CHAPTER XIII

A DIFFERENT KIND OF A RACE

Bob had just announced that he thought they had lowered the pier so that there would be no danger of the logs catching when Rex, who had happened to glance toward the shore, said:

“There’s someone over there on the shore.”

The moon had, by this time risen high in the heavens and was giving light sufficient to enable them to see for some distance.

Light from two lanterns greeted their sight as Bob and Jack looked quickly shoreward.

“Who do you suppose it is?” Jack whispered.

“Don’t know unless it’s the fellows that built this pier,” Bob replied. “Seems to me that I can make out four or five forms there,” he added straining his eyes.

“So can I,” Jack agreed. “But what could have brought them back here?” he asked.

Before Bob could answer a shout reached their ears.

“What are you up to out thar?”

“Don’t answer,” Bob cautioned.

“You no answer, we come find out,” came another shout.

“They’ll find it pretty wet walking,” Jack chuckled.

“I believe it’s the same fellows,” Bob declared. “That voice sounded familiar.”

“Well, I don’t see how they’re going to get us out here,” Rex said.

“Nor I,” Bob agreed. “I’m glad it isn’t cold because it looks as though we might have to spend the rest of the night out here unless we want to land over on the other side.”

No other shout came to them and soon the lights disappeared, but a moment later they saw them appear amid the trees.

“Guess they decided that the water was too wet and cold,” Jack laughed after they had watched the lights as they moved up the bank of the river.

“Well we might as well put in a little more work here,” Bob suggested. “We don’t want to go in till we’re sure those fellows have left for good and we do want to be sure and make a good job of it here. But where in the name of common sense do you suppose they’ve been all this time if they didn’t go back to camp?”

Neither Rex nor Jack ventured a guess and for another half hour they worked at the stones.

“There, that old pier’s as flat as a flounder now,” Jack declared as he threw his peavey to the bottom of the scow and sat down.

“I guess so,” Bob agreed. “Think it’s safe to go in now?”

“I’m willing to take a chance,” Jack replied. “How about you, Rex?”

“You fellows know best. Whatever you say goes here.”

“All right. I’ll get up the anchor,” Jack said. But before he had time to get the stone into the boat Bob cried in a low tone:

“Put it down again, Jack. Here comes a boat down the river.”

Jack dropped the rock and looked up. A large row boat, in which they could see five men, was coming rapidly toward them, and was even then but a few yards distant.

“Stand by to repel boarders,” Jack shouted as he sprang to his feet and grabbed a peavey.

Bob and Rex were quick to follow his example.

The men, in the row boat, were not rowing. There was no need of it. The swift current was rapidly closing the distance between the two boats.

The row boat was nearly upon them when the man, who was sitting in the stern, steering with an oar, by a sudden sweep changed their course and at the same time another threw over an anchor, so that, in another minute, the two boats were riding opposite each other and separated by not more than 20 feet of water.

“They’re the men all right,” Bob whispered to Rex.

“What you do here, eh?” asked one of the men, a big ugly half-breed.

“Just sitting here,” Bob replied pleasantly.

“You bust dem rocks, oui?”

“What rocks?” Bob asked, looking about him.

“I tink you know what rocks ver’ well,” the man asserted with a sneer.

“But I don’t see any,” Bob insisted.

“Mebby you geet out an look, you see heem.”

“Mebby,” Bob repeated. “But it’s too wet to try.”

“Dat mak no matter. You goin’ geet out build up dat pier, oui,” the breed shouted as he rose in his seat.

“Looks as though he meant business,” Jack whispered.

“Get a hold on that rope and be ready to pull in when I give the word,” Bob whispered back.

He had risen to his feet again and stood, peavey in hand, as two of the men were pushing the row boat sideways toward the scow. He waited until the two boats were but four or five feet apart.

“Now,” he shouted, and at the same instant he threw his peavey with all his strength.

The sharp point of the peavey went through the bottom of the row boat as though it had been made of paper. With a gasp of surprise the two men, who had been pushing with the oars, dropped them and did just what Bob had hoped for. Both grabbed the peavey and with a strong wrench, pulled it out.

By this time Jack had the rock off the bottom and the scow quickly drew away.

“Look out,” Bob shouted, and Jack dodged just in time to escape the peavey which the maddened breed had hurled at him.

