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Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
“And there are two questions in my mind regarding it.”

“And I’ll bet I can guess them both first time.”

“All right, go ahead.”

“First you’d like to know who it is and second you’d like

to know what they know about us, or rather what they
think they know. How’s that?”

“You’re pretty near right on both counts. The main thing

that’s puzzling me is whether or not Stebbins is mixed
up in it.”

“What makes you think he isn’t?”

“I didn’t say I did think so, but as I was saying awhile

ago, he’s not that kind of a guy.”

“Well, it seems to me—” Jack began, when he was

interrupted by a sound which seemed to come from the
direction of the lake.

“Listen,” he whispered.

“Sounds like a groan,” Rex replied after a moment.

“Let’s get up a bit nearer the cabin,” Jack suggested.

Followed by Rex he crept carefully forward on his hands

and knees. It was very dark now, as the moon had set
some time before and they had to feel their way as they
advanced foot by foot.

“I think I can see the cabin,” Jack whispered, after they

had gone a few yards.
The groaning had been repeated several times since 198
they had first heard it, and now they were certain that
the sound came from the cabin.

“Sounds as though someone was having a nightmare,”

Rex whispered.

“What had we better do?” Jack asked, as he stopped a

moment later. “We’re only a few feet away from the
cabin now.”

“We want to be mighty careful for one thing,” Rex

cautioned in a low whisper. “If we should get caught
now all our work would probably go for nothing.”

“Let’s camp right here then.”

They stretched themselves flat on the ground behind a

small clump of small cedars and listened.

“That’s no nightmare, if you ask me,” Jack declared,

after a few minutes had passed and the sound still
continued.

“Guess you’re right,” Rex agreed. “Who ever’s making

that noise would have waked up before this if he was
asleep.”

“My idea exactly. But somebody in there’s pretty bad off,

unless it’s being done for our special benefit. The
trouble is, we can’t tell which is right.”

“What do you think we’d better do?”

“I think we had better get back, if you ask me. It’ll be

light in a short time now, and if we stay here much
longer we may spill the beans, and it’s too much of a
risk to do any investigating in the dark.”

So they crept back to their former position and waited 199

with what patience they could summon until daylight
stole over the forest.

“I hate like the dickens to wake Bob and Kernertok so

early,” Jack whispered. “But I feel it in my bones that
something is going to happen before long.”

“What you call a hunch, eh?”

“Something of the sort.”

“You did just right, son,” Bob declared a few minutes

later, after Jack had apologized for calling him and
Kernertok so early. “We don’t want to lose a single bet
now.”

After a brief whispered conference it was decided to

separate two and two and keep a close watch at both
the front and back of the cabin.

“Jack, you and Kernertok stay here where you can see
the rear, and Rex and I’ll get round where we can see
the front. If either sees anything the whip-poor-will call
will be the signal. All right?” Bob asked.

“All right is right,” Jack nodded his head.

Bob and Rex crept slowly toward the lake and soon 200
found a position where they had a fair view of the front
of the cabin without much risk of being seen. They
could hear nothing of the groans and Rex whispered
that he hardly thought they would be able to hear them
at that distance. For over an hour they watched, and
both boys were beginning to get uneasy, when suddenly
the door opened and a man stepped out, and a moment
later he was followed by two others.

“I thought as much,” Bob whispered. “You remember

them, don’t you?”

“Sure; it’s Jacques Harbaugh and his two friends.”

“And the plot thickens,” Bob whispered, as he bent

slightly forward to get a clearer view. “But I must signal
the others.” And the clear shrill call of the whip-poor-will
floated out in the still air.

For ten minutes or a little more the three men stood in

front of the cabin talking in tones too low for the boys
to catch any of the conversation. Then they went inside
and a few minutes later smoke began to pour from the
chimney.

“They’re getting breakfast, and I guess we might as well

go back and tell Jack and Kernertok who’s here,” Bob
suggested.

“I had a good-sized hunch that those fellows were

mixed up in the case,” Jack declared, as soon as he
learned of the presence of the three men. “What do you
make of it?”

