We listened to Dick with wonder in our eyes. Nobody said a word. We looked at Dick; then we looked at one another. Then Jerry blurted out, “I’ll see him, mark my word, Dick. I’ll get a peek at his face if it takes a year to do it.”
Dick shook his head. “Maybe you wouldn’t want to see him if you had a chanst, Jerry,” says Dick. “I been that close to him already, when I thought I would sure trap him, and the next minit he was gone.”
Jerry pulled open the door. “Here goes,” he says, quiet like. “I’m gonna see if I can find his tracks.”
Jerry run out and slammed the door behind him.
Dick smiled. “Poor Jerry,” he says, “now us fellas will have to follow him and see that he does not get hurt.”
THURSDAY.—We didn’t find a trace of Stoner’s Boy today. Jerry come down to our houseboat and said he didn’t think the gray-coated fella had been around. But Dick smiled. “He has been here, all right,” says Dick, “and he left a souveneer.”
Dick handed Jerry a piece of paper. “Read it,” says Dick.
Jerry read it loud:
Don’t think you can scare me by bringing your Judge and the Sheriff down to your houseboat. I seen all, and you can’t fool me.
It wasn’t signed, but we all knew that handwriting. We had seen it before, once when he left a note sticking on our wrecked snow fort. Jerry read the note over again. Then he says, “Well, I’ll be derned.”
Dick laughed.
“There’s only one thing to do,” I says. “We gotta keep a purty sharp watch around here.”
FRIDAY.—The river is clear again. All the ice has floated away, and a steamboat come down today; it was the Kentucky Belle, and it landed right below the bend.
Us fellas went down to have a look at it, but there wasn’t much doing, and so we came back to our houseboat and had a little meeting. All the fellas but Little Frankie Kane showed up today. Bill says Little Frankie would of come, but he has got the floo or something; his maw makes him stay in bed.
SATURDAY.—When we come down to our houseboat early this morning, there being no school today, we found one window broken open and everything topsy-turvy inside. “Stoner’s Boy has been here,” says Dick Ferris. “Lookit this houseboat.”
Jerry Moore says, “I’m going right out to find him, and believe me if he is around here, I’ll know it.”
Dick says, “You better take Bill and Hawkins with you, Jerry.”
But Jerry says, “No, I ain’t afraid of him. I’ll go by myself.” So he went alone.
I says to Dick, “This thing is going too far; we gotta stop it.”
Dick says, “If you know a way to do it tell it to me, Hawkins. I been trying to get this Stoner fella’s goat for a long time, but he beats me.”
I says, “All we can do is try.”
So we hunted all around till noon. There wasn’t any sign of the strange gray coat. We got tired of hunting and went down to watch the Kentucky Belle load up. Jerry Moore’s daddy was hauling barrels from the cooper shop, brand-new flour barrels, which the steamboat was going to take up to Watertown.
Dick says to me, “Lookit that fine launch what that steamboat’s got tied on.”
I says, “It belongs to the captain, I guess. Let’s go and ask him if he will let us ride on it.”
Dick says, “Us boys don’t know how to run one.”
Lew Hunter spoke up. “Who do you mean with us boys?” says Lew. “I learned how to run a launch before I knew my A B C’s.”
I says, “All right, let’s ask the capt.”
So we all run on the gangplank, and we seen the capt. standing watching the men load the barrels down below. Lew says, “Mister, will you let us take a ride in your launch?”
The capt. looked at us with a grin. “Say,” he says, “what you youngsters trying to do, kid me?”
I says, “Not that we know of; we just would like to take a ride in that launch you got back there.”
The steamboat capt. laughed. “You can’t catch me,” he says. “This ain’t April fool time is it?”
“Watch out,” hollered a man rolling two barrels up the plank. We all jumped.
“That’s all,” hollered Jerry Moore’s daddy.
“Get out now quick,” says the steamboat capt. to us. “I ain’t got no time to be fooling here with kids—all aboard—clear away down there you pesky good-for-nothing roustabouts.”
We hustled off the boat. We come on the shore just as Jerry Moore came down the bank.
