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Pony Rider Boys on the Blue Ridge

<h3>CHAPTER XXIV</h3> <h3>CONCLUSION</h3> Day was dawning when the two, after a trying journey, reached the cabin of the ranger. Tad uttered a long drawn "Hoo-o-o-o-e-e-e," which brought Jim Coville to the door of his cabin. He recognized Dunkan at once, and invited the two in. Jim had another guest, a man who was introduced as Rodman, and whom Tad Butler decided was a very keen, resourceful man. The callers, when they said they had something of importance that they wished to say to Coville in private, were informed that they might speak freely before Rodman. Tad then told his story, watching and noting its effect on Rodman. He saw that worthy start when he mentioned the sparking up near the tree tops. "Young man," cried Rodman after Tad had finished, "you have done a big thing, and for which you have earned and will receive the thanks of the United States Government. I am Dave Rodman, United States Secret Service, and I am here to find a supposed, or rather suspected, gang of swindlers in these mountains. I have covered the Ridge and I have found nothing. Your eyes and your scent were keener than mine. What is your plan?" "That we go there in force tonight." "I'll have to send for help. That will take nearly two days." "I reckon you will have all the help you need," spoke up Jim Dunkan. "There are four in my party and there's five of the Pony Rider outfit. I'll stake that crowd against any twenty men in these mountains. You turn these boys loose on their own hook and they'll bring back every one of these traitors, dead or alive—probably alive." "I am inclined to agree with you," replied the Secret Service man after a brief consideration of the subject, during which he regarded Tad Butler shrewdly. "If the others are from the same piece that you are, young man, I don't need any other assistance. I will go with you now." "No, that will not be wise," objected Tad. "You must not be seen in our company or you will frighten away the men you are after. If I may offer a suggestion, keep under cover right here until after dark, then take the trail for our camp. I will start out early in the evening and get on the trail of the gang, meeting you at a certain agreed-upon point, where you will go with my party. I shall then know what to tell you about the situation." "All right. I'll be there at nine o'clock. Thank you," he added, rising and giving Tad's hand a quick, firm pressure. Coville made his visitors sit down and have breakfast with him before they started out on their return journey. They left him about nine o'clock that morning. Reaching their camp, Tad, saying that he was too sleepy to talk, turned in for a long sleep, from which he awakened about four o'clock in the afternoon. He then detailed to his companions what his plans were, and named an hour and place where he would meet them that evening, then, shouldering his rifle, the boy sauntered from the camp as if he were out to hunt game for his outfit, and was seen no more that day. It was eleven o'clock at night when the mournful hoot of an owl in a gulch about half a mile from Stillman's cabin brought an answering hoot, after a proper interval. A few moments later the party of Pony Riders and prospectors, headed by Dave Rodman, were startled to see Tad Butler standing before them. Though they knew he was to meet them at that point, he had slipped in among them so cleverly that it seemed as if he had suddenly grown out of the ground. "You're a wonder," complimented Rodman. "What is the news?" "Your men are at the wireless station right now, and some hours before they were supposed to be there. There are five of them. Beach is with them. It is to be their last meeting at the cabin, for they seem to have discovered that they are being looked for, and propose to make a getaway to-night." "Who are the other three?" demanded Rodman sharply. "Besides Beach, there are Smoke Griffin and the wireless man, whose name is Hans Gruber, and one other. I think we had better be going or we may be too late," suggested Tad. Dave Rodman uttered an exclamation under his breath. "I reckon you're right," agreed the Secret Service man. "For your information I will tell you that I have heard of Gruber before. He was under suspicion of being a German spy during the war, and was one of three men who blew up a munition factory in a certain place. The others were caught, but Gruber got away. Uncle Sam is still looking for him. Shall we move?" "Yes," answered Tad. "I suggest that we go cautiously and keep quiet. All ready." In due time Tad halted at the point where he and Ned had first discovered the cabin. He directed his companions to wait there while he did a little investigating. Rodman was willing to leave the arrangements to Butler, realizing that the lad was keen, and that, knowing the ground, he would be likely to avoid pitfalls. Tad returned half an hour later. "The men are all in the cabin," he said. "They aren't working the wireless tonight, but they are working their jaws, at times having quite a heated discussion over the division of the funds. They expect a victim to come up here tomorrow with one of their fellows, to buy that salted-down gold mine, but they aren't going to wait for him. There is a light in the cabin. You can't see it from here because they have hung a blanket over the window." "Do you know if the wireless plant is in the cabin?" questioned Rodman. "No, sir, it is under the cabin," answered Tad promptly. "The aerials are now down and all traces of the plant above ground have been removed." "Huh! Anything else?" "There is a burglar alarm wire surrounding the cabin. I'll tell you when you get to it. Be careful that you do not stumble over it." Rodman was amazed. "Wait a moment," he said. "If you have a plan I should like to hear it before we proceed. Perhaps I may not approve of it." "Yes, sir, I was about to suggest it. There is only one door in the cabin, and that is on this side. There is one window at the rear. Two men should get within easy range of that window, so they can plainly see any person who attempts to go out through it. The rest of the party should line up in front with rifles at ready, a little ahead of the others." "And what will you be doing?" demanded the government officer. "Oh, I am going in to demand their surrender." "Quiet now. Every man on the alert," ordered Rodman. "Take positions." Ned and Ellison were assigned to guard the window exits, while the others were placed in open order in a curving line about the front of the cabin. "Ready, Butler?" For