  Securely screened behind a convenient clump of bushes the sheriff, Jed and Terry watched the scene before them, the sheriff smiling grimly, Jed intensely interested, and Terry frankly anxious. Totally unaware of their nearness the two crews faced each other, prepared for battle. It was apparent that Captain Blow was thoroughly angry or he would never have even thought of risking the boys in a fight with the tough barge crew. He himself was well able to take care of Captain Ryder, but Todd and Maxwell would make short work of Jim and Don. And even with this knowledge in mind the cowardly members of the barge crew faced the crew of the sloop with clubs in hand. Don and Jim might have wondered at the outcome, but if they were at all worried, the fact did not show in their looks. The sloop was drifting straight for the barge and Don was trying to steer it so as to move up broadside to the barge, on the side turned toward the open water, for Don realized that the barge was aground and he did not want to ground the sloop. Jim was standing beside his brother, quiet and a bit pale, but determined nevertheless. All three of them felt sure that Terry was aboard the barge and they were determined to rescue him, in spite of the menacing attitude of the men aboard. The sloop scraped alongside the barge and the captain, disregarding the nearness of Ryder, tied it fast. The work had to be done swiftly, for the barge captain, who had not believed the three on the sloop would go through with it, rushed to the point where the captain looped the rope. Blow sprang over the rail and faced the captain of the barge, and Don and Jim, with clenched fists followed over the stern of the Lassie. As Captain Blow closed with the old barge man, Todd and Maxwell rushed furiously at the two boys, their ugly clubs upraised. To Terry’s intense relief the sheriff stepped out in plain sight on the bank and roared across the water. His voice acted like a shock on the combatants. “Hey, there!” the sheriff bellowed. “Hold up that there play!” All action came to an abrupt end and the party on the deck of the river barge swung around. The sheriff with Terry and Jed beside him, stood on the bank, his shotgun leveled at the crew. With his eyes sighted along the barrel he waved the gun slowly back and forth between the three men. “It’s Terry!” shouted Jim, and Terry waved to his friends. Captain Blow, who had a firm grip on the arm of Ryder, slowly released his hold. “Get over here in your dinghy,” shouted the sheriff, keeping an alert eye on the barge crew. “Never mind those fellows. I’ll take care of them.” Don, who was nearest, sprang over the rail of the sloop, untied the dinghy, and quickly rowed to the shore, where he was soon enthusiastically pounding Terry on the back. “Chucklehead, you old rascal!” he exulted. “I’m mighty glad to see you.” “Not nearly so glad as I am to see you,” drawled Terry, with a grin. “Let’s get the sheriff out to the barge.” When Sheriff Atkins reached the barge and faced the sullen crew he nodded curtly to Captain Ryder. “’Morning, Ryder. Thought it was time I got hold of you. Didn’t think these two fellows would get to me, did you?” “What do I care where they got?” snarled the captain. “You can’t hold me, Atkins.” “Can’t, eh?” remarked the sheriff. “I can hold you on a couple of charges, but this one is the most serious. Kidnapping and attempted assault is a pretty mess, Ryder. If we hadn’t popped up in a short time you would have done some damage to these boys and this captain.” “Right, sheriff,” put in Captain Blow. “We wouldn’t have thought of taking on these men except we thought Terry was tied up somewhere and we didn’t know where to get help. Much obliged for coming along when you did.” “Never mind the much obliged,” said the sheriff, briskly. “Pile these fellows onto your sloop and we’ll run them down to Brockport and the county jail. This is your last job, Ryder.” With ugly looks but in utter silence the crew passed over to the sloop and the boys followed. A hasty search of the cabin of the barge was made by Blow and Jed, under the direction of the sheriff, who never lowered his gun, but as nothing valuable was found they left it and the sloop took to the middle of the river on the way to Brockport. The barge crew sat on the top of the cabin, while the others clustered in the cockpit, the sheriff’s gun pointed unwaveringly at the men. “How’d you fellows come to arrive when you did?” the sheriff asked the captain. “We got the direction from the kidnapped lighthouse keeper,” Captain Blow explained, “and we’ve been coming down the river all night. It wasn’t long after daylight when we drew near the spot where these fellows was, and we saw their barge stuck in the mud. So, thinkin’ our boy was on board, we got ready for a fight, but your artillery saved us from a terrible drubbing, I’m thankful to say.” “Yes, I guess it did. Your boy Terry and this Jed, who was cook of the barge, run the craft on the mud bank last night and escaped. Oh, you fellows needn’t glare at Jed like that! Pretty soon you’ll be behind bars and Jed’ll be out free, where he can enjoy life like an honest man. So instead of clearing country you stayed to get the barge off of the mud bank, eh? Pretty poor judgment, wasn’t it, boys?” “We didn’t think that these two would get to anybody, and it looked like we could get the barge off’n the mud,” began Maxwell, but his captain interrupted savagely. “Shut up, Max! Don’t tell ’em nothing!” The sheriff laughed at the captain’s outburst of temper. Just then they sighted the dock at Brockport and sailed up to it. The inhabitants were greatly excited when the sheriff marched the three men to the local jail, but Atkins calmly locked his men up and then rejoined the boys and the captain and Jed. They went to his office and signed a formal warrant, after which they went back to the sloop. It was there that they said goodbye to Jed. They had tried to persuade him to come with them but Jed had other plans. “I’m going to work here in Brockport for a time and then move on, probably to get back to farming somewhere. The sheriff says he can get me a job in a store.” He shook hands heartily with Terry. “I won’t never forget you, bub. My gosh! how you stood up to that captain, and now he’s behind the bars. Some little fun we had together, eh?” “We certainly did, Jed,” laughed Terry, his red hair bobbing up and down in the manner which had given him his nickname. “But don’t forget that if it hadn’t been for you I would never have made it. It was you who told me of the sand bar and you jumped on Todd. The best of luck, Jed.” Jed shook hands with the rest of the boys and then waved to them as they sailed back up the river. As soon as things were settled they all sat down and explanations came from each side. When Terry finished his story the captain was hugely tickled. “So you just up and shoved that barge on the sand bank, eh? Jumping thunder, if that don’t beat all. You fellows do the darnedest things I ever heard of.” The run back to Mystery Island took them two days, and they were glad to get there. They spent one delightful day with the captain and then got ready to resume their cruise. The captain went out to the sloop with them just before they were ready to cast off and shook hands. “Come to see me again,” he invited. “I’m real happy to have known you. You will come again, won’t you?” “We surely will,” promised Don. “And please accept our thanks for your very fine friendship and service, captain. We won’t forget it in a hurry, you may believe.” “Oh, say, you’ve had that bandit gang almost in your hands a couple of times. If you run afoul of ’em again, try to hold on to them, will you?” “We surely will,” said Jim, grimly. “I think we’re going to get those fellows, yet. If we don’t, it won’t be because we haven’t tried.” “I bet it won’t! Well, so long, boys. And good luck.” As the Lassie headed out to sea the boys turned more than once to wave to their old friend, until they could not see him any longer. Then they settled down once more to enjoy their cruise. |
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