"I reckon the dog has more sense than we have!" Alex. exclaimed.

"We'll have to take to the raft, all right, so here goes."

"Wait for a bit of light!" urged Case. "The moon will be out in a second."

In the darkness which followed the boys could feel the water rising in the boat. The current was pressing the craft down against the timber raft, and the creaking of the hull proclaimed a badly wrecked boat.

"Say," Case called out, "one of you boys get out a light. We've got to make a jump right soon. This is some adventure! What?"

Jule reached for his electric, but Alex. caught his arm.

"There's a light on the Missouri bank," he said, "and it looks to me like the cabin windows of the _Rambler_ were sending it out. Lay low in the dark and drift with the raft!"

CHAPTER VIII

FACES AT THE WINDOW

"Look here, Red," the outlaw who had been called Sam said, addressing the giant, as the _Rambler_ struck the half-submerged tree, "we've got up against something hard!"

"We never should have put out into the river!" retorted Red. "A few more b.u.mps like that, and to the fishes we go! Get a pole out, and see if you can push away from that consarned tree. Then we'll soon get to sh.o.r.e."

Sam went into the cabin, where Clay sat, side by side with the bear cub, on a bunk.

"Where's your river pole?" he demanded. "You must have something of the kind!"

"There's one in hooks at the side of the cabin," replied the boy. "If you'll cut this cord I'll help you get out of the current."

Sam leered savagely at the boy for a moment, picked up the revolver which lay on the floor not far away, put it into a pocket, and then severed the cord.

"Mind you," he said, as Clay sprang for the pole, "if you try any tricks on us we'll chuck you to the fish!"

Without paying much attention to the threat, Clay grasped the pole and ran to the prow, which was now entangled in a wilderness of branches springing from the bole of the tree the boat had struck. The boy's strength was insufficient, and Red came to his a.s.sistance. Both pried and pushed, but it seemed impossible to back the boat against the sweep of the current.

As if to make matters worse, a long timber lodged against the stern and added its weight to that of the motor boat and the running water.

Sam stood looking on with a cynical smile on his hard face.

"You never can do it," he finally declared. "We'll have to let the boat drift down in company with the tree. Just our luck to strike such a snag!"

"If that limb wasn't in the way," Red a.s.serted, "we could get the boat out. It binds on the side of the cabin."

Clay hastened into the cabin and soon returned to the prow with an axe. Both men eyed him sharply as he came forward with the keen-edged implement.

"You know what I told you!" Sam shouted, stepping toward the boy.

"Let him alone!" commanded Red. "I reckon the kid knows what he is about!"

"Now," Clay explained, addressing the big fellow, who seemed more inclined to be friendly than his companion, "if you'll stand ready with the pole, I'll get over on the trunk and cut that limb away. Then we can edge over to the sh.o.r.e."

"Oh, yes!" sneered Sam. "We let you off on the tree, and you go on down and call out the police at the first landing. Not for your uncle!"

"Go on," shouted Red, to Clay. "I'll steady you with the pole, and when the limb is off you give it a poke and come on board. Will you do that?"

"Sure!" answered the boy. "I have no intention of going off and leaving the _Rambler_! Hand me the axe when I get down on the trunk, will you?"

Without waiting for any further conversation, which was difficult because of the roaring of the river, Clay crept over the gunwale and landed on the tree, which sank lower under his weight. Then he reached for the axe, which Red promptly pa.s.sed to him.

"I wouldn't get down on that tree for a thousand dollars!" cried Sam.

"If he don't time himself to a second, he'll get knocked into a c.o.c.ked hat by the boat when she swings loose! I'm not stuck on taking any such chances."

"That is some kid!" Red exclaimed, admiringly, as Clay chopped away at the limb. "I wish we had him with us!"

"You want to look out for him!" Sam cautioned. "He may prove to be too much of a kid for both of us, but I've got him covered, so if he tries to----"

The limb dropped away after a few strokes with the axe, and the boat righted and swung against the trunk. The swaying of the trunk upon which Clay stood threw him into the water, but he clung to the tree and tried to work back to the boat. Sam lifted the pole to strike his unprotected head.

"May as well get rid of him now," he declared, with an ugly oath.

Red struck the would-be murderer a savage blow in the face and reached down to a.s.sist the boy to the deck. For a moment it seemed that both of them must be drawn under the boat, but the big fellow's strength won, and Clay was hauled, dripping and exhausted, up on deck. Sam eyed him malevolently and snarled.

"It will come some time!"

Red pushed the boy toward the cabin, the look on his face friendlier than ever.

"Go and get into dry clothes," he said. "Never mind what Sam says! He means all right, only he don't know how to express himself!"

The _Rambler_ now swung off toward the sh.o.r.e, and Red and Sam were kept busy working wreckage out of her course. They snarled at each other as they worked, and Clay was in constant fear that Sam would play some treacherous trick on the big fellow in return for the blow he had received. The marks of the short encounter were still on his face.

Much to his relief, the _Rambler_ was edged into calmer water next to the Missouri sh.o.r.e. He had no idea at that time, even, that he would lose the boat. He did not know what had become of his chums, but he believed that in some way they would be able to come to his rescue.

They had never failed him.

The _Rambler_ drifted down for some distance, leaking a little but not seriously, and was finally worked into a little bay where there was no current.

That was a long day for the boy. Several boats pa.s.sed up and down on the river, and relief parties searching for flood victims were frequently seen, but Red always announced that they were in no trouble whatever when questioned.

Clay was not bound again, but was kept in the cabin, with the door closed. He could hear calls from pa.s.sing boats, but did not dare make the situation known.

During the day the outlaws devoured what cooked food there was in the cabin and gave some to the boy. Once Sam lay down for a short nap. Red was not communicative, and refused to answer any questions as to his intentions regarding the _Rambler_.

A fine mist came down as the night shut in, but presently the moon came out, and the outlaws began discussing the advisability of proceeding on down the river.

"We can get to our landing," Sam insisted. "Once there, we can get into the bayou back of the island, where no one will think of looking for us. We must get the boat out of sight," he went on, "before reports of her capture spread along the river. Besides, the boys will be waiting for us at the shanty."

"All right," Red finally agreed. "I'm willing to take my chance on being smashed flat by a tree or floating barn."

Clay listened to the talk with interest. Somehow he began to recognize the voice of the big fellow! Where had he heard it before? Then, like a flash, the memory came to him! The man had talked with him from the river at Cairo! There is where he had heard the voice!