Sergeant Dick did not notice the startled, anxious glance that old
Arnold gave him as they went back to the living-room. There they
found a substantial meal spread for them.
Ere they all sat down to it, some of their number took a look out
through the loops on all four sides of the house. The lake was still
bathed in moonlight, and not an Indian canoe or raft was to be seen
anywhere.
“Well, now, sergeant, what’s this astonishing news that you’ve got
to tell us?” asked the old squatter, with his mouth full. “What’s
this something that you said you had discovered among the cliffs on
the west shore, and which I presumes brought ye back so timely here
ag’in?”
His sons and their mother all started and exchanged covert, alarmed
glances, then eyed the young police officer keenly and by no means
favorably.
As it happened, he had his eyes bent upon his plate at the time, and
did not observe the strange, gloomy looks, which, after all, as
before, were most veiled.
“I’ve discovered the ‘duffing-den’ of the White Hoods, I believe,”
he quietly replied.
“What!”
And Amos Arnold sprang up, nearly upsetting his chair.
“Yes, I believe so,” said Sergeant Dick. And he went on to relate in
full his experiences of the previous night after his escape from the
Indian ambush; how he climbed the water-slide and found the
cup-shaped valley and saw several hundred head of cattle, sheep, and
horses grazing within it.
His companions listened in silence, Muriel and Jenny in breathless
interest. None interrupted him, the young men only contriving to
steal questioning glances at one another behind their mugs, and
particularly at their father.
Muriel and Jenny hung excitedly upon Dick’s every word; and when he
had told them all, the first-mentioned cried out:
“Oh, uncle--boys, what a grand discovery! It must be the outlaws’
secret duffing-den right enough. You and Sergeant Dick now can
capture the gang and claim the reward offered. What is it--five
hundred pounds, isn’t it?”
“I had instructions to increase the reward to a thousand pounds,”
said Dick.
“A thousand pounds; and not only that, but you will rid these parts
of these murderous robbers who have so long terrorized us. In fact,
I believe their plundering has helped to incite the Ogalcrees to
rebel and go on the warpath, for they, besides suffering heavily at
the gang’s hands, have been blamed for some of its misdeeds, as we
know.”
“Yes, yes,” chimed in Jenny. “It will be a grand thing for all round
here when those awful White Hoods are put down; the poor farmers and
ranchmen will sleep more easily in their beds. You will be doing
humanity a service, father--brothers--if you help the sergeant to
lay the gang by the heels.”
“We shall be doing ourselves a big sarvice, too, if we make a
thousand pounds over the job,” guffawed her father. “By thunder,
lads--mother, we’ll have a shot at it; we’ll help the sergeant to
capture these fellows. But only on one condition, sergeant, and that
is, that you let no one else into the secret; that we keep it to
ourselves. I don’t want no others to share the thousand quid, you
understand?”
“That’s so--that’s so,” cried his wife. “A thousand pounds divided
equally between six on you--the four lads, you Alf, and the sergeant
here, ain’t two hundred apiece. Lemme see, how much would it be? Six
into a thousand goes what, Muriel--Bella?”
“Oh, never mind, aunt. The reward is not ours yet to divide,” said
Muriel hastily, and blushing a deep crimson. “And don’t you think
that Sergeant Dick should have more than any one else, as he
discovered the gang’s lair?”
“Come, come, we won’t discuss that,” laughed Dick. “In any case it
will be for Government to apportion the reward. All right, Arnold,
we’ll keep it to ourselves, and you and the lads will help me to lay
these white-robed rustlers by the heels, as Jenny put it. Let me
see, they are supposed to number either nine or ten at full
strength.”
“That’s so. And we are six,” said Abel, the eldest son, “but then we
ought to catch ’em napping, and not in full strength.”
“When shall we make the attempt?” asked Aaron, the second son.
“We’ve evidently routed the redskins for good and all this time.
They’re not likely to give us any further trouble. And the sooner we
go the better, say I.”
And he exchanged a meaning glance with his father and mother.
“Oh, there’s no immediate hurry,” said Dick. “With the Ogalcrees out
on the warpath, the gang will be bound to lie snug and not try to
remove their stolen cattle and sheep for fear of being attacked on
the march by the Indians. Besides, it will be as well, first, to
make sure that the redmen have abandoned the siege here for good and
all. We don’t want them to attack the house in our absence while
only the ladies are here, nor attack us, for that matter, while
landing, as they did before--nor yet in the woods. A day more or
less can’t make any difference one way or the other as regards the
White Hoods, while it may mean a great deal as regards your home
here.”
