A Run for Home
A Run for Home
This was the way they were moving when Mrs. Morgan discovered them approaching the house. She was greatly astonished whenshe saw the nervous haste with which they closed and locked the door, and witnessed their frantic but unsuccessful attempts to recharge their guns, and she was frightened when she caught a glimpse of their faces; but with all her questioning, she could not get a word out of them.
They stared stupidly at her, as they rocked about in their chairs, but did not seem to possess the power of speech.
"Our tongues were stiffer'n a couple of boards, and we couldn't nary one of us open our heads," was the way in which Dan wound up his story. "At first I thought the hant had put some kind of a spell or 'nother on to us; but it went away after a while, and now we can both talk as well as we ever could. I reckon you won't go back, will you, Joey?"
To Dan's utter amazement, the young game-warden replied with the greatest promptness:
"Of course I shall go back. What would Mr. Warren think of me if I should throw up my situation before I had fairly entered upon its duties? I haven't seen anything to get frightened at."
"But I have," exclaimed Dan.
"I don't doubt it in the least," answered Joe, who had a theory of his own regarding the strange things that had happened in the gorge. "If I don't bother the 'hant' I don't see why he should take the trouble to climb out of his cave to bother me. I don't want the treasure he is guarding. I never expect to get a dollar that I don't work for; and, Dan, if you and father would make up your minds to the same thing, and quit your foolish wishing and go to work in dead earnest, you would be better off six months from now. I wouldn't go near those woods again if I were in your place."
"You're right I won't," said Dan, earnestly. "I want my new gun and fish-pole awful bad, and I do despise to have to give 'em up; but I'll wait till that there hant dies or goes away, before I try that gulf again, I bet you. Be you going back to your shanty now?"
Joe said he was.
"Well, mebbe it's best so," continued Dan, reflectively. "You have got to earn all themoney that comes into the family this winter, ain't you?"
"I suppose I shall earn all I get," said Joe, who saw very plainly what his brother was driving at, "and I know that you and father will earn every red cent you get."
"It sorter bothers me to see how we are going to do it," replied Dan. "Don't it you?"
"Not at all. Earn it as you did last winter—cut wood."
"Why, that would take us up there clost to the gulf," cried Dan, looking up in amazement. "And didn't I just tell you that I wasn't going there no more?"
"Now, Dan, that's only an excuse on your part. You know very well that Mr. Warren and Mr. Hallet are not the only ones who will want cord-wood this winter. I don't blame you for keeping away from the gorge; but you can find plenty to do elsewhere, if you are not too lazy to look for it. Well, good-by."
"What a teetotally mean, stingy feller, that Joe of our'n is!" soliloquized Dan, gazing after his brother, who was walking toward thecabin with a light and springy step. "He ain't a going to go halvers with me and pap, is he? I wish in my soul that the hant would run him outen the mounting this very night."
The young game-warden carried a very bright and smiling face into his mother's presence, and Mrs. Morgan felt immensely relieved the moment she looked at it. Instead of locking the door, as Dan and his father always did whenever they wished to hold a secret interview with each other, Joe sat down on the threshold so that he could talk to his mother and keep watch of Dan at the same time.
The latter was inclined to be "snooping," and it would be just like him, Joe thought, to slip up and crouch under the open window, so that he could hear every word he uttered. Dan had an idea of doing that very thing; but he straightway abandoned it when he looked up and saw his brother sitting at ease in the open door.
"Now, mother," said the latter, cheerfully, "throw your fears to the winds. I've got atthe bottom of the whole matter, and know there's nothing to be afraid of."
Then he went on to repeat the story to which he had just listened, but he did not take up so much time with the narration as Dan did, because he used fewer words.
"Dan was so badly frightened that he didn't know whether he stood on his head or his heels," said Joe, in conclusion. "But it is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and this is the best thing that could have happened for me. I told you this morning that if father and Dan didn't behave and let my birds alone, I would find means to make them, but I guess the ghost has taken that most unpleasant job off my hands, and I should really like to thank him for it."
"Then you think there is some one hidden in the gulf?" said Mrs. Morgan.
"I am sure of it; and the reason that father and Dan did not do any damage with their four charges of bird-shot was, because they sent them into a dummy. If they had held a little lower, and fired into the bushes, there might have been another story to tell."
"Have you any idea who the man is?"
"Not the slightest; but—but—well I don't care who he is, or why he is hiding there, if he will only make it his business to drive away every market-shooter who goes into those woods."
It had been right on the point of Joe's tongue to say that he would know all about the mysterious party who was hiding in the gorges before he came home again; but he didn't say it.
His mother was smiling now, and he did not want to bring the old expression of fear and anxiety back to her face. He was none the less determined, however, to sift the matter to the bottom.
