BOSE PAYS FOR HIS BOARD
When he had set the supper on the ground, and then backed away, Max was
simply taking precautions. Doubtless the men noticed what he did, and
knew from this that he did not trust their professions of friendliness;
for they exchanged further talk in low words that were not intelligible
to any of the boys.
The girls, unable to longer restrain their natural curiosity, had
thrust their heads from the shelter to see what it all meant; and the
men must have seen them, though they were savagely attacking the food
that had been placed before them.
It was astonishing how quickly they cleared their pannikins of the
cooked ham and potatoes, as well as gobbled what crackers Max had been
able to spare. Each swallowed two cups of scalding coffee without a
wink.
When the entire amount of food had been made to vanish as though struck
by a cyclone, Max expected there would be something doing. He knew the
crisis was close at hand, and his cough warned the others to be on the
alert. Bandy-legs shuffled a little nearer the recumbent bulldog, and
the hand he held behind him really clutched his open knife, with the
keen blade ready to do its duty by that rope. Shack and Toby sat close
together. They had their hands clasped around their knee but were
prepared to bound to their feet like a flash; and close beside them lay
their war clubs "ready for business at the old stand," as Toby would
have said had he been given the chance to express his opinion.
The men were now very close to the end of their meal. It had been a
fairly bountiful spread, considering the conditions, but from the
rapidity with which those two unwelcome guests caused it to vanish it
looked as though they might still be far from satisfied.
The taller one began to crane his neck after the manner of a diner in a
restaurant looking to see whether the next course was on the way or not.
"Hopes as how that ain't all you means to hand out, younker?" he went
on to say, with a little menace in his manner that did not seem to be
just the right thing for one to display who had been treated so well.
"As our stock of food isn't so very large, and we don't know just how
long we may have to camp out, it's all we can spare just now," replied
Max, in as amiable a tone as he could command.
After all it was a mistake to suppose that men like these desperate
rascals would allow themselves to feel anything like gratitude. Their
instincts were brutal to the core, and they only knew the law of force.
These boys and girls had plenty to eat, and they were far from
satisfied. If further food was not forthcoming through voluntary
means, they would just have to take things as they pleased. They could
have nothing to fear from interruptions, in this lonely neighborhood;
and as for these four half-grown boys putting up a successful fight
against two such hardened characters as they were, was an absurdity
that they did not allow to make any impression on them.
Still the taller man did not want to rush things too fast. There was
something about the cool manner of Max Hastings that warned him the
conquest might not be the easy task they thought, he may have sensed
the fact that the young leader of the camping party was not an ordinary
boy; and then too Shack Beggs had a husky sort of look, as though he
knew pretty well how to take care of himself.
The bulldog had kept so quiet all this time that the men did not pay
much attention to him, lying there peacefully. They probably
calculated that if things came down to an actual show of hands it would
mean two boys apiece; and surely they should be equal to overcoming
such opposition.
"Hain't that same kinder rough on us, young feller?" demanded the hobo
or escaped jailbird, whichever the taller man might be. "Wot yer gives
us only makes us hungrier'n 'ever. Wisht you'd look 'round an' see if
yer cain't skeer up somethin' more in the line o' grub. Then we'll
stretch out here nigh yer fire, an' git some sleep, 'cause we needs the
same right bad."
"You've had all we can let go," said Max; "and as your room is better
than your company, perhaps you'll feel like moving on somewhere else
for the night. If it happens that you've no matches to make a fire to
keep warm by, there's part of a box for you," and he coolly tossed a
safety-match box toward the taller man, one of a number he had found on
a shelf in Mrs. Jacobus' cabin.
Somehow his defiant words caused the men to turn and look dubiously at
each other. They hardly knew what to expect. Could that shack shelter
several men besides the girls whose frightened faces they could see
peeping out? There did not seem to be any chance of that being the
case, both decided immediately. After exchanging a few muttered
sentences the two men began to slowly gain their feet.
Shack Beggs and Toby also scrambled erect, holding their cudgels behind
them prepared for work. Those men looked dangerous; they would not be
willing to leave that comfortable camp at the word of a boy, a mere
stripling, at least not until the conditions began to appear more
threatening than at present.
Max was watching their every action. He had nerved himself for the
crisis, and did not mean to be caught napping. Should either of the
men show a sudden disposition to leap toward them Max was ready to
produce his weapon, and threaten dire consequences. The hand that had
not quivered when that huge mastiff was in the act of attacking them
would not be apt to betray Max now, as these rascals would discover to
their cost.
"That's kind in yer, kid, amakin' us a present o' matches when we ain't
got nary a one," remarked the spokesman of the pair, as he turned
toward Max, and took a step that way.
"Hold on, don't come any closer!" warned the boy, threateningly.
"What's the matter with yer?" snarled the man, suddenly dropping the
mask that he had been figuratively wearing while using soft words.
