The “private palace car,” as the boys called the platform car which had
carried the _Rambler_ out of Port Arthur, was being shunted from the
train to a siding near the river bank, and some one was pulling like mad
at Alex’s arm. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, and struck out at the hand
which was annoying him. A chuckle came from the side of his bunk, and he
saw Case standing there with a most exasperating grin on his face.
“Get up!” the latter cried. “We’ll be afloat on the Columbia in less
than no time. Say, kiddo, but you’ve been sleeping some! Get up!”
“Where is the Columbia?” asked Alex hardly awake yet.
“Why,” laughed Case, “I forgot to take it in last night and so it froze
stiff on the roof. The boys are thawing it out with a flat iron. Where
did you think it was, silly?”
“You’re all right,” Alex grunted, dressing as fast as his hands could
move, “but you have foolish spells. Which way is the Columbia from here?
I’m in a hurry to get a look at it. My, but there’s a heap of fun coming
to us now. Good old river, eh, Case?”
“You know it,” replied the other. “Now, wait a minute,” he added, as
Alex made a move toward the door. “I came in here to talk with you.”
“You near broke my arm,” complained Alex. “What is it about? Can’t you
wait until I get a peek at the river? What’s the hurry, anyway?”
Case drew the boy down on the edge of the bunk and held him there a
minute until he quit struggling. Outside the boys were standing at the
prow of the _Rambler_, watching the car carrying them closer to the
dock, if such a primitive contrivance might be called a dock, where the
motor boat was to be launched. Glancing out through the glass panel of
the door, Alex saw that Gran, the stranger who had come to them so
strangely the night before, was standing in a dejected attitude before
Clay, who appeared to be talking earnestly.
“What’s Clay scolding Gran about?” he asked, then. “Looks like he was
giving him a good one. Let me go out and see about it.”
“That’s what I want to talk with you about,” replied Case. “We want your
advice, don’t you see. It is about the strange boy.”
“You’ve come to the right shop for sound advice!” laughed Alex. “What is
it about the boy that you want to know? I guess you have seen as much of
him as I have. I rather like the fellow, but he seems to have something
on his mind—something worrying him.”
“There is,” Case went on. “He insists on leaving us here, and won’t give
any reason for doing so. He says he has a good reason, and that is all
he will say about it.”
“But how is he ever going to get out of this desolate land?” asked the
other. “He can’t very well ride on the rods clear to the ocean, and
he’ll just about wear his feet out up to his knees if he tries to walk
out of the wilderness. I don’t suppose he’s got a cent of money. Say,
but do you believe the story he tells about coming to the pass on the
train that came near bunting into the boulder?”
“If he did,” Case replied, “he found some reason, pretty quickly, to get
on a scare about the men in the camp, or the men back of the camp.”
“He did seem to be scared of his life whenever the fellows were
mentioned,” admitted Alex. “Do you mind what he asked me? Wanted to know
if it was one of the men from the campfire who chased me when I took the
snapshots, or whether it was someone else?”
“I remember that,” Case answered. “Queer, eh?”
“Now, how did he know about there being someone else around there?”
continued Alex. “He must have made a pretty thorough inspection of the
place, for we saw no one except the men by the fire. But, say—”
The lad ceased speaking and sat looking at Case in a puzzled way, as if
trying to solve a knotty problem which had just come into his head. Case
noted the change of attitude and waited for him to go on.
“S-a-a-y,” the boy continued, in a minute, “I saw every man at the fire
quite distinctly, and there wasn’t one there as tall as the man who came
after me when I had the camera, or the man who went off the car last
night with a bullet in his back, or his side, or somewhere.”
Case looked at his chum with questions in his eyes. Then he laughed.
“You’ve been dreaming again!” he said. “Don’t sleep on your back, kid,
and you won’t have such terrible experiences.”
“Have I?” demanded Alex indignantly. “You just ask the brakeman what he
shot at last night, and then go and look at the top of the car. Perhaps
you can squeeze blood out of dreams, but I don’t believe it.”
“Well, why didn’t you tell us about it last night?” demanded Case.
