“A very great service, indeed. And that’s what we must rejoice in,” answered Ed. “But we mustn’t fail to render it. We mustn’t let the thief slip his bonds and escape.” Hughes was lying there in his bunk all the while, but they paid no attention to him. They had ceased to think of him as a man. To them he was only a criminal, just as he might have been an alligator or a rattlesnake. “Oh, we’ll take good care of that,” responded Phil. “From this moment till we deliver him to the officers of the law, we’ll keep one fellow always right here on guard over him. It will mean double duty for some of you to-night, for I’m going ashore presently.” “Going ashore! What for, and where?” was eagerly asked. “There’s a little town down here somewhere, as I see by the map, and when we get to it I’m going ashore to send telegrams. You see, Hughes’s ‘pals’ might have somebody at Memphis armed with a _habeas corpus_ or something of that sort, and take him away from us. I’ve a mind to deliver the fugitive myself. So I propose to have officers to meet us with warrants and things when we reach Memphis.” “Good idea,” said Irv. “And there’s the town just a little way ahead,” called out Ed, from the top of the ladder. Phil went at once on deck, leaped into the skiff and rowed rapidly ahead of the slowly floating flatboat, or as rapidly as the drift would let him. When he reached the village he found to his disappointment that there was no telegraph office there. But he learned that there was one at the hydrographic engineer’s station a few miles below, on the opposite side of the river. By this time the flatboat had passed him, and he had a long “stern chase” through the darkness and drift before he could overtake and board her again. Then, assigning Ed to guard their prisoner in the cabin, he called the other boys to the sweeps. “The river is very wide here,” he explained, “and the telegraph station is on the other side. We must take the boat well over there.” The boys pulled with a will, and long before the station came in view the flatboat was close in shore on the farther side of the river. Meantime, or a little later, something happened in the cabin. Ed was reading a book, when suddenly the prisoner called out:-- “Ed.” “Yes?” said the boy, laying down his book. “I’m awfully tired, lying in one position. Can’t you turn me over a bit?” Ed went at once to his relief. His torture was no part of the purpose of anybody on board. But after Ed had readjusted the ropes so that the fellow could rest more comfortably, the prisoner said:--