He gave them another threatening glance all round and then turned and strode down to his boat. Getting aboard, he rowed up the bayou toward the interior of the island and vanished around a bend.
“What did he mean?” gasped Alice, with a choke. “We’re not going to lose our bees?”
“Of course not. That fellow hasn’t the ghost of a claim,” said Joe. “We got the outfit fairly, and nobody can run off with it.”
“I don’t believe we’ll ever see Candler again,” said Carl. “He saw that we had something valuable, and he tried to bluff us out of it.”
“But he spoke of partners. You don’t suppose he’s one of the river gang after all, do you, Joe?” asked Bob.
Joe thought decidedly not. Bees were about the last thing the river pirates would ever try to steal.
“I think it was only a bluff, as Carl says,” he reassured. “Don’t let him scare you, Alice. We’ll see the thing through.”
They walked back to the cabin, encouraging each other, yet without recovering confidence. Candler’s attack had been startlingly unexpected. They had imagined themselves free from any sort of human intrusion, for by this time they had almost ceased to think of the river pirates. Now the whole swampy wilderness took on an air of danger. They hung about the cabin, listening to the roar and riot of the bees, nervously on the alert, in spite of the confident and cheerful things they kept saying.
The uproar of the bees died down with evening. The combs of honey had been licked out perfectly dry. As it grew dark Bob and Joe climbed to the highest point of the ridge and looked over the swamps in every direction in search for the glow of a camp-fire; but not a spark of light showed anywhere.
The wind had gone down and there were few mosquitoes, but the boys spent a watchful and uneasy night. The next morning came up clear and warm. The honey flow from the blossoms had recommenced, and the bees were at work. Only a few inveterate robbers still hung about the pile of combs, looking for a last drop. The apiarists still were uneasy and tired after a more or less sleepless night.