CHAPTER XXVI. THE SHERIFF GETS HIS SHOCK, TOO.
"Throw up yer hands thar, Charlie Bunch!" Eli had said in a stern voice;and from the fact of his mentioning another name besides that of Barnes,Giraffe realized the old Maine guide must have recognized the yegg bankburglar as one he had known in long days gone by.
The big fellow looked ugly for a few seconds, and Giraffe felt a shiverrun up and down his spine, as he wondered whether he were about towitness a real desperate battle. But then Charlie, for all his fiercelooks, had a grain of common sense besides. Doubtless he also knew whatkind of man he had to deal with in old Eli Crookes. And then, it musthave been somewhat discouraging for even the most daring and reckless ofsouls to see that grim array of seven guns, all covering his person, evenif five of the lot were held by boys.
So Charlie gave a sort of make-believe careless laugh, and obeyed theorder of the guide. He even thrust his hands up higher than there was anyreal necessity for doing, as though he believed in going to the limit.
"Caught at last, and with the goods on, too!" he remarked, in his boomingbass voice. "How are you, Eli? So, arter all I'm goin' to owe my bein'passed over to a feller I used to chum with. But we never did git ontogether, did we, Eli? Say, Kimball, show yourself here. Come out an'jine in the dance. Thet's the way it allers goes; when you think thingsare breaking your way, kerflop she goes into the soup. Tie me up, Eli, soI can't do any damage when my mad comes on, like it will when I gets tothinkin' o' how near I was to bein' fixed for life."
A face was seen in the doorway just then, a frightened face too. Thadswung his gun around, and covered Kimball, who immediately showed newsigns of alarm.
"Don't fire, there!" he called out; "I'm all shot up as 'tis, an' losin'pints of blood at a two-forty rate. I surrender, all right! If Charlie,he gives in, there ain't no show for a wounded man like me holding out."
"Keep him covered, all the same, Thad, until we get this other one tiedup," advised Allan, who possibly knew more about the type of rascal theywere dealing with than any other among the scouts.
Eli did the job himself. And that he knew how to go about it in the rightway Charlie himself testified in no uncertain tones.
"Reckon thet settles my hash, all right," he declared, as he surveyed themanner in which the stout cord was passed around his arms, so as to holdthem behind his back when the guide wanted to complete the tying. "You'ddo fur a sheriff, Eli Crookes. I s'pose this is jest what I ought toexpect, after playin' the kind o' game I hev all these years; but I don'tgive up the ship while there's life. Mebbe so I kin git away yet."
That was possibly the only thing that had kept Charlie from putting up adesperate resistance when he found himself cornered. So long as there waslife there was hope; whereas, if he tried to fight, and was shot todeath, that ended it.
Then Thad had a chance to pay attention to Kimball. He saw that there wasnot the slightest chance for the wounded man to try and escape. He wasreally too weak to go far; and besides, that open cut did seem to bebleeding seriously.
"Here, you just sit down and let me look at that leg," Thad ordered,after he had searched the man, and taken from him an ugly looking bulldogrevolver that was an exact contrast with the up-to-date automatic weaponthey had found in Charlie's pocket, but which he had not dared attempt toreach when faced by the seven foes.
"Are you a surgeon, boy?" demanded Kimball, a note of eagerness in hisvoice. "I hope you are, because I'm feeling in a desperate way. Unlesssomething's done to stop that flow of blood, why, I'll be a goner beforeto-morrow morning."
"Oh! I'll fix that, all right," said Thad, reassuringly. "No, I'm not asurgeon, or only a bungling one at that; but I do know how to stop awound from bleeding. That's one of the things a Boy Scout learns when hemakes up his mind he wants to get a medal, and reach out for the firstclass rank. You watch me, and see."
There was quite an interested audience, for Giraffe, Davy, Step Hen,Allan, and even the two guides hovered around, keeping tabs on all thatthe patrol leader did.
Thad first closely examined the mark where the bullet of Sebattis had cutacross Kimball's lower limb. Then he took a big red bandanna handkerchiefand tied it tightly around the leg, just below the knee, making sure thatthe large knot came exactly on the artery which ran back of the joint.
After that Thad took a stick he had provided, and inserting this in thehandkerchief, he began to calmly twist it around several times. Of coursethis immediately tightened the binding, and the knot being pressed inagainst the artery, prevented the blood from coming to any extent at all.
The man had shut his teeth hard together, but he groaned once or twiceunder the operation; though Thad believed this must be on account of thestrain he was laboring under, rather than because of any particularbodily agony.
"Now, this is only temporary," the scout advised, after he had washed thewound with some tepid water, for, acting under his directions, Giraffehad hastily placed an old pan with some water in it, on the fire, whichevidently Charlie had revived after finding his bundle intact under thestone.
