The boy hastened out and returned in a moment with the information that the bulldog was nowhere in sight.
“Have you seen him since Alex and Case left?” Clay asked.
“He was here quite a spell after they went away, but he didn’t seem contented. All the time I was on deck he was walking back and forth looking longingly over into the city.”
“Then he’s followed the boys,” Clay agreed. “We won’t see him again until they return. The only wonder is that Teddy didn’t go with him.”
“We’ll have to get steel cages made for our menagerie,” Jule proposed. “We can’t keep a single member of our happy family on the boat when Alex is away. No one else seems to count with them.”
The boys were not inclined to sleep, so they sat watchfully in the cabin with the electricity off. Spears of light came from warehouse offices on the pier, and far up the street a great arc light made the thoroughfare almost plain to the eye as day. The roar of night traffic in the city and the wash of the river drowned all individual sounds, and the boys sat in what amounted to silence so far as any noises directly on the boat were concerned.
Somewhere along toward midnight, when they had about given up hope of the immediate return of the boys, there came a quick jar, and the boat swayed as if under the foot of a person mounting the deck.
“There they are, I reckon!” Jule shouted, passing to the cabin door which was open to admit the cool breeze of the night.
Clay stepped forward, too, but paused in a moment and drew Alex back. A crouching figure was now discernible on the prow, and Clay reached for the switch which controlled the lamp there.
With his hand almost to the switch Clay stopped and turned back to where Jule stood, searching his bunk for an automatic which had been placed there. Then the boat swayed again, and there were three figures on the deck instead of one. The light from the street showed only bare outlines. The whole scene was uncanny.