Messenger No. 48 Part 53

"You are wounded!" Harvey interrupted, as he pointed to the boy's arm.

"Let me see if it is serious; you are looking pale."

"I shall be all right now you are here. Come up to our camp, and you can attend to it."

Jet led the way hurriedly to the cedar thicket, taking such a route that his visitor must pa.s.s Bob, who was looking woefully disconsolate and uncomfortable.

"h.e.l.lo!" Harvey cried in astonishment, "I'm blest if you haven't bagged the game already," and once more he clasped Jet's hand. "I knew you would suit me for a partner, and from this day out we'll work in company or my name's not Dan Harvey. How long have you had this fellow?"

"Since last night, and that's why Sam was trying to get the best of us.

We attempted to capture him, but made a botch of the business."

"Bob's arrest is enough to cover you with glory, my boy, for you've done what every man on the force would have liked to had a hand in.

Here, Downs," he continued to the man behind him, "slip the bracelets on this man, and take the gag out. I reckon his jaws ache by this time."

When this order was obeyed Jet led his visitors to where the other prisoner was trussed up, and Harvey's amazement was complete.

"Is this another one of the gang?"

"Yes, in the counterfeit money business, and when we get back I calculate the constable can be found without much trouble."

"Well, Jet, you've done this job up about as brown as possible, and there'll be no mean reward coming when Bob reaches New York."

"What do you mean?"

"One thousand dollars has been offered for the apprehension of those charged with murder, and in regard to the makers of the queer, Uncle Sam ought to sh.e.l.l out liberally for having them brought in so cleverly. The firm shall be Harvey & Co., for a boy who can do so much single handed will be an ornament to the force even though he isn't larger than a pint of cider."

"I had Jim to help me," Jet replied modestly.

"Who is Jim?"

"A boy I met up at the village, and promised twenty dollars if we succeeded."

"But I haven't earned it," Jim cried, "I was mightily frightened, an'

would have run home long ago if you'd let me."

"The money has been earned," Harvey said as he took a roll of bills from his pocket, "and I'll add ten on my own account."

The small guide looked in bewilderment at the thirty dollars, and then broke into a dance which was quite as vigorous if not so skillful as Jet's performances with the minstrel company.

"How did it happen you got here in the nick of time?" Jet asked after Jim had ceased his contortions.

"When I received your letter telling me you were coming into the woods it was enough to show you would want a.s.sistance. I never thought for a moment you'd be able to bag the whole gang, but only counted on saving them from cutting your throat. Not being well enough to walk very handily I brought a couple of friends along, and now we've got force enough to take our men back."

"How did you happen to find me?"

"We heard at the village that a couple of boys, one a stranger, had come this way, and we started on chances. Last night we camped this side of the first carry, and was striking for the upper lake when the reports of your weapon gave us a clew. It was easy to tell that the shots were not fired by hunters, and we rounded up your friend Sam on general principles."

While this conversation was being carried on Harvey's companions released the prisoners from the bonds which had been put on by the boys, and shackled them in much more secure and less painful fashion.

Then Jim remembered that none of his party had breakfasted, and he cooked the remainder of the provisions at once, when all hands joined in the meal.

Harvey had already examined Jet's wound, and p.r.o.nounced it a trifling one, more painful than dangerous.

The ball was extracted, the arm bandaged properly, and fastened in a sling, the detective saying, when the work was finished:

"You'll come around all right in a week or two with care, and that I'll guarantee you shall have in abundance."

It was not yet noon when the party were ready to leave Round Pond.

Harvey and the boys traveled in the boat Jet had hired, and the other craft, which was considerably larger, carried the two officers and their prisoners.

Except at the carry, where all hands were forced to a.s.sist in transporting the boats, the journey was made in a leisurely fashion, and that night Jet slept in a comfortable bed at the Saranac Lake House.

Jim disappeared as soon as the party arrived at the village. He was eager to show the money earned, and to tell his chums of his wonderful skill as a detective, but it is not probable he spoke of the many times when he would have sold his position very cheaply.

He was on hand next morning to see his friend and companions take their departure, and then Jet was forced to promise he would visit the Adirondacks on a regular hunting trip as soon as his business would permit.

"I'd like to go out with you once when there wasn't a lot of ruffians 'round to make trouble," Jim said, and a moment later the train rolled out of the depot.

Jet was praised and petted by the officers at headquarters, when the party arrived in New York, at a rate which would have turned many another boy's head, but he knew in his heart that a good portion of the success was due to "luck" rather than detective skill.

Harvey kept his word in regard to taking him in partnership, and to-day Jet Lewis, young as he is, does a full share of Detective Harvey's work. In fact, that gentleman often says that without his partner he would fail in many cases which he now "works up" successfully.

Jet received the reward of one thousand dollars for the arrest of Joe and Bob, and those worthies are serving a life sentence at Sing Sing for murder, the crime having been fully proven against them.

Sam, the constable, and the fellow who stole the boys' boat have been sentenced to ten years for uttering counterfeit money, and Jet insists that at some future time he will find the plates they buried in the vicinity of the house in the woods, for he keeps well in mind what he heard regarding the big oak.