“The sergeant is right,” observed Bella, Abel’s wife; and Deborah
and Muriel murmured approval. “And you all need a good night’s rest
before setting out on so risky an expedition.”
“Wait till to-morrow night,” said Muriel, “then we’ll know for
certain whether the Indians have abandoned the warpath, and we may
be able to send word to the soldiers at the nearest fort, if word
has not already gone there, of the rising.”
This was sensible advice, and it was unanimously agreed on; and,
shortly after, all declared for bed. The supper things were cleared
away; the living-room was divided off into three compartments by the
shabby curtains on the rods being drawn across, and a hammock slung
in each compartment for Amos, the sergeant, and Abner respectively.
All the others then retired to their bedrooms, and silence and
darkness speedily enwrapped the stronghold in the lake.
Sergeant Dick slept soundly in his hammock; but he was accustomed to
sleeping on a hair-trigger, as one might say, and from time to time
he awoke, rose, and went to the front door or the window on either
side of it and looked forth.
All was still and peaceful. The lake and the woods south and east
and west seemed slumbering under the silvery moon.
Thoroughly refreshed, he was up before the dawn, and went to the
bathroom at the back of the house to wash himself. When he returned
to the living-room he found that Amos and Abner had arisen, the
curtains had been drawn back, and Mrs. Arnold, Muriel and Jenny were
already preparing breakfast, with front door and windows open to
admit the sweet warm morning air.
They all--even the surly Abner--greeted him cordially; and he
thought Muriel prettier than ever in the rosy light of the dawn.
Bella and Deborah, the two married daughters-in-law, made their
appearance shortly, and then old Alf and their husbands.
All the men went out on the verandah to smoke a morning pipe before
breakfast; and, seated upon it, looking out across the water and
scanning the shore in all directions for any sign of their late
besiegers, they discussed at length their plans for the
“rounding-up” of the White Hoods.
They were at breakfast when they heard the plash of paddles and men
hailing the “castle.”
As the morning was so warm and fine they had the door wide open and
all the windows, too, but no foes could have stolen on them unawares
very well.
Rushing forth, they saw approaching the “castle” from the direction
of the landing-spit on the east shore four canoes carrying three
white men apiece.
Through the field-glasses they recognized the new comers as Foulkes,
the Indian agent, a couple of the local police troopers, two of the
officers from the nearest fort, and some ranchmen and cowboys of the
neighborhood.
All twelve visitors were warmly welcomed by the inmates of “Water
Castle,” who plied them eagerly with questions as to how matters had
gone in the district--the doings elsewhere, of course.
The Ogalcrees, it appeared, had committed a few isolated outrages,
burning and plundering some half-dozen or more farms. But for the
most part they had spared the inmates, or these had escaped and they
had contented themselves with the drink and valuables they got.
Word had been conveyed to the troops, however, and these had now
arrived at the Reservation on Paquita Island and were holding all
the chiefs who had not followed Howling Wolf on the warpath as
hostages for the good behavior of the rebels.
These last had fled _en masse_ across the frontier into the United
States, and were expected to be shortly rounded up and forced to
submit by Uncle Sam’s troops.
Sergeant Dick was wanted at the Reservation to help to satisfy the
Indians there that Government had acted in good faith by them, and
already sent the money due upon their claims, but that it had been
intercepted and stolen by the White Hood rustlers, or road-agents,
and that it would be made good later.
Accordingly, he went off with the visitors in one of their canoes an
hour or so later, promising old Alf and his two elder sons quietly
aside, however, before he did so, that he would return at nightfall
and go with them to the gang’s secret lair, and in the meantime not
tell another soul about it.
Sure enough, just as dusk was falling over the lake and the wooded
hills embosoming it, a canoe containing a single occupant was seen
by the inmates of “Water Castle” to be approaching from the southern
end of the sheet of water; that is from the direction of the Indian
Reservation.
Old Alf and his sons had been out the best part of the day visiting
the traps that they had set the evening of the Ogalcree rising, and
had just got back. Most of their traps they had found interfered
with by the redskin raiders, but those which had not been so
molested had contained furred victims sufficient to repay them well
for the trouble and time taken in setting them.
They had reset the traps for the night, and then returned home.
Bella and Deborah did not always accompany the men on their trapping
expeditions, though they frequently did so, as sometimes also did
Muriel and Jenny, and even Aunt Kate.
The canoe coming from the south end of the lake was speedily near
enough for the squatters to see that Sergeant Dick was in it, and
soon after he was partaking of some light refreshments in the
“castle” living-room, preparatory to leading the expedition.