University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXIV.
ELMER'S FAITH IN ROD.

"WHAT do you make of it, Rod?" asked the Southern boy, presently, after they had watched the strange actions of the two men for some little time.

"It gives me a new idea," was the immediate reply of the other lad.

"I take it you mean that, after seeing this same

thing, you have changed your mind in regard to those same two men; am I right there, Rod?"

"Yes, that's about the gist of it, Elmer. You see, I had about made up my mind they must be in touch with the colonel himself; but now we know there isn't anything in that idea. You can see plain enough that they're spying on his place. And Elmer, that makes me think they may be revenue men of some kind."

The Southern boy puckered up his lips, and gave vent to a low whistle, to indicate his astonishment.

"Whoever would have dreamed it?" he muttered; "just to think of a man like Colonel Pepper being connected with moonshiners. Why, it's hard to believe, I tell you, Rod. So far as I've ever known, the men who break the law by making or handling this mountain dew have always been poor, ignorant mountaineers, and never men of influence in the country, who could live in houses like my old home. Scratch the back of a moonshiner, suh, and you would find a po' white, who lived in a tumble-down old shack or cabin, and never had ten dollahs to his name."

"I believe you, Elmer," said Rod, quietly, "and that makes it all the more strange to me. But whatever is going on around here, take it from me that your Colonel Pepper is up to some sort of game that the United States authorities don't fancy much; and they are watching him right along."

"But what ought we do about it?" asked Elmer, doubtfully; and Rod immediately realized that his exaggerated sense of honor was beginning to sway him; because it chanced that for the moment they were the guests of the colonel, Elmer might be figuring that they were in duty bound to warn him that he was in danger.

Rod knew enough to nip that game in the head at once. He felt that they were not indebted in the least to Colonel Pepper, simply because the other had accommodated them over-night, for some reason of his own. And besides, if what Rod began to suspect turned out to be true, they could not afford to antagonize the forces of the Government, if so be these two men represented that authority.

"Nothing," he hastened to say, "that is, if you mean about letting him know. In the first place, it's really none of our business. Then again, if we cut in and meddled, we might be looked on as accessories to the fact, and get ourselves in a peck of trouble. If the colonel is doing anything he hadn't ought to, he must take his medicine, that's all, Elmer."

"I reckon you know best, Rod, and I shall do whatever you advise, suh," the other went on to say, for he had the utmost confidence in the sagacity of his chum.

"We must lie low here until they go away, and then we can slip off," Rod continued. "So far

as I can see, they don't know that we're here under these trees, and we'd better not give the game away. But they take turns in looking, and you notice, Elmer, that it's always in the direction of your old home."

"Yes, and it strikes me hard to think that the new owner has gone and brought some sort of shame on that house," Elmer almost groaned; which way of expressing himself told the other what a great affection the Tennessee boy still entertained for the old place.

They continued to lie there at their ease, and watch operations. This lasted, it might be, for another half hour; after which the two men seemed to have become satisfied with their survey, for they disappeared.

"I think we'd be safe now in getting away," said Rod, after some little time had elapsed, and they saw nothing more of the spies. "But we must be careful how we act, for we might chance to come across those parties; and you know they seemed to look on us with more or less suspicion before, as if they thought we might be doing business with Colonel Pepper, whatever it is he's up to."

"Yes," added Elmer, quickly, and with a slight smile at the thought; "and when they learned that we were guests of his, as they must have done befo' this time, I reckon now, suh, those same gentlemen made up their minds we were as deep in the mud

as he is in the mire. If we happen to meet up with them, don't you think, Rod, it would be the right thing fo' us to disabuse their minds right speedily. I somehow don't much fancy being taken fo' a moonshiner, or a criminal either, whichever the colonel proves to be."

"Leave that to me, Elmer, if we do run across those men; I've got a scheme in my mind that ought to fill the bill. But perhaps, after all, we may get away from here before the storm breaks; and then you know it won't matter a cent to us what happens to your successor."

"I hope you turn out to be a prophet, Rod, sure I do," declared the other, with more earnestness than, according to Rod, the matter seemed to warrant; "and that we will be able to finish my little errand this very night. Oh! how I hope that nothing will stop me from learning the truth. And it seems as if my whole heart and soul might be wrapped up in lifting that hearth-stone, and seeing what lies underneath the same. You don't know how I feel about it, Rod."

"Yes, I do, and I'm hoping about as much as you can that it turns out just as you want it to. But Elmer, as I said before, you must keep a check on your feelings. Get a grip on yourself, and be ready to meet disappointment steadily, if after all there turns out to be nothing there."

