CHAPTER XX. A WONDERFUL FIND.
"Do you really think they meant to shoot you, Thad?" asked Step Hen,after the fat boy had quieted down somewhat.
"We've been talking that over," the patrol leader replied; "and come tothe conclusion that the shot was only meant as a warning for us to drawup, and haul off; to tell us that they were desperate men, and would notstand for any nonsense from a hunting party."
"But that bullet _did_ whine, I tell you, fellers;" declared Davy,emphatically; "no other word would explain just how it sounded, when shewent zipping past, so close to our heads that we all ducked withoutthinkin'."
"And like as not," remarked Allan, who thus far had taken no part in thediscussion, "if we start taking up their trail in the morning, and comeanywhere close to our birds, we'll be apt to more than hear the whine ofa bullet. They're bad men, Sheriff Green told us, and if put in a hole,with a chance of spending some years in prison, wouldn't mind wounding afew of us--perhaps worse than that, even."
Thad looked serious.
"I've been considering that matter," he announced, "and trying to make upmy mind just what a party of Boy Scouts, caught in such a puzzle, oughtto do. If our real scoutmaster, Dr. Philander Hobbs, was only here, thatwould be a question for him to decide. I wish we had him along with usright now."
"And the rest of us are mighty glad business kept him tied down at home,just at the time we had this great chance to come up into the Mainewoods," chuckled Step Hen.
"You're as able to settle anything as well as Dr. Philander," declaredAllan. "And so, please let us know what came of your thinking thissubject over; because we all know you too well, Thad, to believe you'dever drop it without hatching out some sort of a scheme."
"That's the ticket; we all want to know," echoed Bumpus.
Of course this sort of talk must have been exceedingly pleasant to theyoung patrol leader. He would not have been a boy had he not beenthrilled by this showing of confidence which his chums placed in hisability as a manager and scoutmaster; and so he hastened to oblige theeager demands of the others.
"While we were tramping along homeward," Thad continued, "I got tofiguring how best we ought to act. You see, somehow that thing of chasingafter those toughs didn't appeal to me very much, after hearing how alump of lead can sound when it's passing by so close to your head. And inthe end I had an idea. If you think it's worth anything, why, we mighttry the same out."
"Sure we will!" declared Giraffe.
"And we know it's the right stuff, even before you start in to explain,"Step Hen volunteered.
"Don't be too sure of that," laughed Thad; "but here's the scheme, boys,and let's hear what you think of it. Now, in the morning, sometime, we'lljust pack up, and start along with our paddles, as if we meant to keep itgoing through the whole blessed day. But that'll only be a big bluff, youunderstand; because, when we've got about a mile or so above here, andthe coast seems clear, why, we can land, hide our stuff, perhaps leavingone to guard the same, perhaps, and the rest put back to the cabin here."
"Wow! that's the thing!" exclaimed Giraffe. "I get the idea, Thad. Youexpect we'll hide in here, and gobble the gentlemen up as soon as theycome along; ain't that what you mean, now?"
"Not quite," said Thad. "It might answer just as well, in case when wegot back here we could be sure they hadn't arrived before us, and werealready quartered in the cabin. But if that proved to be the case, why,we'd set to work and try to surprise Charlie Barnes and his pals. Yousee, whatever we do, we want to keep in the background till we're justready to spring our trap; and in that way prevent them from doing us anybodily harm. I'm in charge of the patrol, and I'd feel pretty bad, now,if on going home I had to show up with a bunch of cripples on my hands.That's what keeps me guessing, and trying to accomplish things withouttaking too much risk."
"It's a good scheme, all right!" commented Step Hen.
"That's what I say, too," added Bumpus.
Davy, Allan and Giraffe also declared that they liked the plan immensely;and even Eli Crookes grinned, Jim nodded his head in appreciation; whileSebattis smoked on, and watched Thad admiringly out of the corner of hisblack eye, as if he had never before run across such a smart lad, andwondered what it meant.
"But of course," Thad went on to say, "the success of such a plan dependsaltogether on one thing to begin with."
"You mean whether they're bound to come to the cabin here?" asked Allan.
"That's it," the scout leader went on, calmly. "I thought that all overcarefully, and decided that, judging from the actions of that man inlooking in here, as well as their hanging around the vicinity when theyhad ought to be well on the way to the Canadian border, that there mustbe some sort of unusual attraction about this same old cabin for thoserascals!"
"Go on, Thad; we're catching on to what you've got in mind," hintedAllan.
