sure as you live!” admitted Herb, who
+had possibly been the least alarmed of the
+five.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But why should he want us to vacate?”
+demanded Josh, who disliked very much to
+give up his pet illusion, and believe that the
+ghost was only the result of a clumsy trick on
+the part of some person or persons unknown.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Perhaps he wants this fine little cove himself,”
+suggested George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That hardly fills the bill,” Jack went on.
+“He might think to get even for some of the
+times we’ve won out in the past. I tell you
+right now I’m bothered to understand it.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Do we clear out in the morning, then?”
+asked Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I hope you won’t say yes to that, fellows.
+In the first place, it goes against my grain
+to be chased away by Clarence Macklin or
+anybody else, who has no right to order us
+around. And then again, there are some things
+I’d like to look into connected with this queer
+affair.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">When Jack talked like that he knew the
+others would fall in with his wishes; for they
+had long ago come to look upon him as a
+leader.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! we’ll stick it out if you say so, Jack,”
+declared George. “But you ought to tell us
+anything else you’ve got on your mind.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“There was one thing that puzzled me,”
+Jack continued. “It happened while Josh was
+dozing, or else looking somewhere else, for he
+didn’t seem to notice it. And I didn’t say anything,
+because there was no use waking the
+rest of you up then.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But what was it, Jack?” questioned Kick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why, we settled it in our minds that the
+old island was uninhabited, didn’t we boys?”
+asked the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s so,” several hastened to declare.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, about half an hour ago, as I chanced
+to turn my head and look that way, I caught
+sight of a dim light moving along near the
+ground. It would disappear, and then come
+in view again, all the while moving.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, I’ve seen just such a funny light,
+when a man with a lantern was walking
+through the woods,” burst out Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Just what I settled it in my mind that
+was,” chuckled Jack. “But it wasn’t so
+strange that some one should be ashore, and I
+didn’t let it bother me any. After what has
+happened, though, you can see it must have
+meant something.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s a fact,” admitted George. “And,
+fellows, I’m coming around to Jack’s way of
+thinking. I just bet Tricky Clarence was behind
+that show.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! well, let’s try to forget it for tonight,”
+Jack observed; “and as it’s now just one
+o’clock, George and Nick will have to take their
+turn on guard.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure,” replied Buster, cheerfully. “Sleep
+and me have parted company for the rest of
+this night, after what I saw. So it’s me for a
+four hour stretch; Herb, you can snooze right
+along till sun-up, if you want.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! can I? Thanks,” laughed the one addressed,
+with a touch of skepticism in his
+voice; for he knew only too well what a difference
+there was between Buster’s promises
+and the keeping of them; he always meant
+well, but found the flesh weak.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And it proved just as wise Herb supposed
+would be the case; when the time came for
+George to go off duty he found Nick fast
+asleep; so that Herb had to be aroused by repeated
+calls and punching of the side of the
+<em class="italics">Comfort</em>.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then daylight came; but according to Jack’s
+arrangements no one was aroused until the
+hour of five, when the sun was well up. July
+days are long indeed in this northern clime,
+and the twilight lingers until nearly nine in
+the evening.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Who’s going to try the fishing today?”
+asked Jack, as they were partaking of their
+bacon and egg breakfast, a supply of the hen
+fruit having been obtained on the previous
+day from a Canadian farmer, near whose
+place the little fleet of motor boats had stopped.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why, Herb and myself talked of going,
+if so be you’d post us about the best trolling
+ground,” George remarked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Tell you all I know about it,” replied
+Jack, readily enough. “But if you are lucky
+enough to strike a big musky like the one I
+got, you’ll have your hands full. Better take
+the gaff hook along. I wished many times yesterday
+I had it.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Will we, George?” asked Herb, in a vein
+of sarcasm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Catch me putting my hand on a pirate like
+that while he’s got an ounce of fight left in
+him,” the other declared. “Why, one snap
+of those jaws and he’d take your whole paw
+off, sure. Yes, give us the gaff hook, or we
+don’t go.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Then you don’t intend to keep us company?”
+asked Herb of Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I think I’ll just hang around here this
+morning, boys.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! all right. I can see with half an eye
+that you’ve got something up your sleeve,
+Jack; but post us when the show comes off,
+won’t you?” George remarked, laughingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">An hour later, long after the two ambitious
+fishermen had departed in their little rowboats
+for a siege of trolling along the lonely
+shores of the island, Jack quietly stepped into
+his own dinky, and paddled ashore.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now what can he be up to?” Nick asked
+Josh, as they looked after the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Give me something easy, will you?” replied
+that worthy. “But all the same, I noticed
+that Jack was careful to take his gun
+along.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But he can’t shoot any game now; the law
+is on nearly everything, you know. And up
+here the wardens are always on the lookout for
+poachers,” Nick continued.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh, shucks!” Josh complained, “you don’t
+see through a millstone, even when it’s got a
+big hole in it. Can’t you understand that Jack
+is bent on looking up that ghost business?
+Wonder if it was Tricky Clarence at the back
+of it. Gee! but when I first set eyes on the
+same I really thought it was a dead sure spirit
+of some old Injun chief come back from the
+Happy Hunting Grounds to warn us away.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Huh! I noticed that you hung on to that
+same idea to the bitter end,” Nick continued
+pugnaciously. “Right now, I bet you believe
+deep down in your silly heart, it was a regular
+hobgoblin. Oh! I know you all right, Josh
+Purdue; and you’ve got a scary heart all right.
+But I saw, just as soon as Jack spoke up, how
+we’d been fooled by Clarence. Wait till he
+comes back, and he’ll prove it.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’d like to know how?” demanded Josh.
+“Expect him to interview that <em class="italics">thing</em>, and get
+a written confession? I’m just wondering
+what we’ll run up against if we’re bound to
+stay here in this cove another night.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Piffle!” scoffed Nick. “What about guns,
+hey, tell me that? Ghosts don’t appear to like
+guns much, do they? Jack says not, and Jack,
+he ought to know. Stay here? Of course we
+will; a week, two of ’em, if we feel like it!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! yes, how brave some people are in the
+middle of the day, when the sun’s shining,”
+jeered Josh. “But wait; that’s all! I expect
+to see you get the scare of your life tonight,
+don’t you know. If that <em class="italics">thing</em> gets real mad,
+and digs in for us you needn’t bother worrying
+about taking on any more fat, because
+you’ll shake that hard you’ll lose pounds and
+pounds! But let’s wait till Jack comes back,
+and find out what he’s discovered. I’ve got
+a good notion to follow him ashore, if I can
+pull up the anchor and beach the <em class="italics">Comfort</em>.
+Watch how I manage it.”</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xfollowing-a-trail">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id11">CHAPTER X—FOLLOWING A TRAIL</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Josh found his little plan was not hard of
+accomplishment. All he had to do was to push
+the <em class="italics">Wireless</em> around, after letting out all the
+cable connected with the anchor, when he was
+able to jump ashore.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He took with him another rope that was fastened
+to the stern of the motor boat, and this
+he fastened to the nearest tree. Now, when he
+wanted to go aboard, all he had to do was to
+unfasten this latter hawser, climb over the side,
+and draw the <em class="italics">Wireless</em> back to her original
+anchorage.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Good boy!” cried Nick, who had been a
+close observer of this clever little game. “You
+go up head. When it comes to dodges like
+that, you take the cake.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was not often that Josh heard a compliment
+from this source, and he had to stop and
+wave his hand toward the cook of the <em class="italics">Comfort</em>,
+before following after Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had not gone twenty feet before he discovered
+the object of his concern, who appeared
+to be bending over something that
+seemed to greatly interest him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hello! there, what’ve you found, Jack?
+Signs of a diamond mine, or traces of the ice
+age they tell us about?” Josh demanded, as
+he reached the side of the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hello yourself, Josh,” replied Jack, looking
+up with a smile, as though pleased because
+he was to have some one to talk to, and possibly
+confer with. “Well, no, I can’t just say that
+either of your guesses comes anywhere near
+the truth. I’m only examining a trail.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What’s that? Then this old island hasn’t
+always been as deserted as it looks right now,
+if people sometimes drop ashore here?” remarked
+Josh, his interest at once aroused.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Look here and tell me what you see,” the
+other lad continued, as he pointed to the
+ground near his feet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Say, as sure as you live, it is, for a fact,”
+exclaimed Josh. “Looks like they’d done a
+heap of passing up and down this way, too.
+D’ye know, Jack, I wondered what those marks
+on the little beach meant, and now I understand.
+Boats, that’s what; boats that have
+been drawn up there when the water was
+higher than it is now.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, I saw them,” said Jack, quietly. “In
+fact, I looked to find such marks on the sand.
+And this broad trail began there, too.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I’m beginning to tumble to a few
+things. I guess that in the season, this same
+tight little island may be a place for duck
+shooters to hold out. Perhaps we might even
+find an old deserted shanty somewhere back
+yonder in which they camp out during the
+blustery fall months.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hold on, Josh,” remarked Jack. “Is that
+all you know about signs?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why, whatever do you mean?” asked the
+other, puzzled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Take another squint at these marks, and
+then tell me what you think, Josh.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Say, I tumble to what you mean!” exclaimed
+Josh, after he had bent down once
+more. “You expect me to say that if these
+marks had been made months ago, with a winter’s
+ice and snow, and a summer’s heavy rains,
+they’d have been washed out long ago. And
+so they would, Jack, so they would. You’re
+right about it. They’ve been made lately!
+They look fresh, for a fact!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now you’re tumbling to facts, Josh. Remember,
+we had a big downpour just three
+days ago, don’t you?” Jack went on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure I do. And you’re on to that, too. But
+I grab your meaning now, all right. There are
+marks here that must have been made since
+that rain.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, what do you say about it now?” continued
+the boy who could read signs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Instead of duck shooters they’re fishermen,”
+observed Josh, calmly. “Yes, and you
+remember how those three boats came along,
+and the men in each stared so hard at us?
+Jack, I see it all now. We just happened in a
+favorite place of theirs, and they didn’t like
+it for a cent. Why, they even tried to scare us
+off with that silly ghost business that gave
+poor old Pudding such a fright.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack only smiled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” he said, “suppose we follow this
+trail for a bit. I have an idea it will lead us
+to the very place where I thought I saw a moving
+light, like a swinging lantern, last night.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh was eager to keep step with him; but
+there was no trouble experienced in picking up
+the trail, so plainly marked were the tracks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“There it is, Jack!” exclaimed Josh, suddenly;
+for he had been looking ahead all the
+time his companion kept his eyes fixed on the
+ground.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It is a shanty of some sort, isn’t it?” remarked
+Jack, without much emotion; for he
+had been absolutely positive as to what they
+would discover, so that the announcement did
+not excite him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why, yes, a tumbledown sort of a shack,”
+observed Josh, with a trace of disappointment
+about his manner. “I’d pity the fellows who
+spent a rainy day in such a rookery. Why,
+the roof is falling in at one end; and the door
+hangs on one rusty hinge.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack saw all these things as quickly as did
+his companion, even though he failed to cry out
+and express himself as vehemently as Josh
+took pains to do.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Old dilapidated cabin as it is, note one
+thing, will you,” he remarked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“You mean that the tracks lead up to the
+door, is that it, Jack?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, yes,” the other continued, “but just
+notice that there’s a rusty padlock on the door.
+Stop and think if that doesn’t look queer, considering
+that if anybody wanted to get in, all
+they’d have to do would be to knock that one
+hinge, and the whole door would drop flat?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Say, that makes me laugh, for a fact,”
+Josh chuckled. “But it’s just what you’d expect
+to run across up among these simple people
+of the border. They make me think of the
+ostrich. Don’t you know we read the silly
+thing just sticks its head in a little bush, and
+thinks because it can’t see anything that it’s
+got a bully hiding place.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, that sort of covers the bill,” said Jack.
+“I guess this padlock is only meant to tell
+people who have no business here that they
+are not wanted inside this shack. It stands
+as a warning. To enter after that would be a
+breach of the rights to property, as Lawyer
+George would say.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Looky here, would you!” cried Josh, presently,
+while his companion was prowling
+around, and peeping through a hole in the wall,
+as though curious to know what the interior
+of the cabin looked like.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What have you found now?” asked Jack,
+who was himself wondering why that new single
+trail had been made, coming out of the
+dense bushes at the back of the hut, and showing
+signs of recent passage, which somehow
+he could not help connecting with the flash of
+that lantern on the preceding night.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“The bally old lock don’t hold even a little
+bit,” announced Josh, as though that circumstance
+added to his hilarity. “See, I can lift
+it off with one finger. It’s a fake, that’s what
+it is, Jack. But while it might fool ordinary
+people, it can’t a live Yankee. Now what
+d’ye say to going in?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack laughed as though amused at the reasoning
+of his chum, and remarked:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I see you think we wouldn’t be breaking
+the law of possession if we walked in when the
+lock was out of gear. That sounds nice, Josh,
+but many a chicken thief has found that such
+a plea didn’t save him. But all the same, I’m
+going to step in and look around a bit.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Seems to me it smells fishy around here?”
+observed Josh, sniffing eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! that’s easy enough to explain,” and
+Jack pointed to several heads of black bass that
+lay near by. “Somebody has had a fish dinner,
+for there is the ash bed of a fire. It may
+have been passing sportsmen from one of the
+big hotels; then again, perhaps the people who
+made the trail also cooked a meal or two here!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Once inside the cabin he looked around.
+There was virtually nothing to see. The place
+had not a sign of furniture of any description.
+Some straw lay on the hard earthen floor, as
+though it might be made useful in case one
+wished to pass the night there.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh almost doubled up with laughter.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“This is sure the greatest joke ever,” he remarked.
+“To think of trying to keep trespassers
+out of this old trap, just like it held all
+a squatter’s possessions. Jack, what d’ye
+think the silly donkey meant by that padlock?
+Did he keep his stuff here once, and locked
+the door? I’m all in a fog.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack said nothing, only “browsed” around,
+as he expressed it, kicking the straw aside in
+places, only to replace it as he had found it, as
+though not wishing to leave any signs that
+trespassers had invaded the cabin of the mysterious
+island.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But all the while he was thinking deeply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And once, after the laughing and scoffing
+Josh had stepped outside to look about him
+again, Jack stooped down and picked some
+object up off the earthen floor, which he seemed
+to examine with considerable curiosity before
+stowing away in one of his many pockets.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Seen all you want to of the strange palace
+of the Thousand Islands?” asked the merry
+Josh, when his companion again appeared.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! yes, and I’ll put the lock back just as
+we found it,” replied the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then he started to follow the plain trail that
+led through the dense thicket to the rear of the
+cabin. It took him nearly twenty minutes to
+zigzag through the intricate growth, for all
+manner of obstacles caused him to turn aside,
+even as they had the one who had come and
+gone this way on the preceding night.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When he finally reached the shore it was far
+around the point that jutted out above the
+cove where the motor boats were anchored.
+And after Jack had stooped down to examine
+the sandy beach, he arose with a peculiar smile,
+and a knowing shake of the head; but the only
+words he used as he walked along the sandy
+stretch near the water’s edge were:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I thought I’d find where the keel of a boat
+landed on this beach!”</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xibuster-gets-an-idea">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id12">CHAPTER XI—BUSTER GETS AN IDEA</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“Find anything new worth while, Jack?”
+asked the cook of the <em class="italics">Wireless</em>, as he got up
+from the warm sand where he had been taking
+a sun bath, while waiting for his companion
+to put in an appearance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I don’t know,” replied the other, in
+what seemed to be a careless manner, calculated
+to put Josh off the track, and smother his
+curiosity. “One or two little things that I’m
+going to puzzle my wits over. But look here,
+the fishermen are in sight!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Good gracious! how you scared me, Jack!”
+exclaimed Josh, whirling around to look.
+“Honest Injun, now, I thought you meant
+those rough men in the three boats, and knowing
+how guilty we were about breaking into
+their shack, I started to shiver, never having
+been arrested, you know. But it’s only George
+and Herb.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“They’ve been successful, I expect,” observed
+Jack, wisely, “because both seem to be
+trying to look disappointed; but can’t help
+glancing down in the bottom of the little
+dinkies. I reckon each has got a musky, all
+right.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure we have,” remarked George, as the
+two small boats pulled in close; “and dandies
+at that. Talk to me about pull; that pirate
+was a hummer.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But, George, you know he didn’t come up
+to mine,” remarked Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, I rather guess not, Herb,” grinned
+the other. “I suppose you notice, fellows, that
+my comrade has been in swimming. Funny
+part of it is, he never even bothered taking
+his clothes off when the notion struck him.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, it came right sudden, for a fact,”
+laughed Herb. “That big muskalunge was
+tearing around like the dickens, when swoop!
