If the deserters had had the ordering of things themselves they could not have made them work more to their satisfaction. There was not a single hitch anywhere; but there was just enough excitement to put them on their mettle, and give them an idea of what was before them. In less than twenty minutes after Lester Brigham parted from his friend Jones, he ran against Captain Mack and Don Gordon. The latter wore a bayonet by his side to show that he was on duty. If they had not been so close to him, Lester would have taken to his heels. Although he had not yet deserted, and carried a paper in his pocket that would protect him, the sight of these two boys made him feel guilty and anxious. “Hallo, Brigham,” exclaimed the young captain, as he returned Lester’s salute. “If I didn’t[262] know better, I should say that you were out on French leave.”
“Oh, I am not,” answered Lester, with more earnestness than the circumstances seemed to warrant. “I have a pass.”
“I know it, for I was in the superintendent’s marquee when it was given to you,” said the captain. “But I must say that you look rather queer for an innocent boy. Seen anything of Enoch Williams?”
“No, I haven’t,” replied Lester, who now began to prick up his ears. “Is he out?”
The captain laughed and said he was.
“Has he got a pass?”
“Of course not. If he had we wouldn’t be looking for him, would we? He followed Egan’s example and Gordon’s, and ran the guard in broad daylight. We’ve traced him to the village, and we’re going to catch him if we have to stay here for a week. The boy who was on post at the time Enoch went out said he ran like the wind, and if I can get Don after him, I expect to see a race worth looking at. My men are scattered all over the village, and if you see Enoch I wish you would post some of them.”
[263]
“I will,” answered Lester.
“He won’t,” said Don, as he and the captain moved on.
“I know that very well,” returned Mack. “Brigham is up to something himself, or else his face belies him.”
“He and Jones and Williams are cronies, you know,” continued Don, “and I believe that the surest way to find our man is to keep an eye on Lester.”
“I believe so myself,” said the captain, giving his companion a hearty slap on the back. “That’s a bright idea, Gordon, and we’ll act on it.”
“Mack thinks he’s smart, but he may find out that there are some boys in the world who are quite as smart as he is,” soliloquized Lester, as he moved on up the street. “I don’t know whether I want Enoch to command that schooner after all. His running the guard in daylight shows that he is inclined to take too many risks.”
Lester began to be alarmed now; the village seemed to be full of Captain Mack’s men. He met them at nearly every corner, and they, as in duty bound, asked to see his pass, and made inquiries[264] concerning the deserter. Every one of them declared that there was something afoot.
“Williams didn’t run the guard in that daring way and come to town for nothing,” said they. “There’s no circus here, nor is there anything interesting going on that we can hear of; but there’s a scheme of some kind in the wind, and we know it.”
Lester’s fears increased every time Captain Mack’s men talked to him in this way, and he began looking about for Jones. He wanted to know what the latter thought about it; but he could not find him, nor could he see any of the band. They had all disappeared very suddenly and mysteriously, and now the only academy boys he met were those who wore bayonets. Eleven o’clock came at last, and Lester was on the point of starting for Cony Ryan’s, when he heard his name pronounced in low and guarded tones, and looked quickly around to see Jones standing in a dark doorway.
“Don’t come in here,” whispered the latter, as Lester stepped toward the door. “Stand in front of that window and pretend to be looking at the pictures, and then I’ll talk to you.”
[265]
Lester wonderingly obeyed, and Jones continued:
“We’re suspected already.”
“I know it,” answered Lester, in the same cautious whisper. “Mack’s men all believe that Enoch had some object in deserting as he did, and one of them said they wouldn’t go home until they caught him if they had to stay here a week.”
“That’s just what they said to me,” returned Jones. “The thing is getting interesting already, isn’t it?”
“Almost too much so. What do you suppose the teachers would do to us if Mack should hear of our plans?”
“They wouldn’t do anything but stop our liberty,” replied Jones. “Some of the best fellows in the school make it a point to desert every camp, and there’s nothing done to them. Stealing the schooner is what is going to do the business for us. We’ll be sent down for that, and it’s just what we want.”
“Have you seen anything of Enoch?”
“Yes; he’s all right. He’s gone down to Ryan’s to order dinner for us.”
“Where are the rest of the fellows?”
[266]
“Some of them are hiding about the village, and the others have gone down to Ryan’s. Enoch and I thought it best to tell them, one and all, to keep out of sight. If Mack and his men should hear of our plan, the fat would all be in the fire.”
“Would they arrest us?”
“You’re right.”
“Why, we haven’t done anything.”
“No, but we’re going to do something, and if they knew it, it would be their duty to stop us.”
“Well, why don’t you come out, or why can’t I go in there?” demanded Lester. “There’s no one, except village people, in sight.”
“There’s where you are mistaken,” replied Jones. “Look across the street. Do you see that fellow on the opposite sidewalk who appears to be so deeply interested in something he sees in the window of that dry-goods store?”
