Julian Mortimer

So delighted was Jack at the success that had thus far attended his plans that he could scarcely refrain from shouting.

Fearing that the pilot, if he had not also witnessed Julian’s act, might soon notice his absence, he looked about for something to occupy his attention, and found it.

“I see a snag,” said he suddenly. “Look out, or ye’ll be afoul of it in a minute.”

“I see it, too,” replied the pilot. “I was so busy talking to you that I forgot to attend to my business. Snag on the starboard bow!” he shouted. “Man the sweeps, all hands!”

The crew jumped at the word, and Jack sprung down from the pilot’s bench and walked aft whistling. Jake and Tom, who were curled up in the bottom of the dug-out, heard and obeyed the signal. They straightened up at once, and while one seized a paddle the other cut the painter with which the canoe was made fast to the flatboat, and in a moment more they were out of sight. Jack stood on the stern of the boat listening intently for fully five minutes, and then he was almost certain that he heard a splashing in the water and a smothered cry for help.

“They’ve got him!” said he gleefully. “I was afeared they might miss him in the dark. If they had, wouldn’t I have dusted their jackets fur them, though? But they’re good boys, Jake an’ Tom are. The two hundred dollars are mine, an’ the hundred an’ forty-five besides.”

By this time the snag had been passed in safety, and the watch once more huddled together in the waist to sleep until their services were again required. Jack took his stand beside the pilot, and waited for him to say something about Julian’s disappearance; but as he did not refer to the matter, Mr. Bowles went below and tumbled into bed, satisfied that no one beside himself was the wiser for what had happened.

Jack awoke long before daylight, but remained quiet in his bunk, awaiting a favorable opportunity to carry out the rest of his plans. At last the cook entered the cabin and began preparations for breakfast. Shortly afterward some of the crew crawled out of their bunks, and the captain also arose. When Jack saw him he began to bestir himself. He got out upon the floor, and after dressing himself with great deliberation, went to the bunk which had been set apart for Julian’s use. The bed certainly looked as if it had been occupied, but there was no one in it now. Jack started back with well-assumed surprise, uttering an exclamation that attracted the attention of every one in the cabin, and then rushing forward picked up something and examined it attentively. It was the rope with which Julian had been bound.

“Wal, if this yere don’t beat all natur’,” cried Jack.

“Is he loose?” asked the captain in alarm.

“That’s jest what’s the matter. He’s slipped his hands outen this rope and hid hisself somewhars. Help me find him, fellers,” added Jack, in great excitement, leading the way toward the deck; “but look out fur yerselves, ’cause if any of ye had any we’pons he’s found ’em, an’ he’ll use ’em, too.”

A slight rustling among the bed-clothes behind the curtain which concealed the bunk in which Mr. Mortimer lay, proved that that gentleman was awake and listening to all that was going on. Jack heard the noise and noticed the movements of the occupant of the bunk, but the captain and his men did not. They were too busy with thoughts of the dangerous lunatic, whom they must assist in securing, to hear or see anything. They followed Jack to the deck, and during the next quarter of an hour the greatest confusion prevailed on board the flatboat.

Mr. Bowles that morning earned the reputation of being a very courageous man; for while he continually cautioned the crew to beware of the fire-arms of which he was sure his escaped prisoner had obtained possession, he exposed himself most recklessly, being everywhere foremost in the search, and advancing boldly into the darkest corners of the hold, where no one else dared to venture. Every part of the boat was thoroughly searched, but no Julian was found; and Jack and the captain, after talking the matter over, were obliged to come to the conclusion that he had put an end to his life by jumping overboard.

The next thing was to inform Mr. Mortimer – who Jack said was some distant relative of the unfortunate youth – of the melancholy fact; but that gentleman had already learned the particulars from one of the crew, and had also made a most disagreeable discovery. Jack found him on deck, and when his eyes rested on him he stopped and gazed at him in surprise.

Mr. Mortimer’s serious air might have been put on for the occasion, Bowles told himself, but he never could have assumed that pale face. Something was the matter with him. He listened in silence while Jack and the captain told him of Julian’s mysterious disappearance, and when they ceased speaking he walked off to an unoccupied part of the deck.

The captain presently went down into his cabin and Jack joined Mr. Mortimer.

