CHUMS TO THE RESCUE.
To return now for a while to the lean-to we shall see what happened when
sundown came and no Phil appeared.
"Oh, Dick, I'm sorry I let Phil go alone. We should have gone together,
then there would have been less chance of anything having happened,"
said Garry brokenly.
"Cheer up, Garry, it's only a little past sundown, perhaps he didn't
allow himself enough time to get back here, may have thought the
distance was less than it was. You know he has been over this distance
only two or three times. We'll give him a little while longer and then
set our heads together and see what we can do. I have a lot of
confidence in Phil, he manages to pull himself out of his scrapes pretty
well most of the time," comforted Dick, although he too feared that Phil
had gotten into some scrape that proved too much for him. Dick's fear
was that Phil had run afoul of the tramps, for neither he nor Garry
knew that LeBlanc was in that vicinity.
Nearly an hour passed, and then Garry sprang to his feet.
"There's no use waiting any longer. Phil would move heaven and earth to
keep up to the agreement that was made as to the hour of return. Now we
must do something. Get your rifle and lariat and hatchet. Stick the
handle of the hatchet inside your trousers so that it will not be so
evident, or better yet, we can do it just before we get to town. Then,
too, we can coil our riatas over one shoulder, and slip our coats on
over them. In that way we won't attract so much attention. The rifles
won't appear to be out of place, for it would be only natural that we
should take them, seeing we are supposed to be campers who will have to
go back through the dark woods to camp. First, before we start, take our
knapsacks, there's nothing in them that we will need, and cache them in
the branches of a nearby tree. Then we'll leg it to town just as fast as
we can."
Before Dick cached the knapsacks, Garry poured all the water in the
canteens on the fire, thoroughly extinguishing it. Then in a trice the
knapsacks were hidden in a tree, and the pair were ready to start for
town.
Garry set a terrific pace at first, until Dick toned him down with:
"Look here, Garry, we don't want to get to town all tuckered out. If we
do we will be useless if it comes to a pinch. I'm just as anxious about
Phil as you are, but we must conserve our strength. We may need it
before the night is over."
"Guess you're right old chap, but I just keep thinking that minutes may
mean more right now than hours would some other time." Nevertheless he
moderated his pace, and in a trifle under an hour they were in the town
of Hobart.
Dick was for making at once to the restaurant to institute inquiries as
to whether or not Phil had been there and when he was last seen. Garry
by this time had grown calmer and cooler and again assumed the
leadership.
"That would be a mighty foolish thing to do. If Phil has gotten into a
scrape, there is just as good a chance that it was in that place as out
in the street. You know we were warned that it wasn't a regular drawing
room by any means. I have an idea, and I think you'll agree with me that
it is a good one. We'll hike to the home of the chap we towed home with
the broken arm the other day, and see if his granddaughter can give us a
tip of any sort as to what sort of a place the restaurant is and what
sort of a chap runs it and who hangs out there. Of course there is one
great chance that Phil stumbled onto a real clue and followed it, but
that is very remote, for I don't believe Phil would disobey an order
that had been agreed upon by all as a safety measure."
"Jolly good idea, Garry," said Dick. "Let's go."
In a few moments they were at Mr. Everett's house, and were glad to find
a light still burning there. They knocked on the door, and Ruth herself
answered the knock.
"Goodness gracious," she exclaimed, in a surprised tone. "I never
expected to see you boys at this time of night. Where's your other
companion?"
"That's just what we would give anything in the world to know right
now," remarked Garry. "We've come to you to see if you can give us a bit
of help or information."
Then rapidly he told of the plans they had made to try and get evidence,
and the agreement that Phil was to have returned at sundown that night.
"You say he went to the restaurant? Oh, that's a wicked place, and if
he's gotten into trouble, that place is just where it would have been
likely to happen. The owner of that place is dreadful. He helps those
smugglers and sells contraband rum, and he and that half-breed LeBlanc
have been suspected of several crimes along the border."
"What's that you say?" burst out Garry. "LeBlanc, you don't mean Jean
LeBlanc?"
"Why, yes, do you know him or know of him?" returned the girl, amazed at
Garry's sudden outburst.
"Yes, to our sorrow we do. I haven't time to tell you all we know of him
now, except that he hates us like poison, since we were instrumental in
having him jailed for kidnapping once, and then he broke out. Is that
diabolic villain in town?"
"He is, I saw him only this afternoon. He used to be around here a great
deal, for his original home is in a town not far on the other side of
the border. I am so sorry to say it, but if your chum was in the
restaurant and LeBlanc saw him there, he could have made him prisoner
with the greatest of ease, for he has many friends there, and there are
many who would do anything that rascally proprietor told them to."
"Does your grandfather know the ins and outs of that house?" inquired
Garry.
"Yes, he does, but he is asleep, and as he had a bad day, the doctor
says that he is not to be waked up under any circumstances, so I'm
afraid you'll have to put up with my help, such as it is. All you have
to do is wait till I run across the street and get Mr. Allen to come in
and watch granddaddy and then I'll be ready to help you."
"You're a brick, Miss," said Garry enthusiastically, "but we couldn't
think of letting you in for any danger."
