“I hope he has a reputation already as a fluent liar. That would help some. Well, what is the big idea now?”
They were still talking in whispers for they did not know how close the boy or some of the other searchers might be and voices carry far in the evening stillness of the forest. They could clearly hear the voices at the mill an eighth of a mile away. Scott had been thinking hard of his plan ever since they had crawled into their hiding place and was ready with his answer to Murphy’s question.
“I think that we better stay here for a while till that fellow comes back home. Then he will not be so likely to run up on us from behind. When things have settled down over there we can scout around and see how they get the lumber out of this place, and, if possible, where they take it. They would not dare take it back out and down the river. Possibly we can even get close enough to some of those logs to see if they have your mark on them. Unless you can suggest some better plan.”
Murphy did not have any objections to make. There was nothing in it which suggested running away, and there was some promise of excitement in putting it through. They sat for a while in silence listening for the return of the horseman and the boy. It was almost an hour before they heard voices on the tow path below. It was the man on horseback and the boy half walking and half trotting beside him. They caught enough of the conversation to reassure them. As the pair reached the place where the boy had been swimming the man’s voice asked jeeringly, “Don’t see an elephant or a hippopotamus in them bushes now, do you?”
The boy was protesting vehemently with all the breath his rapid pace had left him. They were soon gone, but that little scrap of conversation was as good as a promise that they would go straight home and to bed.
But they did not wait for them to go to bed. Scott was satisfied that there was no other searching party out and that no one would be sneaking up behind them. They heard the people laughing over at the camp and knew that the boy was being teased about the horrible apparitions he had seen.
CHAPTER X
“Well,” Scott whispered to Murphy, “let’s get out of here and see what we can find.”
Murphy was ready enough to move and perfectly willing to tackle the whole camp single-handed if necessary, but he was surprised that Scott did not want to wait till the camp was asleep, since he had already taken such precautions to avoid detection. “Think they have settled down yet?” he asked, as they crawled out of the brush.
“No, but I thought we might cut a circle around here and maybe find out how they get the lumber out of here. We can sneak in and look over the mill and the logs later on if we get a chance.”