CHAPTER XXII
A RECRUIT FROM THE ENEMY
"So you know the men who have taken the boy we call Mike III.?" askedNed.
"I know him too well," was the bitter answer. "He's one of the menwho use their friends up to the limit and then drop them!"
"You say 'him,'" Ned suggested. "Is there only one in this outrage?"
"There are several, but all bow to the will of the leader. I can'ttell you anything more about it! I don't like the way I have beentreated, or I wouldn't have said as much as I have."
"I thought your motive was to secure the return of the boy to hisgrandmother?"
"I want that done, of course, but I wouldn't have suggested it to youonly for the high and mighty airs of the man placed over me."
"Why don't you tell me who this man is?" asked Ned. "Why don't youtell me the object of this abduction of the prince? Why not tell mewhere to find this little chap you seem honestly interested in?"
"I don't know anything about any prince!" insisted Bradley.
"Look here," Ned said, "I believe I can tell you just how this manyou hate looks. If I describe him, will you tell me if I am right?"
"I will tell you nothing, except that you ought to look in thevicinity of Chimney rock for the grandson--not at the rock, but closeto it! That is more than I ought to tell you."
"This man you speak of," Ned went on, recalling the features of theface caught above the rock by the camera, "has a very slim face, aprominent nose, a wide, thin-lipped mouth, high cheek boned, smalleye-orbits, and eyebrows which tip up at the outer corners. He isfond of children, and will play with any child he comes across. He isalso fond of mountain climbing, and delights in long tramps over thehills."
Bradley looked at Ned with the old cynical smile on his face.
"Where did you run across him?" he asked eagerly,
"That is enough!" laughed Ned. "You needn't say another word. We havetwo snapshots of him--one without a head. In one he has hold of thehand of a child, and in the other he has the child on his back, withthe little fellow's legs hanging down over his shoulders. A man wouldnot be apt to ride children about on his shoulders unless he was fondof little ones generally, would he?"
"I presume not," Bradley admitted.
"And he wears in both pictures a mountain-climbing costume," Ned wenton. "He evidently likes the errand he was sent here on!"
"The man I referred to a few moments ago as unscrupulous does,"Bradley said.
"But if he likes children he won't be apt to injure this Mike III.,will he?"
"He is a man who will do anything for expediency's sake. Now go awayand leave me to my very entertaining thoughts! If I ever get out ofthese hills alive, and free, I'll never leave Manhattan islandagain."
"I remember you saying that you had never set foot in New York!"laughed Ned. "You'll have to make your stories consistent if you wantthem believed!"
"Never mind all that now," Bradley replied. "You get busy restoringthat child to Mrs. Brady! Say, boy, but he is a bright-one!"
"Learned French quickly, didn't he, and consented to being blacked uplike a negro minstrel, in order to pose as a prince?" asked Ned. "Ireckon, however, that the credit does not all belong to the lad. Heseems to have had a good instructor."
"If you'll release me," Bradley offered, after a pause, "I'll go andget the boy."
"That's an easy promise to make," laughed Ned.
"But I'll go and get him and bring him to you, and you can return himto his grandmother. Then you may put these bracelets on me again ifyou like. But, boy, let me tell you this: You've got nothing on me! Ihaven't done a thing in this state at least, to render myself liableto punishment. I supplied, for good pay, certain information in NewYork, and I brought the boy you call Mike III. on here fromWashington, where I know his father well."
"You must have known what you were doing it for?"
"I did know--for money!"
"But you must have known that the boy was to personate some oneelse?"
"I didn't care about that. I had my orders! See here, boy, if youever work with these highbrow rulers of petty kingdoms, you'll soonfind out that you're to obey and not ask questions! Do you get me?"
"That's enough!" laughed Ned. "You haven't betrayed your employer,but you have told me all I wanted to know."
The boys unlocked the handcuffs and laid them aside.
"I believe you'll do the right thing," he said. "Go and get the boy.If you need any help let me know."
Bradley arose and stretched out his arms luxuriously.
"That's the first time I ever stood in the accused row," he said,"and it will be the last! But, see here, boy, I can't get the kid ina minute! I'll go to the mother and tell her what I'm doing, if Ilive to get there!"
"You think your ex-friends may seek to terminate your lease of life?"
"They surely will--now. And, here's a pointer for you, look out foryourself."
