don brought his boat close to the wind, and went scudding across the river to get out of the steamer’s way. he held well over toward the eastern shore, and when he stood off on the other tack the steamer had passed, and bert announced, in a low tone, that there were lights straight ahead. they were close to the water, and the sail-boat’s crew had but one opinion concerning them. they belonged to a flat-boat, but whether 342or not it was the one of which they were in pursuit, was a question that only time could solve.

“lay us aboard of her without any ceremony,” said the general. “bert, stand by with the boat-hook. we must move quickly, and give them no chance to throw the mail overboard, if they have got it.”

don kept the bow of his little craft pointed toward the flat-boat, and so silently did she move through the water that the man who stood at the steering-oar, keeping a sharp look-out in front of him, but never thinking to look behind, was entirely unconscious of her approach. presently bert reached for the boat-hook, at the same time giving a nod that everybody understood. a few minutes more would decide whether they were on the right track or not. bert stood up in his place; don, at a sign from his father, paid out the main-sheet rapidly, thus bringing his craft broadside to the house-boat, and just then the man at the steering-oar awoke from his reverie and turned quickly about.

“keep away, there!” he shouted, in great alarm. “keep away, or you’ll sink us.”

343don did not want to sink the house-boat, but he wanted to come alongside of her, and he did it a moment later in a very creditable manner. the instant the two boats touched, general gordon and his party sprang over the side and ran into the cabin, some going in at the back door and the others at the front, leaving don and bert to act as grappling-irons, and to keep the boats from drifting apart. the man at the steering-oar was captured by egan, who stood guard over him with his double-barrel, and barlow and his companion, who were busy in the cabin, were covered by the constable’s revolver and godfrey evans’s rifle before they had time to think of their weapons.

“this looks like business,” said the officer, handing his six-shooter to fred packard, and drawing three pairs of handcuffs from his pocket.

the others thought so too. david’s mail-bag lay upon the table—he would never carry it again, for it had been ruined by being cut open with a knife—and its contents were scattered about over the floor and in the bunks. the most of the letters had been torn open, and the robbers had reaped a very fair reward for their trouble, 344having secured about forty dollars in greenbacks, and a check for three hundred dollars, drawn by a country merchant in favor of his creditors in memphis. the general took charge of the bills and the check, while the constable lost no time in putting the irons on barlow and his confederate.

“where’s the other?” said he. “there ought to be three of them.”

“here he is,” said egan, who marched his prisoner into the cabin and turned him over to the officer, at the same time making a sergeant’s salute, as he would if he had been at the academy.

“i told you jest how it would be,” said the steersman, glaring savagely at barlow as he felt the cold handcuffs clasped about his wrists. “why didn’t you hide, as i wanted you to do, instead of trying to run?”

“you would have showed a little more sense if you had done that,” said the constable, “but on the whole, we are very well satisfied. now keep still, all of you,” he added, shaking his finger at the women, who, having checked their loud lamentations, now showed a disposition to become abusive. “godfrey, keep your eye on 345these men until they are safe under lock and key.”

godfrey was just the one for this business. there was only one thing that would have suited him better, and that was an order to punch the prisoners’ heads. for the first time his eyes were opened to the fact that david was a great help to the family, and that the loss of his position as mail-carrier would be a serious blow to all of them.

“if me an’ dan would only wake up an’ stay woke up, we’d get along well enough,” he said to himself, as he leaned on his long rifle and looked thoughtfully at the floor. “dave’s doin’ his shar’, an’ me an’ that lazy, good-for-nothin’ dan has got to do our’n from this day on; an’ that’s just all thar is about it. dan never would a thought of puttin’ anybody up to robbin’ dave if he had been to work, an’ i’ll see that he has plenty to do in futur’, i bet ye.”

while general gordon and the constable were gathering up the mail and putting it into the bag, they had much to talk about. they had secured the robbers, and the next thing was to get them back to rochdale. they had about 346decided that they would tie the house-boat to the bank and take the prisoners up the river in the sail-boat, when curtis came in to say that there were lights below them; whereupon the general picked up barlow’s horn and went out to answer the steamer’s signals. this having been done, he waited for her to come abreast of the flat-boat. she proved to be a large stem-wheeler with a tow of empty coal barges.

“steamer, ahoy!” shouted the general.

“hallo!” responded a man who was standing on the hurricane-deck near the bell.

“what steamer is that?”

“the ‘b no. 2’ of pittsburg.”

“is that you, captain pratt?”

“yes; but that can’t be you, gordon.”

the general replied that it was he; and upon receiving this reply the captain raised his hand, the pilot rang the stopping-bell, and the steamer’s wheel hung motionless in the water.

“why, gordon, what in the world are you doing here at this hour in the morning?” demanded the captain.

“can’t stop to explain now,” answered the 347general.“ will you give us a lift as far as rochdale?”

