University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXX.
CONCLUSION.

THE boys stood up as best they could before the rush of the two men; and both Josh and Rod used those hickory canes with considerable effect, in

trying to ward off the attack; but in the end might would surely have prevailed, had there not come a sudden interruption.

Several men came rushing into the room, one and all armed with such rifles as every Tennessee mountaineer carries nearly all the time he is upon his native heath.

And the shrill voice of Si Keck was heard, as he ordered the two men to back up, and leave the boys alone, unless they wished to feel the clubbed guns of the new-comers on their heads.

It was Silas Goober who recognized that the scales had changed, so that they were now outplayed. Crafty as ever, he knew when he had had enough. Indeed, his head must be ringing from the effect of the lusty blows showered upon him by Rod and Josh, who had seemed to pick him out especially, when passing their favors around so freely. His hair was disarranged; his coat half torn from his body; and several scratches on his forehead and cheeks told where the nails of Rooster had plowed deeply, when the other attempted to seize hold of that individual.

The colonel had not fared so badly, although Elmer and Hanky Panky undoubtedly struck out boldly when he swooped down upon them; and at the time the moonshiners came on the scene the latter was trying desperately to wrest that shotgun out of the hands of the other, though with

indifferent success, for the colonel proved too strong for the boy.

Some of the boys had not come out of the affair unscathed, either, for there had been a rather lively exchange of blows all around. Josh was rubbing the back of his head, as though he had been hurt when thrown against the side of the room by a violent push on the part of the colonel, when he was struggling with Hanky Panky and Elmer. There was Rooster, too, who had been unlucky enough to get up against the end of the gun-stock while it was in motion, and whose left eye promised to go through a little stage of being "in mourning," as the boys say.

But when Si Keck ordered the fight stopped, everybody seemed ready to obey. The owner of the house turned, and stared at the intruders. Perhaps he had half expected to discover several stern-looking strangers, who might turn out to be United States Marshals bent on making an arrest; for the colonel must have had a very uneasy conscience about this time.

"What! is it then only you, Si Keck?" he exclaimed, as though astounded at seeing the tall man of the mountains there, backed up by a couple of his fellows; and Rod believed that there was also a vein of relief about his manner of saying this.

"I want tuh say, Kunnel Pepper," began the other, sternly, "as them boys be my friends, an' I

shore mean tuh stand up fo' the same, through thick an' thin. Yuh mebbe wonder what I got tuh do wid sech as they. I tells yuh, suh, they saved my house frum burnin' tuh ther groun'. An' more'n thet, they done pulled Daddy outen the smoke afore he be quite gone. I promised 'em as I'd keep clost by, an' see as they done gits a squar deal frum yuh. An' I knows all erbout thet same bunch er papers, w'ich berlongs tuh this boy. If he gut 'em, he's shore agwine tuh keep ther same -- 'case why, me'n my pals hyah'll see him safe away from this house. Now, don't yuh say anythin' agin it, er thar'll shore be a heap uh trouble astirrin'."

"Oh! all right, Si Keck," said Colonel Pepper, realizing that he was no longer in a position to dictate terms as he willed, but must kiss the rod that smote him; "only they must clear out of my house this very night. I decline to harbor snakes any longer, that may turn and strike me when I ain't looking. You hear that, don't you, Elmer Overton?"

The other laughed softly, He was feeling very happy, and contented, now that he could feel that precious bundle of papers inside his coat. Nothing else mattered much, nor did he see any cause to worry because they were to be cast adrift at such an hour of the night, with a storm possibly brewing, if that distant thunder meant anything at all.

"Ce'tainly, suh, we will depart with the greatest pleasure in the world," he went on to say, as he nodded toward the still irate colonel; "and let me tell you, once fo' all, suh, I do not feel any longer that I have violated your hospitality in the least, since you have shown us the kind of man you are. I am glad to know, suh, that you were nevah born in good old Tennessee."

"Get out, the whole lot of you; I never want to set eyes on you boys again. And as for you, Si Keck, perhaps I may see a way later on to make you feel sorry for what you've done to hurt me this night. Clear out, now, and good riddance of bad rubbish!"

The boys did not feel offended in the least when they heard the owner of the place pour out his anger in this fashion. They could understand how cheap he must feel because a party of boys had balked him.

