LYNCHING IS THREATENED
"Spies!" repeated Will, indignantly, as the cowboys gathered around.
"Yes, spies!" exclaimed the leader of the party excitedly. "You thought
you pulled the wool over our eyes down at your camp the other night, but
you didn't! We have good reason to believe that the robbers have visited
your camp every day and that you fed them!"
"That isn't true!" declared George angrily.
"If you're not in with these bandits, what are you doing here?" demanded
another member of the party.
"Why, we came in search of--"
Will closed his teeth with a snap as he realized that on no account must
he reveal the real motive for this night visit to the cavern.
"Go on!" shouted the leader.
Will glanced significantly at George and remained silent.
Chester seemed about to speak, but George gave him a nudge with his
elbow and the boy remained silent.
"You said you came here in search of some one!" the leader demanded.
"I didn't say anything of the kind," Will contradicted.
"Well, out with it! What did you say?"
"I was about to say that we were prowling around just for the fun of the
thing."
"Prowling around in the ante-room of a robbers' den in the middle of the
night just for the fun of the thing!" laughed the leader.
"That story is so bald that it's funny!" laughed another member of the
party. "You ought to make up something better than that!"
"It's the truth!" answered George.
"Look here!" the leader exclaimed. "If you boys'll tell us where those
three men went to, we'll take you into Green River and see that you have
a fair trial. If you don't, we'll string you up right here in the
mountains!"
"We don't know where they went!" answered Will.
A member of the party who had been called Seth by his companions now
stepped forward and began an examination of the Boy Scout badges which
adorned the coats of the two lads.
"Where did you get them?" he asked.
"Chicago," was the reply.
"The Beaver Patrol, I see," the man went on.
"Yes, sir!" replied Will.
"You look like a young man," George cut in. "Were you ever a Boy Scout?"
"Hardly," was the reply, "but I have a son who is very much interested
in the organization. He belongs to the Eagle Patrol, at Lander, and I
hear nothing but Boy Scout rules, and tactics, and that sort of thing,
from morning till night."
"Well, he must be a good lad if he's a faithful Boy Scout," Will
suggested. "He certainly must be all right!"
"Indeed he is!" Seth answered. "He's a good boy, and I hope some day
that he'll have the right to wear a badge like that," pointing to the
Scoutmaster emblem on Will's hat.
"How many of these medals has he?" asked George, pointing to the
Ambulance, Stalker, Seaman and Pioneer medals on his sleeve.
"Oh, I don't know," Seth laughed. "He comes home every day or two and
says he's going to have a new one! Look here, lad," the man added
glancing apprehensively back at his companions, "why don't you tell the
truth and get out of this scrape in the easiest possible way?"
"We have told the truth," was the reply, "except that we didn't come out
just for the fun of the thing. We came out for a purpose which we can't
disclose at this time. We blundered on the train robbers, and have no
more idea of where they went than you have."
"Look here Seth," the leader of the party exclaimed. "If you can't make
those boys tell the truth, just cut out this conversation. We've got
work to do tonight!"
"I think they are telling the truth!" Seth answered.
"Oh, I guess you know better than that!" laughed the leader. "You're
interested in them because they claim to be Boy Scouts, and I suppose
you're taking in everything they say."
"I think the boys are all right!" insisted Seth.
"It doesn't make any difference what you think!" replied the other
angrily, "If they don't tell the truth, they're going to swing in less
than half an hour!"
"I can't stand for that, Pete," Seth answered.
"Who's sheriff of this county?" demanded the man who had been called
Pete. "I suppose you think you're boss of this expedition."
"I don't think anything of the kind," was the reply, "but I'm not going
to see these Boy Scouts murdered without a hearing, and if you attempt
anything of the kind, you'll never be sheriff of this county again! I
can tell you that much."
The four other members of the party were now whispering together some
distance away. As they whispered, they glanced furtively from the boys
to the man who was trying to protect them.
"Look here, Pete," one of them said, as they all stepped forward, "we
don't see any necessity for this halt in the proceedings just because
Seth has a lad that belongs to the Boy Scouts."
