MR. HALLET HEARS THE NEWS.
"What are you going to do about it?" repeated Tom, who was impatient
to begin operations at once. "The robbers have by this time discovered
that their ill-gotten gains have slipped through their fingers, and of
course they are not going to stay there in the gulf till the sheriff
comes and gobbles them up. While we are idling here, they may be taking
themselves safe off."
"They may, and then again they may not," said Mr. Warren. "If they are
at all acquainted with these hills--and if they are not, I don't see
why they came here in the first place--they must know that there's not
another spot in the whole country, of the same size, that affords so
many excellent hiding-places. But we'll talk about them by-and-by. Joe
is the fellow I am thinking about just now."
The young game-warden looked his surprise, but did not speak.
"Yes," continued Mr. Warren, "somehow I don't like to think about the
visit they made to his cabin while you boys were in the gorge. Did they
take any of your things, Tom?"
That was the first time it had ever occurred to Tom and his friend that
the robbers might have given their own house an overhauling, and that
possibly Joe Morgan was not the only one who had suffered at their
hands. They looked blankly at each other, and at last Bob managed to
say that they had not been near their cabin since they left it in Joe's
company, early in the morning.
"Then perhaps it would be worth while for you to go up there and look
into things," said Mr. Warren, "while I go down and talk to Hallet. It
is possible that we shall decide to take this valise to Hammondsport
before I come back. I am sure I don't want to keep it in the house over
night, for if those robbers should by any means get on the track of
it, they wouldn't be at all backward about coming here after it."
"I don't see how they could get on the track of it," Joe remarked.
"Did it ever occur to you that they might have followed you at a
distance when you came down from the mountain?" inquired Mr. Warren.
Yes, the boys had thought of that, and it had kept them on nettles. But
they were never off their guard, held their guns ready for instant use,
and faced about whenever they head the slightest sound. If the men were
on their trail, why did they not rush up and grab the valise?
"Because they did not care to face the bullets and bird-shot that were
in those guns--that's the reason," answered Mr. Warren. "They will not
do anything openly; I am not at all afraid of that. But I _am_ afraid
that they will be full of life and action when night comes. Perhaps,
after all, you boys had better bring your things down and stay at home,
until the sheriff has had opportunity to take those fellows into
custody. Joe, I give you an order to that effect."
"I don't much like the idea of deserting my post on account of
imaginary dangers," replied Joe.
"That's the idea; neither do I!" exclaimed Tom.
"It's my opinion that your Uncle Hallet will be quite positive on
that point," said Mr. Warren, who laughed heartily when he saw the
expression of disappointment and disgust that overspread the faces of
the young game-wardens.
"If he is, I'll kick, I bet you!" declared Tom.
"And much good will that do you. Now, Tom, be a good boy, and do a
little errand for me. Go out to the barn and tell Fred to hitch the
blacks to the canopy top. Then we'll all ride down to Uncle Hallet's
and see what he thinks of this morning's work."
Depositing his double barrel in one corner of the hall, Tom hastened
out to comply with this request, and Mr. Warren addressed himself to
Bob and Joe.
"This beats anything I ever heard of," said he. "Who would have
imagined that your love of mischief was destined to bring rogues to
justice, clear an honest man's reputation, and make you rich into the
bargain? Joseph, I am sorry you lost your gun; but you shall not go
hungry because they carried off your provisions."
"The gun wasn't worth much," was Joe's reply, "and perhaps I haven't
lost it yet. I shall live in hopes of having it returned to me when
those men are arrested. Do you really think I had better stop at home?"
"Of nights? Yes, I do."
"I am not at all afraid," began Joe.
"I haven't so much as hinted that you were," interrupted his employer,
"but I can't see the use of your putting yourself in the way of danger
for nothing. If there was any real need that you should stay up there,
the case would be different. My object, and Hallet's, in building those
cabins, was to provide comfortable quarters for our wardens, so that
they would not have to wade through the deep snow in going to and from
their work. If you will spend the day in walking around the woods and
looking out for market-shooters, it is all I shall ask of you, until
those robbers have been shut up. Even after that you may have trouble,
for you have got Brierly down on you."
"I don't see why Brierly should be down on him," said Bob. "By turning
him back, Joe helped him get twenty-five dollars for nothing."
"I am well enough acquainted with him to know that he will never
forgive Joe for threatening to report him," said Mr. Warren. "The first
good chance he gets, he will be even with him for that."
While they were talking in this way, Tom Hallet came bounding up the
steps, and a few minutes later the canopy top was driven up to the door.
The boys got in, in obedience to a sign from Mr. Warren; but one of
them, at least would have objected, if he had thought that he could
gain anything by it.
That one was Joe Morgan, who scarcely knew whether he stood on his head
or his feet. Mr. Warren's confident assertions regarding the value of
the property which he and his two friends had found in the robbers'
hiding place had turned him completely upside down--at least, that was
what he told himself. His share of the ten thousand dollars, if he ever
got it (and his employer did not seem to have any misgivings on that
point), would make a great change in his circumstances. It would put it
in his power to obtain the schooling he wanted, and give his mother the
good long rest of which everybody, except Silas and Dan, could see that
she stood so much in need.
