_SAM'S ADVENTURES._
In order to explain Sam's absence, and one or two other incidents in
their regular sequence, it is necessary to go back to the moment when,
his friends having landed, the amateur detective was left to his own
devices.
His first impulse was to report his arrival to the manager of the boat
exhibit, and then go about his routine duties, but before this very
proper plan could be carried into effect he chanced to see Hazelton on
the shore.
"Now, what's he layin' around there for?" Sam asked of himself. "I'll
bet Dan or Teddy has given the whole snap away, an' he's come to pull in
the burglars. It's a mighty mean trick for them to play after I've
worked the case so far that there's nothing to do but nab 'em. He'll get
all the praise, an' folks won't know the job was managed by me."
The longer Sam thought of this apparent ingratitude and treachery on the
part of Teddy and Dan the more angry he grew, and it did not require
many moments' thought for him to succeed in convincing himself that he
had been very shabbily treated.
Continuing to talk to himself, or rather at the tiller, on which his
eyes were fixed, he added:
"Folks have said so much about their savin' them women from drownin',
when I mighter done the same thing if I'd been willin' to make a fool of
myself, that they want to scoop in everything; but I could stop this
little game by jest goin' ahead on my own hook. If I sneaked down the
creek an' brought back the stuff them men have been hidin' people would
begin to know how much I understand about detective work."
This appeared in his mind as the most brilliant scheme he had ever
conceived, and in a very few seconds Sam decided that it should be
carried into effect.
First, and with no very well-defined idea of why such a course was
necessary, he rowed cautiously to and fro past the landing stage,
scrutinizing closely every face he saw, and mentally hugging himself
because of the excitement which would be caused by his return with the
stolen property.
Then he turned the boat, and began to row down the creek, stopping every
few seconds to gaze around in such a mysterious manner that the
suspicions of any one who observed him would have been instantly
aroused.
In this manner, which he believed the only true way for a first-class
detective to approach his prey, Sam had rowed less than half a mile when
he saw Long Jim and his companion returning.
Now the time had come when true cunning was necessary, and the amateur
detective began to display it by pulling the boat sharply around,
heading her for an indentation on the opposite shore.
Here he ran her bow aground, and lying at full length in the bottom,
peered out at the men in the most stealthy manner.
They had already taken notice of his erratic movements, and now regarded
him intently, but, without checking the headway of their own craft, in a
few minutes were beyond sight around the bend.
"There," Sam said, with a long-drawn breath of relief, as he arose to a
sitting posture, "if Teddy an' Dan had been here them fellers would have
tumbled to the whole racket, but I've put 'em off the scent, an' will
have plenty of time to do my work."
He pulled out from the shore once more, gazed long and earnestly up and
down the creek, and then, in the same ridiculous manner as before,
continued the journey.
The trip which should have consumed no more than an hour even with the
most indolent oarsman, was not completed until twice that time had
elapsed, and then fully fifteen minutes were spent by this very cautious
boy in landing.
He pulled his boat up high out of the water, and, in order to conceal
her, heaped such a pile of dry grass on top of her that it must have
attracted the attention of any one passing, more especially those who
were familiar with the creek.
This done he went toward the barn after the fashion of an old-time stage
villain, halting at the slightest sound, and peering in every direction,
fancying himself surrounded by foes.
Not until he had circled completely around the barn twice did he venture
to enter, and then, much to his disappointment, there was nothing to be
seen. The building appeared to be absolutely empty, and even his eagle
eye failed to discover any traces of recent occupancy.
"Well, this is mighty funny," he said, with a sigh of disappointment.
"Them fellers surely brought a lot of stuff in here, but they must have
carried it out again."
Having expended so much labor and time in reaching this place, he did
not intend to return until after making a thorough search, however, and
to this end he investigated one possible hiding-place after another,
pulling up the boards of the rude flooring, and peering into places
where nothing larger than a mouse could have been hidden.
During this time the burglars were returning with all possible speed.
Sam's actions, both as he came down the creek, and also while screening
himself from view, were so suspicious that, guilty as the men were, they
immediately concluded what was very near the truth.
Long Jim recognized the boy as having been with Teddy when the bargain
for the imaginary cane-board was made, and instead of returning to the
fair grounds the two watched, from a point of vantage on the bank, until
Master Sam had landed.
His purpose was now evident, and it was necessary the burglars should
resort to desperate measures to prevent the loss of their ill-gotten
gains as well as to save themselves from imprisonment.
