Chapter 17 What Harry Saw In The Wood

"What is your name?" asked Harry. "I don't remember seeing you before."

"I live on the other side of the wood. My name is Reuben Richardson."

"Richardson?"

"Yes; we only moved here two months since, and I haven't had a chance to get acquainted much. What is your name?"

"Harry Gilbert."

"I suppose you live in the village?"

"Yes. It's lucky for me you came along. There isn't much traveling through the wood. How did you happen to be here?"

"I was exploring a little. I was on my way home when I heard you shout. I guess I must be going now. I have to get up early in the morning, and so I go to bed early."

"Well, good-night, Reuben. Come and see me some day. Anybody will tell you where I live."

"Thank you. If you ever come our way, stop at the farm and see me."

"So I will."

The two boys parted, with friendly good-nights.

"Reuben seems a nice sort of boy," said Harry to himself, as he threaded his way through the woods in a homeward direction. "I don't know what would have happened to me if he hadn't come along."

The moon was already up, though it was still early, and cast a mild radiance through the branches of the trees. The effect was fine, but Harry had no time for enjoying it, as he was in a hurry to get home and relieve his mother's anxiety.

He had gone perhaps a quarter of a mile, when he heard voices, indistinct as yet, of men, who seemed to be approaching.

Ordinarily he would have kept right on, without fear or suspicion, but it might have been the experience through which he had just passed that made him more cautious.

At any rate, he began to look around to see where he could best conceal himself till the newcomers passed.

He caught sight of a tree that seemed easy to climb, and he swung himself up at once, ascending from limb to limb till he was probably twenty-five feet above the ground, concealed by the foliage and the obscurity of night.

He had not long to wait.

Presently there emerged from the thicker recesses of the wood two men, one of whom carried in his hand a tin box of considerable size.

Harry scrutinized them both, but he only recognized one. That one was a man named Ralph Temple, generally considered a ne'er-do-well and a vagabond, who lived in a tumble-down shanty in the edge of the wood.

"This is the place I was thinking of," said Temple, halting about twenty feet from the tree in which Harry was concealed.

"It seems a lonely, out-of-the-way place," said his companion.

"Yes; no one is likely to see the box here. No one ever comes here. There is a path through the wood, which is always used by those who pass through it."

"And this is off from the path?"

"Yes."

"Where do you think it best to hide the box?"

"Under that tree will be a good place; say ten feet from it, in an easterly direction."

"East and west are all alike to me here; I can't tell the difference."

"I can; and so could you, with a compass."

"Shall you know the place again?"

"Yes; do you notice that mark on the bark of the tree? It was struck by lightning once, but that was all the harm done to it."

"Good! That will serve to identify it. But why couldn't we have concealed it nearer your cabin?"

"I don't want to fall under suspicion," said Temple, shaking his head.

"Why should you?"

Ralph Temple laughed a harsh, unpleasant laugh.

"The good people round here haven't a very good opinion of me," he said. "They would be very apt to suspect me, if suspicion came this way. No; it's better to hide the box here."

"I wish we could sell the bonds at once."

"Nearly all are registered, and probably the old man has a record of the rest, so that if we tried to sell them we would be brought up with a round turn. No; as I told you, the only way is to wait till a reward is offered, and then open negotiations for their return. Not immediately, you know. We will keep them long enough to make the owner feel anxious, and willing to get them back at any cost."

"I guess you're right. We must be prudent. If we could only get away with the whole sum it would make us comfortable for a year or two."

"How much is there?"

"Well, there are eight thousand dollars in government bonds, and five Union Pacific bonds of a thousand dollars each. They're safe as governments."

"Thirteen thousand dollars!" said Temple, in a tone of gratification.

"Yes, and more, for the bonds are all at premium. However, we must lay back for a reward. It won't do to negotiate them."

While this conversation had been going on Temple indicated the spot which he thought suitable, and, with a spade which he carried, had commenced excavating a hole sufficiently large for the purpose.

He dug to a depth of about eighteen inches, the box being eight inches in height, and carefully deposited it in the cavity.

Then both replaced a part of the earth, and carried away the remainder to the distance of a hundred feet or so. Finally they brought a quantity of leaves and covered the spot.

"There," said Temple, with a look of satisfaction; "it's safe enough now. It'll take a smart detective to find it, I reckon."

"You're right there, Ralph," said his companion. "It would be a bad sort of joke if we couldn't find it ourselves," he added, after a pause.

"I can find it, never you fear!" said Temple. "I know these woods as well as anybody, and shan't forget the spot."

"All the same, I wish I had some of that money now. I'm almost dead broke."

"So am I; but I can let you have enough to get back to the city."

"And suppose," said Vernon, with an uneasy look, "you should take a fancy to remove that box while I am away?"

"Don't be afraid. Ralph Temple isn't that kind of a man. He'll stand by his pard and treat him fair."

"It would be a rough trick to play on me, Ralph," said Vernon, apparently not quite free from uneasiness.

"So it would; but there is no danger. Even if I did couldn't you expose the whole thing, and have me arrested?"

"So I could," returned Vernon, more reassured by this consideration than by his faith in Temple's fair dealing.

"Well, if you're all ready, we may as well vanish. You can stay with me to-night, and go to the city in the morning. Watch the papers, and see if there is anything that promises advantage to us."

"All right."

The two men moved off, much to Harry's relief. He was in momentary dread of a sneeze, and this would betray his whereabouts to Temple and his partner.

What these two desperate men would have done to him, had they discovered him, it was not easy to guess; but, under the influence of vexation and alarm, they might have brought upon him worse trouble than any he had yet experienced.

Such, indeed, was likely, from what he knew of Ralph Temple. He was generally considered a disreputable character, and the villagers were ignorant as to how he made his living.

From time to time he came to the village store provided with money; but where it came from no one knew, as he was not known to do anything, except to roam the fields and woods with his gun. Sometimes he disappeared for a week or a fortnight at a time, but where he went, unless to the city, no one knew.

Harry conjectured, from what he had just seen, that Temple was in league with wicked men in the city, with whom he was engaged in violations of the law, and in this surmise he was correct.

He understood a little better now Ralph Temple's object in selecting as his abode this lonely and out-of-the-way place.

Harry did not venture to descend from his elevated perch until the two men had ample time to get beyond sight and hearing.

When he touched the ground, he first scanned the tree and its vicinity carefully, so as to make sure he could find it again, and then hurried home.