The Boy Scouts at the Panama-Pacific Exposition

CHAPTER VII
ACROSS THE CONTINENT

“We ought to be in Los Angeles inside of five hours, boys.”

Hiram had kept his face glued against the window so much of the time during the long journey, when it happened to be closed, that Andy told him he was getting a distinct curve to his classic Roman nose. He turned on hearing Rob make this assertion, after consulting the time-table.

“Well, for one, I must say I won’t be sorry,” he admitted, with a sigh.

“But see here, I thought you were having the time of your life with all this traveling, and seeing so many wonderful sights?” expostulated Andy.

“That’s all right, I am,” admitted Hiram. “Still, a feller can get too much of a good thing, can’t he? Haven’t you stuffed yourself more’n once because you liked the food first-class, and then wished afterward you had gone slow? Fact is, I just can’t sleep while we’re ding-donging along like hot cakes. I want to be on a steady footing for a while, and go to bed like a civilized human being.”

“But it’s been a great trip,” said Andy. “Those Injuns at the stations in Arizona were real true-blood Zuñis, all right. I’m mighty glad, though, we’ve made up our minds to go back by way of the Canadian Pacific road, so as to see what the picturesque Selkirks look like.”

“Yes,” added Rob, “I’ve read so much about the Rockies up in British America I want to see them with my own eyes. The weather will be a whole lot better than in the southern zone, where it’s terrible in summer.”

“Oh! don’t let’s talk about coming back before we’ve even got there,” expostulated Hiram, looking unhappy. “I’ve got an awful lot to do before I turn my face homeward. I hope it all comes out right, and that the Golden Gate Company acts square with me.”

“If you get some money, Hiram, I suppose it’s all laid out before now in experiments that you’ve wanted to start and couldn’t?” Andy hinted.

“Well, what would you have me do with the stuff?” demanded the inventor indignantly. “I expect to devote my hull life to science. Hoarding money and discoveries in the realm of science don’t go hand in hand. You’ll notice that all the big bugs of professors don’t seem to care a lickin’ thing about the cash they gain. What they’re after is fame and glory. Some day – but never mind that now.”

“You were going to tell us we might live to see you famous, eh, Hiram?” Andy chuckled. “Well, stranger things have happened. Men have become president of these United States, and those who played with the same as boys never dreamed such a thing would ever come about. There’s always room at the top.”

“Five hours will soon pass,” Hiram went on to say, without paying any attention to the little slur there seemed to be in this remark on the part of the other.

“There’s one thing I want to speak to you about,” said Rob, his face assuming a look of gravity that impressed Hiram very much.

“What, me, do you mean, Rob?” he asked hurriedly.

“Yes,” Rob told him. “Here’s what it is. I’ve noticed that you keep on putting up your hand every little while, and feeling to see that your papers are safe inside your coat. It’s become second nature with you, the habit’s grown so strong.”

“Well, you told me to keep my mind on that matter, and never to forget it; and so every time it crops up I guess I feel to make doubly sure. What is there wrong about that, Rob, tell me?”

“Only this, Hiram; you’re getting so careless that you do it openly, and in such a way as to attract attention. If a person happened to see you do it once and then later on saw the movement repeated, his curiosity might be aroused, so that he would fall into the way of watching how often you did it.”

“He might, that’s so,” muttered the disturbed Hiram uneasily.

“And then the idea would become a conviction that you must be carrying something very valuable in that inner pocket. You see, if the parties chanced to be crooked, that would make them figure how they could get hold of your property. So the very movement which you meant to be a safeguard would prove your undoing.”

“Rob, I’ll try and quit that, if you think it best,” promised the other, apparently more or less impressed with the logic the scout leader had brought to bear on the subject.

“That’s all very well, Hiram, but I’m afraid your repentance comes too late to do much good,” Rob told him, at which the inventor gave a start, and into his eyes there crept a look of concern.

“Whatever can you mean by saying that, Rob?” he asked in a troubled voice.

“I’ll tell you,” said Rob. “I’m afraid that you’ve already attracted the attention you wanted to avoid.”

“What! here on this train, in this sleeper?” whispered Hiram, appalled.

“Don’t look up now, when I mention the matter, because they might see you, for I expect they’re watching us. Both of you have undoubtedly noticed two men who sit back of you, and at the end of the car, one of them small and stout, the other tall and slim?”

“Yes,” Andy admitted, “the tall one nodded when he passed, and acted like he wanted to open up a talk with me, but I turned to the window again as if I was too much taken up with the scenery here to bother.”

“And the stout one nodded to me when he caught my eye,” said Hiram. “’Course I nodded back, but made out not to look that way again.”

“Well, they’ve been holding considerable conversation in low tones,” explained Rob. “I could manage to glimpse them in the glass at our end of the car, though they didn’t suspect me of spying. Every time either of you thought to get up, or even turn your heads they made out to be half asleep, with their eyes shut; but I could see they were talking about you.”

