The three boys sat for a long time on the deck of the motor boat looking out into the darkness. Now and then they heard the sound of rustling bushes on the shores, but as a rule the scene was very still. It must have been near midnight when Jule caught his chums by their arms and drew them closer to the port gunwale.
“There,” he said, nodding his head to the west, “there are the three blue lights. They are close to the south arm of the island this time. Now what do you make of it?”
“Let’s wait and see if they blow up like the others did,” suggested Case. “They, too, may explode with a loud noise.”
“What else can we do?” chuckled Jule.
“There’s only one thing we can do,” Clay advised, “if we want to settle this mystery right here and now, and that is to turn on the motors and shoot down there like a rocket.”
“I’m for it!” Jule declared. “Let’s ram the ghost out of the water!”
CHAPTER XIV.—CAPTAIN JOE HELPS SOME.
Alex did not remain long in the cabin of the Rambler after Clay’s departure. His two chums were seated on the prow of the boat, and the lights were out, so he had little difficulty in dropping unobserved into the water. Before leaving the cabin, he had drawn on an old suit of clothes used for just such purposes, so he did not mind getting wet.
Once in the water, he struck out for the south arm of the island. It was his idea that the coal tow and the saloon boat would hover about that spot for some little time. Those who had whiskey to sell would be sure to keep in the company of the tow, and those who had the whiskey thirst would be pretty apt to rush on board the steamer for the purpose of satisfying it.
The boy, of course, did not understand that the tug in charge of the barges could not have held them against the push of the current in any event. His idea that the tow and the saloon boat would keep company, however, was the correct one.