“That was the time we saw the queer, dancing beams upstairs and down,” said Hazel.
Before our friends had occupied the bungalow, Bombee had been up to his tricks. He had upset the furniture, giving rise to the strange stories about Camp Surprise, and he it was who had taken the silver, having a love of bright things. He would slip out of the cave, open the passage door (having seen Jason operate the mechanism), get into the bungalow by means of the opening in the floor, upset the furniture and then run out through the passage again, closing the doors after him, so there was nothing to show how any intruder had gotten in and out.
It was learned that the time the boys and girls saw the two men at the tumbled-down old house, that the counterfeiters had gone there to meet some persons to whom they gave bogus tickets to dispose of. The men probably realized that our friends were on their trail and fled. The taking of Cora’s car had been done on the spur of the moment, the need of some means of getting quickly about the country to dispose of the tickets being pressing.
The crash heard in the night, which caused the floor to be taken up, was caused by one of the men dropping a box of tickets. He was storing it in the passage near the secret door. Occasionally, when the bungalow was not occupied, the men used it, and it was in this way that the big, half-witted youth learned to find his way there.
“Well, I guess that ends the surprises of this camp,” said Cora, as the officers took Jason away. “Now we can enjoy our stay here.”
And the surprises were indeed over. The secret door in the floor was closed, and fastened, the mechanism having been broken. After the printing apparatus had been taken out our boys and girls, and many others inspected the cave. It was a large and curious place, and the criminals had made it their living and hiding place for some time.
Though a diligent effort was made to capture the three men, they were not apprehended, and in view of his confession Jason was given only a light sentence.
Cora’s recovered car was put in good order and used some, though the mountain roads were not very good for automobile riding.
“And now for some glorious times!” cried Bess one day, about a week after the mystery had been cleared up. “Boys, we’ll give you——”
“A big chicken dinner!” interrupted Jack. “That’s what we want.”