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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31487-h.zip b/31487-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5737f00 --- /dev/null +++ b/31487-h.zip diff --git a/31487-h/31487-h.htm b/31487-h/31487-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c8cd16 --- /dev/null +++ b/31487-h/31487-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5538 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Boy Scouts On The Great Divide;, by Archibald Lee Fletcher. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Boy Scouts on the Great Divide, by Archibald Lee Fletcher + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Boy Scouts on the Great Divide + or, The Ending of the Trail + +Author: Archibald Lee Fletcher + +Release Date: March 3, 2010 [EBook #31487] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY SCOUTS ON THE GREAT DIVIDE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>Boy Scouts on the Great Divide;</h1> + +<h3>or, The Ending of the Trail</h3> + +<h2>By Archibald Lee Fletcher</h2> + +<h4>Chicago<br /> +M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY<br /> +Copyright 1913<br /> +<span class="smcap">Made in U.S.A.</span></h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I—<span class="smcap">A Boy Scout</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II—<span class="smcap">The Runaway</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III—<span class="smcap">The Case Is Stated </span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV—<span class="smcap">A Chase in the Night</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V—<span class="smcap">A Detective and a Robber</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI—<span class="smcap">The Call of the Beaver</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII—<span class="smcap">Arrested as Spies</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII—<span class="smcap">A Midnight Bear Hunt</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX—<span class="smcap">Lynching Is Threatened</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X—<span class="smcap">One Danger to Another</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI—<span class="smcap">A Wyoming Hold-up</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII—<span class="smcap">An Interrupted Wig-wag</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII—<span class="smcap">Tommy Goes After Bear Steak</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV—<span class="smcap">A Pair of Prisoners</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV—<span class="smcap">An Underground Channel</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI—<span class="smcap">Cullen Loses His Star</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII—<span class="smcap">A Meeting Under Ground</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII—<span class="smcap">The Finding of Wagner</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX—<span class="smcap">Sheriff Pete's Wink</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX—<span class="smcap">Detectives in Trouble</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI—<span class="smcap">Conclusion</span></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Boy Scouts on the Great Divide;</h2> + +<h3>or, The Ending of the Trail</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>A BOY SCOUT CAMP</h3> + + +<p>On a sunny September afternoon two shelter tents stood in a mountain +valley, on the south bank of a creek which, miles and miles below, +becomes the Sweetwater river.</p> + +<p>Above the flap of each tent lifted a yellow pennant, in the center of +which a blue beaver stood in an alert and listening attitude, his flat +tail outstretched.</p> + +<p>A campfire blazed in front of the two tents, and some distance away four +bronchos fed noisily on the sweet grass of the valley. Tinned provisions +and cooking utensils were scattered here and there in front of the +blaze, and four boys wearing the khaki uniform of the Boy Scouts of +America were busily engaged in preparing supper.</p> + +<p>Those who have read the previous volumes of this series will require no +introduction to Will Smith, George Benton, Charley (Sandy) Green, or +Tommy Gregory. As will be remembered, they were all members of the +Beaver Patrol, Chicago. Will Smith had recently been advanced to the +important position of Scoutmaster, and George Benton had been elected to +the position left vacant by the advancement of his chum, that of Patrol +Leader. Besides carrying the badges of their offices and their patrol, +the boys all wore medals showing that they had qualified in the Stalker, +Ambulance, Seaman and Pioneer grades.</p> + +<p>After rather striking adventures on Lake Superior and in the Florida +Everglades the boys had been persuaded by Mr. Horton, a well-known +criminal lawyer of Chicago, to undertake a mission in the interest of a +client in whom he had become greatly interested. The lads had already +arranged a vacation trip to the Great Divide, and it necessitated only a +slight change in their program in order to make the investigation +desired by the attorney, who had shown himself their friend on more than +one occasion. In fact, the Superior trip had been taken at his expense.</p> + +<p>Mr. Horton had presented the request which had changed the lads' +vacation plans on the night before they left Chicago, and so no details +whatever of the case had been given them. They had been asked to proceed +to the city of Green River, in the state of Wyoming, and there secure +burros, provisions and tents and travel to the valley lying south and +west of Altantic peak.</p> + +<p>The noted attorney had informed them on the morning of their departure +that, in case further instructions did not reach them by wire before +they came to Green River, a messenger would follow them into the +mountains with full details, and also a history of the case in which +they were to be employed. On this sunny afternoon they were awaiting the +arrival of the messenger, no information having been received by +telegraph.</p> + +<p>The tents had been set up on the previous evening, and the boys did not +think it possible that the messenger could be more than twenty-four +hours behind them. While they waited for the supper to cook they watched +the country off to the south anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Last call for supper!" cried Sandy, spreading a great white cloth on +the fragrant grass of the valley. "We can eat out-doors in this country +without any danger of people butting in to see what we've got for +supper."</p> + +<p>"You say it well!" said Will, "but you can't prove it! For instance," he +added, pointing to the south, "there's some one coming right now to see +what we've got for supper!"</p> + +<p>The figure pointed out was that of a tall and slender man who was +climbing the slope to the southeast. He carried a long rifle over his +shoulder and a cartridge belt was conspicuously displayed about his +waist.</p> + +<p>While the boys arranged their food on the table cloth, the man +approached warily. When he came into the valley in which the camp was +situated he turned away to the right as if about to circle the tents and +the fire. Tommy stood up with a great slice of bread in one hand and a +cup of coffee in the other and waved both at the stranger.</p> + +<p>"Come on in!" he shouted. "The eating's fine!"</p> + +<p>At this invitation the stranger came forward to the fire and stood for a +moment without speaking, gazing at the boys with eyes strained to their +utmost in an effort to make them look piercing.</p> + +<p>"Thank you very much for the invitation!" replied the stranger, "I've +had a long walk today and I'm both hungry and tired! My name is +Katz—Joseph J. Katz, and I'm in business in a small way in Denver."</p> + +<p>"I bought a burro at Green River," Katz went on, "but lost him twenty +miles to the south. He got his foot in a prairie dog's hole or something +of that kind and broke his leg so I had to shoot him."</p> + +<p>"And you've been walking ever since?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I have!" was the reply. "And I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to +extend your hospitality until morning. I have a friend who will be along +sometime tomorrow with a couple of light tents and a couple of burro +loads of provisions."</p> + +<p>"Then you're going to camp in the mountains, I take it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," was the reply. "We're going farther in and take a rest and look +for a good sheep valley while we do so."</p> + +<p>"You're welcome to remain here until your friend comes in!" answered +Will. "We have plenty of provisions."</p> + +<p>"Then you are thinking of remaining in the mountains for some time?" +asked the stranger. "In that case we may meet often."</p> + +<p>"I hope so," replied Will. "We are boys from Detroit having a little +vacation from the hills and it will be all the pleasanter if we have +congenial company. But sit down and eat. You must be hungry."</p> + +<p>Kata fell to with an appetite and Tommy saw that his plate was +replenished as soon as it was emptied. While he was eating Sandy and +Will arose from the cloth, excused themselves and passed into one of the +tents, where Sandy stood regarding his companion with accusing eyes.</p> + +<p>"Say," the boy asked, "are you getting to be such a liar that you just +can't tell the truth?"</p> + +<p>"What's the matter now?" demanded Will.</p> + +<p>"Why did you tell that fellow we were from Detroit?"</p> + +<p>"Because he lied to me!" was the rather indignant reply.</p> + +<p>Sandy grinned and looked the question he did not ask.</p> + +<p>"He told me he was from Denver," Will went on, "and Tommy says he's a +Chicago detective. The kid says he saw a detective badge under the +fellow's lapel. And I guess Tommy knows a detective badge," the boy +continued with a wink. "I should think he would after the fun he's had +with Chicago detectives, and the times he's been chased by them."</p> + +<p>"You don't suppose he's come on here to pinch one of us, do you?" asked +Sandy. "If he has, we'll pitch him into the stream that takes the +longest road to Cape Horn."</p> + +<p>"Of course not!" answered Will. "For all I know he may be the messenger +sent by Mr. Horton."</p> + +<p>"Then why should he lie about his home city?" asked Sandy.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," answered Will. "He may be the messenger and he may not +be. If he is a messenger, he's a fool, because he ought to know without +further investigation that we're the boys he set out to find. If he +isn't a messenger, he's a charter member of the Ananias club or Tommy's +very much mistaken."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe he's a messenger," Sandy answered and the two went out +to the fire together.</p> + +<p>"I have heard a great many stories of robbery and murder in this +country," the boys heard Katz saying to Tommy, "but up to this time I +have seen no unlawful acts committed."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but they have a stage hold-up or some scrape of that kind every +week or two!" replied Tommy with a wink at Will. "We remained over at +Green River a couple of days and heard a good many stories about highway +robbery. There is said to be gold in these mountains," the boy +continued, "and there is also said to be a band of brigands who lie in +wait for treasure hunters."</p> + +<p>Katz appeared deeply interested in what the boy was saying. In fact he +seemed rather excited, too, and the boys noticed that he reached out one +hand to stroke the gun, which lay near his side, as he listened.</p> + +<p>Sandy nudged George in the side and whispered:</p> + +<p>"I'll bet Tommy's got him scared half to death!"</p> + +<p>"I guess that's what the kid's telling him these stories for!" George +ventured. "He's always up to tricks like that."</p> + +<p>While the boys worked about the camp preparing beds for the night and +clearing away the remains of the supper Tommy remained close to the side +of the trench, asking of his experiences on the way in and telling many +exciting stories of highwaymen, the most of which had origin in his own +brain.</p> + +<p>"Tommy'll have that fellow so scared that he can't sleep!" Sandy +whispered to George.</p> + +<p>"Then the fellow shouldn't get scared so easy!"</p> + +<p>"I consider it very fortunate for you boys," they heard Katz saying +after a time, "that I came along just as I did. If this country is as +thoroughly infested with robbers and murderers as you seem to think it +is, I may be of service to you before morning."</p> + +<p>"Sure!" agreed Tommy. "We may have a battle with outlaws almost any time +now! We're glad you're here to protect us!"</p> + +<p>"Of course, one man can't fight a whole regiment," Katz went on rather +boastfully, "but I'll do what I can to protect you in case the camp is +attacked."</p> + +<p>"I know you will!" answered Tommy with a sly wink at Sandy. "I knew you +were a brave man as soon as I saw you!"</p> + +<p>During the evening the boys taking the lead made by Tommy told numerous +stories of train-robberies and murders in the mountains as they sat +around the campfire. Katz listened attentively to them all and more than +once the lads saw him involuntarily reach a hand back to his pistol +pocket. On such occasions they nudged each other joyfully.</p> + +<p>"I wish something would happen tonight," Tommy whispered to Will as they +prepared for bed. "I'd just like to see how this Katz would act under +fire. I've a good mind to make something happen!"</p> + +<p>"You'd better cut that out!" replied Will. "The messenger we are waiting +for may be here at any time now and we may have to move camp at any +time. So we want to rest while we can."</p> + +<p>"All right!" Tommy answered reluctantly. "I'm just as anxious to get a +good night's sleep as you are."</p> + +<p>"Who's going to stay awake?" asked Sandy stepping up to where the boys +were talking.</p> + +<p>"I don't think it's necessary for anyone to stay awake," cried Will.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe we ought to all sleep at once!" Sandy observed. "Not +with this stranger in the camp, anyway," he added.</p> + +<p>"Aw, the stranger's all right!" Tommy exclaimed. "He's a bum Chicago +detective out after some fugitive from justice and he thinks its foxy to +lie about his occupation and his residence. Don't you think I know the +earmarks of a Chicago detective?" he added.</p> + +<p>"You ought to, considering the number of times you've been mixed up with +them," laughed Sandy. "You certainly ought to know all about Chicago +detectives."</p> + +<p>"What makes you go certain this man is a Chicago detective?" asked Will. +"I haven't seen anything that looks like Chicago about him!"</p> + +<p>"Why," answered Tommy, "he's mentioned Harrison street and Desplaines +street and Chicago avenue half a dozen times when talking about the +police department of Denver! And he's been telling about police boats on +the lake and on the North and South branches and giving himself away +generally. Of course, he doesn't know we're from Chicago and so he +doesn't think it necessary to be careful in his speech."</p> + +<p>"All right, time will tell!" exclaimed Sandy.</p> + +<p>It was arranged that Will, Tommy and George were to sleep together in +one of the tents until midnight while Tommy stood watch, and from that +time on, the other boys were to watch two hours apiece. Katz was to have +the second tent all to himself.</p> + +<p>For sometime after the lads and Katz went to their tents, Tommy sat by +the fire listening to coyotes and grey wolves howling off in the +mountains. Occasionally a coyote came within a few paces of the fire and +set up a howl which must have been heard in the dreams of the sleepers.</p> + +<p>Along near midnight the boy heard, very indistinctly, shouts to the west +of the ridge which lay to the south of the valley. Still more faintly, +return shouts were heard. The men, whoever they were, seemed to be +advancing toward the camp. While the boy listened a volley of shots came +from the west, followed by hoarse shouts and imprecations.</p> + +<p>It now became plain that two horsemen were speeding toward the valley +and that the shots which were being fired were directed at them. There +was no moon as yet although there would be one later on, and little +could be seen of the horsemen who were doubtless seeking refuge in the +canons farther to the north, but the heavy breathing of the horses and +the creaking of the saddles could be distinctly heard.</p> + +<p>"I just went to the tent to wake Katz!" Tommy chuckled, "and saw him +sneaking away making flat-footed for the hills!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE RUNAWAY</h3> + + +<p>The horses came on at a swift gallop, to an accompaniment of rifle shots +and the jingling of spurs. Directly they were in the circle of light +about the fire, their frightened eyes showing red as they ran. The faces +of the riders glared viciously down at the boys, but the weapons +swinging threateningly from their hands were not discharged as they +dashed through the lighted space and were gone.</p> + +<p>"Now what do you know about that?" demanded Tommy, as the horses +disappeared in the darkness and the gradually receding hoof-beats showed +that they were still keeping their course to the north.</p> + +<p>"Looks to me like some one was being chased," observed Sandy.</p> + +<p>"It would seem that way to the unprejudiced mind!" added George.</p> + +<p>Directly the sound of heavy boots scrambling over broken rocks, +accompanied by private and personal opinions of that part of Wyoming, of +rocky surfaces, and of midnight expeditions, came to the ears of the +listening boys. As the sounds drew nearer they grouped closer together.</p> + +<p>"Here comes the boys who did the shooting!" exclaimed Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I hope they won't mistake us for the men they're after!" George +suggested. "They look like rather tough citizens," he added, as the +bearded faces and roughly-clad figures of half a dozen men swept into +the firelight.</p> + +<p>The men were all heavily armed, and it was clear that they were angry +from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet. Three presented +guns at the breasts of the boys while the other three stepped closer and +began asking questions.</p> + +<p>"Sure, we saw the ginks go by!" Tommy answered in reply to the first +question. "I reckon they won't have anything to ride in about an hour if +they keep up that gait."</p> + +<p>"Did they stop or say anything to you as they passed?" was asked.</p> + +<p>"I should say not!" replied Tommy. "They went by like Mexicans going to +a bull-fight! They showed their guns, but they didn't say a word or do +any shooting!"</p> + +<p>"What does it mean?" asked Will, approaching the man who appeared to be +the leader of the party.</p> + +<p>"It means," was the reply, "that those two fellows are wanted down in +Sweetwater county for holding up a train on the Union Pacific. A party +of officers had them safe at Green River a couple of days ago, but they +broke loose in some way and came north."</p> + +<p>"It's a wonder they headed straight for our campfire!" Will suggested.</p> + +<p>"That's what puzzles me!" the other said. "Until I saw you were only +boys, probably out on a vacation, I thought the robbers might be +associates of yours."</p> + +<p>"I hope they won't think so, too," Will answered. "We expect to stay +here two or three weeks, and we don't want to get into any mixup."</p> + +<p>"They probably won't trouble you any," the officer remarked, "as they're +undoubtedly headed for the Bad Lands in Big Horn county. If they get +into that country we may as well give up the search."</p> + +<p>"Well," Will suggested, "they won't have any horses to ride before +morning, and you may be able to overtake them after they slow down."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we're going to keep on in pursuit!" cried the officer, "But we have +little hope of overtaking them. They're probably five miles in the lead +right now. They've been riding while we've been walking."</p> + +<p>"Why walking?" asked the boy.</p> + +<p>"Because they shot our horses," gritted the officer.</p> + +<p>After partaking of a midnight supper, including several cups of hot +coffee apiece, the man-hunters continued on their way, looking longingly +in the direction of the burros as they passed out of the light of the +fire.</p> + +<p>"Now that's what I call rotten!" Tommy exclaimed as the voices of the +men died away in the darkness. "We've just made camp in a place that +looks good to me, and here comes a band of train robbers and a +delegation of lynchers ready to make us all kinds of trouble."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why they should make us trouble," Sandy objected.</p> + +<p>"Well, they will just the same," Will broke in. "They'll hang around the +hills to the north, and officers will be chasing in after them, and, +between them they'll give us a merry little time! If the messenger +doesn't come tomorrow, we'll break camp and get into some other +locality."</p> + +<p>"I should say so!" exclaimed Tommy. "We went to Lake Superior and got +into a nest of diamond smugglers, and we went to the Florida Everglades +and got into a bunch of swamp outlaws and wreckers, and I've been +counting on a nice quiet vacation this trip."</p> + +<p>"We surely do have bad luck on our outing trips!" laughed Sandy. "But I +rather enjoy the excitement after all!" he added, with a grin.</p> + +<p>"Well, you wait until you get a band of train robbers shooting from one +side, and a band of cowboys shooting from the other side, and you won't +think it's so funny!" exclaimed George.</p> + +<p>While the boys talked they heard a rustling in the long grass to the +north and east, and directly a figure, crouching low and apparently +walking with great caution, appeared in view.</p> + +<p>"That's one now!" whispered Tommy.</p> + +<p>"That's right!" returned Sandy. "That's one coward!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see," Tommy whispered. "That's Katz!"</p> + +<p>The stranger now approached the fire, swinging his rifle jauntily in his +hand and throwing his shoulders back until his body swung forward with a +decided strut. He looked from one boy to the other as he came closer, +apparently seeking to learn from their expressions exactly what was in +their minds. The boys' faces remained perfectly grave.</p> + +<p>"It's no use!" Katz said in a moment, putting the butt of his gun down +to the ground and leaning on the barrel. "It's no use whatever!"</p> + +<p>The boys eyed the speaker suspiciously, but said nothing.</p> + +<p>"I followed on as fast as I could!" Katz continued. "But they were on +horseback, and I was on foot, so what could I do? Besides, it was too +dark that I couldn't see to shoot," he went on.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you went out after the robbers, did you?" asked Will, not caring to +call the fellow's attention to the fact that he ran away to the north +before the riders made their appearance.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes!" was the reply. "What else could I do?"</p> + +<p>The boys suspected that Katz had returned to the vicinity of the camp in +time to hear the officer explain exactly what was going on. They were +satisfied that he had not pursued the horsemen at all after they had +passed him, but decided not to enter into any argument with him.</p> + +<p>"Well," Will said in a moment. "If you'll all go to bed now, I'll sit up +until morning. I don't suppose you boys care to be wakened if we have +any more midnight visitors?" he asked tentatively.</p> + +<p>"You needn't wake me up for any running race!" Tommy commented.</p> + +<p>"If it's all the same to you," Katz suggested, "I prefer to sleep the +remainder of the night. Of course," he went on, "if you need me for your +defence, you need have no compunctions in waking me."</p> + +<p>The boys laughed at the idea of calling upon the fellow to assist in +defending the camp should necessity arise, and the object of their mirth +glared at them suspiciously as he turned away to his tent.</p> + +<p>In half an hour the camp was quiet again, with Will sitting in front of +the fire reading. The coyotes and wolves, which had been frightened away +by the shooting and the clatter of hoofs, now came forward again, and +Will was thinking seriously of taking a shot at a great gray beast when +a soft call came from the darkness.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" the voice said. "Hello!"</p> + +<p>"Come up and show yourself!" returned Will.</p> + +<p>"Will you give me something to eat if I come up?"</p> + +<p>"Sure I will," replied the boy with a grin. "Meals at all hours, you +know! We usually run a hotel where we stop."</p> + +<p>"Well you've got a customer right now!" came the voice from the +darkness, and the next moment the figure of a lad of about fourteen made +its appearance in the glow of the fire.</p> + +<p>Will stood regarding the boy with open-eyed amazement for a moment and +then swung his hand forward in the full salute of a Boy Scout.</p> + +<p>"That's all right!" the strange boy cried. "I'm glad to see that you're +a Boy Scout. I mean to be one some day, but I'm only a tenderfoot now! I +haven't had any chance for advancement yet."</p> + +<p>"What Patrol?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"Beaver, Chicago!" was the reply.</p> + +<p>"That's my patrol!" exclaimed Will in amazement.</p> + +<p>"You're the scoutmaster," the boy said, "I've seen you in Chicago."</p> + +<p>"Strange I don't remember you!" replied Will.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm only a tenderfoot," was the answer, "and of course, you don't +know all the new boys!"</p> + +<p>"What are you doing here?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"I'm running away!" was the reply. "You see," the boy went on, "I got +tired of living in Chicago, and sleeping in alleys in summer and warm +hallways in winter, so I just made up my mind I'd make a break for life, +liberty and the pursuit of happiness."</p> + +<p>"But how did you come to walk up into this country?"</p> + +<p>"I started out to get a job herding sheep," was the answer, "and I kept +travelling, and travelling, without getting any job, and so here I am, +hungry, and ready to go back to Chicago on the slightest provocation!"</p> + +<p>"What's your name?"</p> + +<p>"Chester Winslow."</p> + +<p>"Well, Chester," Will laughed, "it won't take me long to get you +something to eat, and then you'd better go to bed. You'll have to double +up with another stranger who came along earlier in the evening, but I +guess you can sleep two in a bed, especially as the bed is made up on +the ground and you can't fall out."</p> + +<p>The boy ate a very hearty supper, and five minutes later Will heard him +snoring. When daylight came and the sleepers arose, Katz stumbled out of +his tent with angry exclamations on his lips.</p> + +<p>"What's doing here?" he shouted. "Have I come into the home of the Forty +Thieves? When I went to bed last night I had a police badge, and a +rifle, and a revolver, and quite a lot of money! Now I haven't got a +thing except the clothes I've got on! What kind of a game do you call +this? If it's a joke, it's a mighty poor one!"</p> + +<p>Will went to the tent Katz had occupied and looked inside. There was no +one there, and he hastened back to the angry man.</p> + +<p>"Where's the strange boy who slept with you last night?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Strange boy?" repeated Katz scornfully. "You can't work that game on +me! You boys have taken my property, and you'd better be giving it up! +If you don't there'll be trouble!"</p> + +<p>"We're not afraid of any trouble from you!" Tommy said, with an angry +snort. "If you go to accusing us of stealing your stuff, you'll get your +crust caved in!"</p> + +<p>Then the boy turned to Will with an interrogation point in both eyes. +Will saw the question and answered it.</p> + +<p>"Shortly after midnight," he said, "a boy who gave the name of Chester +Winslow, his age as fourteen, his rank as Tenderfoot, came here and told +a hard luck story about tramping from Chicago. I gave him something to +eat and put him to bed with Mr. Katz."</p> + +<p>"Then the fellow is a little thief! That's all I've got to say about +it!" exclaimed Katz, not quite so aggressive, now that he saw that the +boys were inclined to resent insults, and remembering that he had no +revolver with which to enforce his demands!</p> + +<p>Shortly after breakfast the figures of four burros, heavily laden, and +two men appeared at the south, heading directly for the camp.</p> + +<p>"There's my associate bringing in the burros and the provisions!" Katz +shouted.</p> + +<p>"And there's our messenger!" whispered Tommy to Will.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE CASE IS STATED</h3> + + +<p>"It may be that your messenger has come in with my associate," Katz +blustered, as the little caravan came nearer to the camp, "but if I'm +not very much mistaken, both men are here to assist me!"</p> + +<p>"You must need a lot of assistance!" Tommy said, with a wrinkling of his +freckled nose. "You look the part, too!"</p> + +<p>"Now see here, young man," exclaimed Katz, angrily. "I don't want any +lip from you boys. I've been robbed in this camp, and as soon as my men +come up I'm going to know whether my property is here or not!"</p> + +<p>"If you try any funny business with us," Sandy cut in, "you'll get your +block knocked off!"</p> + +<p>"We'll see about that when my men come up!" retorted Katz, defiantly. +"I'm not going to submit to being held up by four boys who ought to be +spanked and put to bed instead of being permitted to roam about the +mountains robbing unwary travellers."</p> + +<p>Tommy was about to make an angry reply, but Will motioned for him to +remain silent. No more was said until the two men came up with their +heavily-loaded burros. Katz was first to address the newcomers.</p> + +<p>"Well, Cullen," he said, extending a hand to a short, heavily-built man +with a dissipated-looking face, "I'm glad you came in on time. I am also +glad that you brought a man in with you, and plenty of provisions," he +added with a look of challenge at the boys.</p> + +<p>"Why," replied Cullen, "I don't know anything about this fellow with me. +He came out of Green River with his two burros just ahead of me, and so +we decided to travel together. I should judge from what he said that +he's looking for the camp we have just blundered into."</p> + +<p>Katz stepped back as if annoyed at the statement, and finally drew +Cullen away to one side, where they engaged in a whispered conversation.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, the messenger advanced toward Will and extended a +sealed envelope. He was a well-built young fellow with a clean-shaven +face which gave every indication of intelligence and determination.</p> + +<p>"I guess you're the boys I'm looking for," he said, with a smile, "I'm +John Johnson, of Chicago, special messenger at this time for Mr. +Horton."</p> + +<p>"We're glad to see you," Will answered, shaking the young man's hand +heartily. "We have been waiting for instructions, and, besides," he +continued, "this cheap skate that you found here is trying to make us +trouble over something which took place in the camp last night."</p> + +<p>"You think he's a cheap skate, do you?" Johnson asked, with a +significant smile. "Well, I don't think anything about it. I know it. +That's Joe Katz, one of the rankest plain-clothes policemen on the +Chicago force! The fellow who came in with me is Ed. Cullen, another +imitation detective. Now tell me what took place last night."</p> + +<p>Will related the story of the arrival of the boy and of the claim made +by Katz in the morning. He explained how the detective had threatened +them all when the loss of his property was discovered. Also, how he had +renewed his threats when he believed that he would have the backing of +both newcomers. Johnson smiled at the recital.</p> + +<p>"Now, about this boy," he said, without referring to the two detectives +or the threats. "I wish you would describe him to me as accurately as +possible. Tell me exactly how he looked and how he talked."</p> + +<p>Will gave as complete a description of the boy as possible, and also +repeated the account the lad had given of himself. Johnson threw back +his head and laughed until the echoes came back from the mountains.</p> + +<p>"Well, boys," he said, "you seem to have lighted in a hornet's nest the +first jump out of the box. And so the kid stole the detective's badge +and weapons and money, did he?" he went on, with another roar of +laughter. "That's about the best thing I've heard yet!"</p> + +<p>"I don't see anything funny about it!" replied Will.</p> + +<p>"You will directly," replied Johnson. "Read your instructions, and then +I'll tell you all about this boy, and all about these two imitation +detectives. Then you'll see how funny this incident is."</p> + +<p>Will opened the sealed envelope and held up a sheet of paper which was +entirely blank, except for eight words and a signature written in the +middle of the page. The words were:</p> + +<p>"Introducing Mr. John Johnson. He'll tell the story."</p> + +<p>The signature was that of the famous criminal lawyer who had induced the +boys to undertake the mission to the Great Divide.</p> + +<p>"It won't take very long for me to read the instructions," Will laughed, +as the other boys gathered around him. "It seems to be up to you to tell +us what we want to know!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's the idea!" replied Johnson. "Mr. Horton explained to me +that he didn't care to put what he had to say to you into writing. But +perhaps we'd better get rid of these imitation fly-cops," he added, +nodding his head toward the two Chicago detectives. "We don't want them +hanging around the camp while we are making our plans."</p> + +<p>Katz and Cullen saw that they were being regarded with suspicion and at +once came forward to where the boys stood.</p> + +<p>"I've been talking the matter of the robbery over with Cullen," Katz +said, with a smile intended to be conciliating, "and he says that he's +heard of this boy before, and that he's a noted thief. And so," the +detective continued, "I'm very glad to be able to apologize to you for +anything I might have said at a time when I was excited over my loss. I +am satisfied now that you boys are friendly to me, and I sincerely hope +that we'll often meet while we are in the hills."</p> + +<p>Tommy was about to make some angry reply, as the insincerity of the man +was plainly discernible, but Will gave him a nudge in the back which +caused him to change his mind.</p> + +<p>"And now," Cullen began, "that everything is satisfactorily explained, +perhaps we'd better be on our way!"</p> + +<p>"That's a fact!" exclaimed Katz. "I'm very much obliged to the boys for +their friendly shelter and their well-cooked meals, and I hope they'll +all come and partake of our hospitality as soon as we make permanent +camp. We'll take steps to let you know where we are," he added, as the +two turned toward their burros and led off to the north.</p> + +<p>Tommy could not give over the thought of landing an irritating +observation as the men walked away by the side of their beasts.</p> + +<p>"Remember," he cried, "that the two train robbers and the cowboy +viligance committee went, in that direction last night! You fellows +would better watch out, or you'll get mixed up with hold-up men!"</p> + +<p>Katz turned an angry face toward the boy, muttered something to his +companion, and went on without speaking.</p> + +<p>"Those fellows won't dare to sleep a single night after that!" laughed +Johnson. "They're scared right now!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know anything about Cullen," Tommy answered with a grin, "but I +know that the man Katz is a false alarm. You should have seen him take +to his heels last night, when the train robbers rushed through the camp. +I'd like to know what he's in here for, anyway!"</p> + +<p>"That's the very thing I'm here to explain!" replied Johnson. "The +story," he continued, "begins with the death of Thomas T. Fremont, a +Chicago banker, some weeks ago."</p> + +<p>"I remember the case," Will interrupted. "The police declare that the +man was murdered, while his relatives insist that he might have +committed suicide."</p> + +<p>"That's exactly the point," Johnson went on. "The police are working on +the theory that Fremont was murdered at his private room at the bank one +hot night in July. The relatives declare that there was no reason +whatever for him to have committed suicide, yet they insist that he must +have done so. Now, understand me," Johnson continued, "the relatives are +all interested in the defense of a disinherited son of the banker who is +charged with the crime of murder. And so, you see, when the police ask +them to point to some one fact substantiating the suicide theory they +are unable to do so.</p> + +<p>"The result of this peculiar situation is that the police insist that +the relatives are advancing the suicide theory solely for the purpose of +securing the acquittal of the son. To the average citizen, it would seem +that the police are right. The son was always a thorn in the flesh of +his father. He has squandered thousands of dollars in riotous living, +and brought no end of disgrace on the family whose name he bears. And +still the relatives insist that he is innocent, and are willing to spend +a million in order to prevent his dying the death of a murderer. Mr. +Horton represents the relatives."</p> + +<p>"I begin to see daylight!" Will exclaimed. "I guess this case isn't such +a little baby affair as we thought it might be!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed it is no baby case!" exclaimed Johnson. "The family of the dead +banker have a well-defined theory concerning the death of the old man +which might help their case with the police if they would only present +it to the chief. This, however, they refuse to do, declaring that the +police would only take advantage of the confidence and use the +information received to the prejudice of the prisoner."</p> + +<p>"I don't blame them for doubting the honesty of the police!" declared +Tommy. "The detectives are certainly a bum lot!"</p> + +<p>"This theory," continued Mr. Johnson, "insists that there was a second +person in the private office of the banker that hot July night. It is +claimed that this person went to the office to secure financial help +from the banker. It is said, too, that he possesses at this time +positive proof, in the form of written documents, showing that Fremont +committed suicide. The family believes this proof to be perfect."</p> + +<p>"Then why don't they find this fellow and bring him forward?" asked +Will.</p> + +<p>"That is just what they are trying to do," replied Johnson. "That is +just what you boys are expected to do!" he added with a smile. "You are +expected to bring this witness forward, and so establish the innocence +of the son. That's what you're here for."</p> + +<p>"That's nice!" exclaimed Tommy. "That's an easy little undertaking for +four school boys! When other means fail, hire Boy Scouts!"</p> + +<p>"That's right!" replied Johnson.</p> + +<p>"And we won't see him if those two imitation detectives get to him +first!" the boy went on.</p> + +<p>"And that's right too," Johnson answered. "For my part, I can't +understand how the Chicago police department got wise to the whereabouts +of Wagner at this time. When it was arranged to send you boys out here +in quest of him, it was understood that the police had no clue whatever +as to his whereabouts. In fact, we all believed that the officers had +abandoned the search for the escaped convict."</p> + +<p>"Well, they're here all right!" Sandy cut in. "And look here," he went +on, "we've got something worse than imitation detectives in our midst! +We've got a couple of train robbers, and a band of cowboy vigilantes!"</p> + +<p>"Exactly!" Johnson agreed. "And you've got something equally dangerous +for the purposes of our cause. You've got that fourteen-year-old Chester +Winslow, whose name isn't Winslow at all, but Chester Wagner, son of the +escaped convict!"</p> + +<p>"Jerusalem!" exclaimed Tommy. "That boy didn't do a thing to Will, did +he?" he added with a roar of laughter. "He told him a story about coming +in on blind baggage, and sized up the camp, and stole the badge and the +weapons and money of the detective sent in here to capture his father. +Just think of the kid coming in here and stealing the detective's badge! +He'd have taken his necktie if he'd 'a' thought of it!"</p> + +<p>"I thought you'd see something humorous in the occurrence as soon as you +found out about the boy!" laughed Johnson.</p> + +<p>"The little rascal!" shouted Sandy. "The nerve of him! To come in here +and steal the badge of the detective sent out to catch his father! Say," +he went on, "I hope we'll run across that boy and make friends with him. +I rather like his grit!"</p> + +<p>"You won't be apt to find him as long as he thinks it necessary to keep +his father in hiding!" Johnson suggested.</p> + +<p>"He's an awful little liar!" exclaimed Will.</p> + +<p>"I guess you'd lie, too," laughed Tommy, "if you had the same motive for +lying that he had. He's standing by his father like a brick! And I +won't lay it up against him if he tells lies enough to fill a book! He +drew one friend in me when he stole that policeman's badge."</p> + +<p>"These detectives," Will asked in a moment, "are here to take Wagner +back to the penitentiary if they can find him, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"That's the idea! Unless some one of the relatives has leaked, the +police do not understand that Wagner is a factor in the Fremont case. +They are here to take him back to the penitentiary if they can find him +and that's all they know about it."</p> + +<p>"Well," Tommy exclaimed, "let them get him and take him back to the +penitentiary! As soon as he gets run in for the remainder of his +sentence he'll tell about being in the banker's private office that hot +July night, and that will secure the release of the boy who is charged +with the murder. It seems to me that the police are helping along this +case."</p> + +<p>"Not so you could notice it!" replied Johnson. "The fact is," he went +on, "Wagner is entirely innocent of the crime for which he was +convicted. He has had what the officers call a vindictive grouch on ever +since the day he was sent to prison. In other words, he is at war with +every person in the world except his son, the boy who told you such +pretty fairy stories last night. If he is ever retaken and sent back to +the penitentiary, he will never open his lips, not even if the accused +son dies on the scaffold."</p> + +<p>"And that's another beautiful little complication!" exclaimed Sandy.</p> + +<p>"The friends of the accused man," continued Johnson, "must find Wagner +and contract to establish his innocence. If the police get him first, we +lose our case. I say this positively because there is no doubt that he +will kill an officer or two before he is taken. Now you boys see exactly +what you have undertaken to do."</p> + +<p>"It's interesting, anyhow!" Tommy declared.</p> + +<p>"Reads like a novel!" cried Sandy.</p> + +<p>"Think of that little rat coming here and stealing the detective's +badge!" laughed George. "It's a sure thing he'll lead those amateur +officers a merry dance while they are in the hills! If I could just get +hold of him, I wouldn't mind helping him along now and then!"</p> + +<p>"Well, get hold of him then," advised Johnson.</p> + +<p>"But how?" asked Will. "Why, from this time on, you might as well try to +catch a flea in a load of hay as to get your hands on that boy! He can +find you, but you can't find him!"</p> + +<p>"But he was hungry last night!" Tommy explained. "And he may become +hungry again!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>A CHASE IN THE NIGHT</h3> + + +<p>Shortly after dinner Johnson decided to make a start on his return trip +at once. It would take him, he said, two days in addition to the half +day to reach Green River, and he was due in San Francisco on the evening +of the third day. One of the burros was relieved of his burden of +provisions and the young man started away, leaving the boys feeling +rather lonely and also rather overloaded with responsibility!</p> + +<p>"Do you really think Wagner and the boy are out of provisions?" asked +Tommy as twilight settled down over the camp.</p> + +<p>"I don't see how they can procure provisions," Will suggested.</p> + +<p>"We've just got to find out!" exclaimed Sandy. "You must remember," he +continued, "that this Chester Wagner is a Tenderfoot in the Beaver +Patrol, Chicago. He's afraid of us, but we've just got to help him out! +We wouldn't be good Boy Scouts if we didn't! Suppose we put up a smoke +signal for help and see if he'll come."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, he'll come—not!" exclaimed Tommy.</p> + +<p>"We can try it, anyway," insisted Sandy.</p> + +<p>The lad carried embers from the campfire a short distance to the west +and built another roaring fire. Then he set about gathering green grass +in order to make a greater volume of smoke.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to hurry with your telegraph apparatus," laughed George, +"if you want the boy to read your signal by daylight. It'll be so dark +in half an hour that he couldn't see a column of smoke fifty feet away! +Perhaps he isn't near enough to see them, anyway!"</p> + +<p>"If I do all I can," Sandy declared, "I won't be to blame if he doesn't +see them. I believe we ought to find some way to help that kid!"</p> + +<p>The fires were now burning at a great rate, and Sandy heaped huge +armfuls of green grass on top of the blazing sticks, with the result +that two great columns of white smoke lifted to the evening sky.</p> + +<p>When the grass burned out and the smoke became thinner the boy put on +more and sat listening patiently for some sound, watching intently for +an answering signal from the hills.</p> + +<p>"I guess it's no good!" Sandy declared, mournfully, as the third supply +of grass burned down. "The chances are that the train robbers and the +imitation detectives have frightened Wagner and the kid out of the +hills."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe he'll come if he does see it," Will declared.</p> + +<p>After a time the boys permitted one of the fires to die out and began +preparations for supper. Tommy went back to one of the tents for the +knives and forks directly, and in a moment came rushing back without any +knives or forks but with a folded paper in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Look here," he exclaimed excitedly, "while I was entering the tent +something hit me a clip on the back. When I turned around to see what +foolishness you fellows were up to, I found a piece of rock lying on the +ground at my feet and close beside it, this piece of paper."</p> + +<p>"Do you think the paper was wrapped around the rock?" asked George.</p> + +<p>"Of course it was!" replied Tommy. "You can see the folds now, and +there's the place where a a corner of the rock cut a hole!"</p> + +<p>Will turned a searchlight on the paper, now held outstretched in Tommy's +hands, and burst into a laugh as he read the words written there:</p> + +<p>"Nix on the help signal."</p> + +<p>"The little rascal!" exclaimed Tommy, reading the sentence.</p> + +<p>"He's wise, that boy!" declared Sandy.</p> + +<p>"He thinks we're setting a trap for him," Will explained, "and I can't +say that I blame him much for sending just that kind of a message."</p> + +<p>"Anyway," Tommy went on, "it shows that he isn't far away. If he'll only +hover around within reaching distance, we'll soon convince him that we +don't mean him or his father any harm."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if he took any provisions with him when he ran away this +time!" laughed George. "I really hope he did. That is, if they haven't +got any in their own camp."</p> + +<p>The boys looked at the provisions which had been taken out for supper, +and discovered that two loaves of bread and several tins of preserved +meats had been taken.</p> + +<p>"Good for him!" shouted Tommy.</p> + +<p>After supper it was arranged that two of the boys should watch the camp +until one o'clock, and then awake the others, who were to stand guard +until morning. Tommy and Sandy were to take the first watch.</p> + +<p>"I don't think there's much use of anyone standing guard!" exclaimed +Will. "Our lovely burros over there will probably lift up their voices +if any stranger comes nosing around in the dark."</p> + +<p>"Anyhow," Tommy suggested, "we may be able to get sight of young Wagner +if we keep watch all night."</p> + +<p>Will and George were in bed by nine o'clock, and then Sandy and Tommy +began planning the excursion into the hills which each one, independent +of the other, had determined to make.</p> + +<p>"Now it's just this way," Tommy began, "wherever those fellows are, they +have a fire. It's September, but the nights are cold here, just the +same. Now, you remain here and watch the camp and I'll make my way to +one of the summits to the north and take a peep over the country. If I +see a campfire, and it isn't too far away, I'll sneak down and see +whether it belongs to Wagner, to the cheap detectives, to the train +robbers, or to the cowboy vigilantes."</p> + +<p>"That's quite a collection of interests to be assembled in one spot on +the Great Divide!" laughed Sandy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we always get into some kind of a mess like this," grumbled Tommy. +"We could have a nice peaceful time catching Wagner if the detectives, +and the train robbers, and the cowboys had remained away. I hope the +cowboys will catch the robbers and lug them out, anyway!"</p> + +<p>"I have an idea that the detectives will soon get tired of wandering +around in the hills and meeting grizzly bears, and rattlesnakes, and +wolverines every half hour."</p> + +<p>"Grizzly bears!" exclaimed Tommy. "What are you talking about grizzly +bears for?"</p> + +<p>"There are more grizzly bears in Wyoming," declared Sandy, "than in all +the other western states put together. The Bad Lands are full of them, +and up in the Yellowstone National Park, they have them trained to eat +with a knife and fork!"</p> + +<p>"All right!" exclaimed Tommy. "I'll take your word for it, but I don't +believe it! I know there are rattlesnakes, all right, but I don't +believe there's a grizzly bear within a hundred miles of this spot!"</p> + +<p>The words were hardly out of the boy's mouth before a rumbling growl +came to the ears of the watchers.</p> + +<p>"There!" cried Tommy. "You've called the roll and that's the first +response. But I'll bet he's the only one around here!" the boy added.</p> + +<p>Sandy laid a hand on his friend's shoulder to invoke silence.</p> + +<p>"Listen," he said, "that's no bear!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it's a rattlesnake, then!" scorned Tommy.</p> + +<p>"It's a boy!" declared Sandy. "That's what it is!"</p> + +<p>Both lads darted into the darkness, waving electric searchlights as they +advanced, and calling out in such words as a Boy Scout would be apt to +understand. They ran for some distance, until they fell over a bit of +rocky ground, and then stood looking toward a point in the darkness from +which a sound of footsteps came.</p> + +<p>"You go on back to camp," whispered Tommy to Sandy, "and make all the +noise you can going, and talk to yourself, so he'll think we're talking +together. I'll put out my light and follow that chump by the noise he +makes. I guess I can do it all right!"</p> + +<p>"Aw, let's both go," pleaded Sandy.</p> + +<p>"One's got to go back to camp to put him off his guard!" insisted Tommy, +"Run along, like a good little boy, now," he added with a grin.</p> + +<p>Sandy departed, talking to himself, and trying his best to make noise +enough for two boys, while Tommy turned off his light and crept forward +in the darkness in the direction of the sounds he had heard.</p> + +<p>For a time he seemed to gain on the person who was making his way some +hundred yards or more ahead of him, but at last, try as he might, the +sound of footsteps gradually died away, and there were only the sounds +of the night in the boy's ears.</p> + +<p>He paused, after a time, and threw himself down on the rocky slope. The +campfire seemed to be a long distance away, now, and the boy had just +decided to give over his search at that time and return to the camp.</p> + +<p>When he started to rise, however, he found a heavy hand pressed down on +either shoulder. His amazement was so great that for a moment he sat +perfectly still.