"I will see Tom and Bob to-morrow," he went on. "By the way, you didn't know that they are Mr. Hallet's game-wardens, did you? Neither did I, until this morning. I couldn't have better fellows for company, could I? You see, mother, the place where all these things happened is on the dividing line that runs between Mr. Warren's woods and Mr. Hallet's, and as the ghost will help Tom andBob quite as much as he will me, I want to know what they think about letting him stay there."
There was another reason why Joe was anxious to have an interview with Mr. Hallet's game-wardens, but he did not think it best to say anything to his mother about it.
Having told his story, and set all his mother's fears at rest, Joe thought it time to speak of his own affairs, and asked for his father's watch; whereupon, that ancient relic and heirloom was duly fished out of a dark corner in one of the bureau drawers, set in motion, and handed over to him, after being regulated by the not altogether reliable clock that ticked loudly on the mantel.
The young game-warden went away from home with a very light heart beating under his patched jacket. By some fortunate combination of circumstances, which he did not pretend to understand, he had been relieved of a heavy responsibility. The two market-shooters of whom he stood the most in fearhad been most effectually disposed of, for a while at least. It would be a long time, Joe told himself, before his father and Dan could muster up courage enough to come into the woods of which he had charge. If Silas was afraid to draw the wood which was to keep him warm during the winter, it was not at all probable that he would be reckless enough to hunt through Mr. Warren's covers.
When Joe reached his cabin, there was barely enough daylight left to aid him in his search for the lamp which he knew was stowed away somewhere among the things that were scattered over the floor. While he was groping about in the gloom, he wondered how much money it would take to induce Dan or his father to come up there and stay alone in that cabin all night. It would not have been at all strange, in view of the harrowing story to which he had listened a few hours before, if his own nerves had been a trifle "trembly;" but they were not. The sighing of the evening breeze through the thick branches of the evergreens that surrounded the cabin on three sides, and themournful song of a distant whip-poor-will, were sounds that some people do not like to hear, because they make one feel lonely; but they were company for Joe, and he delighted in listening to them.
He found the lamp after a protracted search, filled it outside the door just as the last ray of daylight gave way to the increasing darkness, and when he touched a match to the wick and put on the chimney, his surroundings began to assume a more cheerful aspect.
It was the work of but a few moments to start a blaze in the fireplace, and while he was waiting for it to gather headway, so that he could pile on the hard wood which was to furnish the coals for the broiling of his bacon, he busied himself in setting things to rights.
He didn't bother with the carpet—that would have to wait until to-morrow; but he put up his cot, laid the mattress upon it, and was about to spread the bed-clothes over that, when he heard the snapping of twigs and heavy, lumbering footfalls outside the door, and looked up to see a white, scared facepressed close against one of the window-panes.
Joe was startled, and during the instant of time that he stood motionless by his cot, he felt the hot blood rushing to his heart, and knew that his own face must be as white as the one at the window.
His first emotion was one of fear, but it speedily gave place to anger and excitement. He wondered if the man who was hiding in the gorge labored under the delusion that he could drive him away with the same ease that he had driven off Dan and Silas.
"This thing might as well be settled now as a week from now," thought Joe. "I am here on legitimate business, and I'll ride rough-shod over anybody who attempts to interfere with me."
With one bound, Joe sprang clear across the cabin, and when he turned about he held his cocked rifle in his hands. He was ready to shoot, too.
But the man at the window had seen the movement, and lost no time in drawing his head out of sight.
"Hold on there!" said a frightened voice.
Instead of "holding on," Joe jumped for the door, jerked it open, and in an instant more the muzzle of his heavy weapon was covering a crouching figure under the window.
"Speak quick," said he. "Who are you?"
"Mr. Brown! Mr. Brown!" came the answer, in tones that Joe recognized at once. "What are you pointing that gun at me for? I'm lost, and want help to find my way out of the woods."
"Then why didn't you come to the door and say so like a man, instead of trying to scare me by looking in at the window? You ought to know that you put yourself in danger by doing that."
"I didn't mean to frighten you," replied Mr. Brown.
And Joe could easily believe it. His visitor had risen to an upright position by this time, and Joe saw at a glance that he was too badly frightened himself to think of playing tricks upon others.
"Why did you not answer my calls for help?" demanded Mr. Brown, who, now thathe was safe, seemed to grow indignant when he remembered how near he had come to spending the night alone on the mountain, with no cheering camp-fire to illumine the darkness.
"Because I didn't hear any calls for help," answered Joe, shortly.
"Well, I did call, and called again, until I was too hoarse to speak above a whisper," said Mr. Brown, walking into the cabin, and placing a camp-chair in front of the fire.
