The Outdoor Chums on a Houseboat: or, The Rivals of the Mississippi
Presently the steady strokes of the axe told that Bluff was exercising his muscles to good advantage, and that they could count on at least two days’ supply of firewood as a result of his labors.
The breakfast was “prime,” everybody admitted; and Jerry was advised to keep a line or two out for stray catfish every time they tied up for a stop. There were buffalo fish to be caught, Mr. Whittaker had assured them, that, while a little coarse, would be found good eating; and all of them happened to be rather fond of fish as a diet, which was a good thing, under the circumstances.
“It isn’t such a hard job to get a start on the old boat, anyhow,” remarked Jerry, as with poles they pushed away from the bank, until the slow current near the shore began to catch them in its grip, and they found the Pot Luck moving.
Once they had attained the proper distance from shore, really there was little to do all day long, but keep an eye on things, and make sure the boat did not turn sideways to the stream.
By keeping away from the channel they avoided all danger from such boats as passed up or down the river.
During the morning Will, who had been looking steadily back over the course they had come, called the attention of the others to something which he seemed to think merited their notice.
“That dinky little power-boat yonder keeps hovering just so far behind us,” he said, uneasily.
“Well, the fellows aboard have a right to go and come just as they please,” Frank remarked, though he gave the object in question a long look, and then went into the cabin for the field glasses.
“Sometimes he comes as close as he is now,” Will went on to say; “and then he seems to stop still, till you can hardly see him in the dim distance, when he’ll start up again. I think sometimes they’re fishing, and anchor in favorite places. Then again I seem to think that perhaps he may be aboard.”
“By that you mean our visitor of last night, Marcus Stackpole, I reckon?” Jerry asked.
“What do you see, Frank; any fellow without his head-covering on?” Bluff inquired, at the same time.
“There seem to be several men aboard, but I don’t see them fishing,” Frank replied. “The fact is, one of them just pointed down the river; but whether he was calling the attention of the others to this boat, or something else, I can’t say.”
He took another look through the field glasses, and immediately laughed.
“Well, one of them has something in his hands now that looks like the glasses I’m handling,” he said. “Yes, and there he goes, leveling it at us!”
“That settles it!” exclaimed Jerry. “They’re interested in this boat, and, ten to one, the fellow we had aboard last night came from that same launch. Well, if that doesn’t knock the high persimmon down, though! We thought this M. S. was a common, every-day tramp; and here it turns out that he owns a private power yacht, and can go cruising on his own hook, just where he likes.”
“Tell you what, boys,” remarked Will; “chances are, he’s some sort of rascal, perhaps a real river pirate; and that squatty little power-boat is being used for robbery on the big water highway!”
“Well, the boat looks dingy and dark, like all buccaneer craft are, they say, you know,” Will went on, quite undismayed by this reception of his startling theory.
Frank himself was more than puzzled. He could not seem to get an inkling as to what the truth might be.
The little launch far away up the river did seem to be acting very strangely. And those aboard were certainly curious with regard to thePot Luck, for they had their glasses trained on the houseboat at different times. Then, apparently, the power-boat was anchored again, for the boys began drawing further and further away from it, until the haze of distance seemed to entirely obliterate the suspicious craft from their observation.
“Why don’t they come right along, and pass us by?” asked Will.
“That’s a part of the game, it seems,” ventured Jerry; “just to hang around, and wait for another chance to creep aboard this jolly old rover. But make up your minds, fellows, we’ll be ready to give ’em a warm reception.”
“Yes,” broke in Bluff, “and if I only had a chance to fire at long range, I’d be tempted to let ’em feel how hot shot can get, when fired from a real gun!” and he gave Jerry an odd look as he said this.
The boys decided that since the day was rather warm they would do with a cold “snack” at noon, leaving the getting of dinner until evening arrived, with its cooling airs.
Bluff was perched high up in the bow, and engaged in eating his second ham sandwich, while he observed a steamboat turning a bend far below, and made some humorous remarks concerning river pilots in general.
Jerry leaned against the sweep, and was supposed to be watching to see that the boat did not swerve too much while moving steadily along in the current. Frank and Will were inside, cutting a fresh supply of bread, with which to make their second helping, the boiled ham coming in very handy for the purpose; and some cold coffee left over from the early morning meal answering for a drink.
