Tommy, who was in the lead, sprang back when he came to the main cave with a suddenness which almost threw his chum to the floor.

"Now we've gone and done a fine thing!" he cried. "The bears are out there in the cave we're shut in good and tight!"

CHAPTER IX

LYNCHING IS THREATENED

"Spies!" repeated Will, indignantly, as the cowboys gathered around.

"Yes, spies!" exclaimed the leader of the party excitedly. "You thought you pulled the wool over our eyes down at your camp the other night, but you didn't! We have good reason to believe that the robbers have visited your camp every day and that you fed them!"

"That isn't true!" declared George angrily.

"If you're not in with these bandits, what are you doing here?" demanded another member of the party.

"Why, we came in search of--"

Will closed his teeth with a snap as he realized that on no account must he reveal the real motive for this night visit to the cavern.

"Go on!" shouted the leader.

Will glanced significantly at George and remained silent.

Chester seemed about to speak, but George gave him a nudge with his elbow and the boy remained silent.

"You said you came here in search of some one!" the leader demanded.

"I didn't say anything of the kind," Will contradicted.

"Well, out with it! What did you say?"

"I was about to say that we were prowling around just for the fun of the thing."

"Prowling around in the ante-room of a robbers' den in the middle of the night just for the fun of the thing!" laughed the leader.

"That story is so bald that it's funny!" laughed another member of the party. "You ought to make up something better than that!"

"It's the truth!" answered George.

"Look here!" the leader exclaimed. "If you boys'll tell us where those three men went to, we'll take you into Green River and see that you have a fair trial. If you don't, we'll string you up right here in the mountains!"

"We don't know where they went!" answered Will.

A member of the party who had been called Seth by his companions now stepped forward and began an examination of the Boy Scout badges which adorned the coats of the two lads.

"Where did you get them?" he asked.

"Chicago," was the reply.

"The Beaver Patrol, I see," the man went on.

"Yes, sir!" replied Will.

"You look like a young man," George cut in. "Were you ever a Boy Scout?"

"Hardly," was the reply, "but I have a son who is very much interested in the organization. He belongs to the Eagle Patrol, at Lander, and I hear nothing but Boy Scout rules, and tactics, and that sort of thing, from morning till night."

"Well, he must be a good lad if he's a faithful Boy Scout," Will suggested. "He certainly must be all right!"

"Indeed he is!" Seth answered. "He's a good boy, and I hope some day that he'll have the right to wear a badge like that," pointing to the Scoutmaster emblem on Will's hat.

"How many of these medals has he?" asked George, pointing to the Ambulance, Stalker, Seaman and Pioneer medals on his sleeve.

"Oh, I don't know," Seth laughed. "He comes home every day or two and says he's going to have a new one! Look here, lad," the man added glancing apprehensively back at his companions, "why don't you tell the truth and get out of this sc.r.a.pe in the easiest possible way?"

"We have told the truth," was the reply, "except that we didn't come out just for the fun of the thing. We came out for a purpose which we can't disclose at this time. We blundered on the train robbers, and have no more idea of where they went than you have."

"Look here Seth," the leader of the party exclaimed. "If you can't make those boys tell the truth, just cut out this conversation. We've got work to do tonight!"

"I think they are telling the truth!" Seth answered.

"Oh, I guess you know better than that!" laughed the leader. "You're interested in them because they claim to be Boy Scouts, and I suppose you're taking in everything they say."

"I think the boys are all right!" insisted Seth.

"It doesn't make any difference what you think!" replied the other angrily, "If they don't tell the truth, they're going to swing in less than half an hour!"

"I can't stand for that, Pete," Seth answered.

"Who's sheriff of this county?" demanded the man who had been called Pete. "I suppose you think you're boss of this expedition."

"I don't think anything of the kind," was the reply, "but I'm not going to see these Boy Scouts murdered without a hearing, and if you attempt anything of the kind, you'll never be sheriff of this county again! I can tell you that much."

The four other members of the party were now whispering together some distance away. As they whispered, they glanced furtively from the boys to the man who was trying to protect them.

"Look here, Pete," one of them said, as they all stepped forward, "we don't see any necessity for this halt in the proceedings just because Seth has a lad that belongs to the Boy Scouts."

"That's right," another member of the party declared. "Just you say the word and we'll string these boys up in a holy minute!"

"Not with my consent!" exclaimed Seth. "I'm not murdering babies! And if you fellows attempt anything of the kind, there'll be trouble!"

"Look here," the sheriff said, addressing Will. "You boys go off in a corner somewhere and talk this thing over. Here's a pretty decent kind of a fellow, a neighbor of mine, getting into trouble on your account.

Now you go and talk the thing over, and see if you can't decide to tell the truth and help him out as well as yourself."