“Hooray, fellows, it’s here,” he announced.
Then a wild scramble to be the first off the boat followed, greatly to the terror of young Confuse-us.
“I feel thirsty ’nuff to drink the hull river,” announced the driver, as he stepped down. “That’s a purty heavy injine. Wish I had a piece of gold as big. Where d’ye want it put?”
“On the boat,” said Winter, solemnly.
“All right! Git up there! Whoa, boy! Gee-eee. Give me lots of room, you kids. Gee-ee—whoa! If it bumps like that again, I’ll look to see it go right through the bottom.”
When the interesting moment arrived, and preparations to unload the heavy boxes had been completed, six newcomers, apparently having sprung from nowhere, stood around and watched the proceedings with all the interest which spectators generally show.
The seven boys and two men, after a great deal of tugging and perspiring and straining of muscles, succeeded in sliding several boxes down a pair of heavy planks to the house-boat. Then a block and tackle and a number of thick timbers were thrown on top, and the wagon rattled off.
The way Jack and his friends ripped and tore apart the boxes would have been an inspiring sight to some lazy boys. They forgot the heat, labor—everything; and never paused until a pile suitable for kindling wood lay on the wharf.
“That was done fast, all right,” observed Jim, mopping his brow. “Say, if my boss was to see anything like that, he’d wonder what he was payin’ me for. Well, now, that engine is a mighty fine one.”
“We’re ready to get busy in earnest,” said Jack, impatiently.