Frank had just risen to his feet, and was taking the first bite out of his sandwich when he heard a screech from without, and felt a sudden shock.
Will gave a shout, and let the knife with which he was carving the ham, fall on the table.
“They’re boarding us, Frank!” he called out, as they both darted for the door, passing through together, and appearing on the deck; where they found Jerry making all sorts of strenuous efforts to swing the boat around, as she seemed to be broadside to the current.
As Frank looked around, the first alarming thing he noticed was that Jerry seemed to be utterly alone on deck; and yet a minute before he had surely heard the voice of Bluff calling out to the one at the sweep.
Bluff had certainly disappeared.
CHAPTER VIII – FACE TO FACE AT LAST
“What happened?” cried Frank, unable to understand why the boat acted so queerly, and seemed trying to head up-stream again.
“Must be a snag has hold of her, and is trying to turn her around!” grunted the straining Jerry; thereby acknowledging that he had not kept as good a lookout ahead as a careful pilot should, or he would certainly have known where a snag lay hidden, by the swirl of water about it.
“Where’s Bluff?” cried Will.
“Oh! reckon he went over to see what sort of a snag it was!” replied Jerry.
Then Frank remembered that the last thing he had seen of Bluff he was perched on the bulwark of the boat, with his back down the river, and enjoying his second relay of lunch.
“He’s been knocked overboard by the sudden stop of the boat!” he exclaimed, making a rush for the bow.
As he looked over, he discovered the object of his anxiety holding on to the stem of the craft with desperate zeal. Doubtless, as he was sent flying, losing his balance, Bluff had had the good sense to let his sandwich go, and seize the first projection he could find, to prevent his being carried under the bulky craft, if she continued on down-stream.
“I’m here, right-side up with care, Frank!” he spluttered; “and I don’t like it any too well, either. So please reach me your helping hand, and give a pull.”
Frank called to Will to hurry over and help, for he realized that Bluff, with all his clothes thoroughly soaked, would be too much of a load for one.
So together they drew him up, none the worse for his ducking, save that he must change his clothes.
“Worst thing about it,” declared Bluff, good-naturedly, when the others were standing around, grinning at his forlorn appearance, “is that I lost that nice wedge of ham. Somebody make me up another sandwich; won’t you, while I get out of these soggy duds, and into some dry ones?”
“But the first thing we ought to do is to swing the boat free from that snag,” remarked Frank, “I don’t fancy being held up here like this. It must be a grounded log, with one end pointing up-stream; and we’re stuck on that like a pivot, by the way the boat swings around, first this way, then that.”
He took an observation, and found out just where the point of the snag seemed to be pressing into the bottom planks of the houseboat.
“By good luck it’s over on one side,” Frank remarked, after a while; “and if we all throw our weight over to starboard, perhaps the boat may list enough to let her slip off. Come along, and try it, anyhow. If that fails, we may have to start something else moving.”
But it did not fail, fortunately. Just as Frank had said, the nose of the submerged log happened to be against the slippery bottom of the houseboat near the edge, and a very small list started the craft to sliding. They heard a grating noise, and then the boat once more came to an even keel, starting to glide along with the current.
Of course it was easy enough, after that, to work her head around, so that it again pointed down the river.
“I’ll keep a better lookout after this, Frank,” Jerry asserted, knowing that the fault was principally his, since he had been left in charge as pilot of the expedition.
Will had meanwhile obligingly made up another “snack” for the swimmer; and Bluff ate it with the utmost unconcern, just as though falling overboard from a snagged houseboat were an every-day occurrence in his experience.
During the afternoon they sighted the first real shantyboat seen on the cruise. A savage dog aboard barked at them as long as they were passing; for the boat happened to be tied up to the shore at the time. A rough-looking man was filing a saw, and Frank gave it as his opinion that he followed this trade; dropping down the river, a mile or so at a time, as business permitted, and possibly following the profession of sewing-machine agent as well.
Late that afternoon it began to look blustery, and Frank was more or less concerned as to where they might find a suitable place at which to tie up for the coming night.
