[CHAPTER XX]
A STIRRING BATTLE
“Fleming’s got busy in a hurry!” exclaimed Joe. “But just what was it they were planning to do?”
“That’s just the trouble,” answered Anderson. “I don’t rightly know just what mischief they were cooking up. They kept their voices pretty low most of the time, and then, too, my hearing isn’t any too good, especially since I had that accident. Once I heard one of them say: ‘It’ll put him on the toboggan all right.’
“I didn’t dare to stir for fear they’d see me, or I’d have tried to edge around the tree so as to get closer to them. But from the number of times they spoke your name and the ugly way they did it, I was sure they had it in for you.
“I stayed there until they went away and the last thing one of them said was: ‘I’ll set the thing going the first thing in the morning.’ And the other one said: ‘It can’t start too quick for me.’”
“Did you see what kind of looking men they were?” asked Joe.
“I peeked out at them as they were leaving, but all I could see was that one of them was a big, heavy man and the other was slimmer and seemed to have something the matter with his face. It was puffed up as though he had the toothache.”
“Fleming, sure enough!” ejaculated Jim, grimly.
“I guess I know how he got that toothache,” Joe remarked grimly.