Just then the pointers came into view and went in also, stretching themselves out on the hearth with long-drawn sighs of relief, and the three took up about all the spare room there was in the game-warden's little domicile.
"I don't know who has the most impudence, the man or his dogs," thought Joe, as he closed and fastened the door. "They have come here to run things, judging by the way they shut me off from the fire."
"This is glorious," continued Mr. Brown, depositing his double-barrel in the chimney-corner, and spreading his benumbed hands out in front of the genial blaze. "The airbegins to get cold up here on the mountain just as soon as the sun sinks out of sight, and I am chilled through. Now, how am I to get to the Beach? That's the question."
"You will have to answer it for yourself, for I can't," Joe replied. "You had a guide the last time I saw you."
These innocent words seemed to irritate the man to whom they were addressed, for he turned upon Joe almost fiercely.
"Yes, I did have one," said he. "But where is he now?"
"I don't know," answered Joe.
And he might have added that he did not care.
"You heard me remind him that I had given him a handsome sum of money to put me in the way of a good day's shooting, did you not? I knew him to be perfectly familiar with these woods, and I supposed he could do it. Of course, I was aware that I couldn't take home a bag of grouse; but I knew there was no law protecting the English birds that have just been turned down in these covers, and I looked for jolly goodsport, and for twenty-five or thirty brace of birds to distribute among my friends."
"Don't you think it was kind of Mr. Warren to pay six dollars a pair for those birds, just to give you the fun of shooting them?" asked Joe. "You ought to thank him for it."
Mr. Brown stared hard at the bold speaker, shrugged his shoulders, and turned around on his camp-chair to bring the heat of the fire to bear upon the back of his shooting-jacket.
"Well," said he, slowly, "if any man is foolish enough to squander his money in that way, I don't know that it is any business of mine, or yours, either; and neither do I consider it my duty to refrain from shooting birds that are not protected by law, as often as my dogs flush them. Now, let me go on with my story."
"But first suppose that you send the dogs under the table, and move back out of my way, so that I can cook supper," suggested Joe.
But Mr. Brown and his four-footed companions were very comfortable there in frontof the fire, and not until Joe, losing all patience, jerked the door wide open and caught up a broom, could any of them muster up energy sufficient to move out of his way.
Then the pointers, which were really well trained and obedient, were easily induced to get under the table, while Mr. Brown retreated into the chimney-corner.
"Now I am ready to listen," said Joe, after he had piled an armful of hard wood upon the fire. "Where is your guide, and why didn't he show you the way to the Beach?"
"He is at home, I suppose," said Mr. Brown, growing spiteful again. "When I learned that these birds were protected, and that Brierly, instead of giving me a day's shooting had rendered both himself and me liable to trespass, I told him that he had better hand back the twenty-five dollars I had given him—"
"Twenty-five dollars for a single day's shooting!" exclaimed Joe.
"That is what I paid him," said Mr. Brown. "But do you imagine that he gave it back, even when he knew that he could notfulfil his promise? No, sir! He got out of it by leading me away off into the woods and losing me there. I had a fearful time working my way out, and it was only by the merest accident that I blundered within sight of the light that streamed from your window."
"Good for Brierly!" was Joe's mental comment. "I wish he would serve every law-breaking pot-hunter who takes him for a guide in the same way." Then, aloud, he asked, "Did it frighten you to think that you had a fair prospect of lying out all night?"
"It was by no means a pleasant reflection, but that wasn't what frightened me. I ran across a couple of men up there," said Mr. Brown, giving his head a backward jerk. "Their stealthy actions seemed to indicate that they were abroad for no good purpose, and I was not sorry to see the last of them."
"Did they say anything to you?" asked Joe.
"Not a word. They made all haste to lose themselves among the thickets, and so did I.It was the prospect of passing the night alone on the mountain while there were prowlers around that tested my nerves, and I was glad indeed to come within sight of your light."
This piece of news was not at all quieting to the feelings of the young game-warden. It aroused in his mind the suspicion that there was more than one man hiding in the gorge, and that they made a business of roaming around after dark to see what they could find that was worth picking up.
If this suspicion was correct, Mr. Warren's woods might prove a very unpleasant place for him to live for eight long months, Joe told himself. He could not remain on guard duty at the cabin all the time, for the work he came there to do would take him to the remotest nooks and corners of the wood-lot; and how easy it would be for those men to slip up during his absence and carry away everything he possessed!
"If they are outlaws, and I really believe they are," thought Joe, as he poked up the fire, which had by this time almost burned itself down to a glowing bed of coals, "theyought to be hunted out of that gorge without loss of time. I will find Tom and Bob the first thing in the morning, and ask them what they think of it."
