“Yes, and about that time they glimpsed us coming along; is that the way you figure it out, Thad?” asked Allan eagerly; for this explanation on the part of his chum appealed strongly to him.
“Yes, they saw a bunch of fellows in khaki running toward the boat,” pursued the scout master; “and as it was too late for them to make a safe getaway, they just lifted a trap in the floor of the cabin, and dropped into the hold of the boat.”
“Je-ru-sa-lem!” gasped Giraffe, “now, what d’ye think of that? All the time we were aboard the old boat George and his pal were hiding in the hold, and waiting for us to vacate the ranch! Thad, I honestly believe you’ve struck oil.”
“But,” interposed Step Hen, who on this occasion seemed disposed to be the only doubter, “why wouldn’t they have made some attempt to escape while we slept, before the flood got so bad that the boat broke away from her moorings?”
“There must have been some reason,” Thad told him; “and we may be able to give a stab at it, even if we never know the real truth. If you look back again, Step Hen, to how we were sprawled about on the floor of that little cabin, trying to get some sleep, and wrapped in our blankets, you’ll likely remember that the eight of us managed to cover about all the limited space there was around.”
“Every foot of the floor, for a fact, Thad,” Davy admitted; “and I even threatened to hang by my toes from a hook, and sleep like a bat does, only Giraffe told me all the blood would run to my head, because that was the only empty place in my makeup.”
“Well, somebody must have been lying on that trap door, and whenever the men below tried to raise it they understood there was nothing doing,” Thad explained.
“Yes, that carries it up to the time we broke loose, and started on our wild ride down the flood,” Step Hen admitted; “but you’d think they’d have let us know about having passengers aboard. Whenever we bucked up against a rock, and the bally old tub threatened to turn upside-down, think how scared George and his pal must ’a’ been. Whew! it was bad enough above-decks, let alone being shut down there, and not knowing what was happening.”
“Of course I can’t tell you what they thought, and why they didn’t try to communicate with us,” Thad went on. “It might be they felt that if they had to choose between giving themselves up or staying down in the hold and taking their chances they’d prefer the last. But when we left the boat I honestly believe they were aboard still.”
“Yes, and they’d guess she had struck shore, from the steady way she hung there,” Giraffe continued, taking up the story in his turn, “and of course they knew that we were clearing out. So, what did they do but follow suit, as soon as they thought the coast was clear.”