“Don’t be putting wild notions into the boy’s head,” laughed Frank. “I’ve got a better way than that to round up the old sea-serpent. We can get a messenger out to the telegraph station just as quickly as he can—perhaps quicker if we set Gilroy on the trail tonight. Now, I’ll write a long message to Dad and tell him all about it, and Dad’s got a pull in New York.”
“He’ll go to the District Attorney and calmly announce that he’ll smash him all to little pieces in his newspaper if he causes the arrest of that girl until after a full investigation has been made. What Dad can do in the District Attorney’s office is a wonder! We’ll fix old Toombs all right, all right! We’ll have him in jail as soon as he gets back to New York!”
“Will you start off toward the nearest telegraph office tonight, Gilroy?” asked Ned. “This is important, you know.”
“Give me something to eat and let me sleep a couple of hours,” replied the fat clerk, “and I’ll gladly go! I wouldn’t stay in this country one more day for all the gold there is in it!”
“Well, then,” Jack cut in, “I’ll send a telegram to my Dad, and he’ll co-operate with Frank’s ancestor, and I guess they can arrange matters so the girl won’t be arrested. If Dad isn’t in New York when the wire arrives, his confidential clerk will attend to it. I have them all trained to jump when I say the word. Dad lets me do just as I please, and they have to follow his example.”
“Now, Norman,” Ned exclaimed, “you may as well give Toombs the hook and come on back to camp with us. These two boys can do more for you in New York than a host of lawyers and bondsmen could do in a hundred years.”
“That’s good sense!” Harry exclaimed. “Come on back to camp with us and we’ll fat you up!”
“I’m going to assault the next person that talks about eating!” Jimmie declared. “Here I’m half starved to death and you keep on talking about eating. If you fellows had any pity in your hearts, some of you would run on ahead and meet me at the camp with a pie!”
“Well,” Frank said in a moment, “I don’t know why we don’t all hurry back to the camp. We may as well talk there as here. It’s all right to stroll and talk in the moonlight, but I never could be romantic when I was hungry. It’s agin’ human nature!”
The boys made good progress for an hour or more, and just as day was breaking, they came within sight of the cliff under which their camp was situated. They stood looking down from a higher elevation for a moment and then Ned pointed away to the south and east.