It struck the bottom of the scow but at such an angle that it did no damage.

“That was mighty close,” Rex gasped. “Another inch and it would have hit you, Jack.”

“A miss is as good as a mile,” Jack laughed, but both of the others could see that his face was white.

“What idiots,” Bob said. “If they’d have let that peavey alone it would have kept the water from coming in fast enough to do much harm and they could have got us. But I thought they would do that very thing.”

Looking back they could see that the row boat was sinking rapidly.

“Lucky for them it isn’t deep there,” Jack said.

“That must have made a pretty big hole by the way she’s sinking,” Rex declared.

“I guess it did,” Bob replied. “But we’d better get to the shore as soon as possible. They’ll be mad enough to do murder and it won’t take them long to wade ashore.”

As rapidly as possible they worked the heavy scow toward the bank.

“We’re not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot,” Bob declared a little later as he saw the men, having abandoned the row boat, wading toward the shore.

“You’re right,” Jack agreed. “And,” he added, “it’ll be light pretty soon. And if they get hold of us goodnight.”

A glance toward the east told the others that what Jack had said was right. Already dawn was lighting up the sky.

“What’ll we do?” Rex asked anxiously.

“Run for it as soon as we get ashore,” Bob replied as he redoubled his efforts.

Nothing more was said while they were urging the scow shoreward. Both Bob and Jack, being well acquainted with the nature of the half-breeds of Northern Maine, knew that the situation was serious. Should the five men get hold of them, while still maddened at the wetting and the tearing down of the pier, they would be lucky indeed to escape serious injury to say the least. But they were careful not to alarm Rex, hoping that they would be able to escape.

From time to time they cast anxious glances toward the men, who could be plainly seen in the increasing light. They were making good progress through the water and, although they would be obliged to swim a part of the way, both the boys recognized the fact that their start would be short.

“Think we’d better stick to the scow and let her go down river?” Jack whispered.

“I don’t know but it would be safer,” Bob replied. “If you and I were the only ones to be considered I’d say run for it but I’m afraid Rex wouldn’t hold out. Guess we’d better stick to the ship.”

They were only about ten feet from the shore when they came to this conclusion and Bob was about to announce their decision to Rex when his eye caught sight of something, a short distance above them, which made him change his mind.

“We’ll have to run for it after all,” he whispered to Jack. “See, there’s a skiff up there and they’d get it and chase us and, as you know, the rips end only about a half mile below, and in that slow water, they’d catch us in no time.”

“How about taking the skiff with us?”

“We wouldn’t have time,” Bob answered. “There’s nothing to do but run for it.”

“Down river,” Bob ordered, as the scow hit the bank, “Caratunk is only about a mile below here and if we can make the town we’ll be safe.”

Glancing back, as he spoke, he saw that the foremost of the Frenchmen was about twenty yards above them and was making the water fly as he swam with powerful strokes toward the shore only a short distance away. The others were not far behind.

“We’ve got to make it snappy, now,” he cried as he led the way.

They were by no means in good shape to start on a run through the snow after their strenuous work of poling the heavy scow, but he consoled himself with the thought that their pursuers would be even more winded after their swim. He sat a pace as rapid as he dare. He knew that Rex would soon give out, should he go as fast as he and Jack were able.

It was now nearly daylight. The snow was soft and mushy as the night had been too warm to harden it. It was hard footing as in many places they sank nearly to their knees. As he pushed on he could hear Rex puffing a few feet behind him and his heart sank as he noticed that his friend’s breath was already coming in gasps.

“He’ll stick to it till he drops,” he thought, as he came to a stop after they had covered about a hundred yards.

“Let’s breathe a minute,” he said.

“S-second the motion,” Rex panted as he leaned against a tree.

“Hear anything?” Bob asked.

“Not a sound,” Jack replied straining his ears.

“Mebby they won’t follow us,” Rex suggested.

“Mebby not,” Bob replied, but he knew that the hope was without much foundation.

“You’ll get your second wind in a minute or two,” Bob encouraged Rex as he started again.

But they had made scarcely another hundred yards when, from the sound close behind him, Bob realized that Rex was near the end of his endurance.

“If it only wasn’t for that pain in my side,” he panted as Bob stopped.

“No wonder you have a pain in this going,” Jack declared.

