Part 26 (1/2)
The ex-convict lay with his face turned upward, his arms folded across his breast At first there were no indication of life
CHAPTER XIX
SHERIFF PETE'S WINK
”He can't be dead!” cried Chester, trying to lift the still figure in his arms ”The wound he received was not a serious one”
”I'll tell you what I think,” Will replied
”I think he's weak from lack of food and sleep I don't believe these train robbers have been very considerate of him”
”But I don't see why they should h to eat themselves,” Will returned
”Don't you re for hi that the detectives were just beyond the circle of light?”
”That was the night I was loitering around the caet to one of you boys in order to ask you to help me find father,” Chester replied ”Don't you reht, and I ran away in the darkness, and one of the boys came upon the train robber and the other came upon one of the detectives”
”That was Toe and I were asleep in our tent when all that took place”
”I guess he's about starved all right!” Chester said lifting his father into a sitting position ”We'd better get some of the men down here and have him carried into the cavern”
”But look here,” Will warned, ”therein here after him!”
”Why not?” asked Chester
”Because, as I have told you before, if the sheriff understands that your father was a fugitive froo under arrest It will be his duty to do so, in fact”
”And what do you boys propose to do with hio and keep hi about a case we're interested in which he will never tell if sent back to prison”
”If he's sent back to prison,” Chester replied, ”youto help anybody”
”He is innocent of the crime of which he was convicted, isn't he?” asked Will ”In other words, he was jobbed!”
”That's the truth!” cried Chester
”Well, e've got to do is to prove that!” Will went on
”Can you do it?” asked the son, anxiously
”We think we can,” was the reply
”If you can, father will do anything he can for you, you may be sure of that,” Chester answered warmly
”But the whole success of our sche your father out of the clutches of the officers until we land hio For the first ti the officers of the law As a rule that isn't a good thing for Boy Scouts to do, but we think we are fully justified in the course we are taking in this case”