The Ranger Boys and the Border Smugglers Part 14

Garry set a terrific pace at first, until d.i.c.k toned him down with:

"Look here, Garry, we don't want to get to town all tuckered out. If we do we will be useless if it comes to a pinch. I'm just as anxious about Phil as you are, but we must conserve our strength. We may need it before the night is over."

"Guess you're right old chap, but I just keep thinking that minutes may mean more right now than hours would some other time." Nevertheless he moderated his pace, and in a trifle under an hour they were in the town of Hobart.

d.i.c.k was for making at once to the restaurant to inst.i.tute inquiries as to whether or not Phil had been there and when he was last seen. Garry by this time had grown calmer and cooler and again a.s.sumed the leadership.

"That would be a mighty foolish thing to do. If Phil has gotten into a sc.r.a.pe, there is just as good a chance that it was in that place as out in the street. You know we were warned that it wasn't a regular drawing room by any means. I have an idea, and I think you'll agree with me that it is a good one. We'll hike to the home of the chap we towed home with the broken arm the other day, and see if his granddaughter can give us a tip of any sort as to what sort of a place the restaurant is and what sort of a chap runs it and who hangs out there. Of course there is one great chance that Phil stumbled onto a real clue and followed it, but that is very remote, for I don't believe Phil would disobey an order that had been agreed upon by all as a safety measure."

"Jolly good idea, Garry," said d.i.c.k. "Let's go."

In a few moments they were at Mr. Everett's house, and were glad to find a light still burning there. They knocked on the door, and Ruth herself answered the knock.

"Goodness gracious," she exclaimed, in a surprised tone. "I never expected to see you boys at this time of night. Where's your other companion?"

"That's just what we would give anything in the world to know right now," remarked Garry. "We've come to you to see if you can give us a bit of help or information."

Then rapidly he told of the plans they had made to try and get evidence, and the agreement that Phil was to have returned at sundown that night.

"You say he went to the restaurant? Oh, that's a wicked place, and if he's gotten into trouble, that place is just where it would have been likely to happen. The owner of that place is dreadful. He helps those smugglers and sells contraband rum, and he and that half-breed LeBlanc have been suspected of several crimes along the border."

"What's that you say?" burst out Garry. "LeBlanc, you don't mean Jean LeBlanc?"

"Why, yes, do you know him or know of him?" returned the girl, amazed at Garry's sudden outburst.

"Yes, to our sorrow we do. I haven't time to tell you all we know of him now, except that he hates us like poison, since we were instrumental in having him jailed for kidnapping once, and then he broke out. Is that diabolic villain in town?"

"He is, I saw him only this afternoon. He used to be around here a great deal, for his original home is in a town not far on the other side of the border. I am so sorry to say it, but if your chum was in the restaurant and LeBlanc saw him there, he could have made him prisoner with the greatest of ease, for he has many friends there, and there are many who would do anything that rascally proprietor told them to."

"Does your grandfather know the ins and outs of that house?" inquired Garry.

"Yes, he does, but he is asleep, and as he had a bad day, the doctor says that he is not to be waked up under any circ.u.mstances, so I'm afraid you'll have to put up with my help, such as it is. All you have to do is wait till I run across the street and get Mr. Allen to come in and watch granddaddy and then I'll be ready to help you."

"You're a brick, Miss," said Garry enthusiastically, "but we couldn't think of letting you in for any danger."

"I guess you don't know the border girls, sir. We aren't afraid of anything in the woods or the towns. We've been brought up to take care of ourselves. Besides, I've heard Granddad tell about the Rookery, as he calls it, many times. An' I've an idea that if your chum is held a prisoner in that house, I know just where it is. So just you let me be your guide for a little while."

So saying, she ran across the street and soon returned with an elderly man, the Mr. Allen of whom she spoke, and then bidding the boys wait a minute, she dashed upstairs. In an incredibly short time she was back again, clad in a khaki skirt, high boots, and a heavy sweater. A knit tam was perched on her head, making her quite one of the most attractive girls the boys had ever seen.

"I'll lead you around to the back of the restaurant, where there won't be much chance of you're being observed. There's one window that has always puzzled me. It has a great heavy shutter on it, and I don't ever remember seeing it opened. I've always imagined it was the dungeon keep of the place, like the ones they used to have in old castles, long years ago."

Evidently, thought Garry, the young lady was of an extremely romantic turn of mind.

