Sam did not wait to hear the completion of the sentence, for Captain Joe, sensing, doubtless, that the outlaw was in bad with the party, advanced upon him. The pirate sprang for a floating timber, missed it, and went under. He came up in a second and struck out for the sh.o.r.e through a comparatively clear channel. The boys watched him until he crawled out on a mud bank and then turned to Red.

"Well?" asked that individual, a smile on his face. "What next?"

"First," Clay said, "I want to thank you for saving me from that ruffian, and then I want you to sit down and wait until we get up the greatest dinner that ever was served on the Mississippi. I'm half starved, and I know that the boys are. Of course, if you want to land right now, we'll put you ash.o.r.e."

"I reckon," Red replied, with a slight tremble in his gruff voice, "that I can't do better than to stick here for a time!"

"Well," Clay went on, "the boys are wet and cold, as well as hungry, and so I'll have to do the cooking. Will you come in the cabin and sit by me while I do it?"

"Will I? I'm lucky not to be out there on the sh.o.r.e with Sam!"

The two pa.s.sed into the cabin, after the boys had put on dry clothes and warmed themselves at the coal stove, and Clay set about cooking a mammoth steak which had been bought at Cairo and kept in the tiny refrigerator. Then he boiled potatoes, and made light biscuit, and the coffee he produced was a hearty meal in itself! There were tinned beans, and sardines, and salmon, and many other things when the meal began, but when it was over the table was bare of everything in the provision line!

In the joy and comfort of being full-fed, Mose, Captain Joe, and Teddy rolled up in a common rug on the floor, in a corner where they would not be in the way, and went to sleep. Clay and Red went out on deck while the others washed the dishes.

"Are you thinking of sticking about this section all night?" asked the latter.

"Only for a short time," Clay answered. "We'll fix the motors, directly, and go on down the river. Why do you ask the question? Don't you want to stay here?"

"I was thinking," Red observed, quite coolly, "that, with the lights going, and the sh.o.r.e not far away, Sam might be thinking of taking a shot or two at the boys!"

"But he hasn't any gun!" Clay exclaimed.

"Yes, he has," Red returned. "He has a gun that wasn't found on him.

He keeps it in a watertight sack under his left arm. He's used to taking to the water!"

"And you think he will hang about the bank, walking down from where he was put off, and try to pick us off?" asked Clay. "How far are we now from the mud bank he mounted?"

"Not more than a couple of miles," was the reply. "We are in water that shows only a trace of current now, because there is a great headland just below, and the flood has packed the curve full. He probably has been able to keep up with the boat."

"That isn't going very fast!" laughed Clay, "for it has been at least two hours since he left the boat. The moon, which is in the first quarter, sets about eleven, and it is hiding itself in the trees already!"

"I wouldn't advise sticking hereabouts," insisted Red. "I can say no more!"

"All right!" Clay replied. "We'll fix the motors and start on down.

Here, Case," he called out, "did you bring the repairs?"

"Surest thing you know!" was the answer, and in a short time Clay was at work on the motive power, which was not much out of repair and was soon fixed.

"You know, of course," Clay said to Red, as the _Rambler_, under perfect control, started down stream at a pace which kept the driftwood from lunging against her stern, "that I recognize you as the man who talked with me out of the river at Cairo?"

"I never suspected it!" was the slow reply. "How do you know I'm the man?"

"Your voice!" was the reply. "It puzzled me at first, though."

"I'll have to trade voices with some river rascal!" grinned Red.

"You spoke, that night, about a boy who had come on board?" Clay said, tentatively.

"That was my business there," Red replied, with a slight frown.

"Where did the boy go that night? We never saw him after the officers came on board. He must have swum to the Missouri sh.o.r.e."

"He did," was the hesitating reply. "He made it, too!"

"Why didn't he remain with us?" asked Clay.

"He got scared! If I had kept away he might have done so."

"Is he your son?" was the next question Clay asked.

Red looked the boy in the face steadily for a moment and then asked:

"You don't want to harm the lad, do you?"

"I want to help him," was the reply. "He looked so forlorn, and wet, and cold, and hungry, that I've thought of him a lot since. Where is he now?"

"Well," Red said, in a perplexed tone, "that is what I can't tell you."

"Because you don't know where he is?" demanded Clay.

"No; not that. I know where he is, but I can't tell you."

"Is the child implicated in any crime?" Clay asked, looking sharply into the man's flushed face. "Is there any reason why he can't go with us?"

"Why do you suggest crime in connection with the kid?" demanded Red, a frown on his face. "He may be a.s.sociated with criminals, innocently, and yet be worthy of all your confidence and esteem!"

They talked a long time about the boy, about the events of the day, and about the future plans of the _Rambler_ boys. The boat made good progress during the night while all save Clay and his strange companion slept. With the first flush of dawn Red asked to be put ash.o.r.e, refusing to give any reason for wanting to leave the boat.

"You've used me mighty white," he said at parting, "and there'll come another day! Don't you ever forget that, lads! There'll come another day! And if you come across that waif again, just feed him, and warm him, and clothe him, and pa.s.s him on to wherever he wants to go. Thank you all!" and he was gone!

"What do you think of that for a mystery?" Clay asked as the man disappeared in a grove near the landing. "We shall hear from Red again."

CHAPTER X

MORE RIVER OUTLAWS

"And I have a notion that we'll run across that waif again," Case said. "I imagine that he is somewhere down the river, and that Red will not be far away when we come to him. Somehow, we bunt into mysteries wherever we go!"

"I've got a hunch," Alex. exclaimed, "that we are headed for news of that warehouse robbery at Rock Island! It seems to me too, that the boy had something to do, with it, or is mixed up in it in some way."

"He looked pretty lean and shabby for a chap who had been interested in a diamond robbery!" Jule suggested. "Perhaps he's not guilty--just suspected!"

The day was fine and the flood was running out. The river showed less wreckage than had been seen the day before, for the lowering water caused much of it to land on headlands and sandbars. During the forenoon the _Rambler_, which was still leaking a trifle, pa.s.sed several river shanties and houseboats, tied up below half-submerged islands, where they were protected from wreckage.