The sight of the three men with the stolen diamonds spread out between them was an interesting one to Ford and myself. The trio had a lantern, and in the rays of this the precious stones sparkled radiantly.
“If we could only dash in and scoop the pile,” whispered my companion.
“We want to scoop the men as well,” I whispered in return. “It won’t do to let them escape now we have found out their hiding-place.”
There was a brief silence, and then Mr. Norton continued,—
“We’ve had a harder time getting this stuff than we anticipated, boys. If I had known what a job it would be I would never have agreed to the plan when it came up.”
“It wouldn’t have been so hard if you had listened to my way,” put in Yates. “I can’t see why you wanted to drag in that boy over at the mill.”
“That’s because you are not up to all the tricks of the trade,” laughed Norton. “If he had been anyway pliable we would all have escaped without half trying, and perhaps with more booty.”
“Oh, I understand it’s a big thing to stand in with some one in the neighborhood,” remarked Avery. “It helped me considerable in Baltimore. But this plan was so roundabout.”
“That was because things happened as they did,” replied Mr. Norton. “If I hadn’t fallen in with Stone out West everything would have been different.”
“Well, we’ve got the stones, and now the thing is to get out of the neighborhood as quickly as possible,” said Avery. “You are known, and I suppose we will be soon.”