“Then mebbe that Marsters did send emissaries along with me to try and steal the product of my brains!” complained Hiram, with compressed lips and stern demeanor.

“Oh! that doesn’t follow at all,” Rob assured him. “These fellows may just happen to be a pair of hard cases always on the lookout for signs of a paying haul. When they noticed how you kept feeling of your inside pocket they guessed from the signs you must have something worth while hidden away there. Men who make their living from the world by sharp tricks get to read character wonderfully well.”

“Yes,” Andy put in just then, “they say that old and experienced customs inspectors can tell from a person’s looks in nine cases out of ten whether he or she is trying to smuggle things into the country without declaring them.”

“What can I do about it then, Rob?” asked Hiram.

“I’ve got a plan that would fill the bill,” he was told.

“Yes, go on and tell me, Rob.”

“You come with me into the car ahead. We’ll sit in the smoking compartment for a few minutes if it happens to be empty. There you can give me your packet, and I’ll fasten it inside my coat, handing over some worthless papers for you to do up as if they were priceless in value, to pin in your pocket instead. Do you get what I’m telling you, Hiram?”

“Rob, count me in,” the other replied hastily. “It’s a good thing, for even if they did happen to rob me they’d be having their pains for nothing. When you’re ready, give me the tip and I’ll follow after you.”

“Andy,” Rob continued impressively, “as we pass out you change your seat so that you’re facing the two men. In that way you can seem to be watching, and they’re not so apt to follow after us.”

“All right,” muttered Andy; “any time you see fit I’m ready.”

Rob first of all made a little packet with some old letters taken from his pocket, and which he had been thinking of discarding for some time. This he could do without exposing his hands above the shelter afforded by the back of the seat.

“All ready, Hiram; get up, and seem to be coaxing me to go with you. Finally, lay hold of my sleeve and pull me. I’ll act as if I didn’t much care to accompany you. That will serve to divert attention; and as you pass the men turn your eyes the other way. If you can be saying something about some one being glad to see me, it would make them believe we knew a passenger in one of the forward cars.”

How Rob did look to the small details of everything he undertook! He knew from past experiences that after all these are what bring success in the long run.

Although Rob had told Hiram to turn his head the other way while nearing the two suspicious men, he himself gave them a nod in passing, just the salutation one traveler is apt to bestow upon another when they have been fellow passengers in the same car for hours, perhaps days.

Rob did that purposely; he knew it would serve to allay any suspicion that may have been bred in the minds of the men to the effect that their actions had been observed.

Once in the car ahead, they found that for a wonder the smoking compartment happened to be empty. Taking advantage of this chance, Hiram hurriedly unpinned the packet he had guarded so closely, and gave it into the possession of his chum. In its stead he secured the dummy in his pocket.

All this had consumed hardly two minutes of time. Rob was careful to notice that not a single soul had passed the door of the compartment; and as soon as the exchange had been effected he stepped out in order to take a survey of the car, to find that neither of the two suspicious men had actually followed them from the other sleeper.

“That job’s finished, and I feel a whole lot easier in my mind,” admitted Hiram.

“No matter whether I was right or not, there’s no harm been done,” Rob told him; “and now, Hiram, see that every five minutes or so you keep on feeling your coat as you were doing it before. I’m more than curious to know whether they’ll try it or not.”

“Well,” chuckled the other, as if amused, “if they don’t it isn’t goin’ to be for want of chances, I tell you that, Rob.”

“Let’s get back to our places,” the scout leader added, “because I don’t feel altogether safe away from my suitcase, with all that wonderful stuff in it the professor said represented so much research and effort that made it priceless.”

The two men were there as they had left them. Rob again nodded carelessly when he found that the short man was eagerly watching to catch his eyes; but he did not stop to enter into any conversation when the other made some casual remark, only replying over his shoulder as he passed on.

“They kept talking like a blue streak while you were gone,” said Andy, after the other two had seated themselves. “Twice the tall man stepped off as if he meant to follow you, but he must have thought better of it, for he turned back before getting out of the car, and shook his head at the other one. They are up to something evil, Rob, take my word for it.”

“We only have one more meal aboard the train, and then comes the hotel at Los Angeles,” said Hiram. “I guess we can hold ’em off that much longer.”

“You see how you can overdo things by being too much on your guard, Hiram,” Rob explained. “Only for the way you kept on feeling your pocket they would never have suspected that Boy Scouts traveling alone could own anything worth stealing. The best way to do is to make things secure, and then appear to forget all about them.”

