“Can’t go aboard there!” gasped Bob. “We’d be killed. Across the river—quick. They won’t dare touch the raft either.”
They doubled over the oars, passing the raft as it came completely out of the creek and turned down the Alabama current. They drove the boat hard for the shelter of the other shore, but they were no more than half-way across when they heard a wild whoop and saw the pirates’ boat shoot out in pursuit.
Bob had a despairing feeling that all was lost. The glitter of the sun on the water dazzled him; the strain of the fight and the hard rowing left him dizzy. Still he pulled automatically till he heard Joe say:
“Slow up. They’re not after us.”
With a gasp of relief Bob rested on his oars, wiped the sweat out of his half-blinded eyes, and took in the situation. They had nearly reached the farther shore. The river-men were still keeping to their own side of the stream, following the raft down, but keeping well back from it. For the floating apiary presented a formidable spectacle, which even an experienced bee-keeper would rather have contemplated from a distance.
The pine hives were black with crawling bees, robbers trying to get in, and the hive-guards themselves. Overhead a roaring cloud swirled and drifted. It was plain that the raft needed no defenders now.
“I wouldn’t go aboard it for a bank safe,” said Bob, “not even with a veil and smoker. But what are those fellows following it up for, do you suppose?”
“Don’t forget that the boxes full of plunder are there still,” replied Joe. “The jewelry and jackknives and revolvers that we took out of the cabin. I expect they want to get them. Maybe they’re still hoping that the bee’s will quiet down, too.”
The boys let the boat drift, holding it back to keep pace with the slow raft. So did the outlaws on the opposite side of the water, and for some time the two boats drifted slowly, watching each other across the river, but firing no shots, while the tumultuous raft roared and fought between them.
“What are they doing? They’re fixing something,” Bob exclaimed at last.