“Do you think those men had a hand in it?” asked the clerk. “I’ll just watch them,” he added, as he took the package and locked it up in his safe.
“That’s all right. Now I wish you would put my revolvers with it. They are not loaded. Thompson will feel safer if he has his on, where he can put his hands on them.”
After a little more talk on the subject the clerk went out on the guards, and while he was there the cowboys slipped out behind him and came into the cabin through the passage-way which communicated with the cook’s galley. They went out on the boiler deck and stayed there until Kelly began to talk about money, and then they removed their chairs around by the side of the cabin, onto the guards. But if Carl had seen Kelly punch his companion in the ribs with his elbow, he would have known that that part of his plot had been successful. The boys stayed around on the guards until after supper, and even when the shades of night began to gather about them; they remained there until it got so dark that they could scarcely see their hands before them. This was the time that Kelly told his companion that it was the season for them to begin. Their attack upon them was so sudden that it was all over before they had time to think about it. Carl saw Thompson thrown overboard, and before he could cry out or lift a finger he received a stunning blow on the head, and then all was blank to him.
But it was not so with Thompson. The latter was a strong man, and Hayward had scarcely picked him up before he was fighting. He clutched his assailant around the head with one hand, while with the other he attempted to save himself from going overboard. But Hayward was on the alert. He pulled himself away from Thompson’s encircling grasp and threw him over the railing; but the cowboy, whose arms and legs appeared to be everywhere, caught onto the railing with his left hand while the other slid inside of his coat. A moment more and Hayward could not have told anything about that scrape, for he would have been laid out with a bullet in his brain; but he struck him a fierce blow in the face, unclasped his fingers, and Thompson went down.
But the blow did not deprive him of consciousness. He found, in going down to the water, that he had struck upon one of the fenders which are used to keep the steamer off from a wharf-boat when making a landing. His arms and legs instinctively closed around it, and, in place of going into the water, Thompson slid down until his feet rested on the lower guard. He had barely time to swing himself on board the boat when he heard a splash behind him. He turned and looked at it, and there was Carl, limp and lifeless, going down with the current. Something that sounded very much like an oath came from Thompson’s lips as he let go his hold upon the fender and struck out to Carl’s assistance.
If there was anything Thompson could do better than herding cattle it was to swim. With a few swift strokes he was near enough to seize Carl, and the first thought that came into his mind was that the villains, not satisfied with getting his money, had made an end of him then and there. He took Carl around the waist, lifted his head above water, and swam toward the boat. Swimming now was a necessity for him, for just below him was a sidewheel steamer coming in, and if he got down under her guards it was a question whether or not he would ever come up again. He made headway through the water as he had never made it before, and presently caught hold of the fender that came down opposite the engine room.
“Hi there, some of you fellows!” shouted Thompson. “Lend us a hand here.”
Fortunately the engineer was not busy. He stood watching the deck hands as they were carrying the freight aboard, and he heard the hail coming from the water. He ran to the side, and with a “Heaven bless my soul! How did you get in?” he seized Carl and lifted him upon the guards. “Is he dead?” he asked, with some anxiety in his tones.
“No; but he may as well be,” said Thompson. “Now, then, help me out. I know the fellows that did all this, and if I can find them——”
Thompson could not wait to say any more. He left Carl where he had fallen and ran up the stairs to the boiler deck; but he might as well have saved himself the trouble, for Kelly and his friend were across the wharf-boat and well on their way up the levee. There were the chairs, in which they had been sitting, both overturned, but the men who did the business were nowhere in sight. Before he returned to Carl he looked all over the boat, but still he could not see anything of Kelly and Hayward.