Part 20 (1/2)
Ty was waiting, and the way he slipped that loop over both hands, and tightened it, was worth seeing.
Having made all secure so far as things had gone, the patrol leader now seized hold of the kicking legs, and began to pull. As the others came to his a.s.sistance they were hardly two seconds in dragging the tramp out of the hay mow; and thus far at least not the slightest sound had been made calculated to betray the facts to the other rascal.
It was not Elmer's intention to let the fellow see, just yet, at least, that he owed his capture to a parcel of scouts. He might burst out into a tirade, which, while it could do him no particular good, might serve to warn the other fellow, and cause him to change his plans.
Accordingly he motioned to Landy to sit down on him again; and then bending low himself he pressed the end of his pocketknife against the man's neck as he grunted into his ear:
”Keep still, now, unless you want me to press the trigger!”
Satisfied that Landy and Ted could manage the tied tramp, even if he started to kick up a row, which was hardly likely, Elmer once more turned his attention to that opening under the mow. Once again the projecting hay was being violently agitated, and he believed the shorter man must be following close upon his mate.
The programme would have to be repeated, and Elmer only hoped as good success might attend his second effort as had his first.
It would be a big feather in the caps of the scouts could they say that they had effected the capture of the two would-be train wreckers, alone and unaided. But at the moment he was not thinking of such a thing as glory; when it was a stern duty that had been suddenly thrust upon them, and which they must not attempt to evade under any circ.u.mstances, if they wished to be true to the principles of the organization to which they belonged.
Shorty, however, must have managed to change his position in some manner, if so be he had started along the tunnel in the same crab-like method of procedure which his comrade had employed. For the first thing they knew a frowsy head had been thrust out of the hay, and a pair of eyes were blinking up at them.
Elmer was afraid lest the fellow draw back upon seeing what awaited him, just as a tortoise will pull in its head at signs of danger.
Accordingly, he was determined not to allow such a thing to happen.
True, with the advancing fire Shorty would speedily have to decide which fate he must choose; but that might mean he would yield himself a prisoner to the Fairfield police; and Elmer wanted the Boy Scouts to get all the credit possible.
On this account, then, he pounced on the man, and gripped him by the shoulders. Elmer was himself far from a weakling, and the man happened to be taken very much by surprise; so that before he could collect his wits sufficiently to make any show of defense, he found himself out on the ground, with a couple of energetic young fellows hovering over him.
Ty, not having a second rope handy, had s.n.a.t.c.hed up his club again. When he saw that the shorter rascal was starting to make a move, as though intending to get to his feet, when trouble must have followed, Ty waved the wagon spoke threateningly over his head, as he yelled excitedly:
”Lie down, you, 'less you want me to let her fall! Stretch out and roll over on your face, d'ye hear? Quick, now, keep amovin'! 'Everybody's doin' it,' you know. Now, Elmer, if you only had another piece of string handy, there's a good chance to snug him up good and tight.”
Elmer did not have the cord or the rope; but all the same he was equal to the demands of the occasion. He s.n.a.t.c.hed his big red bandana handkerchief from around his neck. He had seen such useful articles serve strange purposes before; and why should this one not take the place of a rope?
So he whipped it quickly around the thick wrists of the man, almost before the fellow could get it through his head what had happened.
”Now, let's pull them farther away from here, because the barn's going to be a hot place pretty soon,” Elmer remarked.
Seizing hold, two to each prisoner, the boys succeeded in dragging them some little distance off. Meanwhile some one had noticed what they were doing, and presently the Fairfield Police head came running out of the barn, rubbing his smarting eyes, and, coming upon the little party, stopped to stare in astonishment.
CHAPTER XVI.
GOOD-BY TO THE SWEEt.w.a.tER.
”WHAT are you doing to those fellows, boys?” demanded the champion of law and order; from which remark it was plain to be seen that the smoke had affected the eyes of the police officer to such an extent that he had failed to recognize the culprits, and possibly believed the boys were only carrying on high among themselves, as boys over in his town frequently did, to the unhappiness of the constables.
”We just took a notion to prevent them from escaping, sir,” remarked Elmer. ”And if you think you can hold them, we're willing to turn them over into your charge, in the presence of Mr. Brady here and the others.”
A group began to cl.u.s.ter around them, most of the men rubbing their smarting eyes. Already did they realize the uselessness of trying to put up a fight against the flames that were spreading resistlessly amid the hay.
”Well, I declare if it ain't the two hands that worked for me, and then tried to rob my house, setting it on fire as they ran away!” declared Mr. Brady, as he got a good look at the prostrate men.
”Do you mean to say these are the fugitives I have been chasing, the desperate yeggmen named Shorty McCabe and Lanky Jim Smith?” cried the police head.