“Wait,” said Jack, “go back a little. Suppose now, while they were coming down the river, that idea about the paint just bobbed up in their heads, and it seemed such a clever scheme that they wanted to kick themselves because they hadn’t just thought of it before, and had some of the right kind of stuff on hand. So when they came to our town, this fellow, who must be a pretty bold sort of chap, we know, made up this plan to sneak ashore, break into some paint shop, and get away with a supply.”
“Now I’m on to what you mean, Jack,” George hastened to remark, “and when he struck the boat-yard of Mr. Kedge, he just up and thought he’d sure find paint in there, because it’s used on boats. And as Buster had left his new sweater lying around loose, like he always does with his things, why, Mr. Burglar, feeling the night air on the river a bit cold, just swiped the same. That’s as plain as the nose on Josh’s face here.”
“Just you let my nose alone,” muttered Josh, like a flash, “it may be a little bigger’n yours, but it knows how to keep out of other people’s business.”
“Then you think, do you, Jack,” George went on, “that something might have happened to their boat, and crippled the same, so that they put in here some time yesterday morning, if you can call it that, though this is still the same day?”
“Yes, it looks as if they needed a new boat to continue their voyage down the river; and seeing this fine chance, while Algernon and Jenks were fast asleep, this man started to sneak it away. He might have done it, and never a thing would they have known until morning, only for the sneeze that Buster here gave.”
“See that,” cried the fat boy, triumphantly, “you all have poked heaps of fun at me because I sneeze so much; but here’s a time that it paid right handsomely.”
“Sure, Buster,” said George, quickly, “when it comes to waking people up, the flock of geese that once saved Rome from a night attack didn’t have anything on you, with your fine sneeze. I give you my word, you’d arouse a whole city, once you let loose.”
“Bah! just jealous, that’s all; but don’t you dare to imitate me, because I give you warning right now I’m going to get that sneeze copyrighted, that’s what,” Buster went on to declare emphatically.
“Seems to me,” remarked Herb, “there’s a heap of engines getting into trouble about now; George has his spell; then Jenks had to work on the one in their boat; and now we suspect that these runaway robbers had a breakdown of their own.”
“That shows you that I ain’t the only one that gets into a mess with motor trouble,” George hastened to tell them.