The Rover Boys in Southern Waters/Chapter 12
CHAPTER XII
STUCK ON A SNAG
It was certainly a moment of intense anxiety, both for those on the launch and on the house boat, and for the time being the fight between the two factions came to an end. A smash-up out there in that swiftly-flowing current might make it necessary for everybody to swim for his life.
"Can't you back the boat?" asked Sack Todd of Dan Baxter. "We must get out somehow!"
Dan Baxter worked over the motor for a few seconds, and just as the houseboat swung closer started the launch backwards. All expected a crash, but it did not come.
"The Dora is stuck!" called out Dick. "We have hit something under water!"
The eldest Rover was right, and slowly the houseboat began to swing around. In the mean time the launch backed away, made a half-circle, and began to move again down the Mississippi.
"They are loose!" called out Sam.
"Yes, and we are fast," answered Harold Bird. "But I am rather glad we didn't run into the launch and smash her completely."
The moving of the launch had caused the sunken tree trunk to turn partly over, and in this position two immense limbs caught the Dora tightly so that, although the houseboat swung broadside to the current, she could get no further.
"They are getting away from us!" cried Tom, as the Venus disappeared from view.
"Don't you dare to follow us any further," called out a voice from the darkness. "If you do, it will be at your peril!"
"It doesn't look as if we were going to follow them right away," grumbled Tom.
"Vos dose rascallions gone alretty?" questioned Hans, coming cautiously from the cabin.
"Yes."
"Dot's goot!"
The lanterns were lowered over the side of the houseboat, and after several minutes of inspection our friends located the source of the trouble.
"If we had the power to back away from that tree we'd be all right," observed Dick. "But as we haven't such power I do not know what we are going to do."
"Maybe we'll have to wait until morning," said Tom. "Then some passing boat can pull us away."
"And in the meantime those rascals will have a good chance to outwit us," said Sam, bitterly. "It's a shame!"
"Let us try to get the sweeps between the tree limbs and the houseboat," suggested Harold Bird. "Perhaps we can thus pry ourselves loose."
All were willing to try the plan, and while the young Southerner took one sweep Dick took another, with Sam and Tom to help them.
It was no easy matter to get the sweeps into position, for there was danger of one or another slipping overboard. To protect themselves each of the workers wound a rope around his waist and made the end fast to a stanchion.
"Now then, all together!" cried Dick, when the sweeps were finally in proper position, and they strained with all their might. Then came a crack, as one sweep broke, and Harold Bird and Sam were hurled flat on their backs on the deck.
"Never mind, better luck next time," said Songbird, as he brought another sweep forward.
They adjusted the new sweep with care and pulled on it gradually. At first the houseboat refused to budge, but presently it swung around a little and then more and more.
"Hurrah! we are getting her!" yelled Tom. "Now then, all together, as the tomcat said to the boys with the brickbats."
They strained and the houseboat came loose, but alas! at that moment both sweeps slipped and slowly but surely the Dora swung into her former position and became jammed tighter than before.
"Another failure," sighed Dick.
"I'm about out of breath," said Sam, with a gasp.
"Let me try it," said Fred, and he, Hans, and Songbird set to work, with the others helping. But it was of no avail, the houseboat could not be moved sufficiently to clear herself of the sunken tree trunk with its immense limbs.
"Well, there is one thing to be thankful for," said Dick, as they rested from their labors. "That trunk might have gone through our sides or bottom and sunk us."
During the next hour two steamboats passed them, but not near enough to be asked for help. They cleaned their lanterns and hung them high up, so as to avoid a collision.
"It's queer that no craft came out to learn why the rockets were sent up," said Dick.
"Perhaps they thought some celebration was going on," answered Harold Bird.
"It's nearly two o'clock and I am dead tired," announced Tom. "Any objections to my going to sleep?"
"Not if you can get to sleep," answered his older brother.
"Half of us might as well turn in, while the other half remain on guard," said Sam, and so it was arranged. Two hours later the guard was changed, so that all got some much-needed rest, although a sound sleep was out of the question.
With the coming of morning the youths looked around eagerly for some craft to give them assistance. Yet it was a good hour before a steamboat came down the river and stopped at their call.
"What's wanted?"
"We want to be towed down the river," said Dick. "We'll pay you for the job."
"Are you stuck?"
"Yes, but you can easily pull us back and out."
"Where do you want to go?"
Those on the houseboat had already talked the matter over and decided to move on at least as far as Baraville, about twenty miles from New Orleans. Dick had once heard Sack Todd speak of the place and knew the man was acquainted there, and had also heard Solly Jackson say he had once lived in that locality.
"I'll tow you to Baraville if you wish it," said the captain of the small steamboat. "It will cost you ten dollars."
"All right, but get there as fast as you can," answered Dick. "We are in a big hurry."
A line was thrown out and made fast, and in a few minutes the houseboat was freed from the sunken tree. Then steamboat and houseboat swung around and the journey to Baraville was begun. It did not take long, and by half-past ten o'clock the Dora was tied up at the town levee, much to the astonishment of many colored folks who had never seen such a craft.
The Rovers' first movement was to ask if the launch had stopped there, and from a colored riverman they learned that the Venus had come in very early in the morning and had left again after those on board had gotten breakfast and a box of things—what the negro did not know.
"I heah dem folks talk erbout New Orleans," said the colored man. "I dun 'spect da gone dat way fo' certainly, I do!"
"Did you see the launch leave?" asked Sam.
"I suah did—an' a mighty po'erful smell dat boat did leab behind it!"
"That was the gasoline," said Fred, laughing.
"I 'spect it was, yes, sah," answered the colored man.
"If they went to New Orleans then we ought to go too—and be quick about it," said Dick.
"Don't you want to send some word to the ladies and the girls first?" asked Harold Bird.
"To be sure. We can send a telegram for all, and then send letters, too."
This was done, and the ladies and girls were told not to be alarmed—that all were satisfied everything would come out right in the end.
"No use of worrying them," said Tom. "They can worry after all the trouble is over," and at this quaint remark the others had to smile.
How to get down the river was at first a problem, but it was soon setled by Dick and Harold Bird. It was decided to leave the houseboat in the care of a trustworthy person at Baraville and then charter the small steamboat for the trip to New Orleans. As the captain wanted to go down the river anyway he made the charge for the charter very small, and before noon the craft was on her journey.
Fortunately for our friends the weather remained fine, and had they not been worried over the outcome of what was before them, they would have enjoyed the brief trip on the small steamboat very much. The captain had heard of the capture of the counterfeiters and was surprised to learn that the Rover boys had been the ones to aid in the round-up.
"You've got courage," said he. "I admire what you did. But if I were you I'd fight shy of that Sack Todd. He'll certainly have it in for you, for having broken up that gang."
"I only want to lay my hands on him, that's all," answered Dick. "I am not afraid of him."
"And that Gasper Pold is a bad one too," went on the captain. "I heard about him down in Orleans. He cheated a lot of people with lottery tickets and policy-playing once, and they got after him hot-footed, and he had to clear out and lay low for awhile."
"Well, in one way the folks who are foolish enough to invest in lottery tickets or play policy deserve to lose their money," put in Sam.
"You are right, lad,—gambling is nothing short of a curse and nobody ought to stand for it. Why, on this very river men have been ruined by gambling, and some have committed suicide and others have become murderers, all because of cards—and drink. One is as bad as the other, and both as bad as can be."
"Of course they don't gamble as they used to," came from Harold Bird. "The times have changed a great deal for the better."