CHAPTER VIII. A SHOCK AT LOS ANGELES.
The time passed, and when one of the waiters passed through to announcesupper, the boys had laid out their program. As before, Rob and Hiramwere to go first, while Andy held the fort for them.
"Remember and don't leave the seat under any condition while we're gone,"was what the scout leader told Andy.
"Do you suspect that they might even try to get away with our handbaggage?" asked the other. "I thought it was only Hiram's pockets theywanted to explore."
"If they are thieves nothing is safe from them," explained Rob. "'Anounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.' Keep your foot on mybag as you sit here. If anybody tries to tempt you to change seats justsay you've got a bone in your leg, and don't care to move around morethan you can help."
"Sure thing!" chuckled Andy; "it hurts terribly, too; and the only thingthat is able to make me use it is the walk to the dinner--the cake-walk Icall it. Leave it all to me, Rob; I'm frozen to this seat."
Accordingly, the pair passed along the aisle and headed for thedining-car. Again the two men did their best to be civil, even noddingand smiling genially as the two boys passed them.
"Rob, they're chasing after us!" muttered Hiram, in some little anxiety,just as he and his chum had entered the next car and were passing alongthe narrow corridor.
"All right, there's no law to prevent them from getting hungry at thesame time we do," replied Rob over his shoulder.
"But they may choose to sit down with us at the same table, and makethemselves chummy," objected the other.
"I guess not if we know it," Rob told him.
"How can we help it without making some sort of scene?" asked Hiram.
"That's easy enough, if we can pick a table that only accommodates two,"explained the scout leader, "and as we're in the advance, we have ourchoice."
"Oh!"
Evidently, Hiram was considerably relieved by what his comrade had said.He once more realized that Rob promised to be equal to the occasion.Indeed, the record of past achievements should have told Hiram this longago; but in the presence of new dangers he was apt to forget whatsplendid things Rob had accomplished on other occasions when the tideseemed adverse.
Upon entering the dining-car Rob smiled to see that there was just onetable seating two that did not have some one at it.
"There's our chance, Rob, down at the further end of the car!" said Hiramhastily, as though he feared the other might not see the table.
Rob took the chair that placed his back against the partition. Thisallowed him to survey the rest of the car. Nothing could have suited hisplans better, for there was a small mirror that he could use to spy uponthe two men who were now sitting facing him, halfway up the car.
As the meal progressed and evening drew on, the electric lights in thediner were turned on. Hiram somehow seemed to lack his voraciousappetite.
"Don't just know what's the cause, Rob," he remarked, when the otheraccused him of not disposing of much of the food he had ordered, "it maybe the rocking of the car, which is fierce just now; or else it comes ofmy riding backward. I've been told that some people never can stand forthat. But I guess I won't starve to death between now and morning."
The two men talked a good deal, but then there was nothing suspicious inthat. Rob also noticed that they watched him and companion from time totime, as if their interest kept on growing.
When Hiram happened to think of his instructions, and occasionally raiseda hand to feel for his coat in the region of that inner pocket, Rob kepta close watch on the men. He could plainly see the shorter one nudge hiscompanion in the side, and say something, for his lips moved. Undoubtedlyhe was calling the other's attention to Hiram's suggestive movement, andwhile not a lip-reader, Rob could easily imagine him saying half underhis breath:
"See, there he goes at it again! Just as we decided, he must havesomething rich hidden away there. And we're fools if we don't make a bigbid for it!"
Rob was by this time fully satisfied that the men had evil designs on hiscomrade's inside pocket. He was determined to be unusually careful aboutriding in a public conveyance while in Los Angeles, since that would givethe rascals a chance to accomplish their purpose.
"If you're satisfied, Hiram, let's be getting out of here," said Rob, whohad seen the two men getting an extra portion of food, believing thatthis might be a good chance to leave them in the lurch, since they wouldhardly jump up and accompany the boys, for fear of attracting attention.
The two scouts quickly arose, seized their hats, and passed along betweenthe tables, which were pretty generally occupied by that time. Rob tookoccasion to keep his eyes on the two men, for several reasons. He evenreturned their nods as though no such thing as a suspicion regardingtheir honesty had come into his head.
"They missed that chance, anyhow!" Hiram remarked, as with somedifficulty they threaded their way through the next car, for the trainwas making fast time, and things rolled more or less.
"We've got to keep on the alert all the time if we expect to leave thosesmart chaps in the lurch," Rob told him. "You know the old saying,'eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,' and it applies to us rightnow."
"Then you don't think they've given up all hope yet, Rob?"
"That kind of men never do until they've exhausted every plan," the scoutleader replied. "I expect that right now they've got some scheme in mindthey mean to spring on us if they get but half a chance."