“Did you find Stoner’s Boy?” I ask.
Jerry looked mad. “No,” he says, “I seen his footprints up by our shack, and found some stale bread and chees; he ate his lunch up there, but I couldn’t catch up with him.”
“Never seen a speck of him, did you?” asked Dick.
Jerry shook his head. “No,” he says, “but he can’t get away without us seeing him. We will keep a fella down here watching. Stoner’s Boy will have to go back by the river way; he’s got a canoe or flatbed hidden in the bushes somewhere.”
Just then the steamboat gave her last whistle, and off she pulled. We watched her slide out into the stream and begin to thrash her way up the river.
Dick says, “That’s the stingiest old captain I ever seen.”
I says, “He acted like he never had a launch.”
“Look!” says Lew.
“What?” we all hollers.
I says, “I don’t see nothing.”
“Watch,” says Lew. “Keep your eye on a barrel right side up by the taff-rail, in the back of the boat.” We all watched, but all the barrels looked alike.
The steamboat moved up the river fast. Just as it was about to reach the bend of the river, we all seen a barrel begin to wobble. The next minit it turned a little over, and a fella crawled out from under it. It was a fella with a long gray overcoat and a gray muffler over the lower part of his face.
“Stoner’s Boy!” hollered Jerry.
“Yeah,” I says, “that’s him.”
We stood like statues, watching the gray figger climb over the rail of the boat and slide down to the gray launch, which was being pulled by the steamboat. Into the launch the gray figger dropped, pulled a knife from his coat pocket, and cut the rope that held the launch.
“AND CUT THE ROPE WHICH HELD THE LAUNCH.”
Then we seen him reach below and start the engine of the launch. Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat. And away the launch went, passing ahead of the steamboat, turning the bend, and Stoner’s Boy was gone once more.
“Yep,” says Dick. “It will be a hot day in winter when you git your hands on him, Jerry.”
Jerry was awful sore. He didn’t say a word.
“Come on up in the houseboat,” says Lew, “and sing some songs to forget about this fella for a while.”
Which we did.
CHAPTER 5
The Sheep Raider
MONDAY.—Us boys come down to our houseboat after school today to figger out a way to stop this Stoner’s Boy from bothering us anymore. Me and Bill Darby was the first to reach the houseboat. “Lookit,” says Bill, “Stoner’s Boy has been here; he left a note on our houseboat.”
I says, “Dern if he didn’t.”
I walked up and read the piece of paper that fluttered from a tack on our door; it read this way:
You boys are too slow to catch a turtle and I ain’t afraid of any of you. I can git in your houseboat any time I like and you better not come down here at night time or you will be sorry.
We waited till the other fellas come up; then I told our capt. Dick Ferris about the writing on our door.
Dick read it over to himself. Then he says, “Well, the little son of a gun, he sure has got nerve to paste that on our door.”
Jerry Moore says, “You fellas git busy and bring that Stoner’s Boy here, and I’ll give him the worst licking he ever had.”
Dick laughed. “You want the easiest part of it, Jerry; the hardest thing is to find him. I been on his trail for two weeks, and I can’t
git close enough to hit him with a stone.”
Our old capt. Johnny McLaren spoke up. “Listen fellas,” says Johnny, “if you don’t mind taking advice from your old captain, why I suggest that we figger out a plan what will help us to trap this Stoner fella.”
Dick Ferris says, “If you got any idea how we can do that, Johnny, why tell us about it; we will be glad to know how.”
Johnny says, “I gotta think it over for a day. I’ll see if I can figger out a plan.”
TUESDAY.—Roy Dobel was sitting on our houseboat steps when I come down to unlock the door today. I says, “What brings you down so early today, Roy?”
He says, “I gotta tell the fellas something.”
I says, “Well here they all come; we will go inside and have our regular meeting.”
The fellas all come in and took their seats, and Dick Ferris sat in the captain’s chair at the head of the table. I says, “Dick, we gotta listen to what Roy has to say.”
“All right,” says Dick, “git up Roy and say your say.”