"I'm trying to steel myself that way, Rod; but

all the while it seems as though there was a sweet little bird whispering new hopes in my ear, just like I used to hear the mocking-bird trill in the tree under my window at peep of dawn. But even if the worst does come, I needn't be afraid, as long as I have such good chums to back me up. Don't you worry about me, suh; I'll be all right."

They were walking away, now, and had already placed considerable distance between themselves and the spot from whence they had watched the strange actions of those two mysterious men.

Suddenly a tall, lanky figure arose out of some bushes just to one side of the boys. Rod immediately recognized the man as the raw-boned moonshiner, Si Keck. He was of course a little surprised to see him under such conditions; but while the man gripped his rifle in his hand, he made no hostile demonstration. Besides, what cause had they to fear Si Keck, when he was indebted so much to the motorcycle boys?

"Yuh don't need tuh be worrited at seein' me hyah, boys," remarked the other, as a faint smile crept over his weather-beaten and wrinkled face. "I ben awatchin' o' yuh ever sense yuh done me thet good turn, an' I'm agwine tuh say agin that ef ever yuh need help, jest give ther sign I done told yuh about, an' Si Keck'll break a leg arunnin' tuh back yuh up. I seen yuh awatchin' them strangers on ther knob, an' I reckoned as how yuh wondered

what was agoin' on. I'm some flabbergasted myself, atryin' tuh figger hit all out; 'case ther kunnel, he ain't never be'n mixed up in any moonshine still bizness, an' if so be them fellers air revenues, they must be on ther track uh bigger game than weuns."

"Well," said Rod, pleasantly, "it was mighty fine in you following us all the way here, just to see that we didn't get into any harm through your mountain friends, and we appreciate it, Si Keck. We've got something to do this very night, and my friend Elmer, here, has told you about it, I understand. Perhaps, if we happened to be discovered while making that little search, we might find ourselves in hot water; and in that case, Si, it would come in very handy for us if we could just give the whistle that would bring assistance. While the papers, if there are any hidden there, positively belong to my chum's grandfather, Mr. Overton, at the same time this fiery Colonel Pepper would make a great howl at our trying to get away with them from under his nose. You understand all that, don't you, Si?"

"Reckons as how I does, suh," replied the tall mountaineer, nodding his head, while his beady eyes twinkled, as though with amusement, or pleasure over the possibility of meeting up with stirring action such as he loved; "an' ef so be I hears sech a thing as a whistle like I done tole yuh tuh give, w'y, me'n a cupple uh pals, we'll be thar in a jiffy,

suh. I jes' thought as how I'd let yuh know I war 'round these hyah diggins', so's yuh cud 'spect anythin' to happen. Thet's all."

He waved his bony hand, and stalked away, vanishing a minute later in the thick undergrowth.

The two boys looked at each other, and then smiled broadly. "Moves along just for all the world like a play," declared Rod. "But all the same, it is real comforting to know that we've got a trusty friend close at hand, to call on, in case we get in a tight place."

"Yes," Elmer went on to remark, confidently, "and you can be certain, suh, that Si Keck will be hovering mighty close around that house this comin' night, ready to break in with a rush. We'd better be careful how we happen to whistle, because I reckon now that he'll be that anxious, he may take the first sound for the signal, and break in on us befo' we want him."

They continued their walk, and finally turned their steps toward the house. Elmer was satisfied with the way things were progressing. He had laid out all his plans for action, and unless some hitch, which they could not foresee, came along to disarrange things, he confidently believed they would be able to carry these through to a successful termination.

"Hello! what's this mean, d'ye suppose?" Rod exclaimed, as they drew near the place that had

formerly been the Overton homestead, until the disaster that came upon the old man had caused the family to go north.

Their three chums were standing near the gate, and seemed to be awaiting their coming with considerable impatience. Indeed, there was Josh waving them to hurry; and it really looked as though something of considerable importance might have taken place since Rod and Elmer sauntered away two hours or so previously.

Of course they quickened their pace at this, and asked each other what could have possibly happened; but it was useless to try and guess, when the solution to the mystery was so near at hand.

And so they came up to the spot where the other three were standing, with Hanky Panky giving a quick glance around every minute or so, as though he wished to make positive that no intruder were near enough to overhear what they said, or even observe their suspicious actions.

When Rod saw all this, and the grave looks on the usually merry faces of the other three chums, he somehow realized that something very unusual must indeed have taken place since he and Elmer strolled off. And hence he prepared to ask questions so as to get a quick grasp upon the situation.