UNDER THE TWINKLING STARS.
SUPPER was forgotten for the time being, under the influence of this new
source of excitement. But then the young campers had taken the edge off
their sharp appetites before now, so that it did not matter very much.
Adam was grinning as he found himself the one object upon which all eyes
were focused. It would be hard to find the boy who does not enjoy
standing in the lime light, even for a little while.
"How about this, Adam," said Elmer, "do you know anything about these
two men?"
"So," drawled the German boy, "aber I am nodt sure. Dey looks to pe
sooch; put mebbe I haf anudder guess goming, poys."
"Tell us where you think you saw them," the assistant scout master
continued.
"At Prady's," answered Adam, promptly.
"Brady's--why, that's where we get our milk," spoke up Landy.
"Sure it is," declared Ty. "That's funny now; I never remember setting
eyes on anybody answering that description; and I've been over there
twice."
"Yeth," declared Ted, "and I can thay the thame thing."
"You think you can; but you're away off, Ted," grinned Ty, who never
grew weary of nagging the other on that lisp, with which he was
afflicted.
"When did you see them, Adam?" asked Elmer, paying no attention to any
of these side remarks.
"Vy, berhaps you may remember, Elmer, dot dis very evening I vant to go
py der voods vonce, und get dot milk. Vat ve haf, it did get sour by der
heat, und Ty he say he haf a desire to dake der tramp again nix. So I
volunteer py der game. You pet me I nefer dry to gross dot field py der
pull. I dake der long vay, und pring der milk safely home. Iss it not
so, Ty?"
"Well, we're drinking some of it in our coffee this meal, so that goes
without saying," the other replied.
"Tell us about the men--where were they when you saw them, Adam?" Elmer
went on.
"Py der parn," returned the German scout.
"Not prowling around like a couple of thieves, Adam?"
"Nodt as I can see."
"Then what were they doing?" the patrol leader asked, impatiently; for
it was a most difficult thing to draw the story out of the German, who
seemed to want to be "pumped" step by step, as Landy termed it.
"Vorking," came the short reply.
"Oh, then you mean they were apparently in the employ of Mr. Brady?"
"Dot iss so. Dey toss der hay oop to him py der stack, und he stow it
avay."
"I believe the farmer is getting in a late crop of clover hay," remarked
Elmer.
"Yes," broke in Ty, "and he was telling me this very morning when I got
the milk, after my little adventure with that neighbor's bull, how his
man had left him in the lurch, and everybody around was so busy he
hardly knew just how he could get the big crop of hay that was stacked
in the field, ready for the mow."
Elmer nodded his head as though, after gaining this knowledge, it was
comparatively easy to put two and two together.
"That settles it," he remarked. "These two hoboes came along, and he
offered them such big wages to help him over his trouble, that they just
couldn't resist. But I know something about tramps, and the real article
wouldn't work at any price."
"Gee! Perhaps they had some other object in taking the place?" Landy
suggested.
"Just what I had in mind," Elmer followed. "If they are the rascals who
tried to throw that train off the track for some awful reason, they must
know that there'll be a hunt through the country for them; and, perhaps,
they hope to hide as farm laborers until the thing wears off."
"Then we ought to warn Mr. Brady, hadn't we?" asked Ted.
"Yes, but at the same time we must be careful not to excite the
suspicion of those fellows," Elmer replied; and then turning again to
Adam, he continued: "Did you have anything to say to either of the men,
Adam?"
"Vell," replied the other, slowly and reflectively, "I dink me dot
berhaps von off dem might dell me der vay to der milk house, und so I
stop me to ask."
"Yes, you asked one of them--which one, Adam?"
"I notice me dot as I gome close dey look at me like I vos a pad egg,
und put der heads togedder in a punch. So I yust chuck oudt mine preast
und valk right up to der spot, like I vas say: 'Vat's der matter mit
you; I am Adam Litzburgh, und I pelong to der scouts; put dot in your
pipe und smoke it!'"
"But you didn't say all that; you just asked one of them where the milk
house might be; wasn't that it, Adam?" Elmer went on.
"Der short von idt vas; und he turn to der udder und he say it pe all
right, nuttings to bother apout from dot Dutch fool. Den, py chinks, he
call oudt to der farmer who vas on der top of dot haymow, und ask vere
der milk house pe."
"And that was all, was it, Adam?"
"I knows me nuddings else," replied the German boy; "only ven I gomes me
along again, der short von vaves his hand to me, und laughs him some py
my pack."
Elmer really sighed with relief when he realized that he had actually
succeeded in getting the whole story out of the uncommunicative fellow.
It was like "drawing teeth," as Landy more than once remarked.
"You've heard the story, fellows," he said, turning to the others; "what
had we better do about it? I want everybody to have a voice in this, and
majority rules. So don't be bashful, but speak up."
"Well," remarked Landy, slowly. "I suppose we ought to give Mr. Brady a
hint of the truth; but, as you say, Elmer, we must be mighty careful how
we do it. Those tramps must be a pretty desperate pair, and they'd think
nothing of sailing in to clean us out if they suspected we were on to
their curves."
"How about you, Ted?" asked Elmer.
