Startled, every person in the room turned sharply and looked in the direction from which the voice had come. Dick gasped and reached out toward the counter for support.
There in the doorway stood Corporal Rand!
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE POLICE TAKE CHARGE.
Corporal Rand immediately took charge.
“Now,” he said, “tell me all about it.”
He listened gravely to the story the boys told, while he sat there near the open doorway, through which there poured the hot sun of early afternoon. Bronzed and weather-beaten was the corporal, but hard as nails, a steel spring in action.
“Making merry in my absence, eh?” His eyes glinted as he spoke. “Where can I find these men?”
“You might find a few of them over at the Mekewai tepee,” replied Dick. “I do not know whether Frazer will be there or not. Toma says that the former factor occupies a cabin somewhere near the Old Mission road.”
“I’ll slip over to the tepee,” announced the policeman as calmly as if he spoke of entering the adjoining room. “If Wolf Brennan and McCallum are away with Frazer, I may be able to pick up the other Mekewai boy.”
“May I go with you?” asked Dick eagerly.