"How far is it to the beach?" inquired Mr. Brown, who had got pretty well thawed out by this time.
"Eight long miles," replied Joe, "and the most of the way lies through the thickest woods that are to be found among these hills. I can't direct you so that you could keep a straight course, and indeed I don't think I could keep it myself on a dark night like this. You had better give up the idea of going there to-night, and stay here until morning."
"You seem to have but one bed," said Mr. Brown, doubtfully.
"Well, you may take that, and I'll look out for myself."
Most men would have expressed their regrets that circumstances compelled them to trespass upon the young game-warden'shospitality; but Mr. Brown wasn't that sort. He had a cheerful fire to sit by, a clean, if not luxurious bed to sleep in, a substantial meal in prospect, and what more could a belated hunter ask for? If his presence put Joe to any inconvenience, why, that was no concern of his.
The supper that Joe served up to his uninvited guest was plain but well cooked, and no sooner had it been disposed of than Mr. Brown threw himself upon the cot, boots and all, and speedily went off into the land of dreams.
Joe spent the evening in looking over the books and papers with which Mr. Warren had provided him, and when his watch told him that it was ten o'clock, he lay down before the fire, with his coat for a pillow, and went to sleep.
The first gray streaks of dawn that came in through the uncurtained window awoke him, but his guest still slumbered heavily, and Joe did not disturb him until he had made the coffee and slapjacks, and fried the bacon and eggs.
Mr. Brown did not take the trouble to respond to the boy's hearty good-morning, but seated himself at the table, after performing a hasty toilet, and attacked the savory viands without ceremony.
When he had eaten rather more than his share of them, his tongue became loosened, and he asked if it were possible for him to reach the Beach in time to take the stage for Bellville.
Joe said it was, provided he did not waste too much time in making a start, and then he began railing at Brierly for the mean trick he had served him.
"I wish I could prosecute him and compel him to give up my money," said he, "but I don't see that I can make out a case against him. More than that, I can't wait to go through a law-suit, and neither do I want to give Mr. Warren a chance at me. He might take a notion to have a hand in the business."
"Very likely he would," said Joe, dryly. "You knew well enough that these grounds are posted, and you ought to have cleared out when you saw the first notice."
"You will guide me to the Beach, of course?" said Mr. Brown, who did not appear anxious to discuss this point.
"I will put you on the road, but I can't promise to go all the way with you," was Joe's reply. "I am paid to stay here."
Mr. Brown was not quite satisfied with this arrangement—he was very much afraid that he might get lost again—but he was obliged to put up with it.
An hour later, Joe stood by his father's wood-pile, taking a last look at his departing guest, who was hurrying down the dim wagon-road toward the valley below. All he had received in return for his services was a slight farewell bow.
"I have seen a good many sportsmen first and last," thought the young game-warden, as he shouldered his rifle and retraced his steps down the mountain, "but Mr. Brown beats me. If he ever spends another night in my house, he will take off his boots before he goes to bed, and pay me in advance for his meals and lodging."
Remembering the prowlers of whom Mr.Brown had Spoken, Joe went straight back to his cabin, took a good look around to make sure that everything there was just as he had left it, and then started off in search of Tom and Bob.
He found them setting their house in order. A note of warning from Tom's little beagle brought them both to the door, where they remained until Joe came up.
They were somewhat surprised at his actions. Instead of replying to their greetings, he leaned on the muzzle of his rifle and looked quizzically at them.
"Halloa! What has come over you all of a sudden?" exclaimed Bob.
Still Joe did not speak. He shut his left eye, and looked at Bob through the half-closed lids of the other.
"What do you mean by that pantomime?" chimed in Tom.
By way of reply, Joe shut his right eye and looked at Tom with the left; whereupon all the boys broke out into a hearty laugh.
"Say," said Joe at length, "I wish you would tell me just how much you know aboutthe ghost that has taken up his abode down there in the gorge."
"What ghost?" asked Bob, staring hard at his friend Tom, and trying to look surprised.
"Down where in what gorge?" inquired Tom, returning Bob's stare with interest.
"Of course you don't know anything about it," said Joe, with a look which said that they knewallabout it; "but if you are as ignorant as you pretend to be, why were you so anxious to keep me out of the gorge yesterday?"
"Why—er—you see, we didn't want you to walk yourself to death for nothing," said Tom, wondering if Joe had anything better than mere suspicion to back him. "We knew there were a couple of fellows down there, for we heard them shoot, and we advised you to keep out of the gorge because we were satisfied that you couldn't catch them, and that it would be a waste of breath and strength for you to make the attempt."
