CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE CAPTURE

A pleased signal from the detective now caused the happy scouts to race down the trail as if a wild grizzly was after them. Joan and Julie reached him first, and there they saw the nice little caché of food-stock that every man in Freedom had passed by while thrashing the bushes for the fugitives.

"Of all things! How did they get the time to do it so neatly?" asked Mrs. Vernon, seeing the logs and leaves and stones scattered over the boxes and tins of camp-food.

"They are experienced wanderers, I suppose, and most likely often had to hide their firearms and food from the secret police in Europe," returned the detective, beginning to drag out the packages and boxes.

"I can't understand how those men from Freedom, beating over this very ground, should pass by such a clue to the rascals. You see they can't live very long without food, so here we have them, while they may still be at large on the mountains," continued the policeman.

The girls were only too glad to carry their campstock back to the small hut and there left it in the custody of Mr. Gilroy, while they sought still further for blankets or bedding.

The Chief soon came down the trail and stopped at the camp long enough to hear about the recovery of the stolen food. Then, hearing that the detective was still out hunting for the bedding, he left the scouts to cook some supper.

As they worked to settle the camp again, Mr. Gilroy sat in the sun thinking. Suddenly he exclaimed, "I have it!"

"What?" cried four voices as they ran over to see if he had caught the vandals with his idea.

"The true story of this entire plot. Now, it is this way:

"Those blackguards saw your party drive Hepsy up the trail going to the Cave. Maybe they hid and heard you talk about the place. And they knew that if you explored the Caves you must find me and doubtless would endeavor to help me.

"They counted on that work taking you much longer than it actually did--for they know nothing about scouts and how they have to understand 'First Aid.' But they raced down the trail as fast as they could go, hoping to get away from this region before their new atrocity was published.

"Then they reached your camp and found the food-stuff and the other things. To prevent you from remaining at camp again it would be necessary to deprive you of food and furniture. So they carried everything off and hid it in the bushes where you wouldn't find it so easily. The food they covered, for that they wanted for themselves, in case they had to hide for a long time.

"They figured that it would take you some time to carry me down the hillside, and much longer to go on to Freedom. By that time they could be miles away over the mountain-top.

"But you upset most of their calculations by unexpectedly appearing on the scene with me, and then going right on down the trail. If we had passed a night here, or even delayed a few hours until darkness fell, perhaps we would never again have seen the day."

"Oh! You make me shiver, Mr. Gilroy," exclaimed Ruth.

"Don't shiver over a theory, Ruth! That's all it is, for Mr. Gilroy said so before he told his story," laughed Julie.

"Julie, you're right! Mr. Gilroy ought to have more sense than to theorize in such a fear-inspiring way," added Joan, trying to be jocular but feeling creepy.

"I beg your pardon, scouts--I am at fault, I see," said Mr. Gilroy, politely.

"I say, don't let's waste time theorizing and scolding each other, but do let us see that a nice supper is ready for the police when they come up the hill," said Betty.

"As usual, our Welfare Member is right," laughed Mrs. Vernon, patting Betty on the head.

But the two detectives failed to come back, and Mr. Gilroy began worrying about them. He thought it foolish for two men to go away like that, while the rascals were still at large.

Then Mrs. Vernon expressed an opinion. "Mr. Gilroy, I will make a motion that you be made to go to bed in the old hut. The spruce tips are made up in there, and you have had a wearing day. We should feel guilty if we had to telegraph a death notice to your friends in New York State."

"I second the motion!" exclaimed Julie.

"Motion made and seconded that our friend Mr. Gilroy be made to go to bed at once--without his supper," laughed Joan.

"Don't take a vote, scouts--I promise to be good!" cried Mr. Gilroy, holding up a hand in protest of the unanimous vote about to follow.

"Then say 'nighty-night' and go at once," added the Captain.

"I suppose I must even though the sun has not yet set, but what is one poor man to do with five domineering scouts about him?" sighed he, in mock obedience.

Having given their guest some supper and then shown him to his room and seen that the candle was safely stuck in an empty bottle, the scouts said good-night and returned to the fire, where the Captain still sat thinking.

"Girls, I want you all to sit in the new hut with me, if you don't mind," whispered Mrs. Vernon.

"Why--are you frightened, Verny?" asked Julie, while the others looked apprehensively about.

"I feel that it is all so open out here, and the two detectives never came back. In the hut we will have log walls, at least."

"Come on--hurry up, girls," cried Ruth, running over towards the door.

"If only we had some revolvers," said Julie.

"If only I had had more sense than to give in to your coaxing! I might have known this was no place for us," snapped Mrs. Vernon, angry with herself.

When the campers were seated upon the boards they had placed across the damaged seats, Betty asked timidly:

"Verny, are we going to bed to-night?"

"You scouts will, but I will sit up all night."

"Then we shall too, Verny. Not that we want to disobey you, but you must not ask us to do anything you would not do yourself," said Julie.

"But you will grow drowsy later on, girls, and I want you to have as much rest as possible," explained Mrs. Vernon.

