“It seems to me,” he said, “that we ought to overhaul that rascally thief, and restore the stolen property to these lads. How does it strike you, Bogle?”
He exchanged a lightning-like glance with his companion. The latter nodded assent.
“That’s right,” he replied. “I’m with you. It won’t take us much out of our way.”
“No,” Raikes continued, “we’ll catch him in a jiffy. He can’t be far off.”
“It would have taken him almost this long to put on his clothes,” said Jerry. “He has snowshoes, though.”
“So have we,” replied Raikes. “If you lads will come along with us, we’ll try to recover the money and watch.”
“Hamp ain’t fit to travel,” answered Jerry. “He’s got to sit over this fire for a couple of hours. And Brick and I can’t leave him alone. Besides, how are you going to cross the Mallowgash? That leap is too dangerous.”
“Just below the bend, yonder, is a clean freeze-over,” replied Raikes. “We were in the act of crossing when we heard you fellows sing out. But one of you ought to go with us to identify the property and bring it back. You see, the rascal may head just in the direction we want to go, and; under them circumstances, we wouldn’t care about tramping all the way back.”
“I’ll go with you,” eagerly exclaimed Brick. “I’d like to be on hand when you corner Sparwick, and make him fork over.”
A sudden gleam passed over Bogle’s face. Raikes twisted his mustache and looked across the stream.