“Well, of course, it’s largely guesswork, but my guess is 201

that they have Stebbins in that cabin and are holding
him prisoner for some reason or other, hence the groans
which you heard,” Bob said.

“And I’ll say you’re some guesser,” Jack replied, casting

a questioning glance at Kernertok.
“Him heap good at guess,” the Indian agreed.

“What’s the next move then?” Rex whispered.

“I guess it’s their next move,” Bob said. “You see,

they’re all powerful as well as desperate men, and we
don’t want to come to a showdown with them if we can
help it, until we have bigger odds on our side. I tell you
those fellows would put a bullet through one of us as
quick as lightning if he thought his safety depended on
it.”

“Then you think—”

“That we’d better lay low for a while in the hope that
they’ll go away and give us a chance to see what’s
inside that cabin without meeting them,” Bob
interrupted.

“That heap good plan,” Kernertok nodded his head.

“Then we’d better get back where we were, I suppose,”

Rex suggested.

“Right away I should say,” Bob agreed.

It was nearly eight o’clock before the three men again 202
emerged from the cabin. This time they did not
hesitate, but made their way at once down to the shore
of the lake, and by parting the bushes in front of him,
Bob saw that they got into a canoe and started swiftly
down the lake.

“Come on,” he whispered to Rex. “Let’s get back and tell

Jack and Kernertok.”
“So you think the coast is clear,” Jack said, as soon as
they had told what they had seen.

“It is, so far as those three are concerned.”

It was quickly decided that Kernertok should stay

outside and keep watch while the three boys went into
the cabin.

“Me an’ Sicum keep heap good watch,” the Indian

assured them, as they started off.

They paused to listen, as they were close beside the

cabin, but all was still. The tiny windows were too high
to permit them to peep in from the ground, and besides
they were so covered with dirt that Bob declared it
would be impossible to see through them even if they
got up high enough. So they quickly made their way
around to the front. The door was closed and fastened
with a heavy padlock.

“No getting in here without breaking that lock,” Bob

declared. “Let’s see what it looks like around back.”

But the prospect was not much more promising, as the

small door evidently was fastened with a bar on the
inside, and although they pushed against it with all their
strength, they were not able to make the slightest
impression on it.

“Guess we’ll have to try the windows after all,” Bob 203
declared, as he stepped back after a final push.

“All right, let’s make it snappy,” Jack agreed, as he

started around to the side.
Here there were two small windows, each of a single
pane of glass about twelve by fourteen inches. Bob took
a stand under one of them and in an instant Jack was
on his shoulders.

“Can’t see a blamed thing,” he declared a moment later.

“Is it puttied on the outside?” Bob asked.

“No; it’s just set into the frame from the inside.”

“Then we’ll have to smash it, I reckon.”

“How about cutting it with this diamond ring?” Rex

asked, as he pulled the ring from his finger and passed
it up to Jack.

It was but the work of a moment to make a deep

scratch on the four sides of the glass close to the edge.
Then by hitting it lightly with his pocket knife, he soon
started a crack, and a moment later the pane fell in with
a loud smash. Eagerly the boy pushed his head in and
looked about.

“What about it?” Bob whispered loudly.

“Not much,” Jack replied, as he withdrew his head and

leaped to the ground. “It’s about the same as you’d
expect. An old stove, a table and a few old chairs and
lots of dirt.”

“There’s no one there?”

“I didn’t say that. There are some bunks on the other 204
side of the room, but it’s not light enough to see
whether there’s any one in them or not.”
“Can you squeeze through?”

“Mebby, but it’ll be pretty close.”

“We’ll pull you out if you get stuck,” Rex assured him, as
Jack again mounted to Bob’s shoulders.

It was but a minute’s work to pick out the thin strips of

glass from the frame, and this accomplished, he began
the task of squirming through. It was, as he said, a
mighty close squeeze, but he was an adept at squirming
through small openings. Indeed, Bob had often declared
that he believed Jack could squeeze his way through a
key hole if he had to. Once he thought he was stuck,
but he managed to free himself, and after a few minutes
he dropped lightly to the floor. In another moment he
had unbarred the back door and admitted the others.