“Where is he?” asked the latter in a low whisper.

“At the bottom of the river,” replied Jack in the same cautious tone. “He was standin’ right there, jest this way,” he added, stepping close to the side of the boat, “with his hands tied behind him, an’ I come up an’ give him a leetle nudge with my shoulder an’ over he went. Nobody didn’t see me do it, either.”

“I don’t care to know how it was done,” interrupted Mr. Mortimer hastily. “I only want to be sure that it was done, and effectually.”

“It sartinly was. He couldn’t swim fur with his hands tied, could he?”

“No; but he might have been picked up. Have you seen Sanders this morning?”

“I hain’t,” replied Jack, looking about the deck, while an expression of anxiety settled on his face. “He wouldn’t save him, would he?”

“Of course he would, if he got the opportunity. If he could take that boy to a certain man whose name I could mention he would make more money by it than he ever saw. He is working against me.”

“Wal, he didn’t pick him up. I was on deck fur ten minutes arter Julian went overboard, an’ I didn’t see him at all. Mebbe he’s about somewhars.”

“No, he isn’t. He’s gone; and so is the yawl belonging to the flatboat.”

Jack started, and folding his arms gazed thoughtfully over the side into the water. Although he had not noticed the circumstance at the time, he now remembered that on the preceding day Sanders had kept as close as possible to him and Mr. Mortimer, and that he had more than once paused in his walk as if he were listening to their conversation.

Might he not by some means have become acquainted with his plans, and set himself to work to defeat them? And if Julian was so valuable to him, might he not have followed Jake and Tom in the yawl with the intention of securing their prisoner? The thought was enough to put Jack on nettles.

“Whar’s them two hundred?” he asked, suddenly.

Mr. Mortimer, putting his hand into his pocket, produced a roll of bills, which he slyly handed to his confederate, and Jack continued:

“I can’t be of no more use here, an’ you might as well tell the cap’n to set me ashore.”

“I will. I want to go myself. I am uneasy about that man Sanders. Here comes the captain now.”

“I shall have to land to do it,” said the skipper, after listening to the request of his passenger, “for I have no boat to send you off in. That strange-looking man in black has deserted us and stolen it. It was worth $60, too.”

“Say no more about that,” returned Mr. Mortimer. “Put us on dry land and I will compensate you for the loss of your boat.”

The captain gave the necessary orders to the pilot, called up his crew to man the sweeps, and in a few seconds the bow of the flatboat was turned toward the shore.

CHAPTER XIII

IN THE SMOKE-HOUSE

“IF ANY one on board that flatboat is crazy it is Jack Bowles. He might have known that I wouldn’t stay there long after my hands were untied. Didn’t I tell him that I would never go back to that camp and give him my money with my own hands? I am free now, and if he ever captures me again I shall deserve to be obliged to remain under his roof for the rest of my days. The cabin can’t be more than ten miles away. I can easily walk there in three hours, and it will be no trouble for me to slip into the house and obtain possession of my rifle and blankets without awakening Jake and Tom. Then I’ll catch my horse, go back to my camp on the bluffs after my money, and by daylight I’ll be twenty miles away.”

While these thoughts were passing through Julian’s mind he was striking out lustily for the shore. The flatboat was still in plain view, for the current carried both her and him down the river at an almost equal rate of speed. Julian kept close watch of her, expecting every moment to hear an uproar on her deck, telling him that his absence had been discovered. He little dreamed that his escape, which he had so easily accomplished, had been brought about by the assistance of his dreaded enemy, who was at that very moment creating a diversion in his favor; and he little thought, too, that the pursuers he feared were not coming from the flatboat, but from another quarter altogether. Had he looked up the river occasionally, instead of keeping his gaze so steadily directed across the stream, he would have discovered something.

A dug-out was coming swiftly down the river, its prow being pointed directly toward Julian. In the stern sat Tom Bowles vigorously plying a paddle, which he used with so much skill that it made not the slightest sound as it rose and fell in the water. Stretched out flat in the bow was Jake Bowles, who kept his eyes fastened on Julian’s head, now and then signaling to his brother with his hands, and showing him what course to steer. Julian discovered his enemies before he had swam a third of the distance to the shore, but then it was too late to make even an attempt to avoid them. He heard a hissing sound, made by the sharp bow of the dug-out as it cleft the water, and turned quickly, only to find himself in the grasp of Jake Bowles, who seized his collar with both hands and held fast to it.

