CHAPTER XXI. THE DUMMY PACKET.
Bumpus dug his knuckles into his eyes, and then stared again at the pileof plunder which had evidently been taken from some bank; for besides thelittle rolls that seemed to contain gold eagles, and half eagles, andfives, there were a number of packages of bank bills, and a lot ofbonds--at least that was what the boys guessed they must be.
"Somebody _please_ give me a pinch," said Bumpus. "I sure must bedreaming one of my old dreams about findin' buried treasure. Hey! not sohard, Step Hen; I'm awake now all right, because that hurt like thedickens. But just look at what Thad's unearthed, would you? Whew! I don'tblame that feller for hangin' around here. I'd refuse to be chased awaytoo, if I had all that stuff lyin' under a stone in an old cabin."
For some little time the boys continued to talk. Allan had wisely in thebeginning stepped over and hung something over the one little window ofthe cabin. He seemed to understand that, with the finding of this stolenplunder belonging to a bank that had been looted at some previous day,they had taken up issues with these desperate men; and whether theywanted to or not, from this time forward it must be a question as towhether the hobo thieves recovered their prize; or were in turn takenprisoner by the scouts, and the guides with them.
By unearthing this rich haul Thad had settled the question. They could nolonger hold aloof, and sit on the fence; but must enter into the gamewith the yeggmen.
And so the plan suggested, which looked to the ultimate capture of therascals, appealed to the boys more than ever. If circumstances over whichthey seemed to really have little control, forced them to take a hand inthe matter, it was the part of wisdom that they get in the first blow;and not wait for the desperate fugitives of the Maine woods to attackthem, in order to try and force them to hand over this rich find.
"How'd it do to make up a dummy bundle, with these same old clothes,"remarked Giraffe. "We could fasten it with the string, same as they hadit; and in case the fellers didn't take the trouble to open the same,why, we'd be that much ahead, you see."
"That's a good idea, and can do no harm to try," remarked the patrolleader, who was only too pleased to receive suggestions from the scouts,even though at times they thought of plans that were wildlyimpracticable; for it showed their minds were working; and anything wasbetter than that they fall into the state of letting some one else dotheir thinking for them.
So Giraffe was set to work constructing the imitation bundle. Of courseit did not contain one blessed thing worth mentioning. Bumpus wrote thesingle suggestive word "fooled" on a piece of paper, and wanted them toinsert that; but Thad remarked that it would be better not to furtherarouse the anger of such lawless men. This was no child's play in whichthey were now engaged, but the most serious adventure of all they hadever run across; and must be treated with the sober considerationgrown-up men would be apt to give to such a matter.
But even this rebuff could not quench the newly-aroused spirit in thestout boy, Bumpus, who saw his dreams coming true. He could imagine thewonderful results when they delivered these valuable bonds over to thebank that had been looted. Surely there must have been a generous rewardoffered for their return; which, with that they were certain to receivefor capturing the hobo thieves, would cram the treasury of the Boy Scouttroop, and open up many delightful chances for other vacation trips tofar-away places.
"But what will we do with all this glorious stuff?" he asked, as theysat, and looked, and talked, while the night wore on.
"I'm going to make it up into a packet, somehow," remarked Thad. "Then,when I've got it in as small a compass as possible, I'll wind a cordaround it every which way, and use a little piece of red sealing wax Iremember seeing in my haversack, to seal it up with. Then nobody canbreak it open without our knowing it."
"My goodness! I hope now, Thad, you don't think any scout would be sopokey as to want to meddle with it, after you've taken it in charge?"remarked Step Hen.
"Certainly I don't," replied the patrol leader, quickly; "I know you alltoo well for that; but I believe there's a certain amount of red tape tobe carried out in a case like this; and I'm going to fasten it in thepresence of every one of you, so that you can hold up your right handsand vow, if ever you are asked, that everything we found is sealed inthis package. And here goes for a tough job."
Considering that he had little material to work with, it was a hard task;but then, Thad possessed considerable ingenuity; and could adapt himselfto circumstances wonderfully well. And the result was all that could beasked, since the package he produced was not very large, but quitecompact, and after being liberally daubed with the red sealing wax, sothat none of the cords could be undone, really looked very importantindeed.
"There, how will that do, boys?" asked Thad, when he had finished.
"Simply great!" declared Giraffe; "and it's a wonder how you manage toget such big results from small things. I never saw the like."
"I was thinking," mused Allan, "that since Charlie Barnes came here onlylast night, what is to hinder him from paying us a visit again?"
