MORE STARTLING NEWS
Bud Phillips looked somewhat confused. Apparently, he did not figure
any too well in what he felt it his duty to confess to Paul and his
chums.
"I'm ashamed that I kept mum about it when the old man accused some of
you fellers of startin' the fire, an' gettin' at his tight wad," he
went on to say; and it can be easily understood that this beginning
gave Paul a start.
"Oh! it's about that ugly business, is it?" the scout-master remarked,
frowning a little, for, naturally, he instantly conceived the idea
that Hank and his three reckless cronies must have had a hand in that
outrage.
That Hank guessed what was flitting through the other's mind was
plainly indicated by the haste with which he cried out:
"Don't git it in your head we had anything to do with that fire, Paul,
nor yet with tappin' the old man's safe. I know we ain't got any too
good reputations 'round Stanhope, but it's to be hoped we ain't
dropped so low as that. Skip along, Bud, an' tell what you saw."
"Why, it's this way," continued the narrator, eagerly. "I chanced to
be Johnny-on-the-spot that night, being 'mong the first to arrive when
old Briggs started to scream that his store was afire. Never mind how
it came that way. And Paul, I saw two figures a-runnin' away right
when I came up, runnin' like they might be afraid o' bein' seen an'
grabbed."
"Were they close enough for you to notice who they were?" asked Paul,
taking a deep interest in the narration, since he and his chums had
been accused of doing the deed in the presence of many of Stanhope's
good people.
"Oh! I saw 'em lookin' back as they hurried away," admitted Bud. "And,
Paul, they were those same two tramps we had the trouble with that
day. You remember we ran the pair out o' town, bombardin' 'em with
rocks."
Paul could plainly see the happening in his memory, with the two
hoboes turning when at a safe distance to shake their fists at the
boys. Evidently their rough reception all around had caused them to
have a bitter feeling toward the citizens of Stanhope, and they had
come back later on to have their revenge.
"Now that I think of it," Paul went on to say, "they had just come
out of the store when you ran afoul of the pair. The chances are that
Mr. Briggs treated them as sourly as he does all their class, and they
were furiously mad at him."
"Yes," added Bobolink, "and while in there they must have noticed
where he had his safe. Maybe they saw him putting money in it."
"I'm glad you told me this, Bud," the scout-master confessed, "because
it goes part way to clear up the mystery of that fire and robbery."
"Bud was meanin' to tell all about it when we got back," said Hank.
"He kept still because he heard Briggs accuse you scouts of the fire
racket, and Bud just then thought it too good a joke to spoil. But
we've been talkin' it over, and come to the conclusion we owed it to
the community to set 'em right."
This sounded rather lofty, but Paul guessed that there must be another
reason back of the determination to tell. These fellows had decided
that possibly suspicion might be directed toward them, and, as they
had had enough trouble already without taking more on their shoulders,
it would be the part of wisdom to start the ball rolling in the right
quarter.
"Well, we must be going," said Paul.
"Do you reckon on stayin' out your time up here?" queried Hank.
"We haven't decided that yet," replied the scout-master; "but the
chances are we shall conclude to cut the trip short and get back home.
This heavy snow has spoiled a good many plans we'd laid out; and we
might be having a better time of it with the rest of the fellows at
home. We're going to talk it over and by to-morrow settle on our
plans."
"Here's where we get busy and start on the return hike," announced Tom
Betts, just as cheerily as though he were not already feeling the
effects of that stiff plunge through the deep snowdrifts, and secretly
faced the return trip with more or less apprehension.
Hank and his followers came out of their den to wave a hearty farewell
after their late rescuers. Just then all animosities had died in their
hearts, and they could look upon the scouts without the least
bitterness.
"Sounds all mighty fine, I must say," remarked Bobolink, as they
pushed along, after losing sight of the quartette standing at the foot
of the snowy hill, "but somehow I don't seem to feel it's going to
last. That Hank's got it in him to be a tough character, and it'd be
next door to a miracle if he ever changed his ways."
