He described in glowing terms and very bad English how he had jumped fences and chased through moonlit backyards, and how he had been shot at at every step of the way!
"I reckon you were shot at because some one mistook you for a thief."
Mose looked reproachfully at Jule, and rolled his eyes wider than ever.
"What are we going to do now?" questioned Clay. "I don't know how much of this story to believe."
"One of us might leave the boat and go back with Mose," the other suggested.
At mention of his going back to the place from which he had fled, Mose rushed into the cabin, lowered his bunk, and covered up, head and ears, in the bedclothes! Captain Joe tried to worry him out, but without success.
"I believe the dog can find them," Clay remarked, presently.
"I'm willing to go and try what he can do," Jule answered.
"If we could get that foolish negro to come along!" Clay commented.
Jule went back to the bunk and shook Mose by the shoulder.
"Come on," he cried. "We're going to take Captain Joe out with us and find the boys. You'll have to go along and show the way!"
"Fo' de Law'd's sake!" wailed the boy. "Let dis coon die in hes bed!"
"Come on!" insisted Jule. "You've got to come."
After many arguments and many promises of reward in the shape of yellow shoes and red shirts, the boy consented to go ashore again. Clay warned Jule to be watchful and cautious and saw him go away with Mose and Captain Joe with a feeling that a great deal depended on his good judgment.
Jule and Mose were obliged to wait some time for a late car, and the walk to the quarter of the city toward which their steps were turned was a long one, so it was nearly three o'clock in the morning when they came to a dilapidated old shanty near the river front. Mose declared this was the place, and Captain Joe seemed to think so also, for he said quite positively, in his best dog-English, that there were people he knew in that old ruin, which was dark in every window and door.
Now and then, as the boys and the dog stood in front of the house, loiterers of the night paused in their aimless wanderings and regarded them speculatively, possibly mistaking them for disreputables like themselves. For a long time there was no sign of life in the house, and then a soft footstep was heard at the front door and the boys heard a knob stealthily turned.