BOB HAS A HUNCH.

“What do you know about it, Bob?”

“Know about what?”

“Why a whole night has passed and nothing has happened.”

Bob laughed.

“That is rather unusual for a fact.”

“Unusual, it’s unprecedented. But how’s the leg?”

“Almost as good as new,” Bob declared after he had taken a few steps. “It’s a bit sore and lame still but I can travel on it I reckon if we don’t go too fast.”

“Well, hereafter you’d better take me along with you. One or the other of us always seem to get into trouble when we separate.”

“How’s the grub holding out?”

“We got enough for two or three days if we don’t eat too much.”

“Well, suppose you see if there are any trout in that brook. They’ll taste mighty good for breakfast and help out on the supplies.”

Jack was gone less than half an hour when he returned with enough fair sized fish for a meal.

“There were just eight more trout in that brook when you spoke than there are now,” he laughed as he started to dress them.

Breakfast over they went, as Jack called it, into executive session of the committee of the whole to decide what was the next move to make.

“I still feel pretty sure that we are not very far from the scene of operations,” Bob insisted and Jack agreed that he was probably correct.

“Then you think we had better just keep on and hunt?”

Bob was about to reply in the affirmative when suddenly the sound of a rifle shot rang through the forest.

“Listen.”

“Remington 38,” Jack declared.

“And not very far away either.”

He had hardly spoken when two more shots came close together and from nearly the opposite direction.

“They’re on both sides of us whoever it is,” Jack said.

“Right, and the all important question is whether it’s someone hunting or were those shots signals.”

“It’s closed season for hunting,” Jack reminded him.

“I know, but I have an idea that that don’t bother the natives up here a whole lot. I guess they hunt about when they’ve a mind to law or no law.”

“Well, I guess we can’t afford to take a chance and find out. Our best bet is to keep out of sight all we can.”

“You said it.”

By this time they were ready to start. No more shots were heard as they struck off toward the west traveling slowly so as to favor Bob’s leg.

“Oh, by the way, Bob, did you find a boundary stone around here anywhere? I hunted nearly an hour for it yesterday and couldn’t find it.”

“Yes. There was one only about a dozen feet from where that trap was. I found it just before I stepped into it.”

“Then we’re on the track.”

“Jack, I’ve got another hunch.”

“Hope it isn’t the same breed as the last one,” Jack laughed.

“No, I think this is an honest to goodness one.”

“All right then, spring it. What is it?”

“I think we’re going to strike something inside of a very few minutes.”

This time Bob’s hunch was fulfilled quickly for they had not gone ten feet further when they came to a trail running at right angles to the way they were going.

“Some hunch, I’ll say,” Jack’s tone was very sarcastic.

“It worked pretty well, that’s a fact.”

“Do you mean to tell me that you didn’t see this trail before you had that hunch?”

“I sure didn’t. If you don’t believe it go back to where we were standing and see if you can.”

“Oh, you know that if you say you didn’t that settles it, and again I repeat, some hunch.”

“Well, it sounds better when you say it that way,” Bob laughed.

The trail which they had struck was one which had evidently been made recently. It was still very rough although there was abundant evidence to show that a vehicle of some kind had been driven over it.

“I believe we’ve struck it,” Bob declared as he looked first one way and then the other.

“Wouldn’t wonder. I don’t know what else anyone would make a trail way up here for.”

“Now which way’ll we go, north or south?”

“Or camp right here and let them come to us?”

“Too slow that last.”

“Thought you’d object. I vote we go north.”

“Vote’s unanimous. Come on.”

“This trail must start somewhere,” Bob grinned as they trudged along slowly.

“How’s the leg?”

“Not bad, but I’ll have to favor it for a day or two I reckon.”

“When it gets tired say so and we’ll rest,” Jack urged anxious lest he injure it.

“I’ll sing out all right when I’m tired,” Bob assured him.

About fifteen minutes later they were again brought to a halt by another shot.

“That’s the 38 again,” Jack said.

“And there’s the answer,” Bob said in a low tone as two more shots rang out.

“That makes it look like a signal.”

