CHAPTER XVII
JUST A LITTLE DARK WASH
More shots were fired, but the boys were soon out of range. A flushof pink was showing in the sky now, and the sun would be up in halfan hour. Jimmie looked longingly toward the camp, and Ned turned hisfootsteps that way.
"Speaking of quitters," Jimmie said, as they moved along, "the twomen who geezled me take the bun! They quarreled all the time becausesome one else didn't come and do something they wanted done! Nowonder they ducked when one shot was fired!"
"About the boy you saw yesterday afternoon," Ned asked. "Are you sureit was the lad who was brought to our camp?"
"Of course it was!"
"Dressed just the same?"
"Just exactly."
"Why didn't you take a picture of him?" asked Frank.
"Huh, don't you ever think I didn't," was the reply. "I've got it inmy camera now. When we get to camp I'll develop it and print some.I've got pictures of the men, too, and about everything around thehole in the ground where they hid me."
"That is as it should be!" Ned declared. "But how did you do it!"
"They are easy!" was all the reply Jimmie made.
A quarter of a mile away from the chimney rock Ned paused and lookedback.
"I can't understand where those men went to," he said.
"My friends do you mean?" asked Jimmie with a grin. "They're going ona hop yet."
"No; the men who did the shooting," said Ned.
"Well," Jimmie went on, in a minute, "there is a place somewhere nearthe rock where some friends of the men who ran are camping. I heardthem talking together."
"You little rascal!" Ned exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me thatbefore?"
"Oh, you won't find them there now!" Jimmie advised. "I'll bet theyducked when we got away. They won't remain around here now."
"Are they counterfeiters?" asked Frank.
"They're bums from the city, brought here in connection with theabduction of the prince!" laughed Jimmie.
"How did you manage to cook and take pictures when you were tied uplike a fish for shipment?" asked Frank.
"They didn't tie me up for a time, for I gave them a lot of talkabout liking their society," was the answer. "They just watched me.When it came night and they wanted to sleep, they put the harnesson!"
"That was careless of them," declared Frank, "not to tie you uptight."
"They're just cheap bums," Jimmie insisted. "They couldn't kidnap abird in a cage."
The sun was up when the boys reached the camp, and Teddy was getting breakfast.
The arrival of Jimmie was hailed with manifestations of joy, as maywell be supposed. The boys clustered around him excitedly, and evenUncle Ike, from the corral, sent forth a he-haw greeting. Thebreakfast Teddy prepared for him was a wonder!
The meal was scarcely finished when Bradley came sauntering into thecamp. He stopped suddenly when he saw Jimmie. Watching him closely,Ned saw that he was dismayed as well as astonished. However, he sooncame forward with a set smile on his face and took the boy by thehand.
"You're lucky," he said, "to get out of the clutches of thecounterfeiters so soon. I was afraid something serious might havehappened to you. How did you do it?"
"Ned came after me," was the only reply the boy made.
"We've decided to go away," Ned explained, "and so they gave him up,after a short argument."
"With a gun!" whispered Jimmie to the others.
Bradley loitered about the camp for a long time, asking questions andtalking of a great many things which did not interest the lads atall.
"And so you are going out to-morrow?" he asked, arising to go.
"We expect to," Ned replied soberly.
"Perhaps I'll meet you outside somewhere," Bradley laughed.
"I hope so!" Ned replied, whispering an aside to Frank.
Frank walked away toward the tent, and directly, while Bradley's facewas in clear outline, Ned heard the click of a shutter and knew thatthe snapshot had been made.
When Bradley at last started away Ned called the boys together andasked them if it wouldn't be a good idea for them to take aprisoner--just to equalize things!
"Bradley?" asked Frank and Jimmie in chorus.
"That's the man," laughed Ned. "Do you think you could head him offand hide him in some out-of-the way hole in the ground?"
"What for?" demanded Jack. "I don't see what you want to do thatfor."
"Just for the fun of it!" Jimmie exclaimed. "I'll guard him after heis taken!" he added, with an appealing look at Ned.
"Well," Ned went on, nodding at Jimmie, "I have an idea that if twoof you work down the slope and come out ahead of him you can coax himto throw up his hands easily enough."
"Then, after that, if you leave it to me," Jack continued, "you'll godown to the cabin and get the prince and start away with him!"
"You're sure it is the prince?" asked Ned.
"Of course! I should think any one with sense could see that. Justsee how suspiciously the kid is watched! Of course, if you want totake the abductor along too, why that will be all right, but I'd getthe prince first!"
"That's good advice," Ned declared, seeking to conciliate the boy,"and I'll go down to the cabin now and look after that end of thegame!"
