FORCED TO TELL
The two men looked at each other.
Apparently they hardly knew whether to believe Ted or not. Paul saw them
put their heads close together, as though exchanging confidences. Then
the tall fellow once more whirled on Ted, who had been standing on one
leg, with a most forlorn look upon his face.
"We both think that you lie, son," said the man who was minus one of his
optics, as he thrust his face close down to that of Ted, as though he
would look straight into his heart; but this was something that no one
else had ever succeeded in doing, and the attempt did not prove very
successful.
"Tell him who we are, Brad," growled the shorter of the twain, who looked
angry enough to devour the unfortunate Ted.
So the one called Brad took something out of his coat pocket that made
a peculiar jingling noise, and held it up before the boy.
"D'ye see them, son? We call 'em bracelets, and they're meant to go on
the wrists of criminals. D'ye understand now? We're officers of the law,
and we've just made a grand haul. But some of the evidence has slipped
away from us. It's in that same bag you picked up on this here road.
Now, don't you dare deny it again, or we'll take you into town with these
pretty toys clasped on your wrists. I'm going to give you another chance
to tell us, son. Where did you put that bag?"
Ted winced and whined. He showed all the signs of injured innocence.
Surely he must have made up his mind quickly that the contents of the
bag were well worth taking all sorts of chances for.
"Ain't seen no bag. Sure I'd be on'y too glad to tell you, mister, if I
had. All I wants to do is to go home. I'm tired, an' nigh sick with all
this huntin' for that kid," he whimpered.
The man suddenly pounced on him, and despite Ted's struggles and
entreaties, he seemed to succeed in accomplishing his purpose. At any
rate the concealed scouts heard a snap; and when Ted reeled back he was
holding his two hands close together in a suspicious way, and staring at
something that seemed to be in the nature of a connecting link.
"Now you are in for it," said the tall man, shaking his head
threateningly as he stood over the prisoner; "we'll have to take you to
town, and put you in the lockup as an accessory after the fact. D'ye hear
that, you young fool? And all because you refuse to help honest officers
of the law in their legitimate business. Why, you may get ten years at
hard labor, yes, twenty. Better tell all you know, and perhaps we'll let
you off."
"You can do anything you like to me, mister, but I ain't agoin' to say
what I don't know. Ain't seen any bag of no kind. Cross my heart if I
have. I'm willin' to help you hunt for it, even if I am dog tired. Don't
you believe me, mister? Sure, I wouldn't lie to you. What would I be
wantin' with a bag; we got plenty at my house. Ted Slavin's my name, and
I live in Stanhope. Gimme a ride, mister, if you're goin' that way, won't
you?"
Again the two men talked together, while Ted watched them out of the
corner of his eye. He might even have tried to run but the fact that
his hands were fastened together with that steel chain prevented such
a thing.
Once more they turned upon him, and the tall man pointing down,
thundered:
"You've been kneeling in the dirt!"
Ted glanced down at his trousers involuntarily; but even then he was not
taken off his guard.
"I fell ever so many times after my lantern went out. See here, mister,
how I scraped the skin off my hand. That's the honest truth I'm givin'
you!" he cried.
Undoubtedly it was, but all the same the men showed no signs of yielding.
The taller one, called Brad by his companion, deliberately detached one
of the lamps from the car. With this he bent down to examine the road.
"He'll see the marks of the bag!" whispered Bobolink to Paul.
"Watch him while I scurry along the road a bit, to see if he left it,"
was what the man said, and then moved down toward the spot where the
five boys lay in hiding.
When he came opposite them they hardly dared to breathe, lest his keen
ears catch the sound, and he pounce upon them.
But he went past, scouring the road closely, and looking for some sign of
the missing bag. They saw him pass on, and the light grew dim. Meanwhile
Ted sat down on a log, and seemed to be very dejected and forlorn. Once
or twice when the shorter man was not looking Paul saw him glance around,
as though sizing up the chances for a sudden plunge into the forest.
"He's coming again," said Bobolink; and the brilliant glow from down the
road bore evidence of the truth of this remark which was whispered in
Paul's ear.
Brad walked hastily back, and soon rejoined his companion, with whom he
talked earnestly for a minute.
"Get up!" he said, turning to Ted, and giving the boy a kick that made
him climb to his feet hurriedly, groaning with pain.
"Bring him along into the woods, Wash!" the tall man continued, turning
aside.
