Don Gordon's Shooting-Box, Harry Castlemon [first ebook reader .TXT] 📗

338“There’s a splendid breeze on,” said Don, who had never been able to make up his mind which he liked best—sailing, horse-back riding, or shooting. “It blows right down the river, too. We can’t sail out because the pass is so narrow; but when we get out into the Mississippi, will go flying. Now, then, why doesn’t father come?”

The general was making out a warrant empowering the constable to search the house-boat when they found it, and then he lingered to unsaddle the horses which he had brought out for his own use and Godfrey’s. When these duties had been performed, he and Godfrey and the constable came down to the jetty and took their seats in the sail-boat, which was promptly pushed off and headed up the pass. Half an hour sufficed for the oarsmen to bring her to the levee, over which she was hauled without the least trouble. Then came another short stretch through which she was propelled by the oars; and as soon as she was fairly out of the pass and began to feel the force of the wind and the current, the oars were drawn in, Don seated himself at the helm, Bert, with Fred and Joe Packard’s assistance, 339hoisted the sails, the sheets were let out and the pursuit was begun.

“Keep as close in to shore as you can, Don,” said Bert. “It’s pretty dark, and we may pass her before we know it.”

“You don’t expect to see that house-boat where you found her this morning, do you?” said Don. “It’s eleven o’clock, isn’t it? Well, she is twenty miles down the river by this time. Keep a bright look-out for lights, everybody. We don’t want to let some steamboat run us down before we know it.”

Although he knew he was wasting time in doing it, Don kept the boat as close to the bank as he could with safety, but nothing was to be seen of the piratical craft of which they were in search. When Bert announced that they had passed the place where she had been moored in the morning, Don drew in the sheets a little, and held the boat’s head diagonally across the river in order to strike the stronger current of the channel. Then the sail-boat began to show the speed of which she was capable; and then, too, the general enjoined silence upon all her occupants.

“The night is comparatively quiet,” said he, 340“and the rattling of an oar, or a word spoken in a loud tone of voice, can be heard a long distance. We have one advantage over the crew of that flat-boat: we can get out of the way of a steamboat and they can’t; so they will have to carry lights for their protection.”

Under Don’s skillful management the little boat flew swiftly along, keeping in the channel when her course was clear, and making all haste to get out of it as often as the vigilant look-out announced that there were lights ahead. Two hours passed, and nothing had been seen of the flat-boat.

“I reckon we’ve missed her,” said the constable. “She has tied up to the bank somewhere, and we have run by her in the dark.”

“If that is the case, there is only one thing we can do,” said Don. “We’ll keep on down the river until day-light, and then we’ll come about and beat back again, making a close examination of each shore. She can’t escape us, unless she hauls into one of these little bayous and gets out of sight among the bushes.”

“And if her crew know the river and are at all sharp, that is just what they will do,” said the constable.

341Just then a deep-toned whistle sounded in the bend below them, and instantly the conversation ceased and everybody was on the alert, and listening with all his ears to catch the reply. It came at length, but it was not a whistle; it was a prolonged blast from a tin horn. There was a commotion among the boys, and their excitement arose to fever heat.

“There she is,” said Bert, confidently.

“Don’t be too hasty in jumping at conclusions,” said his father, in a quiet tone.

“There’s a flat-boat in the bend below us, and I am sure of it,” answered Bert.

“So am I; but still it may not be the one we want to find. There is more than one flat-boat on this river, you know.”

Don brought his boat close to the wind, and went scudding across the river to get out of the steamer’s way. He held well over toward the eastern shore, and when he stood off on the other tack the steamer had passed, and Bert announced, in a low tone, that there were lights straight ahead. They were close to the water, and the sail-boat’s crew had but one opinion concerning them. They belonged to a flat-boat, but whether 342or not it was the one of which they were in pursuit, was a question that only time could solve.

“Lay us aboard of her without any ceremony,” said the general. “Bert, stand by with the boat-hook. We must move quickly, and give them no chance to throw the mail overboard, if they have got it.”

Don kept the bow of his little craft pointed toward the flat-boat, and so silently did she move through the water that the man who stood at the steering-oar, keeping a sharp look-out in front of him, but never thinking to look behind, was entirely unconscious of her approach. Presently Bert reached for the boat-hook, at the same time giving a nod that everybody understood. A few minutes more would decide whether they were on the right track or not. Bert stood up in his place; Don, at a sign from his father, paid out the main-sheet rapidly, thus bringing his craft broadside to the house-boat, and just then the man at the steering-oar awoke from his reverie and turned quickly about.

“Keep away, there!” he shouted, in great alarm. “Keep away, or you’ll sink us.”

343Don did not want to sink the house-boat, but he wanted to come alongside of her, and he did it a moment later in a very creditable manner. The instant the two boats touched, General Gordon and his party sprang over the side and ran into the cabin, some going in at the back door and the others at the front, leaving Don and Bert to act as grappling-irons, and to keep the boats from drifting apart. The man at the steering-oar was captured by Egan, who stood guard over him with his double-barrel, and Barlow and his companion, who were busy in the cabin, were covered by the constable’s revolver and Godfrey Evans’s rifle before they had time to think of their weapons.

