CHAPTER XXIII
THE MYSTERY OF SMOKY BALD
An hour passed before the boys discovered any sign of life about thecabin. The hoot of an owl somewhere off to their right broughtStillman to the door of the cabin. Two quick hoots from Stillmanelicited an answering one from the brush. Then a man stepped intothe clearing.
"Smoky Griffin," breathed Tad. "I was certain that he was in thisdeal, whatever it may be. There! See! He is giving Stillmansomething. Those fellows surely are bold. How do they know but weare still hanging around here?"
Tad crept away and was soon pressing his ear close to the window overwhich the brown paper was stretched. While he could hear the voicesof the three men in there, he was unable to make out a word of whatthey were saying. Half an hour later Smoky left the cabin. He wasshortly followed by Joe Batts and Stillman, who plainly were trailingSmoky.
Something was doing in a very few minutes. Stillman and Batts hademerged from the cabin so cautiously that none but sharp eyes couldhave detected their exit. The men separated and cautiously workedtheir way around the cabin, all the time enlarging their circle ofobservation, until they had penetrated far into the shrubbery.Apparently having satisfied themselves that there were no prowlersabout, they joined and started off to the northward, plainlyfollowing a well-established trail.
"They are off. Come on," whispered Tad with a trace of excitement inhis voice.
The mountaineers strode rapidly along, apparently without thoughtthat they might be followed. Nevertheless Tad used every caution,though he was obliged to travel rapidly to keep up with the men.
"Look there!" whispered Tad, crouching low.
The mountaineers had suddenly halted. In the near distance Butlerdiscovered, faintly outlined, a cabin. Just then one of the menplaced his hands to his lips and uttered a long-drawn cry thatsounded like the call of a night bird. A light flashed up. Itseemed to be high up near the tops of the trees. The light was morelike an electric flash than that from an ordinary lamp.
"Hark! Hear that!" exclaimed Ned.
"A gasoline motor. This is strange," muttered Butler.
Stillman and Batts strode to the cabin and after a few moments wereadmitted. Tad and Ned crept up closer. They dared not go all theway to the mountain cabin until after they had assured themselvesthat there were no traps for them to fall into. It had seemed alittle too easy for Tad thus far.
"Ah!" he exclaimed suddenly, after having stretched out his hand tofeel his way ahead.
"What is it?" demanded Rector.
"A wire, and it's charged. Not very heavy, but it stung me. Ned,I'll wager that this wire extends all the way around this cabin. Yousee it is only about a foot from the ground so that a person notknowing it was here would trip over it and probably give the alarm tothe occupants of the cabin. This begins to look interesting."
"Oh, Tad, look!"
"Sh-h-h-h! Not so loud, Ned. You surely will get us into trouble."
"But look up there near the tree tops. What is it? More signals?"
"Yes, but not what you think," whispered Tad.
A faint crackling sound was borne to their ears, little crinkly dartsof electricity shooting out from a point up there in the air.
"I--I don't understand it," whispered Ned.
"Wireless, Ned," answered Tad. "I looked to find something of thesort. Someone is sending."
At intervals the rhythmic squeal of the wireless would set in, thensuddenly cease. Finally the message was sent, so Tad interpreted thesounds and flashes. The sending lasted all of ten minutes, then thepower was shut off and silence settled over the cabin.
"Are you going to try to get into the cabin?" questioned Ned a littleapprehensively.
"Not tonight. I have other plans in view. I am waiting for--therethey come." Stillman and Batts crept from the cabin and stoodsilently for several minutes. Tad heard Stillman say, "All right,"whereupon the two men set off toward their own cabin, with Tad Butlerand Ned Rector following at a safe distance to the rear.