"But won't they be hopping mad when they hear of it?" Joe asked
himself, over and over again. "And what would they have done with the
things that are in that valise, if they had found them? The money they
could have spent, of course; but they would not dare wear the watches
and jewelry, and the papers they would have destroyed, and with them
their only chance of putting in a claim for the reward. As things have
turned out, mother will receive the most benefit from this morning's
work, unless it be the county treasurer, who was unjustly accused of
crookedness. He can thank Bob and Tom for that, and if I ever see him,
I shall take pains to tell him so. If they had not played that joke on
father and Dan, he might have remained under a cloud all his life."
The young game-warden was so fully occupied with these thoughts that he
did not know what was going on around him, until Bob Emerson seized him
by the arm and shook him out of his reverie.
"Isn't that so?" he demanded.
"Certainly; it's all true," replied Joe.
"It was a nice place, wasn't it?" continued Bob.
"Splendid," said Joe, who had no idea what particular place Bob was
referring to.
But the latter did not notice his abstraction. He and Tom were telling
Mr. Warren what a nice camp the robbers had made for themselves under
the bluff, and dilating upon the amount of work they must have done in
making so good a path through those dense thickets.
"In front of the cabin--that's the way we always speak of it, for it
wasn't really a cave, you know--there was a cleared half-circle that
was fully as large as your parlor," said Bob. "In this circle we saw a
few battered cooking utensils, the smoking ashes of a camp-fire, and
the ghost that frightened Dan Morgan so badly that he dared not carry
the secret to bed with him. I said from the first that it was a man and
not an animal that yelled at us when Tom and I came down that gorge day
before yesterday, and I finally succeeded in making Tom think so, too;
but he insisted that it wasn't an outlaw, but some one who took it into
his head to play a trick on us, just for the fun of seeing us run. Not
until Joe told us his story, and gave us his ideas regarding matters
and things, did we know just what we would have to face if we went into
that gorge."
"You say the ghost seemed to grow in height while Dan looked at it,"
observed Mr. Warren. "Did Dan's fears make him say that, or was it a
part of the trick?"
"Of course I am not positive on that point," was Bob's reply, "but I
think it was a part of the trick. I gave but one hasty glance at the
dummy, but I took note of the fact that it was rigged on a very long
pole, and it would have been easy for the man who was managing it to
raise it higher and higher above the bushes, if he wanted to do it. I
also noticed that the face was made of a stuffed pillow-case, which had
been blackened with a piece of coal to show where the eyes, nose and
mouth ought to be."
"What do you think suggested to them the idea of making use of a dummy
to frighten folks away from their hiding-place?"
"I don't know, unless it was the success that attended their efforts to
keep Tom and me from going there," answered Bob.
But the sequel proved that, although he had guessed pretty closely on
some things, he had shot wide of the mark when he guessed at this one.
"As good luck would have it, you went into the gorge while the robbers
were absent on a plundering expedition," said Mr. Warren. "But suppose
you had found them at home, and ready to receive you--what then?"
"But we didn't, you see!" exclaimed Tom, triumphantly. "We had the camp
all to ourselves."
"I must say that you are a reckless lot," declared Mr. Warren, "and it
would be serving you just right if Uncle Hallet should order you to be
ready to start for school when the next term begins."
Bob looked blank, but Tom hastened to quiet his fears by saying:
"He will never think of such a thing. He is a firm friend of Mr.
Shippen," (that was the name of the county official who was suspected
of making way with the bonds and other valuable documents that had been
placed in his hands for safe keeping), "and when Uncle Hallet knows
that we can clear him, he will be so delighted that he won't think of
scolding us. There he is now. He has been out to get some flowers for
his library table."
Mr. Hallet was surprised to see his neighbor drive into his yard
with the three game-wardens, who ought to have been far away on the
mountain attending to business, and almost overwhelmed with amazement
when he heard the story they told him while seated on the porch.
When Mr. Warren showed him the recovered securities, at the same time
remarking that their mutual friend Shippen would be cleared of all
suspicion the moment those papers were produced in Hammondsport, Uncle
Hallet went into the hall after his hat and duster, declaring that it
was a matter of the gravest importance, and must be attended to at once.
Then he added something that gave his nephew the opportunity to "kick."
"I am going over to the county-seat with Mr. Warren, and you two boys
had better stay here until I return," was what he said.
"Now, just look here--" began Tom.
"I know all about it," interrupted his uncle, turning his head on one
side and waving his hands up and down in the air, "and I am in too
great a hurry to listen to any argument. Joe Morgan has seen one
white face looking at him through his window, and if you stay up there
to-night you will see two; but they will be white with anger, and
not with fear. You have got yourselves in a box by your prying and
meddling," added Uncle Hallet, who was delighted with the exploit the
boys had performed and proud of their pluck, "and I want you to keep
away from those hills after dark, I tell you."
"Well," said Tom, with a long-drawn sigh, "I suppose I shall have to
submit."
"I think I would, if I were in your place," said Mr. Warren.
And as he spoke he brought so comical a look to his face that every one
on the porch broke out in a hearty laugh.