The Voyage of the Hoppergrass eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 205 pages of information about The Voyage of the Hoppergrass.

The Voyage of the Hoppergrass eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 205 pages of information about The Voyage of the Hoppergrass.

“Let me come aboard!” I gasped,—­“that man—­”

But I was too much winded to say anything more.  With some difficulty—­for I had been swimming harder than was necessary—­I crawled into the tender, and sat down to get my breath.  As I sat there, one of the boys said: 

“Why, that’s Mr. Snider!”

Then he pulled the tender alongside, and I stepped on board the “Hoppergrass.”

“Now, I know why you were running,” said he,—­“anyone would run to get away from Snider.  Has he been advising you to be good?”

“He’s been trying to—­I don’t know what.  Kill me, I guess.  Do you know him?”

“Don’t we!” they both exclaimed together.

And then the one at the wheel said:  “Has he g-got his g-gold machine here?”

“Yes,” I said, “he and another man.  They’re a couple of crooks, and they’re cheating people out of stacks of money.  How did you know him?”

“Oh, he’s b-been at the house.  But after the first t-time we always s-skun out, over the back f-fence when we heard he was coming.  Mr. Chick brought him,—­to talk b-business with F-Father.”

The “Hoppergrass,” still sailing slowly, had drawn near the point of land at the entrance of the little bay.  Mr. Snider, who had walked a few steps along the shore, stood near this point,—­ watching us.  We passed so near him that I could easily have hit him with a base-ball, if I had had one, and felt so inclined.  It was curious to be so near a man who, five minutes earlier, had been chasing me with a club.  He was still clasping and unclasping his hands nervously, but he said nothing, and neither did we.  After about half a minute he turned, and hurried through the trees in the direction of the house.

“I think I’ll get some dry clothes,” said I, starting toward the cabin.  Then I stopped,—­it occurred to me that there were some questions to be asked.  Up to this moment I had been so glad to get away from Mr. Snider, and to find the boat again, that I had thought of nothing else.

“Say—­look here—­you know,—­how do you happen to be on this boat, anyhow?  Where’s Captain Bannister?”

Both the boys turned red, and looked silly.  They were twins evidently,—­exactly the same size, and almost precisely alike in the face.  Each of them had bright red hair, a great many freckles, and a snub nose.

“Are you one of the fellows that was on this boat?” asked one of them.

“Yes,” said I. And I told them my name.  “That’s my shirt you’ve got on, by the way.”

“T-t-tell him about it, S-S-Spike,” said the one at the wheel.

“Tell him yourself!” growled the other.

“W-Well,” said the steersman, giving the wheel a twist, “you s-see... you s-see... oh!  I can’t t-tell him,—­it makes me s-stutter so d-darned much!”

“Go ahead!” returned Spike.

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The Voyage of the Hoppergrass from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.