Case slept a long time in his chair on the deck of the Rambler. The currents pulled at the anchor chain, and now and then a floating derelict of a log or discarded box bumped against the sharp-nosed prow, but the boy was tired, mentally and physically, and did not mind in the least.
Teddy, the bear cub, nosed close to him, seeking physical warmth from the chill of the night, and finally went to sleep himself. When Alex and Captain Joe looked back from the rim of sand which lay between the shore line and Chimney Peak, there were no lights to be seen on board the motor boat—only the bulk of the craft outlined against a starlit sky.
Finally, when Case did awake, it was with a sense of impending danger. There is a quality in the human brain which stirs at the vibrations of a hostile influence, and Case felt it now.
It was not long before he understood this threat fully, for his chair was knocked from under his body and he fell with a bump on the deck, lighting on Teddy, who set up a most dismal howling. While the cub scrambled out from under the boy’s legs, there came a commotion in the cabin. Case tried to get up, for he knew that a struggle was on there.
But he was not permitted to get up. There was a strong hand at his throat and a knee which dripped water on his chest.
“All right!” some one said, in the direction of the cabin.
“All right here!” the figure above Case replied, and then the boy was jerked to his feet. “I’ll bring him along in. Get a move on, kid!”
At first Case thought it was King’s voice, but in a second he saw that it was not, for the fellow broke into a series of oaths and cries of pain as Teddy seized him by the leg and set his sharp teeth together.
“Come out here!” the fellow shouted. “Come out here and kill this bear! He’s chewing my leg off. Hurry up! Bring a gun, too!”
There was a movement in the cabin and the door opened. Case saw that Clay and Don were in no better shape to prevent the murder of the cub than himself. He was afraid that the little bear had used his teeth once too often. But Case usually acted on the theory that a game is never out until it is played out, and he did so on this occasion.