Part 9

“No, I thought of it, but after all, I didn’t know but what the trucks had a right to be on that road. It could have been loggers?”

“How long did the truck remain on the private road?” Judy asked.

“So far as I know, it’s still there. I set up and watched until dawn. Since then, I’ve been rather busy.”

“If the truck is still on that road, we should check--” Kathleen suggested quickly.

“I think we should,” Miss Meadows agreed. “I’d have done it myself, only to tell you the truth, I was afraid to go alone.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” Judy backed her up. “When do we start? Right now?”

“No, finish your breakfast first,” Miss Meadows urged. “Such nice muffins shouldn’t be wasted.”

Their thoughts on the investigation before them, Judy and Kathleen ate quickly. Miss Meadows apologized for not having any milk to offer.

“I ran out yesterday,” she remarked, “and the new milkman always comes very late.”

“The new milkman?” Judy repeated, nearly dropping her knife. “What became of Bart?”

“I understand he’s given up his job. The new man told me that Bart quit because of something special he wanted to do before the start of college.”

“Something special,” mused Judy. “You know what I think! Bart quit so he could thoroughly explore Calico Cave!”

“Oh, dear, I hope not,” Miss Meadows murmured. “That sounds frightfully dangerous. You don’t think he’d explore very far alone?”

“I certainly do,” replied Judy. “From the little Bart said to me, I’m sure he hopes to solve the mystery of what became of his father. To do that, he’d have to brave the siphon.”

“Gracious! I never heard of anything so reckless!” Miss Meadows gasped. “Why, the authorities shouldn’t allow it!”

“I don’t imagine Bart told anyone of his plan,” Judy answered. “He’s thoroughly familiar with the cave, and it would be safe enough for him to explore, providing he didn’t try to go through the siphon.”

“Just what is a siphon?” Kathleen inquired.

“As I understand it, a siphon is a tunnel through the cave, with a submerged ceiling. If one were a good swimmer, as Bart apparently is, one might dive and swim through it to open air on the other side.”

“That’s assuming that the tunnel wasn’t very long,” Miss Meadows commented.

“True,” Judy nodded. “It would be a terrifying experience. Only a very courageous and foolhardy explorer would attempt it.”

“Bart’s just the type to risk it!” Kathleen asserted. “I wonder when he plans to tackle the siphon?”

“From what the new milkman told me, he may be in the cave even now!” Miss Meadows said with a shudder. “The mere thought of it frightens me.”

“Bart knows how to take care of himself,” Judy declared to relieve her aunt’s mind somewhat. “I’m sure he does.”

Breakfast over, Miss Meadows hastily cleared away the few dishes which had been used. She refused to let the girls wash them, insisting that she would stack them in the sink for a good soaking.

“Let’s explore the road to the cave now,” she urged. “I’ll feel much better if I satisfy myself that everything is all right.”

“We could call the Forest Service or one of the state highway patrolmen, if you’d rather,” Kathleen proposed.

“If the truck shouldn’t be there, or if it had a right to be, I’d never live down the mistake I’d made,” Miss Meadows said. “No, I’d prefer to do a bit of checking for myself first.”

She put on her heavy jacket as protection against the morning chill, and locked all the doors. The three then crossed the main highway and turned down the narrow rutty dirt road.

The sun was showing itself through the tall trees, as the explorers made their way down the steep slope. Almost at once, Miss Meadows triumphantly pointed to heavy tire tracks on the roadbed.

“See, I was right!” she exclaimed. “Those tire marks show that a big truck went down this road last night.”

“Apparently only in one direction too,” Judy agreed. “This road dead-ends, so either the truck had to turn around and come back, or it’s still down there somewhere.”

Quickening their pace, but becoming very quiet, the three moved on.

Presently they came to the end of the road.

“No truck here!” Kathleen exclaimed, halting.

“Here’s where it made a turn,” Judy said, pointing to deep tire marks in the road and grass.

Then she saw the truck itself. It had been driven entirely off the road and parked in a thick clump of bushes behind a shield of trees. Even so, the massive vehicle was only partially hidden from view.

While Kathleen and Miss Meadows waited tensely, Judy cautiously crept through the bushes to obtain a closer glimpse of the big truck.

The cab was deserted. Had the truck run out of gas perhaps, or was it being hidden there to escape detection?

Judy was quite certain she knew the answer, but to confirm her suspicions, she circled the transport. At the rear, she tried the big double doors which gave access to the cargo. They were locked.

