Chet at once took to the pets of the boat, Mose, Captain Joe, and Teddy, the bear cub, and they immediately recognized him as a member of the family.

While he was playing with the cub on the prow, Clay made an oblong package of the diamonds, scattering them in between sheets of paper, and marked them "Bonds." The bag in which they had been found was half filled with burrs, and small bits of a broken dish and tied tight. It resembled the bag as it had stood before any change had been made when Clay had finished with it.

This bag Clay resolved to keep in his pocket until he could place it under the eyes of the boy who claimed it, the idea being to see if he really would s.n.a.t.c.h the supposed prize and take to the river again.

Clay hoped that he would not, for all liked the little fellow. That afternoon they ran down to a Memphis pier and Clay went ash.o.r.e with the gems.

He was in time to secure a deposit box at a bank and stow the diamonds away. The cashier with whom he did business asked questions regarding his age and permanent residence, and seemed satisfied with his answers. He was, indeed, especially interested in Clay's description of the _Rambler_ and the voyages the boys had made in her, and asked permission to visit the party that evening if he found time.

Clay gladly gave the required permission, ordered supplies sent to the pier, and then started out for a look at the beautiful city. Almost at the entrance to the bank he met Alex., who had the flushed appearance of a boy who had been walking pretty fast.

The two walked together for a block without speaking, save for the initial greeting, and then Alex. proposed that they go to a restaurant and have a "steak about as big as a parlor rug," as he expressed it.

Clay agreed, but laughed at the notion.

"Why not take it on board?" he asked. "We can cook it much better than any city chef," he added.

"Well," Alex. replied, "I saw a neat little restaurant back here, not far from the river front, and I thought I'd like to go there and have a feed."

So the two turned into the restaurant, when they came to it, and took a small table at a rear corner of the room. It being late for dinner and early for supper, there were few in the place.

One party, at the front of the room, at once attracted Clay's attention. There were three men in the party, one young, smiling and flashily dressed; one old, grizzled and clad in a well-worn business suit; and another dressed expensively and with great care. This man had a surprising growth of red hair which showed evidences of great care. His face was smooth-shaven, and had the appearance of having recently been divested of a beard, the flesh showing soft and white, as if not long exposed to the weather.

When this man arose to pay the check and laid a hand on the back of a chair, Clay noticed that the hand was very large and finely kept. The man was something over six feet in height! Clay gave Alex. a kick under the table and directed his gaze to the large man, then pa.s.sing over to the cashier's window.

"Take a good look at that man," he whispered. "Ever see him before?"

"I saw him when I pa.s.sed," was the reply, "and brought you here.

That's Red, the Robber."

CHAPTER XIV

ALEX. BREAKS FURNITURE

"Unless Red, the Robber, has a twin who is an exact duplicate of himself," Clay whispered, "that is just who it is!"

"When I pa.s.sed here," Alex. explained, "the three were just sitting down to dinner, and I knew that I could get you back here in time to see Red, the Robber, before he could finish the big steak he had just tackled. There he is! Now what?"

"It doesn't seem possible that that finely-dressed, well-groomed man is really the one who talked with us out on the river at Cairo, and who afterwards captured the _Rambler_ by holding a gun about the size of a cannon on me," Clay declared.

"And the man who bespoke kind treatment for Chet, the waif," Alex.

went on. "I guess we're both seeing things not present to the senses!

There ain't no such man!"

"It can't be!" Clay tried to convince himself. "It can't be the same man!"

Yet he knew deep down in his heart that it was the same man! If there had been any doubt of the complete identification at the start, there was none when the man spoke to the cashier in the full, deep voice which Clay knew that he had heard while he was tied up in the cabin of the _Rambler_!

"I have heard that river thieves sometimes make up to look like bankers and high-up politicians," Alex. whispered.

"And I have heard that bankers and high-up politicians occasionally a.s.sume the disguises of river characters for some purpose of their own," Clay returned.

"Do they mix with murderers and steal motor boats when they do that?"

asked Alex., with a provoking snicker. "'Cause if they do, this may be one of the high-ups!"

