THE CABIN OF THE MOONLIGHTERS.
Bob Hubbard had been away from the Kenniston farm-house nearly half an
hour when Ralph and George left it, but the latter was so well
acquainted with the country that he did not need any guide to the cabin,
and could not have had one, had he so desired, for Bob was far too
cautious to be seen leading any one to his base of operations.
It was well known by the owners of the torpedo patents that Robert
Hubbard was the most skillful of all the moonlighters, and whenever he
was seen traveling toward any of the wells that were being bored, he was
followed, but, thanks to the fleetness of his horses, he had never been
seen at his work by any one who would inform on him.
Bob believed, as did a great many, that the firm holding the patent had
no legal right to prevent any one from exploding nitro-glycerine by the
means of a percussion cap placed in the top of a tin shell or cartridge.
Several cases were before the courts undecided, and until a decision was
reached, the owners of the patent would do all in their power to prevent
any one from interfering in the business which they proposed to make a
monopoly. Therefore, when Bob went about his work, he did so with quite
as much mystery as if he had been engaged in some decidedly unlawful
act.
The ride from Sawyer, among the mountains, was quite as rough a one as
that from Bradford, and Ralph found that he had about as much as he
could attend to in keeping the guns, fishing-rods and himself in the
carriage, without attempting to carry on any extended conversation with
his friend. It was, therefore, almost in silence that the two rode along
until George turned the horses abruptly from the main road into the
woods, saying, as he did so:
"If I am not mistaken, this path will lead us directly to Bob's
headquarters."
He was not mistaken, for before they had ridden a mile into the woods,
they emerged into a clearing, in the midst of which stood a small
log-house and stable.
Instead of windows, the hut had stout plank shutters, which prevented
any one from looking in, even if they did prevent the occupants from
gazing out, and the door had more the appearance of having been made to
resist an attack than simply to keep the wind or cold out.
The stable was in keeping with the hut, so far as an appearance of
solidity went; and as its one door was closely shut, with no bars or
locks on the outside, one could fancy that when it was occupied, a guard
remained on the inside, where the fastenings of the door evidently were.
"I guess we have got here too soon," said Ralph, as George stopped the
horses in front of the hut, without any signs of life having been seen.
"There is a smoke from the chimney," said George, as he pointed to the
clumsy affair of mud and sticks from which a thin, blue curl of smoke
could be dimly seen, "and if they are ready to let us in, we shall soon
see some one."
The two sat patiently in the carriage several moments, and at the end of
that time the door of the hut was opened by a young man standing in the
doorway, to whom George said:
"Well, Dick, hasn't Bob got here yet?"
"Yes, he's here; but we didn't open the door at first because we were
not sure but that you had been followed." Then turning toward the barn,
the young man shouted, "Come out here, Pete, and take care of these
horses!"
In response to this demand the stable door was opened as cautiously as
if the man behind it feared a dozen were ready to pounce upon him, and
then, much as if he were unfolding himself, a tall negro came out,
leading the horses away without speaking, almost before Ralph and George
had time to leap to the ground.
"Get into the hut as quickly as possible," George said to Ralph; and as
the three entered, the door was securely barred behind them with two
heavy beams that would have resisted almost any ordinary force that
might have been used against them.
The hut boasted of but one room, in which were to be seen piles of
blankets that had evidently been used as beds, cooking utensils,
provisions, sheets of tin, tools such as are used by tinsmiths, and, in
fact, as varied an assortment of goods as could well have been gathered
into so small a compass.
In one corner of the room the floor of earth had been excavated, until a
space about six feet square and four deep had been formed, and into this
excavation was packed a number of square tin cans, which Ralph felt
certain contained that powerful agent, nitro-glycerine.
Bob was at work soldering together a long tin shell, about six inches in
diameter and fully ten feet long, and he called out, as his friends
entered:
"Come right in. Don't be afraid that you will be shot at, for we drop
all that kind of business here for fear we might all go up together.
This, Mr. Gurney, is the moonlighters' cabin, and I am free to confess
that it is not the most cheerful place in the world."
"I don't find as much fault with the cabin as I do with what you keep
stored in those innocent-looking tin cans," replied Ralph, as he seated
himself on a pile of blankets at a respectful distance from the
glycerine.
"Oh, that's harmless enough so long as you leave it alone!" replied Bob,
carelessly, and then as he resumed his work of soldering, he asked: "Did
you see anything of Jim as you came in?"
"No; where is he?"
"Out by the road somewhere. We heard that our particular friends in town
had got wind of the fact that we were going to put in a charge to-night,
so Jim is doing guard duty outside, leaving Dick Norton and I to do the
tinker's work. We expected to have gotten our shells all made in town;
but they are looking out so sharp for us just now that it was entirely
too much of a risk to bring them out here."
