CHAPTER XIX. JOINING FORCES.
"Oh! Thad, did you hear what he said?" whispered Giraffe, in the ear ofthe scout-master.
"Keep still, Giraffe, and let me manage this affair, please!" was whatThad replied; and accordingly the tall scout, quickly grasping thesituation, relapsed into silence; for he had the utmost faith in theability of the patrol leader to whip things into shape.
"What was that you were telling us, Mr. Sheriff, about this man robbingsome one?" Thad asked, before the other could turn fully away.
"It's this way, son," came the obliging officer's reply; "a very wealthyplanter by the name of Richmond had occasion to employ a secretary toconduct some literary work he was head oveh ears interested in. So inNew Orleans he comes across a smart gentlemanly fellow who gives thename of Jasper. Fo' a long time they seem to get on right well. Then allof a sudden the kunnel he finds that his secretary suh, done disappeah,as also the contents of his safe, includin' some family jewels that hadbeen fetched oveh from France two hundred yeahs ago by his ancestors,and which he values above anything he possesses."
"Oh! and that is why he is willing to put up so much money to try andrecover these things, I suppose?" Thad went on, for the purpose ofdrawing out still more information rather than because he failed tounderstand.
"That accounts fo' the milk in the cocoanut, son," the officer admitted."He then and there calls me in fo' a consultation, and immediatelyafterwards issues that offer of reward, as also the promise to pay everyman and boy who would join my posse, and hunt fo' the thief."
"And then word came to you that some one had seen a man answering thedescription of this Jasper down here--was that it, sir?" Allan asked.
"You have described it to the lettah, suh. And as the thief must behiding in Alligator Swamp, you can understand how we've made up ourminds to clean the old pest hole out, once fo' all."
"But we are told that a stranger never could make his way in and out ofhere, because there are so many treacherous passages; and that more thana few men have met their death trying to escape from the endlesssuccession of watery trails?" the scout-master continued, still tryingto pick up information without betraying his side of the case to theother.
"Perfectly correct, suh," the sheriff told him; "but that fact only mademe look deeper into the case. What do you think I discovered, but thatyeahs ago a family by the name of Jasper lived close by this region. Ifthat is so, then we sorter reckons this heah thief might be a son of theole man; and in that case don't ye see, he'd know every part of theswamp as well as Tom Smith heah?"
It gave Thad a strange thrill to hear this spoken; because had he notactually covered the identical ground himself when figuring out just howthe man with the girl should be able to go and come with such littleconcern?
"Why," he exclaimed, suddenly meaning to go further, and learn more, ifpossible; "seems to me we heard something about a strange white man whohad been seen going into the swamp here, Mr. Sheriff; and perhaps now itmay have been the same Jasper. But this party had a little girl aboutten years old with him. Was the Jasper you wanted the father of such achild, sir?"
"He done told the kunnel that he had a daughter in a school in NewOrleans; so p'raps now he went an' took her out, so she could cook hismeals fo' him all the time he was ahidin', till the trail got cold, an'it was safe fo' him to head no'th," was what the sheriff told him.
Meanwhile Thad had been quickly figuring in his mind whether it wouldnot be best for him to take the officer wholly into his confidence; andbeing a boy who could cut the Gordian knot, and decide quickly on hisplan of campaign, he immediately settled this matter in the affirmative.
If the objective point of the sheriff's posse was the retreat whereFelix Jasper was supposed by Tom Smith to be hidden, how foolish itwould be for them to try and attain their object while there was a rivalexpedition in the field that might in some way interfere with thesuccessful carrying out of their plans.
Yes, far better to combine, and pool their issues. Besides, with such aformidable backing would not success be more apt to perch upon theirbanners than should they keep on trying it alone?
"I'm going to tell you something, Mr. Sheriff," he said, hastily; "andwhile it may hold you up a few minutes, in the end you'll admit that thetime has been profitably spent; because we might as well join forceswith you. Fact is, sir, we have come all the way down from the North inthe hope of rounding up this same Jasper you're looking for; because thegirl he has with him, I have great reason to believe, is my own littlesister, stolen away from my mother's home years ago by a man named FelixJasper, once from New Orleans, and who wanted to have revenge upon theBrewster family on account of some fancied wrong done him."
Of course upon hearing this remarkable statement the sheriff no longerevinced a nervous desire to be on the go. He seemed to realize that hisinterests were bound up with those of the manly leader of the scouts,who had just thrilled him with so strange a story.
