CHAPTER XXV.

SURPRISING CHARLIE.

Sebattis was quietly creeping, foot by foot, along the wall of the cabin. Giraffe realized that it was the intention of the guide to make his way along the side, so as to command the front, where the only exit could be found. This they must cover, if they expected to hold the situation.

Old Eli had pushed up alongside the Indian. He seemed to feel that if it came to a case of holding the hoboes up, the desperate rascals would be more apt to surrender if they saw two determined men in the front rank of those who covered them with their guns, than if they believed the whole posse to be made up of inexperienced half-grown Boy Scouts.

Of course this started the others moving also, since no one felt like being left behind. Being close to the wall, it was possible for them to hear what was being said within; for the two men did not speak in anything bordering on whispers. They did not dream of the danger that was hovering over their heads; and the finding of the bundle, apparently undisturbed, seemed to make them both happier than they could have been for some time.

When they reached the corner of the cabin the creepers turned it. Now they had to remember that the little window was here, and that if one of the new inmates of the hut chanced to thrust his face close up to the wonderful sash that had survived all these years of cold and heat, there was danger that they would be discovered, should one of them stray from the wall.

Giraffe was listening to what the men were saying. Somehow there seemed to be a sort of strange fascination about playing the part of eavesdropper in a case like this. But he did not allow himself to get so deeply interested as to forget all idea of caution.

The man with the great, heavy voice he guessed must be the leader, who went by the name of Charlie Barnes. He it had been, Thad and Allan had declared, who led the flight of the hoboes through the great Maine woods. And it had been this fact that seemed to convince the scoutmaster Charlie must at one time have been playing the rôle of guide in these same woods.

Apparently he had not bothered undoing the bundle then, for there was no trace of anger or bitter disappointment in his tones, such as must have been the case had he learned of the cheat.

“How’s the leg, Kimball?” he was asking.

“Hurts pretty bad, let me tell you,” came the reply; “and the worst of it is, I can’t get the bleed to stop. If this keeps on, I’ll keel over soon; I’m feeling that weak, Charlie.”

The man with the bass voice said something that sounded like strong language. At first Giraffe feared he had taken a notion to open up the package, and learned of the cheat; but when he spoke, this proved not to be the case.

“That’s hard luck, ain’t it, Kimball?” he went on. “The only feller in our bunch thet knows a blamed thing about the doctor game, he’s gone an’ took sick hisself, an’ is alyin’ thar under thet ledge, whar we’ve hed to camp out ever since larnin’ thet them hunters was occupyin’ this here cabin. But after I’m rested a bit, tell you what I’ll do—you lay around and take it easy, while I hike back and bring my brother-in-law here. He’s on’y a light weight, an’ I guess as how I kin kerry him on my back. Won’t be the fust heavy pack I’ve toted over the Maine carries, believe me.”

“All right, Charlie,” said the other, who possessed a high voice, exactly the opposite of that belonging to the big leader. “And p’raps, now, Dick might be in one of his lucid turns, so he could tell me what to do to stop this pesky bleed. I never knowed what a crazy job it was till now, not to understand the first thing ’bout stoppin’ blood from flowin’ from a wound.”

“Sho! thet’s nawthin’. I’ve seen a logger bleed right to death ’cause nobody had any ijee how to do that same. You’d think loggers, of all men’d larn sech tricks. Likewise, you’d expect sailors would every one of ’em know how to swim; but they don’t, in half the cases.”

“Say, Charlie, what we goin’ to do?” asked the wounded man, fretfully.

“What d’ye mean by askin’ thet, Kimball?” demanded the other.

“Supposin’ I get in trim to move in a day or two, how long must we hang out in these here diggings, to take care of Dick?” Kimball asked.

“Wall, I want to do the right thing by the pore critter,” replied Charlie, reflectively. “You remembers that he’s my wife’s brother. But in course thar’s got to be a limit. We’re in danger every minit we stays here this side the border. An’ with thet thar sheriff pokin’ ’raound every which way, tryin’ to locate us, it’d be crazy fur us to hang out here long.”

“Put a limit on the time, Charlie. He ain’t any relation of mine, you see, and I just don’t feel like taking chances on twenty years to oblige your wife’s brother. P’raps I couldn’t make it just as well without you, but I know which is north, an’ that safety lies that way; so I’d just keep on travelin’ till I learned I was over the line in Canada.”

“I tell you what, Kimball,” said the other, after a pause, “we’ll give the poor feller till to-morry night. If he ain’t better then, we jest got to leave hyar by the next mornin’ sure. The best we kin do is to fix him comfortable like, with a plenty o’ water and grub handy, and let him take chances. Now, as I hev got my hands on this hyar bundle o’ stuff again, I jest don’t feel like bein’ caged.”

