CHAPTER XVII.
THE CONVICTS.
WALTER stepped back of the machine, where he could not be seen, andwatched the little man approach. He was curious to see if Mr. Joneswould attempt to speak to the engineer after the warning he had givenhim.
Just before he reached the machine the little man turned off the roadand rode along the other side of the ditch. When opposite the machine,he reined in his pony and hailed the engineer. Bratton stopped themachine for a second. "Go on," he shouted. "No strangers are allowednear this machine."
"I just want to talk to you for a minute," said the little man.
"Nothing doing," answered Bratton shortly. "I don't talk with strangerswhen I am on duty. Go on. Get out of the way." But the little man stillpersisted. Bratton swung the machine around, and winked at Walter, asthe bucket gathered up its huge load of mud. Like lightning the hugeboom swung around, and the avalanche of mud descended at the pony'sfeet. The frightened animal leaped forward, almost unseating itsrider. Walter hurried forward to meet the little man, as he crossed theditch to the graded road. "I thought I told you the other day that weallowed no one to bother our engineers, Mr. Jones," he said severely.
"I beg your pardon. I had forgotten that," said the little man mildly."Really, that engineer acted very rude. I merely wanted to ask him asimple little question."
"You can address your questions to me or one of my chums, hereafter,"said Walter stiffly.
"I merely wanted to ask if he had chanced to see anything of myglasses. I dropped them along the road somewhere, and really I am quitehelpless without them."
"I'll inquire at the camp if anything has been seen of them," said thelad briefly.
"I have ridden a long ways this morning," continued Mr. Jones, "and Iam very hungry. I wonder if I could get a bite to eat at your camp."
Walter hesitated. He did not like to have the man stop at camp, buthe disliked to refuse such a simple request, when, after all, the manmight be harmless and well-meaning.
"You may stay and have breakfast with us, if you wish," he said. "Iguess it is ready now." He walked along silently by the pony's sidewhile the little man chattered volubly.
"Why, you have had a fire," the little man said, as he surveyed theflame-swept prairie and smoke-blackened tents. "How lucky it didn't getyour camp. I suppose that would have delayed you a lot in your work?"
"Oh, I don't know about that," said Walter indifferently. "I fancy itwould not have taken long to have got other tents and supplies."
The Spaniards and engineers were finishing their breakfast when the twoentered the tent, but Charley and the Captain were not in sight. Theycame in and took their places at the table, however, while the littleman and Walter were still eating.
"This is Mr. Jones," said Walter. "He lost a pair of glasses on theroad, and wishes to know if we have seen anything of them."
"Please describe them to me, Mr. Jones," requested Charley, eyeing thelittle man closely.
"They were just ordinary nose-glasses, with gold rims. They were in ahard black leather case," said the little man promptly.
"I guess these are the ones," said Charley, producing the black leathercase. "I found them."
"Where?" asked the little man, as he fitted the glasses on his nose.
"Right where the fire was started that nearly burnt us out last night,"said Charley promptly. "The Captain and I just came from there. I thinkit's up to you, Mr. Jones, to explain how they got there."
"Dear me," said the little man quickly. "How queer! I suppose someIndian must have picked them up on the road and dropped them again whenhe started that fire. You know they are always burning off the prairiefor their cattle. Quite a queer incident, isn't it?"
"It is," agreed Charley dryly. "Perhaps you can explain----" Butthe lad did not finish his sentence, for from the road came theloud tooting of a horn, and all rushed for the tent opening, Walterexclaiming, "It's the sheriff." The sheriff it proved to be, and withhim were a dozen active-looking men, each carrying a rifle.
"I've come for those convicts," the sheriff announced. "Can one of youshow me where they are camped?"
"I can," Walter volunteered. "We will have to go on foot, but I guesswe will catch them all right. They were up about all night, so theyought to sleep late this morning." He glanced around at Mr. Jones, tosee how that person was taking the sheriff's arrival, but the littleman was placidly picking his teeth with a bone toothpick and smilingpleasantly at the newcomer.
"All right, lead us to them," said the sheriff. "We want to get themback in the stockade before night, if we can."
