"Down on the river sh.o.r.e," was the reply.

"Then what is all that noise?" demanded the other.

"I don't hear any noise," was the surly reply.

"There is some one moving in the bushes."

"Then it must be one of the boys," Alex heard, "and I think we had better investigate. It would be luck to catch one of them."

"It wouldn't be any luck for me to be caught," thought Alex, "and so I'll just make a sneak back to the boat. I've learned all I wanted to know, anyway."

He started away, but almost at his first motion a stone became detached from the ledge at his side and went thundering down toward the spot from which the voices had proceeded.

"There!" one of the men cried, "I told you there was some one here."

Together the men immediately rushed to the spot where Alex lay hidden.

They rustled through the bushes without any attempt at concealment, scrambling up the acclivity with the use of both hands and feet.

As they advanced another rustling came from the left, and Alex saw Teddy on the way back to his side. The moon, creeping farther to the south, found an opening in the dense foliage above the ledge, and threw a long shaft of light upon the exact spot where Alex lay, revolver in hand, waiting for the expected attack.

He moved out of this natural limelight hastily, but as he did so another figure entered it. Advancing swiftly, the men who had discovered the location of the boy, saw him disappear and saw the new figure which came upon the scene. They stopped instantly.

To their excited imaginations Teddy, standing somewhat above their heads, seemed to be at least nine feet high! Evidently trying to propitiate Alex for running away from him, the cub set about practicing all the stunts the boys had been teaching him for months.

Standing upon his hind legs, he extended his paws in a boxing att.i.tude and pranced about, as he had been taught to do, in all the att.i.tudes of the prize ring. The hair on his neck and back seemed to bristle with anger. His little round eyes, bright in the moonlight, twinkled viciously!

The men who were watching this trained exhibition, held their breaths in terror. They expected to be attacked by the animal immediately.

Directly, they began backing slowly away. Then Teddy broke into his pet amus.e.m.e.nt, a whirling half-dance and they turned and ran, stumbling down the declivity, brushing through the briars and clinging vines of the thicket, and finally disappearing in the shadows farther upstream!

It did not take Alex long to find his way to the cub.

"You certainly are enough to scare the life out of a stranger," he said, addressing the bear. "If you don't mind, now, we'll go back to the boat. We've got news for the boys, at any rate."

But Teddy was not inclined to go back to the close cabin. He wanted a longer run in the woods. Before Alex could seize the collar which had been placed about his neck, he was away again. Alex pursued him for some distance, and then turned back toward the boat.

When he reached the sh.o.r.e and called softly to Case to row the boat over to him, there was no answer from the craft, as the rush of the river drowned his voice, but a most unexpected one came from the sh.o.r.e back of him. He turned quickly to see the barrel of a gun shining in the moonlight. He reached for his own weapon, but a hand caught his wrist and held it, as if in a grasp of iron.

"All right, kid," a harsh voice said, "if they don't want you on your boat, we'll give you a home on ours. We've got the snuggest little craft upstream you ever saw. You're welcome to it, only it may be dangerous for you to try to get away or make any noise!"

CHAPTER VI

CAPTAIN JOE TAKES A PRISONER

Case waited patiently a long time for the return of his chum. When it came near midnight he decided to awaken Clay and inform him of the situation. The latter was out of his bed instantly.

"He shouldn't have gone," the boy said, anxiously. "There is no doubt that he is in trouble of some kind. I'm sorry for this!"

"Well, he would go," Case urged, "and he promised to go only to the sh.o.r.e and look around. Just after he left, Teddy splashed off the boat and ran into the thicket. I presume the two are together."

"Of course they're together," said Clay, "That is, if Teddy hasn't been discovered and shot. That is likely to happen."

"What shall we do?" asked Case anxiously.

"It isn't much use to go into the thicket after him," Clay decided.

"There is plenty of moonlight here, it is true, but the foliage must make it very dark in the forest. It would be like looking for a special pebble on the beach to try to find him now. We'll have to wait."

"Perhaps Teddy will come and bring us news," suggested Case. "I have known him to do such things. He's a wise little bear."

There was no more sleep on board the _Rambler_ that night. With the first flush of dawn Clay and Jule were abroad in the forest, leaving Case on watch. Although they searched patiently for a long time, no trace of the missing boy could be discovered.

Here and there were tracks which must have been made by Teddy, but it was not certain that the two had been together. After a time the boys returned to the bank of the river just above the location of the _Rambler_. There they found where a boat had been drawn up to the bank.

"I don't see how they ever got a boat by us," Clay argued, "but they certainly did, for they couldn't have got here first. They must have sneaked up the east sh.o.r.e in the shadows and landed above the _Rambler_. Are you sure that no boat pa.s.sed down after Alex left?" he asked of Case. "One might have drifted down without making much noise."

"I was awake every minute of the time," Case insisted, "and no boat pa.s.sed down. When the moon swung around to the south, the whole river was illuminated. I would have seen any craft that pa.s.sed."

"Then it is certain that the intruders are still up river, perhaps above the falls, and I am afraid that Alex is where they are. That little rascal is always getting lost! He should have remained on board."

"Yes, he gets lost," admitted Case, loyally, "but he always comes out on top in the end. There wouldn't be any fun if Alex and Teddy were not always getting into trouble. It sort of keeps things moving!"

"Well," Clay concluded, "the place to look for the boy is, as I said before, upstream. Now, the question is, shall we take the _Rambler_ up?"

"I am afraid the motors would declare our presence," Case observed, speaking from the deck of the boat, "and, besides, we couldn't go very far on account of the falls, so, perhaps, we would better go up as far as we can in the rowboat, making as little noise as possible."

"And what's the matter with putting Captain Joe on sh.o.r.e?" asked Jule.

"He may be able to point out the spot where the men left the river.

Anyhow, it won't do any harm to try."

"That's a good idea," declared Clay, "and I'll go along with him."

"I'm afraid you'll find it pretty rough walking along that bank," Case suggested, "for the country is rocky and leads up to the plateau above the falls, and small streams may run in from the peninsula. You might have to swim when you wasn't climbing hills."

"I'll try it a short distance, anyway," Clay answered, "and you, Case, remain on board and let Jule row up in the boat."

This arrangement was carried out, and in a short time, the little boat was moving upstream, with Jule pulling cautiously at the oars. Clay found the bank a difficult one to ascend. He was obliged to wade through small creeks and climb rocky heights, but he kept steadily on his way, with Captain Joe at his heels.

At last, they came to a creek which ran into the river at the foot of the falls. On the south side of this creek, for some distance in, was a level, gra.s.sy plateau, and here Captain Joe picked up the scent they were looking for. The south bank showed that a boat had recently been drawn up there.

Disregarding, for the time being, all commands from the boy, the dog raced up the small stream, and finally disappeared in a thicket.

Clay hesitated, undecided as to whether he ought to follow the dog at once or return to notify Jule of his discovery and secure his a.s.sistance.

He had already lost sight of the dog, so he concluded that he might as well return to Jule. This he did, and in a short time, the boat was anch.o.r.ed at the mouth of the creek, and the boys were pressing on into the thicket. Captain Joe was nowhere in sight.