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CHAPTER XIX
MR. WOLVERTON MEETS TWO CONGENIAL SPIRITS

"What are you doing here, Mr. Wolverton?" repeated Bob, sternly.

"Oh, it's you, Bob, is it?" said Wolverton, with assumed lightness. "Really, you quite startled me, coming upon me so suddenly in the dark."

"I noticed that you were startled," responded Bob, coolly. "But that isn't answering my question."

By this time Wolverton was on his feet, and had recovered his self-possession.

"What right have you to put questions to me, you young whelp?" he demanded, angrily.

"Because I suspect you of designs on my property."

"What do you mean?" snarled Wolverton.

"I will tell you; I think you meant to cut the rope, and send my boat adrift."

"How dare you insult me by such a charge?" demanded the agent, working himself into a rage.

"I have reason to think that you meant to do what I have said."

"Why should I do it?"

"In order to injure me by the loss of my wheat."

"You are a fool, young man! I am inclined to think, also, that you are out of your head."

"If you had any other purpose, what is it?"

Wolverton bethought himself that in order to avert suspicion, he must assign some reason for his presence. To do this taxed his ingenuity considerably.

"I thought I saw something in the water," he said. "There it is; a twig; I see now."

"And what were you going to do with the razor?"

"None of your business!" said Wolverton, suddenly, finding it impossible, on the spur of the moment, to think of any reason.

"That is easy to understand," said Bob, significantly. "Now, Mr. Wolverton, I have a warning to give you. If anything befalls my boat, I shall hold you responsible."

"Do you know who I am?" blustered Wolverton. "How do you, a boy, dare to talk in this impudent way to a man who has you in his power?"

"It strikes me, Mr. Wolverton, that I hold you in my power."

"Who would believe your unsupported assertion? sneered the agent."

"It is not unsupported. I brought with me Edward Jones, my faithful assistant, who has seen your attempt to injure me."

At this, Edward, a stalwart young man of twenty-four, stepped into view.

"I saw it all," he said, briefly.

"You are ready to lie, and he to swear to it," said Wolverton, but his voice was not firm, for he saw that the testimony against him was too strong to be easily shaken.

"I don't wonder you deny it, Mr. Wolverton," said Bob.

"I won't remain here any longer to be insulted," said Wolverton, who was anxious to get away, now that his plan had failed.

Bob did not reply, and the agent slunk away, feeling far from comfortable.

"What cursed luck sent the boy to the creek to-night?" he said to himself. "I was on the point of succeeding, and then I would have had him in my power. Could he have heard anything?"

Wolverton decided, however, that this was not likely. He attributed Bob's presence to chance, though his words seemed to indicate that he suspected something. He was obliged to acknowledge his defeat. Yet it would be possible for him to return in an hour or two, and carry out his evil plan. But it would be too hazardous. The crime would inevitably be traced to him, and he would be liable to arrest. No, hard though it was to bring his mind to it, he must forego his scheme, and devise something else.

When the agent had left the scene, Bob Burton said: "Edward, you may go home. I mean to stay here on guard."

"But you will not be in condition to start to-morrow morning. You will be tired out."

"I can't take any risks this last evening, Edward."

"Then let me take your place. I will stay here."

"But it will be hard on you."

"I will lie later to-morrow morning. You can relieve me, if you like, at four o'clock."

"Let it be so, then! Too much is at stake for us to leave anything to chance. I don't think, however, that Wolverton would dare to renew his attempt."

Meanwhile Wolverton retraced his steps to his own house. There was one lonely place on the way, but the agent was too much absorbed in his own reflections to have room for fear. His occupation of mind was rudely disturbed, when from a clump of bushes two men sprang out, and one, seizing him by the shoulder, said, roughly: "Your money or your life!"

Wolverton was not a brave man, and it must be confessed that he was startled by this sudden summons. But he wasn't in the habit of carrying money with him in the evening, and an old silver watch, which would have been dear at four dollars, was not an article whose loss would have seriously disturbed him. So it was with a tolerable degree of composure that he answered: "You have stopped the wrong man."

"We know who you are. You are Aaron Wolverton, and you are a rich man."

"That may and may not be, but I don't carry my money with me."

"Empty your pockets!"

Wolverton complied, but neither purse nor pocket book was forthcoming.

"Didn't I tell you so?" he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"We won't take your word for it."

The first highwayman plunged his hand into the agent's pockets, but his search only corroborated Wolverton's statement.

"You, a rich man, go without money!" he exclaimed with rough contempt.

"Perhaps I might have expected such a meeting," Wolverton replied, with cunning triumph.

"You must have a watch, at any rate!"

"I have one that I will sell you for four dollars."

As he spoke, he voluntarily produced the timeworn watch, which had served him for twenty years.

