On hearing this, the boys gave a shout of joy, and in a minute had arranged for Tom to come with them as far as town.
With the cheers of the lumberjacks sounding in their ears, and with a wave of Mr. Boone and Art Howells, the boys were off. The flivver coughed, and gathering speed, rattled down the bumpy road.
As soon as they had started, they hurled a number of questions at Tom about Sandy.
“I wasn’t goin’ to say anything about the dog, because you fellows might take it out on us. My brother came to see me in camp the day after the coon hunt, and stayed around for awhile and made half sort of friends with the dog, and then later he was gone. I found out that he had taken him with him. ’Course I know it was stealing, but he was my brother and I was afraid he would get into bad trouble. You fellows know how I felt. First place I was ashamed to tell you I had a brother that would do that, and second place I was afraid you’d have him taken up for it. But I was going to see that you got him back somehow. When you got ready to go today, I knew how you felt about the pup, and so I couldn’t hold in any longer. All I wish is that you won’t have anything done to my brother, bad as he is.”
The boys were so overjoyed with the thought of regaining Sandy that they immediately promised Tom that the matter would be forgotten.
Speeding up the machine as soon as they struck better road, they made excellent time and reached the village ahead of their schedule. They went direct to the station to get their tickets, while Tom departed for his brother’s house to bring Sandy to them. After buying their tickets, they were on tenterhooks waiting the return of their animal friend.
True to his word, Tom was at the station in half an hour. But Sandy beat him by several seconds, for no sooner did he get his first sight of the boys than he broke from the leash by which Tom was leading him and made a mad dash for the chums. He nearly knocked Garry over as he leaped on him, then he jumped from one boy to another in frantic glee, giving vent to sharp barks of delight as the boys mauled him in their joy at seeing him again.
“Sorry we’ll have to put you in the baggage car on the trip, old timer,” said Garry, “but the railroads have a rule against big fellows like you being in the car.”
At last the train came in and they were on their way. Sandy voiced unqualified disapproval at being tied up in the crowded baggage car, and occasionally one or another of the boys went ahead and petted him a few minutes.
The train was a slow one, and it was nearly eight o’clock when they reached the Penobscot River city. For once they were quite ready to follow Dick’s lead and get “eats,” then they went to the hotel and reserved rooms. They found that their train was to leave fairly early in the morning, but as not one of them was tired, they took a walk down through the business center of the town.
As they passed a brightly lighted drug store, Dick noticed something in the window.
“There, I knew there was something we ought to have had on our other trips,” he announced to the others.
“Hold him, Phil, he’s going to buy something again. Remember how he wouldn’t go on without that knife last time he was here?” said Garry.
“Gosh, that reminds me I left that knife in the cabin at the little lake,” he ejaculated. “I wonder if that chap is still around here selling ’em?”
“Hardly; he was just one of those sidewalk merchants that are here today and gone tomorrow” answered Garry. “But what is it that you want to buy now?”
“Look at that display in the window, and see if you don’t think we ought to have an outfit” answered Dick as he waved his hand toward the indicated window.
“Well, for once you see something sensible. We might have a lot of use for them the remainder of the summer, and it will give us some nice souvenirs.”
What Dick had seen was a display of cameras, and followed by his chums he entered the store and soon had purchased a good camera and a sufficient quantity of films to take a number of pictures. As an afterthought, he bought material to develop a limited amount of the pictures, explaining that they might be able to print some in spare moments.
“Go ahead and buy whatever you want,” laughed Garry, “only remember that this stuff all goes in your pack, and you will have to carry the extra weight.”
This, however, failed to bother Dick, and he bought such articles as he needed.
They were about to return to the hotel, when Garry noticed a policeman coming down the street. This called to mind the night they had been near arrest and had received the torn map that eventually led them to the secret tourmaline mine.
“Let’s drop around to the station and see if the Chief of Police might be in. I’d like to say howdy to him, even if he once did have an idea that we were a crew of runaways,” he suggested to his companions.
The idea was instantly approved, and they changed their direction and headed for the station. They were just in time, for the Chief was preparing to leave for home. He recognized the boys immediately and invited them into his office for a chat. The few minutes lengthened into an hour, for the Chief made them tell him about the smuggling band and how they had aided in the capture.
“I happen to know something about it, for some of them were brought here for a hearing before the United States Commissioner, and I attended the hearing. It’s natural in you boys, I suppose, to be modest about it, but I wish that I had a son, or three of them like you, that could get out and do such a creditable bit of work as you did. If you ever want a job, apply to me,” he concluded with a laugh in which the boys joined.
The visit over, they hustled back to the hotel and to sleep, as they were booked for early rising.
A sharp tatoo on the door awoke them in the morning, and they hurried into their clothes, for they had no more than time to eat and get to the station.
Aboard the train they chose seats, as was their custom, in the smoking car, not that any of the trio was addicted to smoking, but because they generally found several interesting characters to watch, and this happened to pass away the time.
Then, too, on one occasion, they had obtained a valuable clue that aided them greatly in the successful carrying out of the mission they had been sent on, and on their first trip they had made the acquaintance of Nate Webster in the smoker of a train.
They found facing seats and stowed their packs and rifles in the racks overhead, and settled down for the weary ride that would take them to Hobart. As was usual in this train, there were a number of picturesque characters: lumberjacks going north to the woods, guides returning after taking parties on camping trips, or going to meet parties that were awaiting them along the way, French Canadians bound for towns on the other side of the border, and several men who were evidently bound on an extended fishing trip, to judge from the paraphernalia they carried with them. The boys were just a little bit amused at the amount of luggage that they carried. It was piled at one end of the car, and from the looks of it would have required the services of at least three porters to carry for them. This, by the way, is the mistake made by the average camper, unless someone wise in the ways of the woods gives them a friendly tip and tells them to travel light.
