“All right,” Alex. retorted. “We don’t care about knowing what this all means! I reckon it is too commonplace to refer to again.”
He grinned at Red and Chet as he spoke, and they both laughed back at him.
“We have with us to-night,” Alex. went on, in a very good imitation of the after-dinner orator, “Red, the Robber! His specialty is taking boats away from boys and sneaking off down the river with them—until some one gets the drop on him!
“We also have with us,” he continued, “Chester Vinton, the waif who was rescued from a barren island in the Mississippi with a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of diamonds in his possession! He will soon do his stunt of telling how he found them in a piece of pie at a Rock Island restaurant.
“This wonderful Chet is also the last word in friendship. When he sees boys who have befriended him, it is his habit to turn them over to thieves, who lock them up—not in anger, but to protect them from other naughty boys!”
Instead of showing anger at this blunt talk, Red and Chet sat down on the gunwale and laughed until the river echoed back their voices. Clay also seemed much amused.
“What’s the answer?” demanded Case, turning to Chet.
“Now you boys just wait a short time,” Red observed, “and you’ll know all about it. I would tell you right now, only I see how hungry you all are. And, seeing that I have a monster beefsteak in the cabin, with ducks ready to roast, and eggs ready to fry, why, it seems like we ought to eat before we mix with any long yarns!”
So Case and Alex. took to the cabin, and the odors of steak and coffee and roasting duck soon filled the boat. While the good things were cooking the Rambler dropped down to a wharf where a tank wagon of gasoline awaited them, and there, also, loads of provisions of all kinds were put on board.
And the strangest part of it all was that there was nothing to pay! Red appeared to have temporary charge of the boat, and the bills seemed to have all been paid in advance. They were headed down stream when breakfast was eaten.