CHAPTER XXI.
HEARING ALECK'S SIDE OF THE STORY.
That good and hearty laugh on the part of the sheriff did more toreassure the scouts than anything else could have done. Giraffe, whohad been holding his very breath in consternation, allowed the air toflow in and out of his lungs again; Bumpus regained his color, whilehis staring eyes concluded apparently not to pop out of his head thistime; and as for Allan and Bob White, they lost some of the look ofalarm that had spread over their faces.
"Yes, it was as good as a circus to just sit thar, and enjoy readingthat little talk," the sheriff went on to say. "I could 'most imaginemyself back again in the army, out in the Philippines, teachin' someof the awkward squad their p's and q's. And the news was someinterestin', too. So Aleck, he was to make himself scarce, was he?Seems like he did that same, too," with another chuckle, and a shrugof his shoulders toward the tents which he had so lately examinedwithout profit.
Allan hardly knew what to say; but boldly taking up the cudgels hepresently remarked:
"Well, Mr. Sheriff, what else could we do? Aleck was a scout, one ofour organization; and if you've got a son who belongs to it, you mustknow that a scout is always supposed to be ready to hold out a helpinghand to a fellow member. Aleck was in trouble. He had fallen into thehands of a party of prospectors, headed by Colonel Kracker, who werebent on forcing him to give up the secret they thought he carried,concerning the long-lost silver mine his father was said to havediscovered years ago."
"H'm! say you so, boy?" the other observed, while the lawyer prickedup his ears, as if suddenly interested. "Kracker around here, is he?Well, that's some interesting news, you're telling me. You say the boyhad fallen into their hands, and that you rescued him?"
"If you'd like to hear about it, I'll be only too glad to tell you,"Allan went on to say, eagerly; for somehow he had already taken quitea fancy toward this sheriff with the humorous twinkle in his eye, andthought it only right to make a friend of him, if it could be done.
"All nonsense, Mr. Sheriff," spluttered old Artemus, who feared lesthis case might be losing its grip, and that the officer would refuseto aid him even were the boy found. "He's trying to swing yoursympathies around against my interests. Remember that you carry awarrant, and are sworn to serve it."
"I always does my duty, Mr. Rawson, don't you fear," replied thesheriff, with a frown; "but just now it's a part of my business to hearall I can concerning the way your nephew came to join in with these BoyScouts. Now, just go on telling me what you started to say, my boy."
At that Allan picked up fresh courage. The sheriff was inclined tofavor them, he realized, even at the expense of straining his "duty."
"Why, one of our number, Giraffe here," he said, "happened to bepracticing the wigwag code outside the camp, in the darkness, using abrand he'd picked from the fire; when to his astonishment he sawanswering signals from what seemed to be the sky. Well, when we madeout the one word 'help!' you see our interest was at once raised tofever pitch."
"I should say it would be," remarked Sheriff Bob, showing the deepestattention, as though the prospect for developments in the story beganto excite him.
"Our scoutmaster took matters in hand," Allan went on. "You just saidhe was clever at sending and receiving messages. Well, he's acracker-jack, that's what he is. And it so happened that Aleck, he notonly belonged to the scouts, and had learned everything aboutsignaling; but he served as a telegraph operator for a short time on aside road, when the regular man was taken sick; so he could even beatour Thad at talking with his hands; and that's going some, I tell you."
"But what was Aleck doing up there; and where was he at the time?"asked the deeply interested sheriff.
"Kracker and his two men had caught Aleck; and unable to make him tellwhat they wanted, what do you think the cowards did? Lowered the boydown to a shelf on the face of the cliff, and left him there, sayinghe would starve unless he weakened, and gave up his secret; whichAleck vows belongs to his mother alone, and nothing on earth wouldmake him betray."
"And they left him there, did they?" growled Sheriff Bob, frowning ina way to indicate his opinion of the said Kracker.
"Just what they did. He saw us come into the valley, but thought wemight only be some more of the same kind of wolves, wanting to torturea poor boy. But when he saw Giraffe, here, making letters with hisfire-stick, something told Aleck we must be Boy Scouts. So, findingsome wood on the ledge, he managed to make a little fire in a crackthat ran into the rock; and with a brand from this he started to call,repeating that one word over and over again--'help'!"
"This here is some interesting to me, son," remarked the big sheriff,as Allan paused to get his breath, for he was talking so fast and soeagerly that he had almost exhausted himself. "And so, after youlearned where he was, and how he came to be thar, I reckon now youboys started to climb up and rescue the other--how?"
"That's what we did, sir," broke in Giraffe, eagerly. "Four of us,counting the guide, managed to climb up the mountain, and with a ropewe carried, hooked Aleck up off that ledge the prettiest you ever saw,that's what we did," with a defiant look toward old Artemus, who wassniffing through all this talk, just as though he refused to believe aword of it.