“Because I was sleepy. I’m telling you about it now.”
It took only a few words to inform Case as to the events of the night
before. The boy looked perplexed as he asked:
“Are you sure that was the man who chased you when you were out with
your kodak? Say,” he went on, without waiting for an answer, “the con.
was right about two men swinging on at the pass, wasn’t he?”
“Sure he was. Yes, and I’m pretty certain that one was the man who
chased me around the rock. I don’t know why he should have done it. I
didn’t see him until he broke out of the darkness behind the ledge.
Queer thing!”
“Did he see you taking a picture, with the snoot of the kodak pointing
in his direction?” asked Case, with a smile that provoked Alex.
“Come, now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,” the boy exclaimed, “I suppose you can
tell me exactly why he chased me, and what his thoughts were as he shot
his long legs through the gloom! How do I know what he saw? I wasn’t
taking any picture of him.”
“How do you know that?” asked the other. “How do you know that he wasn’t
in view of the kodak? Sometimes you get a picture that you don’t know
anything about. Where are the pictures you took last night?”
“Haven’t taken ’em out yet,” Alex replied. “I’ll have to wait until I
can get a chance to develop them. There’s no hurry, is there?”
“I would just like to see what the pictures include, that’s all,”
answered Case. “There must be some reason for these men chasing us up as
they appear to be doing. Don’t you think so?”
Alex opened his eyes in wonder, evidently regarding Case as the
originator of a puzzle to which he only could supply a solution.
“Why,” he asked, presently, “you don’t think the two men got on the
train just because we were on it, do you? To my mind, they got on
because they didn’t like the looks of the ties as a means of
transportation. I guess you’ll find that that’s all there is to it.”
“Well,” Case replied, “I don’t know as I’m right, but it appears to me
that there others in the pass besides the campers, and that they had
some reason for getting hold of you. I’ll just bet you took one of their
pictures, perhaps as he was peering out from some shelter, when you
snapped the others. And I’ll wager you the washing of a mess of dishes
that they think you did, whether you did or not.”
Alex laughed silently for a moment and then asked:
“Where did you get it? You’re building a mystery about a tramp chasing a
boy who came too near his lair! Come, let’s go out on the bank and take
a look at the Columbia, our future home for many a bright day! We’ve
been guessing over nothing long enough.”
“Will you let me see the films?” asked Case, still in dead earnest.
“Sure! Just fish my kodak out of that mess on the floor and I’ll get ’em
out. You can see them well enough to learn if there really is any face
peering out from some nook behind the fire.”
Case found the kodak presently and brought it to Alex who took it into
his hand and opened it. Case saw him looking into the opening where the
films ought to be, and then heard a low laugh. He turned quickly to see
Alex tossing the kodak to the bunk.
“Where are the films?” he asked, as Alex sat down and chuckled.
“Oh, what’s the use?” the other asked. “What did you go and take ’em out
for? The chances are that you have ruined the whole lot.”
It was now Case’s turn to express incredulity.
“I don’t know what you mean?” he said, picking up the kodak.
“Oh, I reckon you know, all right,” grinned Alex.
“But what—”
“Give ’em up!” cried Alex. “You’ve gone and taken the films out of the
kodak! Then you come in here and ask me to let you see ’em! Give ’em up,
I say, or I’ll be doing something rash!”
The boy was laughing, but still he seemed in earnest. Case sat down on
the edge of the bunk and looked through the kodak.
“Where are they?” asked Alex nudging the other in the ribs. “The joke is
getting stale.”
“I haven’t seen them,” was the reply. “I hope you haven’t lost them, for
a whole lot might depend on having them.”
“Honest?” demanded Alex. “Cross your heart?” he added, with another
provoking grin. “You don’t for a minute think I believe you, do you?”
“You’ll have to, for I am telling the truth,” was the unexpected answer.
“I haven’t seen them.”
“Will you call Clay in here?” asked Alex in a moment. “I want to ask him
two questions. Don’t let Gran come with him.”
