THE CHIEF MEETS AN OLD FRIEND
There was a tremendous amount of excitement in the workshop when Frank
aroused his four chums by this cry. All around him he could hear them
calling out.
"Another fake alarm, I bet!" grumbled Larry.
"It's that miserable Elephant again," said Andy in disgust. "He ought
to be taken down to the lake and ducked, that's what!"
"Me ducked? I'd like to see you do it!" shrilled a voice close beside
Andy, and which he recognized as belonging to the runt.
"Hey! Frank, what is it?" demanded Larry.
"Light up! we want to see something!" called Andy, now beginning to
experience a strange sensation in the region of his heart, as the
possibility of its being the genuine article of alarm struck home.
Frank was already doing this very same thing; he struck his match even
while Andy was calling so loudly for a light. When the lamp was
brought into use the boys stared around at each other.
"Where's Stuttering Nat?" questioned Larry, suspiciously.
"H-h-here!" came a quavering voice, as the other pushed himself
forward, so that none of them would believe he might be at fault, as he
was not particularly desirous of a bath just then.
"Then we're all on deck; ain't that so, Frank?" asked Andy.
"Count noses, and you'll find it that way," returned the other Bird
boy, as he calmly picked up his gun.
"Take the lamp, Andy, and fall in just behind me," he said.
"O-oh! Frank believes he's caught him!" gasped Elephant, in a
quivering voice.
"Stop talking, and come on, everybody," Frank insisted.
Each boy had armed himself as best the occasion allowed. One carried a
hammer, another a baseball bat, while Elephant had found his club, and
Larry picked up a seven foot piece of piping, which he thrust ahead of
him after the nature of a spear.
So they advanced in the direction of the end of the shed where Frank
had arranged his trap. Every one of them felt his heart beating like a
triphammer as the sound of writhing, accompanied by groans, came to
their ears.
There seemed no reason to longer doubt but what the trap would be found
sprung, and game of some species within.
"Hold up that lamp, Andy!" said Frank, sternly. "Here, don't let your
hand tremble so. We must have light, you know. Steady now!"
"Oh! I see him!" gasped Elephant, whose eyes were almost sticking out
of his head with the excitement.
"I guess it's Jules, all right," Andy managed to say; as he too took in
a long breath, while he thrust the lamp out further so that all could
see better.
Something lay in the hole, something that took on the outlines of a man
flat on his face, and with a heavy log almost squeezing the last bit of
breath from his body. A broken old gun, that looked like one of the
muskets used in the Civil War, lay close beside him, and had evidently
been dropped when the trap was sprung without warning, after the victim
had started to crawl into the shed by way of this inviting opening.
"Yes, it's our old friend, Jules, come to pay us another night visit,"
observed Frank, coolly as he handed the shotgun to Larry, and bending
down proceeded to draw both arms of the senseless man behind him,
fastening them securely with a stout cord which he drew from his
pocket, having prepared for this same event in advance.
"Is he killed?" asked Elephant, in an awe-struck voice.
"Sure he isn't," replied Larry, who had seen the man moving, as though
his senses might be coming back.
Five minutes later he opened his eyes, and stared hard at the array of
boyish faces before him. Evidently Jules may have suspected that the
Bird boys would be sleeping in their precious shop; but he had hardly
imagined that he would run up against a whole school there.
Frank had meanwhile tied his ankles as well, and helped drag him
further into the shop. When the man started to using language that was
offensive, he warned him plainly that if he kept that up any longer
they would find some means of gagging him. The threat served to keep
him quiet, though from the black looks on his face it was evident that
the fellow was extremely bitter against them all.
It was now three o'clock. Since all of them were too much excited to
even try to sleep any more, they concluded to remain on guard in a
bunch. Larry received no end of joshing on account of having slept on
his post; Frank even told him that it was considered so serious a
matter that men had been stood up against a wall, and shot for allowing
the enemy to creep into camp.
"All right," said Larry, who hung onto the gun all the while. "Let's
see you do it right now. I'm the only one that's got a shooting iron,
and I refuse to give it up, or use it on myself. Call it off, Frank,
and we'll begin all over," and so, as Larry was a pretty decent sort of
a fellow, as they go, and besides, just as he said, held possession of
the only weapon, for that musket had been broken by the fall of the
log, they concluded not to shoot him on the spot, but give him another
chance to make good.