At last they saw the men enter their own cabin, after which Taddecided that it was time to go home to his own camp. Part of thereturn journey was taken at a trot, a regular Indian lope, which wasreduced to a cautious feeling of their way as they neared the PonyRider Boys' camp. A bright campfire was burning there and, as theyreached the edge of the camp, Tad saw that the entire outfit was up,though it was then two o'clock in the morning. There was a shoutwhen Tad and Ned stepped into the circle of light.
The two boys were not pleasant-looking objects. Their faces wereblackened and their hair badly singed, while their clothing was halfburned from their bodies.
Jim Dunkan and his companions saw that the boys had been through atough experience, but they waited in patience until Tad should beready to explain what had occurred. Walter and Chunky were shootingquestions at Tad and Ned at a more rapid rate than any one personcould reply to.
"First put a guard out, then give us something to eat. We are liableto be spied upon and it is very important that nothing of what I amabout to say be overheard by any outsider. Who will take the watch?"
Tom Royal volunteered to do so, though it was evident that he muchpreferred to remain in camp and listen to what Tad had to tell them.
"I--I got the biscuit thief!" cried Chunky. "Nassir. Yassir. Therehe sits. Chops is the biscuit destroyer. I caught him red handed."
"By the Way, Mr. Dunkan, Stillman is the man who killed your dog,"said Tad. "We found the poor collie and gave him a decent burial."
Dunkan's face hardened and one hand dropped to the holster at hisside.
"I think we shall even things up with him, so please don't take thelaw into your own hands," urged Tad. "I think you will be willing tolet the law take its course after you have heard what I have to say.Is there a government officer anywhere within reach?"
"Jim Coville, the forest ranger, is the only man I know of," answeredSam Ellison.
"Where may he be reached?"
"It's a twenty-mile ride to his station."
"I must find him at once. Will you go with me and show me the way?After I get something to eat I will tell you what has occurred."
Dunkan said he would.
While Tad and Ned were eating their belated supper the others satabout--all but Chunky, who decided that he too needed food--andwaited with some impatience until Tad was ready to tell them hisstory.
This he did very shortly afterwards, sketching it briefly up to thetime of Smoky Griffin's appearance on the scene.
"You beat anything I ever heard of," growled Sam Ellison.
"What do you make of it, sir?" asked Tad.
"Make of it? Why, Tad, you've turned up one of the biggestsensations this mountain has ever known. Those fellows that you sawshooting into the ground today--or the one you saw doing it--wassalting the ground with gold so that when the man they were going toswindle had the soil analyzed it would be found to contain 'pay dirt'in profitable quantities. I wonder who the victim was to be?"
"I heard them mention a man named Beach," said Butler.
Dunkan laughed loudly.
"So! He is in it, too, eh? Beach is a crooked real estate man fromdown Asheville way. A wireless outfit on Smoky Bald, eh? Well, ifthat doesn't beat all. Kid, what do you think that wireless outfitway up here means?"
"I have been thinking about it backward and forward," answered Tadseriously. "I have thought that perhaps the sending that we heardwas to some persons belonging to the gang. It may be that the folksat the other end are making a deal to send someone in here to beswindled. I may be on the wrong trail entirely, but that's the way Ireason the mystery out."
"Boy, I reckon you've doped this thing about right," nodded Dunkan.
"Is it possible?" bristled the Professor. "Then we must dosomething."
"Yes. We must get an officer. He will know what to do, sir,"replied Butler. "I first thought we might bag the outfit ourselves,for they surely are here for no
lawful purpose. After thinking thething over I don't believe it would do at all."
"Jim Coville is the man we want. He is a forest ranger, and hasauthority over things besides trees. We will go get him when you areready, Butler."
"I am ready now, Mr. Dunkan. We shall be back some time tomorrow,Professor. I think the boys had better stay in camp. Please, also,be careful how you boys speak of this matter, as there may beeavesdroppers, and no suspicion of the truth must reach the ears ofthe enemy."
It was a few moments later when Tad Butler and Jim Dunkan swung totheir saddles and started off for their long ride to the station ofthe forest ranger.