BAD NEWS IN HOBART
On hearing this, the boys gave a shout of joy, and in a minute had
arranged for Tom to come with them as far as town.
With the cheers of the lumberjacks sounding in their ears, and with
a wave of Mr. Boone and Art Howells, the boys were off. The flivver
coughed, and gathering speed, rattled down the bumpy road.
As soon as they had started, they hurled a number of questions at
Tom about Sandy.
“I wasn’t goin’ to say anything about the dog, because you fellows
might take it out on us. My brother came to see me in camp the day
after the coon hunt, and stayed around for awhile and made half sort
of friends with the dog, and then later he was gone. I found out
that he had taken him with him. ’Course I know it was stealing, but
he was my brother and I was afraid he would get into bad trouble.
You fellows know how I felt. First place I was ashamed to tell you I
had a brother that would do that, and second place I was afraid
you’d have him taken up for it. But I was going to see that you got
him back somehow. When you got ready to go today, I knew how you
felt about the pup, and so I couldn’t hold in any longer. All I wish
is that you won’t have anything done to my brother, bad as he is.”
The boys were so overjoyed with the thought of regaining Sandy that
they immediately promised Tom that the matter would be forgotten.
Speeding up the machine as soon as they struck better road, they
made excellent time and reached the village ahead of their schedule.
They went direct to the station to get their tickets, while Tom
departed for his brother’s house to bring Sandy to them. After
buying their tickets, they were on tenterhooks waiting the return of
their animal friend.
True to his word, Tom was at the station in half an hour. But Sandy
beat him by several seconds, for no sooner did he get his first
sight of the boys than he broke from the leash by which Tom was
leading him and made a mad dash for the chums. He nearly knocked
Garry over as he leaped on him, then he jumped from one boy to
another in frantic glee, giving vent to sharp barks of delight as
the boys mauled him in their joy at seeing him again.
“Sorry we’ll have to put you in the baggage car on the trip, old
timer,” said Garry, “but the railroads have a rule against big
fellows like you being in the car.”
At last the train came in and they were on their way. Sandy voiced
unqualified disapproval at being tied up in the crowded baggage car,
and occasionally one or another of the boys went ahead and petted
him a few minutes.
The train was a slow one, and it was nearly eight o’clock when they
reached the Penobscot River city. For once they were quite ready to
follow Dick’s lead and get “eats,” then they went to the hotel and
reserved rooms. They found that their train was to leave fairly
early in the morning, but as not one of them was tired, they took a
walk down through the business center of the town.
As they passed a brightly lighted drug store, Dick noticed something
in the window.
“There, I knew there was something we ought to have had on our other
trips,” he announced to the others.
“Hold him, Phil, he’s going to buy something again. Remember how he
wouldn’t go on without that knife last time he was here?” said
Garry.
“Gosh, that reminds me I left that knife in the cabin at the little
lake,” he ejaculated. “I wonder if that chap is still around here
selling ’em?”
“Hardly; he was just one of those sidewalk merchants that are here
today and gone tomorrow” answered Garry. “But what is it that you
want to buy now?”
“Look at that display in the window, and see if you don’t think we
ought to have an outfit” answered Dick as he waved his hand toward
the indicated window.
“Well, for once you see something sensible. We might have a lot of
use for them the remainder of the summer, and it will give us some
nice souvenirs.”
What Dick had seen was a display of cameras, and followed by his
chums he entered the store and soon had purchased a good camera and
a sufficient quantity of films to take a number of pictures. As an
afterthought, he bought material to develop a limited amount of the
pictures, explaining that they might be able to print some in spare
moments.
“Go ahead and buy whatever you want,” laughed Garry, “only remember
that this stuff all goes in your pack, and you will have to carry
the extra weight.”
This, however, failed to bother Dick, and he bought such articles as
he needed.
They were about to return to the hotel, when Garry noticed a
policeman coming down the street. This called to mind the night they
had been near arrest and had received the torn map that eventually
led them to the secret tourmaline mine.