"That's right," another member of the party declared. "Just you say the
word and we'll string these boys up in a holy minute!"
"Not with my consent!" exclaimed Seth. "I'm not murdering babies! And if
you fellows attempt anything of the kind, there'll be trouble!"
"Look here," the sheriff said, addressing Will. "You boys go off in a
corner somewhere and talk this thing over. Here's a pretty decent kind
of a fellow, a neighbor of mine, getting into trouble on your account.
Now you go and talk the thing over, and see if you can't decide to tell
the truth and help him out as well as yourself."
"Why can't you tell him the whole story?" asked Chester as the boys
grouped themselves in a shadowy corner of the cave. "Why don't you tell
him just why you came out tonight, and how we happened to come into the
cavern. I don't believe they'll do us any harm if you tell the truth."
"Now, look here, kid," Will answered, "if we tell the cowboys that we
came into the hills hunting for a demented man, they'll want to know who
the demented man is, and why he came into the hills without any
supplies. Can't you understand that?"
"If he does," replied Chester, "I'll tell him all about it."
"If you do," Will continued, "the cowboys will join in the search for
your father, and when they catch him, they'll turn him over to the two
detectives who are now in the hills searching for him."
Chester turned pale as death and shrank back against the wall of the
cave. His voice was piteous as he asked:
"So you know all about that, too, do you?"
"Yes," answered Will, "and we don't want the officers to get hold of
your father. If they do, it will spoil all our plans, because they'll
take him back to the penitentiary, and that would make new trouble for
our friend. We want to find him ourselves."
"But I don't understand--"
"I know that you don't understand," Will declared, "and this is no time
nor place to give you the information you lack."
"But I'll see father taken back to prison before I'll see you two boys
lynched!" insisted Chester.
"You'd better think the matter over carefully," Will advised. "The
chances are that they won't believe anything we say to them now."
"Well!" the sheriff called out impatiently. "Have you boys reached a
conclusion?"
"We have already told you everything which can possibly interest you!"
Will answered. "We have nothing more to say!"
"Then bring out your rope, boys!" the sheriff shouted.
Seth threw a hand back to his pistol pocket and faced the sheriff
angrily. The sheriff's eyes flashed vengefully.
"I protest against this murder!" Seth exclaimed.
"If you don't want to take a hand in the proceedings, get out!" ordered
the sheriff. "We can do the work without you!"
"I don't propose to see these Boy Scouts murdered!" Seth declared.
Every member of the party now held a gun in his hand, and it seemed to
the boys that a desperate battle must take place. They drew their own
revolvers and stood side by side with their defender.
"Take those guns away from the kids," shouted the sheriff, addressing
two of his men. "We ought to have attended to that before this!"
"Don't you try it!" Seth said calmly. "I'll shoot the first man that
lays a hand on one of them!"
While the two parties stood facing each other, each ready to begin
shooting at the slightest provocation, a volley of shots came from up
the gorge. The angry men turned their eyes toward the entrance to the
cavern and the sheriff threw up his hand in a command for an armistice.
"The train robbers may be out in the gulch shooting up some one now!" he
exclaimed. "We ought to see about this!"
"Yes," Seth exclaimed, "there's no use of our coming to blows over this
matter. If the robbers' hiding place can be found, we can make them tell
whether these boys are mixed up in their affairs or not."
"That's right!" exclaimed another member of the party. "If the boys will
give up their guns and promise to make no attempt to escape, we'll
investigate this shooting and give them the benefit of every doubt there
is in the case. Will you do that, boys?"
The lads handed their weapons to Seth and moved out toward the gulch.
When the party passed out of the cavern they found no one in sight.
While they stood listening and watching more shots came from the south
and they all moved up in that direction. The moon was now shining
brilliantly and the whole gulch was in view.
"Strange where that shooting is!" Seth exclaimed.
"It's in the caverns up to the north, and that means that the train
robbers have been brought to bay!" exclaimed the sheriff.
As the party started up the gulch, Will drew Seth aside and whispered a
few words into his ear.