When dinner was cleared away, Mrs. Vernon and the scouts gathered young spruce tips from the trees growing so profusely near the Cave. These were woven into a soft springy mattress on the floor of the buckboard, by placing a row of tips where the head would be. The next row of tips was so placed that the stems ran under the soft resisting tops of the former row. So on, row after row was woven, until the floor of the vehicle was covered.
Mr. Gilroy was then helped up and partly carried over to the spruce-bed. He had been preparing for this ordeal, and managed to get up on the buckboard, but then he sank back in a half-faint. The scouts were at hand, however, with water and a paper fan.
The return trip took more than two hours, and when the trail was followed that led direct to the camp Hepsy jogged along without urging and without balking.
Joan and Julie sat on either side of their patient, with their feet dangling from the rear. Mrs. Vernon drove Hepsy very carefully, and the animal seemed to sense that she must step circumspectly. Not a bowlder or rut did she cause the vehicle to encounter.
“For which we are duly grateful to tricky old Hepsy,” declared Julie, as they neared the camp.
The scouts entertained Mr. Gilroy on this ride down the mountainside, so that he smiled and almost forgot he was a patient. In fact, the scouts forgot he was a stranger, so pleasant was this middle-aged man of forty-five, with his fine face and gray hair.
On the last hundred yards to the Camp, Hepsy pricked up her ears.
“She smells oats for supper, and a good bed,” laughed Joan.
“I’m awfully glad we had Hepsy with us to bring back this couch for Mr. Gilroy,” said Betty.
“Yes, and we’re all glad there is such a nice hut ready to receive Mr. Gilroy. All we will have to do will be to carry the spruce tips from here to the cabin and make the bed,” added Julie.
Then they told Mr. Gilroy all about the hut and the rugs and the wonderful furniture, that had taken more than two weeks to build. They were still laughing over the perfect work done on the roof by the young hunter, when Hepsy pulled the vehicle up on the plateau near the huts and stopped.
“Our camp is under those pines, right beside the tumbling waters,” explained Ruth, pointing out the spot to the tired-looking eyes of the man.
“Well, I’ve enjoyed the ride, dear young ladies, but I am greatly relieved to be here,” sighed Mr. Gilroy.
“Verny, can’t you make Hepsy bring the buckboard over to the hut so Mr. Gilroy won’t have to walk?” said Joan.
“I was just going to suggest it. I will lead her by the head, so she won’t balk, but you girls remain seated and see that our guest does not roll off.”
Ruth and Betty followed behind, and the Captain led the horse carefully over the grass until the camp was reached. All that was now necessary was for the man to wait until the spruce bed was removed from the wagon to the hut.
“You girls run and make room in the hut so we can lay the bed on the floor. Move the furniture against the walls,” said the Captain.
Julie and Joan, being foremost, ran over to begin the work while Mrs. Vernon unhitched Hepsy to take her to the shed. Ruth and Betty were about to push the buckboard under the trees when a heart-rending cry came from the hut.
The Captain thought instantly of the tramps, and held her heart as she ran to help. Ruth and Betty left the wagon where it was and started after Mrs. Vernon. Even Mr. Gilroy, forgetting his weakness, slid from the buckboard and crept along in wake of the others.
“Oh, Verny! Our lovely, lovely hut! Oh, oh!” wailed Joan.
“Everything ruined! Who could have done it!” cried Julie, stamping her foot furiously.
When the others crowded about the door, they beheld a scene indeed! Mr. Gilroy sank upon the grapevine seat just outside the door, and panted forth:
“Those rascally vandals! They did it!”
“Oh, oh! everything gone or broken! But why did they do it? It won’t help them any!” wailed Ruth.
The table and chairs had disappeared completely, and bits of grapevine and ends of boards scattered everywhere, testified to the cataclysm that struck the inside of the hut. The pictures were torn from the walls, and the flowers were tossed, with their holders, into the grass near the hut. The willow and grass mats were in strips, some of them showing where the demons had tried to set fire to them, but they were too green to burn readily.
Suddenly Mrs. Vernon gasped and said: “The annex, girls!”
She feared that the tramps might be hidden there. But the girls thought she meant the food-stock, so they ran pell-mell out of the new hut into the old one, Mrs. Vernon trying to hold them back.
The scouts found the food-stuff had been taken, too. This was too much for them! They fairly screamed with rage. Mrs. Vernon had all she could do to calm their hysterical anger.
“I’ll kill them if I get sight of them!” screamed Ruth, with clenched hands, jumping up and down.
“Oh, if we only had that hunter’s gun!” added Joan.
“And shoot each other—no thank you!” declared Julie, in so matter-of-fact a tone that it did more to stop the howling than anything else. Even Mr. Gilroy felt like smiling, in spite of the troubles these innocent scouts had had thrust upon them.
“Verny, don’t you suppose those poor convicts have gone without food for so long that they had to take ours!” ventured Betty, kindly.
“Oh, oh! howcanyou pity them, Betty Lee!” cried Joan.
“Betty, if you don’t swear to avenge this outrage, I’ll spank you good and hard—so there!” threatened Julie, her eyes gleaming dangerously as she leaned towards poor Betty.
