"How did you get the orders to capture them?" asked Mr. Gilroy.
"Why, the Police Chiefs all over the country were sent secret communications with descriptions and photographs of the fellows; just the other day, a young man who lives with his granny on this mountain, said he had seen two evil-looking tramps somewhat resembling the pictures. So we quickly planned to start a round-up when we heard from you. Then last night I got a message over the wire that two suspects were trailed as far as Junction or its vicinity, and we were to look carefully to see if any disguised strangers were hanging about our town."
"Well, well! This is certainly interesting, but now I am more determined than ever to go with you when you start. Are we waiting for anything?"
said Mr. Gilroy.
"Nothing except the consent of your nurses," laughed the Chief.
The four girls looked obdurate, and Mr. Gilroy began to smile, then he turned to the Chief.
"You feel reasonably sure that I will be taking no risks in accompanying you back to the campsite?"
"Oh, certainly! Those two outlaws will never hang about a spot where so many people are liable to stop."
"Well, then, is there any objection to my four nurses going with me to see that I keep quiet to-day?"
"Oh, Mr. Gilroy! How splendid that will be!" cried Julie,
"Oh, yes! Do let us go, Chief!" exclaimed Joan, eagerly.
But at this moment Mrs. Vernon came out on the piazza. She overheard the last words and instantly shook her head in disapproval.
"But why not, Verny? The Chief says the ground is perfectly safe about our camp!" pleaded Julie.
"Why, not a mother in the land would ever allow her girls to join the Scout Organization if they thought I was a sample of a Captain--the very idea! to let you girls run right into such a hotbed of danger!" Mrs.
Vernon glanced scornfully at Mr. Gilroy as if to dare him to say another word.
But he smiled in return and said: "Just step inside for a moment, Mrs.
Vernon,--I have a word to speak to you."
Wonderingly, the Captain followed him indoors, and whatever he whispered must have had a wonderful power, for a radical change took place in Mrs.
Vernon"s opinions before she joined the girls again.
"Mr. Gilroy has convinced me that it is to our _advantage_ to go back to the huts, but still I refuse to go unless the Chief can a.s.sure me that we will not be anywhere near those outlaws, or run any risk by returning to camp," said she.
"As far as that is concerned, I told Mr. Gilroy that the two rascals were too experienced to stay near the camp, but were most likely over the mountain by this time, making tracks for some out-of-the-way place where they could hide again for a few days."
"Maybe they will go back to Bluebeard"s Cave, now that they got our food and other necessities," suggested Joan.
"I only hope they do," laughed the Chief. "For in that case we will smoke them out with sulphur."
After many misgivings as to the wisdom of this trip, and fearing the condemnation of all the parents of the girls, as well as the disapproval of the Girl Scouts Organization should they ever hear of the escapade, Mrs. Vernon followed her charges to the car.
By the time the police and the scout party arrived at the campsite, the village posse were far past that spot and were beating the woods up on the mountainside. The Chief went carefully over every visible sign of the destruction in the camp, but shook his head smilingly after he had concluded his investigation.
"I don"t believe the rascals stole the furniture, you know, Mr. Gilroy, as it would hamper them too much in their get-away and it would be of no earthly value to any one but these scouts. Neither do I believe that they carried off much food. Only enough to last them for the present.
But they doubtless made a cache of it somewhere, believing that the scouts would be too timid ever to return to this camp, and then they could take up their quarters here. If they were left unmolested, they could move back the furniture and food later."
"That"s what I thought, too," agreed Mr. Gilroy. "And by depriving the girls of food and camp-beds, they were sure of driving them away from here at once."
"Exactly. Now, I should propose to the scouts that they thrash the bushes near here to see if the villagers have not pa.s.sed over the hidden stores or pieces of furniture. Of course they ought to have beaten the woods too well to miss anything, but one never can tell as, in their zeal, they are hunting _men_, not food," said the Chief.
"We will search if you are quite sure it is safe for us to do so. If the hunters who sought first missed the chairs or table, why couldn"t they pa.s.s over a rec.u.mbent form of a man?" said Mrs. Vernon.
"Oh, I do not think the tables or chairs are left standing intact. And the food-stuffs will not be in boxes, either; but small installments of it probably will be found here and there under the leaves, in hollows, or hidden under roots of trees."
"Well, Chief, you leave two of your best men here with us for protection, and then go as far as you like over the mountain-top,"
agreed Mr. Gilroy.
So two big fighting men were detailed to remain behind with the camp-party, and the rest of the police started in different directions to hunt out the desperadoes.
After the police were out of sight, Joan said: "I wish we could find our food-stuff and furniture before a rain-storm comes."
Mrs. Vernon laughed. "If the grapevine could withstand the snows and rains of many years before we found it, now that it is turned into furniture for us it will surely not suffer from a slight storm."
"Well, _I_ am not thinking of storms, but of hunger. Let"s go to work and hunt, then we can stay on in camp--if we find the food," said Julie.
So in short order every one was beating the bushes and leaves as if in search of diamonds. The policemen had given the girls a "safety zone" in which to work, while they themselves wandered further afield.
Not long after they began seeking, Mrs. Vernon found a cooking-pot under a bush. Then Joan found some groceries. In all sorts of out-of-the-way holes and nooks, well-covered from curious eyes, different articles were found, but the greater part of the food-stuff was still to be regained, when the Captain told her girls to rest for a short time and eat some of the crackers Ruth had found.
A dish-pan of water was brought from the spring and the scouts sat down to eat and drink, while reviewing the thrilling adventures of the past two days.
"I still must say that I am dubious about the reception this present undertaking will receive, when it is known that I am so weak-minded as to give in to four coaxing girls and Mr. Gilroy, who has a wonderful plan for you girls to win a lot of money--but in a manner that is ninety-nine chances against one to its success."
"Oh, Verny! Do tell us what it is!" exclaimed Julie.
"Is that what he whispered to you that made you change your mind?" asked Ruth.
"Yes, I was foolish enough to believe that it was possible, but now that I am here I see that it is not! I wish to goodness we were back safe at Freedom!"
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE CAPTURE
A pleased signal from the detective now caused the happy scouts to race down the trail as if a wild grizzly was after them. Joan and Julie reached him first, and there they saw the nice little cache of food-stock that every man in Freedom had pa.s.sed by while thrashing the bushes for the fugitives.
"Of all things! How did they get the time to do it so neatly?" asked Mrs. Vernon, seeing the logs and leaves and stones scattered over the boxes and tins of camp-food.
"They are experienced wanderers, I suppose, and most likely often had to hide their firearms and food from the secret police in Europe," returned the detective, beginning to drag out the packages and boxes.
"I can"t understand how those men from Freedom, beating over this very ground, should pa.s.s by such a clue to the rascals. You see they can"t live very long without food, so here we have them, while they may still be at large on the mountains," continued the policeman.
The girls were only too glad to carry their campstock back to the small hut and there left it in the custody of Mr. Gilroy, while they sought still further for blankets or bedding.