+he took a turn under my boat, and in my haste
+to swing around, I upset.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Wow!” cried Nick, “Oh, why wasn’t I
+there to see the fun? I’m always missing all
+the good things, seems to me.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But you hung on to your rod, apparently,”
+remarked Jack; “seeing that you got your
+game in the end.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s just what he did,” declared George
+with sincere admiration. “You know our
+friend Herb has a touch of stubbornness in his
+make-up. No measly old musky that ever
+swam in the St. Lawrence was going to get the
+better of him in an argument. He hung to
+that rod even while he went under. It was the
+greatest thing I ever saw, for a fact; but he
+managed it fine, let me tell you.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Tell us how?” begged Nick, breathlessly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All right,” answered George. “You see,
+the little dinky had turned turtle when it
+dropped Herb out; so there it was, floating
+beside him, bottom-side up. Would you believe
+it, that fellow just climbed up over the
+stern, and straddled the boat as he kept on
+playing that fish as cool as you please.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Great! Hurrah for our Herb! He’s the
+champion fisherman; only, because we haven’t
+got a photograph of that game fight to show,
+be careful how you tell the boys when we get
+home,” remarked Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“While he played the fish I picked up his
+paddle,” George went on. “And when he got
+the musky in where I could gaff him, we
+pushed ashore, so he could turn his boat over
+again. Then, as each of us had a prize, we
+thought we might as well quit for the day.
+What you doing ashore, fellows?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Jack wanted to nose around, that’s all,”
+Josh hastened to say. “Found an old shack
+up in the woods here. Guess that spook lives
+there when he doesn’t want to be seen. Funniest
+thing, though, he keeps an old rusty useless
+padlock on the broken door. But there
+wasn’t anything worth while to be seen. Jack
+followed some tracks he found; that seemed to
+amuse him.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh went aboard, pushed the <em class="italics">Wireless</em> out,
+and presently the skipper joined him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Any other news?” asked Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh, yes,” said Herb, stopping in the act of
+changing his soaked clothes for dry ones. “I
+forgot to say we saw that boat again.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What’s that? Do you mean the mysterious,
+dark, piratical craft that, believe me,
+ought to be flying the skull and crossbones at
+her stern?” demanded Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“The same,” Herb replied promptly. “She
+flashed by us while we were trolling, though at
+some little distance. And, fellows, as sure as
+you live, Clarence was at the wheel, though
+neither of us could see a thing of Bully Joe.
+I thought Clarence looked scared, for he was
+awful white; but George declared he was only
+in one of his mad fits. We know what they
+stand for, don’t we?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Did you call out to him?” asked Jack,
+quickly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I did,” replied George, “and dared him to
+accept a challenge to race the <em class="italics">Wireless</em>. I
+thought he was going to answer me; but he
+only turned his head and stared. But it was
+Clarence, all right. I give you my word on
+that.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, what d’ye know about that?” observed
+Nick; “dodging around like that, and
+declining to even speak! Generally Clarence
+is always ready enough to get into a hot argument.
+And you’d just think he’d be wild to
+take you up on that challenge business, George.
+It beats me all hollow, now.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And even that ain’t all,” added George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What! more adventures?” cried the chagrined
+Nick. “I tell you it ain’t fair for everybody
+to get in the lime light, and leave poor
+me in the lurch. What have I done to deserve
+this? Say, I hope you fellows ain’t holding
+that silly thing up against me yet, about betraying
+our secrets to the enemy, and all that
+rot, you know? That would be mean.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! shucks, cut it out, Buster,” said Josh;
+“and let George tell us what else happened.
+This mystery is getting on my nerves, I tell
+you, boys. Go on, proceed, George, old chum.
+Give us the harrowing details.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“You won’t find much to alarm you in this,”
+laughed the other. “Only, while we were fishing
+a boat came along, and it had two men in
+it. They rowed up close, and we could see they
+had a fishing rod in action. The one who held
+it kept watching us as sharp as the mischief.
+He spoke to us pleasant like, and asked a few
+questions about our luck, how we happened
+to be so far over toward the Canada side, if
+we expected to move away soon to new grounds,
+and such things.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Did you recognize the boat, or the men,
+George?” asked Jack, quietly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Herb and myself talked that over afterwards;
+until his tumble overboard knocked it
+all out of our heads. And we thought that
+perhaps those men were one of those couples
+we saw yesterday, passing here and staring in
+at us.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Say, perhaps they may have been Canadian
+custom officers, who patrol the river to keep
+American fishermen off their side,” suggested
+Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That might be,” George said. “We thought
+of that; but they didn’t give us any warning.
+And besides, from the chart we’ve got we’ve
+learned that this island is American territory
+all right, you know.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! well, what’s the use of bothering our
+heads over it,” declared Herb, from inside the
+outing shirt he was pulling over his head.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s right!” cried Josh. “Fling away
+dull care while the sun shines, and we’ve got
+enough grub left to keep Nick here from starving
+to death.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">When the fat boy was not looking, Josh
+reached down, and took hold of some object
+he had smuggled aboard without the others noticing
+the fact. It was a length of old tin
+waterpipe that he had found up alongside the
+deserted shanty, and which had evidently been
+useful at some time in the past, to convey the
+water from the roof to a spot where it would
+not back into the cabin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This old pipe was possibly six feet in length;
+and to the mind of a practical joker like Josh
+it presented some alluring possibilities.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Swinging it upward when Nick was not
+looking, he managed to bridge the watery gap
+between the <em class="italics">Wireless</em> and the <em class="italics">Comfort</em>, and
+quickly called in a sepulchral tone through
+the novel speaking-tube:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hello! down there! Give me connection
+with Buster Longfellow! I’m the ghost that
+walks in the night. I want to have a heart-to-heart
+confab with Buster!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What you trying to do, give me heart disease,
+or an attack of delirium tremens?” exclaimed
+Nick, who had started violently upon
+hearing that muffled sound so close to his ear.
+“Say, you don’t know how queer that does
+go. Talk about your megaphones! That tube
+carries sound to beat the Dutch. I wonder
+now—gee!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hello! What ails Pudding? Look, fellows,
+the poor fellow’s got an idea, and it
+seems so strange that he don’t know what to
+do with it!” jeered Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Huh! don’t I?” replied the fat boy, whose
+face had turned pale, and then rosy red. “You
+just wait and see. Perhaps you’ll say it was
+an inspiration some fine day. And no use to
+josh me about it, for I ain’t going to squeal
+one little bit. But, oh, my! I wonder if that
+could just be so! This is the second time it’s
+give me a start. If Aleck only does what I
+asked him!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">He stuck to his word about saying no more;
+and although Josh kept on teasing him for
+quite some time, Nick kept his lips resolutely
+closed on that subject.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The balance of the day passed away without
+anything happening that seemed out of the
+way. They saw nothing more of the mysterious
+dark boat; nor did any small craft come
+prowling around to have the occupants glower
+at them, as though begrudging them their
+pleasant anchorage just on the edge of that
+little cove.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Supper was a great success. Josh fairly
+outdid himself in cooking the fish, all of them
+going ashore on the beach to where he had
+made a camp fire. And afterwards they sat
+around, telling stories, and singing many of
+their favorite school songs, until the hour grew
+late.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When they went aboard, the night was
+dark; for it seemed to cloud up at sundown
+almost every evening now. All of them were
+busily employed getting their blankets arranged
+for sleeping, and the two who were to
+keep first watch had even settled down comfortably
+in their places; when to their ears
+came the sudden rapid popping that would
+indicate the presence of a motor boat in the
+near vicinity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! look, fellows!” exclaimed Nick, as
+from around the point a dazzling glow suddenly
+shone, bearing down rapidly straight
+toward them.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xiiyankee-stubbornness">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id13">CHAPTER XII—YANKEE STUBBORNNESS</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The most tremendous excitement reigned
+aboard every one of the three anchored motor
+boats, when it was seen that the bright white
+light was headed straight for them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He’s going to smash us!” whooped Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hey, hold off there, Clarence! Don’t be a
+fool!” shouted George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Herb and Nick could not find their voices
+at all, to make the least sign; and there was
+a cause for their feeling more alarmed than
+any of the rest. It happened that in arranging
+their anchorage the <em class="italics">Comfort</em> came further
+out than either of the other boats. Hence, she
+was more in direct line with the swiftly advancing
+speed boat than either the <em class="italics">Wireless</em> or
+the <em class="italics">Tramp</em>.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But if Nick could not use his tongue he certainly
+could use his limbs; and the way he
+threw himself over to the port side of the
+roomy <em class="italics">Comfort</em> was worth seeing. There he
+crouched, hugging the railing, and ready for
+a plunge overboard should the expected collision
+take place.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But just when it seemed as though the sharp
+prow, which they fully believed must belong
+to the <em class="italics">Flash</em>, was about to cut through the
+stern of the helpless <em class="italics">Comfort</em>, the hand at the
+wheel must have diverted her course just a
+trifle, for she shot past like an arrow, almost
+grazing the varnished side of the broad-beamed
+launch.</p>
+<p class="pnext">While that dazzling glow from the acetylene
+searchlight shone in their faces, none of the
+boys could make out anything with certainty.
+On comparing notes afterwards they were unable
+to declare whether the dim figure at the
+wheel was Clarence or some other; though
+Nick did say he heard a low chuckling laugh
+as the phantom boat passed, which he knew
+was a favorite way of expressing pleasure on
+the part of the Macklin boy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That was a close shave, sure!” remarked
+Jack, as coolly as he could.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They could hear the rapidly retreating rattle
+of the exhaust of the “pirate boat,” as
+some of them liked to call the other craft; but
+as it was circling around the island, apparently,
+all other signs of its presence had vanished.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Too close for comfort!” gasped Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Listen to him joking at such a time!” remarked
+Josh, thinking Herb meant to apply
+his remark to the name of the boat, when,
+truth to tell, that was the last thing to occur
+to him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Believe me, fellows, I confess that I’m
+quivering like a leaf,” said Nick, “and it ain’t
+cowardice, either. Brave men tremble after
+the danger is over, cravens before. You noticed
+that I wasn’t paralyzed with fright,
+didn’t you? I could think, and lay out a plan
+of escape. That proves I wasn’t really scared
+then.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But,” declared Herb, indignantly, “whatever
+did they mean doing that? Why, if that
+sharp nose of the <em class="italics">Flash</em> had ever banged into
+us, going like she was, we’d have been cut in
+two! It’s criminal, that’s what, fellows!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh!” Jack remarked, “to tell the truth, I
+don’t think Clarence would be such a fool to
+take such chances as that. In the first place
+he might kill one of us. And then again, you
+know, his boat would be sure to suffer, too, and
+might be wrecked.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That sounds reasonable, Jack,” admitted
+George; “but whatever do you suppose
+tempted him to do that crazy thing?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, he might think it a good lark,” was
+the reply. “And then again, there may have
+been some other reason pushing him on, which
+we don’t know anything about as yet. I’m
+going to try and think out an explanation, and
+if I hit a hot trail I’ll tell you about it, boys.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That means Jack’s got an idea,” said Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All right,” spoke up Josh, instantly.
+“Don’t think you’re the only one in the bunch
+who can have such things, Buster.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But what if they circle around the island,
+and come down booming at us again?” ventured
+the nervous Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I don’t believe that will happen,” Jack
+replied, seriously. “But if you feel anxious,
+just pull further into the cove, Herb, and he
+couldn’t strike you then.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I tell you what I’m going to do,” declared
+the impulsive George. “I’m on the first watch,
+and I want you to let me have that Marlin
+scatter-gun of yours, Jack. If that fool bursts
+out from behind that point again, and heads
+for us at full speed, I declare to goodness if I
+don’t bang away, and touch him up with bird-shot
+a few. He deserves such a lesson.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But why should Clarence want to scare us
+away from here?” asked Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That was what Jack was himself wrestling
+with, and he waited to find out if any of his
+mates put forth an answer; but they seemed
+to be unable to grapple with the puzzle, for no
+one spoke.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“My boat is heading that way, and I’m
+going to light my glim. Then if he tries his
+funny business again, I’ll spot him in good
+time,” George remarked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was some time before the excitement died
+away. Even after those who were entitled to
+sleep had lain down, they would raise their
+heads at the least suspicious sound. Did a
+wavelet lap the adjacent beach, Nick was sure
+to bob up and look about him in alarm. When
+an owl started to call out “Whoo! whoo!” from
+a tree on the dark island, he sat up instantly,
+and seemed almost ready to crawl over the
+side of the boat into the water.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But nothing happened, and gradually silence
+fell upon the three anchored boats.
+George and Jimmie gave way to Jack and
+Nick when several hours had passed; and
+finally Herb and Josh wound up the night.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When morning came, the boys joked one
+another over their red eyes, showing that,
+after all, none of them could have secured
+much comforting sleep.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I suppose we’re going to pick up our mudhooks
+today and climb out of this?” suggested
+Josh, as they were enjoying breakfast.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All of them looked at Jack, who smiled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Suppose we put it to a vote, fellows,” he
+said. “All those in favor of scuttling out of
+this, like dogs with their tails between their
+legs, simply because certain parties want us
+to move, signify it by raising their hands.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Not one went up; even Josh, who had
+seemed inclined that way, upon ascertaining
+that Nick declined to show the white feather,
+allowed his half raised hand to drop again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Contrary, no, raise their hands!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">And six of them went up like a shot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Do we vacate?” asked the fat boy, sarcastically,
+turning on Josh. “Nixey. And the
+more they try to scare us off, the closer we
+stick. Ain’t it so, fellows?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute!”
+spoke up George, grandly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Remember the old story of the battle between
+the wind and the sun, don’t you?” asked
+Herb, who was always bringing into play
+fables and yarns he had soaked in during his
+younger days.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“No; what was that, Herb?” asked Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why, they got into a dispute as to which
+of them was the stronger, and decided to settle
+it on a traveler. So the wind began to blow
+harder and harder; but the traveler just
+wrapped his cloak the tighter about him. Then
+the sun started to try, and as it got hotter
+and hotter, first the traveler unfastened his
+cloak, and then threw it off altogether. So
+the bully old sun won out, after all.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hear! hear!” cried George; “that is a
+good illustration, Herb. You see, fellows, he
+means that we ain’t going to be chased away
+by hard knocks and bluffing; but if some one
+would come and ask us politely to vacate, and
+give us a good reason why we ought to move
+along, we’d do it willingly. That’s the Yankee
+policy.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Then, as we’re going to be here for another
+day, anyhow, suppose Jimmie and me take a
+turn after the muskies?” suggested Nick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It’s only fair you should have a chance,”
+Jack observed; “but you can see what risk
+there always is in one of the clumsy little
+punkin-seed boats, when handling a big fish.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“You forget that I can swim like a duck,
+Jack!” observed Buster, proudly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All the same,” Jack went on, seriously,
+“you know you’re not quite as spry as some
+of us; and I hope you will keep that life preserver
+on all the time. This water is deep, and
+the current makes it treacherous.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I promise that, sure,” Nick assented.
+“Between us, believe me, I meant to carry
+that bally old cork life preserver along, anyway.
+Jimmie might take a crab while rowing,
+and upset. There’s no telling, you know. All
+right, us for the grand sport today, Jimmie.
+And now, post us about the place, Jack, and
+just how you do the business.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Wouldn’t I just give a cookie to see Buster
+fast to a hustler like I had on yesterday,”
+chuckled Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” remarked the fat boy, coolly, “it
+would do you good, I guess. You’d know how
+to manage, after that, so as not to let a measly
+fish upset your boat. It takes brains to be a
+successful fisherman, Herb, real brains.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack went ashore again a little later, but
+none of the others seemed to care to accompany
+him, being satisfied to lie around, taking
+things easy, and talking of their future plans;
+for a new idea had been broached which had
+to do with an extended cruise up through the
+great lakes, rather than knock around here
+on the St. Lawrence for two full months; and
+all of them were full of suppressed excitement
+over it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">If Jack made any further discoveries during
+the time he was on the island, he did not think
+to take the others into his confidence when
+he came back; but that may have been because
+just then a noisy little motor boat was heading
+straight toward the cove, and every one was
+guessing what new developments were about
+to be sprung upon them.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xiiithe-ghost-hunter">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id14">CHAPTER XIII—THE GHOST HUNTER</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“Wonder if this can be the same parties we
+met yesterday?” George remarked, as they
+watched the approach of the bustling little
+motor boat, which pushed over the water with
+a series of fierce explosions, not unlike the discharge
+of a pack of giant fire-crackers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“No, I don’t think it is,” Herb spoke up, in
+answer. “Fellow at the wheel looks like a
+Canuck guide from one of the hotels, a full-blooded
+Indian, and the man with the glasses
+and the fishing rod is more like a college professor,
+I’d say.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That was just what I thought,” put in
+Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Anyway, we’ll soon know, for they’re coming
+in, as sure as anything,” Josh added.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Inside of five minutes the noisy little boat
+swung close to where the boys sat watching.
+The gentleman sitting holding the rod, and
+winding up his reel with a clicking sound,
+waved a hand in cheery greeting.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“How d’ye do, boys?” he said, cordially;
+and somehow Jack rather liked the tone of his
+voice, as he also did his looks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Any luck, sir?” he inquired, as is the custom
+at such a time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Had two fierce strikes; but I’m afraid I’ve
+lost my cunning, for I let the beggars have a
+slack line, and lost both. Are you fishing any?
