“Well, I hope now we ain’t going back, anyhow?” the fat scout remarked, calmly.
All eyes were turned upon the scout-master, as though the decision must rest entirely with him; but then they knew Thad well enough to feel sure he never backed down in anything he attempted until the very last word had been said.
And then again they must have found more or less consolation in the fact that it was his particular business that had brought them all the way into Dixieland; the possibility of finding his long lost little sister would spur Thad on to reaching his goal, if there were a dozen Ricky moonshiners in the way.
Just as they hoped and expected, he lost no time in settling the matter, at least as far as he was concerned.
“We’re here to find that man with the little girl, boys, and we’re bound to do it, by hook or by crook,” he said, quietly, but in that firm tone they knew so well. “If this man who makes the moonshine stuff chooses to get in our way and show himself disagreeable, why, we may have to turn aside for a little while, and teach him that it isn’t always safe to interfere with other people’s business, even if they do happen to be Boy Scouts. And I’m sure our guide here, Tom Smith, will stand by us through it all, won’t you, Tom?”
Now, the swamp hunter was having his eyes opened right along to the possibilities of boys under the new way of making them think for themselves, and the more he saw of Thad and his seven chums, the higher his admiration arose. So when the young scout-master thus appealed to him, he was quick to assure them of his constancy.
“I’ve lived around hyah fo’ a good many yeahs, an’ minded my own bizness right along so ’at Ricky an’ me we-all never hed any fallin’ out; but I sez right now, thet if he thinks he kin chase you boys outen Alligator Swamp, jest ’cause yuh happens tuh be wearin’ them uniforms as makes him ’spicious like, he’s beatin’ up the wrong tree, thet’s all. I’ll stick tuh yuh through thick an’ thin; and Ricky, he bettah go slow, thet’s all.”
“Of course,” put in Thad, hastily, as with a movement of the hand he checked the cheer that arose to the lips of several of the more enthusiastic scouts; “we’d rather not have the least trouble with the man, because, you understand, we never even knew of his being here until we started in to try and find the others; but if he’s as obstinate as a mule——”
“Or Bumpus here,” interjected Davy, as quick as a flash.
“Why,” Thad went on to say, “we’ll have to pay attention to him first of all, because it’s unpleasant to think that at any minute you’re apt to be shot at from ambush, by some one who is hidden behind a tree.”