"When did you leave good old Hickory Ridge?" asked Ty; for, like most boys, no sooner was Ty away from home than everything about the place a.s.sumed an almost sacred aspect, and he could never even mention its name without an affectionate prefix of some sort.

"I reckon I've been three hours on the way," was George's reply.

"Three hours to get up here! Say, you didn't walk like that in the big hike, when you covered the name of Robbins with imperishable glory,"

Landy declared.

"Shucks, and me the lowest score in the whole bunch!" sneered George.

"But I guess I lost the way, and covered a lot more territory than I ought to have done."

"Yes," said Landy, "I know what was the matter. You just made up your mind every signpost lied, and when it said go east, you tried the other road. That's what you get for doubting everything. It brings heaps of trouble, and if you're wise you'll shunt that on to the side track in a hurry."

"Oh, shucks! Attend to your own mutton, Landy," said George; but his face had reddened at the accusation of his cousin, and none of the others doubted but that Landy's random shot had hit pretty close to the truth.

"Anything new around Hickory Ridge since we left there?" asked Elmer.

"Why, yes, there is, fellows," replied George, brightening up, as though he had just thought of something.

"Then tell us what it is. Has Hiram Juggles got a new shingle on his barn; or did the Mosely twins get mixed up again, so that n.o.body knows which is Jim and which Jack?" asked Ty.

"Oh, it's something more serious than that, let me tell you," George went on, with a vein of mystery in his voice that instantly aroused the curiosity of Landy.

"Then why don't you tell us what it is, George, you old ice wagon!" he exclaimed. "Somebody give him a push, please, and get him to roll his hoop."

"They tried to wreck the midnight express--guess you fellows started off too early in the mornin' to hear about it," George said.

"We never heard a word, so hurry up and tell us, George," said Elmer.

"Yes, whatever in the wide world would they want to wreck that train for? Was it some crazy man; or do they think it could have been an attempt to rob the express safe?" demanded Ty, anxiously; for he had an uncle who held the throttle of the engine pulling that particular train, and was therefore deeply interested.

"n.o.body's dead sure what they wanted to do," George went on, "but the messenger admits that he was carrying a bigger amount of money than usual. Perhaps the hoboes got wind of it, and thought they might have a chance to capture the stuff. They didn't have nerve enough to hold the train up in western fashion, so they tried the coward play."

"I notice that you say hoboes did it, as if n.o.body doubted that part of the affair," Elmer remarked, significantly.

"They were seen by a track walker, and had quite a fight with him,"

George continued. "The poor chap is in the hospital now, though he's going to pull through. He managed to crawl to a station and give the alarm, so no damage was done. And now they're hunting high and low for two hoboes, one short with red hair, and t'other a long-legged fellow who limps when he walks, like he'd once had his leg hurt. They are called Shorty and Lanky Jim!"

It was Adam who set up a shout that caused the others to stare at him.

"Hey, what's this mean?" demanded Ty. "He looks like he knew something about the two rascals you were telling us about, George. Elmer, you take him in hand, won't you, and see what he's got on his mind. And make him tell it in plain United States. We left our Dutch dictionaries at home this trip, you see."

CHAPTER VIII.

UNDER THE TWINKLING STARS.

SUPPER was forgotten for the time being, under the influence of this new source of excitement. But then the young campers had taken the edge off their sharp appet.i.tes before now, so that it did not matter very much.

Adam was grinning as he found himself the one object upon which all eyes were focused. It would be hard to find the boy who does not enjoy standing in the lime light, even for a little while.

"How about this, Adam," said Elmer, "do you know anything about these two men?"

"So," drawled the German boy, "aber I am nodt sure. Dey looks to pe sooch; put mebbe I haf anudder guess goming, poys."

"Tell us where you think you saw them," the a.s.sistant scout master continued.

"At Prady's," answered Adam, promptly.

"Brady's--why, that's where we get our milk," spoke up Landy.

"Sure it is," declared Ty. "That's funny now; I never remember setting eyes on anybody answering that description; and I've been over there twice."

"Yeth," declared Ted, "and I can thay the thame thing."

"You think you can; but you're away off, Ted," grinned Ty, who never grew weary of nagging the other on that lisp, with which he was afflicted.

"When did you see them, Adam?" asked Elmer, paying no attention to any of these side remarks.

"Vy, berhaps you may remember, Elmer, dot dis very evening I vant to go py der voods vonce, und get dot milk. Vat ve haf, it did get sour by der heat, und Ty he say he haf a desire to dake der tramp again nix. So I volunteer py der game. You pet me I nefer dry to gross dot field py der pull. I dake der long vay, und pring der milk safely home. Iss it not so, Ty?"

"Well, we're drinking some of it in our coffee this meal, so that goes without saying," the other replied.

"Tell us about the men--where were they when you saw them, Adam?" Elmer went on.

"Py der parn," returned the German scout.

"Not prowling around like a couple of thieves, Adam?"

"Nodt as I can see."

"Then what were they doing?" the patrol leader asked, impatiently; for it was a most difficult thing to draw the story out of the German, who seemed to want to be "pumped" step by step, as Landy termed it.

"Vorking," came the short reply.

"Oh, then you mean they were apparently in the employ of Mr. Brady?"

"Dot iss so. Dey toss der hay oop to him py der stack, und he stow it avay."

"I believe the farmer is getting in a late crop of clover hay," remarked Elmer.

"Yes," broke in Ty, "and he was telling me this very morning when I got the milk, after my little adventure with that neighbor's bull, how his man had left him in the lurch, and everybody around was so busy he hardly knew just how he could get the big crop of hay that was stacked in the field, ready for the mow."

Elmer nodded his head as though, after gaining this knowledge, it was comparatively easy to put two and two together.

"That settles it," he remarked. "These two hoboes came along, and he offered them such big wages to help him over his trouble, that they just couldn't resist. But I know something about tramps, and the real article wouldn't work at any price."