SURPRISING CHARLIE.
Sebattis was quietly creeping, foot by foot, along the wall of the cabin.
Giraffe realized that it was the intention of the guide to make his way
along the side, so as to command the front, where the only exit could be
found. This they must cover, if they expected to hold the situation.
Old Eli had pushed up alongside the Indian. He seemed to feel that if it
came to a case of holding the hoboes up, the desperate rascals would be
more apt to surrender if they saw two determined men in the front rank of
those who covered them with their guns, than if they believed the whole
posse to be made up of inexperienced half-grown Boy Scouts.
Of course this started the others moving also, since no one felt like
being left behind. Being close to the wall, it was possible for them to
hear what was being said within; for the two men did not speak in
anything bordering on whispers. They did not dream of the danger that was
hovering over their heads; and the finding of the bundle, apparently
undisturbed, seemed to make them both happier than they could have been
for some time.
When they reached the corner of the cabin the creepers turned it. Now
they had to remember that the little window was here, and that if one of
the new inmates of the hut chanced to thrust his face close up to the
wonderful sash that had survived all these years of cold and heat, there
was danger that they would be discovered, should one of them stray from
the wall.
Giraffe was listening to what the men were saying. Somehow there seemed
to be a sort of strange fascination about playing the part of
eavesdropper in a case like this. But he did not allow himself to get so
deeply interested as to forget all idea of caution.
The man with the great, heavy voice he guessed must be the leader, who
went by the name of Charlie Barnes. He it had been, Thad and Allan had
declared, who led the flight of the hoboes through the great Maine woods.
And it had been this fact that seemed to convince the scoutmaster Charlie
must at one time have been playing the rôle of guide in these same woods.
Apparently he had not bothered undoing the bundle then, for there was no
trace of anger or bitter disappointment in his tones, such as must have
been the case had he learned of the cheat.
“How’s the leg, Kimball?” he was asking.
“Hurts pretty bad, let me tell you,” came the reply; “and the worst of it
is, I can’t get the bleed to stop. If this keeps on, I’ll keel over soon;
I’m feeling that weak, Charlie.”
The man with the bass voice said something that sounded like strong
language. At first Giraffe feared he had taken a notion to open up the
package, and learned of the cheat; but when he spoke, this proved not to
be the case.
“That’s hard luck, ain’t it, Kimball?” he went on. “The only feller in
our bunch thet knows a blamed thing about the doctor game, he’s gone an’
took sick hisself, an’ is alyin’ thar under thet ledge, whar we’ve hed to
camp out ever since larnin’ thet them hunters was occupyin’ this here
cabin. But after I’m rested a bit, tell you what I’ll do—you lay around
and take it easy, while I hike back and bring my brother-in-law here.
He’s on’y a light weight, an’ I guess as how I kin kerry him on my back.
Won’t be the fust heavy pack I’ve toted over the Maine carries, believe
me.”
“All right, Charlie,” said the other, who possessed a high voice, exactly
the opposite of that belonging to the big leader. “And p’raps, now, Dick
might be in one of his lucid turns, so he could tell me what to do to
stop this pesky bleed. I never knowed what a crazy job it was till now,
not to understand the first thing ’bout stoppin’ blood from flowin’ from
a wound.”
“Sho! thet’s nawthin’. I’ve seen a logger bleed right to death ’cause
nobody had any ijee how to do that same. You’d think loggers, of all
men’d larn sech tricks. Likewise, you’d expect sailors would every one of
’em know how to swim; but they don’t, in half the cases.”
“Say, Charlie, what we goin’ to do?” asked the wounded man, fretfully.
“What d’ye mean by askin’ thet, Kimball?” demanded the other.
“Supposin’ I get in trim to move in a day or two, how long must we hang
out in these here diggings, to take care of Dick?” Kimball asked.
“Wall, I want to do the right thing by the pore critter,” replied
Charlie, reflectively. “You remembers that he’s my wife’s brother. But in
course thar’s got to be a limit. We’re in danger every minit we stays
here this side the border. An’ with thet thar sheriff pokin’ ’raound
every which way, tryin’ to locate us, it’d be crazy fur us to hang out
here long.”
“Put a limit on the time, Charlie. He ain’t any relation of mine, you
see, and I just don’t feel like taking chances on twenty years to oblige
your wife’s brother. P’raps I couldn’t make it just as well without you,
but I know which is north, an’ that safety lies that way; so I’d just
keep on travelin’ till I learned I was over the line in Canada.”
“I tell you what, Kimball,” said the other, after a pause, “we’ll give
the poor feller till to-morry night. If he ain’t better then, we jest got
to leave hyar by the next mornin’ sure. The best we kin do is to fix him
comfortable like, with a plenty o’ water and grub handy, and let him take
chances. Now, as I hev got my hands on this hyar bundle o’ stuff again, I
jest don’t feel like bein’ caged.”