+I saw two lads in little dinkies like that one
+yonder, fishing over by the long island, and
+guessed that possibly they belonged to your
+party.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, they do,” George replied; and went
+on to tell about what luck they had had, with
+the usual pride of a successful fisherman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack meanwhile was not saying much, but
+observing the gentleman. It struck him that
+the other was trying to make himself very
+agreeable; and somehow he could not help
+remembering the fable that Herb had spoken
+about so recently. Having failed to scare the
+motor boat boys off by stern means, were
+milder tactics about to be adopted now?</p>
+<p class="pnext">Presently the other thought he ought to
+introduce himself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I am Professor Herman Marshland, of Ann
+Arbor,” he said, modestly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">So Herb started to tell just who they were,
+and how they happened to be knocking around
+on the St. Lawrence at this time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Have you been stopping long in this
+cove?” asked the other, in what he doubtless
+intended to have appear as a casual way; but
+Jack saw that he seemed to set more store
+by the question than surface indications would
+indicate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why, sure, we have, Professor,” George
+said. “We might have gone on before now,
+but we just hate to leave under fire, you see.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Excuse me, but I hardly grasp your meaning,
+I fear,” remarked the gentleman, with
+one of his winning smiles.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, you see, some persons appear to have
+taken offense because we’ve monopolized their
+dandy cove here. And they’ve been trying in
+all sorts of ways to shoo us away. Last night
+they threatened to run us down with a speed
+launch that came buzzing around that point
+of the island there. And then, would you
+believe it, sir, they even went so far as to
+attempt to scare up-to-date American boys, by
+setting up a silly ghost game on us.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What’s that you say?” remarked the gentleman,
+interrupting George. “A ghost? Now,
+that’s right in my line, you see. I’ve been
+making a study of all manner of strange and
+incomprehensible manifestations along that
+line for five years. In that time I’ve investigated
+dozens of so-called haunted houses.
+Why, you arouse my interest at once to fever
+heat, my young friends.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And did you ever discover a real, genuine
+bona fide ghost, sir?” asked Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Professor Marshland smiled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I never have,” he replied, with a forlorn
+shake of the head; “but I still live in hopes.
+What knows but what this may be the golden
+opportunity I have waited for so long? You
+must tell me all about it, boys. And afterwards
+I’ll just drop off and take a little look
+around, on my own responsibility.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of course George and Herb were only too
+willing. Assisted by an occasional word from
+Josh, they soon told the story. Then Josh
+in turn related what he and Jack had found
+out when they investigated ashore. The college
+professor seemed deeply interested in the
+forlorn cabin, the dilapidated door of which
+was fastened by a broken padlock.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“They say ghosts are peculiar in many
+things,” he remarked at the conclusion of the
+little talk. “And that might account for the
+padlock. It’s all very interesting, boys. I
+only regret that I was not here when the manifestation
+occurred. Perhaps, if I hung around
+tonight, the thing might get up courage
+enough to show again. It would repay me
+for all my trip here. I came for the fishing;
+but to catch a ghost in the act, would be positively
+refreshing, I assure you.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack was still watching the professor.
+While he liked the other, somehow he seemed
+to feel that there was something rather
+strange about him. He seemed to be studying
+the four lads as though seeking to read them,
+and make up his mind as to whether they were
+just what they claimed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Could it possibly be that he was connected
+with those mysterious men who seemed so
+bent on chasing the motor boat boys away
+from the lonely island?</p>
+<p class="pnext">After chatting for some time, and making
+quite a favorable impression on Herb, George
+and Josh, the professor remarked that if they
+would excuse him he would step ashore, and
+take a look at the delightful old ghost cabin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh was just about to volunteer to accompany
+him, when he caught the quick look Jack
+cast in his direction, accompanied by a negative
+shake of the head.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“If he wanted us he’d have said so, Josh,”
+came in a whisper.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A minute later the gentleman, having managed
+to land, vanished amid the heavy growth
+of timber and brush.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh looked at Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure as you live, he’s following that trail,
+Jack,” he said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s only natural,” remarked the other,
+“because, you see, it was mighty plain, as
+though lots of people had gone back and
+forth.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes,” observed Josh, simply, “if them
+chaps were camping in the cabin, and going
+out fishing every day, of course they’d make
+a well-worn trail down to this cove here, where
+their boats must have been tied up. I’ve been
+thinking, Jack, that p’raps they’re engaged in
+some sort of fishing that’s illegal, such as setting
+nets against the law. Say, wouldn’t that
+be an idea now? And if true, it must explain
+just why they watched us so close. They
+thought we might be wardens getting on the
+track of their business. How’s that for a
+guess, fellows?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sounds kind of fishy,” remarked George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Scaly, I should say,” Herb spoke up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Jack said nothing. He was thinking
+along the same line Josh had suggested, but in
+an altogether different way from the lanky
+cook of the <em class="italics">Wireless</em>.</p>
+<p class="pnext">To tell the truth, Jack would have been
+pleased could he have slipped ashore to observe
+what the professor from Ann Arbor
+could be doing just then; but he did not dare
+venture. It would look too much like impudence.
+As he himself had said, if the gentleman
+had wished for their company, he certainly must have
+asked them to go ashore
+with him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As to his being deeply interested in ghosts,
+and a patient investigator of remarkable manifestations
+for years, Jack took all that with
+a grain of salt. Perhaps it might be so, but
+Jack believed he was not far wrong in believing
+that Professor Marshland had only mentioned
+the fact to excuse his evident desire to
+go ashore and look around.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was gone a long while. Indeed, Jack
+guessed that perhaps the gentleman could
+have explored the whole island in the time that
+elapsed before he again showed up. Still,
+there was also a chance that he might have
+been doing something in connection with the
+old cabin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When he did appear he was smiling broadly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sorry to say I couldn’t find any evidence of
+the supernatural,” he remarked, in answer to
+the eager look Josh gave him as he clambered
+aboard his stubby little boat once more. “And
+that inclines me to the belief that some one
+who loves a practical joke was only trying to
+throw you into a state of fright, boys. I regret,
+too, that I cannot remain over a night with
+you, in the hope of being granted a look at
+this wonderful spectre. If anything more remarkable
+occurs, I’d be very much obliged if
+one of you would write an account of it and
+mail me at the college.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure, we will, Professor,” said the willing
+Josh. “And if so be we capture that flickering
+ghost, we’ll send it to you by express, charges
+collect.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Do so,” laughed the gentleman. “I won’t
+object, I assure you. Well, here’s wishing you
+luck, boys. And thank you for all the information
+you’ve given. It may be of more
+assistance to me in my calling than you imagine.
+Start up, John. It’s back to the hotel
+for us now.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">So the noisy little motor went chugging
+away, passing around the point; and by degrees
+the sound died out, as other islands
+came between.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Say, let me tell you, I like that man,” Josh
+up and said, without any urging.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He is a smart one, all right, and don’t you
+forget it,” remarked George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Was he really trolling, do you suppose, in
+that horrible, noisy power boat?” asked Herb,
+skeptically.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack himself had a suspicion that the rod
+and line were only being used for a mask of
+some sort. Everywhere he looked, the mystery
+seemed to be getting deeper. First the
+strange actions of the men in the rowboats;
+then the appearance of that foolish ghost on
+the island; the questioning of the fisherman
+whom George and Herb had met while away
+on the preceding day; the peculiar things he
+himself had discovered ashore; and now, last
+but not least, the coming of this pretended
+fisherman, who asked skillful questions, and
+made out to be a genuine ghost hunter—taking
+all these things together, and it can be
+seen that Jack had about all he wanted to
+ponder over for the rest of that day.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xiva-strange-ride">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id15">CHAPTER XIV—A STRANGE RIDE</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“Time those two fellows were showing up,
+don’t you think, Jack?” asked Josh, as the
+noon hour came around.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I don’t know,” replied the other. “I
+noticed that Nick carried a bundle with him,
+and guessed it might be a little snack to keep
+off starvation, in case they were detained.
+Sometimes it’s hard to give up, when you are
+fishing, you know.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Snack!” echoed Josh, with a sniff of scorn.
+“Well, I wish you’d seen just what that elephant
+did roll up in that paper. Herb wasn’t
+looking, but I kept an eye on Buster. Snack!
+Say, take it from me, that he had as much as
+I would eat in a week of Sundays.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” laughed Jack, “you’re prejudiced
+against poor Buster, you know, Josh. Just
+because you have a bird’s appetite, and he that
+of a hog, you pick on him. His greed is his
+only weak spot. His heart is as big as a bushel
+basket; and he’d go out of his way any time
+to do you a good turn.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I know it, all right, Jack,” returned
+the other. “You mustn’t take everything I
+say for what it stands. But listen, fellows.
+Talk of the angel, and you hear the rustle of
+its wings. Unless I miss my guess, that’s the
+tuneful voice of Buster right now. What in
+the dickens can he be shouting that way for?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">All of them were on their feet by now, and
+listening to the yells.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“They seem to be coming from around the
+island,” said Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I bet you it’s Jimmie having some fun
+with poor Pudding. He does like to hear him
+put up a howl,” chuckled Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, I don’t know about that, fellows.
+Just listen, and hear what he seems to be
+saying. Perhaps, after all, there may be something
+crooked about it. We seem to be up to
+our necks in all sorts of queer mysteries, you
+know.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">George was not smiling when he said this;
+indeed, all of them could now realize that there
+was something of appeal and alarm in connection
+with the lusty yells Buster was letting
+loose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hey! stop it, you! What d’ye mean trying
+to drown me? Let up, I tell you! Can’t
+you give a feller a chance? Somebody head
+me off, won’t you? Help! help!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“There he comes!” shouted Jack, pointing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, what under the sun is he doing?”
+cried Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Since when did Buster put a motor in his
+dinky?” asked George, feebly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And ain’t he just making the time,
+though?” ejaculated Josh. “Just look at the
+way the foam flies up before the blunt bow of
+the dinky!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack looked again and then gave a shrill
+laugh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Motor!” he exclaimed. “The only motor
+Buster is dealing with now has got fins and
+scales, and is in the water. Don’t you see
+what he’s doing, boys? He got a whooping
+big muskalunge at the end of his line. In some
+way Buster has got the line twisted around his
+body. And there he sits in the dinky, bracing
+his feet against a knee of the boat, and holding
+on for dear life, while the fish runs away with
+him.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then the others burst into a loud laugh, seeing
+the comical side of it. To Buster it was
+not so funny, however. He had been straining
+so long now that he fancied he might be
+pulled over the side of the cranky little snub-nosed
+craft any time; and with that cord
+wrapped around his arms, drowned because of
+his inability to swim, despite the cork life
+preserver.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Quit your laughing, and chase after us, fellows,”
+he bawled, as he shot past the mouth of
+the cove; and at the same time sending a mute
+look of appeal toward his mates.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why don’t you get out your knife and cut
+loose?” shouted George, making use of his
+hands in lieu of a megaphone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Can’t move—got my arms tied down at
+my sides. Ouch! it hurts, for the line is cutting
+into the bone of my wrists. Come and
+help me before it’s too late. You’ll be sorry
+if I get drowned. Then you’ll never learn the
+truth of how our secrets leaked. I’m the only
+one who is on the track. Hurry up, boys; I
+mean it!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack saw that after all the situation was
+more desperate than might have appeared at
+first sight. It must be an enormous fish, the
+grandfather of all the muskies around the
+Thousand Islands, and powerful enough to
+drown poor Nick, if once it succeeded in upsetting
+the boat, or dragging him out of it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Accordingly he immediately jumped over,
+and unfastened the cable that held his anchor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hold that for me, will you, Herb?” he said,
+tossing one end of the rope over to the skipper
+of the <em class="italics">Comfort</em>.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then without any further delay he started
+his engine with one energetic fling of the wheel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Immediately the boat started, amid a rattling
+fusillade of sharp reports that told how responsive
+the well equipped motor was to the
+demands of its master.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of course, once Jack fairly started after the
+little dinky that was being so vigorously towed
+by the captive fish, he had no difficulty in overtaking
+it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now keep a firm hold on your seat, Buster,”
+he said. “I’m going to push in ahead of
+you, and see if I can fasten on to that line
+myself. The big thing can’t well pull both
+boats. After that I’ll free your arms. I want
+you to pull him in by yourself, if possible.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Not me!” cried Buster. “I’m done with
+the brute. Shoot him dead. Hit him with a
+club. He’s a villain, a desperate villain, because
+he wound me up like this, and then tried
+his level best to yank me over. Jack, bless
+you, I believe you’ve saved me from a watery
+grave. Have you got him now? Are you real
+certain he can’t jump into my little boat and
+take a chunk out of my leg? Oh, my! what a
+puller! I was sure going a mile a minute that
+time. Talk about Neptune and his sea horses,
+they can’t ever come up to a pesky muskalunge
+that feels the barb of the hook. I’m all tired
+out, Jack. You finish him, please.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack saw that this was so; and having untangled the
+line from Nick’s body, he took the
+rod and proceeded to get in touch with the now
+sulking monster.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nick clambered aboard the motor boat in a
+hurry, as though really afraid that the fish in
+its anger might leap into the shallow dinky
+to bite him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Glory! just look at him jump and kick,
+would you?” shouted Nick, as the baffled captive
+sprang from the water, shaking its
+massive head furiously in an effort to dislodge
+the hook, which, however, was too securely
+placed by this time in the hard bone of its
+mouth to be shaken out. “He’s trying to locate
+me, that’s what! Let me have that gun
+of yours, Jack. Next time he jumps I’m going
+to pot him sure.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">And he did.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As a rule Nick was a poor shot. Whether
+luck entered into it, or his fear that the big
+fish was meaning to climb in after him, stirred
+him to unusual exertions, Jack never knew;
+but as he leaped into the air, not twenty feet
+away, there was a tremendous bang close beside
+Jack, and he saw the muskalunge drop
+back into the water as though fairly riddled
+with shot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Poor Nick also tumbled over backwards,
+and lay there grunting and rubbing his head;
+for he had in his excitement pulled both triggers
+at the same time, so that a double discharge
+had followed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“D-d-did I g-get him, Jack?” gasped the
+fat boy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Deader than a door nail or Julius Caesar!”
+laughed the other, as he began to draw in the
+line hand over hand; for there was no longer
+any positive resistance from the object at the
+other end.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Look out! Be careful, Jack,” warned poor
+Nick, in fresh alarm. “You don’t understand
+how treacherous one of these muskies can be.
+’Twouldn’t surprise me if he was playing ’possum
+right now. Throw him in the dinky when
+he comes along. Let him bite a chunk out of
+that with his old teeth if he wants to. I
+wouldn’t touch him for anything now.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! you’ll enjoy a steak from the same old
+hooker tonight, never fear. But he’s dead as
+a herring, Buster. And what a monster! None
+of the rest of us are in it with you after this.
+I bet he weighs all of thirty-five pounds!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">By degrees, when he really saw that the big
+fish was dead, Nick recovered his courage; and
+by the time they drew up in the cove he was
+swelling with importance over the wonderful
+degree of success that had attended his maiden
+effort at capturing a muskalunge.</p>
+<p class="pnext">True, Josh was mean enough to elevate his
+eyebrows when Nick spoke of it that way, and
+hint that he had imagined that the shoe was
+on the other foot, in that the fish had captured
+Nick; but the other gave him a withering look
+as he said scornfully:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, what d’ye know about that, fellows?
+This simple guy actually believes I was in
+earnest when I let that fine and dandy fish at
+the end of my line tow me for half a mile.
+Why, silly, didn’t you take notice that I drove
+him like you might a horse? Didn’t we come
+in a bee line for this very cove? Give me a
+little credit, won’t you? Be fair and square.
+I know it’s an effort for you, but when you’re
+in the company of gentlemen you ought to
+brace up and try hard to act like one, Josh.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of course that took all the wind out of Josh’s
+sails; he could only sit there, mumbling to himself,
+shaking his head, and casting occasional
+looks toward Nick, as though inclined to give
+him the banner when it came to nerve.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then came Jimmie, laboring furiously with
+his paddle, and excited because he did not
+know whatever could have become of his fisherman
+companion, whom last he saw flying off
+in a mysterious fashion, and yelling for help
+as though the ghost of the island had indeed
+laid hold of him; since Jimmie could not see
+what amazing power it was causing the dinky
+to rush through the water five times as fast as
+he could urge his own craft.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xvanother-night">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id16">CHAPTER XV—ANOTHER NIGHT</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Of course the whole story had to be told over
+again for the benefit of Jimmie. The Irish
+lad found some little difficulty in swallowing
+Nick’s bold assertion that he might have been
+setting up a little game for the amusement of
+his companions. He even went so far as to
+poke the defunct fish in the side with his finger
+and pretend to ask the captive if it were really
+so.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But look here, Jack and Herb and George,
+let’s have some lunch!” finally remarked Josh,
+naming the three who had remained at home,
+with malice in his manner.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nick fell into the trap, sprawling.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, I like that!” he observed with a
+deeply injured expression on his red and fat
+face. “Just listen to him, would you? He
+cuts poor old Jimmie and me out of the call.
