NEAR NEIGHBORS.
As may be imagined, the sleep which visited the three boys was not as
profound as it would have been had they been in bed at Kenniston farm.
In the first place, the bed of brush, which had seemed so soft when they
first lay down, seemed suddenly to have developed a great number of hard
places, while the ends of the boughs, which had seemed so small when
they were cut, apparently increased in size after they had served as a
bed for an hour.
Many times during the night did Bob get up to see if the horses were all
right, and, while he would not admit that the bed had anything to do
with his wakefulness, he knew, as well as did his companions, that when
sleeping at home, he hardly opened his eyes once during the entire
night.
It was at a very early hour, therefore, that the boys were up, and ready
to continue the chase. As a matter of course, after having gone to bed
supperless, they were ready for a hearty breakfast, and, since they
would have plenty of time to eat it before sunrise, they at once made
preparations for breaking their fast.
Thanks to the cooked food they had with them, these preparations did
not consume very much time, since they were only obliged to take the
paper packages from the carriage, and eat such portions of Mrs.
Kenniston's samples of cookery as they desired.
Bob gave his horses food and water before he satisfied his own hunger,
and, just as he finished this work, he cried, as he held his hand up,
warningly:
"Hark! what was that?"
The boys listened intently several moments, but nothing could be heard
save the rustling of the leaves, as they were moved back and forth by
the morning breeze, or the twitter of birds, as they started out in
search of breakfast, and George said, with a laugh:
"This is the first time I ever knew you to betray any caution, my dear
boy, and you should be commended for it; but just now I think it is
thrown away, for I hardly believe there is any one within half a mile of
us who is awake so early."
"I thought I heard some one coming through the bushes," replied Bob, as
he began a vigorous attack on the food; "but I guess it was nothing but
the wind."
Five minutes passed, during which each one was so busy with his
breakfast that he had no time for conversation, and then George motioned
his companions to be silent. The warning was useless, for all had heard
a sound in the bushes, as if some heavy body was moving through the
underbrush, and all paused to listen.
There was evidently some person or animal near by, and moving directly
away from them; but it seemed so reasonable to suppose that it was a
cow, or some other domestic animal, who had slept out of doors all
night, that it was some moments before any one of the three thought of
learning the cause of the noise.
Even though they had every reason to believe that those whom they were
pursuing would spend the night as they had spent it, each one of that
party was so certain the thieves were a long distance away, that the
thought that it might be those they were in pursuit of which were making
the noise never occurred to them.
It was not until some time after the sounds had died away that George
realized how important it was that he should know what had caused them,
and then he started up at once, dashing through the underbrush toward
the direction from which the noise had come.
Ralph and Bob started impulsively to follow him, and then the latter
said, as he pulled his companion back:
"One is enough to find the cow, for that is probably what we have been
hearing, and we might as well be eating our breakfast while he is
hunting."
Ralph thought, as did Bob, that they had no occasion to disturb
themselves simply at a rustling of leaves in the woods, and he willingly
followed his companion's suggestion.
But, before either of them could begin their breakfast again, a loud
shout was heard from George, which caused them to start to their feet
in dismay, for they understood that something serious had caused it.
"Harness the horses quickly!" George shouted again.
And without trying to understand the reason for this peremptory command,
Bob and Ralph sprang toward the animals.
It was not an order that could be obeyed very quickly, owing to the lack
of facilities in their stable.
The horses were quietly eating their breakfast; the harness was hanging
on a tree some distance away, and the carriage had been pulled into the
woods so far that it would require at least ten minutes before it could
be gotten on to the road.
Bob began to harness one horse, while Ralph attended to the other, and
while they were thus employed, George came out of the woods in a very
excited condition.
"We have been camping within five rods of the thieves!" he cried. "The
noise we heard was probably made by the horses as they led them out into
the road, and I got there just in time to see them drive away."
Haste surely made waste then, for all the party were so excited by what
they had seen and heard, and so anxious to start in pursuit quickly,
that they retarded their own progress by the bungling manner in which
they went to work.
Ralph, in his eagerness, got the harness so mixed up that he was obliged
to undo all he had done and begin all over again before he could
accomplish anything, while Bob searched five minutes for the bridle,
which, in the first excitement, he had flung some distance from him
among the bushes.