When they arrived where it was possible to look into the barn, Sam was
on his knees scraping away the dirt which appeared to have been recently
disturbed, and they heard him say in a tone of exultation:
"I've got to it at last, an' now we'll see what Teddy an' Dan have to
say when I flash the whole lot of stuff up with nobody to help me. I
reckon----"
He did not finish the sentence, for at that moment Long Jim stepped
directly in front of him, as he asked:
"Did you leave anything here, my son?"
"No--I--I--that is--you see----"
Sam was so frightened that he could not say another word. It seemed as
if his tongue was swollen to twice its natural size, while his throat
was parched and dry, and to make bad matters worse, he had entirely
neglected to invent a plausible excuse for his presence there in case of
an interruption.
"I asked if you'd left anything here?" Long Jim repeated, very mildly.
"Well--well---- You see I jest come down to--to---- I thought, perhaps,
I might find something, but it's time I was gettin' back to the fair,
'cause the folks will be needin' me."
As he spoke he attempted to back toward the door, but before taking half
a dozen steps a cry of fear burst from his lips, for a heavy hand was
laid with no gentle force on his shirt collar, and he staggered forward
helplessly.
"That's an invitation for you to hold on a bit, an' have a little
conversation with two gentlemen who are mighty curious to know why you
came here," Long Jim said, grimly. "You're goin' to tell us the whole
partic'lars, or there won't be enough left of you to be seen under a
microscope."
Sam made no reply. He was literally dazed with fear, and just at that
moment he thought the life of a detective very disagreeable.
"Come, speak up, an' be quick about it," the man cried, fiercely. "We've
got no time to waste on sich cubs as you, an' in about two minutes
you'll get worse'n we served out the other night."
"That wasn't me follerin' you from the museum tent," Sam said, quickly,
thinking possibly this fact might work in his favor.
"Who was it?"
"Teddy an' Dan."
"Who is Dan?"
"A feller who works for the Stevens Arms Company up at the fair."
"Why did they follow us?"
"Teddy wanted to get back the money he gave you to buy a cane-board
with."
"If he knows what's wise for him he'll stop any such rackets, or he may
get more'n he bargains for."
Then the second man, who still held firmly to Sam's collar, asked, as he
shook his prisoner vigorously:
"How did you know we had been here?"
"Us fellers saw you come down in a boat."
"So all three are in the secret, eh?"
Sam's only thought was that he might possibly save his own skin, and he
replied in the affirmative, although he must have known that by such
answer he was destroying his friends' chances of recovering the goods.
"Where are the fools now?" Long Jim asked, angrily.
"Up at the fair."
"What do they intend to do?"
"Get somebody to arrest you."
"Then we've got to skip mighty lively, Phil," and Long Jim looked up at
his companion.
"Yes; but if my advice had been follered we wouldn't be in this scrape.
You was the only one the cubs knew, an' by keepin' out of sight we
mighter finished the work that's been laid out. You're so pig-headed
that a yoke of oxen couldn't keep you in hidin'."
"There's no use fightin' about it now; for we've got to get a move on us
in short order. It won't do to let this boy have a chance to give the
alarm."
"Of course not. Lash him up somewhere so he can't make a noise, an' his
chums will come before he starves to death."
"Don't do that!" Sam cried, in an agony of terror. "I won't say a word
about your catchin' me here, an' I'll do anything you say."
"Oh, you're a nice plum to make promises, ain't you. It didn't take much
persuadin' to make you go back on your friends, an' that's enough to
show whether you can be trusted. Get the rope out of the boat, Phil, an'
then we'll make ready for a long jump."
Phil obeyed, grumbling as he went because his partner had refused to
take his advice, thus plunging both of them into danger, and Long Jim
turned his attention to the prisoner once more.
"Before we leave this part of the country for good I'm goin' to give you
somethin' to remember us by so's you won't go 'round stickin' your nose
into other people's business agin."
"What are you goin' to do?" Sam asked, his face growing even paler than
before.
"Give you the worst floggin' a boy ever had. I'd do it now if there
wasn't so much work to be got through."
Sam had sufficient sense to know that all his pleadings for mercy would
be in vain, and he held his peace until Phil returned with a long coil
of rope which had been used as a boat's painter.
One of the beams at the end of the barn served as a post to which to
lash the prisoner, and here the amateur detective was made fast in such
a skillful manner that he could not so much as move his arms.
"Shall we gag him now?" Phil asked, and Long Jim replied:
"No, there's time enough.
"He can't make any one hear if he yells his best, an' I've got a little
business to settle before he's trussed up for good."