+Say, don’t you think we ever eat?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh pretended to be astonished, and threw
+up his hands to indicate as much.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Eat?” he cried. “Well, what’s to hinder
+you from getting out that big lunch you took
+away with you? We can spare you a cup of
+coffee to wash it down, I guess, hey, fellows?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then the two returned fishermen stared at
+each other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What are you talking about, Josh?” said
+Nick. “That little snack we carried off with
+us, is it? Oh! say, you don’t count that, do
+you? Why, Jimmie and me, we got nippy
+about nine o’clock and punished that off. Why,
+I’m just about starved right now, if you want
+to know it. Bring on your grub, unless you
+want to see me faint dead away.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh had had his little fun, and knew that
+it would do no good to draw it out any longer;
+so grumbling about the “rise in the cost of
+living,” he proceeded to comply with the
+demand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of course there was enough; Josh had seen
+to that in the beginning. Indeed, it would have
+been a highly dangerous proceeding for any
+one entrusted with the cooking arrangements
+of the party not to consider the enormous capacity
+of Nick and Jimmie, when laying out
+provisions for a meal.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Naturally enough the conversation soon took
+on an interesting color.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“How long are we going to stick right here
+in this cove?” Josh asked, as he sat curled up
+on a seat, enjoying a platter of Boston baked
+beans, with which some frizzled dried beef had
+been heated up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes,” added Herb, “that’s a subject we
+ought to consider. It’s all very fine to be enjoying
+the fishing and the wonderful stunts of
+Buster at harnessing the finny tribes as horses;
+but you know, fellows, we came here to the St.
+Lawrence to cruise, not squat on our haunches.
+Jack, it’s up to you. Tell us.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’ve been thinking right along that it must
+be getting rather monotonous to some of you,”
+said Jack, slowly. “Only for the fact that
+we’ve been badgered by some unknown parties
+who want to chase us off, we’d have gone before
+now. But it does seem a shame to lose
+so much time in this way. Tell you what I
+propose, boys.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Glad to hear it. Let’s know!” several of
+the others cried in unison; for somehow what
+Jack thought right usually appealed to the
+rest; because in the past as a leader he had
+often been tried and never found wanting.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All right,” the other went on. “Suppose
+we put in just one more night here in this anchorage.
+Then some time tomorrow, no matter
+what happens, we’ll pull out. How does
+that suit you, fellows?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’m agreeable,” George immediately replied.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Suits me from the ground up,” Herb put
+in.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Three others added their voices after the
+same fashion, so that in this amiable way the
+question was settled without the least friction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That means another night of guard duty,”
+mused Nick; whereupon Josh burst out into
+a harsh laugh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Hear him, comrades all!” he remarked.
+“The poor fellow is worn out with his arduous
+work. No wonder he drops off into slumber-land
+when on duty. He is so near a living
+skeleton that even a poor lone little minnow
+can pull him and his boat along by the mile.
+Some of us ought to volunteer to take Buster’s
+place, and let him get about fifteen hours
+of sleep. He needs it.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nick only grinned, not at all abashed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Fine!” he exclaimed. “Suppose you start
+the ball rolling then, Josh. How long will you
+carry me on your stretch—half an hour? That
+would count for something. I think I might
+gain an ounce of flesh on the strength of that
+extra sleep.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I think you would, all of it,” said Josh.
+“The trouble with you, Buster, is that you
+take life too easy. That’s why you get so fat.
+Just keep on and see where you land pretty
+soon. Remember Mr. Amos Spofford, will you,
+and take warning.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, that’s what I call a mean dig on your
+part, Josh,” complained Nick. “Talk to me
+about the strenuous life; did you ever know
+anybody have a bigger job than I did today,
+landing that giant muskalunge? When I go
+in for anything I do it with my whole heart,
+don’t I boys?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“You sure do, Pudding,” assented George,
+“and with your whole stomach, too.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nick only gave him a reproachful look, as
+though it pained him to receive this unexpected
+blow in the house of his friends.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Then it’s settled we leave here tomorrow?”
+remarked Herb, meaning to cast oil on the
+troubled waters; for Herb was by nature a
+peacemaker.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Unless something unexpected crops up that
+might hold us back,” said Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What could do that?” asked Josh, uneasily,
+for he wanted to get away from the vicinity
+of the haunted island as speedily as possible.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! one of the engines might break down,
+for instance,” laughed the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now I know that was meant for me,” retorted
+George; “but, thank you, the bully old
+<em class="italics">Wireless</em> seems to be on her best behavior this
+trip. Haven’t had the least trouble up to now,
+and don’t expect to. Wish I could only get a
+chance to race that <em class="italics">Flash</em> of Clarence’s, though.
+Never will be happy till I do, and find out
+whether his boat or mine is the faster.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Look out yonder, fellows,” said Josh just
+then.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“A rowboat, and holding two men,” remarked
+Jack. “Seems to me we’ve seen those
+fellows before, eh, boys?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“We certainly have,” George spoke up.
+“They are some of the ones who passed here
+the other day and scowled to beat the band.
+They’re doing the same right now, as if they’d
+like to order us away, but don’t dare. Guess
+they’ve come around to see if we show any
+signs of leaving. Look at ’em talking together,
+and shaking their heads. Perhaps it means
+more trouble for us tonight, boys.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Mebbe the ould ghost has been patched up
+again for a sicond show!” suggested Jimmie,
+grinning at Josh, who had turned a bit pale,
+and moved uneasily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, there they go off without saying a
+single word to us. Talk about your good manners,
+these fishermen along the St. Lawrence
+are a lot of soreheads,” and George mockingly
+waved his hand after the retreating boat,
+though Jack considered his act as bordering
+on the reckless.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“George, suppose you and I go ashore after
+a while, and shoot at a mark a few times with
+that rifle of yours?” Jack suggested later on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now you’ve got some notion in your head,
+or you wouldn’t say that,” remarked George.
+“Tell us what it is, Jack.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Only this,” replied the other, without hesitation.
+“Some of those men may be hanging
+about within earshot. We don’t know but
+what they have a camp on the island here or
+some other close by. It might be as well to
+let them know we’ve got a gun and can shoot
+if necessary. Is that straight?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It’s what you would call good and sufficient
+warning, in law,” George replied. “And I
+call it a bright thought, Jack. Let’s start now.
+I challenge you to a trial of skill with my rifle.
+And Josh here can go along to keep tally.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Please excuse me,” retorted the party mentioned.
+“But I’ve got plenty to attend to
+right here. Try Nick; the exercise will do
+him good.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All right!” exclaimed the fat boy,
+promptly. “I’m on deck every time. You
+never knew me to shirk; even if some of you
+did allow terrible suspicions to creep into your
+minds about my entire trustworthiness. But
+in good time I expect to clear up that dark
+mystery of the past. I can afford to wait my
+time; the triumph will be all the sweeter. Shall
+I tumble into your dinky, Jack?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">So the three went ashore, and for some time
+the rivalry was keen, the sharp reports of the
+rifle sounding at intervals, accompanied by
+more or less shouting and merriment. As Jack
+said, they might as well notify everybody
+within earshot of the fact that even the appearance
+of a ghost had not frosted their
+spirits to any appreciable extent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">So the afternoon gradually passed away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh often cast apprehensive glances toward
+the silent shore of the nearby island as the
+shadows grew longer, with night coming on.
+Sometimes he fancied he saw something moving
+amid the thick brush, and was almost inclined
+to tell his comrades; only he feared their
+shouts of derision, and the accusation that he
+allowed memories of that silly ghost to haunt
+him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And after all, it usually turned out that the
+moving object was some innocent little denizen
+of the woods, a prowling ’coon perhaps, out
+ahead of time in search of a supper; or possibly
+only a chipmunk searching for tempting
+roots to satisfy its desire for food, while waiting
+for the new crop of nuts to come along.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Night settled down at last, and this time the
+boys were pleased to note that the heavens were
+almost clear, so that the moon would have a
+fair chance to play hide and seek with the
+few floating white banks of clouds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Most of the boys seemed in high spirits.
+They laughed and joked as they went about
+the usual duties of the evening hour. If Jack
+had anything serious on his mind he failed to
+take his comrades into his confidence. And
+yet, now and then he would smile, as though
+certain thoughts that pushed themselves to
+the front amused him; and this seemed to be
+the case more especially when he heard the
+others talking about the pleasant professor
+from Ann Arbor.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xvijacks-daring-venture">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id17">CHAPTER XVI—JACK’S DARING VENTURE</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Somehow no one suggested having supper
+ashore that night. There was something chilling
+about the mysterious island that dampened
+the ardor of the boys in this respect. Had
+it been anywhere else, they would have looked
+upon the opportunity for having a jolly camp
+fire as too good to be lost; but somehow all
+seemed satisfied that they remain aboard.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh for one was just as well pleased. He
+even neglected several golden chances to give
+Nick those customary sly digs; and this was a
+most unusual thing for Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nevertheless, even the proximity of a
+haunted island could not long hold in check
+the natural bubbling spirits of a pack of
+healthy lads. After supper, as they lay around
+in as comfortable attitudes as was possible,
+some one started singing, and presently six
+voices took up the chorus, so that a volume of
+sound welled up out of that cove calculated to
+startle all the ghostly visitants that were ever
+known to gather there.</p>
+<p class="pnext">No one seemed to be sleepy; for even when
+the hour began to grow late there was little
+talk of getting out the blankets. Stories were
+told, jokes flew around, and taken in all they
+were a merry group, apparently without a single
+care in the wide world.</p>
+<p class="pnext">George broke into this delightful harmony
+finally by saying:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, I guess you fellows will tell me I’m
+hearing things that ain’t so; but, honest, I believe
+that was the chug-chug of a motor that
+came down the wind. It was just as Nick was
+singing that funny song of his about the Dutchman
+who didn’t know his own name, because he
+and his twin brother got mixed in the cradle,
+and the other fellow died. Did anybody else
+get the sound, or are my ears the only sharp
+ones?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I thought I did,” Jack spoke up; “but you
+see, Nick was leaning over the side of his boat
+and sending his voice right at me, so I couldn’t
+make sure.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Herb also admitted that he had heard something,
+he couldn’t say what.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, don’t laugh,” George went on; “but
+it struck me I’d heard that rackety chug
+before.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Meaning the noisy engine of that stubby
+little boat the Ann Arbor professor came in?”
+asked Jack, quietly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“You hit it right at the first jump, Jack,
+for that was in my mind,” George said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” remarked Nick, “don’t you remember
+that he said he’d like to spend one night
+with us here, in hopes of seeing our pet ghost.
+Perhaps he’s concluded to return and do it.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh, rats;” exclaimed Josh, “We ain’t going
+to see any more ghost. What’s the use of
+keeping that silly idea up? But I reckon all
+of us’d like to see that gentleman again. He
+was good company, and he knows boys from
+the ground up.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He ought to, seeing that it’s his business to
+be with boys and young men all the time. I
+bet you he’s a prime favorite at college,” Nick
+remarked; and then looked in surprise at Jack
+because the other actually chuckled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I don’t believe Jack takes much stock in
+Professor Marshland,” said George, who had
+also noticed this little demonstration.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh; but you’re very much mistaken there,”
+the one indicated hastened to say. “I admired
+him and hope some time to see more of
+him. I think we shall before we leave the St.
+Lawrence cruising grounds.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">George shook his head. He seemed to guess
+that there might be a hidden meaning back of
+these words; but if so, it was beyond his capacity
+to fathom it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But look here, if he’s coming along, why
+don’t we hear his old boat any more?” Josh
+asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s so,” declared George. “I wonder,
+now, if the engine could have broken down.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">At that everybody smiled, for in their Mississippi
+cruise it had been George who was frequently
+in trouble through the inability of his
+motor to stand the strain of great pressure.
+And consequently the subject was usually one
+that was frequently on his mind.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! the chances are that he was just going
+past, and has gotten beyond hearing. You
+know sometimes a flaw in the wind will carry
+a sound for a mile or two,” Jack remarked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s so, on the water,” George observed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A little later, while the others were engaged
+in some wordy dispute, Jack quietly slipped
+into the little tender attached to the <em class="italics">Tramp</em>
+and paddled softly off out of the cove.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What d’ye suppose he’s got on his mind?”
+asked George, looking after the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Give me something easy,” replied Nick.
+“Jack always is a puzzle for me. He has such
+bright thoughts I don’t just seem able to grapple
+with ’em. But depend on it, he’s thinking
+of something right now.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I guess he’s worrying about those men,”
+suggested Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I don’t think so,” George hastened to
+say. “They wouldn’t dare try attack us here,
+you know. It would be a breach of the law
+for which they could be sent to prison for
+years. Jack’s got some other notion in his
+brain, believe me.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Meanwhile the object of all this speculation
+idly paddled a little distance out on the moonlit
+water, and sat there in his small craft, as
+though enjoying the silvery glow.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He looked around him on all sides, and particularly
+in that quarter of the wind from
+whence had come the faint “chug-chug” of a
+motor’s eccentric pulsations. But nothing
+could be seen save the dim outlines of the next
+island.</p>
+<p class="pnext">After a while, as a cloud covered the moon,
+Jack came back and clambered aboard once
+more.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Here, is this an all-night session of the
+club?” he asked. “Already it’s ten minutes
+after eleven. If you fellows want to get any
+sleep tonight, better be turning in right now.
+Josh and myself have the first two hour watch,
+you understand.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Accordingly there was a breaking up of the
+conference; goodnights were exchanged, and
+those who had drawn the first spell of rest
+crept into their comfortable blankets.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of late their sleep had been somewhat
+broken, as we happen to know, what with the
+coming of specters and such things. On this
+account every one of the four soon dropped off
+asleep.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack could hear Jimmie breathing heavily
+in less than ten minutes. Apparently Jack
+had something on his mind, for leaning over
+toward where he could see Josh sitting he
+asked in a low tone:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“How is it there, Josh; is Herb asleep yet?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I guess he must be,” came the answer; “because
+he’s snoring to beat the band, even if he
+don’t make much noise.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s where you made a mistake, for it’s
+Nick doing that. Listen again, and you’ll see
+I’m right. And George was yawning when he
+turned in, so I reckon he’s gone over the border,
+too.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What do you want to know for?” asked
+Josh, aware that Jack must have some reason
+for asking such a question.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’ll tell you, Josh. I mean to go ashore
+soon,” replied the skipper of the <em class="italics">Tramp</em>.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Thunder! do you really mean it, Jack?”
+queried Josh, taken aback; for it would have
+to be something tremendous that could tempt
+him to set a foot on that same island in the
+night time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Listen, Josh,” Jack went on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I am, with all my ears, so go right on,”
+the other sent back over the few feet of water
+separating the two boats they occupied.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I didn’t say anything about it to the rest,
+Josh, but I think I saw a gleam of that lantern
+ashore a while back. And I’d like to investigate
+a little.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh, my! you wouldn’t catch me trying
+it,” declared Josh, with an intake of breath
+that told of suppressed excitement. “But will
+you take your gun along?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Perhaps I’d better, though I don’t really
+expect to use it,” Jack replied. “Because,
+you see, ghosts can’t be reached with common
+lead pellets. But I want you to help me
+Josh.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Me? Oh! please don’t ask me to go along,
+Jack. That lame foot of mine has been hurting
+again like anything, and I’m that clumsy
+I might tumble all over myself and give the
+thing away.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh, shucks! I don’t mean that,” Jack replied.
+“But when that big cloud sails over
+the moon I want to slip into my little dinky
+here, and paddle quietly ashore. I’ll hand you
+the rope I’ve got tied to the stern; and when
+you feel that shake three times, pull the boat
+out again, and let it float with yours. Understand?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, yes. And I’ll do it all right, never
+fear. If it wasn’t for that plagued lame foot,
+now, Jack.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Let up on that, please. Now, look out,
+there she goes under.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Even as Jack spoke the moon said goodbye
+to the world for a short time, and hid her
+smiling face behind a cloud that was darker
+than any that had thus far sailed across the
+starry heavens on this particular night.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Being all ready, Jack crept into the small
+tender, gun in hand. He pushed alongside the
+Wireless and managed to pass the end of a
+rope to Josh, who was waiting to receive the
+same.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Gently the paddle was wielded, and the
+little “punkin-seed of a boat,” as the boys
+sometimes termed the dinkies, was noiselessly
+wafted shoreward. Landing, Jack shifted his
+person to the sand, and then gave the requisite
+number of tugs at the rope, after which
+he shoved the boat off.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He knew that Josh would attend to all that
+part of the business, and gave it no further
+heed. Indeed, he had all he wanted to take
+care of in following out the rather venturesome
+plan of campaign he had arranged.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For somehow Jack was of the opinion that
+the mystery of the island was to be revealed
+to any one daring enough to go ashore and
+investigate, which was just what he had determined
+to do.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xviithe-secret-out">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id18">CHAPTER XVII—THE SECRET OUT</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Out came the moon again, sailing into a
+clear field.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Jack no longer stood there on the little
+beach. He had taken time by the forelock,
+and slipped among the rank growth; so that
+although Josh strained his eyes to the utmost,
+not the faintest sign of his comrade did he
+discover.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack’s idea, of course, was to reach the
+vicinity of that tumbledown shack. In his
+mind, that must be the central point of interest
+in the game. He fully believed, though he
+had not mentioned the fact to the rest, that
+the attempt to frighten the boys off with such
+a ridiculous show of a pretended spirit waving
+them away, was meant to cover this cabin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">What did it all mean? Why should any
+man, or set of men, wish to keep others from
+prowling around that rickety building? Surely,
+any one with common sense would hardly
+think to occupy it for a night’s refuge. The
+open air would be far more preferable in every
+way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Still, Jack was positive that there was something
+in connection with this same cabin that
+moved the unknown parties to endeavor to
+influence an early departure on the part of
+the motor boys.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And he wanted to know what that mystery
+might be.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That was why he had come ashore so silently.
