[Illustration: "Say" Cried Frank, "That's a child's face up there!"]

The Boy Scout Camera Club

or

The Confession of a Photograph

By

Scout Master G. Harvey Ralphson

CHAPTER

 I LOST: A FOREIGN PRINCE!

 II THE HOLE IN THE ATTIC FLOOR

 III WHAT THE BOX CONTAINED

 IV A CAMP IN THE MOUNTAIN

 V JIMMIE AND TEDDY MISS A MEAL

 VI SIGNALS IN THE CANYON

 VII A MINT IN THE MOUNTAINS

 VIII UNCLE IKE PRESENTS HIMSELF

 IX A LANK MULE AS A DECOY

 X "PACKED AWAY LIKE SARDINES"

 XI JACK'S ELEGANT CHICKEN PIE

 XII THE BLACK HAND GAME

 XIII THREE DAYS TO MOVE IN

 XIV POINTING OUT THE TRAIL

 XV A NIGHT ON THE SUMMIT

 XVI THE CALL OF THE PACK

 XVII JUST A LITTLE DARK WASH

XVIII BRADLEY BECOMES INDIGNANT

 XIX NED PLAYS THE MIND-READER

 XX SHOOTING ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE

 XXI TOLD BY THE PICTURES

 XXII A RECRUIT FROM THE ENEMY

XXIII RACING MOTORS ON THE WAY

 XXIV THE MAN-TRAP IS SET

 XXV THE CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH

The Boy Scout Camera Club

or

The Confession of a Photograph

CHAPTER I

LOST: A FOREIGN PRINCE!

"Two Black Bears!"

"Two Wolves!"

"Three Eagles!"

"Five Moose!"

"Quite a mixture of wild creatures to be found in a splendid clubroomin the city of New York!" exclaimed Ned Nestor, a handsome, muscularboy of seventeen. "How many of these denizens of the forests areready to join the Boy Scout Camera Club?"

"You may put my name down twice--in red ink!" shouted Jimmie McGraw, of the Wolf Patrol. "I wouldn't miss it to be president of the UnitedStates!"

"One Wolf, " Ned said, writing the name down. 

"Two Wolves!" cried Jimmie, red-headed, freckled of face and asactive as a red squirrel, "two wolves! You're a Wolf yourself, NedNestor!"

"Two Wolves, then!" laughed Ned. "Of course Jimmie and I can form aclub all by ourselves, and he can be the officers and I can be themembers, but we'd rather have a menagerie of large size, as we aregoing into the mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee. "

The boys who had not yet spoken were on their feet in an instant, allclamoring for membership in the Boy Scout Camera Club. Ned lifted ahand for silence. 

"Why this present rush?" he asked. "I've been thinking that Jimmieand I would have to go to the mountains alone! Why this impetuosity?"

"The mountains!" shouted Frank Shaw, of the Black Bear Patrol. "It isthe mountains that get us! We've been thinking that the club you wereorganizing wouldn't get outside of little old New York, but wouldloaf around taking snap-shots of the slums and the trees in theparks. But when you mention mountains, why--"

"I'm going right down stairs and pack my camera!" Jack Bosworth, ofthe Black Bear Patrol, declared. "When it comes to mountains!"

The clubroom of the Black Bear Patrol was on the top floor of thehandsome residence of Jack's father, who was a famous corporationlawyer, and the boys persuaded Jack to wait until they had completedthe organization of the Camera Club before he started in packing forthe journey to the mountains!

"You'll want an Eagle, if you're going to the mountains!" shoutedTeddy Green, of the Eagle Patrol. "I'll fly home and get my wardroberight now!"

Teddy Green was the son of a Harvard professor, and was inclined tofollow in the footsteps of his father in the matter of learning--after he had first climbed to all the high spots of the world anddescended into all the low ones! He insisted on exploring the earthbefore he learned by rote what others had written about it!

"All right!" Ned grinned. "We'll need an Eagle!"