So far as coolness and presence of mind was concerned, George was no
better off than his companions. He attempted to pull the carriage into
the road, and got it so fastened among the small trees that Ralph was
obliged to come to his assistance, lifting it bodily out before it could
be extricated.
In this confused way of doing things fully ten minutes of time was
wasted, and the thieves had a start of nearly twenty minutes before
their pursuers were ready for the chase.
It was useless for them now to reproach themselves with carelessness in
not examining the woods when they first awoke, as they should have done,
since they knew the thieves would spend the night in some such place,
and quite as useless to complain, because they did not attempt to
discover the cause of the noise when they first heard it. Had they done
either one of these things, which it seemed the most inexperienced in
this kind of work would have done, they would have discovered the team
and had it then in their possession.
As it was, however, they could only try to atone for their carelessness
by being more cautious in the future, which each mentally resolved to be
as he clambered into the carriage as soon as the horses were harnessed.
This time George sat on the front seat with Bob, where he could more
readily leap from the wagon if necessary.
Bob started his horses at full speed, and George was satisfied that
there would be no necessity of urging him to drive faster, for he held
his steeds well in hand, requiring of them the best possible gait.
"They have got quite a start of us," Bob said, after they had been on
the road a few moments, and while Ralph was regretting the absence of a
comb, which would enable him to feel so much more comfortable, "but I do
not think your horses have had any grain since they stole them, and if
that is so, I don't think we shall have any trouble in overtaking them
within an hour."
Perhaps, if Bob had spoken exactly as he thought, he would have insisted
that his horses were so much faster, that the twenty minutes' advantage
which the thieves had could be more than compensated for in speed; but
just then he refrained from saying anything which might make his
troubled friend feel uncomfortable or disagreeable.
"Did you see the place where they slept last night?" Ralph asked of
George, for as yet he had not told them of what he had seen when he ran
through the woods.
"Yes; I came right upon it when I first left you. They had made a sort
of hut of boughs near a clearing, in which I should judge the horses had
been feeding. The instant I saw the camp, and so near ours that a stone
could have been thrown from one to the other, I thought it had been made
by the thieves, and I ran at full speed for the road, following a trail
that looked as if a carriage had but just passed that way. I got out of
the woods just as they turned the bend in the road, and simply had the
satisfaction of seeing my team driven away at a gallop, when, if I had
done what almost any child would have thought of doing, it would have
been in my possession."
"Could you see the men?"
"No; the top of the carriage was up, and I could see no one. They were
probably looking out through the window and saw me, for if they stayed
so near us since we stopped last night, they must know who we are, and
will try to escape, even if they kill the horses."
"I'm not so sure that they could have known who we were," said Bob, "for
I have been trying to think if we said anything about the team, or what
we were there for, and I do not believe we did."
If the men whom they were pursuing did not know that this party who had
encamped so near them were the ones in search of the team, it would be a
great point in favor of our boys, for the others would not be likely to
push their horses so hard. Therefore, each one tried to recall the
conversation, and the result of this thought relieved George's mind
somewhat, for no one could remember that a thing had been said which
might betray their errand.
The road over which they were traveling was a good one, and the horses
were urged along by Bob at a lively rate, save on ascending ground, when
they were allowed to choose their own pace, in order that they might not
become "blown."
At no one place, owing to the trees on each side, could they see very
far ahead on the road, which prevented them from knowing whether they
were gaining on the fugitives or not, although Bob firmly believed they
were, for his horses had never shown better speed, nor been more in the
humor for traveling.
"We shall be on our way home in less than two hours," he said,
triumphantly, as the horses dashed down a long hill at a pace that would
be hard to beat; and then, as they began the ascent of the next hill,
all their hopes were dashed.
During the last ten minutes, it had seemed to Ralph that the
easy-running carriage dragged, and as the horses neared the top of the
hill, he discovered the trouble.
"The hind axle is heated," he shouted, "and the wheel no longer turns."
It surely seemed as if everything was conspiring in favor of the
thieves, for the pursuers were now seriously crippled by a "hot box."