When Old Eagle Eye, then, announced that the two men were coming, the others craned their necks to look. Allan told them not to appear too curious; and so those who were busy at the fire went on with their culinary labors, cooking a bountiful breakfast, as it seemed that they might have company.
Sheriff Bob and the lawyer soon strode into camp--at least the officer did the striding part, for old Artemus seemed pretty nearly f.a.gged out. A burning desire to acquire a glorious fortune so easily was all that kept him up, otherwise he would never have been able to have stood the long tramp as he did.
The first thing the sheriff did after replying to the salutation of Allan, was to scan each one of the four boys in turn, and then turning to his companion, say tersely:
"None of these the one you want, I reckon, sir?"
The old Denver lawyer looked dreadfully disappointed. His ferrit-like eyes had flitted from one to another of the scouts, and each time he changed base his long cunning face grew more like a blank.
"No, my nephew isn"t in sight, as I can see, Sheriff," he replied, with a frown, and a look toward Allan, as though to say that it was his opinion the boy might produce the one they sought, if proper force were applied.
"Having a hunt up here in the mountains, are you, boys?" asked the sheriff, as he followed the example of the lawyer, and dropped down near the fire, crossing his legs tailor-fashion, as though he meant to make himself quite at home.
"Yes, we want to get a big-horn or so to take back with us," replied Allan.
"Just the four of you?" continued the other, arching his heavy brows as if with surprise.
"Oh! no, there are a lot of other fellows," replied the scout who took Thad"s place as leader when the other happened to be absent.
"Oh! that"s it, eh? Rest off on a little side hunt right now, I reckon. P"raps you"ve got a guide along with you, too?" the officer continued, bending his neck, so that he could see inside the nearest tent, the flap of which happened to be on the side toward him, and thrown back to allow of ventilation.
"Oh! yes, we"ve got a guide now, though for a long time we had to go it alone, and managed to get on pretty well," Allan continued, wondering why it was he could catch a peculiar quizzical gleam in the snapping eyes of the other, once in a while, when the sheriff looked straight at him.
"Who is he; perhaps I might happen to know him?" asked the other, accepting a tin cup filled with coffee, from b.u.mpus.
"I"m sure you do, sir," Allan hastened to remark; and then, remembering that he was not supposed to know of the visit the sheriff and his employer had paid to the camp of the big-horn hunters on the previous night, he hastened to add: "everybody knows honest Toby Smathers, the forest ranger, I should think."
"Well, I should say, yes, I did," replied the other, commencing to calmly devour the piece of venison that had been placed on his platter, as though his appet.i.te was sharp indeed this bracing morning.
"And so you boys have come away out here just to see what we"ve got in these Rockies, eh?"
"Just what we have, sir," replied Giraffe, thinking that he would like to have the sheriff notice him a little.
"And I declare, you seem to be fixed pretty comfortable like," the other went on. "Just look at the tents they brought with them, Mr.
Rawson. I"ve always said that on the whole they were better than the old-fashioned tents. You can see how the heat of the fire on a cold night is sent back into the tent; and there"s aplenty of head-room here. Yes, both of "em as cozy as you please."
He had seemed so very much interested in the subject that he even laid down his tin cup and platter, and gaining his feet, pa.s.sed over, to peer into each tent, as if bent on ascertaining what the interior looked like.
Allan, of course, knew just what this meant. The sheriff was looking for Aleck, as if he half-expected to find the hunted boy concealed under a pile of blankets. And yet it puzzled Allan to note that, in spite of the keen disappointment which would naturally follow a failure to locate the boy, Sheriff Bob was even chuckling as he once more sat him down in the circle, and resumed operations on his breakfast.
Something seemed to be amusing him, Allan wished he could tell what.
He felt it must have some connection with the search for Aleck Rawson; though for the life of him he could not decide what was in the sheriff"s mind.
The talk soon became general, though Artemus took no part in it. He sent a beseeching glance every now and then in the direction of the officer, as if begging him to do something; but whatever it might be, evidently Sheriff Bob was in no hurry, and meant to finish that good breakfast first, anyway.
Presently, as he emptied his platter the second time, and swallowed his third cup of scalding Java the officer remarked:
"I know something about the Boy Scouts myself, it happens. Got a youngster down below that belongs to a troop. Great thing. Teaches lads lots of the right kind of outdoor business. Makes "em healthy, and able to depend on themselves a heap. My kid, he"s dead stuck on this signal business with flags and such. Glad to see it, too. Takes me back to old times, as sure as you live."
He stopped there, and seemed to reflect. It was as though memories might be arising that were pleasant to look back upon. Meanwhile Allan was conscious of something like a little thrill pa.s.sing through him.
He seemed to feel that this was no accidental mention on the part of the man with the twinkle in his eye; but in fact, it might have something deep back of it.