+It also accounted for his creeping along
+through the bushes as carefully as he knew
+how, avoiding the trail which he and Josh
+had followed on that other occasion.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It took him considerable time to draw near
+the vicinity of the cabin, because he wanted
+to go without making any noise; and he was
+not positive but that hostile eyes and ears
+might not be on the alert.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Twice some sudden little sound close by
+had sent a thrill of alarm through his heart.
+But nothing followed, and he realized that
+these noises must have been made by some
+little animal, disturbed in his retreat by the
+creeping past of the intruder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack had made a discovery before he was
+more than half way between the beach of the
+cove and the cabin. There was a light inside
+the old building! He could see little glimpses
+of it through what must be holes in the walls,
+where the chinks between the logs were open,
+the mud having fallen away in the process of
+decay.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And as Jack said to himself with a chuckle,
+ghosts did not, as far as he knew, need lanterns
+in their business.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Finally the boy found himself close to the
+side of the cabin. With his heart beating like
+a trip-hammer, he crept to the first little gap
+in the wall, and glued his eyes to the aperture.</p>
+<p class="pnext">What he saw was nothing so very astonishing.
+A man stood inside the cabin, holding
+a lantern. He was not doing anything, and
+seemed to be waiting for some other person.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“One of the fellows in that boat today,”
+was what Jack immediately said to himself,
+as he fastened his eyes on the bearded face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Even inexperienced as he was, Jack fancied
+that there was something of a desperate type
+about the man’s countenance. He did not
+seem to be such a man as one was apt to trust
+on sight—like that jolly professor from Ann
+Arbor, for instance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But what on earth could the man be doing
+here? He did not seem to have any sort of
+bundles with him, as might have been expected.
+Once Jack was made to shiver just
+a trifle, when he saw the fellow take out a pistol,
+and handle it with a grin of pleasure on
+his face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack was beginning to see light. This could
+not be simply the ordinary desire of some
+fishermen who disliked seeing strangers occupying
+a cove they had come to look upon as
+theirs by right of previous use.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And this man he now saw had none of the
+characteristics of a rough fisherman. He was
+rather nattily dressed, and would pass for
+a gentleman in a crowd. The mystery seemed
+to grow more dense; but as it is always darkest
+just before dawn, so Jack believed that
+he must be on the point of seeing daylight
+appear in this matter.</p>
+<p class="pnext">By chance he raised his eyes a trifle. Perhaps
+some little movement may have attracted
+him—he never knew. But again he was
+thrilled to discover a face pressed against the
+broken pane of glass forming the sole window
+on the opposite wall.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was the strange gentleman who had
+claimed to be a college professor. He did
+not wear his nose glasses now, and doubtless
+the look of culture had given way to one of
+an entirely different nature; but Jack knew
+he could not be mistaken.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nor was he so very much surprised, come
+to think of it. He had half anticipated something
+of this sort, at the time he heard what
+seemed to be the peculiar chug! chug! of the
+noisy motor belonging to that snub-nosed boat.
+The professor had indeed come back to the
+haunted island; nor had he thought it advisable
+to inform his new boy friends of his return.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Had Josh been there to see, he must have
+surely jumped to the conclusion that it was
+his wild desire to set eyes on a ghost that had
+lured the professor back.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack looked at the matter from an entirely
+different standpoint. He, for instance, did not
+believe that the gentleman was one-half so
+much interested in mysterious visitations from
+departed spirits as he was in the movements
+of certain persons who might be engaged in
+a trade that shunned the light of day, because
+it was by nature evil, and in defiance to the
+laws.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And this party who stood there, holding
+that lantern and waiting, was evidently something
+in the line of a leader.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Only for a brief space of time did the so-called
+professor remain at that broken window;
+then he vanished from the view of the
+watching boy. But it gave Jack considerable
+satisfaction and confidence just to know that
+Herman Marshland was near by.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Already he had his hand upon the solution
+of the whole puzzle that had been eluding his
+best efforts up to now. And just like Columbus
+discovering America, it was so exceedingly
+simple, once you knew how, that Jack silently
+laughed at himself for not having grasped the
+prize answer before now.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Smugglers, that was what the rough-looking
+men in the boats were! This must be a central
+point with them, where for some time
+they had secretly landed the goods ferried
+over from the nearby Canadian shore. Here
+on American territory they were perhaps
+secreted until such favorable opportunity arrived
+to send them further afield into the
+sovereign State of New York, when all trace
+of them would be lost to any government
+agents who might be prowling around on the
+lookout for such law-breakers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Since coming to the St. Lawrence the boys
+had heard more or less about such a class of
+persons, who made it their business to try and
+evade the revenue men. In some cases it was
+Chinamen they shipped across the border, receiving
+so much per head to get them into the
+protected country. Then again it meant laces,
+diamonds, silks, anything that was small in
+dimensions, but upon which the government at
+Washington levied a heavy toll.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Pleased with having guessed the secret,
+Jack could not think of slipping away. It
+might be none of his business what these
+bold and bad men were doing; but somehow
+he could not help feeling a deep interest in
+the movements of the man who had visited
+them that very afternoon, and made such a
+hit with the boys.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of course the pretended college professor
+must really be one of those sagacious revenue
+men, engaged in running these rascals to
+earth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Besides, the “professor” might need help,
+and Jack was of a mind to render such a service
+if the chance came. A strange freak of
+fortune seem to have thrown them in contact
+with these warring factions; and while some
+timid people might consider it the height of
+folly for any one of the boys to take sides,
+Jack’s bold spirit would never allow of his
+standing there and seeing the man who represented
+law and order outclassed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He half expected to see the “professor”
+step into the cabin through the doorway, and
+call upon the unknown man to surrender. But
+then, as there was as yet no evidence of crime,
+possibly a cautious revenue agent would be
+apt to hold his horses and await further developments.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A sound came faintly to the ears of the
+crouching lad—voices of several persons, and
+approaching the cabin at that.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack dared not keep his position, with his
+eye glued to the crack; there was a chance
+that he might be discovered; and so, although
+he wanted to look more than ever, he dropped
+flat upon the earth and waited.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At any rate, he had made no mistake about
+others approaching, for presently he knew
+they had entered the cabin. After that he
+ventured to look again. Yes, two rough-looking
+fellows had entered, and were already
+conversing in low but eager tones with the
+one who had waited for their coming.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Seeing was all very well, but just then Jack
+thought that if he could only hear what was
+passing between these fellows he would have
+the last bit of fog cleared away. To this end
+he clapped his ear against the side of the cabin
+at the very point where the mud had fallen,
+leaving a hole in the chinks between the logs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nor was he mistaken when he believed he
+might pick up some of the words passing
+between the men. The two newcomers seemed
+more or less worried about something, and
+kept urging delay; but the leader would have
+none of it, apparently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Antoine,” he said, gruffly, “you go and
+watch the three boats lying in the cove. If
+there’s any sign of life about them, come back
+and warn us. We must get those goods ashore
+tonight. It’s too risky holding them any
+longer. And one of the cubs might break
+away, to inform on us. That would ruin all.
+Bart, you be off and start things moving this
+way. I know the new trail is rough and long,
+but it can’t be helped. Next time we’ll have
+things back the old way again. These kids
+ain’t going to hold on much longer. Now, both
+of you be off!”</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xviiithe-escape">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id19">CHAPTER XVIII—THE ESCAPE</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">When the tall leader spoke in that stern
+voice, evidently his men knew better than to
+put up any further complaint. They both
+passed out, and Jack could hear Antoine making
+his way down the broad trail to gain a
+point where, hidden himself, he could still
+watch the trio of modern motor boats, and discover
+the first indication of any desire on the
+part of the crews to come ashore.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was surely growing very interesting.
+Jack felt that he was being treated to a real
+life drama of the most thrilling description.
+When the boys decided to come to the St.
+Lawrence river for their summer outing, not
+one among them dreamed that before they left
+that region of many islands they would have
+run up against a series of strange adventures
+well worthy of being given a place in the
+log of the motor boat club.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Indeed, all the trouble they had anticipated
+was possibly frequent ructions with Tricky
+Clarence and his side partner, Bully Joe
+Brinker.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At thought of the two a sudden idea seemed
+to flash through the mind of Jack. He remembered
+the event of the dark boat, when Herb
+and Dick were given such a fright. At the
+time he had wondered whether Clarence, on
+his own account, could have ventured to dash
+by at full speed, and come within an ace of
+smashing into the Comfort. The new idea was
+along the line that perhaps the two boys might
+have fallen into the hands of the smugglers,
+who were using the Flash to suit their evil
+purposes!</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was so stunning a thought that Jack felt
+his very breath taken away. Yet after all
+was there anything utterly improbable about
+it? These men must be daring after their
+fashion. They were being hunted all the time
+by shrewd government agents; and consequently
+must adopt new methods of carrying
+on their business.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And if it were indeed true, would it not
+account for many things—the white face of
+Clarence at the time he passed the boys who
+were fishing—his refusal to even answer the
+wave of the hand they gave him—he may have
+been in no position at the time to appear
+jovial, or even half-way friendly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Voices again!</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack moved up to his crack, prepared to
+see all there was going on. Such a glorious
+opportunity did not come across the path of
+most fellows, off on their summer vacation;
+and he ought to improve the golden chance to
+the limit.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It would be folly not to admit that the boy
+was trembling as he crouched there, for he
+never denied the fact himself. But after all
+it was more the excitement of the adventure
+than any bodily fear on his part that caused
+this.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had hardly settled himself comfortably
+when through the doorway came a stooping
+figure. It was a man bearing a package on his
+back. This he deposited on the earthen floor,
+and turned to assist a second fellow whose
+bundle seemed of even larger dimensions than
+the first.</p>
+<p class="pnext">One of them had also fetched a shovel along,
+which had a long handle. This the leader
+seized upon eagerly, and commenced digging
+in a certain corner, first removing the accumulated
+straw, which was apparently used as a
+means for hiding signs of recent disturbance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack’s eyes grew hot with straining at the
+little crack; but he could not draw himself
+away; it was all so thrilling, so picturesque,
+that he must continue to look, no matter what
+the discomfort.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now, the man with the shovel had succeeded
+in arriving at what seemed to be the lid of a
+large box. He lifted this, and one of the men
+tossed his bundle into a yawning aperture.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Here the stuff would lie unsuspected, until
+some time when the opportunity seemed ripe
+to dispose of it, when the deal would be completed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack wondered what could be in those packages;
+undoubtedly something of particular
+value, since these men would never venture
+to take such chances of capture for a trifling
+gain.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He also found himself guessing whether the
+strange “professor,” whom he now knew to
+be a government agent, could be watching all
+these operations from some other friendly
+crack across the way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">What would he do? Having witnessed all
+he wished, would the other attempt to arrest
+these fellows? Since there seemed to be something
+like half a dozen of the smugglers it
+hardly seemed likely he would go to such extremes.
+Possibly he might be satisfied to capture
+the spoils, after the men had departed;
+and trust to future good fortune to arrest the
+delinquents later on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">One of the men left the cabin, probably to
+return to the upper end of the island, where
+the boat lay from which these packages of
+goods had been carried. He was in an ugly
+humor, judging from his manner. The stubborn
+way in which the motor boat boys stuck
+to that cove was giving these worthies a tremendous
+lot of unnecessary work; and it was
+no wonder they felt badly disposed toward
+Jack and his chums.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Five minutes later the second man was sent
+off, leaving the leader there to finish up the
+job of smoothing off the earth and replacing
+the broken straw as before.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When he had finally completed his task it
+would require a practiced eye to notice anything
+queer about the floor of the cabin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then he, too, prepared to depart. Jack saw
+him stoop down and take hold of the lantern,
+which had all this while been resting on the
+ground. In his other hand he carried the long-handled
+shovel with which the digging had
+been done.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The tall man straightened up suddenly, and
+his manner was that of one who had been
+startled. Jack knew why he should act in
+this way, for the same sound that had come to
+the man’s ears had also reached his.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a shrill whistle, twice repeated, and
+it came from the same direction in which the
+two men had gone a short time before.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Undoubtedly it was a signal denoting urgent
+need of haste. The actions of the tall smuggler
+would indicate as much; for he dashed
+out of the cabin like a shot, and Jack heard the
+thud as he threw the shovel into the shrubbery
+surrounding the lone hut.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then followed the crashing of bushes as the
+man started by a circuitous route toward the
+upper end of the island. He must know every
+foot of the ground, and by taking to the open
+beach, could gain a given point much sooner
+than one who kept to the thick undergrowth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack saw the lantern had been hastily
+dropped, though it was still burning. He was
+trembling with excitement, and feeling very
+much as though he wanted to yell at the top
+of his voice as he picked up this abandoned
+tool of the discovered smugglers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He could hear the boys talking down there
+where the trio of motor boats were anchored;
+and could imagine how they must be wondering
+what all the racket on the island meant;
+while Josh would doubtless start in to tell
+them how he, Jack, had persisted in going
+ashore.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Some one was coming, for Jack could hear
+quick footsteps near by. He still held his
+Marlin gun, but was loath to even threaten
+to use it. Nor was there any need, for a
+moment later the moving dim figure took
+form, and proved to be no other than Professor
+Marshland.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At sight of Jack standing there, lantern in
+one hand and gun in the other, the gentleman
+allowed something like a grim smile to creep
+over his face, even as he came hurrying up,
+almost out of breath from his exertions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Do you know what it all means, Jack?”
+demanded the other, as soon as he reached the
+side of the boy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack nodded his head eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I was looking in through a crack, and saw
+what that man did. But I’m sorry he got
+away from you, sir,” he replied.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I managed to capture the two fellows who
+left the hut!” the government agent exclaimed.
+“My Indian has meanwhile overcome
+the chap who was sent to watch your
+boats. But unless I can overtake the ring
+leader of the bunch, I shall feel that my work
+has not been wholly a success.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He headed for the upper end of the
+island,” Jack put in.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, and I have reason to suspect that the
+other two men are there with the boat. You
+will be surprised when I tell you that they
+actually turned pirates and captured the speed
+launch which you told me belonged to an
+acquaintance of yours.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“The <em class="italics">Flash</em>,” echoed Jack. “No, I am not
+surprised, for I had begun to suspect something
+like that. They must have made Clarence
+threaten to run us down, hoping we
+would pull up anchor, and get away. But if
+that is so, you could never hope to overtake
+them in that slow little boat of yours.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well, I should say not!” declared the
+other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, if it were the <em class="italics">Wireless</em>, for instance,
+you might have some chance,” Jack went on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Which is just the point I wanted to put
+up to you boys,” cried the government agent,
+eagerly. “Would you be willing to assist me
+run that clever scoundrel down? Do you think
+George would care to try conclusions with the
+<em class="italics">Flash</em>?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">At that Jack laughed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why, sir,” he declared, “he’s been just
+wild for the chance, ever since we first set eyes
+on that narrow boat. He believes he can beat
+her out in a race. Suppose you come down
+with me right now, and we’ll ask him.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Thank you, Jack; it was a lucky day for
+me when I ran across you boys. But let us
+lose no time; for doubtless they’ll be off as
+soon as they can, knowing that the game is
+now up, and all that remains to them is
+escape.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nothing loth, Jack accompanied him as he
+started along the broad trail leading down to
+the cove. He could readily understand now
+that the revenue man must have investigated
+to some purpose that day while at the cabin;
+and knowing there were no smuggled goods in
+the cache then, had laid his plans to come
+back in the night, in the expectation of catching
+the rascals in the act; which was just
+what he had done.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xixa-race-in-the-moonlight">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id20">CHAPTER XIX—A RACE IN THE MOONLIGHT</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“Hold on!” said the agent abruptly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A dark figure had risen up before them; and
+as the moonlight fell upon the man Jack saw
+that it was in truth the Indian guide who had
+been with the “professor” in the noisy motor
+boat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Did you get him, Josh?” demanded the employer,
+eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He lies under hemlock, tied hand and foot.
