CHAPTER XV FOUR IN THE FOREST

In the far corner of Farmer Podgett’s meadow the little party stopped. They stood knee-high in tall grass by the fence, their legs spattered with dew. Burk leaned his helpless load against the fence.

“Listen, Sherlock,” said Jerry into his tent-mate’s ear; “if we untie you, will you promise not to yell or try to get away? It won’t do you any good now—we’re too far from camp for them to hear you. We don’t want to hurt you unless you’re stubborn.”

The captive nodded his head vigorously. He would promise anything in the world to get free of those cutting ropes that bound him, and the gag that almost stopped his breathing. Without more ado, Burk untied the handkerchief that held the gag, and worked loose the knotted rope that pinioned the boy’s arms.
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“There, son!” he said. “That feel better? Let me tell you, I didn’t want to tie you up this way; I’m sorry I had to do it. No hard feelings?”

For some minutes poor Sherlock could not speak. Had he not been leaning against the timber fence, he would have toppled over to the ground, so stiff were his cramped muscles. Jerry rubbed his arms briskly, and tears came into Sherlock’s eyes as circulation returned to his aching wrists.

“There, take it easy, old man,” counseled Burk. “We’ll hike along slow, and you’ll soon limber up.”

“Where—where are you taking me?” asked the boy fearfully.

“Never mind now; you’ll find out later,” said Jerry. “Here, put on my mackinaw; you’re cold. Now, let’s be on our way.” He helped young Jones into the warm garment, and guided him along the fence to the gate. The four passed through, and were soon lost in the shadow of the woods again, heading southward.
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A bright half-moon was rising over the tree tops, and its beams slanted through the leafy arches overhead, lighting their path. They followed a trail which the twins knew ran along the foot of the range for some miles, well above the rich farmlands below Lake Lenape. Podgett’s hounds bayed afar as they passed beyond the sleeping farmhouse. Jake Utway was in the lead; Jerry followed, his arm about the shoulders of their captive; Burk brought up the rear guard, silent-footed, watchful, awake. The pace was not brisk, as Sherlock was still unable to travel rapidly. Thus, in silence, they threaded the trail through the woodlands.

It was past midnight when Jake halted on a spur of hill. By the side of the road was a spring he knew of, and all the hikers refreshed themselves with an icy draught of its water. Off to their left they caught a glimpse of moonlight glinting on the face of the lake. Jerry shivered slightly; without his mackinaw, he felt the chill of the night winds.

“This is a good place to ditch Mr. Tagalong,” he observed. “Old Sherlock won’t find his way home from here easily.”

Sherlock, who had maintained a terrified silence during the march through the woods, now cried out in horror. “You mean—you’d leave me here? Alone? Please, Jerry, I never meant to do you any harm! Don’t leave me!”
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“We can’t take you with us any farther,” said Jerry, cold-bloodedly. “We’ve got enough trouble ourselves, without bothering with you. We’re travelling light this trip.”

“But—but—I’d be lost! I’m lost right now!” he pleaded. “There’s probably a lot of bears in these woods. Do you want me to be eaten up?”

“There’s no bears around here,” Jerry answered disdainfully. “Come on, brace up, Sherlock. We can’t take you, and that’s that!”

Sherlock turned pleadingly to Jake. “You and me are tent-mates, Jakie! You won’t desert me up here, will you? We’ve been pretty good friends, haven’t we? Just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it. I can hike fast, honest!”

Jake shook his head. “Sorry, but we’ve got a long way to go, and a big job to do.”

“I know! I heard what you said back at camp—you’re going to help this man get away from the police. Well, if you only don’t leave me, why, I’ll help too! I swear I will!”

Jake considered. “Think we could do it, fellows? I admit I hate to leave him up here; he might hurt himself, and never get back. He’s not a bad guy. We don’t dare let him tell what he knows, and maybe it would work out all right if we took him along.”
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Jerry gave in. “All right; but he’ll sure have to travel to keep up with us. What do you think, Mr. Burk?”

Burk shrugged. “I don’t very well see what else we can do. You know who I am, son?”

“I don’t care if you are a—a convict! You said you were sorry you had to tie me up, and I believe you! If I can help you get away, I’ll do it!”

“You don’t understand,” explained Jake. “Mr. Burk is not trying to make a getaway. He wants to get a chance to prove he’s not guilty.”

“Then——”

“We’ll tell you everything later. In the meantime, you can come along with us and take your chance like the rest. But if you make one move to give us away——” His unspoken words carried a threat that Sherlock did not dare ignore.

“I’ll come!” Young Detective Jones was feeling better already. After all, if he could not expose a desperate criminal, the next most exciting thing was joining that criminal’s band in an effort to baffle the forces of the law. “Here, Jerry, take your mackinaw. I feel warm enough.”
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“Then let’s get going again,” urged Jake, rising. “We can’t stay here all night; we’ll get too stiff to move if we sit down any longer.”