“Let’s drop around to the station and see if the Chief of Police
might be in. I’d like to say howdy to him, even if he once did have
an idea that we were a crew of runaways,” he suggested to his
companions.
The idea was instantly approved, and they changed their direction
and headed for the station. They were just in time, for the Chief
was preparing to leave for home. He recognized the boys immediately
and invited them into his office for a chat. The few minutes
lengthened into an hour, for the Chief made them tell him about the
smuggling band and how they had aided in the capture.
“I happen to know something about it, for some of them were brought
here for a hearing before the United States Commissioner, and I
attended the hearing. It’s natural in you boys, I suppose, to be
modest about it, but I wish that I had a son, or three of them like
you, that could get out and do such a creditable bit of work as you
did. If you ever want a job, apply to me,” he concluded with a laugh
in which the boys joined.
The visit over, they hustled back to the hotel and to sleep, as they
were booked for early rising.
A sharp tatoo on the door awoke them in the morning, and they
hurried into their clothes, for they had no more than time to eat
and get to the station.
Aboard the train they chose seats, as was their custom, in the
smoking car, not that any of the trio was addicted to smoking, but
because they generally found several interesting characters to
watch, and this happened to pass away the time.
Then, too, on one occasion, they had obtained a valuable clue that
aided them greatly in the successful carrying out of the mission
they had been sent on, and on their first trip they had made the
acquaintance of Nate Webster in the smoker of a train.
They found facing seats and stowed their packs and rifles in the
racks overhead, and settled down for the weary ride that would take
them to Hobart. As was usual in this train, there were a number of
picturesque characters: lumberjacks going north to the woods, guides
returning after taking parties on camping trips, or going to meet
parties that were awaiting them along the way, French Canadians
bound for towns on the other side of the border, and several men who
were evidently bound on an extended fishing trip, to judge from the
paraphernalia they carried with them. The boys were just a little
bit amused at the amount of luggage that they carried. It was piled
at one end of the car, and from the looks of it would have required
the services of at least three porters to carry for them. This, by
the way, is the mistake made by the average camper, unless someone
wise in the ways of the woods gives them a friendly tip and tells
them to travel light.
Each of the boys always made shift to travel with only one knapsack
each and everything that was not absolutely necessary was discarded.
As it was, their packs were quite heavy, for they had their carrying
sets of the wireless ’phone; but these were fairly light, since they
had been specially made for the Rangers by Mr. Graham.
Garry and Dick amused themselves by playing checkers on a small
pocket board that was their constant companion, while Phil wandered
through the car stopping to watch several of the card games that
were in progress and listening to the conversation. As our previous
readers know, Phil could talk French as well as he could English,
but this was an accomplishment that the trio kept a strict secret,
since it enabled them at times to get valuable information.
Naturally a great deal of this language was spoken in this section
of the country, and more so as they approached the border and other
men got aboard.
Phil’s trip was fruitless as far as getting any information was
concerned, for all the men were talking only of the most trivial
subjects.
“What luck?” asked Garry, when Phil finally returned to his seat.
“Nothing at all. There is no one on the train that I remember having
seen when we were here before, and everyone seems to be all right.
It is unlikely that I should have found out anything about the
postal trouble, for there is probably some single person at the
bottom of that, rather than a band such as that of the smugglers
that we ran down last time,” said Phil. “But there is one thing that
I thought of as I walked through the cars. We will be only a short
hike away from our mine when we get to Hobart, and I wonder if we
wouldn’t have time to make a little visit there and see that no one
else has stumbled on the secret. I wish I could pick about twenty of
the best tourmalines, for the money they would bring would be mighty
welcome.”
