As his whole mind was set on making a noise so as to attract the attention of the man he had followed on board, the boy was by no means conservative in his next move.
First he took the light-framed chair which stood by the berth and smashed it against the fancy metal work which protected the glass panel. The chair went to pieces without touching the glass, so Alex. took up a slender leg and, poking it through in between the metal work, punched out the pane.
It fell back into the cabin with a rattle, and then Alex., putting his face close to the opening, let out a yell which would have done credit to an Apache Indian on the warpath! In the meantime the steamer was backing out into the current.
“I guess that will let ’em know they have a cabin passenger!” Alex. grunted, as he began tossing the fragments of the chair out on the cabin floor.
The boy was just considering the firing of his automatic, which had not been taken from him by the negro, when a heavy voice near at hand broke into a hearty laugh, and the face of the red-headed man appeared before the opening, half-shielded by an arm, for the boy was still looking for things to throw through.
“What seems to be the difficulty?” the man asked, and Alex. thought he saw a twinkle of humor in the blue eyes fixed upon him.
“No difficulty at all,” Alex. answered, with a touch of irony in his tone. “I’m just doing this for exercise, and to make business for boat builders!”
“Of course,” laughed the man, “you wouldn’t come out if I should unlock the door?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Alex. replied. “I’ve got a good deal of work to do in here yet, and I might bring back an axe to help out.”
“You’ll find that the berth is of steel,” the red-headed man said. “You can’t chop that up. How long will it take you to finish the dresser? I might come back and let you out as soon as you have got through with that!”