There was another conference and the man turned again to Sidney.
“He says you have trial, maybe next week.”
“Holy smoke!” exclaimed Raymond in horror, “they wouldn’t keep us in this filthy place till next week?”
“Maybe next week, maybe longer.”
The chief had waited patiently, smiling blandly, but he apparently thought the conversation had lasted long enough, for he gave a command to his deputies, and the man repeated:—
“He says we search you now.”
The task they had before them must have been an unaccustomed one, for they were particularly awkward about it, and not at all thorough. The boys’ purses they found at once, and the chief himself took immediate charge of them, but Raymond’s revolver was the only other article which they seemed to think it worth while to remove. The money which the boys carried concealed beneath their clothes was not discovered, and the only attention they gave to the blankets was to make joking remarks and laugh when the rolls were noticed hanging from the window bars. The boys could imagine that the men were commenting on the comfortable night they would pass if they attempted to sleep on their suspended beds. When the search was concluded, the chief and his assistants left the room without further word.
“I wish I’d used my revolver before they took it,” said Raymond as the door closed and the bolt slid into place. “I could easily have shot all three.”
“And that would have been a specially foolish thing to do,” said Sidney.
“Well, it would have been specially satisfactory, if it was foolish.”