Roy Dobel stood up. “Listen,” he says, “I am a member of this houseboat, ain’t I?”
Dick says, “Sure you are; you don’t have to ask that.”
“Well,” says Roy, “I can ask you fellas to help me out if I want to, can’t I?”
“Sure,” hollers Jerry Moore, “who do you want us to fight?”
Roy shook his head. “No,” he says, “I don’t git in many fights, but my pop been giving me the dickens, and I ain’t gonna stand for no more of his fussin’.”
Jerry Moore says, “Gee wiz, you don’t think we would go up and give your pop a lickin’, do you?”
Roy looked at Jerry straight in the eye. “I’d like to see anybody try it,” he says.
Dick Ferris jumped between Jerry and Roy. “Stop that foolish talk,” says Dick. “Jerry don’t you answer till somebody asks you.”
Jerry sat down, and Roy kept on. “Listen now,” he says, “I gotta tell you this; my pop says it’s my fault because I play around this houseboat too much with you fellas, and I don’t pay no attention to the farm, and now there’s some sheep missin’, and he blames me.”
Dick says, “How many sheep’s missing?”
“Four,” says Roy. “Pop didn’t miss the first two so much, but when there was two more gone last night, he took me out and made me count ’em, and I couldn’t tell him how come the four sheep to be missing, and so he says I been too careless, and I gotta quit loafin’ with you fellas, and I can’t come down to this houseboat no more.”
Roy sat down and said no more. Nobody had a word to say. It looked to me like Roy was gonna bust out crying, but he didn’t; he just looked that sad.
I thought, “I better start something to help,” so I said, “Who do you think got the sheep?”
Roy says, “I don’t know; maybe they strayed away and got lost.”
Little Frankie Kane says, “Do like Little Bopeep did; she left ’em alone and they come home with their tails on.”
Our new capt. got mad at that. “Kane,” he says, “you git out of this houseboat and don’t come back till you got better manners.”
We all had to smile, but nobody dared to laugh because Dick would just as soon send the whole bunch of us out as he would one.
Frankie pushed his chair back with a loud noise, grabbed his hat, run out, and slammed the door behind him.
Dick says to me, “Put him down five cents fine for making all that noise.”
I says, “All right capt.”
“Now,” says Dick, “cain’t any of you fellas figger out what become of Dobel’s sheep?”
He looked all around at us fellas, but nobody said anything. Dick went on. “Listen,” he says, “if I ain’t awful mistaken, there’s one fella who knows where those sheep are.”
Roy said quickly, “Who?”
Dick stood up. “Stoner’s Boy,” he answers. “Stoner’s Boy will be able to tell you where to find ’em.”
Roy shook his head. “That won’t suit my pop,” he says slowly. “He will tell me to go out and find the fella what knows where they are.”
Dick hit the table with his hammer. “That’s what we are gonna do, Roy,” says Dick. “We are gonna find that dern troublemaker if it takes us all week, day and night to do it. The meeting is over.”
WEDNESDAY.—When I come down to the houseboat this afternoon after school, Dick Ferris was standing in the doorway. I could see he looked awful sore.
“What’s up, Dick?” I asked.
He says, “Come in here, Hawkins.”
I went in with him. Golly Moses, what a sight it was. Every chair was turned over; so was the table, and there was muddy foot tracks all over the floor, and lots of our books were just torn up.
I says, “Doggone it!, we got to stop that Stoner fella somehow.”
Dick hollered, “Stop him? How you gonna stop him; ain’t I been after him for days and nights, and I ain’t never been able to stop him.”
I says, “Lookit all these poor old books, Dick, most of ’em mine, too, if he would of only stolen ’em I wouldn’t feel so bad, but tearing ’em up this way, oh, Lord, ain’t it a shame?”
Jerry and Bill Darby come in. They just looked, but they didn’t say a word.
“Come on,” says Dick, “git things straightened up so we can have our meeting.”
By the time the other fellas come down we had everything cleaned up, but I couldn’t forget how them nice books of mine was torn up. Gee wiz, and it took me so long to save that many books; seems like I don’t git enough books to read anyhow, and now this mean fella called Stoner has to go and tear ’em up. It got me so mad; the more I thought of it the worse I felt.
