CHAPTER IX
THE BOYS LOSE AN ALLY
The words of Howells stunned the boys for a moment. Then Garry deliveredhimself of a few vehement words regarding the thieves.
"We have been here only a couple of days or so, and yet we find thatthis logging camp is a hive of rascals and thieves. And still we havedone nothing. We must get to work and nip this thing in the bud, elsethe whole summer's work at the camp here will have gone for naught, tosay nothing of the irreparable financial loss that will be caused toDad, not only from the penalties for failure to live up to hiscontracts, but the money loss from the stolen timber will mount up wellinto the hundreds I am afraid. Now we must put a stop to this thing. Ibelieve that I will go out tomorrow and go to town and 'phone Fatherthat he had better make a cleanup here at the camp. Perhaps we don'tknow just who the guilty parties are, but if we get rid of the wholeshooting match we can stop it. How much timber would you estimate hasbeen stolen?" he concluded, turning to Howells.
"I can't say as to that. This last report is the only one that I havereceived direct. Generally I have been given what was supposed to be aduplicate copy of the one sent to Barrows. This time I happened to getthe mail myself at the postoffice. Generally one of Barrow's men getsthe mail, and it is distributed. This letter was addressed to mepersonally, and I have no doubt that the others were also, but wereopened and doctored up to appear all right. That's a prime bit ofevidence if we can secure the proof. Tampering with Uncle Sam's mail isa serious crime, and draws a long prison term. Now as for your going outof the woods tomorrow and 'phoning your father, Garry, I would adviseagainst it. Nothing very serious can happen in the next few days. Littlework can be done until a new saw comes, and there will be littleshipping of timber except that which has been waiting to be transported.In the meantime, if, as your father is led to believe, this whole matteris a move on the part of the big interests to crush him in the lumberbusiness, the firing of the present manager and crew will have littleeffect. Your dad evidently trusted Barrows, else he would not have senthim here. If he is guilty, you may be sure that the enemy, for such wemust call them, made it mighty well worth his while to turn traitor.What is to prevent the next manager from being affected in the same way?And even if a trustworthy manager were secured, the big interests canalways bribe enough of the laborers to do all the necessary damage thatwould be required to spoil the season. My advice is to lay low for a fewdays and get evidence that will get the 'man higher up,' the one who isthe instigator of this whole thing. Once you can spike his guns, therewill be no further danger of trouble here, and also it will enable yourfather to take court action that will restore him damages for the stolentimber, and will also give him a chance to sue those who have harmed himso that he can make the penalties that will be inflicted in case enoughdamage has already been done to make him forfeit his contracts. I shouldsay now that he was a good three weeks behind his shipments, and that isa whole lot in one season. He has guaranteed to deliver a certain amountof timber at its destination by the last of September. It is the middleof August now, and he must make every minute count from now on to getout the required amount. Get the man responsible for this business andyou will have accomplished what you have set out to. What do you thinkof my advice?"
"Sounds logical, and I think we will follow it. In the meantime I have ahunch now in regard to that stolen timber. I think I can hitch up a fewthings Barrows has tried to dissuade us from doing, and a certain lakein this vicinity. That's our next work. Now what do you propose to do,Mr. Howells?" asked Garry.
"First thing I'm going to do is to go straight to Barrows and tell himabout the deficiency shown by the records. That will do one of twothings, I believe; either show him up for a crook, or else show that heis straight and start him investigating the thefts. If the latterhappens, which I am frank to say I do not think will, then we haveaccomplished a great deal of good."
Howells, however, had barely finished speaking, when the red hairedcookee appeared at the shack and told him that Barrows wanted to see himat the camp office immediately.
Having delivered the message, the cookee sauntered off, and Howellslooked at the boys with a puzzled stare.
"Wonder what's up now. Thought that we talked over everything there wasa little while ago. Well, there's no use in wondering. I'm off to seehis Royal Highness and find out what he wants. I'll see you after alittle while."
Howells hustled off to the office and left the boys to talk things overamong themselves.
"What did you mean, Garry, when you said that you had a hunch aboutlakes and things?" inquired Phil.
