CHAPTER VI
THE CALL OF THE BEAVER
"Oh, I don't believe there'll be any circus!" whispered Tommy.
"And why not?"
"Because Katz will get the fellow handcuffed so quick by that therewon't be any fun in it! There's a big reward out for that fellow!"
"Huh!" grinned Sandy. "You didn't see how scared the detective was whenI told him the train robber was here by our fire. It's a hundred to onethat the train robber will give the detective a swift kick in the pantsand go back to his own camp."
The boys listened and waited for a considerable length of time, butheard no evidence of the approach of the detective.
"Say," Tommy whispered, "this is a pretty nice supper I've been gettingfor that robber. It looks good enough for me to eat myself!"
"We can eat it after Katz takes the robber away," suggested Sandy.
"I don't see anything of Katz, do you?" asked Tommy with a wink.
"Je-rusalem!" exclaimed Sandy. "You don't think he's run away, do you?He wouldn't do that, I'm sure!"
"He wouldn't," laughed Tommy. "I'll bet that fellow's running away nowwith a face so pale it leaves a white streak in the night."
"Well, it takes him a long time to get here, anyway," admitted Sandy.
"You just wait a minute," Tommy chuckled, "and I'll fix this business allright. You just tend this skillet until I come back."
Tommy moved away toward where the robber sat on the ground, watchingevery move that was made, and keeping a particularly keen eye on Sandy,whose temporary absence from the camp had attracted his suspicions.
"Look here," Tommy whispered, "we're not anxious to see you boys getinto trouble, and so we're going to give you a tip. Sandy went out amoment ago to steer away one of the detectives who came in from Chicagolast night."
The hold-up man got softly to his feet and began moving out of the lightof the fire. Tommy urged him by look and a motion to remain where he wasfor the present.
"I didn't know that there were any detectives from Chicago in here," hesaid. "They must have made a quick jump to get here!"
"I guess they did," replied Tommy. "One of them was here before you wereyesterday. He chased you up the valley, but came back, saying that hecouldn't get a shot."
"Pretty nervy kind of a fellow, eh?" asked the train robber.
"He looks to me," declared Tommy, "as if he'd fight a rattlesnake andgive him the first bite. He may have a swarm of his men in the vicinityof the camp, and if I were you, I'd turn away to the east and get out ofsight as soon as possible."
"I can't fight a whole army," declared the train robber, as, crouchinglow, he moved away.
"Wait a minute," whispered Tommy chuckling so that he was afraid theother would discover the merriment in his voice. "Why don't you wait andhave some of the supper I've been cooking for you?"
The train robber did not even pause to hear the conclusion of the boy'sremarks, and Tommy went back to the fire and lay down and rolled backand forth until Sandy threw a cup of water into his face.
"What do you think of that!" he exclaimed. "There's a bum Chicagodetective chasing off to the north at a forty mile gait, because hethinks there's a train robber after him, and there's a a train robberchasing off to the east at a forty-mile gait because he thinks there's aChicago detective after him! Some day," the boy added, "I'm going tomake a motion picture scenario of that."
While the boys were enjoying the joke, Will and George came out of thetent where they had been sleeping. Both looked grave when the incidentsof the night were related to them.
"It means," Will declared, "that we are suspected by the train robbersof harboring a detective, and suspected by the detective of harboringthe convict and his son."
"Aw, they won't come back here again, any of them!" asserted Tommy.
"Don't you think they won't," replied Will. "Here," he added, as Tommydipped into the skillet of bacon and eggs. "What are you boys doing withthe third or fourth supper?"
"I cooked this for the train robber!" grinned Tommy, "How'd you like tohave a few bites of it?"
"I don't mind!" declared Will.
"Of the four parties representing four diverse interests," Will said, atthe conclusion of the meal, "two have been represented here tonight.Before morning we may receive a call from the cowboys and the escapedconvict. The visits might not be very agreeable ones but, still, theywould complete the roll-call."
"You remember that trip to the Florida Everglades, don't you?" askedTommy, with a most satisfying yawn. "Well, if you haven't forgotten allabout it, you'll remember that we didn't have any sleep there for acouple of nights, and that I actually began to grow thin because ofbeing kept awake so much."
