BLACK OR WHITE

We knew it would be pretty easy going after we got across the river. But getting across the river, that was the question. We knew well enough that we couldn’t swim straight across on account of the tide running out. It would have carried us downstream. The river isn’t very wide there and it isn’t much of a swim across, only if we tried it we’d land east of our course.

Westy said, “We’re up against it now. What are we going to do?”

“If we wait till the tide is full,” Hunt said, “we’ll have to sit around here till about eleven o’clock to-night.”

I said, “Do you suppose the rope would reach across?”

“Sure it would,” Dorry answered, “only how are we going to get it across?”

“Throw it,” Pee-wee said.

“And what will hold it there?” I asked him. “Besides, what good is the rope as long as we haven’t got our bathing suits? You don’t expect us to walk on the rope, do you?”

“Oh, here comes a boat!” Dorry shouted. “See it? It’s just coming around the bend. There are two men in it.”

“Are they nice men?” I asked him.

“What are you talking about?” Pee-wee shouted. “They’re a quarter of a mile away!”

I said, “That wouldn’t prevent them from being nice men. Your uncle is all the way over in Europe and he’s a nice man.”

“All I can see is their backs,” Westy said.

I said, “Well, as far as I can tell from their backs they look as if they might be nice men. Maybe we can get them to carry the end of the rope across and fasten it on the other side.”

“Yes, and what will we do then?” the kid wanted to know.

“Then we’ll say ‘thank you,’” I told him.

“Yes, and what then?”

I said, “Why, then we’ll ask them to row us across keeping the boat close to the rope. They could never row straight across with the tide running this way.”

“I don’t see why the tide has to be running out just now,” Hunt said.

“Neither do I,” I said; “especially as it’s just going to turn around and come right in again. It might as well stay in. It goes to a lot of trouble for nothing. We should worry.”

Pretty soon the boat was nearly opposite us, and I shouted, “Hey, Mister, will you give us a lift across?”

Pee-wee whispered to me, “I know who that front man is; he’s a detective. You better look out how you speak to him. That’s Detective Pinchem.”

As soon as the kid spoke I saw that he was right. I shouted, “Hey, Mister Pinchem, will you give us a lift across? We’re lost, strayed or stranded.”

The men in the boat started for the shore and Mr. Pinchem called, “Hello, you scouts, what are you doing here?”

I said, “We’ve got as much right here as this river has. It’s in our way and we want to get across.”

Pee-wee whispered to me very anxious-like, “You better look out how you talk to him, he’s a detective. He can arrest us if he wants to.”

Westy said, “Why should we be afraid? We haven’t taken anything.”

I said, “I’m not so sure about that. We’re taking a hike. Maybe if we can’t prove it belongs to us——”

“You’re crazy,” the kid said.

“I know a fellow who got arrested for stealing third base when he was on the High School team,” Hunt said.

I said, “Hey, Mr. Pinchem, can we get arrested for taking a hike that doesn’t belong to us?”

He just laughed because he knows we’re all crazy. He said, “Well, what’s on your mind now? You want to be arrested, huh?”

“We didn’t say that,” the kid spoke up.

Mr. Pinchem just stepped out of the boat and gave him a shove and said, “You’ve been stealing somebody’s phonograph, huh? I’ll have to look into that.”

I said, “Good night, go ahead and look into it. All you’ll see is a lot of junk.”

Mr. Pinchem and that other man just stood there laughing and he said, “Well, what’s on your minds? You want to get across, do you?”

I said, “We want to get across in a bee-line. Do you see that tree just across the river? The one near the shore. That’s in a bee-line with that big tree away up there on west ridge. So if you’d be willing to take the end of this rope across and fasten it to that tree, then maybe you can row us over without drifting with the tide. We have to go in a bee-line.”

He said, “Oh, that’s it, is it? Well, now, suppose that bee-line takes you right through the County Jail. What then?”

Pee-wee looked kind of frightened.

“That’s up to the County Jail,” I said. “If the County Jail doesn’t get out of the way, we go through it. Didn’t you ever hear that boy scouts are invincible?”

Pee-wee said, “They’re not—exactly—they’re not always so very invincible. See? They have to be courteous. If you asked us not to go through the jail, we wouldn’t. See?”

Westy said, “We’ve even been through public school, we’re so smart.”

Mr. Pinchem said, “I’d say you’ve been through an ice house, you’re so fresh. Well, I’ll see what we can do for you. I hope you’ll always keep as straight as you’re going now.”

I said, “We always go straight; we don’t go around much. We’re always wide awake except when we’re asleep.”

He said, “Well, you’re so wide awake, you didn’t happen to see anything of a man around here? A man with a cap and a brown sweater?”

“He may be a colored man,” the other man said.

“What color?” Pee-wee said, all excited.

“Why, black, maybe,” Mr. Pinchem said; “or maybe not. A pretty rough looking customer. Didn’t happen to notice any one around here, huh?”

“Is he a murderer?” Pee-wee asked.

“Well, I guess he’d be willing to be,” Mr. Pinchem said. “He stole a skiff from the boat club in Northvale and it was found empty down below here in the marshes.”

“Do you want me to help you find him?” the kid piped up.

Mr. Pinchem’s friend said, “He held up an auto on the state road above Northvale last night. He fired two shots; got away with some jewelry and about seven hundred dollars. The chauffeur thought he was black but he wasn’t sure; didn’t see his face.”

“He—eh—I hope you catch him,” our young hero said.

He didn’t seem to be quite as anxious to do the catching as he had been about a minute before.

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