THURSDAY.—Roy Dobel come down again today and says two more of his pop’s sheep are missing. We had a regular meeting about it in the houseboat, and Johnny McLaren got up and says, “Fellas, I gotta tell you something. I ain’t captain of this houseboat no more, but I kinda felt like it was just as much my duty to watch out, as if I was captain, so last night I was down here watching.”
I says, “Johnny, you mean you come down here and sit in this houseboat all night?”
Johnny laughed. “Not much,” he says. “I ain’t gonna stay in this houseboat by myself at night, but I came down around this way, and first thing I know I seen a strange houseboat down on the river.”
Dick Ferris says, “Bully for you, Johnny, I knowed you was a true blue fella.”
Johnny acted like he didn’t hear Dick. He kept on. “Listen,” he says, “I seen that strange houseboat come up the river; it was pulled by a little steamboat. I couldn’t read the name in the dark, but I kinda felt like that strange houseboat wasn’t on the square, so I laid behind a log and watched it.”
Dick says, “What did you see?”
“Nothing,” says Johnny, “it just laid there by the bank, and the steamboat unhitched and went away. I waited till it got so late I had to go home, and this morning I come down to the river before I went to school, but the houseboat was gone.”
Nobody said a word when Johnny quit talking. But, at last, Jerry Moore says, “I bet Stoner’s Boy brought that houseboat down here and took Dobel’s sheep away on it.”
But Dick Ferris said, “Jerry, don’t say anything like that till you are sure of it.”
“Well,” says Roy Dobel, “if I don’t find who is swiping my pop’s sheep you guys better get ready to say good-bye to me.”
Roy went out.
Clarence Wilks says, “I hate to see Roy Dobel in trouble.”
I says, “So do I, Clarence, but what’s a fella gonna do?”
Jerry Moore says, “I’ll stick up for Roy till I drop dead; we gotta help him find those sheep.”
“I LAID BEHIND A LOG AND WATCHED IT.”
Bill Darby says, “We better tell the sheriff about the strange houseboat.”
Dick Ferris got up and says, “I am capt. of this houseboat, ain’t I?”
“Sure,” we all hollered.
“Well,” he says, “until you fellas tell me I ain’t captain anymore, I’m gonna have rules, and this is a rule. Any fella what tells the sheriff about our troubles is gonna get fired out the houseboat; now, you mind me, or you can elect a new capt.”
But we all kept still. Dick suits us for capt.; we don’t want nobody else.
FRIDAY.—Us fellas had our regular meeting down in our houseboat today. Our new capt. says, “Johnny, did you see the strange houseboat again last night?”
“No,” says Johnny, “I didn’t have a chanst to git out again last night.”
Dick says, “It’s funny none of you other fellas got enough interest in our houseboat to keep watch at night.”
Jerry Moore says, “Now look here, Dick, I got you elected captain, but I be derned if I’m gonna have you throwing up such things to us fellas.”
I got up and says, “It ain’t nobody’s fault; none of us guys is supposed to be sitting up all night watching around here, and it ain’t safe neither.”
Dick hit the table with his hammer. “The meeting is over,” he said.
SATURDAY.—Today, there being no school, us fellas was down early. Dick motioned for me to come over to one side, and I went. “Hawkins,” he says, “I’m gittin’ in bad with Jerry Moore, and he will git me fired if I don’t suit him.”
I says, “Aw shucks, you are capt.; you can give orders.”
“No,” he says, “I can’t. Because Jerry got me elected, I got to do things to suit him.”
“Well,” I says, “forget it; here comes somebody.”
There was a footstep on the porch. “Come in,” says Dick.
In walks Briggen and Ham Gardner.
“Hello, Briggen,” I says, “what’s bringing you over here? We ain’t seen you for a long time.”
“No,” says Briggen, “and I wouldn’t come now only us boys on the Pelham side got something to tell you.”
I says, “Speak up quick, Briggen; us fellas don’t trust you any more than we can throw you.”
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