As they stood in the open doorway, a low groan reached

their ears. Bob quickly ran to the side of the room
where the bunks were. After a single glance he started
back in amazement. Then, recovering himself, he
stepped forward again and bent over for a closer look.

Bound hand and foot, his mouth tightly gagged, lay the 205
form of a man. His eyes were closed and his face,
covered with a stubble of several days’ growth, was
gaunt almost to the point of emaciation. It was evident
to Bob that the man was unconscious, if not at the point
of death.

“Is this Stebbins?” he whispered to Rex, who was close

behind him.

“I—I think so,” Rex stammered. “But it’s hard to tell,

he’s so changed. Let me see his right hand. Yes, it’s he
all right,” he declared a moment later, as he held up the
man’s right hand. “See that middle finger.”

The first joint of the finger was gone and the fact
settled the identity of the man beyond all question.

“See if you can find some water, Jack,” Bob ordered, as

he drew out his knife and cut the ropes.

Jack was back almost immediately with a pan of water,

and dipping his handkerchief in it, Bob proceeded to wet
the man’s forehead, while Jack and Rex rubbed his
wrists. In a few minutes their efforts were successful.
The man groaned, and a moment later opened his eyes.
At first there was no recognition in them, but as he
glanced from one to the other, his eyes finally rested on
Rex.

“Do you know me, old man?” Rex asked.

The man was too weak to reply, but from the look in his
eyes they knew that he had recognized him.

“Don’t try to talk now,” Rex said bending over him. “It’s 206
all right and we’ll have you on your feet in no time.”

“He’s nearly starved to death,” Bob whispered to Jack.

“See what you can find. Some condensed milk mixed
with water will be all right if you can find it.”

In the back of the room was a small closet, and Jack

was delighted to find it well stocked with provisions,
including several cans of milk. He quickly opened one of
the latter with his knife, and pouring the contents into a
dipper, he thinned it with water.
“Drink a little of this,” Bob cautioned. Then turning to
Jack he ordered: “You get the fire going and I’ll see if I
can find some oatmeal or something to make some
gruel of. He’s got to have something a bit more
substantial than that condensed milk.”

“But how about those fellows seeing the smoke?” Rex

asked.

“We’ll have to take a chance on that. This man will die if

we don’t get something inside him, and if they return
we’ll have to do the best we can. Anyhow Kernertok’ll
give us the word so they can’t take us by surprise.”

An hour later, after the man had taken as much of the 207
gruel as Bob dared to give him, he seemed considerably
stronger and the boys began to remember that they had
had no breakfast themselves. Thanks to the provisions
in the cabin this condition was soon remedied and a
goodly portion taken out to Kernertok and Sicum.
Stebbins was sleeping quietly as they returned to the
cabin.

“What’s the next move?” Jack whispered.

“That’s the big question,” Bob replied. “That man won’t

be fit to move for two or three days at the most, and
they’ll probably be back before night at the longest.”

“That’s a safe bet at any rate,” Jack agreed. “And it’s

another safe bet that they’ll make mince meat of us if
we give them the chance.”

“Well we mustn’t give them the chance, that’s all,” Bob

said, shaking his head.
“I think we’re unanimous on that point,” Rex broke in.
“The only question seems to be how we’re going to help
it.”

“We’ve got three good persuasive automatics, which will

help some if it comes to a show down,” Bob declared. “I
wish we had the rifle, but there’s no use worrying over
that.”

“And there’s food enough here to stand a siege for two

or three weeks if we have to,” Jack said slowly.

“Well it seems to me about the only thing we can do,”

Rex said in a tone of resignation.

About eleven o’clock Stebbins awoke and Bob fed him

some more of the gruel, and he seemed much stronger
and inclined to talk.

“Better wait a little longer,” Bob continued. “You want to 208

get your strength back as soon as you can, you know,
and it will tire you to talk now.”