"Yes," Sheriff Bob went on, presently, turning straight toward Allan now. "I used to belong in the army years ago--spent six years of my life in the Signal Corps, and was accounted a pretty good operator in wigwag, telegraph, telephone building, and heliograph work while I served. And honest now, I must say I never enjoyed a finer half hour than I spent last night, sitting on a rock up yonder, and watching that lively little confab you held with your chum, who, I think was the boy calling himself Step Hen. He did the job up pretty well, considering; and as for your Thad, he"s chain lightning on the send.
Yes, siree bob, that was a picnic to an old Signal Corps man like me, as you can easily understand, my boy!"
The four scouts sat there as if frozen stiff. Consternation was written all over their faces; and no wonder the humorous sheriff, as he saw what a bomb he had exploded, chuckled, and then laughed aloud.
CHAPTER XXI.
HEARING ALECK"S SIDE OF THE STORY.
That good and hearty laugh on the part of the sheriff did more to rea.s.sure the scouts than anything else could have done. Giraffe, who had been holding his very breath in consternation, allowed the air to flow in and out of his lungs again; b.u.mpus regained his color, while his staring eyes concluded apparently not to pop out of his head this time; and as for Allan and Bob White, they lost some of the look of alarm that had spread over their faces.
"Yes, it was as good as a circus to just sit thar, and enjoy reading that little talk," the sheriff went on to say. "I could "most imagine myself back again in the army, out in the Philippines, teachin" some of the awkward squad their p"s and q"s. And the news was some interestin", too. So Aleck, he was to make himself scarce, was he?
Seems like he did that same, too," with another chuckle, and a shrug of his shoulders toward the tents which he had so lately examined without profit.
Allan hardly knew what to say; but boldly taking up the cudgels he presently remarked:
"Well, Mr. Sheriff, what else could we do? Aleck was a scout, one of our organization; and if you"ve got a son who belongs to it, you must know that a scout is always supposed to be ready to hold out a helping hand to a fellow member. Aleck was in trouble. He had fallen into the hands of a party of prospectors, headed by Colonel Kracker, who were bent on forcing him to give up the secret they thought he carried, concerning the long-lost silver mine his father was said to have discovered years ago."
"H"m! say you so, boy?" the other observed, while the lawyer p.r.i.c.ked up his ears, as if suddenly interested. "Kracker around here, is he?
Well, that"s some interesting news, you"re telling me. You say the boy had fallen into their hands, and that you rescued him?"
"If you"d like to hear about it, I"ll be only too glad to tell you,"
Allan went on to say, eagerly; for somehow he had already taken quite a fancy toward this sheriff with the humorous twinkle in his eye, and thought it only right to make a friend of him, if it could be done.
"All nonsense, Mr. Sheriff," spluttered old Artemus, who feared lest his case might be losing its grip, and that the officer would refuse to aid him even were the boy found. "He"s trying to swing your sympathies around against my interests. Remember that you carry a warrant, and are sworn to serve it."
"I always does my duty, Mr. Rawson, don"t you fear," replied the sheriff, with a frown; "but just now it"s a part of my business to hear all I can concerning the way your nephew came to join in with these Boy Scouts. Now, just go on telling me what you started to say, my boy."
At that Allan picked up fresh courage. The sheriff was inclined to favor them, he realized, even at the expense of straining his "duty."
"Why, one of our number, Giraffe here," he said, "happened to be practicing the wigwag code outside the camp, in the darkness, using a brand he"d picked from the fire; when to his astonishment he saw answering signals from what seemed to be the sky. Well, when we made out the one word "help!" you see our interest was at once raised to fever pitch."
"I should say it would be," remarked Sheriff Bob, showing the deepest attention, as though the prospect for developments in the story began to excite him.
"Our scoutmaster took matters in hand," Allan went on. "You just said he was clever at sending and receiving messages. Well, he"s a cracker-jack, that"s what he is. And it so happened that Aleck, he not only belonged to the scouts, and had learned everything about signaling; but he served as a telegraph operator for a short time on a side road, when the regular man was taken sick; so he could even beat our Thad at talking with his hands; and that"s going some, I tell you."
"But what was Aleck doing up there; and where was he at the time?"
asked the deeply interested sheriff.
"Kracker and his two men had caught Aleck; and unable to make him tell what they wanted, what do you think the cowards did? Lowered the boy down to a shelf on the face of the cliff, and left him there, saying he would starve unless he weakened, and gave up his secret; which Aleck vows belongs to his mother alone, and nothing on earth would make him betray."
"And they left him there, did they?" growled Sheriff Bob, frowning in a way to indicate his opinion of the said Kracker.
"Just what they did. He saw us come into the valley, but thought we might only be some more of the same kind of wolves, wanting to torture a poor boy. But when he saw Giraffe, here, making letters with his fire-stick, something told Aleck we must be Boy Scouts. So, finding some wood on the ledge, he managed to make a little fire in a crack that ran into the rock; and with a brand from this he started to call, repeating that one word over and over again--"help"!"