CHAPTER II.—TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD.
When it became certain that Alex was not on board the Rambler, Clay and Case hustled the small rowboat which lay on the cabin roof into the river, threw in the oars, and cast off the rope.
If Alex was not on the boat, they reasoned, then he must have fallen into the water! It had been at least ten minutes since he had left them to visit the aft deck, and one might float a long way down stream in that time! The wonder was that he had not cried out when he fell!
Case rowed with all his strength, doubled by the excitement of the time, and Clay sat in the prow watching the river ahead. Now he thought he saw a head bobbing on the waves; now he called out that he had caught sight of the boy clinging to the shore; now he shuddered at sight of a clogging mass in the bottom of the stream.
They called out at the top of their lungs as the rowboat went swiftly down with the current, but there was no answering cry. Only when the bulk of the Rambler seemed indistinct and far away through the shimmering sunlight did they turn the prow up stream. Clay was the first to speak after that.
“I don’t believe he ever fell into the river!” he said. “Captain Joe would have heard the splash, even if we did not, and would surely have jumped in after the kid. Besides, Alex would have let out a yell if he had tumbled in, and we should have heard that. He never fell into the river, I tell you!”
“Then where did he go?” demanded Case. “I hope yon haven’t any idea that he went up in the air! Or that he’s hiding to bother us?”
This last sentence expressed a new hope. The boy might be hiding in some odd corner of the boat! They resolved to find out about that as soon as they got aboard again. If he was hiding, well!
They did not carry out the thought, for they were now near enough to the Rambler to see that she was slowly, jerkily moving toward the west shore.
“Did you pull up the anchor?” Clay demanded of Case.