“That’s all right, Charlie,” replied the other. “I don’t like to desert a man any more than you do; but what’s a fellow goin’ to do? We’d all get caught if we hung out here too long. As it is, we can send the sheriff word when we’re safe over the line, and he’ll find Dick. They ain’t got much on the boy, you know; and if he’s sent up at all, it’d only be for a few years.”

By this time Giraffe himself was crawling past under the little window. He knew that he must be making more or less of a rustling sound while moving along; to his ears all trifling things were magnified immensely; why, he could even hear the pounding of his rapidly beating heart, and wondered if it was calculated to catch the attention of those within the cabin.

However, he realized that several things were acting in his favor. In the first place the wind made more or less of a constant rustle through the tops of the tall pines, and this in itself would have deadened other sounds. Then again, the fact of the two hobo yeggs talking together acted as a buffer, since they were not so likely to keep their ears on the alert for suspicious noises from without.

There were Sebattis and Eli turning the last angle now. That must bring them to the front of the cabin, where they could crouch down behind some of the shrubbery that Giraffe remembered grew on that side. Doubtless the keen-witted Indian had this very fact in mind when he chose to pass along to this side of the door, rather than take the other route; as Giraffe realized he must have done, simply because in that case he would not have to pass under a window at all.

Did they mean to suddenly spring into the cabin, and cover the men before they could snatch up their guns? Giraffe hoped not, for in that case the rest of them might not have any share at all in the winding up of the affair; and all the glory would pass to Sebattis, Eli, and perhaps Thad and Allan.

But then, the fact that the leaders were now crouching there would seem to indicate that just then at least there was no intention of going further.

So Giraffe, also pulling his long figure forward, found a place where he too could stretch out, and with his gun in his trembling hands, wait for the next move in the game.

Now he remembered what the man with the heavy voice had just said about meaning to start out after the sick member of the trio, after he had recovered his wind. That looked as if Sebattis might be laying for him there. And when he stepped into the open, doubtless the two guides expected to suddenly spring to their feet, at the same time cowering him by leveling their weapons.

Giraffe realized that perhaps this was rather queer business for a Boy Scout to be in, rounding up desperate law breakers; but if Thad thought it all right, why, there could be no objection.

Some one pushed up against him, and twisting that wonderful neck of his, Giraffe was able to see that it was Step Hen, who in turn had arrived, and taken his position in the line.

Davy was last of all to reach the shelter of the clump of brushwood, but he came working his way along on his stomach, and pushing his shotgun ahead of him as best he knew how; though the chances were he filled the muzzle with dirt in so doing, and took chances of having a barrel burst, should he try and discharge the weapon before cleaning this out.

Well, they were all there now, and only waiting for Charlie to be accommodating enough to put in an appearance. It could not be for long; though with his nerves all keyed up to concert pitch, Giraffe thought the seconds were weighted down with lead, they passed so slowly.

There, was that a movement at last within the cabin? Some one was certainly crossing the pine-covered floor with heavy steps. Still, it may have been the wounded man, limping to new quarters.

Again Giraffe allowed himself to draw in some of the cool air; for in that second of strain he had actually stopped breathing.

The crisis was only delayed a little, and was sure to come along before a great while. He realized that those after whom he patterned were taking it calmly; and if they could wait, surely he had no right to show impatience. Many a plan doubtless owed its success to this quality of being able to restrain hasty action; why, Giraffe remembered a saying to the effect that “everything comes to him who waits.”

Well, there it was again, and this time surely it must be Charlie starting up. The heavy boom of his voice could be heard, showing that he was even then advancing toward the open door.

“I guess I ought to be back again inside an hour, Kimball; an’ if so be you kin wait thet long, p’raps Dick, he mout be in trim to tell you what to do ’bout thet leg o’ yourn. Take it as easy as you kin while I’m gone, and make up yer mind as things is bound to move along arter this as slick as grease, believe me.”

A bulky figure stepped out of the door. Sebattis waited until he had taken as many as five steps away, his object being to prevent the man from bolting back into the cabin, where he could defend himself with some chance of success.

Then, as though by some preconcerted signal, the two guides, together with Thad and Allan, suddenly arose, and swung their guns to their shoulders. Thinking that this was an invitation for them to get busy, the other three scouts also scrambled to their feet, and followed the example of their leaders.

And that was the astonishing sight the hobo yeggman saw, as he turned his head upon hearing the noise made by the boys in gaining their feet.