“I reckon ye thought ye was gone, didn’t ye?” he cried, in a triumphant tone; “but ye hain’t, be ye? Yer ketched agin, an’ this time ye’ll stay ketched, I bet ye. Balance the boat, Tom, an’ I’ll haul him in.”

“I thought I left you at home, Jake Bowles!” exclaimed Julian. “How came you here?”

“I guess we’ve got as much right on this yere river as anybody, hain’t we? We come arter ye, that’s how we come here, an’ we’ve got ye, too.”

For a moment Julian was too astonished to move. The approach of his enemies had been so noiseless, and their appearance was so sudden and unexpected, that he was utterly bewildered. Not until Jack had dragged him half-way into the dug-out did he begin to comprehend the situation.

“Let go!” he exclaimed, “or I’ll capsize the boat.”

“Nary let go,” replied Jake. “I owe you a good poundin’ fur stealin’ them $100 from me, an’ fur knockin’ me into that hole last night, an’ I’m goin’ to give it to ye afore I let ye go. Come in here.”

“No, you come out here,” said Julian. “I’ll duck you sure if you don’t let go my collar.”

This was the second time the two boys had measured strength, and although our hero was fighting at great disadvantage, he tested the endurance and muscle of his antagonist most severely. He strove to the utmost to drag Jake into the water; but the latter had wrapped his legs around one of the thwarts and thrown his left arm over another, and Julian could not break his hold. Nor could he overturn the boat, for Tom watched the contest closely, and frustrated all Julian’s attempts by throwing the weight of his body on the opposite side of the dug-out.

Jake, in the meantime exerted himself to drag his prisoner out of the water; but finding that it was a task beyond his strength, he held firmly to Julian’s collar, determined to wait until the latter, exhausted by his furious struggles, should be obliged to surrender himself. But Julian’s endurance seemed to have no limit. He resolutely continued the contest, and all this while the canoe was floating down the river side by side with the flatboat, which was scarcely more than a hundred yards distant.

“We’re fightin’ fur money now, we are,” said Jake – “for the $145. It’s no use fur ye to kick about so, ’cause we’ve got ye, an’ we’re goin’ to hold fast to ye.”

“You’ll not get the money, even if you succeed in making a prisoner of me,” replied Julian, with as much spirit as ever.

“We’ll see about that when we’ve got ye hum. I guess if ye go a few days without eatin’ or sleepin’, an’ have the rawhide laid over yer shoulders ten or twenty times every hour, ye’ll be glad to tell us all we want to know. Come here, Tom, an’ hit him a clip with yer paddle. I guess that’ll fetch him to his senses.”

“Souse him under,” replied Tom; “that’s the way to make him give in.”

Jake was prompt to act upon the suggestion.

Julian resisted him desperately, but one or two severe blows on the fingers with the edge of Tom’s paddle broke his hold on the side of the canoe, and his head was forced under the water. Jake held him there a few seconds, and then pulled him to the surface, and after giving him time to draw a breath or two, and clear his eyes of the water, asked him if he would abandon the struggle and allow himself to be drawn into the boat.

“No,” replied Julian, not in the least daunted; “I’ll never give up while I have any strength left.”

“Stick him under agin,” said Tom, and down went Julian’s head for the second time.

Jake held him under longer than before – as long as he dared, in fact – and when he pulled him up again, Julian was incapable of any serious resistance. He gasped for breath, and tried to lay hold of the side of the canoe.

Jake, quick to improve the opportunity thus presented, exerted all his strength, while Tom kept the boat trimmed in order to prevent a capsize, and finally succeeded in dragging his prisoner out of the water. In less time than it takes to tell it he was secured beyond all hope of escape, and the canoe was shooting swiftly up the river.

It was fully half an hour before Julian moved or spoke. He lay so quietly on the bottom of the dug-out that Jake and Tom began to be alarmed, fearing that in their eagerness to take all the fight out of their captive, they had gone too far, and taken the breath out of him.

