Fortunately, that was just what Frank had started to do. Had his judgment been at all defective in the start, all would have been lost; for there was certainly no time to reverse, and go the other way.

It was quite an exciting time. Will managed to “snap” the three boys straining at that clumsy big steering oar called the “sweep”; with the towboat apparently dead ahead. It would, doubtless, give him an odd little creep every time he looked at the picture; for of the quartette Will was more inclined to be timid than any of his chums.

Of course the river boat had shut off steam, and was no longer pushing hard up against the current. Indeed, her stern wheel even began to churn the water wildly, in the endeavor to back, and thus at least lessen the blow, if one had to follow.

It was the onward rush of the houseboat with the current that proved the most dangerous factor in the matter; for there was no means of staying the progress of the Pot Luck.

Closer still they came; and Will even gripped a portion of the gunwale of the floating craft, under the impression that a collision was about due; when all of a sudden some new freak of the current seemed to seize the apparently doomed houseboat, for with a whirl the Pot Luck started on a new tack.

They passed so close to the side of the towboat that any one of the boys might, had they so desired, thrust out a hand, and touched the planking.

Frank sighed with relief, to realize that after all their voyage was not fated to be nipped in the bud at the very start.

“Hurrah!” cried Bluff; but his voice was too weak for the sound to be much louder than a hoarse croak.

The pilot was shaking his fist at them from above as they swept past, and uttering hard words. Little they cared for what he said, since every boyish heart was full of thanksgiving, after the scare. Possibly they were in the wrong, since the channel seemed to be no place for a helpless houseboat likely to be met at any time by an up-river tow that would stretch from side to side.

“Whew! that was a narrow escape, though!” Jerry exclaimed, as he fell back, panting for breath after his labor at the sweep.

“It ought to teach us a lesson while we’re on the upper Mississippi,” Frank remarked, himself willing to rest a bit from his labors.

“You don’t mean, I hope, that we ought to learn to talk back, so as to give these river pilots as good as they send?” ventured Will, now recovering from his attack of the “shakes,” and hoping none of his mates had noticed how pale he had been.

“That would take years of practice, even if a fellow wanted to try it,” replied Frank, with a nervous little laugh. “No, what I meant was this: while the river is as small as it is now, with only a certain channel for big boats to follow, we must keep nearer the shore, and out of the passage. Then we’ll stand no danger of being run down, you see.”

“Oh!” remarked Bluff, with uplifted eyebrows; “that’s the way it stands, eh? And I was dead sure the fault all lay with that sleepy pilot, He must have been taking a nap, not to see us, till it was nearly too late to keep from smashing into us.”

“Well, I hardly believe it was as bad as that,” Frank affirmed. “He had a pipe between his teeth when he poked his head up, and I imagine he must have stooped just to light it, so as to be out of the wind. But I hope it will be a long day before we have another shave as close as that one.”

There were still a couple of hours of daylight left before evening would descend upon them, and they considered it good policy to keep on the move for some time yet. When the sun had set they could look for a promising place at which to tie up, and spend the coming night.

To these boys, accustomed as they were to a small lake, and a stream connected with the same that was hardly more than a creek, the upper Mississippi seemed particularly grand. It was a noble river, with very picturesque shores, and something new attracting their eager attention with almost every passing minute.

Later on in the voyage, when they were navigating the lower stretches of the mighty river, its vastness might appal them, but could never excite their admiration as this early part of the cruise did.

There were not many vessels afloat at this stage. Navigation does not begin to show such bustle above Cairo as below the junction city, where the flood of the Ohio is the first considerable body of water to join forces with the Mississippi.

Still, to these boys from the interior, there was much to see; and one or the other seemed to be calling out perpetually, drawing attention to certain features of the landscape on either bank, the river itself, or some craft that appeared in view.

True to his word, Jerry, at a certain hour, vanished within the cabin; and presently smoke ascending from the pipe that projected above the flat roof announced that the first stage of supper had been taken.

By slow degrees Frank was working the boat in toward the shore on which it had been decided to pass the night. This being their first experience aboard such a craft, he believed that they had better take no risks of losing a good chance for anchoring to a friendly tree.