“This looks like business,” said the officer, handing his six-shooter to Fred Packard, and drawing three pairs of handcuffs from his pocket.

The others thought so too. David’s mail-bag lay upon the table—he would never carry it again, for it had been ruined by being cut open with a knife—and its contents were scattered about over the floor and in the bunks. The most of the letters had been torn open, and the robbers had reaped a very fair reward for their trouble, 344having secured about forty dollars in greenbacks, and a check for three hundred dollars, drawn by a country merchant in favor of his creditors in Memphis. The general took charge of the bills and the check, while the constable lost no time in putting the irons on Barlow and his confederate.

“Where’s the other?” said he. “There ought to be three of them.”

“Here he is,” said Egan, who marched his prisoner into the cabin and turned him over to the officer, at the same time making a sergeant’s salute, as he would if he had been at the academy.

“I told you jest how it would be,” said the steersman, glaring savagely at Barlow as he felt the cold handcuffs clasped about his wrists. “Why didn’t you hide, as I wanted you to do, instead of trying to run?”

“You would have showed a little more sense if you had done that,” said the constable, “but on the whole, we are very well satisfied. Now keep still, all of you,” he added, shaking his finger at the women, who, having checked their loud lamentations, now showed a disposition to become abusive. “Godfrey, keep your eye on 345these men until they are safe under lock and key.”

Godfrey was just the one for this business. There was only one thing that would have suited him better, and that was an order to punch the prisoners’ heads. For the first time his eyes were opened to the fact that David was a great help to the family, and that the loss of his position as mail-carrier would be a serious blow to all of them.

“If me an’ Dan would only wake up an’ stay woke up, we’d get along well enough,” he said to himself, as he leaned on his long rifle and looked thoughtfully at the floor. “Dave’s doin’ his shar’, an’ me an’ that lazy, good-for-nothin’ Dan has got to do our’n from this day on; an’ that’s just all thar is about it. Dan never would a thought of puttin’ anybody up to robbin’ Dave if he had been to work, an’ I’ll see that he has plenty to do in futur’, I bet ye.”

While General Gordon and the constable were gathering up the mail and putting it into the bag, they had much to talk about. They had secured the robbers, and the next thing was to get them back to Rochdale. They had about 346decided that they would tie the house-boat to the bank and take the prisoners up the river in the sail-boat, when Curtis came in to say that there were lights below them; whereupon the general picked up Barlow’s horn and went out to answer the steamer’s signals. This having been done, he waited for her to come abreast of the flat-boat. She proved to be a large stem-wheeler with a tow of empty coal barges.

“Steamer, ahoy!” shouted the general.

“Hallo!” responded a man who was standing on the hurricane-deck near the bell.

“What steamer is that?”

“The ‘B No. 2’ of Pittsburg.”

“Is that you, Captain Pratt?”

“Yes; but that can’t be you, Gordon.”

The general replied that it was he; and upon receiving this reply the captain raised his hand, the pilot rang the stopping-bell, and the steamer’s wheel hung motionless in the water.

“Why, Gordon, what in the world are you doing here at this hour in the morning?” demanded the captain.

“Can’t stop to explain now,” answered the 347general.“ Will you give us a lift as far as Rochdale?”

“Of course I will. Can you bring that tub of yours alongside?”

They could and they did. The sails were hauled down instantly, the oars were manned and the flat-boat was hauled over and made fast to the stern of the steamer’s tow. Then the general went on board the steamer to explain matters to Captain Pratt, while the boys lingered to look after the safety of the sail-boat. Having tied her to one of the barges so that she would ride easily, they followed the general on board the “B,” and seated themselves on the quarter-deck to talk over the exciting events of the night. Every one of them gave Don Gordon great credit for what he had done. If he had not been sharp enough to see guilt in Dan Evans’s face and actions, there was no knowing when the robbers would have been captured.

“Young gemmen,” said the negro steward, “won’t you step into de cabin an’ hab a bite of lunch? You mus’ be hungry after your long, cold ride.”

The boys were hungry and cold, too, although 348they did not know it until that moment. They did ample justice to the steward’s lunch, and also to his breakfast which was served at seven o’clock. At eight they passed Rochdale, and half an hour later they cast loose from the tow and began the work of pulling their clumsy prize and its occupants to the landing.

The “hue and cry” which the constable had raised the night before had brought the loafers and the neighboring planters out in full force, and there was a large crowd to welcome them as they went ashore with their prisoners. As there was no place in Rochdale in which the robbers could be confined, the preliminary examination was held at once, the women being tried as accessories. They all pleaded guilty—(as there were ten witnesses present who could testify that the stolen mail was found in their possession, and David Evans easily identified them by their clothing, they could not do otherwise)—and half an hour later they were on their way to the county-seat, where they were to be kept in jail until their trial came off. When they and their guards were out of sight, General Gordon and his party, which included David