Alex sat up, brushed the sand from his eyes, felt tenderly of a peeled nose, and shook his fist at the departing steamer.
“You might come back here and pull us off,” he shouted.
The people on the steamer gathered at the rail for a moment to laugh and joke at the plight in which they had left the boys, and then evidently forgot all about it.
“Now, what do you think of that?” cried Jule. “We’re thrown out of water for the first time in the history of the Rambler. Do you suppose she’s busted up much, Clay?”
“Aw, you couldn’t bust her up with a cannon,” shouted Alex. “We’ve probably lost some provisions, but this river will feed us all right.”
As for Teddy and Captain Joe, they turned astonished eyes at the boat which they had never seen in exactly that position before and started to clamber back on board. Teddy shambled clumsily up on deck, but Captain Joe, evidently changing his mind, returned to the hot sand and lay down.
In a moment a great crash came from on board the motor boat. Then Teddy came rolling down the incline of the deck hugging close to his breast with two capable paws, and taking many a bump in order that he might save his burden, a two quart can of strained honey.
“That stream,” Alex said, “will be just about large enough to clean up the bear after he has finished with that stolen honey.”
“That ain’t no stream,” said Jule, “That’s the lost channel.”
Teddy ran away to a distant part of the bar to eat his honey in peace, and the boys ruefully watched the river in hope of rescue.