"And be careful about leaning over barrels," put in Mrs. MacCall. "You might have been hurt."

"Yes," agreed Tess, "I might be but I wasn't. Only my head felt funny and my legs felt queer, too, when I wiggled them."

They were approaching the end of the stretch of the ca.n.a.l through which they must travel to reach Gentory River. The boat would be "locked" from the ca.n.a.l to the larger stream, and then Neale could have his wish of operating the motor come true.

Toward evening they arrived at the last lock of their trip. Just beyond lay the river, and they would proceed up that to Lake Macopic.

As the _Bluebird_ emerged from the lock and slowly floated on the little basin into which just there the Gentory broadened, the attention of Ruth and Agnes was directed to a small motor boat which was just leaving the vicinity.

Ruth, who stood nearest the rail, grasped her sister by the arm, and cried an alarm.

"Look! Those men! In the boat!" exclaimed Ruth.

"What about them?" asked Agnes, while Mr. Howbridge glanced at the two sisters.

"They're the same men who robbed us!" exclaimed Ruth. "The men who took our jewelry box in the rain! Oh, stop them!"

CHAPTER XVII

UP THE RIVER

Neale O'Neil, who had been steering the houseboat during the operation of locking it from the ca.n.a.l into the river, sprang away from the tiller toward the side of the craft at Ruth's cries. There was no immediate need of guiding the _Bluebird_ for the moment, as she was floating idly with the momentum gained when she was slowly pulled from the lock basin.

"Are those the men?" asked Neale, pointing to two roughly dressed characters in a small motor boat.

"I'm sure they are!" a.s.serted Ruth. "That one steering is the man who grabbed the box from me. Look, Agnes, don't you remember them?"

Mr. Howbridge, who heard what was said, acted promptly. On the towpath, near the point where the river entered the ca.n.a.l through the lock, was Hank Dayton with the two mules, the services of which would no longer be needed.

"Hank! Hank! Stop those men!" cried the lawyer.

The driver dropped his reins, and sprang to the edge of the bank. Near him was a rowboat, empty at the time, and with the oars in the locks. It was the work of but a moment for Hank to spring in and shove off, and then he began rowing hard.

But of course he stood no chance against a motor boat. The two men in the gasoline craft turned on more power. The explosions came more rapidly and drowned the shouts of those on the houseboat. Hank soon gave up his useless effort, and turned back to sh.o.r.e, while Ruth and Agnes, leaning over the side of the rail, gazed at the fast-disappearing men.

"There must be some way of stopping them!" cried Mr. Howbridge, who was quite excited. "Isn't there a motor boat around here--a police boat or something? Neale, can't you get up steam and take after them?"

"The _Bluebird_ could never catch that small boat," answered the boy.

"And there doesn't seem to be anything else around here now, except rowboats and ca.n.a.lers."

This was true, and those on board the _Bluebird_ had to suffer the disappointment of seeing the men fade away in the distance.

"But something must be done!" insisted the lawyer. "An alarm must be given. The police must be notified. Where's the keeper of the lock? He may know these ruffians, and where they are staying. We must do something!"

"Well, they're getting away for the time being," murmured Neale, as he gazed up the river on which the motor boat was now hardly discernible as it was turning a bend. "But we're going the same way, and we may come across them. Are you sure, Ruth, that these are the same men who robbed you?"

"Positive!" declared the girl. "Aren't you, Agnes?"

"No, I can't be sure," answered her sister with a shake of her head.

"The men looked just as rough--and just as ugly--as the two who attacked us. But it was raining so hard, and we were in the doorway, and the umbrella was giving such trouble--no, Ruth," she added, "I couldn't be _sure_."

"But I am!" declared the oldest Kenway girl. "I had a good look at the face of at least one of the men in the boat, and I know it was he who took my box! Oh, if I could only get it back I wouldn't care what became of the men!"

"It ought to be an easy matter to trace them," said the lawyer. "Their motor boat must be registered and licensed, as ours must be. We can trace them through that, I think. Neale, would you know the men if you saw them again?"

"I might," answered the boy. "I didn't have a very good look at them, though. They both had their backs toward me, and their hats were pulled down over their faces. As Ruth says, however, they looked rough and desperate."

"We must take some action," declared the lawyer, with his characteristic energy. "The authorities must be notified and that motor boat traced. We shall have to stop here to register our own craft and get a license, and it will give us an opportunity to make some inquiries."

"Meanwhile those men will get away!" exclaimed Ruth. "And we'll never get our jewelry back. If we could get mother's ring," she added, "it wouldn't be so bad."

"They can't get very far away if they stick to the river," said Mr.

Howbridge. "The river flows into Lake Macopic and there is no outlet from that. If we have to pursue the men all the way to the lake we'll do it."

"Well, then let's get busy," suggested Neale. "The sooner we have our boat registered and licensed, the sooner we can start after those men.

Of course we can't catch them, for their boat goes so much faster than ours. But we can trace them."

"I hope we can," murmured Ruth, gazing up the river, on which there was now no trace of the boat containing the rough men. "We have two quests, now," she added. "Looking for our jewelry box, and your father, Neale.

And I hope we find your father, whether I get back my things or not--anything but the ring."

"Let us hope we get both," said the boy.

Then followed a busy hour. Certain formalities had to be gone through with, in order to enable the _Bluebird_ to make the voyage on the river and lake. Her motor was inspected and pa.s.sed. Neale had seen to it that the machinery was in good shape.

Mr. Howbridge came back from the boat registry office with the necessary permit and license, and Ruth asked him:

"Did you find out anything about the men?"

"No one here knows them," he said. "They were never here before, and they came only to get some supplies. It appears they are camping on one of the islands in Lake Macopic."

"Was their boat registered?" asked Neale.

"Yes. At least it is presumed so. But as we did not see the number on it we can give the authorities no clue. Motor boats up here don't have to carry their number plates in such large size as autos do. That craft was not registered at this office, but it was, very likely, granted a permit at the office at the other end of the river or on the lake. So we can only keep on and hope either to overtake the men or to get a trace of them in some other way."

"We can never overtake them if they keep going as fast as they did when they left here," said Agnes.

"They won't keep that speed up," declared Neale. "But we had better get started. We'll be under our own power now, and can travel whenever we like, night or day."

"Are we going to take the mules with us--and Mr. Hank!" asked Dot, hugging her "Alice-doll."

"Hank is going to accompany us," said Mr. Howbridge. "But we'll leave the mules behind, having no place for them on the _Bluebird_. I think I will dispose of them, for I probably shall not go on a vacation along the ca.n.a.l again."

"But it was a delightful and novel one," said Ruth.