"I'm sleepy now, Verny; if I only had a pillow I could be off in dreamland in a moment," confessed Betty.

"Here--lean your head against my shoulder, Betsy," said Julie, placing an arm about her sister.

But the dreams suddenly disappeared when a stealthy creeping of footsteps seemed to come from the doorway of the old hut. Every one gazed spell-bound at the open door, and Mrs. Vernon could just summon courage enough to say quite loudly:

"Is that you, Chief? Mr. Gilroy is in the small hut!"

She knew the sound of her voice would break the spell of fear that held them all. Then Mr. Gilroy's voice came back:

"S-sh! It is me--myself!"

"What's the matter?" anxiously whispered five voices.

The very actions of Mr. Gilroy now filled the scouts with fear, for he leaned over and in such a low whisper as to be hardly distinguishable, said: "Some one's behind the wall of this hut."

It was well that at this moment a muffled curse sounded from the wall at the back of the hut, where it was built up to meet the rocky ledge of the mountainside. The scouts instantly felt their courage revive when they knew where to look for the danger.

A hoarse whisper was now plainly heard through the chinks of the wall where the clay had been plastered in.

"Agh! now you must mek a noise aut get us pinched in agin!" The voice was gutteral and spoke with a strong foreign accent.

"But dis foot is crusht allreatty. I can't stant it anudder minute. I'm better off in jail dan widdout a foot!"

Mr. Gilroy now placed his mouth close to Julie's ear and whispered: "You and Joan take the flashlight and creep out of here as noiselessly as possible. Run for your lives down the trail and give the signal the police determined upon. Here is a whistle. Blow it three times with but a moment's interval between--then, if it is not answered, blow again. Keep this up until you get an answer."

"Supposing the two policemen are not down that trail?" asked Julie, as softly as could be.

"They will be--because now we know they are not killed. We have the two fugitives in behind that wall, and I want to keep them there until the police get here," said Mr. Gilroy.

Julie and Joan then crept away, and Mrs. Vernon heard Mr. Gilroy's voice close at her ear explaining where they went.

"You see, the convicts cannot get out of there without our seeing them. In that case I will use my automatic revolver," added Mr. Gilroy.

"Oh! I didn't know you had one," sighed the Captain in great relief.

"Yes, and I was about to say that you and the two girls had better creep out and get under the heap of spruce tips that is piled in the old hut, while I sit here and guard the wall," Mr. Gilroy returned.

Ruth and Betty refused to leave him, however, so the four sat and waited in the darkness.

After a long interval of absolute silence, a shrill whistle was heard down the trail. Then a voice behind the wall said: "D'ye t'ink enny one's got a clue?"

"Try to see thu dat crack in de wall--see ef yuh kin see any light in dat room?"

"Not a flicker--black as pitch out dere."

"Dat shows dey's gone, 'cause no woman'll sit in de dark widda coupla o' convicks loose in de woods," harshly laughed one.

"I wisht you'se coul' help lift me foot outen dis hole what's eatin' me heart out," groaned the man who evidently had injured his foot.

"S-she! Dere goes dat whistle agin. Mebbe dem cops is comin' back dis way."

"Ef dey come back, it's ours fer keepin' mum agin. We cain't git away, yuh know, wid my foot lame. An' dey'll never tink of lookin' behin' dis wall fer us ef we kin shet up an' stan' it."

"No, but we woulden' have t'ought of it ourself ef it hadn't ben fer dat crookit chimbly. It war so easy to climb dat an' slide down here behin' de wall," chuckled the other one.

Mr. Gilroy gently touched the scouts to keep silence, and all four listened with nerves a-tension.

"Wisht we onny hed a gun--den we coul' put up a fight ef any one gits on to dis hidin' place," said one of the voices, after a silence that had followed another shrill whistle in the woods.

"Dem cops is havin' fun widda whistle. But dey kin whistle fer all we care." A chuckle expressed the satisfaction the man felt.

Then an answering signal whistled close to the hut, and one of the prisoners said to his pal: "Gee! Dey's closer'n I t'ought. Keep mum, now, en don't groan enny when dey's in hearin'."

Another whistle from the trail echoed to the hut, and Mr. Gilroy got up and ran out. He met two of the returning policemen just outside, and drew them away so that he could tell them of the discovery without being overheard by the convicts; for he had learned how the slightest sound echoed in the forest silences.

The men quickly planned how they could catch the convicts, but how should they force them out from behind the wall of the hut?

"We'll have to chop down the log wall," said one.

"It will take all night and before we get it down our men may have crept out and escaped," said the other.

"We'll have to wait for the Chief and his companion to join us, so that two of us can sit on the roof and guard the hole where these men crept through to get in back there," said Mr. Gilroy.

A dancing flashlight seen through the forest trees along the lower trail now told the three anxious men that the girls had found the Chief and his men and were returning.

Soon the Chief was in an earnest conference with his men and Mr. Gilroy, while the two scouts crept in to whisper a plan to the Captain.