"And a Bull Moose!" yelled Oliver Yentsch, of the Moose Patrol. "You've got to have a Moose along with you!"

Oliver was the son of a ship builder, and had a launch and a yacht ofhis own. He was liked by all his associates in spite of his tendencyto grumble at trifles. However, if he complained at small things, hemet large troubles with a smile on his bright face. He now seizedTeddy about the waist and waltzed around the room with him. 

"And that's all!" Ned decided, closing the book. "We can't take morethan six. "

A wail went up from the others, but they were promised a chance atthe next "hike" into the hills, and soon departed, leaving the sixmembers of the Camera Club to perfect arrangements for theirdeparture. It was a warm May night, still Ned closed the door leadingout into the wide corridor which ran through the house on that floor. 

"We can't afford to take others into our plans, " he said, "for thisis to be another Secret Service expedition. "

"For the Government?" demanded Frank Shaw. "Then, " he added, withoutwaiting for a reply, "I'll call up dad's editorial rooms and have areporter sent up here. Top of column, first page, illustrated! That'sour Camera Club in the morning newspaper!"

Frank's father was owner and editor of one of the big New Yorkdailies, and the boy always took along, on his trips, plenty of blankpaper for "copy, " but never sent in a line! His letters to hisfather's newspaper were usually addressed to the financialdepartment, upon which he had permission to draw at will!

"Huh!" Jimmie commented, wrinkling his freckled nose, "if you shouldever furnish an item for your daddy's newspaper he'd never live itdown! You've been on all our trips with Ned, and never wired in aword!"

The Boy Scouts of the Black Bear and Wolf Patrols had been throughmany exciting experiences with Ned Nestor, who, young as he was, wasoften in the employ of the Secret Service department of the UnitedStates government. Frank, as Jimmie said, had been with Ned from thestart, and had never sent in a line of "copy" for the paper. 

"I'm going to furnish a column a day this trip!" Frank declared, making a motion to seize Jimmie. "We're going to take pictures, aren't we? We'll take 'em by the acre, and dad's newspaper is goingto catch every one of them. "

"Huh!" Jimmie declared, with a freckled nose in the air. "I'm anewspaper man, too. You needn't think you're the only cherry in thepie! I used to sell newspapers before I got into the Secret Servicewith Ned!"

From his earliest years Jimmie had indeed been a newsboy on theBowery. He had never had a home except that provided by himself, andthis, in the early days of his life, had as often been a box orbarrel in an alley as anything else. 

"Why the mountains?" asked Frank Shaw, presently. "Do you have to goto the hills on this trip? I'm glad if you do, of course, but I'dlike to know something about it before we start. Dad will have to beshown this time, I reckon! He thinks we rather _overdid_ the stuntwhen we went to Lady Franklin bay!"

"Never had so much fun in my life!" laughed Jimmie. "When you getwhere it is forty below, there's some delight in living!"

"What are we going to take pictures of?" demanded Teddy Green. 

"Moonshiners!" laughed Frank. "Isn't that right, Ned?"

"Not exactly, " was the answer. "This is not a whisky case at all. "

"Counterfeiters, then?" queried Oliver. "They live in the hills!"

"No, not counterfeiters, either, " Ned replied. "The government hasplenty of men to look after counterfeiters and moonshiners. All we'vegot to do is to go into the mountains and take pictures, and keep oureyes open. "

"Open for what?" insisted Jimmie. "My peepers will be open for avenison steak about the first thing! You remember how fine thevenison steaks were up in British Columbia? That Columbia river tripwas some exciting! What?"

"Well, " Ned began, "you all know that I'm in the Secret Service, foryou've been with me, some of you, at Panama, in China, and under theocean, so we'll let the details go without explanation. I'm going tothe mountains to look after a precious package stolen fromWashington--from almost under the eyes of the president--three daysago!"