"Oh! what are you goin' to do?" cried Ted, in real or pretended terror,
as he caught hold of the man's coat, and sought to hold him back.
"You'll find out right soon, son. Before we're done with you perhaps
you'll wish you'd told us about that ere bag us the beginning. We're just
going to make it warm for a feller of your size. This night air has made
you too cold to speak up; but we'll fix all that, I reckon; we know how
to do it, don't we, Wash?"
"Do we? Well, I should smile we did. But they's no need of our goin' far,
old man. This here is a right smart tree, and looks like it might answer.
'Sides, they seems to be lots o' loose wood lyin' 'bout this part!"
Paul felt a chill pass over him. Could it be possible these rascals meant
to torture Ted until he told; or were they just trying to frighten him?
If it came to the worst they just could not stand by and see such a thing
done.
Ted, of course, was considerably worked up when he heard what the shorter
fellow said. It was so very plain he could not mistake the meaning.
"Say, mister, you wouldn't go to hurt a poor feller what never done you
no harm, now, would you? Wish I on'y knowed where I could find a bag; I'd
get it for you like hot cakes. Please don't smoke me. I ain't a ham,
mister, an' I never done you any harm. Let me go, won't you? I'll never
come up here again, sure I won't. And I'll promise to bring you all the
bags in our house, mister."
Paying no attention to his pleadings and his groanings the men stood Ted
up against a tree. Then the rope brought from the car was wrapped around
both boy and tree several times.
"Get busy, Wash, and scrape up all the dead leaves you can find. Then
begin and pile up some brush and stuff. Oh! yes, it's a cold night, but
we ain't agoin' to let a poor critter what's lost his way, suffer. Here
you, stop that snifflin'. Time enough to beller after it begins to hurt."
He struck Ted again in the face, making his nose bleed. Paul had crept
out from the brush and commenced to approach the spot. He knew that the
other four scouts were probably close on his heels.
Every boy's heart beat like a trip hammer with excitement. They bit their
lower lips to keep from shouting out loud, such was the strain upon them.
But not one had the least thought of turning back. With such a leader,
how could they?
The shorter ruffian was scratching right merrily among the dead leaves,
making all the noise he could, so as to impress the prisoner with a sense
of his perilous condition. While he worked he kept talking, half to
himself, and no doubt uttering all sorts of terrible threats calculated
further to alarm the boy.
"We forgot one thing, Wash," said the other man, suddenly.
"What was that?" asked the one on his knees.
"To search the varmint. I might as well do it right now, while you go on
getting his jacket warmer ready."
At first Ted tried to make all the resistance possible; but this only
brought quick punishment in the shape of ugly blows and threats. So Ted
had to stand and allow the other to have his way.
A minute later the man uttered a loud cry.
"Look here, Wash, what did I say?"
He was holding something up. Seen in the light from the lamp belonging
to the red car it looked very much like a fat wad of greenbacks, tied
together with a cord.
Wash sprang up, and bent over to examine the object in the light. Then he
laughed harshly.
"It's the boodle, all right, Brad. He found the bag, sure as thunder! And
now he's _got_ to tell, or it's all up with him!"
Both men turned furiously on the bound boy. Ted had held out against all
odds up to this critical point; but of course he must admit himself
beaten, now that they had found the evidence in his pocket.
Nearer crept Paul, with his chums tagging close at his heels. And nobody
thought to look beyond the line of brilliant light cast by the lamp which
rested on the ground at the foot of the tree. Fortunately its powerful
rays were directed away from the quarter occupied by the creeping Boy
Scouts.
"Now, I reckon you're agoin' to tell all you know about that ere bag,
son?" said Brad, in a terrible voice.
"I guess I'll have to, mister. I was just holdin' out to see if so be you
was what you says. Now I know you be, and I'm ready to tell the hull
thing if you'll only let me go free. I don't want to be smoked, just yet
anyway," Ted whined.
"You did find the bag, then?" demanded the other.
"Yep, that's what I did."
"And took this wad of dough out of it?" pursued the other, savagely.
"It looked too nice to throw away, so I cabbaged it, mister. Wisht I
hadn't now."
"What became of the bag after you took this out--go on, now, and tell,
or--"
"Oh! I throwed that away, mister, right over here in the woods somewhere.
If you look around you'll find her close by. Please let me go when you
dig her out!" said Ted, really alarmed now for his safety.