CHAPTER XXIX
IN THE OLD BARN
If there is one thing more than another which makes life in camp,whether it be in the army or merely a pleasure excursion in the woods,most miserable, it is rain. Snow does not seem so bad, but a soakingrain seems not only to wet one through literally, but also mentally. Itdepresses the spirits, though, in itself, a good rain is a blessing.
“I say, Corporal!” called Charles Hatton, one of the recruits out withthe hiking squad. “There’s an old barn not far off. I’ll be washed awaysoon. We could go into that shack out of the rain, I should think.”
“I should think so, too,” agreed Jerry. “We’ll do it. I didn’t supposethe storm would be as bad as this, or we’d have gone into the barn inthe first place. However, it isn’t too late, except that we’re alreadywet through.”
“But we can dry out in there, and have a good night’s sleep,” said Bob,who loved his creature comforts, including sleeping and eating.
Jerry gave the necessary orders. The dog tents were struck, those thathad blown down were recovered and, carrying their packs, the boys madea rush through the storm for a somewhat dilapidated and seeminglydeserted barn which stood in a field, not far from the spot where camphad first been made.
“Well, this is something like!” exclaimed Ned, as they entered thestructure. The swinging doors, sagging on their hinges, had not beenlocked, but, even if they had been, Jerry felt he would have beenjustified in breaking them open, agreeing to pay for the damage done,as he was authorized to do.
“Well, there’s some hay I’m going to hit, as soon as I get dried outa bit,” declared Bob, as he flashed his electric light on the mow. Itwas not full, but enough hay remained to make a good bed for the tiredsoldiers.
They had eaten their supper, and there was nothing to do but tostretch out and wait for morning, when they would be warmed by hotcoffee which they could make for themselves. They carried a littlesolidified-alcohol stove for this purpose.
The boys took off some of their wet garments and spread them out todry. Then they laid their blankets on the hay and prepared for abetter night’s rest than would have been possible under the tents,even if it had not rained.
“This is something like,” said Ned, as Jerry went to see that the doorswere fastened, for, in a measure, he was responsible for the safety ofthe property of whoever owned the old barn.
It was a very old one, and there seemed to be no house near it, butthen the boys could not see very well in the storm and the darkness,and they were in a rolling country, so that the farmhouse might havebeen down in one of the many hollows surrounding the barn.
The building leaked in places, and two of the young volunteers had tomove their blankets after they had spread them out, to avoid streamsof water that trickled down on them. But at last all were settled andready for the night’s repose.
There was no need of posting a sentry, so each one had his full rest.Jerry fell asleep with the others. How long he slumbered he did notknow, but he was suddenly awakened by hearing, almost directly underhim, the sound of voices.
Though he awoke, Jerry did not immediately get up to see who it was. Hewas not yet fully aroused. At first he thought it might be some of hisown squad, who had found themselves unable to sleep, and who hoped topass away the hours of the night in talk.
“But that won’t do,” thought Jerry. “If they want to gas they’ve gotto go somewhere else. We want to sleep.”
However, as he became more thoroughly awake, and listened more intentlyto the talk, he realized that it was none of his friends.
The voices were those of men--three of them, evidently, to judge by thedifferent intonations--and they rose and fell in varying accents, themurmur now becoming loud and again soft. And the men seemed very muchin earnest.
Jerry and his chums were sleeping in what had been the hay-mow, but themow was a double one. That is, there was a platform, built up about tenfeet above the barn floor, and this platform, the floor of which was ofclosely-laid poles, served to support the hay, of which there was stillquite a layer there.
Below this was an open space, in which there was some straw. It was adouble mow, in other words, the upper part used for hay and the lowerfor straw. In front of the two mows was an open space, forming the mainfloor of the barn, on which stood some wagons and farm machinery, andon the other side of this was another big mow, used evidently for thestorage of only one kind of farm produce, since it was not divided.
Unrolling himself from his blankets, and making as little disturbanceas possible in this operation, Jerry made his way to the edge of themow and looked down. It was ten feet to the barn floor, and there wasa ladder at one side, up which the boys had climbed.