+No danger he get away,” came the confident
+reply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All right,” said the other. “Come along
+with me, John. These boys will guard the
+cabin and not let any one steal the hidden
+goods. We have other work cut out for us. We
+want to get our hands on that head man, Glenwood.
+So long as he is at large there can be
+no peace on the border.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Great was the astonishment of the five boys
+when Jack and his companions made their appearance
+on the shore, and the former called to
+have the small boats pushed in, so that they
+might come aboard.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Jack, what’s all this mean?” asked George,
+greatly excited.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Can’t tell you everything just now, fellows,”
+the other replied. “This gentleman is
+a government revenue agent, and he’s on the
+track of a band of smugglers who have been
+using this island as a place to land goods
+brought over from Canada. He captured
+three, but the leader got away. George, he
+wants to borrow your boat.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What?” gasped the other, astounded beyond
+measure.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He and his man and myself will go with
+you, Josh changing over,” Jack continued.
+“While we’re gone the rest of you keep on the
+watch and don’t let anybody come aboard, no
+matter who he is. These scoundrels have captured
+the <em class="italics">Flash</em>.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, what d’ye know about that?” exclaimed
+Nick, as he helped Josh over the side
+of the big <em class="italics">Comfort</em>, so as to make room for the
+others who were to go in the speed boat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But George, you haven’t said yet whether
+you are willing to chase the <em class="italics">Flash</em>, and try to
+overtake her?” said the energetic agent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure I am,” came the ready response; “and
+I believe we can get her, if nothing happens to
+my motor. I’ve had some hard luck with it
+when I tried to push the thing to the limit.
+But tumble in here, and we’ll be off.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">George was trembling with delightful anticipations.
+If anything in all the world appealed
+to him it was a race. None of the others had
+the same feeling, and, like Jack, they preferred
+comfort in a boat beyond speed, though none
+were averse to making good time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Everybody wanted to help, and as many
+hands make light work, the <em class="italics">Wireless</em> was in
+condition to start almost as soon as the two
+men climbed aboard.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sit as near the middle as you can, please,
+to balance her,” the others heard the skipper
+say, as she shot away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes,” called out Nick, derisively, “and be
+sure your hair is parted in the middle, or it’s
+all up with you. I know, because I was there
+for some four weeks.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Which way, sir?” asked George, wisely
+paying no attention to this shout, which, after
+all, was Nick’s only method for getting even,
+after all the agony he had endured in that
+cranky narrow motor boat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Turn to port, and head for the upper part
+of the island. We haven’t wasted much time,
+and I hope to discover that boat somewhere,”
+replied the agent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“If we do,” said George, with firmness,
+“make up your mind the good old <em class="italics">Wireless</em> is
+going to hang on like a bulldog till she cuts
+down the lead, and overhauls that <em class="italics">Flash</em>. Always
+said she had the look of a pirate, and
+others thought the same thing, it seems, since
+those men picked her out as the boat they could
+use.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Just think of Clarence and Joe being in
+their hands all this time,” remarked Jack, as
+they tore through the water. “Must seem like
+a pretty tough vacation for those boys, all
+right.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I don’t suppose Glenwood has really
+harmed them,” said the agent; “but he’s a
+hard man to deal with; and unless they
+knuckled down to him perhaps they’ve felt his
+fist before now. I’m hoping that, perhaps,
+when Clarence sees who is after him he may
+find some way to slow down and let us overhaul
+him.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">George only laughed at this and remarked:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s because you don’t know Clarence,
+sir. He hates me like poison, and sooner than
+have me beat him with my boat I believe he’d
+take the chances of staying in the power of
+those smugglers for a month. Oh! no, when
+he sees who is after him he’ll put things at
+top-notch speed, and try every trick he knows
+how to win out. But I’m not afraid, if only
+things go right with my engine.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Look yonder!” cried the eagle-eyed agent
+just then, the Indian having pulled his coat
+sleeve and pointed ahead.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Say, that’s her, as sure as fate!” cried
+George, as he altered the course of his own
+boat a little.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And they know we’re after them, too,”
+remarked Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Then the race is on; and good luck attend
+the better boat,” said the government agent,
+coolly taking out a cigar, biting off the end,
+and proceeding to apply a lighted match to the
+same.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were fairly flying through the water.
+On either side the waves parted, and rolled
+over smothered in foam; while in their wake
+a roller kept following close on their heels.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Twenty miles if anything?” the gentleman
+guessed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“More than that, sir,” replied the skipper,
+proudly; “but she can do better still. I’ve got
+another notch to let out if I have to. Don’t
+want to take the chances unless it’s positively
+necessary; because you see the quivering rattles
+her so much. Are we holding our own,
+do you think, Jack?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I am sure of that,” came the reply. “And
+if you asked me again I’d say we are gaining
+a little all the while.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Bully old <em class="italics">Wireless!</em>” exclaimed George, his
+voice filled with pride. “She can do the stunt
+all right if only something don’t happen to
+throw us out of our gear. She’s a wonder,
+that’s what, and I’ve always said so. Talk
+about sprinting, did you ever go as fast as this
+in a small boat, sir?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I certainly never have,” replied the government
+agent; and from the way he was staggering
+around, clutching hold of every object
+that promised to keep him erect, it looked as
+though he might just as well have added: “and
+Heaven deliver me from ever experiencing it
+again.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Everybody keep a sharp lookout for rocks
+or anything of the sort,” said George; “because
+those men must know this region like a
+book, and it would be just like ’em to lead us
+in a trap, so we’d be wrecked.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, you’re correct there, George,” observed
+the agent, “and I give you credit for
+having a long head. That’s the kind of chaps
+you’re up against right now, full of trickery;
+desperate men, whose one idea is escape.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“This moonlight is all right as long as the
+other boat isn’t any further away than she is,”
+remarked George a minute or two later.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’m sorry to state that you can’t count on
+the candle up in the sky much longer,” remarked
+the gentleman; “for there is a suspicious
+bank of black clouds hovering near,
+and at any time she’s apt to be eclipsed.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All right,” and George laughed a bit hysterically,
+since he was laboring under so great
+a strain of excitement. “Jack, would you mind
+attending to my searchlight. Then we’ll be
+ready for the trouble when she comes.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">And a couple of minutes later, when the
+dark mask did cover the face of the moon, a
+long vivid white gleam reached out from the
+brass searchlight on the forward deck of the
+quivering speed boat. It widened as it extended
+in the distance; and plainly seen was
+the flitting craft they pursued. The position
+of the <em class="italics">Flash</em> could be detected better by means
+of the white foam-tipped waves thrown aside
+by her swift passage, rather than by viewing
+the boat itself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s splendid!” remarked the government
+agent, as he looked along this lane of
+illumination, and watched the desperate struggles
+of the <em class="italics">Flash</em> to outrun her determined
+pursuers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Still picking up on her, ain’t we, Jack?”
+asked George, after a little.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“No doubt about that, I think,” came the
+reply. “And I guess you were right when you
+declared the good old <em class="italics">Wireless</em> was the better
+boat. She can certainly walk over the water
+some. I would enjoy this more if it was day-time.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I guess we all would,” laughed the gentleman,
+still gripping hold of the brass rail
+to make sure he might not be plunged overboard
+should anything suddenly go wrong.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“If only the engine behaves half-way decent,”
+sighed George. “She’s doing nobly
+right now, though, ain’t she, Jack? But I hope
+they don’t toll us in among the rocks. If we
+ever come slap up against one at this rate
+there’s going to be some high vaulting, I tell
+you. Whew! did you see that one sticking out
+of the water? I just swerved in time, though.
+Keep watching, everybody, and tell me quick
+if you see anything ugly ahead!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Their pace was not abated a particle, even
+though George knew that new perils were
+strewn in their course. If that other boat
+ahead could speed through this same tortuous
+channel he believed he dared take the same
+chances. And George had always been reckoned
+a daring boy by his schoolmates, in football
+games or on the diamond; so that this
+venturesome spirit was no new freak on his
+part.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was only by the greatest effort that he
+refrained from throwing on the last atom of
+speed, and hastening the overtaking of the
+fugitive motor boat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were rushing on at this tremendous
+pace, and constantly gaining, when George
+gave vent to a sudden loud exclamation.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxoverhauled">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id21">CHAPTER XX—OVERHAULED</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Jack had seen the same object that had given
+George such a start. Across the white path
+of illumination thrown forward by the powerful
+little acetylene searchlight, a shadowy,
+moving thing suddenly appeared.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a sailboat, beating up against a head
+wind, and aiming to reach its home port while
+the possibility of moonlight lasted.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Whatever tempted the man at the tiller to
+try and cross between the swift moving motor
+boats no one might ever know. But it was
+the nearest to a collision, without an actual
+calamity, Jack had ever experienced.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He instinctively understood that the only
+thing that would prevent the <em class="italics">Wireless</em> from
+plunging into the luckless sailboat would be
+a prompt reversal on the part of the skipper at
+the wheel. And such an action was apt to endanger
+the working abilities of the <em class="italics">Wireless’</em>
+engine, never too trustworthy under a strain.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Had George failed, Jack stood ready to butt
+in and execute the speed maneuver; for this
+was a case that would admit of no ceremony.
+Life and death might be in the balance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But, fortunately, George kept his head. He
+instantly did what was necessary, and the tremendous
+forward movement of the rushing
+speed boat was instantly checked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Indeed, so astonishing was the change that
+the government agent came near plunging
+headlong over the rail into the river. Jack
+stretched out a hand and caught him just in
+time. As for the Indian, he sprawled on all
+fours in the bottom of the craft, trying to keep
+his head from bumping against some obstacle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Jack was delighted to see that the engine
+had actually redeemed itself; for it still continued
+to work at the old stand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The adventurous sailboat glided out of the
+way, so close that the sharp bow of the <em class="italics">Wireless</em>
+almost touched the boom that was hauled
+well in during the tacking process. A couple
+of white, scared faces could be seen for two
+seconds; and then the sailboat was engulfed
+in the shadows that lay on either side, out
+beyond range of that searchlight radius.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Bully for her!” gulped George, almost unable
+to articulate under the tremendous strain,
+yet thinking only of the able work of his
+engine.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Speed her up again, George; but not with a
+rush!” called Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Looking ahead he saw that, just as he expected,
+the <em class="italics">Flash</em> had managed to take advantage of the
+momentary detention of her
+rival, and increased the distance separating
+them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That was tough luck!” said the government
+agent; “but I owe you thanks for saving
+me from a wet jacket, my boy.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I guess we’re fortunate not to have
+smashed into that silly crowd, and played hob
+with everything,” Jack remarked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But look where they are,” groaned the
+anxious George. “Just about as far ahead as
+in the start; and it’s all got to be done over
+again. Oh; what fools some men are when
+they get in a boat. All they had to do was to
+come up in the wind till the procession passed.
+Instead, they tried to butt in, and came near
+spoiling the whole game. What shall we do,
+Jack?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Do you want me to say what I’d do if this
+was my boat?” asked the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure I do,” George spoke up. “They’ve
+got some clever trick ahead, and may lose us
+yet. You notice that they hardly make any
+noise, even while the muffler isn’t working.
+That boat was just made for a smuggler, or a
+pirate. But go on, Jack, tell me.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“All right,” said the other. “You see how
+well your engine is going. She’s had all the
+freak rubbed off her, I guess, and is now buckling
+right down to business. And honestly,
+George, I believe you can trust her with that
+reserve notch of speed! I’d try it, if I were
+you.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, I’m glad to hear you say that, Jack,”
+exclaimed the skipper, eagerly. “For during
+that other trip my engine played so many
+pranks that she got a black eye among my
+chums. If so be she’s settled down to a steady
+stage, the sooner I know it the better. I’ll be
+delighted to find it out. So here goes. Steady,
+all; hold on tight!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">The government agent, not knowing what to
+expect, for they were as near flying now as he
+ever expected to get, thought the policy of his
+crafty Indian helper worth imitating. So he
+simply dropped down in the body of the boat
+and braced himself against a shock.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But there was none. When George applied
+that last little reserve bit of power a slight
+jump forward resulted; and then after that
+the only difference seemed to be that they drew
+up on the fugitive <em class="italics">Flash</em> hand over hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">George was nearly wild with delight. To
+him the fact that his cranky engine had finally
+determined to be good and do the duty which
+her makers had meant she should, far outweighed
+all else. So far as he was concerned
+it did not matter much whether the three men
+in the <em class="italics">Flash</em> were captured or not; but it was
+an affair of exceeding importance that the
+good, reliable old <em class="italics">Wireless</em> should overhaul its
+rival in this masterly manner.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“See her hump herself, Jack!” he ejaculated,
+as he balanced himself in the swaying
+craft, and peered eagerly ahead toward the
+other boat. “Ain’t she coming up nobly,
+though? Talk to me about the <em class="italics">Flash</em> making
+circles around us; why, she ain’t in the same
+class with this same old <em class="italics">Wireless</em>. Oh! but
+this pays me for all the troubles I’ve had in
+the past. I can hardly keep from yelling,
+Jack!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Better quit that monkey business, then,”
+cautioned the other. “You need all your wind
+and eyesight and everything else right now in
+handling such a greyhound.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">That just about finished George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Thank you, Jack, for giving her that fine
+name. But she deserves it,” he said. “I
+understand what you mean; and, believe me,
+I’ll try to hold my spirits in check until the
+game is won. I’d hate to have any accident
+happen now, I tell you.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">And he did buckle down to business with new
+determination and grit, grasping the vibrating
+wheel with all his strength, and watching to
+see just what the tricky skipper of that other
+craft might do. For George knew Clarence
+only too well, nor would he put anything past
+the other when it came down to cunning.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were now so close that it was easy to
+see everything taking place on board the fleeing
+<em class="italics">Flash</em>. Clarence was at the wheel, and
+several figures crouched along either side, evidently
+holding on for dear life. One was in the
+stern, and Jack had little difficulty in making
+him out as the tall man he had first seen in
+the old cabin, and whom the agent had called
+Glenwood.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Looks like we would run alongside in less
+than five minutes, sir,” observed George, trying
+to steady his voice, but hardly succeeding,
+for his nerves were tingling in a manner he
+had seldom if ever experienced before.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Keep just a little to the left, then,” answered
+the agent. “And watch out, for it is
+barely possible they may try to foul us at the
+last, hoping to escape in the confusion.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack was changing his mind now about that
+same thing. He had an idea that perhaps
+Clarence had played a trick on the men who
+held him in custody; he may not have let out
+all the speed of which the <em class="italics">Flash</em> was capable.
+Besides, now that the race seemed virtually
+over, and the <em class="italics">Wireless</em> had proven the superior
+why should he want to bring about a collision
+that would wreck both boats, as well as endanger
+the lives of all the occupants?</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Steady, George, steady!” Jack cautioned,
+as he thought he saw a slight change in the
+course taken by the boat ahead.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Duck down, boys; he’s going to try and
+scare us by firing!” suddenly said the keen-eyed
+government agent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Even George managed to partly drop, so as
+to be shielded by the forward deck. And that
+the revenue man had guessed correctly was
+made evident when there broke out the sharp
+report of a revolver. Jack even believed he
+could hear the peculiar whine of the flying
+bullet as it passed over the boat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Stay where you are!” cried the agent;
+“that was only one. He’s got a few more of the
+same kind to follow!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">There came other shots in rapid succession.
+Really, it would not be surprising if George
+lost his head under such circumstances, for
+usually it takes a veteran to preserve his coolness
+under fire. But, singular to state, the
+nervous one of the motor boys now proved
+that he could shut his teeth together and hold
+on tenaciously with bulldog courage.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The <em class="italics">Wireless</em> may have wavered just a little,
+but still kept swiftly on, diminishing the narrow
+lead of her rival with constant rapidity
+and steadiness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s all!” called the revenue man, as the
+sixth shot sounded; and every one felt a perceptible
+thud, telling that this time the desperate
+smuggler had lowered his aim, and that
+the bullet had struck the boat somewhere.
+“And as it’s a poor rule that won’t work both
+ways, perhaps I can have a little better luck
+in scaring some one. Watch out, George, and
+be ready to stop short if he does!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">With that he threw out his arm, and instantly
+there was a flash and a report.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh!” exclaimed George, startled in spite
+of the warning.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack’s heart was fluttering with excitement.