"Why, you remember how insistent Barrows has been that we make a sort ofplayground out of the little lake, setting forth its advantages aboutswimming, fishing and all that, and has done everything that he can doto discourage us from going near the big lake. I have let him believethat we took everything he said for granted, so I thought that tonight,if possible, we would make a trip to the big lake and see what's what,"Garry answered.
"I'm wondering if Barrows is clever enough to play the old trick used byconjurers and magicians?" mused Phil.
"What do you mean, magician?" queried Garry with a puzzled look at hisfriend.
"Why, you know a magician always directs the attention of his audienceto the thing that he is generally going to do, figuring that the peoplewill be on the watch for a trick, and will be so busy trying to find thehidden trick, that they look everywhere but where the magician tells 'emto, and in the meantime he has done his trick."
"I see," exclaimed Garry. "You mean that Barrows may figure that we willguess he has been discouraging us about the big lake for the verypurpose of making us go there rather than to the smaller body of water,where some sort of villainy may be going on."
"That's it exactly," returned Phil.
"I think you have a good hunch there, Phil, although I rather think thatBarrows is not clever enough to dope out that trick. Still, there can beno harm in watching both lakes. Suppose that we take a little trip todayto the small one, and then tomorrow night we will hustle over to the bigone after the camp has turned in for the night. Guess that will be ourbest plan. Now let's wait for Barrows and Howells to finish theirconversation, and we will trot over while I ask a few leadingquestions."
They waited a few minutes, talking over their probable course of action,and were about to set out for the office, when Howells appeared on thescene. Rage and disappointment were depicted in his face, and the boyswere quick to take notice of this.
"What's the matter? You look as though you had bad news to bring us,"said Garry.
"Well, it's bad news for me, at any rate, and I think also for you. Ibelieve I have proof enough that Barrows is a crook from the word go. Ihave been discharged from my job as cruiser and scaler and ordered toleave the place immediately."
"Why, I can hardly believe you, what's it all about?" asked Phil.
"Well, it's a short story. I had hardly gotten inside the office, whenBarrows told me I was through. Naturally all other thoughts left myhead, that is about my errand, and I asked him why. He replied that whenhe hired me he thought he was getting an accurate scaler, and that thereports showed that the amount of timber I had reported was cut had notbeen delivered. Immediately I knew that he was on to the fact that I wasaware of the shortage and was spiking my guns before I could do or sayanything. Now I know that I have accurately measured all the timber thatwas cut in this tract. I was at school long enough to learn how to scaleif I never learned anything else. Of course we had words, and I forgotmyself and accused him of knowing that timber was disappearing, and hewas covering up by throwing the blame on me. Of course there was nothingthat I could do, so I told him a few wholesome truths and walked out ofthe office."
"Then that definitely settles Barrows' status here," said Garry. "Heknows that timber is being stolen, and he wants to cover it up. I hopeyou did not connect us in any way with you while you were tellingBarrows what you thought of him, did you Art?"
"You be
t I didn't. I kept my head that much, at any rate."
"Well, we have lost a valuable ally since you must go away. I suppose,though, we could hire you as a guide and keep you here. Barrows couldmake no objection then," said Garry.
"No, that would be the worst thing that you could do. It would putBarrows on his guard, for he would immediately leap to the conclusionthat I had told you everything. No, the wisest thing for me to do is tohop out and go back to town. Then in a few days I could get back hereand see what I could dig up in the way of stolen timber. I think themost advisable thing to do would be to find out from some of the railwaystations near here where timber is being shipped from, and in that waywe could get a line on where it is going. Then you chaps on the insidecan browse about a bit and find out how it is stolen. Between us we cansecure evidence that will uncover the whole plot. I'm going out now,before they get onto the fact that we have had time to talk things over.In the meantime, take my advice, and keep your eyes open every minute.Eternal vigilance on your part is going to be the price of success. Notthat I believe any harm will come to you. Barrows would not dare attemptthat; but he could move so stealthily that you could not find outanything. Now I'll say goodbye and trot along. Good luck to you, and Iwill contrive some way to get word to you of what is going on."
Howells shook hands with the boys, and then loped off to get hisdunnage. The boys watched his departure sadly, for they had counted agreat deal on the help that the young timberman could give them.