True, there did seem to be an anchor aboard, to be used in an emergency; but Frank had learned from Mr. Whittaker that the best way for tying up for the night was to find some means of using the stout cable. And he had also been warned to beware of getting into a shallow creek; since the river has a mean way of sometimes dropping half a foot during a single night; and in consequence they might find the houseboat stranded until another rise came along, which, in summer time, might not be for several weeks.

Perhaps the delightful aroma that began to drift out of the partly open cabin door helped to urge Frank to hasten. At any rate, in less than half an hour after Jerry disappeared, the clumsy boat was pushed in close to the overhanging shore, and nimble Bluff clambered up the bank, to whip the cable-end twice around an accommodating tree that happened to be growing just where it would prove of greatest use to the young river cruisers.

After that there was really little to do. Bluff got out a couple of fish lines and proceeded to cast them from the stern, having secured a piece of meat from the cook with which to bait them.

Before they went to bed he had hauled in quite a good-sized channel catfish, an ugly, dark-skinned creature, with keen pointed spikes along his spine, which Frank warned them must be avoided unless they wished to have a poisoned hand. Yet uninviting as the fish looked, the boys all pronounced it good eating when, in the morning, they had it for breakfast.

Night settled down about them as Jerry announced that supper was ready. The illumination of the interior of the cabin was not all that they could wish, and more than one complaint was heard as they sat around the table, which when not in use could be dropped so that it lay along the wall.

“I think I saw a big lamp somewhere about,” Frank declared; “and to-morrow I’ll see what I can do with it. Yes, there’s where it used to hang, right over the table. If it can be made to work it ought to give us plenty of light. Bring out the two lanterns we made sure to fetch along, Bluff; with their help we might get on for one night.”

Indeed, they were all so happy that it would take many shortcomings of this type to disturb them to any great extent.

It had really been a whole year now since the Outdoor Chums had enjoyed an outing together, because of being away at college. Old memories thronged their minds as they sat there, enjoying that first meal, and the talk was connected with many events of the past.

“I haven’t had such a feed all the time I’ve been away from home,” declared Bluff. “And, Jerry, honest now, I really begin to believe that you have improved in your cooking more’n a little.”

Jerry fell into the trap in a way that made Frank smile behind his hand.

“A little!” he echoed, warmly; “why, I’m going to surprise the lot of you pretty soon. You wait and see. I used to be a greenhorn, and do things just in the old rough and ready camp way; but now I’ve studied the scientific methods of a chef. And I’ve got a whole lot of messes I’m going to ring on you fellows sooner or later.”

“If they’re as good as what you gave us to-night, you can’t begin too soon,” remarked Bluff, keeping his face straight; though Frank saw him send a sly wink in his direction once or twice.

All of the boys were tired, and anxious to try their bunks. These were ranged along one side of the cabin wall, two and two, “Pullman style,” as Bluff called it.

They had brought their own blankets along, because it was not known whether the boat was supplied. Plenty were found aboard in a box; but they smelled so strongly of camphor that the boys preferred to use their own.

Frank was the last one to crawl in. He had taken a turn on deck to see that all was well, and no peril hanging over them from a break in the cable. This uneasiness of the first night afloat would soon wear away, of course; when the boys might be able to take things as they came without worrying about anything.

Frank felt very comfortable in his bunk, and soon snuggled down to sleep. He lay there for half an hour or more, however, the situation was so novel to him; but finally it must have passed away.

Some time later he awoke, and in the darkness was for the moment unable to place himself. He could hear the other boys breathing hard, and also the gurgle of the river as it swirled past the blunt end of the beamy houseboat.

Then Frank received a sudden shock. Plainly he heard someone try the door of the cabin from without, as though a prowler had dropped on the deck of the Pot Luck, and was endeavoring to find an entrance; bent on stealing some of the goods which the young voyagers had loaded up with, when making their start on the long cruise down the Mississippi.

CHAPTER VI – WHAT FRANK FOUND ON DECK

Frank sat up part way, leaning on his elbow, as he listened for a repetition of the strange sound. His heart was beating at an unusual rate, but his mind was as clear as a bell.