“I can’t swear, Julie, but I am sorry for two terribly wicked men who don’t know better than to hurt Mr. Gilroy and then ruin our lovely home. The food I s’pose they needed,” explained Betty, with more spirit than she had ever expressed in her life.
The scouts were so amazed at Betty’s self-defense that unconsciously they pardoned her charity towards the vagabonds.
“Besides, Verny, they couldn’t have carried the boxes very far, you know, when it took Hepsy and all ofusto carry them in,” added Betty.
“And the furniture was awfully heavy, too,” said Ruth.
“And too clumsy for them to handle well,” Betty added, but she had best have left that unsaid, as Julie’s wrath exploded.
“How can you call the furniture clumsy? They were just as handsome as anything I ever saw!”
But no one abetted this statement, so she modified her words. “Well, notveryclumsy—only heavy, maybe.”
Mr. Gilroy had been thinking very quickly during this conversation, and now he called to the Captain. They all ran over to him to see if he was all right.
“Oh, yes, I feel all right; but I was wondering if you can find it possible to have Hepsy drive on down to that village you mention?”
“To Freedom? What for?” asked Julie, surprised.
“Because I have a theory about this vandalism, and the sooner the police hear of it, the better for the safety of all,” replied Mr. Gilroy.
“Do you think you can stand the extra journey?” now asked Mrs. Vernon.
“I feel so strong and improved since I see what the rascals did here that I really will be better off if we go to the village than if I remained here chafing against the delay of catching them.”
Mrs. Vernon knew that an unsettled mental condition was worse than actual healthy fatigue, so she agreed to drive on down to Freedom. “But it will be too late for us to return to-night!”
“Oh, you must not think of it! In fact, you must not camp here again until the convicts are taken,” hastily replied Mr. Gilroy.
“I suppose we can find a good farm-house where we can board for a time,” suggested Mrs. Vernon.
“We’ll ask the grocery man who comes up for our orders,” added Julie.
By the time Hepsy was hitched again to the buckboard, the scouts had packed some things in suitcases to take with them. Mr. Gilroy refused to recline on the spruce bed again, so he sat up between the two girls.
Hepsy was inclined to balk when she found she was wanted to drive down to Freedom; but Mrs. Vernon was most emphatic with a persuasive hickory stick, so that Hepsy decided that “discretion was the better part of stubbornness.”
Once warmed up to the going, Hepsy kept on traveling at a great rate, so that the village of Freedom was seen in less than an hour’s time after leaving the camp. While Mrs. Vernon asked the keeper of the general store about hotel accommodations for all, Mr. Gilroy went to the telephone and called up the police station at Junction.
The scouts had not heard the first part of his conversation, as they were interested in hearing about rooms for the night, but when the store-keeper held up a hand for silence, they heard Mr. Gilroy say excitedly:
“Is that so! Well, I really believe I can get them for you. My name is Chester Gilroy, and my home is in New York State, but the young ladies are Girl Scouts. The Captain’s name is Mrs. Vernon, of Elmertown—the other side of this ridge, you know. And the scouts are Juliette and Elizabeth Lee, Ruth Bentley and Joan Allison.”
The scouts exchanged glances with Mrs. Vernon, but they had no clue to the conversation at the other end of the wire.
“What’s that?” asked Mr. Gilroy. “Oh—yes! They lost all their food-stuff, furniture, and other things from camp, so they are compelled to stay at Freedom until the rascals are caught.”
After saying “good-by” Mr. Gilroy hung up the receiver and came over to the group waiting to hear what was to be done.
The excitement and tiresome trip, followed by the sudden relaxation and satisfaction he experienced now, caused the man’s head to whirl, so that he dropped into a wooden chair for a time.
As he sat there recovering himself, he quickly planned. Then he looked up at the store-keeper.
“Mr. Grocer, I can show you an express order on a bank at Junction from my home bank in New York State. I want you to take it—not to cash, but just to prove to you that I mean business.”
The scouts looked perplexed, and the store-keeper said: “What sort of business do you want to transact?”
“I want you to act as a constable for me—or get a real one, if there is one, at once. Then I want you to collect as large a posse of men as you can, and begin and search that mountainside thoroughly. Begin at an outside circle and narrow down as you reach the camp-huts. We’ve got to get those escaped convicts and hand them over to the police before we can feel safe.” The canny grocer shook his head dubiously.
“If the men of Freedom round up and land two dangerous criminals, think of the story the newspapers will tell about it. Why, Freedom will be on the map in big headlines!” Mr. Gilroy was beguiling.
When Mr. Gilroy concluded, the store-keeper said: “How much do yuh kalkerlate on spendin’, mister?”
“How many men can you get to go on this quest?” Mr. Gilroy countered.
“Wall—there air loungers hangin’ about th’ post office, in that store over thar, an’ there be young fellers what’ll want to chase the convicts fer fun, an’ others what will do it fer the dollars. I kin raise ’bout forty er fifty, I rickon.”
“Fine work! I’ll pay them $2 for every half-day they are out, with extra money for meals and night work. But the bosses will get double the money. I’ll pay you a dollar for every man you sign up.”