“Guess great minds run in the same channel,” remarked Garry, “for I
was thinking of the same thing not very long ago. But I have a
better idea. By the time we get this business here settled up, it
will be fairly well along in the summer, and it seems to me it would
be useless to go back to the patrol for such a short time. We will
want to have a few days at home before we go to military school this
fall, and so I suggest that after this mission is ended, we get
relieved from duty and go and mine some of the tourmalines. We ought
to get quite a bit of the work done, for it is a comparatively easy
job to get them out, and then we can hire a couple of guards to
watch them until such time as we can come back, or get some
trustworthy person to operate it for us; such a man as Nate Webster,
for instance.”
“That would be a jolly good idea,” remarked Dick. “I’d like a chance
at mining just to see how the thing is done.”
“Well, we’ll have to forget about that for the time being, for we
have a big enough job on our hands for the present if we meet with
any success on this business. As a matter of fact, we won’t be able
to do a great deal on this anyway. It is something that we know
nothing about, and I imagine that the only reason we were sent here
at all is because we have had a chance to learn something about the
country here and know some of the people in Hobart. As for giving
any advice to the inspector, that of course is out of the question.
Really, this thing looks more like a vacation to me than anything
else,” concluded Garry.
“You never can tell what will happen,” remarked Dick sagely.
“There’s one thing I would like to do before we quit here for the
summer, and that is cause LeBlanc to be taken up and held where he
can do no more mischief for a time. He gets worse every week, and
there is no telling what he will do in the end. I wonder if he is
the one that sent the letters to our friends? You know they were
instrumental in bringing his smuggling plot to a disastrous end, and
he is of the vengeful type that would seek some mean satisfaction.”
“I rather doubt that he is the one,” said Garry. “It is more likely
some friend of Lafe Green, for he probably has some pals that were
not caught in the net of the law when the smugglers were rounded
up.”
“Well, we can do little until we get there and see what it is all
about. There’s nothing to be gained by idle speculating as to the
perpetrator of the offense, so we might as well take it easy till we
reach our destination,” advised Garry.
The morning dragged on, and the boys welcomed the half hour stop for
dinner. They ate in the same restaurant where they had met the
Customs man some weeks before.
Their own dinner procured, they got something for Sandy and carried
it to the baggage car.
The dog raised such a howl when they started to leave that Garry
volunteered to ride in the baggage car for a while, provided the
baggageman was willing. He heartily agreed to allow Garry to remain,
and the others returned to the smoker.
The particular route over which they were traveling was not one of
the best, and occasionally they were forced to wait while other
trains made connections.
About half way though the afternoon, as they were waiting on a
siding to allow a fast freight from across the border to have right
of way, the boys remarked on the fact that several tramps seemed to
have made a special train of it. They observed three hanging to the
end, grasping the trainman’s iron rungs for support.
The train had half passed when Dick grasped Phil by the arm.
“Look quick. There’s one of the tramps that we caught in our shack
at home!”
Phil cast a quick glance and what he saw corroborated Dick.
“There, I’m glad you saw him too,” announced Dick, “for I am sure it
was one of the gang. If I alone had seen him, you boys might have
said that I was seeing things. I move we drop out and tell Garry,
and one of us can stay behind with Sandy and let Garry come back to
the car.”
This was done, and Garry was much interested in their story.
“You remember we saw them in this section once before, and it is
possible they are making a stamping ground of this place. Now all we
need is a glimpse of LeBlanc and we’ll have all our enemies with us.
We might make a grand slam and clean them all out.”
Two hours of riding brought them at last to Hobart, and they
gathered their traps and disembarked.
Ruth and her grandfather, John Everett, were waiting to meet them.
Mr. Everett had fully recovered from his accident with the bear
trap, and both he and his granddaughter greeted the boys warmly.
“First thing we want is to hear the whole story and then we will see
what we can devise in the way of plans for putting an end to the
annoyance. Shall we walk towards your house and you can tell us on
the way?” asked Garry.
At the mention of house, both Ruth and her grandfather looked sad,
and Mr. Everett answered their query about walking in that
direction.
“Just now we haven’t any house. It was burned to the ground last
night, and evidence seems to point to the fact that it was
deliberately set on fire!”