when adam reached the house, the family had just sat down to supper, and that meal had been prepared for him in another room. he did not think it necessary to disturb the little company.
he asked one of the servants to give him notice as soon as the supper should be over, and then he sat down to his own meal.
before very long he heard the sound of chairs pushed back from the table, and then the colored woman informed him that “the folks had done finished.”
instantly adam arose and hurried to the front of the house. there upon the porch he saw phil and phœnix, and calling them to him, he hurriedly asked where chap was.
“oh,” said phœnix, “it don’t take him long to[260] eat. he got through before any of us, and asked to be excused. i suppose there is something in the town that he wants to investigate.”
adam almost turned pale when he heard this.
quickly informing the boys of the plot against their companion, he told them that no time must be lost in finding chap and keeping him with them.
no one had observed which way he had gone, but from his habits and his love of the water, it was probable that he had strolled either up or down the shore of the lake.
“you run along that way,” said adam, “and mind you keep together, for if them chaps get hold of one of you alone, they may make it bad for him. i’ll go down-shore. i ain’t afraid of ’em.”
and with this, the party separated.
on their different ways through the town they met several persons, but nobody had seen chap.
adam soon found himself in the woods, where there were open spaces among the trees near the water, which allowed him to hurry along quite rapidly and to see to a considerable distance. he was certain he was on the right track, for in the sand near the water he saw the print of shoes, with a peculiar crack across the sole of one of them, which he had often noticed when chap was stretched at full length on board the rolling stone.
greatly encouraged by this, he followed the track, and just as he vaulted over the trunk of a fallen palmetto, he caught sight of chap some distance head. he was crouched down, examining something at the water’s edge.
adam was just about to call to him, when he was suddenly enveloped in darkness. something had fallen over his head, which blinded and almost choked him.
then, through the coarse bag which had been thrown over him, he heard the words, spoken close to his ear,—
“now we’ll give it to him.”
and almost at the same moment a tremendous blow from a club fell upon his back and shoulder.
the two boat-thieves had been following chap, intending to throw the bag over his head, and then punish him to their hearts’ content; but, perceiving the approach of adam, they had hidden themselves behind the roots of a fallen tree, and when the sailor had jumped over the trunk and stood close to them, with his back toward them, they determined to give him the first taste of their revenge.
the instant that adam felt the blow, he turned upon the fellow who held the bag over his head, and twisted him around in the direction from which the blow had come. but the man with the club skipped around and dealt the sailor another[262] blow. thereupon, adam, feeling that he was at a great disadvantage in being blinded, and having an assailant free to whang him with a club, instantly clutched the man he held with a firmer grip, and tripped him up, both falling heavily to the ground.
adam was a good wrestler, and could easily have thrown himself on his antagonist had he so chosen, but, instead of doing this, he rolled over so that the man he held in his strong arms was above him. in this way it was not easy to strike him without hitting the other fellow.
it is possible that the man who held the bag around adam’s neck thought that he had, by his own skill, put himself above the sailor. at any rate, he raised his head, and said to his companion,—
“i can hold him here, and you run down and whang that long-legs. he hasn’t heard us, and you can slip up behind him. be quick, now!”
the other fellow then left, and, being barefooted, he moved silently down toward chap.
as soon as there had been time for him to get a little distance away, adam, who had been lying on the ground, as if thoroughly exhausted by his brief struggle, suddenly revived, and, giving himself a vigorous twist, turned the other fellow under him, and grasping him by the throat, tore the bag off his own head with a jerk. then adam, giving[263] a great shout, which echoed through the woods, proceeded to pound the miscreant under him as if he desired to punish him not only for the crimes he had done, but for those he intended to commit.
chap, who was busily examining a curious little sulphur spring, which was bubbling up near the edge of the lake, lifting the wet sand as if some living creature was buried beneath and trying to get out, raised himself up when he heard adam shout, and turned around just in time to see the boat-thief close upon him with his club in the air.
chap was not as strong a boy as phœnix, but he was long-limbed, and very excitable, and his fiery energy gave him much advantage for a brief struggle. without the slightest hesitation he made a dash at the man with the club, and springing to one side as the blow fell, he threw his long arms around the fellow’s waist. the club, of course, was of no use in such a close encounter, and dropping it, the man made a grasp with one hand at chap’s neck and throat. but chap, as phil had often said, was a fellow full of hinges, and jerking himself back to avoid this clutch, he did so with such suddenness that the man he held was pulled violently forward, while one of chap’s feet went down into the soft, bubbling sand he had been watching. thus, losing his footing, chap went[264] over backward, and the man with him, and both were instantly rolling in the water and soft sand.
chap was almost choked by the sand and water, but, throwing himself around like a wild cuttlefish, he managed to get upon his knees and raise his head and body out of the water, which was not more than a foot deep, although he seemed to be sinking at least that far into the soft sand.
the man, who had loosened himself from chap’s grasp, was near him, and struggling to rise, his dripping face full of rage and astonishment. but chap gave him no opportunity to do this. throwing himself upon him he pushed the fellow backward till his head went down again under the water, but, not wishing to drown him, he jerked his head up again, and sitting astride of him began to harangue him.
the man was half lying down, with the water up to his chin, and vainly endeavoring to raise himself by his arms.
“so you were going to sneak up behind me and hit me with a club, were you, you cowardly scoundrel?” said chap. “it would serve you right if i were to push you back and drown you.”
“let me up!” cried the man. “i’m sinking down into this sand. there’s quicksands here, don’t you know? let me up! we’ll both sink into ’em!”
“let you up? not i!” said chap. “there’s[265] a bubbling sulphur spring right under you, and i’ve a great mind to push you down into it. i believe you’d go slam-bang to the centre of the earth. i’m all right. i can feel solid ground on each side of you. i can just put my foot on you, and cram you down.”
“don’t you do it! don’t you do it!” yelled the man, who was frightened almost out of his senses.
at this moment adam appeared upon the scene. he had sufficiently punished his antagonist, and, having torn the bag into two strips, had tied him hand and foot with masterly sailor-knots. he had then hastened to chap’s assistance, but when he reached him he found that young man getting on very well without his aid.
he laughed when he saw the state of affairs, and then he stepped into the water, and helped chap to his feet. the other fellow attempted to rise, but he was so embedded in the soft sand that he was unable to do so, and chap and adam reached into the water, and, each seizing him by one leg, pulled him out. adam picked up the club the fellow had dropped in his struggle with chap, and, seizing the man by the collar, made him rise to his feet.
“now,” said the sailor, “you come along with me, and if you give me any trouble i’ll break your head.”
the three then proceeded rapidly to the place[266] where the other rascal was lying, and, his feet being untied, chap took him in charge, and the party set off at a good pace for the town, adam relating to chap by the way what he had heard and what had happened.
the stately gentleman was a magistrate, and before him the two fellows were taken, and when their attempted crime was told it created great excitement in the place. the men were committed to stand their trial at the next term of the court, which would be held in about a week.
phil and phœnix had returned while the examination was going on, and were as much astonished as adam and chap were to hear the magistrate say that the sailor and the young man who had been attacked must remain in the town to appear in the court as witnesses; otherwise, no charge could be proved.
“this is a bad piece of business,” said phil, as he stepped out on the porch.
“that’s so,” said phœnix; “but none of us could have got off to-night, for the von glode has gone. she started before we got back to town.”
“but we could have got off in a day or two,” said phil, “and now we may have to wait ten days or more. it is not likely this case will be the first one taken up. what do you think of it, chap?”
but chap was not there. he had vanished somewhere into the darkness.