Charley watched them out of sight, and then turned to the little man."I wish you would tell me, Mr. Jones, what your game is," he saidearnestly, "and why you are trying to stop this road-building."
The little man looked at him with surprise on his face. "I reallydon't understand you," he protested mildly. "I must say this is a mostextraordinary camp. Everyone seems so suspicious and rude. I have neverencountered such treatment before."
"All right, Mr. Jones," said Charley, wearily. "Let's forget it. Imust, however, request you to keep away from this camp hereafter."
"It is not likely I will come around here again, after the treatmentI have received," said the little man stiffly, as he mounted hispony. "Good-day, sir," and he rode off, leaving the lad with theunpleasant feeling that he had perhaps wounded the feelings of anentirely innocent person. Slowly the lad turned away, and, going tohis tent, flung himself face downward on his cot. In truth his nerveswere strained almost to the breaking point by the tension and worry hehad borne since the fateful day they had bought the machine. He felthimself responsible for the fortunes and even the lives of his friendsand the men working for him, and the burden was a heavy one. But naturesoon asserted itself, and the worried lad fell into a deep, dreamlesssleep, from which he did not awaken until Chris aroused him for dinner.He found Walter at the table waiting for him. The sheriff's auto wasgone.
"Yes, we got the convicts, all right," Walter said, in answer tohis questions. "They were sound asleep, just as I expected, and thesheriff's men had the handcuffs on them before they knew what was goingon. The sheriff permitted me to question them, but I could not get aword out of them. They just shut up like clams. There is no doubt,though, that it was two of them that assaulted McCarty. Their faces andhands were badly scalded. While they were laying for a chance to getat him, Jones and the other two started that fire, I guess. Well, theygave us some hard work and worry, but all's well that ends well."
"We haven't come to the end yet," Charley said, gloomily. "We have onlygained a few days of peace, I'm afraid."
Walter looked at his chum closely. It was so unlike Charley to give wayto gloomy forebodings. "You want to get out and have a little fun,"he said decidedly. "If you keep on brooding and worrying over thisbusiness, you are going to break down, and then what will become of thejob? What you want to do is to get out and forget trouble for a coupleof days and get the cobwebs out of your brain."
"I guess you are right," Charley admitted, "and I guess now is the timefor both of us to take a little vacation. There is not much likelihoodof trouble for several days. Let's get an early start in the morning,take our guns and some grub, and foot it out to Indiantown. Hire acouple of ponies from the Indians, and ride out to the great lake."
"I'll go you," Walter cried eagerly, for he always welcomed anythingthat promised excitement or change. "It does seem a bit selfish,though, for us to go and leave the Captain and Chris behind."
"They would not care to make such a trip," declared his chum, "butwe'll ask them, anyway."
"Go 'way, you white chillens," said Chris, when they approached him onthe subject. "How you 'spect dis nigger's going to get away? Dat Samcan't cook none yet. 'Sides I don't want to go trapsing 'round. I'sedone found a little pond back there a bit, whar de fish is so thick youhave to push 'em away with a stick to keep them from all taking de baitat once."
They found the Captain, seated in the shad
e of a pine tree, smoking hispipe and watching the graders at work.
"No, lads, I don't care to go," he said, with a smile. "I reckon I'm aheap sight more comfortable here than I would be tramping around in thesun. I'm getting too old to get much pleasure out of such trips. Youtwo go and enjoy yourselves. I'll stay and look out for things."
"We'll have to move camp in a few days," Charley remarked, as theypaused on the grade for a few minutes to glance over the work that hadbeen done since they had bought out Murphy. "The machine is getting toofar from camp. It gives the men too long a walk, and wastes a lot oftime. Well, I can't see but what everything is running smooth now," heconcluded with satisfaction.
And, in truth, the boys had reason to be satisfied with the way thingswere going. From ahead of the machine came the sound of axe and thesharp report of dynamite, as the right-of-way men cleared a path forthe machine. The machine itself was swinging back and forth with theregularity of clockwork. Back of the machine followed the graders,leveling off the thrown-up dirt, while behind them came the bridgebuilders, constructing bridges over the gaps left by the machine.Everywhere was bustle.
The Boy Chums in the Florida Jungle Page 17