Just then he remembered placing his shotgun within reach of his extended arm, if he but chose to lean out of the lower bunk. And he also congratulated himself that the choice of sleeping quarters for the voyage had favored him with one of the two bunks close to the floor of the cabin.

Yes, he certainly could hear someone, or something, tampering with the door. He knew that they had tied up in a rather lonely spot; but it was hard to imagine any wild animal coming aboard to investigate this clumsy craft.

And no wild animals, at least none found outside the countries of apes and monkeys, were able to try the handle of a door, actually turning it several times.

“What is it, Frank?” breathed a faint whisper close to his ears; and he became conscious of the fact that Will had also heard the sound, and was listening in his lower berth, his heart doubtless almost standing still with sudden anxiety.

For answer Frank slipped gently out of his bed. His outstretched hand came in contact with his gun, simply because he knew just where he had placed the weapon. It was a double-barreled shotgun, a hammerless, that had been given to Frank at his last birthday by his three chums, and which as yet he had not had the pleasure of using much.

He knew that Will must have guessed what he was doing, for he caught the intake of breath that signified renewed alarm.

Frank, however, did not creep toward the door, and fling it suddenly open, as no doubt his chum anticipated he would do. He had not the slightest idea of shooting at any intruder, his sole intention being to give the other a good scare, that would be apt to make him think twice before returning again to the moored houseboat.

There were four windows to the cabin, small affairs, each covered with the heavy wire that is used in stables, and places where, air being needed, it is also advisable to keep out intruders. But Frank happened to know that one of these had been only partly covered in this manner, and that there was plenty of room whereby he could thrust the barrels of his gun out, in order to shoot.

This he did without any further delay.

The boom of the shotgun sounded loud in the confined space of the houseboat cabin.

“Whoop!” yelled Bluff, as he came tumbling down from his elevated berth, doubtless under the impression that an earthquake had dropped in upon them for a visit.

Jerry followed suit instantly. Meanwhile, Frank was feeling for his little electric torch, which he had kept within reach of his hand, in case he wanted to see the time during the night, an alarm clock being one of the fixtures of thePot Luck equipment.

“What under the sun happened?” gasped Jerry; and just then Frank snapped on the bright ray of light, when they immediately saw that he was holding his gun in the other hand.

“Get some clothes on, fellows!” said Frank, quietly; yet smiling to see the blank expression on the faces of the pair who had been aroused as if by the discharge of a cannon.

“What did you shoot, Frank?” demanded Bluff, as, in obedience to the words of one who was looked up to as the leader of the set, he began to draw on a pair of trousers, with the others following suit.

“Nothing,” replied Frank.

“But say, you didn’t do that just to give us a scare; that wouldn’t be like you, Frank,” ventured Jerry. “If it were Bluff here, I’d think that was the case, because he’s always trying some joke or other. Tell us, Frank, what’s up?”

“We heard some wild animal trying to get in here, and Frank shot it through one of the windows!” Will declared, solemnly; for that was just what he believed had happened.

“Did you, Frank; and how could you see to do it, with the night so dark outside?” Jerry demanded.

“Will heard the sound,” Frank explained, “but it was no animal at all, only some person trying to get in.”

“Tell me that; will you!” burst out Bluff. “Trying to rob us the very first night out! Lucky there’s a bolt on the door, as well as a padlock outside; and that we thought to shoot it home. But, Frank, did you hit him; and do you think the poor critter is lying out there now, badly hurt?”

“Don’t be foolish, Bluff!” exclaimed Frank, indignantly. “You know me better than to think I’d aim at a human being, when there was no need of it. I just banged away up in the air to give him a scare. And I rather think it filled the bill all right.”

“Let’s go out and see,” suggested the impetuous Bluff, starting for the door.

“Hold on a minute, till everybody is ready,” cautioned Frank; “better get your shoes on, too, boys; because it’s cold on deck at this time of night.”