</p> + +<p>But there were cowboy vigilantes, train robbers, and detectives +somewhere in the hills, so the boy was not quite so sure of the +personality of the other as he had been at the first instant of contact.</p> + +<p>"Well?" he said in a moment.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" came the question, not in the voice of a boy, but in the +gruff tones of a man who was taking no pains to make a good impression.</p> + +<p>"A boy from the camp down yonder," Tommy answered.</p> + +<p>The boy was thinking fast. This might be one of the detectives, or it +might be one of the train robbers, or it might be one of the cowboys, or +it might be the escaped convict himself.</p> + +<p>"What are you boys camping there for?" was asked.</p> + +<p>"Vacation!" was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Which way did the cowboys go?" was the next question.</p> + +<p>Tommy needed no further introduction to the man who was clinging to his +shoulders with a grip that was positively painful. No one but the train +robbers would be apt to be interested in the direction taken by the +cowboys. Tommy declares to this day that he felt the hair rising +straight up on his head when he realized that he was talking with one of +the hold-up men. He also says that his teeth chattered with fright.</p> + +<p>"The last we heard of the cowboys," he answered, "they were going +straight north. I thought you went that way, too," he added.</p> + +<p>"We couldn't get too far away from our base of supplies," replied the +other with a cynical laugh. "We were just thinking of going back to your +camp for a square meal when we heard you blundering up the slope. You'll +have to feed us for a few days, young fellow!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>A DETECTIVE AND A ROBBER</h3> + + +<p>Half way back to the camp, Sandy crouched down at the sound of +approaching footsteps.</p> + +<p>"I'll bet that's Tommy trying to give me a scare," was the boy's +thought.</p> + +<p>He listened intently for a moment, without hearing a repetition of the +noise, and started on again.</p> + +<p>"If I thought that really was Tommy," he mused, "I'd arrange a neat +little surprise for him. He's always up to his tricks."</p> + +<p>The sound of heavy breathing came to his ears directly, and, not having +the least doubt that the approaching figure was that of his chum, he +waited for an instant until the labored breathing seemed to be passing +the spot where he stood and leaped forward.</p> + +<p>Much to his amazement he struck a pair of broad, muscular shoulders +instead of the slender shoulders of his chum and felt himself in the +grasp of a pair of powerful hands.</p> + +<p>"What are you prowling around in the night for?" was asked.</p> + +<p>Sandy pulled away at the hand which was smothering him and taking the +hint, his captor released him for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I can't talk with my mouth and nose all stopped up!" returned the boy. +"What did you want to go and do that for?"</p> + +<p>"What are you prowling about in the night for?" repeated the other.</p> + +<p>Sandy thought he recognized the voice as that of Katz, the plain-clothes +policeman who had lied on the previous evening regarding his residence +and his calling.</p> + +<p>"I might ask the same of you," replied Sandy, mopping his face with his +handkerchief. "What are you prowling around for?"</p> + +<p>"Keeping an eye on your camp," replied the other gruffly.</p> + +<p>"What for?" demanded Sandy.</p> + +<p>"Because you're suspicious characters."</p> + +<p>"You're Katz, aren't you?" asked Sandy.</p> + +<p>"Who told you that?" snarled the other.</p> + +<p>"John Johnson," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"I recognized him as one of Horton's men," declared Katz.</p> + +<p>"That's what he is!" Sandy answered.</p> + +<p>"What has Horton got to do with you?"</p> + +<p>"That's some more of our business!" replied the boy.</p> + +<p>"Now, look here," the detective said in a moment, "we're here, as you +probably know by this time, in search of an escaped convict. We have +positive information that he is hiding somewhere in this district. We +have brought in plenty of supplies, and intend to remain here until we +find him. He's a slippery fellow, but we'll get him yet."</p> + +<p>"That doesn't interest me any," suggested Sandy.</p> + +<p>"But I'm going to interest you in just about one minute!" declared Katz. +"The boy who stole my property and left your camp in the night is likely +to return there at any time. We want that boy. Will you help us get him? +If you don't, you're likely to get into trouble yourselves."</p> + +<p>"I guess there isn't much chance of his coming back to us!" Sandy +answered. "I guess you know that yourself."</p> + +<p>"You know who he is?" ask the detective.</p> + +<p>"We've been told," was the reply, "that he is the son of the man you're +hunting for, but we don't believe it."</p> + +<p>"Well, we've made up our minds that he is," Katz went on, "and we've +also made up our minds to watch your camp until the boy shows up again. +I'll teach him to steal my badge of authority!"</p> + +<p>"When you catch him," Sandy requested, "just let us know. We want to see +him ourselves. Will you do that?"</p> + +<p>"I guess you'll see him before we do," replied Katz, gruffly. "And now, +if you don't mind," the detective went on, "I'll just go over to the +camp with you and see what the other boys say about him. And while I'm +there, you might make me a couple of cups of coffee. I'm a long distance +from my camp and quite hungry."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the impudence of the request, the boy consented to the +arrangement and the two were starting away together when the sound of +approaching footsteps was heard.</p> + +<p>"Gee whiz!" exclaimed Sandy. "This deserted country seems to me about +like the corner of State and Madison streets tonight. There's always +some one walking around in the dark."</p> + +<p>"Suppose we wait and see who it is," suggested the detective.</p> + +<p>Now, Sandy had an idea that one of the persons approaching was Tommy and +that the other might possibly be Chester Wagner. He had no notion of +assisting the detective to get his hands on the boy, and so hung back +when Katz would have stepped forward to intercept those who were +advancing toward him. Thinking this an attempt to break away, Katz +caught the lad by the arm and held fast to him while the others went by.</p> + +<p>Sandy was certain that he heard Tommy's voice as the two passed, but was +not certain that he recognized the voice of his companion in the low +reply which was made. The boy realized that he must have occupied +considerable time in his return to camp, after leaving his chum.</p> + +<p>"And so, one of your chums was prowling around in the darkness, too," +snarled the detective. "Who is that person with him?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," answered Sandy.</p> + +<p>"Yes you do know, too!" gritted Katz, "You just came from that direction +yourself, and you probably left the two together when you came away."</p> + +<p>"You're off there," Sandy answered.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what I think," the detective went on, "and that is that +you boys have been out after that Wagner kid. I believe he's going into +the camp with your chum right this minute. Anyway, I'll take you in and +find out about it."</p> + +<p>As the two advanced toward the campfire they watched in vain for the two +figures which had gone on ahead.</p> + +<p>"You walk in there and see whether that boy thief is there or not," +commanded the detective. "And remember," he went on, threateningly, +"that I'm waiting here in the darkness with an automatic revolver in my +hand, so you'd better not attempt any funny business!"</p> + +<p>When he reached Tommy's side he saw that the boy was frying bacon and +eggs and making coffee. The large skillet used by the boys contained at +least half a dozen eggs and about half a pound of breakfast bacon.</p> + +<p>"Where's your friend?" Sandy asked in a whisper.</p> + +<p>Tommy laid a finger on his lips as a request for low-voiced +conversation. All the time he kept busy with the skillet.</p> + +<p>"He's back there watching us with a loaded automatic in his hand," +whispered the boy. "I wish one of the boys would get up and put a bullet +through his head. That's what he deserves!"</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" whispered Sandy.</p> + +<p>"One of the train robbers!" was the startling reply.</p> + +<p>"Where'd you get him?"</p> + +<p>"He geezled me out here on the slope!"</p> + +<p>"And came in with you and ordered his dinner?"</p> + +<p>"That's it!" was the reply.</p> + +<p>Sandy sat down on the grass beside the fire and chuckled until he was +red in the face. Tommy almost permitted the bacon to burn while he +watched his chum with wide-open eyes.</p> + +<p>"If that train robber should send a bullet out this way, you wouldn't +think it so funny!" Tommy declared. "He's a mighty suspicious fellow. He +wouldn't permit me to wake any of the boys to help get supper."</p> + +<p>"Look here," whispered Sandy, "I've got that imitation detective out +there waiting for me to tell him whether Chester Wagner is here or not. +He says he's hungry, too, and insists that I give him a night lunch. Now +I'll tell you what we'll do," the boy continued. "I'll go and steer the +detective up against the train robber, and we'll see what he'll do."</p> + +<p>Before Tommy could reply, Sandy was away in the darkness, whistling +softly to the detective.</p> + +<p>"Say," he said, when Katz came lumbering into the edge of the +illumination, "the boy isn't there, but I've got good news for you, just +the same. The man who went in with my chum is one of the train robbers +the cowboys are in search of. There's ten thousand dollars reward +offered for him, and all you've got to do is to walk in there, hold a +gun to his head, and march him off to Green River. You ought to give me +half the reward, though," the boy added, "for you wouldn't have caught +him only for me."</p> + +<p>"All right," whispered the detective in a shaking voice. "I'll creep +back into the shadows and come up from behind. When you go back, point +with your hand to where he is. I'll be right there with a gun on him in +half a minute!"</p> + +<p>"All right," replied Sandy, and the detective disappeared from view.</p> + +<p>Then the boy walked back to Tommy's side and explained what sort of +circus there would be there in about a minute.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE CALL OF THE BEAVER</h3> + + +<p>"Oh, I don't believe there'll be any circus!" whispered Tommy.</p> + +<p>"And why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because Katz will get the fellow handcuffed so quick by that there +won't be any fun in it! There's a big reward out for that fellow!"</p> + +<p>"Huh!" grinned Sandy. "You didn't see how scared the detective was when +I told him the train robber was here by our fire. It's a hundred to one +that the train robber will give the detective a swift kick in the pants +and go back to his own camp."</p> + +<p>The boys listened and waited for a considerable length of time, but +heard no evidence of the approach of the detective.</p> + +<p>"Say," Tommy whispered, "this is a pretty nice supper I've been getting +for that robber. It looks good enough for me to eat myself!"</p> + +<p>"We can eat it after Katz takes the robber away," suggested Sandy.</p> + +<p>"I don't see anything of Katz, do you?" asked Tommy with a wink.</p> + +<p>"Je-rusalem!" exclaimed Sandy. "You don't think he's run away, do you? +He wouldn't do that, I'm sure!"</p> + +<p>"He wouldn't," laughed Tommy. "I'll bet that fellow's running away now +with a face so pale it leaves a white streak in the night."</p> + +<p>"Well, it takes him a long time to get here, anyway," admitted Sandy.</p> + +<p>"You just wait a minute," Tommy chuckled, "and I'll fix this business all +right. You just tend this skillet until I come back."</p> + +<p>Tommy moved away toward where the robber sat on the ground, watching +every move that was made, and keeping a particularly keen eye on Sandy, +whose temporary absence from the camp had attracted his suspicions.</p> + +<p>"Look here," Tommy whispered, "we're not anxious to see you boys get +into trouble, and so we're going to give you a tip. Sandy went out a +moment ago to steer away one of the detectives who came in from Chicago +last night."</p> + +<p>The hold-up man got softly to his feet and began moving out of the light +of the fire. Tommy urged him by look and a motion to remain where he was +for the present.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know that there were any detectives from Chicago in here," he +said. "They must have made a quick jump to get here!"</p> + +<p>"I guess they did," replied Tommy. "One of them was here before you were +yesterday. He chased you up the valley, but came back, saying that he +couldn't get a shot."</p> + +<p>"Pretty nervy kind of a fellow, eh?" asked the train robber.</p> + +<p>"He looks to me," declared Tommy, "as if he'd fight a rattlesnake and +give him the first bite. He may have a swarm of his men in the vicinity +of the camp, and if I were you, I'd turn away to the east and get out of +sight as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>"I can't fight a whole army," declared the train robber, as, crouching +low, he moved away.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," whispered Tommy chuckling so that he was afraid the +other would discover the merriment in his voice. "Why don't you wait and +have some of the supper I've been cooking for you?"</p> + +<p>The train robber did not even pause to hear the conclusion of the boy's +remarks, and Tommy went back to the fire and lay down and rolled back +and forth until Sandy threw a cup of water into his face.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of that!" he exclaimed. "There's a bum Chicago +detective chasing off to the north at a forty mile gait, because he +thinks there's a train robber after him, and there's a a train robber +chasing off to the east at a forty-mile gait because he thinks there's a +Chicago detective after him! Some day," the boy added, "I'm going to +make a motion picture scenario of that."</p> + +<p>While the boys were enjoying the joke, Will and George came out of the +tent where they had been sleeping. Both looked grave when the incidents +of the night were related to them.</p> + +<p>"It means," Will declared, "that we are suspected by the train robbers +of harboring a detective, and suspected by the detective of harboring +the convict and his son."</p> + +<p>"Aw, they won't come back here again, any of them!" asserted Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think they won't," replied Will. "Here," he added, as Tommy +dipped into the skillet of bacon and eggs. "What are you boys doing with +the third or fourth supper?"</p> + +<p>"I cooked this for the train robber!" grinned Tommy, "How'd you like to +have a few bites of it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't mind!" declared Will.</p> + +<p>"Of the four parties representing four diverse interests," Will said, at +the conclusion of the meal, "two have been represented here tonight. +Before morning we may receive a call from the cowboys and the escaped +convict. The visits might not be very agreeable ones but, still, they +would complete the roll-call."</p> + +<p>"You remember that trip to the Florida Everglades, don't you?" asked +Tommy, with a most satisfying yawn. "Well, if you haven't forgotten all +about it, you'll remember that we didn't have any sleep there for a +couple of nights, and that I actually began to grow thin because of +being kept awake so much."</p> + +<p>"It was your own fault," insisted Sandy.</p> + +<p>"That may be," replied Tommy, "but, all the same, I'm not going to let +anything like that happen on this trip. I'm going to bed right now, and +there's nothing on the face of the earth that can get me out of bed +again until morning."</p> + +<p>"That's me, too!" declared Sandy.</p> + +<p>The boys entered the tent recently vacated, drew down the flap and were +soon in bed, and asleep. Will and George, sitting by the fire, +discussing the unusual combination of circumstances, heard a succession +of sounds which any member of the Beaver patrol, Boy Scouts of America, +would have recognized instantly.</p> + +<p>It was the beaver call which consists in slapping the open palms +together violently in imitation of the play of the flat tail of the +beaver upon the surface of the water.</p> + +<p>"Slap, slap, slap!" came the challenge from the darkness.</p> + +<p>"That's a Beaver!" exclaimed George.</p> + +<p>"Slap, slap, slap!" went the reply from Will's open palms.</p> + +<p>"Why doesn't he come in?" asked George in a moment.</p> + +<p>"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 here +tonight. There is no doubt but that we'll hear from the cowboys before +morning. It never rains but it pours."</p> + +<p>"Slap, slap, slap!" came the call from the darkness again.</p> + +<p>Will gave a low whistle in recognition of the signal and stepped +forward. An answering whistle directed his steps, and presently he saw +the light of the fire shining on the pale face of the lad who had stolen +the badge of office from the detective.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you come on in?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"Why," was the reply, "I wasn't afraid of you boys, but I didn't know +who might be watching the camp. I've been loitering around here most of +the time since dark and just got the courage to call you out. Some one +chased me away once."</p> + +<p>"Are you hungry?" asked Will. "If you are, now's the time to say so. +Last call for dinner in the dining car!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm hungry," was the reply, "but I haven't got time to wait for +supper. If you'll snatch a loaf of bread and can of something and come +along with me, you'll do the greatest favor one Boy Scout ever did for +another. You'll come, won't you?"</p> + +<p>"Sure I will," was the reply, "and I'll bring something more than a loaf +of bread and a can of something," he went on.</p> + +<p>"You can't carry much," replied Chester, "for we've got a rocky road to +climb, and we'll have to go fast, too!"</p> + +<p>"You haven't told me what the trouble is, yet!"</p> + +<p>"It's father!" the boy answered hesitatingly. "I suppose you know now +that I didn't tell you the truth when I was at your camp. I saw John +Johnson there after I stole that bum detective's badge and ran away, and +I suppose he told you all about me."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he did," replied Will, rejoicing inwardly that the very thing they +had been wishing for had taken place.</p> + +<p>All he had to do now was to win the confidence of the boy, find his way +to the father, and so clear up the mystery of the Fremont case.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Will went on, "he told me all about you and all about your +father, and I've been wondering ever since how you, a Boy Scout, could +find the nerve to make up such a mess of lies as you told to me."</p> + +<p>"I wanted to find out what you were here for, and who you were, and get +something to eat," replied the boy, "and so I told you the first thing +that came into my head. And now," he continued, "I'm going to tell you +something that I wish might be classed as a fairy tale later on."</p> + +<p>"Go ahead," answered Will. "Two days ago I had no idea that I'd ever +become mixed up in the Fremont case, but I'll tell you right now that +I'm becoming interested in it."</p> + +<p>"A few days ago," the boy began, "father fell from a ledge of rock near +our hiding place and injured his head. I have taken as good care of him +as I could, but it was impossible for me to remain with him all the +time, because I had to fish and hunt and provide food for both of us."</p> + +<p>"You're welcome to any provisions we have," said Will, feeling genuine +sympathy for the boy.</p> + +<p>"That isn't the point now," Chester went on.</p> + +<p>"While I was in your camp last night waiting, for the chance to steal +provisions to take back to father, he left the hiding place. I know he's +out of his head, and so I believe him to be wandering about the hills in +a demented condition. There's no knowing what will happen to him if he +is not found and placed in hiding again. I want you to go and help me +find 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 at +any minute if he continues to wander about while insane from the recent +injury to his head. There's no one to help me but you. Will you go?"</p> + +<p>Here was the very chance the Boy Scouts had been waiting for.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>ARRESTED AS SPIES</h3> + + +<p>"Of course, we'll go with you!" replied Will, in answer to the boy's +anxious question. "Do you think anything can be done tonight?"</p> + +<p>"I think we ought to begin the search tonight," replied Chester. "One of +father's hobbies is the campfire. It is my idea that if he has matches +he will build himself a rousing fire, if he comes to dry wood. If he +doesn't do this, he's likely to make his way to the first campfire he +sees. I was in hopes that he'd come here."</p> + +<p>Will called his chums into the tent for a general discussion of the +matter, Chester remaining just outside the fire line. The boy seemed to +have a mortal fear of being watched and followed.</p> + +<p>Before entering fully into the conference, Will carried a liberal supper +out to the hungry boy. Chester said that he had eaten very little since +disposing of the provisions taken from the camp. Owing to the sudden +disappearance of his father, he had not had time to hunt and fish. Will +thought he had never seen a boy eat so industriously.</p> + +<p>"Why don't he come into the tent," queried Tommy, as Will returned.</p> + +<p>"He's afraid some one's watching the camp," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"What if there is some one watching the camp," Tommy insisted, "they'll +see something's going on and follow us when we go away with Chester. So +he might just as well come on in!"</p> + +<p>"Watch us when we go away?" repeated George. "Who do you think is going +away with the boy in search of his father?"</p> + +<p>"I'm going, for one!" declared Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Not so you could notice it!" Will cut in. "You and Sandy have been +doing all the scouting tonight, and now George and I will take a turn at +it!"</p> + +<p>Tommy winked slyly at Sandy but said nothing.</p> + +<p>Will, however, caught the look which passed between the two boys, and +declared that he meant to tie them both up before he left the camp.</p> + +<p>"You boys are always running away, and always getting into trouble!" he +declared. "You remember what a scrape you got us into down in the +Everglades. If it hadn't been for the Seminole, you'd 'a' had us all +under ground before we'd been there two days!"</p> + +<p>"Aw, who said anything about leaving camp?" demanded Sandy.</p> + +<p>"No one said anything about it," returned the other, "but I understand +what you boys have in your minds, and I'll tell you right now that I +don't think it's right for you to leave the camp until we return."</p> + +<p>"Of course we won't!" declared Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Well, I've said all I'm going to say about it!" Will went on. "Of +course, you'll go if the notion comes into your heads, anyway, so what's +the use? I hope you'll get into something that'll keep you home for a +week if you do go out tonight."</p> + +<p>"All right," laughed Tommy. "We know all about you! If we got into +trouble anywhere, you'd be the first one to help get us out."</p> + +<p>"And now about plans for the search," Will went on, without seeming to +notice the last remark of the boy, "it is nearly midnight now, and we +may not be back by morning, so perhaps we'd better take something to eat +with us. We may be miles from camp at sunrise."</p> + +<p>"And when we find Wagner, we may find a hungry man," George added.</p> + +<p>"That's a fact!" cried Tommy darting away to the provision box.</p> + +<p>In a very short time the boy brought a great package of egg and ham +sandwiches to the two lads who were about to start away.</p> + +<p>"Now, don't eat all this truck before sunrise," Tommy advised. "As +George says, when you find Wagner, you'll find a hungry man."</p> + +<p>After stowing the sandwiches away in their pockets, and seeing that +their automatics and searchlights were in good condition, the boys went +out to the place where they had left Chester and found him sound asleep +in the long grass.</p> + +<p>"The poor fellow is about all in!" exclaimed George.</p> + +<p>"I wish we could get him to remain in camp while we make the search!" +Will suggested. "He's in no shape to take a long trip into the +mountains."</p> + +<p>"And still," George began, "we haven't any idea where to look for his +father. And the boy may have a very clear notion as to where to look +first. I guess, after all, we'll have to take him with us!"</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," Will agreed, "but I tell you what we can do. We can get +him to tell us what he knows about his father's habits and inclinations, +and then ask him to rest up while we investigate some of the points +suggested. Perhaps he'll do that."</p> + +<p>"I guess he'll have to!" smiled George. "He's so sound asleep now that +we could carry him bodily into the tent and he'd never know it!"</p> + +<p>It was quite a difficult task to wake the boy, but at last when he sat +up rubbing his eyes he pretended, as all boys will, that he had just +dozed off for a minute.</p> + +<p>"I was pretty tired," he declared, "and I guess the supper I ate made me +a little bit sleepy."</p> + +<p>"Well," Will said, "we may as well be on our way. I suppose you'll take +us first to the place where you and your father have been hiding."</p> + +<p>"That was my intention."</p> + +<p>The sky was clearing now, and the light of the stars made it possible +for the boys to walk at a swift pace over the level valley and up the +easy slope which led to the top of a low and rocky range of hills lying +at the western foot of Atlantic peak.</p> + +<p>When the boys finally reached the summit of the ridge, Chester led the +way down an incline facing the east to a gulch which ran in between the +great mountain and the lower range.</p> + +<p>"Here's where we've been stopping," he said, pointing to what is known +in that part of the country as a limestone cave. "It's quite comfortable +in there if you have a fire near the entrance, and no one can see the +blaze from the valley, so it's reasonably safe."</p> + +<p>The boys stepped into the cavern and looked around. A rude couch had +been made of the boughs of spruce and white pine, and saplings had been +roughly hewn into a table and two chairs.</p> + +<p>"You must have been here some time?" asked Will, pointing to the skins +on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Several long, dreary weeks," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Did you come here with your father?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we came together."</p> + +<p>"Were you with him in Chicago just before he left for Wyoming?"</p> + +<p>The boy opened his eyes wider.</p> + +<p>"How did you know we were ever in Chicago?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"We know more about your father and yourself than you think we do."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said the boy suspiciously, "I have done wrong in asking you +for assistance."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you've come to the right shop for help," George cut in. "You'll +find that we'll help you while you're in the hills, and continue to help +you after you get out of the hills. You're a Beaver, you know."</p> + +<p>It was on Will's lips to tell the boy exactly why they were there, and +how glad they were that he had come to them in his trouble, but he +refrained from doing so.</p> + +<p>After half an hour's walk they came to the place where the gulch opened +into a small valley.</p> + +<p>"I think," Chester said, as they stepped into one of these openings, +"that father may be hiding somewhere in this vicinity."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so," asked Will, "because of that light in there?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't see any light when I spoke," replied the boy, "but I see the +reflection of a fire now. It must be some distance from this opening."</p> + +<p>The boys moved forward softly until they came near a campfire which was +in a passage connecting the cave they were in with one to the north. +When they came close enough they saw three figures sitting before the +fire. Chester clutched Will fiercely by the arm and declared that one of +the men was his father. He was for rushing forward immediately, but the +boys held him back.</p> + +<p>"If the other fellows are the detectives," George suggested to Will, +"it's all up with us, unless we can get him away."</p> + +<p>"But they are not the detectives," replied Will.</p> + +<p>"Those fellows are the men who are wanted for the Union Pacific train +robbery!"</p> + +<p>While the boys were advancing the three men at the fire disappeared as +if by magic! The next moment the circle of light showed the figures of +half a dozen cowboys darting hither and thither in search of the men who +had taken themselves off so suddenly.</p> + +<p>Believing that the cowboys might be induced to assist in the search for +the missing man, the boys advanced toward the fire. As they did so the +cowboys swarmed down upon them. Before they could utter a word of +protest they were securely bound with ropes and dragged to the opening.</p> + +<p>"We didn't get the robbers," the man who seemed to be leader of the +party said, "but we can amuse ourselves lynching these spies!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>A MIDNIGHT BEAR HUNT</h3> + + +<p>"I have heard," Tommy said with a wink, soon after the departure of the +boys, "that the best time to get a grizzly bear rug for a Boy Scout club +room in Chicago is at moonrise."</p> + +<p>"I think I've heard something like that, too," Sandy answered, with a +grin. "That is," he went on, "if you want to get a grizzly bear rug for +a Boy Scout club room in Chicago in the month of September."</p> + +<p>"Yes," Tommy admitted, "I think the month of September was mentioned in +the information I received on the subject."</p> + +<p>"And the best place to get a grizzly bear rug for a Boy Scout club room +in Chicago," Sandy laughed, "is in a range of foot hills built mostly of +limestone. You see," the lad continued, "water washes out limestone and +leaves caves and holes which the bears occupy. Sometimes these caves and +holes furnish accommodation for a whole family of baby bears, I have +heard, so we may be able to take a pet cub back to Chicago with us. That +would be pretty poor, I guess!"</p> + +<p>"Well," Tommy said, rummaging the provision box, "if we start out to get +a couple of grizzly bear rugs for a Boy Scout club room in Chicago, we +probably won't get back before sunrise, so we may as well take a little +something to eat with us."</p> + +<p>"Trust you for always taking something to eat with you!" laughed Sandy. +"It's a sure thing you'll never starve to death."</p> + +<p>The boys provided themselves with plenty of sandwiches and a couple of +cans of pork and beans and, after seeing that the fire was safe and not +likely to spread to the tents and provisions, and after changing the +feeding ground of the burros so that they had plenty of grass, started +away toward the foothills.</p> + +<p>"Of course," Tommy said as they walked along, "we may find Wagner while +we are looking for bear, and Will and George may find bear while they're +looking for Wagner. I've heard of such things before now."</p> + +<p>The boys crossed the valley to the foothills and clambered up the slope +not far north of the spot where their chums and Chester had gained the +summit. They descended into the gulch, too, and turned to the left.</p> + +<p>"Now," Tommy said, seating himself on the slope, "the moon ought to be +up in half an hour. I've heard that at the time the moon comes up bears +leave their beds in search of food. We'll just sit here on the slope and +watch the line of foothills."</p> + +<p>"And I suppose," Sandy scoffed, "that you've got a notion in your nut +that a couple of grizzly bears will come walking out into the gulch, +take off their hides, and make you a present of them in a nice little +speech."</p> + +<p>"Now don't get smart, Freshy!" exclaimed Tommy. "According to all +accounts, the walls of many of these foothills are punctured with +limestone caves. There's where the bears live. From where we sit we can +see a long ways to the north, as soon as the moon rises and we may be +able to catch sight of a grizzly coming out for an early lunch."</p> + +<p>The lads were seated not very far from the entrance to the cavern which +had been occupied by Wagner and his son, but they had no knowledge of +the fact. It was not their purpose to investigate one cavern at a time, +but to watch the valley for anything that might come out of any one of +them.</p> + +<p>They could see only a short distance when they halted but presently the +moon lifted into the sky and diffused a faint light over the hills. It +would be some minutes before the direct rays would, strike into the +gulch, and so the boys waited, hiding in the shadows, for that time to +come.</p> + +<p>"I guess we've got one already," Tommy observed, whispering the words +excitedly in his chum's ear.</p> + +<p>"I don't see anything that looks like a grizzly."</p> + +<p>"Can't you see that there's a movement in the shadows about a hundred +feet, to the north?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I see something moving but I can't tell what it is."</p> + +<p>"It's a bear!" shouted Tommy, taking no pain now to control his voice.</p> + +<p>"Yes," exclaimed Sandy, "and it's two bears, if anybody should ask you, +and they're coming this way!"</p> + +<p>"Then we'd better get back a little ways," advised Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I should say so!" cried Sandy. "At least we want to get into a position +where they can't get in behind us."</p> + +<p>The boys turned back a few paces and sought a position where their backs +would be supported by the almost perpendicular wall of the bluff to the +west. Then Sandy grinned as he pointed to the south.</p> + +<p>"I guess this is a bear convention," he said. "There's another grizzly +old scout coming from the other way."</p> + +<p>"Three bear rugs," chuckled Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Say, look here!" Sandy exclaimed. "Do we stand here and let these +brutes come up and smell of our clothes before we do any shooting?"</p> + +<p>"We don't do any shooting from here," Tommy answered moving back to the +south. "If we should wound those big brutes without shutting off their +motive power, they'd chew us into rags, in about three minutes. We've +got to get some place where we can run!"</p> + +<p>"Then what'd you back up against this rock for?" demanded Sandy.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know how many bears there were in the world," grinned Tommy.</p> + +<p>The boys moved a few paces and stopped at the mouth of a cavern. Tommy +threw his searchlight into the interior and saw only bare walls. On his +right as he looked in, appeared to be some sort of connection with the +cave beyond.</p> + +<p>"Gee—whiz!" he exclaimed. "There seem to be passages and corridors in +this big bear tenement building. I wonder if there isn't an elevator, +too."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't mind going up a few hundred feet!" suggested Sandy.</p> + +<p>The bears came lumbering along toward the cavern where the boys stood, +apparently not much interested in the visitors. When the moon rose they +snuffed about the crevices along the slope, and finally fixed their +attention on the spot where the boys were standing.</p> + +<p>Both boys, realizing that a mistake had been made, dashed into the +cavern and kept firing as the animals came into view, rather sharply +outlined now against the growing moonlight.</p> + +<p>"Now you have done it!" cried Sandy.</p> + +<p>"Aw, what have I done?" demanded Tommy. "We came out to get grizzly rugs +for our clubroom in Chicago, didn't we?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and you went and fired without killing them, and now we've been +chased into a hole! If they've got the sense to stand there and wait for +us to come out, they'll have a feast of boy flesh in a few hours."</p> + +<p>"Huh!" exclaimed Tommy, "I didn't see you bringing down any of the +bears, and you shot as often as I did."</p> + +<p>"It sure was bum shooting," admitted Sandy.</p> + +<p>The bears were now out of view, but the boys knew that they were still +watching the entrance to the cavern. Tommy's searchlight showed the +entrance to the connection between the two caverns, and the boys lost no +more in changing their position. Tommy looked out of the entrance to the +hiding place and saw that the brutes had shifted their quarters and were +watching from a new position.</p> + +<p>"I guess we've got into the kind of a mess Will predicted," Tommy +declared. "This looks like we'd have to stand a siege."</p> + +<p>Tommy moved to the side of his chum and fired a couple of shots at the +sentinel outside.</p> + +<p>"Look here," Sandy advised. "You'd better save your bullets!"</p> + +<p>"All right!" Tommy answered. "I suppose that's what we're here for—to +save bullets!"</p> + +<p>"Well, you needn't be throwing them away where there's no chance of +hitting anything," grumbled Sandy.</p> + +<p>Tommy retreated into the cavern and began investigating the wall with +his searchlight.</p> + +<p>"If we could only find another corridor in this steam-heated old +collection of bear traps," he said, "we might get out of sight of the +brutes. I wish we could find a hole leading up to the roof!"</p> + +<p>The boys finally found a small opening which led into the wall on the +south. After investigating and finding that it connected only with the +cavern they had just left, the boys turned back.</p> + +<p>Tommy, who was in the lead, sprang back when he came to the main cave +with a suddenness which almost threw his chum to the floor.</p> + +<p>"Now we've gone and done a fine thing!" he cried. "The bears are out +there in the cave we're shut in good and tight!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>LYNCHING IS THREATENED</h3> + + +<p>"Spies!" repeated Will, indignantly, as the cowboys gathered around.</p> + +<p>"Yes, spies!" exclaimed the leader of the party excitedly. "You thought +you pulled the wool over our eyes down at your camp the other night, but +you didn't! We have good reason to believe that the robbers have visited +your camp every day and that you fed them!"</p> + +<p>"That isn't true!" declared George angrily.</p> + +<p>"If you're not in with these bandits, what are you doing here?" demanded +another member of the party.</p> + +<p>"Why, we came in search of—"</p> + +<p>Will closed his teeth with a snap as he realized that on no account must +he reveal the real motive for this night visit to the cavern.</p> + +<p>"Go on!" shouted the leader.</p> + +<p>Will glanced significantly at George and remained silent.</p> + +<p>Chester seemed about to speak, but George gave him a nudge with his +elbow and the boy remained silent.</p> + +<p>"You said you came here in search of some one!" the leader demanded.</p> + +<p>"I didn't say anything of the kind," Will contradicted.</p> + +<p>"Well, out with it! What did you say?"</p> + +<p>"I was about to say that we were prowling around just for the fun of the +thing."</p> + +<p>"Prowling around in the ante-room of a robbers' den in the middle of the +night just for the fun of the thing!" laughed the leader.</p> + +<p>"That story is so bald that it's funny!" laughed another member of the +party. "You ought to make up something better than that!"</p> + +<p>"It's the truth!" answered George.</p> + +<p>"Look here!" the leader exclaimed. "If you boys'll tell us where those +three men went to, we'll take you into Green River and see that you have +a fair trial. If you don't, we'll string you up right here in the +mountains!"</p> + +<p>"We don't know where they went!" answered Will.</p> + +<p>A member of the party who had been called Seth by his companions now +stepped forward and began an examination of the Boy Scout badges which +adorned the coats of the two lads.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get them?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Chicago," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"The Beaver Patrol, I see," the man went on.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir!" replied Will.</p> + +<p>"You look like a young man," George cut in. "Were you ever a Boy Scout?"</p> + +<p>"Hardly," was the reply, "but I have a son who is very much interested +in the organization. He belongs to the Eagle Patrol, at Lander, and I +hear nothing but Boy Scout rules, and tactics, and that sort of thing, +from morning till night."</p> + +<p>"Well, he must be a good lad if he's a faithful Boy Scout," Will +suggested. "He certainly must be all right!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed he is!" Seth answered. "He's a good boy, and I hope some day +that he'll have the right to wear a badge like that," pointing to the +Scoutmaster emblem on Will's hat.</p> + +<p>"How many of these medals has he?" asked George, pointing to the +Ambulance, Stalker, Seaman and Pioneer medals on his sleeve.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know," Seth laughed. "He comes home every day or two and +says he's going to have a new one! Look here, lad," the man added +glancing apprehensively back at his companions, "why don't you tell the +truth and get out of this scrape in the easiest possible way?"</p> + +<p>"We have told the truth," was the reply, "except that we didn't come out +just for the fun of the thing. We came out for a purpose which we can't +disclose at this time. We blundered on the train robbers, and have no +more idea of where they went than you have."</p> + +<p>"Look here Seth," the leader of the party exclaimed. "If you can't make +those boys tell the truth, just cut out this conversation. We've got +work to do tonight!"</p> + +<p>"I think they are telling the truth!" Seth answered.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guess you know better than that!" laughed the leader. "You're +interested in them because they claim to be Boy Scouts, and I suppose +you're taking in everything they say."</p> + +<p>"I think the boys are all right!" insisted Seth.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't make any difference what you think!" replied the other +angrily, "If they don't tell the truth, they're going to swing in less +than half an hour!"</p> + +<p>"I can't stand for that, Pete," Seth answered.</p> + +<p>"Who's sheriff of this county?" demanded the man who had been called +Pete. "I suppose you think you're boss of this expedition."</p> + +<p>"I don't think anything of the kind," was the reply, "but I'm not going +to see these Boy Scouts murdered without a hearing, and if you attempt +anything of the kind, you'll never be sheriff of this county again! I +can tell you that much."</p> + +<p>The four other members of the party were now whispering together some +distance away. As they whispered, they glanced furtively from the boys +to the man who was trying to protect them.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Pete," one of them said, as they all stepped forward, "we +don't see any necessity for this halt in the proceedings just because +Seth has a lad that belongs to the Boy Scouts."</p> + +<p>"That's right," another member of the party declared. "Just you say the +word and we'll string these boys up in a holy minute!"</p> + +<p>"Not with my consent!" exclaimed Seth. "I'm not murdering babies! And if +you fellows attempt anything of the kind, there'll be trouble!"</p> + +<p>"Look here," the sheriff said, addressing Will. "You boys go off in a +corner somewhere and talk this thing over. Here's a pretty decent kind +of a fellow, a neighbor of mine, getting into trouble on your account. +Now you go and talk the thing over, and see if you can't decide to tell +the truth and help him out as well as yourself."</p> + +<p>"Why can't you tell him the whole story?" asked Chester as the boys +grouped themselves in a shadowy corner of the cave. "Why don't you tell +him just why you came out tonight, and how we happened to come into the +cavern. I don't believe they'll do us any harm if you tell the truth."</p> + +<p>"Now, look here, kid," Will answered, "if we tell the cowboys that we +came into the hills hunting for a demented man, they'll want to know who +the demented man is, and why he came into the hills without any +supplies. Can't you understand that?"</p> + +<p>"If he does," replied Chester, "I'll tell him all about it."</p> + +<p>"If you do," Will continued, "the cowboys will join in the search for +your father, and when they catch him, they'll turn him over to the two +detectives who are now in the hills searching for him."</p> + +<p>Chester turned pale as death and shrank back against the wall of the +cave. His voice was piteous as he asked:</p> + +<p>"So you know all about that, too, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Will, "and we don't want the officers to get hold of +your father. If they do, it will spoil all our plans, because they'll +take him back to the penitentiary, and that would make new trouble for +our friend. We want to find him ourselves."</p> + +<p>"But I don't understand—"</p> + +<p>"I know that you don't understand," Will declared, "and this is no time +nor place to give you the information you lack."</p> + +<p>"But I'll see father taken back to prison before I'll see you two boys +lynched!" insisted Chester.</p> + +<p>"You'd better think the matter over carefully," Will advised. "The +chances are that they won't believe anything we say to them now."</p> + +<p>"Well!" the sheriff called out impatiently. "Have you boys reached a +conclusion?"</p> + +<p>"We have already told you everything which can possibly interest you!" +Will answered. "We have nothing more to say!"</p> + +<p>"Then bring out your rope, boys!" the sheriff shouted.</p> + +<p>Seth threw a hand back to his pistol pocket and faced the sheriff +angrily. The sheriff's eyes flashed vengefully.</p> + +<p>"I protest against this murder!" Seth exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"If you don't want to take a hand in the proceedings, get out!" ordered +the sheriff. "We can do the work without you!"</p> + +<p>"I don't propose to see these Boy Scouts murdered!" Seth declared.</p> + +<p>Every member of the party now held a gun in his hand, and it seemed to +the boys that a desperate battle must take place. They drew their own +revolvers and stood side by side with their defender.</p> + +<p>"Take those guns away from the kids," shouted the sheriff, addressing +two of his men. "We ought to have attended to that before this!"</p> + +<p>"Don't you try it!" Seth said calmly. "I'll shoot the first man that +lays a hand on one of them!"</p> + +<p>While the two parties stood facing each other, each ready to begin +shooting at the slightest provocation, a volley of shots came from up +the gorge. The angry men turned their eyes toward the entrance to the +cavern and the sheriff threw up his hand in a command for an armistice.</p> + +<p>"The train robbers may be out in the gulch shooting up some one now!" he +exclaimed. "We ought to see about this!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Seth exclaimed, "there's no use of our coming to blows over this +matter. If the robbers' hiding place can be found, we can make them tell +whether these boys are mixed up in their affairs or not."</p> + +<p>"That's right!" exclaimed another member of the party. "If the boys will +give up their guns and promise to make no attempt to escape, we'll +investigate this shooting and give them the benefit of every doubt there +is in the case. Will you do that, boys?"</p> + +<p>The lads handed their weapons to Seth and moved out toward the gulch. +When the party passed out of the cavern they found no one in sight. +While they stood listening and watching more shots came from the south +and they all moved up in that direction. The moon was now shining +brilliantly and the whole gulch was in view.</p> + +<p>"Strange where that shooting is!" Seth exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"It's in the caverns up to the north, and that means that the train +robbers have been brought to bay!" exclaimed the sheriff.</p> + +<p>As the party started up the gulch, Will drew Seth aside and whispered a +few words into his ear.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>ONE DANGER TO ANOTHER</h3> + + +<p>"How do you know the bears are out there in the cave?" Sandy asked, as +Tommy drew back into the smaller cavity.</p> + +<p>"Just take a peek out, if you don't believe me."</p> + +<p>Sandy did take a peek out, and sprang back with a face which looked as +white as a sheet of paper under the rays of Tommy's electric +searchlight.</p> + +<p>"One of 'em took a swipe at me!" he said.</p> + +<p>The boys turned their searchlights on the entrance and waited patiently +for some moments for the bears to present themselves in the illuminated +circle, but the animals seemed to understand that there was danger under +the light, and remained around the angle of the wall.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?" asked Tommy, presently.</p> + +<p>"Blessed if I know!" answered Sandy.</p> + +<p>"We might rush out and fill 'em full of lead," suggested Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Not for me!" the other answered. "They'd get in one good crack at us +before we could pull the trigger, and then it would be 'Good-night!'"</p> + +<p>"How long do you think they'll stay here?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"The bear has the reputation of being a stayer," replied the other.</p> + +<p>"Well, in time," Tommy said, "we'll have to make a break. We've got +about enough provisions for breakfast, and after that, we'll be on the +verge of starvation as long as we remain here. So far as I can see, we +may as well make a break right now."</p> + +<p>"I'm game for it," replied Sandy. "We'll dazzle their eyes with our +searchlights, and fire a whole clip of bullets without stopping. Perhaps +that'll bring them down or cause them to run away."</p> + +<p>"All right!" Tommy agreed. "We'll round the corner together with our +searchlights held in front and begin shooting."</p> + +<p>"And don't make any mistake about shooting straight!" advised Sandy. "I +don't want Will and George to know that we ever got into a mess like +this. You know what they said about our coming away tonight, anyhow!"</p> + +<p>"Sure, I know!" admitted Tommy. "And I'd rather have one of the bears +bite off an arm than to have them know we got into a scrape we couldn't +get out of without their help."</p> + +<p>"Well, here goes, then!" cried Sandy.</p> + +<p>Without waiting for his chum he sprang around the corner or the wall, +his electric advanced, his automatic ready for instant use. As he turned +the corner one foot caught on a loose rock and he half fell to the +ground. As he did so, Tommy saw a hairy paw shoot out with vicious force +and brush and scrape across the boy's shoulder.</p> + +<p>Tommy heard the boy's coat ripping and tearing under the clutch of the +great claws, and heard his chum utter a piercing scream as the wicked +claws touched the flesh.</p> + +<p>It seemed to Tommy that the figure of his chum, now lying prostrate on +the floor of the cavern with the head extending outward, was being drawn +away from him by the claw which still clung to the shoulder.</p> + +<p>He raised his automatic to fire and pushed his searchlight forward. The +bear's eyes closed for an instant under the strong finger of light, and +the bullet caught him, exactly in the center of the forehead.</p> + +<p>He dropped with a savage growl, scrambled, to his feet again and dashed +toward Tommy, who fired shot after shot at the advancing animal, but +apparently without avail. In a moment all three bears, doubtless excited +by the smell of blood, sprang before the entrance to the little cave +where Tommy stood. For the moment the animals paid no attention to +Sandy, still, lying prostrate on the floor, blood oozing from the +wounded shoulder. Tommy fired shot alter shot as the bears came on.