“And you know how excited she was yesterday afternoon? Well, I think she went to Lafe Green’s house to see if she could find anything out that would be of help to us. You know she’s daring and not afraid of anything, like so many girls are. It’s ten to one that she went there. You remember she knows about the secret passage because she was there when her grandfather told us about it that night.”
“Say, I believe you’re right, Garry. What’s the next move then?” said Dick.
“Looks to me as though the next move were to go directly to Green’s house and have a showdown,” said Phil.
“Right you are, Phil. On the march now. We’ll keep this under our hat so that there will be no danger of Lafe Green and his gang getting a tip.”
Almost running, they reached Clemson Road and headed in the direction of Green’s farm.
On the way they discussed the most advisable way to approach the house. Should there be any force of men there, it would be folly to approach the house openly, as it would give warning.
As they neared the place, Garry called a halt to allow them to regain their breath, for they were all puffing so fast had Garry set the pace. Also, he wanted to hold a council.
“There, we can see the house from here,” he said as they gathered under a big tree. “I thought I remembered the general lay of the land. You see we can go around through the field there and come up back of the barn, and from there to the house is so short a distance that we can make it in a few seconds on the run. Dick, you get in front of the barn after we reach the house, to prevent anyone from making an escape through the secret passage. Phil and I will beard the lion in his den.”
“Just a minute, though,” put in Dick. “I am game to do anything you decide, but can we go busting into a man’s house without a warrant or any authority?”
“Technically we can’t, but this seems to be a time for action if ever there was one. If we find our guess to be correct, and Ruth is held there, no one will bring up the question of our authority. We are dealing with known criminals, and we can show good cause for our suspicions. At any rate, we’ll think about that later. Like the western sheriffs used to say, it’s a case of shoot first and ask questions afterwards.”