CHAPTER V.
A PUZZLER FOR MAX.
Max could hardly believe his eyes.
It seemed so remarkable for Steve to be examining the haversack at this midnight hour.
Perhaps the other had been dreaming, and as the pearl was much in his mind he may have gotten up to ascertain whether the little package still reposed safely in the pouch?
Max came to this conclusion as he lay there and watched.
Steve seemed to give a satisfied grunt presently. Then he turned away, stepped gingerly over the forms of Bandy-legs and Toby, bent down for a few seconds, as if fumbling with his clothes, and still muttering to himself, finally crawled under his own blanket.
Max was chuckling as he dropped back on his rude pillow made of leaves that had been crammed into a flour sack.
"Guess Steve is deeper in this pearl business than the rest of us," he muttered, "since he has to climb out of a warm blanket just to make sure nobody's got away with our first prize. Well, he's welcome to stand guard. Me to get some more sleep."
So little impression did the circumstance make upon Max's mind that in less than five minutes he had drifted away once more to the borders of slumberland.
In the morning it was Owen who awakened the balance of the campers.
"Here, suppose you fellows show a leg, and take a dip in the creek," he announced, poking his head into the tent.
"I smell bacon!" cried Bandy-legs, as he sat up hurriedly.
"And that must sure be the odor of c-c-coffee that comes s-s-stealing in here!" declared Toby, bounding erect.
Soon the four were floundering about in the cool waters of the Big
Sunflower.
They did not prolong their bath because Owen had declared breakfast almost ready. As Bandy-legs remarked, they could take a dip at any old time; but breakfasts only cropped up once in every twenty-four hours.
And, hence, it was not long before they were seated around the table, enjoying the bacon and fried eggs, hominy and coffee, that the cook of the morning had provided; flanked by an abundance of home-made bread and country butter.
The conversation turned from one subject to another. First it was the chance of their being discovered and annoyed by the crowd that ran with Ted Shafter. Then came talk of the mysterious shell gatherers, whose secret industry the sudden coming of the Ranger Boys might interfere with.
Max was several times tempted to bring up the subject of the pearl, just to find an opportunity for asking Steve if it had been a bad dream that sent him from his warm blanket to make sure the little packet was safe.
Then he decided to hold back just a little longer, and let one of the others start the ball rolling.
No doubt Steve would volunteer a satisfactory explanation without being prodded, given time.
Sure enough, it was Bandy-legs who brought the conversation around to the subject of the pearl.
He and Toby seemed to disagree as to the size of the prize, the latter stubbornly insisting that it was as large as a little marble.
"Aw! rats! What is getting you, Toby!" exclaimed Bandy-legs, in disgust. "Sure you must have been dreaming over it, and things have been growing all night. I tell you it was smaller'n a pea even."
"R-r-reckon I know," grumbled Toby, as stubborn as he could be; "and
I'll b-b-believe it till you p-p-prove the other way."
So, of course, Bandy-legs, feeling that he had been challenged, sprung to his feet.
"I'll do it, then, just to show you!" he exclaimed, as he made for the opening of the tent.
A minute later they heard him grumbling and growling within. Then his voice came welling forth:
"Say, Max!"
"Hello!"
"Was I dreaming, or did I see you put that thing in this haversack?"
"You sure saw me, Bandy-legs," replied Max, feeling a queer burning sensation dart all over his flesh, as though a suspicion of coming trouble suddenly took possession of him.
"You tucked it away in pink cotton, didn't you?" demanded the one inside the tent.
"That's what he d-d-did," answered Toby, before Max could speak.
"And say, Max, did you take her out again?" asked Bandy-legs, reproachfully.
"I did not," answered Max, firmly.
He shot a glance toward Steve. That individual seemed to be staring, just as the others were. Max could discover not the faintest indication on his part of amusement. Indeed, he even looked indignant and aroused.
"Well, all I c'n say then, is, it's mighty funny," Bandy-legs kept on repeating.
"Can't you find the little cardboard box?" called out Max.
"Not any; I tell you it ain't here!" came in reply.
"Oh! s-s-shucks! you n-n-need a pair of specs I g-g-guess, Bandy!" jeered Toby.
"Fetch the bag out here," ordered Max; and as he was the recognized head of the club, his word in a case of this kind was law.
The broad-shouldered boy quickly hove in sight. He was carrying the leather haversack; and his face seemed puckered up in a frown.
"Specs, nothing!" he snapped. "Just you ram your paw inside, Toby Jucklin, and let's see how much better you c'n succeed."
Of course, being thus challenged, Toby felt in honor bound to make the trial.