“Signed up—what fer?” asked the suspicious grocer.
“To contract to hunt these criminals. You see, we’ve got to do the thing business-like, and once they start out they might work a whole day or two, and be entitled to honest pay. But others who never moved may come in at pay-time and claim money for nothing. I’ve got to have the signatures of my men so that I know who I am paying, see?”
The old grocer felt satisfied with the explanation, and said: “I know the constabule pritty well, and he’ll ’tend to the posse if I divide even. He knows the best men to send on a job like this. I’ll be satisfied with half, if I get my picksher in a New York news-paper. I allers wanted to do that afore I die!”
Mrs. Vernon could not refrain from smiling at such a desire and ideal, but the scouts laughed outright. Mr. Gilroy said: “Youth laughs because it does not believe in death.”
“When do ye want ’em to start?” queried the grocer eagerly.
“As soon as you can possibly get them off. Those convicts may escape from the mountainside in another twenty-four hours.”
“I’ll git Lem on the telerphone now, and start him off. He’s our constabule, ye know, and a lively one, tew.”
Soon after this, Lemuel Saunders called to see Mr. Gilroy. “Ef yuh will step over to my office, I’ve got a line o’ men waitin’ to sign up.”
The scouts wanted to watch the rest of this exciting plan, so Mrs. Vernon accompanied them to the constable’s room behind the Post-Office General Store.
Mr. Gilroy hastily wrote upon a sheet of fool’s-cap paper, then handed it to Mr. Saunders to be signed by the applicants. A long line filed in, and, signing, went out again. To each man one dollar was paid in advance for a meal, and advice given as to taking guns, clubs and other weapons with them.
The spirit of adventure, added to a good financial return, had attracted every one in the village, so that wives and mothers had packed up hearty lunches, and seen to it that the hunters were provided with firearms or cudgels for defense.
Scarcely a man or grown boy could be found in town who had not agreed to go out and hunt the felons for Mr. Gilroy. Before sundown that evening the village was left without a man in it. But here and there on the great mountainside twinkling lights could be seen, as the posse moved carefully upwards towards the camp.
The following morning found Mr. Gilroy feeling rested and eager to follow the villagers in their search for the outlaws. But the doctor who had sewed up the gash in his head advised the patient to rest all that day.
The girls made a great fuss over their sick guest—or at least they insisted upon calling him sick in spite of his protests to the contrary—and promised the physician that they would take every precaution to keep Mr. Gilroy quiet.
But they had no idea of how their promise was to be tested. They were soon to know, however.
On the first train that stopped at Freedom came the Chief of Police and a number of his officers from Junction, to capture the two escaped convicts. They went straight to Mr. Gilroy to learn all the facts from him, and having taken down his statement they spoke of securing horses, or a car, to take them up the mountainside.
“I hired all the horses and vehicles to be had in Freedom,” explained Mr. Gilroy, “but I will gladly turn over the auto to you, providing you take me with you on this trip.”
“Why! You can’t leave this porch, Mr. Gilroy,” exclaimed Julie.
“The doctor said we were to keep you very quiet,” added Joan.
“But that was more than an hour ago; I am quite recovered now, my dears,” laughed Mr. Gilroy.
“That makes no difference with us—we were ordered to see that you kept quiet,” declared Ruth.
“I can keep just as quiet while riding in the car with the Chief as if I sat on this chair,” argued Mr. Gilroy.
“Impossible! The excitement of the chase will give you a fever,” said Julie, emphatically.
“Why, they are two poor convicts who are most likely in chains by this time. Our posse has captured them long before this, and all I have to do is to pay off my men,” explained the stubborn patient.
“Well, you’ll find they are not quite tame, or as easy to secure, as you fancy,” ventured the Chief. “One of those rascals is a member of that gang that tried to bomb New York City recently. And the other one is a leader of a group of ‘Reds’ that the secret police rounded up lately. Both, being aliens, were kept in jail until they could be deported. But they managed to make their escape.”
“How did you get the orders to capture them?” asked Mr. Gilroy.
“Why, the Police Chiefs all over the country were sent secret communications with descriptions and photographs of the fellows; just the other day, a young man who lives with his granny on this mountain, said he had seen two evil-looking tramps somewhat resembling the pictures. So we quickly planned to start a round-up when we heard from you. Then last night I got a message over the wire that two suspects were trailed as far as Junction or its vicinity, and we were to look carefully to see if any disguised strangers were hanging about our town.”
“Well, well! This is certainly interesting, but now I am more determined than ever to go with you when you start. Are we waiting for anything?” said Mr. Gilroy.
“Nothing except the consent of your nurses,” laughed the Chief.
The four girls looked obdurate, and Mr. Gilroy began to smile, then he turned to the Chief.
“You feel reasonably sure that I will be taking no risks in accompanying you back to the campsite?”
“Oh, certainly! Those two outlaws will never hang about a spot where so many people are liable to stop.”
“Well, then, is there any objection to my four nurses going with me to see that I keep quiet to-day?”
