The man went inside, and in another moment his face appeared at a door which he opened at the rear, the side on which the boys were hiding. Stealthily the man looked in all directions.
“That’s Jed Marmette,” muttered Frank to Lanky, who had, meanwhile, quietly crept over to the side of his friend. “Marmette is the man who was arrested several months ago, if you will remember, for bootlegging. But they were never able to get him with the goods.”
“Sure, I recall!” murmured Lanky, as the recollection of the story came to him. “They thought they had found a lot of evidence, but he was able to show that he had nothing to do with it. I remember it well.”
The man still stood at the half-door peering around, his iron-gray hair falling to one side as he brushed it over with his hand nervously, otherwise being of very unkempt appearance.
Gradually the door was closed, and the boys plainly heard the hook as it was brought into place.
“I’m going to slip up close. You fellows listen for any trouble or noise. I’m going to see what that fellow is doing there. Maybe he’s as innocent as a baby, but I’m not taking any chance. Listen for any signal from me, and then come.”
Frank crouched low, and then, when he felt that he could clear the open space quickly, he was off. In the flash of a second he was at the corner of the barn and around toward the front.
The other boys, stooping and watching with eyes that strained and ears that were sharply set for every sound, waited for any eventualities. Second after second passed away, but nothing of untoward significance came to their ears.
In the meanwhile, Frank reached the corner at the front of the barn and then carefully made his way toward the door which was closed and saw a hook holding it from the inside. Obtaining a small sliver of wood, he worked through the crack at the jamb of the door until he had raised the wire hook within and let it slowly, silently drop out of the staple at the side.
Stealthily opening the door and fastening it from the inside again, he peered around the barn, accustoming his eyes to the semi-darkness.