The Go Ahead Boys and Simon's Mine Part 21

Zeke saw one of the white men suddenly and silently sit erect. While the man was looking about him, Zeke's position was unchanged, but his little eyes were peering out through half-opened eyelids and his right hand suddenly had clutched the pistol which he carried in his belt night and day.

The white man whom he was watching was the one whose face was scarred. For several minutes he sat erect and motionless, until he plainly was satisfied that all the other parties in the camp were asleep.

Then Zeke saw the man slowly rise. Even after he was standing erect he still remained motionless.

Then apparently satisfied that no one in the camp was aware of his action the man slowly and stealthily moved toward the border of the camp where the packs carried by the boys had been deposited.

Glancing behind him once, the man, still apparently convinced that he was not seen, stealthily drew one of the packs toward him and as soon as he had grasped it at once started from the camp over the way by which he had come.

Zeke now was fully awake. He too glanced keenly about him to satisfy himself that the others were not aware of his actions. Apparently satisfied that he had not been seen, he took his rifle and silently followed in the direction in which the unwelcome guest had departed.

For some strange reason Fred also was aroused directly after the departure of the guide, and somewhat startled, sat up. As he did so he saw the taller white man slowly rise from the ground where he had been lying and begin to move rapidly in the direction in which his comrade had disappeared.

CHAPTER XVIII

RESTORING THE MAP

Fred was not aware of the departure of Zeke nor that he had followed the first of the white men to leave the camp. As a consequence when he saw the stranger rise and slowly walk from the place, he had not been disturbed by any fear of mishaps. Indeed, he did not even look about the camp carefully to ascertain whether or not the other man was still there. Apparently too this man when he had gone had departed empty-handed.

For a brief time Fred hesitated, almost deciding to awaken his companions and inform them of his discovery, but at last, convinced that such action was unnecessary and still unaware that the guide also had gone, he once more stretched himself upon the dry ground and soon was soundly sleeping.

He was aroused the following morning by Grant who was shaking him as he shouted, "Wake up, Fred!"

"Is it time to get up?" yawned Fred sleepily.

"It's time for every one of us to be wide awake," declared Grant. "Do you know what has become of Zeke and the two men that were here last night?"

"Have they gone? Aren't they here now?" demanded Fred at once thoroughly awake.

"No, sir, there's not one of them here," replied Grant.

"That's strange," said Fred. "I waked up in the night and saw one of the white men leaving the camp."

"Didn't you see the others?"

"No."

"Did the man take anything with him?"

"I didn't see that he did."

"Well, one of the packs is gone anyway."

"Then the other man must have taken it," said Fred positively. "I'm sure the one I saw leaving didn't carry anything with him."

"He may have come back," suggested Grant.

"That's true," said Fred thoughtfully. "I hadn't thought of that. Thomas Jefferson," he added as the young Navajo now approached the place where the two Go Ahead Boys were standing, "what do you make of this?"

"All three gone," replied the Indian.

"We know that already," replied Fred sharply, "but we don't know where they have gone nor why nor who. What time was it," he demanded of Grant, "when you first found this out?"

"About ten minutes ago when I first waked up."

"I saw one of the men leaving," Fred explained, "but I haven't any idea what time it was. It was in the night sometime."

"Did he go alone?" inquired the Indian.

"Yes," Fred answered.

"In which direction did he go?" asked the Navajo.

Fred pointed to his right and without a word the young Navajo instantly ran to that side of the camp and began to inspect closely the footprints of the men who had gone.

In a brief time he returned and said simply, "No two of the men went together. The man with the scar went first. If the man you saw did not have any pack then it was the short man that took it."

"How do you know they didn't go together?" inquired Grant.

"I can see their footprints. If they had gone together they would have walked side by side or one would have been directly behind the other. That is not the way it is."

"But how do you know that the scarred man went first?"

"Because I find a place where Zeke crossed over from one side of the way to the other. He stepped in the footprint of the other man in one place.

Zeke's foot is bigger so I'm sure it was his print. He could not step on the other's footprint unless he was behind him."

"But what makes you think that they both went before the man that Fred saw?"

"Because that man did not have a pack. The pack is gone."

"But I don't see how that proves they went before. They may have left after the other man."

The Navajo shook his head, however, and said, "They go first."

"What are we to do now?" demanded George as he joined his companions.

"The first thing we want is some breakfast and then we'll decide what next to do," said Grant, who in spite of Fred's greater readiness to talk, now naturally a.s.sumed the place of the leader of the three Go Ahead Boys.

At that moment, however, the Navajo again turned to the young campers and said, "I'll go to find out where Zeke and the two men went. If I go you three boys must stay here until I come back."

"But suppose you don't come back?" suggested Fred.

"I shall come," said the Navajo confidently.

"But suppose you don't?" said Fred again.