Presently all pronounced themselves as ready to stroll outside, and see what was awaiting them. From the varied assortment of dangerous weapons which the chums brandished, one might think they anticipated finding the deck fairly swarming with river pirates; and that a serious mix-up was in store. Will carried the hatchet; Bluff his pump-gun, about which the others were always railing; Jerry had a rifle; while, as we know, Frank still kept his reliable double-barreled present handy.

“Shall I open the door now?” demanded the impatient and daring Bluff.

“Yes, and be careful how you use that gun of yours,” warned Frank, who knew the hasty ways of the other of old.

So Bluff flung the door wide open, and they poured forth. He carried a lighted lantern in addition to his gun; and Frank still had that useful little electric hand-torch in commission, so that there promised to be plenty of light provided, by means of which the whole deck, from stem to stern, could be illuminated.

Bluff experienced a sense of bitter disappointment, for nothing jumped at him as he had really hoped might be the case. Instead, all seemed peaceful and quiet out there under the summer stars. The river whined and gurgled as it continued to run against an obstruction in the way of the broad houseboat; little wavelets lapped the shore close by; but there was no other sound save the far-away wheeze of a towboat’s exhaust, as it bucked the current of the swift-flowing river, with possibly a raft of loaded barges in charge.

“Why, there’s not a thing here, Frank,” exclaimed Bluff, looking around him, and blinking like an owl at the light of his own lantern.

Frank had not expected to discover anybody still crouching there on the deck. He believed that sudden roar of his gun would be enough to send the trespasser flying, whoever he might be.

“I was pretty sure we wouldn’t find him here,” he remarked, casting his eyes around at the same time.

“Say, it couldn’t be that some animal gnawing, a rat maybe, fooled you bad, I suppose, Frank?” suggested the doubting Jerry.

“How about that, Will?” asked the one addressed, turning to his chum.

“Oh! I heard it as plain as anything,” Will hastened to declare, vehemently; “and just as Frank said, it must have been somebody trying to open the door. First I thought of panthers and alligators and all those things; but now I just know it must have been a man, because he turned the knob of the door, and even shook it a little as if he might be angry because it was fast.”

“Listen to the nerve of that!” exclaimed Bluff. “Thinkin’ we expected to keep open house on this trip. Tried the door, did he? Wanted to come in and join the Outdoor Chums! Perhaps if we’d left that door unfastened we’d have waked up in the morning to find a tramp sleeping on the floor of the cabin.”

“What is it, Frank?” asked the nervous Will, upon seeing the other start forward.

For answer Frank stooped down, and seemed to pick some object from the deck, just where the gunwale of the boat cast a little shadow.

“This doesn’t belong to anybody here, I reckon?” he remarked, holding aloft the object he had found.

“A hat, and an old slouch one at that!” exclaimed Will.

“I pass!” remarked Bluff, immediately.

“Give me the go-by, Frank; never saw it before now!” called out Jerry, after he had taken one good look at the head covering, which differed in every way from such hats as the boys carried along with them.

“And,” Frank went on to say, “as it certainly wasn’t here when we went to bed, we can set it down as pretty sure the fellow who crept aboard the Pot Luck while we were asleep dropped it, when he had to cut and run so lively after my shot.”

“That goes,” observed Jerry, with conviction in his voice; for he evidently was in agreement with all that Frank said.

“Looks to me like a tramp’s hat,” remarked Will, as he bent closer to examine. “But see here, Frank, there’s some marks inside; aren’t there?”

“Letters, too,” echoed Jerry, crowding closer.

Frank held up the hat so that the light from his torch would cover the inside; and there, sure enough, the boys discovered three letters fastened to the crown of the old felt head covering.

They stared at them as if hardly able to believe their eyes, and there was a good reason for this, since the letters were:

M.T.S.

“My goodness!” ejaculated Will, he being the first to recover his breath; and what he said seemed to voice the sentiments of his chums, for they were all of one mind there; “M. T. S. it says, fellows; and don’t you see those letters stand for Marcus Stackpole, the very man Uncle Felix warned us never to let come aboard of his houseboat! And here he’s tried to break in the very first night we’re on the river! Don’t it beat everything though, what it all means?”