+He also felt something like regret that Clarence
+was there in line with the fire. Though
+the agent might be only seeking to frighten the
+boy at the wheel of the <em class="italics">Flash</em>, still something
+serious was apt to happen. Jack wished in his
+soul that it was all over and nobody injured.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The <em class="italics">Flash</em> began to wabble badly, showing
+that Clarence was trying to shield himself
+from the battery in the rear, something which
+he would find it hard to do.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack stood ready to lend a hand in case of
+an emergency that George might seem unable
+to manage alone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And it was right at that critical moment,
+just when light was needed most of all, that the
+fickle moon shot out from behind the bank of
+clouds, illuminating the surface of the broad
+St. Lawrence, dotted still with islands, upon
+which in many cases cottages could be seen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack thought that was a good omen; but
+there was no time to spend in reflection. Another
+sharp report close to his ear told that
+the revenue man believed in following up a
+good thing. He knew that Clarence was on
+the point of surrender, and intended to strike
+while the iron was hot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Look out, George!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack shouted this warning in the ear of his
+chum, for the leading motor boat had suddenly
+slackened her speed, the quick pulsation of her
+engine having ceased to beat upon the air.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Instantly the motor of the <em class="italics">Wireless</em> followed
+suit; and driven forward by the impetus of her
+“push,” she shot alongside the other craft,
+not three feet away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack breathed easier, for he saw now that a
+collision was not to follow. The nerve of Clarence
+had possibly failed him at the climax; and
+his last move had been to stop his engine, before
+dropping flat in the bottom of his boat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Over into her, John! We must make prisoners
+here!” shouted the agent, as he balanced
+on the rail of the <em class="italics">Wireless</em>, and in so doing
+almost brought that side of the narrow-beam
+boat awash.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“There he goes, sir!” called Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A big splash followed, as a figure sprang
+from the opposite side of the other boat. Evidently
+the desperate smuggler, as a last resort,
+had taken to the water, in the hope that he
+might yet baffle his pursuers, and escape to
+the Canada shore.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack had snatched up a boathook with a
+brass knobbed end. This he fastened to the
+rail of the <em class="italics">Flash</em>, and exerting all his strength,
+began to draw the two boats closer together, so
+that the revenue agent and his assistant might
+make the transfer safely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He saw them leap across, and felt the boat
+rock violently under the strain; but not for an
+instant did he let go his hold. There was something
+of a rumpus going on aboard the <em class="italics">Flash</em>,
+as though the government men might be struggling
+with the two smugglers whom they found
+there, lacking in nerve to follow after their
+leader, or else not knowing how to swim. But
+in another minute these sounds ceased, from
+which he guessed that the pair had been subdued.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxia-clean-sweep">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id22">CHAPTER XXI—A CLEAN SWEEP</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“Jack!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was the revenue man calling, and he appeared
+at the side of the other boat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, what is it, sir?” replied the lad who
+held the boathook.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’m coming over again,” continued the
+other. “I hate to let that clever rascal get
+away; and we must try to pick him up. Hold
+steady now.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">The transfer was made without any accident,
+though both boats careened wildly under
+the strain, thanks to their sharp keels, fashioned
+only with an eye to making speed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I see him, sir!” cried George, as he once
+more started his engine, and began to curve
+around the now stationary <em class="italics">Flash</em>.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack could also readily pick up the swimmer.
+Evidently Glenwood must have kicked
+off his shoes, and divested himself of coat and
+vest, before jumping overboard; for he was
+making splendid progress through the water,
+using a hand-over-hand stroke.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This necessitated more or less churning of
+the water, however, and since the moon persisted
+in playing into the hands of his enemies
+by staying out steadily, his course was readily
+seen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They bore down rapidly upon him, once the
+boat had been turned around. But Jack knew
+only too well that a strong and desperate
+swimmer would be apt to give his pursuers a
+hard pull before they could get him. If Glenwood
+knew his business, as seemed evident, he
+would hold himself in readiness to duck under,
+just when they thought to reach over and
+grasp him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, steady while I nab him!” said the
+revenue man, leaning over the bow.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He’s gone under, sir!” cried Jack, who
+was holding on to that serviceable boathook,
+with the idea that possibly he might find a
+chance to get it fast in the garments of the
+man in the water.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, I expected that,” replied the other.
+“And of course we don’t know just where
+he’ll come up again. Our only chance is to
+keep him going until even his iron muscles
+weaken. We hold the advantage, boys. Look
+on that side, Jack, and I’ll take care of this.
+George, be ready to work around or back up,
+as the case may be.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ten seconds later and Jack called out:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Here he is, on this side, George!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then began one of the queerest experiences
+Jack had ever participated in. All of his hare
+and hound and paper chases must sink into
+insignificance after this hunt; for a desperate
+man was seeking to effect his escape.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Glenwood would wait until they were close
+upon him, meanwhile trying to recuperate.
+Then, at the critical instant, he would sink out
+of sight, and swim under water to the other
+side of the boat, or the rear, never ahead. In
+this way he kept them guessing; and besides,
+after the boat was started it was necessary for
+them to make more or less of a circuit before
+they could bear down on the fugitive again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What does he hope to gain by all this,
+sir?” asked George, when they had missed the
+swimmer for the fourth time, and were waiting
+for him to appear again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! Glenwood is a keen one,” replied the
+government agent. “Depend on it he has several
+irons in the fire. Perhaps he expects to
+get a chance to land on the Canadian shore,
+where I could not very well chase him. Then
+again he keeps hoping that our good friend,
+the moon, will kindly hide again. That would
+give him all the opportunity he wants to come
+up, get a breath, and vanish without being
+seen. There he is, George; back up this time!”</p>
+<p class="pnext">So the merry chase continued—at least it
+may have seemed that to the two boys, but
+must have assumed a more serious aspect
+with the man they were after. Jack could not
+but admire the nerve and audacity of the
+swimmer. He even secretly began to hope
+Glenwood might get away; for after all it was
+none of their business, though the fellow was
+really a criminal, in that he was breaking the
+laws of the land.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But George had entered heart and soul into
+the game, and was determined to do all he
+could to assist the revenue man. He backed
+the boat so fast that soon the swimmer had to
+duck again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He’s getting weaker all the time, boys,”
+remarked the agent, in a satisfied tone. “We
+have only to keep this system of tactics up a
+little longer, and Glenwood will be only too
+glad to come in out of the wet, or drown.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I hope that doesn’t happen,” said
+George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Little fear,” replied the other. “Like
+most of us, Glenwood clings on to life, and always
+has hopes of escaping. Do you see him
+yet, either of you?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Not on this side,” replied Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And I don’t glimpse him here,” George
+went on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But he’s been under almost a full minute
+now, and that’s a long time for one as exhausted as
+he must be,” the agent remarked,
+seriously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I hope he hasn’t acted like I’ve known
+wounded ducks to do,” said George, “go to the
+bottom, and hold on to the eel grass until they
+drown. That would be terrible.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And if he’d only held out a few minutes
+more he might have had the chance he was
+looking for, sir,” said Jack; “for there’s another
+bunch of clouds making up toward the
+moon.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Just so, Jack,” remarked the revenue
+man, glancing aloft; “and I wager Glenwood
+knew that fact, too.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But where can he be, sir? It would be impossible
+for any one to stay under so long.
+I’m something of a swimmer myself, and I
+know I couldn’t,” George went on, anxiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure he didn’t bob up quietly, take a
+breath or two, and sink out of sight again?”
+asked the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Both boys declared they were positive that
+such had not been the case. The revenue man
+remained there for another minute, as though
+pondering. Then Jack saw him look up and
+smile. He did not call out, but made a mysterious
+motion with his hand that seemed to call
+for silence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then Jack saw him creeping slowly and cautiously toward
+the stern of the boat. George
+stared with wide open eyes, as though the
+startling thought had come to him that their
+passenger had suddenly gone crazy. But if
+so, there was a method in his madness, and
+Jack had guessed it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The stern of the <em class="italics">Wireless</em> was not an over-hang,
+but the customary square one of a speed
+boat. Still, any one in the water could hang
+on to the rudder, keeping clear of the propeller;
+and while the boat was stationary, be
+concealed from the view of those aboard, unless
+indeed, some inquisitive person thrust his
+head far out over the edge.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Undoubtedly the cunning Glenwood had
+conceived this to be a good plan, to rest, and
+wait for the cloud to cover the face of the
+moon, when he could dip again, and pass away
+under the water beyond reach of their limited
+vision.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack almost ceased to breathe, so intensely
+interested was he in watching the advance of
+the revenue man. It was a case of diamond
+cut diamond, apparently, and victory would
+go to the keener mind.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now the agent was crawling over the stern,
+and evidently getting in readiness to suddenly
+swoop his arm down, with fingers extended, to
+clutch anything he might come in contact with
+there.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He made the movement with a celerity that
+reminded Jack of the swoop of a hawk on a
+pigeon. And apparently he must have gauged
+his action nicely; for immediately there arose
+a yell, and a threshing of the water followed;
+while the agent held on desperately, calling to
+the others for assistance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Two hands were seen to clutch the brass
+rail; and then a head came into view.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“No need to yank my hair out; I’m coming
+aboard all right, Carson!” gasped the exhausted
+swimmer; but the government agent
+evidently looked upon him as a slippery customer,
+for he declined to release his clutch
+until the man had been pulled wholly into the
+boat, and stretched on his back in the bottom.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack felt a queer chill when he heard something
+“click,” and realized that for the first
+time in all his life he saw a prisoner hand-cuffed.
+But Glenwood did not appear to be
+very much cast down. He had faced this situation
+a long time, and evidently discounted all
+its terrors. He even laughed as soon as he got
+his breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It was some fun while it lasted, Carson,”
+he said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And you came near playing it on me for
+good,” replied the other, laughing in his turn.
+“I only fell to your smart trick by accident.
+Seemed to me I felt something bump against
+the side of the boat, when none of us chanced
+to be moving. And then I figured what I would
+do myself in a similar case. That was how I
+came to hit on your game, Glenwood.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“How about my friends; did they get
+away?” asked the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“George,” the agent went on, “turn around,
+and we’ll head back; if you’re in doubt I can
+tell you just where we’ll find the other boat,
+first of all, and then the island where your
+comrades are waiting.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then he turned to his prisoner, saying:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Neither of them took the dare you set,
+Glenwood; and we got the upper hand of both
+in short order. Besides, there are three
+chaps with their legs tied up, on the island.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“A clean sweep, you’ve made of it, then,”
+remarked the smuggler, disconsolately;
+“bagged the whole lot, and the stuff in the
+bargain. Well, I knew how it would be when
+I heard they were sending you up here, Carson.
+Sooner or later I guessed we’d be up
+against it, and meet with our finish. But it
+came quicker than I expected.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">He said nothing more, nor did the government
+agent seem disposed to enter into further conversation
+just then. Keeping at the
+elbow of the pilot, he watched him head the
+boat along toward where George thought the
+<em class="italics">Flash</em> would be found. And that his judgment
+was good they presently saw, when in
+the moonlight the other motor boat was discovered
+quite motionless on the river.</p>
+<p class="pnext">George gave a signal, which was immediately
+answered. When they drew alongside
+it was to find that both Clarence and Bully
+Joe were awaiting their coming with more or
+less eagerness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Thank goodness!” said the owner of the
+<em class="italics">Flash</em>; “now we’ll get rid of these ugly fellows.
+They just pounced down on us several
+days ago, and we’ve had to do what they
+wanted ever since. I hope, sir, you won’t
+bother taking us along with you, because we’ve
+had nothing to do with their games. We were
+prisoners, that’s right. I was threatened
+with all sorts of terrible things if I refused
+to run the boat as that man wanted.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I understand that, young fellow,”
+said Mr. Carson, pleasantly. “All I want
+you to do is to accompany us back to the island,
+carrying those you have aboard. I’ll
+relieve you of them there, and you can go
+about your business. I have no call out for
+you. But next time I advise you to be a little
+more careful whose company you accept. It
+got you into trouble once, and may again.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I declare I have no idea where our blooming
+old haunted island lies,” admitted George,
+frankly; “and I’ll have to ask you to stand
+by sir, to tell me how to steer.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s easily done, George;” laughed the
+other. “And you’ve been a big help to me,
+something I’ll not soon forget either. Clarence,
+keep as close by us as is safe; and we’ll
+have no more racing as we return, remember.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Clarence had something on his mind, nor
+could he keep from saying what it was.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Think you climbed up on me hand over
+fist, don’t you, George,” he remarked, as the
+two speed boats got under way once more.
+“Well, you’ve got another think coming, that’s
+what. He ordered me to hit up my hottest
+pace, and I told him I was doing it; but all
+the same I kept a bit in reserve. The <em class="italics">Flash</em>
+can do better; and some fine day you’ll all get
+your eyes opened, perhaps. I played my little
+game to get rid of unwelcome passengers,
+leaving the question about which was the
+faster boat to be settled some other time. See?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“That’s a likely story,” sneered George,
+who would not think of letting any one dim
+the glory that the dashing <em class="italics">Wireless</em> had so
+gallantly won; and least of all Clarence Macklin.
+“Tell that to the marines, will you? But
+if the chance ever comes I’ll try it all over
+with you for fair. Meanwhile don’t bother
+yourself boasting how you’re going to cut figure
+eight’s around me, with that pirate boat
+of yours. She looks dangerous; but in a race
+something besides looks counts. I’ve got it
+right here. That’ll be enough for you, Clarence,”
+and George declined to exchange any
+further words with the skipper of the defeated
+motor boat.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxiibusters-hour-of-triumph">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id23">CHAPTER XXII—BUSTER’S HOUR OF TRIUMPH</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">It proved that Mr. Carson knew his St. Lawrence
+in the neighborhood of the Thousand
+Islands by heart, so that even in the misty
+moonlight he was able to guide the two speed
+boats back to the haunted island.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Their arrival was the signal for an outburst
+of cheers from those of the motor boat boys
+who had been left behind.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Great was the excitement that took possession
+of the four when they discovered that it
+was Clarence and Bully Joe who were now in
+charge of the mysterious dark speed boat;
+and after finding out that three smugglers lay
+in the bottom, with their ankles tied, and steel
+bracelets on their wrists, Nick and Josh were
+so overwhelmed with amazement that they
+could hardly speak for a brief time. And as
+the others realized, when the tall lad lost his
+voice it must be something wonderful indeed
+that had happened.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Carson meant to lose no time. He sent
+his Indian assistant across the island to take
+the little canvas collapsible canoe, and cross
+over to a neighboring piece of land, where
+their noisy motor boat had been concealed
+earlier in the evening.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of course the boys now understood that it
+had been this river craft whose loud, rattling
+pulsations they had caught at the time George
+first mentioned hearing the sounds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When, a little later, the pilot returned,
+bringing the snub-nosed boat with him, the
+three prisoners were transferred without much
+trouble. After that the revenue man and his
+helper went ashore to complete the job. One
+by one they brought off the trio of prisoners
+who had been left there helpless.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Finally they carried aboard the large packs
+that Jack had seen hidden in the cavity under
+the old straw in the cabin’s earthen floor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I think that finishes the job,” remarked
+the energetic agent, as he wiped his wet forehead.
+“And I must admit that, taken as a
+whole, it’s about the most satisfactory piece
+of business I’ve handled for a long time.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Did you get them all, sir?” Josh asked,
+filled with admiration for the man who could
+engineer a big scheme like this and bring it
+to a successful close.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“The entire working force is now in custody,
+I believe,” replied Mr. Carson. “To be
+sure there are probably some persons connected
+with the band whom we will never lay
+hands on; such as those who supplied the
+funds, and shipped the goods across the border.
+But it may be possible to catch some of
+the guilty receivers over on our side of the
+river. When rogues find themselves fast in
+the toils, they frequently offer to confess all
+they know in order to curry favor with the authorities.
+And secretly, between us, I imagine
+Glenwood may yet be induced to turn state’s
+evidence.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Are you going to leave us now, sir?” asked
+Jack, seeing that the other was evidently preparing
+to cross over to his own well laden motor
+boat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes,” came the reply. “The sooner I get
+this cargo behind the bars, the better. But I
+want to shake hands with each one of you, and
+thank you again most heartily for the assistance
+you have given me in this matter. I don’t
+mean to let it drop there; and you may expect
+to hear from me again, since Jack Stormways
+has given me his address. Good night boys,
+and may the balance of your vacation be as
+peaceful as the beginning has been stormy.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! well, we’ve sure enjoyed it, Mr. Carson,”
+said George, “and it was worth a heap
+to me to have that chance to try conclusions
+with the <em class="italics">Flash</em>.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’ve no doubt of it, George,” laughed the
+agent, as he clambered over the side of his
+stubby little launch. “And since I miss that
+same evil looking boat, I surmise that our
+friend Clarence did not care to stay here in
+your company any longer than he could help.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He scooted off as soon as you had gone
+ashore for the prisoners, sir,” observed Nick,
+who wanted to have a last word with the man
+he admired so much.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And in another minute the Indian pilot had
+set his chatterbox of an engine to beating a
+lively tattoo, upon which the stub-nosed launch
+began to draw away. As long as it remained in
+sight in the moonlight the boys cheered, and
+called goodbyes, so that if there chanced to be
+any more ghosts lingering about that haunted
+island they must have taken this for a clear
+defiance of their power, and concluded to remain
+in hiding during the balance of the stay
+of the motor boat boys.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Think we can pick up a few winks of sleep,
+fellows?” asked George, when the clatter of
+the loud-voiced engine had been mellowed by
+distance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“We ought to try, anyhow,” said Jack,
+“Seems to me we’ve had our rest pretty badly
+broken up lately. For one I’m going to forget
+it all for a while.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">But the chances were that none of them got
+any satisfactory sleep during the balance of
+that eventful night.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the following morning they prepared to
+vacate the cove that had been their anchorage
+for so long. All of them first went ashore; for
+Nick and Herb were very anxious to see the
+cabin, and the hole in the floor were the smugglers
+kept their goods concealed after secretly
+bringing the stuff over from the Canada mainland,
+waiting until a good chance opened to
+scatter it through the state, free of duty.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” declared Nick, as they prepared to
+get underway later in the morning; “this has
+been a great experience all around, sure
+enough. And it ended fine—that is for us boys,
+though I guess poor old Glenwood and his fellow
+conspirators don’t feel so very gay over
+it.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“And don’t forget our friends, Clarence and
+Bully Joe, while about it,” spoke up George.
