“I may as well tell you all about it,” he began with an insincere air. “You’ve heard the horses trampling, and heard the men talking, so you may as well understand what they’re here for. These river pirates have been making a lot of trouble lately. They coax our plantation hands on board their pesky boats and that’s the last we ever see of them. There’s many a good crop gone to waste along the Ohio river because those outlaws carry whiskey to sell.”
“We’ve seen quite a lot of that,” Clay suggested.
“Everybody who is on the river sees a lot of it,” the stranger continued. “Well, now we’ve decided not to stand it any longer. We came here to destroy that boat, and I’m half sorry that an accident prevented our accomplishing the work. One boat nicely blown up would warn a score away. They need the lesson.”
“Well,” Clay laughed, “it wasn’t an accident that destroyed the steamer. She tried to block us in the lagoon and we rammed her with our steel prow. That boat will never make you any more trouble.”
“You are to be congratulated!” the stranger observed. “You have my permission to ram every whiskey boat on the river.”
The man’s face was smiling enough, and his manner was sufficiently friendly, still the boys all found themselves wondering if he was telling the exact truth. They knew very well that many people scattered along the river on both banks were in touch with the whiskey boats, even supplying them with moonshine and tobacco.
“Why don’t some of those men with the horses show up?” asked Jule presently. “Why are they hiding in there now?”
“Because they don’t care about being identified as being mixed up in a raid on a whisky boat!” was the reply. “Only for the fact that you got the start of us we could have destroyed that boat without one of us being recognized. We don’t care for lawsuits.”
“If they remain here a few hours,” Case suggested, “they will probably have a chance at another boat. The Hawk was not far from this place not very long ago.”
“And you had a bit of a tussle with her?” laughed the stranger.