“Nary doubt of it.”

“Those shots sounded to me about the same distance away as before,” Jack declared. “Now I sized it up before that one was to the east of us and the other to the west, and that seems to me to mean that they must be going about parallel to us and in the same direction. How does it strike you?”

“Right at home. Now why don’t they meet as soon as they can?”

“Evidently because they’re going to the same place by two routes.”

“Head of the class for you.”

“What next?”

“I think our best move will be to get out of the trail and follow it a little to one side. It’s getting too thickly settled here to keep much in the open.”

They had made about half a mile further without hearing any more shots and Bob was on the point of suggesting that they stop for a rest as his leg was giving him considerable trouble and he feared to tax it too heavily, when Jack, who was a few feet ahead, suddenly came to an abrupt stop.

“What did you hear?” Bob asked limping up.

“Nothing, but it looks to me as though we’re coming out of the woods.”

“Does look that way. Suppose you reconnoiter a bit while I rest this game leg.”

“Right.”

“But you be careful now, and don’t go far,” Bob cautioned.

“You know me,” Jack replied as he crept softly away.

“He’s a broth of a boy,” Bob thought as he watched him as long as he was in sight.

In less than fifteen minutes Jack was back and Bob knew from the expression on his face that he had something important to report.

“There’s an opening there,” he announced. “And, Bob, unless I’m terribly mistaken it’s been used as a landing field. There must be all of ten acres in it and it’s smooth enough. And there’s a cabin on the further side.”

“One of the disappearing kind?”

“I don’t think so. It’s much larger.”

“Didn’t see anybody did you?”

“Not a soul, but I only waited a minute.”

“Well, we’d better find a good place where we can watch without danger of being seen and we’d better do it quick too. Those fellows who have been doing the shooting are undoubtedly making for that cabin and we want to be cached before they get there.”

After a short search they succeeded in finding just the right kind of a place. A cleft about three feet wide and eight feet long between two large rocks was closed at both ends by clumps of bushes. Once within the trench, as Jack called it, they were invisible to any one unless he climbed on to one of the rocks and looked down. On the other hand, by slightly parting the bush at the end nearer the clearing, they had an uninterrupted view of the entire field.

“Couldn’t be better for our purpose,” Bob declared, as he stretched out at full length on the ground and peeped out.

“There comes Tiny,” he announced a moment later, as the giant emerged from the woods a little to the right of the cabin.

“Has he got a gun!”

“Yep, looks like a Winchester from here, but it’s too far away to be sure. Wish I had the glasses.”

“Well, keep your eyes peeled. The other guy ought to be along soon.”

“And there he is. It’s that little man—the white one—and he’s got a gun, too.”

“Then that settles who was doing the shooting,” Jack declared.

“Not a mite of doubt about it and Jack boy, I believe we’ve found the place at last. We must be two or three miles over into Canada and from here they can take the stuff over either by wagon or by flying machine.”

“I guess you’re right, but I suppose we ought to get more evidence before we report to the captain and get him up here.”

“We’ll get it all right pretty soon unless I’m greatly mistaken. There’s Pierre, now.”

“I guess the whole gang’s there.”

“Probably, except the ones that run the airplane.”

“Suppose they’re waiting for the ship.”

“More than likely.”

The men in the cabin seemed to be expecting something of the sort, for every little while one or more of them would come out and take a long look around, scanning the sky.

“There’s a couple I never saw before. Take a peep,” Bob said a few minutes later drawing back his head and making room for Jack.

“One of them is the man who talked with me the day I was fishing at the lake, but I don’t know the other fellow,” he said as he drew his head back. “They’ve gone in now.”

“They’re waiting for an airship all right judging by the way they’re looking round.”

“And we’ll wait right here till it comes.” Jack’s voice bore a determined note.

“Guess we might as well eat a bite while we’re waiting,” Bob proposed.

“All right, but we’ve got to go a bit light or we’ll be on short rations,” Jack advised.

It proved that they were shorter on food even than he had thought and they had to satisfy themselves with a very light lunch indeed. But they were used to taking things as they came and neither complained.