"Was that the only reason you had for giving me that advice?" asked Joe, with asmile. "You might as well confess that there was something down there you did not want me to see. There were two fellows in the gorge yesterday, but they were not hunting birds. They were after the twelve thousand dollars in bills and three hundred dollars in gold that you said were hidden there."
"We never said so!" exclaimed both the boys, in a breath.
"But the letter you wrote said so," insisted Joe. "And what do you think those trespassers did while they were there?" he continued, with great impressiveness. "They sent four charges of shot into the head of that ghost, which wasn't a ghost at all, if you only knew it."
"Great Moses!" ejaculated Bob, who was really surprised now, as well as alarmed.
The way in which Joe spoke was calculated to excite the gravest suspicions in his mind and Tom's.
"Did—did they hit him?" Tom managed to ask.
"I should say they did!" answered Joe, solemnly. "They could not miss him verywell, seeing that he was only thirty yards away from the muzzles of their guns."
"Was—was it a man?" Tom ventured to ask.
"Animals don't generally have 'hants,' do they?" asked Joe, in reply. "There was a man there, and he howled and screamed—"
"Oh, great Scott!" groaned Tom, while Bob rubbed his hands together, and gazed down the mountain, as if he were meditating instant flight.
"And he kept it up after he received those four charges of shot in his head, and—"
These words had a magical effect upon Tom and Bob, who were really afraid that their practical joke had resulted in a terrible tragedy.
They looked at Joe so steadily that the latter could control himself no longer. He sat down on a convenient log, threw back his head, and laughed till the tears rolled down his cheeks.
"You shot closer to the mark than you thought for when you made that letter say there was something in the gorge," said Joe,at last. "There's a man down there—two of them, according to my way of thinking."
"Well," said Bob, who was immensely relieved by this sudden and unexpected turn of affairs, "we knew it. We went into the gorge day before yesterday, to catch a trout for dinner, and when we came home we followed the stream, thinking it would be easier than to climb up the bluff. That was the way we found it out. When we came to the place where we had located our robbers' cave our ears were saluted by such sounds as we never listened to before, but we didn't see anything."
"What sort of an object was it that Dan shot at?" asked Tom, who was glad to see that Joe was not inclined to be angry over the trick that had been played upon his father and brother. "Was it a dummy?"
"If it had been anything else I might have had a different story to tell you," was Joe's reply. "There are at least two outlaws in hiding there, and they have taken that way to make inquisitive hunters keep at a distance."
"What makes you think there are two of them?"
"Because Mr. Brown ran against two prowlers in the woods last night."
"Who is Mr. Brown?"
Joe replied that he was one of the men he had been obliged to order out of Mr. Warren's woods on the previous day, and then he went on to tell of the visit he had had from him the night before, and how frightened he was when he saw the man's face at the window.
When he described how Brierly had managed to evade his employer's demand for the return of the twenty-five dollars that had been paid him, Tom and Bob laughed heartily, and declared that Brierly had served him just right.
Joe did not neglect to tell how Mr. Brown had abused his hospitality, and his account of it aroused the ire of the two listeners, who declared that if that man ever got lost in their woods, he need not trouble himself to hunt up their cabin, for they would not take him in.
"What kind of a looking thing was that dummy?" inquired Bob, coming back to the matter in which he was interested more than he was in Mr. Brown and his fortunes.
Joe was obliged to confess that he could not answer that question, because Dan's description of the thing that he and his father shot at, surpassed all belief. Whether it was the appearance of the ghost itself, or the fact that the four loads of shot that had been fired at it had had no perceptible effect upon it, or the terrifying shrieks that awoke the echoes of the gorge—whether it was one or all of these that had frightened Silas into saying that he would not haul any more wood down from the mountain, Joe could not tell; but he thought those men ought to be made to give an account of themselves. If they had not violated the law in some way, why did they take so much pains to keep out of sight?
"We were at first inclined to believe that some of the mischief-loving guests at the Beach had a hand in it," observed Tom. "When a lot of city people turn themselves loose in the country, they will go foranything that has fun in it, no matter what it is."
"You mean that that wasyourexplanation of it," corrected Bob. "I thought when the thing happened, that it was an outlaw who yelled at us until we were glad to get out of hearing of him, and I think so now."
"So do I," said Joe. "And I shall hold fast to that opinion until we go down there and get at the bottom of the mystery. I am ready to start at once. What do you say?"
Ever since the mysterious inhabitant of the gorge had driven them from his presence by his unearthly howling, there had been a tacit understanding between Tom and Bob that some day, after they had time to get a good ready, they would return and drive him out of his hiding-place; or, if they failed in that, find out who he was, and what brought him there.