With a sigh, the man lay back on the bed and closed his
eyes.

“He’ll be strong enough to tell us his story when he

wakes up again and has had one more feed,” Bob
whispered.

They prepared a good dinner, with the help of some

trout which Jack got from a little brook a short distance
up the lake. They had just finished cleaning up when
Stebbins again opened his eyes and asked for food. As
soon as he had finished eating, he declared that he was
much stronger and insisted on talking.
“All right, but take it easy and stop as soon as you begin
to feel tired,” Bob cautioned.

“I took the money,” he began slowly, looking at Rex,

“but I want you to believe that I’m not so bad as you
must think. It started the year before I went to work for
your father. I was cashier in a bank in Waterville, and a
large sum of money disappeared. No, I didn’t take it,
but I knew that they suspected me and I was unable to
prove that I was innocent. They never found out who
took it, and after a time I resigned. At the time a big
half-breed by the name of Jacques Harbaugh was
janitor of the bank. He never liked me, as I had to
reprimand him many times for poor work. Although
Jacques is a half-breed, he is a pretty sharp fellow.”

Here Stebbins paused and the boys urged him to rest 209
before telling more, but in a few minutes he insisted
that he was strong enough to proceed.

“Well, I was happy in Philadelphia, and had nearly

forgotten all about the matter, when suddenly, about
three months ago, I met Jacques on Chestnut Street.
He knew me at once. As a matter of fact, he had been
hunting for me for some days. To make a long story
short, he had found or made up a bit of evidence which
seemed to prove conclusively that I had stolen that
money so many years ago. I realize now that I was
weak, but at that time I was scared so that I hardly
knew what I was doing. Jacques promised that he
would keep still about it, provided I paid him a large
sum of money. Otherwise he declared that he would go
back to Waterville and give me away. The sum, fifty
thousand dollars, was entirely beyond my means, and I
told him so. But he had learned in some way of my
position and hinted that I could get the money all right.
Finally I yielded, and it was arranged that we should
meet up here, a place we both knew about.”

“But the amount you took was a good deal more than
fifty thousand,” Rex interrupted.

“I know it, but as I had the chance, I thought I might as 210

well take all I could get. As well be hanged for an old
sheep as a lamb, you know. But I’ve got the money
safe, and if possible, you shall have every cent of it
back. You see, I got here first and had a day to think
things over and made up my mind that I would give the
money back and let Jacques do his worst. So I hid it in
a place where no one can ever find it. I had just
finished when Jacques and two other men arrived. I told
them that I didn’t have the money and that they could
do what they pleased about it. Of course, he was
furious and insisted that I was lying and that I had the
money. They have kept me here ever since and have
done all sorts of things to make me tell where it is, but I
made up my mind that I wouldn’t even if they killed me.
If you hadn’t come just about when you did I’m afraid it
would have been—”

Before he was able to finish the sentence the back door

opened and Kernertok stole softly in.

“Men coming,” he announced. “Be here heap soon.”

“How far away are they?” Bob asked.

“Mebby quarter mile, no more.”

“All three of them?”

“All three.”
“All right. Bar that back door, Jack.”

“What are you going to do?” Rex asked anxiously.

“The only thing we can do. Just wait and see what they 211
will do,” Bob replied.

“One thing’s on our side, and that is that we’ve got all
the food and I reckon we can stand a siege longer than
they can,” Jack declared.

“I’m not so sure about that,” Bob said slowly shaking his
head. “Remember, they are skilled woodsmen, and I
guess they can find plenty to eat such as is. They won’t
starve.”

“They’re just landing,” Rex, who was watching from a

little front window, announced.

“Quick! Get that front door barred,” Bob said. “I nearly

forgot that.”

Fortunately the front door as well as the back was made

to be fastened with a heavy bar of wood, and it was but
an instant’s work to slip the bar in its place.

“Now keep quiet,” Bob cautioned, “and be sure to keep

out of range of the windows. Remember, they would
shoot us quick as a wink if they got the chance.”

