CHAPTER XI

IN THE DARK

The fire was already started so I said I’d go with Pee-wee while Dub and Sandy stayed and tended to it. Because there’s a rule that you must never leave a fire, no matter where, without somebody to watch it.

When Pee-wee and I are alone we never have any mortal comebacks. That’s one thing I’ll say about him, he gets excited but he never stays mad. He’s the biggest enemy I’ve got among all my special friends. It was good and dark walking through the chasm. You have to go over rocks and through brush and you don’t get along very fast.

I said, “If it turns out to be somebody camping, remember don’t say anything about why we’re camping here--don’t say anything about the will or anything Mr. Bagley told us.”

“Yes but maybe he might have told somebody else too,” Pee-wee said.

I said no I didn’t think so, because he seemed to like us and he kind of gave us the job.

“Even if we make friends with them we’ll keep it a secret, hey?” the kid said. “Because I think we’re going to find that thing, hey?”

“Sure, we’ve got all to-morrow and most of the next day to hunt,” I said. “And don’t worry, because if Mr. Bagley told anybody else, they wouldn’t be camping down at the other end of the chasm.”

After a little while we came near enough to see that the light was in a funny kind of a tent, I suppose you’d call it. It was up against the side of the chasm--it was slanting from the side of the chasm to the ground. We stopped about two or three hundred feet away from it. As near as I could make out the cloth was fixed to the side of the chasm and went down over a couple of poles. It was like a lean-to shelter only there was so much canvas it went right down to the ground. A lean-to hasn’t got any sides but this had sides and you couldn’t see inside it. All we could see was a bright spot on the canvas where the light was inside.

[Illustration: ALL WE COULD SEE WAS A BRIGHT SPOT ON THE CANVAS.]

“They’re not Scouts anyway,” I said.

“What’s that on top of the thing?” Pee-wee whispered to me.

Honest, I couldn’t make out that crazy tent at all. We went a little closer and stopped short when I stepped on a twig. Gee williger, that twig sounded like a cannon when it broke, it was so dark and quiet all around.

“Shall we go on our hands and knees?” Pee-wee asked in my ear.

“No, just stand here a minute and don’t move your feet,” I said. “There are all dried leaves and brittle twigs under us. If I start to run you do the same.”

“And I won’t sneeze either, hey?” the kid said.

“You stay where you are,” I told him.

I went ahead a little bit, close enough so I could see that shelter better. It had _me_ guessing. As near as I could make out there were branches laid all over the canvas--I mean on top. I didn’t know why any one would want to do that. The whole thing looked sort of like a thatch roof sticking out from the rocky wall, with canvas hanging down to the ground on the side where I was. It was a blamed crazy looking outfit, I’ll say that. Maybe it was meant to be camouflaged, that’s what I thought. I wasn’t going to go marching up to it, you bet.

Even I took off my sneaks before I went back to Pee-wee so I could feel the twigs with my bare feet and wouldn’t make a sound by breaking them. All of a sudden I heard a kind of a rustling sound but I guess it was only a bird.

“Come back a little,” I said to Pee-wee, “and be careful how you walk.”

“I’ve got my shoes off already,” the kid whispered, “and I tied the laces together and I’ve got the shoes hung around my neck--that’s the way Scouts used to do. And if you keep your mouth shut then you’ll be sure to keep from sneezing.” I had to laugh. “Well, you keep your mouth shut,” I said.

When we got a little further away from the place we stopped and I said, “That’s the darnedest, funniest thing _I_ ever saw. It looks like a pigpen with tent sides to it. The top is all covered with brush. That would never keep it from leaking. What do you suppose is the idea? Maybe it’s meant to be disguised--what do you say?”

Pee-wee grabbed hold of me and pushed his mouth tight against my ear and whispered, “I bet you it’s those bandits that robbed the post office, I bet you it is! And I’m going to find out.”

“You’re going to do nothing of the kind,” I said. “If it’s robbers, or even tramps, we better keep away. Come ahead back to our tent--we’ll find out to-morrow.”

“Do you think I’m a quitter?” Pee-wee said. “Do you think I can’t sneak up there without making any sound? Didn’t I stalk a rabbit and he never knew it till another rabbit told him? You wait here and hold my shoes. Now we’ve got a dandy mystery--it’s a good mysterious one.”

“All right,” I said, “but for the love of goodness be careful. When you come back, how can you tell where to find me in the dark? I tell you the way we’ll do. I’ll--shh----”

“What is it?” he said.

“I thought I heard a sound,” I told him. “This is the way I’ll do--shh--I’ll keep close in by the wall and you come along close to it, then you’ll be sure to find me. I know a place where we can scramble up if we have to and get out of the chasm. And look out you don’t make any sound. I don’t know who’s there, but the place has got _me_ guessing.”

One thing I’ll say for Pee-wee, he can make the loudest noise with his mouth and the smallest noise with his feet of any Scout I ever knew. He’s sure one little fiend when it comes to stalking--grasshoppers, crickets, field-mice and everything he stalks. And believe me, you just try to stalk a field-mouse, you just try it. But just the same I felt kind of scary waiting for him. I picked my way along the rocky wall till I came to the place where we could make a short cut out if we had to. It was a kind of wide crevice where you could scramble up.

I kept waiting and waiting, and he didn’t come back. Then I began thinking what I would do if he didn’t come back at all. Gee whiz, bandits these days, they don’t care what they do. I was kind of sorry I let Pee-wee go. All of a sudden there he was. And even in the dark I could see he looked good and scared.