"Papers?" asked Jimmie. "You know we went to Lady Franklin bay afterpapers. "

"And they think the mountaineers stole this package?" asked Oliver. 

"Tell us what it was that was taken first!" insisted Frank. "I'mbeginning to see a front-page story in this, right now!"

"The package stolen, " Ned went on, with a smile, "was more preciousthan any bundle of papers could be! It wasn't of gold, silver, diamonds, or anything possessing that kind of value. It was of fleshand blood!"

"A child stolen!" cried Frank. "This goes to dad's sheet right now!"

"Boy or girl?" asked Oliver. "Age, please!"

"Boy, " answered Ned. "A boy belonging to one of the ambassadors! Ageseven!"

"But why should the mountaineers steal such a child?" asked Jimmie. 

"I said the boy belonged to one of the ambassadors, " Ned correctedhimself. "I should have said he belonged at one of the foreignembassies. "

"The son of one of the attaches?" asked Teddy. "That's strange! Why?"

"Teddy, " reproved Jimmie, "you can ask more questions in a minutethan a motion picture machine can take in a hundred years. "

"The stolen boy is in no ways related to any one in this country, "Ned answered, "yet his safety is of the utmost importance. It is upto us to find him. "

"But why should the mountain men make a grab at a kid?" insistedJimmie. "I've asked that question numerous times now, " he added, witha wrinkled nose. 

"It is not believed that the mountain men know anything about thematter, " Ned replied. "No one suspects them of taking the child. Mountain men are not up to that sort of thing, as a rule. They willmake moonshine--some of them will--and may hide a counterfeiter, butthey don't steal children!"

"Then who did steal him?" asked Frank. "Don't be so mysterious. "

"I want the matter to sink deep into your alleged minds!" was Ned'ssmiling rejoinder, "and that is the reason I'm drawing theexplanation out. It is thought the boy was stolen by some one whocame over the sea to do the job--some one never before in thiscountry. "

"I twig!" Jimmie declared, skipping about the room. "The stolen boyis next of succession to some measly old throne! What? And he wassent out here to get him out of the zone of danger, and now he's beennipped?"

The boys looked at Ned with redoubled interest. It had beeninteresting, the very idea of going into the mountains in quest of anabducted child, but the thought of going after a boy who would oneday be a king! That was exciting indeed!

"I can't tell you who the boy is. " Ned went on, "but I can tell youthat he must be found! The Secret Service men at Washington have apretty good idea as to who got him, and they believe the criminalsare not above committing the crime of murder. In a certain sense, this boy is in the way in the old country!"

"Oh, they wouldn't kill a kid like that!" Jimmie asserted. 

"Wouldn't they?" demanded Teddy Green. "If you read up on history, you'll soon find out whether ambitious men will murder children whostand in their way! I half believe the boy was murdered at the verymoment he was taken!"

"He has been seen alive since that time, " Ned responded. "This isThursday. He was taken on Monday, and was seen yesterday. Or a boybelieved to be the prince was seen yesterday, on a launch on thePotomac river. "

"Prince, eh?" cried Frank. "It is a prince, is it? Say, but won't dadbe glad to hear about this? I'd like to write the headlines!"

"We may as well call him the prince, " Ned laughed. 

Before more could be said, a servant knocked at the door and Jackopened it so as to look out. In a moment he turned back inside with aflushed face. 

"Say, boys, " he said, "there's something strange going on hereto-night!"

CHAPTER II

THE HOLE IN THE ATTIC FLOOR

Ned sprang to his feet in an instant and beckoned Jack to one side. The others gathered around, but Ned motioned them back. 

"Let us find out exactly what Jack means before any remarks aremade, " he said. 

"Well, " Jack began, almost in a whisper, "the servant who came to thedoor said--"

"Wait a moment!" Ned requested. "Let us get this at first hand. Isthe servant you refer to still out in the corridor? Look and see. "

Jack opened the door an inch and looked out. 