</p> + +<p>For the first time in his life Tommy realized that the next moment might +be his last. He saw Sandy lying bleeding on the floor. He saw three +savage, pain-maddened animals rushing upon him and worked the trigger of +his automatic until the clip was spent. Then he hurled the useless +weapon at the nearest animal and seizing Sandy by the feet, dragged him +farther into the cavern.</p> + +<p>"I guess it's all off now," he mused as the bears stood hesitating and +apparently ready for a spring. "I wish we'd left a note for Will."</p> + +<p>He heard the clatter of sharp claws on the rocky floor, saw the pig-like +eyes of the animals shining red under the light, heard their spasmodic +breathing, and was about to make a desperate rush forward when the outer +cavern was flooded with a racing light which grew and grew as Tommy +looked. Then he heard the sound of feet.</p> + +<p>Next came a volley of shots, followed by the shouts of men and the call +of a voice that he knew.</p> + +<p>"Tommy!" the voice cried.</p> + +<p>The boy did not answer instantly, for his eyes were fixed upon the +squirming figures of the bears. They had fallen under the shots and were +weaving about the floor, snarling and snapping at each other and at +themselves in their blind rage.</p> + +<p>Several more shots came, and then the animals lay still.</p> + +<p>"Tommy!" came the voice again.</p> + +<p>"That's Will!" said Sandy faintly.</p> + +<p>"Cripes! Are you alive?" demanded Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't be talking if I was dead, would I?" asked Sandy, speaking in +a very faint tone of voice.</p> + +<p>"Sandy!" came the voice again.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" called Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Come on out!" cried Will.</p> + +<p>"We're coming!" Sandy answered.</p> + +<p>The next moment the flashlights carried by Will and George swept into +the cavern, revealing the true condition of affairs.</p> + +<p>The two boys sprang to Sandy's side and raised him into a sitting +position. Sandy smiled weakly but said nothing.</p> + +<p>"Where is he hurt?" asked Will, facing Tommy.</p> + +<p>Tommy pointed to the boy's bleeding shoulder.</p> + +<p>"One of the bears swatted him," he said.</p> + +<p>The cowboys now gathered in front of the little cavern and gazed at the +group with excited interest.</p> + +<p>"What's coming off here?" the sheriff asked.</p> + +<p>"This kid's coat's coming off, for one thing," answered Will, with a +slight smile as he drew away at one sleeve. "He's been cut by the bear, +and we want to see how badly he's wounded."</p> + +<p>Seth stepped forward to assist in the removal of the coat, but the +sheriff laid a hand on his arm and drew him back.</p> + +<p>"If those two boys have guns," he said, "get them away from them!"</p> + +<p>"What's that?" demanded Tommy, gazing at the sheriff indignantly.</p> + +<p>"You're all under arrest," thundered the officer, "and I demand that you +give up your weapons."</p> + +<p>"You'll find my gun out there in the cavern somewhere," Tommy answered. +"I threw it at the bears after the last bullet had been fired."</p> + +<p>Will put his hand into Sandy's pocket as if feeling for a gun but found +none there. "I dropped it in the cavern," the boy said. "There are no +bullets in it, anyway. I shot 'em all at the bear."</p> + +<p>Sandy's wound proved to consist only of several scratches in the flesh +of the shoulder, but Will explained to the sheriff that it would be +necessary to take him out to where water could be obtained in order that +the injury might be properly dressed.</p> + +<p>"Come along, then," the sheriff consented. "We've had enough of this +underground hole, anyway."</p> + +<p>Tommy looked longingly at the three dead bears as he passed out.</p> + +<p>"I'm coming back here to get those rugs," he whispered to Will.</p> + +<p>"And I'm coming back here and get some bear steak," George contributed.</p> + +<p>"What are you boys talking about?" demanded the sheriff.</p> + +<p>"Aw, what's eating you?" demanded Tommy, who did not at all understand +the situation. "You want to keep your clam closed."</p> + +<p>The sheriff turned back and eyed the boy with anger and amazement +depicted on his rather heavy features.</p> + +<p>"You're one of these Boy Scouts, I presume?" he snarled.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," answered Tommy. "Proud of it!"</p> + +<p>"Then perhaps you can tell me where those train robbers are hiding."</p> + +<p>"I would if I could!" replied the boy.</p> + +<p>"What are you kids out at this time of night for, anyway?" was the next +question. "You ought to be in bed."</p> + +<p>"We came out to gather a couple of bear rugs for a Boy Scout clubroom in +Chicago," answered Tommy, with a slight grin in Will's direction.</p> + +<p>"And what did those boys come out for?" the sheriff asked, pointing at +Will and George and the boy in whose interest they had left camp.</p> + +<p>Tommy had no means of knowing what stories the boys might have told +regarding their presence in the mountains, and so he decided to dodge +the question. This seemed the only safe way.</p> + +<p>"Ask them!" he said after a short silence.</p> + +<p>By this time the whole party was out in the gulch, standing full in the +moonlight. The men conferred together for some moments, and then the +sheriff turned to the other members of the party.</p> + +<p>"Get your ropes, boys," he said. "We haven't got time to fool with these +boys any longer."</p> + +<p>"I protest against this action," shouted Seth. "You, Pete, are sheriff +of this county, and it is your duty to enforce the laws. If you permit +this lynching to take place in your presence, you'll be guilty of the +crime of murder, and I warn you that you'll be prosecuted."</p> + +<p>Tommy and Sandy looked at their chums questioningly. They did not at all +understand what was going on. Will and George were binding up the wound +with bandages which they had long carried for use on just such an +occasion as this.</p> + +<p>"I think I know my duty," answered the sheriff. "Wyoming officers are +being made the laughing-stock of the whole world because of the +frequency of these train robberies. In nearly every instance, lately, +the outlaws have escaped, principally because of assistance given them +by such people as we have here under arrest."</p> + +<p>The men removed ropes from under their coat and began to unwind them. +Seth drew his revolver and waited.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>A WYOMING HOLD-UP</h3> + + +<p>The four men stepped forward toward the boys with the ropes in their +hands. The boys stood facing the crowd with unflinching eyes.</p> + +<p>"I warn you!" shouted Seth.</p> + +<p>"Wait!" Chester cried, stepping forward. "If you're doing this because +my friends won't tell why they are in the mountains of Wyoming, and why +they are out in the hills tonight, you may as well hold your hands. I'll +give you all the information on the subject you desire."</p> + +<p>Will stepped forward and caught the boy by the arm.</p> + +<p>"You know what it means to—to some one if you speak," he warned.</p> + +<p>"But I'm not going to see you boys murdered before my eyes!"</p> + +<p>"No more fairy tales go!" shouted a member of the sheriff's gang. "We +have an unpleasant duty to perform here and we're not going to shirk it. +As the sheriff says, outlaws are flocking to Wyoming because they are +hidden and protected by such people as you."</p> + +<p>"But I can satisfy you as to the honesty of these boys," pleaded +Chester, "if you'll listen to me for five minutes."</p> + +<p>"Nothing doing!" shouted the sheriff.</p> + +<p>Again the men advanced with the ropes and again Seth lifted his revolver +in warning. The situation was a critical one.</p> + +<p>During the second of silence which followed, a clatter of stones came +into the gulch from the rocky summit above, and all eyes were instantly +turned in that direction. As they looked the sheriff and his men dropped +their weapons to the ground and threw their hands into the air.</p> + +<p>"That's right!" came a hoarse voice from above. "Throw down your weapons +and drop your belts at your feet. Now line up there in a row, you baby +snatchers! Never mind that funny business, there, you man with the red +whiskers. You'll drop in your tracks if you make another move! You are +the cowboy sheriff of the county, I understand, but you ought to be +training puppies for a dogshow. That's about your size."</p> + +<p>In a moment every member of the sheriff's posse, including Seth, was +unarmed. As they stood meekly in a row the boys were ordered to take +their own weapons from the heap on the ground and walk away over the +ridge.</p> + +<p>"Can you see who they are?" asked Will, as the boys moved slowly along.</p> + +<p>"I can see only the outlines of their heads and the gleaming barrels of +their rifles," George answered. "Say," the boy went on, "didn't the +cowboys drop their weapons quick when they saw those shining muzzles?"</p> + +<p>"They knew the other fellows had the drop on them, and I don't blame +them," Tommy cut in.</p> + +<p>"Do you really think they are the train robbers?" asked Sandy, who was +being assisted up the slope by Will and George.</p> + +<p>"They're the train robbers, all right!" insisted Tommy. "I can't see +their faces any more than you can, but I remember that voice! You +remember the night he was at our camp, and we were getting something to +eat? Well, I heard quite a lot of his conversation that night. Some of +it I liked and some of it I didn't, but I'm sure the man whose +conversation I heard that night is the same man who ordered the cowboy +officers to throw down their weapons."</p> + +<p>"But why should they do a thing like that?" demanded Will.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," replied George, "unless it is because train robbers have +a continual and perpetual grouch against officers of any kind."</p> + +<p>"That must be the reason," Will admitted.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad they got us away!" said Tommy, as the five boys reached +the summit and looked down into the little valley, "but they sure put us +in bad with the cowboys from this time on. The cowboys, apparently with +good cause, were accusing us of standing in with the train robbers, and +now the train robbers have proven the point by butting in for our +protection."</p> + +<p>"It's too bad," Will answered, "but I don't see how it can be helped. It +is particularly unfortunate at this time, because with the cowboys +opposing us we won't dare search the mountains for Chester's father."</p> + +<p>"We'll find a way!" insisted Tommy. "We'll be sure to find a way."</p> + +<p>When the boys turned down the slope which led to their camp, not very +far away, daylight was growing in the sky. They could see the figures of +the men who had rescued them creeping away to the south.</p> + +<p>Shouts and exclamations of rage were coming over the ridge, and the boys +understood very well that in a short time the cowboys would be at their +camp, with stronger motive than ever for their destruction.</p> + +<p>"We've got our guns," Will said as they walked along, "and we've got to +fight. That's all there is to it."</p> + +<p>When the boys came to the side of the dying campfire they found two men +who seemed to be entire strangers sitting calmly in one of the tents, +dividing the contents of a great tin of roast beef, and also sharing a +huge loaf of bread. The light was still dim in the tent, and so Will +turned his electric on the rather domestic scene.</p> + +<p>"What are you men doing in there?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Eating!" was the calm reply.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know but you were getting a hair-cut," grinned Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Where'd you come from?" asked George, as the boys all gathered in front +of the flap.</p> + +<p>"Look here, kids," one of the men said easily, "we've been traveling two +days and two nights, and we're hungry and sleepy. Just let us fill up on +this chuck and we'll tell you all about it."</p> + +<p>"We really ought to go to sleep!" the other intruder suggested. "But, as +you seem anxious to know why we're consuming your provisions, I'll +relieve your minds of anxiety by saying that we met John Johnson half +way to Green River and he sent us in to tell you that he would arrange +for reinforcements for you as soon as he reached Green River. He said he +mentioned the fact to you when he was here, but you didn't seem to like +it, and so he said nothing more about it to you."</p> + +<p>"He sent you in here just to tell us that?" demanded Will.</p> + +<p>"Aw, tell him the truth," laughed the other.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, I'll tell him the truth," replied the intruder, his mouth +full of bread and meat.</p> + +<p>"We met Johnson while he was on his way out, and he told us to look in +on you boys as we passed and see if you were all right. He seemed to +have a notion in his head that you'd be apt to get into trouble of some +kind."</p> + +<p>"Glad you came in," Will said, extending his hand, "I don't know how Mr. +Johnson came to think of it, but your coming here just now is something +in the nature of a miracle."</p> + +<p>"Glad to be of any service!"</p> + +<p>Then without explaining the purpose of their night mission into the +mountains, the boys explained the situation to the two strangers, +dwelling particularly on the fact that the sheriff's cowboys now had +good cause for believing that the lads really were associating with the +train robbers.</p> + +<p>"I think the train robbers held the officers up more because they've got +a grouch against all policemen than for any other reason," Will said. "I +don't see why they should cut in order to save our lives. The sheriff +will get good and even with them for that!"</p> + +<p>"Just a grouch against all the officers in the world!" laughed one of +the strangers. "All brigands feel that way."</p> + +<p>"But you can see where it leaves us!" exclaimed George. "We can't have +any fun in the mountains with those fellows chasing us all the time, and +one of our friends is wandering around in the mountains nutty, with a +broken head, and we can't even go out and find him if this hostile +attitude of the cowboys continues."</p> + +<p>"You think they'll follow you down to camp, do you?" asked one of the +men. "Of course the outlaws wouldn't hold them very long."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think they'll follow us down to camp and they won't lose any +time getting here, either," Will answered.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever seen anything like it?" asked Tommy as, accompanied by +George, he started toward the provision box.</p> + +<p>"Like what?" demanded the other.</p> + +<p>"Why, this lone mountain valley becoming the center of population of the +United States!" exclaimed Tommy. "When we came in here, there wasn't a +soul in sight in the valley. And then the robbers came, and the +detectives came, and the cowboys came, and Johnson came, then we got +next to Chester, and now these two strangers come butting in. If this +isn't the center of population, I'd like to know where it is."</p> + +<p>"It's a good thing we've got those old burros picketed out on the +grass," George observed. "In about two days more, we'll have to set sail +for Green River and load up with provisions. We've been running a public +eating house ever since we struck Wyoming. I wonder how long these +fellows are going to stay. If they remain more than one day, I'm going +to charge 'em for board or send them out fishing."</p> + +<p>"When you want any fish," Tommy exclaimed, "you needn't send any strange +guys out to get 'em. I'll bring in all the fish you want!"</p> + +<p>George chuckled, and Tommy threw an empty can at his head.</p> + +<p>"When you go out fishing," George said in a moment, "just let us know, +and we'll send a guard out with you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, just because I had a little trouble up on Lake Superior and down in +Florida, you think I can't catch fish!" complained Tommy. "You just wait +until we get this rumpus with the cowboy officers settled and I'll show +you whether I can catch fish or not."</p> + +<p>"I wish we had some of that bear steak!" George suggested. "We're eating +the ham and eggs all up, and we're right in the middle of a game country +at that."</p> + +<p>"Look here," Tommy suggested, "you go right on cooking ham and warming +up those shoestring potatoes, and I'll sneak over the ridge and bring +back about fifty pounds of bear." Besides, he went on, "I want to get +those hides before the wolverines get them, or any one sneaks them off."</p> + +<p>Just as Tommy disappeared up the slope the cowboy officers were seen +rushing toward the camp, their weapons ready for use.</p> + +<p>"I guess they think the train robbers are here," commented Will.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>AN INTERRUPTED WIG-WAG</h3> + + +<p>The boys gathered in a little group not far from the fire and awaited, +with what excitement and anxiety may well be imagined, the arrival of +the officers. Their automatics were in their hands. A short distance +from the camp the cowboys paused as if for a consultation, although the +show of weapons made by the boys may have had something to do with their +quick stop.</p> + +<p>As the boys stood ready to defend themselves if attacked, they noticed +that the two strangers who had recently arrived at the camp were +creeping farther into the tent, at the flap of which they had been +sitting. The lads saw weapons in their hands, but saw no evidence that +the fellows intended using them. Sandy gave Will a nudge on the +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Do you think those fellows are all right?" he asked. "Looks funny to +see them crawling out of sight as soon as danger shows!"</p> + +<p>"It does look strange," Will admitted, "but look here," he added, +pointing to the boy's bandaged shoulder, "you ought to be in one of the +tents yourself. You're not fit to be out here if any fighting takes +place."</p> + +<p>"Huh, I guess this bum shoulder won't prevent me from shooting +straight!" declared Sandy. "Say," he continued, "I've a great mind to go +in where those fellows are and ask what they're hiding away for."</p> + +<p>"I just believe," George cut in, "that those fellows lied when they said +Johnson asked them to come here. You remember how they told two stories, +don't you? One that they had been told to tell us that reinforcements +would be sent in, and the other that they had been asked to stop and see +us on their way into the mountains."</p> + +<p>"We're certainly in a nice box if we've got enemies in our own camp," +Will grumbled. "In that case, as soon as the shooting begins we'll be +between two fires. By the way," he went on, "where's Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"Gone after bear meat for breakfast," answered George.</p> + +<p>"He's always dodging away without any one knowing what's in his mind!"? +declared Will, rather crossly. "I guess he's got some idea above bear +steak for breakfast, right now. Anyhow," the boy added, "if Tommy is +well armed these cowboy fly-cops will also be between two fires when the +battle opens. That will help some."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps there won't be any battle," suggested George. "Those fellows +don't seem to be in any hurry about starting in, anyway."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they'll never swallow the bluff they got from the train robbers," +Will insisted. "As soon as the story is told outside they'll be roasted +by the whole state. Just think of it!" the boy went on. "They come in +here to capture two train robbers and get held up the first thing. If +there's a live editor in the state he'll print a faked-up picture of the +six men with their hands up in the air and their guns lying at their +feet."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they saw the two strangers come in," suggested Sandy. "In that +case they may be doing a little guessing as to whether the newcomers +won't help us in case of trouble."</p> + +<p>"But these two men were here before we returned," suggested George.</p> + +<p>"Well, they may have seen them sitting in the flap of the tent eating +our good pork and beans and roast beef," Will went on.</p> + +<p>"If they knew that the two strangers were hiding in the back corner of +one of the tents," George commented, "I don't think they'd hesitate much +longer. These two visitors may be all right, but they don't look it!"</p> + +<p>"Why don't you go and ask them if they wouldn't like to have us dig a +hole to put them in?" demanded Sandy.</p> + +<p>While the boys were puzzling over the situation, Seth, the deputy who +had defended the Boy Scouts when they stood in grave danger of being +lynched, separated himself from the group of officers and advanced +toward the camp. There was a smile on the deputy's face as he approached +but the other members of the party were scowling heavily.</p> + +<p>The boys dropped the muzzles of their automatics as Seth came up to the +fire. The deputy stood for a moment glancing keenly around at the tents, +the burros, and the cooking utensils before speaking.</p> + +<p>"Glad to see you so comfortably situated boys," he said, "and I'm glad, +also," he went on pointing to the pennants which showed at the tops of +the tents, "to see that you're not ashamed to show your colors."</p> + +<p>"We're proud of being Boy Scouts!" Will declared.</p> + +<p>"And we're proud of the Beaver Patrol!" George cut in.</p> + +<p>"That's right, boys!" Seth said "Stick to Boy Scout laws and teachings +and you can't go very far wrong."</p> + +<p>"What are those fellows going to do now?" asked Will, nodding toward the +cowboy officers, who had now thrown themselves down upon the long grass +of the valley. "They didn't follow us here just for exercise."</p> + +<p>"If those train robbers really are friends of yours," Seth replied, +"they have done you, perhaps unintentionally, a great deal of harm. It +is an old saying, you know," the deputy went on, "that one fool friend +can work a man more mischief than a dozen open enemies."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you people think now," Will said, "that we really do train +with that bunch of robbers."</p> + +<p>"I don't!" declared Seth. "I know you to be honest Boy Scouts, and no +counterfeits, and I don't believe such lads mix up with train robbers."</p> + +<p>"We don't at all events," Will answered.</p> + +<p>"Look here," George interrupted, "the train robbers saw a chance to rub +it into the officers and they did it. That's all there is to that! They +would have protected the detectives who were searching the mountains, or +even a band of burglars, just the same as they did us. You know very +well that such fellows have a perpetual grouch against officers of the +law. The only wonder is they didn't shoot when they had the cowboys +unarmed."</p> + +<p>"Even train robbers are averse to committing murder," replied Seth.</p> + +<p>"Well, what are they going to do about it?" Will insisted.</p> + +<p>"They want you to come out to Lander with me and stand trial."</p> + +<p>"And if we refuse?"</p> + +<p>"But you won't do that!"</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken there," replied Will. "If they want us, they've got to +come and get us."</p> + +<p>"That isn't good judgment," declared Seth.</p> + +<p>While the two discussed the situation, the others listening intently, +the two visitors came slowly out of the tent and approached the spot +where Seth and Will were standing. Seth regarded the two men quizzically +for a moment and then extended both hands in greeting.</p> + +<p>"Glad to see you, Gilmore!" he said. "How long have you been here?"</p> + +<p>"Only a short time," was the reply. "At the request of a personal +friend, an officer from Chicago, we dropped in for breakfast and also to +see if the boys needed any assistance."</p> + +<p>"Boys," Seth said, turning to the astonished group of youngsters, "this +is Sheriff Gilmore of Sweetwater county, and this," pointing to the +other, "is Doyle, one of his deputies. They are both good fellows."</p> + +<p>"Did you say you knew John Johnson well?" asked Will, after greetings +had been exchanged. "Was it the truth you said about his asking you to +call and help us out if we needed assistance?"</p> + +<p>"True as Gospel!" answered Gilmore. "I knew John Johnson when he was on +a ranch over here in the Sweetwater country. I'm taking a little +excursion into Pete's country in search of the train robbers. I met +Johnson going out, and he asked me to call on his friends, the boys."</p> + +<p>"So you can vouch for these lads, can you?" asked Seth, a smile of +satisfaction coming to his face.</p> + +<p>"I certainly can!" was the reply. "Johnson told me all about them, so I +know what they're here for, and all about their movements."</p> + +<p>Before speaking, Seth took off his hat and began waving it in the +direction of the cowboy officers. Sheriff Pete and his deputies rose to +their feet and walked toward the camp. Before reaching the fire, they +recognized Sheriff Gilmore and came forward with extended hands. The +situation was soon explained.</p> + +<p>"Now see here, kiddo," Sheriff Pete said, as he drew Will to one side, +"we don't know what you're in here for, but we know now that you're all +right. We'll stand by you to the bottom of the deck if you'll just +forget all about that little hold-up over in the other valley."</p> + +<p>"That was funny, wasn't it?" Will said with a grin.</p> + +<p>"I can't see anything funny in it!" said the Sheriff.</p> + +<p>"Those train robbers looked pretty good to us just then," Will +commented. "They came just in time!"</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't have been harmed," said the sheriff, with a smile. "I was +only putting in a little third degree work."</p> + +<p>"All right," Will said, "you help us if it comes handy for you to do so, +and we won't say a word about the hold-up."</p> + +<p>The two sheriffs and their deputies discussed the situation thoroughly, +and finally decided that the two train robbers were making for the Bad +Lands in Big Horn county.</p> + +<p>"If Tommy'd only come back now with that bear steak," Will suggested, "I +could get all you boys a dinner that would put an inch of fat on your +ribs! Seems to me it's pretty near time for him to be back."</p> + +<p>"Suppose I go and hurry him up?" asked George.</p> + +<p>"Go to it!" Will replied, "and I'll get out a lot of spuds and make a +gallon of coffee, and we'll have a Sunday School picnic right here in +the long grass! You've got to feed before you go away!"</p> + +<p>"Everything looks mighty friendly here just now," Sandy answered, "but +look up on top of the ridge, and see if you can tell what George is +trying to say to us. That's Boy Scout wig-wag, all right!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Will, springing to his feet excitedly. "That's the Myer +code, sure as you live, and he's got a big white pine bough he's using +as a flag. Can you see what he is saying?"</p> + +<p>"Sure!" replied Sandy, "He says he wants—now what do you think of that? +He's stopped!"</p> + +<p>As they looked the boy dropped to the ground</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>TOMMY GOES AFTER BEAR STEAK</h3> + + +<p>Tommy started up the slope whistling gaily. At the summit he turned to +look back at the camp. The cowboys were at that time standing some +distance away and Seth was advancing toward the fire.</p> + +<p>"That Seth is a good Indian!" declared the boy, "He'll fix things up all +right, so there's no need of my going back. Gee!" he went on as he +looked up and down the pleasant valley, warm and sweet under the morning +sun. "It's a pretty good thing to be a Boy Scout! Here we find a man in +the mountains of Wyoming ready to fight for us just because we are Boy +Scouts. I should think every boy in the world would want to join!"</p> + +<p>The lad stood for a moment watching the figures at the distant camp, and +then hastened into the valley below. When he struck the rock-strewn +gulch which lay to the south of the wide opening in the hills he paused +and looked cautiously about.</p> + +<p>"There may be plenty more bears here!" he mused.</p> + +<p>But no bears or hostile animals of any kind were in sight, so the boy +passed along to the cavern which George and Will had visited on the +previous night—the cavern where the escaped convict and his son had +made their home. Tommy glanced curiously into the opening in the rocky +wall as he halted in front of it.</p> + +<p>On the previous night he had passed this cavern in company with Sandy +without observing it. At this time he was not certain that it was not +the cave where he had met the bears, so he stepped inside after a +moment's thought and advanced toward the rear wall.</p> + +<p>A semi-twilight lay over the interior, and the boy brought out his +searchlight. By its rays he saw a break in the rock of the north wall +and stepped closer. The place was merely an alcove eight or ten feet in +size, doubtless carved out by the action of water.</p> + +<p>In the alcove the boy saw the embers of a fire. Then he turned about and +inspected the outer cave more carefully. He saw the rude furniture which +his chums had observed the night before, and the pitifully small supply +of cooking utensils. Lying on the table was a generous supply of fresh +meat, evidently taken from the carcass of one of the bears.</p> + +<p>Tommy had heard little said concerning the cave which had been occupied +by Wagner and his son, but quite enough to understand that he had +stumbled upon the place.</p> + +<p>What puzzled him now was the presence of the bear meat. He knew very +well that neither Wagner nor his son had occupied the place since the +disappearance of the father. He understood, too, that if there had been +provisions in the cave at the time of the visit of his chums, they would +have referred to the fact. Besides all this, the bear which had probably +supplied the meat had been killed only a few hours before.</p> + +<p>"I guess some one's moved in!" the boy mused.</p> + +<p>He went into the alcove and examined the embers of the fire. It had been +built of dry pine and spruce boughs and had evidently burned brightly an +hour before.</p> + +<p>"Now I wonder," the boy puzzled, "whether Wagner isn't hiding some where +in the cave. It doesn't seem to me that any one else would take +possession of the blooming old flat."</p> + +<p>Resolved to return to the cavern later, the lad hastened outside and +moved toward the south. He was not exactly certain of the location of +the cavern where the fight with the bears had taken place, but he had no +doubt that he could find it by peering into every opening he came to.</p> + +<p>He had proceeded but a short distance when the face of Katz peered out +at him from one of the minor caves. Cullen, the fellow's associate stood +not far away with his cruel mouth stretched into a sardonic grin.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going, boy?" Katz asked.</p> + +<p>Tommy hesitated a moment and a twinkle of humor came into his eyes as he +answered the gruff question of the detective.</p> + +<p>"I'm looking after the train robbers you chased up last night."</p> + +<p>The two men scowled angrily and drew nearer to the lad.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you told the truth about that train robber!" Katz said. +"I was right on the ground and I saw no one."</p> + +<p>"You beat him to it!" laughed Tommy. "You went one way and he went the +other! You're both good runners, I guess, for you never came within a +mile of each other," he added.</p> + +<p>"None of your impudence, now!" snarled Katz.</p> + +<p>"I think we ought to take this boy in out of the wet," suggested Cullen. +"He's too fresh, anyway."</p> + +<p>"You'd better confine your attentions to the train robbers, or the man +you came in here to find," suggested Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe there are any train robbers here!" declared Katz.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not," answered Tommy, "but about half the officers of Fremont +and Sweetwater counties are loafing around these hills! Besides," he +added, "I got a look at the train robbers last night."</p> + +<p>The two detectives glanced at each other apprehensively.</p> + +<p>"Was there a train robber at your camp last night?" asked Katz.</p> + +<p>"Sure there was!"</p> + +<p>"Is your camp headquarters for outlaws?"</p> + +<p>"Not that I know of," replied Tommy, angrily.</p> + +<p>"Don't you know that the boy who stole my property at your camp is +connected with an escaped convict?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know anything about the boy," declared Tommy, not telling the +truth exactly. "He looks all right to me!"</p> + +<p>"Do you know what I think?" Cullen demanded. "I think you boys came in +here to set up a base of supplies for outlaws!"</p> + +<p>"Aw, you don't know what you're talking about!" exclaimed Tommy.</p> + +<p>"If you're not mixed up with this escaped convict," Katz demanded, "what +are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>"Early this morning," Cullen went on, "we found the cave where Wagner +and his son had been living. That's it back there. The one you entered +and looked over so carefully. Did you expect to find Wagner there?"</p> + +<p>"Did you build a fire in there?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>The detectives shook their heads.</p> + +<p>"Did you take a big piece of bear meat in there?"</p> + +<p>"We certainly did not!"</p> + +<p>Here was another puzzler for Tommy. Who had built the fire in the +cavern? Who had taken the bear meat there? The cowboys were not in that +vicinity at the time the fire must have been built. The detectives +declared that they had not built the fire, or carried in the meat.</p> + +<p>"Did you find a fire burning in the cavern?" asked Katz.</p> + +<p>Tommy nodded.</p> + +<p>"And fresh meat there, too?"</p> + +<p>Another nod from the boy.</p> + +<p>"What do you make of it, Cullen?" asked Katz, turning to his companion.</p> + +<p>Cullen shook his head, and a thought which brought a smile to his +freckled face crept into Tommy's mischievous cranium.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what I think," he said. "We were in this gulch last +night, and saw the train robbers. They were on the summit, not far from +the Wagner flat, as we ought to call it. If anybody has been living in +that cave this morning, it's the train robbers. Say," he went on, with +the idea of giving the detectives a good scare, "those train robbers are +the fiercest fellows I ever saw. We saw 'em hold up six armed cowboys +last night!"</p> + +<p>The two detectives looked at each other apprehensively.</p> + +<p>"If they should see you standing here," Tommy went on, "and were wise to +the fact that you are Chicago detectives, they'd pump in the lead until +your heads looked like a pound of Swiss cheese."</p> + +<p>"You seem to know quite a lot about those train robbers, lad!"</p> + +<p>"He knows too much," Cullen declared. "We'll just take him along with us +and hold him for a few hours!"</p> + +<p>"If you do, you'll get in trouble!" declared Tommy.</p> + +<p>"No threats, now!" cried Katz.</p> + +<p>"I'm not making any threats," declared Tommy who really was rather +anxious to have the detectives take him away to their camp. "I think +you're a couple of cheap skates, anyway, and I don't believe you're +Chicago detectives. I live in Chicago myself, and I never saw bums like +you on the force of plain clothes men."</p> + +<p>The taunting words did exactly what Tommy had expected them to do. Katz +seized him viciously by the arm and started away down the valley. The +boy was perfectly willing to accompany the detective, for he believed +that by doing so he might find out what steps they were taking for the +capture of the escaped convict, but he pretended to feel great +indignation as he was hurried along over the rough ground.</p> + +<p>As the three moved away George swung up the slope on the other side and +came into view on the summit. The boy had cut a white pine climbing +staff from which the small boughs had not been trimmed away, and Tommy +saw that he was using this as a wig-wag flag. It was plain to the boy +that George thoroughly understood the situation below.</p> + +<p>The detectives growled out several vicious oaths as they saw the boy +swinging his staff from the summit. They whispered together for a +moment, and then Katz, leaving Tommy threatened by Cullen's revolver, +moved toward the summit and the signaling boy.</p> + +<p>When, in a moment, George looked down the slope to the east, he saw the +detective creeping stealthily toward him. The officer was some, distance +away, yet the boy knew that he was in danger from the gun in his hand. +He gave one last swing and dropped his staff.</p> + +<p>"Come down here!" shouted the detective. "I want to see you!"</p> + +<p>"Come up here, then!" answered George. "What are you doing to my chum? +You're always butting in on us boys!"</p> + +<p>"If you don't come down instantly," shouted the angry detective, "I'll +fill your hide full of lead! I've got you covered!"</p> + +<p>Seeing by the malicious look on the face of the detective that he was +really in earnest, George dropped quickly to the ground.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>A PAIR OF PRISONERS</h3> + + +<p>Tommy saw his chum drop and, supposing that he had been injured in some +way, started racing up the slope. Directly he found himself hampered by +Cullen, who was clinging to the tail of his khaki coat.</p> + +<p>As the boy drew up George rose from the ground and moved down the slope +facing the east. Tommy saw that he was acting under instructions from +Katz, who held a revolver in his hand.</p> + +<p>In five minutes the boys, unarmed now, were walking along by the side of +the detectives. A wink from George convinced Tommy that his chum had at +least succeeded in attracting the attention of the people at the camp +below. It might be that help would come before the detectives could lead +them to a hiding place in the hills.</p> + +<p>What the boys appeared to need just at that time was delay, so they +asked all sorts of questions as they walked along, hoping that their +captors would pause to answer them. However, the fellows plugged +steadily along toward the opposite side of the ridge, and finally drew +up on a shelf of rock from which the caverns to the west could be +plainly seen. Here the officials sat down to watch and wait.</p> + +<p>Directly a group of men came dashing over the summit and hastened down +into the valley. The boys were certain that they recognized Will in the +company. It was certain that Sheriff Pete was there, and the boys were +positive that the two men who had been found in the camp on their return +from the midnight expedition were also there.</p> + +<p>The men separated at the foot of the slope and scattered up and down the +gulch. It was clear that George's wig-wag signals had been seen, and +that the men were in search of the two boys.</p> + +<p>"Those signals of yours must be effective," snarled Katz as the members +of the party across the gorge began exploring the caverns.</p> + +<p>"You're right, they are!" answered George. "That's the Boy Scout +wig-wag! You have to learn those things when you join the Boy Scouts!"</p> + +<p>"What did you say?"</p> + +<p>"I explained that we had been captured by the train robbers!" replied +George, telling the untruth with a great deal of satisfaction as he saw +the effect produced on the detectives.</p> + +<p>"What'd you do that for?" demanded Cullen. "Because we want the cowboy +officers to get hold of you fellows, and beat you up!" answered George. +"They'll do it, too, if they lay hands on you! Those fellows are our +friends!"</p> + +<p>"Where's that boy who stole my property?" demanded Katz.</p> + +<p>"He was down in the camp when I left," replied George.</p> + +<p>"Do you think he's with that crowd on the other side of the gulch now? +Or would he stay at the camp?"</p> + +<p>"He probably would come out in answer to George's signal," Tommy cut in.</p> + +<p>The detectives whispered together for some moments. Although the boys +could not hear a word they were saying, they understood very well what +all the whispering was about. They were discussing the possibility of +capturing Chester and forcing him to lead them to his father's hiding +place. They did not, of course, know that the father was wandering over +the mountains in a demented condition.</p> + +<p>After a time the party passed on down the valley much to the disgust of +the two captive lads, and disappeared from sight. Then the detectives +left the angle of the ledge which had concealed them and motioned the +boys down the slope. The lads obeyed wonderingly.</p> + +<p>Arrived at the bottom of the gulch once more, the detectives halted for +another long consultation. Katz seemed to be in favor of following the +party which had gone down the valley in the hope of getting hold of +Chester, while Cullen was of the opinion that they might be able to +capture the escaped convict himself by lingering around the cavern where +the fire had been so mysteriously kindled.</p> + +<p>While the two discussed, not without some show of anger, the situation, +the two boys kept their eyes fixed on the opposite cavern. George knew +positively that it was the one which had been occupied by the escaped +convict and his son, and he believed that in time the father would +return to it. It seemed to him that Cullen was clinging to an opinion +which might cause himself and friends serious trouble.</p> + +<p>"Gee!" he whispered to Tommy, "I wish we could get these flatties to +follow the cowboys! I'm afraid they'll catch Wagner if they hang around +that cave over there!"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid they will!" replied Tommy. "There's some one been there this +morning, and it wasn't the cowboys or the detectives, either. It was +either Wagner or the train robbers."</p> + +<p>"Just as sure as you're a foot high," exclaimed George, "there's some +one moving about in the entrance to that cavern now! I can see something +moving, but I can't see any features."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't look that way too steadily," Tommy cried. "If Wagner is +over there we don't want to put these detectives wise to the fact. He's +the man they're in here after, you remember!"</p> + +<p>"Well, there's some one there, all right!" exclaimed George. "While you +were talking, I saw a chalk-white face appear for a second at the +entrance. I'll bet he's been hiding there ever since last night."</p> + +<p>"He was with the train robbers last night," suggested Tommy. "At least +we think he was, for there are only two robbers and we saw three men."</p> + +<p>"He may be with the train robbers, now for all we know," George put in.</p> + +<p>"Yes, they may be hiding over there," Tommy admitted. "If I thought they +were, I'd steer these bum detectives up against them!"</p> + +<p>"We'd better not take any chances!" advised George. "If Wagner is over +there, he may be alone. In that case, these cheap flatties would geezle +him and make for the Union Pacific railroad without stopping to say +good-by to the hills. And once they get to the railroad, it's all off +with the young man in Chicago who is soon to be tried for murder."</p> + +<p>While the boys discussed the situation, Katz caught sight of the moving +figure in the entrance to the cavern. The boys saw him pointing in that +direction and about abandoned hope.</p> + +<p>"There's some one over there," the boys heard Katz saying, "and we may +as well go and see who it is. Have you got a pair of handcuffs with +you?" he added, turning to his companion.</p> + +<p>"Of course I have!" was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Then use them on these two boys!" ordered Katz. "Tie them together so +they won't be apt to go chasing off if we get into action."</p> + +<p>Cullen did as requested, and the boys, unable to make resistance at that +time, resolved that both officers should pay well for the indignity in +the future. When the detectives started forward, they walked as slowly +as possible, one of them frequently falling down, in order to give the +person in the cavern, whoever he might be, plenty of time to observe the +approach of the detectives.</p> + +<p>"Gee!" exclaimed Tommy. "These fellows blunder along like a load of hay. +If the man over there has any sense, he'll be a mile off before they get +to the entrance! I hope the train robbers are there!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope Wagner isn't there," George said.</p> + +<p>There were no signs of light as the two detectives scrambled up the +little slope which lay between the bottom of the gulch and the entrance +to the cavern. The faint smell of burning wood reached their nostrils, +but no one was in sight. They stepped inside boldly.</p> + +<p>Following along behind, more as a matter of curiosity than because they +felt obliged to do so, the boys saw the detectives standing in the +twilight of the place looking about. Then they saw them drop their arms +to their sides, heard the clatter of revolvers upon the rocky floor and +realized that something unexpected was taking place inside.</p> + +<p>Directly the detectives came out to the entrance and sat down on the +hard floor, their backs against the south wall. The boys looked them +over with pleased eyes, and Tommy went so far as to wrinkle his freckled +nose at Katz, who frowned savagely but said nothing.</p> + +<p>"Look here, you fellows," Katz finally blurted out. "I want you to +understand that you're getting yourselves into trouble."</p> + +<p>"Is that so?" came a hoarse and scornful voice from the darkness.</p> + +<p>"I'm Detective Katz, of the Chicago force," continued the officer, "and +I command you, in the name of the law, to return our weapons and let us +depart in peace!"</p> + +<p>"And I guess you don't know who we are!" came the voice from inside. +"We're Red Mike of the Gulch and Daring Dan of the Devil's Dip, and +we're out for blood! When we're at home in the Bad Lands, we feed on +rattlesnakes!"</p> + +<p>"Say," Tommy whispered to George, "that ain't so bad, is it? Those +fellows know they've got the detectives buffaloed, and they're piling it +on. I'll bet if we sat a little nearer, we could hear the detectives' +teeth rattle!"</p> + +<p>"The robbers certainly have a sense of humor," grinned George.</p> + +<p>In a moment two muscular, bearded figures came out of the cavern and +stood facing the two detectives. The boys at once recognized the men as +the ones who had ridden so fiercely by their campfire on the night of +their arrival. Tommy was certain that one of the men was the person who +had been waiting for supper at the camp when informed of the presence of +the detectives.</p> + +<p>"Do you belong with this bunch?" one of them asked.</p> + +<p>The boys held up their handcuffed wrists.</p> + +<p>"Who's got the key?" demanded the outlaw.</p> + +<p>Cullen held out a ring of keys and the robber promptly used one of them +on the handcuff. When the manacles dropped from the boys' wrists, he +threw the ring of keys into the gulch and tossed the handcuffs in the +same direction.</p> + +<p>"I've claimed all along that you boys belonged with these train +robbers," Katz gritted as the handcuffs rattled down the slope.</p> + +<p>"And now we know it!" Cullen cut in.</p> + +<p>The two boys leaned against the north wall of the cavern and shook their +sides with laughter. The fright of the two detectives was so absolute +that it was pitiful.</p> + +<p>"You certainly are a bum pair of detectives!" Tommy said.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>AN UNDERGROUND CHANNEL</h3> + + +<p>Following along behind the two sheriffs and their deputies, Will and +Chester finally came to the cavern which by mutual consent the boys now +called the Cave of the Three Bears.</p> + +<p>"Tommy was headed for this place!" exclaimed Will. "It's a mystery to me +where George disappeared to so suddenly. Of course, we didn't see enough +of his wig-wag to know what he intended to say, but we understand +there's something amiss."</p> + +<p>"There are plenty of caverns here in which one may hide," Chester +answered. "There is one just north of this which has several good-sized +rooms. Father and I thought of moving to that one."</p> + +<p>They passed into the Cave of the Three Bears and found that one hide had +been partly removed, and that a huge piece of meat had been taken away.</p> + +<p>"I guess Tommy's been here all right!" Will suggested.</p> + +<p>Chester stooped down and examined the carcass carefully.</p> + +<p>"No," he said. "Tommy wanted the three skins for rugs. He never cut the +hide like that to get at the meat."</p> + +<p>"No, he wouldn't do that," Will admitted.</p> + +<p>"Father may have been here," suggested Chester.</p> + +<p>"We should have stopped at the cave where you two formerly lived," said +Will. "For all we know, your father may be hiding there now."</p> + +<p>"I know it," replied Chester, "but we came on so fast and in such a +state of excitement that we didn't think of doing so."</p> + +<p>"Well, we mustn't let the others get too far ahead of us," Will +suggested. "They must be quite a ways off now!"</p> + +<p>"Don't you think we can do a better job with them out of the way?" asked +Chester. "They go roaring along like a herd of elephants."</p> + +<p>"I presume we can," replied Will. "Anyway we can make an investigation +of our own and then go back to camp. Sandy is alone there with his +wounded shoulder, and almost anything is likely to happen."</p> + +<p>"We'll go into the cave I spoke about a moment ago," Chester said, "and +examine it thoroughly with the searchlights."</p> + +<p>"What's the idea of that?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"Well, Tommy and George are in some one of these caves. They may be +hiding from us or they may have been captured by the train robbers. If +they are hidden away, they're quite likely to be in the large cavern I +spoke of. It won't do any harm to look through it."</p> + +<p>"Why, that must be the cave where we saw the three men last night!" Will +exclaimed. "I have an idea that the three men we saw were the two train +robbers and your father."</p> + +<p>"That was my idea at the time," the boy replied, "but now I can't quite +make up my mind that father would tie up with such a bunch."</p> + +<p>"Bless your innocent soul," grinned Will. "Your father couldn't help +associating with them if they insisted upon it! I can see no reason why +they should want to molest him, but one can never account for the mental +processes of train robbers."</p> + +<p>"I believe this is the same place!" Chester cried as they stepped +inside. "You know father often talked about moving to this cave, and +I've got an idea that he knows more about the locality than I do."</p> + +<p>"In what way?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"Well, I think he found some secret passage here. I believe he knows how +to enter and leave this cavern without being seen. This whole ridge, you +know, is honeycombed with caverns and tunnels. I have been told," the +boy continued, "that the gorge and the valley to the east formed the +basin for a great lake, hundreds of years ago, and that the water seeped +through the limestone rock until there wasn't much left of it in some +places. There are certainly plenty of caves here!"</p> + +<p>"I should say so!" replied Will turning on his searchlight.</p> + +<p>"Look here," Chester went on, "that would be a reason for the train +robbers hanging to father, if they found him, wouldn't it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't understand," replied Will.</p> + +<p>"Why, if father knows a lot of passages and hiding places and empty +river channels, in this section, he's just the man the train robbers +would want to tie to."</p> + +<p>"I understand now," Will replied. "And you remember, too," he continued, +"how mysteriously the three men disappeared last night? Why, they got +out of sight as quickly as if they had been painted on a slate and +rubbed out."</p> + +<p>"That's a fact!" replied Chester.</p> + +<p>"There's one thing about it," Will argued, "the train robbers won't dare +to go on into the bad lands, for they have no supplies, and their horses +must be about used up. By remaining here, they may be able to steal +supplies and, possibly get out to Lander and buy some."</p> + +<p>"I guess we've got it doped out all right," Chester answered. "All we've +got to do now is to go on and see whether we have or not."</p> + +<p>The boys pressed on to the back of the first cavern and turned to the +right into one which ran parallel with it. Their lights showed that a +fire had been built in the tunnel connecting the two. There were also +empty tin cans and cardboard food packages scattered about.</p> + +<p>"This looks like population," grinned Will.</p> + +<p>"Isn't this the spot from which the men disappeared?" asked Chester.