"All right. We"ll treat him just as though we never suspected a thing."
"Then you won"t think of putting him on the rack?"
"Certainly not. What business is it of ours what he is doing up here? We can guess all we like, but if that convict is hiding here for any reason, let the authorities catch him. I"d hate to think that I"d been the means of sending any poor wretch back to such a life. And remember, he may have been innocent, after all, so that all these years he was suffering for something he never did."
"Frank, I guess you"re right; you nearly always are. Look at Bluff swimming like a duck out there! I heard him say the water was colder than our lake."
"I should think it would be. This mountain lake is fed by springs, and even in the dog days I imagine it would feel delightfully cool for swimming. I hope Bluff doesn"t go out too far. Sometimes a fellow is apt to catch a cramp when plunging into one of these cold bodies of water."
"But he didn"t plunge in. I watched him, and he just waded out, Frank."
"So much the worse, then, for in that way one drives the warm blood up from the extremities suddenly, and there is always more danger of cramps. Always take a header into the water first. It"s the safest way.
Hi, Bluff!" he called, elevating his voice.
"h.e.l.lo! What do you want, Frank?" asked the swimmer, who was spurting water out some twenty yards from the sh.o.r.e, and seemingly enjoying himself hugely.
"I wouldn"t go out any further. I don"t believe it"s safe," called Frank.
"Oh, bosh! There isn"t any ghost out here. I"ll guarantee to drown the first one that bobs up. Give you my word on it."
He vanished under the water, and presently came up again, snorting and puffing.
"How deep?" demanded Will, who was also watching, as if in doubt whether to go in or not.
"Ten feet or so out here. Looks like it might be a hundred out in the middle. Gee! but it"s cold, fellows! Like you were taking a turn in an ice bath."
"Better come in closer," advised Frank uneasily.
"Will soon," grunted Bluff, who could be stubborn when he liked.
So Frank sat down again, though occasionally, as he and Jerry talked on, he kept casting glances out toward the spot where the venturesome bather was disporting himself like some aquatic animal.
"An idea came to me just now," remarked Jerry, who could not get his mind off the subject that had been holding their attention at the time Frank spoke to Bluff.
"Suppose you pa.s.s it along, then?" smiled his chum.
"There may be something up in these mountains that Thaddeus Lasher wants, and he doesn"t feel like allowing others to get in on the discovery."
Frank shook his head, as he said:
"Possible, but hardly probable. Put all such notions as a discovery of gold in the rocks or sand out of your head. There isn"t any formation to make that even a gambler"s chance; and I think the same would apply as to an oil discovery. Men once looked this field over carefully, and p.r.o.nounced against any hope of that."
"But you have an idea, you said?" suggested Jerry insinuatingly.
"I"m not going to mention that one just yet. But I don"t mind telling you what came into my mind at first, as the most probable thing,"
replied Frank.
"I suppose I"ll have to be satisfied with that, then," grumbled Jerry.
"It isn"t at all to the credit of either Thaddeus Lasher or Andy, and let me say right here that I take very little stock in it now."
"But tell me, anyhow, Frank," persisted Jerry.
"Supposing that the escaped convict felt that everybody"s hand was raised against him, and that from this time on he must fight the world as a crooked man? In such a case he would be apt to feel that since he had the name he might as well have the game."
"I"m following you, and I must say you put the case just as well as Bluff could do, with all his dad"s lawyer blood backing him up. Go on, Frank. This thing is mighty interesting to me, I tell you."
"Supposing the hunted man did feel that way, he might be tempted to start up in some unlawful business here in the quiet of the hills back of Oak Ridge. The only thing that occurs to me would, of course, be counterfeiting," said Frank.
"Had he been accused of that before?"
"Oh, no; or he would have been punished by the United States authorities rather than those of the State. But you know men in prison learn many bad things they never knew before going there. Somehow they seem eager to learn what every old lawbreaker has to tell, in secret. I"ve been told that, anyway, and believe it. So Thaddeus Lasher might have learned about counterfeiting while in prison."
"Follow up that idea still further, Frank. I"ve been reading the "Count of Monte Cristo," by Dumas, lately, and that gives me an idea. Perhaps Thaddeus found a chance to do something for one of the prisoners while there. That rascal, in return, may have told him where he had buried his tools for making money, and up here in these hills, too!" exclaimed Jerry eagerly.
Frank laughed at the conceit.
"Say, you are a great fellow for leaping to conclusions, and yet, when you come to examine the thing closer, it doesn"t seem so very far-fetched, either. Such a thing has happened before Dumas ever wrote his immortal story, and I suppose it will come about a good many more times," he remarked.
"All right. If, in the end, it proves to be something like that, don"t forget, will you, Frank, that I guessed it. Ordinarily, I"m not a very good hand at solving riddles, and it would about tickle me to death if by chance I had hit on the answer to the thing that"s bothering us now."
"I"ll give you all the credit, my boy, depend on that," laughed Frank.
"But I hope it won"t turn out to be anything nearly so serious as that,"
continued Jerry, loyal to his belief in Andy"s reformation.
"Ditto. After all, there"s a good chance that it may be something that will surprise us. But enough of that for the present, Jerry. Let"s turn to what concerns us more closely. There"s Jed keeping up a fine fire, and Bluff has his stew of bear meat cooking nicely while he flounders in the water. If only Adolphus would show up now we"d feel prime."
"I thought I heard a distant shout just then, but it may have been only the crows scolding over there in that dead tree. Hark! There it came again!"
"Yes, I caught it that time. Adolphus is coming, all right. I"d know his whoop among a thousand. He can never drive, it seems, without talking to his horses; and when he wants them to put on an extra spurt he shouts. That"s him, sure," declared Frank, rising to his feet.
"Look at Bluff! How queer he is acting, Frank!"
Frank was startled by these words. He whirled around, all the smile gone from his face, for he had been half expecting something of this sort for quite some little time.
Bluff was indeed acting queerly. He seemed to be in distress, and yet his very obstinacy kept him from calling out for help. He was trying to swim, and at the same time kept doubling up, as though in agony. At such times his head would bob under the water for a second or two.
"He"s got a cramp!" cried Frank, instantly recognizing the signs.
"And we have no boat!" exclaimed Jerry, wringing his hands.
Frank was already hurling off some of his clothes. His shoes flew, one to the right and the other to the left, as though torn from his feet.
"What can we do, Frank?" cried Will, standing there.
"Form a chain, and wade in as far as you can stand; no further. Leave the rest to me," Frank answered.