“Now, I’ll tell you what,” Rex began as he got his breath. “You two go on and I’ll stay here. You see,” he explained as Bob was about to interrupt, “they don’t know me and I doubt if they’d harm me.”

“Say, Rex, if I didn’t know that you were innocent of any bad intention I’d sure give you a punch for that,” Jack declared. “To think that we’d leave you. No sir ree! We stick together, sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish.”

“Hark!”

“Hear something?” Jack asked.

“I think I can hear them coming this way,” Bob replied. “How about it Rex, old man? Think you can make another stab at it or shall we meet them here? They’ll probably catch us anyhow and perhaps it will be as well to save our strength.”

“The pain’s gone now and I guess I can hold out for awhile, but I wish you’d do as I said.”

“Nothing doing along that line,” Bob smiled as he started to lead the way once more.

Rex seemed to have gained his second wind, as Bob had hoped, and for some time they made good progress considering the going. It was now broad daylight and the sun was beginning to touch the tops of the tall pines and spruces with its rays. Both Bob and Jack from time to time caught the sound of their pursuers and both knew that, in spite of their best efforts they were gaining steadily on them.

They had covered perhaps half a mile, when Bob again stopped.

“Go on, I’m not winded,” Rex said.

“I know it,” Bob replied, “but it’s no go.”

“What do you mean, no go?”

“Listen.”

Even Rex had now no difficulty in distinguishing the sounds of the approaching men.

“It’ll be a big advantage to us to have our wind in good shape when they come,” Bob explained. “And they’d catch us in another hundred yards or so anyhow.”

“What are you going to do?” Rex asked.

“Depends on circumstances,” Bob replied. “You two let me do the talking. Remember the odds are five to three and we mustn’t do anything rash.”

Even as he spoke he caught the sight of the leader crashing through the thick woods only a few yards away. The man was closely followed by the other four. The boys could tell by their heavy panting that they were far from fresh but they well knew that the physical endurance of many of these men of the woods was little short of miraculous.

The leader saw them a moment later and stopped in his tracks only a few feet away. His companions quickly gathered about him and they all began to talk in French.

Although both Bob and Jack spoke the language fairly well and ordinarily had no difficulty in understanding it, the men spoke so rapidly and in such low tones that they were able only to catch a word here and there. Finally the leader took a few steps toward them.

“You bust our rocks, an’ you mak’ us geet wet, oui,” he said with an angry sneer.

“You had no right to build that pier there,” Bob began. “We know that it was intended to jam our logs.”

“Dat our beesness.” The breed scowled as he took a step nearer.

Bob glanced at Rex. The latter’s face was pale although he showed no other sign of fear. As for Jack he was leaning against a tree as nonchalantly as though nothing had happened or was likely to.

“As for getting you wet,” Bob continued. “You have only yourselves to blame for that. You surely didn’t expect us to stand still and be beat up, did you?”

“We no would have hurt then but now you geet beat up ver’ queek and ver’ bon; just soon we rest a leetle minute,” and the leader stepped back to where the others were standing.

“I’m afraid he means it,” Bob said in low tones. “The question is had we better take it or fight?”

“I’m going to fight,” Jack declared. “I’m not going to stand still and let any half-breed beat me without giving him something in return.”

“I’m mighty sorry we got you into this, Rex,” Bob began, but Rex quickly interrupted him.

“You needn’t be as far as that’s concerned. It won’t be the first beating I’ve taken and I flatter myself that I’m fairly good with my fists. I’ll bet I leave a mark on one of them before he gets me.”

“Here they come,” Bob shouted at that moment. “Don’t let them get hold of you if you can help it.”

The five men were coming with a rush, no doubt intending to finish the job in short order. The man who had done the talking was the first to reach them and he selected Bob for his onslaught. He rushed at the boy with a hoarse cry of rage and exultation combined.

Bob stepped quickly forward to meet him, an act which seemed to disconcert the man for an instant. He nearly stopped but, seeing that the others were close behind him, he came on again. As he came within striking distance he swung a vicious blow at the boy’s head. Bob dodged the blow easily and succeeded in landing a glancing blow in return.

As the man plunged past Bob turned but, before he could set himself for another blow, his feet were jerked out from under him and he came down in a heap in the soft snow.

“Now I geet you bon,” the breed cried as he sprang forward.