“I’m so empty right now,” Ben decided, “that you could hold a Salvation Army meeting in my system. Where’s this restaurant where you can get an elephant’s ear?”
“I’ll lead you to it,” laughed the sheriff, “and while we’re eating, we can lay plans for the capture of that gang of smugglers.”
“We didn’t come here after smugglers,” suggested Ben.
“Not so you could notice it,” Carl went on. “We came here to find the burglars of the Buyers’ Bank in New York. We haven’t found them yet.”
“But we know pretty well where they are,” Ben insisted. “Kit saw Phillips in the woods this morning, dressed in a ranger’s uniform.”
The story of the bear was new to Havens and the officers, and they enjoyed its relation immensely. Both boys smacked their lips at thought of the bear steak they didn’t get.
“We can get the outlaws with little trouble now,” Gilmore said, after a moment’s reflection. “I’ve got men enough in this vicinity to put a line all around the hills. So long as we know they are here, we are all right.”
“After we eat dinner,” Ben suggested, “perhaps we’d better go back to the green bowl and look up Jimmie and Kit. There’s no knowing what they may have discovered during the day.”
“That’s the idea!” exclaimed Havens. “And now for a good feed.”
Before the meal at the restaurant was finished an interruption which materially changed the plans of the whole party, took place. It was Sloan, the secret service man, who blundered into the party with a broken head who sidetracked the old plans.