“Hold on a minute,” Qualley said quietly. “I am just as anxious to get busy as you are, but there are one or two things we ought to settle before we start. What are we going to do if they should get away from us?”
“Don’t see any chance for them to get away,” Roberts objected a little nervously.
“No,” Qualley agreed, “it does not seem as though they could, but there is a bare possibility of it and I would like to get it decided now what we are going to do if they do. The government has a mighty long arm and they will be after us pretty hard if they find out about this business. We ought to have some plan.”
“What’s your plan?” Roberts asked. Qualley was evidently the brains of the party and they looked to him for leadership.
“Well,” Qualley replied thoughtfully, “I’ve been thinking it over and I would suggest something like this: if they do get through us and make their way straight back to headquarters they will have to follow the beach, because there is no way for them to get to their boat with Mike up there watching the canal. It will be at least two days before they can get back. Why not lay for them till to-morrow night? If we have not gotten them by that time it will be because they have gotten by somehow. Then we will know what we are up against. You can go way back in the swamp there to that old cabin—the dogs can’t trail you there—and I’ll go back to the logging camp where I can keep my eye on things and maybe help them hunt.”
“What makes you think they will not take you?” Roberts asked in surprise.
“Why should they? They have not seen me and do not know that I have been mixed up in it at all. I have helped Murphy hunt for the timber thieves so much that he will probably tell me all about it; may ask me to help him out. Then I would have a fine chance to lead them astray.”
“How long do you expect us to stay cooped up in that cabin? I’d rather be in the penitentiary than to try to live in that place for the rest of my life, especially if you are out loose and going where you please.” Roberts was not at all satisfied with the arrangement.
“Well, what do you want to do?” Qualley asked indifferently. “Make a run for it if you want to, but I think you will have a good deal better chance if you lay low for a while, say a month or two, and then try it. It may have blown over a little by that time and they may not be watching so close.”
The plan evidently did not appeal to Roberts. It galled him to think that he might be in a trap while Qualley was not even under suspicion. Scott saw the look of sullen craft on his face and thought that he would not give much for Qualley’s chances if Roberts was ever taken. Probably either one of them would cheerfully watch the other hang if he thought it would improve his own chances any.