"Oh, count me in the thame lay," replied the one addressed. "Nobody
knowth when they're entertaining angelth unawareth, like the good book
thayth; or bad men either. The farmerth want help tho bad at timeth that
they don't athk too many quethtionth when they get a thanthe to employ a
huthky man. We'll drop around there in the morning thome time, when
they're out in the haying field, and give the women folkth a little
hint that they'd better get rid of the new handth."
"Ty?"
"Them's my sentiments. No special need of any hurry, I guess," replied
Ty, who was really feeling the effect of his unusual exercise of that
morning when the unfriendly bull gave him such a lively chase, and who
wanted to keep quiet in camp.
"George?"
"Wow! You just couldn't get me to stir away from here to-night unless
you tied a pair of mules to me and started them going," replied the
newcomer, as he slyly helped himself to more fish.
"And Adam?"
"I dinks me as how it pe werry comfortaples here," grinned the German,
duplicating the act of George, as though he feared lest he might not get
his full share of the supper.
"Hey, let me in on that, will you, fellers?" cried Landy, spearing
another portion from the rapidly vanishing pile. "And if you want to
know my sentiments, Elmer, just put them down as 'he also ran.' Because
I'm willing to do whatever the rest of you say."
Elmer himself looked a trifle disappointed. He had been thinking that
perhaps they ought to warn Mr. Brady that night; for it could not be a
very safe thing to have two such desperate men in his employ longer than
was absolutely necessary.
Still, he had said that he would be bound by what the majority of his
chums decided was best; and he could not change his ideas.
After all, the chances seemed to be that if the two new farm hands were
actually Shorty and Lanky Jim, their sole object in taking service with
Mr. Brady must be to lie low until the excitement died away.
Consequently, they would be very careful not to do anything that would
turn attention upon them; and in that case a little delay could not
matter.
"All right, then," said Elmer; "it's settled that after breakfast
to-morrow we'll make up a party to go after milk and find a chance to
warn the Brady people. Of course the women folks will be scared nearly
to death; but they'll find some way of sending word to town in these
days of telephones. And then the officers will come out to arrest the
fellows. Pass my dish, please, Landy, and get a small help of the fish.
I'm mighty fond of it in camp, and never care for a bite at home. And
this is as good as they make fried fish, thanks to Ty's way of cooking."
The balance of the supper was eaten amid a lively lot of talk. Of course
much of this concerned the events of the day; the adventure with the
bull; the trick Ty attempted to play on Adam, with disastrous results to
himself; and last, but not least, the coming of Doubting George with
such exciting news.
When, finally, they went to bed it was with all these things fastened
upon their minds; so that Elmer expected that more than one among them
would be apt to "see things" in the dark that night.
The fire which, after supper, had been built larger, so that it lent a
cheerful glow to the scene, was allowed to die down. Really the weather
was still so sultry that it took away some of the pleasure of sitting
around a blaze; which is always appreciated most when there is a tang of
frost in the night air; but, then, these boys were up here for fun and
did not mean to be cheated out of anything they considered their due by
such a thing as hot air.
One by one they crawled under the canvas and subsided.
The coming of George promised to add to the discomfort of a crowded
tent; and secretly Elmer had decided that he would not occupy his
quarters of the preceding nights. It would not be a new thing at all for
him to sleep out under the stars with a blanket for a covering; and,
indeed, he believed he would enjoy the experience, as it must revive
recollections of the past when he was accompanying the cowboys on a
round-up far away from the home ranch; or else off with a comrade on a
hunt in the big Rocky Mountains of Canada.
Only one more day remained, and then the wagon would come for the tent
and other things that had to be transported by team. After that they
could look forward to a few days of restlessness; when school duties
would begin once more.
Elmer noticed that there was little talking indulged in that night. They
seemed too tired all around for any "funny business," such as often
marked the period when the lively boys started to go to bed.
When all seemed quiet within the tent, Elmer stepped over to where he
had slyly hidden his blanket some little time before. He had already
picked out the spot in which he intended passing the night. It was under
a tree, where he could look up through the leafy branches, and get
glimpses of the star-decked heavens. The soft, caressing touch of the
night wind would lull him to sleep, he felt sure; and on the whole Elmer
infinitely preferred such an experience to being crammed up against five
others, in one small tent.
So he fixed himself, and lay down. By turning his head he could see the
flickering fire, and imagine it surrounded by some of those good fellows
whom he had known long ago, daring riders of bucking bronchos, and
expert wielders of the flying rope.
Then Elmer dropped off into a sound sleep. The last thing he remembered
was hearing some one snoring in the tent; he never knew just who the
guilty party might be, although his suspicions pointed to George; since
they had not been afflicted up to his coming. And the sounds seemed
uncertain too, just as though they were inclined to express a lingering
doubt.
From this state of peace and calm the campers were suddenly aroused by a
most piercing scream, that rang through the woods on the borders of the
river.
Instantly a scene of wild confusion resulted. Out from the narrow exit
of the tent came a struggling mass of boys in pajamas, grabbing hold of
each other in their excitement.
And one lone figure might have been seen crawling under the back canvas,
in much the same fashion as Elmer had done at the time he started on
that hunt for the unknown party who was throwing the stones with a plunk
into the river.
Elmer was on his feet instantly, and could, perhaps, be said to be the
only one in the lot who had control of his senses in this emergency.