“The time will come when we are in the station at Los Angeles,” he told Hiram.
“Do you really think so?” asked the other curiously; and it might be noticed that he did not seem to be trembling any longer; for since his packet was safe in the possession of Rob Blake, Hiram did not see any necessity for further worrying over the matter.
“We must be careful every minute of the time until we reach the hotel,” the scout leader explained.
“Huh! do you know, Rob, what I’ve got a good notion to do?”
“Be reckless, perhaps,” chuckled the other, guessing this, perhaps, from the little boastful strain he detected in the language Hiram used.
“Why, to be frank with you, Rob, I really feel sorry for those chumps. They’ve taken a whole lot of interest in a poor country chap like me, and it seems a shame they should be bitterly disappointed.”
“Oh! that’s the way things set, do they?” continued Rob. “You feel so bad on their account that you’re tempted to give them a chance to steal that dummy packet you have fastened inside your pocket?”
“I’ve gone so far as to take the pin out, you see,” chuckled Hiram. “If they do get busy they needn’t have the worry of that to keep them back. And when you look at it in the right light, Rob, wouldn’t that be just the quickest way to get rid of the slick rascals?”
“Well, the chances are that if they did manage to lay hands on your packet, they’d disappear in a big hurry, Hiram.”
“All right, then. Let them make the opportunity, and I’ll try to be as accommodating as possible. You know, Rob, that I’m said to be an easy mark among the boys of Hampton. I hate to disappoint anybody in the worst way.”