“of course i will. can you bring that tub of yours alongside?”

they could and they did. the sails were hauled down instantly, the oars were manned and the flat-boat was hauled over and made fast to the stern of the steamer’s tow. then the general went on board the steamer to explain matters to captain pratt, while the boys lingered to look after the safety of the sail-boat. having tied her to one of the barges so that she would ride easily, they followed the general on board the “b,” and seated themselves on the quarter-deck to talk over the exciting events of the night. every one of them gave don gordon great credit for what he had done. if he had not been sharp enough to see guilt in dan evans’s face and actions, there was no knowing when the robbers would have been captured.

“young gemmen,” said the negro steward, “won’t you step into de cabin an’ hab a bite of lunch? you mus’ be hungry after your long, cold ride.”

the boys were hungry and cold, too, although 348they did not know it until that moment. they did ample justice to the steward’s lunch, and also to his breakfast which was served at seven o’clock. at eight they passed rochdale, and half an hour later they cast loose from the tow and began the work of pulling their clumsy prize and its occupants to the landing.

the “hue and cry” which the constable had raised the night before had brought the loafers and the neighboring planters out in full force, and there was a large crowd to welcome them as they went ashore with their prisoners. as there was no place in rochdale in which the robbers could be confined, the preliminary examination was held at once, the women being tried as accessories. they all pleaded guilty—(as there were ten witnesses present who could testify that the stolen mail was found in their possession, and david evans easily identified them by their clothing, they could not do otherwise)—and half an hour later they were on their way to the county-seat, where they were to be kept in jail until their trial came off. when they and their guards were out of sight, general gordon and his party, which included david evans and his 349father, got into the sail-boat and started for the lake.

“i didn’t see lester and dan anywhere,” said bert, when the sail-boat had been made fast to the jetty, and david and godfrey had started for home. “i wonder if they have taken to the woods.”

“i should think they would want to go there or somewhere else,” replied don. “but if judge packard thinks their presence necessary when the trial comes off, he can easily find means to make them show themselves. godfrey won’t sleep soundly until he gets his hand on dan’s collar. that boy will have to work hard now to make amends for what he has done.”

the boys spent an hour or two in the house, giving mrs. gordon and her daughters a graphic account of their night’s experience, and then set out for the shooting-box, where a cordial welcome and a hot dinner awaited them. old cuff had passed the night in a fever of suspense; but, like the faithful fellow he was, he stuck to his post, and held himself in readiness to defend the cabin with the aid of the hounds and a big club. if barlow and his friends had tried to burn it, as 350one of them had threatened to do, they would have got themselves into business.

the incidents we have just described were by no means the only interesting or exciting ones that happened while egan, curtis and hopkins remained at the shooting-box. the boys shot water-fowl until they were tired of the sport, and frequently entertained their friends, both male and female, who came over to see how they were getting on. they drove the ridges for deer, hunted wild turkeys and ate many a dinner of quails that hopkins shot for them over don gordon’s pointers. it was a fortunate thing for david evans that hopkins got lost the first time he went quail hunting, for the story he told and the results that came of it, effectually silenced those who had hoped to prove that david stole the mail himself.

the days flew on, and in a short time—it seemed a very short time to all of them—don’s guests began to talk of going home. they all dreaded the separation, for they had become very much attached to one another. “but it won’t be for any great length of time, fellows,” said curtis. “the members of our happy family will all come 351together again on the fifteenth of january—all except fred and joe, and i really wish they were coming too—and the next time we go hunting it will be in the wilds of maine. i can’t promise that we shall have a chase after mail-robbers, but i may be able to show you a moose, and you southerners will have a chance to try your hands at something that will be entirely new to you—i mean fly-fishing. we shall have just enough of that to let you see what a five or six-pound trout can do when he makes up his mind to fight. i assure you that i shall try by every means in my power to make your sojourn with me as pleasant as you have made my visit here.”

the parting time came at last, and the gray eagle took don’s guests up the river. the four boys they left behind them were very lonely after that. don’s first care was to strip the shooting-box and lock it. he did not want to go there any more, for there were too many things in it that reminded him of his absent friends. the antlers which had been given up to egan for the exclusive use of his “blunderbuss,” the clock-bracket and wall-pocket that curtis had fashioned with his knife, the camp-chair which had given 352away with a great crash and let hopkins down upon the floor—all these spoke eloquently of the days that were gone, and don could hardly endure the sight of them. of course this feeling of loneliness wore away after a while, and the brothers enjoyed themselves during the holidays as they always did; but when the time came for them to return to bridgeport, they were ready and waiting.

their second year at the academy proved to be an eventful one. some things happened which, like the night attack of the mount pleasant indians, were not down on the programme; and what they were, and how don and bert behaved themselves at school, what they saw and what they did for amusement when they went home with curtis at the close of the term, shall be told in “the rod and gun club.”

the end.