"And that's the way we came to have him in our camp, sir," Allan wenton to say. "We heard his story, and believed it, too. He's got amother, and a lot of little sisters, who look to him to carry out thework his father started. But every one who ever hears a word aboutthat hidden mine Jerry Rawson once found, seems to be just crazy totake it away from his widow. She has hardly a single friend to trust.Even her relatives plot to beat her out of this valuable miningproperty, and try all sorts of things, in hopes of getting hold of thesecret. And now you know just where we stand, Mr. Sheriff. As scoutswe must stay friends of Aleck. He _was_ here, just as you know; buthe's gone away, and none of us know where to. Thad took him off duringthe night, and all he said was we might expect to see him again whenhe showed up. So you can't pump any information out of us, you see."
"And even if we knew anything, we wouldn't tell," asserted Giraffe,belligerently, feeling that the honor of a scout was in question rightthen.
The sheriff looked from one to another of those four boyish faces.
"By George! now, I reckon it wouldn't be any use in me tryin' to scareyou by threatening to jail you for aiding in the escape of a desperatecriminal, would it?" he remarked, pretending to look very serious, butwith that twinkle again in evidence, as Allan saw.
"You just couldn't;" declared Giraffe, while Bumpus began to move alittle uneasily in his seat; "in the first place, we don't knowanything more'n we've told you; secondly, we haven't assisted anybodyto escape, because we're right here, johnny-on-the-spot, and it's ourscoutmaster who's gone; and then, last of all, there ain't anydesperate criminal at all; only a poor, persecuted boy, with the gritthat you just want your own chap to show, Mr. Sheriff,--ready to fighteverybody, for the sake of his mother and sisters."
Sheriff Bob wagged his head slowly, as though mentally digesting whatthe other had just said.
"H'm! that remains to be seen, boy," he remarked; although Giraffebelieved he did not feel one-half as ferocious as he chose to lookjust then. "Duty is duty, no matter how unpleasant it may seem,sometimes."
"I'm glad to hear you take that sensible view of the matter, Mr.Sheriff," said the old Denver lawyer, in his oily tones. "You mustn'tbelieve one-tenth of what boys say. They would as soon prevaricate aseat their breakfast; that is, some of the breed would, thoughdoubtless your son is an exception to the rule. These scouts, as theychoose to call themselves, have fixed up a story to suit themselves,and they hope to enlist your sympathy; but I know that a stern senseof duty will compel you to close your ears to anything they may say. Idemand that you exercise every effort possible, looking to theimmediate arrest of my rascally nephew, Alexander Rawson, whom Iaccuse of stealing valuable papers from my pocketbook while I was aguest under his mother's roof, and then disappearing."
"Oh! very well, sir, don't excite yourself about my movements,"remarked Sheriff Bob, assuming a pompous air, though Allan thought hewinked slily in his direction while speaking. "You will find no causeto complain to my superiors concerning any shortcomings on my part.And up to now, you must admit I have been unflagging in my endeavor tolocate the fugitive from justice. Make your mind easy, Mr. Rawson, Isee my duty clear in the premises, and can be depended on to do it."
Watching his chance a little later Allan followed the sheriff, whenthe latter went to get a drink of water near by. Artemus looked asthough he wanted to keep them from having any communications out ofhis range of hearing; but he sank back in his seat again, plainlyafraid of invoking the anger of the big sheriff, who, he already felt,did not feel any too warmly toward him and his cause.
And as they sat down by the little stream to dip up some of the clearwater with the tin cup Sheriff Bob had made sure to fetch along, Allanmade it a point to tell the other all that Aleck had said about themotives of his father's lawyer brother, and how for a long time he hadbothered the widow, trying to find out if she knew anything about thehidden mine; which until lately of course she had not.
Allan knew how to talk. Moreover, he had an interested listener in theofficer, and that counted for a great deal. Besides, he felt deeplyfor the persecuted boy, and his heart was filled with a desire toassist him secure the legacy left by his father, than whom no livingsoul had ever gazed upon the hidden mine.
Sheriff Bob listened to all that the boy said. Several times hescratched his head reflectively, and made a grimace, as thoughconflicting forces had begun to engage him in an inward war.
And when finally Allan declared that he now knew all, the officerdrew a long breath, and remarked, quietly:
"I seem to smell a pretty good-sized rat about this game Mr. Artemus isputting up; but as I said, the warrant he swore out is in my hands forserving, and I just reckon I'll have to do my sworn duty and arrest thissame Aleck----that is, if so be he shows up while we're around here."
Allan looked him squarely in the eye; and he was sure one of the lidsabove the blue orbs of the official dropped a little in a suggestiveway.
He too drew a long breath, and with a smile on his boyish face, saidas he arose:
"Thank you, Mr. Sheriff, thank you very much!"