Somehow all of the scouts just took it for granted that these three advancing parties must surely be the men of whom they had been talking, the fleeing desperate rascals who had lately robbed a bank, and were trying to make the border so that they might cross over into Canada, from which territory they would be able to make faces at any pursuers.
But Thad, as he began to see the newcomers better, when they drew nearer the fire, felt relieved. An idea started to flit through his active brain, to the effect that after all they might not be the thieves, come back for some purpose, perhaps to recover possession of the little, old, black tool-bag.
“Now,” called out the tall man who was in the lead, and who seemed to be in authority, “we know you’re tough cases, and we don’t mean to give any one of you a chance to play a game on us; so my men will keep you all covered, while I go the rounds, and put the irons on.”
“Wow!” exclaimed Giraffe, his eyes looking as round as saucers, when he heard this remark on the part of the supposed terrible yeggman.
“Please go a little slow about that, Mr. Sheriff!” called out Thad. “If you look again, I’m sure you’ll discover that six of us are only boys, and that we belong to a troop of scouts. We’re up here on the track of a Mr. James W. Carson, who is in the woods, with two guides. It is of great importance that I find him, as I am bearing a communication that means a heap to both Mr. Carson and my guardian. As for these two men here, they are our guides, Jim Hasty and Eli Crookes. I guess you ought to know them both, sir. And there’s another, Sebattis, who is right behind you, gun in hand, ready to hold you up if you try to do us any harm.”
The tall man whom Thad had rightly guessed to be the sheriff in chase after the burglars who were fleeing toward the border, gave another look, and then burst into a loud shout.
“That’s one on us, all right, young fellow,” he remarked. “We wondered why under the sun our birds had started to hobnob with a crowd of Boy Scouts; but you never can tell what’s what, when you’re dealing with such sharp customers, and we didn’t mean to take any chances. It’s all right, men, you needn’t handle those guns as if you meant to shoot, any longer. These parties are all right. But what I do want to know is, how came you by that?”
He pointed as he spoke at the old tool-bag that was lying beside Step Hen; and evidently he must have recognized it, or else suspected what it contained.
“That’s mine—er, I mean to say I found the same in the bushes here, when I was huntin’ something I lost,” and Step Hen held up a little packet secured in waterproof cloth, which he had evidently since discovered, just where he formerly laid it down.
“We opened the bag, and guessed that the tools must have been thrown away by some yeggmen who were making a bolt across country for the Canada border,” remarked Thad, as the three officers sat down close to the fire to warm their hands.