Already fists were flying, and matters looked bad for the steamboat men when Abe hit the fringe of the mob like a tornado, with Tad right at his heels. Some he knocked down with his fists, some he flung out of his path, and those who came back for more were treated to a double dose. The vicious flank attack confused the backwoodsmen, and before they could rally, the steamboat crew were pummeling them from in front. In a moment the battle had turned into a rout. Some ran down the street with the victors at their heels, and others took refuge in the saloon. “Here,” panted Abe to McCann, “let’s take the b’ar an’ git out o’ this ’fore they git together ag’in.” To the little Irishman, who had been slugging away blindly in the middle of the mêlée, all wearers of buckskin and homespun were enemies. “An’ who the divil might you be?” he growled, bristling. “Hold on,” interposed Tad. “Don’t you know me? You gave me breakfast on the _Ohio Belle_ a month ago.” McCann’s eyes bulged. “Sure an’ it’s the lad that disappeared!” he cried. “It’s himself that’s in it, the saints be praised! Come to me, b’y, an’ let me look at ye!” He wrung Tad’s hand with both of his, and then gripped Abe’s big fist when the backwoods youth was introduced as a friend. “So the little cub here is yours?” said McCann. “Begorra, he come a-strayin’ past our moorin’ last night, an’ thinks I, we’ll have a mascot aboard the _Ohio Belle_. So I catches him, an’ ties him to a beam. But this mornin’ he was gone again, an’ when I come ashore I seen a bunch o’ these roustabouts gettin’ ready to murther him with dogs. So I steps in an’ grabs him, an’ that’s that. But come on board the boat with me now, an’ tell me how it comes ye’re not restin’ this minute at the bottom o’ the Ohio.” They followed the mate to his cabin on the steamer, and Tad had his first chance to unfold the long tale of his adventures. As he described how he was held prisoner by the outlaws, McCann rose and paced the room. “Begob,” said he, “an’ it’s sorry I am that I didn’t know the man Murrell was aboard. Think o’ the grand chances I had to bash him with a belayin’-pin. An’ him cleanin’ out the gamblers with the money he robbed you of!” Tad concluded his story by telling of the treatment he had received at his father’s office. “Mr. McCann,” Abe put in, “I reckon you might be able to identify the lad. They seem powerful hard to satisfy, but they sure ought to take your word.” “Faith, an’ I’ll try,” said the steamboat man. “I’ll go with ye tomorrer mornin’ whin the office opens. But I’ve got the afternoon off today. I’ll take ye ’round the town.” And when they had been all over the _Ohio Belle_ and Tad had shown Abe the stateroom where he had slept and the rail over which he had been thrown, they left Poke securely chained, and started forth with the little Irishman as their guide. CHAPTER XXI