stop,” she informed them. “After the road blocks have been removed, the
hi-jackers may be able to slip out of here and get safely away!”
“Oh, no, they won’t!” announced Miss Meadows with grim determination.
“We’ll tip off the state highway headquarters! I’ll telephone.”
“Someone should stay here to keep watch,” Judy said. “The driver may
return at any minute and try to pull out.”
“That’s so,” Miss Meadows agreed. “I--I guess I’d better stay, while
you girls telephone.”
“No, you go to Calico Cottage,” Judy urged. “Kathleen and I will wait
here.”
“You’re not afraid?”
“No, you’ll have help here in just a few minutes.”
“I’ll hurry as fast as I can,” Miss Meadows promised, starting away.
“Get into the bushes, and keep out of sight until I’m back here with
the law!”
_Chapter 19_
THE HIDE-OUT
Left alone, Judy and Kathleen crept into the thicket at the left hand
side of the road. The air was damp and chilly and leaves dripped
moisture. In a very few minutes, the girls began to weary of crouching
in such uncomfortable positions.
“That truck driver must have skipped out,” Kathleen muttered. “It’s
sort of silly to hide here.”
“I don’t think so,” Judy replied, keeping her voice low.
“I wish we knew where the driver went.” Disregarding caution, Kathleen
straightened up from her crouched position and carefully looked about.
She could see a portion of the trail which led toward Calico Cave.
As she stood thus, a little dog came into view, trotting from the
direction of the cavern.
“Why, it’s Pete!” Kathleen exclaimed, speaking much louder than she had
intended. “Do you suppose Bart is somewhere near, or in the cave?”
“He must be,” Judy agreed. She added in warning: “But do quiet down.
If we keep sounding off, we’ll give our hiding place away to anyone who
comes along.”
“Pete is onto it now!” Kathleen agreed in dismay.
The little dog had halted alertly on the trail. After sniffing the air,
he left the path and came directly over to the bushes where the two
girls had taken shelter.
To their consternation, he began to bark and to jerk his head, as if
inviting them to follow him to the cave.
Judy seized the little dog, and tightly held his jaws so that he could
not bark.
“This is a fine howdy-do!” she muttered. “Pete will give us away if
anyone is within a mile of here!”
“Do you suppose Bart could be close?” Kathleen speculated. “Pete
plainly is trying to get us to follow him to the cave.”
“If we let him go, he’ll set up a fearful clatter. I can’t hold his
jaws together forever either!”
“Bart would be a big help to us if we could find him.”
“We could see if he’s at the cave entrance,” Judy said reluctantly. “I
don’t think we’ll find him though, and we’d be leaving a good hiding
place.”
“We can be careful,” Kathleen returned. “Help from the Forest Service
or highway headquarters should be coming quite soon.”
Allowing herself to be persuaded, Judy followed Kathleen from the leafy
shelter. She kept tight hold of Pete however, not allowing him to bark
or scramble out of her arms.
The rocky path wound through the trees and around big boulders.
Presently, the girls were within view of the dark entranceway to the
cave.
Judy halted, thinking that she saw a tiny wisp of smoke emerging from
the cavern. In that moment of inattention, Pete made a convulsive
movement and before she could regain her grip, leaped to the ground.
Yipping excitedly, he ran toward the cave entrance.
With a gasp of dismay, Judy thrust Kathleen back into a thicket, and
herself crouched behind a rock.
It was well that the girls took refuge, for Pete’s loud barking had not
gone unheard.
A dark figure appeared silhouetted in the opening of the cave. Judy
could not see the face of the heavy-set man, but she knew instantly
from his build that he was not Bart Ranieau.
“There’s that confounded mutt again!” the girls heard the man exclaim.
“He’ll give us away!”
“Slug him with a rock!” came advice from inside the cave.
The man in the entranceway, heaved a stone which missed its mark by
mere inches. Pete barked the louder.
“Put a bullet through him,” was the next gruff advice.
“Don’t dare,” the girls heard the reply. “A shot would be heard too
far.”
“If we don’t get out of this hole pretty soon, that dog will have the
whole town down on us,” the other growled. “Quiet him somehow.”
“Don’t pay any attention to him and he’ll shut up,” the first man said.
“If we can coax him in here, I’ll wring his neck!”
Pete did stop barking after a few more excited yips, but canine caution
kept him from going closer to the cave. In vain the two men tried to
coax him into the cavern. Pete lay flat on his belly on the path and
whined.
Finally, they abandoned the effort to get him inside, and themselves
moved back out of view in the darkness.
