As it happened, Texas was not going to have to wait long. It appears that Bull imagined that the Seven were going to try burglary again; his plan to fool them was to hide the treasure early, before the people in the hotel were quiet, and so before the plebes could do anything. Then, the treasure once out of the way, Chandler might easily trap the plebes. It was quite a clever scheme indeed, and Bull was in a hurry to put it into execution.
He stole out of camp as Texas had done, and stole into the hotel at the rear entrance. At the same moment Texas rose up out of the bushes and sped away toward camp at the top of his speed.
Which was where the excitement began.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SEVEN IN A TRAP.
Some ten minutes after Bull Harris vanished in the shadow of the hotel, two figures came down the stairs, bearing a heavy burden between them. There was no one in the neighborhood to observe them. They crept out the back door and gently deposited their load upon a wheelbarrow that stood near. A moment more and they and the wheelbarrow, too, had disappeared in the shadow of the trees.
At the same instant six figures dashed past the sentry at the camp and set out to follow swiftly. They were the members of the Banded Seven, minus the chemical Parson. The other two were Chandler and his cousin.
The latter were wary as foxes; they were aware of the fact that they might be followed, and Bull was glancing over his shoulder at every step. But owing to the sentries that patrol the post, he had to keep in the dark shadow of the woods by the river front, and that was where the six got their chance to hide. They were cautious, too; even our fat friend, Joseph Smith, was as silent and stealthy as any genuine “Indian.”
Bull and his companion skirted the buildings to the south, and emerged upon the road to Highland Falls. Down this they hurried for a short distance, and then turned into a patch of thick woods just above cadet limits. In the center of the woods they halted, set down their load and went right to work without further parley. They were going to bury the treasure, where it would be safe beyond possibility of danger.
That was their plan. To be very brief, I may say that they did not get far. Bull had barely had time to plunge his spade into the ground before there came a sound of a snapping twig that made him start as if he had been shot.