“You little loon, you might have been shot!” muttered Frank.
“All for the Cause!” said Eddie airily. “Well, I couldn’t see a thing, so I went over to the next porch and swiped the papers on two or three steps, and then I laid down in the hammock like I was a newsie and dead tired. But I had an eye to the crack of the hammock, waiting for them to come downstairs. I knew they would have to come out. Then all at once I happened to think that the house has a back door, and I thought, 'Suppose they go out that way!’ Because they came around from the back.
“So I skinned around and drifted along by the fence till I came to the garage. I went in, and say, fellows, hope I may die if I didn’t fall right over the hood of a big machine! I made a clatter that you could have heard up here, but I was sure afraid to pick myself up. So I laid still as long as I dared, then got up and sneaked behind a couple of barrels in the corner, and there I waited some more, and pretty soon in waltzed the two men. They never made a sound, and they scared me nearly to death. They didn’t walk; they just sort of appeared. One of them had a big suitcase, and I bet it was full of dynamite, because he set it in the bottom of the car easier than if it had been eggs. The other one opened the garage doors and got in the driver’s seat and started the car, while the other fellow sat down beside him, and lifted the suitcase on his lap like a sick baby. Then they backed out and in another second were gone.
“That car was a whiz. It was big as the ark, and it went with less sound than I have ever heard an engine make. And I have had some experience, I will say!”
“Of course!” said Frank absently. “Well, one thing is clear, they take their stuff away somewhere in a car. Gosh, Rowland, if that suitcase had gone off there in the garage, it would have mussed you all up, wouldn’t it?”
“I should say so!” said Eddie solemnly. “I thought of that. Oh, yes, there was one thing. Just as the car started, one of the men said something about 'the last trip tomorrow afternoon.’ So I bet they are coming back for more.”
“Good, and more of it!” said Frank. “We must find out where they are taking their stuff.” He yawned. “I wonder if you fellows aren’t sleepy. Seems as though I hadn’t had a nap for a year or so.”
“I can’t sleep,” said Eddie, and Bill echoed him.
“All right,” said Frank, “you can stay here, and if Ernest comes while I am dozing, come wake me up. He won’t stay in Cincinnati any longer than he has to. Don’t know what he will do with Dee. His life isn’t worth much around here I should say, if old Papa De Lorme was to get track of him. Ern will attend to that, I know. He will bring Dee back disguised as a hot dog if he has to. So long! I won’t be able to think if I don’t sleep for a spell.”
He went off, and Bill and Eddie sat talking in low tones. Presently Bill took up the wireless. “Wonder if I can catch any fish this early?” he said idly, then his eyes bulged as he listened.