_IN HIDING._
That the incidents may be related as nearly as possible in the order of
their occurrence it is time to return to the spot where the burglars are
in hiding.
It will be remembered that we last saw Sam after Phil had fallen asleep,
and he was feigning unconsciousness lest Long Jim, having nothing else
to do, should take it into his ugly head to administer the promised
flogging.
Although Sam's eyes were apparently closed, he took good care to keep
strict watch on the burglar; but for what seemed a very long time he saw
nothing to cause any apprehensions, and was just on the point of going
to sleep in reality when Jim asked, as he gave the boy a vicious kick on
the side:
"Where's the grub?"
"I don't know. You put it away after finishing your dinner."
"Oh, I remember now," and the burglar, still considerably more than half
stupefied by the amount of liquor he had drunk, arose to his feet so
unsteadily that it seemed as if only the lightest touch would be
necessary to send him headlong.
After a short search the man found that which he wanted, and proceeded
to make a hearty meal, regardless of the hungry glances which the boy
bestowed upon him.
"Don't think I'm goin' to give you any," he said, with a leer, as he
concluded the repast, "You're lucky to be alive, an' that's enough for
sich a duffer. I'll put this stuff back, an' you'll have every bone in
your body broken if you so much as smell of it."
Sam made no reply. He had already learned that there are very many times
when silence is indeed "golden."
"I've made up my mind to see what can be done at the fair," Jim said, as
he lighted his pipe with great deliberation. "Phil thinks he's the only
smart man in the world, an' it's time to show him what a mistake he's
been makin' all his life. Why don't you say something?" he cried,
angrily, as Sam continued silent.
"I don't know what you want me to say. If you're goin' that settles it;
I sha'n't be any better off."
"You can stake your life on that, for while I'm a gentleman an' behave
myself as such, Phil is a reg'lar brute, an' will make things mighty
uncomfortable for a sneak like you."
Sam thought, but was very careful not to say, that it was hardly
possible for a boy to have a worse master than the alleged gentleman in
front of him, and the burglar continued, as he arose to his feet:
"I want to leave without wakin' Phil, but you must do it as soon as I
push off from the shore, for we don't intend to give you a chance of
slipping away. I shall watch mighty close, an' if he isn't on his feet
before I'm a dozen yards out into the creek you'll get a reminder from
this," and the man ostentatiously displayed a revolver.
"I don't count on runnin' off," Sam, replied, thoroughly frightened by
the threat. "I can stay here till you get ready to let me go, because
I've got to, an' I'm not sich a fool as to git into any worse scrape."
"Now you're talkin' somethin' like sense, an' if you keep on in this way
I'll see to it that you don't have any harder time than a detective
oughter expect; Phil will be on his ear when he knows I've gone, an' you
must tell me all he says. Remember that if he isn't on his feet before
I've got beyond range, I'll use your head for a target."
With this threat the burglar staggered out of the thicket, and Sam began
to speculate as to whether he should make one supreme effort to escape
before his other captor awakened.
A second glance at the weapon decided him in the negative, however, and
he meekly stepped to the edge of the woods in order to obey the
instructions given.
Despite Jim's apparent intoxication he watched the boy closely, still
holding the revolver ready for use, and after pushing the boat into the
stream he cried:
"Now go ahead, an' let me see him in about two minutes, or I'll fill you
full of bullets."
If Sam had been a brave boy he would have made a dash for liberty at
this moment; but he was in nearly every sense of the word a coward, and
obeyed the order literally.
"Who's there?" Phil asked, angrily, as the boy shook him vigorously.
"Jim told me to make you get up, or he'd shoot," Sam replied, meekly.
"Make me get up? What time is it?"
"I don't know; but it doesn't seem to be more than three o'clock."
"Where's Jim?"
"Jest startin' for the fair grounds, an' if you don't show yourself
pretty soon he's sure to shoot me."
"There wouldn't be any particular harm in that, for you deserve it; but
it can't be possible the fool is goin' to show himself in daylight when
more than one is lookin' for him."
"That's what he said," and Sam, fearing lest the half-drunken burglar
would begin his pistol practice, seated himself behind the largest tree
that might protect him from the bullets.
Now that Phil was awake, he did not lose any further time in talking,
but ran out to where he could command a view of the creek, and once more
Sam had an opportunity for escape which he did not dare to embrace.
"Come back here, an' don't make a fool of yourself," Jim's partner
cried, angrily, as he saw the man pulling leisurely from the bank.
"What's crawlin' on you? Don't I know my business?"
