“The next I knew Ben came swinging back in the Ann alone. He talked with the two men who had been left here for a moment and then they all went away together, flying like mad in the aeroplane.”
“Didn’t Ben explain the situation to you?” asked Jimmie.
“He said that the three men who had represented themselves as hunters lost in the hills were Canadian revenue officers in search of smuggled whiskey, and that their leader, the man who had gone away with him, was the famous Dick Sherman.
“He said, too, that Sherman had discovered a nest of outlaws and a cavern which he believed to be the storehouse of the gang. At that time we knew little regarding the whereabouts of the two rattle-brained boys who had gone away in the Louise.”
“They stole it while we were watching the camp-fire,” Jimmie explained in a hesitating way.
“What’s Ben gone back for, now?” asked Carl.
“I suspect from what he said to me,” laughed Mr. Havens, “that he’s gone back after the revenue officers and the prisoners.”
“Then perhaps I’d better be getting more breakfast ready,” suggested Carl. “We’ll be running a hotel next, just like we always do when we get out into the mountains.”
In less than an hour the Ann and Louise lay on level ground near the fire, two prisoners sat handcuffed together not far away, and the three revenue officers were enjoying a plentiful breakfast supplied by the lads. Ben and Jimmie sat with Mr. Havens in his tent.
“There goes my dream!” exclaimed Ben pointing to the two prisoners.