Down below him, seated around a lantern, the glow of which was dimmedby an old coat wrapped about it, Jerry saw three ragged and drenchedmen.
“Tramps!” was his instant thought. “They came in here just as we did,to get out of the rain.”
The rain was still coming down in torrents, as evidenced by the rattleon the barn roof, and Jerry was about to crawl back and go to sleepagain, reasoning that the tramps had as much right in the barn as hadhe and his squad, when something happened to make him change his plans.
One of the men by a quick motion accidentally disturbed the coatshrouding the lantern, and a bright gleam shot out at one side. Thisgleam revealed something that made Jerry start and catch his breath.
“Crooked Nose!” he exclaimed in a whisper, as he stared at one of thethree men gathered about the lantern. “There’s old Crooked Nose! Andthis time we ought to catch him, sure!”
For a daring plan had instantly occurred to Jerry. He and his chumscould make prisoners of the three men, including the mysterious one whohad been seen in Cresville the night of the fire. Of course, in a way,it was taking a risk, not only of bodily harm, but also because theyoung soldiers had no right to detain the men, against only one of whomwas there any suspicion, and but slight suspicion at that.
“But we’ve got to get ’em and see what it all means,” decided Jerry. “Iwish I had a little more evidence to go on, though, and I wish I knewwho those other two were.”
“Easy with the light there,” growled the man with the crooked nose, ashe replaced the coat his companion had dislodged. “Do you want to bringthe farmer and his dogs down on us?”
“Nobody’ll be out such a night,” was the answer. “You’re too muchafraid. Freitlach!”
“Shut up!” exclaimed the other. “Didn’t I tell you not to use thatname? Don’t use any names.”
“Aw, don’t be so afraid!” taunted the third man--the one who had hisback toward Jerry. “You’re nervous.”
“And so would you be if you’d done what I have. If they catch me--” andthe man with the crooked nose looked apprehensively over his shoulderinto the dark shadows of the barn.
“That’s it; he’s too much afraid,” said the man with his back towardJerry. “He’s always afraid!”
“He’s afraid of too much,” sneered the man who had displaced the coat.“He’s afraid to give us our share of the swag, and I want mine, too.I’m tired of waiting. I want to have a settlement and get out. That’swhat I told you when we met to-night, and that’s what I’m going tohave. I’ve starved and begged long enough. Now I want my share!” andhe banged his fist on the loose boards of the barn floor, close to thelantern, setting it to swaying so that the man with the crooked noseexclaimed:
“Stop, you idiot! Do you want to set the place on fire?”
“Well, it wouldn’t be the first place we’ve burned,” declared theother, but the words died on his lips as the other struck him acrossthe mouth.
“What does that mean?” demanded the man who had roused the ire of theone with the crooked nose.
“It means to keep still! Do you want to blow the whole thing?”
“Might as well!” was the sullen answer. “I want my share. I don’t carewhat happens after that. I’m going to skip out. I s’pose you’re goingto
stay, Smelzer, until----”
“Never mind about me,” growled the man whose face Jerry could not see.“Pug and I have some plans of our own. They’ve been busted up some, butI guess we can carry ’em out somehow.”
“Well, I want my share,” went on the other, speaking to the one withthe mis-shapen nose. “I need the coin, and I’m going to have it. I didmy share of the work, and I want my share of the swag. When you got mein on the scheme, Freit----”
“What’d I tell you about names?” fiercely demanded the crooked-nosedman.
“Well, when you got me in on the scheme you said the Frenchman had apot of money, and a lot of jewelry, too.”
“So he did have!” declared Crooked Nose. “I got part of it. I admittedthat. But the biggest part is there yet. It may be in the ruins of thefire----”
“Yes, the fire I set to give you a chance to get the coin!” broke inthe other. “Now I’m tired of fooling. Either I get half the money yougot from the old Frenchman, or I’ll go back to Cresville and see what Ican find in the fire ruins! I’m going to get something for the risk Itook. Give me half the money you got from the old man the night of thefire, or I’ll squeal! That’s my last word!”