The thieves uttered an exclamation of contempt. Their disappointment made them angry. They hurriedly conferred as to the policy of keeping Wolverton in their power till he should pay a heavy ransom, but there were obvious difficulties in the way of carrying out this plan.

Aaron Wolverton listened quietly to the discussion which concerned him so nearly. He smiled at times, and did not appear particularly alarmed till one, more bloodthirsty than the other, suggested stringing him up to the nearest tree.

"My friends," he said, for the first time betraying a slight nervousness. "I can't see what advantage it would be for you to hang me."

"You deserve it for fooling us!" replied the second highwayman, with an oath.

"In what way?"

"By not carrying any money, or article of value."

"I grieve for your disappointment," said Wolverton, with much sympathy.

"If you mock us, you shall swing, any way."

"Don't mistake me! I have no doubt you are very worthy fellows, only a little unfortunate. What sum would have paid you for your disappointment?"

"Fifty dollars would have been better than nothing."

"That is considerable money, but I may be able to throw it in your way."

"Now you're talking! If you are on the square, you'll find us gentlemen. We are ready to hear what you have to say."

"Good! But I expect you to earn the money."

"How?" inquired the first gentleman, suspiciously. The word earn might mean work, and that was not in his line.

"I'll tell you."

There was an amiable conference for twenty minutes, but this is not the place to reveal what was said. Enough that it nearly concerned Bob Burton, and involved a new plot against the success of his enterprise.

CHAPTER XX
AN UNEXPECTED PASSENGER

The next morning the boys were up bright and early. It was a glorious morning, and Bob accepted it as auspicious of a pleasant and prosperous trip.

Clip was in wild spirits. He was naturally vivacious and fond of change, and the prospect of the river trip made him very happy. Bob, as a practical joke, put on a grave face and said: "Clip, I don't know but I shall have to leave you at home."

"What fo', Massa Bob?" inquired Clip, his face assuming a look of dismay.

"I am afraid my mother won't be able to get along without you. There are so many things to attend to on the ranch."

"I can't do no good on the ranch," said Clip, eagerly. "I'm only a lazy, good-for-nothing nigger."

"Then I don't see how you can help me, Clip," returned Bob, his eyes twinkling as he listened to this candid confession.

"Dat's different, Massa Bob. I ain't no good on the ranch, but I'm powerful help on the river. Please take me along, Massa Bob," pleaded Clip.

"Just as likely as not you'll get lost, Clip. Besides, you might meet your old master from Arkansas."

"He won't catch dis nigger," said Clip, shaking his head, resolutely. "Please let me go, Massa Bob."

"Your arguments are so cogent, Clip, that I suppose I shall have to give in."

Instantly Clip's face was radiant. He didn't know what cogent arguments were, but as long as they had accomplished his desire he was content to remain in ignorance.

"But if you give me any trouble, Clip," Bob added, seriously, "I may have to put you ashore, and let you walk home."

Clip gave the most emphatic assurance of good conduct, and was informed that he could go.

There was much to do, even on the last morning, and though the boys were early risers, it was fully ten o'clock before they were ready to start.

Half an hour before this Bob had a surprise.

Sam Wolverton was seen approaching on a run, breathless and without a hat. He arrived at the landing, just as Bob was putting off in the flat-bottomed boat, with a load of provisions for the voyage.

"What on earth is the matter, Sam?" asked Bob, in surprise.

"Let me get on the boat and I will tell you."

The boat was put back and Sam jumped on.

"Now what has happened, Sam?"

"Do you see this," said Sam, pointing to his right cheek, which was stained with blood.

"What has happened to you? Did you fall and hurt yourself?"

"My uncle knocked me over and I fell against a block of wood."

"What made him attack you?" inquired Bob, indignantly.

"I don't know; he got mad with me for nothing at all. He's been in an awful temper all the morning. Something must have happened to vex him."

Bob smiled. He could understand what had happened. Wolverton's disappointment at the failure of his villainous plan had no doubt soured him, and, like a born bully, he had vented his spite upon the poor boy who was dependent upon him.

"I wish you'd more spunk, Sam," Bob said. "He wouldn't dare to attack me in that way."

"You're stronger and braver than I am, Bob. I can't be like you. I wish I could."

"Your uncle is no more nor less than a bully. He imposes upon you because he thinks it is safe to do so. He wouldn't dare tackle me, because he knows it wouldn't be safe."

"Bob," said Sam, solemnly, "I've borne it as long as I'm going to. I am not going back to my uncle's house."

"Do you mean this, Sam?"

"Yes, I do. It's the only home I have, but I would rather go without a home than to be beaten and ill-treated by Uncle Aaron."

"I commend your pluck, Sam. I can't say I think you are doing wrong."

"I have a favor to ask of you, Bob. You are my only friend."

"What is it, Sam?"

"Let me go with you to St. Louis. It would make me happy to be with you, and I should be out of my uncle's way."

