"At work in a hole in the ground. Hear the click of their machines? They are turning out silver dollars faster than we can spend them. We hid around until they went to work, then came up to talk with Dode."
Jimmie pointed to a crevice in the rock and invited Oliver to look. A lance of light came up into the cave, and the boy's eyes followed it. He could see a square room below, with a bright fire burning at one end and figures moving about it.
"Making counterfeit money, are they?" asked Oliver.
"That's what they're doing! We were just thinking of getting out when you came. Dode wants to go with us, but we tell him to remain with the gang until they can be rounded up by the officers."
Dode started to make some remark, but Jimmie stopped him.
"They haven't got any consideration coming from you, have they?" he asked. "They stole you, didn't they? They brought you here from Washington to make a thief of you, didn't they?"
"And they beat you up for making the signals, too," Teddy put in.
"And they're coming out now!" he added. "So we'll all git—but Dode!"
CHAPTER VIII
UNCLE IKE PRESENTS HIMSELF
Mrs. Brady and Buck walking together, Ned and Frank discussed the situation thoroughly as they descended the mountainside.