They had passed several good spots, but it was too early to stop drifting for the day; and now that they wanted a shelter, and a stout post for the cable, both seemed absent.
“Looks like something ahead there, Frank,” announced Jerry, who still stuck to the heavy sweep, as though he wanted to make amends for his carelessness earlier in the day.
“Yes, you’re right,” the other answered; “and unless my eyes tell me wrong, seems as if there might be several boats collected there. I can see a shantyboat; there are some small row-boats, and another big craft moored to the shore that must be a rich man’s pleasure craft.”
“Ought we take chances by joining them?” asked cautious Will.
Frank swept a look around at the darkening sky ahead.
“The way things look,” he observed, reluctantly, “I’m afraid we’ll have to chance it for once, though we were warned to keep away from other boats all we could. But there is some bad weather coming, and perhaps these fellows know it, and have put in here to avoid being caught below in the open.”
“Then shall I swing her in toward the shore now?” asked Jerry.
“I’ll give you a helping hand,” volunteered Frank, who knew the sensitive nature of his chum, and understood how, in all probability, Jerry must have been repenting of his carelessness all the afternoon.
Between them they easily managed to get the cumbersome houseboat into the cove where the others lay snugly. It was a good harbor, at any rate, in case of a blow; and Frank would have been greatly pleased did the Pot Luck lie there all alone.
“Say, that’s a fine affair there,” remarked Bluff, as he stood at the side, and looked toward the large craft that snuggled against the shore, being held by strong cables both above and below; “and some rich fellow’s pleasure boat, too, because she can go up or down the river, having a gasolene engine. I’d like to see what she might be like inside. There’s a young fellow standing watching us, Frank; would you mind if I stepped over, and struck up an acquaintance with him?”
“Sure not, Bluff; and I’ll go you one better by keeping you company.”
“Fine,” remarked Bluff; “just wait a minute, and I’ll join you. I want to get my gun.”
“Hold on,” laughed Frank; “what do you think you’re going to run up against here? Ten to one these people are all honest chaps. Why, I can see a sign right now, on one of the shantyboats, and it tells us that the man aboard is a locksmith.”
“That’s just it,” spoke up Bluff, as he dived into the cabin, and came out again bearing his repeater; “don’t you see that he’s got what’s meant to be a picture of a gun on his sign? That means he mends them; and I’ve a notion my pump-gun needs a little attention.”
“Same old story, eh?” remarked Frank; “I remember that long ago it used to be getting out of order every little while, and made you lots of trouble.”
“Oh! it’s nothing to speak of,” Bluff declared, always ready to stand up in defense of his arms; “but while I had the chance I thought it would be a good thing to have a repair man take a look at it. When you want a gun you want it bad; and it ought to be always ready for use.”
“Glad to hear you say that, Bluff,” Frank admitted; because as a rule his chum was inclined to be careless in his ways.
Leaving Jerry starting preparations for the supper, with Will to assist in case of need, the other two stepped ashore, and sauntered toward the clump of boats.
Frank noticed that the young fellow watched them coming with something of interest; but then, that would only be natural under such circumstances. He also made certain that the other was a complete stranger, and therefore could not be one of Oswald Fredericks’ college cronies.
“Howdy, strangers?” remarked the other, as they came up; “I suppose, now, that you’re off on a little trip, the same as I am, with my helper here?” and he pointed to a husky-looking fellow who was wiping some machinery.
This fact seemed to allay any slight suspicion the lads may have entertained in the beginning, so they stopped to chat with the two. Instead of hurrying on in the direction of the boat where the gun repairer had his headquarters, Bluff hovered around. To tell the truth, he was greatly struck with the elaborate appearance of the boat, which had the name of Loungerpainted on her bow; and he was hoping the owner would invite them both inside to see how she was fitted up.
This was just what did happen presently, as they continued to talk. Frank might have thought it wise to decline the invitation, giving as an excuse the plea that the hour was growing late; but the impetuous Bluff was not going to be cheated out of a treat so easily.
“Sure we’ll step in, and look around, since you’re so kind as to invite us,” he declared, before Frank could say a word. “Some fine day, when my ship comes home, I may be wanting to build a boat like this to knock about in; and I’d like to know how you’ve arranged things inside. Come along, Frank; plenty of time.”
