“It’s my honest opinion,” the other replied, “that we ain’t going to see a sign of ’em till we get away down to the other end. And they didn’t come through here, either, because we’d have run across some sign to tell us that.”
“Then how could they reach the lower end of the island?” demanded Davy quickly, thinking he had caught Giraffe in a hole.
“Why, they made off to the beach after they got the stuff, and trailed down that way, which you can understand must have been the easiest, all things considered,” the tall scout went on to explain. “I believe in applying that old principle, and figgering what you’d have done if it had been you. And anybody with horse sense’d know it was lots easier tramping on the shore, to this way of breaking through.”
“Still, Thad thought we ought to do it?” Davy remarked.
“Thad was right, as he nearly always is,” Giraffe pursued doggedly; “because this is the only way we can make dead sure. I’ve got a hunch that they built a fire and proceeded to cook a warm meal. Want to know what makes me think so? Well, we had an extra box of matches along, and that went with the rest of the things. George knew he needed it. Long before now they’ve had their fire, and it’s all day with that grub of ours. We’ll get it back when we surround the hoboes; but you won’t know it.”
“What if they won’t surrender when we ask ’em?” Davy wanted to know.
“They’d better go slow about that same,” he was immediately told, as Giraffe shook his head energetically; “we’ve got the law on our side, you see, after that pair breaking into the farmhouse the way they did, and showing themselves to be regular robbers as well as tramps, yeggmen they call that kind. If I pinked George, after seeing him threaten me, I couldn’t be held responsible for the same. When a man is a fugitive from justice, and the long arm of the law is stretched out to grab him, he hasn’t got any rights, you understand. Every man’s hand is against him, and he’s just got to take his medicine, that’s all.”
Giraffe had a little smattering of legal knowledge, and he certainly did like to hear himself talk, given half a chance. Just then Davy seemed to be glad to learn certain facts, upon which he may have been a little hazy.
“Didn’t I hear you talking with Step Hen the last time you crossed over to his line; or no, it must have been Bob White, because he’s with Thad in the middle track?” Giraffe asked, a short time later, as once more he and his partner came into touch.
“Yes, it was Bob speaking to me,” admitted the other, “and what d’ye think, he said he believed he had discovered a bee tree, and only wished we would be here long enough to get a chance at the honey.”