“Oh, Mr. Gilroy! How splendid that will be!” cried Julie,
“Oh, yes! Do let us go, Chief!” exclaimed Joan, eagerly.
But at this moment Mrs. Vernon came out on the piazza. She overheard the last words and instantly shook her head in disapproval.
“But why not, Verny? The Chief says the ground is perfectly safe about our camp!” pleaded Julie.
“Why, not a mother in the land would ever allow her girls to join the Scout Organization if they thought I was a sample of a Captain—the very idea! to let you girls run right into such a hotbed of danger!” Mrs. Vernon glanced scornfully at Mr. Gilroy as if to dare him to say another word.
But he smiled in return and said: “Just step inside for a moment, Mrs. Vernon,—I have a word to speak to you.”
Wonderingly, the Captain followed him indoors, and whatever he whispered must have had a wonderful power, for a radical change took place in Mrs. Vernon’s opinions before she joined the girls again.
“Mr. Gilroy has convinced me that it is to ouradvantageto go back to the huts, but still I refuse to go unless the Chief can assure me that we will not be anywhere near those outlaws, or run any risk by returning to camp,” said she.
“As far as that is concerned, I told Mr. Gilroy that the two rascals were too experienced to stay near the camp, but were most likely over the mountain by this time, making tracks for some out-of-the-way place where they could hide again for a few days.”
“Maybe they will go back to Bluebeard’s Cave, now that they got our food and other necessities,” suggested Joan.
“I only hope they do,” laughed the Chief. “For in that case we will smoke them out with sulphur.”
After many misgivings as to the wisdom of this trip, and fearing the condemnation of all the parents of the girls, as well as the disapproval of the Girl Scouts Organization should they ever hear of the escapade, Mrs. Vernon followed her charges to the car.
By the time the police and the scout party arrived at the campsite, the village posse were far past that spot and were beating the woods up on the mountainside. The Chief went carefully over every visible sign of the destruction in the camp, but shook his head smilingly after he had concluded his investigation.
“I don’t believe the rascals stole the furniture, you know, Mr. Gilroy, as it would hamper them too much in their get-away and it would be of no earthly value to any one but these scouts. Neither do I believe that they carried off much food. Only enough to last them for the present. But they doubtless made a caché of it somewhere, believing that the scouts would be too timid ever to return to this camp, and then they could take up their quarters here. If they were left unmolested, they could move back the furniture and food later.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” agreed Mr. Gilroy. “And by depriving the girls of food and camp-beds, they were sure of driving them away from here at once.”
“Exactly. Now, I should propose to the scouts that they thrash the bushes near here to see if the villagers have not passed over the hidden stores or pieces of furniture. Of course they ought to have beaten the woods too well to miss anything, but one never can tell as, in their zeal, they are huntingmen, not food,” said the Chief.
“We will search if you are quite sure it is safe for us to do so. If the hunters who sought first missed the chairs or table, why couldn’t they pass over a recumbent form of a man?” said Mrs. Vernon.
“Oh, I do not think the tables or chairs are left standing intact. And the food-stuffs will not be in boxes, either; but small installments of it probably will be found here and there under the leaves, in hollows, or hidden under roots of trees.”
“Well, Chief, you leave two of your best men here with us for protection, and then go as far as you like over the mountain-top,” agreed Mr. Gilroy.
So two big fighting men were detailed to remain behind with the camp-party, and the rest of the police started in different directions to hunt out the desperadoes.
After the police were out of sight, Joan said: “I wish we could find our food-stuff and furniture before a rain-storm comes.”
Mrs. Vernon laughed. “If the grapevine could withstand the snows and rains of many years before we found it, now that it is turned into furniture for us it will surely not suffer from a slight storm.”
“Well,Iam not thinking of storms, but of hunger. Let’s go to work and hunt, then we can stay on in camp—if we find the food,” said Julie.
So in short order every one was beating the bushes and leaves as if in search of diamonds. The policemen had given the girls a “safety zone” in which to work, while they themselves wandered further afield.
Not long after they began seeking, Mrs. Vernon found a cooking-pot under a bush. Then Joan found some groceries. In all sorts of out-of-the-way holes and nooks, well-covered from curious eyes, different articles were found, but the greater part of the food-stuff was still to be regained, when the Captain told her girls to rest for a short time and eat some of the crackers Ruth had found.
A dish-pan of water was brought from the spring and the scouts sat down to eat and drink, while reviewing the thrilling adventures of the past two days.
“I still must say that I am dubious about the reception this present undertaking will receive, when it is known that I am so weak-minded as to give in to four coaxing girls and Mr. Gilroy, who has a wonderful plan for you girls to win a lot of money—but in a manner that is ninety-nine chances against one to its success.”
“Oh, Verny! Do tell us what it is!” exclaimed Julie.
“Is that what he whispered to you that made you change your mind?” asked Ruth.
“Yes, I was foolish enough to believe that it was possible, but now that I am here I see that it is not! I wish to goodness we were back safe at Freedom!”
A pleased signal from the detective now caused the happy scouts to race down the trail as if a wild grizzly was after them. Joan and Julie reached him first, and there they saw the nice little caché of food-stock that every man in Freedom had passed by while thrashing the bushes for the fugitives.
