CHAPTER XII.
ON BOARD THE FLATBOAT.
“PAP! I say, pap! be ye goin’ to sleep here till creation comes? It’s pitch dark, an’ me an’ Tom have got the dug-out tied fast to the flatboat, like ye told us, an’ the cap’n’s jest been in the house a tellin’ of Mr. Mortimer that he ain’t a-goin’ to wait no longer. Get up, consarn it all.”
It was Jake Bowles who spoke, and while he was thus addressing his slumbering parent he was shaking him most vigorously. Jack opened his eyes at last, and after yawning and stretching his arms, and listening to what his hopeful son had to say about the dug-out and the captain’s impatience, he began to understand the matter.
“All right,” he replied, drowsily. “Now, Jake, I want to be sartin’ that ye know what ye’ve got to do. Let me hear ye go over what I said to ye this mornin’.”
Jake began and rehearsed his instructions, and went through with them to his father’s entire satisfaction. When he had concluded Jack inquired:
“What did I say I’d give ye if ye brought Julian back here a prisoner?”
“Oh, I hain’t forgot that, I bet ye,” replied Jake, quickly. “Ye said ye’d give me his rifle an’ $10. Don’t ye forget it, pap, when ye comes back.”
“I won’t. I’m a man what allers sticks to his word. Now let me see if ye remember something else. What did I say I’d give ye an’ Tom if ye let him get away from ye?”