University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXIII.
AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.

"I TELL you, Rod, suh, it's exceedingly hard fo' me to realize that I'm really and truly heah. I rub my eyes, and then look around again, as if I expected to wake up; only to see the things I've been dreamin' about these long yeahs. Many a time did I used to lie under these same glorious trees, and look up yondah at that bold peak, with the clouds sweeping along past the same, dreamin' suh, of the time when possibly I might sail the wide seas like old Robinson Crusoe, and see the world."

Elmer said this to his chum, Rod, as the two of them lay at full length on the soft ground, about half a mile away from the house.

It was the middle of the afternoon of the day marking their arrival at the home of Colonel Pepper. All of the motorcycle boys had taken lunch with the owner of the place, and the lawyer, Silas Goober, had formed one of the party.

During the meal the conversation had, of course, centered mostly about the trip of the boys through

Kentucky and Tennessee. One, and then another of them, had related interesting incidents that seemed to hold the attention of the two men.

If Colonel Pepper had allowed any sort of suspicion to take hold of him in the beginning, concerning the real mission of these daring motorcycle riders, apparently it was now pretty thoroughly laid at rest; for he seemed at his ease, and laughed quite heartily when any humorous account came along, concerning the adventurous journey over the roads leading into Dixie.

Rod imagined that the more crafty so-called "lawyer" was not quite as well satisfied. He often eyed one of the boys closely, as though trying his level best to read what might lie under the surface, perhaps suspecting that everything might not be just what appearances indicated.

And judging from this, Rod was pretty sure that if any break came in the plans he and Elmer had arranged, for carrying out the little mission which had really brought them into the wilds of Tennessee, it was apt to be the fault of this same wily Silas Goober, whom he did not believe to be any more a lawyer than he might be a preacher.

Later on the boys had scattered somewhat. Rooster and Hanky Panky had suddenly developed a sleepy stage. Possibly they had gorged at the lunch table, having been deprived of certain luxuries for some time now, and partaken too freely of

the same. At any rate, they declared they meant to drop down on the comfortable single beds in the rooms assigned to them, and make up for lost time. Those who wanted to wander around in the hot sunshine, and wear themselves out, why, they were entirely welcome to a monopoly of the exercise.

Josh, too, had something he wanted to do in connection with his engine, which had not been working as satisfactorily as he would have liked, of late. Josh, as we happen to know, was an impatient sort of fellow, and ready to get provoked at the least thing. Rod really believed that he pottered with the working parts of his roadster a little too much, and that was why he continued to have "engine trouble," when several of the others never had the least complaint to make, believing in letting well enough alone.

That left Rod and Elmer to do all the wandering. Of course it was only natural that the lad who had spent his boyhood days around that section should be wide-awake to the opportunity to renew his acquaintance with many points of intense interest, to him. And while Rod thought it his bounden duty to keep his chum company, at the same time he also felt more or less curiosity in the matter; for often had he heard Elmer mention certain facts that had a bearing on the woods; the waters of the Tennessee river above Moccasin Bend; and many other features connected with those old days.

They had wandered afar, though not getting more than a mile away from the house at any time; and feeling warm and somewhat tired, had thrown themselves down here to rest, and continued their talk.

"It's now about three o'clock," Rod mentioned, after his friend had finished his little say; "and we'll aim to get back to the house inside another hour. Then will come another trying time, when we all sit down at the table with this strange Colonel Pepper again, and talk back and forth. I was a little afraid one of the boys might mention something that he hadn't ought to, and in that way make those men suspect us again; but I must say they all did nobly -- told lots of humorous stories of our troubles on the road, and the queer things we met up with, but not a hint that we'd come down here on purpose to spend just one eventful night under your old roof, so as to let you look for that bunch of valuable securities that you believe lies under the stone in that big living-room."

"I can never tell you, Rod, what a sensation I had, when I first entered that same room, and knew that I was even then stepping on the very hearthstone under which I fancied a fortune was lying right then, that belonged to my family, though just now located on the property of another. But I saw him looking at me sharply; and I reckon, suh, I managed to recover myself in time."

"You certainly did yourself proud, Elmer," declared Rod, enthusiastically; "and I'm sure that he must have laid any feeling you displayed to the fact that you still had a love for your old home hidden deep down in your heart, which was once more fighting to show itself."

"Thank you, Chum Rod," said the Southern boy, softly; "and he would be right in believing that way, suh. But what about his lawyer friend, Mistah Goober?"