“Of all things! How did they get the time to do it so neatly?” asked Mrs. Vernon, seeing the logs and leaves and stones scattered over the boxes and tins of camp-food.
“They are experienced wanderers, I suppose, and most likely often had to hide their firearms and food from the secret police in Europe,” returned the detective, beginning to drag out the packages and boxes.
“I can’t understand how those men from Freedom, beating over this very ground, should pass by such a clue to the rascals. You see they can’t live very long without food, so here we have them, while they may still be at large on the mountains,” continued the policeman.
The girls were only too glad to carry their campstock back to the small hut and there left it in the custody of Mr. Gilroy, while they sought still further for blankets or bedding.
The Chief soon came down the trail and stopped at the camp long enough to hear about the recovery of the stolen food. Then, hearing that the detective was still out hunting for the bedding, he left the scouts to cook some supper.
As they worked to settle the camp again, Mr. Gilroy sat in the sun thinking. Suddenly he exclaimed, “I have it!”
“What?” cried four voices as they ran over to see if he had caught the vandals with his idea.
“The true story of this entire plot. Now, it is this way:
“Those blackguards saw your party drive Hepsy up the trail going to the Cave. Maybe they hid and heard you talk about the place. And they knew that if you explored the Caves you must find me and doubtless would endeavor to help me.
“They counted on that work taking you much longer than it actually did—for they know nothing about scouts and how they have to understand ‘First Aid.’ But they raced down the trail as fast as they could go, hoping to get away from this region before their new atrocity was published.
“Then they reached your camp and found the food-stuff and the other things. To prevent you from remaining at camp again it would be necessary to deprive you of food and furniture. So they carried everything off and hid it in the bushes where you wouldn’t find it so easily. The food they covered, for that they wanted for themselves, in case they had to hide for a long time.
“They figured that it would take you some time to carry me down the hillside, and much longer to go on to Freedom. By that time they could be miles away over the mountain-top.
“But you upset most of their calculations by unexpectedly appearing on the scene with me, and then going right on down the trail. If we had passed a night here, or even delayed a few hours until darkness fell, perhaps we would never again have seen the day.”
“Oh! You make me shiver, Mr. Gilroy,” exclaimed Ruth.
“Don’t shiver over a theory, Ruth! That’s all it is, for Mr. Gilroy said so before he told his story,” laughed Julie.
“Julie, you’re right! Mr. Gilroy ought to have more sense than to theorize in such a fear-inspiring way,” added Joan, trying to be jocular but feeling creepy.
“I beg your pardon, scouts—I am at fault, I see,” said Mr. Gilroy, politely.
“I say, don’t let’s waste time theorizing and scolding each other, but do let us see that a nice supper is ready for the police when they come up the hill,” said Betty.
“As usual, our Welfare Member is right,” laughed Mrs. Vernon, patting Betty on the head.
But the two detectives failed to come back, and Mr. Gilroy began worrying about them. He thought it foolish for two men to go away like that, while the rascals were still at large.
Then Mrs. Vernon expressed an opinion. “Mr. Gilroy, I will make a motion that you be made to go to bed in the old hut. The spruce tips are made up in there, and you have had a wearing day. We should feel guilty if we had to telegraph a death notice to your friends in New York State.”
“I second the motion!” exclaimed Julie.
“Motion made and seconded that our friend Mr. Gilroy be made to go to bed at once—without his supper,” laughed Joan.
“Don’t take a vote, scouts—I promise to be good!” cried Mr. Gilroy, holding up a hand in protest of the unanimous vote about to follow.
“Then say ‘nighty-night’ and go at once,” added the Captain.
“I suppose I must even though the sun has not yet set, but what is one poor man to do with five domineering scouts about him?” sighed he, in mock obedience.
Having given their guest some supper and then shown him to his room and seen that the candle was safely stuck in an empty bottle, the scouts said good-night and returned to the fire, where the Captain still sat thinking.
“Girls, I want you all to sit in the new hut with me, if you don’t mind,” whispered Mrs. Vernon.
“Why—are you frightened, Verny?” asked Julie, while the others looked apprehensively about.
“I feel that it is all so open out here, and the two detectives never came back. In the hut we will have log walls, at least.”
“Come on—hurry up, girls,” cried Ruth, running over towards the door.
“If only we had some revolvers,” said Julie.
“If only I had had more sense than to give in to your coaxing! I might have known this was no place for us,” snapped Mrs. Vernon, angry with herself.
When the campers were seated upon the boards they had placed across the damaged seats, Betty asked timidly:
“Verny, are we going to bed to-night?”
“You scouts will, but I will sit up all night.”
“Then we shall too, Verny. Not that we want to disobey you, but you must not ask us to do anything you would not do yourself,” said Julie.
“But you will grow drowsy later on, girls, and I want you to have as much rest as possible,” explained Mrs. Vernon.
“I’m sleepy now, Verny; if I only had a pillow I could be off in dreamland in a moment,” confessed Betty.
“Here—lean your head against my shoulder, Betsy,” said Julie, placing an arm about her sister.