“I will at another time, Rob; but between the way that Marsters acted, and the caution these people on the Coast impressed on me, it all got on my nerves. You see, I thought it was only business to tell the Golden Gate people how Eastern concerns had men buzzing me continually to sell to them. That made them warn me not to take anyone into my confidence while traveling. They know some unscrupulous firms would steal an idea as big as my invention, if they could get away with it. But it’s all right now, and they can whistle for their prize for all I care.”

CHAPTER VIII
A SHOCK AT LOS ANGELES

The time passed, and when one of the waiters passed through to announce supper, the boys had laid out their program. As before, Rob and Hiram were to go first, while Andy held the fort for them.

“Remember and don’t leave the seat under any condition while we’re gone,” was what the scout leader told Andy.

“Do you suspect that they might even try to get away with our hand baggage?” asked the other. “I thought it was only Hiram’s pockets they wanted to explore.”

“If they are thieves nothing is safe from them,” explained Rob. “‘An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.’ Keep your foot on my bag as you sit here. If anybody tries to tempt you to change seats just say you’ve got a bone in your leg, and don’t care to move around more than you can help.”

“Sure thing!” chuckled Andy; “it hurts terribly, too; and the only thing that is able to make me use it is the walk to the dinner – the cake-walk I call it. Leave it all to me, Rob; I’m frozen to this seat.”

Accordingly, the pair passed along the aisle and headed for the dining-car. Again the two men did their best to be civil, even nodding and smiling genially as the two boys passed them.

“Rob, they’re chasing after us!” muttered Hiram, in some little anxiety, just as he and his chum had entered the next car and were passing along the narrow corridor.

“All right, there’s no law to prevent them from getting hungry at the same time we do,” replied Rob over his shoulder.

“But they may choose to sit down with us at the same table, and make themselves chummy,” objected the other.

“I guess not if we know it,” Rob told him.

“How can we help it without making some sort of scene?” asked Hiram.

“That’s easy enough, if we can pick a table that only accommodates two,” explained the scout leader, “and as we’re in the advance, we have our choice.”

“Oh!”

Evidently, Hiram was considerably relieved by what his comrade had said. He once more realized that Rob promised to be equal to the occasion. Indeed, the record of past achievements should have told Hiram this long ago; but in the presence of new dangers he was apt to forget what splendid things Rob had accomplished on other occasions when the tide seemed adverse.

Upon entering the dining-car Rob smiled to see that there was just one table seating two that did not have some one at it.

“There’s our chance, Rob, down at the further end of the car!” said Hiram hastily, as though he feared the other might not see the table.

Rob took the chair that placed his back against the partition. This allowed him to survey the rest of the car. Nothing could have suited his plans better, for there was a small mirror that he could use to spy upon the two men who were now sitting facing him, halfway up the car.

As the meal progressed and evening drew on, the electric lights in the diner were turned on. Hiram somehow seemed to lack his voracious appetite.

“Don’t just know what’s the cause, Rob,” he remarked, when the other accused him of not disposing of much of the food he had ordered, “it may be the rocking of the car, which is fierce just now; or else it comes of my riding backward. I’ve been told that some people never can stand for that. But I guess I won’t starve to death between now and morning.”

The two men talked a good deal, but then there was nothing suspicious in that. Rob also noticed that they watched him and companion from time to time, as if their interest kept on growing.

When Hiram happened to think of his instructions, and occasionally raised a hand to feel for his coat in the region of that inner pocket, Rob kept a close watch on the men. He could plainly see the shorter one nudge his companion in the side, and say something, for his lips moved. Undoubtedly he was calling the other’s attention to Hiram’s suggestive movement, and while not a lip-reader, Rob could easily imagine him saying half under his breath:

“See, there he goes at it again! Just as we decided, he must have something rich hidden away there. And we’re fools if we don’t make a big bid for it!”

Rob was by this time fully satisfied that the men had evil designs on his comrade’s inside pocket. He was determined to be unusually careful about riding in a public conveyance while in Los Angeles, since that would give the rascals a chance to accomplish their purpose.

“If you’re satisfied, Hiram, let’s be getting out of here,” said Rob, who had seen the two men getting an extra portion of food, believing that this might be a good chance to leave them in the lurch, since they would hardly jump up and accompany the boys, for fear of attracting attention.

The two scouts quickly arose, seized their hats, and passed along between the tables, which were pretty generally occupied by that time. Rob took occasion to keep his eyes on the two men, for several reasons. He even returned their nods as though no such thing as a suspicion regarding their honesty had come into his head.

“They missed that chance, anyhow!” Hiram remarked, as with some difficulty they threaded their way through the next car, for the train was making fast time, and things rolled more or less.

“We’ve got to keep on the alert all the time if we expect to leave those smart chaps in the lurch,” Rob told him. “You know the old saying, ‘eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,’ and it applies to us right now.”

“Then you don’t think they’ve given up all hope yet, Rob?”

