“What on earth is he doing here?”
“That’s plain enough,” was Rob’s reply to the last exclamation, which had proceeded from Tubby following Rob’s hasty recital of what he had seen on the top of the dam.
“That’s plain enough,” he repeated. “Jared is a pretty slick sort of article, or, at any rate, the men with whom he is in league are cunning and clever. What better place could Jared be, watched as he is, than holding down a job as a canal worker, bossing some small undertaking? Who would ever dream of looking for him in such a position?”
“That’s so,” agreed Fred, “and then, too, he gets a chance to survey the ground thoroughly and lay plans for whatever sort of deviltry that gang is up to. Maybe Alverado and Estrada are working on menial jobs, too, with the same end in view.”
“Quite likely,” replied Rob, “and also that mysterious chap we’ve seen with Jared on several occasions. Anyhow, our duty now is plain enough. We must make all haste back to Mr. Mainwaring and report to him what we have discovered.”
“Let’s get some of this mess cleaned off us first,” said the practical Merritt. “We look more like drowned rats than Scouts, in our present plight.”
The boys set to work trying to remove the traces of the ducking that had been given them by the malignant Jared, who had undoubtedly recognized them. Had they known that he was actually on the lookout for them, they would have been much astonished. Yet such was the case, as will appear before long.
Luckily the mixture of cement that had been doused over them was a very watery one, the rinsings of a cement bucket, in fact, so that in a short time the hot sun had dried out most of the traces of their adventure.
But Mr. Mainwaring greeted them with exclamations of astonishment.
“What in the world have you lads been up to now,” he exclaimed half laughingly as they rejoined him, “taking a swim with your uniforms on?”