Of course Frank could not well hold back after that, so he followed at the heels of the others.
“Please step in, both of you!” said the owner of the fine pleasure houseboat, and as he said this, he opened the cabin door, allowing the eager Bluff to enter; and then gently pushing Frank after him, closed the door behind him.
“Wait, I’ve got electrics here, and I’ll push the button. This is what you might call a modern, up-to-date boat, and you’ll get the surprise of your life right now.”
They surely did; for as the light suddenly sprang up they saw sitting about the luxuriously-furnished cabin three other fellows, in whom they easily recognized Oswald Fredericks and his college chums, Raymond Ellis and Duke Fletcher!
It was certainly a tableau, as the rivals stared at each other.
CHAPTER IX – THE GAME OF BLUFF
“Why, hello! Langdon, just dropped in to see me, eh? Rather nice of you, too, considering how little we got together in college!”
Fredericks, as he said this, made a movement with his hand toward the young fellow who had ushered Frank and Bluff into the cabin of the big and commodious power houseboat; and immediately the grind of a key in the lock told that he had seen to it that the way of escape was cut off.
They were four to two, a rather top-heavy arrangement, Frank thought, as he backed a little, so as to keep any of the fellows from getting behind him.
Outwardly he seemed fairly calm, though his eyes were flashing with the spirit of defiance that moved his soul.
“You know as well as anything, Fredericks,” he said, coldly, “that if I’d had any idea this was your boat, nothing could have tempted me to come in here, or bother you at all. But your friend told us it was his boat, and that he was traveling all alone, except for the man who was mending the engine out there.”
“Oh! well, Benedict only did what I asked him to do, when I saw that it was your crazy old tub coming in to tie up here,” replied the other, with a careless shrug of his shoulders. “Looked as if fortune wanted to just play the whole thing right into my hands; for I was hoping this very afternoon you’d happen along, as things began to seem dull.”
“Well, what are we to believe about this; is it a sort of trap, and do you expect to jump on us, now you’ve got us in here?” asked Frank.
Apparently the other was surprised to see him take it so coolly. Perhaps he had even hoped to hear Frank Langdon beg to be let off without any trouble.
“Well, you see, the chance to even up old scores is a fine one, since we’re two to your one,” the other remarked, bitterly.
“So far as I know, there are no scores to settle,” said Frank. “I never knowingly wronged you, or tried to interfere with your business when in college. In fact, on several occasions, I’ve even left a group of fellows when you came along, because I didn’t want to have any trouble.”
“Yes, and that’s one of the things I’ve got against you, Langdon,” declared Oswald, with a scowl. “It looked as if you felt a contempt for me, and couldn’t even bear to be seen in my company. Some of the fellows said as much, and told me I was foolish to stand for it.”
“But you surely knew yourself that it was never intended that way, Fredericks. I wanted to be left alone to go my own way, and I knew that some fellows had made up their minds to bring us to blows. Now, fighting isn’t at all to my taste, though I’m sorry to say I’ve had to do my share of it in my day. Just forget that there’s such a fellow as Frank Langdon alive, and I’m sure you’ll never know otherwise for all of me.”
“He’s squealing, Ossie!” exclaimed Duke Fletcher.
“Yes,” broke in the second college chum, Raymond Ellis, “because we’ve got him penned up here, where we can give him what he ought to have gotten long ago, he sets up a whine that he looks on fighting as a moral sin, and doesn’t want to indulge in it.”
Frank laughed in the face of this chap.
“Depend on it, Ellis,” he said, with cutting coldness, “that if ever I am forced into fighting in a crowd where you figure, I’ve got something to give you that’s been hanging fire a long time; in fact, ever since you knocked down that half-witted Bailey boy, and bruised his face because he said something you didn’t just like. When I heard of it I said to myself that some fine day, if the chance comes, I’m going to pay that debt back. If you think that time has come now, all right. Bluff, you oughtn’t to be in this game, because you’ve never done anything to irritate his lordship. They may let you out, perhaps.”
“Let me out!” roared the impulsive Bluff; “and leave you here alone with the whole bunch of cowards? I’d like to see them do it, that’s all! And what’s more, right now I want to give solemn warning that the first move any fellow makes toward laying so much as the tip of his finger on you, Frank, bang goes this gun!”