“That’s all right, Charlie,” replied the other. “I don’t like to desert a
man any more than you do; but what’s a fellow goin’ to do? We’d all get
caught if we hung out here too long. As it is, we can send the sheriff
word when we’re safe over the line, and he’ll find Dick. They ain’t got
much on the boy, you know; and if he’s sent up at all, it’d only be for a
few years.”
By this time Giraffe himself was crawling past under the little window.
He knew that he must be making more or less of a rustling sound while
moving along; to his ears all trifling things were magnified immensely;
why, he could even hear the pounding of his rapidly beating heart, and
wondered if it was calculated to catch the attention of those within the
cabin.
However, he realized that several things were acting in his favor. In the
first place the wind made more or less of a constant rustle through the
tops of the tall pines, and this in itself would have deadened other
sounds. Then again, the fact of the two hobo yeggs talking together acted
as a buffer, since they were not so likely to keep their ears on the
alert for suspicious noises from without.
There were Sebattis and Eli turning the last angle now. That must bring
them to the front of the cabin, where they could crouch down behind some
of the shrubbery that Giraffe remembered grew on that side. Doubtless the
keen-witted Indian had this very fact in mind when he chose to pass along
to this side of the door, rather than take the other route; as Giraffe
realized he must have done, simply because in that case he would not have
to pass under a window at all.
Did they mean to suddenly spring into the cabin, and cover the men before
they could snatch up their guns? Giraffe hoped not, for in that case the
rest of them might not have any share at all in the winding up of the
affair; and all the glory would pass to Sebattis, Eli, and perhaps Thad
and Allan.
But then, the fact that the leaders were now crouching there would seem
to indicate that just then at least there was no intention of going
further.
So Giraffe, also pulling his long figure forward, found a place where he
too could stretch out, and with his gun in his trembling hands, wait for
the next move in the game.
Now he remembered what the man with the heavy voice had just said about
meaning to start out after the sick member of the trio, after he had
recovered his wind. That looked as if Sebattis might be laying for him
there. And when he stepped into the open, doubtless the two guides
expected to suddenly spring to their feet, at the same time cowering him
by leveling their weapons.
Giraffe realized that perhaps this was rather queer business for a Boy
Scout to be in, rounding up desperate law breakers; but if Thad thought
it all right, why, there could be no objection.
Some one pushed up against him, and twisting that wonderful neck of his,
Giraffe was able to see that it was Step Hen, who in turn had arrived,
and taken his position in the line.
Davy was last of all to reach the shelter of the clump of brushwood, but
he came working his way along on his stomach, and pushing his shotgun
ahead of him as best he knew how; though the chances were he filled the
muzzle with dirt in so doing, and took chances of having a barrel burst,
should he try and discharge the weapon before cleaning this out.
Well, they were all there now, and only waiting for Charlie to be
accommodating enough to put in an appearance. It could not be for long;
though with his nerves all keyed up to concert pitch, Giraffe thought the
seconds were weighted down with lead, they passed so slowly.
There, was that a movement at last within the cabin? Some one was
certainly crossing the pine-covered floor with heavy steps. Still, it may
have been the wounded man, limping to new quarters.
Again Giraffe allowed himself to draw in some of the cool air; for in
that second of strain he had actually stopped breathing.
The crisis was only delayed a little, and was sure to come along before a
great while. He realized that those after whom he patterned were taking
it calmly; and if they could wait, surely he had no right to show
impatience. Many a plan doubtless owed its success to this quality of
being able to restrain hasty action; why, Giraffe remembered a saying to
the effect that “everything comes to him who waits.”
Well, there it was again, and this time surely it must be Charlie
starting up. The heavy boom of his voice could be heard, showing that he
was even then advancing toward the open door.
“I guess I ought to be back again inside an hour, Kimball; an’ if so be
you kin wait thet long, p’raps Dick, he mout be in trim to tell you what
to do ’bout thet leg o’ yourn. Take it as easy as you kin while I’m gone,
and make up yer mind as things is bound to move along arter this as slick
as grease, believe me.”
A bulky figure stepped out of the door. Sebattis waited until he had
taken as many as five steps away, his object being to prevent the man
from bolting back into the cabin, where he could defend himself with some
chance of success.
Then, as though by some preconcerted signal, the two guides, together
with Thad and Allan, suddenly arose, and swung their guns to their
shoulders. Thinking that this was an invitation for them to get busy, the
other three scouts also scrambled to their feet, and followed the example
of their leaders.
And that was the astonishing sight the hobo yeggman saw, as he turned his
head upon hearing the noise made by the boys in gaining their feet.