But Julian was fast recovering from the effects of his ducking, and as soon as he was himself again the brothers speedily became aware of the fact, for he began to try the strength of the ropes with which he was confined. He thrashed about at an alarming rate, rocking the canoe from side to side, until at last the water began to pour in over the gunwales, and Jake and Tom were obliged to cease paddling and trim their craft in order to keep it right side up.

But they had done their work thoroughly, and Julian, finding his efforts useless, ceased his struggles, and listened to the threats of his captors, who tried by every means in their power to compel him to tell where he had hidden his money.

During the progress of the conversation he heard some things he did not know before, and one was that his escape from the flatboat and his recapture by Jake and Tom were a part of the scheme Mr. Bowles had set on foot for the finding of the concealed treasure. He was astonished to know that while he imagined he was working for his own interests he was playing into the hands of his enemy, and told himself that Jack still had the most difficult part of the undertaking before him.

The prisoner suffered intensely during the journey up the river. The night was cold, the wind keen and piercing, and seemed to cut through his wet clothing like a knife. When at last the canoe reached the landing he was so benumbed that he could scarcely speak.

Having made the dug-out fast to a tree on the bank, Jake and Tom pulled their captive ashore, and finding him unable to stand alone, took hold of his arms and led him toward the house.

Scarcely were they out of sight when a heavy yawl, rowed by a single man, shot up to the landing and stopped alongside the canoe. The occupant sprung out, and without waiting to secure his boat, crept cautiously up the bank, and followed after Jake and Tom.

When the brothers reached the cabin they pushed open the door and entered, dragging their captive after them. Mrs. Bowles, who sat nodding on one of the nail-kegs, started up as they came in, and Julian knew from the first words she uttered that she was expecting them.

“So ye’ve got him, have ye?” she exclaimed, gleefully. “This night’s work will make rich folks outen us. An’ ye was goin’ to run away from us, was ye – from me an’ Jack, who have allers treated ye like a son ever since ye’ve been with us? An’ ye’ve got $145 hid away from us, have ye? What business have ye got with so much money? Take him out to the smoke-house an’ lock him up thar. I’m too sleepy to wollop him to-night, but I’ll tend to him the fust thing in the mornin’.”

Julian had expected a terrible beating as soon as he was brought into the presence of Mrs. Bowles, and was much relieved to know that his punishment was to be postponed for a few hours. It was the first time he had ever known Jack’s wife to be too sleepy to use the rawhide.

“An he ain’t got no business with them new suit of clothes, nuther,” said Tom, who, while his brother was searching for a candle and the key to the smoke-house, was taking some of his own ragged wearing apparel down from the nails in one corner of the cabin. “He’s got to take ’em off an’ give ’em to me. Pap said so.”

“Ye shall have ’em, Tommy,” said his mother. “Ye’ve been a good boy an’ ye desarve ’em.”

“An’ I’m to have his rifle an’ $10 besides,” chimed in Jake, angling for a word of commendation.

“So ye are. Allers be good an’ ye’ll be sartin to prosper.”

When Jake had found the candle and key, and Tom had selected the garments he intended to give to Julian in exchange for his own, the two boys led their captive out of the cabin to the smoke-house.

The first business in order, after they had conducted Julian into his prison, was to rob him of his clothes. Jake untied his hands and stood close by his side, in order to seize him if he made any attempt to escape, while Tom picked up a heavy club and stationed himself in front of the door, ready to knock the prisoner down if he eluded his brother. But Julian, shivering violently with the cold and utterly incapable of any exertion, thought only of dry clothes and comfort and not of escape. He felt much more at his ease after he had relieved himself of his wet garments and put on those Tom had provided for him, and told himself that if his captors would bring him the blankets Jack had stolen from his camp on the bluff, he could obtain a night’s refreshing sleep in spite of the cold and his bonds. But he soon found that they did not intend to permit him to go to sleep at all; and during the next few minutes he gained some idea of what was in store for him.

As soon as the exchange had been made, and Julian had again been bound, Tom dropped his club, and catching up a long rope which he had brought with him from the house, mounted upon a box and made one end of it fast to a beam overhead. At the same time Jake pushed his prisoner under the beam, and seizing the other end of the rope tied it to his hands. Julian was now confined so that he could neither sit, lie nor walk about. He must remain upon his feet and stand in one place during the rest of the night.

“I don’t see any use in this,” said he, dismayed at the gloomy prospect before him. “I can’t escape from this house as long as my hands are tied.”

