The Gun Club Boys of Lakeport. Stratemeyer Edward
Thought as how nuts was all gone by this time.”
“We heard of a spot that hadn’t been visited,” said Joe. He looked at his brother significantly. “Guess we had better be moving on.”
“Oh, don’t hurry yourselves, gents,” came quickly from the tramp with the red and tangled beard. “Come in an’ rest all yer please. We’re keepin’ open house to-day,” and he gave a low laugh.
“Thank you, but we haven’t a great deal of time to spare,” said Harry. “Come, Joe,” he went on, and started to move toward the roadway once more.
He had scarcely taken two steps when the tramp with the red beard caught him by the shoulder.
“Don’t go,” he said pointedly. “Come in an’ warm up. We’ve got a bit o’ a fire in there.”
“A fire?” queried Harry, not knowing what else to say. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll burn the barn down?”
“Not much! Even if she went, the buildin’ ain’t worth much. Come on in.”
The tramp had a firm grip on Harry’s arm by this time and now the other two got between Joe and the roadway.
It must be confessed that the two lads were much dismayed. As already noted, they knew that folks in that neighborhood had been waylaid by tramps in the past, and they now felt that a similar experience was in store for them. How to get out of such a dilemma was a serious question.
“We don’t want to stop with you,” said Joe, as sharply as he could, although his heart beat violently. “Let me pass, please.”
“But we ain’t goin’ to let yer pass just yet, young feller,” said one of the tramps. “Come on in an’ be sociable.”
“We don’t mean for to hurt ye!” put in another. “So don’t git scart. If ye belong down to Lakeport we’ll treat yer right.”
“We don’t wish to stay, I tell you,” went on Joe. “Let me pass, do you hear?”
“And let me go, too,” added Harry. He tried to twist himself loose but could not, for the tramp was strong and had a good clutch.
“Peppery youngsters,” drawled the tramp with the red hair. “Got to teach ’em manners, I guess. Shove ’em into the barn, boys. There don’t seem to be nobuddy else around, an’ it looks like we had run up against a real good thing!”
“Do you mean to say that you intend to rob us?” cried Joe, as he struggled to free himself from the man who had him by the collar.
“Rob yer? Who said anything ’bout robbin’ yer? We’re honest men, we are! Come on inside, an’ behave yerself!”
And with this Joe was shoved toward the barn door. He tried to struggle, but it was useless. Using brute force the tramps almost pitched him inside, and Harry followed in a similar manner. Then the tramp with the red beard set up the broken-down door before the opening and stood on guard with a club in his hand.
CHAPTER II
THE DUGANS TO THE RESCUE
It was a situation which no boy would care to confront, and as Joe and Harry looked from one brutal face to another, their hearts sank within them. They could see at a glance that the tramps were among the worst of their class and would hesitate at little or nothing to accomplish their ends.
To one side of the barn, where the flooring had rotted away, a fire was burning, the smoke drifting forth through a broken-out window and the numerous holes in the roof. Beside the fire lay the remains of two chickens, which the tramps had probably stolen from some farmer’s hen-roost. Three soda water bottles were also on the floor, but there was no telling what they had contained, since all were empty. But as the breath of each tramp smelt strongly of liquor, it is safe to say that the bottles had contained – at least one of them – something stronger than a temperance drink.
“See here, you haven’t any right to treat us in this fashion,” said Joe, as soon as he could recover from the attack which had been made upon him.
“You ain’t got no right to call us thieves,” was the answer, and the speaker leered in a knowing manner at his fellows.
“That’s it,” spoke up another of the tramps. “It’s a downright insult to honest men like us.”
“Thet’s wot it is,” came from the third tramp. “Boys, yer ought to ’polergize.”
“I want you to let us go,” went on Joe.
“Right away,” put in Harry. “If you don’t – ”
“If we don’t, – what?” demanded the tramp who stood guard with the club.
“It may be the worse for you, that’s all.”
At this all three of the tramps set up a low laugh. Then the fellow at the doorway called one of the others to his side and whispered something in his ear.
“Dat’s all right, Noxy; but I don’t care to go until I see wot we strike,” answered the man addressed.
“Oh, you’ll get your fair share, Stump,” was the answer, but Stump refused to leave even when urged a second time.
“Say, just you tell us wot time it is,” put in the other tramp, who went by the name of Muley. He had noticed that Joe carried a watch – a silver affair, given to him by his father on his last birthday.
“It’s time you let us go,” answered Joe. He understood perfectly well what the fellow was after.
He had scarcely spoken when Muley stepped forward and grabbed the watch chain. The watch came with it, and despite Joe’s clutch for his property it was quickly transferred to the tramp’s possession.
“Give me that watch!”
“They are nothing but robbers!” burst out Harry. “Joe, let us get out right away!”
Unable to pass the tramp at the doorway, Harry made for one of the barn windows, and feeling it would be useless to argue just then about the timepiece, Joe followed his brother.
“Hi, stop ’em!” roared Stump. “Don’t let ’em get away!”
Instantly all three of the tramps went after the two lads. Muley was the quickest of the number and in a trice he had placed himself in front of the window.
“Not so fast!” he sang out. “We want what you have in your pockets first!”
Cut off from escape by the window, the two boys turned around. They now saw that the doorway was unguarded, and ran for the opening with all speed. Harry reached the door first and tumbled it aside, and both ran into the open.
“Stop!” yelled Noxy. “Stop, or we’ll fix ye!” And then, his foot catching in a loose board of the flooring, he pitched headlong, and Stump and Muley came down on top of him.
“Run, Harry, run, or they’ll catch us sure!” cried Joe.
Harry needed no urging, and in a minute the two lads were on the roadway once again and running harder than they had ever done in any footrace. For the moment they forgot how tired they had been, and fear possibly gave them additional strength.
“Ar – are the – they coming?” panted Harry, after quarter of a mile had been covered.
“I don’t – don’t know!” puffed his brother. “Do – don’t se – see anything of ’em.”
“What mean rascals, Joe!”
“Yes, they ought to be in jail!”
The boys continued to run, but as nobody appeared to be following they gradually slackened their pace and at length came to a halt.
“Joe, I’m almost ready to drop.”
“So am I, but we had better not stop here. Let us keep on until we reach some farmhouse. I’m going to get back my watch and chain if I can.”
“And