That woke me up and, sure enough, I was hearing the noise of the Skittery III. It wakened Wampus, too, and we went to the door, rubbing our eyes. The Skittery III swung in toward our cottage and Mr. Jack Betts shut off her power and taxied in. He jumped ashore and climbed up the rocks.
“Hello, young fellows!” he said. “May and your folks sent me up; they’ve changed their minds—want you and Skreever to come down right away and not wait until noon.”
“Well—” I said. “Well; all right.”
“What’s all the welling about, son?” Mr. Jack Betts asked.
“Well, I don’t know,” I said. “I guess there isn’t going to be any wedding. I guess maybe Mr. Edwin Skreever won’t be there.”
“He isn’t here,” said Wampus.
Then I thought of something.
“Unless you would be the bridegroom,” I said to Mr. Jack Betts. “I guess May wouldn’t like to get all ready for a wedding and not have one. I guess, when she’s got her dress and the house all decorated and everything—”
“My word!” said Mr. Jack Betts, laughing. “What are you trying to do? Are you asking me to marry your sister?”
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“As a substitute? My word!”
“Well—well—” I said, and then he laughed again.
“What’s all this about Ed Skreever not being here and not being there and not being anywhere?” he asked.
So I told him and Wampus told him. We both told him at the same time. We told him how we had nailed Mr. Edwin Skreever into the hold of the barge U.S. 420 and sent him down the river. We said we were sorry, but maybe the Bright Star would tow him all the way to New Orleans before he could get out. We told him the whole thing.
“My word!” he cried, when he could stop laughing. “My word! I wouldn’t have missed this for a million dollars; no, not for two million! For eight million dollars I would let the stuck-up fellow stay in the barge. I would for ten million dollars, anyway. But, no! I like May too much. We can’t have May ‘waiting at the church.’ ”
“It isn’t going to be at the church,” I said. “It is going to be at our house.”
Mr. Jack Betts looked at me then.
“George,” he said, “you are wonderful! You are just wonderful—no other word for it! Come on, you two boys; we’ll go get that interned bridegroom.”
Well, that was the only time I ever rode in the Skittery III, and I don’t know whether I want to ride in her again or not. I was scared every inch of the way—every single inch. It was like being shot out of a gun or something. Mr. Jack Betts certainly could make the Skittery III go! We skittered down the river and were past the town before I caught my breath and we were miles below town before I could breathe my breath after I caught it, and then there was the Bright Star lazying along twelve miles below town and Mr. Jack Betts shut off his gas and slid up alongside and told the captain what he had come for. The captain shouted to the pilot and he jingled a bell and the Bright Star backed water and half a dozen hands ran forward over the willows and pried off the hatch cover and out came Rover and Mr. Edwin Skreever.
“A nice business!” Mr. Edwin Skreever said bitterly. “A fine hole to be in! I’ll smell of tar all the rest of my days. But you young rascals will suffer for this—I promise you that!”
We thought we would, too.
“Oh, no, now, Edwin!” Mr. Jack Betts said. “Come, now! That’s no way to talk on your merry wedding morn. These boys meant no harm. Just forget it!”
“I’ll not!” Mr. Edwin Skreever said, even more bitterly.
“Well, of course,” said Mr. Jack Betts cheerfully, “I appreciate your feelings, but this boat of mine—this Skittery III—is such a peculiar boat. She won’t carry any but forgetful people. I did hope you were forgetful, Edwin, so I could take you aboard and skitter you back to town in a couple of minutes. But if you really want to stay on this barge—”
For a minute Mr. Edwin Skreever scowled at us all, and then he grinned.
“All right! I’ve forgotten,” he said.
We made a pretty heavy load for the Skittery III, but she skittered up past the town and up to Birch Island in no time at all. Then Mr. Edwin Skreever packed his things and Mr. Jack Betts skittered away and Mr. Edwin Skreever and Wampus and I went down to town in the motorboat. Rover rode on the stern seat.
When we went up to our house, May was standing at the gate looking for us. She waved her hand as soon as she saw us, and when we reached the gate she took Mr. Edwin Skreever’s hand and said some soft stuff to him, and then she said:
“And you didn’t forget Rover, did you, Edwin?”
“No,” he said, “I didn’t forget him. And I don’t believe I ever will.”
But you can see why I felt scared when it seemed likely that the redheaded man with the scar over his eye in the Arkansas jail was the Redheaded Bandit. Because we knew the Redheaded Bandit was a mighty hard character. Of course, when you come to think of it, he did not steal Rover, but he might have stolen him if he had thought of it and had wanted a dog like Rover.
X
The Treasure Hunt
The night after we had chased the Tough Customer and the Rat from Birch Island we had a meeting of the Land Pirate’s Treasure-Hunting and Exploration Company in the shaft-house of the Five Friends’ Worm Mine. The Worm Mine was something we had started a few days earlier.
Everybody