It was about three o’clock when Bob held up his hand as Jack was talking.

“Listen.”

“She’s coming, sure as guns.”

Faintly they could hear the distant purring of a motor. Bob parted the bushes and looked out “Can’t see anything yet,” he announced a moment later. “But Pierre has just touched a match to a pile of brush and it’s sending up a big cloud of smoke. Must be a signal for him either to land or not to.” The sound of the approaching motor was rapidly growing louder and soon Jack, who was at the peep hole, announced that he could see it.

“And it looks like it was a whopper.”

“Sounds like a Liberty motor.”

“That’s what it is all right,” Jack agreed. “And she’s making some time, too.”

In a short time they could see the machine without making use of the peep hole, as it circled about far up in the sky.

“He’s coming down and he’s planning to hit the ground right out in front of us.”

“That’s so,” Bob agreed. “Hope he don’t happen to glance down and see us,” he added somewhat anxiously.

“Gracious! I never thought of that. Guess we’d better get under cover, though I don’t suppose there’s much danger. He’ll be too busy with the plane to notice us.”

“But we’ll take no chance,” Bob advised.

So they crawled into the bushes at the farther end of their hiding place and Bob expressed himself as satisfied that they were practically invisible to anyone from above.

They had hardly got settled when, with a noise as of a dozen gattling guns the big plane swooped down within a few feet of their heads. Instantly Bob crawled to the peep hole and looked out.

“Some landing,” he announced as he drew back his head. “He rolled up to within a few feet of the door of the cabin. Just a minute and I’ll see what they are doing.”

But for some time there appeared no sign of activity about the cabin.

“Guess they’re eating dinner,” Jack said as he relieved Bob at the peep hole.

“More than likely, but I guess there’ll be something doing before long,” Bob agreed.

And he was right, for a few moments later Jack announced that the men had come out of the cabin. “And they’re loading something into the plane.”

“Guess there’s no doubt as to what it is.”

“Not a bit. I guess we’ve got about all the evidence we need now,” Jack declared.

“We’ll wait till he gets off and then we’ll hit the trail for Bangor and report to the captain. But we want to be sure and mark our trail so that we’ll have no trouble in finding our way back.”

It was about a half hour later that they heard the motor again.

“Guess he’s ready to start. Yes, here he comes. Get into the bushes,” Bob ordered.

Again they hid themselves and waited until the aviator was well up in the air.

“He’s heading south,” Bob declared as he looked up.

“Where do you suppose he’s taking the stuff?”

“Gee, I never thought of that. I wonder if the captain can arrest them on Canadian soil.”

“Well, I guess that’s up to him. That fellow may land in Boston or New York or any other of a hundred places. He can’t expect us to find out that part of it.”

“Mebby he’ll get another plane and chase him. Gee, wouldn’t it be great if he’d take us with him?”

“Sure would, but I don’t see how he could do that—I mean, get a plane up here. They’d be sure to see it and then it would be all off.”

“Well, ‘sufficient unto the day is the evidence thereof,’” Jack quoted. “Let’s not worry about that part of it. I guess the captain will be able to work out some plan to do the trick, but I sure would like to chase that fellow the next time he takes a trip.”

“Perhaps we’ll have a chance. You never can tell.”

As he finished speaking voices were heard approaching.

“Keep quiet,” Bob, who was at the peep hole immediately, cautioned. “Here comes the whole gang.”

The boys almost held their breath as the five men passed within a dozen feet of their refuge and struck off down the trail.

“I wonder if they have any suspicion that we are anywhere abouts,” Jack whispered after the last man disappeared.

“Don’t know why they should, but of course they do know that we are not a thousand miles away and there isn’t much doubt but what they know what we are up in this part of the world for.”

After waiting about an hour to give the men a good start of them they started. Following the trail south until they came to the place where they had struck it earlier in the day they left it and turned due east. Every little ways they broke a small twig from a bush or tree choosing a place where it would not be likely to be seen by any one else.

“We ought to reach the camp by night tomorrow if this game leg of mine holds out,” Bob said as they trudged along.