Bluff looked the part to the life. He was mad clear through, and the way he swung that menacing weapon of his, first toward Oswald, who ducked, and then covering one of the others, who turned as white as a sheet, told the story.
Frank, who knew that the gun was quite destitute of a single charge, since Bluff had been even then on the way to have it mended, could hardly keep from laughing outright. But then, how were those fellows to know anything like that?
“Here, hold on with that blunderbuss!” exclaimed Oswald; and small wonder that there was a suspicious quiver to his voice, for Bluff certainly looked equal to doing all he threatened so wildly.
“It was all a joke, see!” cried Ellis; and then as the gun swung again so that it began to point toward him, unable to stand the strain any longer, he dropped on his hands and knees, and crawled under the table.
Frank knew that nothing was to be feared any longer.
“I’ll trouble you to unlock that door,” he said, wheeling on the astonished young man from St. Paul, who had been witnessing these things, without having a word to say, the smile dying out of his face.
“Oh! sure, just as you say,” mumbled the other, hastening to comply; “queer how some people don’t seem able to take a joke at all.”
“Yes, it looks like that, perhaps,” returned Frank, severely; “but only for my chum here happening to bring his gun along, we might be having a parrot and monkey time of it right now. Step to one side, or I might rub up against you in passing. Come on, Bluff, you did it for them that time, sure enough.”
With that Frank stepped outside, and Bluff quickly followed. Hardly had the latter gotten free from the cabin than he turned, and “broke” his gun, to show the disgusted conspirators it was quite empty, and that they had been hoodwinked by his quick wit.
Still, none of them seemed to feel like rushing out after the retreating pair. Frank, accompanied by his chum, walked to the shantyboat where the sign of the locksmith hung. After a look at the pump-gun, the man said he could fix it in ten minutes, so that it would work all right. Accordingly the two boys sat down to wait until the job was completed.
It was getting quite dusky when they were ready to leave; and Bluff, after a look outside, seeing that it would be necessary for them to pass the pleasure boat of Fredericks again, bought half a dozen loaded shells from the man.
“Now,” said Bluff, after he had injected one of these into the firing chamber, “I feel safe in passing that boat. If they make any sort of a move against us, I’ll let fly a load in the air first to warn ’em that the repeater isn’t on the shelf any longer, but ready to do business at the same old stand.”
“Well, be careful what you do, that’s all,” warned Frank, determined to keep in close touch with his hot-headed comrade, so that in an emergency he could snatch the gun away, if Bluff seemed disposed to use it the wrong way.
But they were not molested at all. The big young chap who had been tinkering with the engine, grinned as they passed by, and Frank thought he nodded to them in a sort of friendly way, as though to say he understood what had happened, and considered it a good joke on his employer.
“Engine broke down?” asked Bluff, in a friendly manner, as he passed.
“Just what she has,” replied the other; “and if we send back to St. Paul for a casting we may be stuck right here several days.”
“Hope it is a whole month,” muttered Bluff, as he trotted along at the heels of his leader; and Frank, for that matter, echoed the wish, since it would save them from more or less anxiety.
When they got aboard the Pot Luck it was to find that supper was well under way, and that the two who ran the house were quite ignorant of what had been going on.
And as Bluff, in his impatient style, started to exclaim how he only wished that Oswald had run up against Frank’s fist, both Will and Jerry jumped to their feet, demanding that they hear the story.
Their indignation was justifiable when told of the trap Fredericks and his set had laid for Frank. And Bluff was only too proud when he heard Frank admit that if it had not been for his having his “terrible weapon” along at the time, the chances were that when they two came back to the boat, they would be bearing some of the marks of a fiercely contested battle on their faces.
“And I want to serve notice here and now,” continued Bluff, as he affectionately patted his pump-gun, and held it up to the gaze of the others; “that after this there’s going to be no sort of sport made of this noble weapon. Today it saved Frank and myself a mauling. When they saw what it was, they cringed like a pack of cowards. Why, would you believe it? that Ellis just crawled under the table! Shows the kind of fellow he is. And, boys, the gun was empty and out of commission all the while, remember.”