</p> + +<p>"Unless I am much mistaken," Will returned, "the three men were in front +of a fire in this tunnel. Say, but they did get out of sight quick, +didn't they? It was like the scene from the Black Crook."</p> + +<p>"Then the passage they crawled into can't be far away," Chester +volunteered, "at any rate, right here's where we want to make our +search!"</p> + +<p>"There's no knowing where this wrinkle leads to," Will said as the +lights pierced the narrow channel. "If we get down there, we may never +be able to get back."</p> + +<p>"Father must have known of this place," Chester said, "and that's why he +talked about moving our camp here."</p> + +<p>"Well, if he used the passage, we certainly can!" replied Will.</p> + +<p>"Are we going down now?" asked Chester.</p> + +<p>"I'm game for it."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, wait a minute!"</p> + +<p>Chester ran to the entrance of the cavern and looked up and down the +gorge and valley. When he returned there was a worried look on his face. +He pointed to the dry channel and said:</p> + +<p>"We may as well be getting down there. There's some one coming."</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't distinguish faces," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't George and Tommy, was it?"</p> + +<p>"No, two men. They're coming along fast, so we may as well get under +cover. We don't know where we're going, but we're on our way," he smiled +as he dropped down on his hands and knees and scrambled backward into +what had once been the channel of a mountain stream.</p> + +<p>Will followed in a moment and, after trying his best to draw the boulder +into place, scrambled on after his chum.</p> + +<p>"Did you get the rock fixed?" asked Chester as they came together on a +little level place probably thirty feet down.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't budge it!" was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, we'll keep on going."</p> + +<p>"Je-rusalem!" exclaimed Will. "I believe this thing runs clear through +the ridge. And that would make it something like a mile long!"</p> + +<p>"Of course it does," Chester answered. "This ditch was cut by water, and +the water had to find an outlet somewhere."</p> + +<p>"If your father knows all about this underground network of caverns and +channels," Will said in a moment, "we'll have a happy old time finding +him! He can dodge us here for a month."</p> + +<p>"And those officers will have a fine old job getting the train robbers, +too," Chester chuckled, "if they're acquainted with this underground +system of highways. It strikes me," he went on, "that these train +robbers have been here before."</p> + +<p>"That may be!" answered Will. "In fact, it, occurs to me that your +father searched out all these subterranean roads and rooms and showed +them to the train robbers."</p> + +<p>The boys proceeded downward for some distance and then stopped in a +tolerably large chamber to rest and investigate.</p> + +<p>"There's no use of our going on until we know whether the fellows you +saw are coming in here," Will reasoned.</p> + +<p>"I'm going up to the top again," said Chester, "and see what's going on +there! The fellows I saw may be coming in."</p> + +<p>Will waited for a long half hour for the boy's return, and when at last +Chester slid down to him his face showed that he was frightened.</p> + +<p>"They've got the combination to this channel all right!" he said.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>CULLEN LOSES HIS STAR</h3> + + +<p>"So these are the detectives, are they?" asked one of the train robbers, +as the two men crouched against the wall of the cavern.</p> + +<p>"That's what they say!" answered Tommy.</p> + +<p>"What were they doing to you?"</p> + +<p>"They had us pinched."</p> + +<p>"What for?"</p> + +<p>"They said we belonged to your gang."</p> + +<p>The bandit laughed hoarsely.</p> + +<p>"To our gang?" he said. "The perfectly correct gentleman of the road +never has a 'gang'. He believes thoroughly in the old theory that 'he +travels fastest who travels alone'."</p> + +<p>"So they pinched you for being associates of ours, did they?" asked the +other outlaw.</p> + +<p>"That's what they said," replied Tommy.</p> + +<p>"And that was the truth, too!" roared Katz.</p> + +<p>"You seem to know all about these boys, and they know all about you. +You've been seen at their camp, and one of the boys at the camp stole my +property, too!" he went on with another roar of indignation.</p> + +<p>"Chester stole his official star!" chuckled Tommy.</p> + +<p>"That's a pious notion, too?" laughed the outlaw. "Have you got a star, +too?" he asked, stepping up to Cullen. "If you have, hand it over. I +don't think you're fit to wear a police badge!"</p> + +<p>Cullen handed his star over with a scowl, and the outlaw passed it to +Tommy. The boy put it in his pocket with a grin at the detective.</p> + +<p>"Did you fellows have the nerve to come in here after us?" asked the +robber.</p> + +<p>"We came in after an escaped convict," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Did you get him?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet, but we will get him."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'd advise you both to go back home before the escaped convict +comes up and steals your necktie. You're not large enough to be out +alone after dark."</p> + +<p>"We're going to take that escaped convict back with us," Katz boasted. +"We'll get him if we stay here a year."</p> + +<p>"We'll give you two days to get him," grinned one of the outlaws. "We'll +turn you loose for two days. If you catch him in that time and get out, +very well. If you don't catch him in that time, you'll get out anyhow. +You stiffs are attracting altogether too much attention to this part of +the country. It's getting so an honest train robber can't get a good +night's sleep."</p> + +<p>The outlaw pointed to the gulch below and motioned for the fellows to +move along. They started but looked back pleadingly.</p> + +<p>"Can't we have our guns?" Katz asked.</p> + +<p>"And our badges?" pleaded Cullen.</p> + +<p>"No," replied the outlaw. "You might injure yourself with the guns, and +the badges are no good anywhere outside of Chicago. If you don't get out +right now, we'll handcuff you to a tree and let the bears feed on you. +You don't look good to us anyway."</p> + +<p>"Look-a-here," Tommy said to the two outlaws as the detectives +disappeared down the gulch. "Do you know that every person in the state +of Wyoming will be believing that we really belong to your crowd if this +thing keeps up? We're much obliged to you for bluffing the cowboys last +night, and getting us out of the handcuffs just now, but you're getting +us into trouble just the same."</p> + +<p>"Any time we get a chance to bluff an officer out of a captive, we're +going to do it!" laughed one of the outlaws. "We're not asking you +whether you like it or not. We're pleasing ourselves in what we're +doing."</p> + +<p>"And here's another thing," the other outlaw said, with something like a +scowl. "We've got the idea that you wouldn't be doing as much for us as +we've been doing for you. The men who came in here to hunt us down make +their headquarters at your camp. If you go back to your friends now, +you'll tell them where you saw us, and describe everything that's taken +place. Therefore, we're not going to let you go back to your camp right +away. You're going to be our guests for a time."</p> + +<p>"What's the good of that?" demanded Tommy.</p> + +<p>"That's our business," replied the outlaw.</p> + +<p>"We'll never mention you to our crowd," George added.</p> + +<p>"Anyway," the outlaw insisted, "it's safer for us to keep track of you +two kids. I'd rather have a dozen Chicago sleuths after me than three or +four husky little Boy Scouts."</p> + +<p>"Say," Tommy asked with a grin, "do you remember those plays where a +shrinking maiden would be in the center of the stage one minute and be +grabbed by the villain the next, and be grabbed back by the hero in the +next, and be grabbed back by the villain in the next, and be grabbed +back by the hero for the final curtain?"</p> + +<p>"I remember something like that," said the outlaw with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"That's us!" grinned Tommy. "That's George and me! We're here to be +captured by cowboys, and bum detectives, and bearded train robbers, and +I don't know what form our imprisonment will take next."</p> + +<p>"When we get back to Chicago," George went on, whimsically, "we're going +to write up a story of our capture by two bold, bad men who gave their +names as Red Mike of the Gulch and Daring Dan of the Devil's Dip or +something like that."</p> + +<p>"Say," Tommy cut in, "when you called those names out of the darkness +you certainly did have those detectives buffaloed!"</p> + +<p>"You're a pair of nervy kids, anyway," laughed the outlaw.</p> + +<p>"Oh, this is all right," laughed Tommy. "This will be one more +experience. We've been chased by smugglers over the Pictured Rocks of +Lake Superior, and we've been chased by alligators in the Everglades of +Florida, and now we've been geezled by the bold, bad men who held up the +Union Pacific pay car."</p> + +<p>"How do you know we did?" demanded one of the outlaws.</p> + +<p>"That's the dope that's been coming to us right along."</p> + +<p>"Well, come on," the other outlaw said rather impatiently. "We've got to +get out of sight! We can't expect to remain in the open in broad +daylight without being seen by some one."</p> + +<p>"Move along, boys," ordered the other.</p> + +<p>"Where?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Straight ahead."</p> + +<p>"But where are you going to take us?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you'll know all about that soon enough," was the reply. "We've got +a place over here where we can keep our friends in seclusion."</p> + +<p>"It seems the place keeps you in seclusion," grinned George. "You've +been in here about as long as we have, and we've been captured numerous +times and you've never been taken at all. But you'll get it up your neck +one of these days," he added.</p> + +<p>"When we're captured," one of the men said grimly, "it won't be by a lot +of tin-horn detectives from Chicago."</p> + +<p>They all walked along for some distance, and then Tommy turned back and +faced the two outlaws.</p> + +<p>"If we've got far to go," he said, "I wish you'd stop in at some lunch +counter and order something to eat. I haven't had anything this morning +only wind sandwiches. I came out to get a piece of that bear meat for +breakfast, and I'm here yet."</p> + +<p>"And I came out to hurry you up," George cut in, "and I'm here yet!"</p> + +<p>"All right," laughed one of the outlaws, accepting the humor of the +request. "If we run across a free lunch sign anywhere, well take the two +of you in. We're hungry ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Have you got anything to eat in this secluded retreat of yours?" asked +Tommy. "If you have, we'll hurry up."</p> + +<p>"Not a thing!" was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Then we'll walk slow!" declared George.</p> + +<p>"Look here!" Tommy advised. "Why don't you go back and get some of that +bear steak. It's only a little way back to the Cave of the Three Bears, +and there's enough meat there to last the four of us a week if we can +only keep it from spoiling."</p> + +<p>"That's a bright idea," said one of the outlaws, stopping suddenly. +"Suppose we do go back and load up with fresh steak."</p> + +<p>"I'm for it!" answered Tommy, rubbing his stomach.</p> + +<p>They all walked back to the Cave of the Three Bears, and when they left +each carried quite a load of fresh meat.</p> + +<p>"Have you got a place to cook it?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Have you got any coffee?" asked George.</p> + +<p>"I think we'll have to let you boys go pretty soon," one of the outlaws +grinned. "If we don't you'll be apt to eat us out of house and home."</p> + +<p>"We're some on the eat!" Tommy announced.</p> + +<p>After a time the four came, without further incident, to the chain of +caverns which Will and Chester had entered some time before.</p> + +<p>They paused for a moment in the connecting tunnel, where the fire had +been built on the previous night, and inspected the boulder, which lay a +short distance from the opening to the dry channel.</p> + +<p>"He's been here and gone on in," one of the outlaws said.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps some one else has been here," the other suggested.</p> + +<p>"The man who showed us where to enter this labyrinth is the only man in +the mountains who knows anything about it!" declared the other. "I'm not +certain that we didn't leave the stone out of place when we left this +morning. But, if we didn't, our friend is certainly down stairs at this +minute! I'll drop down and see, anyway!"</p> + +<p>"Push the boys in first," advised the other.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of this for an elevator?" demanded Tommy as he backed +into the opening. "These fellows seem to be foolish—like a fox!"</p> + +<p>George followed Tommy into the tunnel as the latter dropped down, and +then the figure of one of the outlaws blocked the opening.</p> + +<p>For only a minute, however, for the boys heard a succession of pistol +shots, and then the sound of voices rang into the cavern they had just +left.</p> + +<p>The next instant the outlaws crowded into the tunnel, but instead of +dropping down, waited near the entrance, weapons in hand.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>A MEETING UNDER GROUND</h3> + + +<p>"Some one's got the combination to this channel, all right!" Chester +repeated as he joined Will in the larger cavern.</p> + +<p>"Did you see them?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"Can't see anything," was the reply, "it's too dark!"</p> + +<p>"Then how do you know there's some one coming?"</p> + +<p>"We saw them coming toward the cave, didn't we?" asked Chester.</p> + +<p>"Look here," Will exclaimed. "Did you see any one entering the mouth of +this tunnel?"</p> + +<p>"When the mouth of the tunnel is clear," Chester replied, "there's a +faint mist of light visible. While I lay up there watching I heard +whispering voices and the entrance was blocked."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they've rolled the boulder in front of it," suggested Will.</p> + +<p>"You don't like the idea of being caught like a rat in a trap any more +than I do," Chester said, "but I really believe that if we ever get out +of here alive, we'll have to head toward the west and make our exit on +that side of the range."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know how many people know about this hiding place!" Will +grumbled. "If people walk out of the valley and drop down here, there +may, for all we know, be others in hiding further down."</p> + +<p>"That's a fact," Chester admitted.</p> + +<p>"I wish we knew who the people are who are entering the tunnel," Will +said. "It may be the robbers, or the detectives, or the sheriffs. It may +even be your father, for all we know."</p> + +<p>"Well, shall we move on down to see if we can find an outlet?" asked +Chester. "That seems to me to be the best thing to do."</p> + +<p>"It strikes me that that is the only thing we can do."</p> + +<p>The boys were moving on down the almost level floor of the chamber in +absolute darkness, for they did not consider it safe to show their +electrics when they heard a chuckle in the darkness.</p> + +<p>They drew up instantly and listened.</p> + +<p>"That's Tommy!" declared Will.</p> + +<p>"It can't be," replied Chester.</p> + +<p>"Don't you suppose I know that chuckle?"</p> + +<p>"Well, the boys weren't with the men I saw near the mouth of the +cavern," declared Chester.</p> + +<p>The boys listened again for some moments, and then caught sight of a +finger of light far up the slope of the tunnel.</p> + +<p>"That's a searchlight!" declared Chester.</p> + +<p>"It surely is," agreed Will.</p> + +<p>While the boys stood in the darkness, waiting and listening, they heard +a voice which they had no difficulty in recognizing as that of Tommy.</p> + +<p>"This is some basement stairway," the boy said.</p> + +<p>The next moment George's voice was heard.</p> + +<p>"We must be about nine stories under ground by this time," he said.</p> + +<p>There was silence for a moment and then Tommy was heard to ask:</p> + +<p>"What's become of our chaperons?"</p> + +<p>"There's something doing out in the lobby," the boys heard George say, +"and I guess they went back to defend their home and fireside."</p> + +<p>"I hope they'll get a couple of bullets in their domes!" declared +Chester. "They've helped us out several times, but they've never done it +because they wanted to do us a favor!"</p> + +<p>"Keep still a minute," Will suggested. "Let's hear what those boys are +saying. I'd like to know who they're talking about."</p> + +<p>"I haven't got much use for the detectives," they heard George saying, +"but I hope they'll get these train robbers and get them good and +plenty!"</p> + +<p>"So it's the train robbers!" exclaimed Will.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe the detectives will ever get within a mile of the +robbers," the boys heard Tommy say. "If anybody catches the outlaws, +it'll be the sheriff of Fremont county."</p> + +<p>"The man at the head of the cowboys?" they heard George ask.</p> + +<p>"That's the fellow!" Tommy replied.</p> + +<p>"He hasn't got 'em yet," George declared.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's had hard luck, all right enough," Will and Chester heard Tommy +say, "but he's a nervy sort of a chap, and he'll take them out with him +when he goes."</p> + +<p>"That's the fellow that wanted to lynch us!" George grumbled.</p> + +<p>"That was a bluff!" Tommy said. "That's the kind of third degree +business they go into out in the mountains. I guess that was all a +by-play, anyhow. You don't catch no western sheriff lynching his own +prisoners. And this sheriff of Fremont county will just get even with +those train robbers for that hold-up!" the boy added.</p> + +<p>The boys listened intently for a short time, not daring to show their +light yet. From the conversation they had heard they understood that +their chums had been placed in the tunnel for safe keeping, and they +feared that their captors might appear at any moment.</p> + +<p>After a time two shots came from the cavern end of the dry channel, and +the close air of the place became almost stifling with the smell of +powder smoke. Then the two watchers heard George and Tommy scrambling +down to the place where they stood.</p> + +<p>Will flashed his light but instantly closed it.</p> + +<p>"Did you see that?" they heard Tommy ask.</p> + +<p>"Sure I did!"</p> + +<p>"What do you think it is?"</p> + +<p>"I give it up!" replied George.</p> + +<p>No one spoke for an instant and then the call of the Beaver came out of +the darkness.</p> + +<p>"Slap, slap, slap!"</p> + +<p>"Do you mind that, now?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"I don't see how I could fail to recognize that!" Chester said.</p> + +<p>"Of course not," Will agreed. "That's the call of the Beaver."</p> + +<p>Will answered the challenge, and presently Tommy and George came +tumbling down the tunnel into the larger opening and landed almost at +the feet of their chums. In their joy at the meeting, the boys almost +hugged each other, which they would not have done in daylight!</p> + +<p>"So they got you, too, did they?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I should say not," answered Will.</p> + +<p>"But you're here, ain't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but we came here of our own free will," Chester cut in.</p> + +<p>"How'd you ever find it?" asked George.</p> + +<p>"Just blundered into it," was the answer. "We were looking for father, +and thought we might find him in the cavern where the three men were +seen around the campfire."</p> + +<p>"So that passage out there is really the place where the mysterious +disappearance took place? Where the three men went up in the air?"</p> + +<p>"Where the three men came down into this dry channel!" corrected George.</p> + +<p>"Who were the three men?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"If they leave it to me," George replied, "two of them were train +robbers and the third was Chester's father."</p> + +<p>"That's about the way we had it sized up," Will agreed.</p> + +<p>"By the way, Tommy," asked Chester with a slight chuckle, "where's the +bear meat you left the camp to get for breakfast?"</p> + +<p>"I've got it out here in the cavern!" replied Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Is that right, George?" asked Chester.</p> + +<p>"We sure have a lot of it out in the vestibule!" agreed George.</p> + +<p>"Let's see," Will said, nudging George in the ribs, "you went after +Tommy to bring him back, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Sure I did," answered George. "And I brought him back, didn't I?"</p> + +<p>"You didn't bring him back to camp," Will answered.</p> + +<p>"And you're the fellow who wig-wagged to us to come and escort the two +of you home," continued Will, addressing George with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"Sure I wig-wagged," replied the boy.</p> + +<p>"Then why didn't you stay there until we came up and tell us what you +wanted. You're a fine boy to wig-wag!"</p> + +<p>"Circumstances over which I had no control intervened," replied George. +"I got pinched."</p> + +<p>Then the story of the adventures of Tommy and George were told and Will +told of the doings of those who had left the camp in answer to the call +for help.</p> + +<p>"Then the sheriffs and their men are not far away?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"Why, they must be in the cavern," answered Tommy. "When the train +robbers chucked us down into this dry sewer the sheriffs were entering +the audience chamber on the outside."</p> + +<p>"And where did the detectives go?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"I don't think they've got done going yet!" replied Tommy. "The train +robbers took away their badges, and gave 'em two days in which to get +out of town. Gee!" the boy continued. "That sounds like Harrison street +station, don't it? Give 'em two days to get out of town. They make me +sick!"</p> + +<p>"So they're all centering around this little old ex-aqueduct," George +said. "In about five minutes the two sheriffs'll be crawling into this +old drain and taking the train robbers by the scruff of the neck."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather the sheriffs would lug the detectives out of the country," +Chester observed. "They're the people who are looking for father."</p> + +<p>"You want to keep mighty quiet about any one looking for your father," +Will advised. "We are sure to bunt into these two sheriffs before long +and if they know that your father is now regarded as a fugitive from +justice, they'll get him and ship him back to Chicago, all right!"</p> + +<p>"The sheriffs got held up by the train robbers," Tommy went on, "but +they can't be blamed for that, and they tried to put us through the +third degree when they thought we were in cahoots with the robbers, but +they're game all the same. If you ever see those fellows in action +you'll know there's something going on."</p> + +<p>"And we're going to see them in action right now!" cried George.</p> + +<p>A succession of shots came from the entrance to the old channel, and the +boys heard the defenders scrambling down toward the chamber where they +stood.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE FINDING OF WAGNER</h3> + + +<p>"Good night!" cried Tommy.</p> + +<p>The heavy footsteps came on faster than before. The ping of bullets was +in the air, and the old channel was filling with powder smoke. Now and +then the flash of a gun lit the passage.</p> + +<p>"Me for the tall timber," Tommy went on, springing up the tunnel.</p> + +<p>"Here! Where are you going?" shouted Will.</p> + +<p>"There's a hiding place up here!" answered Tommy. "We saw it when we +came down! Me for the hiding place."</p> + +<p>"That's a fact!" Will exclaimed turning to Chester. "You remember the +old channel running in from the southeast?"</p> + +<p>"We'll have to get somewhere right soon!" Chester answered. "Perhaps +that is as good a place as any."</p> + +<p>Bullets singing down the narrow passage indicated that the sheriffs and +their men had already entered the subterranean channel from above.</p> + +<p>The train robbers were defending the passage heroically, but the +officers were coming bravely on.</p> + +<p>Directly the boys came to the lead which cut the south wall of the main +channel into the shape of a "W." They passed on up this dry channel just +as the train robbers, retreating step by step, came to the entrance.</p> + +<p>"Shoot to kill!" the boys heard one of the outlaws saying.</p> + +<p>"Do you know the way to the other end?" asked the second outlaw.</p> + +<p>"I've been told how to find it," was the answer, "but I never made my +way through it. Those sheriffs are game to come crowding into a hole +like this in front of two armed and desperate men."</p> + +<p>"You get up against the real thing when you strike a Wyoming sheriff," +the other outlaw declared.</p> + +<p>"Throw up your hands!" a heavy voice came from above.</p> + +<p>"Come and take us!" was the only answer.</p> + +<p>Another storm of bullets was followed by a groan of pain.</p> + +<p>"They got me!" the boys heard one of the men say.</p> + +<p>"They got me, too!" said the other. "It's a wonder we haven't been cut +into ribbons before this!"</p> + +<p>"All we can do now is to lay down and shoot as long as we've got +ammunition," the first speaker advised.</p> + +<p>"You may as well surrender, boys!" They heard Sheriff Pete's heavy voice +saying. "I'm coming down there after you!"</p> + +<p>The only answer from the outlaws was a volley of bullets, punctuated +with oaths. Tommy turned to Will with a low chuckle.</p> + +<p>"This seems to be a nice quiet Boy Scout excursion, doesn't it?" he +asked. "We come up on the mountains to have a pleasant vacation, and we +butt into a scene that wouldn't be admitted to the stage of any theatre +because the critics would say that it wasn't true to life!"</p> + +<p>"We certainly do strike life in the raw!" replied Will.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to surrender?" shouted the sheriff from above.</p> + +<p>"I'll bet they don't," whispered George.</p> + +<p>"You're on!" Tommy shouted. "I'll bet they do."</p> + +<p>The boys listened anxiously for the reply.</p> + +<p>"I'm coming down there now!" they heard Sheriff Pete say.</p> + +<p>"There isn't one man in a million who would dare walk into a trap like +this," Will mused. "I wonder if this sheriff we've been finding fault +with will have the nerve to do it."</p> + +<p>"You see if he hasn't got the nerve to do it," Tommy answered.</p> + +<p>The outlaws fired once more, and then the boys heard their weapons +clattering down the tunnel.</p> + +<p>"That's the stuff, boys!" the sheriff said.</p> + +<p>They heard him sliding and scrambling down the channel, and turned on +their flashlights. The sheriff paused with an exclamation of surprise, +but came steadily on in a moment, his deputies not far in the rear.</p> + +<p>"Throw up your hands there, you with the light!" cried the officer.</p> + +<p>"I ain't going to throw up my hands," Tommy called out with a chuckle, +"but if it'll give you any satisfaction, I'll throw up my job as a +man-hunter. I have no further use for it!"</p> + +<p>"That must be the Boy Scouts," the voice of the Sweetwater sheriff said. +"I wonder how they got here."</p> + +<p>As the officers came on under the rays of the searchlights, the boys +having now stepped into the main tunnel, the outlaws stumbled to their +feet and stood leaning against the wall. They were wounded in several +places and blood was flowing quite freely, but their jaws were set in +lines of determination.</p> + +<p>The sheriffs glanced keenly about and smiled as their eyes took in the +boys grouped together in the tunnel.</p> + +<p>"What about it?" asked Sheriff Pete.</p> + +<p>"That's a long story," Will answered.</p> + +<p>One of the outlaws now stepped forward, although he still held himself +upright by one hand on the wall.</p> + +<p>"You're a nervy chap, Sheriff," he said.</p> + +<p>"Turn and turn about is fair play!" replied the officer. "It isn't so +very long ago that you held me up."</p> + +<p>"Any man can hold up another when he has a loaded gun in his face," said +the outlaw.</p> + +<p>"It strikes me," the sheriff said, "that you'd better be removed from +this hole as quickly as possible. Your wounds probably need attention."</p> + +<p>"We're not sobbing about the wounds," was the reply. "The only kick +we've got coming is that our ammunition gave out."</p> + +<p>"You would have been taken in time!" was the reply.</p> + +<p>"I guess that's right, with a man like you on our track, I've been in a +good many tight spots but I never saw a man walk into a storm of bullets +and appear to like it as you have done today."</p> + +<p>"Never mind that now," the Sheriff cut in. "We're going to get you out +so you can do a little work for the state before you die."</p> + +<p>"Say," Tommy exclaimed as the officers and prisoners started to climb +the steep tunnel, "when you get to the top have one of the men start a +big fire. I'm so hungry that I could eat my way out of this rock like it +was cheese."</p> + +<p>"What you going to cook?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"Bear steak," replied Tommy.</p> + +<p>"That's a joke!" declared Chester.</p> + +<p>"Joke is it?" exclaimed Tommy. "You wait till we get out there and see +whether it is or not. I went out after bear steak for breakfast, didn't +I? Well, I got it, didn't I?"</p> + +<p>"Breakfast!" repeated George, rubbing his Stomach. "It must be +afternoon, and I'm hungry enough to bite a corner off the Masonic +Temple."</p> + +<p>"One o'clock!" said Will, looking at his watch.</p> + +<p>"Are you boys really going to cook breakfast in the cavern?" asked the +sheriff. "Why not go to the camp?"</p> + +<p>"Because we can't walk to camp without first acquiring sustenance!" +chuckled Tommy. "I'm empty from the top of my head to the end of my big +toe!"</p> + +<p>"If you'll ask your men to gather a lot of dry wood," George suggested, +"we'll have a lot of bear steak ready to eat in about ten minutes."</p> + +<p>"But we haven't got any salt!" objected the sheriff.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think we haven't got any salt," Tommy replied. "You never saw +a Boy Scout go out into the woods without plenty of salt and matches. +And don't you think we don't know how to build a fire with one match and +broil a steak over coals in ten minutes."</p> + +<p>"All right!" laughed the sheriff. "You boys seem to be able to take care +of yourselves."</p> + +<p>"You didn't seem to think so a few hours ago," Will answered.</p> + +<p>"There's one thing about you boys I really like," the sheriff returned +with a hearty laugh. "The third degree makes about as much impression on +you as it would on the Sphinx or on the Goddess of Liberty in New York +harbor."</p> + +<p>"That was the third degree, was it, then?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"Do you think I'd string up a lot of babies?" demanded the sheriff.</p> + +<p>"Run along, now!" Tommy exclaimed. "Run along, Mr. Officer, and tell +your men to bring up a lot of dry wood."</p> + +<p>The officers made their way out, followed by George and Tommy, but Will +and Chester still remained under ground.</p> + +<p>"Did you hear anything in this tunnel?" asked Chester.</p> + +<p>"I thought I did hear a moan, but the sheriff was talking in that voice +of his at the time and I wasn't certain."</p> + +<p>"Well," Chester said, "I believe father's in here somewhere."</p> + +<p>"Why do you think that?"</p> + +<p>"I've told you about how he wanted to move to this cavern, haven't I? +And how he spent considerable time here?"</p> + +<p>"You certainly have."</p> + +<p>"And about my suspicions that he informed the outlaws of the underground +passages?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you told me all that."</p> + +<p>"Then you heard what the robbers said about some one having moved the +stone, or gone in during their absence?"</p> + +<p>"I had entirely forgotten that!" declared Will.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, don't you see," Chester continued, "that they must have +been speaking of father? That's why I think he's in here."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we'd better follow this channel and see if we can find him," +Will suggested. "It does seem as if he might be here."</p> + +<p>The bed of the old channel was very steep, and the boys scrambled up it +with difficulty. After proceeding a few paces they heard a low groan and +their flashlight showed the figure of a man lying on a narrow ledge of +rock on the south side.</p> + +<p>Chester darted forward instantly, almost falling on his face in his +eagerness to reach his father and bent over the figure.</p> + +<p>"It's father!" he shouted back to Will.</p> + +<p>"Alive?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not."</p> + +<p>Will lost no time in gaining the boy's side.</p> + +<p>The ex-convict lay with his face turned upward, his arms folded across +his breast. At first there were no indication of life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>SHERIFF PETE'S WINK</h3> + + +<p>"He can't be dead!" cried Chester, trying to lift the still figure in +his arms. "The wound he received was not a serious one."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what I think," Will replied.</p> + +<p>"I think he's weak from lack of food and sleep I don't believe these +train robbers have been very considerate of him."</p> + +<p>"But I don't see why they should misuse him!"</p> + +<p>"They probably didn't have enough to eat themselves," Will returned. +"Don't you remember how one of them came to camp and set Tommy to +cooking for him, and how we frightened him away by saying that the +detectives were just beyond the circle of light?"</p> + +<p>"That was the night I was loitering around the camp waiting to get to +one of you boys in order to ask you to help me find father," Chester +replied. "Don't you remember you chased me up that night, and I ran away +in the darkness, and one of the boys came upon the train robber and the +other came upon one of the detectives."</p> + +<p>"That was Tommy and Sandy," Will answered. "George and I were asleep in +our tent when all that took place."</p> + +<p>"I guess he's about starved all right!" Chester said lifting his father +into a sitting position. "We'd better get some of the men down here and +have him carried into the cavern."</p> + +<p>"But look here," Will warned, "there mustn't a word be said about the +detectives coming in here after him!"</p> + +<p>"Why not?" asked Chester.</p> + +<p>"Because, as I have told you before, if the sheriff understands that +your father was a fugitive from justice, he'll send him to Chicago under +arrest. It will be his duty to do so, in fact."</p> + +<p>"And what do you boys propose to do with him?"</p> + +<p>"We're going to take him back to Chicago and keep him out of the reach +of the police. He knows something about a case we're interested in which +he will never tell if sent back to prison."</p> + +<p>"If he's sent back to prison," Chester replied, "you may be sure that he +won't be willing to help anybody."</p> + +<p>"He is innocent of the crime of which he was convicted, isn't he?" asked +Will. "In other words, he was jobbed!"</p> + +<p>"That's the truth!" cried Chester.</p> + +<p>"Well, what we've got to do is to prove that!" Will went on.</p> + +<p>"Can you do it?" asked the son, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"We think we can," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"If you can, father will do anything he can for you, you may be sure of +that," Chester answered warmly.</p> + +<p>"But the whole success of our scheme depends on our keeping your father +out of the clutches of the officers until we land him in Mr. Horton's +office in Chicago. For the first time in our lives," Will continued, "we +are opposing the officers of the law. As a rule that isn't a good thing +for Boy Scouts to do, but we think we are fully justified in the course +we are taking in this case."</p> + +<p>"What is it you want father to testify to?" asked Chester.</p> + +<p>"I don't think we'd better stop now to discuss that," Will answered.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure it can't be anything dishonorable."</p> + +<p>"It's nothing dishonorable," Will assured the boy. "We believe that your +father's testimony will save the life of a young man accused of murder. +That's all I can tell you now."</p> + +<p>"You refer to the Fremont case?" asked Chester.</p> + +<p>"Exactly!" answered Will. "To the Fremont suicide case."</p> + +<p>"The police call it the Fremont murder case!"</p> + +<p>"So you have been reading about that, too, have you?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"I read about it in the newspapers on the day following what took place +at the bank," Chester answered, "and I couldn't help a feeling of +contempt for the police when I understood how wrong they were."</p> + +<p>"So you know about that, too?"</p> + +<p>"I know all about it!" replied Chester.</p> + +<p>Will could have hugged the boy. He had long been wondering whether the +testimony of Mr. Wagner would be accepted in court after the wound which +had rendered him mentally incompetent had been discussed by physicians. +He knew that in many cases men so injured never fully recovered.</p> + +<p>It seemed almost like a miracle that the escaped convict's son should +know something of the matter, too. The boy knew that even if Mr. Wagner +fully recovered from his injury the police would object to his testimony +on the ground of previous insanity. If the boy could corroborate the +statements made by his father, that would prove sufficient.</p> + +<p>Will was about to ask the lad further questions when the escaped convict +opened his eyes and looked about.</p> + +<p>His gaze sought the searchlight first, and then rested on the face of +his son. Chester drew nearer and bent over him.</p> + +<p>"Did I have a fall?" the man asked weakly.</p> + +<p>He put his thin hand to his head as he spoke and drew it away covered +with blood.</p> + +<p>"Why this seems to be a fresh wound," Chester exclaimed, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the father, "I remember of hearing the sound of guns, and +sensing the odor of powder smoke, and started to run down the passage +and fell. I remember a shooting pain in my head and that's about all +until I heard your voices and saw the light."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where you are?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>The escaped convict looked inquiringly at his son.</p> + +<p>"Who is this boy?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"A friend who has come to establish your innocence," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"That is impossible," replied Wagner. "Every police official in Chicago +is convinced of my guilt. They jobbed me to prison in the first instance +and they are bound to keep me there!"</p> + +<p>"Who were the detectives?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"Katz and Cullen!" was the answer.</p> + +<p>"I see," Will said musingly.</p> + +<p>"But we mustn't permit father to remain here," Chester cut in. "All +these questions can be answered at another time."</p> + +<p>"That's right," Will agreed. "And I'll go to the cavern and ask some of +the men to carry your father out."</p> + +<p>The boy was back in five minutes with Sheriff Pete and Deputy Seth. The +sheriff looked down pityingly on the wounded man for a moment and then +took him in his arms as if he had been a child and carried him to the +cavern, where the boys and the deputies were assembled around a roaring +fire over which Tommy and George were broiling bear steaks.</p> + +<p>"Say, that listens good to me," George exclaimed, as the wounded man was +laid down near the rear. "It appears that we're closing this case up in +jig time."</p> + +<p>"I guess we've got it about closed up," Will answered.</p> + +<p>"There's only one thing we've got to do now," George added, "and that is +to get rid of those two bum detectives."</p> + +<p>"Last call for dinner in the dining car!" cried Tommy.</p> + +<p>They all flocked to the fire, and Tommy and George presented each with a +bear steak with the explanation that more would be forthcoming. The two +train robbers looked on longingly.</p> + +<p>"You boys suggested the bringing in of this meat," Tommy said, after a +time, "and so I'm going to cook each of you a two pound steak."</p> + +<p>"I guess we can take care of them all right," one of the outlaws +replied. "We've been hungry for about a week."</p> + +<p>"Say, kid," the other outlaw cut in, "I'd like to be just your age, and +be a Boy Scout, with all the medals you've got, and money enough to +travel about the world looking for trouble and meeting it like a man!"</p> + +<p>"You had a chance once," Tommy answered rather pityingly.</p> + +<p>"Never," was the reply. "I was reared in the slums of New York, and +became a criminal before I was six years old. There were no Boy Scout +organizations in those days, and so I never had any one ready and +willing to point out the road that would lead to a successful life."</p> + +<p>"Well, if there were no Boy Scouts to help you along then," Tommy +replied, "there are plenty now to show the right way."</p> + +<p>"And they are doing it, too, so far as I can see," Sheriff Pete cut in. +"They seem to be doing a lot of good in the world."</p> + +<p>"We try to," Tommy said, and turned back to cook the steaks promised to +the outlaws. "And most of the time we succeed," he added.</p> + +<p>"What was it one of you boys said about these two detectives?" asked +Sheriff Pete, as he stood talking with Will, busy at the same time with +a slice of bear meat.</p> + +<p>"Why," Will answered, "I guess the remark was that the next thing for us +to do would be to get rid of those detectives. They think they own the +whole state of Wyoming."</p> + +<p>"Chicago men are they?" asked the sheriff.</p> + +<p>"Yes," was the answer.</p> + +<p>"Do they claim to be here on business?"</p> + +<p>"Why," replied Will in a hesitating tone, "they claim to be here after a +fugitive from justice, but I guess they're on a hunting trip."</p> + +<p>"If they're here on official business," the sheriff said, "I should +think they'd report to me."</p> + +<p>"It may be," Will suggested, "that they are in some way associated with +these train robbers."</p> + +<p>The sheriff looked at the boy with wide open eyes for a moment, and then +drew one eyelid down in a long, significant wink.</p> + +<p>"You really think they stand in with these outlaws?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Why," replied Will, with an equally significant wink, "I think they +ought to be taken out to Lander or Green River and made to give an +account of themselves."</p> + +<p>"Come to think about it," the sheriff said, with a smile, "I've noticed +several suspicious circumstances lately, and I think it really might be +a good thing to take them to the county seat and make them give an +account on themselves."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>DETECTIVES IN TROUBLE</h3> + + +<p>While the sheriff and the boy were talking, Katz and Cullen came +tramping angrily into the cavern. They stood regarding the sheriff and +his deputies with scornful glances for a moment and then, ignoring them +entirely, strolled up to where Will was standing.</p> + +<p>"You are under arrest," Katz said.</p> + +<p>"What for?" asked Will, as the others gathered around him.</p> + +<p>"For participating in the escape of a fugitive from justice."</p> + +<p>"Where is the fugitive from justice?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"I can't place my hands on him at this moment," was the arrogant reply, +"but I'm going to know where he is before I permit these men to depart. +I've stood about all the impudence I care to."</p> + +<p>"What's that making all that noise?" called Tommy, from the fire.</p> + +<p>The two detectives turned toward the boy.</p> + +<p>"You are under arrest, too!" Cullen shouted.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you take some one of your own size?" asked Tommy. "Why don't +you go on and arrest some of these men?"</p> + +<p>"I'll do that if it's necessary!" Katz exclaimed. "And look here," he +went on. "I command you all to assist me in the capture of a fugitive +from justice named Warren W. Wagner, as escaped convict who is wanted in +Chicago for the crime of murder!"</p> + +<p>"Do you think this Wagner person is here?" asked Seth.</p> + +<p>"I haven't a doubt of it," was the angry reply.</p> + +<p>"Then, like a good little boy, you chase out and find him."</p> + +<p>"I'll find him quick enough," retorted Katz, advancing toward the spot +where Wagner lay. "I'll find him too quick to please most of you +fellows! Perhaps you can tell me who this man is."</p> + +<p>The Boy Scouts gathered about the detective and Chester even sprang +forward as if to defend his father from the officer's touch. It was +Sheriff Pete, however, who prevented the actual arrest of the escaped +convict at that time.</p> + +<p>As the two detectives moved forward, attempting to brush the boys rudely +aside, the sheriff seized Katz by the shoulder and swung him over to +Sheriff Gilmore. Then he grabbed Cullen by the scruff of the neck and +sent him spinning into the arms of Seth.</p> + +<p>"What do you fellows mean by coming here and taking possession of our +camp?" he thundered. "I'll teach you to get fresh around here! Put the +handcuffs on the fellows, boys!"</p> + +<p>One of the wounded outlaws raised himself from the floor and chuckled +viciously as the two men were adorned with the manacles.</p> + +<p>"Say," Katz exclaimed, trying to move toward the outlaws, "how did you +get here? I've a great mind to put you both under arrest for your +treatment of me a few hours ago."</p> + +<p>"You're under arrest yourself!" laughed the outlaw pointing to the +handcuffs. "You're a pretty skate to talk about arresting me."</p> + +<p>"I protest against this, sir," exclaimed Katz, turning to Sheriff Pete. +"I am Joseph J. Katz, detective of Chicago, and this is Edward E. +Cullen, my associate. We are here under protection of the laws of your +state, in quest of a fugitive from justice and I protest against this +outrage."</p> + +<p>"Where are your extradition papers?" demanded the sheriff.</p> + +<p>"We don't usually get extradition papers until we get the man," scoffed +Katz. "You ought to know that, if you're an officer."</p> + +<p>"I mean your authority from the Governor of Illinois," said Sheriff Pete +angrily.</p> + +<p>"You can wire to the Chief of Police at Chicago, and see if what we say +is not true," Katz answered.</p> + +<p>"But your papers," insisted the Sheriff.</p> + +<p>"They were to be forwarded to us," replied Katz.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe they're detectives at all!" Tommy cut in.</p> + +<p>"I don't think they have any authority to make arrests," Will said, with +a sly wink at the sheriff. "If they have, where are their badges?"</p> + +<p>"They were stolen!" shouted Katz. "These Boy Scouts took mine, and those +train robbers, who seem to be under arrest now, took Cullen's."</p> + +<p>"You want to look out when you come down into Wyoming," said the sheriff +with a chuckle. "I've known Chicago detectives to come down here and +have their socks stolen off their feet!"</p> + +<p>"Aw, they ain't detectives," argued Tommy. "They belong to this bunch of +train robbers. I saw 'em talking with the robbers not very long ago. You +just ask these robbers if these two men don't belong to their gang."</p> + +<p>As Tommy spoke he turned to where the two robbers lay and gave a very +grave and significant wink.</p> + +<p>"They belong to our gang, all right enough," one of the outlaws stated, +remembering various indignities they had received at the hands of +detectives.</p> + +<p>"That's a lie!" thundered Katz.</p> + +<p>"Lie nothing!" replied the outlaw. "These fellows brought in two burros +loaded with provisions for us, and we haven't been able to get to them +yet. If you go back in the valley to the west, and travel north a few +miles, you'll find where the burros and provisions are hidden away."</p> + +<p>Tommy drew nearer to the outlaw and under pretense of picking something +from the floor whispered in his ear:</p> + +<p>"We'll see that you get a year off your sentence for that. We've just +got to get rid of these imitation detectives."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you can make it stick, Katz," the other outlaw cried +out, apparently in a very serious tone, although there was a wrinkle of +humor about his grim mouth. "When we started out to rob the Union +Pacific train you promised to see that we got provisions, and you didn't +keep your word!"</p> + +<p>The eyes of the two detectives stuck out, as Tommy afterwards expressed +it, far enough to hang a coat and hat on. They almost foamed with rage +as they stamped about the cavern, still linked together with the steel +handcuffs.</p> + +<p>"We're being jobbed!" Katz shouted.</p> + +<p>"It's a frame-up!" echoed Cullen.</p> + +<p>"Frame up nothing!" laughed one of the outlaws.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say," said Sheriff Pete, turning to the two prisoners, +"that these two men who claim to be detectives are actually connected +with your gang?"</p> + +<p>"That's what we'll swear to!" declared one of the outlaws.</p> + +<p>"Two years off for that!" chuckled Tommy in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"I tell you it's a frame up!" shouted Katz. "It's a dirty trick to get +us out of the state without arresting this fugitive from justice."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry boys," Sheriff Pete said to them, with official gravity, +although there was a twinkle in his eyes, "but under the circumstances, +it's my duty to take you to Lander and give you a hearing before the +grand jury. Personally, I have my doubts as to the truth of the charges +made against you, but at the same time I've got to take ministerial +cognizance of them. I'm sorry, but it's my duty."</p> + +<p>"And in the meantime," yelled Cullen, "these Boy Scouts will get this +fugitive from justice out of our reach!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know anything about that!" said the sheriff, "but if they try +to do anything of that kind, I'm afraid they'll succeed."</p> + +<p>"Well," Gilmore, the Sweetwater sheriff said, "I presume we'd better be +moving along with the prisoners. If it's true that these two alleged +detectives, who now turn out to be train robbers," he added with a +glance at the boys, "have a camp with plenty of provisions at the north +end of the next valley, we'd better take the whole bunch there and get +the provisions and pack the whole outfit over to Lander with us."</p> + +<p>"Are you going back to camp now?" asked Sheriff Pete, turning to Will.</p> + +<p>"Just as soon as Tommy gets filled up on bear steak, I think we'd better +be moving."</p> + +<p>Sheriff Gilmore and the deputies now started away with the four +prisoners and the boys watched them sliding and scrambling down the +slope to the gully.</p> + +<p>Will reached out and took Sheriff Pete by the hand.</p> + +<p>"You're a brick!" he said. "You not only know how to do things, but you +know how to do them right. If you ever come up to Chicago, don't forget +to call on Lawyer Horton, and he'll tell you where we are."</p> + +<p>"I'll not fail to do so," the sheriff answered, "but, in the meantime," +he went on, "it ought to take about a week or two for these detectives +to establish their innocence, eh?"</p> + +<p>"I should say about two weeks," replied Will. "And see here," the boy +went on, "I hope you won't be too hard on those train robbers. They're +pretty decent fellows after all."</p> + +<p>"They're the first men that ever held me up!" laughed the sheriff.</p> + +<p>"Forget it!" exclaimed Will.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't lay that up against them!" the sheriff replied. "After +all," he continued, "they were careful not to injure any one on the +hold-up they're accused of, and I don't think they'll get more than five +or six years."</p> + +<p>The officers and the boys parted with feelings of mutual regret. They +had not had much faith or confidence in each other at first, but in the +end each group knew the worth of the other. The parting between the boys +and Seth was particularly heartfelt. Although Sheriff Pete had been +trying to reach information he sought in his own way, the deputy had +faced him down when he believed that the boys were to be lynched. There +was many a good laugh after that, in the room of the Sheriff at Lander.