Each of the boys always made shift to travel with only one knapsack each and everything that was not absolutely necessary was discarded. As it was, their packs were quite heavy, for they had their carrying sets of the wireless ’phone; but these were fairly light, since they had been specially made for the Rangers by Mr. Graham.
Garry and Dick amused themselves by playing checkers on a small pocket board that was their constant companion, while Phil wandered through the car stopping to watch several of the card games that were in progress and listening to the conversation. As our previous readers know, Phil could talk French as well as he could English, but this was an accomplishment that the trio kept a strict secret, since it enabled them at times to get valuable information. Naturally a great deal of this language was spoken in this section of the country, and more so as they approached the border and other men got aboard.
Phil’s trip was fruitless as far as getting any information was concerned, for all the men were talking only of the most trivial subjects.
“What luck?” asked Garry, when Phil finally returned to his seat.
“Nothing at all. There is no one on the train that I remember having seen when we were here before, and everyone seems to be all right. It is unlikely that I should have found out anything about the postal trouble, for there is probably some single person at the bottom of that, rather than a band such as that of the smugglers that we ran down last time,” said Phil. “But there is one thing that I thought of as I walked through the cars. We will be only a short hike away from our mine when we get to Hobart, and I wonder if we wouldn’t have time to make a little visit there and see that no one else has stumbled on the secret. I wish I could pick about twenty of the best tourmalines, for the money they would bring would be mighty welcome.”
“Guess great minds run in the same channel,” remarked Garry, “for I was thinking of the same thing not very long ago. But I have a better idea. By the time we get this business here settled up, it will be fairly well along in the summer, and it seems to me it would be useless to go back to the patrol for such a short time. We will want to have a few days at home before we go to military school this fall, and so I suggest that after this mission is ended, we get relieved from duty and go and mine some of the tourmalines. We ought to get quite a bit of the work done, for it is a comparatively easy job to get them out, and then we can hire a couple of guards to watch them until such time as we can come back, or get some trustworthy person to operate it for us; such a man as Nate Webster, for instance.”
“That would be a jolly good idea,” remarked Dick. “I’d like a chance at mining just to see how the thing is done.”
“Well, we’ll have to forget about that for the time being, for we have a big enough job on our hands for the present if we meet with any success on this business. As a matter of fact, we won’t be able to do a great deal on this anyway. It is something that we know nothing about, and I imagine that the only reason we were sent here at all is because we have had a chance to learn something about the country here and know some of the people in Hobart. As for giving any advice to the inspector, that of course is out of the question. Really, this thing looks more like a vacation to me than anything else,” concluded Garry.
“You never can tell what will happen,” remarked Dick sagely. “There’s one thing I would like to do before we quit here for the summer, and that is cause LeBlanc to be taken up and held where he can do no more mischief for a time. He gets worse every week, and there is no telling what he will do in the end. I wonder if he is the one that sent the letters to our friends? You know they were instrumental in bringing his smuggling plot to a disastrous end, and he is of the vengeful type that would seek some mean satisfaction.”
“I rather doubt that he is the one,” said Garry. “It is more likely some friend of Lafe Green, for he probably has some pals that were not caught in the net of the law when the smugglers were rounded up.”
“Well, we can do little until we get there and see what it is all about. There’s nothing to be gained by idle speculating as to the perpetrator of the offense, so we might as well take it easy till we reach our destination,” advised Garry.
The morning dragged on, and the boys welcomed the half hour stop for dinner. They ate in the same restaurant where they had met the Customs man some weeks before.
Their own dinner procured, they got something for Sandy and carried it to the baggage car.
The dog raised such a howl when they started to leave that Garry volunteered to ride in the baggage car for a while, provided the baggageman was willing. He heartily agreed to allow Garry to remain, and the others returned to the smoker.
The particular route over which they were traveling was not one of the best, and occasionally they were forced to wait while other trains made connections.
About half way though the afternoon, as they were waiting on a siding to allow a fast freight from across the border to have right of way, the boys remarked on the fact that several tramps seemed to have made a special train of it. They observed three hanging to the end, grasping the trainman’s iron rungs for support.
The train had half passed when Dick grasped Phil by the arm.
“Look quick. There’s one of the tramps that we caught in our shack at home!”
Phil cast a quick glance and what he saw corroborated Dick.
“There, I’m glad you saw him too,” announced Dick, “for I am sure it was one of the gang. If I alone had seen him, you boys might have said that I was seeing things. I move we drop out and tell Garry, and one of us can stay behind with Sandy and let Garry come back to the car.”
This was done, and Garry was much interested in their story.
“You remember we saw them in this section once before, and it is possible they are making a stamping ground of this place. Now all we need is a glimpse of LeBlanc and we’ll have all our enemies with us. We might make a grand slam and clean them all out.”
Two hours of riding brought them at last to Hobart, and they gathered their traps and disembarked.
Ruth and her grandfather, John Everett, were waiting to meet them. Mr. Everett had fully recovered from his accident with the bear trap, and both he and his granddaughter greeted the boys warmly.
“First thing we want is to hear the whole story and then we will see what we can devise in the way of plans for putting an end to the annoyance. Shall we walk towards your house and you can tell us on the way?” asked Garry.
At the mention of house, both Ruth and her grandfather looked sad, and Mr. Everett answered their query about walking in that direction.
“Just now we haven’t any house. It was burned to the ground last night, and evidence seems to point to the fact that it was deliberately set on fire!”