The Adventures of Rover Boys: 26 Illustrated Adventure Novels. Stratemeyer Edward

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      CHAPTER XVII

       A CAVE AND A SNAKE

       Table of Contents

      "Now we are in for it, Sam. They won't give us a second chance to escape."

      A groan was the answer, coming from out of the darkness of the hold of the Peacock. Sam was too much stunned and bruised to reply to the words from his brother.

      The two boys had been hustled on board of the schooner with scant ceremony, and now they found themselves bound and handcuffed, so that it was next to impossible for either of them to move. Hour after hour had passed, yet nobody had come near them.

      "I reckon they are going to starve us to death for what we did," went on Tom, after a long pause.

      "If only I had a drink of water," came at last from his younger brother. "My mouth is as dry as a chip, and I seem to have a regular fever."

      "Make the best of it, Sam," returned Tom soothingly. "This state of things can't last forever. If they — Oh!"

      The schooner had suddenly tacked in the strong wind, and the bowling over of the empty craft had caused Tom to take a long roll. He struck up against his brother, and the pair went sliding to the end of the hold, to hit a jug of water which had been left there in the darkness.

      "Hurrah, some water!" cried Tom, as some of the fluid splashed over his hand. But, alas! how were they to get at what was left of the contents of the jug, with their hands tied behind them?

      But time was no object, and at last they solved the problem. At first Tom backed up to the jug and held it, though clumsily, for Sam to drink, and then the youngest Rover did the same for his brother. The water was warm and somewhat stale, yet both could remember nothing which had ever tasted sweeter to them. They drank about half of what the jug contained, then set the rest carefully away for future use.

      The Peacock was bowling along at a speed of seven or eight knots an hour, and the creaking of the blocks attested the fact that Captain Langless was making every effort to reach his destination as soon as possible.

      Once the boys heard somebody at the forward hatchway, and presently the hatch was lifted for a few inches.

      "Hope you are enjoying yourselves down there," came in the sarcastic tones of Dan Baxter. To this they made no answer, and the hatch was closed as quickly as it had been opened.

      "The brute," muttered Tom. "I'd give a good deal to be able to punch his nose!"

      "He evidently thinks himself on top to stay," came from Sam, who had propped himself up against an empty cask. "Oh, if only we knew what had become of Dick!" he went on.

      "Dick must have escaped. I don't see how it could be otherwise."

      "But if he did, why didn't he notify the authorities?"

      "The Peacock must have given the river police the slip; that's the only answer I can make, Sam."

      "But they could have telegraphed to different points."

      "Well, I can't make it out, and we'll have to take what comes."

      "Where do you suppose we are bound?"

      "I haven't the least idea."

      Hour after hour went by, and still nobody came to them. It did, indeed, look as if they were to be starved to death. But just as Sam was almost fainting for the want of food, the door to the cabin passageway was flung open, and Captain Langless appeared with a lantern, followed by Arnold Baxter, who carried a tray containing a plate of bread and two bowls of beef stew.

      "Hungry, I'll wager," said the captain laconically. All the pleasantness he had previously exhibited had vanished.

      "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves to let us starve so long," replied Tom, who never hesitated to speak his mind.

      "Hi! don't talk that way, or you shall have nothing," cried Arnold Baxter. "We are masters, and you must understand it so."

      The captain set down the lantern and released the right hand of each of the prisoners. Then the tray was set upon an upturned box, and they were told to eat what they wanted, the captain and Arnold Baxter sitting down to watch them.

      There was no use to "stand upon their dignity," as Tom afterward expressed it, so they fell to without protest, and it must be confessed that the stew was just what their stomachs, in that weakened state, needed. It did not take long to get away with the larger portion of the bread and all of what the bowls contained.

      "You can thank your stars that you got meal," said Arnold Baxter. "You don't deserve it."

      "According to you, I suppose we don't deserve anything but abuse," replied Tom. "But, never mind, Arnold Baxter; remember the old saying, 'He laughs best who laughs last.'"

      "I'm not here to listen to your back talk," growled Arnold Baxter. "Come, captain, let us be going," and he arose.

      "You've brought this treatment on yourselves," said the captain, with a shrewd look into the boys' faces. "I was of a mind to treat you kindly before. You know that."

      "Come," СКАЧАТЬ