The men were evidently in good humor, for they could

hear them talking and laughing as they approached the
cabin. Soon they heard one of them fumbling with the
lock, and a moment later there came a heavy shove
against the door, followed by an oath in French.

“We’ve got them guessing,” Jack whispered.

“Hush,” Bob cautioned. 212

For a moment all was still, then they could hear the
man talking rapidly in broken French. Then came
another push against the door, followed by more excited
talking.

“They’re coming round back,” Rex whispered.

A moment later a shout from one of the breeds

announced the discovery of the broken window. For
several minutes after that they could hear no sound.

“Wonder what they’re up to,” Jack whispered.

“Guess they’re trying to make out what it means,” Bob

replied.

Almost as he spoke there came the loud report of a

revolver, and a bullet buried itself in a log on the side
opposite the open window.

“They’re at a loss to know whether their prisoner has

got free or some one has got in,” Bob suggested.

For another moment all was silent, then from directly

beneath the open window came the voice of Jacques
Harbaugh.

“You open dat door, oui, or we bust heem in.”

Bob held up his hand as a signal not to answer.

“When we geet in we keel you you no open door.”

Again Bob signaled for silence.

“Keep him guessing,” he whispered.

“You Stebbins, what you mean, eh?” Jacques’s voice 213
now had more of a coaxing note in it.

“Guess he’s afraid to peep in,” Jack whispered.

After a short time they heard the man moving away

from the cabin, and for fully half an hour there was no
sound from outside.

“They’re hunting for a log with which to batter in the

door, I reckon,” Bob whispered.

“Can they do it?” Rex asked.

“Well, it’s a pretty strong door, but with a heavy log, I

suppose they can knock it from the hinges give them
time enough,” Bob answered.

“Which we won’t,” Jack said.

“Well, you’d better make up your mind just how you’re

going to stop them, for here they come,” Rex cried a
few minutes later.

214
 CHAPTER XII.
BESIEGED.

Bob jumped to Rex’s side and looked out the little

window just in time to see the three men running
toward the cabin with a log nearly ten feet long, and as
big around as his leg.

“Get out your guns and be ready to cover them if she

gives way,” he cried, in a low but distinct voice.

He had hardly finished speaking when the end of the

log propelled by the great strength of the three men
smashed against the door with a bang, which seemed
to fairly shake the cabin. An ordinary door would have
been shivered to pieces by the blow, but up in the
Maine woods they make things to hold, and the only
effect, so far as they could see, was a slight loosening
of one of the hinges.

“About three more of them will knock out the hinges,”

Bob declared, as he saw the men stepping back for a
second rush.

“’Bout time to stop ’em, isn’t it?” Jack asked.

“Yes, I guess so, if we can,” Bob replied somewhat 215

doubtfully.
As he spoke he pushed open the little window and
looked out. The men had stopped about twenty feet
from the door and had placed the log on the ground to
recover their wind before making the second trial.

“Better not try it again,” he shouted, holding his

automatic in his hand in such a way that the men could
not fail to see it.

All three men gave a sudden start of surprise, and for a

moment no one spoke. Then the leader, Jacques
Harbaugh, stepped slowly toward the window.

“That’s near enough,” Bob told him, when he had

advanced about half way to the window.

“So it’s you, oui?”

“Looks like it.”

“What you want up here?”

“Do you need to ask?”

“Me ask jess the same.”

“All right. I don’t mind telling you. We came for Mr.

Stebbins.”

“Oui? You find heem, eh?’

“Sure we did.”

“What you tink you do with heem?”

“We’ll take him back with us.”

“Non!” And Bob could see a look of fierce determination 216
on the face of the man as he spat out the word. “You
never tak’ heem back till heem tell us where dat
monies.”

“You may be right, but we’re going to make a big try for
it just the same, and in the meantime don’t forget that
we are well armed, and the first man who comes within
ten feet of this cabin will get a hunk of lead in him.”

“We see ’bout dat.”