Again they took the weary trail. Their steps now were slower; it took more effort for them to keep up a ringing, mile-eating stride. Down in his heart, the impatient Burk knew that he could not keep up the pace many hours longer; his brief rest at Lenape had not been enough to make up for the many days of starvation and exposure he had undergone. His prison life, too, had taken from him his old endurance; he was no longer the steel-muscled hunter he had been a year ago. And he realized that the twins, for several nights, had taken considerably less than their usual ration of sleep; their nightly forays had fatigued them, as he could tell by their actions, and no doubt the attendant excitement had also told upon them. One cannot live in an atmosphere of mysterious incidents and midnight captures without paying for them in physical strain. And Sherlock, the least hardy of them all, had been trussed up tightly for half a day, and was in no condition to endure the demands of a long hike in the dark.
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Left—right—left! The quartette, strung along the trail in Indian file, lifted their feet more leadenly as one endless mile followed another. The moon was right overhead now; they were a long way from Lenape, marching somewhere on the flank of the mountains. Only the sound of their footsteps attended them, except now and then the rasping hunting-cry of an owl, that nocturnal marauder, and once, up the ridge, the short bark of a fox. Several times they crossed the beds of swift hill-streams, and once they floundered about in a spreading thicket of rhododendrons for some minutes before Jerry, in the lead, found the trail again.

Sherlock Jones felt that he could not go another step. He was shivering with the cold; if only they would stop this eternal, steady plodding, mile after mile, and light a fire! Left—right—— He wondered if the twins had brought any food on this mad trip; he could see that they were hampered neither by provisions nor blankets—travelling light, as Jerry had said. What would they eat? When would they stop? Were they going to keep on this way for a thousand years, forever, putting one foot in front of the other, with never a word—— A tear trickled down Sherlock’s grimy cheek. He kept on.
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The strain of the past few days was putting its mark upon the twins. At last Jerry paused in a little clear space beside a brook. Jake marched past him, stumbled over a fallen branch, and almost fell. He turned his face to them, white in the moonlight, and muttered drowsily, “Guess I was asleep! I’ve heard of fellows falling asleep on their feet, but this is the first time it ever happened to me! Where are we?”

The rest of the party halted. “I calculate we’ve done about twelve miles since we left your camp,” said Burk. “If we’ve kept straight south, we should be a good distance away. I think you’ve been heading right, because we’ve kept to the side of the mountain all the time. Wallistown ought to be in striking distance, over that way; but I think we should try to keep to the hills—too dangerous to get closer to town. Now, I can see that you chaps are pretty well fagged out. You’ve stood the march like soldiers, and not a word of complaint; but it’s clear to me we can’t get any farther to-night. We’ll have to lay up until to-morrow evening. Naturally I want to get to Canoe Mountain as soon as possible, but it won’t do to start our trip with too big a jump. If we went much farther to-night, we’d bite off more than we could chew—we’d be sore and laid up with blisters and aches, and in no shape to put up a good race. I’m the least tired of any of us. What do you say if I push ahead and try to locate a place to stop?”
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The twins agreed; Sherlock had no breath to spare for talk. Burk took a hitch in his corduroys, waved his hand, and springing across the brook, vanished beyond, up the trail.

The boys did not dare to sit down, for fear that their muscles would stiffen in that position and they would not to be able to rise and walk again. When their breathing became more regular, the Utway brothers roused Sherlock and pushed on. They had not gone five hundred yards when they made out a figure striding toward them in the moonlight. It was Burk.

“Good news!” he called. “Here’s a bit of luck! I happened to see the moonlight striking on a glass window over here. Come on through! There’s a little ramshackle hut here. Not a soul has been around for a long time, as near as I can see. Probably this cabin was built by some tie-cutters. Over this way!”

They followed him, warmed to the heart by this smile of fortune. Concealed amidst the trees, a hundred yards from the trail, was a low, one-roomed shanty of slabs, chinked with clay.
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“There was no lock on the door,” explained the discoverer, “so I just walked in. There’s a fireplace and some wood; we ought to be warm enough, even if we have no blankets. And I guess we’re so tired that we won’t mind bedding down on the floor, eh?”

Jake threw his flashlight about the tiny dwelling. Dust rose from the slab floor; cobwebs everywhere seemed to prove that the place had indeed been deserted for some time past. It was a better refuge than they could have hoped for; a snug little cabin where they could lie up until the next evening brought them a chance to continue their long hike.

Jerry was already busy, kindling a fire on the narrow stone hearth. Welcome flames were soon leaping up to warm their numb bodies, and Jerry, like the rest, considered their luck in finding such a haven in the depths of the woods. But he had a more pressing matter in his head. There were four of them, and they would have to pass at least one day here, with nothing to eat but, perhaps, the few berries they could find in the forest. Four hungry mouths! No fun marching on an empty stomach—— The others were already stretched out on the floor, with their coats under them, close beside the glowing hearth. Jerry scratched his head; then fished in his pockets and drew out a handful of coins and counted them. Not very much, but it would buy a few cans of beans, some bread, and——
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Jake lifted his head from the hard floor. “Listen, Sherlock,” he warned, “don’t try to get out of here without letting us know. First move you make toward that door, I’ll rise up and bust you one.”

“I won’t move! I’m one of you now, Jake! I won’t run away!”

“Well, don’t forget!” He saw Jerry still standing beside the fire. “What’s biting you, Jerry? Why don’t you come to bed with the rest of the gang? Want me to sing you a lullaby? What are you up to, anyway?”

Jerry put his money back into his pocket, and yawned. “Oh, nothing!” he answered. “Nothing at all. Good night. Say, I hope the owner of this shanty don’t come rolling in along about morning. He’ll want to charge us rent.” He chuckled. “Wonder what Mr. Jim Avery is thinking now, back at camp?”

A snore answered him. Jerry Utway spread his mackinaw across the least rough patch of floor he could find, stretched out his full length with feet toward the fire, and closed his weary eyes. “Nothing at all!” he murmured drowsily. In five minutes he was asleep.