Part 14 (1/2)

”Well, this is surely insolence,” said d.i.c.k, and calling his comrades he showed them the chip. Both were interested, but Warner had admiration for its sender.

”It shows a due consideration for us,” he said. ”He merely warns us away as trespa.s.sers before shooting at us. And perhaps he's right. The river and the fish in it really belong to them. We're invaders. We came down here to crush rebellion, not to take away property.”

”But I'm going to keep my fish, just the same,” said Pennington. ”You can't crush a rebellion without eating. Nor am I going to quit fis.h.i.+ng either.”

”Here comes another big white chip,” said d.i.c.k.

Warner caught it on his hook and towed it in. It bore the inscription, freshly cut:

Let our river alone Take in your lines You're in danger, As you'll soon see.

It was unsigned and they stared at it in wonder.

”Do you think this is really a warning?” said Pennington, ”or is it some of the fellows playing tricks on us?”

”I believe it's a warning,” said Warner soberly. ”Probably a farmer a little distance up the stream has been cutting wood, and these chips have come from his yard, but he didn't send them. d.i.c.k, can you tell handwriting when it's done with a knife?”

d.i.c.k looked at the chip long and critically.

”It may be imagination,” he said, ”but the words cut there bear some resemblance to the handwriting of Harry Kenton. He makes a peculiar L and a peculiar A and they're just the same way on this chip. The writing is different on the other chip, but on this one I believe strongly that it's Harry's.”

”It looks significant to me,” said Warner thoughtfully. ”A mile or two farther up, this stream, so I'm told, makes an elbow, and beyond that it comes with a rush out of the mountains. Its banks are lined with woods and thickets and some of the enemy may have slipped in and launched these chips. I've a sort of feeling, d.i.c.k, that it's really your cousin and his friends who have done it.”

”I incline to that belief myself,” said d.i.c.k. ”You know they're ready to dare anything, and they don't antic.i.p.ate any great danger, because we don't care to shoot at one another, until the campaign really begins.”

”At least,” said Warner, ”it's best to apply to the problem a good algebraic formula. Here we are in a wood, some distance from our main camp. Messages, bearing a warning either in jest or in earnest, have come floating down from a point which may be within the enemy's country. One of the facts is x and the other is y, but what they amount to is an unknown quant.i.ty. Hence we are left in doubt, and when you're in doubt it's best to do the safe thing.”

”Which means that we should go back to the camp,” said d.i.c.k. ”But we'll take our fish with us, that's sure.”

They began to wind up their lines, but knowing that departure would be prudent they were yet reluctant to go in the face of a hidden danger, which after all might not be real.

”Suppose I climb this tree,” said Pennington, indicating a tall elm, ”and I may be able to get a good look over the country, while you fellows keep watch.”

”Up you go, Frank,” said d.i.c.k. ”George and I will be on guard, pistols in one hand and fish in the other.”

Pennington climbed the elm rapidly and then announced from the highest bough able to support him that he saw open country beyond, then more woods, a glimpse of the stream above the elbow, but no human being. He added that he would remain a few minutes in the tree and continue his survey of the country.

d.i.c.k's eyes had followed Frank's figure until it disappeared among the brown leaves, and he had listened to him carefully, while he was telling the result of his outlook, but his attention now turned back to the river. No more chips were floating down its stream. Nothing foreign appeared upon the clear surface of its waters, but d.i.c.k's sharp vision caught sight of something in a thicket on the far sh.o.r.e that made his heart beat.

It was but little he saw, merely the brown edge of an enormous flap- brimmed hat, but it was enough. Slade and his men undoubtedly were there- practically within the Union lines-and he was the danger! He called up the tree in a fierce sibilant whisper that carried amazingly far:

”Come down, Frank! Come down at once, for your life!”

It was a call so alarming and insistent that Pennington almost dropped from the tree. He was upon the ground, breathless, in a half minute, his fish in one hand and the pistol that he had s.n.a.t.c.hed from his belt in the other.

”What is it?” exclaimed Warner, who had not yet seen anything.

”Slade and his men are in the bush on the other side of the river. The warning was real and I've no doubt Harry sent it. They've seen Frank come down the tree! Drop flat for your lives!”

Again his tone was so compelling that the other two threw themselves flat instantly, and d.i.c.k went down with them. They were barely in time. A dozen rifles flashed from the thickets beyond the stream, but all the bullets pa.s.sed over their heads.