And as for his posse, they were crowding around so densely, anxious notto lose a single word of what was said, that, as Giraffe afterwardsdeclared, they looked like "sardines packed in a can;" every face filledwith eagerness, and many of them seeming hardly to breathe lest theylose some of the story.
Thad, knowing that now he had broken the ice it would be better toexplain more fully, started in to tell how his guardian received thenews, and could not himself undertake the long journey, but had readilyagreed that the scouts should come, because they had shown themselves socapable on many other occasions.
"We entered the swamp by ourselves, though I understood it was adangerous thing to attempt," Thad concluded; "but we were lucky enoughto run across a guide in Tom Smith here. He thinks he can give a prettygood guess where this Jasper will be apt to hold out, Mr. Sheriff; andnow that we're all on the same business, why not combine forces, and lethim show us the way?"
A number of the planters and others exchanged knowing glances.
"Best thing that ever happened for us, Mr. Sheriff!" one man declaredstoutly.
"Truer words never were spoken," observed another. "I've heard thatAlligator Tom Smith knows more things about this same swamp than any manliving. I told you in the beginning that we had ought to hunt him up,and make him join the posse. Luck is playing your way, Sheriff, believeme."
The officer of the law seemed to think the same way, for he immediatelyturned upon the scouts' guide and demanded:
"Are ye willin' to come in with us, Tom, and trust to me to make itright with ye, when I gets that reward in my hands? 'Case if ye ain't,I'm agoin' to draft ye in the posse all the same, an' ye just cain'thold back. The State gives me that power, ye understand!"
"Oh! I'll let yuh set the price accordin' tuh how yuh sees fit,"remarked the wise and far-seeing Tom, quickly; if he had the name hemight as well have the game too, he undoubtedly thought; "but I hopes ashow my employer heah, Mr. Scoutmaster, won't go fo' tuh think Ipurposely deserted him."
"Why, you're working for us just the same, Tom," observed Thad, quickly;"and your wages will be going on all the time, no matter what you getfrom our friend the sheriff. And so we may call it settled; is that so,sir?"
"Just as ye say, son; and I consider that I've certain got the best parto' the bargain as it is," the other replied.
"We won't quarrel over the proceeds, for you want to get the man and thestuff he stole; while all we're after is the little girl," Thad went onto say.
"I sure hopes it may turn out all right to you, son, and the gal be thetsame little sister you lost long ago," the sympathetic sheriff went onto say; "I done got five gals, an' I understand just what it must havebeen fo' your mammy to a lost her on'y one. Yes, we-all hopes as howyou'll find it ain't a mistake. But since these matters are fixed, let'sfigure on headin' that way, Tom Smith. Now, what might ye advise, tobegin with?"
"Hit's thisaway, Sheriff," began the swamp-hunter; "dawgs is good inther way; but sumtimes they mout seem tuh git in ther
road, an' guvwarnin' tuh theh party yuh was awantin' tuh s'prise. Hain't thet so,suh?"
"Reckon ye knows best, Tom; an' let me say that I sees what yer drivin'at," the officer told him. "Ye believes as ye knows whar this Jasper'dmost likely be aholdin' out, an' ye kin take us thar without the use ofthe hounds? Is that it, Tom?"
"Close tuh what I war meanin' tuh say, Sheriff," the alligator hunterwent on to remark; "an' if so be now yuh kept the dawgs back heah a bittill we seed if we cud round-up our man, it'd be better. Then, if hewa'n't whar I laid out tuh find him, yuh cud call up the critters agin,an' start in fresh."
"That's settled, then," asserted the other; and turning to one of theposse who seemed to be in charge of the brace of hounds he continued:"Townley, ye heard as what was said, didn't ye? Well, pick out anotherto help, and stay heah till ye gets the signal to come on; or we-alljoins ye later."
He spoke with such authority in his voice that the man dared not evinceany disposition to disobey, though doubtless he secretly groaned inspirit at being left out of the deal at such an important juncture.
"And now, Tom Smith, lead us on; everybody keep quiet, and let's playthis game fo' all she's worth. If so be we brings the critter to bay,they'll be fightin' in plenty, I reckons, if what the kunnel says aboutthis man is only half true. And in case we have to take to the boats,p'raps now some o' us'll be let crowd in with these plucky scouts. Fo'the last word, then, here's hopin' we'll have the best o' success."
The alligator-hide hunter again took the lead; but now he had afollowing that must have given him a strange thrill every time he turnedhis head to glance backward, for quite a flotilla of boats came in hiswake; while on the nearby land a swarm of figures flitted, reminding onesomewhat of a pack of silent wolves chasing relentlessly after a woundedstag.