Yes, Lester saw him. He had seen him before, and took him for just what he appeared to be—a country boy out for a holiday. His tight black trowsers would not come more than half-way down the legs of his big cowhide boots; his felt hat was perched on the top of a thick shock of hair which looked like a small brush-heap; his short coat[267] sleeves revealed wrists and arms that were as brown as sole-leather; and the coarse red handkerchief which was tied around his face seemed to indicate that he was suffering from the toothache. But if he was, it did not prevent him from thoroughly enjoying his lunch—a cake of ginger-bread and an apple which he had purchased at a neighboring stand, and which he devoured with so much eagerness, as he stood there in front of the window, that everybody who saw him laughed at him.
“I see some gawky over there,” said Lester, after he had taken a glance at the boy.
“That’s no gawky,” replied Jones. “It’s Don Gordon.”
Lester was profoundly astonished. He faced about and looked again. There was nothing about that awkward clown, who did not know what to do with his big feet, that looked like the neat and graceful Don Gordon he had met a short time before.
“You’re certainly mistaken,” said Lester. “Don’s pride wouldn’t let him appear in the public street in any such rig as that.”
“It wouldn’t, eh? You don’t know that boy.”
[268]
“Besides, Gordon couldn’t look and act so clumsy if he tried,” continued Lester, who had striven in vain to imitate Don’s soldierly carriage. “Why, he is making a laughing-stock of himself.”
“I know it, and so does he; and he enjoys it. I don’t know where he procured his disguise, but if he didn’t borrow it, he bought it. He’s got more money than he can spend, and he will stick at nothing that will help him gain his point. Now, can you see Mack anywhere?”
Lester looked up and down the street and replied that he could not.
“Well, he’s somewhere around, and you may be sure of it,” Jones went on. “He is keeping Don in sight, and Don has disguised himself so that he can keep you in sight. They have been following you around the streets for two hours, and this is the first chance I have had to tell you of it. Have you let anything slip?”
“No,” replied Lester, indignantly.
“You’re spotted, any way; and I can’t, for the life of me, see why you should be if you have kept a still tongue in your head,” said Jones, in deep perplexity. “Now, our first hard work must be to shake those fellows, and then we’ll draw a[269] bee-line for Cony’s. When I say the word, come into the hall and go up those stairs as if all the wolves in Mississippi were close at your heels; but don’t make any noise.”
Lester braced himself for a jump and a run, and Jones took up a position in the hall from which he could observe Don’s movements without being seen himself. The amateur detective—it really was Don Gordon—having disposed of his lunch and growing tired of waiting for Lester to make a move in some direction, shuffled rather than walked over to the other window, not neglecting, as he made this change, to take a good look at the boy he had “spotted.” As soon as he was fairly settled before the other window, Jones whispered “Now!” whereupon Lester darted through the door and went up the stairs three at a jump. Jones lingered a minute or two and then followed him.
“It’s just as I expected,” said he, hurriedly, when he joined Lester at the top of the stairs. “Captain Mack was concealed somewhere down the street. He saw you when you ran through the door and signaled to Don, who is now coming across the street. Follow me and run[270] on your toes. Stick to me, and ask no questions.”
So saying Jones broke into a run and led the way through a long hall to another flight of stairs, which he descended with headlong speed, Lester keeping close at his heels. On reaching the sidewalk they slackened their pace to a walk, and Jones suddenly turned into a shoe-store, with the proprietor of which he was well acquainted.
“Mr. Smith,” said he, addressing the man who stood behind the counter, “may I go in your back room long enough to take something out of my boot?”
Time was too precious to wait for the reply, which they knew would be a favorable one, so Jones and Lester kept on to the back-room. When they got there the former took his foot out of his boot—there was nothing else in it—while his companion, acting in obedience to some whispered instructions, concealed himself and kept an eye on those who passed the store.
“There he goes!” he exclaimed suddenly, as Don Gordon walked rapidly by, peering sharply through the glass doors as he went. “He must have followed us through the hall.”
[271]
“Of course he did, and consequently there is no need that I should tell you why I came in here. Now we’ll start for Cony’s.”
As Jones said this he opened a back door which gave entrance into a narrow alley, and conducted his companion through a long archway that finally brought them to a cross-street. After making sure that there were none of Captain Mack’s men in sight, they came out of their concealment and walked rapidly away toward the big pond. When they reached Cony Ryan’s house and entered the little parlor which had been the scene of so many midnight revels, they found it in possession of their friends, who greeted them in the most boisterous manner and inquired anxiously for Enoch Williams. A few of them had had opportunity to exchange a word or two with him, all knew how he had run the guard, but none of them could tell where he was now.
“He is safe enough,” said Jones, knowingly. “Of course you don’t expect him to show himself openly, as we can who have passes in our pockets. If you will be on Haggert’s dock at dark—and those who are not there will stand a good chance of being left, for when we get ready[272] to start we shall wait for nobody—you will find him. In the meantime be careful how you act, and k............