"That's so!" ejaculated Giraffe. "Say, mebbe that's why Sebattis went outa long time back. He's the sly one, now, let me tell you. Chances are heexpects that we may have uninvited company some time around now; and ifthe Wandering Willy tries to peep in at our window like he did last time,why, he's goin' to run up against Sebattis, good and hard."
"I knew that was why he went out," Thad observed, "and it gave me acomforting feeling; because I'm as sure as anything can be, that nobodycould steal up here on us with the Indian on guard."
"Not much," added Step Hen. "He's got the ears of a fox, and can hear theleast sound."
"Of a weasel, you mean," Bumpus declared. "I never turn over in my sleepbut what, if I raise my head, there's them black eyes of Sebattisawatchin' me, just as if he expected I was goin' to have a fit, like Davyhere used to take."
"Forget that, won't you, Bumpus," said the other hastily. "I reckon I'mcured of that caper by now; but sometimes," he added, as he saw Giraffelooking at him, and grinning, "I do feel signs like one was acomin' onagain, though it never really and truly does, you see."
"Now, where will you put that, Thad?" asked Step Hen, pointing to thesealed package that had been so officiously done up.
"Oh! keep it out of sight under my blanket till morning," answered theother. "Then we can hide it in one of the canoes, under the duffle, whereit'll be safe."
"We want you to take it in your boat, remember that," observed Giraffe."You was the one to find the prize, and the only claim any of the resthave to the reward will be that we stood ready to defend it."
Thad looked squarely at him as Giraffe said this.
"That'll do for you, Giraffe," he remarked sternly. "I don't want to hearany more like that. There are six of us here, and two more at home. Everyscout will have an equal share in any reward that may happen to come tous; yes, and more than that, the other five who are on this expeditionwith me are going to be credited with their portion of the honor ofrecovering this lost bank capital. We're in the same boat, sink or swim,survive or perish. Understand that, fellows; and now after this, I'lltake it hard of you if any member of the Silver Fox Patrol tries to shovemore than a sixth of the glory on my shoulders."
They saw he meant it, and their boyish hearts warmed within them at theknowledge that they had such a splendid chum at the head of the patrol.Where could another like Thad Brewster be found, they would like to know?
The dummy package was placed carefully under the hearthstone, and Thadtried the best he knew how to arrange it just about as he had found thetreasure trove. And as one of them had said, if the hoboes in their hurryfailed to open it up, they might remain in ignorance concerning theirgreat loss, for some length of time.
"Now, I think that it must be nearly midnight," announced Thad, "and alot of us are dead tired; so I put it up to you, fellows, if we hadn'tought to try and get some rest? We want to be in trim for other workto-mo
rrow."
Giraffe held up his hand.
"Count me in," he remarked, wearily.
"Ditto here," said Allan, also making the high sign.
"Can't crawl under my blanket any too soon to please me," Davy added.
"Well, if the rest of you want to turn in, I'm there," Step Hen declared,yawning.
All eyes were fastened on Bumpus, waiting to hear his decision, so thatit might be made unanimous.
"Great Scott! he's dead asleep, and sittin' up at that!" exclaimedGiraffe.
Which was a fact; for the fat boy had been so completely tired out withhis labor of the morning, when securing the store of honey; as well asfrom the excitement and nervous shock brought on by the bee stings, thathe could not keep his eyes open any longer; and sitting there like aheathen god, as Giraffe called it, he had gone fast asleep.
Of course they had to wake poor Bumpus up, so that he could take hisshoes off, and get ready to crawl under his blanket; but he started toperform these little tasks grumblingly, because he had been disturbed.
"Might let a feller snooze where he was," he muttered, working away, withhis eyes still closed. "I was just goin' to sit down to the dinner tableat home, an' it was Thanksgiving day too. Um! how that big turkey didmake me crazy to get at it. And then comes a budge in the ribs, andGiraffe here sayin' as how I'm takin' all the room, an' must roll over. Afeller never can be let alone when he wants to, in this----"
Bumpus did not finish what he was saying. Nor was he longer sitting therewith his eyes closed, groping at the fastening of his leggings in theendeavor to get the shin protectors off. On the contrary he startedhalf-way to his feet, once more wide-awake.
For without the slightest warning there came to the ears of the scoutsthe loud report of a rifle from some point just outside the cabin walls.And they suddenly remembered what had been said only a short time before,about the dangerous yeggmen coming back again on this night.
And also that Sebattis was on guard.