"I can tell from the curl of your lip when you pronounce his name, Elmer, that you think a good deal as I do about that man," Rod went on quickly to say.

"I like him even less than I do Colonel Pepper, and that's a fact, suh!" declared Elmer, with a shiver. "There is something about the man that makes me think of a tricky, treacherous snake. He is always rubbing his hands together, as if they were cold; and I am sure from the way he watches us that he believes we are up to some game or other. If Colonel Pepper has a hidden secret, which both of us seem to believe is the case, then this Mistah Goober is as deep in the mud as the colonel is in the mire; and he fears that we may stumble on the same, while being entertained heah. But it gets me, to know why Colonel Pepper ever asked us all to be his guests over night."

"I think I can give a guess there," Rod asserted, confidently.

"Then I wish you would, because it sure puzzles me more than I can tell," his chum went on to declare.

"In the first place, he was greatly worried when we came in on him;" and Rod went on laying down his points just as though he might be a lawyer, bent on convincing the jury for a client; "he had seen us in camp, and hurried past, to get home, and perhaps hide certain things he didn't want seen. Then came our friend in the wagon, Ambrose Frazer, with another report that added to the general alarm. And when finally he saw the bunch of unknown persons, whom he more than half believed to be connected with the Government forces, actually stop in front of his place, deliberately open the gate, and head straight for the spot where he was standing, it must have given the colonel a cold chill."

"I seem to agree with you as far as you have gone, suh," Elmer admitted; "and can well understand how he must have felt until he made the discovery that after all we were only boys. Yessiree, I could see the flash of relief that shot across both their faces."

"Well, we happened to strike while the iron was hot, that's all," continued Rod logically. "You made your request just after he was feeling so relieved that he couldn't help granting it. Besides. perhaps he had a curiosity to learn more about what

had brought you down here near your old home. And then again, if he entertained a party of respectable fellows over-night, it might go far toward shunting suspicion on to a side track; if so be he is engaged in any sort of shady business, as both of us seem to think."

Elmer chuckled, as though pleased.

"I give you my word, Rod," he observed, "that when it comes to lining up convincing arguments, you have few equals. I would stake my reputation on your some day being a great and famous lawyer. Because, suh, that is exactly what must have passed through the mind of this same Colonel Pepper at the time he invited me to stay ovah with him, and all my friends in the bargain. It would cost him nothing, and he might find some profitable way of turning the affair to account."

"Then it's settled that to-night we must find some chance to make our little investigation?" Rod went on to say.

"We must, or the chance may nevah come again," added Elmer, with an anxious look in the direction of the distant house, which could just be seen from where the two chums sat.

"I only hope, then, that Colonel Pepper and his lawyer friend will sleep as sound as two tops to-night," Rod ventured to say; "because, you know, it would be pretty rough on you to have them drop in on us, just after we had managed to lift the

hearth-stone, and perhaps discovered those precious papers there. For if I read the ugly temper of the colonel right, and I think I can, he'd claim everything in sight, and never listen to what you had to say."

"And let me tell you right now, suh, I'll be a happy boy when it's all ovah with, and we're on our way back home, with, I hope, those same documents safely pinned fast in my inside pocket," Elmer admitted.

"One thing I noticed as we came across the drive in leaving there," said Rod, "and that is, Colonel Pepper seems to have plenty of people visit him, for there were marks of many wheels in the gravel. Of course, that might come in any ordinary line of business, but thinking what we do about him, it looks suspicious. But tell me, Elmer, what's happened to strike you as queer; you seem to be looking steadily up there in the direction of that little knob, as though you thought you'd discovered something out of the way."

"And so I have, Rod," the other returned, in a low but excited tone; "but don't jump up, or make any sort of sudden move that would draw attention to us here. I thought I caught sight of something moving up there, suh. And now, there it is again, so you can see fo' yourself. There are two of them, Rod, two men lying there, and believe me, I think we have seen them both befo' now!"

"You're right, Elmer, and there's no mistake about it," replied the other boy, as he in turn stared aloft toward the point that formed a little eyrie of observation, from which the surrounding rough country could be scanned; "those are the same two mysterious men who stopped at our road- side camp, and chatted with us; also exchanged signals, as though they thought we might be more than we seemed."

"And do you notice what they are doing, Rod?" shrilled the Southern boy, though his voice was lowered to a whisper.

"Sure I do," replied Rod; "they've got a field-glass, and seem to be watching the house and grounds belonging to your illustrious successor, Colonel Pepper!"