Unable to learn more, she returned to report to her aunt and Kathleen.

“I’m convinced this is the truck that the highway patrolmen want to stop,” she informed them. “After the road blocks have been removed, the hi-jackers may be able to slip out of here and get safely away!”

“Oh, no, they won’t!” announced Miss Meadows with grim determination. “We’ll tip off the state highway headquarters! I’ll telephone.”

“Someone should stay here to keep watch,” Judy said. “The driver may return at any minute and try to pull out.”

“That’s so,” Miss Meadows agreed. “I--I guess I’d better stay, while you girls telephone.”

“No, you go to Calico Cottage,” Judy urged. “Kathleen and I will wait here.”

“You’re not afraid?”

“No, you’ll have help here in just a few minutes.”

“I’ll hurry as fast as I can,” Miss Meadows promised, starting away. “Get into the bushes, and keep out of sight until I’m back here with the law!”

_Chapter 19_

THE HIDE-OUT

Left alone, Judy and Kathleen crept into the thicket at the left hand side of the road. The air was damp and chilly and leaves dripped moisture. In a very few minutes, the girls began to weary of crouching in such uncomfortable positions.

“That truck driver must have skipped out,” Kathleen muttered. “It’s sort of silly to hide here.”

“I don’t think so,” Judy replied, keeping her voice low.

“I wish we knew where the driver went.” Disregarding caution, Kathleen straightened up from her crouched position and carefully looked about.

She could see a portion of the trail which led toward Calico Cave. As she stood thus, a little dog came into view, trotting from the direction of the cavern.

“Why, it’s Pete!” Kathleen exclaimed, speaking much louder than she had intended. “Do you suppose Bart is somewhere near, or in the cave?”

“He must be,” Judy agreed. She added in warning: “But do quiet down. If we keep sounding off, we’ll give our hiding place away to anyone who comes along.”

“Pete is onto it now!” Kathleen agreed in dismay.

The little dog had halted alertly on the trail. After sniffing the air, he left the path and came directly over to the bushes where the two girls had taken shelter.

To their consternation, he began to bark and to jerk his head, as if inviting them to follow him to the cave.

Judy seized the little dog, and tightly held his jaws so that he could not bark.

“This is a fine howdy-do!” she muttered. “Pete will give us away if anyone is within a mile of here!”

“Do you suppose Bart could be close?” Kathleen speculated. “Pete plainly is trying to get us to follow him to the cave.”

“If we let him go, he’ll set up a fearful clatter. I can’t hold his jaws together forever either!”

“Bart would be a big help to us if we could find him.”

“We could see if he’s at the cave entrance,” Judy said reluctantly. “I don’t think we’ll find him though, and we’d be leaving a good hiding place.”

“We can be careful,” Kathleen returned. “Help from the Forest Service or highway headquarters should be coming quite soon.”

Allowing herself to be persuaded, Judy followed Kathleen from the leafy shelter. She kept tight hold of Pete however, not allowing him to bark or scramble out of her arms.

The rocky path wound through the trees and around big boulders. Presently, the girls were within view of the dark entranceway to the cave.

Judy halted, thinking that she saw a tiny wisp of smoke emerging from the cavern. In that moment of inattention, Pete made a convulsive movement and before she could regain her grip, leaped to the ground.

Yipping excitedly, he ran toward the cave entrance.

With a gasp of dismay, Judy thrust Kathleen back into a thicket, and herself crouched behind a rock.

It was well that the girls took refuge, for Pete’s loud barking had not gone unheard.

A dark figure appeared silhouetted in the opening of the cave. Judy could not see the face of the heavy-set man, but she knew instantly from his build that he was not Bart Ranieau.

“There’s that confounded mutt again!” the girls heard the man exclaim. “He’ll give us away!”

“Slug him with a rock!” came advice from inside the cave.

The man in the entranceway, heaved a stone which missed its mark by mere inches. Pete barked the louder.

“Put a bullet through him,” was the next gruff advice.

“Don’t dare,” the girls heard the reply. “A shot would be heard too far.”

“If we don’t get out of this hole pretty soon, that dog will have the whole town down on us,” the other growled. “Quiet him somehow.”

“Don’t pay any attention to him and he’ll shut up,” the first man said. “If we can coax him in here, I’ll wring his neck!”

Pete did stop barking after a few more excited yips, but canine caution kept him from going closer to the cave. In vain the two men tried to coax him into the cavern. Pete lay flat on his belly on the path and whined.