"Well, fellows, that puts it directly up to us again. We will have towork on our own hook and get to the bottom of this. Now let's haveaction. Tomorrow morning--it is too late now to do anything--we willtake a little trip to the small lake, Kanamo Lake I think they call it;Dutton is the name of the big one, and start our search there. We willsimply say that we are going off for some fishing and swimming. Nowwe'll go to the office, and remember, not a word about knowing thatHowells was discharged." And concluding his talk, Garry led the way tothe office.
Barrows watched them narrowly as they came in, but said nothing.
"Thought we'd get a little information about Kanamo Lake," said Phil, asthey seated themselves.
"Yes," chimed in Garry. "We are going off there early tomorrow and havea little fishing and perhaps a swim or two. We haven't done anythingsince we got here but watch the timber cutting, and that isn't a noveltyany longer. What we especially want to find out is whether there is anycanoe or boat on either of the lakes that we could use to get somereally good fishing."
"There isn't a boat or canoe of any sort on either Dutton or Kanamo,"answered the manager. "But you will find that will not interfere withyour fishing. Part of the banks are well covered with reeds, and earlyin the morning and after the sun has gone down you can catch a fine messof pickerel. Throughout the day the bass can be caught from the bank ifyou boys are any hand at making a good long cast. I suppose as soon asthe timber cutting is done, the tourists will begin to swarm here forsummer camping, and then there will be plenty of boats and few fish.That's generally the way." The manager talked heartily as thoughrelieved that the conversation had taken the turn that it had, andperhaps because of the information that the boys were going to get awayfrom the camp. It was likely that he had expected some questioningbecause of the discharge of the scaler. Evidently thinking over thematter, he decided something in his mind, and turning to Garry, remarkedcasually: "I had hoped that the arrival of the scaler would give me alittle extra time so that I could do some fishing with you and act asguide around here, but I regret to say that I found him incompetent andwas obliged to discharge him. He was careless about his measurements, orelse did not know how to measure properly, and all our records aremessed up so that it will take me several days to get them straightenedout. Fortunately I know pretty well what's been shipped and can checkagainst the bills of lading. Well, there goes the cook's supper call."
Following supper, the boys made excuses that they wanted to get theirfishing tackle in order and retired early to their shack. They got tosleep early, as they expected a strenuous day on the morrow, and alsohoped to be able to make a trip to Dutton Lake at night, hence wantedsleep.
Just as they were undressing, Dick uttered an exclamation of disgust.
"What's the matter, Dick, lose a button?" inquired Phil.
"No, confound it, lost that nice knife with my name on it that I boughtin Bangor."
"That's too bad, lost your nice toy. Well, you should worry, as you haveyour sensible scout knife that will cut even if it hasn't a nice name onit," laughed Phil.
Early morning found them routed out with the dawn, and as they hurriedfor the cookhouse to get some supplies with which to cook a luncheon atthe lake, they heard the cook and his helper talking about some marauderthat had been captured the night before and was locked up in thestorehouse.
Neither seemed to know much about it, but the boys could see that thecookee was on tenterhooks, and several times tried to get out, only tobe called by the cook and set to doing some necessary task toward thegetting of breakfast. This uneasiness on the part of the cookee made theboys think that possibly Baptiste LeBlanc had been caught, and decidedthat when they had eaten they would have a look at the prisoner.
Barrows appeared when they were half way through breakfast, and thechums at once began to question him regarding the capture of the unknownman and what he might have wanted there.
"Perhaps he is the one who has been causing a lot of trouble aroundhere," said Barrows. "I haven't seen him yet. Couple of the men foundhim snooping around the office last night, and after locking him up,woke me up and told me about him. After I eat I am going to questionhim, and if you want to get a little later start on your fishing trip,you can come and take a look at him."
This was exactly what the boys wanted, and they thanked Barrows for theinvitation. They made a hurried meal, and then after Barrows had postedthe notices for the section bosses for the day, they went to thestorehouse, which was the most solid looking building in the camp, beingbuilt of great logs with a thick double hasp and padlocks on the door.Inside were kept the cooking supplies for the camp.
The manager produced a key, and throwing open the door, called to theprisoner to come out.
The three chums pressed forward eagerly to see if they were right intheir guess that LeBlanc or his evil associate had been captured.
What they did finally see nearly knocked them off their feet. There wasa shuffling sound as of some one getting up, and then through the doorinto the sunlight, walked The Hermit!