It was the hope of being able to carry out one or the other of these ideas that had prompted them, on the previous day, to seize their guns and run for the gorge when they heard those four shots fired there.
When they found Joe, and learned that he was more than half inclined to go in search of the poachers, who, he thought, were pursuing their nefarious work on the other sideof the gulf, they endeavored to dissuade him, because they were afraid he might encounter something he would not care to see. But it turned out that Joe knew more about the matter than they did, and furthermore that he wouldn't rest easy until he knewallabout it.
Tom was the first to speak.
"I wonder if a stranger thing than this ever happened?" said he. "We wrote a letter and put it into your father's wood-pile, just for the fun of the thing—"
"And by that means unearthed a brace of thieves, or something worse," said Joe. "You needn't look at me in that way. I don't bear you the least ill-will for what you did. On the contrary I thank you for it, and if I were sure that those parties in the gorge would let us alone this winter, I should be strongly in favor of letting them alone, too; for, as long as they stay there, we are safe from two of the worst game-law breakers in the country."
"But the mystery of that gulf is known to but few," said Tom.
"It will be known to more by this time next week," answered Joe. "Dan will tell it to every man and boy he meets, and in that way it will become noised abroad. But here's the difficulty: they won't let us alone. I have not the slightest doubt that they frightened Mr. Brown last night. If you could have seen the face he put against my window, you wouldn't doubt it either; and that seems to prove that, although they keep closely hidden during the day, they go out on foraging expeditions as soon as darkness comes to conceal their movements. If that is the case, what is there to hinder them from robbing our cabins at any time? You have the advantage of me, for one of you can stay here on guard while the other is attending to business; but when you see Joe Morgan, you see all there is of my party, and I can't be in two places at the same time. That's why I am so anxious to have those fellows out of there."
"I understood you to say that you got your information from Dan," observed Bob. "What did he say? Did he tell you everything that happened in the gulf?"
"Yes, and more, too," said Joe, with a laugh. "I went home yesterday after a time-piece, and Dan concluded to take me into his confidence."
"Well, tell us the story, just as he told it to you, so that we may know."
"Oh, I couldn't begin to do that, and besides, you wouldn't believe me if I did!" exclaimed Joe.
"Then tell it in your own way, so that we may know just what we shall have to face, if we decide to go down there," said Tom. "Wait until I get something for us to sit down on, and then we'll take it easy."
Tom went into the cabin, reappearing almost immediately with three camp-chairs in his hands. When each boy had appropriated one, Joe began his story, making no effort to follow Dan's narration, but telling it in such a way that his auditors saw through it as plainly as he did himself. Indeed, the whole thing was so very transparent that Tom and Bob marveled at Dan's stupidity.
"It seems to me that a child ought to have seen through it without half trying," saidJoe, in conclusion. "But simple as the trick was, it is going to end in something besides fun; mind that, both of you."
"Then they wouldn't use the rope, because they were afraid that they would dump themselves down in front of the 'hant' before they could get a chance to shoot him," said Bob. "Well, they saved time by not looking for it, because it wasn't there. I never thought of the rope after I spoke about it in the letter. Well, Tom, what do you say? I am ready to face the spectre of the cave if you are."
"Talk enough," was Tom's reply.
And to show that he was in earnest about it, he picked up his camp-chair and went into the cabin.
When he came out again, he carried his double-barrel in his hands and his cartridge belt was buckled about his waist.
No one could have accused these three boys of cowardice if they had decided that they would not go near the gorge at all. It was plain that the men who were in hiding there—they were satisfied now that there were at least two of them—were fugitives fromjustice, and such characters ought to be left to the care of the officers of the law.
It is true that their presence in the gorge was a continual menace to the peace and comfort of the young game-wardens. They seemed to say, by their actions, "We are here to stay, and you can't get us out."
The boys took the events of the last two days as a challenge to them to come on and see what they could make by it, and the promptness with which Joe Morgan proposed the expedition, and the nervous eagerness exhibited by Tom and Bob in preparing to take part in it, indicated that they meant to do something before they came back.
"There's one thing about it," said Bob, after he had armed himself, and closed and locked the door, "we are not to be turned from our purpose by a dozen dummy ghosts, and neither will those horrid yells have the same effect upon us that they did the first time we heard them. If Dan had fired into the bushes, instead of aiming at the 'hant's' head—"
"I hope you don't intend to do that!" cried Joe, in alarm. "If you do, you willget into trouble as sure as the world. Beyond a doubt, there was a man behind the bushes."
"Of course there was," assented Bob. "But you need not worry about me. I shall not allow my excitement to lead me into anything reckless."
Tom Hallet, who was leading the way, took a short cut through the woods, and his route did not take him and his companions within a mile of Joe Morgan's cabin.