But the dreams suddenly disappeared when a stealthy creeping of footsteps seemed to come from the doorway of the old hut. Every one gazed spell-bound at the open door, and Mrs. Vernon could just summon courage enough to say quite loudly:
“Is that you, Chief? Mr. Gilroy is in the small hut!”
She knew the sound of her voice would break the spell of fear that held them all. Then Mr. Gilroy’s voice came back:
“S-sh! It is me—myself!”
“What’s the matter?” anxiously whispered five voices.
The very actions of Mr. Gilroy now filled the scouts with fear, for he leaned over and in such a low whisper as to be hardly distinguishable, said: “Some one’s behind the wall of this hut.”
It was well that at this moment a muffled curse sounded from the wall at the back of the hut, where it was built up to meet the rocky ledge of the mountainside. The scouts instantly felt their courage revive when they knew where to look for the danger.
A hoarse whisper was now plainly heard through the chinks of the wall where the clay had been plastered in.
“Agh! now you must mek a noise aut get us pinched in agin!” The voice was gutteral and spoke with a strong foreign accent.
“But dis foot is crusht allreatty. I can’t stant it anudder minute. I’m better off in jail dan widdout a foot!”
Mr. Gilroy now placed his mouth close to Julie’s ear and whispered: “You and Joan take the flashlight and creep out of here as noiselessly as possible. Run for your lives down the trail and give the signal the police determined upon. Here is a whistle. Blow it three times with but a moment’s interval between—then, if it is not answered, blow again. Keep this up until you get an answer.”
“Supposing the two policemen are not down that trail?” asked Julie, as softly as could be.
“They will be—because now we know they are not killed. We have the two fugitives in behind that wall, and I want to keep them there until the police get here,” said Mr. Gilroy.
Julie and Joan then crept away, and Mrs. Vernon heard Mr. Gilroy’s voice close at her ear explaining where they went.
“You see, the convicts cannot get out of there without our seeing them. In that case I will use my automatic revolver,” added Mr. Gilroy.
“Oh! I didn’t know you had one,” sighed the Captain in great relief.
“Yes, and I was about to say that you and the two girls had better creep out and get under the heap of spruce tips that is piled in the old hut, while I sit here and guard the wall,” Mr. Gilroy returned.
Ruth and Betty refused to leave him, however, so the four sat and waited in the darkness.
After a long interval of absolute silence, a shrill whistle was heard down the trail. Then a voice behind the wall said: “D’ye t’ink enny one’s got a clue?”
“Try to see thu dat crack in de wall—see ef yuh kin see any light in dat room?”
“Not a flicker—black as pitch out dere.”
“Dat shows dey’s gone, ’cause no woman’ll sit in de dark widda coupla o’ convicks loose in de woods,” harshly laughed one.
“I wisht you’se coul’ help lift me foot outen dis hole what’s eatin’ me heart out,” groaned the man who evidently had injured his foot.
“S-she! Dere goes dat whistle agin. Mebbe dem cops is comin’ back dis way.”
“Ef dey come back, it’s ours fer keepin’ mum agin. We cain’t git away, yuh know, wid my foot lame. An’ dey’ll never tink of lookin’ behin’ dis wall fer us ef we kin shet up an’ stan’ it.”
“No, but we woulden’ have t’ought of it ourself ef it hadn’t ben fer dat crookit chimbly. It war so easy to climb dat an’ slide down here behin’ de wall,” chuckled the other one.
Mr. Gilroy gently touched the scouts to keep silence, and all four listened with nerves a-tension.
“Wisht we onny hed a gun—den we coul’ put up a fight ef any one gits on to dis hidin’ place,” said one of the voices, after a silence that had followed another shrill whistle in the woods.
“Dem cops is havin’ fun widda whistle. But dey kin whistle fer all we care.” A chuckle expressed the satisfaction the man felt.
Then an answering signal whistled close to the hut, and one of the prisoners said to his pal: “Gee! Dey’s closer’n I t’ought. Keep mum, now, en don’t groan enny when dey’s in hearin’.”
Another whistle from the trail echoed to the hut, and Mr. Gilroy got up and ran out. He met two of the returning policemen just outside, and drew them away so that he could tell them of the discovery without being overheard by the convicts; for he had learned how the slightest sound echoed in the forest silences.
The men quickly planned how they could catch the convicts, but how should they force them out from behind the wall of the hut?
“We’ll have to chop down the log wall,” said one.
“It will take all night and before we get it down our men may have crept out and escaped,” said the other.
“We’ll have to wait for the Chief and his companion to join us, so that two of us can sit on the roof and guard the hole where these men crept through to get in back there,” said Mr. Gilroy.
A dancing flashlight seen through the forest trees along the lower trail now told the three anxious men that the girls had found the Chief and his men and were returning.
Soon the Chief was in an earnest conference with his men and Mr. Gilroy, while the two scouts crept in to whisper a plan to the Captain.
While the Chief drew his men away from the hut so they might talk and plan without danger of being heard by the convicts, Julie and Joan whispered their plan to the admiring Captain.