“Wal, we can see use in it, if ye can’t,” replied Tom. “We’re doin’ jest what pap told us to do.”

“An’ we don’t do it ’cause we’re afeared of yer gettin’ away, nuther,” said Jake. “Ye’ve got to stand right here without a wink of sleep or a bite to eat till ye tell us whar that money is hid. Mebbe ye’ll tell us now.”

“No, I’ll not,” replied Julian promptly and decidedly.

“All right. Ye’ll think different in the mornin’, I tell ye. The ole woman will be here bright an’ arly, an’ if ye ain’t ready to open yer mouth, she’ll give ye a dozen or two as hard as ever she can lay ’em on. When pap comes home to-morrer he’ll take the job outen her hands. Ye’ve got into a hard row of stumps, feller.”

After carefully examining their captive’s bonds, and looking carefully about the smoke-house to make sure that there was no opening in it from which he could escape, even if he succeeded in freeing his hands, Jake and Tom went out, locking the door after them.

When the sound of their footsteps had died away, and Julian began to ponder upon what they had said to him, and to realize how powerless he was in the hands of his enemies, his courage for the first time gave away utterly. He took a step forward and threw his weight upon the rope, but it was firmly tied to the beam above and too strong to be broken, and the movement only pulled his hands between his shoulders, thus “tricing him up” most effectually. He had never dreamed that his enemies would endeavor to torture his secret out of him in this way. He had expected to be beaten, and he believed that he could endure that; but was his fortitude proof against such a test as this? In order to save himself suffering would it not be policy to give Jack the information he demanded, and when his liberty was restored to him, resume his old occupation of trapping until he could earn enough to purchase an outfit for his proposed journey? He had worked hard for two winters to accumulate the little property he now possessed, and should he surrender it at the command of one who had not the smallest shadow of a right to it? Julian passed an hour debating such points as these, and at the end of that time his decision was made.

“I’ll never do it,” said he to himself. “It belongs to me alone. Nobody else has a claim upon it. The woods are as free to Jack Bowles as they once were to me – much more so, in fact, for there is no one to dog his steps, destroy his traps and steal his earnings – and if he wants money let him work for it. That’s the way I got mine. He will find that I am not to be starved or beaten into telling him where that box is concealed. Jake and Tom are coming back again. I hope they have not brought the rawhide with them.”

The footsteps which had attracted Julian’s attention drew nearer and nearer, and presently a cautious hand laid hold of the padlock with which the door was secured. Julian listened to hear the bolt turned, but soon found out that his visitor, whoever he was, did not intend to effect an entrance with the assistance of a key; for after shaking the lock to assure himself that it was fast in the staple, he placed his shoulders against the door and tried to burst it open. The prisoner heard him panting and puffing as he applied his strength to the stout planks. He heard, too, the angry words he muttered when he found that his efforts were useless, and caught the sound of his footsteps as he moved around the smoke-house.

Julian wondered greatly. Who was he? Was he some friend who, knowing that he was confined there, had come with the hope of rescuing him? There was scarcely a man in the settlement who would not have hurried to his relief had it been known that he was in trouble, but unfortunately no one was aware of his situation. Of course, then, the visitor could not be a friend. Most likely he was some hungry prowler, whose only object was to filch a ham or a side of bacon from the smoke-house.

In spite of the unpleasantness of his situation, Julian became interested in the man’s movements. He walked around the building and finally came back and tried the door again, but with no better success than before. Then there was silence for a few minutes, during which the man was, no doubt, thinking what was best to be done, and at length a noise at one corner of the house told the prisoner that he had decided upon a plan of operations. He was using the projecting ends of the logs as a ladder, and mounting to the top of the building. His success was certain now. The roof was covered with narrow oak boards, laid on like shingles, and held in place by small nails; and it would be a matter of no difficulty for him to pull a few of them off and drop down on the inside of the smoke-house. That such was the visitor’s intention soon became evident. He attacked the shingles at once, using extreme caution in removing them from their fastenings, and in a few seconds an opening had been made in the roof, that was immediately filled by the head and shoulders of the man, who lighted a match and held it up to take a survey of things below him. Julian had a good view of him. Could he believe his eyes? He stared hard at his visitor, and uttered a cry of delight.