“How does it feel?”

“Kinder weak, but I guess I can make it.”

But he soon found that his leg was not so strong as he had thought and they were obliged to make frequent stops to rest, and, when it began to get dark, they estimated that they had not made much over ten miles on the return trip.

Just before they decided to camp for the night Bob made a lucky shot at a rabbit.

“I know it’s out of season,” he confessed, “but necessity knows no law. We’ve got to eat.”

Risking a small fire they roasted the little animal and it proved a very welcome addition to their scanty store of food. They were both tired, Bob in particular, and after some discussion, they decided to take a chance without setting a watch. They found a good place where they felt that there was small danger of being found even if anyone should search for them, and rolling up in their blankets, were soon sound asleep.

The night passed without incident and the rising sun found them up and after a hasty breakfast, they were ready to start by five o’clock.

“How’s the leg this morning?”

“Feels pretty good, if it will only continue to do so.”

“Well, don’t you be too hard on it. There’s no absolute necessity of our making camp to-night. I can probably get a mess of trout for supper and we can make out.”

“I know but I want to make it if we can. It can’t be much over twenty-five miles.”

“But that’s a good long ways with a bum leg,” Jack declared.

A little before ten o’clock they reached the place where Bob had been caught in the trap, and as his leg was causing him considerable pain, Jack insisted that they rest up for at least two hours. This, after considerable argument, Bob agreed to. In a short time Jack caught a good mess of trout in the little brook and they made a hearty meal although, as Jack laughingly declared, their choice of courses was somewhat limited. As soon as the meal was over and the dishes washed Jack insisted on having a look at the wounded leg, although Bob insisted that it was all right.

“Say, who’s the doctor here,” he demanded and Bob laughingly yielded the point.

The leg was still slightly swollen about the ankle and there was some inflammation where the teeth had broken the skin.

“I don’t just like the looks of that ankle,” he said as he sopped a little iodine on it.

“Ouch, but that smarts,” Bob winced.

“It’ll do it good all the same.”

“I’ll say it ought to.”

He bathed the leg with the cold water from the brook and Bob soon declared that it felt nearly as well as before it had been hurt.

“I hope that iodine takes that inflammation out,” Jack said as he put on a new bandage.

“I guess it will be all right. It’s strong enough to take out almost anything,” Bob assured him.

Shortly after twelve they started off again and Bob assured Jack that the rest and treatment had made his leg feel a hundred percent better.

They had made but about a mile when Bob, who was in the rear, fancied that he heard a noise but a short distance behind them.

“Hold on a minute,” he called in a low voice.

Jack at once turned and waited for him to come up.

“I’m not sure but I think we’re being followed,” he whispered. “There, did you hear that?”

“That” was the sound of a man’s voice now plainly audible.

“And they’re only a little ways behind too,” Jack declared. “We’ve got to run for it.” Then as he thought of Bob’s leg he hesitated. “Think they know we’re ahead of them?”

“Ask me something easy, but they’re coming this way all right. I think we’d better run for it.”

“But your leg, it’s—”

“Bother the leg. I tell you they’re after us.”

“Well, you go first or I won’t move a step.”

Bob did not wait to argue the point for the men were approaching rapidly as he could tell by the sound. He started off at a rapid pace and Jack followed close behind. At first they seemed to gain on their pursuers but Bob quickly realized that he would be unable to keep up the pace for but a short time and slowed up.

“Leg, bad?” Jack asked anxiously.

“It gives me the dickens when I try to hurry,” Bob panted.

“What had we better do?”

“Go as far as I can. We may shake them off.”

But he had little hope as he said it. An occasional sound from the rear told him that they were no longer gaining if indeed they were holding their own.

“They’re almost up to us,” Jack panted a few minutes later. “I think we might as well stop and make a stand with the gun. We can get the drop on them.”

Just as he finished speaking a strange thing happened. Bob, who was only a few feet ahead of him, suddenly disappeared as though the ground had swallowed him up. Jack stopped and stared. Then he took a few steps ahead and the next moment the earth dropped from beneath him and he felt himself falling.