For a long while, Judy and Kathleen remained motionless, afraid to stir
lest they disclose their presence. Both were convinced that the two
men in the cave were the hi-jackers, and that they merely were waiting
there until they safely could move out their truck and stolen cargo.
“We can’t stay here,” Judy finally whispered to her chum. “Let’s make a
break for it. If we’re seen, we’ll have to run for our lives.”
Moving stealthily, the girls slipped from their hiding place.
Pete saw them go and cocked his head attentively. But to their intense
relief, he did not bark or try to follow them.
Safely, the girls retraced their way to the private road.
Once there, Judy anxiously looked up the slope for a glimpse of her
aunt or the assistance which she hoped would come.
“I guess we’ll have to hide in the bushes again,” Kathleen proposed.
“Pete may ferret us out too.”
As the girls debated what action to take, Judy saw that a green coupe
had turned down the private road.
“A Forest Service car!” she exclaimed, over-joyed. “Good Aunt Mattie!
She must have put through a fast telephone call to the ranger station.
Our troubles are over!”
“I thought your aunt intended to call the highway patrol headquarters,”
Kathleen commented, watching the approaching car with troubled eyes.
“Maybe she called ’em both. At any rate, a forest ranger is just what
the doctor ordered!”
Judy rushed out to meet the approaching automobile, waving her arms to
attract attention.
The car drew up with a slight squeak of brakes. Judy saw then that the
driver was Lowell Diethelm, and he seemed as surprised to see her and
Kathleen as they were to encounter him on the lonely road.
“Did Aunt Mattie reach you?” Judy demanded.
The ranger’s startled expression disclosed that he did not know what
she was talking about.
“I guess Aunt Mattie hasn’t had time to get word through,” Judy went
on. “Anyway, you’re here in time to nab those hi-jackers!”
She and Kathleen then breathlessly told of their suspicions, and
pointed out the big truck which had been hidden in the thicket.
In their anxiety to tell the story clearly and fast, neither girl
noticed that Diethelm was watching them in an odd sort of way, but not
asking many questions.
When Judy finally ran out of breath, the ranger motioned for the two
girls to get into the coupe.
“But aren’t you going to do anything about it?” Judy demanded. “Don’t
you intend to find out if those men hiding in the cave are hi-jackers?”
“Sure, I intend to do something about it,” Diethelm drawled, “but I’m
not foolhardy. We’re up against a tough gang. There may be shooting. I
need reenforcements.”
“I guess that’s right,” Judy agreed. Her gaze fell upon the radio
equipment in the ranger’s car. “Couldn’t you call the ranger station?”
“Sure,” Diethelm said again. “Sure. Come on, get in, and I’ll take care
of it.”
Judy and Kathleen obeyed, sliding in beside the ranger. He turned the
car around in the narrow roadway, heading it toward the main highway.
“I’ll drive you up the hill,” he said. “It’s safer that way. Then if
there should be shooting, you’ll be all right.”
“Can’t we get word to the ranger station right away?” Judy urged
again. “Those men may decide to try to pull out of here any minute.”
“Take it easy,” Diethelm advised. “Let me handle this, will you?”
“Sorry,” Judy mumbled. “I didn’t mean to suggest--only--”
“Only what?”
“Nothing,” Judy replied shortly.
Diethelm reached across, snapping a lock on the door of the coupe. The
gesture seemed careless enough. Yet, why should he have reason to lock
the automobile? Judy, suddenly uneasy, glanced at Kathleen and saw that
her chum looked frightened.
“So your aunt is telephoning the state highway patrol station?” the
ranger remarked easily. “How long ago was that?”
“Five--maybe ten minutes ago,” Judy answered. She was trying hard to
smother the suspicion which had formed in her mind.
“Your aunt went to the cottage to phone?”
“Yes.” Judy hesitated and then said earnestly: “Won’t you please call
ranger headquarters now on your radio telephone? It’s important to get
help fast. Aunt Mattie may have failed to get her call through.”
Diethelm smiled and flipped a switch on the radio. He fumbled with it
as he drove efficiently with one hand.
“Car 23 to Headquarters. Car 23 to Headquarters,” he called.
“Go ahead, Diethelm,” came the order from headquarters.
“Nothing to report, sir. No fires sighted.”
“Any sign of the hi-jackers? They’re reported to have headed into your
patrol area.”
Diethelm spoke clearly and in a detached manner. “No sign of ’em
anywhere,” he replied. “Inform the highway patrol, they may as
well lift the road block. That’s right, sir. I’ve checked the area
thoroughly. No sign of ’em.”
_Chapter 20_
TREACHERY
Judy and Kathleen scarcely could believe that they had heard the
ranger’s radio message correctly.