"Not if you count on goin' up there before dark."
"That's jest what I intend to do, so don't screech so much."
"Come back, I tell you, or it'll be all up for both of us!"
"I've been in this business long enough to know it," was the reply, as
Jim continued to row, increasing each instant the distance between
himself and the shore.
"Now, don't spoil a good thing," Phil said, pleadingly, and,
understanding that this conversation might be continued for a short
time, Sam plucked up sufficient courage to make an attack upon the
provisions.
He took from the general store a large piece of cheese, some crackers
and as much meat as he believed would suffice to make a hearty meal,
after which he hid the lot near the tree behind which he was hiding.
Then he crept back to his former position, and listened to the
conversation between his captors.
Phil alternately coaxed and threatened his partner; but all to no
purpose, as could be told by the tones of the latter's voice while he
pulled up stream, and the baffled burglar returned to the camping place
absolutely furious with rage.
"This comes of my bein' so foolish as to bring that fool liquor," he
said half to himself. "It's mighty lucky he didn't know I had more than
one bottle."
Then he took from one of his pockets a second flask, refreshing himself
with a portion of the contents before asking:
"What did he say to you?"
"Nothin' except that he was goin' up to the fair," Sam replied, timidly.
"But what made him tell you to waken me?"
"I s'pose that was so I couldn't have a chance to run away."
"What else did he say?"
"That I was to tell him jest how you took his leavin'."
"Well, if he's lucky enough to get back, tell him I said he was the
biggest fool that ever walked on two legs. Them chums of your'n are sure
to spot him, an' it's ten to one he's pinched before sunset."
Sam did not understand what the man meant by the term "pinched," but
under the circumstances he hardly thought it safe to inquire, and the
angry burglar continued:
"We'll make ready to get out of this if he isn't back by daylight, an'
while there's nothin' else to do you'd better put that stuff under
ground, for there's no knowin' now when we'll be able to take it away."
The spade was near at hand ready for use, and while Phil alternately
smoked and drank from the bottle, Sam set about burying the plunder.
This man was quite as hard a taskmaster as the one who had just
departed, and the boy was forced to work as he had probably never done
before, until sufficient of an excavation had been made to conceal the
goods.
Under the direction of the burglar Sam covered the different packages
with earth; did his best to hide all traces of his work, and when it was
so dark that he could no longer see to move about was allowed to rest.
During this time Phil had been drinking and smoking, with the result
that he could hardly speak plainly when the task was accomplished, and
so intoxicated did he appear to be that Sam thought it safe to eat the
food he had concealed.
"Keep on talkin' so's I'll know where you are, or on goes the ropes an'
gag again," Phil cried, and the boy obeyed, repeating over and over the
same words in order to satisfy his suspicious captor.
After eating a hearty meal, Sam succeeded in mustering sufficient
courage to admit of his thinking about attempting to escape.
From the manner in which the burglar spoke he knew it could not be very
much longer before the man would be so completely under the influence of
liquor as to render him helpless, and he said to himself:
"If I could get the rope around his hands an' legs I'd soon be out of
this place."
"What's that you are saying?" Phil cried, angrily.
"Nothin'; I was only doin' as you told me, talkin' so's you'd know where
I was."
"I'll save all that trouble," and the man lurched to his feet as he
picked up the rope.
"Please don't tie me ag'in," Sam pleaded. "I won't try to git away."
"I'll go bail that you don't after I'm through with you. Put out your
hands."
Phil was yet capable of mischief, even though his brain was clouded, and
Sam did not dare to disobey.
He suffered himself to be tied without making any remonstrance, and as
the burglar staggered to his former resting place, the boy tested the
bonds.
Previously he had been lashed in such a manner that it was impossible to
move hand or foot, but now he soon realized that he could do both, and
the happy thought came that he might free himself with but little
difficulty if a favorable opportunity for escape should present itself.
"Now you're fixed," Phil said, half to himself, "an' I may as well take
things comfortable till we're certain that that fool of a Jim is
settled."
"Are you goin' to leave here to-night?" Sam asked, more for the purpose
of learning how far the man was on the road to intoxication than for
information.
"If he ain't here by twelve o'clock we'll know the jig is up, an' skip
so's to be out of the way before any one can come sneakin' around for
the stuff."
"Then if Jim isn't back by that time, an' he keeps on drinkin', I'll
take all the chances," Sam said to himself, and from that instant he
strained every nerve to learn how nearly the burglar had succeeded in
making a worse brute of himself than nature intended.