Just as they were about to leave the big living-room, in which all these exciting events had happened, they were astonished to see two men quietly slip through the open door. And when Rod instantly recognized them as the keen-eyed parties whom he and Elmer had last noticed watching the house through field-glasses, from the crown of that neighboring knoll, he guessed that the clouds were gathering darkly around the owner of the Overton place.

"I hope you-all will excuse us from walking in here at such an unholy hour of the night," remarked the leading party, as he casually displayed a rather wicked looking revolver in his hand, and stepped up to Colonel Pepper; "but we happened to be in the neighborhood, and really expected to do this little job the first thing in the morning; so, seeing what was going on here, we changed our minds. You can give a pretty good guess, Pepper, what we want you for!" he added sternly, as he whipped out a pair of handcuffs, the sight of which made the colonel turn pale, and look as though ready to faint. "We have all the evidence needed, ten times over, to convict you and Silas Goober, otherwise Joe Holstein, the notorious counterfeiter, of issuing false coins, and placing unknown thousands of the same in circulation for almost twenty months past. Hold out your hands, and don't try to escape at your peril! The house is surrounded, and we have looked over your fine plant back of the newly made cellar under the right wing!"

The blow had fallen, and both rascals were now in the hands of the Government Secret Service men, who expressed their intention of staying over until morning, and then taking their prisoners, as well as the whole outfit used for making the spurious coins, to Chattanooga, where the men could be placed in jail.

And so, after all, Rod and his four chums did not have to go out into the storm, for they found it convenient to pass the remainder of that night in bed, picking up some sleep.

It is doubtful whether Elmer lost himself for even five minutes, up to the time daylight crept into that room; he was so very happy to think that his wonderful little plan had turned out to be such a glorious success, that twenty times his eager hands would touch that packet of papers, which he would not let go out of his possession, as if to reassure himself that it was not all a wild dream; and that he would presently wake up, to find himself once more in his own bed at home, instead of under the familiar old roof of the Tennessee house.

The officers allowed the colonel to close up his house before they drove away in a wagon with both him and Silas Goober. And as the five motorcycle boys passed the outfit on the road, they had the decency to forbear saying anything calculated to make the pair of rogues feel their misery any more than possible.

Of course the two men were found guilty, and are even now serving long sentences for their action in trying to compete with Uncle Sam in issuing money.

The boys lingered several days around Chattanooga, and saw considerable of the famous sights to be met with in that region, where so many battles

were fought in those old war times of the far distant past.

They managed to pick up something they thought Si Keck would appreciate, and sent it out to his cabin home. Having learned that the little hunchback boy, and the elfin looking girl had a smattering of a love for music in their souls, from hearing them sing, when they thought no one was listening, the boys concluded that they would enjoy a talking machine, with a dozen records; and later on a letter was received, illy-spelled, and yet full of genuine childish sentiment, thanking them for the wonderful pleasure they had given the children of that rough mountain moonshiner who had so long laughed at the efforts of the revenue officials to catch him in the act of working in his hidden still.

And they would never forget Si Keck, and the lively events that led up to making him their firm friend.

They also heard from Ajax, whose last name proved to be Turner. He succeeded in getting back to his family again, and not only Eliza, his wife, wished to thank the boys who had been so kind to "her man," but "lil George" also made his mark on the soiled paper, and in that way sent good wishes.

"We'll never be apt to run across such a bunch of stirring adventures again, as we met up with during that Tennessee trip on our motorcycles,"

Hanky Panky was saying one day, while they were camping in Kentucky, having started home by another route on account of those wretched roads.

"You never can tell," Josh remarked.

"And for my part," added Rod, "somehow I've got a hunch coming, now that Elmer has recovered those valuable papers that will bring a fortune to his folks, that before long we'll be running up against another batch of lively times. I don't pretend to be a prophet, or the son of a prophet; but that's my honest opinion; and you tell me if I'm wrong. Pass the coffee-pot, please, Hanky Panky, and none of your black magic either, trying to turn it into a silly old block of wood."

And that Rod's expectations were amply justified can be easily proven, for the five motorcycle comrades certainly did meet with another string of strange happenings; which have been recorded, and set down in another volume of this series, now published under the title of "The Motorcycle Boys Through by Wireless; or, A Strange Message from the Air."

THE END.