Everyone watched with rapidly growing interest; and when Max stole another look at Steve he was more puzzled than before.
Was Steve trying to play a trick on his chums; or could it be possible that the strong fascination which he admitted pearls always had for him was tempting him to deceive his comrades?
Max hated to even allow such a suspicion to gain lodgment in his mind; but after what he had seen, how could he help it?
He determined to say nothing to anyone, not even his cousin Owen, but just watch developments.
Of course Toby's confidence quickly gave way to something akin to dismay. He seemed to rattle the contents of the bag around again and again, but apparently without success.
"Well," scoffed Bandy-legs, realizing that it was his turn to crow, "why don't you produce the goods, Toby? You said I needed specs, didn't you? The first pair we find floating down the Big Sunflower goes on your nose. Why don't you show up? Let's see that little cardboard box."
Toby withdrew his hand.
He seemed about to try and peer within the leather pouch when the voice of
Max stopped him.
"Turn it inside out, Toby!" said the leader, quietly.
"Yes, dump everything on the table. That's the ticket!"
It was Steve himself who said this.
If he was playing a joke Steve certainly knew how to keep a straight face. He looked eager, indignant, even alarmed; but Max could see not one single sign of secret laughter. Even his eyes, those tell-tale orbs by which the secret thoughts are so often betrayed, failed to disclose the twinkle Max fully expected to find.
Toby obeyed instructions.
Quite a motley collection of various things that were apt to prove useful rattled on the rough board table as he held the pouch up by two corners.
The little cardboard box was missing.
Toby, as if to make the matter so positive that there could be no mistake, even turned the bag inside out.
"She's gone, fellows!" ejaculated Steve, hoarsely. "After all our boasting some sly thief has crept right into our midst, and got away with our little beauty! It's rotten luck, that's what I say. And for the life of me I don't see how he ever did it."
Max opened his mouth, as though the temptation to speak was more than he could stand; but he closed it quickly again.
"I'll wait and see what his little game is," he kept saying to himself.
"If it's a trick, I never believed Steve would be guilty of such a thing.
And he's carrying it out just like he meant it, too."
The others were beginning to turn their eyes in the direction of Max.
"You've always been such a light sleeper, Max; how is it you didn't hear the thief creep in, and search our bag?" Bandy-legs asked.
Max shrugged his shoulders.
"All I can say, fellows, is that I only woke up once during the night, thinking I heard some one moving about. But I give you my word there was no one in the tent then who didn't belong here."
Max was looking straight at Steve when he said these words. He really expected to see the other turn red with confusion, perhaps laugh a little, and then in his usual frank way acknowledge that he had taken the pearl just to give his chums a little shock.
To the surprise of Max he saw no such sign of guilt upon the face of his friend. Apparently, for some reason or other, Steve meant to brazen it out.
Remembering how the other had seemed to be so strangely fascinated by the handsome pearl, made Max shiver a little, he hardly knew why.
"We all saw you put it in the bag, Max," declared Bandy-legs.
"I tell you what let's do," said Owen. "Perhaps some fellow is bent on playing a joke on the rest of us. Let's settle that point so we won't ever think of it again."
"G-g-good idea, Owen. You r-r-run the g-game to suit yourself," piped up the eager Toby.
"Shall I repeat a form of assertion, Max, to which each one of us will subscribe?" asked Owen, with his customary readiness.
"Certainly; and put it up to me first," replied his cousin.
"Then here goes. I hereby affirm that to the best of my knowledge and belief I've neither seen nor handled that little cardboard box containing our pearl since the time Max dropped the same in this bag. How is it with you, Max; can you truthfully declare the same thing?"
"I can, and hereby do so affirm," replied the other, solemnly.
"Bandy-legs, hold up your hand," Owen went on.
"Sure thing. Now put me to the test," flashed the broad-shouldered boy, as he quickly raised his hand.
"The other one, Bandy-legs, your right hand. There, that's the ticket. Do you solemnly give your word the same as Max and myself did, that you haven't seen or handled that little box since it was dropped in this bag by my cousin?"
"I never have," replied the one on the stand.
"Toby, how is it with you?" Owen kept on.
"I s-s-say exactly the same. So far as I k-know I haven't seen, h-handled or even s-smelled that little b-b-box since Max hid it in h-h-here. I'm completely f-f-f-f"—whistle—"flabbergasted at finding it gone."
"And Steve, what about you?" Owen asked.
Max Hastings was more bewildered than ever when he heard the one he had positively see fumbling at the leather bag while the others slept promptly declare:
"So far as I know, fellows, I've never seen or handled that little box since Max took it off this table and stuck it in the bag. And that's my sworn affidavy, believe me!"