Peck’s authority seemed to be supreme, for in five minutes the four bound men were transferred to the houseboat which was then nosed out into the stream by the Rambler. This done, Peck sat down in a deck chair and regarded the four boys quizzically.
“Where’s the old negro?” he asked in a moment.
“Didn’t you hear him splash in the water?” asked Alex. “When you showed the three blue lights, he waddled ashore with a face so white it made a chalk-mark on the night.”
“What does it all mean?” asked Clay.
As he spoke he pointed to the blue lights still burning on the prow of the rowboat.
“It’s all easily explained,” Peck replied with an engaging smile. “Just after two of you boys left my house to-day, a gang of good fellows laboring under a misapprehension came up with a supply of birch whips intended for the backs of you kids. Their attention was attracted to a burning building, or they would have overtaken the lads before they reached the cove and beaten them half to death.
“When I reached home, my wife told me of the incident, and I began worrying for fear the boys would be caught and mistreated. While we were talking it over, that old nigger came up and said that you boys wanted to do something for my wife because she had been so good to you.
“This kindness on your part—this willingness to do anything you could if we needed your help—stirred me up considerable. So we started out through the woods for the cove. When we got to the cove, which was after dark, of course, you were not there, and we’ve been floundering around in the water and woods and bushes ever since. We crossed the stream in a rickety old scow and landed on the peninsula, thinking that perhaps the river pirates, known to have headquarters here, had made trouble for you.
“Just as we were about to turn back, this little chap,” pointing at Captain Joe, “came plunging through the bushes and we knew that you were not far away. Then this boy came panting along and we grabbed him. He was frightened half to death for a minute, but when things were explained, he told us the kind of a mixup you were in.
“Well, we came down to the cut-off and got into the boat and came down here. Then we remembered that the river pirates stand in deadly terror of the three blue lights—our boys having been a little rough with them!—so we put up the signal you saw, and I guess that’s about all!”