Reaching their section in the sleeper, they sent Andy ahead to get hissupper. He told them he was as hungry as a wolf, and would make up forwhat Hiram failed to dispose of, so that the company should not get toorich off what they paid into its coffers.
After a while the men came in and took their seats. Rob was a littleafraid one of them might be bold enough to push himself upon them. He hadprepared for this during their absence by having Hiram sit alongside ofhim next the window, while the other seat was piled high with some oftheir luggage, thus offering no chance for a third party to find room.
But it proved a false alarm. Neither of the men made any advancewhatever, and Rob believed they had figured that action on their partwhile on the train might get them into trouble.
"The time will come when we are in the station at Los Angeles," he toldHiram.
"Do you really think so?" asked the other curiously; and it might benoticed that he did not seem to be trembling any longer; for since hispacket was safe in the possession of Rob Blake, Hiram did not see anynecessity for further worrying over the matter.
"We must be careful every minute of the time until we reach the hotel,"the scout leader explained.
"Huh! do you know, Rob, what I've got a good notion to do?"
"Be reckless, perhaps," chuckled the other, guessing this, perhaps, fromthe little boastful strain he detected in the language Hiram used.
"Why, to be frank with you, Rob, I really feel sorry for those chumps.They've taken a whole lot of interest in a poor country chap like me, andit seems a shame they should be bitterly disappointed."
"Oh! that's the way things set, do they?" continued Rob. "You feel so badon their account that you're tempted to give them a chance to steal thatdummy packet you have fastened inside your pocket?"
"I've gone so far as to take the pin out, you see," chuckled Hiram. "Ifthey do get busy they needn't have the worry of that to keep them back.And when you look at it in the right light, Rob, wouldn't that be justthe quickest way to get rid of the slick rascals?"
"Well, the chances are that if they did manage to lay hands on yourpacket, they'd disappear in a big hurry, Hiram."
"All right, then. Let them make the opportunity, and I'll try to be asaccommodating as possible. You know, Rob, that I'm said to be an easymark among the boys of Hampton. I hate to disappoint anybody in the worstway."
"Here comes Andy, and he looks as if he has enjoyed his supperfirst-rate, too," Rob remarked. "I hope he doesn't let them get him intoconversatio
n for an entering wedge. I forgot to warn him about that."
Apparently Andy was wise enough on his own account to know the folly ofsuch a move, as he pushed past the two men, paying no attention even whenone of them plucked at his sleeve.
"One more hour and we'll be there, the conductor told me," he announced.
"Then we must be about on time, according to the schedule," said Hiram,who had worn his time-table almost to shreds by consulting it so often onthe long journey from New York City.
They proceeded to get all their belongings in shape, so there would benothing to delay them, once the station was reached. Rob had decided totake a carriage to the Hotel Alexandria, and thus avoid all possiblecontact with strangers.
When the porter announced that they were entering Los Angeles there wasconsiderable confusion, as passengers caught up such of their handluggage as had not been already piled near the door by the porter.
Rob had resolutely declined to let the negro touch his suitcase, thoughhis liberal tip to the man made him eager to be of some assistance. Theboy knew that at this point there was apt to crop up a crisis; and alsothat the good record held up to that time might be shattered through anycarelessness on his part.
Consequently, he held fast to his grip as he followed Hiram out of thecar, this mode of procedure having all been settled upon beforehand. Itgave Rob a chance to keep his eagle eye on the figure of Hiram; and solong as he was able to do that he did not believe the other could bespirited away, or his pocket picked.
"Look out for getting in a crush, Hiram," Rob whispered in the other'sear as they passed along the narrow corridor.
"They went out ahead of us, Rob," Hiram informed him, as he turned hishead.
"Yes, I know that, but we're going to run up against those men againbefore we are out of this scrape," the scout leader prophesied.
"Well, I'm awful glad we're in at last. That was a long trip, and I'mtired of the old car," said the one in the lead. "Thank goodness we'llsoon be landed in San Francisco, where my business can be settled, oneway or the other."
"I see them, Rob!" announced Andy, just then.
"Yes, and they're waiting for us, just as I thought," ventured Rob."We'll push straight on to where we can get a carriage, and then leavethem in the lurch. Above all, nobody must stop to talk; keep walking, andstick together!"
"That's understood, Rob!" came from Hiram; while Andy in the rear gave agrunt as if to signify that he had it all fixed in his mind.
There was a lively scene as friends rushed this way and that to findthose for whom they were waiting; and as the three scouts walked steadilyalong in line, headed for the exit where the carriages were to be found,the two men suddenly appeared alongside them.
"Sorry to bother you young fellows," said the tall man, in a low butcommanding voice, "but we are United States marshals, and you mustconsider yourselves bound to come with us, for you are under arrest!"
The Boy Scouts at the Panama-Pacific Exposition Page 8