It was a long wait till morning; but finally the stars vanished before
the gray light of early dawn. Larry, as soon as he could see decently,
started to get breakfast; for he declared that if he was a mighty poor
sentry he did have a few good points, one of which was his ability to
sling tasty messes together.
Jules was as "mum as a church mouse," as Elephant called it. But by
degrees he took more or less interest in what the boys were doing.
"Look out for him," said Larry aside to Frank. "I think he means to
try and escape if he gets half a chance. That's why he smiles now and
then."
"You're away off, Larry," replied Frank. "For I notice that every time
that pleasant look creeps over his face it is when a smell of coffee
drifts this way. Jules hasn't tasted anything like that for more than
a year. And while he's got to go back to where the law has sent him,
we're going to give him a decent breakfast first."
When a little later they heard the stamp of the Colonel's crutch the
boys looked up expectantly, knowing they would have the laugh on the
old veteran traveler, who had flown to the rescue when the alarm was
all a farce, and slept through the real thing.
"What's all this? Bless me, if they haven't caught the rascal after
all! Why didn't you ring me up? That alarm bell must have played me
false, Andy, and I believe you juggled with it! The old cry of 'wolf'
again; and I'm the victim."
Expressing his disgust in this way the Colonel stumped in, and
proceeded to let the prisoner know what he thought of a man who would
try to revenge himself upon a couple of bright lads; especially after
bringing all his troubles down upon his own shoulders.
It afterwards developed that Jules had stolen the musket, and also the
suit of clothes he was wearing, from a farmhouse that he raided shortly
after his escape from the prison. Although he never confessed to the
fact, Frank never had any reason to doubt but that it had been Jules
who fired that shot at them while they were speeding over the Powell
woods in their biplane.
Jules was given his fill of good breakfast, and this possibly put him
in a better humor. He was not wholly an unscrupulous villain, and the
fact of these boys treating him so decently seemed to make an
impression on the fellow, for he watched Frank closely.
The boys were talking the matter over, as to how they might best get
their prisoner transported to the lockup in town, when sharp-eyed Nat
began to make a great noise, and pointed down the road.
"It must be the Chief and his officers heading back home!" cried Andy,
jumping up from his seat.
"Here, make a dash toward the fence, and get their attention! Don't
tell them why we want them to come in here, but just let down the
bars," said Frank; and at his words Andy went flying away across the
pasture.
By swinging his arms and shouting, he managed to attract the attention
of those in the passing car, which was halted. Then Frank saw Andy
speaking hastily, at the same time letting down the bars; after which
the car swung in, with the Bird boy perched on the step.
Chief Waller did not look particularly happy as he sat there alongside
the man who served as chauffeur. He had lost a night's sleep, and
covered many miles in a useless search of the great Powell woods; and
for so stout a man this was exhausting business.
"Hello! Frank! How are you, Colonel? Sorry to say we haven't picked
up our man yet; and the chances are we won't do it, either. He must
have taken the alarm, and slipped off before we got there."
Then the police head must have detected Elephant grinning broadly; and
this no doubt excited his suspicions; for he whirled on Frank, having
laboriously descended from his car, and burst out with:
"Looky here, Frank, what you got up your sleeve, anyhow? There's
something doing that I ought to know about, I reckon."
"Oh! we thought it might pay us to set a trap, Chief," returned Frank,
keeping as straight a face as possible. "Sometimes you have to go to
the mountain; and then again it comes to you. We made up our minds to
try it, anyhow."
"And it worked?" demanded Chief Waller, his face lighting up with
eagerness.
"Did it, fellows?" asked Frank, turning to the rest of his mates.
"If the Chief had been anywhere around at three this morning he'd have
thought something was working all right," gurgled Andy, his face all
aglow.
"Larry, help our guest out here, won't you?" said Frank; and only too
willing the one addressed stepped inside the shop, to reappear a moment
later and not alone. Chief Waller took but one look and then threw up
his hands, exclaiming:
"Jules Garrone, and nabbed by a parcel of boys. Men, the joke is on
us!"