“All right, but remem—”

A violent pull which jerked Bob back into the room

interrupted the sentence, and it was not a second too
soon, for as he fell back onto the floor a shot rang out
and a bullet buried itself in a log at the back of the
room.

“That was pretty close,” Bob gasped, as he picked

himself up.

“I’ll say it was,” Jack agreed. “If I hadn’t been peeping

out through that crack and see that other fellow pull his
gun, we’d have had two invalids on our hands.”

“To say nothing of a dead one,” Bob returned soberly.

“It was very careless of me to take my eyes off those
other two fellows. I might have known.”

“Well, let’s hope that those fellows haven’t much

ammunition with them,” Jack said, as he again peeped
out through the crack.

“What are they doing?” Bob asked.

“Just standing there talking.” 217

“It’s a lucky thing for us that this cabin is made of good

big logs and not of thin boards. We’re safe for the time
being if we keep out of line with the windows.”

“But those fellows aren’t going to give up easy, and

don’t you kid yourself that they are,” Jack declared, with
his eyes still at the crack. “They’re playing for big
stakes.”

“I know,” Bob replied. “But don’t forget that we are

playing for the same stakes.”

“You bet.”

“And what’s more, we’re going to win out.”

“You bet.” It was Rex who responded this time.

“They’re going down toward the lake,” Jack announced

a moment later. “They’re getting into their canoe and
pushing off. They’re paddling up the lake.”

“What do you suppose they’re up to now?” Rex asked.

“Hard to say,” Bob replied, “but one thing is sure, they’ll

be back before long and they won’t go far; not far
enough but they’ll know if we leave the cabin.”

“They’ve gone out of sight around the point,” Jack said,

as he straightened up.

“And that’s about as far as they’ll go,” Bob declared. 218

“Now we ought to have a peep hole on each side of the
room. That crack is all right for the front, but there
doesn’t seem to be any at the back and sides.”
“Then I guess it’s up to us to make ’em,” Jack declared.

“Spoken like a general,” Bob laughed. “Go to it.”

In the closet Jack soon found a long, slim knife, and

with it set to work digging out the clay and moss
between two logs near the center of the back. It was
slow work, as the clay was almost as hard as cement,
but he stuck at it and in the course of an hour had a
hole through large enough to give a clear view of the
ground at the back.

“Now for the sides,” he said, as he selected a point near

the middle.

Meantime Stebbins had been fed small amounts of the

gruel at frequent intervals and was gaining his strength
rapidly, although he had been forbidden to get out of
the bunk.

“I don’t suppose it’s any use to tell you how sorry I am,”
he said to Rex, who was sitting by his side.

“That’s all right, old fellow, I think I understand what

you were up against and your resolve to make good,
even though it cost you your life has wiped out all the
fault,” Rex assured him.

A look of great joy lighted up the thin face of the man. 219

“Then you can forgive me?”

“Sure thing, and forget it, too.”

“But your father.”

“Will feel exactly as I do about it,” Rex assured him, as
he took his hand.

“Thank God,” Stebbins murmured, as he sank back and

closed his eyes.

“There, we’ve got peep holes on all four sides,” Jack

announced awhile later, “and I, for one, am mighty
hungry.”

“Which is a chronic condition if I know anything about

you,” Bob laughed.

“But dinner’ll be ready in about fifteen minutes. Think

you can hold out that long?”

“I’ll try,” Jack sighed.

During the afternoon they kept close watch at the peep

holes, but nothing was seen of the three men.

“All the same, I’ll bet a cent they’re not far off,” Bob
declared.

“I wouldn’t take you,” Jack said.

“They watch heap sharp, see if we start go way,”

Kernertok suggested.

“My idea exactly,” Bob agreed. “They think that if they

can only get us out of the cabin we will be at their
mercy.”

“Well, we’ll just fool them,” Jack declared. 220

“That’s all right so far as it goes, but the trouble is it

doesn’t go very far,” Bob said. “I don’t know how you
fellows feel about it, but it seems to me that we’re up
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