CHAPTER VII – ANOTHER CARELESS PILOT

When the four chums went back into the cabin their faces were a little grave. It was not only Will who was wondering now what the nature of the difference between old Uncle Felix and this strange Marcus Stackpole could be, that made the owner of the houseboat seem to detest the other so much, and he on his part appear so much in earnest to get aboard thePot Luck.

“Locked the door again; did you, Frank?” Jerry asked, as they sat down for a little talk in the cabin, with the lantern placed on the table.

“You can make up your mind he did,” replied Will; “and I tried it in the bargain, to make sure it was fast. You see, we don’t know what sort of a fellow this Stackpole might turn out to be. Uncle is afraid of him somehow. And it seems to me he must have something on board the old boat that this Marcus, somehow, wants pretty bad, if he’s willing to take such chances to get it.”

“There you are!” exclaimed Jerry, quickly; “the more you think about it, the stronger you’ll believe my idea is, that there must be some sort of a treasure hid about here, and this Marcus wants to get his hands on the same. Laugh at me again, now, will you, when I’m sounding the walls, and peeking into corners? I’m going to keep it up till I find out I’m on the wrong tack; then I’ll go about.”

But all of them soon grew sleepy again, and Frank suggested that they turn in.

“I don’t believe he’ll come back to-night, anyhow,” he remarked, as he began to get himself ready for bed again. “That sudden shot so close to his ears must have frightened Marcus some. Perhaps he even thought I was trying to fill him full of Number Sevens at short range.”

“Oh! wouldn’t I have liked to see him skipping up the bank, though,” sighed Will, who seemed to miss so many splendid views, from one cause or another.

“Well, maybe another time you’ll get that chance,” said Jerry, consolingly, as he got into his upper berth; having placed his repeating shotgun on a couple of large nails which seemed to have been driven into the wall conveniently near, as if for this very purpose.

Presently Frank “doused the glim,” by blowing out the lantern; and once more darkness and silence reigned in the cabin of the Pot Luck.

Nor was there any further disturbance that night. With the coming of daylight through the small windows facing the east Frank was astir; and, hearing him moving, first one, and then another of his chums began to yawn and stretch.

“Everything all right, Frank?” asked Will, crawling from his bunk.

“Seems like it,” was the reply.

“What do we want to do first?” asked Bluff, sliding down from above.

“Well, for my part, I feel like taking a morning dip,” Frank answered.

“That sounds good to me, too!” called out Jerry, poking his head out after the manner of a cautious old tortoise.

Inside of ten minutes the whole four were splashing in the river close to the bank. The water was cool and invigorating, and, being lusty boys, they certainly seemed to enjoy it.

Frank saw to it that no one stayed in too long; and after getting aboard they rubbed down with towels brought for this very purpose. Then every one declared himself as hungry as a bear, and preparations for breakfast were in order.

As Jerry had constituted himself chief cook for the trip, to be relieved at intervals by one of the others, Bluff volunteered to lay in a supply of firewood for the little stove.

“Give me the axe, and I’ll go ashore to cut up a log,” he remarked.

Frank was secretly amused to see that the fire-eater also carried his gun ashore with him. Evidently he had a little suspicion that the bothersome man might be still hovering around the vicinity, and would have to be “shooed off” by a threatening display of hardware, in the shape of a gun that could shoot six times without being removed from the shoulder.

Presently the steady strokes of the axe told that Bluff was exercising his muscles to good advantage, and that they could count on at least two days’ supply of firewood as a result of his labors.

The breakfast was “prime,” everybody admitted; and Jerry was advised to keep a line or two out for stray catfish every time they tied up for a stop. There were buffalo fish to be caught, Mr. Whittaker had assured them, that, while a little coarse, would be found good eating; and all of them happened to be rather fond of fish as a diet, which was a good thing, under the circumstances.

“It isn’t such a hard job to get a start on the old boat, anyhow,” remarked Jerry, as with poles they pushed away from the bank, until the slow current near the shore began to catch them in its grip, and they found the Pot Luck moving.

Once they had attained the proper distance from shore, really there was little to do all day long, but keep an eye on things, and make sure the boat did not turn sideways to the stream.

