"Ub-ber-ubber-er-bubber-yah!" remarked the man, sitting bolt upright, and looking about him, as if he had been attacked by wild animals.
"That's all right," said Sprague, "it's only me. Don't get excited. Keep quiet,—don't bubber any more. We're hunted criminals, with a price upon our heads. Prices, I should say."
The other man stirred slightly, and rolled over.
"Hullo! That you? Rescued from a county jail?"
"Rescued nothing!" replied Sprague, "I might have died in jail of old age before you would have done anything. Got out by our own valor and ingenuity. Tunneled through fifteen feet of living rock. Now, get up, and be quiet about it,—the hounds of the law are on our trail, and we must leave these shores quick."
The second man arose swiftly, and began folding his blankets. The other one, however,—the one who had wakened uttering gibberish— crossed his hands over his knees, and said: "I don't know about this!"
"No," said Sprague, "of course you don't. We'll discuss it on the boat,—you shall argue it out to your heart's content. Come out of the tent, now'. We're going to get under way, and quit this place just as soon as we can,—and that's in about two shakes."
The second man had come out of the tent, bringing his blankets with him. Mr. Daddles and all the rest of us set to work pulling up the tent stakes. But the other man sat there, shaking his head.
"I think you're making a mistake," said he; "of course that constable was very arbitrary in his manner, but he IS the constable, just the same. I inquired and found that he is. The arrest was perfectly legal. You had much better stay in jail until morning, and submit to a fine which would probably be merely nominal. As it is, you are becoming a fugitive from justice—"
"That's right, and I'm going to fuge just as quick as I can. Come out from under the tent, Lord Chief Justice, or you'll get a blow on the cocoanut that will damage that legal mind of yours. These are my friends and fellow-criminals, the alleged burglars. … All right there? Everything clear? … I fear they are innocent, however, just as I am guilty,—of banjo-playing."