answer Tad stepped forward cautiously, halting when close to the cabin, to look back at his support. He nodded, and walking up to the door, placed an ear against it. All eyes out there were upon the slender figure of the Pony Rider Boy faintly outlined against the cabin. Finally Tad waved a hand to indicate that he was ready. He tried the door and found that it was not locked. Slipping his revolver from its holster Tad gently pushed the door open, so gently in fact that those within evidently thought a mountain breeze was responsible. Butler was at one side of the door now, and was unseen by those in the cabin. His purpose was to give Dave Rodman a good view of the interior. "Great guns but that boy is a cool one!" muttered Tom Royal. Stillman sprang up and strode towards the door. His hand was upon it when all at once the muzzle of a revolver was pushed firmly against his stomach. The others in the cabin did not see what had occurred, but it was plain that they understood something was wrong. "Put out the light!" yelled Stillman, springing back. "You are surrounded. Give in before all of you are shot!" retorted Butler. He fired a shot into the floor of the cabin, and almost at the same instant a volley of revolver shots answered his own, but Tad, crouching low, was unhit. He then fired a little higher, hoping to catch a leg. He did. The leg belonged to Stillman, as Tad knew by the yell that followed. "Do you surrender?" called Butler, dodging to one side again. The answer was a volley of shots from the inside. "Give them a low volley. Look out, you fellows behind the cabin," ordered Tad. The volley came at about the instant that Tad threw himself on the ground. During the remaining few minutes the men in the cabin fired rapidly at the flashes of the rifles out there, but with poor results. Stacy Brown got a bullet through an arm—that is, it grazed the skin—because he decided that he could shoot better standing up. Chunky yelled that he was "shotted," but no one paid any attention to him. Professor Zepplin was blazing away, while Ned and Royal lay flat on their stomachs back of the cabin, narrowly watching the window. Their patience was rewarded a few minutes later when the window, sash and all, burst out and a human being tumbled out. He scrambled to his feet. "Halt. Drop your gun!" commanded Royal. Instead the fellow ran. Royal brought him down with a bullet in the leg. "Don't move. You are a dead man if you get up!" warned Ned. "If the bullets from the officers don't get you, one of ours will. I know you. You're Smoky Griffin and we've got you dead to rights this time, you miserable scoundrel. You won't do any more bluffing on this range for a long time to come, I reckon." "Why not set fire to the cabin and smoke them out?" cried Walter Perkins. "No, no, no," returned the Professor. "We must not destroy the evidence. Tad knows what to do and he is doing it bravely, like the man he is." "Cease firing!" shouted Tad Butler. "They are asking for quarter." "What do you wish us to do?" demanded Joe Batts. "Lay down your arms and come out one by one. Don't try to go out by the rear window. I reckon one of your cayuses who tried it is lying on his back out there now." "Come and get us!" howled a voice from within the cabin. "All right, we'll come and get you, but first we'll give you some volleys to put you in a more humble frame of mind. Low ball!" answered Rodman. Once more Tad, who had risen, threw himself down, and the rifles of his party banged away at the cabin, the front of which was by this time thoroughly perforated with bullet holes. "We give in. Stop shooting!" called someone in the cabin. "Cease firing!" commanded Rodman. "Stillman out first. Leave your guns in the cabin!" Stillman dragged himself slowly out. One leg would not bear his weight. "Over there," directed Tad, waving a hand toward his companions. "Mr. Dunkan, here is the man who killed your dog. Hans, come out here. Be quick about it!" A bespectacled, thin, studious-appearing man staggered out and collapsed on the ground. "Batts and Beach now!" The two crawled out on all fours. Both had been wounded in the legs. "Smoky Griffin." "He went out through the window," groaned Batts. "Ned, have you got Smoky?" "You bet." "That's all, then. No one else in there, is there, Batts?" "Go find out if you want to know," growled the mountaineer. "All right, I will." Tad swept the interior of the cabin with a flash light that he had brought along, and found that all of the men were out. "Gather them in, Mr. Rodman. All clear within." With a yell the Pony Rider Boys and the prospectors sprang forward and a few moments later the prisoners, whose wounds Professor Zepplin had dressed, were securely bound. Smoky was attended to by Ned Rector. An examination was then made of the cabin. In the cellar were found a gasoline engine with which the dynamo was operated, and a powerful wireless outfit. Papers which proved to be of great value to the government agent also were found in a secret compartment under the cellar floor. At the direction of the Secret Service man, for reasons known to himself, the plant was left as it was for the time being. Early the following morning the prisoners were loaded on ponies, and the long journey to the railroad station was begun. On the way to the station, Beach, a cowardly fellow, was induced to make a confession, through which the government agents were enabled to telegraph on for the arrest of the men higher up in the nefarious scheme, which might have made millions for its originators. This crime syndicate had its agents in many cities, where victims were selected and sent to the mountains to be fleeced. Ahead of them went the wireless messages giving full details and directions to the men that the Pony Rider Boys had discovered on the Ridge. Most of the principals in the scheme were arrested, though the leading figure, if there was one, was never captured nor even identified. Following the clearing up of the mystery of the mountains, the Pony Rider Boys resumed their adventuring until the time came for them to head their ponies northward. The Riders were going home, going regretfully, too, with a year of hard work before them, but to be heard from again in a series of delightful as well as exciting experiences. The story of these will be related in a following volume entitled, "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW ENGLAND; Or, An Exciting Quest in the Maine Wilderness." <h3>THE END</h3> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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