CHAPTER XXVII--DIG'S GREAT IDEA
"What do you reckon that nuisance meant?" demanded Digby Fordham theminute Tony Traddles was out of hearing.
"He was hinting at something. Whether he meant to help us, or confuseus, I do not know," confessed Chet.
"He said they were not going to Grub Stake."
"Not at once."
"Well! where the dickens are they going, then?" demanded the disgustedDig.
"I don't know. Unless the story of that Steve's having lost the deeds istrue, and he means to try to slip us and go back to the place where hethinks he dropped them."
"He'll have a hot time slipping us," the other boy said boastfully.
"I don't know. He evidently knows this country better than we do."
"That's easy, for we don't know it at all!" exclaimed Dig.
"Well, there may be a chance for them to fool us in these rocky hills.Maybe this proposal for a buffalo hunt is just for that purpose."
"Not if they need meat so badly as they seem to," remarked the otherboy, with more thoughtfulness than he usually displayed.
"I see!" exclaimed Chet quickly. "You think they'll wait to provisionthemselves before they take the back trail?"
"Yes."
"I'd just like to know," Chet murmured.
He was rather silent all through supper. They could look right down intothe other camp and see the two rascals moving about their own fire. Thenight was still and the air very sweet. They were not troubled by gnatsmuch, either, and the horses were not restless.
Dig rolled into his blanket early. Chet did not put more fuel on thecoals, for he did not want the men below to see his movements. They keptup a good fire for some time, however.
The boy knew the men were talking, for occasionally the breeze broughtto him the sound of their voices. Dig slept like a top, and Chet slippedout of the camp, passed near the horses to see that they were all right,and then, pistol in belt, crept quietly down the hillside.
Eavesdropping was not a game he loved to play; but the situation seemedto call for it. If he could learn something about the plans of the tworascals, it might help him decide his own course. For Chet Havens feltdeeply the responsibility that circumstances had thrust upon him.
He was naturally a thoughtful boy, and when his father had talked soseriously to him regarding the errand to Grub Stake, Chet had no ideathat he would fail in any particular to fulfil his father's wishes.
It was farthest from his thoughts (as it probably was from Mr. Havens')that anybody would attempt to steal the deeds from Chet. The boy accusedhimself of having been careless, however; in no other way could thedeeds have been taken from him.
Now he must get them back if it was a possible thing. Chet was preparedto run into some danger, if necessary, to accomplish this end. Thereforehe crept near to the scoundrels' camp and chanced a fight with them ifthey should find him there.
They did not seem to be discussing anything of much moment to Chet,however, when he first established himself behind a tree within a fewfeet of the campfire. Tony was speaking:
"Well! we gotter have some o' that buffalo meat--that's all there is toit."
"If those boys kill one," sneered Steve.
"Oh, they'll kill one all right," said Tony, with confidence. "You'veseen what they can do with a gun--'specially that Chet Havens. He's acrackajack!"
"Oh, I see," grumbled the other man. "Confound 'em! If it wasn't fortheir guns I'd drive 'em out of the country easy."
"Well, wait till we can load up with some grub before taking the backtrack; that's what I say," growled Tony, puffing on his eternal pipe.
"You think altogether too much of your stomach, Tony," complained theother man.
"Why shouldn't I think of it? Nobody else is goin' to," declared thehairy one, philosophically. "Tony Traddles has had to look after his ownself since he was knee high to a hoppergrass. Ain't nobody cared acontinental for him--no, sir! Old man Havens chucked him out'n his joblike he was a dawg."
"And I should think you'd be sore on this son of his, for it," observedSteve.
"Huh! I try ter be. But them boys are such smart rascals! They kin shootan' foller a trail, an' all that. They are free-handed, too."
"There we get right back to Tony's stomach again," snarled the otherman. "You make me sick!"
"Well, it don't make me sick to pick the bones of a fat bird thatsomebody else has shot," quoth Tony Traddles. "And you ain't so much!"he added, with some peevishness. "You said if you got them papers fromthe kid you'd make a hunk of money, and I should have some of it. Andthen you go and lose 'em--if you lost 'em."
"Oh, I lost 'em all right," returned Steve, "or I'd not be knockingaround this country with a couple of boys tagging me."
"And you think you can find 'em?" queried Tony.
"I believe I can. And I want to shake these kids so as to do it. When Islipped into the river as we swam the horses from that island, I flungmy coat ashore to keep it dry. Remember?"
"Yes."
"That's when I lost the deeds. The packet fell out of my pocket rightthen. I was in too much of a hurry getting that crazy pony ashore tothink of anything else."
"Well! it's a long way back," remarked Tony. "And I insist on gettingmeat first. You can't shoot game with your pistol, and this old gun ofmine ain't much good. I told you so in the first place."
"If we wait for these boys to shoot something, we'll have to killanother day," grumbled Steve. "We can only slip out and leave 'em in thedark."