"We happen to know," said Thad; "that this chief hobo, who calls himselfCharlie Barnes now, though he may have gone by another name years back,must have been a Maine guide once on a time. If so, he is well acquaintedup in this region, and must know all about this abandoned cabin. Now, ifso be the third chap is sick, or badly hurt, as we've guessed, why, wherecould they find a better place to stay for a while than right here?"
"Seems like it," admitted Giraffe; "and say, p'raps that's just why theycribbed your venison like they did. If they expect to hole up here forsome weeks, lyin' low while the sheriff and his posse go chasin' all overthe country lookin' for the runaways, why, they'd need a heap of grub;and so they just couldn't resist the temptation to grab your little buck.It'd supply their wants for a long time, if they only jerked the meat theway the Indians do, and made it into pemmican."
"Glad to see you take that view of the matter. Giraffe," Thad continued,for it was always an object with him, as the leader of the patrol, totempt his scouts to think for themselves, and not depend wholly on othersto plan things.
"But Thad," remarked Allan, about that time,--he had been watching theface of the other for signs that would tell him what Thad had on hismind; "was this the _only_ thing you stirred up, that would be apt tokeep these fellows wanting to get in this cabin so badly?"
"Well, honest now, Allan," replied the other, smilingly, "it wasn't. Ifigured along another line too. I said to myself, that supposing now, ayear or so ago this same hard case of a Charlie Barnes had made anotherhaul, and escaped to the woods with his plunder, where would he be apt tohide that same until the time when he could add to the pile, and thenskip across the border? And boys, I thought that this deserted old cabinwould offer him about as snug a hiding-place for his loot as any place Iknew!"
"Oh! Thad, do you really think that?" exclaimed Bumpus, a smile appearingon his plump face; "just imagine us diggin' up treasure, fellers, wouldyou; gold, and jewels, and all sorts of precious things that thesedesperate yeggs have hooked in their bold operations? And when werestored the same to the original owners, how they'd pour the fat rewardsinto our pockets. Why, we'd just as like as not have our names in all thepapers down in New York, and be _fa_mous."
"Hold on," said Thad, "you make me think of the girl who was tripping tomarket with a basket of eggs, and saying to herself, that after she'dsold those she'd buy a pig; and when it grew up, she'd take that moneyand buy a calf; and then, after that grew up to be a cow, with the moneyshe'd get from selling all the milk she could lay a nice sum by, so thatwhen the right young man came along she'd have enough to get her outfitwith, and----"
"Then she tripped once too often, fell over, and every egg was broken,"broke in Bumpus, with a shout. "Sure, I've heard my mother tell thatstory. It means we hadn't ought to figure too far ahead. But Thad. I wantto say, I like your scheme; and in the mornin' we ought to turn this hereold place upside-down, huntin' in every nook and cranny for the hobo'splunder."
"Not forgetting that loft up yonder, where our friend, the bear--" beganGiraffe, and suddenly broke off with a laugh, as he remembered tha
t inthe other excitement he had forgotten all about his private surprise.
He immediately went and picked up the bearskin, and held it up before theadmiring eyes of Thad and Davy, who immediately started to askinnumerable questions.
The story was by degrees told, and the late comers allowed to taste thebeautiful honey. Thad declared he had noticed that Bumpus and Giraffelooked a little swollen about the head, but other things had kept himfrom asking the reason, up to now.
The hour was growing pretty late, but strange to say none of the scoutsseemed to feel sleepy but Bumpus, who nodded occasionally as he satthere, trying to listen to the conversation that passed among his mates.
Thad had meanwhile been using his eyes to some advantage. He noticed thatthe stones about the hearth were rather large, and to his mind one ofthem had the appearance of having been recently disturbed. Suddenlygetting up, as the fire burned low, and afforded him an opportunity tocome near without being scorched, Thad worked away for a minute or so,trying to insert his fingers under this certain hearth stone.
"Here, try this for a lever, Thad," remarked Allan, handing him a thick,short stick; for somehow he had quickly guessed what the other had in hismind, and was naturally intensely interested in the result.
So Thad, by inserting this under the stone, was enabled to raise it up.Breathlessly the others leaned forward to watch the result; for by now ofcourse even the aroused Bumpus had guessed what Thad was doing.
The patrol leader seemed to be fumbling around in some sort of littlecavity he had found under the hearth stone. Then, with an exclamation, hedrew some object into view, and laid it on the floor. It seemed to be abundle of old clothes; but when Thad, with eager hands, had unrolledthese, the scouts held their very breath at the sight that met theirastonished eyes.
Thad had figured it all out, and now they understood just why that leaderof the yeggmen was so determined to get into the old abandoned cabin inthe woods; he had hidden the proceeds of other robberies there, andwished to take it all along with him when he crossed over into a safeasylum in Canada.