“Sounds like him!” agreed Ned. “The plot is thickening!”
They listened further.
“Yes,” went on the man who had suggested dividing the loot, “I tried the old man on the telephone, but he got wise and tried to catch me by sending some one to another telephone to trace the call. I don’t think he succeeded, however. If we could sell him the stuff back we might make more than by separating it. But since he won’t deal with us we’ll have to do something else.”
“We want our shares!” exclaimed another voice, and at the sound of it Ned started.
“What’s the matter?” asked Tom.
“I should know who that is,” was the answer. “The voice is familiar. I’m trying to think where I’ve heard it before.”
There was some further talk among the thieves.
“What are we going to do, Tom?” asked Ned, after a while.
“Stay here on night watch for a while,” was the answer. “If we get a chance we’ll slip in and take away the chest. I want to get it back before they start dividing the papers. If that happens I may lose some of them forever. Those fellows will likely get careless and not keep guard all night. That will give us the chance we want. Koku can pick up the chest and carry it away for us. We’ll stay here and watch for a while.”
It was about an hour later, while still keeping watch, that Ned caught a glimpse of a figure moving about the bandit camp. The man limped slightly, and as he was carrying a lantern Ned saw his elbow thrown out in a peculiar way.