As soon as Captain Jim had the five men securely handcuffed he left them in charge of two of his men while the others made a search of the cabin. It was nearly empty, the only furnishings being a few chairs and a number of built against the sides.
“Guess they must have taken it all on that trip,” Captain Jim said as he glanced about the room.
But as he one of the men was lifting up a trap door in one of the back corners of the room. A ladder led to a cellar below and there they found a large quantity of whiskey and other liquors.
“I’m not quite sure whether I have a legal right to spill this stuff but I’m going to take a chance on it,” Captain Jim told Bob.
He sent one of the men up to look for an ax and in a short time the cellar was nearly flooded with the fluids.
“There, that stuff will never make anyone drunk, that’s sure,” he said as he stove in the head of the last barrel.
Bob was impressed by the fact that not one of Captain Jim’s men even suggested drinking any of the liquor.
“You’ll pay and pay well for that stuff,” the man, known to the Captain as Slippery Elm, told them as they once more joined the others outside. “This is Canada and you have no on this side of the line.”
“I hope not,” Captain Jim replied. “I’m far from being a rich man and it would bankrupt me to pay half of what that stuff would cost.”
Pierre and Big Tiny glared at Bob in a way that made him in spite of himself and the little man said to him in a low tone:
“Some day we may square accounts.”
“All right now, let’s get going,” Captain Jim ordered. “We’ll go back to camp and pack up and then hit the trail for Jackman. No we won’t either. On second thought I think we had better take these birds straight to Bangor.”
“Now I want you fellows to pay strict attention to what I’m going to say. I hate a man who’ll sell whiskey worse than poison and have more respect for a snake so you can easily figure out about what I think of you. Now I’m going to take you to Bangor either alive or dead and it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference to me which. Now I reckon you understand what I mean.”
They had the men before leaving them to search the cabin and now, with them handcuffed Bob felt that there could be no trouble.
The prisoners made no reply to the Captain’s statement but it was evident to Bob that they understood what he meant.
As soon as they got back to the place where they had camped they prepared a hasty lunch and by one o’clock were ready for the start.
“Can’t you take these things off?” the little man asked holding out his hands. “It’s hard work going through the woods without the use of your hands. We won’t start anything.”
“Not much,” the Captain replied. “You ought to have thought of the inconveniences of this business before you took it up. diamonds is I fancy much safer and it’s a pity that you didn’t stick to it. No, I’m not going to take one little bit of a chance. I imagine you can get through all right without your hands if you are careful. Anyhow you’ve got to. That’s all.”
The man and turned away muttering something which Bob failed to catch.
To travel through the thick forest without the use of one’s hands to protect the face from the and branches is indeed a hardship and Bob could not help a feeling of pity for the prisoners. But he knew that the Captain was doing exactly right in refusing to free their hands. They were men of the most desperate character and, knowing that a long term in prison at hard awaited them, they would be sure to take advantage of the first opportunity that offered the least chance of escape. As the Captain had said they must take their medicine.
But the Captain was by no means cruel and he set a slow pace in order to make it as easy for them as possible without taking a chance. That night they camped beside a and Bob caught a good mess of for supper much to the delight of all even including the prisoners.
The Captain divided his party into two watches of three men each. The first to watch until twelve o’clock and the second the rest of the night.
“There, when I was talking with I forgot all about telling him that we were going straight to Bangor,” Bob said as he and the Captain were talking together after supper. “Guess I’d better call him up and tell him.”
He caught Jack just as he was getting into bed and they chatted for some time.
“Then we’ll meet you at the hotel in Bangor some time tomorrow night,” Jack said.
“If we have good luck,” Bob replied
The night passed without incident and they got an early start the next morning. The prisoners seemed to have accepted their fate and made no complaints although Bob knew that they were having a pretty hard time of as he could tell by the numerous scratches on their faces.
It was about ten o’clock when Bob, who at the time was leading the way and choosing the easiest route so as to give the manacled men as little pain as possible, suddenly stopped and held up his hand.
“What is it?” the Captain who was a few feet behind, asked.
“There’s one of those cabins I was telling you about just ahead of us.”
“Good enough. Now mebbe we’ll be able to solve the mystery,” and the Captain called a halt.
“Slippery, do you know anything about these log cabins which disappear on short notice?” the Captain asked.
The man shook his head in silence. Captain Jim then turned to the other prisoners and asked the same question but they pretended to no knowledge of what he was asking.
“All right then, we’ll have to find out for ourselves. Get your gun out, Bob, and the rest of you stay here.”
The mysterious cabin stood in a small open space not more than a hundred feet from where they had stopped. With revolvers the two approached it from the rear, after watching for some minutes to see if there were signs of it being occupied.
“I don’t believe there’s anyone there,” the Captain said as he stepped out into the open.
“Doesn’t look like it.”
It was only a few steps from the edge of the clearing to the back of the cabin. Captain Jim was a few feet ahead of Bob, he having insisted on taking the lead. As he came close to the house he stoppe............