</p> + +<p>When at last the boys reached their camp and the two men who had brought +the escaped convict down had disappeared, Sandy came creeping out from +under a pile of blankets in one of the tents.</p> + +<p>"What do you know about that?" asked Tommy, pointing to the boy.</p> + +<p>Sandy yawned and rubbed his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Say, what time is it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Four o'clock!" replied Will.</p> + +<p>"Is it yesterday or today?" asked Sandy.</p> + +<p>"It's the day after tomorrow!" grinned Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Don't get funny, now," Sandy advised. "Whatever day it is, I've been +asleep ever since you boys went away."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION</h3> + + +<p>"You never have!" declared Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Honest!" replied Sandy. "I filled myself up with provisions and crawled +under the blanket and went to sleep just after you went away to get some +bear steak for breakfast. Did you get the steak?" the boy added with a +grin.</p> + +<p>"You bet I did," answered Tommy, "and I brought it back with me," he +added, stroking the waistband of his trousers. "How's your shoulder?"</p> + +<p>"Fine as a fiddle," was the reply. "I'm not going to have any trouble +with it after this! Did you find Chester's fond parent," he added, +glancing in the direction of the escaped convict.</p> + +<p>"Sure we did," replied Tommy. "And, do you know," the boy went on, "that +we needn't have bothered about finding him at all. Chester knows +everything about the Fremont case that the father does."</p> + +<p>"Is that right, Chester?" asked Sandy.</p> + +<p>"Now you come on over here to father," Chester said, "and we'll ask him +what took place in the private room of Fremont's bank that night, and +we'll see if his memory of the things which occurred there is the same +as mine."</p> + +<p>The boys now all trooped to the tent where Mr. Wagner had been placed +and Chester asked:</p> + +<p>"Do you know why these boys are here, father?"</p> + +<p>"To take me back to prison, I suppose," was the almost sullen reply.</p> + +<p>"They are here to establish your innocence," the son went on. "Do you +know why?"</p> + +<p>The father glanced keenly from his son to the others and finally asked, +his voice trembling with excitement:</p> + +<p>"Why should they take an interest in me?"</p> + +<p>"Because," Will broke in, "you can help us, and we want to help you. We +have information that you are innocent of the crime of which you were +convicted, and we believe that you have information which will prevent +the conviction of an innocent man."</p> + +<p>"Do you refer to the Fremont case?" asked Wagner.</p> + +<p>"Exactly," replied Will. "And I'd like to ask you now," the boy went on, +"before anything more is said, why you never communicated with young +Fremont's attorney. He advertised for you extensively, and you might +have held conference with him without subjecting yourself to arrest."</p> + +<p>"I saw the advertisement," was the reply, "but I thought it was only a +trap set by the police. I was determined not to go back to the +penitentiary. If I had been captured by the police, I would have killed +myself. I had no money, no influence, and it would have been impossible +for me to establish my innocence, so I decided to let young Fremont look +out for himself. I know now that I was wrong."</p> + +<p>"You were in the bank that July night?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I was there with my son," was the reply.</p> + +<p>The boys looked wonderingly at Chester.</p> + +<p>"What took place?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"Fremont was working late in his private room, and the janitor and +nightwatchman were moving about the building, from the deposit vaults in +the basement to the ironclad room which enclosed the big safe.</p> + +<p>"I went there to see Mr. Fremont in order to secure financial help. He +had been an old friend of my parents, and I had every reason to believe +that he would assist me if I could get to him. After a long time I +attracted the attention of the night watchman, and he admitted me at a +side door on the request of Mr. Fremont."</p> + +<p>"Who else was in the building at that time?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"No one that I know of," was the reply. "I stated my case to Mr. Fremont +in the presence of my son and he handed me one hundred dollars in small +bills, advising me to remain in hiding until I could arrange for a new +trial. He said when he gave me the money that the sum was more than he +had left, but that he would never again feel that he needed money.</p> + +<p>"I did not understand what he meant, and said so. He told me then that +he had been plunging heavily in Wall street. He said that he had lost +every dollar he had in the world, and that his interest in the bank +would be taken from him the next day unless a wealthy friend he was +depending on came to his assistance that very night."</p> + +<p>"Did he tell you the name of the man he expected there that night?" +asked Will.</p> + +<p>"He did," replied the escaped convict, "but I do not now recall the +name. I can't for the life of me bring it back to my mind."</p> + +<p>"The name," Chester interrupted, "was Myron M. Douglass."</p> + +<p>"A Chicago multi-millionaire!" exclaimed Will.</p> + +<p>"I asked Mr. Fremont what course he intended to pursue, and he replied +that there was only one thing he could do if the man he had appealed to +refused to aid him. As he told me this he opened a drawer in his desk +and pointed to an automatic revolver lying on top of a pile of papers."</p> + +<p>"And you left it lying there?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"No," Chester answered, "I snatched the revolver out of the drawer and +brought it away with me. When we left the private room by the side door, +Mr. Fremont was standing beside his desk with a smile upon a very white +face. He said he had another revolver in another drawer, and would use +it if he did not hear from Mr. Douglass before midnight."</p> + +<p>"Did you believe him to be in earnest?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"I did not think he would kill himself when it came down to the real +point."</p> + +<p>"Did you immediately leave the vicinity of the bank?" asked the boy.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Chester. "We walked about the building until after twelve +o'clock."</p> + +<p>"Did you hear any significant sounds?" asked Will.</p> + +<p>"Pistol-shots," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Then you knew what had taken place?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, we thought we did."</p> + +<p>"What next?"</p> + +<p>"While we stood at the side door of the bank, wondering what we ought to +do, Mr. Fremont's son came running up the steps. At first I felt +disposed to give him some intimation as to what had taken place, but I +hadn't the courage to do so. He opened the side door with a key and +entered, and we left the city and the state. We came here, and I was +dazed by a fall, but this last hurt has corrected the injury done by the +first one."</p> + +<p>"There you are!" said Will. "The case is closed. The Boy Scouts may as +well go back to Chicago now. There's one more mystery. Who built the +fire in your old cave?"</p> + +<p>"I did before the last fall," Wagner said.</p> + +<p>"Of course, we can stay here and fish and hunt if we want to," laughed +Will, "and I think it may be well to do so for a week or so, but right +now we have come to The Ending of the Trail."</p> + +<p>The boys spent two very pleasant weeks in Wyoming without further +annoyance. When they returned to Chicago, Wagner and Chester went with +them. The case against young Fremont fell to the ground as soon as the +testimony of Wagner and his son was taken, and the innocence of the +escaped convict was established so thoroughly to the satisfaction of the +police that he was never tried again.</p> + +<p>The boys saw both Wagner and Chester were provided with congenial +situations. After the boys had been in Chicago a couple of weeks they +met Katz and Cullen on Clark street. The detectives flamed red in the +face at sight of the boys, but were very humble when addressing them.</p> + +<p>"We have forgotten what took place in Wyoming," Katz said significantly.</p> + +<p>"And so have we," replied Tommy. "No one here knows anything about it! +It was rather a mean trick to play on you, but we had to do something to +get Wagner to testify in the Fremont case."</p> + +<p>"Forget it!" cried Katz, and the two went on their way, after receiving +their badges from Tommy.</p> + +<p>The boys had been in Chicago not more than a month when a letter from +the famous criminal lawyer brought them to his office again.</p> + +<p>"Are you boys ready to take a trip to the north?" he asked. "I want you +to go way up into the Hudson Bay country and do a little work that a +group of Boy Scouts can do better than any one else in the world."</p> + +<p>"Sure, we'll go!" answered Will. "We were saying last night that we were +getting tired of hanging around Chicago."</p> + +<p>The boys started away the very next day. What they saw and did on the +journey will be found in the next volume of this series entitled:</p> + +<p>Boy Scouts in Northern Wilds; or, The Signal from the Hills.</p> + +<h3>The End.</h3> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Boy Scouts on the Great Divide, by +Archibald Lee Fletcher + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY SCOUTS ON THE GREAT DIVIDE *** + +***** This file should be named 31487-h.htm or 31487-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/4/8/31487/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Boy Scouts on the Great Divide + or, The Ending of the Trail + +Author: Archibald Lee Fletcher + +Release Date: March 3, 2010 [EBook #31487] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY SCOUTS ON THE GREAT DIVIDE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Boy Scouts on the Great Divide; + +or, The Ending of the Trail + +By Archibald Lee Fletcher + +Chicago + +M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY + +Copyright 1913 + +MADE IN U.S.A. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I--A BOY SCOUT + +II--THE RUNAWAY + +III--THE CASE IS STATED + +IV--A CHASE IN THE NIGHT + +V--A DETECTIVE AND A ROBBER + +VI--THE CALL OF THE BEAVER + +VII--ARRESTED AS SPIES + +VIII--A MIDNIGHT BEAR HUNT + +IX--LYNCHING IS THREATENED + +X--ONE DANGER TO ANOTHER + +XI--A WYOMING HOLD-UP + +XII--AN INTERRUPTED WIG-WAG + +XIII--TOMMY GOES AFTER BEAR STEAK + +XIV--A PAIR OF PRISONERS + +XV--AN UNDERGROUND CHANNEL + +XVI--CULLEN LOSES HIS STAR + +XVII--A MEETING UNDER GROUND + +XVIII--THE FINDING OF WAGNER + +XIX--SHERIFF PETE'S WINK + +XX--DETECTIVES IN TROUBLE + +XXI--CONCLUSION + + + + +Boy Scouts on the Great Divide; + +or, The Ending of the Trail + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A BOY SCOUT CAMP + + +On a sunny September afternoon two shelter tents stood in a mountain +valley, on the south bank of a creek which, miles and miles below, +becomes the Sweetwater river. + +Above the flap of each tent lifted a yellow pennant, in the center of +which a blue beaver stood in an alert and listening attitude, his flat +tail outstretched. + +A campfire blazed in front of the two tents, and some distance away four +bronchos fed noisily on the sweet grass of the valley. Tinned provisions +and cooking utensils were scattered here and there in front of the +blaze, and four boys wearing the khaki uniform of the Boy Scouts of +America were busily engaged in preparing supper. + +Those who have read the previous volumes of this series will require no +introduction to Will Smith, George Benton, Charley (Sandy) Green, or +Tommy Gregory. As will be remembered, they were all members of the +Beaver Patrol, Chicago. Will Smith had recently been advanced to the +important position of Scoutmaster, and George Benton had been elected to +the position left vacant by the advancement of his chum, that of Patrol +Leader. Besides carrying the badges of their offices and their patrol, +the boys all wore medals showing that they had qualified in the Stalker, +Ambulance, Seaman and Pioneer grades. + +After rather striking adventures on Lake Superior and in the Florida +Everglades the boys had been persuaded by Mr. Horton, a well-known +criminal lawyer of Chicago, to undertake a mission in the interest of a +client in whom he had become greatly interested. The lads had already +arranged a vacation trip to the Great Divide, and it necessitated only a +slight change in their program in order to make the investigation +desired by the attorney, who had shown himself their friend on more than +one occasion. In fact, the Superior trip had been taken at his expense. + +Mr. Horton had presented the request which had changed the lads' +vacation plans on the night before they left Chicago, and so no details +whatever of the case had been given them. They had been asked to proceed +to the city of Green River, in the state of Wyoming, and there secure +burros, provisions and tents and travel to the valley lying south and +west of Altantic peak. + +The noted attorney had informed them on the morning of their departure +that, in case further instructions did not reach them by wire before +they came to Green River, a messenger would follow them into the +mountains with full details, and also a history of the case in which +they were to be employed. On this sunny afternoon they were awaiting the +arrival of the messenger, no information having been received by +telegraph. + +The tents had been set up on the previous evening, and the boys did not +think it possible that the messenger could be more than twenty-four +hours behind them. While they waited for the supper to cook they watched +the country off to the south anxiously. + +"Last call for supper!" cried Sandy, spreading a great white cloth on +the fragrant grass of the valley. "We can eat out-doors in this country +without any danger of people butting in to see what we've got for +supper." + +"You say it well!" said Will, "but you can't prove it! For instance," he +added, pointing to the south, "there's some one coming right now to see +what we've got for supper!" + +The figure pointed out was that of a tall and slender man who was +climbing the slope to the southeast. He carried a long rifle over his +shoulder and a cartridge belt was conspicuously displayed about his +waist. + +While the boys arranged their food on the table cloth, the man +approached warily. When he came into the valley in which the camp was +situated he turned away to the right as if about to circle the tents and +the fire. Tommy stood up with a great slice of bread in one hand and a +cup of coffee in the other and waved both at the stranger. + +"Come on in!" he shouted. "The eating's fine!" + +At this invitation the stranger came forward to the fire and stood for a +moment without speaking, gazing at the boys with eyes strained to their +utmost in an effort to make them look piercing. + +"Thank you very much for the invitation!" replied the stranger, "I've +had a long walk today and I'm both hungry and tired! My name is +Katz--Joseph J. Katz, and I'm in business in a small way in Denver." + +"I bought a burro at Green River," Katz went on, "but lost him twenty +miles to the south. He got his foot in a prairie dog's hole or something +of that kind and broke his leg so I had to shoot him." + +"And you've been walking ever since?" + +"Indeed I have!" was the reply. "And I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to +extend your hospitality until morning. I have a friend who will be along +sometime tomorrow with a couple of light tents and a couple of burro +loads of provisions." + +"Then you're going to camp in the mountains, I take it?" + +"Yes," was the reply. "We're going farther in and take a rest and look +for a good sheep valley while we do so." + +"You're welcome to remain here until your friend comes in!" answered +Will. "We have plenty of provisions." + +"Then you are thinking of remaining in the mountains for some time?" +asked the stranger. "In that case we may meet often." + +"I hope so," replied Will. "We are boys from Detroit having a little +vacation from the hills and it will be all the pleasanter if we have +congenial company. But sit down and eat. You must be hungry." + +Kata fell to with an appetite and Tommy saw that his plate was +replenished as soon as it was emptied. While he was eating Sandy and +Will arose from the cloth, excused themselves and passed into one of the +tents, where Sandy stood regarding his companion with accusing eyes. + +"Say," the boy asked, "are you getting to be such a liar that you just +can't tell the truth?" + +"What's the matter now?" demanded Will. + +"Why did you tell that fellow we were from Detroit?" + +"Because he lied to me!" was the rather indignant reply. + +Sandy grinned and looked the question he did not ask. + +"He told me he was from Denver," Will went on, "and Tommy says he's a +Chicago detective. The kid says he saw a detective badge under the +fellow's lapel. And I guess Tommy knows a detective badge," the boy +continued with a wink. "I should think he would after the fun he's had +with Chicago detectives, and the times he's been chased by them." + +"You don't suppose he's come on here to pinch one of us, do you?" asked +Sandy. "If he has, we'll pitch him into the stream that takes the +longest road to Cape Horn." + +"Of course not!" answered Will. "For all I know he may be the messenger +sent by Mr. Horton." + +"Then why should he lie about his home city?" asked Sandy. + +"I don't know," answered Will. "He may be the messenger and he may not +be. If he is a messenger, he's a fool, because he ought to know without +further investigation that we're the boys he set out to find. If he +isn't a messenger, he's a charter member of the Ananias club or Tommy's +very much mistaken." + +"I don't believe he's a messenger," Sandy answered and the two went out +to the fire together. + +"I have heard a great many stories of robbery and murder in this +country," the boys heard Katz saying to Tommy, "but up to this time I +have seen no unlawful acts committed." + +"Oh, but they have a stage hold-up or some scrape of that kind every +week or two!" replied Tommy with a wink at Will. "We remained over at +Green River a couple of days and heard a good many stories about highway +robbery. There is said to be gold in these mountains," the boy +continued, "and there is also said to be a band of brigands who lie in +wait for treasure hunters." + +Katz appeared deeply interested in what the boy was saying. In fact he +seemed rather excited, too, and the boys noticed that he reached out one +hand to stroke the gun, which lay near his side, as he listened. + +Sandy nudged George in the side and whispered: + +"I'll bet Tommy's got him scared half to death!" + +"I guess that's what the kid's telling him these stories for!" George +ventured. "He's always up to tricks like that." + +While the boys worked about the camp preparing beds for the night and +clearing away the remains of the supper Tommy remained close to the side +of the trench, asking of his experiences on the way in and telling many +exciting stories of highwaymen, the most of which had origin in his own +brain. + +"Tommy'll have that fellow so scared that he can't sleep!" Sandy +whispered to George. + +"Then the fellow shouldn't get scared so easy!" + +"I consider it very fortunate for you boys," they heard Katz saying +after a time, "that I came along just as I did. If this country is as +thoroughly infested with robbers and murderers as you seem to think it +is, I may be of service to you before morning." + +"Sure!" agreed Tommy. "We may have a battle with outlaws almost any time +now! We're glad you're here to protect us!" + +"Of course, one man can't fight a whole regiment," Katz went on rather +boastfully, "but I'll do what I can to protect you in case the camp is +attacked." + +"I know you will!" answered Tommy with a sly wink at Sandy. "I knew you +were a brave man as soon as I saw you!" + +During the evening the boys taking the lead made by Tommy told numerous +stories of train-robberies and murders in the mountains as they sat +around the campfire. Katz listened attentively to them all and more than +once the lads saw him involuntarily reach a hand back to his pistol +pocket. On such occasions they nudged each other joyfully. + +"I wish something would happen tonight," Tommy whispered to Will as they +prepared for bed. "I'd just like to see how this Katz would act under +fire. I've a good mind to make something happen!" + +"You'd better cut that out!" replied Will. "The messenger we are waiting +for may be here at any time now and we may have to move camp at any +time. So we want to rest while we can." + +"All right!" Tommy answered reluctantly. "I'm just as anxious to get a +good night's sleep as you are." + +"Who's going to stay awake?" asked Sandy stepping up to where the boys +were talking. + +"I don't think it's necessary for anyone to stay awake," cried Will. + +"I don't believe we ought to all sleep at once!" Sandy observed. "Not +with this stranger in the camp, anyway," he added. + +"Aw, the stranger's all right!" Tommy exclaimed. "He's a bum Chicago +detective out after some fugitive from justice and he thinks its foxy to +lie about his occupation and his residence. Don't you think I know the +earmarks of a Chicago detective?" he added. + +"You ought to, considering the number of times you've been mixed up with +them," laughed Sandy. "You certainly ought to know all about Chicago +detectives." + +"What makes you go certain this man is a Chicago detective?" asked Will. +"I haven't seen anything that looks like Chicago about him!" + +"Why," answered Tommy, "he's mentioned Harrison street and Desplaines +street and Chicago avenue half a dozen times when talking about the +police department of Denver! And he's been telling about police boats on +the lake and on the North and South branches and giving himself away +generally. Of course, he doesn't know we're from Chicago and so he +doesn't think it necessary to be careful in his speech." + +"All right, time will tell!" exclaimed Sandy. + +It was arranged that Will, Tommy and George were to sleep together in +one of the tents until midnight while Tommy stood watch, and from that +time on, the other boys were to watch two hours apiece. Katz was to have +the second tent all to himself. + +For sometime after the lads and Katz went to their tents, Tommy sat by +the fire listening to coyotes and grey wolves howling off in the +mountains. Occasionally a coyote came within a few paces of the fire and +set up a howl which must have been heard in the dreams of the sleepers. + +Along near midnight the boy heard, very indistinctly, shouts to the west +of the ridge which lay to the south of the valley. Still more faintly, +return shouts were heard. The men, whoever they were, seemed to be +advancing toward the camp. While the boy listened a volley of shots came +from the west, followed by hoarse shouts and imprecations. + +It now became plain that two horsemen were speeding toward the valley +and that the shots which were being fired were directed at them. There +was no moon as yet although there would be one later on, and little +could be seen of the horsemen who were doubtless seeking refuge in the +canons farther to the north, but the heavy breathing of the horses and +the creaking of the saddles could be distinctly heard. + +"I just went to the tent to wake Katz!" Tommy chuckled, "and saw him +sneaking away making flat-footed for the hills!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE RUNAWAY + + +The horses came on at a swift gallop, to an accompaniment of rifle shots +and the jingling of spurs. Directly they were in the circle of light +about the fire, their frightened eyes showing red as they ran. The faces +of the riders glared viciously down at the boys, but the weapons +swinging threateningly from their hands were not discharged as they +dashed through the lighted space and were gone. + +"Now what do you know about that?" demanded Tommy, as the horses +disappeared in the darkness and the gradually receding hoof-beats showed +that they were still keeping their course to the north. + +"Looks to me like some one was being chased," observed Sandy. + +"It would seem that way to the unprejudiced mind!" added George. + +Directly the sound of heavy boots scrambling over broken rocks, +accompanied by private and personal opinions of that part of Wyoming, of +rocky surfaces, and of midnight expeditions, came to the ears of the +listening boys. As the sounds drew nearer they grouped closer together. + +"Here comes the boys who did the shooting!" exclaimed Tommy. + +"I hope they won't mistake us for the men they're after!" George +suggested. "They look like rather tough citizens," he added, as the +bearded faces and roughly-clad figures of half a dozen men swept into +the firelight. + +The men were all heavily armed, and it was clear that they were angry +from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet. Three presented +guns at the breasts of the boys while the other three stepped closer and +began asking questions. + +"Sure, we saw the ginks go by!" Tommy answered in reply to the first +question. "I reckon they won't have anything to ride in about an hour if +they keep up that gait." + +"Did they stop or say anything to you as they passed?" was asked. + +"I should say not!" replied Tommy. "They went by like Mexicans going to +a bull-fight! They showed their guns, but they didn't say a word or do +any shooting!" + +"What does it mean?" asked Will, approaching the man who appeared to be +the leader of the party. + +"It means," was the reply, "that those two fellows are wanted down in +Sweetwater county for holding up a train on the Union Pacific. A party +of officers had them safe at Green River a couple of days ago, but they +broke loose in some way and came north." + +"It's a wonder they headed straight for our campfire!" Will suggested. + +"That's what puzzles me!" the other said. "Until I saw you were only +boys, probably out on a vacation, I thought the robbers might be +associates of yours." + +"I hope they won't think so, too," Will answered. "We expect to stay +here two or three weeks, and we don't want to get into any mixup." + +"They probably won't trouble you any," the officer remarked, "as they're +undoubtedly headed for the Bad Lands in Big Horn county. If they get +into that country we may as well give up the search." + +"Well," Will suggested, "they won't have any horses to ride before +morning, and you may be able to overtake them after they slow down." + +"Oh, we're going to keep on in pursuit!" cried the officer, "But we have +little hope of overtaking them. They're probably five miles in the lead +right now. They've been riding while we've been walking." + +"Why walking?" asked the boy. + +"Because they shot our horses," gritted the officer. + +After partaking of a midnight supper, including several cups of hot +coffee apiece, the man-hunters continued on their way, looking longingly +in the direction of the burros as they passed out of the light of the +fire. + +"Now that's what I call rotten!" Tommy exclaimed as the voices of the +men died away in the darkness. "We've just made camp in a place that +looks good to me, and here comes a band of train robbers and a +delegation of lynchers ready to make us all kinds of trouble." + +"I don't see why they should make us trouble," Sandy objected. + +"Well, they will just the same," Will broke in. "They'll hang around the +hills to the north, and officers will be chasing in after them, and, +between them they'll give us a merry little time! If the messenger +doesn't come tomorrow, we'll break camp and get into some other +locality." + +"I should say so!" exclaimed Tommy. "We went to Lake Superior and got +into a nest of diamond smugglers, and we went to the Florida Everglades +and got into a bunch of swamp outlaws and wreckers, and I've been +counting on a nice quiet vacation this trip." + +"We surely do have bad luck on our outing trips!" laughed Sandy. "But I +rather enjoy the excitement after all!" he added, with a grin. + +"Well, you wait until you get a band of train robbers shooting from one +side, and a band of cowboys shooting from the other side, and you won't +think it's so funny!" exclaimed George. + +While the boys talked they heard a rustling in the long grass to the +north and east, and directly a figure, crouching low and apparently +walking with great caution, appeared in view. + +"That's one now!" whispered Tommy. + +"That's right!" returned Sandy. "That's one coward!" + +"Oh, I see," Tommy whispered. "That's Katz!" + +The stranger now approached the fire, swinging his rifle jauntily in his +hand and throwing his shoulders back until his body swung forward with a +decided strut. He looked from one boy to the other as he came closer, +apparently seeking to learn from their expressions exactly what was in +their minds. The boys' faces remained perfectly grave. + +"It's no use!" Katz said in a moment, putting the butt of his gun down +to the ground and leaning on the barrel. "It's no use whatever!" + +The boys eyed the speaker suspiciously, but said nothing. + +"I followed on as fast as I could!" Katz continued. "But they were on +horseback, and I was on foot, so what could I do? Besides, it was too +dark that I couldn't see to shoot," he went on. + +"Oh, you went out after the robbers, did you?" asked Will, not caring to +call the fellow's attention to the fact that he ran away to the north +before the riders made their appearance. + +"Why, yes!" was the reply. "What else could I do?" + +The boys suspected that Katz had returned to the vicinity of the camp in +time to hear the officer explain exactly what was going on. They were +satisfied that he had not pursued the horsemen at all after they had +passed him, but decided not to enter into any argument with him. + +"Well," Will said in a moment. "If you'll all go to bed now, I'll sit up +until morning. I don't suppose you boys care to be wakened if we have +any more midnight visitors?" he asked tentatively. + +"You needn't wake me up for any running race!" Tommy commented. + +"If it's all the same to you," Katz suggested, "I prefer to sleep the +remainder of the night. Of course," he went on, "if you need me for your +defence, you need have no compunctions in waking me." + +The boys laughed at the idea of calling upon the fellow to assist in +defending the camp should necessity arise, and the object of their mirth +glared at them suspiciously as he turned away to his tent. + +In half an hour the camp was quiet again, with Will sitting in front of +the fire reading. The coyotes and wolves, which had been frightened away +by the shooting and the clatter of hoofs, now came forward again, and +Will was thinking seriously of taking a shot at a great gray beast when +a soft call came from the darkness. + +"Hello!" the voice said. "Hello!" + +"Come up and show yourself!" returned Will. + +"Will you give me something to eat if I come up?" + +"Sure I will," replied the boy with a grin. "Meals at all hours, you +know! We usually run a hotel where we stop." + +"Well you've got a customer right now!" came the voice from the +darkness, and the next moment the figure of a lad of about fourteen made +its appearance in the glow of the fire. + +Will stood regarding the boy with open-eyed amazement for a moment and +then swung his hand forward in the full salute of a Boy Scout. + +"That's all right!" the strange boy cried. "I'm glad to see that you're +a Boy Scout. I mean to be one some day, but I'm only a tenderfoot now! I +haven't had any chance for advancement yet." + +"What Patrol?" asked Will. + +"Beaver, Chicago!" was the reply. + +"That's my patrol!" exclaimed Will in amazement. + +"You're the scoutmaster," the boy said, "I've seen you in Chicago." + +"Strange I don't remember you!" replied Will. + +"Oh, I'm only a tenderfoot," was the answer, "and of course, you don't +know all the new boys!" + +"What are you doing here?" asked Will. + +"I'm running away!" was the reply. "You see," the boy went on, "I got +tired of living in Chicago, and sleeping in alleys in summer and warm +hallways in winter, so I just made up my mind I'd make a break for life, +liberty and the pursuit of happiness." + +"But how did you come to walk up into this country?" + +"I started out to get a job herding sheep," was the answer, "and I kept +travelling, and travelling, without getting any job, and so here I am, +hungry, and ready to go back to Chicago on the slightest provocation!" + +"What's your name?" + +"Chester Winslow." + +"Well, Chester," Will laughed, "it won't take me long to get you +something to eat, and then you'd better go to bed. You'll have to double +up with another stranger who came along earlier in the evening, but I +guess you can sleep two in a bed, especially as the bed is made up on +the ground and you can't fall out." + +The boy ate a very hearty supper, and five minutes later Will heard him +snoring. When daylight came and the sleepers arose, Katz stumbled out of +his tent with angry exclamations on his lips. + +"What's doing here?" he shouted. "Have I come into the home of the Forty +Thieves? When I went to bed last night I had a police badge, and a +rifle, and a revolver, and quite a lot of money! Now I haven't got a +thing except the clothes I've got on! What kind of a game do you call +this? If it's a joke, it's a mighty poor one!" + +Will went to the tent Katz had occupied and looked inside. There was no +one there, and he hastened back to the angry man. + +"Where's the strange boy who slept with you last night?" he asked. + +"Strange boy?" repeated Katz scornfully. "You can't work that game on +me! You boys have taken my property, and you'd better be giving it up! +If you don't there'll be trouble!" + +"We're not afraid of any trouble from you!" Tommy said, with an angry +snort. "If you go to accusing us of stealing your stuff, you'll get your +crust caved in!" + +Then the boy turned to Will with an interrogation point in both eyes. +Will saw the question and answered it. + +"Shortly after midnight," he said, "a boy who gave the name of Chester +Winslow, his age as fourteen, his rank as Tenderfoot, came here and told +a hard luck story about tramping from Chicago. I gave him something to +eat and put him to bed with Mr. Katz." + +"Then the fellow is a little thief! That's all I've got to say about +it!" exclaimed Katz, not quite so aggressive, now that he saw that the +boys were inclined to resent insults, and remembering that he had no +revolver with which to enforce his demands! + +Shortly after breakfast the figures of four burros, heavily laden, and +two men appeared at the south, heading directly for the camp. + +"There's my associate bringing in the burros and the provisions!" Katz +shouted. + +"And there's our messenger!" whispered Tommy to Will. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CASE IS STATED + + +"It may be that your messenger has come in with my associate," Katz +blustered, as the little caravan came nearer to the camp, "but if I'm +not very much mistaken, both men are here to assist me!" + +"You must need a lot of assistance!" Tommy said, with a wrinkling of his +freckled nose. "You look the part, too!" + +"Now see here, young man," exclaimed Katz, angrily. "I don't want any +lip from you boys. I've been robbed in this camp, and as soon as my men +come up I'm going to know whether my property is here or not!" + +"If you try any funny business with us," Sandy cut in, "you'll get your +block knocked off!" + +"We'll see about that when my men come up!" retorted Katz, defiantly. +"I'm not going to submit to being held up by four boys who ought to be +spanked and put to bed instead of being permitted to roam about the +mountains robbing unwary travellers." + +Tommy was about to make an angry reply, but Will motioned for him to +remain silent. No more was said until the two men came up with their +heavily-loaded burros. Katz was first to address the newcomers. + +"Well, Cullen," he said, extending a hand to a short, heavily-built man +with a dissipated-looking face, "I'm glad you came in on time. I am also +glad that you brought a man in with you, and plenty of provisions," he +added with a look of challenge at the boys. + +"Why," replied Cullen, "I don't know anything about this fellow with me. +He came out of Green River with his two burros just ahead of me, and so +we decided to travel together. I should judge from what he said that +he's looking for the camp we have just blundered into." + +Katz stepped back as if annoyed at the statement, and finally drew +Cullen away to one side, where they engaged in a whispered conversation. + +In the meantime, the messenger advanced toward Will and extended a +sealed envelope. He was a well-built young fellow with a clean-shaven +face which gave every indication of intelligence and determination. + +"I guess you're the boys I'm looking for," he said, with a smile, "I'm +John Johnson, of Chicago, special messenger at this time for Mr. +Horton." + +"We're glad to see you," Will answered, shaking the young man's hand +heartily. "We have been waiting for instructions, and, besides," he +continued, "this cheap skate that you found here is trying to make us +trouble over something which took place in the camp last night." + +"You think he's a cheap skate, do you?" Johnson asked, with a +significant smile. "Well, I don't think anything about it. I know it. +That's Joe Katz, one of the rankest plain-clothes policemen on the +Chicago force! The fellow who came in with me is Ed. Cullen, another +imitation detective. Now tell me what took place last night." + +Will related the story of the arrival of the boy and of the claim made +by Katz in the morning. He explained how the detective had threatened +them all when the loss of his property was discovered. Also, how he had +renewed his threats when he believed that he would have the backing of +both newcomers. Johnson smiled at the recital. + +"Now, about this boy," he said, without referring to the two detectives +or the threats. "I wish you would describe him to me as accurately as +possible. Tell me exactly how he looked and how he talked." + +Will gave as complete a description of the boy as possible, and also +repeated the account the lad had given of himself. Johnson threw back +his head and laughed until the echoes came back from the mountains. + +"Well, boys," he said, "you seem to have lighted in a hornet's nest the +first jump out of the box. And so the kid stole the detective's badge +and weapons and money, did he?" he went on, with another roar of +laughter. "That's about the best thing I've heard yet!" + +"I don't see anything funny about it!" replied Will. + +"You will directly," replied Johnson. "Read your instructions, and then +I'll tell you all about this boy, and all about these two imitation +detectives. Then you'll see how funny this incident is." + +Will opened the sealed envelope and held up a sheet of paper which was +entirely blank, except for eight words and a signature written in the +middle of the page. The words were: + +"Introducing Mr. John Johnson. He'll tell the story." + +The signature was that of the famous criminal lawyer who had induced the +boys to undertake the mission to the Great Divide. + +"It won't take very long for me to read the instructions," Will laughed, +as the other boys gathered around him. "It seems to be up to you to tell +us what we want to know!" + +"Yes, that's the idea!" replied Johnson. "Mr. Horton explained to me +that he didn't care to put what he had to say to you into writing. But +perhaps we'd better get rid of these imitation fly-cops," he added, +nodding his head toward the two Chicago detectives. "We don't want them +hanging around the camp while we are making our plans." + +Katz and Cullen saw that they were being regarded with suspicion and at +once came forward to where the boys stood. + +"I've been talking the matter of the robbery over with Cullen," Katz +said, with a smile intended to be conciliating, "and he says that he's +heard of this boy before, and that he's a noted thief. And so," the +detective continued, "I'm very glad to be able to apologize to you for +anything I might have said at a time when I was excited over my loss. I +am satisfied now that you boys are friendly to me, and I sincerely hope +that we'll often meet while we are in the hills." + +Tommy was about to make some angry reply, as the insincerity of the man +was plainly discernible, but Will gave him a nudge in the back which +caused him to change his mind. + +"And now," Cullen began, "that everything is satisfactorily explained, +perhaps we'd better be on our way!" + +"That's a fact!" exclaimed Katz. "I'm very much obliged to the boys for +their friendly shelter and their well-cooked meals, and I hope they'll +all come and partake of our hospitality as soon as we make permanent +camp. We'll take steps to let you know where we are," he added, as the +two turned toward their burros and led off to the north. + +Tommy could not give over the thought of landing an irritating +observation as the men walked away by the side of their beasts. + +"Remember," he cried, "that the two train robbers and the cowboy +viligance committee went, in that direction last night! You fellows +would better watch out, or you'll get mixed up with hold-up men!" + +Katz turned an angry face toward the boy, muttered something to his +companion, and went on without speaking. + +"Those fellows won't dare to sleep a single night after that!" laughed +Johnson. "They're scared right now!" + +"I don't know anything about Cullen," Tommy answered with a grin, "but I +know that the man Katz is a false alarm. You should have seen him take +to his heels last night, when the train robbers rushed through the camp. +I'd like to know what he's in here for, anyway!" + +"That's the very thing I'm here to explain!" replied Johnson. "The +story," he continued, "begins with the death of Thomas T. Fremont, a +Chicago banker, some weeks ago." + +"I remember the case," Will interrupted. "The police declare that the +man was murdered, while his relatives insist that he might have +committed suicide." + +"That's exactly the point," Johnson went on. "The police are working on +the theory that Fremont was murdered at his private room at the bank one +hot night in July. The relatives declare that there was no reason +whatever for him to have committed suicide, yet they insist that he must +have done so. Now, understand me," Johnson continued, "the relatives are +all interested in the defense of a disinherited son of the banker who is +charged with the crime of murder. And so, you see, when the police ask +them to point to some one fact substantiating the suicide theory they +are unable to do so. + +"The result of this peculiar situation is that the police insist that +the relatives are advancing the suicide theory solely for the purpose of +securing the acquittal of the son. To the average citizen, it would seem +that the police are right. The son was always a thorn in the flesh of +his father. He has squandered thousands of dollars in riotous living, +and brought no end of disgrace on the family whose name he bears. And +still the relatives insist that he is innocent, and are willing to spend +a million in order to prevent his dying the death of a murderer. Mr. +Horton represents the relatives." + +"I begin to see daylight!" Will exclaimed. "I guess this case isn't such +a little baby affair as we thought it might be!" + +"Indeed it is no baby case!" exclaimed Johnson. "The family of the dead +banker have a well-defined theory concerning the death of the old man +which might help their case with the police if they would only present +it to the chief. This, however, they refuse to do, declaring that the +police would only take advantage of the confidence and use the +information received to the prejudice of the prisoner." + +"I don't blame them for doubting the honesty of the police!" declared +Tommy. "The detectives are certainly a bum lot!" + +"This theory," continued Mr. Johnson, "insists that there was a second +person in the private office of the banker that hot July night. It is +claimed that this person went to the office to secure financial help +from the banker. It is said, too, that he possesses at this time +positive proof, in the form of written documents, showing that Fremont +committed suicide. The family believes this proof to be perfect." + +"Then why don't they find this fellow and bring him forward?" asked +Will. + +"That is just what they are trying to do," replied Johnson. "That is +just what you boys are expected to do!" he added with a smile. "You are +expected to bring this witness forward, and so establish the innocence +of the son. That's what you're here for." + +"That's nice!" exclaimed Tommy. "That's an easy little undertaking for +four school boys! When other means fail, hire Boy Scouts!" + +"That's right!" replied Johnson. + +"And we won't see him if those two imitation detectives get to him +first!" the boy went on. + +"And that's right too," Johnson answered. "For my part, I can't +understand how the Chicago police department got wise to the whereabouts +of Wagner at this time. When it was arranged to send you boys out here +in quest of him, it was understood that the police had no clue whatever +as to his whereabouts. In fact, we all believed that the officers had +abandoned the search for the escaped convict." + +"Well, they're here all right!" Sandy cut in. "And look here," he went +on, "we've got something worse than imitation detectives in our midst! +We've got a couple of train robbers, and a band of cowboy vigilantes!" + +"Exactly!" Johnson agreed. "And you've got something equally dangerous +for the purposes of our cause. You've got that fourteen-year-old Chester +Winslow, whose name isn't Winslow at all, but Chester Wagner, son of the +escaped convict!" + +"Jerusalem!" exclaimed Tommy. "That boy didn't do a thing to Will, did +he?" he added with a roar of laughter. "He told him a story about coming +in on blind baggage, and sized up the camp, and stole the badge and the +weapons and money of the detective sent in here to capture his father. +Just think of the kid coming in here and stealing the detective's badge! +He'd have taken his necktie if he'd 'a' thought of it!" + +"I thought you'd see something humorous in the occurrence as soon as you +found out about the boy!" laughed Johnson. + +"The little rascal!" shouted Sandy. "The nerve of him! To come in here +and steal the badge of the detective sent out to catch his father! Say," +he went on, "I hope we'll run across that boy and make friends with him. +I rather like his grit!" + +"You won't be apt to find him as long as he thinks it necessary to keep +his father in hiding!" Johnson suggested. + +"He's an awful little liar!" exclaimed Will. + +"I guess you'd lie, too," laughed Tommy, "if you had the same motive for +lying that he had. He's standing by his father like a brick! And I +won't lay it up against him if he tells lies enough to fill a book! He +drew one friend in me when he stole that policeman's badge." + +"These detectives," Will asked in a moment, "are here to take Wagner +back to the penitentiary if they can find him, I suppose?" + +"That's the idea! Unless some one of the relatives has leaked, the +police do not understand that Wagner is a factor in the Fremont case. +They are here to take him back to the penitentiary if they can find him +and that's all they know about it." + +"Well," Tommy exclaimed, "let them get him and take him back to the +penitentiary! As soon as he gets run in for the remainder of his +sentence he'll tell about being in the banker's private office that hot +July night, and that will secure the release of the boy who is charged +with the murder. It seems to me that the police are helping along this +case." + +"Not so you could notice it!" replied Johnson. "The fact is," he went +on, "Wagner is entirely innocent of the crime for which he was +convicted. He has had what the officers call a vindictive grouch on ever +since the day he was sent to prison. In other words, he is at war with +every person in the world except his son, the boy who told you such +pretty fairy stories last night. If he is ever retaken and sent back to +the penitentiary, he will never open his lips, not even if the accused +son dies on the scaffold." + +"And that's another beautiful little complication!" exclaimed Sandy. + +"The friends of the accused man," continued Johnson, "must find Wagner +and contract to establish his innocence. If the police get him first, we +lose our case. I say this positively because there is no doubt that he +will kill an officer or two before he is taken. Now you boys see exactly +what you have undertaken to do." + +"It's interesting, anyhow!" Tommy declared. + +"Reads like a novel!" cried Sandy. + +"Think of that little rat coming here and stealing the detective's +badge!" laughed George. "It's a sure thing he'll lead those amateur +officers a merry dance while they are in the hills! If I could just get +hold of him, I wouldn't mind helping him along now and then!" + +"Well, get hold of him then," advised Johnson. + +"But how?" asked Will. "Why, from this time on, you might as well try to +catch a flea in a load of hay as to get your hands on that boy! He can +find you, but you can't find him!" + +"But he was hungry last night!" Tommy explained. "And he may become +hungry again!