For a stunned moment, they sat in dead silence, unable to comprehend
what had transpired.
Diethelm wore the inconspicuous pine tree badge of the forest rangers,
but he had never seemed friendly or helpful as had the other Forest
Service men.
Judy had sensed the man’s antagonism almost from the first moment
of their meeting. Until this night, however, she had never actually
distrusted him.
Now, as the meaning of his message to headquarters penetrated her
brain, she realized that he deliberately had given false information to
his superior officers. Information which would aid the hi-jackers, who
awaited the lifting of the road block to rush their stolen cargo across
the state line!
As the car climbed the steep incline, Kathleen suddenly reached for the
door handle.
“I wouldn’t do that!” Diethelm ordered sharply. “Stay in this car!”
“You’re making us prisoners?” Kathleen gasped, shaken by the ranger’s
treachery.
“You asked for this,” Diethelm retorted. “If you’d kept to your own
affairs, no one would have bothered you. Now you’ve poked your pretty
little noses in, you’ll have to take the consequences!”
“Which are--?” interposed Judy. She was no longer frightened, but
smoldered with a deep, burning anger.
“I’ll drive you some distance from here and dump you in the woods,”
Diethelm informed her. “By the time you find your way out, we’ll be
over the state line. This is our last haul.”
“So you’re one of the hi-jackers!” Kathleen accused shrilly. “A
disgrace to the ranger uniform!”
“I’ve not been in the service long,” Diethelm said. “It means nothing
to me. I adopted the uniform only to serve my own purpose. For six
months it’s been a cinch to run cargo through, but lately the state
highway patrol has bottled up most of the roads. We’ll move on to
another state.”
The car had reached the main highway. Judy could see Calico Cottage
through the morning mist, but there was no sign of her aunt, or of any
help.
Everything was painfully clear now! The trucker she and Kathleen
had seen the previous night at the restaurant, had indeed been Joe
Pompilli. Either he, or his runners now were at the cave, awaiting a
chance to slip their cargo over the state line. And with the road block
soon to be lifted, that chance might come very soon!
The coupe turned onto the main highway, and started up the winding
mountain road. Judy saw Diethelm glance anxiously at the gasoline gauge.
Her pulse leaped with hope, for she saw that the pointer already stood
on the empty mark, and was giving only an occasional convulsive jerk.
“We’re about out of gas,” Diethelm muttered.
“No filling stations on this road for three miles,” Judy said in
satisfaction.
“We rangers have supply caches,” Diethelm dashed her hopes again. “My
own private one is just ahead.”
A few hundred yards farther up the road, he pulled off onto the
right-of-way. Back among the trees, Judy and Kathleen saw the gasoline
supply tank, marked with the Forest Service name.
Diethelm reached for a can on the floor behind the seat. As he got out
of the car, he tapped the revolver in his holster.
“Now don’t you move or try to get out of this car!” he ordered. “I’ll
have my eye on you. I’m warning that if you try to escape, I’ll shoot.”
Diethelm then strode to the gasoline storage tank, hurriedly starting
to fill his can.
“Lean forward--block off the window, so he can’t see me,” Judy
instructed Kathleen tersely.
“He’s watching us. If we try to get out, I’m afraid he’ll carry out
his threat to shoot.”
“We can’t hope to get away,” Judy admitted. “But there’s one outside
chance we can get through to ranger headquarters on the radio phone.
I’m going to risk it.”
Now that she knew her friend’s scheme, Kathleen obediently shifted her
position, so that her back temporarily shielded Judy from view.
In an instant, Judy had snapped the radio phone on.
“Car 23 to Headquarters!” she called excitedly into the transmitter.
“Emergency call! Emergency call!”
“Headquarters to Car 23,” came the reply. “Who the deuce is this?
Diethelm--”
“I’m a Girl Scout--held a prisoner in Diethelm’s car,” Judy broke
in. Aware that Diethelm himself had dropped the gasoline can and was
striding toward the coupe, her words tumbled over each other in her
haste to get them out. “The hi-jackers are at the cave! Their truck--”
The car door was jerked open at that point, and the radio phone ripped
from Judy’s hand. Diethelm clicked the switch off, pulling the
girl bodily from the coupe.
“Now you’ve done it!” he snarled, shoving her so hard that she fell to
the ground. “Little fool!”
Despite his previous threat, Diethelm did not touch his revolver. His
face contorted by worry, he seemed uncertain what to do for a moment.
Tersely then, he ordered Kathleen out of the car also.
“Turn your backs and start walking into the woods,” he ordered the two
girls. “Keep walking. Don’t look back or I’ll shoot.”