"I guess you don't know the border girls, sir. We aren't afraid of
anything in the woods or the towns. We've been brought up to take care
of ourselves. Besides, I've heard Granddad tell about the Rookery, as he
calls it, many times. An' I've an idea that if your chum is held a
prisoner in that house, I know just where it is. So just you let me be
your guide for a little while."
So saying, she ran across the street and soon returned with an elderly
man, the Mr. Allen of whom she spoke, and then bidding the boys wait a
minute, she dashed upstairs. In an incredibly short time she was back
again, clad in a khaki skirt, high boots, and a heavy sweater. A knit
tam was perched on her head, making her quite one of the most attractive
girls the boys had ever seen.
"I'll lead you around to the back of the restaurant, where there won't
be much chance of you're being observed. There's one window that has
always puzzled me. It has a great heavy shutter on it, and I don't ever
remember seeing it opened. I've always imagined it was the dungeon keep
of the place, like the ones they used to have in old castles, long years
ago."
Evidently, thought Garry, the young lady was of an extremely romantic
turn of mind.
In a very few minutes she had led them through a dark back street to
where they could command a view of the rear of the restaurant.
"There, wait till the moon comes out from behind that cloud. Now. See
that window there all barricaded? That's what I think is the prison room
for the Canuck's house," said Ruth.
The boys looked and saw the sinister window, which although they did not
know it then, was the one to the room in which Phil was at that moment
soundly sleeping, worn out by the mental and physical strain that he had
been under for the past twenty-four hours.
Under the shuttered window ran a dark alleyway, and the other windows in
that side of the house were dark and deserted looking. On the other side
of the alley was a low blacksmith shop.
"Well, Garry, if you don't mind my calling you that, have you decided on
what you are going to do?" asked Ruth. "I am afraid that you haven't
much chance of getting upstairs if you go into the restaurant, for even
if the proprietor is not there he has a couple of strong, ugly
assistants, and if you tried to force your way upstairs at the point of
a rifle, you would only bring the whole place down on you like a swarm
of hornets. It's up to us to think out some scheme."
"I think I have that worked out now. See that chimney on the roof? It is
just over that dark shuttered window. Now what I propose is this: Dick
and I will get up on the roof of the blacksmith shop here, and from
there we can throw a lariat up over the chimney, then one of us will go
up hand over hand and call to Phil to see if he is in that room. If he
is, we'll have him out as soon as you could say Jack Robinson. Miss
Ruth, I'm going to ask you to stand guard for us, and if danger
approaches, give us some sort of a signal. I suppose you can imitate a
whippoorwill?" asked Garry.
"Indeed I can," and in a soft tone she proved it to the satisfaction of
both Dick and Garry.
"There, then that much is accomplished. Believe me, I'll be overjoyed if
I hear Phil's voice in answer to my hail," said Garry.
"Say, listen Garry. A fine business you'd make of calling through a
thick shutter. First place maybe he couldn't hear it, but it's a cinch
that everyone on the street will. Use your imagination. What did you
ever learn wigwagging and signalling and things for? When you get to the
window, take your knife and rap out a message in International Code.
That will make no noise down here, but will penetrate into the room, for
the shutter will form a natural sounding board."
"Fine, Dick. I must be wool gathering not to have thought of that
myself. Now up on the roof with you."
Bracing himself against the wall, Garry formed a step for Dick to crawl
up on the roof. Once arrived there, he lay flat, and extending his arms
over the edge, gave a pull, and helped Garry up.
It took only four throws to settle the noose of the lariat over the
chimney, and they let it swing down on the side of the building.
Clambering down from the roof, Garry made ready to go up the rope. He
went up in agile fashion, and soon was tapping on the shutter. It was
his call that had awakened Phil.
When Phil heard it, he fished out his knife, and soon they were carrying
on a brief conversation. Phil told Garry the inside of the shutter was
sheathed with iron. Also he told him if anything happened to prevent
them getting him out, to keep watch that night on Lafe Green's house, as
there was a great plot on the way.
"I'll have you out in a jiffy now." Garry tapped the message to him, and
then he slid down the rope. Dick and Ruth came running to him.
"Must have something to pry off that shutter with. My axe isn't strong
enough," he told them.
"Oh, I know what," whispered Ruth. "I stumbled over something a minute
ago, and it was a crowbar. Darius, the blacksmith, must have forgotten
to take it in."
"Fine, let's have your riata, Dick. There, I'll loop it around my wrist
and go back up the rope. In the meantime, you tie an end of it to the
crowbar and I can haul it up to me."
So saying, Garry swarmed up the rope again. Arriving at the height of
the window, he manoeuvered until he had twisted the free end of the rope
around his foot several times, thus preventing himself from slipping.
Then he set to work to pry the shutter loose. Fortunately it did not
long resist.
"Look out below," he warned softly, and with a loud thud the shutter
fell into the alley below. Phil was waiting in the window.
"Quick, slide down after me. Lose no time, Phil," ordered Garry.
Down he went, the friction smarting his hands. In less time than it
takes to tell, Phil was down after him. "Never mind the riata on the
chimney. Away we go," said Garry.
"Follow me," ordered Ruth, and she sped away followed by the three
chums. They were out of sight not a moment too soon, for as they turned
a corner, running across a lawn to deaden their footsteps, they heard a
howl of rage.
"That's the proprietor's assistant. We just got away in time," said
Ruth.