Finally, they abandoned the effort to get him inside, and themselves moved back out of view in the darkness.

For a long while, Judy and Kathleen remained motionless, afraid to stir lest they disclose their presence. Both were convinced that the two men in the cave were the hi-jackers, and that they merely were waiting there until they safely could move out their truck and stolen cargo.

“We can’t stay here,” Judy finally whispered to her chum. “Let’s make a break for it. If we’re seen, we’ll have to run for our lives.”

Moving stealthily, the girls slipped from their hiding place.

Pete saw them go and cocked his head attentively. But to their intense relief, he did not bark or try to follow them.

Safely, the girls retraced their way to the private road.

Once there, Judy anxiously looked up the slope for a glimpse of her aunt or the assistance which she hoped would come.

“I guess we’ll have to hide in the bushes again,” Kathleen proposed. “Pete may ferret us out too.”

As the girls debated what action to take, Judy saw that a green coupe had turned down the private road.

“A Forest Service car!” she exclaimed, over-joyed. “Good Aunt Mattie! She must have put through a fast telephone call to the ranger station. Our troubles are over!”

“I thought your aunt intended to call the highway patrol headquarters,” Kathleen commented, watching the approaching car with troubled eyes.

“Maybe she called ’em both. At any rate, a forest ranger is just what the doctor ordered!”

Judy rushed out to meet the approaching automobile, waving her arms to attract attention.

The car drew up with a slight squeak of brakes. Judy saw then that the driver was Lowell Diethelm, and he seemed as surprised to see her and Kathleen as they were to encounter him on the lonely road.

“Did Aunt Mattie reach you?” Judy demanded.

The ranger’s startled expression disclosed that he did not know what she was talking about.

“I guess Aunt Mattie hasn’t had time to get word through,” Judy went on. “Anyway, you’re here in time to nab those hi-jackers!”

She and Kathleen then breathlessly told of their suspicions, and pointed out the big truck which had been hidden in the thicket.

In their anxiety to tell the story clearly and fast, neither girl noticed that Diethelm was watching them in an odd sort of way, but not asking many questions.

When Judy finally ran out of breath, the ranger motioned for the two girls to get into the coupe.

“But aren’t you going to do anything about it?” Judy demanded. “Don’t you intend to find out if those men hiding in the cave are hi-jackers?”

“Sure, I intend to do something about it,” Diethelm drawled, “but I’m not foolhardy. We’re up against a tough gang. There may be shooting. I need reenforcements.”

“I guess that’s right,” Judy agreed. Her gaze fell upon the radio equipment in the ranger’s car. “Couldn’t you call the ranger station?”

“Sure,” Diethelm said again. “Sure. Come on, get in, and I’ll take care of it.”

Judy and Kathleen obeyed, sliding in beside the ranger. He turned the car around in the narrow roadway, heading it toward the main highway.

“I’ll drive you up the hill,” he said. “It’s safer that way. Then if there should be shooting, you’ll be all right.”

“Can’t we get word to the ranger station right away?” Judy urged again. “Those men may decide to try to pull out of here any minute.”

“Take it easy,” Diethelm advised. “Let me handle this, will you?”

“Sorry,” Judy mumbled. “I didn’t mean to suggest--only--”

“Only what?”

“Nothing,” Judy replied shortly.

Diethelm reached across, snapping a lock on the door of the coupe. The gesture seemed careless enough. Yet, why should he have reason to lock the automobile? Judy, suddenly uneasy, glanced at Kathleen and saw that her chum looked frightened.

“So your aunt is telephoning the state highway patrol station?” the ranger remarked easily. “How long ago was that?”

“Five--maybe ten minutes ago,” Judy answered. She was trying hard to smother the suspicion which had formed in her mind.

“Your aunt went to the cottage to phone?”

“Yes.” Judy hesitated and then said earnestly: “Won’t you please call ranger headquarters now on your radio telephone? It’s important to get help fast. Aunt Mattie may have failed to get her call through.”

Diethelm smiled and flipped a switch on the radio. He fumbled with it as he drove efficiently with one hand.

“Car 23 to Headquarters. Car 23 to Headquarters,” he called.

“Go ahead, Diethelm,” came the order from headquarters.

“Nothing to report, sir. No fires sighted.”

“Any sign of the hi-jackers? They’re reported to have headed into your patrol area.”