By keeping away from the channel they avoided all danger from such boats as passed up or down the river.

During the morning Will, who had been looking steadily back over the course they had come, called the attention of the others to something which he seemed to think merited their notice.

“That dinky little power-boat yonder keeps hovering just so far behind us,” he said, uneasily.

“Well, the fellows aboard have a right to go and come just as they please,” Frank remarked, though he gave the object in question a long look, and then went into the cabin for the field glasses.

“Sometimes he comes as close as he is now,” Will went on to say; “and then he seems to stop still, till you can hardly see him in the dim distance, when he’ll start up again. I think sometimes they’re fishing, and anchor in favorite places. Then again I seem to think that perhaps he may be aboard.”

“By that you mean our visitor of last night, Marcus Stackpole, I reckon?” Jerry asked.

“What do you see, Frank; any fellow without his head-covering on?” Bluff inquired, at the same time.

“There seem to be several men aboard, but I don’t see them fishing,” Frank replied. “The fact is, one of them just pointed down the river; but whether he was calling the attention of the others to this boat, or something else, I can’t say.”

He took another look through the field glasses, and immediately laughed.

“Well, one of them has something in his hands now that looks like the glasses I’m handling,” he said. “Yes, and there he goes, leveling it at us!”

“That settles it!” exclaimed Jerry. “They’re interested in this boat, and, ten to one, the fellow we had aboard last night came from that same launch. Well, if that doesn’t knock the high persimmon down, though! We thought this M. S. was a common, every-day tramp; and here it turns out that he owns a private power yacht, and can go cruising on his own hook, just where he likes.”

“Tell you what, boys,” remarked Will; “chances are, he’s some sort of rascal, perhaps a real river pirate; and that squatty little power-boat is being used for robbery on the big water highway!”

“Well, the boat looks dingy and dark, like all buccaneer craft are, they say, you know,” Will went on, quite undismayed by this reception of his startling theory.

Frank himself was more than puzzled. He could not seem to get an inkling as to what the truth might be.

The little launch far away up the river did seem to be acting very strangely. And those aboard were certainly curious with regard to thePot Luck, for they had their glasses trained on the houseboat at different times. Then, apparently, the power-boat was anchored again, for the boys began drawing further and further away from it, until the haze of distance seemed to entirely obliterate the suspicious craft from their observation.

“Why don’t they come right along, and pass us by?” asked Will.

“That’s a part of the game, it seems,” ventured Jerry; “just to hang around, and wait for another chance to creep aboard this jolly old rover. But make up your minds, fellows, we’ll be ready to give ’em a warm reception.”

“Yes,” broke in Bluff, “and if I only had a chance to fire at long range, I’d be tempted to let ’em feel how hot shot can get, when fired from a real gun!” and he gave Jerry an odd look as he said this.

The boys decided that since the day was rather warm they would do with a cold “snack” at noon, leaving the getting of dinner until evening arrived, with its cooling airs.

Bluff was perched high up in the bow, and engaged in eating his second ham sandwich, while he observed a steamboat turning a bend far below, and made some humorous remarks concerning river pilots in general.

Jerry leaned against the sweep, and was supposed to be watching to see that the boat did not swerve too much while moving steadily along in the current. Frank and Will were inside, cutting a fresh supply of bread, with which to make their second helping, the boiled ham coming in very handy for the purpose; and some cold coffee left over from the early morning meal answering for a drink.

Frank had just risen to his feet, and was taking the first bite out of his sandwich when he heard a screech from without, and felt a sudden shock.

Will gave a shout, and let the knife with which he was carving the ham, fall on the table.

“They’re boarding us, Frank!” he called out, as they both darted for the door, passing through together, and appearing on the deck; where they found Jerry making all sorts of strenuous efforts to swing the boat around, as she seemed to be broadside to the current.

As Frank looked around, the first alarming thing he noticed was that Jerry seemed to be utterly alone on deck; and yet a minute before he had surely heard the voice of Bluff calling out to the one at the sweep.

Bluff had certainly disappeared.