In a very few minutes she had led them through a dark back street to where they could command a view of the rear of the restaurant.

"There, wait till the moon comes out from behind that cloud. Now. See that window there all barricaded? That's what I think is the prison room for the Canuck's house," said Ruth.

The boys looked and saw the sinister window, which although they did not know it then, was the one to the room in which Phil was at that moment soundly sleeping, worn out by the mental and physical strain that he had been under for the past twenty-four hours.

Under the shuttered window ran a dark alleyway, and the other windows in that side of the house were dark and deserted looking. On the other side of the alley was a low blacksmith shop.

"Well, Garry, if you don't mind my calling you that, have you decided on what you are going to do?" asked Ruth. "I am afraid that you haven't much chance of getting upstairs if you go into the restaurant, for even if the proprietor is not there he has a couple of strong, ugly a.s.sistants, and if you tried to force your way upstairs at the point of a rifle, you would only bring the whole place down on you like a swarm of hornets. It's up to us to think out some scheme."

"I think I have that worked out now. See that chimney on the roof? It is just over that dark shuttered window. Now what I propose is this: d.i.c.k and I will get up on the roof of the blacksmith shop here, and from there we can throw a lariat up over the chimney, then one of us will go up hand over hand and call to Phil to see if he is in that room. If he is, we'll have him out as soon as you could say Jack Robinson. Miss Ruth, I'm going to ask you to stand guard for us, and if danger approaches, give us some sort of a signal. I suppose you can imitate a whippoorwill?" asked Garry.

"Indeed I can," and in a soft tone she proved it to the satisfaction of both d.i.c.k and Garry.

"There, then that much is accomplished. Believe me, I'll be overjoyed if I hear Phil's voice in answer to my hail," said Garry.

"Say, listen Garry. A fine business you'd make of calling through a thick shutter. First place maybe he couldn't hear it, but it's a cinch that everyone on the street will. Use your imagination. What did you ever learn wigwagging and signalling and things for? When you get to the window, take your knife and rap out a message in International Code.

That will make no noise down here, but will penetrate into the room, for the shutter will form a natural sounding board."

"Fine, d.i.c.k. I must be wool gathering not to have thought of that myself. Now up on the roof with you."

Bracing himself against the wall, Garry formed a step for d.i.c.k to crawl up on the roof. Once arrived there, he lay flat, and extending his arms over the edge, gave a pull, and helped Garry up.

It took only four throws to settle the noose of the lariat over the chimney, and they let it swing down on the side of the building.

Clambering down from the roof, Garry made ready to go up the rope. He went up in agile fashion, and soon was tapping on the shutter. It was his call that had awakened Phil.

When Phil heard it, he fished out his knife, and soon they were carrying on a brief conversation. Phil told Garry the inside of the shutter was sheathed with iron. Also he told him if anything happened to prevent them getting him out, to keep watch that night on Lafe Green's house, as there was a great plot on the way.

"I'll have you out in a jiffy now." Garry tapped the message to him, and then he slid down the rope. d.i.c.k and Ruth came running to him.

"Must have something to pry off that shutter with. My axe isn't strong enough," he told them.

"Oh, I know what," whispered Ruth. "I stumbled over something a minute ago, and it was a crowbar. Darius, the blacksmith, must have forgotten to take it in."

"Fine, let's have your riata, d.i.c.k. There, I'll loop it around my wrist and go back up the rope. In the meantime, you tie an end of it to the crowbar and I can haul it up to me."

So saying, Garry swarmed up the rope again. Arriving at the height of the window, he manoeuvered until he had twisted the free end of the rope around his foot several times, thus preventing himself from slipping.

Then he set to work to pry the shutter loose. Fortunately it did not long resist.

"Look out below," he warned softly, and with a loud thud the shutter fell into the alley below. Phil was waiting in the window.

"Quick, slide down after me. Lose no time, Phil," ordered Garry.

Down he went, the friction smarting his hands. In less time than it takes to tell, Phil was down after him. "Never mind the riata on the chimney. Away we go," said Garry.

"Follow me," ordered Ruth, and she sped away followed by the three chums. They were out of sight not a moment too soon, for as they turned a corner, running across a lawn to deaden their footsteps, they heard a howl of rage.

"That's the proprietor's a.s.sistant. We just got away in time," said Ruth.

CHAPTER XV.

THE PLOT.