"It was your own fault," insisted Sandy.
"That may be," replied Tommy, "but, all the same, I'm not going to letanything like that happen on this trip. I'm going to bed right now, andthere's nothing on the face of the earth that can get me out of bedagain until morning."
"That's me, too!" declared Sandy.
The boys entered the tent recently vacated, drew down the flap and weresoon in bed, and asleep. Will and George, sitting by the fire,discussing the unusual combination of circumstances, heard a successionof sounds which any member of the Beaver patrol, Boy Scouts of America,would have recognized instantly.
It was the beaver call which consists in slapping the open palmstogether violently in imitation of the play of the flat tail of thebeaver upon the surface of the water.
"Slap, slap, slap!" came the challenge from the darkness.
"That's a Beaver!" exclaimed George.
"Slap, slap, slap!" went the reply from Will's open palms.
"Why doesn't he come in?" asked George in a moment.
"I guess I'll have to go and find out!" declared Will. "This, you see,"he added with a smile, "is the third interest to be represented heretonight. There is no doubt but that we'll hear from the cowboys beforemorning. It never rains but it pours."
"Slap, slap, slap!" came the call from the darkness again.
Will gave a low whistle in recognition of the signal and steppedforward. An answering whistle directed his steps, and presently he sawthe light of the fire shining on the pale face of the lad who had stolenthe badge of office from the detective.
"Why didn't you come on in?" asked Will.
"Why," was the reply, "I wasn't afraid of you boys, but I didn't knowwho might be watching the camp. I've been loitering around here most ofthe time since dark and just got the courage to call you out. Some onechased me away once."
"Are you hungry?" asked Will. "If you are, now's the time to say so.Last call for dinner in the dining car!"
"Yes, I'm hungry," was the reply, "but I haven't got time to wait forsupper. If you'll snatch a loaf of bread and can of something and comealong with me, you'll do the greatest favor one Boy Scout ever did foranother. You'll come, won't you?"
"Sure I will," was the reply, "and I'll bring something more than a loafof bread and a can of something," he went on.
"You can't carry much," replied Chester, "for we've got a rocky road toclimb, and we'll have to go fast, too!"
"You haven't told me what the trouble is, yet!"
"It's father!" the boy answered hesitatingly. "I suppose you know nowthat I didn't tell you the truth when I was at your camp. I saw JohnJohnson there after I stole that bum detective's badge and ran away, andI suppose he told you all about me."
"Yes, he did," replied Will, rejoicing inwardly that the very thing theyhad been wishing for had taken place.
All he had to do now was to win the confidence of the boy, find his wayto the father, and so clear up the mystery of the Fremont case.
"Yes," Will went on, "he told me all about you and all about yourfather, and I've been wondering ever since how you, a Boy Scout, couldfind the nerve to make up such a mess of lies as you told to me."
"I wanted to find out what you were here for, and who you were, and getsomething to eat," replied the boy, "and so I told you
the first thingthat came into my head. And now," he continued, "I'm going to tell yousomething that I wish might be classed as a fairy tale later on."
"Go ahead," answered Will. "Two days ago I had no idea that I'd everbecome mixed up in the Fremont case, but I'll tell you right now thatI'm becoming interested in it."
"A few days ago," the boy began, "father fell from a ledge of rock nearour hiding place and injured his head. I have taken as good care of himas I could, but it was impossible for me to remain with him all thetime, because I had to fish and hunt and provide food for both of us."
"You're welcome to any provisions we have," said Will, feeling genuinesympathy for the boy.
"That isn't the point now," Chester went on.
"While I was in your camp last night waiting, for the chance to stealprovisions to take back to father, he left the hiding place. I know he'sout of his head, and so I believe him to be wandering about the hills ina demented condition. There's no knowing what will happen to him if heis not found and placed in hiding again. I want you to go and help mefind him. The detectives who came in last night, or some time yesterday,are here to take him back to prison, and they're likely to get him atany minute if he continues to wander about while insane from the recentinjury to his head. There's no one to help me but you. Will you go?"
Here was the very chance the Boy Scouts had been waiting for.