“Looks like you’d guessed it the first crack, George,” he declared. “Yes, whether he forgot that fact for a few minutes, or has been playing a little game to make us believe he was aiming to go up-river, there’s no doubt but what he’s heading back now so’s to pick the other one up. These sort of fellows stand by each other through thick and thin, you know; that’s their best quality, always.”
“And Jack,” piped up Buster just then, “don’t you think that there might be something else adrawin’ him back here—f’r instance, that stuff they took away from the busted Lawrence bank?”
“Hurray for Buster; he’s all right; and this time he’s struck a brilliant idea! Great head, old man, better be careful of your brains after this. You’re waking up at last; ain’t he, Jack?” but Buster did not deign to pay any attention to all this talk on the part of Josh, because he knew the other must be secretly envious of him.
“That’s really a bright thought, Buster,” admitted Jack, immediately. “This fellow might be ready to stick by his crony; but we know he’s bound not to desert the plunder; and that must still be on the island here, aboard their boat, wherever they’ve got her hidden. You know, boys, we kind of thought they’d hide here, and try to paint the boat some dark color, so it wouldn’t give them away; for every sheriff and marshal down-river way will be on the watch for a white boat with a red streak along the gunnel.”
“Mercy me! and think of the warm times I’ll be apt to have after this, on the way to St. Louis,” remarked Algernon, throwing up his white hands in dismay.
“That is, if ever you’re lucky enough to get your boat back again,” reminded Josh, who rather like to “nag” such a dandified fellow as Algernon and see him squirm.
“All of you noticed the fellow was wearing that sweater with the blue moon on its front,” Jack continued to say, as he explained matters more fully, “and we know that belongs to Buster here; also that it was in that boathouse of the builder where we left our three boats last night, when we locked up; because I handled it myself. Don’t you see what that means, boys?”
“That man was in there; is that it, Jack?” George asked.
“He certainly must have been, else how could he get my sweater?” demanded Buster, swelling with importance, since his name was bound to be mentioned in connection with this affair every time the story was told, and all on account of that new and remarkable garment which he had lost.
“But if they had looted the bank up at Lawrence, tell me why they’d be foolish enough to land in our town, and start in breaking open stores and boat building establishments? Seems funny business for a pair of smart yeggs?” Josh asked.