Straight to the nearest wharf Glennon and Scudder pursued the boy. An old vessel lay at the pier, and the lad leaped onto her deck. Glennon followed, and Scudder was not far behind.
"Now we’ve got you!" cried Glennon triumphantly.
"In your mind!" flung back the boy, as he dodged round the cabin of the vessel.
The Hudsonville chap pursued him round, the boy laughing tauntingly.
"Head him off the other way!" cried Glennon to Scudder.
"All right," said Uric. "Let me get my hands on him! Won’t I make him sick!"
But the lively lad darted away from the cabin, avoiding both of his followers.
"You fellers are too slow!" he grinned, as he thumbed his nose at them from the forward deck.
"I’ll show you how slow I am if we ever catch you!" grated Uric.
As they charged for him, the boy suddenly ran up the shrouds like a monkey. The shrouds were rotten, however, and threatened to break beneath his weight.