“We’ll start a blazing fire in the chimney, because everything is laid ready for one, and soon the smoke will choke up the hut and fill the empty place back of the wall, just as it always did when we had a fire for fun,” said Julie.
“Wasn’t it lucky that we built the chimney as we did! If it was straight and correct, it wouldn’t smoke, and then that hollow place behind the wall would never fill with smoke,” whispered Betty, excitedly.
“S-sh! For goodness sake don’t whisper so loud—they’ll hear us and know what we are planning to do!” warned Joan, placing her hand over Betty’s mouth.
“But we won’t hint to those rascals that we are only smoking them out—we will pretend we are going to burn down the hut,” now announced Julie, highly pleased with her plan.
“How?” asked Betty.
“This way—now listen and keep your wits about you—all of you, and reply wisely,” whispered Julie, going over to the fireplace to speak so the men behind the wall could plainly hear her.
“Scouts, the Chief and his men are outside loading their guns to open a fight on these two men hidden behind this wall, but that means there will be an awful fight. Now, I have a much better plan; I am going to pour gasoline all over this wall and then light it. It won’t take long to burn these logs down; but it will give these convicts a chance to give themselves up.”
Julie paused a moment, then called out loudly:
“Say, you two fugitives! Come out from there quietly and we won’t drive you forth.”
But not a sound was heard from behind the wall. After a few moments, Julie added: “All right! We’ll have to burn down the hut. I’m sorry, but we’ve got to get you, or give up camping here.”
The scouts were intensely interested in this farce, but Julie meant business. She turned to the Captain and said: “Make the scouts leave the hut before I pour this gasoline all over the log wall. If they remain here with lighted candles, the fumes of the gasoline will cause an explosion.”
Julie grinned at the girls and placed a finger on her lips as a signal for absolute silence; then she continued:
“That’s right, Captain; now you take that can of gasoline that stands by the door, and pour it all over those logs while I soak these—then run outside. I will wait, and the moment you are out I will throw a lighted taper at the wall. Instantly the flames will eat up the bark and begin to burn through. By that time those two men will be glad to crawl out and give themselves up.”
Julie pointed at a pail of water that stood by the door, so the Captain picked it up. Then the scout began arranging the paper and kindlings in the fireplace. These she lit with a match, and when she found they were beginning to burn, she called out:
“Now! Let us throw the gasoline all over the wall! Ready!”
As Julie gave the word, Mrs. Vernon tossed the water over as much wall surface as possible, then ran from the hut. The smoke now began to pour from the fireplace and filled the room. The scouts had to remain outside to keep from choking. Julie was the last to leave, but she smiled with satisfaction when she saw the dense smoke quickly filling the hut. Then she closed the door.
“Have you enough wood on the fire to last this trick out?” asked Mrs. Vernon, anxiously.
“Piles of it! That’s why it is smoking so furiously,” replied Julie.
“Only a tiny spiral of smoke can be seen coming from the top of the chimney, so most of it must be escaping from the fireplace into the room,” announced Joan.
Suddenly the scouts heard some one back of the hut wall cough. Then another louder cough. Soon two were coughing and strangling desperately, and the Captain patted Julie on the back approvingly.
Then a gutteral voice tried to be heard: “Vee gif up—onny safe us from dis fire!”
Julie held Betty, who was going to shout back that they would be saved. No one replied to the cry, and the two voices shrieked and screamed, “Help! Help—dis house iss on fire—vee burn to dedt!”
Julie was about to answer, when the Chief and Mr. Gilroy ran up. The latter caught Mrs. Vernon’s look, but the former cried excitedly: “How did the hut catch fire?”
He seemed terribly upset about it and wanted to know if the convicts had set fire to the logs. Mrs. Vernon began to explain, while Julie scrambled up on the roof of Hepsy’s shed and carefully made her way along the framework until she reached the chimney, where she held fast and called down to the men behind the wall.
“Come out and give yourselves up, or roast where you are.”
When the Chief heard the scout’s command, he smiled and ordered his men up on the roof to help. Then he followed Julie, and stood beside her with cocked revolver aiming at the rocky wall. The other policemen climbed up, too, and the Chief said to Julie:
“You’d better get down and join your friends now. We can handle the rascals better if you are out of the way.”
“But you won’t have to use revolvers, ’cause they are unarmed,” said Julie, anxiously.
“How do you know that?”
“We heard them whispering. Besides, one man has a crushed foot, and we scouts don’t believe in hurtinganythingthat is helpless—even a convict who has made lots of trouble for us.”
“All right, little girl; I’ll put my gun away, but we ought to haveoneto show, so the rascals won’t try to overpower us.”
“I guess they are so full of smoke and fear that they won’t be able to fight. Cowards always give up easy, you know,” said Julie, creeping down from the roof of the hut, back to Hepsy’s shed.
As Julie had said, the two convicts crawled up from behind the wall, looking the sorriest mortals ever one saw. Their eyes were red and watery from the smoke so that they could hardly see, and they coughed every other second. One limped most painfully, and had to be helped by his pal. Then, just as they stood up on the roof to hold up their hands in defeat, the other one broke through the tar paper roof and stuck fast between the rafters.
“Oh, there goes our roof!” cried Betty plaintively.
