"Well, we looked about a good deal," Jimmie admitted, "and I can"t say as I thought of being chased up. What did Washington say?"
"You boys are to wait here until you receive instructions. The cipher message is now going on the wire."
The boys sat down in a restaurant not far from the telegraph office and ordered porterhouse steaks, French potatoes, and all the side dishes that were on the menu.
"We may have to ride to-night," Jack said, "and may as well prepare for it."
"I don"t like the idea of our being followed here," Jimmie observed.
"We"ll be apt to come across that chap on the way back. The funny part of it all is that we never suspected there was a sleuth out after us!"
"We ought to have known," Jack grumbled. "Somehow everything has gone wrong with us. If we ride back in the night we"ll probably have a skirmish."
After eating they went back to the telegraph office. The clerk was waiting for them, that being the usual hour for his supper.
"Here"s your orders," he said, with a smile, "right from the chief himself. He seems to know who you are all right!"
Jack took the dispatch and read:
"Remain where you are until motor cars now on the way from c.u.mberland reach you. Our men say the cars can make good time clear to the foothills. The cipher message will arrive shortly. Be on your guard."
It was signed by the chief of the Secret Service department.
"What do you know about that?" asked Jack, pa.s.sing the message over to Jimmie.
"How far is it to c.u.mberland?" he asked of the clerk.
"Something like eighty miles," was the reply.
"Are the roads good? Can a motor car make good time to-night."
"The river roads are fairly good. A fast car ought to get here in three hours."
"I see that Chinese-looking guy that wanted the message catching us if we go back in an automobile!" Jimmie laughed.
"But a motor car," Jack interrupted, "is an easy thing to wreck on a mountain."
"What do you think was in that dispatch?" Jimmie asked of Jack, as they sat in the telegraph office waiting.
"Something which brings out motor cars and secret service men," Jack answered. "I guess it made a hit at Washington."
"Perhaps he wired that he was going to bring the prince in!" laughed Jimmie. "Well, if he did, he"ll do it, and that"s all I"ve got to say about it."
Twice that evening a dark face appeared at the window of the telegraph office and peered in at the boys. Each time the owner of the dark face hastened away after a short inspection of the lads and conferred with two men in a dark little hotel office.
Shortly after ten o"clock two great touring cars, long, lean racers, ran up to the curb in front of the telegraph office and stopped. The street was now well-nigh deserted, but what few people were still astir gathered around the machines.
There were three husky men in each machine, and in each car was room for one more person. Only one man alighted and entered the office.
When he saw the boys waiting he beckoned to them.
"Got your cipher?" he asked, and Jack nodded.
"Then come along. We"ll get to the high climb before the moon comes up."
"Do you know the way?" asked the clerk.
"Only from verbal description," was the reply, "but we can find it."
"I"m off duty," the clerk said, "and I know every inch of the way. I was reared in the mountains west of the short ridge. I"d like a little adventure, too!" he laughed.
"What about the mules?" asked Jimmie, determined that Uncle Ike should be cared for.
"Get them into a barn, quick," said the chief, sharply. "We must be off."
When Jimmie came back the clerk and Jack were crowded into one seat in the rear machine, while a vacant seat in the front car was waiting for him. The party was off with a snort of motors and faint cheers from the little crowd which had gathered.
The river road was fairly good, and in an hour they were at the foothills, around the south end of the short ridge. The driver drew up there, and in the clear air, from the north came the sound of galloping horses.
"Get out and under cover, boys!" the chief commanded.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE MAN-TRAP IS SET
Ned, Oliver and Teddy remained in camp all the afternoon--waiting.
They were not, of course, antic.i.p.ating the immediate return of Jack and Jimmie, but they were looking every moment, after a couple of hours had pa.s.sed, for some signs of the boys who had been sent out in the wake of Bradley.
"I"ll bet a cookie," Teddy exclaimed, as the sun set over the ridge to the west, "that Frank and Dode have b.u.mped into something hard!"
"I may have made a mistake in not going on that trip myself," Ned mused, "but I had an idea there would be business for me at the camp.
I don"t know what to make of this lack of attention on the part of our enemies!"
"It may be," Oliver suggested, "that they have taken alarm and ducked with the prince."
"That is just what I fear," Ned answered. "It will spoil all my plans if they move now; still, I admit that they"ve had enough unpleasant experiences here to make them long for a quieter retreat!"
The boys prepared supper, taking pains to provide enough food for Frank and Dode, but they did not come. The meal over, Ned made ready for a trip down the mountain.
"I"m going to Chimney rock," he said to the boys. "I should like to have one of you with me, but two ought to remain here. I"m going to take some rockets with me. If I do not return before midnight, one of you advance along the summit to the south, provided with rockets. If one of my rockets is seen, the watcher must send one up to notify the boy in camp. Then both must make a run for Chimney rock, traveling so as to come upon it from the up-hill side. Is that clear?"
"Perfectly," Oliver declared. "You are going to bring this prince back with you?"
"Perhaps!" laughed Ned. "I may have to bring Frank and Dode back with me!"
There was only the light of the stars when Ned reached the vicinity of Chimney rock, coming in from the slope to the north and moving with extreme caution. There was a dull glow in the dip back of the rock, the glow of coals nearly burned out.