Bob paused for consideration, the proposal being unexpected.

"But suppose, Sam, I am charged with abducting you?"

"I'll take all the blame. Let me hide on the ferry-boat, and I won't show myself until you've got miles away."

"That might do," said Bob, smiling. "Perhaps it isn't exactly square, but with such a man as your uncle we must make use of his own methods."

"You will take me, then?" asked Sam, eagerly.

By this time they had reached the boat.

"Clip," said Bob, "go with Sam and hide him somewhere on the boat, but don't tell me where he is concealed. Then, if old Wolverton comes after him I can say truly that I don't know where he is."

"All right, Massa Bob," said Clip, showing his teeth.

When the contents of the boat had been transferred to the larger craft, Bob rowed back, leaving Clip and Sam together. The boat was roofed over, as already stated. Besides the bins there was a corner in which some bedding had been placed for the accommodation of the young voyagers. But it seemed difficult to find a suitable hiding-place for Sam.

"Where can you put me?" asked the young runaway, with a troubled look.

Clip looked about him, rolling his eyes in perplexity.

At length his face brightened, for an idea had come to him.

In one corner was an empty barrel. Some stores had been brought aboard in it, and it had been suffered to remain, with the idea that it might possibly prove of use. The particular use to which it was to be put certainly never occurred to Bob or Clip.

"Get in there, Sam!" said Clip. "Old Mass' Wolverton won't look for you in there."

"But I shall be seen."

"You wait and I'll show you how we'll manage; only get in!"

Thus adjured, Sam got into the barrel, and with some difficulty crouched so that his head was lower than the top of the barrel.

"Now I'll show you," said Clip.

He took a white cloth – it was apiece of sail-cloth – and spread over the top of the barrel.

"Now old Mass' Wolverton will have sharp eyes to see you," said Clip, triumphantly.

"That may do," said Sam. "But it isn't necessary to put it on now. It will be time if my uncle makes his appearance. I'll keep out of sight in the center of the boat."

Meanwhile Bob had gone to the house to bid good-bye to his mother.

"I feel anxious about your going off on such a long trip, Robert," said Mrs. Burton.

"You forget that I am almost a man, mother. It is time for me to assume some responsibility."

"But you are only a boy, after all, Robert. Think, if anything should happen to you, what would become of me?"

"My dear mother, you may depend on my taking excellent care of myself. I don't see what risk or danger there can be in going to St. Louis. It isn't a long trip. I shall be back in less than a fortnight if all goes well."

"It will seem a very long fortnight to me, Robert."

"I have no doubt you will miss me, mother, but you forget I have Clip to look after me."

"Clip is only a poor colored boy, but I am sure he will prove faithful to you," said Mrs. Burton, seriously. "Even the humble are sometimes of great service. I am glad he is going with you."

Bob did not mention that Sam Wolverton would also be his companion, as he foresaw that the agent would not unlikely question his mother on that point.

Bob returned to the boat, and was just about to cast off, when Wolverton was seen on the bank, waving his hat and shouting frantically.

"I guess, Massa Sam, you'd better get into the barrel," said Clip with a grin.

CHAPTER XXI
HOW WOLVERTON WAS FOOLED

"What do you want, Mr. Wolverton?" asked Bob, coolly, as he stood at one end of the boat and surveyed the excited agent.

"Come ashore, or I'll have you arrested," shouted the irate Wolverton.

"You are very kind, Mr. Wolverton; but I am in considerable of a hurry, and have not time to comply with your request."

"You'd better come ashore, if you know what's best for yourself."

"Please state your business! If it is anything to my advantage, I may come; but I am just ready to start for St. Louis."

"Is my nephew Sam on your boat?"

"I don't see him. Why should he be on board?"

"I suspect him of running away, the ungrateful young rascal? I thought he might be scheming to go down the river with you."

"Clip," said Bob, gravely, "has Sam Wolverton engaged passage with us?"

"Not as I knows on, Massa Bob."

"If he should, charge him fifteen dollars."

"Yes, Massa Bob," answered Clip, with a grin.

"If you wish your nephew to go to St. Louis on my boat, Mr. Wolverton," said Bob, with ceremonious politeness, "I will take him, being a friend, for fifteen dollars, excursion ticket. You can't complain of that."

"But I don't want him to go," roared Wolverton. "I tell you he has run away."

"That's very strange, considering how kindly and liberally you have always treated him."

Wolverton eyed Bob suspiciously, for he knew well enough that the remark was ironical.

"None of your gammon, young man!" he said, crabbedly. "Send Sam ashore."

"Really, Mr. Wolverton, you must be joking. What have I got to do with Sam?"

"I don't believe a word you say. I mean to search your boat."

"You had better do it at once, then, for it is time for me to start."

"But how am I to get aboard," asked the agent, perplexed.

