“Well,” Jule said, with a low chuckle, “when you’re hanged for murder or piracy, I’d like to have you invite me to the festival.”
Gid uttered a snarl of rage and struck at the boy but Mike only laughed as Jule dodged the blow, only indistinctly seen, and, entering the cabin, closed the door behind him.
“They forget,” he thought to himself, “that there are lights in the cabin which, when turned, will reveal the presence of the Rambler. Anyway,” he added, “I believe the Government officers saw the searchlight. I don’t see how they could have missed seeing it.”
Teddy, the quarter-grown grizzly bear, now rubbed a soft muzzle against the boy’s hand, as if in sympathy, and nestled close to his side.
“Teddy,” Jule said, “you and I have been captured by pirates. Captain Joe has gone off to find Alex, and we’re here in the possession of a couple of Desperate Desmonds. We want to get away. Now what would you suggest?”
In the darkness the boy knew that Teddy was sitting up on his hind feet suggesting a boxing match.
“That’s the thing, Teddy,” Jule said, speaking into the bear’s ear, as if in belief that the cub understood every word he said. “That’s just the thing! You suggest a fight, and that’s just what it’s got to be.”
The boy and the bear sat together in the cabin for a long time. Through the window on the starboard side the boy could see the lights of the Government boat and the lights of the Hawk.
There seemed to be some commotion on board the pirate boat, and the boy at one time thought he detected the sound of a pistol shot.
“After they get done with those river robbers,” Jule thought, “they will probably be over here to see why the Rambler’s light died out so quickly. Now, what shall I do when they come?”