Diethelm spoke clearly and in a detached manner. “No sign of ’em anywhere,” he replied. “Inform the highway patrol, they may as well lift the road block. That’s right, sir. I’ve checked the area thoroughly. No sign of ’em.”

_Chapter 20_

TREACHERY

Judy and Kathleen scarcely could believe that they had heard the ranger’s radio message correctly.

For a stunned moment, they sat in dead silence, unable to comprehend what had transpired.

Diethelm wore the inconspicuous pine tree badge of the forest rangers, but he had never seemed friendly or helpful as had the other Forest Service men.

Judy had sensed the man’s antagonism almost from the first moment of their meeting. Until this night, however, she had never actually distrusted him.

Now, as the meaning of his message to headquarters penetrated her brain, she realized that he deliberately had given false information to his superior officers. Information which would aid the hi-jackers, who awaited the lifting of the road block to rush their stolen cargo across the state line!

As the car climbed the steep incline, Kathleen suddenly reached for the door handle.

“I wouldn’t do that!” Diethelm ordered sharply. “Stay in this car!”

“You’re making us prisoners?” Kathleen gasped, shaken by the ranger’s treachery.

“You asked for this,” Diethelm retorted. “If you’d kept to your own affairs, no one would have bothered you. Now you’ve poked your pretty little noses in, you’ll have to take the consequences!”

“Which are--?” interposed Judy. She was no longer frightened, but smoldered with a deep, burning anger.

“I’ll drive you some distance from here and dump you in the woods,” Diethelm informed her. “By the time you find your way out, we’ll be over the state line. This is our last haul.”

“So you’re one of the hi-jackers!” Kathleen accused shrilly. “A disgrace to the ranger uniform!”

“I’ve not been in the service long,” Diethelm said. “It means nothing to me. I adopted the uniform only to serve my own purpose. For six months it’s been a cinch to run cargo through, but lately the state highway patrol has bottled up most of the roads. We’ll move on to another state.”

The car had reached the main highway. Judy could see Calico Cottage through the morning mist, but there was no sign of her aunt, or of any help.

Everything was painfully clear now! The trucker she and Kathleen had seen the previous night at the restaurant, had indeed been Joe Pompilli. Either he, or his runners now were at the cave, awaiting a chance to slip their cargo over the state line. And with the road block soon to be lifted, that chance might come very soon!

The coupe turned onto the main highway, and started up the winding mountain road. Judy saw Diethelm glance anxiously at the gasoline gauge.

Her pulse leaped with hope, for she saw that the pointer already stood on the empty mark, and was giving only an occasional convulsive jerk.

“We’re about out of gas,” Diethelm muttered.

“No filling stations on this road for three miles,” Judy said in satisfaction.

“We rangers have supply caches,” Diethelm dashed her hopes again. “My own private one is just ahead.”

A few hundred yards farther up the road, he pulled off onto the right-of-way. Back among the trees, Judy and Kathleen saw the gasoline supply tank, marked with the Forest Service name.

Diethelm reached for a can on the floor behind the seat. As he got out of the car, he tapped the revolver in his holster.

“Now don’t you move or try to get out of this car!” he ordered. “I’ll have my eye on you. I’m warning that if you try to escape, I’ll shoot.”

Diethelm then strode to the gasoline storage tank, hurriedly starting to fill his can.

“Lean forward--block off the window, so he can’t see me,” Judy instructed Kathleen tersely.

“He’s watching us. If we try to get out, I’m afraid he’ll carry out his threat to shoot.”

“We can’t hope to get away,” Judy admitted. “But there’s one outside chance we can get through to ranger headquarters on the radio phone. I’m going to risk it.”

Now that she knew her friend’s scheme, Kathleen obediently shifted her position, so that her back temporarily shielded Judy from view.

In an instant, Judy had snapped the radio phone on.

“Car 23 to Headquarters!” she called excitedly into the transmitter. “Emergency call! Emergency call!”

“Headquarters to Car 23,” came the reply. “Who the deuce is this? Diethelm--”

“I’m a Girl Scout--held a prisoner in Diethelm’s car,” Judy broke in. Aware that Diethelm himself had dropped the gasoline can and was striding toward the coupe, her words tumbled over each other in her haste to get them out. “The hi-jackers are at the cave! Their truck--”

The car door was jerked open at that point, and the radio phone ripped from Judy’s hand. Diethelm clicked the switch off, pulling the girl bodily from the coupe.

“Now you’ve done it!” he snarled, shoving her so hard that she fell to the ground. “Little fool!”