"How did they learn that you were going to work to-night?" asked George.
"That's more than I can say, unless old Hoxie was fool enough to let it
out that we were going to shoot his well for him," replied Bob, working
savagely with the soldering iron, much as if he would have been pleased
had he been using it on Mr. Hoxie's too ready tongue.
"Do you anticipate _much_ trouble?" asked Ralph, with just a shade of
anxiety, beginning to realize that it would not be the most pleasant
thing in the world to commence his vacation by being arrested as a
moonlighter.
"That's just what I can't say. We may have it, and we may not; but
there's one thing certain, and that is that I'll shoot that well if I
don't get back to the Kenniston farm for three months."
"I don't believe that they are even looking for us. They think we went
out of the business two weeks ago," said Dick Norton, as he, in a very
unworkmanlike manner, attempted to aid Bob. "You see, Jim is nervous,
and the least thing frightens him."
"Something has startled him, at all events!" exclaimed Bob, running to
the door as a low, quick whistle was heard from the outside.
Dick, despite the rather contemptuous way in which he had spoken, also
appeared to think something serious had happened, for he joined Bob at
the door, looking very serious as both of them quickly unfastened the
bars, opening the door just as a young man ran in from the woods,
breathless and excited.
"What is it, Jim? What has happened?" asked Bob, replacing the heavy
bars instantly the newcomer was inside the building.
"Newcombe and five men have just turned into the path, coming down here
as if they knew just what they should find."
For a moment Bob and Dick were silent, and Ralph had an opportunity to
ask George:
"Who is Newcombe?"
"A man in the employ of the owners of the patent, and one who has
threatened several times to secure the arrest of Bob."
Dick's first act, after he fully realized what Jim had said, was to
cover the fire, at which they had been soldering, with ashes, in order
to prevent any smoke from escaping through the chimney, and by that time
Bob had recovered all his presence of mind.
"Even if they have at last found the hut, they will be puzzled to get
into it, or to get us out," he said, as he noted the fastenings of the
window-shutters, and uncovered a small aperture which served as a
loop-hole through which everything that occurred outside could be seen.
"You ought to have warned Pete," said George, not feeling remarkably
well pleased at the chance of being besieged as a moonlighter, but yet
anxious that his friends should elude arrest where the cartridges and
explosive fluid would be sufficient proof against them.
"There is no need of that," replied Bob. "He wouldn't show himself under
any circumstances unless we called him, and from the loft of the stable
he can see all that is going on."
Ralph was the most uncomfortable of the party. Not being so familiar
with the doings of the moonlighters, nor acquainted with the general
feeling of the public against them, the idea of being thus hunted like a
criminal was very repugnant to him.
It was as if his companions were engaged in some crime, instead of
simply infringing a patent, the legality of which had not been fully
tested, and, if he could have had his choice, he would have been miles
away from that spot just then.
"There they come!" exclaimed Bob from his post of observation, and,
looking out for a moment, Ralph saw six men riding into the clearing
directly toward the house.
Almost before he had time to regain his seat, and just as Bob held up
his hand as a signal for silence, a knock was heard at the door, as if
some one was pounding with the butt-end of a whip.
No one made any reply, and it seemed to Ralph as if he could hear the
pulsations of his own heart, so oppressive was the silence.
Again the summons was repeated, and a gruff voice cried:
"Open the door a moment. I wish to speak with Mr. Robert Hubbard."
Then there was a long silence, and, seeing the look of anxiety on
Ralph's face, George said, in a low whisper:
"Don't look so distressed, my boy. Those men have got no more right to
enter here than you have to go into another man's dwelling. If they
should succeed in getting in, however, they would find sufficient to
prove that Bob was about to infringe their patent; but, as it is, they
have no authority to do anything, although Bob will hardly get a chance
to shoot the Hoxie well to-night."
"That's just what I will do," whispered Bob, who had heard George's
remark. "I will put in that charge if they camp where they are all
night."
The men on the outside waited some moments in silence, and then the
request was repeated, while at the same time footsteps could be heard as
if some of them had gone toward the stable.
"They might easily batter in one of the windows," said Ralph, as the
pounding at the door was continued.
"They would hardly try that plan," replied George, with a meaning smile.
"There are a hundred or two quarts of nitro-glycerine stored here,
needing only the necessary concussion to explode them. Those men know
quite as well as we do how unpleasant such liquid may become, and I
assure you that they will strike no very heavy blows on the building."
It was a singular position for any one to be in, and Ralph was far from
being comfortable in his mind, as he awaited the result of this visit to
the cabin of the moonlighters.