“I thought this swamp was inaccessible,” said Hamp.
“It were always reckoned so,” replied Sparwick; “but it seems kind o’ different now.”
“Do you mean to say that this is where Brick is confined?” asked Jerry.
“Accordin’ to the prisoner’s statement that’s the case,” said Sparwick, “an’ I don’t reckon he’d lie about it. I’ve got a bullet ready fur the first sign of deceivin’. Do you hear that, old man?”
This last was addressed to Raikes. He neither replied nor turned around. He went steadily on, twisting to right and left through the tortuous windings of the swamp.
It was more than an hour later when the party came in sight of the clearing and the cabin. From the top of the roof a pillar of blue smoke curled slowly upward. The boys were startled and amazed. They eagerly examined their weapons.
“Will we likely have much of a fight?” asked Jerry.
“Not a bit,” exclaimed Sparwick, scornfully. “Put up them weapons. We’re four ag’in one. Do you think Joe Bogle’s fool enough to resist. It’ll all go our own way, lads.”
Raikes was now half-way across the clearing. The others followed closely in his footsteps. Jerry and Hamp saw the cabin door thrown open. They heard a hoarse shout from within.
“It’s all right, Joe,” Raikes answered. “No shootin’.”