"I think I can fix you out so they will receive you with open arms,"Ned grinned. "Here. I'll put these cuffs on again, with one armlocked carelessly. You can draw the bar out when you pull right hard.Now, eat what you need and take a run up the slope. We'll follow youwith a serenade of bullets. When you join the outlaws down in thecanyon you'll be a hero."
"That's a fine notion!" said Bradley, actually smiling.
"And don't come back here with the boy. Send him home to the oldlady. Then, if you want to help me in the work I'm on--"
"I don't, and I won't!"
"Don't blame you a mite! I never did like a traitor! If you won'thelp me, then cut sticks for New York. Some day when you are inbetter mood, come to the Black Bear Patrol clubroom. You know whereit is! Well give you a look into the place without sending you up tothe attic!"
Bradley's face twisted into a laugh, but Ned did not seem to noticethe fact.
"I'm not saying anything more about the prince, understand, or theattic, or the French, or the black stain, but perhaps you'll tell methe whole story some day!"
And so, handcuffed again, Bradley was taken back to the tent, wherehe was given a hearty meal. Then he carefully made his way out andran for the summit. Ned and his chums sat back and laughed at thetumbles he took in his eagerness to deceive any one who might bewatching the camp. Now and then he fell down behind a rock and laythere for a moment, peering out in the direction of the tent.
Just before he gained the summit, Ned and the others ran out of thetent with shouts of alarm and dashed up the slope, firing as theywent. At that time Bradley's speed might have shown a world record ifit had been set down! He cleared the summit, shouting for assistancefrom anyone who might be below, and half rolled down toward thecanyon. Ned fired a few shots and went back to the tent.
"What's the game?" asked Frank, as Ned sat down and roared. "This manBradley seems to be It--Tag!"
Ned explained the situation and Frank immediately began taking notesfor a story for his father's newspaper.
"If I had had a motion picture machine here," Frank declared, "Icould have made a fortune out of the films! It was glorious, the waythe old boy tore up the rocks on his way down. Think he'll return?"
"I think he will," was the reply.
"But if he doesn't?"
"Then we shall have to find the boy ourselves, just as we are goingto find the prince! That is the next job, you understand."
"And geezle the man who stole him--that's in the job, isn't it?"
"Nothing said about that, but I hope to get him and have the goods onhim, too. When I present him to the chief he can do whatever he likeswith him."
"But how are you going to get the goods on him?" asked Oliver.
"I'll manage that easily," laughed Ned. "The first thing is to catchhim. Now, Frank, you saw where Bradley went?"
"Why, he headed for the old counterfeiter den."
"Think you can keep track of him for a short time?"
"Can I? You know it!"
"Then take Dode with you, so as to be in communication with the camp,and foll
ow him! Don't show yourself if you can help it, but if youare discovered keep busy with your camera. We are here only to takepictures, you know!"
"So you don't trust that chap, after all?" asked Frank.
"Yes, I trust him, but he won't betray the men he has been workingwith. In order to get the boy he'll have to go to the man I want."
"All right!" Frank laughed. "Come on, Dode! I might have known thatNed was next to his job. I'll come back just before sunset to report,if not before. If you love me have a supper fit for six of us readyfor me!"
The two boys started away, and Ned, Teddy and Oliver went back to thepictures. After an hour or more Ned went down to the corral, as iflooking after the mule. He saw no one on the way there, but when hereached the level spot, rich with June grass, he saw that it had hadvisitors during the day.
The grass was beaten down flat behind a boulder on the edge of thefertile spot, and there were cigarette stubs and half-burned matchesscattered about. The lush grass still carried the odor of tobacco,and the boy knew that the watcher had not been long absent from hispost.
He went back to the camp, and, much to the surprise of Teddy andOliver, began packing.
"What's doing now?" the boy asked.
"Why," laughed Ned, "haven't I agreed to get out of here to-morrow ornext day?"
"Yes, but--"
"We're going to pack, anyway," Ned said, "whether we leave or not!There are people watching every move we make, and I want to convey tothem the idea that we are going at once."
"If they are watching us," Oliver suggested, "they doubtless saw Jackand Jimmie leave the camp."
"They undoubtedly did," Ned admitted.
"And will follow them, I'm afraid."
"I've been wondering whether the boys got out of the hills insafety," Ned went on. "They were well mounted, and should have beenable to dodge the outlaws. Besides, Jimmie and Jack are, as the boyssay on the Bowery, inclined to be 'foolish in the head--like a fox.'So they are probably safely out by this time."
"But, still, I'm worrying about them!" Oliver replied.