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A CHASE IN THE NIGHT + + +Shortly after dinner Johnson decided to make a start on his return trip +at once. It would take him, he said, two days in addition to the half +day to reach Green River, and he was due in San Francisco on the evening +of the third day. One of the burros was relieved of his burden of +provisions and the young man started away, leaving the boys feeling +rather lonely and also rather overloaded with responsibility! + +"Do you really think Wagner and the boy are out of provisions?" asked +Tommy as twilight settled down over the camp. + +"I don't see how they can procure provisions," Will suggested. + +"We've just got to find out!" exclaimed Sandy. "You must remember," he +continued, "that this Chester Wagner is a Tenderfoot in the Beaver +Patrol, Chicago. He's afraid of us, but we've just got to help him out! +We wouldn't be good Boy Scouts if we didn't! Suppose we put up a smoke +signal for help and see if he'll come." + +"Oh, yes, he'll come--not!" exclaimed Tommy. + +"We can try it, anyway," insisted Sandy. + +The lad carried embers from the campfire a short distance to the west +and built another roaring fire. Then he set about gathering green grass +in order to make a greater volume of smoke. + +"You'll have to hurry with your telegraph apparatus," laughed George, +"if you want the boy to read your signal by daylight. It'll be so dark +in half an hour that he couldn't see a column of smoke fifty feet away! +Perhaps he isn't near enough to see them, anyway!" + +"If I do all I can," Sandy declared, "I won't be to blame if he doesn't +see them. I believe we ought to find some way to help that kid!" + +The fires were now burning at a great rate, and Sandy heaped huge +armfuls of green grass on top of the blazing sticks, with the result +that two great columns of white smoke lifted to the evening sky. + +When the grass burned out and the smoke became thinner the boy put on +more and sat listening patiently for some sound, watching intently for +an answering signal from the hills. + +"I guess it's no good!" Sandy declared, mournfully, as the third supply +of grass burned down. "The chances are that the train robbers and the +imitation detectives have frightened Wagner and the kid out of the +hills." + +"I don't believe he'll come if he does see it," Will declared. + +After a time the boys permitted one of the fires to die out and began +preparations for supper. Tommy went back to one of the tents for the +knives and forks directly, and in a moment came rushing back without any +knives or forks but with a folded paper in his hand. + +"Look here," he exclaimed excitedly, "while I was entering the tent +something hit me a clip on the back. When I turned around to see what +foolishness you fellows were up to, I found a piece of rock lying on the +ground at my feet and close beside it, this piece of paper." + +"Do you think the paper was wrapped around the rock?" asked George. + +"Of course it was!" replied Tommy. "You can see the folds now, and +there's the place where a a corner of the rock cut a hole!" + +Will turned a searchlight on the paper, now held outstretched in Tommy's +hands, and burst into a laugh as he read the words written there: + +"Nix on the help signal." + +"The little rascal!" exclaimed Tommy, reading the sentence. + +"He's wise, that boy!" declared Sandy. + +"He thinks we're setting a trap for him," Will explained, "and I can't +say that I blame him much for sending just that kind of a message." + +"Anyway," Tommy went on, "it shows that he isn't far away. If he'll only +hover around within reaching distance, we'll soon convince him that we +don't mean him or his father any harm." + +"I wonder if he took any provisions with him when he ran away this +time!" laughed George. "I really hope he did. That is, if they haven't +got any in their own camp." + +The boys looked at the provisions which had been taken out for supper, +and discovered that two loaves of bread and several tins of preserved +meats had been taken. + +"Good for him!" shouted Tommy. + +After supper it was arranged that two of the boys should watch the camp +until one o'clock, and then awake the others, who were to stand guard +until morning. Tommy and Sandy were to take the first watch. + +"I don't think there's much use of anyone standing guard!" exclaimed +Will. "Our lovely burros over there will probably lift up their voices +if any stranger comes nosing around in the dark." + +"Anyhow," Tommy suggested, "we may be able to get sight of young Wagner +if we keep watch all night." + +Will and George were in bed by nine o'clock, and then Sandy and Tommy +began planning the excursion into the hills which each one, independent +of the other, had determined to make. + +"Now it's just this way," Tommy began, "wherever those fellows are, they +have a fire. It's September, but the nights are cold here, just the +same. Now, you remain here and watch the camp and I'll make my way to +one of the summits to the north and take a peep over the country. If I +see a campfire, and it isn't too far away, I'll sneak down and see +whether it belongs to Wagner, to the cheap detectives, to the train +robbers, or to the cowboy vigilantes." + +"That's quite a collection of interests to be assembled in one spot on +the Great Divide!" laughed Sandy. + +"Oh, we always get into some kind of a mess like this," grumbled Tommy. +"We could have a nice peaceful time catching Wagner if the detectives, +and the train robbers, and the cowboys had remained away. I hope the +cowboys will catch the robbers and lug them out, anyway!" + +"I have an idea that the detectives will soon get tired of wandering +around in the hills and meeting grizzly bears, and rattlesnakes, and +wolverines every half hour." + +"Grizzly bears!" exclaimed Tommy. "What are you talking about grizzly +bears for?" + +"There are more grizzly bears in Wyoming," declared Sandy, "than in all +the other western states put together. The Bad Lands are full of them, +and up in the Yellowstone National Park, they have them trained to eat +with a knife and fork!" + +"All right!" exclaimed Tommy. "I'll take your word for it, but I don't +believe it! I know there are rattlesnakes, all right, but I don't +believe there's a grizzly bear within a hundred miles of this spot!" + +The words were hardly out of the boy's mouth before a rumbling growl +came to the ears of the watchers. + +"There!" cried Tommy. "You've called the roll and that's the first +response. But I'll bet he's the only one around here!" the boy added. + +Sandy laid a hand on his friend's shoulder to invoke silence. + +"Listen," he said, "that's no bear!" + +"Perhaps it's a rattlesnake, then!" scorned Tommy. + +"It's a boy!" declared Sandy. "That's what it is!" + +Both lads darted into the darkness, waving electric searchlights as they +advanced, and calling out in such words as a Boy Scout would be apt to +understand. They ran for some distance, until they fell over a bit of +rocky ground, and then stood looking toward a point in the darkness from +which a sound of footsteps came. + +"You go on back to camp," whispered Tommy to Sandy, "and make all the +noise you can going, and talk to yourself, so he'll think we're talking +together. I'll put out my light and follow that chump by the noise he +makes. I guess I can do it all right!" + +"Aw, let's both go," pleaded Sandy. + +"One's got to go back to camp to put him off his guard!" insisted Tommy, +"Run along, like a good little boy, now," he added with a grin. + +Sandy departed, talking to himself, and trying his best to make noise +enough for two boys, while Tommy turned off his light and crept forward +in the darkness in the direction of the sounds he had heard. + +For a time he seemed to gain on the person who was making his way some +hundred yards or more ahead of him, but at last, try as he might, the +sound of footsteps gradually died away, and there were only the sounds +of the night in the boy's ears. + +He paused, after a time, and threw himself down on the rocky slope. The +campfire seemed to be a long distance away, now, and the boy had just +decided to give over his search at that time and return to the camp. + +When he started to rise, however, he found a heavy hand pressed down on +either shoulder. His amazement was so great that for a moment he sat +perfectly still. + +But there were cowboy vigilantes, train robbers, and detectives +somewhere in the hills, so the boy was not quite so sure of the +personality of the other as he had been at the first instant of contact. + +"Well?" he said in a moment. + +"Who are you?" came the question, not in the voice of a boy, but in the +gruff tones of a man who was taking no pains to make a good impression. + +"A boy from the camp down yonder," Tommy answered. + +The boy was thinking fast. This might be one of the detectives, or it +might be one of the train robbers, or it might be one of the cowboys, or +it might be the escaped convict himself. + +"What are you boys camping there for?" was asked. + +"Vacation!" was the reply. + +"Which way did the cowboys go?" was the next question. + +Tommy needed no further introduction to the man who was clinging to his +shoulders with a grip that was positively painful. No one but the train +robbers would be apt to be interested in the direction taken by the +cowboys. Tommy declares to this day that he felt the hair rising +straight up on his head when he realized that he was talking with one of +the hold-up men. He also says that his teeth chattered with fright. + +"The last we heard of the cowboys," he answered, "they were going +straight north. I thought you went that way, too," he added. + +"We couldn't get too far away from our base of supplies," replied the +other with a cynical laugh. "We were just thinking of going back to your +camp for a square meal when we heard you blundering up the slope. You'll +have to feed us for a few days, young fellow!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A DETECTIVE AND A ROBBER + + +Half way back to the camp, Sandy crouched down at the sound of +approaching footsteps. + +"I'll bet that's Tommy trying to give me a scare," was the boy's +thought. + +He listened intently for a moment, without hearing a repetition of the +noise, and started on again. + +"If I thought that really was Tommy," he mused, "I'd arrange a neat +little surprise for him. He's always up to his tricks." + +The sound of heavy breathing came to his ears directly, and, not having +the least doubt that the approaching figure was that of his chum, he +waited for an instant until the labored breathing seemed to be passing +the spot where he stood and leaped forward. + +Much to his amazement he struck a pair of broad, muscular shoulders +instead of the slender shoulders of his chum and felt himself in the +grasp of a pair of powerful hands. + +"What are you prowling around in the night for?" was asked. + +Sandy pulled away at the hand which was smothering him and taking the +hint, his captor released him for a moment. + +"I can't talk with my mouth and nose all stopped up!" returned the boy. +"What did you want to go and do that for?" + +"What are you prowling about in the night for?" repeated the other. + +Sandy thought he recognized the voice as that of Katz, the plain-clothes +policeman who had lied on the previous evening regarding his residence +and his calling. + +"I might ask the same of you," replied Sandy, mopping his face with his +handkerchief. "What are you prowling around for?" + +"Keeping an eye on your camp," replied the other gruffly. + +"What for?" demanded Sandy. + +"Because you're suspicious characters." + +"You're Katz, aren't you?" asked Sandy. + +"Who told you that?" snarled the other. + +"John Johnson," was the reply. + +"I recognized him as one of Horton's men," declared Katz. + +"That's what he is!" Sandy answered. + +"What has Horton got to do with you?" + +"That's some more of our business!" replied the boy. + +"Now, look here," the detective said in a moment, "we're here, as you +probably know by this time, in search of an escaped convict. We have +positive information that he is hiding somewhere in this district. We +have brought in plenty of supplies, and intend to remain here until we +find him. He's a slippery fellow, but we'll get him yet." + +"That doesn't interest me any," suggested Sandy. + +"But I'm going to interest you in just about one minute!" declared Katz. +"The boy who stole my property and left your camp in the night is likely +to return there at any time. We want that boy. Will you help us get him? +If you don't, you're likely to get into trouble yourselves." + +"I guess there isn't much chance of his coming back to us!" Sandy +answered. "I guess you know that yourself." + +"You know who he is?" ask the detective. + +"We've been told," was the reply, "that he is the son of the man you're +hunting for, but we don't believe it." + +"Well, we've made up our minds that he is," Katz went on, "and we've +also made up our minds to watch your camp until the boy shows up again. +I'll teach him to steal my badge of authority!" + +"When you catch him," Sandy requested, "just let us know. We want to see +him ourselves. Will you do that?" + +"I guess you'll see him before we do," replied Katz, gruffly. "And now, +if you don't mind," the detective went on, "I'll just go over to the +camp with you and see what the other boys say about him. And while I'm +there, you might make me a couple of cups of coffee. I'm a long distance +from my camp and quite hungry." + +Notwithstanding the impudence of the request, the boy consented to the +arrangement and the two were starting away together when the sound of +approaching footsteps was heard. + +"Gee whiz!" exclaimed Sandy. "This deserted country seems to me about +like the corner of State and Madison streets tonight. There's always +some one walking around in the dark." + +"Suppose we wait and see who it is," suggested the detective. + +Now, Sandy had an idea that one of the persons approaching was Tommy and +that the other might possibly be Chester Wagner. He had no notion of +assisting the detective to get his hands on the boy, and so hung back +when Katz would have stepped forward to intercept those who were +advancing toward him. Thinking this an attempt to break away, Katz +caught the lad by the arm and held fast to him while the others went by. + +Sandy was certain that he heard Tommy's voice as the two passed, but was +not certain that he recognized the voice of his companion in the low +reply which was made. The boy realized that he must have occupied +considerable time in his return to camp, after leaving his chum. + +"And so, one of your chums was prowling around in the darkness, too," +snarled the detective. "Who is that person with him?" + +"I don't know," answered Sandy. + +"Yes you do know, too!" gritted Katz, "You just came from that direction +yourself, and you probably left the two together when you came away." + +"You're off there," Sandy answered. + +"I'll tell you what I think," the detective went on, "and that is that +you boys have been out after that Wagner kid. I believe he's going into +the camp with your chum right this minute. Anyway, I'll take you in and +find out about it." + +As the two advanced toward the campfire they watched in vain for the two +figures which had gone on ahead. + +"You walk in there and see whether that boy thief is there or not," +commanded the detective. "And remember," he went on, threateningly, +"that I'm waiting here in the darkness with an automatic revolver in my +hand, so you'd better not attempt any funny business!" + +When he reached Tommy's side he saw that the boy was frying bacon and +eggs and making coffee. The large skillet used by the boys contained at +least half a dozen eggs and about half a pound of breakfast bacon. + +"Where's your friend?" Sandy asked in a whisper. + +Tommy laid a finger on his lips as a request for low-voiced +conversation. All the time he kept busy with the skillet. + +"He's back there watching us with a loaded automatic in his hand," +whispered the boy. "I wish one of the boys would get up and put a bullet +through his head. That's what he deserves!" + +"Who is it?" whispered Sandy. + +"One of the train robbers!" was the startling reply. + +"Where'd you get him?" + +"He geezled me out here on the slope!" + +"And came in with you and ordered his dinner?" + +"That's it!" was the reply. + +Sandy sat down on the grass beside the fire and chuckled until he was +red in the face. Tommy almost permitted the bacon to burn while he +watched his chum with wide-open eyes. + +"If that train robber should send a bullet out this way, you wouldn't +think it so funny!" Tommy declared. "He's a mighty suspicious fellow. He +wouldn't permit me to wake any of the boys to help get supper." + +"Look here," whispered Sandy, "I've got that imitation detective out +there waiting for me to tell him whether Chester Wagner is here or not. +He says he's hungry, too, and insists that I give him a night lunch. Now +I'll tell you what we'll do," the boy continued. "I'll go and steer the +detective up against the train robber, and we'll see what he'll do." + +Before Tommy could reply, Sandy was away in the darkness, whistling +softly to the detective. + +"Say," he said, when Katz came lumbering into the edge of the +illumination, "the boy isn't there, but I've got good news for you, just +the same. The man who went in with my chum is one of the train robbers +the cowboys are in search of. There's ten thousand dollars reward +offered for him, and all you've got to do is to walk in there, hold a +gun to his head, and march him off to Green River. You ought to give me +half the reward, though," the boy added, "for you wouldn't have caught +him only for me." + +"All right," whispered the detective in a shaking voice. "I'll creep +back into the shadows and come up from behind. When you go back, point +with your hand to where he is. I'll be right there with a gun on him in +half a minute!" + +"All right," replied Sandy, and the detective disappeared from view. + +Then the boy walked back to Tommy's side and explained what sort of +circus there would be there in about a minute. + + + + +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 there +won'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 when +I told him the train robber was here by our fire. It's a hundred to one +that the train robber will give the detective a swift kick in the pants +and go back to his own camp." + +The boys listened and waited for a considerable length of time, but +heard no evidence of the approach of the detective. + +"Say," Tommy whispered, "this is a pretty nice supper I've been getting +for 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 now +with 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 all +right. You just tend this skillet until I come back." + +Tommy moved away toward where the robber sat on the ground, watching +every 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 get +into trouble, and so we're going to give you a tip. Sandy went out a +moment ago to steer away one of the detectives who came in from Chicago +last night." + +The hold-up man got softly to his feet and began moving out of the light +of the fire. Tommy urged him by look and a motion to remain where he was +for the present. + +"I didn't know that there were any detectives from Chicago in here," he +said. "They must have made a quick jump to get here!" + +"I guess they did," replied Tommy. "One of them was here before you were +yesterday. He chased you up the valley, but came back, saying that he +couldn'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 and +give him the first bite. He may have a swarm of his men in the vicinity +of the camp, and if I were you, I'd turn away to the east and get out of +sight as soon as possible." + +"I can't fight a whole army," declared the train robber, as, crouching +low, he moved away. + +"Wait a minute," whispered Tommy chuckling so that he was afraid the +other would discover the merriment in his voice. "Why don't you wait and +have some of the supper I've been cooking for you?" + +The train robber did not even pause to hear the conclusion of the boy's +remarks, and Tommy went back to the fire and lay down and rolled back +and forth until Sandy threw a cup of water into his face. + +"What do you think of that!" he exclaimed. "There's a bum Chicago +detective chasing off to the north at a forty mile gait, because he +thinks there's a train robber after him, and there's a a train robber +chasing off to the east at a forty-mile gait because he thinks there's a +Chicago detective after him! Some day," the boy added, "I'm going to +make a motion picture scenario of that." + +While the boys were enjoying the joke, Will and George came out of the +tent where they had been sleeping. Both looked grave when the incidents +of the night were related to them. + +"It means," Will declared, "that we are suspected by the train robbers +of harboring a detective, and suspected by the detective of harboring +the 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 Tommy +dipped into the skillet of bacon and eggs. "What are you boys doing with +the third or fourth supper?" + +"I cooked this for the train robber!" grinned Tommy, "How'd you like to +have a few bites of it?" + +"I don't mind!" declared Will. + +"Of the four parties representing four diverse interests," Will said, at +the conclusion of the meal, "two have been represented here tonight. +Before morning we may receive a call from the cowboys and the escaped +convict. The visits might not be very agreeable ones but, still, they +would complete the roll-call." + +"You remember that trip to the Florida Everglades, don't you?" asked +Tommy, with a most satisfying yawn. "Well, if you haven't forgotten all +about it, you'll remember that we didn't have any sleep there for a +couple of nights, and that I actually began to grow thin because of +being 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 let +anything like that happen on this trip. I'm going to bed right now, and +there's nothing on the face of the earth that can get me out of bed +again until morning." + +"That's me, too!" declared Sandy. + +The boys entered the tent recently vacated, drew down the flap and were +soon in bed, and asleep. Will and George, sitting by the fire, +discussing the unusual combination of circumstances, heard a succession +of 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 palms +together violently in imitation of the play of the flat tail of the +beaver 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 here +tonight. There is no doubt but that we'll hear from the cowboys before +morning. 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 stepped +forward. An answering whistle directed his steps, and presently he saw +the light of the fire shining on the pale face of the lad who had stolen +the 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 know +who might be watching the camp. I've been loitering around here most of +the time since dark and just got the courage to call you out. Some one +chased 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 for +supper. If you'll snatch a loaf of bread and can of something and come +along with me, you'll do the greatest favor one Boy Scout ever did for +another. You'll come, won't you?" + +"Sure I will," was the reply, "and I'll bring something more than a loaf +of bread and a can of something," he went on. + +"You can't carry much," replied Chester, "for we've got a rocky road to +climb, 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 now +that I didn't tell you the truth when I was at your camp. I saw John +Johnson there after I stole that bum detective's badge and ran away, and +I suppose he told you all about me." + +"Yes, he did," replied Will, rejoicing inwardly that the very thing they +had been wishing for had taken place. + +All he had to do now was to win the confidence of the boy, find his way +to 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 your +father, and I've been wondering ever since how you, a Boy Scout, could +find 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 get +something to eat," replied the boy, "and so I told you the first thing +that came into my head. And now," he continued, "I'm going to tell you +something 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 ever +become mixed up in the Fremont case, but I'll tell you right now that +I'm becoming interested in it." + +"A few days ago," the boy began, "father fell from a ledge of rock near +our hiding place and injured his head. I have taken as good care of him +as I could, but it was impossible for me to remain with him all the +time, 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 genuine +sympathy 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 steal +provisions to take back to father, he left the hiding place. I know he's +out of his head, and so I believe him to be wandering about the hills in +a demented condition. There's no knowing what will happen to him if he +is not found and placed in hiding again. I want you to go and help me +find 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 at +any minute if he continues to wander about while insane from the recent +injury 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. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ARRESTED AS SPIES + + +"Of course, we'll go with you!" replied Will, in answer to the boy's +anxious question. "Do you think anything can be done tonight?" + +"I think we ought to begin the search tonight," replied Chester. "One of +father's hobbies is the campfire. It is my idea that if he has matches +he will build himself a rousing fire, if he comes to dry wood. If he +doesn't do this, he's likely to make his way to the first campfire he +sees. I was in hopes that he'd come here." + +Will called his chums into the tent for a general discussion of the +matter, Chester remaining just outside the fire line. The boy seemed to +have a mortal fear of being watched and followed. + +Before entering fully into the conference, Will carried a liberal supper +out to the hungry boy. Chester said that he had eaten very little since +disposing of the provisions taken from the camp. Owing to the sudden +disappearance of his father, he had not had time to hunt and fish. Will +thought he had never seen a boy eat so industriously. + +"Why don't he come into the tent," queried Tommy, as Will returned. + +"He's afraid some one's watching the camp," was the reply. + +"What if there is some one watching the camp," Tommy insisted, "they'll +see something's going on and follow us when we go away with Chester. So +he might just as well come on in!" + +"Watch us when we go away?" repeated George. "Who do you think is going +away with the boy in search of his father?" + +"I'm going, for one!" declared Tommy. + +"Not so you could notice it!" Will cut in. "You and Sandy have been +doing all the scouting tonight, and now George and I will take a turn at +it!" + +Tommy winked slyly at Sandy but said nothing. + +Will, however, caught the look which passed between the two boys, and +declared that he meant to tie them both up before he left the camp. + +"You boys are always running away, and always getting into trouble!" he +declared. "You remember what a scrape you got us into down in the +Everglades. If it hadn't been for the Seminole, you'd 'a' had us all +under ground before we'd been there two days!" + +"Aw, who said anything about leaving camp?" demanded Sandy. + +"No one said anything about it," returned the other, "but I understand +what you boys have in your minds, and I'll tell you right now that I +don't think it's right for you to leave the camp until we return." + +"Of course we won't!" declared Tommy. + +"Well, I've said all I'm going to say about it!" Will went on. "Of +course, you'll go if the notion comes into your heads, anyway, so what's +the use? I hope you'll get into something that'll keep you home for a +week if you do go out tonight." + +"All right," laughed Tommy. "We know all about you! If we got into +trouble anywhere, you'd be the first one to help get us out." + +"And now about plans for the search," Will went on, without seeming to +notice the last remark of the boy, "it is nearly midnight now, and we +may not be back by morning, so perhaps we'd better take something to eat +with us. We may be miles from camp at sunrise." + +"And when we find Wagner, we may find a hungry man," George added. + +"That's a fact!" cried Tommy darting away to the provision box. + +In a very short time the boy brought a great package of egg and ham +sandwiches to the two lads who were about to start away. + +"Now, don't eat all this truck before sunrise," Tommy advised. "As +George says, when you find Wagner, you'll find a hungry man." + +After stowing the sandwiches away in their pockets, and seeing that +their automatics and searchlights were in good condition, the boys went +out to the place where they had left Chester and found him sound asleep +in the long grass. + +"The poor fellow is about all in!" exclaimed George. + +"I wish we could get him to remain in camp while we make the search!" +Will suggested. "He's in no shape to take a long trip into the +mountains." + +"And still," George began, "we haven't any idea where to look for his +father. And the boy may have a very clear notion as to where to look +first. I guess, after all, we'll have to take him with us!" + +"I suppose so," Will agreed, "but I tell you what we can do. We can get +him to tell us what he knows about his father's habits and inclinations, +and then ask him to rest up while we investigate some of the points +suggested. Perhaps he'll do that." + +"I guess he'll have to!" smiled George. "He's so sound asleep now that +we could carry him bodily into the tent and he'd never know it!" + +It was quite a difficult task to wake the boy, but at last when he sat +up rubbing his eyes he pretended, as all boys will, that he had just +dozed off for a minute. + +"I was pretty tired," he declared, "and I guess the supper I ate made me +a little bit sleepy." + +"Well," Will said, "we may as well be on our way. I suppose you'll take +us first to the place where you and your father have been hiding." + +"That was my intention." + +The sky was clearing now, and the light of the stars made it possible +for the boys to walk at a swift pace over the level valley and up the +easy slope which led to the top of a low and rocky range of hills lying +at the western foot of Atlantic peak. + +When the boys finally reached the summit of the ridge, Chester led the +way down an incline facing the east to a gulch which ran in between the +great mountain and the lower range. + +"Here's where we've been stopping," he said, pointing to what is known +in that part of the country as a limestone cave. "It's quite comfortable +in there if you have a fire near the entrance, and no one can see the +blaze from the valley, so it's reasonably safe." + +The boys stepped into the cavern and looked around. A rude couch had +been made of the boughs of spruce and white pine, and saplings had been +roughly hewn into a table and two chairs. + +"You must have been here some time?" asked Will, pointing to the skins +on the floor. + +"Several long, dreary weeks," was the reply. + +"Did you come here with your father?" + +"Yes, we came together." + +"Were you with him in Chicago just before he left for Wyoming?" + +The boy opened his eyes wider. + +"How did you know we were ever in Chicago?" he asked. + +"We know more about your father and yourself than you think we do." + +"Perhaps," said the boy suspiciously, "I have done wrong in asking you +for assistance." + +"Oh, you've come to the right shop for help," George cut in. "You'll +find that we'll help you while you're in the hills, and continue to help +you after you get out of the hills. You're a Beaver, you know." + +It was on Will's lips to tell the boy exactly why they were there, and +how glad they were that he had come to them in his trouble, but he +refrained from doing so. + +After half an hour's walk they came to the place where the gulch opened +into a small valley. + +"I think," Chester said, as they stepped into one of these openings, +"that father may be hiding somewhere in this vicinity." + +"Do you think so," asked Will, "because of that light in there?" + +"I didn't see any light when I spoke," replied the boy, "but I see the +reflection of a fire now. It must be some distance from this opening." + +The boys moved forward softly until they came near a campfire which was +in a passage connecting the cave they were in with one to the north. +When they came close enough they saw three figures sitting before the +fire. Chester clutched Will fiercely by the arm and declared that one of +the men was his father. He was for rushing forward immediately, but the +boys held him back. + +"If the other fellows are the detectives," George suggested to Will, +"it's all up with us, unless we can get him away." + +"But they are not the detectives," replied Will. + +"Those fellows are the men who are wanted for the Union Pacific train +robbery!" + +While the boys were advancing the three men at the fire disappeared as +if by magic! The next moment the circle of light showed the figures of +half a dozen cowboys darting hither and thither in search of the men who +had taken themselves off so suddenly. + +Believing that the cowboys might be induced to assist in the search for +the missing man, the boys advanced toward the fire. As they did so the +cowboys swarmed down upon them. Before they could utter a word of +protest they were securely bound with ropes and dragged to the opening. + +"We didn't get the robbers," the man who seemed to be leader of the +party said, "but we can amuse ourselves lynching these spies!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A MIDNIGHT BEAR HUNT + + +"I have heard," Tommy said with a wink, soon after the departure of the +boys, "that the best time to get a grizzly bear rug for a Boy Scout club +room in Chicago is at moonrise." + +"I think I've heard something like that, too," Sandy answered, with a +grin. "That is," he went on, "if you want to get a grizzly bear rug for +a Boy Scout club room in Chicago in the month of September." + +"Yes," Tommy admitted, "I think the month of September was mentioned in +the information I received on the subject." + +"And the best place to get a grizzly bear rug for a Boy Scout club room +in Chicago," Sandy laughed, "is in a range of foot hills built mostly of +limestone. You see," the lad continued, "water washes out limestone and +leaves caves and holes which the bears occupy. Sometimes these caves and +holes furnish accommodation for a whole family of baby bears, I have +heard, so we may be able to take a pet cub back to Chicago with us. That +would be pretty poor, I guess!" + +"Well," Tommy said, rummaging the provision box, "if we start out to get +a couple of grizzly bear rugs for a Boy Scout club room in Chicago, we +probably won't get back before sunrise, so we may as well take a little +something to eat with us." + +"Trust you for always taking something to eat with you!" laughed Sandy. +"It's a sure thing you'll never starve to death." + +The boys provided themselves with plenty of sandwiches and a couple of +cans of pork and beans and, after seeing that the fire was safe and not +likely to spread to the tents and provisions, and after changing the +feeding ground of the burros so that they had plenty of grass, started +away toward the foothills. + +"Of course," Tommy said as they walked along, "we may find Wagner while +we are looking for bear, and Will and George may find bear while they're +looking for Wagner. I've heard of such things before now." + +The boys crossed the valley to the foothills and clambered up the slope +not far north of the spot where their chums and Chester had gained the +summit. They descended into the gulch, too, and turned to the left. + +"Now," Tommy said, seating himself on the slope, "the moon ought to be +up in half an hour. I've heard that at the time the moon comes up bears +leave their beds in search of food. We'll just sit here on the slope and +watch the line of foothills." + +"And I suppose," Sandy scoffed, "that you've got a notion in your nut +that a couple of grizzly bears will come walking out into the gulch, +take off their hides, and make you a present of them in a nice little +speech." + +"Now don't get smart, Freshy!" exclaimed Tommy. "According to all +accounts, the walls of many of these foothills are punctured with +limestone caves. There's where the bears live. From where we sit we can +see a long ways to the north, as soon as the moon rises and we may be +able to catch sight of a grizzly coming out for an early lunch." + +The lads were seated not very far from the entrance to the cavern which +had been occupied by Wagner and his son, but they had no knowledge of +the fact. It was not their purpose to investigate one cavern at a time, +but to watch the valley for anything that might come out of any one of +them. + +They could see only a short distance when they halted but presently the +moon lifted into the sky and diffused a faint light over the hills. It +would be some minutes before the direct rays would, strike into the +gulch, and so the boys waited, hiding in the shadows, for that time to +come. + +"I guess we've got one already," Tommy observed, whispering the words +excitedly in his chum's ear. + +"I don't see anything that looks like a grizzly." + +"Can't you see that there's a movement in the shadows about a hundred +feet, to the north?" asked Tommy. + +"I see something moving but I can't tell what it is." + +"It's a bear!" shouted Tommy, taking no pain now to control his voice. + +"Yes," exclaimed Sandy, "and it's two bears, if anybody should ask you, +and they're coming this way!" + +"Then we'd better get back a little ways," advised Tommy. + +"I should say so!" cried Sandy. "At least we want to get into a position +where they can't get in behind us." + +The boys turned back a few paces and sought a position where their backs +would be supported by the almost perpendicular wall of the bluff to the +west. Then Sandy grinned as he pointed to the south. + +"I guess this is a bear convention," he said. "There's another grizzly +old scout coming from the other way." + +"Three bear rugs," chuckled Tommy. + +"Say, look here!" Sandy exclaimed. "Do we stand here and let these +brutes come up and smell of our clothes before we do any shooting?" + +"We don't do any shooting from here," Tommy answered moving back to the +south. "If we should wound those big brutes without shutting off their +motive power, they'd chew us into rags, in about three minutes. We've +got to get some place where we can run!" + +"Then what'd you back up against this rock for?" demanded Sandy. + +"I didn't know how many bears there were in the world," grinned Tommy. + +The boys moved a few paces and stopped at the mouth of a cavern. Tommy +threw his searchlight into the interior and saw only bare walls. On his +right as he looked in, appeared to be some sort of connection with the +cave beyond. + +"Gee--whiz!" he exclaimed. "There seem to be passages and corridors in +this big bear tenement building. I wonder if there isn't an elevator, +too." + +"I wouldn't mind going up a few hundred feet!" suggested Sandy. + +The bears came lumbering along toward the cavern where the boys stood, +apparently not much interested in the visitors. When the moon rose they +snuffed about the crevices along the slope, and finally fixed their +attention on the spot where the boys were standing. + +Both boys, realizing that a mistake had been made, dashed into the +cavern and kept firing as the animals came into view, rather sharply +outlined now against the growing moonlight. + +"Now you have done it!" cried Sandy. + +"Aw, what have I done?" demanded Tommy. "We came out to get grizzly rugs +for our clubroom in Chicago, didn't we?" + +"Yes, and you went and fired without killing them, and now we've been +chased into a hole! If they've got the sense to stand there and wait for +us to come out, they'll have a feast of boy flesh in a few hours." + +"Huh!" exclaimed Tommy, "I didn't see you bringing down any of the +bears, and you shot as often as I did." + +"It sure was bum shooting," admitted Sandy. + +The bears were now out of view, but the boys knew that they were still +watching the entrance to the cavern. Tommy's searchlight showed the +entrance to the connection between the two caverns, and the boys lost no +more in changing their position. Tommy looked out of the entrance to the +hiding place and saw that the brutes had shifted their quarters and were +watching from a new position. + +"I guess we've got into the kind of a mess Will predicted," Tommy +declared. "This looks like we'd have to stand a siege." + +Tommy moved to the side of his chum and fired a couple of shots at the +sentinel outside. + +"Look here," Sandy advised. "You'd better save your bullets!" + +"All right!" Tommy answered. "I suppose that's what we're here for--to +save bullets!" + +"Well, you needn't be throwing them away where there's no chance of +hitting anything," grumbled Sandy. + +Tommy retreated into the cavern and began investigating the wall with +his searchlight. + +"If we could only find another corridor in this steam-heated old +collection of bear traps," he said, "we might get out of sight of the +brutes. I wish we could find a hole leading up to the roof!" + +The boys finally found a small opening which led into the wall on the +south. After investigating and finding that it connected only with the +cavern they had just left, the boys turned back. + +Tommy, who was in the lead, sprang back when he came to the main cave +with a suddenness which almost threw his chum to the floor. + +"Now we've gone and done a fine thing!" he cried. "The bears are out +there in the cave we're shut in good and tight!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +LYNCHING IS THREATENED + + +"Spies!" repeated Will, indignantly, as the cowboys gathered around. + +"Yes, spies!" exclaimed the leader of the party excitedly. "You thought +you pulled the wool over our eyes down at your camp the other night, but +you didn't! We have good reason to believe that the robbers have visited +your camp every day and that you fed them!" + +"That isn't true!" declared George angrily. + +"If you're not in with these bandits, what are you doing here?" demanded +another member of the party. + +"Why, we came in search of--" + +Will closed his teeth with a snap as he realized that on no account must +he reveal the real motive for this night visit to the cavern. + +"Go on!" shouted the leader. + +Will glanced significantly at George and remained silent. + +Chester seemed about to speak, but George gave him a nudge with his +elbow and the boy remained silent. + +"You said you came here in search of some one!" the leader demanded. + +"I didn't say anything of the kind," Will contradicted. + +"Well, out with it! What did you say?" + +"I was about to say that we were prowling around just for the fun of the +thing." + +"Prowling around in the ante-room of a robbers' den in the middle of the +night just for the fun of the thing!" laughed the leader. + +"That story is so bald that it's funny!" laughed another member of the +party. "You ought to make up something better than that!" + +"It's the truth!" answered George. + +"Look here!" the leader exclaimed. "If you boys'll tell us where those +three men went to, we'll take you into Green River and see that you have +a fair trial. If you don't, we'll string you up right here in the +mountains!" + +"We don't know where they went!" answered Will. + +A member of the party who had been called Seth by his companions now +stepped forward and began an examination of the Boy Scout badges which +adorned the coats of the two lads. + +"Where did you get them?" he asked. + +"Chicago," was the reply. + +"The Beaver Patrol, I see," the man went on. + +"Yes, sir!" replied Will. + +"You look like a young man," George cut in. "Were you ever a Boy Scout?" + +"Hardly," was the reply, "but I have a son who is very much interested +in the organization. He belongs to the Eagle Patrol, at Lander, and I +hear nothing but Boy Scout rules, and tactics, and that sort of thing, +from morning till night." + +"Well, he must be a good lad if he's a faithful Boy Scout," Will +suggested. "He certainly must be all right!" + +"Indeed he is!" Seth answered. "He's a good boy, and I hope some day +that he'll have the right to wear a badge like that," pointing to the +Scoutmaster emblem on Will's hat. + +"How many of these medals has he?" asked George, pointing to the +Ambulance, Stalker, Seaman and Pioneer medals on his sleeve. + +"Oh, I don't know," Seth laughed. "He comes home every day or two and +says he's going to have a new one! Look here, lad," the man added +glancing apprehensively back at his companions, "why don't you tell the +truth and get out of this scrape in the easiest possible way?" + +"We have told the truth," was the reply, "except that we didn't come out +just for the fun of the thing. We came out for a purpose which we can't +disclose at this time. We blundered on the train robbers, and have no +more idea of where they went than you have." + +"Look here Seth," the leader of the party exclaimed. "If you can't make +those boys tell the truth, just cut out this conversation. We've got +work to do tonight!" + +"I think they are telling the truth!" Seth answered. + +"Oh, I guess you know better than that!" laughed the leader. "You're +interested in them because they claim to be Boy Scouts, and I suppose +you're taking in everything they say." + +"I think the boys are all right!" insisted Seth. + +"It doesn't make any difference what you think!" replied the other +angrily, "If they don't tell the truth, they're going to swing in less +than half an hour!" + +"I can't stand for that, Pete," Seth answered. + +"Who's sheriff of this county?" demanded the man who had been called +Pete. "I suppose you think you're boss of this expedition." + +"I don't think anything of the kind," was the reply, "but I'm not going +to see these Boy Scouts murdered without a hearing, and if you attempt +anything of the kind, you'll never be sheriff of this county again! I +can tell you that much." + +The four other members of the party were now whispering together some +distance away. As they whispered, they glanced furtively from the boys +to the man who was trying to protect them. + +"Look here, Pete," one of them said, as they all stepped forward, "we +don't see any necessity for this halt in the proceedings just because +Seth has a lad that belongs to the Boy Scouts." + +"That's right," another member of the party declared. "Just you say the +word and we'll string these boys up in a holy minute!" + +"Not with my consent!" exclaimed Seth. "I'm not murdering babies! And if +you fellows attempt anything of the kind, there'll be trouble!" + +"Look here," the sheriff said, addressing Will. "You boys go off in a +corner somewhere and talk this thing over. Here's a pretty decent kind +of a fellow, a neighbor of mine, getting into trouble on your account. +Now you go and talk the thing over, and see if you can't decide to tell +the truth and help him out as well as yourself." + +"Why can't you tell him the whole story?" asked Chester as the boys +grouped themselves in a shadowy corner of the cave. "Why don't you tell +him just why you came out tonight, and how we happened to come into the +cavern. I don't believe they'll do us any harm if you tell the truth." + +"Now, look here, kid," Will answered, "if we tell the cowboys that we +came into the hills hunting for a demented man, they'll want to know who +the demented man is, and why he came into the hills without any +supplies. Can't you understand that?" + +"If he does," replied Chester, "I'll tell him all about it." + +"If you do," Will continued, "the cowboys will join in the search for +your father, and when they catch him, they'll turn him over to the two +detectives who are now in the hills searching for him." + +Chester turned pale as death and shrank back against the wall of the +cave. His voice was piteous as he asked: + +"So you know all about that, too, do you?" + +"Yes," answered Will, "and we don't want the officers to get hold of +your father. If they do, it will spoil all our plans, because they'll +take him back to the penitentiary, and that would make new trouble for +our friend. We want to find him ourselves." + +"But I don't understand--" + +"I know that you don't understand," Will declared, "and this is no time +nor place to give you the information you lack." + +"But I'll see father taken back to prison before I'll see you two boys +lynched!" insisted Chester. + +"You'd better think the matter over carefully," Will advised. "The +chances are that they won't believe anything we say to them now." + +"Well!" the sheriff called out impatiently. "Have you boys reached a +conclusion?" + +"We have already told you everything which can possibly interest you!" +Will answered. "We have nothing more to say!" + +"Then bring out your rope, boys!" the sheriff shouted. + +Seth threw a hand back to his pistol pocket and faced the sheriff +angrily. The sheriff's eyes flashed vengefully. + +"I protest against this murder!" Seth exclaimed. + +"If you don't want to take a hand in the proceedings, get out!" ordered +the sheriff. "We can do the work without you!" + +"I don't propose to see these Boy Scouts murdered!" Seth declared. + +Every member of the party now held a gun in his hand, and it seemed to +the boys that a desperate battle must take place. They drew their own +revolvers and stood side by side with their defender. + +"Take those guns away from the kids," shouted the sheriff, addressing +two of his men. "We ought to have attended to that before this!" + +"Don't you try it!" Seth said calmly. "I'll shoot the first man that +lays a hand on one of them!" + +While the two parties stood facing each other, each ready to begin +shooting at the slightest provocation, a volley of shots came from up +the gorge. The angry men turned their eyes toward the entrance to the +cavern and the sheriff threw up his hand in a command for an armistice. + +"The train robbers may be out in the gulch shooting up some one now!" he +exclaimed. "We ought to see about this!" + +"Yes," Seth exclaimed, "there's no use of our coming to blows over this +matter. If the robbers' hiding place can be found, we can make them tell +whether these boys are mixed up in their affairs or not." + +"That's right!" exclaimed another member of the party. "If the boys will +give up their guns and promise to make no attempt to escape, we'll +investigate this shooting and give them the benefit of every doubt there +is in the case. Will you do that, boys?" + +The lads handed their weapons to Seth and moved out toward the gulch. +When the party passed out of the cavern they found no one in sight. +While they stood listening and watching more shots came from the south +and they all moved up in that direction. The moon was now shining +brilliantly and the whole gulch was in view. + +"Strange where that shooting is!" Seth exclaimed. + +"It's in the caverns up to the north, and that means that the train +robbers have been brought to bay!" exclaimed the sheriff. + +As the party started up the gulch, Will drew Seth aside and whispered a +few words into his ear. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ONE DANGER TO ANOTHER + + +"How do you know the bears are out there in the cave?" Sandy asked, as +Tommy drew back into the smaller cavity. + +"Just take a peek out, if you don't believe me." + +Sandy did take a peek out, and sprang back with a face which looked as +white as a sheet of paper under the rays of Tommy's electric +searchlight. + +"One of 'em took a swipe at me!" he said. + +The boys turned their searchlights on the entrance and waited patiently +for some moments for the bears to present themselves in the illuminated +circle, but the animals seemed to understand that there was danger under +the light, and remained around the angle of the wall. + +"What are you going to do?" asked Tommy, presently. + +"Blessed if I know!" answered Sandy. + +"We might rush out and fill 'em full of lead," suggested Tommy. + +"Not for me!" the other answered. "They'd get in one good crack at us +before we could pull the trigger, and then it would be 'Good-night!'" + +"How long do you think they'll stay here?" asked Tommy. + +"The bear has the reputation of being a stayer," replied the other. + +"Well, in time," Tommy said, "we'll have to make a break. We've got +about enough provisions for breakfast, and after that, we'll be on the +verge of starvation as long as we remain here. So far as I can see, we +may as well make a break right now." + +"I'm game for it," replied Sandy. "We'll dazzle their eyes with our +searchlights, and fire a whole clip of bullets without stopping. Perhaps +that'll bring them down or cause them to run away." + +"All right!" Tommy agreed. "We'll round the corner together with our +searchlights held in front and begin shooting." + +"And don't make any mistake about shooting straight!" advised Sandy. "I +don't want Will and George to know that we ever got into a mess like +this. You know what they said about our coming away tonight, anyhow!" + +"Sure, I know!" admitted Tommy. "And I'd rather have one of the bears +bite off an arm than to have them know we got into a scrape we couldn't +get out of without their help." + +"Well, here goes, then!" cried Sandy. + +Without waiting for his chum he sprang around the corner or the wall, +his electric advanced, his automatic ready for instant use. As he turned +the corner one foot caught on a loose rock and he half fell to the +ground. As he did so, Tommy saw a hairy paw shoot out with vicious force +and brush and scrape across the boy's shoulder. + +Tommy heard the boy's coat ripping and tearing under the clutch of the +great claws, and heard his chum utter a piercing scream as the wicked +claws touched the flesh. + +It seemed to Tommy that the figure of his chum, now lying prostrate on +the floor of the cavern with the head extending outward, was being drawn +away from him by the claw which still clung to the shoulder. + +He raised his automatic to fire and pushed his searchlight forward. The +bear's eyes closed for an instant under the strong finger of light, and +the bullet caught him, exactly in the center of the forehead. + +He dropped with a savage growl, scrambled, to his feet again and dashed +toward Tommy, who fired shot after shot at the advancing animal, but +apparently without avail. In a moment all three bears, doubtless excited +by the smell of blood, sprang before the entrance to the little cave +where Tommy stood. For the moment the animals paid no attention to +Sandy, still, lying prostrate on the floor, blood oozing from the +wounded shoulder. Tommy fired shot alter shot as the bears came on. + +For the first time in his life Tommy realized that the next moment might +be his last. He saw Sandy lying bleeding on the floor. He saw three +savage, pain-maddened animals rushing upon him and worked the trigger of +his automatic until the clip was spent. Then he hurled the useless +weapon at the nearest animal and seizing Sandy by the feet, dragged him +farther into the cavern. + +"I guess it's all off now," he mused as the bears stood hesitating and +apparently ready for a spring. "I wish we'd left a note for Will." + +He heard the clatter of sharp claws on the rocky floor, saw the pig-like +eyes of the animals shining red under the light, heard their spasmodic +breathing, and was about to make a desperate rush forward when the outer +cavern was flooded with a racing light which grew and grew as Tommy +looked. Then he heard the sound of feet. + +Next came a volley of shots, followed by the shouts of men and the call +of a voice that he knew. + +"Tommy!" the voice cried. + +The boy did not answer instantly, for his eyes were fixed upon the +squirming figures of the bears. They had fallen under the shots and were +weaving about the floor, snarling and snapping at each other and at +themselves in their blind rage. + +Several more shots came, and then the animals lay still. + +"Tommy!" came the voice again. + +"That's Will!" said Sandy faintly. + +"Cripes! Are you alive?" demanded Tommy. + +"I wouldn't be talking if I was dead, would I?" asked Sandy, speaking in +a very faint tone of voice. + +"Sandy!" came the voice again. + +"Hello!" called Tommy. + +"Come on out!" cried Will. + +"We're coming!" Sandy answered. + +The next moment the flashlights carried by Will and George swept into +the cavern, revealing the true condition of affairs. + +The two boys sprang to Sandy's side and raised him into a sitting +position. Sandy smiled weakly but said nothing. + +"Where is he hurt?" asked Will, facing Tommy. + +Tommy pointed to the boy's bleeding shoulder. + +"One of the bears swatted him," he said. + +The cowboys now gathered in front of the little cavern and gazed at the +group with excited interest. + +"What's coming off here?" the sheriff asked. + +"This kid's coat's coming off, for one thing," answered Will, with a +slight smile as he drew away at one sleeve. "He's been cut by the bear, +and we want to see how badly he's wounded." + +Seth stepped forward to assist in the removal of the coat, but the +sheriff laid a hand on his arm and drew him back. + +"If those two boys have guns," he said, "get them away from them!" + +"What's that?" demanded Tommy, gazing at the sheriff indignantly. + +"You're all under arrest," thundered the officer, "and I demand that you +give up your weapons." + +"You'll find my gun out there in the cavern somewhere," Tommy answered. +"I threw it at the bears after the last bullet had been fired." + +Will put his hand into Sandy's pocket as if feeling for a gun but found +none there. "I dropped it in the cavern," the boy said. "There are no +bullets in it, anyway. I shot 'em all at the bear." + +Sandy's wound proved to consist only of several scratches in the flesh +of the shoulder, but Will explained to the sheriff that it would be +necessary to take him out to where water could be obtained in order that +the injury might be properly dressed. + +"Come along, then," the sheriff consented. "We've had enough of this +underground hole, anyway." + +Tommy looked longingly at the three dead bears as he passed out. + +"I'm coming back here to get those rugs," he whispered to Will. + +"And I'm coming back here and get some bear steak," George contributed. + +"What are you boys talking about?" demanded the sheriff. + +"Aw, what's eating you?" demanded Tommy, who did not at all understand +the situation. "You want to keep your clam closed." + +The sheriff turned back and eyed the boy with anger and amazement +depicted on his rather heavy features. + +"You're one of these Boy Scouts, I presume?" he snarled. + +"Yes, sir," answered Tommy. "Proud of it!" + +"Then perhaps you can tell me where those train robbers are hiding." + +"I would if I could!" replied the boy. + +"What are you kids out at this time of night for, anyway?" was the next +question. "You ought to be in bed." + +"We came out to gather a couple of bear rugs for a Boy Scout clubroom in +Chicago," answered Tommy, with a slight grin in Will's direction. + +"And what did those boys come out for?" the sheriff asked, pointing at +Will and George and the boy in whose interest they had left camp. + +Tommy had no means of knowing what stories the boys might have told +regarding their presence in the mountains, and so he decided to dodge +the question. This seemed the only safe way. + +"Ask them!" he said after a short silence. + +By this time the whole party was out in the gulch, standing full in the +moonlight. The men conferred together for some moments, and then the +sheriff turned to the other members of the party. + +"Get your ropes, boys," he said. "We haven't got time to fool with these +boys any longer." + +"I protest against this action," shouted Seth. "You, Pete, are sheriff +of this county, and it is your duty to enforce the laws. If you permit +this lynching to take place in your presence, you'll be guilty of the +crime of murder, and I warn you that you'll be prosecuted." + +Tommy and Sandy looked at their chums questioningly. They did not at all +understand what was going on. Will and George were binding up the wound +with bandages which they had long carried for use on just such an +occasion as this. + +"I think I know my duty," answered the sheriff. "Wyoming officers are +being made the laughing-stock of the whole world because of the +frequency of these train robberies. In nearly every instance, lately, +the outlaws have escaped, principally because of assistance given them +by such people as we have here under arrest." + +The men removed ropes from under their coat and began to unwind them. +Seth drew his revolver and waited. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A WYOMING HOLD-UP + + +The four men stepped forward toward the boys with the ropes in their +hands. The boys stood facing the crowd with unflinching eyes. + +"I warn you!" shouted Seth. + +"Wait!" Chester cried, stepping forward. "If you're doing this because +my friends won't tell why they are in the mountains of Wyoming, and why +they are out in the hills tonight, you may as well hold your hands. I'll +give you all the information on the subject you desire." + +Will stepped forward and caught the boy by the arm. + +"You know what it means to--to some one if you speak," he warned. + +"But I'm not going to see you boys murdered before my eyes!" + +"No more fairy tales go!" shouted a member of the sheriff's gang. "We +have an unpleasant duty to perform here and we're not going to shirk it. +As the sheriff says, outlaws are flocking to Wyoming because they are +hidden and protected by such people as you." + +"But I can satisfy you as to the honesty of these boys," pleaded +Chester, "if you'll listen to me for five minutes." + +"Nothing doing!" shouted the sheriff. + +Again the men advanced with the ropes and again Seth lifted his revolver +in warning. The situation was a critical one. + +During the second of silence which followed, a clatter of stones came +into the gulch from the rocky summit above, and all eyes were instantly +turned in that direction. As they looked the sheriff and his men dropped +their weapons to the ground and threw their hands into the air. + +"That's right!" came a hoarse voice from above. "Throw down your weapons +and drop your belts at your feet. Now line up there in a row, you baby +snatchers! Never mind that funny business, there, you man with the red +whiskers. You'll drop in your tracks if you make another move! You are +the cowboy sheriff of the county, I understand, but you ought to be +training puppies for a dogshow. That's about your size." + +In a moment every member of the sheriff's posse, including Seth, was +unarmed. As they stood meekly in a row the boys were ordered to take +their own weapons from the heap on the ground and walk away over the +ridge. + +"Can you see who they are?" asked Will, as the boys moved slowly along. + +"I can see only the outlines of their heads and the gleaming barrels of +their rifles," George answered. "Say," the boy went on, "didn't the +cowboys drop their weapons quick when they saw those shining muzzles?" + +"They knew the other fellows had the drop on them, and I don't blame +them," Tommy cut in. + +"Do you really think they are the train robbers?" asked Sandy, who was +being assisted up the slope by Will and George. + +"They're the train robbers, all right!" insisted Tommy. "I can't see +their faces any more than you can, but I remember that voice! You +remember the night he was at our camp, and we were getting something to +eat? Well, I heard quite a lot of his conversation that night. Some of +it I liked and some of it I didn't, but I'm sure the man whose +conversation I heard that night is the same man who ordered the cowboy +officers to throw down their weapons." + +"But why should they do a thing like that?" demanded Will. + +"I don't know," replied George, "unless it is because train robbers have +a continual and perpetual grouch against officers of any kind." + +"That must be the reason," Will admitted. + +"Well, I'm glad they got us away!" said Tommy, as the five boys reached +the summit and looked down into the little valley, "but they sure put us +in bad with the cowboys from this time on. The cowboys, apparently with +good cause, were accusing us of standing in with the train robbers, and +now the train robbers have proven the point by butting in for our +protection." + +"It's too bad," Will answered, "but I don't see how it can be helped. It +is particularly unfortunate at this time, because with the cowboys +opposing us we won't dare search the mountains for Chester's father." + +"We'll find a way!" insisted Tommy. "We'll be sure to find a way." + +When the boys turned down the slope which led to their camp, not very +far away, daylight was growing in the sky. They could see the figures of +the men who had rescued them creeping away to the south. + +Shouts and exclamations of rage were coming over the ridge, and the boys +understood very well that in a short time the cowboys would be at their +camp, with stronger motive than ever for their destruction. + +"We've got our guns," Will said as they walked along, "and we've got to +fight. That's all there is to it." + +When the boys came to the side of the dying campfire they found two men +who seemed to be entire strangers sitting calmly in one of the tents, +dividing the contents of a great tin of roast beef, and also sharing a +huge loaf of bread. The light was still dim in the tent, and so Will +turned his electric on the rather domestic scene. + +"What are you men doing in there?" he demanded. + +"Eating!" was the calm reply. + +"I didn't know but you were getting a hair-cut," grinned Tommy. + +"Where'd you come from?" asked George, as the boys all gathered in front +of the flap. + +"Look here, kids," one of the men said easily, "we've been traveling two +days and two nights, and we're hungry and sleepy. Just let us fill up on +this chuck and we'll tell you all about it." + +"We really ought to go to sleep!" the other intruder suggested. "But, as +you seem anxious to know why we're consuming your provisions, I'll +relieve your minds of anxiety by saying that we met John Johnson half +way to Green River and he sent us in to tell you that he would arrange +for reinforcements for you as soon as he reached Green River. He said he +mentioned the fact to you when he was here, but you didn't seem to like +it, and so he said nothing more about it to you." + +"He sent you in here just to tell us that?" demanded Will. + +"Aw, tell him the truth," laughed the other. + +"Well, then, I'll tell him the truth," replied the intruder, his mouth +full of bread and meat. + +"We met Johnson while he was on his way out, and he told us to look in +on you boys as we passed and see if you were all right. He seemed to +have a notion in his head that you'd be apt to get into trouble of some +kind." + +"Glad you came in," Will said, extending his hand, "I don't know how Mr. +Johnson came to think of it, but your coming here just now is something +in the nature of a miracle." + +"Glad to be of any service!" + +Then without explaining the purpose of their night mission into the +mountains, the boys explained the situation to the two strangers, +dwelling particularly on the fact that the sheriff's cowboys now had +good cause for believing that the lads really were associating with the +train robbers. + +"I think the train robbers held the officers up more because they've got +a grouch against all policemen than for any other reason," Will said. "I +don't see why they should cut in order to save our lives. The sheriff +will get good and even with them for that!" + +"Just a grouch against all the officers in the world!" laughed one of +the strangers. "All brigands feel that way." + +"But you can see where it leaves us!" exclaimed George. "We can't have +any fun in the mountains with those fellows chasing us all the time, and +one of our friends is wandering around in the mountains nutty, with a +broken head, and we can't even go out and find him if this hostile +attitude of the cowboys continues." + +"You think they'll follow you down to camp, do you?" asked one of the +men. "Of course the outlaws wouldn't hold them very long." + +"Yes, I think they'll follow us down to camp and they won't lose any +time getting here, either," Will answered. + +"Did you ever seen anything like it?" asked Tommy as, accompanied by +George, he started toward the provision box. + +"Like what?" demanded the other. + +"Why, this lone mountain valley becoming the center of population of the +United States!" exclaimed Tommy. "When we came in here, there wasn't a +soul in sight in the valley. And then the robbers came, and the +detectives came, and the cowboys came, and Johnson came, then we got +next to Chester, and now these two strangers come butting in. If this +isn't the center of population, I'd like to know where it is." + +"It's a good thing we've got those old burros picketed out on the +grass," George observed. "In about two days more, we'll have to set sail +for Green River and load up with provisions. We've been running a public +eating house ever since we struck Wyoming. I wonder how long these +fellows are going to stay. If they remain more than one day, I'm going +to charge 'em for board or send them out fishing." + +"When you want any fish," Tommy exclaimed, "you needn't send any strange +guys out to get 'em. I'll bring in all the fish you want!" + +George chuckled, and Tommy threw an empty can at his head. + +"When you go out fishing," George said in a moment, "just let us know, +and we'll send a guard out with you." + +"Oh, just because I had a little trouble up on Lake Superior and down in +Florida, you think I can't catch fish!" complained Tommy. "You just wait +until we get this rumpus with the cowboy officers settled and I'll show +you whether I can catch fish or not." + +"I wish we had some of that bear steak!" George suggested. "We're eating +the ham and eggs all up, and we're right in the middle of a game country +at that." + +"Look here," Tommy suggested, "you go right on cooking ham and warming +up those shoestring potatoes, and I'll sneak over the ridge and bring +back about fifty pounds of bear." Besides, he went on, "I want to get +those hides before the wolverines get them, or any one sneaks them off." + +Just as Tommy disappeared up the slope the cowboy officers were seen +rushing toward the camp, their weapons ready for use. + +"I guess they think the train robbers are here," commented Will. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AN INTERRUPTED WIG-WAG + + +The boys gathered in a little group not far from the fire and awaited, +with what excitement and anxiety may well be imagined, the arrival of +the officers. Their automatics were in their hands. A short distance +from the camp the cowboys paused as if for a consultation, although the +show of weapons made by the boys may have had something to do with their +quick stop. + +As the boys stood ready to defend themselves if attacked, they noticed +that the two strangers who had recently arrived at the camp were +creeping farther into the tent, at the flap of which they had been +sitting. The lads saw weapons in their hands, but saw no evidence that +the fellows intended using them. Sandy gave Will a nudge on the +shoulder. + +"Do you think those fellows are all right?" he asked. "Looks funny to +see them crawling out of sight as soon as danger shows!" + +"It does look strange," Will admitted, "but look here," he added, +pointing to the boy's bandaged shoulder, "you ought to be in one of the +tents yourself. You're not fit to be out here if any fighting takes +place." + +"Huh, I guess this bum shoulder won't prevent me from shooting +straight!" declared Sandy. "Say," he continued, "I've a great mind to go +in where those fellows are and ask what they're hiding away for." + +"I just believe," George cut in, "that those fellows lied when they said +Johnson asked them to come here. You remember how they told two stories, +don't you? One that they had been told to tell us that reinforcements +would be sent in, and the other that they had been asked to stop and see +us on their way into the mountains." + +"We're certainly in a nice box if we've got enemies in our own camp," +Will grumbled. "In that case, as soon as the shooting begins we'll be +between two fires. By the way," he went on, "where's Tommy?" + +"Gone after bear meat for breakfast," answered George. + +"He's always dodging away without any one knowing what's in his mind!"? +declared Will, rather crossly. "I guess he's got some idea above bear +steak for breakfast, right now. Anyhow," the boy added, "if Tommy is +well armed these cowboy fly-cops will also be between two fires when the +battle opens. That will help some." + +"Perhaps there won't be any battle," suggested George. "Those fellows +don't seem to be in any hurry about starting in, anyway." + +"Oh, they'll never swallow the bluff they got from the train robbers," +Will insisted. "As soon as the story is told outside they'll be roasted +by the whole state. Just think of it!" the boy went on. "They come in +here to capture two train robbers and get held up the first thing. If +there's a live editor in the state he'll print a faked-up picture of the +six men with their hands up in the air and their guns lying at their +feet." + +"Perhaps they saw the two strangers come in," suggested Sandy. "In that +case they may be doing a little guessing as to whether the newcomers +won't help us in case of trouble." + +"But these two men were here before we returned," suggested George. + +"Well, they may have seen them sitting in the flap of the tent eating +our good pork and beans and roast beef," Will went on. + +"If they knew that the two strangers were hiding in the back corner of +one of the tents," George commented, "I don't think they'd hesitate much +longer. These two visitors may be all right, but they don't look it!" + +"Why don't you go and ask them if they wouldn't like to have us dig a +hole to put them in?" demanded Sandy. + +While the boys were puzzling over the situation, Seth, the deputy who +had defended the Boy Scouts when they stood in grave danger of being +lynched, separated himself from the group of officers and advanced +toward the camp. There was a smile on the deputy's face as he approached +but the other members of the party were scowling heavily. + +The boys dropped the muzzles of their automatics as Seth came up to the +fire. The deputy stood for a moment glancing keenly around at the tents, +the burros, and the cooking utensils before speaking. + +"Glad to see you so comfortably situated boys," he said, "and I'm glad, +also," he went on pointing to the pennants which showed at the tops of +the tents, "to see that you're not ashamed to show your colors." + +"We're proud of being Boy Scouts!" Will declared. + +"And we're proud of the Beaver Patrol!" George cut in. + +"That's right, boys!" Seth said "Stick to Boy Scout laws and teachings +and you can't go very far wrong." + +"What are those fellows going to do now?" asked Will, nodding toward the +cowboy officers, who had now thrown themselves down upon the long grass +of the valley. "They didn't follow us here just for exercise." + +"If those train robbers really are friends of yours," Seth replied, +"they have done you, perhaps unintentionally, a great deal of harm. It +is an old saying, you know," the deputy went on, "that one fool friend +can work a man more mischief than a dozen open enemies." + +"I suppose you people think now," Will said, "that we really do train +with that bunch of robbers." + +"I don't!" declared Seth. "I know you to be honest Boy Scouts, and no +counterfeits, and I don't believe such lads mix up with train robbers." + +"We don't at all events," Will answered. + +"Look here," George interrupted, "the train robbers saw a chance to rub +it into the officers and they did it. That's all there is to that! They +would have protected the detectives who were searching the mountains, or +even a band of burglars, just the same as they did us. You know very +well that such fellows have a perpetual grouch against officers of the +law. The only wonder is they didn't shoot when they had the cowboys +unarmed." + +"Even train robbers are averse to committing murder," replied Seth. + +"Well, what are they going to do about it?" Will insisted. + +"They want you to come out to Lander with me and stand trial." + +"And if we refuse?" + +"But you won't do that!" + +"You are mistaken there," replied Will. "If they want us, they've got to +come and get us." + +"That isn't good judgment," declared Seth. + +While the two discussed the situation, the others listening intently, +the two visitors came slowly out of the tent and approached the spot +where Seth and Will were standing. Seth regarded the two men quizzically +for a moment and then extended both hands in greeting. + +"Glad to see you, Gilmore!" he said. "How long have you been here?" + +"Only a short time," was the reply. "At the request of a personal +friend, an officer from Chicago, we dropped in for breakfast and also to +see if the boys needed any assistance." + +"Boys," Seth said, turning to the astonished group of youngsters, "this +is Sheriff Gilmore of Sweetwater county, and this," pointing to the +other, "is Doyle, one of his deputies. They are both good fellows." + +"Did you say you knew John Johnson well?" asked Will, after greetings +had been exchanged. "Was it the truth you said about his asking you to +call and help us out if we needed assistance?" + +"True as Gospel!" answered Gilmore. "I knew John Johnson when he was on +a ranch over here in the Sweetwater country. I'm taking a little +excursion into Pete's country in search of the train robbers. I met +Johnson going out, and he asked me to call on his friends, the boys." + +"So you can vouch for these lads, can you?" asked Seth, a smile of +satisfaction coming to his face. + +"I certainly can!" was the reply. "Johnson told me all about them, so I +know what they're here for, and all about their movements." + +Before speaking, Seth took off his hat and began waving it in the +direction of the cowboy officers. Sheriff Pete and his deputies rose to +their feet and walked toward the camp. Before reaching the fire, they +recognized Sheriff Gilmore and came forward with extended hands. The +situation was soon explained. + +"Now see here, kiddo," Sheriff Pete said, as he drew Will to one side, +"we don't know what you're in here for, but we know now that you're all +right. We'll stand by you to the bottom of the deck if you'll just +forget all about that little hold-up over in the other valley." + +"That was funny, wasn't it?" Will said with a grin. + +"I can't see anything funny in it!" said the Sheriff. + +"Those train robbers looked pretty good to us just then," Will +commented. "They came just in time!" + +"You wouldn't have been harmed," said the sheriff, with a smile. "I was +only putting in a little third degree work." + +"All right," Will said, "you help us if it comes handy for you to do so, +and we won't say a word about the hold-up." + +The two sheriffs and their deputies discussed the situation thoroughly, +and finally decided that the two train robbers were making for the Bad +Lands in Big Horn county. + +"If Tommy'd only come back now with that bear steak," Will suggested, "I +could get all you boys a dinner that would put an inch of fat on your +ribs! Seems to me it's pretty near time for him to be back." + +"Suppose I go and hurry him up?" asked George. + +"Go to it!" Will replied, "and I'll get out a lot of spuds and make a +gallon of coffee, and we'll have a Sunday School picnic right here in +the long grass! You've got to feed before you go away!" + +"Everything looks mighty friendly here just now," Sandy answered, "but +look up on top of the ridge, and see if you can tell what George is +trying to say to us. That's Boy Scout wig-wag, all right!" + +"Yes," replied Will, springing to his feet excitedly. "That's the Myer +code, sure as you live, and he's got a big white pine bough he's using +as a flag. Can you see what he is saying?" + +"Sure!" replied Sandy, "He says he wants--now what do you think of that? +He's stopped!" + +As they looked the boy dropped to the ground + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +TOMMY GOES AFTER BEAR STEAK + + +Tommy started up the slope whistling gaily. At the summit he turned to +look back at the camp. The cowboys were at that time standing some +distance away and Seth was advancing toward the fire. + +"That Seth is a good Indian!" declared the boy, "He'll fix things up all +right, so there's no need of my going back. Gee!" he went on as he +looked up and down the pleasant valley, warm and sweet under the morning +sun. "It's a pretty good thing to be a Boy Scout! Here we find a man in +the mountains of Wyoming ready to fight for us just because we are Boy +Scouts. I should think every boy in the world would want to join!" + +The lad stood for a moment watching the figures at the distant camp, and +then hastened into the valley below. When he struck the rock-strewn +gulch which lay to the south of the wide opening in the hills he paused +and looked cautiously about. + +"There may be plenty more bears here!" he mused. + +But no bears or hostile animals of any kind were in sight, so the boy +passed along to the cavern which George and Will had visited on the +previous night--the cavern where the escaped convict and his son had +made their home. Tommy glanced curiously into the opening in the rocky +wall as he halted in front of it. + +On the previous night he had passed this cavern in company with Sandy +without observing it. At this time he was not certain that it was not +the cave where he had met the bears, so he stepped inside after a +moment's thought and advanced toward the rear wall. + +A semi-twilight lay over the interior, and the boy brought out his +searchlight. By its rays he saw a break in the rock of the north wall +and stepped closer. The place was merely an alcove eight or ten feet in +size, doubtless carved out by the action of water. + +In the alcove the boy saw the embers of a fire. Then he turned about and +inspected the outer cave more carefully. He saw the rude furniture which +his chums had observed the night before, and the pitifully small supply +of cooking utensils. Lying on the table was a generous supply of fresh +meat, evidently taken from the carcass of one of the bears. + +Tommy had heard little said concerning the cave which had been occupied +by Wagner and his son, but quite enough to understand that he had +stumbled upon the place. + +What puzzled him now was the presence of the bear meat. He knew very +well that neither Wagner nor his son had occupied the place since the +disappearance of the father. He understood, too, that if there had been +provisions in the cave at the time of the visit of his chums, they would +have referred to the fact. Besides all this, the bear which had probably +supplied the meat had been killed only a few hours before. + +"I guess some one's moved in!" the boy mused. + +He went into the alcove and examined the embers of the fire. It had been +built of dry pine and spruce boughs and had evidently burned brightly an +hour before. + +"Now I wonder," the boy puzzled, "whether Wagner isn't hiding some where +in the cave. It doesn't seem to me that any one else would take +possession of the blooming old flat." + +Resolved to return to the cavern later, the lad hastened outside and +moved toward the south. He was not exactly certain of the location of +the cavern where the fight with the bears had taken place, but he had no +doubt that he could find it by peering into every opening he came to. + +He had proceeded but a short distance when the face of Katz peered out +at him from one of the minor caves. Cullen, the fellow's associate stood +not far away with his cruel mouth stretched into a sardonic grin. + +"Where are you going, boy?" Katz asked. + +Tommy hesitated a moment and a twinkle of humor came into his eyes as he +answered the gruff question of the detective. + +"I'm looking after the train robbers you chased up last night." + +The two men scowled angrily and drew nearer to the lad. + +"I don't believe you told the truth about that train robber!" Katz said. +"I was right on the ground and I saw no one." + +"You beat him to it!" laughed Tommy. "You went one way and he went the +other! You're both good runners, I guess, for you never came within a +mile of each other," he added. + +"None of your impudence, now!" snarled Katz. + +"I think we ought to take this boy in out of the wet," suggested Cullen. +"He's too fresh, anyway." + +"You'd better confine your attentions to the train robbers, or the man +you came in here to find," suggested Tommy. + +"I don't believe there are any train robbers here!" declared Katz. + +"Perhaps not," answered Tommy, "but about half the officers of Fremont +and Sweetwater counties are loafing around these hills! Besides," he +added, "I got a look at the train robbers last night." + +The two detectives glanced at each other apprehensively. + +"Was there a train robber at your camp last night?" asked Katz. + +"Sure there was!" + +"Is your camp headquarters for outlaws?" + +"Not that I know of," replied Tommy, angrily. + +"Don't you know that the boy who stole my property at your camp is +connected with an escaped convict?" + +"I don't know anything about the boy," declared Tommy, not telling the +truth exactly. "He looks all right to me!" + +"Do you know what I think?" Cullen demanded. "I think you boys came in +here to set up a base of supplies for outlaws!" + +"Aw, you don't know what you're talking about!" exclaimed Tommy. + +"If you're not mixed up with this escaped convict," Katz demanded, "what +are you doing here?" + +"Early this morning," Cullen went on, "we found the cave where Wagner +and his son had been living. That's it back there. The one you entered +and looked over so carefully. Did you expect to find Wagner there?" + +"Did you build a fire in there?" asked Tommy. + +The detectives shook their heads. + +"Did you take a big piece of bear meat in there?" + +"We certainly did not!" + +Here was another puzzler for Tommy. Who had built the fire in the +cavern? Who had taken the bear meat there? The cowboys were not in that +vicinity at the time the fire must have been built. The detectives +declared that they had not built the fire, or carried in the meat. + +"Did you find a fire burning in the cavern?" asked Katz. + +Tommy nodded. + +"And fresh meat there, too?" + +Another nod from the boy. + +"What do you make of it, Cullen?" asked Katz, turning to his companion. + +Cullen shook his head, and a thought which brought a smile to his +freckled face crept into Tommy's mischievous cranium. + +"I'll tell you what I think," he said. "We were in this gulch last +night, and saw the train robbers. They were on the summit, not far from +the Wagner flat, as we ought to call it. If anybody has been living in +that cave this morning, it's the train robbers. Say," he went on, with +the idea of giving the detectives a good scare, "those train robbers are +the fiercest fellows I ever saw. We saw 'em hold up six armed cowboys +last night!" + +The two detectives looked at each other apprehensively. + +"If they should see you standing here," Tommy went on, "and were wise to +the fact that you are Chicago detectives, they'd pump in the lead until +your heads looked like a pound of Swiss cheese." + +"You seem to know quite a lot about those train robbers, lad!" + +"He knows too much," Cullen declared. "We'll just take him along with us +and hold him for a few hours!" + +"If you do, you'll get in trouble!" declared Tommy. + +"No threats, now!" cried Katz. + +"I'm not making any threats," declared Tommy who really was rather +anxious to have the detectives take him away to their camp. "I think +you're a couple of cheap skates, anyway, and I don't believe you're +Chicago detectives. I live in Chicago myself, and I never saw bums like +you on the force of plain clothes men." + +The taunting words did exactly what Tommy had expected them to do. Katz +seized him viciously by the arm and started away down the valley. The +boy was perfectly willing to accompany the detective, for he believed +that by doing so he might find out what steps they were taking for the +capture of the escaped convict, but he pretended to feel great +indignation as he was hurried along over the rough ground. + +As the three moved away George swung up the slope on the other side and +came into view on the summit. The boy had cut a white pine climbing +staff from which the small boughs had not been trimmed away, and Tommy +saw that he was using this as a wig-wag flag. It was plain to the boy +that George thoroughly understood the situation below. + +The detectives growled out several vicious oaths as they saw the boy +swinging his staff from the summit. They whispered together for a +moment, and then Katz, leaving Tommy threatened by Cullen's revolver, +moved toward the summit and the signaling boy. + +When, in a moment, George looked down the slope to the east, he saw the +detective creeping stealthily toward him. The officer was some, distance +away, yet the boy knew that he was in danger from the gun in his hand. +He gave one last swing and dropped his staff. + +"Come down here!" shouted the detective. "I want to see you!" + +"Come up here, then!" answered George. "What are you doing to my chum? +You're always butting in on us boys!" + +"If you don't come down instantly," shouted the angry detective, "I'll +fill your hide full of lead! I've got you covered!" + +Seeing by the malicious look on the face of the detective that he was +really in earnest, George dropped quickly to the ground. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A PAIR OF PRISONERS + + +Tommy saw his chum drop and, supposing that he had been injured in some +way, started racing up the slope. Directly he found himself hampered by +Cullen, who was clinging to the tail of his khaki coat. + +As the boy drew up George rose from the ground and moved down the slope +facing the east. Tommy saw that he was acting under instructions from +Katz, who held a revolver in his hand. + +In five minutes the boys, unarmed now, were walking along by the side of +the detectives. A wink from George convinced Tommy that his chum had at +least succeeded in attracting the attention of the people at the camp +below. It might be that help would come before the detectives could lead +them to a hiding place in the hills. + +What the boys appeared to need just at that time was delay, so they +asked all sorts of questions as they walked along, hoping that their +captors would pause to answer them. However, the fellows plugged +steadily along toward the opposite side of the ridge, and finally drew +up on a shelf of rock from which the caverns to the west could be +plainly seen. Here the officials sat down to watch and wait. + +Directly a group of men came dashing over the summit and hastened down +into the valley. The boys were certain that they recognized Will in the +company. It was certain that Sheriff Pete was there, and the boys were +positive that the two men who had been found in the camp on their return +from the midnight expedition were also there. + +The men separated at the foot of the slope and scattered up and down the +gulch. It was clear that George's wig-wag signals had been seen, and +that the men were in search of the two boys. + +"Those signals of yours must be effective," snarled Katz as the members +of the party across the gorge began exploring the caverns. + +"You're right, they are!" answered George. "That's the Boy Scout +wig-wag! You have to learn those things when you join the Boy Scouts!" + +"What did you say?" + +"I explained that we had been captured by the train robbers!" replied +George, telling the untruth with a great deal of satisfaction as he saw +the effect produced on the detectives. + +"What'd you do that for?" demanded Cullen. "Because we want the cowboy +officers to get hold of you fellows, and beat you up!" answered George. +"They'll do it, too, if they lay hands on you! Those fellows are our +friends!" + +"Where's that boy who stole my property?" demanded Katz. + +"He was down in the camp when I left," replied George. + +"Do you think he's with that crowd on the other side of the gulch now? +Or would he stay at the camp?" + +"He probably would come out in answer to George's signal," Tommy cut in. + +The detectives whispered together for some moments. Although the boys +could not hear a word they were saying, they understood very well what +all the whispering was about. They were discussing the possibility of +capturing Chester and forcing him to lead them to his father's hiding +place. They did not, of course, know that the father was wandering over +the mountains in a demented condition. + +After a time the party passed on down the valley much to the disgust of +the two captive lads, and disappeared from sight. Then the detectives +left the angle of the ledge which had concealed them and motioned the +boys down the slope. The lads obeyed wonderingly. + +Arrived at the bottom of the gulch once more, the detectives halted for +another long consultation. Katz seemed to be in favor of following the +party which had gone down the valley in the hope of getting hold of +Chester, while Cullen was of the opinion that they might be able to +capture the escaped convict himself by lingering around the cavern where +the fire had been so mysteriously kindled. + +While the two discussed, not without some show of anger, the situation, +the two boys kept their eyes fixed on the opposite cavern. George knew +positively that it was the one which had been occupied by the escaped +convict and his son, and he believed that in time the father would +return to it. It seemed to him that Cullen was clinging to an opinion +which might cause himself and friends serious trouble. + +"Gee!" he whispered to Tommy, "I wish we could get these flatties to +follow the cowboys! I'm afraid they'll catch Wagner if they hang around +that cave over there!" + +"I'm afraid they will!" replied Tommy. "There's some one been there this +morning, and it wasn't the cowboys or the detectives, either. It was +either Wagner or the train robbers." + +"Just as sure as you're a foot high," exclaimed George, "there's some +one moving about in the entrance to that cavern now! I can see something +moving, but I can't see any features." + +"Well, don't look that way too steadily," Tommy cried. "If Wagner is +over there we don't want to put these detectives wise to the fact. He's +the man they're in here after, you remember!" + +"Well, there's some one there, all right!" exclaimed George. "While you +were talking, I saw a chalk-white face appear for a second at the +entrance. I'll bet he's been hiding there ever since last night." + +"He was with the train robbers last night," suggested Tommy. "At least +we think he was, for there are only two robbers and we saw three men." + +"He may be with the train robbers, now for all we know," George put in. + +"Yes, they may be hiding over there," Tommy admitted. "If I thought they +were, I'd steer these bum detectives up against them!" + +"We'd better not take any chances!" advised George. "If Wagner is over +there, he may be alone. In that case, these cheap flatties would geezle +him and make for the Union Pacific railroad without stopping to say +good-by to the hills. And once they get to the railroad, it's all off +with the young man in Chicago who is soon to be tried for murder." + +While the boys discussed the situation, Katz caught sight of the moving +figure in the entrance to the cavern. The boys saw him pointing in that +direction and about abandoned hope. + +"There's some one over there," the boys heard Katz saying, "and we may +as well go and see who it is. Have you got a pair of handcuffs with +you?" he added, turning to his companion. + +"Of course I have!" was the reply. + +"Then use them on these two boys!" ordered Katz. "Tie them together so +they won't be apt to go chasing off if we get into action." + +Cullen did as requested, and the boys, unable to make resistance at that +time, resolved that both officers should pay well for the indignity in +the future. When the detectives started forward, they walked as slowly +as possible, one of them frequently falling down, in order to give the +person in the cavern, whoever he might be, plenty of time to observe the +approach of the detectives. + +"Gee!" exclaimed Tommy. "These fellows blunder along like a load of hay. +If the man over there has any sense, he'll be a mile off before they get +to the entrance! I hope the train robbers are there!" + +"Well, I hope Wagner isn't there," George said. + +There were no signs of light as the two detectives scrambled up the +little slope which lay between the bottom of the gulch and the entrance +to the cavern. The faint smell of burning wood reached their nostrils, +but no one was in sight. They stepped inside boldly. + +Following along behind, more as a matter of curiosity than because they +felt obliged to do so, the boys saw the detectives standing in the +twilight of the place looking about. Then they saw them drop their arms +to their sides, heard the clatter of revolvers upon the rocky floor and +realized that something unexpected was taking place inside. + +Directly the detectives came out to the entrance and sat down on the +hard floor, their backs against the south wall. The boys looked them +over with pleased eyes, and Tommy went so far as to wrinkle his freckled +nose at Katz, who frowned savagely but said nothing. + +"Look here, you fellows," Katz finally blurted out. "I want you to +understand that you're getting yourselves into trouble." + +"Is that so?" came a hoarse and scornful voice from the darkness. + +"I'm Detective Katz, of the Chicago force," continued the officer, "and +I command you, in the name of the law, to return our weapons and let us +depart in peace!" + +"And I guess you don't know who we are!" came the voice from inside. +"We're Red Mike of the Gulch and Daring Dan of the Devil's Dip, and +we're out for blood! When we're at home in the Bad Lands, we feed on +rattlesnakes!" + +"Say," Tommy whispered to George, "that ain't so bad, is it? Those +fellows know they've got the detectives buffaloed, and they're piling it +on. I'll bet if we sat a little nearer, we could hear the detectives' +teeth rattle!" + +"The robbers certainly have a sense of humor," grinned George. + +In a moment two muscular, bearded figures came out of the cavern and +stood facing the two detectives. The boys at once recognized the men as +the ones who had ridden so fiercely by their campfire on the night of +their arrival. Tommy was certain that one of the men was the person who +had been waiting for supper at the camp when informed of the presence of +the detectives. + +"Do you belong with this bunch?" one of them asked. + +The boys held up their handcuffed wrists. + +"Who's got the key?" demanded the outlaw. + +Cullen held out a ring of keys and the robber promptly used one of them +on the handcuff. When the manacles dropped from the boys' wrists, he +threw the ring of keys into the gulch and tossed the handcuffs in the +same direction. + +"I've claimed all along that you boys belonged with these train +robbers," Katz gritted as the handcuffs rattled down the slope. + +"And now we know it!" Cullen cut in. + +The two boys leaned against the north wall of the cavern and shook their +sides with laughter. The fright of the two detectives was so absolute +that it was pitiful. + +"You certainly are a bum pair of detectives!" Tommy said. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AN UNDERGROUND CHANNEL + + +Following along behind the two sheriffs and their deputies, Will and +Chester finally came to the cavern which by mutual consent the boys now +called the Cave of the Three Bears. + +"Tommy was headed for this place!" exclaimed Will. "It's a mystery to me +where George disappeared to so suddenly. Of course, we didn't see enough +of his wig-wag to know what he intended to say, but we understand +there's something amiss." + +"There are plenty of caverns here in which one may hide," Chester +answered. "There is one just north of this which has several good-sized +rooms. Father and I thought of moving to that one." + +They passed into the Cave of the Three Bears and found that one hide had +been partly removed, and that a huge piece of meat had been taken away. + +"I guess Tommy's been here all right!" Will suggested. + +Chester stooped down and examined the carcass carefully. + +"No," he said. "Tommy wanted the three skins for rugs. He never cut the +hide like that to get at the meat." + +"No, he wouldn't do that," Will admitted. + +"Father may have been here," suggested Chester. + +"We should have stopped at the cave where you two formerly lived," said +Will. "For all we know, your father may be hiding there now." + +"I know it," replied Chester, "but we came on so fast and in such a +state of excitement that we didn't think of doing so." + +"Well, we mustn't let the others get too far ahead of us," Will +suggested. "They must be quite a ways off now!" + +"Don't you think we can do a better job with them out of the way?" asked +Chester. "They go roaring along like a herd of elephants." + +"I presume we can," replied Will. "Anyway we can make an investigation +of our own and then go back to camp. Sandy is alone there with his +wounded shoulder, and almost anything is likely to happen." + +"We'll go into the cave I spoke about a moment ago," Chester said, "and +examine it thoroughly with the searchlights." + +"What's the idea of that?" asked Will. + +"Well, Tommy and George are in some one of these caves. They may be +hiding from us or they may have been captured by the train robbers. If +they are hidden away, they're quite likely to be in the large cavern I +spoke of. It won't do any harm to look through it." + +"Why, that must be the cave where we saw the three men last night!" Will +exclaimed. "I have an idea that the three men we saw were the two train +robbers and your father." + +"That was my idea at the time," the boy replied, "but now I can't quite +make up my mind that father would tie up with such a bunch." + +"Bless your innocent soul," grinned Will. "Your father couldn't help +associating with them if they insisted upon it! I can see no reason why +they should want to molest him, but one can never account for the mental +processes of train robbers." + +"I believe this is the same place!" Chester cried as they stepped +inside. "You know father often talked about moving to this cave, and +I've got an idea that he knows more about the locality than I do." + +"In what way?" asked Will. + +"Well, I think he found some secret passage here. I believe he knows how +to enter and leave this cavern without being seen. This whole ridge, you +know, is honeycombed with caverns and tunnels. I have been told," the +boy continued, "that the gorge and the valley to the east formed the +basin for a great lake, hundreds of years ago, and that the water seeped +through the limestone rock until there wasn't much left of it in some +places. There are certainly plenty of caves here!" + +"I should say so!" replied Will turning on his searchlight. + +"Look here," Chester went on, "that would be a reason for the train +robbers hanging to father, if they found him, wouldn't it?" + +"I don't understand," replied Will. + +"Why, if father knows a lot of passages and hiding places and empty +river channels, in this section, he's just the man the train robbers +would want to tie to." + +"I understand now," Will replied. "And you remember, too," he continued, +"how mysteriously the three men disappeared last night? Why, they got +out of sight as quickly as if they had been painted on a slate and +rubbed out." + +"That's a fact!" replied Chester. + +"There's one thing about it," Will argued, "the train robbers won't dare +to go on into the bad lands, for they have no supplies, and their horses +must be about used up. By remaining here, they may be able to steal +supplies and, possibly get out to Lander and buy some." + +"I guess we've got it doped out all right," Chester answered. "All we've +got to do now is to go on and see whether we have or not." + +The boys pressed on to the back of the first cavern and turned to the +right into one which ran parallel with it. Their lights showed that a +fire had been built in the tunnel connecting the two. There were also +empty tin cans and cardboard food packages scattered about. + +"This looks like population," grinned Will. + +"Isn't this the spot from which the men disappeared?" asked Chester. + +"Unless I am much mistaken," Will returned, "the three men were in front +of a fire in this tunnel. Say, but they did get out of sight quick, +didn't they? It was like the scene from the Black Crook." + +"Then the passage they crawled into can't be far away," Chester +volunteered, "at any rate, right here's where we want to make our +search!" + +"There's no knowing where this wrinkle leads to," Will said as the +lights pierced the narrow channel. "If we get down there, we may never +be able to get back." + +"Father must have known of this place," Chester said, "and that's why he +talked about moving our camp here." + +"Well, if he used the passage, we certainly can!" replied Will. + +"Are we going down now?" asked Chester. + +"I'm game for it." + +"Well, then, wait a minute!" + +Chester ran to the entrance of the cavern and looked up and down the +gorge and valley. When he returned there was a worried look on his face. +He pointed to the dry channel and said: + +"We may as well be getting down there. There's some one coming." + +"Who is it?" asked Will. + +"I couldn't distinguish faces," was the reply. + +"Wasn't George and Tommy, was it?" + +"No, two men. They're coming along fast, so we may as well get under +cover. We don't know where we're going, but we're on our way," he smiled +as he dropped down on his hands and knees and scrambled backward into +what had once been the channel of a mountain stream. + +Will followed in a moment and, after trying his best to draw the boulder +into place, scrambled on after his chum. + +"Did you get the rock fixed?" asked Chester as they came together on a +little level place probably thirty feet down. + +"Couldn't budge it!" was the reply. + +"Well, then, we'll keep on going." + +"Je-rusalem!" exclaimed Will. "I believe this thing runs clear through +the ridge. And that would make it something like a mile long!" + +"Of course it does," Chester answered. "This ditch was cut by water, and +the water had to find an outlet somewhere." + +"If your father knows all about this underground network of caverns and +channels," Will said in a moment, "we'll have a happy old time finding +him! He can dodge us here for a month." + +"And those officers will have a fine old job getting the train robbers, +too," Chester chuckled, "if they're acquainted with this underground +system of highways. It strikes me," he went on, "that these train +robbers have been here before." + +"That may be!" answered Will. "In fact, it, occurs to me that your +father searched out all these subterranean roads and rooms and showed +them to the train robbers." + +The boys proceeded downward for some distance and then stopped in a +tolerably large chamber to rest and investigate. + +"There's no use of our going on until we know whether the fellows you +saw are coming in here," Will reasoned. + +"I'm going up to the top again," said Chester, "and see what's going on +there! The fellows I saw may be coming in." + +Will waited for a long half hour for the boy's return, and when at last +Chester slid down to him his face showed that he was frightened. + +"They've got the combination to this channel all right!" he said. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +CULLEN LOSES HIS STAR + + +"So these are the detectives, are they?" asked one of the train robbers, +as the two men crouched against the wall of the cavern. + +"That's what they say!" answered Tommy. + +"What were they doing to you?" + +"They had us pinched." + +"What for?" + +"They said we belonged to your gang." + +The bandit laughed hoarsely. + +"To our gang?" he said. "The perfectly correct gentleman of the road +never has a 'gang'. He believes thoroughly in the old theory that 'he +travels fastest who travels alone'." + +"So they pinched you for being associates of ours, did they?" asked the +other outlaw. + +"That's what they said," replied Tommy. + +"And that was the truth, too!" roared Katz. + +"You seem to know all about these boys, and they know all about you. +You've been seen at their camp, and one of the boys at the camp stole my +property, too!" he went on with another roar of indignation. + +"Chester stole his official star!" chuckled Tommy. + +"That's a pious notion, too?" laughed the outlaw. "Have you got a star, +too?" he asked, stepping up to Cullen. "If you have, hand it over. I +don't think you're fit to wear a police badge!" + +Cullen handed his star over with a scowl, and the outlaw passed it to +Tommy. The boy put it in his pocket with a grin at the detective. + +"Did you fellows have the nerve to come in here after us?" asked the +robber. + +"We came in after an escaped convict," was the reply. + +"Did you get him?" + +"Not yet, but we will get him." + +"Well, I'd advise you both to go back home before the escaped convict +comes up and steals your necktie. You're not large enough to be out +alone after dark." + +"We're going to take that escaped convict back with us," Katz boasted. +"We'll get him if we stay here a year." + +"We'll give you two days to get him," grinned one of the outlaws. "We'll +turn you loose for two days. If you catch him in that time and get out, +very well. If you don't catch him in that time, you'll get out anyhow. +You stiffs are attracting altogether too much attention to this part of +the country. It's getting so an honest train robber can't get a good +night's sleep." + +The outlaw pointed to the gulch below and motioned for the fellows to +move along. They started but looked back pleadingly. + +"Can't we have our guns?" Katz asked. + +"And our badges?" pleaded Cullen. + +"No," replied the outlaw. "You might injure yourself with the guns, and +the badges are no good anywhere outside of Chicago. If you don't get out +right now, we'll handcuff you to a tree and let the bears feed on you. +You don't look good to us anyway." + +"Look-a-here," Tommy said to the two outlaws as the detectives +disappeared down the gulch. "Do you know that every person in the state +of Wyoming will be believing that we really belong to your crowd if this +thing keeps up? We're much obliged to you for bluffing the cowboys last +night, and getting us out of the handcuffs just now, but you're getting +us into trouble just the same." + +"Any time we get a chance to bluff an officer out of a captive, we're +going to do it!" laughed one of the outlaws. "We're not asking you +whether you like it or not. We're pleasing ourselves in what we're +doing." + +"And here's another thing," the other outlaw said, with something like a +scowl. "We've got the idea that you wouldn't be doing as much for us as +we've been doing for you. The men who came in here to hunt us down make +their headquarters at your camp. If you go back to your friends now, +you'll tell them where you saw us, and describe everything that's taken +place. Therefore, we're not going to let you go back to your camp right +away. You're going to be our guests for a time." + +"What's the good of that?" demanded Tommy. + +"That's our business," replied the outlaw. + +"We'll never mention you to our crowd," George added. + +"Anyway," the outlaw insisted, "it's safer for us to keep track of you +two kids. I'd rather have a dozen Chicago sleuths after me than three or +four husky little Boy Scouts." + +"Say," Tommy asked with a grin, "do you remember those plays where a +shrinking maiden would be in the center of the stage one minute and be +grabbed by the villain the next, and be grabbed back by the hero in the +next, and be grabbed back by the villain in the next, and be grabbed +back by the hero for the final curtain?" + +"I remember something like that," said the outlaw with a laugh. + +"That's us!" grinned Tommy. "That's George and me! We're here to be +captured by cowboys, and bum detectives, and bearded train robbers, and +I don't know what form our imprisonment will take next." + +"When we get back to Chicago," George went on, whimsically, "we're going +to write up a story of our capture by two bold, bad men who gave their +names as Red Mike of the Gulch and Daring Dan of the Devil's Dip or +something like that." + +"Say," Tommy cut in, "when you called those names out of the darkness +you certainly did have those detectives buffaloed!" + +"You're a pair of nervy kids, anyway," laughed the outlaw. + +"Oh, this is all right," laughed Tommy. "This will be one more +experience. We've been chased by smugglers over the Pictured Rocks of +Lake Superior, and we've been chased by alligators in the Everglades of +Florida, and now we've been geezled by the bold, bad men who held up the +Union Pacific pay car." + +"How do you know we did?" demanded one of the outlaws. + +"That's the dope that's been coming to us right along." + +"Well, come on," the other outlaw said rather impatiently. "We've got to +get out of sight! We can't expect to remain in the open in broad +daylight without being seen by some one." + +"Move along, boys," ordered the other. + +"Where?" asked Tommy. + +"Straight ahead." + +"But where are you going to take us?" + +"Oh, you'll know all about that soon enough," was the reply. "We've got +a place over here where we can keep our friends in seclusion." + +"It seems the place keeps you in seclusion," grinned George. "You've +been in here about as long as we have, and we've been captured numerous +times and you've never been taken at all. But you'll get it up your neck +one of these days," he added. + +"When we're captured," one of the men said grimly, "it won't be by a lot +of tin-horn detectives from Chicago." + +They all walked along for some distance, and then Tommy turned back and +faced the two outlaws. + +"If we've got far to go," he said, "I wish you'd stop in at some lunch +counter and order something to eat. I haven't had anything this morning +only wind sandwiches. I came out to get a piece of that bear meat for +breakfast, and I'm here yet." + +"And I came out to hurry you up," George cut in, "and I'm here yet!" + +"All right," laughed one of the outlaws, accepting the humor of the +request. "If we run across a free lunch sign anywhere, well take the two +of you in. We're hungry ourselves." + +"Have you got anything to eat in this secluded retreat of yours?" asked +Tommy. "If you have, we'll hurry up." + +"Not a thing!" was the reply. + +"Then we'll walk slow!" declared George. + +"Look here!" Tommy advised. "Why don't you go back and get some of that +bear steak. It's only a little way back to the Cave of the Three Bears, +and there's enough meat there to last the four of us a week if we can +only keep it from spoiling." + +"That's a bright idea," said one of the outlaws, stopping suddenly. +"Suppose we do go back and load up with fresh steak." + +"I'm for it!" answered Tommy, rubbing his stomach. + +They all walked back to the Cave of the Three Bears, and when they left +each carried quite a load of fresh meat. + +"Have you got a place to cook it?" asked Tommy. + +"Have you got any coffee?" asked George. + +"I think we'll have to let you boys go pretty soon," one of the outlaws +grinned. "If we don't you'll be apt to eat us out of house and home." + +"We're some on the eat!" Tommy announced. + +After a time the four came, without further incident, to the chain of +caverns which Will and Chester had entered some time before. + +They paused for a moment in the connecting tunnel, where the fire had +been built on the previous night, and inspected the boulder, which lay a +short distance from the opening to the dry channel. + +"He's been here and gone on in," one of the outlaws said. + +"Perhaps some one else has been here," the other suggested. + +"The man who showed us where to enter this labyrinth is the only man in +the mountains who knows anything about it!" declared the other. "I'm not +certain that we didn't leave the stone out of place when we left this +morning. But, if we didn't, our friend is certainly down stairs at this +minute! I'll drop down and see, anyway!" + +"Push the boys in first," advised the other. + +"What do you think of this for an elevator?" demanded Tommy as he backed +into the opening. "These fellows seem to be foolish--like a fox!" + +George followed Tommy into the tunnel as the latter dropped down, and +then the figure of one of the outlaws blocked the opening. + +For only a minute, however, for the boys heard a succession of pistol +shots, and then the sound of voices rang into the cavern they had just +left. + +The next instant the outlaws crowded into the tunnel, but instead of +dropping down, waited near the entrance, weapons in hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A MEETING UNDER GROUND + + +"Some one's got the combination to this channel, all right!" Chester +repeated as he joined Will in the larger cavern. + +"Did you see them?" asked Will. + +"Can't see anything," was the reply, "it's too dark!" + +"Then how do you know there's some one coming?" + +"We saw them coming toward the cave, didn't we?" asked Chester. + +"Look here," Will exclaimed. "Did you see any one entering the mouth of +this tunnel?" + +"When the mouth of the tunnel is clear," Chester replied, "there's a +faint mist of light visible. While I lay up there watching I heard +whispering voices and the entrance was blocked." + +"Perhaps they've rolled the boulder in front of it," suggested Will. + +"You don't like the idea of being caught like a rat in a trap any more +than I do," Chester said, "but I really believe that if we ever get out +of here alive, we'll have to head toward the west and make our exit on +that side of the range." + +"I'd like to know how many people know about this hiding place!" Will +grumbled. "If people walk out of the valley and drop down here, there +may, for all we know, be others in hiding further down." + +"That's a fact," Chester admitted. + +"I wish we knew who the people are who are entering the tunnel," Will +said. "It may be the robbers, or the detectives, or the sheriffs. It may +even be your father, for all we know." + +"Well, shall we move on down to see if we can find an outlet?" asked +Chester. "That seems to me to be the best thing to do." + +"It strikes me that that is the only thing we can do." + +The boys were moving on down the almost level floor of the chamber in +absolute darkness, for they did not consider it safe to show their +electrics when they heard a chuckle in the darkness. + +They drew up instantly and listened. + +"That's Tommy!" declared Will. + +"It can't be," replied Chester. + +"Don't you suppose I know that chuckle?" + +"Well, the boys weren't with the men I saw near the mouth of the +cavern," declared Chester. + +The boys listened again for some moments, and then caught sight of a +finger of light far up the slope of the tunnel. + +"That's a searchlight!" declared Chester. + +"It surely is," agreed Will. + +While the boys stood in the darkness, waiting and listening, they heard +a voice which they had no difficulty in recognizing as that of Tommy. + +"This is some basement stairway," the boy said. + +The next moment George's voice was heard. + +"We must be about nine stories under ground by this time," he said. + +There was silence for a moment and then Tommy was heard to ask: + +"What's become of our chaperons?" + +"There's something doing out in the lobby," the boys heard George say, +"and I guess they went back to defend their home and fireside." + +"I hope they'll get a couple of bullets in their domes!" declared +Chester. "They've helped us out several times, but they've never done it +because they wanted to do us a favor!" + +"Keep still a minute," Will suggested. "Let's hear what those boys are +saying. I'd like to know who they're talking about." + +"I haven't got much use for the detectives," they heard George saying, +"but I hope they'll get these train robbers and get them good and +plenty!" + +"So it's the train robbers!" exclaimed Will. + +"I don't believe the detectives will ever get within a mile of the +robbers," the boys heard Tommy say. "If anybody catches the outlaws, +it'll be the sheriff of Fremont county." + +"The man at the head of the cowboys?" they heard George ask. + +"That's the fellow!" Tommy replied. + +"He hasn't got 'em yet," George declared. + +"Oh, he's had hard luck, all right enough," Will and Chester heard Tommy +say, "but he's a nervy sort of a chap, and he'll take them out with him +when he goes." + +"That's the fellow that wanted to lynch us!" George grumbled. + +"That was a bluff!" Tommy said. "That's the kind of third degree +business they go into out in the mountains. I guess that was all a +by-play, anyhow. You don't catch no western sheriff lynching his own +prisoners. And this sheriff of Fremont county will just get even with +those train robbers for that hold-up!" the boy added. + +The boys listened intently for a short time, not daring to show their +light yet. From the conversation they had heard they understood that +their chums had been placed in the tunnel for safe keeping, and they +feared that their captors might appear at any moment. + +After a time two shots came from the cavern end of the dry channel, and +the close air of the place became almost stifling with the smell of +powder smoke. Then the two watchers heard George and Tommy scrambling +down to the place where they stood. + +Will flashed his light but instantly closed it. + +"Did you see that?" they heard Tommy ask. + +"Sure I did!" + +"What do you think it is?" + +"I give it up!" replied George. + +No one spoke for an instant and then the call of the Beaver came out of +the darkness. + +"Slap, slap, slap!" + +"Do you mind that, now?" asked Will. + +"I don't see how I could fail to recognize that!" Chester said. + +"Of course not," Will agreed. "That's the call of the Beaver." + +Will answered the challenge, and presently Tommy and George came +tumbling down the tunnel into the larger opening and landed almost at +the feet of their chums. In their joy at the meeting, the boys almost +hugged each other, which they would not have done in daylight! + +"So they got you, too, did they?" asked Tommy. + +"I should say not," answered Will. + +"But you're here, ain't you?" + +"Yes, but we came here of our own free will," Chester cut in. + +"How'd you ever find it?" asked George. + +"Just blundered into it," was the answer. "We were looking for father, +and thought we might find him in the cavern where the three men were +seen around the campfire." + +"So that passage out there is really the place where the mysterious +disappearance took place? Where the three men went up in the air?" + +"Where the three men came down into this dry channel!" corrected George. + +"Who were the three men?" asked Will. + +"If they leave it to me," George replied, "two of them were train +robbers and the third was Chester's father." + +"That's about the way we had it sized up," Will agreed. + +"By the way, Tommy," asked Chester with a slight chuckle, "where's the +bear meat you left the camp to get for breakfast?" + +"I've got it out here in the cavern!" replied Tommy. + +"Is that right, George?" asked Chester. + +"We sure have a lot of it out in the vestibule!" agreed George. + +"Let's see," Will said, nudging George in the ribs, "you went after +Tommy to bring him back, didn't you?" + +"Sure I did," answered George. "And I brought him back, didn't I?" + +"You didn't bring him back to camp," Will answered. + +"And you're the fellow who wig-wagged to us to come and escort the two +of you home," continued Will, addressing George with a laugh. + +"Sure I wig-wagged," replied the boy. + +"Then why didn't you stay there until we came up and tell us what you +wanted. You're a fine boy to wig-wag!" + +"Circumstances over which I had no control intervened," replied George. +"I got pinched." + +Then the story of the adventures of Tommy and George were told and Will +told of the doings of those who had left the camp in answer to the call +for help. + +"Then the sheriffs and their men are not far away?" asked Will. + +"Why, they must be in the cavern," answered Tommy. "When the train +robbers chucked us down into this dry sewer the sheriffs were entering +the audience chamber on the outside." + +"And where did the detectives go?" asked Will. + +"I don't think they've got done going yet!" replied Tommy. "The train +robbers took away their badges, and gave 'em two days in which to get +out of town. Gee!" the boy continued. "That sounds like Harrison street +station, don't it? Give 'em two days to get out of town. They make me +sick!" + +"So they're all centering around this little old ex-aqueduct," George +said. "In about five minutes the two sheriffs'll be crawling into this +old drain and taking the train robbers by the scruff of the neck." + +"I'd rather the sheriffs would lug the detectives out of the country," +Chester observed. "They're the people who are looking for father." + +"You want to keep mighty quiet about any one looking for your father," +Will advised. "We are sure to bunt into these two sheriffs before long +and if they know that your father is now regarded as a fugitive from +justice, they'll get him and ship him back to Chicago, all right!" + +"The sheriffs got held up by the train robbers," Tommy went on, "but +they can't be blamed for that, and they tried to put us through the +third degree when they thought we were in cahoots with the robbers, but +they're game all the same. If you ever see those fellows in action +you'll know there's something going on." + +"And we're going to see them in action right now!" cried George. + +A succession of shots came from the entrance to the old channel, and the +boys heard the defenders scrambling down toward the chamber where they +stood. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE FINDING OF WAGNER + + +"Good night!" cried Tommy. + +The heavy footsteps came on faster than before. The ping of bullets was +in the air, and the old channel was filling with powder smoke. Now and +then the flash of a gun lit the passage. + +"Me for the tall timber," Tommy went on, springing up the tunnel. + +"Here! Where are you going?" shouted Will. + +"There's a hiding place up here!" answered Tommy. "We saw it when we +came down! Me for the hiding place." + +"That's a fact!" Will exclaimed turning to Chester. "You remember the +old channel running in from the southeast?" + +"We'll have to get somewhere right soon!" Chester answered. "Perhaps +that is as good a place as any." + +Bullets singing down the narrow passage indicated that the sheriffs and +their men had already entered the subterranean channel from above. + +The train robbers were defending the passage heroically, but the +officers were coming bravely on. + +Directly the boys came to the lead which cut the south wall of the main +channel into the shape of a "W." They passed on up this dry channel just +as the train robbers, retreating step by step, came to the entrance. + +"Shoot to kill!" the boys heard one of the outlaws saying. + +"Do you know the way to the other end?" asked the second outlaw. + +"I've been told how to find it," was the answer, "but I never made my +way through it. Those sheriffs are game to come crowding into a hole +like this in front of two armed and desperate men." + +"You get up against the real thing when you strike a Wyoming sheriff," +the other outlaw declared. + +"Throw up your hands!" a heavy voice came from above. + +"Come and take us!" was the only answer. + +Another storm of bullets was followed by a groan of pain. + +"They got me!" the boys heard one of the men say. + +"They got me, too!" said the other. "It's a wonder we haven't been cut +into ribbons before this!" + +"All we can do now is to lay down and shoot as long as we've got +ammunition," the first speaker advised. + +"You may as well surrender, boys!" They heard Sheriff Pete's heavy voice +saying. "I'm coming down there after you!" + +The only answer from the outlaws was a volley of bullets, punctuated +with oaths. Tommy turned to Will with a low chuckle. + +"This seems to be a nice quiet Boy Scout excursion, doesn't it?" he +asked. "We come up on the mountains to have a pleasant vacation, and we +butt into a scene that wouldn't be admitted to the stage of any theatre +because the critics would say that it wasn't true to life!" + +"We certainly do strike life in the raw!" replied Will. + +"Are you going to surrender?" shouted the sheriff from above. + +"I'll bet they don't," whispered George. + +"You're on!" Tommy shouted. "I'll bet they do." + +The boys listened anxiously for the reply. + +"I'm coming down there now!" they heard Sheriff Pete say. + +"There isn't one man in a million who would dare walk into a trap like +this," Will mused. "I wonder if this sheriff we've been finding fault +with will have the nerve to do it." + +"You see if he hasn't got the nerve to do it," Tommy answered. + +The outlaws fired once more, and then the boys heard their weapons +clattering down the tunnel. + +"That's the stuff, boys!" the sheriff said. + +They heard him sliding and scrambling down the channel, and turned on +their flashlights. The sheriff paused with an exclamation of surprise, +but came steadily on in a moment, his deputies not far in the rear. + +"Throw up your hands there, you with the light!" cried the officer. + +"I ain't going to throw up my hands," Tommy called out with a chuckle, +"but if it'll give you any satisfaction, I'll throw up my job as a +man-hunter. I have no further use for it!" + +"That must be the Boy Scouts," the voice of the Sweetwater sheriff said. +"I wonder how they got here." + +As the officers came on under the rays of the searchlights, the boys +having now stepped into the main tunnel, the outlaws stumbled to their +feet and stood leaning against the wall. They were wounded in several +places and blood was flowing quite freely, but their jaws were set in +lines of determination. + +The sheriffs glanced keenly about and smiled as their eyes took in the +boys grouped together in the tunnel. + +"What about it?" asked Sheriff Pete. + +"That's a long story," Will answered. + +One of the outlaws now stepped forward, although he still held himself +upright by one hand on the wall. + +"You're a nervy chap, Sheriff," he said. + +"Turn and turn about is fair play!" replied the officer. "It isn't so +very long ago that you held me up." + +"Any man can hold up another when he has a loaded gun in his face," said +the outlaw. + +"It strikes me," the sheriff said, "that you'd better be removed from +this hole as quickly as possible. Your wounds probably need attention." + +"We're not sobbing about the wounds," was the reply. "The only kick +we've got coming is that our ammunition gave out." + +"You would have been taken in time!" was the reply. + +"I guess that's right, with a man like you on our track, I've been in a +good many tight spots but I never saw a man walk into a storm of bullets +and appear to like it as you have done today." + +"Never mind that now," the Sheriff cut in. "We're going to get you out +so you can do a little work for the state before you die." + +"Say," Tommy exclaimed as the officers and prisoners started to climb +the steep tunnel, "when you get to the top have one of the men start a +big fire. I'm so hungry that I could eat my way out of this rock like it +was cheese." + +"What you going to cook?" asked Will. + +"Bear steak," replied Tommy. + +"That's a joke!" declared Chester. + +"Joke is it?" exclaimed Tommy. "You wait till we get out there and see +whether it is or not. I went out after bear steak for breakfast, didn't +I? Well, I got it, didn't I?" + +"Breakfast!" repeated George, rubbing his Stomach. "It must be +afternoon, and I'm hungry enough to bite a corner off the Masonic +Temple." + +"One o'clock!" said Will, looking at his watch. + +"Are you boys really going to cook breakfast in the cavern?" asked the +sheriff. "Why not go to the camp?" + +"Because we can't walk to camp without first acquiring sustenance!" +chuckled Tommy. "I'm empty from the top of my head to the end of my big +toe!" + +"If you'll ask your men to gather a lot of dry wood," George suggested, +"we'll have a lot of bear steak ready to eat in about ten minutes." + +"But we haven't got any salt!" objected the sheriff. + +"Don't you think we haven't got any salt," Tommy replied. "You never saw +a Boy Scout go out into the woods without plenty of salt and matches. +And don't you think we don't know how to build a fire with one match and +broil a steak over coals in ten minutes." + +"All right!" laughed the sheriff. "You boys seem to be able to take care +of yourselves." + +"You didn't seem to think so a few hours ago," Will answered. + +"There's one thing about you boys I really like," the sheriff returned +with a hearty laugh. "The third degree makes about as much impression on +you as it would on the Sphinx or on the Goddess of Liberty in New York +harbor." + +"That was the third degree, was it, then?" asked Will. + +"Do you think I'd string up a lot of babies?" demanded the sheriff. + +"Run along, now!" Tommy exclaimed. "Run along, Mr. Officer, and tell +your men to bring up a lot of dry wood." + +The officers made their way out, followed by George and Tommy, but Will +and Chester still remained under ground. + +"Did you hear anything in this tunnel?" asked Chester. + +"I thought I did hear a moan, but the sheriff was talking in that voice +of his at the time and I wasn't certain." + +"Well," Chester said, "I believe father's in here somewhere." + +"Why do you think that?" + +"I've told you about how he wanted to move to this cavern, haven't I? +And how he spent considerable time here?" + +"You certainly have." + +"And about my suspicions that he informed the outlaws of the underground +passages?" + +"Yes, you told me all that." + +"Then you heard what the robbers said about some one having moved the +stone, or gone in during their absence?" + +"I had entirely forgotten that!" declared Will. + +"Well, then, don't you see," Chester continued, "that they must have +been speaking of father? That's why I think he's in here." + +"Perhaps we'd better follow this channel and see if we can find him," +Will suggested. "It does seem as if he might be here." + +The bed of the old channel was very steep, and the boys scrambled up it +with difficulty. After proceeding a few paces they heard a low groan and +their flashlight showed the figure of a man lying on a narrow ledge of +rock on the south side. + +Chester darted forward instantly, almost falling on his face in his +eagerness to reach his father and bent over the figure. + +"It's father!" he shouted back to Will. + +"Alive?" + +"I'm afraid not." + +Will lost no time in gaining the boy's side. + +The ex-convict lay with his face turned upward, his arms folded across +his breast. At first there were no indication of life. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SHERIFF PETE'S WINK + + +"He can't be dead!" cried Chester, trying to lift the still figure in +his arms. "The wound he received was not a serious one." + +"I'll tell you what I think," Will replied. + +"I think he's weak from lack of food and sleep I don't believe these +train robbers have been very considerate of him." + +"But I don't see why they should misuse him!" + +"They probably didn't have enough to eat themselves," Will returned. +"Don't you remember how one of them came to camp and set Tommy to +cooking for him, and how we frightened him away by saying that the +detectives were just beyond the circle of light?" + +"That was the night I was loitering around the camp waiting to get to +one of you boys in order to ask you to help me find father," Chester +replied. "Don't you remember you chased me up that night, and I ran away +in the darkness, and one of the boys came upon the train robber and the +other came upon one of the detectives." + +"That was Tommy and Sandy," Will answered. "George and I were asleep in +our tent when all that took place." + +"I guess he's about starved all right!" Chester said lifting his father +into a sitting position. "We'd better get some of the men down here and +have him carried into the cavern." + +"But look here," Will warned, "there mustn't a word be said about the +detectives coming in here after him!" + +"Why not?" asked Chester. + +"Because, as I have told you before, if the sheriff understands that +your father was a fugitive from justice, he'll send him to Chicago under +arrest. It will be his duty to do so, in fact." + +"And what do you boys propose to do with him?" + +"We're going to take him back to Chicago and keep him out of the reach +of the police. He knows something about a case we're interested in which +he will never tell if sent back to prison." + +"If he's sent back to prison," Chester replied, "you may be sure that he +won't be willing to help anybody." + +"He is innocent of the crime of which he was convicted, isn't he?" asked +Will. "In other words, he was jobbed!" + +"That's the truth!" cried Chester. + +"Well, what we've got to do is to prove that!" Will went on. + +"Can you do it?" asked the son, anxiously. + +"We think we can," was the reply. + +"If you can, father will do anything he can for you, you may be sure of +that," Chester answered warmly. + +"But the whole success of our scheme depends on our keeping your father +out of the clutches of the officers until we land him in Mr. Horton's +office in Chicago. For the first time in our lives," Will continued, "we +are opposing the officers of the law. As a rule that isn't a good thing +for Boy Scouts to do, but we think we are fully justified in the course +we are taking in this case." + +"What is it you want father to testify to?" asked Chester. + +"I don't think we'd better stop now to discuss that," Will answered. + +"I'm sure it can't be anything dishonorable." + +"It's nothing dishonorable," Will assured the boy. "We believe that your +father's testimony will save the life of a young man accused of murder. +That's all I can tell you now." + +"You refer to the Fremont case?" asked Chester. + +"Exactly!" answered Will. "To the Fremont suicide case." + +"The police call it the Fremont murder case!" + +"So you have been reading about that, too, have you?" asked Will. + +"I read about it in the newspapers on the day following what took place +at the bank," Chester answered, "and I couldn't help a feeling of +contempt for the police when I understood how wrong they were." + +"So you know about that, too?" + +"I know all about it!" replied Chester. + +Will could have hugged the boy. He had long been wondering whether the +testimony of Mr. Wagner would be accepted in court after the wound which +had rendered him mentally incompetent had been discussed by physicians. +He knew that in many cases men so injured never fully recovered. + +It seemed almost like a miracle that the escaped convict's son should +know something of the matter, too. The boy knew that even if Mr. Wagner +fully recovered from his injury the police would object to his testimony +on the ground of previous insanity. If the boy could corroborate the +statements made by his father, that would prove sufficient. + +Will was about to ask the lad further questions when the escaped convict +opened his eyes and looked about. + +His gaze sought the searchlight first, and then rested on the face of +his son. Chester drew nearer and bent over him. + +"Did I have a fall?" the man asked weakly. + +He put his thin hand to his head as he spoke and drew it away covered +with blood. + +"Why this seems to be a fresh wound," Chester exclaimed, anxiously. + +"Yes," replied the father, "I remember of hearing the sound of guns, and +sensing the odor of powder smoke, and started to run down the passage +and fell. I remember a shooting pain in my head and that's about all +until I heard your voices and saw the light." + +"Do you know where you are?" asked Will. + +The escaped convict looked inquiringly at his son. + +"Who is this boy?" he asked. + +"A friend who has come to establish your innocence," was the reply. + +"That is impossible," replied Wagner. "Every police official in Chicago +is convinced of my guilt. They jobbed me to prison in the first instance +and they are bound to keep me there!" + +"Who were the detectives?" asked Will. + +"Katz and Cullen!" was the answer. + +"I see," Will said musingly. + +"But we mustn't permit father to remain here," Chester cut in. "All +these questions can be answered at another time." + +"That's right," Will agreed. "And I'll go to the cavern and ask some of +the men to carry your father out." + +The boy was back in five minutes with Sheriff Pete and Deputy Seth. The +sheriff looked down pityingly on the wounded man for a moment and then +took him in his arms as if he had been a child and carried him to the +cavern, where the boys and the deputies were assembled around a roaring +fire over which Tommy and George were broiling bear steaks. + +"Say, that listens good to me," George exclaimed, as the wounded man was +laid down near the rear. "It appears that we're closing this case up in +jig time." + +"I guess we've got it about closed up," Will answered. + +"There's only one thing we've got to do now," George added, "and that is +to get rid of those two bum detectives." + +"Last call for dinner in the dining car!" cried Tommy. + +They all flocked to the fire, and Tommy and George presented each with a +bear steak with the explanation that more would be forthcoming. The two +train robbers looked on longingly. + +"You boys suggested the bringing in of this meat," Tommy said, after a +time, "and so I'm going to cook each of you a two pound steak." + +"I guess we can take care of them all right," one of the outlaws +replied. "We've been hungry for about a week." + +"Say, kid," the other outlaw cut in, "I'd like to be just your age, and +be a Boy Scout, with all the medals you've got, and money enough to +travel about the world looking for trouble and meeting it like a man!" + +"You had a chance once," Tommy answered rather pityingly. + +"Never," was the reply. "I was reared in the slums of New York, and +became a criminal before I was six years old. There were no Boy Scout +organizations in those days, and so I never had any one ready and +willing to point out the road that would lead to a successful life." + +"Well, if there were no Boy Scouts to help you along then," Tommy +replied, "there are plenty now to show the right way." + +"And they are doing it, too, so far as I can see," Sheriff Pete cut in. +"They seem to be doing a lot of good in the world." + +"We try to," Tommy said, and turned back to cook the steaks promised to +the outlaws. "And most of the time we succeed," he added. + +"What was it one of you boys said about these two detectives?" asked +Sheriff Pete, as he stood talking with Will, busy at the same time with +a slice of bear meat. + +"Why," Will answered, "I guess the remark was that the next thing for us +to do would be to get rid of those detectives. They think they own the +whole state of Wyoming." + +"Chicago men are they?" asked the sheriff. + +"Yes," was the answer. + +"Do they claim to be here on business?" + +"Why," replied Will in a hesitating tone, "they claim to be here after a +fugitive from justice, but I guess they're on a hunting trip." + +"If they're here on official business," the sheriff said, "I should +think they'd report to me." + +"It may be," Will suggested, "that they are in some way associated with +these train robbers." + +The sheriff looked at the boy with wide open eyes for a moment, and then +drew one eyelid down in a long, significant wink. + +"You really think they stand in with these outlaws?" he asked. + +"Why," replied Will, with an equally significant wink, "I think they +ought to be taken out to Lander or Green River and made to give an +account of themselves." + +"Come to think about it," the sheriff said, with a smile, "I've noticed +several suspicious circumstances lately, and I think it really might be +a good thing to take them to the county seat and make them give an +account on themselves." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +DETECTIVES IN TROUBLE + + +While the sheriff and the boy were talking, Katz and Cullen came +tramping angrily into the cavern. They stood regarding the sheriff and +his deputies with scornful glances for a moment and then, ignoring them +entirely, strolled up to where Will was standing. + +"You are under arrest," Katz said. + +"What for?" asked Will, as the others gathered around him. + +"For participating in the escape of a fugitive from justice." + +"Where is the fugitive from justice?" asked Will. + +"I can't place my hands on him at this moment," was the arrogant reply, +"but I'm going to know where he is before I permit these men to depart. +I've stood about all the impudence I care to." + +"What's that making all that noise?" called Tommy, from the fire. + +The two detectives turned toward the boy. + +"You are under arrest, too!" Cullen shouted. + +"Why don't you take some one of your own size?" asked Tommy. "Why don't +you go on and arrest some of these men?" + +"I'll do that if it's necessary!" Katz exclaimed. "And look here," he +went on. "I command you all to assist me in the capture of a fugitive +from justice named Warren W. Wagner, as escaped convict who is wanted in +Chicago for the crime of murder!" + +"Do you think this Wagner person is here?" asked Seth. + +"I haven't a doubt of it," was the angry reply. + +"Then, like a good little boy, you chase out and find him." + +"I'll find him quick enough," retorted Katz, advancing toward the spot +where Wagner lay. "I'll find him too quick to please most of you +fellows! Perhaps you can tell me who this man is." + +The Boy Scouts gathered about the detective and Chester even sprang +forward as if to defend his father from the officer's touch. It was +Sheriff Pete, however, who prevented the actual arrest of the escaped +convict at that time. + +As the two detectives moved forward, attempting to brush the boys rudely +aside, the sheriff seized Katz by the shoulder and swung him over to +Sheriff Gilmore. Then he grabbed Cullen by the scruff of the neck and +sent him spinning into the arms of Seth. + +"What do you fellows mean by coming here and taking possession of our +camp?" he thundered. "I'll teach you to get fresh around here! Put the +handcuffs on the fellows, boys!" + +One of the wounded outlaws raised himself from the floor and chuckled +viciously as the two men were adorned with the manacles. + +"Say," Katz exclaimed, trying to move toward the outlaws, "how did you +get here? I've a great mind to put you both under arrest for your +treatment of me a few hours ago." + +"You're under arrest yourself!" laughed the outlaw pointing to the +handcuffs. "You're a pretty skate to talk about arresting me." + +"I protest against this, sir," exclaimed Katz, turning to Sheriff Pete. +"I am Joseph J. Katz, detective of Chicago, and this is Edward E. +Cullen, my associate. We are here under protection of the laws of your +state, in quest of a fugitive from justice and I protest against this +outrage." + +"Where are your extradition papers?" demanded the sheriff. + +"We don't usually get extradition papers until we get the man," scoffed +Katz. "You ought to know that, if you're an officer." + +"I mean your authority from the Governor of Illinois," said Sheriff Pete +angrily. + +"You can wire to the Chief of Police at Chicago, and see if what we say +is not true," Katz answered. + +"But your papers," insisted the Sheriff. + +"They were to be forwarded to us," replied Katz. + +"I don't believe they're detectives at all!" Tommy cut in. + +"I don't think they have any authority to make arrests," Will said, with +a sly wink at the sheriff. "If they have, where are their badges?" + +"They were stolen!" shouted Katz. "These Boy Scouts took mine, and those +train robbers, who seem to be under arrest now, took Cullen's." + +"You want to look out when you come down into Wyoming," said the sheriff +with a chuckle. "I've known Chicago detectives to come down here and +have their socks stolen off their feet!" + +"Aw, they ain't detectives," argued Tommy. "They belong to this bunch of +train robbers. I saw 'em talking with the robbers not very long ago. You +just ask these robbers if these two men don't belong to their gang." + +As Tommy spoke he turned to where the two robbers lay and gave a very +grave and significant wink. + +"They belong to our gang, all right enough," one of the outlaws stated, +remembering various indignities they had received at the hands of +detectives. + +"That's a lie!" thundered Katz. + +"Lie nothing!" replied the outlaw. "These fellows brought in two burros +loaded with provisions for us, and we haven't been able to get to them +yet. If you go back in the valley to the west, and travel north a few +miles, you'll find where the burros and provisions are hidden away." + +Tommy drew nearer to the outlaw and under pretense of picking something +from the floor whispered in his ear: + +"We'll see that you get a year off your sentence for that. We've just +got to get rid of these imitation detectives." + +"I don't believe you can make it stick, Katz," the other outlaw cried +out, apparently in a very serious tone, although there was a wrinkle of +humor about his grim mouth. "When we started out to rob the Union +Pacific train you promised to see that we got provisions, and you didn't +keep your word!" + +The eyes of the two detectives stuck out, as Tommy afterwards expressed +it, far enough to hang a coat and hat on. They almost foamed with rage +as they stamped about the cavern, still linked together with the steel +handcuffs. + +"We're being jobbed!" Katz shouted. + +"It's a frame-up!" echoed Cullen. + +"Frame up nothing!" laughed one of the outlaws. + +"Do you mean to say," said Sheriff Pete, turning to the two prisoners, +"that these two men who claim to be detectives are actually connected +with your gang?" + +"That's what we'll swear to!" declared one of the outlaws. + +"Two years off for that!" chuckled Tommy in a low tone. + +"I tell you it's a frame up!" shouted Katz. "It's a dirty trick to get +us out of the state without arresting this fugitive from justice." + +"I'm sorry boys," Sheriff Pete said to them, with official gravity, +although there was a twinkle in his eyes, "but under the circumstances, +it's my duty to take you to Lander and give you a hearing before the +grand jury. Personally, I have my doubts as to the truth of the charges +made against you, but at the same time I've got to take ministerial +cognizance of them. I'm sorry, but it's my duty." + +"And in the meantime," yelled Cullen, "these Boy Scouts will get this +fugitive from justice out of our reach!" + +"I don't know anything about that!" said the sheriff, "but if they try +to do anything of that kind, I'm afraid they'll succeed." + +"Well," Gilmore, the Sweetwater sheriff said, "I presume we'd better be +moving along with the prisoners. If it's true that these two alleged +detectives, who now turn out to be train robbers," he added with a +glance at the boys, "have a camp with plenty of provisions at the north +end of the next valley, we'd better take the whole bunch there and get +the provisions and pack the whole outfit over to Lander with us." + +"Are you going back to camp now?" asked Sheriff Pete, turning to Will. + +"Just as soon as Tommy gets filled up on bear steak, I think we'd better +be moving." + +Sheriff Gilmore and the deputies now started away with the four +prisoners and the boys watched them sliding and scrambling down the +slope to the gully. + +Will reached out and took Sheriff Pete by the hand. + +"You're a brick!" he said. "You not only know how to do things, but you +know how to do them right. If you ever come up to Chicago, don't forget +to call on Lawyer Horton, and he'll tell you where we are." + +"I'll not fail to do so," the sheriff answered, "but, in the meantime," +he went on, "it ought to take about a week or two for these detectives +to establish their innocence, eh?" + +"I should say about two weeks," replied Will. "And see here," the boy +went on, "I hope you won't be too hard on those train robbers. They're +pretty decent fellows after all." + +"They're the first men that ever held me up!" laughed the sheriff. + +"Forget it!" exclaimed Will. + +"Oh, I don't lay that up against them!" the sheriff replied. "After +all," he continued, "they were careful not to injure any one on the +hold-up they're accused of, and I don't think they'll get more than five +or six years." + +The officers and the boys parted with feelings of mutual regret. They +had not had much faith or confidence in each other at first, but in the +end each group knew the worth of the other. The parting between the boys +and Seth was particularly heartfelt. Although Sheriff Pete had been +trying to reach information he sought in his own way, the deputy had +faced him down when he believed that the boys were to be lynched. There +was many a good laugh after that, in the room of the Sheriff at Lander. + +When at last the boys reached their camp and the two men who had brought +the escaped convict down had disappeared, Sandy came creeping out from +under a pile of blankets in one of the tents. + +"What do you know about that?" asked Tommy, pointing to the boy. + +Sandy yawned and rubbed his eyes. + +"Say, what time is it?" he asked. + +"Four o'clock!" replied Will. + +"Is it yesterday or today?" asked Sandy. + +"It's the day after tomorrow!" grinned Tommy. + +"Don't get funny, now," Sandy advised. "Whatever day it is, I've been +asleep ever since you boys went away." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +CONCLUSION + + +"You never have!" declared Tommy. + +"Honest!" replied Sandy. "I filled myself up with provisions and crawled +under the blanket and went to sleep just after you went away to get some +bear steak for breakfast. Did you get the steak?" the boy added with a +grin. + +"You bet I did," answered Tommy, "and I brought it back with me," he +added, stroking the waistband of his trousers. "How's your shoulder?" + +"Fine as a fiddle," was the reply. "I'm not going to have any trouble +with it after this! Did you find Chester's fond parent," he added, +glancing in the direction of the escaped convict. + +"Sure we did," replied Tommy. "And, do you know," the boy went on, "that +we needn't have bothered about finding him at all. Chester knows +everything about the Fremont case that the father does." + +"Is that right, Chester?" asked Sandy. + +"Now you come on over here to father," Chester said, "and we'll ask him +what took place in the private room of Fremont's bank that night, and +we'll see if his memory of the things which occurred there is the same +as mine." + +The boys now all trooped to the tent where Mr. Wagner had been placed +and Chester asked: + +"Do you know why these boys are here, father?" + +"To take me back to prison, I suppose," was the almost sullen reply. + +"They are here to establish your innocence," the son went on. "Do you +know why?" + +The father glanced keenly from his son to the others and finally asked, +his voice trembling with excitement: + +"Why should they take an interest in me?" + +"Because," Will broke in, "you can help us, and we want to help you. We +have information that you are innocent of the crime of which you were +convicted, and we believe that you have information which will prevent +the conviction of an innocent man." + +"Do you refer to the Fremont case?" asked Wagner. + +"Exactly," replied Will. "And I'd like to ask you now," the boy went on, +"before anything more is said, why you never communicated with young +Fremont's attorney. He advertised for you extensively, and you might +have held conference with him without subjecting yourself to arrest." + +"I saw the advertisement," was the reply, "but I thought it was only a +trap set by the police. I was determined not to go back to the +penitentiary. If I had been captured by the police, I would have killed +myself. I had no money, no influence, and it would have been impossible +for me to establish my innocence, so I decided to let young Fremont look +out for himself. I know now that I was wrong." + +"You were in the bank that July night?" asked Will. + +"Yes, I was there with my son," was the reply. + +The boys looked wonderingly at Chester. + +"What took place?" asked Will. + +"Fremont was working late in his private room, and the janitor and +nightwatchman were moving about the building, from the deposit vaults in +the basement to the ironclad room which enclosed the big safe. + +"I went there to see Mr. Fremont in order to secure financial help. He +had been an old friend of my parents, and I had every reason to believe +that he would assist me if I could get to him. After a long time I +attracted the attention of the night watchman, and he admitted me at a +side door on the request of Mr. Fremont." + +"Who else was in the building at that time?" asked Will. + +"No one that I know of," was the reply. "I stated my case to Mr. Fremont +in the presence of my son and he handed me one hundred dollars in small +bills, advising me to remain in hiding until I could arrange for a new +trial. He said when he gave me the money that the sum was more than he +had left, but that he would never again feel that he needed money. + +"I did not understand what he meant, and said so. He told me then that +he had been plunging heavily in Wall street. He said that he had lost +every dollar he had in the world, and that his interest in the bank +would be taken from him the next day unless a wealthy friend he was +depending on came to his assistance that very night." + +"Did he tell you the name of the man he expected there that night?" +asked Will. + +"He did," replied the escaped convict, "but I do not now recall the +name. I can't for the life of me bring it back to my mind." + +"The name," Chester interrupted, "was Myron M. Douglass." + +"A Chicago multi-millionaire!" exclaimed Will. + +"I asked Mr. Fremont what course he intended to pursue, and he replied +that there was only one thing he could do if the man he had appealed to +refused to aid him. As he told me this he opened a drawer in his desk +and pointed to an automatic revolver lying on top of a pile of papers." + +"And you left it lying there?" asked Will. + +"No," Chester answered, "I snatched the revolver out of the drawer and +brought it away with me. When we left the private room by the side door, +Mr. Fremont was standing beside his desk with a smile upon a very white +face. He said he had another revolver in another drawer, and would use +it if he did not hear from Mr. Douglass before midnight." + +"Did you believe him to be in earnest?" asked Will. + +"I did not think he would kill himself when it came down to the real +point." + +"Did you immediately leave the vicinity of the bank?" asked the boy. + +"No," replied Chester. "We walked about the building until after twelve +o'clock." + +"Did you hear any significant sounds?" asked Will. + +"Pistol-shots," was the reply. + +"Then you knew what had taken place?" + +"Yes, sir, we thought we did." + +"What next?" + +"While we stood at the side door of the bank, wondering what we ought to +do, Mr. Fremont's son came running up the steps. At first I felt +disposed to give him some intimation as to what had taken place, but I +hadn't the courage to do so. He opened the side door with a key and +entered, and we left the city and the state. We came here, and I was +dazed by a fall, but this last hurt has corrected the injury done by the +first one." + +"There you are!" said Will. "The case is closed. The Boy Scouts may as +well go back to Chicago now. There's one more mystery. Who built the +fire in your old cave?" + +"I did before the last fall," Wagner said. + +"Of course, we can stay here and fish and hunt if we want to," laughed +Will, "and I think it may be well to do so for a week or so, but right +now we have come to The Ending of the Trail." + +The boys spent two very pleasant weeks in Wyoming without further +annoyance. When they returned to Chicago, Wagner and Chester went with +them. The case against young Fremont fell to the ground as soon as the +testimony of Wagner and his son was taken, and the innocence of the +escaped convict was established so thoroughly to the satisfaction of the +police that he was never tried again. + +The boys saw both Wagner and Chester were provided with congenial +situations. After the boys had been in Chicago a couple of weeks they +met Katz and Cullen on Clark street. The detectives flamed red in the +face at sight of the boys, but were very humble when addressing them. + +"We have forgotten what took place in Wyoming," Katz said significantly. + +"And so have we," replied Tommy. "No one here knows anything about it! +It was rather a mean trick to play on you, but we had to do something to +get Wagner to testify in the Fremont case." + +"Forget it!" cried Katz, and the two went on their way, after receiving +their badges from Tommy. + +The boys had been in Chicago not more than a month when a letter from +the famous criminal lawyer brought them to his office again. + +"Are you boys ready to take a trip to the north?" he asked. "I want you +to go way up into the Hudson Bay country and do a little work that a +group of Boy Scouts can do better than any one else in the world." + +"Sure, we'll go!" answered Will. "We were saying last night that we were +getting tired of hanging around Chicago." + +The boys started away the very next day. What they saw and did on the +journey will be found in the next volume of this series entitled: + +Boy Scouts in Northern Wilds; or, The Signal from the Hills. + +The End. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Boy Scouts on the Great Divide, by +Archibald Lee Fletcher + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY SCOUTS ON THE GREAT DIVIDE *** + +***** This file should be named 31487.txt or 31487.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/4/8/31487/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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