If they had gone there, instead of holding a straight course for the gorge, they might have been in time to see something surprising. They did not know that the enemy was operating in the rear while they were marching upon his stronghold, but they found it out afterward.
They moved along as silently as so many Indians, and when they reached the gorge, spread themselves out along the brink, looking for a place that gave promise of an easy descent to the bottom.
Before they had made many steps, Joe uttered an exclamation of astonishment, andwith a motion of his hand, called his companions to his side.
"This is the spot we are looking for," said he, in a suppressed whisper. "Push the bushes aside and you will see it."
Tom did so, and, sure enough, there was a clearly-defined path, which seemed to run straight down to the brook below.
It looked more like an archway than anything else to which we can compare it, for the tops of the bushes were entwined above it, and they were so dense and matted that they shut out every ray of the sun.
"Now what's to be done?" whispered Bob. "No doubt the path leads straight down to their hiding-place, and I am free to confess that I don't want to come upon them before I know it."
Joe's reply was characteristic of the boy. He did not say a word, but worked his way through the bushes, and moved down the path with slow and cautious footsteps.
"That looks like business," whispered Bob, who lost not a moment in following his daring leader, Tom and Bugle being equally prompt to bring up the rear.
In this order they moved at a snail's pace toward the bottom of the gorge, stopping every few feet to listen, and all the while holding themselves in readiness to fight or run, as circumstances might seem to require, and to their great surprise they came to the foot of the path without encountering the least opposition, or hearing any alarming sound.
The deep silence that brooded over the gorge aroused their suspicions at once. What if the enemy had heard their approach, in spite of all the pains they had taken to keep them in ignorance of it, and prepared an ambush for them?
Joe thought of that, and the instant he found himself in the gorge, he moved promptly to one side, so that his companions could form in line of battle on his left—a manœuvre which they executed at double quick time.
"Great Scott! There's our cave," whispered Tom, who was so nearly overcome with amazement that he could scarcely speak plainly.
"And there's the ghost," chimed in Joe,pointing to a scarecrow in white raiment that lay prone on the rocks under a dense thicket. "Just take a look at its head! Those four loads of shot tore it almost to pieces."
But Tom and Bob did not stop to look at the ghost, for they were too busy taking notes of their surroundings while awaiting an onset from the owners of the camp. For it was a camp in which they found themselves, and everything in and about it seemed to indicate that it had been occupied for some length of time—two or three weeks at least.
Tom's cave proved, upon closer inspection, to be something else—a rude but very comfortable shelter, in the building of which nature's handiwork had been improved upon by the ingenuity of man. The slanting roof, which for ten feet or more from the entrance was quite high enough to permit a tall man to stand upright, was the bottom of a huge rock, firmly embedded in the face of the overhanging bluff. The walls of the cabin, or whatever you choose to call it, were made of evergreens, which had been piled against the rock, top downward, to shed the rain; and that onelittle thing showed to the experienced eyes of the boys that the men who lived there were old campers.
In front of the wide, open entrance were the smouldering remains of a camp-fire, over which a hasty breakfast had been cooked and eaten.
The boys were sure that the meal had been a hurried one, because the dishes were left unwashed; and that is a disagreeable duty that no old-time "outer" ever neglects, unless circumstances compel him to do so.
When the fire was in full blast, and the flames were roaring and crackling and the sparks ascending toward the clouds, it was probable that the interior of the cabin was bright and cheerful; but now it looked dark and forbidding, thought the boys, as they stretched their necks, twisted their bodies at all sorts of angles, and strained their eyes in the vain effort to see through the gloom that seemed to have settled over the other end of it.
It was a fine place for an ambuscade, but if the enemy had concealed themselves there,why did they not come out? Now was the time for them to make their presence known and felt.
All this while Tom Hallet's little beagle, upon which the boys had been depending to warn them of the proximity of any danger that their less acute senses might not enable them to detect, had been acting in a most unusual manner. He was generally foremost in every expedition in which his master took part, but in this one he was quite contented to remain in the rear.
He went into the camp boldly enough, but after he had taken one look at its surroundings, and caught a single sniff of the tainted air, he stuck up the bristles on the back of his neck, dropped his tail between his legs, and ran behind his master for protection.
"I really believe they are in there. 'St—boy! Go in and hunt them out! Sick 'em!" whispered Tom, pointing to the cabin.
But Bugle was in no hurry to go. He was usually prompt to obey the slightest motion of his master's hand; but now he refused to budge an inch—except toward the rear.
He ran to the foot of the path and stood there, saying as plainly as a dog could that he would go back to the top of the bluff before he would advance a step nearer to the cabin.
