"Why can"t you tell him the whole story?" asked Chester as the boys grouped themselves in a shadowy corner of the cave. "Why don"t you tell him just why you came out tonight, and how we happened to come into the cavern. I don"t believe they"ll do us any harm if you tell the truth."
"Now, look here, kid," Will answered, "if we tell the cowboys that we came into the hills hunting for a demented man, they"ll want to know who the demented man is, and why he came into the hills without any supplies. Can"t you understand that?"
"If he does," replied Chester, "I"ll tell him all about it."
"If you do," Will continued, "the cowboys will join in the search for your father, and when they catch him, they"ll turn him over to the two detectives who are now in the hills searching for him."
Chester turned pale as death and shrank back against the wall of the cave. His voice was piteous as he asked:
"So you know all about that, too, do you?"
"Yes," answered Will, "and we don"t want the officers to get hold of your father. If they do, it will spoil all our plans, because they"ll take him back to the penitentiary, and that would make new trouble for our friend. We want to find him ourselves."
"But I don"t understand--"
"I know that you don"t understand," Will declared, "and this is no time nor place to give you the information you lack."
"But I"ll see father taken back to prison before I"ll see you two boys lynched!" insisted Chester.
"You"d better think the matter over carefully," Will advised. "The chances are that they won"t believe anything we say to them now."
"Well!" the sheriff called out impatiently. "Have you boys reached a conclusion?"
"We have already told you everything which can possibly interest you!"
Will answered. "We have nothing more to say!"
"Then bring out your rope, boys!" the sheriff shouted.
Seth threw a hand back to his pistol pocket and faced the sheriff angrily. The sheriff"s eyes flashed vengefully.
"I protest against this murder!" Seth exclaimed.
"If you don"t want to take a hand in the proceedings, get out!" ordered the sheriff. "We can do the work without you!"
"I don"t propose to see these Boy Scouts murdered!" Seth declared.
Every member of the party now held a gun in his hand, and it seemed to the boys that a desperate battle must take place. They drew their own revolvers and stood side by side with their defender.
"Take those guns away from the kids," shouted the sheriff, addressing two of his men. "We ought to have attended to that before this!"
"Don"t you try it!" Seth said calmly. "I"ll shoot the first man that lays a hand on one of them!"
While the two parties stood facing each other, each ready to begin shooting at the slightest provocation, a volley of shots came from up the gorge. The angry men turned their eyes toward the entrance to the cavern and the sheriff threw up his hand in a command for an armistice.
"The train robbers may be out in the gulch shooting up some one now!" he exclaimed. "We ought to see about this!"
"Yes," Seth exclaimed, "there"s no use of our coming to blows over this matter. If the robbers" hiding place can be found, we can make them tell whether these boys are mixed up in their affairs or not."
"That"s right!" exclaimed another member of the party. "If the boys will give up their guns and promise to make no attempt to escape, we"ll investigate this shooting and give them the benefit of every doubt there is in the case. Will you do that, boys?"
The lads handed their weapons to Seth and moved out toward the gulch.
When the party pa.s.sed out of the cavern they found no one in sight.
While they stood listening and watching more shots came from the south and they all moved up in that direction. The moon was now shining brilliantly and the whole gulch was in view.
"Strange where that shooting is!" Seth exclaimed.
"It"s in the caverns up to the north, and that means that the train robbers have been brought to bay!" exclaimed the sheriff.
As the party started up the gulch, Will drew Seth aside and whispered a few words into his ear.
CHAPTER X
ONE DANGER TO ANOTHER
"How do you know the bears are out there in the cave?" Sandy asked, as Tommy drew back into the smaller cavity.
"Just take a peek out, if you don"t believe me."
Sandy did take a peek out, and sprang back with a face which looked as white as a sheet of paper under the rays of Tommy"s electric searchlight.
"One of "em took a swipe at me!" he said.
The boys turned their searchlights on the entrance and waited patiently for some moments for the bears to present themselves in the illuminated circle, but the animals seemed to understand that there was danger under the light, and remained around the angle of the wall.
"What are you going to do?" asked Tommy, presently.
"Blessed if I know!" answered Sandy.
"We might rush out and fill "em full of lead," suggested Tommy.
"Not for me!" the other answered. "They"d get in one good crack at us before we could pull the trigger, and then it would be "Good-night!""
"How long do you think they"ll stay here?" asked Tommy.
"The bear has the reputation of being a stayer," replied the other.
"Well, in time," Tommy said, "we"ll have to make a break. We"ve got about enough provisions for breakfast, and after that, we"ll be on the verge of starvation as long as we remain here. So far as I can see, we may as well make a break right now."
"I"m game for it," replied Sandy. "We"ll dazzle their eyes with our searchlights, and fire a whole clip of bullets without stopping. Perhaps that"ll bring them down or cause them to run away."
"All right!" Tommy agreed. "We"ll round the corner together with our searchlights held in front and begin shooting."
"And don"t make any mistake about shooting straight!" advised Sandy. "I don"t want Will and George to know that we ever got into a mess like this. You know what they said about our coming away tonight, anyhow!"
"Sure, I know!" admitted Tommy. "And I"d rather have one of the bears bite off an arm than to have them know we got into a sc.r.a.pe we couldn"t get out of without their help."