Kathleen pulled Judy to her feet, and they slowly moved off into the
woods.
“Walk faster!” Diethelm shouted.
The girls obediently increased their speed, stumbling as they climbed
over fallen logs and other forest debris.
Moments passed, and Judy dared to look over her shoulder. No longer
could she see the car or the roadway.
But as she paused, she heard the roar of the coupe’s engine.
“He’s filled the gas tank and he’s pulling out!” she declared. “Now to
get help, if we can.”
Hurrying back the way they had come, the girls reached the roadside in
time to see the coupe disappearing around a curve in the direction from
which it had come.
“He’s going back to the cave to warn the hi-jackers!” Judy guessed
shrewdly. “He must know I got through to the ranger headquarters!”
“Then that means that the hi-jackers probably will try to move their
truck out now!” Kathleen exclaimed. “They may make it too, because
it isn’t far to the state line and the road block probably has been
lifted.”
“We must stop them somehow! Let’s get back to Calico Cottage as fast as
we can!”
They pounded down the road, hoping as they ran that a car would come
along. None did. In Diethelm’s coupe, the distance they had traveled
from the junction with the private road had seemed very short. Now, the
reverse was true.
Though the distance could not be more than a third of a mile, it seemed
endless to the two Scouts. Alternately running and dog-trotting, they
finally reached Calico Cottage, winded and perspiring.
As they crossed the yard, Miss Meadows came to meet them.
“I’ve had such a time,” she began. “At first, I couldn’t get my call
through. Why, what’s happened?”
Judy explained only briefly. She cut her story short by demanding:
“Aunt Mattie, how soon do you think help will get here?”
“Ten minutes or longer. My call just went through. Before that the line
was busy, and I couldn’t get the operator to understand that this was
an emergency!”
“Ten minutes!” Judy groaned. “That will give Diethelm all the time he
needs to warn those men!”
“I saw a ranger car turn down the private road quite awhile ago,” Miss
Meadows contributed.
“That was Diethelm,” Judy said desperately. “We’ve notified the ranger
headquarters, but I doubt they can get men here quickly enough either!”
“If only we could block the private road somehow, so those hi-jackers
can’t get their truck out!” Kathleen exclaimed. “What could we use?”
Frantically, the three looked about the premises, but not an object was
available which would offer an impediment to a powerful truck.
“The clothesline,” Miss Meadows suggested doubtfully. “We could tie it
to trees, across the road.”
“It would snap in an instant,” Judy said. “I doubt even a wire would
delay them.”
“Then there’s nothing we can do,” Miss Meadows said desperately.
“Absolutely nothing.”
“Nails?” proposed Kathleen. “We could throw them on the road and hope
they’d spear the tires.”
“There’s a can of nails on the porch,” Miss Meadows supplied eagerly.
“The carpenter who must have built this cottage, apparently left them.”
“It’s an idea,” Judy said slowly, “but it won’t work. Those big truck
tires would roll right over the nails without a puncture. Not even
glass would cut them.”
“I guess that’s right,” Miss Meadows admitted, crestfallen. “Oh, it’s
hopeless.”
Judy, however, had a different idea. She was gazing speculatively at
the “Welcome” mat on the doorstep.
“I think I know of a way to stop that truck if it tries to come
through!” she cried. “My scheme is fantastic, but I’m sure it will
work!”
_Chapter 21_
TRUCKER’S WELCOME
“How can we stop the truck if it tries to come through?” Kathleen
demanded eagerly. “What is your idea, Judy?”
“You gave it to me yourself, when you mentioned dropping nails on the
road,” Judy answered. “That wouldn’t do the trick, I’m sure, but I know
what will! This rubber door mat!”
She stooped to pick up the dusty “Welcome” mat. As Kathleen and her
aunt gazed at the object in bewilderment, she hastened to reveal what
she had in mind.
“We can spear the nails through the mat so they’ll stand upright! When
the tires pass over them, they can’t miss.”
“That should do it!” Miss Meadows approved.
“Judy, you’re a gem!” laughed Kathleen. “What a brain!”
“No brain, just a memory,” Judy corrected. “I recall hearing a filling
station serviceman relate how vandals once damaged big truck tires that
way. I’m sure it will work if we can do it!”
“I’ll get the nails,” Miss Meadows said, starting away.
In a moment she returned with an assortment in a tin can. As fast as
they could, the three punctured the rubber mat, forcing the nails
through so that their sharp points were upright.
“Listen!” cried Judy suddenly.
She had heard the roar of a powerful motor starting far down the
private road.
“It’s the truck!” Kathleen exclaimed. “It’s coming, and we don’t have
half enough nails in this mat!”