"He must recognize us," Clay went on. "Watch and see if you catch in him any signs of joy at the meeting!"

"He hasn't yet shown that he knows we are in the room," Alex. replied.

"There's one way to find out who he is," Clay suggested. "When he leaves here, you follow him until he enters some house or office and ask questions about him after he goes on. I'll do the same here--that is, I'll see what the cashier knows about him."

Alex., glad of an opportunity of showing what he could accomplish as a detective, readily agreed to this arrangement, and, the man leaving the restaurant at the moment, Alex. darted away after him, leaving Clay to question the cashier.

The big man, still in the company of his two companions, walked briskly toward the river front, after leaving the restaurant, and finally came to a stop at a pier some distance down the stream from that at which the motor boat lay. Alex. watched the three men shake hands gravely and part, the one he believed to be Red going on board a small steamer which lay close by with smoke pouring from her stacks.

"Now," thought the boy, "shall I give it up, or shall I sneak on board the boat and see what I can learn of this man who poses as a river pirate one day and as a gentleman of great respectability the next?"

Alex.'s horse sense told him to wait about the pier until some one came off the boat and engage that person in conversation in an effort to learn the ident.i.ty of the man he was following, but his natural love of adventure told him to make his way on board and learn there what he could, not only of the man, but of the steamer and its destination and cargo.

The spirit of adventure won, and Alex., waiting until there was no one in sight on the freight deck, ventured on board. There was still no one in sight when he reached the staircase leading to the cabin, and he proceeded to climb up, listening between steps for indications of human life.

He found the indications he sought with a vengeance at the head of the stairs. As he stepped up a husky negro seized him by the collar and dragged him toward the prow. Alex. kicked and struggled to no purpose.

The negro was too strong for him. All the time he was carrying him along, almost as he would have carried a kitten, the negro kept up a running fire of comment.

The boy gathered from this comment that he was regarded as a sneak thief, and tried more than once to explain, but the negro kept on talking to himself and paid no attention to the words of his prisoner.

Alex. administered a st.u.r.dy kick and gave it up.

Presently a door was opened at the very front end of the cabin and the boy was thrust into a small stateroom. The force of his entrance sent him against a berth and he crawled up and lay down to think things over. He heard the door behind him locked.

"This is a pretty kettle of fish!" grunted the boy, as he looked about the room.

It was just an ordinary stateroom, with one bunk, a dresser, and a chair. The window looking out on deck was covered by green slat-blinds, and ornamental metal-work covered the gla.s.s panel of the door opening into the cabin.

After taking in the room in all its details, Alex. arose and tried to open the green blinds so as to get a look outside. To his surprise he found that they would not open. They were of steel, and were there to protect the window! The room was as stoutly guarded as a prison cell!

"Red, the Robber, seems to have use for a cell," the boy thought, "that is, if this is his boat! I wonder what he thinks he's going to do with me?"

Alex. had now no doubt that Red had recognized Clay and himself at the restaurant. He wondered if Clay, too, had been trapped! He could not make up his mind as to whether the man was a robber or a gentleman of business standing, but he knew that he was in a most undesirable situation.

Then he began to wonder if Red knew that he was on board! The man had given no intimation that he had knowledge of being followed. He, Alex., had sneaked on board, like a veritable wharf rat, and the husky negro had been fully justified in taking him into custody! Still, the negro should have listened to his explanations and given him a chance to prove his innocence.

This last view of the case was much more to the liking of the boy than the previous one, for Red had shown a friendly spirit while on board the _Rambler_, and might now set him free as soon as informed of his capture. Clay had permitted Red his freedom under much more trying conditions!

"If he's a river thief," Alex. concluded, "he'll keep me here until he is sure I can't injure him by telling of his raid on the motor boat, but if he is on the level--if he was, for some purpose of his own, masquerading while in company with Sam--he will release me as soon as he knows I am here--for Clay's sake, if not for my own!"

This was a rather comforting conclusion, so the boy began beating with all his might on the panels of the door. He pounded away for some moments without hearing the least response, and then sat down to rest.