Case, understanding what the boy intended doing, went out to the prow
and sent Clay in, remaining there with the stranger. When Clay entered
the cabin and closed the door he was not a little surprised at the grave
manner in which Alex looked at him.
“Two questions,” Alex said.
“Go on, schoolmaster,” laughed Clay. “I’m sure I have my lesson.”
“One: Did you take the films from the kodak?”
“I did not,” replied Clay, with a shake of the head, a frown gathering
about his eyes. “I did not. What about it? Are they gone?”
“Two: Do you think this Chester W. Granville took them?”
“I do not think him capable of taking anything by stealth,” was the
quick reply. “But what is this about? Why don’t you answer my question?
Have the films you took at the campfire last evening been stolen?”
“They’re gone,” was the answer. “It may be a joke, but they’re gone, all
right. You say you didn’t take ’em, and Case says he didn’t, so what is
there to think except—”
“I don’t believe Gran took them,” Clay hastened to say. “I don’t think
he is that kind of a boy. Besides, he has had no opportunity, that I can
see. He couldn’t have taken them in the night without waking some of us.
I’m not a heavy sleeper, you know.”
“Did you hear the pistol shot in the night?” asked Alex with a suspicion
that Clay had slept sounder than he knew. “Come, now, did you?”
“I did not,” was the quick reply. “What time was it?”
“And you say that you would have heard the boy if he had opened the
kodak and taken out the films! Well, they are gone! Either he took them,
or some one took them while walking in his sleep, or some one sneaked in
during the night and stole them.”
“If any outsider had entered the cabin to get them,” Clay considered,
“he wouldn’t have opened the kodak in there and left it. He would have
made off the minute he got his hands on it, and opened it somewhere
else? Don’t you think that is right?”
“Sure I do,” replied Alex the frown on his face growing steadily. “Sure
I do. Then, that puts it up to this Chester person, doesn’t it?”
“But why should he steal them? Tell me that! And tell me another thing,
while your are at it. What was the shooting in the night?”
Alex again explained, in as few words as possible, just what had taken
place in the night. Clay saw more in the occurrence than Case had seen
and said so. He was plainly apprehensive of coming trouble.
“I really believe those fellows were following us,” he said, presently.
“And I believe the photographs have something to do with it. Well, that
may supply us with a little excitement. Have you been out in the town
yet? Something doing all the morning, while you’ve been sleeping.”
“Got up a short time ago,” replied Alex. “Now, look here,” he went on,
soberly, “if Gran didn’t take the films, who did? And, say, if he did,
he’ll be likely to duck away from us at the first chance.”
“He has been trying to leave us now,” said Clay. “He was about to jump
off the car when I stopped him. He says he has no intention of imposing
on us longer! It does look bad! Still, we don’t know why he should have
taken them. Let’s suspend judgment for a time. What?”
“Oh, I haven’t convicted him yet,” smiled Alex. “Only I want to get a
line of the films. That’s all. I want ’em. No, Gran would have no object
in taking them unless he was sent here to do that very thing. S-a-a-y,
Clay, suppose he was sent to us for that very purpose?”
Clay laughed and moved toward the door, Alex at his heels.
“He couldn’t have been sent for that purpose, for he was at the boat
before the pictures were taken,” he said.
“Yes, but, since then, he might have received orders from the men, I
believe there is something up here. Those men back there may be train
robbers, who don’t want any pictures taken. Understand? Gran might have
come west with them. He might have been sent over to us to get a line on
our intentions. Later, he might have been told to steal the films! It is
up to him to explain, anyway, but don’t be too hard on him. Suppose it
should turn out that the men in camp, or the men back of the camp, were
really train robbers? That would be awkward for Gran, wouldn’t it?”
“It would be awkward for the robbers if a kodak located them on the
scene of the robbery last night,” Clay replied.
“Last night?” repeated Alex. “What about a robbery last night?”
“The Pacific express was held up just the other side of the pass very
early this morning,” answered Clay. “The express and mail cars were
looted and the passengers robbed. The two men who boarded the train
didn’t do it, of course, but there were others there in the canyons!”