"Do _you_ think he will, Paul?" demanded Jud, flatly.
"Ask me something easy," laughed the scout-master. "It all depends on
Hank himself. If he once took a notion to make a man of himself, I
believe he could do it no matter what happened. He's got the grit, but
without the real desire that isn't going to count for much. Time alone
will tell."
"Well, we've seen something like that happen right in our town, you
know," Bobolink went on to say, reflectively, as he trudged along
close to the heels of the one in front of him, for they were going
"Indian-file," following the sinuous trail made during their preceding
trip.
"I was talking with the other Jud," remarked Jud Elderkin just then,
"and he gave me a pointer that might be worth something. I don't know
just why he chose to confide it to me, instead of speaking out, but he
did."
"Was it, too, about the fire and the robbery?" asked Tom Betts.
"It amounted to the same thing, I should say," replied Jud, "because
it was connected with the hoboes."
"Go on and tell us then," urged Bobolink.
"He says they're up in this part of the country," asserted the other.
"Wow! that begins to look as if we might be running across the ugly
pair after all!" exclaimed Tom Betts, his face lighting up with
eagerness. "Now wouldn't it be queer if we managed to capture the
yeggs and turn 'em over to the authorities? Paul, how about that
now?"
"Oh! you're getting too far ahead of the game, Tom," he was told. "We
must know a good deal more about this business before we could decide
to take such desperate chances."
"But if the opportunity came along, wouldn't it be our duty to cage
the rascals?" the persistent Tom demanded.
"Perhaps it might," Paul told him. "But Jud, did he explain to you how
he came to know the tramps were up here in the woods above Lake
Tokala?"
"Just what he did," replied the other, promptly. "It seems that Jud,
while he was out hunting, had a glimpse of one of the ugly pair the
day before this storm hit us. It gave him a chance to trail the man in
order to see what he was worth in that line. And, Paul, he did his
work so well that he followed the fellow all the way to where the two
of them had put up."
"And that was where, Jud?" demanded the leader of the troop.
"There's an old dilapidated cabin half-way between here and the lake,"
explained Jud. "Maybe Tolly Tip knows about it."
"Sure that I do!" responded the woodsman. "'Twas used years ago by
some charcoal burners, but has been goin' to decay this long time.
Mebbe now they've patched up the broken roof, and mane to stay there
awhile. It's in a snug spot, and mighty well protected from the wind
in winters."
"That's the place," Jud assured them. "The hoboes are hanging out
there, and seem to have plenty to eat, so Jud Mabley told me. If we
concluded to take a look in at 'em on our way home it could be done
easy enough, I'd think."
"We'll talk it over," decided Paul. "We must remember that in all
likelihood they're a desperate pair, and well armed. As a rule scouts
have no business to constitute themselves criminal catchers, though in
this case it's a bit different."
"Because we've been publicly accused by Mr. Briggs of being the
persons who set his old store on fire, just in spite!" declared
Bobolink, briskly enough. "And say! wouldn't it be a bully trick if we
could take those two tramps back with us, having the goods on them?
Then we'd say to Mr. Briggs: 'There you are, sir! These are the men
you want! And we'd trouble you to make your apology just as public as
your hasty accusation was.'"
"Hurrah!" cried Tom Betts. "That's the ticket."
But Paul was not to be hurried into giving a decision. He wanted more
time to consider matters, and settle his plan of campaign. The other
scouts, however, found little reason to doubt that in the end he would
conclude to look favorably on the bold proposition Jud had advanced.
Just as they had anticipated, the return journey was not anywhere
nearly so strenuous an undertaking as the outward tramp had been. Even
where they had to cross great drifts a passage had been broken for
them, and the wind, not being high, had failed to fill up the gaps
thus far.
The rescue party arrived in the vicinity of the cabin long before
sundown, and could catch whiffs of the wood smoke that blew their way,
which gave promise of the delightful warmth they would find once
inside the forest retreat.