The boys closely watched all his movements, and told themselves, privately, that perhaps they had done a foolhardy thing in coming down there.
"You're a coward!" exclaimed Tom, shaking his fist at the frightened beagle, and forgetting in his anger that this was the first time the animal had ever refused to yield ready obedience to his slightest wish. "I'll trade you off for the meanest yellow cur in Bellville, and hire a cheap boy to steal the cur. Come back here and see what there is in the cabin, I tell you!"
"Don't scold him," interposed Joe. "I don't much like the idea of venturing in there myself, but here goes."
As he spoke he drew back the hammer of his rifle, and, with steady, unfaltering steps, walked into the cabin, little dreaming of the astounding things that were to grow out of this simple act.
Tom and Bob promptly moved up to support him, but the sequel proved that it wasn'tnecessary, for there was no one in the cabin to oppose them.
When Joe announced this fact, which he did as soon as his eyes became accustomed to the darkness, so that he could see what there was in front of him, Tom wanted to know where the robbers were, but that was a point on which his companions could not enlighten him.
"They have gone off on a plundering expedition, of course," continued Tom, "and there's no telling when they will be back. We don't want to let them catch us here."
"And neither do we want to leave until we have found out something about them," answered Joe. "Come in here, one of you. I have discovered a lot of plunder of some sort, and if we give it an overhauling we may be able to find out who it belongs to, and what brought them here. The other had better stay outside and keep watch."
Tom volunteered to stand guard, and so Bob went into the cabin. It was large enough to accommodate half a dozen men, he found when he got into it, but the "shake downs,"which were spread upon the floor at the farther end of it, indicated that probably not more than two or three persons were accustomed to seek shelter there.
Bob had not been gone more than a minute when he called out to his friend at the entrance:
"Say, Tom, here's our grip-sack."
Tom was amused as well as surprised. He and Bob had made that letter up all out of their own heads, and with not the slightest suspicion in their minds that there was anything to be found in that particular gorge, except, perhaps, a solitary grouse or two, which had hidden there to get out of the way of the shooters who made their headquarters at the Beach, and yet they had located a concealed habitation, and described at least one of the things that were to be found in it.
It was a little short of wonderful, and again Tom asked himself if such a thing had ever happened before.
"Has it got a false bottom in it?" he inquired.
"Don't know," answered Bob. "Here it comes. Examine it yourself, if you can open it, and let us know what you find in it."
The valise was locked when it left Bob's hand and went sailing toward the entrance, but the force with which it struck the rocks burst it open, giving Tom a view of its contents.
While he was taking a look at them, Joe and Bob were giving the cabin a most thorough overhauling, tearing the beds to pieces, and peering into every dark corner they could discover, and at every turn they found something to strengthen them in the belief that they had stumbled upon a den of thieves, sure enough.
In the way of provender, they found a whole ham, a bushel of potatoes, and an armful of corn; and Joe declared that the last two must have been stolen the night before, because the dirt was not dry on the potatoes, and the husks on the ears of corn were perfectly fresh.
"Mr. Hallet's fields furnished those things, and I should not wonder if the ham came fromhis smoke-house," said Joe. "But what could have been their object in stealing these sheets and pillow-cases? Campers don't generally care to have such things around, because they can't be kept clean."
"Don't you think they used them to dress up their ghost?" inquired Bob. "That dummy out there under the bushes has got a sheet on."
"So it has," replied Joe. "I'd give something to know what it was that suggested to them the idea of scaring folks away with that thing. They must know that everybody can't be frightened by white scare-crows. What is it? Found a false bottom in that grip-sack?"
"Or the twelve thousand dollars in bills, and three hundred in gold?" chimed in Bob.
These questions were addressed to Tom Hallet, who just then called attention to himself by uttering an exclamation indicative of the profoundest amazement.
By way of reply he shook a handful of greenbacks at them, and then dropped it to pick up a large roll of postage stamps. Bythe time they got out to him he had exchanged the stamps for two elegant gold watches.
"This grip-sack is full to the brim of valuables, money, and securities," said Tom, in a scarcely audible whisper, "and I—stop your noise!" he added, turning fiercely upon Bugle, who just then uttered a sound that was between a whine and a bark, and came running from the foot of the path where he had laid himself down to wait until the boys were ready to leave the camp. "Shut your mouth, you coward!"
The beagle crowded close to his master's side, in spite of the efforts the angry boy made to push him away, looked toward the path, and whined and growled, and exhibited other signs of terror and excitement.
With a warning gesture to his companions, Joe moved farther away from the cabin, and stood in a listening attitude.
In a second more, he turned about, jumped back to the valise and began throwing the things into it in the greatest haste.