+“Just stop and think what Macklin went
+through—held a prisoner by those reckless
+men, and threatened with all sorts of trouble
+if he so much as squeaked on ’em. Then
+forced to do whatever they wanted. And last,
+but far from least, beaten in a fair race by
+this dandy little meteor boat that he once
+sneered at. That’s glory enough for me, I’m
+telling you, shipmates.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I guess we all enjoyed it,” remarked Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes, so far as I’m concerned I’d be quite
+contented and happy right now, if I only knew
+one thing,” remarked Nick, looking doleful
+again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Here, don’t you go to starting up your
+tune about that break,” said George, “we all
+agreed long ago that if you <em class="italics">did</em> leak to Clarence,
+you never would have done it on purpose.
+So forget it.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But I tell you I can’t,” flashed back the
+fat boy. “I feel sore about it; and I want to
+find out the truth so that every one of you’ll
+get down on your marrow-bones and ask my
+pardon. And something tells me the time ain’t
+so far away when that very thing is going to
+happen.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Then speed the hour,” grinned Herb;
+“after you’ve seen us in a row asking forgiveness,
+perhaps we’ll have peace, and you’ll forget
+the incident.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Don’t count too heavily on that,” George
+said. “You don’t know Buster as well as I
+do. Just as like as not he’ll turn out to be made
+up the same way as that thirsty young woman
+in the sleeping car, you know.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“But perhaps we don’t know, so suppose
+you tell us,” Nick himself burst out with curiosity
+consuming him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! I thought it was a chestnut; but if you
+will have it, listen. A traveling man, trying to
+go to sleep, heard some woman keep on saying
+out loud in the berth next to him ‘Oh! I
+am so thirsty! Oh! I am so thirsty!’ When he
+couldn’t stand for it any longer he got up, went
+and fetched a glass of water, and begged her
+to accept it. Then he went back to his berth,
+thinking he would have peace. But soon he
+heard the same woman saying over and over
+again: ‘Oh! I was so thirsty! I was so thirsty!’
+So look out Buster don’t play that game on
+you, Herb.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a shout at this, in which Nick
+joined; for being a good-natured chap in the
+main, he could take a joke that was leveled at
+himself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">About nine o’clock the signal was given, and
+the three motor boats forming the cruising
+fleet pulled out of the friendly cove. Those on
+board looked back with more or less rejoicing
+and regret at the scene of their recent adventures.
+They would not soon forget all that
+had happened since first they dropped in there
+for a night’s stay. And Jack’s entries in the
+official log would doubtless prove very entertaining
+reading for the folks at home.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Upon examining the bow of his speed boat
+George had found where that bullet had struck,
+that was fired last of all by the desperate smuggler,
+in hopes of frightening the boy at the
+wheel of the pursuing craft.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It had made quite a hole, though fortunately
+doing no real damage. Later on he could
+of course, have the aperture plugged; but for
+the present it would stand as a mute witness to
+the truth of the adventurous story the boys
+had to tell. If any one of their mates at home
+ventured to scoff at the idea of their having
+been actually under a hot fire, he stood ready
+to pry that bit of lead out of its lodgings, and
+thus confound the skeptic.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were now on the second week of their
+vacation, and of course had lots of territory
+to cover still, before they could say they had
+exhausted the pleasures of this wonderful
+cruising ground. But already the motor boat
+boys were looking forward to another daring
+venture, and all of them had written home to
+gain the consent of those who must be consulted
+ere determining positively on their
+plans.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This included a long trip through lakes Ontario
+and Erie, up past Detroit into Lake Huron,
+along the shore of this great body of water
+until the wonderful Soo was reached at the
+head of the St. Mary’s river; and then possibly
+into Superior; winding up with a run
+down Lake Michigan to Milwaukee, where the
+boats could be sent home the same way they
+had left, via railroad.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of course, being real boys, once a great undertaking
+like this had formed itself in their
+minds they could talk of little else. And Jack
+knew very well that if any determined opposition
+developed at home, that would put a
+damper on the grand scheme, there would be
+a feeling of gloom settle down over the whole
+expedition.</p>
+<p class="pnext">After leaving the haunted island the first object
+of the boys was to get back to Clayton,
+and not only replenish their depleted supplies,
+but gather up any mail that would, according
+to orders, be held for them at the post office
+there.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Josh went ashore to get the mail, while Jack
+looked after the supplies. Nick seemed unusually
+uneasy all the time they were gone;
+and upon their showing up he demanded
+shrilly that the letters be distributed without
+delay.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Only one for you, Pudding,” jeered the
+letter carrier, as he held it up; “and seems to
+me I smell violet perfume on that. Must be a
+dainty billet doux from Rosie Sinclair; but
+here, take it and go off by yourself. It would
+make us all die of envy to see you reading
+such sweet stuff, when we are forgotten by our
+best girls.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nick eagerly snatched the missive from his
+hand, and with trembling fingers tore it open.
+A minute later the others were astonished to
+hear him give a loud whoop.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What did I tell you, fellows?” he exclaimed,
+trying to dance around like a wild
+Indian, and waving the open letter. “Mebbe
+I ain’t something of a detective myself? Come
+around here, every one of you now, and get
+ready to do that marrow-bone act you promised.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“What’s all this mean? Has he gone out of
+his mind?” asked George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Tell us, Buster,” said Jack, who could suspect
+something of the nature of the communication
+Nick had received.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“His dad has said he can take the northern
+cruise, that’s what!” remarked Josh, a bit
+enviously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! you’re away off there,” cried the fat
+boy, derisively. “Why, you couldn’t guess
+the truth in a month of Sundays, Josh. It
+takes real brains to figure out a solution to a
+mystery like that. And I did it, all by my little
+self.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Great governor!” ejaculated George,
+“listen to him, would you, fellows? Honest
+now, if it don’t sound as if he’d found out
+where that leak lay. Here, Buster, it isn’t
+fair to keep us on the ragged edge so long.
+Open up now, and explain. Did anybody talk
+in their sleep? Who told Clarence our plans?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“You did, George; yes, and so did Jack and
+Herb and Josh—I guess Jimmie and myself
+had a hand in it too!” laughed the fat boy, to
+their great mystification!</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxiiihappy-daysconclusion">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id24">CHAPTER XXIII—HAPPY DAYS—CONCLUSION</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“Poor old Buster! He’s sure getting weak
+in the upper story,” said George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“It’s going to be a strait-jacket for him before
+long!” sighed Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Jack spoke not a word; for he could
+somehow see further than the rest of the boys,
+and understood that Nick held a strong hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh! is that the way you’re thinking?”
+said the fat boy, still trembling with the violence
+of his excitement. “Just wait till I read
+this little letter, and then if you’re honest
+you’ll do the right thing by poor old Buster.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“He’s going to read Rosie’s little note to us,
+fellows!” cried Josh, pretending to be horror-stricken
+at such a base betrayal of confidence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Who said it was from Rosie, or any girl
+at all?” demanded Nick, indignantly. “Look
+at the name signed at the bottom, and you can
+read Aleck. Yes, it’s from my old friend, Aleck
+Sands. I wrote him a week ago, when that
+bright thought first dazzled me. And you remember,
+when Josh here gave me that start by
+talking through that old rusted tin water pipe?
+Well, that made me believe harder than before
+that I’d got on the track.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Read the letter, plague take you, Nick!”
+roared impatient George; “don’t you see
+you’re giving some of us heart disease right
+now, with your everlasting slow way of getting
+at things.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">So Nick, assuming a posture that, according
+to his mind signified the attitude of a victor
+awaiting the laurel wreath, began in his slow
+way.</p>
+<blockquote><div>
+<p class="pfirst">“Dear Buster:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“As soon as I got your interesting letter I
+hit it up for the school house. Found old
+Crusty Bill Edwards hard at work, and had
+to bribe him to let me get in. Went up to the
+little room where we hold our club meetings.
+Yes, you were right, Buster; the register from
+the furnace in that room does back into the
+cloak room. Found both of ’em shut, but got
+old Bill to stand in the club room while I
+opened the registers, and then listened in the
+cloak closet while he talked to himself. And
+Buster, why, say, I could near hear the old
+man <em class="italics">think</em>, every sound came through that hole
+so plain. If you fellows talked about your
+plans that day you were there, and Clarence
+was hiding in the cloak room, make up your
+mind, old chap, he heard every word you said;
+In a hurry so I’ll ring off.</p>
+<p class="pnext right">“Yours, Aleck.”</p>
+</div></blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">As Nick read the last word he paused and
+looked expectant. His motor-mates stared at
+one another as though for the moment rendered
+incapable of speech. The cleverness of
+the fat boy’s deduction was stunning; had it
+sprung from Jack, now, they might not have
+considered it so very wonderful; but to think
+that Buster, always so slow to grasp anything,
+could have done it, fairly staggered them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack was the first to recover. Laughingly
+he dropped on one knee beside Nick, and seizing
+the fat hand of the victor he pretended to
+kiss it with due humility.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The others entered into the spirit of the occasion;
+and right there on the dock, regardless
+of the stares of passersby, the five clung around
+the grinning Buster, begging him to forgive
+their thick-headedness, and restore them to
+favor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nick of course, enjoyed the game most
+heartily, and laughed himself into a fit of
+choking, as he raised his chums, one by one,
+and tapped them on the head in token of his
+pardon.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“However did you come to think of it?”
+asked George, a little later, as they were once
+more aboard their boats, and ready to start
+forth in search of new adventures.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I dreamed about it, and that’s the truth,”
+declared Nick, solemnly; nor could they ever
+get him to change his assertion. “Woke me
+right up in the middle of the night too.
+Thought I saw Clarence peekin’ through a
+hole, and laughing to beat the band; and then
+I saw the silly crowd in the next room. That
+gave me an idea, and started me to thinking. I
+believed I remembered that register, and had
+an idea there was another one just back of it
+opening into that cloak room. Now you don’t
+blame me for wanting to get that letter, do
+you?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I should say not,” declared George frankly.
+“Why you’ve just covered yourself with glory,
+Buster. After this, when anything mysterious
+happens, we’ll turn to you to guess the answer.
+You ought to be a lawyer, sure.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Or a revenue man,” suggested Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Guess Buster’d like to be the head steward
+on a big Atlantic liner best of all,” was the
+wicked remark of the envious Josh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But the fat boy was in a jolly frame of mind,
+and could not be provoked by any sort of fling
+just then. He turned to his tormentor, and
+smiling sweetly, remarked:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Josh knows my weak point; but then you
+fellows understand that it’s only green envy
+that makes him say such things. Right now
+he’d give almost anything if only he had my
+honest appetite. I never make faces at my
+meals. Why, I’m ready for one right at this
+present minute, fellows.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Well,” said Jack, “let’s get off a few miles
+from Clayton before we think to start the
+stoves going. Perhaps we’ll find a nice quiet
+place where we can go ashore, and do the cooking
+stunt. This place is too thickly populated
+to make a show of ourselves to the gaping
+natives.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Now, I know you mean me when you say
+that, Jack,” observed Nick, reproachfully.
+“But while I confess that I’ve got a bully good
+appetite, I hope I don’t disgrace the bunch
+when I join in the eating game. Herb, are we
+ready to start? While we are moving along I’ll
+try and hatch up a new dish out of my new
+book here, that will make your mouths water.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“If Herb was wise he’d have drowned that
+cook book long before this,” muttered Josh,
+as George gave his engine a fling and immediately
+started away in the lead.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The three motor boats kept close company.
+George had apparently experienced all the
+running on ahead he wished, during that previous
+memorable cruise down the Mississippi;
+and was content after rushing half a mile in
+the lead to slow down and let the others catch
+up with him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was in great spirits this morning. That
+wonderful little race in the moonlight on the
+preceding night, with its successful termination,
+had made him fall in love with his cranky
+speed boat more than ever. He could hardly
+talk intelligently about anything else; and
+finally the others declared that he was even a
+worse sinner in that respect than Nick had
+ever been.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The day was sunshiny, and everything
+around them seemed joyous, so it was not to
+be thought strange that the motor boat boys
+were every little while bursting out in snatches
+of song, or exchanging joking remarks as the
+boats chanced to close up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Wonder if we’ll ever hear from the gentleman
+again?” Herb was saying, as they later
+on headed for a bit of lonely shore, where it
+seemed inviting to campers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“If you mean Mr. Carson,” Jack replied,
+“I’m sure we will, for he gave his promise;
+and a man like him never goes back on his
+word. I’ve an idea he means to send us some
+little thing to put in our clubroom, to remember
+the adventure by.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“As if we’d be likely to ever forget it?”
+laughed George, patting his throbbing motor
+affectionately.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I’ve thought up that new mess, fellows!”
+called out Nick, just then.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Everybody groaned in unison.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“You know we’ve always had Boston baked
+beans and coffee for lunch whenever we got a
+chance to go ashore at noon. All right. I’m
+for progress. I like to vary our meals some.
+Let’s turn things upside down, and right
+around. If you agree, then today let the bill
+of fare be coffee and Boston baked beans.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Bully for Buster! He’s the one bright
+mind in the bunch!” laughed George.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“We can have a new dish every day at that
+rate, fellows!” sang out Herb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And so, joking and laughing in this way,
+they ran close in, found a deep place to anchor
+the three motor boats, and began to get ashore
+with such things as they needed for the meal.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The future looked very bright to those six
+jolly fellows just then, with never a cloud in
+sight. Presently they hoped to be hearing the
+returns from home, when they would know
+whether their plan for an extended cruise was
+looked upon favorably by the powers that controlled
+their destinies.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But no matter what the outcome of that
+proposition might be, they did not mean to
+worry over anything. The great St. Lawrence
+was an ideal cruising place, and doubtless if
+they were forced to stay there during the balance
+of the summer they could find plenty of
+amusement in the way of fishing, racing, and
+exploring.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Only Josh solemnly expressed the hope that
+in their “nosing around,” as he called it, they
+might not happen upon another haunted
+island. Once spelled enough for him; and there
+was no telling but that on another occasion the
+ghost might prove to be more real than the one
+manufactured by Glenwood and his fellow
+smugglers, to frighten the owners of the three
+motor boats away from their pet cove.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was always the chance that sooner
+or later they would again run across Clarence
+Macklin and his crony, Bully Joe Brinker.
+George would be only too glad of another opportunity
+to test his beloved <em class="italics">Wireless</em> against
+the very best that the <em class="italics">Flash</em> could put forth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Make up your mind, George,” said Jack,
+when his chum was mentioning this thing one
+day. “You never would get that tricky Clarence
+to acknowledge your boat to be better
+than his. If you beat him six times he’d have
+six good excuses ready, and each one different
+from all the rest. Whoever caught him with
+the goods on, and made him confess? A fellow
+he didn’t know stopped him and stuck the
+things in his pocket. He was right then on the
+way to hand them over to the police. Don’t you
+remember when he said that? Well, you may
+have your race, and win out handsomely, but
+don’t expect Clarence to hand you an honest
+admission that his boat ran second.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I don’t,” grinned George; “but I’d like to
+race him all the same; and I only hope the
+chance comes along, sooner or later.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Perhaps it would, for stranger things were
+likely to happen to the motor boat boys than
+that they would run across Clarence again during
+their outing days.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I saw him in Clayton when ashore,” remarked
+Jack. “He was talking with a man
+who, from his soiled clothes, I’d take to be an
+engineer, or something like that.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Sure,” laughed George, evidently pleased.
+“Knowing that in her present condition the
+<em class="italics">Flash</em> is no match for my bully boat, he’s going
+to see if she can’t be improved somehow, so
+as to squeeze just a little more speed out of her.
+Huh! perhaps I might do something of that
+kind myself. But just wait and see, fellows.
+If there is another race between us it’s going
+to be for keeps.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">When some time later their mail began to
+arrive from home it might be judged from the
+excitement and congratulations to be heard
+that favorable replies were coming in from
+headquarters. And that this was really the
+fact, the reader who has been interested in the
+fortunes of Jack and his chums thus far, will
+take for granted, when he learns that the title
+of the next volume in this series, already published,
+and ready for his enjoyment, is: “The
+Motor Boat Boys on the Great Lakes; or,
+Young Pilots to the Rescue.”</p>
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost">
+<div class="line">THE END.</div>
+</div>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 5em">
+</div>
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35728 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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