Despite his previous threat, Diethelm did not touch his revolver. His face contorted by worry, he seemed uncertain what to do for a moment.

Tersely then, he ordered Kathleen out of the car also.

“Turn your backs and start walking into the woods,” he ordered the two girls. “Keep walking. Don’t look back or I’ll shoot.”

Kathleen pulled Judy to her feet, and they slowly moved off into the woods.

“Walk faster!” Diethelm shouted.

The girls obediently increased their speed, stumbling as they climbed over fallen logs and other forest debris.

Moments passed, and Judy dared to look over her shoulder. No longer could she see the car or the roadway.

But as she paused, she heard the roar of the coupe’s engine.

“He’s filled the gas tank and he’s pulling out!” she declared. “Now to get help, if we can.”

Hurrying back the way they had come, the girls reached the roadside in time to see the coupe disappearing around a curve in the direction from which it had come.

“He’s going back to the cave to warn the hi-jackers!” Judy guessed shrewdly. “He must know I got through to the ranger headquarters!”

“Then that means that the hi-jackers probably will try to move their truck out now!” Kathleen exclaimed. “They may make it too, because it isn’t far to the state line and the road block probably has been lifted.”

“We must stop them somehow! Let’s get back to Calico Cottage as fast as we can!”

They pounded down the road, hoping as they ran that a car would come along. None did. In Diethelm’s coupe, the distance they had traveled from the junction with the private road had seemed very short. Now, the reverse was true.

Though the distance could not be more than a third of a mile, it seemed endless to the two Scouts. Alternately running and dog-trotting, they finally reached Calico Cottage, winded and perspiring.

As they crossed the yard, Miss Meadows came to meet them.

“I’ve had such a time,” she began. “At first, I couldn’t get my call through. Why, what’s happened?”

Judy explained only briefly. She cut her story short by demanding: “Aunt Mattie, how soon do you think help will get here?”

“Ten minutes or longer. My call just went through. Before that the line was busy, and I couldn’t get the operator to understand that this was an emergency!”

“Ten minutes!” Judy groaned. “That will give Diethelm all the time he needs to warn those men!”

“I saw a ranger car turn down the private road quite awhile ago,” Miss Meadows contributed.

“That was Diethelm,” Judy said desperately. “We’ve notified the ranger headquarters, but I doubt they can get men here quickly enough either!”

“If only we could block the private road somehow, so those hi-jackers can’t get their truck out!” Kathleen exclaimed. “What could we use?”

Frantically, the three looked about the premises, but not an object was available which would offer an impediment to a powerful truck.

“The clothesline,” Miss Meadows suggested doubtfully. “We could tie it to trees, across the road.”

“It would snap in an instant,” Judy said. “I doubt even a wire would delay them.”

“Then there’s nothing we can do,” Miss Meadows said desperately. “Absolutely nothing.”

“Nails?” proposed Kathleen. “We could throw them on the road and hope they’d spear the tires.”

“There’s a can of nails on the porch,” Miss Meadows supplied eagerly. “The carpenter who must have built this cottage, apparently left them.”

“It’s an idea,” Judy said slowly, “but it won’t work. Those big truck tires would roll right over the nails without a puncture. Not even glass would cut them.”

“I guess that’s right,” Miss Meadows admitted, crestfallen. “Oh, it’s hopeless.”

Judy, however, had a different idea. She was gazing speculatively at the “Welcome” mat on the doorstep.

“I think I know of a way to stop that truck if it tries to come through!” she cried. “My scheme is fantastic, but I’m sure it will work!”

_Chapter 21_

TRUCKER’S WELCOME

“How can we stop the truck if it tries to come through?” Kathleen demanded eagerly. “What is your idea, Judy?”

“You gave it to me yourself, when you mentioned dropping nails on the road,” Judy answered. “That wouldn’t do the trick, I’m sure, but I know what will! This rubber door mat!”

She stooped to pick up the dusty “Welcome” mat. As Kathleen and her aunt gazed at the object in bewilderment, she hastened to reveal what she had in mind.

“We can spear the nails through the mat so they’ll stand upright! When the tires pass over them, they can’t miss.”

“That should do it!” Miss Meadows approved.

“Judy, you’re a gem!” laughed Kathleen. “What a brain!”

“No brain, just a memory,” Judy corrected. “I recall hearing a filling station serviceman relate how vandals once damaged big truck tires that way. I’m sure it will work if we can do it!”