"If things work this way," laughed Oliver, "I guess we _will_ getaway to-morrow!"
"Why don't you let me go with the boys and help capture that stiff?"asked Jack, speaking to Ned. "He may be armed and perfectly willingto shoot."
"We have messed things up a bit here," Ned answered, "so whatever wedo must be done at once. I have another little errand to do whilethey capture Bradley!"
"Oh, we'll get him, all right!" Frank insisted.
"You bet we will!" Jimmie added. "I'll tie him up tight, too! Hewon't take no pictures while he is my prisoner."
"Perhaps he won't have a baby camera hidden under his coat! laughedFrank.
"What are you going to say to him, boys, when you take him?" askedTeddy.
"We ain't going to say anything," Jimmie answered, "We're just goingto get him!"
"Be careful, boys," was all Ned said as Frank and Jimmie left ontheir dangerous mission. "Be careful!"
After they had disappeared up the slope Ned turned to Jack.
"You saw one act of the play yesterday," he said to him. "Suppose youcome with me now and see another act."
Jack came forward with outstretched hand and downcast face.
"Say, Ned," he said, "I'm sore at myself!"
"What's that for?" Ned asked, shaking the hand heartily and liftingthe boy's face by taking him by the chin. "Why are you sore atyourself?"
"Because I acted like a dunce when we left chimney rock withoutsignaling to Jimmie," was the reply, "and because I grumbled like abear with a sore head when you suggested that Bradley be captured."
"You had a perfect right to express your opinion, my boy," Ned said.
"Yes, but I might have known that you knew what you were about. To behonest, I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw you bringing Jimmieback."
"The least demonstration on our part at that time," Ned said, then,"might have caused the men who were guarding Jimmie to shift theirquarters. Besides, I wanted Bradley in the toils before I made thefinal break."
"But he wasn't when you released Jimmie," Jack suggested.
"He will be before the final card is laid down," Ned replied. "Butcome," he went on, "we must be moving if we get to the cottage beforethe trouble begins."
"I'm all in the dark," Jack said, "but I'm willing to take yourjudgment now."
Ned and Jack hastened away, traveling down the slope to the west andsouth so as to get to the cottage in the quickest possible time. Whenthey came in sight of the structure they saw Mary Brady sitting inthe doorway, her head bent forward, her face buried in the palms ofher hands.
She arose at the sound of their footsteps and advanced withoutstretched hands to meet them. There were tears on her face and hermanner was excited.
&n
bsp; "You came too late!" she cried, wringing Ned's hand. "They have takenhim away."
"When?" asked Ned, leading the old lady into the cabin.
"Oh, I don't know when! Sometime in the night. I awoke and saw thatthe bed was empty and called to Bradley. He arose and has beenlooking for him ever since."
"He was just up at our camp--looking!" Ned said, with a wink at Jack.
The old lady now went to a cupboard and brought forth a glass inwhich a dark fluid rested. A small black brush stood against the sideof the vessel.
"I found this for you, as you asked," she said.
Ned examined the contents of the glass and made a mark on a whitepaper with the brush. The color transmitted to the paper was a lightbrown, not black.
"You washed the boy, as I asked you to?" Ned then enquired.
"I tried to," was the reply, "but Bradley said he would take him outand give him a swim in the run down in the valley. He wouldn't let metouch him."
"Well, what did the pillow case show this morning?"
The old lady pointed to the white paper.
"It was stained like that," she said.
During this talk Jack had been standing looking from Ned to the oldlady with all shades of expression on his face. Now he spoke.
"Say, Ned," he almost gasped, "what is the meaning of all this?"
"Wait a minute!" Ned said, facing the old lady again. "And youlistened to their talk when they sat together last night?"
"Indeed I did, sir, and its the first time I ever played the spy!"
"What was Bradley saying to him?" asked Ned, then.
"He was saying French words over and over for him to repeat!"
Jack dropped into a chair and looked helplessly at his chum.
"Foolish little French phrases, like one finds at the back of anydictionary?" asked Ned. "He was repeating them so that the boy couldsay them after him?"
"Yes, sir, that is just it."
"Now, Jack, what about your prince of the royal blood?" asked Ned.
"I gather from what I hear that he was painted," said Jack, with ashamed look in his eyes. "Painted!"
"Sure he was!" cried the woman. "Painted and taught foolish littleFrench words to say! But he is Mike's boy! I know that!"
"This is like the Arabian Nights!" Jack cried.
"Worse!" Ned declared, "for all my plans have gone wrong with thedisappearance of the boy."