But because of the fire that had burned to the ground his father's disreputable cottage in the woods and which he and his followers had blamed upon the radio boys, Buck Looker thought himself safe in taunting the latter as much as he wished. He a.s.sumed that they would not dare resent anything he said or did, for fear he would make public the matter of the fire and accuse them openly.

It was a chance of a lifetime for Buck--or so he thought--and he was determined not to over-look it. So his manner became more insulting than ever and his face took on a wider grin as his glance shifted from Bob to Joe.

"So you're in a hurry, too, are you?" he sneered. "Going to set some more houses on fire, eh?"

He turned to his cronies with a grin and they piped up together as if by a prearranged signal:

"Firebrands!"

This undeserved insult was more than the radio boys could stand, and all stepped forward with clenched fists.

"You take that back, Buck Looker!" cried Joe, with flashing eyes.

"Take back nothing!" answered the bully.

"Yes, you will!" broke in Bob, and caught Buck by the arm.

At once the bully aimed a savage blow at Bob's head. But the latter ducked, and an instant later his clenched fist landed upon Buck's chin with such weight that the bully was sent over backward into the snow.

At the instant when Buck made his attack on Bob, Terry Mooney tried to hit Joe with a stick he carried. Joe promptly caught hold of the stick, and, putting out his foot, sent Terry backward into a snowdrift. Seeing this, Carl Lutz started to run away, but both Herb and Jimmy went after him and knocked him flat.

"You let me alone! I didn't do anything!" blubbered Carl, who was a thorough coward.

"You can't call me a firebrand," answered Herb, and while fat Jimmy sat on the luckless Carl, Herb rammed some snow into his ear and down his neck.

While this was going on both Buck and Terry had scrambled to their feet, and then began a fierce fight between that pair and Bob and Joe.

Blows were freely exchanged, but soon the radio boys had the better of it, and when Terry's lip was bleeding and swelling rapidly, and Buck had received a crack in the left eye and it was also swelling, all three of the cronies were only too glad to back away.

"Have you had enough?" demanded Bob, pantingly.

"If you haven't, we'll give you some more," added Joe.

"You just wait! We'll get square with you some other time," muttered Buck. And thereupon he and his cronies lost no time in sneaking away into the woods.

"Of all the mean fellows that ever lived!" cried Herb.

"I guess they'll leave us alone--for a while, anyway," came from Joe, as he felt of his shoulder where he had received a blow.

"I wonder what those fellows are doing around here, anyway," said Bob thoughtfully. "Do you suppose they're putting up at the Mountain Rest Hotel, too?"

"More than likely," answered Joe, gloomily. "Perhaps they've been driven out of Clintonia, too, on account of the epidemic. I heard quite a number of the other young folks were getting out. The whole town is pretty well scared."

"They are sure trying their best to make trouble for us," added Jimmy.

"That fire in the woods was just nuts for them," said Bob, with a frown. "They've been trying for a long time to get something on us, and now they think they've got it. They think we're afraid to beat 'em up now as they deserve, for fear they'll tell everybody we set that old shack on fire."

"It was a funny thing," remarked Joe, musingly, "how that fire started, anyway."

"Oh, what's the use of worrying?" added Herb, carelessly. "I reckon the memory of that licking will keep Buck quiet for a while. Say, that was a fine piece of work you did, Bob! The memory lingers."

Bob grinned.

"How about yourselves?" he asked, adding, with a gleam in his eyes: "I didn't notice Terry Mooney and Carl Lutz looking very happy!"

CHAPTER XVIII

A NEST OF CONSPIRATORS

The radio boys saw Buck Looker often--all too often--in the days that followed. As the boys had feared, Buck and his crowd were staying at the Mountain Rest Hotel, and it was almost impossible to help encountering them.

Several times there were arguments which almost resulted in blows, but Buck always managed to sneak off at the critical moment, leaving the boys to fume helplessly.

"Wish we could find out how that shack of theirs caught fire," Joe grumbled on one of these occasions. "Then we could stop their mouths on that firebrand question once and for all."

"Wouldn't make any difference," remarked Herb gloomily. "If they couldn't make trouble for us on that score, they'd think up something else."

But about this time something happened that took the minds of the radio boys from Buck Looker and his trouble making.

One day, as they were tramping through the woods in the still deep snow, they came upon a little decrepit-looking one-room shack, standing dejectedly within a circle of skeleton trees.

They had wandered further than usual from camp in exploring the surrounding country and had come upon the tiny cabin unexpectedly.

Jimmy was about to utter a gleeful shout at sight of the interesting-looking place when Bob clapped a warning hand over his mouth.

"Keep still," he whispered sharply. "I hear voices in there."

"Well, what if you do?" demanded Joe, but he kept his voice cautiously lowered just the same. "Probably some harmless dubs----"

"Like ourselves," finished Jimmy, with a grin, "seeking shelter from the bitter weather."

"Well, whoever they are, they sure are mad about something," said Bob, hardly knowing why he should be so excited.

The voices inside that one-room shack had been raised in altercation, but now, as the boys listened, somebody evidently cautioned silence, for once more the tones were lowered almost to a whisper.

"There's something mysterious about this," said Bob, his eyes gleaming joyfully. "I vote we look into it."

"Right-o," agreed Joe, following the leader as Bob started softly toward the shack.

What they expected to find they had no idea. But it was an understood, though unspoken, rule with the radio boys never to pa.s.s by anything that looked in the least mysterious. And certainly this queer little shack in the woods bore all the air of mystery.

There was one small window near where they were standing and the four boys crowded up to this, jostling each other in the attempt to be the first to see through the dingy pane.

"Hey!" whispered Jimmy in anguish, as Joe's foot clamped firmly down upon his. "Quit parking on my toe, will you? There's lots of room on the ground."

Joe snickered derisively and that small sound came near to proving their undoing. For inside the cabin it happened that for a moment every one had stopped talking and in the silence Joe's laugh was distinctly audible.