"Then make it to-morrow night," said Tony, with decision, and he rolledover and knocked the heel out of his pipe into the fire.
Chet stole away from the encampment of the two rascals within a fewminutes. Tony had pillowed his head on his arm and gone to sleep. It wasSteve's first watch.
The boy had heard enough of importance to show him that his suspicionswere upheld. The man really had lost the deeds which he had stolen.
He had not discovered the loss, in all probability, until he was madeprisoner and searched by the two boys. At once his mind had gone back tohis adventure on the shore of the river, now mentioned to Tony Traddles.
Chet was confident that he knew what river was meant. It was the shallowstream in which the men had striven to hide their trail just after theyhad robbed Chet and Dig. The former believed the island spoken of mustbe below the ford at which he and his chum last crossed.
"I could turn back and find that place--pretty nearly--in a day and ahalf," thought Chet. "That's where the fellows aimed for when theystarted out the morning after we captured them.
"Our sticking to their trail made them turn this way. Steve is going totry to throw us off and go back to find the papers. _Why not beat him toit?_"
Chet had sufficient food for reflection to keep him wide awake duringhis vigil. He let the fire die out and he kept back in the darkness,watching the other camp continually. He saw Steve move aboutoccasionally; but the fellow did not offer to come up the hill; and asfor Tony, by the way he had gone to sleep, Chet was quite sure he wouldnot be easily aroused.
When Chet awoke his chum and partner he said nothing about what he hadoverheard at the other camp. Only, he advised his friend to watch theman below them closely.
"I'll keep my eye on him, all right," promised Dig. "B-r-r-r! it's cold!What did you let the fire go out for, Chet?"
"It's safer. You can see better without the light flickering in youreyes. And you can stir around and keep warm," said Chet. "It's me that'sgot to lie cold. Wake me up in good season, now."
Dig obeyed that last request. He roused Chet just as soon as the dawnstreaked the eastern sky. Dig Fordham was excited, too.
"Whew, Chet!" he whispered. "I've thought up the greatest scheme!"
"What is it?" demanded Chet, yawning. "My! but you did get me up earlyenough, in all good conscience!"
"Don't be a lazybones. The coffee is made," said Dig. "And don't forgetthat we're to have another crack at the buffalo."
; "Yes? Well, maybe."
"Whew! where's your enthusiasm?" demanded Dig, disappointed.
"Wait till I get the stickers out of my eyes," said Chet, going to thefull spring.
After he had ducked his head into the cold water, and scrubbed his faceand hands and behind his ears, he felt more awake to the situation.
"What's the wonderful idea, Dig?" he mumbled, as he rubbed himself dryon the towel he had had wisdom enough to bring along. Camping outwithout a towel is simply punishment; and it was easy enough to dry thetowel in the sun while they ate breakfast.
"I reckon you don't want to hear about it," grumbled Dig.
"Oh, go on! I was half asleep. What have you been conjuring up, oldman?"
"Why, it's about those buffaloes," Dig whispered, as though he fearedsomebody would hear him besides Chet. "Rather about the big bull."
"Well?"
"Let's capture him!" exclaimed Dig.
"Huh? Oh, yes, another joke. Put salt on his tail?"
"By the last hoptoad that was chased out of Ireland!" declared Digearnestly, "this is a good thing."
"I don't see how you're going to capture a creature as big as anelephant--and twice as mad."
"That's where my scheme comes in."
"Explain! explain!" urged Chet, spreading the towel on a bush.
"Why, I'll tell you: Just as soon as it began to grow light this morningI saw Tony lie down and go to sleep. His partner was dead to the world,too; so I knew they wouldn't bother us. I took the glasses and went justoutside the timber, there, and tried to find the buffaloes."
"They're all right, aren't they?" asked Chet, with interest.
"Sure. They spent the night in one of those small groves down there.They've just begun to come out to graze."
"I see."
"Well, I spied out the whole valley from where I stood. There's a bandof antelope further down, too. But we don't care for them."
"Not while the buffaloes are in sight," chuckled Chet.
"Now, listen! Across the valley I saw the openings of two or threenarrow gulches--regular pockets in the hill over there."
"Hey!" cried Chet, sitting up both physically and mentally. "What isthis, boy?"
"My idea," said Dig, with confidence, "and it's a good one. Thosepockets can be made into corrals at least, one of them can."
"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Chet. "You think we can corral thosebuffaloes?"
"Maybe the big one. Sell him to some speculator or a showman," said Dig.
"Say! that would beat all the hoptoads that ever hopped out of Ireland,"declared Chet. "Let's have those glasses."
"Wait till you have your breakfast."
"Breakfast be jiggered!" ejaculated Chet. "I want to see what thosepockets look like from out yonder. To corral some of those buffaloes!Well! that would beat shooting them, I should think," and he hurriedaway from the campfire.