“There will be enough if the tires hit it,” Judy declared. “The
important thing is to get it placed, and fast! Come on!”
Without waiting for Kathleen or her aunt, she raced for the entrance to
the private road.
She could not see the big truck which was hidden by the curves of
the rutty thoroughfare, but she could tell from the roar of the
engine, that it was coming as fast as it could climb the steep slope.
Evidently, Diethelm had warned the hi-jackers, and knowing that delay
would be fatal, they were making a run for it!
Judy had no time to deliberate where she would lay the mat. She dropped
it on the right hand side of the road, directly across an old truck
track.
If the driver saw the mat, he could swerve to miss it. She was
depending though upon the sharp curve, figuring that the truck would
come around it fast, and that the big transport would roll over the
nails before they could be seen.
Kathleen and Miss Meadows already had screened themselves behind the
bushes lining the private road. Judy scarcely had time to slide in
beside them, when the massive transport careened around the curve.
The front wheel struck a deep rut and the truck veered from the middle
of the road.
“They’re going to miss it!” Kathleen moaned, gripping Judy’s arm so
hard that it hurt.
But the next moment, the driver brought the truck back onto its course.
Apparently, he had failed to see the studded mat lying directly in the
path. Both front and rear tires rolled over the long, sharp nails.
Breathlessly, the three watchers waited. Nothing seemed to happen.
When the huge truck reached the entrance to the private road, there was
a loud hissing of air. The transport began to wobble crazily. First the
front tire went down and then the one at the right rear.
“We’ve done it!” Judy laughed jubilantly. “We’ve stopped them!”
“But for how long?” Miss Meadows speculated. “Don’t move, girls! Keep
hidden! Those men are in an ugly mood.”
The two hi-jackers had leaped from the cab of the crippled truck. As
they beheld the disaster which had befallen them, a car came up the
hill, pulling alongside. It was the Forest Service automobile, driven
by Lowell Diethelm. By mere inches, the tires missed the nail-studded
rubber mat.
“Now what?” the ranger demanded furiously. “Can’t you keep going and
get out of here?”
“Keep going?” one of the truckers snarled. “On rims? We’ll have to
abandon the cargo.” Diethelm swung open the door of the coupe. “Get
in!” he directed. “We’ll try to get over the state line.”
The possibility of the two hi-jackers transferring to the ranger’s car
had not occurred to Judy. Now, convinced that her scheme had failed,
she involuntarily started to leave her hiding place.
Miss Meadows held her back. “No, Judy!” she warned. “We’ve done all we
can! Those men are dangerous. Let them go.”
“Let them go,” Judy half moaned. “Oh, this is awful! After stopping
that big truck, to fail so miserably!”
“We saved the cargo at any rate,” Kathleen reminded her. “Furthermore,
Diethelm hasn’t driven off yet! I don’t think he will either!”
The latter excited comment was made as she saw two Forest Service cars
sweep down the main highway.
Before Lowell Diethelm could pull away, the other two automobiles had
blocked the main highway.
“Our fish are netted now!” Kathleen shouted gleefully. “Who says your
idea failed, Judy? It was a grand one!”
No longer fearful, the three came out of hiding.
Six rangers, two of whom the Scouts knew by sight, had surrounded
Lowell Diethelm’s car. They had their revolvers trained on the two
hi-jackers, but Diethelm was trying to put up a convincing story.
“I captured these birds red-handed,” he said glibly. “I was trying to
get ’em to headquarters, when they over-powered me. I’m sure glad you
fellows came along.”
“Yeah?” dryly inquired Ranger Wentz. “Sounds pretty phoney, Diethelm.
You’ll have to think up a better one than that to tell the chief.”
By this time, Judy, Kathleen and Miss Meadows had reached the ranger
cars. As rapidly as they could talk, they told the Forest Service men
exactly what had occurred.
“You’re the girl who called over the radio phone, aren’t you?” one of
the rangers asked Judy.
“That’s right.”
“She stopped the truck too, by putting nails on the road,” Kathleen
added, very proud of her friend. “What a ‘welcome’ that mat proved to
be for the hi-jackers!”
Within five minutes, the rangers were reenforced by state highway
patrolmen, who had responded to an alert. If there had been any
previous doubt as to the identity of the two hi-jackers, it then was
dispelled. State highwaymen definitely identified Joe Pompilli, and
recognized his companion as Porky Burns, a hi-jacker, who had operated
in three states.
“Five or six drivers work this area,” a ranger told Judy. “Joe’s the
head of the outfit though. We may never catch the others, but now that
we have him, the gang will fall apart.”