“Never mind, Betty dear! You can hire men to put on fifty roofs now, with the reward you scouts will get,” exclaimed Mr. Gilroy.
“Reward! What reward?” asked five amazed voices.
Mr. Gilroy laughed delightedly. “The Chief told me that one reason his men and all the men in Freedom were so eager to hunt these convicts, was the hope of the cash reward offered. The State has offered $500 a head for the capture, dead or alive, of these outlaws and aliens. You scouts have captured the men!”
“W-h-y! I can’t believe it! How did we do it?” exclaimed Betty.
“Oh—Julie caught them, didn’t she?” cried Joan.
“Not alone, Jo. You all helped, and the Captain poured the gasoline, you know, and took the risk of being blown to bits!” laughed Julie, excitedly, as she twisted her fingers nervously.
“When the Chief told me of the rewards, I said: ‘Then the girls ought to have it, no matter whocatchesthe convicts, for they apprehended them and turned in the news of their whereabouts.’”
“Oh, but we didn’t, Mr. Gilroy. You did that yourself,” Ruth corrected the gentleman.
“I only took the blows from the prisoners—you did the rest. But I never dreamed that you would capture them, too. I might have known that girl scouts are capable of doing anything.”
The moment handcuffs were on the convicts, they were placed in custody of the officer. Then the Chief blew his signal so the hunters on the mountainside would know the men were taken.
He congratulated Julie and her friends on having won the much coveted reward, and then said to Mrs. Vernon: “I suppose you will hear from the Government offices in a few days. Meantime, I will need the names and addresses of the members of Dandelion Camp, to enter the report on my records.”
The scattered men who had been hunting through the forests now straggled into camp, all eager to hear by whom and how the convicts had been caught. When they learned that a few girls did the work, they looked disgusted.
But one of the officers laughed heartily as he said: “Why didn’t we think of that hiding-place!”
“Wall, I kin say I’m glad th’ gals got it! They lost all the camp ferniture and grub, an’ has to go home now!” added Lem Saunders, the constable.
“Oh, we forgot to tell you! The food and some furniture was found hidden down the trail in the bushes,” exclaimed Joan.
“But ye haint be agoin’ to stay out here any more, air yeh?” asked Lemuel, wondering at such a risk.
“Of course! We are safer now than we were before we went to Bluebeard’s Cave, you know,” laughed Julie.
“Now we know where those convicts will be, but for two weeks past they were at large and we never knew it.Thatwas when there was cause to fear for us—being in a lonesome camp,” added Mrs. Vernon.
“Yeh,” agreed Lemuel. “But what one don’t know never hurts one, ye know!”
“That reminds me!” exclaimed the Captain, holding up a hand for attention. “Do any of you men know a young hunter and trapper from up the mountain?”
“D’ye mean Ole Granny Dunstan’s boy?” asked Lemuel.
“I only know he lives up the mountain somewhere, and makes his living through selling pelts. I don’t even know his name,” said Mrs. Vernon.
“That’s him! Ole Granny Dunstan’s son,” returned Lemuel.
“Is he with you to-night?” continued the Captain.
“Nah! He’s gone to Washerton most ten days ago. They writ him a note sayin’ they was holdin’ a French paper fer him,” explained a young man who was standing on the outer line of the posse.
“He fit so hard in France, yeh know, that th’ Frenchys done sent him a fine paper tellin’ folks about him. I’ve hear’n said folks over thar nicknamed him an ‘ace,’” said another man.
“Then he must have been an aviator!” exclaimed Mrs. Vernon.
“Yeh! he can fly in one of them machines—but we don’t keep any in Freedom, so we never seed him ride one,” said Lemuel.
“Well, gentlemen, I thank you for this information. But should you see him when he returns from Washington, tell him we want him to stop in and see us—at Dandelion Camp.”
The Chief had ordered his men to accompany the convicts to the village, so Mr. Gilroy offered the car to them. He was going to stay at camp with the scouts, he said.
“But we left our suitcases at the hotel, and Hepsy is at the stable in Freedom!” declared the Captain.
“We’ll all have to go back, then, and come up in the morning,” added Julie.
So the convicts were tied to horses and two of the officers whose mounts had been chosen for this need sat in the car with the scouts. But they didn’t mind being crowded when the two policemen began telling stories of the narrow escapes they had had in the past while catching criminals.
As the cavalcade entered Freedom, Mrs. Vernon said: “After all those blood-curdling stories, I doubt if my scouts will sleep.”
It was past midnight when the hunting party returned to Freedom, and only goodness knows what time it was when all the hunters had finished telling the citizens how the convicts were captured by a few girl scouts.
Long after the scouts had retired Mrs. Vernon heard them whispering to each other. Finally she called out:
“Why don’t you girls go to sleep?”
“We can’t, Verny; we’re thinking of that reward,” said Joan.
“And we’ve spent most of it already!” laughed Julie.
“You’ll have plenty of time to plan about it, girls, for the Government—like most large bodies—moves very slowly. It may be next summer before you get the check,” said the Captain.
“Never mind; it will be ready for the Adirondacks, then.”