“We all dodged some, I imagine,” remarked Thad, with a smile at Davy’s words. “I know I found myself behind a tree in pretty short order. Eli began to creep up, and it seemed rather exciting about that time. Even Davy and myself started to advance. And pretty soon there was Eli, calling to us to come on, because there was no longer any danger, for the birds had flown.”
“Skipped out, just like that,” and Davy, snapped his fingers contemptuously; “all the while we kept laying low, and trying to see if we could glimpse anything to bang away at. It was bad luck.”
“Well,” Thad resumed his story by saying, “with the night at hand, and the two venison thieves a good half mile away by that time, even Eli saw that it was useless trying to overhaul ’em. So we concluded to make our way back to where our buck had lain, take what we could get of the remains, and then start by slow stages for the cabin here. But we had little to say on the way, for it seemed more like a funeral procession than the return of a victorious hunting party.”
“And I’ll own up I was pretty nigh tuckered out,” admitted Davy. “That’s one reason why Eli and Thad decided to come along home. Been limpin’ the better part of the way, and I guess I’ve got a stone bruise on my heel that don’t feel any too fine. But I’ll be all right to-morrow, fellers; and then just see what we do to them that would take the bread away from your mouth, if they had the chance.”
The others looked to Thad, as though what Davy had just said gave them a cue.
“Is that the game, to go back there in the mornin’, an’ take up the trail?” asked Giraffe, excitedly.
“This here seems to be the real thing, all wool, and a yard wide,” muttered Bumpus; and then brightening up, he continued, with increasing earnestness: “and then, if we should find a chance to capture those slippery rascals, just think what we could do with all the nice money that’s offered for their apprehension? Didn’t our friend the sheriff say it was a whole thousand, and might be twice that by now? Count me in, Thad, I want you to know, if we’re going to round up these bank burglars. You may wonder why I’m so fierce about it; but you forget that my dad is the president of our bank at Cranford; and who knows but what it might a been that institution these hoboes looted. I’ve got a personal interest in this matter, and I ain’t going to be left out of any deal either, just remember that!”
CHAPTER XX.
A WONDERFUL FIND.
“Do you really think they meant to shoot you, Thad?” asked Step Hen, after the fat boy had quieted down somewhat.
“We’ve been talking that over,” the patrol leader replied; “and come to the conclusion that the shot was only meant as a warning for us to draw up, and haul off; to tell us that they were desperate men, and would not stand for any nonsense from a hunting party.”