“That kind of men never do until they’ve exhausted every plan,” the scout leader replied. “I expect that right now they’ve got some scheme in mind they mean to spring on us if they get but half a chance.”

Reaching their section in the sleeper, they sent Andy ahead to get his supper. He told them he was as hungry as a wolf, and would make up for what Hiram failed to dispose of, so that the company should not get too rich off what they paid into its coffers.

After a while the men came in and took their seats. Rob was a little afraid one of them might be bold enough to push himself upon them. He had prepared for this during their absence by having Hiram sit alongside of him next the window, while the other seat was piled high with some of their luggage, thus offering no chance for a third party to find room.

But it proved a false alarm. Neither of the men made any advance whatever, and Rob believed they had figured that action on their part while on the train might get them into trouble.

“The time will come when we are in the station at Los Angeles,” he told Hiram.

“Do you really think so?” asked the other curiously; and it might be noticed that he did not seem to be trembling any longer; for since his packet was safe in the possession of Rob Blake, Hiram did not see any necessity for further worrying over the matter.

“We must be careful every minute of the time until we reach the hotel,” the scout leader explained.

“Huh! do you know, Rob, what I’ve got a good notion to do?”

“Be reckless, perhaps,” chuckled the other, guessing this, perhaps, from the little boastful strain he detected in the language Hiram used.

“Why, to be frank with you, Rob, I really feel sorry for those chumps. They’ve taken a whole lot of interest in a poor country chap like me, and it seems a shame they should be bitterly disappointed.”

“Oh! that’s the way things set, do they?” continued Rob. “You feel so bad on their account that you’re tempted to give them a chance to steal that dummy packet you have fastened inside your pocket?”

“I’ve gone so far as to take the pin out, you see,” chuckled Hiram. “If they do get busy they needn’t have the worry of that to keep them back. And when you look at it in the right light, Rob, wouldn’t that be just the quickest way to get rid of the slick rascals?”

“Well, the chances are that if they did manage to lay hands on your packet, they’d disappear in a big hurry, Hiram.”

“All right, then. Let them make the opportunity, and I’ll try to be as accommodating as possible. You know, Rob, that I’m said to be an easy mark among the boys of Hampton. I hate to disappoint anybody in the worst way.”

“Here comes Andy, and he looks as if he has enjoyed his supper first-rate, too,” Rob remarked. “I hope he doesn’t let them get him into conversation for an entering wedge. I forgot to warn him about that.”

Apparently Andy was wise enough on his own account to know the folly of such a move, as he pushed past the two men, paying no attention even when one of them plucked at his sleeve.

“One more hour and we’ll be there, the conductor told me,” he announced.

“Then we must be about on time, according to the schedule,” said Hiram, who had worn his time-table almost to shreds by consulting it so often on the long journey from New York City.

They proceeded to get all their belongings in shape, so there would be nothing to delay them, once the station was reached. Rob had decided to take a carriage to the Hotel Alexandria, and thus avoid all possible contact with strangers.

When the porter announced that they were entering Los Angeles there was considerable confusion, as passengers caught up such of their hand luggage as had not been already piled near the door by the porter.

Rob had resolutely declined to let the negro touch his suitcase, though his liberal tip to the man made him eager to be of some assistance. The boy knew that at this point there was apt to crop up a crisis; and also that the good record held up to that time might be shattered through any carelessness on his part.

Consequently, he held fast to his grip as he followed Hiram out of the car, this mode of procedure having all been settled upon beforehand. It gave Rob a chance to keep his eagle eye on the figure of Hiram; and so long as he was able to do that he did not believe the other could be spirited away, or his pocket picked.

“Look out for getting in a crush, Hiram,” Rob whispered in the other’s ear as they passed along the narrow corridor.

“They went out ahead of us, Rob,” Hiram informed him, as he turned his head.

“Yes, I know that, but we’re going to run up against those men again before we are out of this scrape,” the scout leader prophesied.

“Well, I’m awful glad we’re in at last. That was a long trip, and I’m tired of the old car,” said the one in the lead. “Thank goodness we’ll soon be landed in San Francisco, where my business can be settled, one way or the other.”

“I see them, Rob!” announced Andy, just then.

“Yes, and they’re waiting for us, just as I thought,” ventured Rob. “We’ll push straight on to where we can get a carriage, and then leave them in the lurch. Above all, nobody must stop to talk; keep walking, and stick together!”

“That’s understood, Rob!” came from Hiram; while Andy in the rear gave a grunt as if to signify that he had it all fixed in his mind.

There was a lively scene as friends rushed this way and that to find those for whom they were waiting; and as the three scouts walked steadily along in line, headed for the exit where the carriages were to be found, the two men suddenly appeared alongside them.

“Sorry to bother you young fellows,” said the tall man, in a low but commanding voice, “but we are United States marshals, and you must consider yourselves bound to come with us, for you are under arrest!”