"You might swim," suggested Bob, "or wade. The water is shallow – not higher than your neck, anywhere."

"That is nonsense. Steer your boat to shore, that I may board her."

"It can't be done, Mr. Wolverton. We can only drift down with the current."

"Then how am I to get aboard?"

"That is your lookout."

Just then Mr. Wolverton espied the flat-bottomed boat which Bob proposed to take with him. He had attached it by a line to the stern of the ferry-boat.

"Row over and take me across."

"I can't spare the time."

Wolverton was about to give vent to his wrath at this refusal, when he observed a boat approaching, rowed by a German boy named Otto Brandes.

"Come here, boy, and row me out to yonder boat," he said.

Otto paused in his rowing, and, understanding the man with whom he was dealing, he asked, quietly: "How much will you pay me, Mr. Wolverton?"

"Five cents to take me over and back," answered the agent, with some hesitation.

Otto laughed.

"I don't work for any such wages," he said.

"I'll give you ten; but be quick about it."

"Give me a quarter and I'll do it."

"Do you think I am made of money?" said Wolverton, in anger. "That is an outrageous extortion."

"All right! Then hire somebody else," said Otto, coolly.

After a fruitless effort to beat down the price, Wolverton sulkily agreed to the terms, and Otto rowed to the bank.

"Now, row with all your might," said the agent, as he seated himself in one end of the boat.

"Your fare, please," said Otto.

"I'll pay you when the trip is over," said Wolverton. "It's a poor paymaster that pays in advance."

"Then you'd better get out of the boat. Railroad and boat tickets are always paid in advance."

"I'll give you ten cents now, and the balance when I land."

"It won't do, Mr. Wolverton. I don't care much about the job anyway; I'm in a hurry to get home."

Otto lived about half a mile further down the creek.

Much against his will, the agent was obliged to deposit the passage-money in the boy's hand before he would consent to take up the oars and commence rowing.

"That rascal Sam is putting me to all this expense," he said to himself. "I'll take my pay out of his skin once I get hold of him."

Clip went up to the barrel in which Sam was concealed.

"Ol' Wolverton is comin', Massa Sam," he said. "Don't you make no noise, and we'll fool de ol' man."

In spite of this assurance, poor Sam trembled in his narrow place of concealment. He knew that he would fare badly if his uncle got hold of him.

"How's he coming?" he asked in a stifled voice.

"Otto Brandes is rowin' him. He's in Otto's boat."

"It's mean of Otto!"

"No; he don't know what de ol' man is after."

It took scarcely two minutes for Wolverton to reach the ferry-boat. He mounted it with fire in his eye.

"Now, where is Sam?" he demanded in a peremptory tone.

"You can search for him, Mr. Wolverton," said Bob, coolly. "You seem to know more about where he is than I do."

Wolverton began to peer here and there, looking into bins of wheat and all sorts of improbable places.

Clip took a broom and began to sweep energetically. Bob could not explain this sudden fit of industry till he saw Clip slyly slip the broom between Wolverton's legs as he was hurrying along, thereby upsetting the unfortunate agent, who tumbled sprawling on the deck.

"Why, you black imp!" he exclaimed, furiously, as he picked himself up, "what made you do that?"

"Couldn't help it, Massa Wolverton! I 'clare to gracious I couldn't!" said Clip, rolling his eyes in a most wonderful manner. "Are you hurt, Massa Wolverton?"

"I most broke my knee!" growled Wolverton, as he rose and limped towards the other end of the boat. "I may be laid up for a week."

"It was de ol' broom did it," said Clip, innocently. "Never see such a broom!"

Bob had hard work to keep a straight face, as he heard Clip's odd accusation against the unoffending broom.

This accident seemed to dampen Wolverton's enthusiasm, and the pain in his knee increasing made him desirous of getting home as soon as possible. Besides, he began to suspect that he was on a wrong scent, as he had thus far found no traces of his runaway nephew. He never once noticed the barrel, over which the piece of sail-cloth had been thrown so carelessly.

"Well, did you find Sam?" asked Bob, composedly.

"No!" snapped Wolverton.

"I seed him jest before you came, Massa Wolverton," said Clip.

"Where?" asked the agent, eagerly.

"Runnin' along the bank."

"In what direction?"

Clip pointed up the creek.

"Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"You didn't ask me, Massa Wolverton."

"Take me ashore quick!" said Wolverton to Otto.

"Hurry up, Massa Wolverton, and mebbe you'll catch him!"

Wolverton was already in the boat, and Otto was rowing him to the shore.

Clip went to the barrel and released the prisoner.

"De ol' man's gone, Sam!" he said.

"I'm glad of it, Clip. I'm almost suffocated."

"Golly, didn't we fool him!" and Clip lay down on his back on deck, and gave way to an explosion of mirth.

A minute later the rope was drawn in, and the ferry-boat started on its adventurous career down the creek.