"We're going to make a litter, and carry you up to the place we expect tocamp to-night," he remarked a little later, when he had bound the man'sleg up nicely. "And to-night I'll see if I can do something about thatpartly severed artery. It's hardly a job for a boy, and I wouldn't try itonly the case is desperate. And it happens that I used to go around withan uncle of mine who was an old doctor, and he let me help him lots oftimes."
With that Kimball had to rest content. But the boy had done so splendidlyas far as he went, that the wounded hobo began to hope he might even gofurther, and fix the artery, so that the benumbing bandage could be easedup.
At one time Thad thought of sending one of the guides up and having thecanoes brought back to the cabin; but for some reason this plan wasabandoned.
Giraffe and Davy manufactured the rude litter, acting under the orders ofAllan, who had seen one used in the past. It would easily hold Kimball,who was not a heavy weight.
Believing that they might as well make use of the strapping big hobo,Charlie, as a burden bearer, Eli unfastened his hands, and made him takethe front end of the litter, while he himself would look after the rear,with some of the scouts to keep guard over the prisoner.
Of course in searching the two yeggmen there had been found the proceedsof their recent robbery, in the shape of packages of bills, and somegold. But when the little procession was ready to leave the cabin, andThad took up the bundle of old clothes, which he tossed into the fire,Charlie let out a yell.
"Hey! thet's a crazy thing to do, bub; don't you know what's wrapped upinside them same ole clothes?" he called, evidently greatly excited atthe idea of a fortune burning up.
"I ought to know, because I put it in there myself," replied Thad,smiling at the big man's excitement. "You see, Charlie, we began tofigure on why you wanted to get into this same old cabin so much, andguessed that you had something hid away here. So we looked around a bit,found the hole under the stone, took out the boodle you had put away,fixed up a dummy to fool you; and there you are. So, let the old stuff goup in smoke. It's just as well to get rid of the duds that nobody wants."
"Well, I swan!" muttered Charlie, staring hard at Thad, as though he hadbegun to suspect that after all these Boy Scouts were worth considering,if many of them could do the things this leader seemed to be capable of,from managing a surprise party on a poor hobo innocent, to fixing up awounded leg that threatened to do for Kimball.
So they went off, taking the back trail; and Giraffe, who was observingall these things now, noticed that they passed over exactly the sameroute as when heading for the cabin. And he gave Sebattis credit for awonderful amount of ingenuity, which he feared must ever be beyond thecapacity of a tenderfoot scout.
Of course it was the intention of Thad to take the litter later on, andacting on the directions which Charlie promised to give, seek the gullywhere, under a shelf of rock, they would find the s
ick hobo, Dick, whocould also be brought to the camp.
"I rather guess we'll have to break up our trip for a while," Thadremarked to Allan, as they walked along in company.
"Yes, I can see that plain enough," replied the other; "because we've hadthese sick and wounded hoboes shoved on us, whether we would or not, andwe just can't do anything else. But some of our crowd can go down theriver in a big hurry, and after handing them over to the authorities inthe first town, come back to you and Sebattis here."
"I'd want you to stay with me up here, too, Allan," remarked Thad,warmly.
In due time they reached the place where the boats lay, and hearing themapproaching, Bumpus and Jim came ashore. A camp was next in order, forthe boys really wanted to find themselves under canvas once more. Giraffeexerted himself to get a fire going, while the tents were being erected,and Thad with Allan had gone off to bring in the sick man.
This they had little trouble in doing. Dick was in a bad way, beingfeverish; and while Thad gave him some medicine, he declared that theyhad better get the man to a doctor as soon as possible.
So it was determined to make an early start. They would be up long beforesunrise, the tents stowed, and the boats packed. One more in each wouldcrowd a whole lot, but the guides thought it could be done by carefulmanagement.
Supper was cooked, and the prisoners given their share. The wounded mandeclared he was feeling considerably better; and Dick too showed signs ofhaving his high fever broken.
The scouts were lying around in any way they considered comfortable,while Charlie and Kimball, with their hands tied behind their backs, anda rope holding them to a tree, sat there, listening to the conversation,though not in any too happy a mood themselves, when there was heard thecrash of approaching footsteps.
Then several figures loomed up, entering the camp. Sebattis had merelyglanced up, but made no move to reach for his gun; so Giraffe felt thatthe danger could not be acute.
Well, of course it was no other than Sheriff Green, with his posse; andas they advanced they were holding their guns in such fashion that theyhad Charlie and Kimball covered; for evidently they had not discoveredthat the pair were tied up.
"Run you down at last, have we, Charlie Barnes?" the sheriff was saying,as he strode forward, and there was a vein of curiosity as well astriumph in his voice. "Don't bother getting up; we can put the irons onjust as well where you sit. But hello! if here ain't our young friendsthe scouts! What does this mean, I wonder?"