“Then let’s get in the rowboat and go on shore!” Alex said, wrinkling his nose. “It seems a pity to lose this fine night. We can give Captain Joe a run on the bank and return before any of the boys wake up. The dog will enjoy the outing.
“The boat will watch itself. We won’t go far, and we won’t be gone long. Come on!”
Clay very reluctantly consented, and Captain Joe was brought from the cabin, much to his delight, and made a member of the party. The instant his feet touched the shore, however, he was off, taking a wide circle. Clay looked at Alex in consternation.
“How’ll we ever get him back?” he asked, ruefully. “He will stay half the night. And we ought to be back on the boat. I’m sorry we ever left it!”
“Is that the Esmeralda?” asked Alex, pointing out into the river, where the lights of a motor boat showed. “It looks like it, and yet it doesn’t. She seems narrower, and sits lower in the water.”
“Esmeralda? Nothing! We’d better be making tracks for the Rambler! I don’t like the looks of this!”
Clay’s wounded arm prevented his taking an oar, but he could assist Alex immensely by sculling, and this he did. Captain Joe was left on shore until such time as would suit the convenience of his dogship to return, and the lads started for the Rambler at top speed.
But, fast as they speeded over the water, the strange boat traveled faster, and reached the Rambler first. Then the boys stopped rowing and watched the performance on their motor boat.
In a minute’s time six husky men were transferred to the deck of the Rambler, and the boys could see that they were not at all welcome. They saw Thede bound and laid aside, then Case and Jule shared the same fate. The boys were helpless, as, by a strange circumstance, their automatics had been left behind.
They had intended bringing them, but they now lay on the prow of the boat, where they had been placed by Clay.