The bulldog must have seen that the danger line had been reached, for
he was erect again, and pulling ferociously at his tether, gnashing his
ugly white teeth together with an ominous sound, and showing his red
open mouth.
"Just what I said before," returned Max, steadily; "you came here
without any invitation from us. We've warmed you, and fed you the best
we could afford, and now we tell you that we want your room a heap more
than your company. That's plain enough English, isn't it, Mister, or
do you want me to tell you to clear out?"
The taller man laughed, but it was a very unpleasant sort of a laugh,
which must have made the listening girls shiver with dread of what
might be coming when those two burly men flung themselves at the boys
in the attempt to capture the camp with its spoils.
"Oh! so that's the way the thing runs, is it, kid?" sneered the man;
and then changing his manner again he went on to demand harshly: "What
if we don't mean to clear out? Supposin' we takes a notion this here
is comfy enough fur two ducks that'd like to stay to breakfast, and
share yer stock o' grub? What'd ye do 'bout that, younker?"
He took another forward step, and from his aggressive manner it was
plain to be seen that he meant to attack them speedily. Max waited no
longer. He did not want matters to work along until they reached the
breaking point, for that would mean a nasty fight; and while he and his
chums would undoubtedly come out of this first-best there must be some
bruises received, and perhaps blood might have to be shed. So he
concluded to stop things where they were.
Accordingly he brought his hand to the front and made so as to let them
see he was armed. As the hobo did not advance any further it looked as
though he may have taken warning; the sight of that up-to-date weapon
was enough to make any one pause when about to precipitate trouble, for
it could be fired as fast as Max was able to press the trigger.
"Bandy-legs!" snapped Max.
"Here!" answered the one addressed.
"Have you got your knife laid on the rope?" continued the leader of the
camp.
"You just bet I have, and when you say the word he's goin' to jump for
that biggest feller's throat like a cyclone; ain't you, Bose?" turning
toward the dog.
The ugly looking bulldog gave a yawp that may have been intended for an
affirmative answer; and his appearance was so very fierce that it
helped the hobo make up his mind he did not care for any closer
acquaintance with such an affectionate beast.
"Hold on there, don't you be in too big a hurry 'bout slittin' that
same rope, kid!" he called out, shrinking back a step now, and half
raising his hands as if to be in readiness to protect his neck against
those shining teeth.
"Then you've changed your mind about wanting to sleep here in this
camp, have you?" asked Max, quietly. "We'll allow you to do it on one
condition, which is that you let us tie you both up, and hold you here
until the sheriff comes to-morrow."
From these words it became apparent to the men that the fact of one of
them was wearing a broken handcuff must have been discovered by the
boys. They looked as black as a thunder cloud, but realized that they
were up against a blank wall.
"Excuse us 'bout that same, kid," the taller man said, bitterly; "we'd
rather take the matches an' go to make a camp somewhere else, where we
won't bother youse any. But p'raps ye'll be sorry fur actin' like that
by us, won't he, Bill?"
"He will, if ever I has anythin' tuh say 'bout it," growled the shorter
rascal, shaking his bullet-shaped head, which the boys now saw had been
closely shaven, which would indicate that he must in truth be some
escaped convict.
"We're waiting for you to move along," remarked Max. "Don't bother
thanking us for the little food we had to spare you. It may keep you
from starvation, anyway. And see here, if so much as a single stone
comes into this camp after you've gone I give you my word we'll cut
that rope, and start the dog after you. Now just suit yourselves about
that!"
The men gave one last uneasy look at the bulldog, and as though he knew
he was in the spotlight just then Bose growled more fearfully than
ever, and showed still more of his spotted throat, and red distended
jaws, with their attendant white, cruel looking fangs.
It was enough. The taller man shook his head dismally as though,
knowing that neither of them possessed the first weapon, he judged it
would be something bordering on suicide to provoke that fierce beast to
extreme measures.
"There'll be no stone throwin', make yer mind easy on that score,
younker," he told Max, between his teeth; "but if ever we should happen
to meet up with you er any o' yer crowd agin, look out, that's all!
Kim erlong, Bill, we quits cold right here, see?"
With that they stalked moodily away, and the boys seemed able to draw
freer breaths after their departure. Max stood ready to carry out his
threat should the men attempt to bombard the camp with stones, and for
some little time he kept Bandy-legs standing there, knife in hand,
ready to sever the rope that kept Bose from his liberty.
There was no need, it turned out. The two men had realized that they
were in no condition to carry matters to a point of open hostilities
with those who had fed them and given them a helping hand; and perhaps
that vague threat of detaining them there until the coming of the
officers may have added to their desire to "shake the dust of that
region from their shoes," as Bandy-legs expressed it, although Toby
told him he would have a pretty hard time finding anything like dust in
those days of rain-storms and floods.
It took a long time to reassure the girls, and coax them to try and
sleep again. As for Max he was determined to keep awake, and on guard
until dawn arrived; which in fact was exactly what he did.