"Yes, " he reported, facing Ned, with the door still ajar, "he isstill there. "

"Then ask him to come in here, " Ned suggested, "and you, boys, " headded, turning to the wondering faces at the other side of theapartment, "you get as close as you wish while this man is talking, but don't interrupt. It may be that we shall have to do somethingright soon. I reckon our hunt for the prince starts right here, inthe Black Bear Patrol clubroom, in the heart of little old New York. "

The servant Jack had beckoned to now entered the room and stood withhis back to the door, looking from one boyish face to another. He wasa heavily built, muscular fellow, evidently an Irishman, judging fromhis face and manner. 

"Will you kindly come over here and sit down?" Ned asked. 

The servant complied and the others gathered around him. 

"Now, " Jack began, "tell Ned what you just told me--about the man inthe attic, and about the hole in the ceiling. "

Every eye in the room was instantly turned toward the lofty ceiling, but nothing out of the ordinary was to be seen there. 

"The hole he refers to, " Jack, smiling, explained, "is not in sight. It is under the ornamental brass piece that circles the rod fromwhich the chandelier hangs. It was made to listen at, and not to seethrough, I take it!"

"That makes a good starter, " Ned smiled, "so go on. "

"Half an hour ago, " the servant began, "I was called to this floor byone of the maids, Mary Murphy it was, and she was that scared shelooked like a bag of flour! She pointed to the staircase leading tothe attic and asked me to go up there. 

"So I says to her: 'Why do you want me to go up there? If there's ahaunt there, or a burglar, or a man after one of the girls, whyshould I risk the precious neck of me, when it's the only one I'vegot, with no prospect of ever getting another in case this one wasdamaged beyond repair?' So she says to me, she says--"

"Never mind what she said, " Ned interrupted, fearful of a long, involved dialogue between the two servants. "Tell me what you did. "

"I went up the staircase, three steps at a jump, an' bumped the headof me on the edge of the door at the top of it. You can see the dentin my coco now!"

"And what did you find there?" asked Ned. 

"There was a rug on the floor and a hole in the floor, and a twinkleof light shining into the attic from this room. Some one had beenlistening there!"

"You saw no one?"

"Never a soul! I'm that sorry I can't express it!"

"When were you in that attic before--the last time before to-night?"

"Late yesterday afternoon it was. "

"Was there a rug in the middle of the floor at that time?" Ned wenton. 

"No more than there is a bold lion in the middle of this floor, sir. "

"Well, what did you do after you got up there to-night?"

"I hunted around for the man who had been lying there listening tothe talk in this room, but I didn't find him, sir. "

"Did you ascertain where all the servants were at the time thelistening must have been going on?" asked Jack, after a short pause. 

"All but one, " was the reply. 

"And that one? Where is he now? That is, tell, if you know where heis?"

"I don't know, sir. He has left the house, I reckon--bag andbaggage. "

"Who was it?" demanded Jack, moving toward the door. 

"Chang Chu, the Chink, may the Evil One get into his bed!"

"And then you came here and notified Jack?" asked Ned. "As soon asyou learned that Chang Chu was not in the house?"

"Indeed I did--within a minute and a half. "

"Where is this girl, Mary Murphy?" asked Ned, turning to Jack. "Wemust get hold of her right away. I want to hear her story of what shesaw in the attic. "

Jack went out of the room, but was back in a minute with the girl, apretty, modest maid of about eighteen. She looked frightened atfinding herself the center of interest, but was soon in the midst ofher story. 

"I went up to the attic to get a piece of cloth for a bandage, Sallyhaving cut her hand with the bread knife. When I got to the door ofthat room I heard some one inside of it. I listened at the crackthere is between the panel and the stile and heard footsteps, slowand soft like. I thought it was one of the maids, and opened the doorquick, so as to give her a scare. "

The girl paused and wiped her face with a white apron bordered withpink. 

"Go on, " Ned requested. "Tell us what you saw in the attic. "

"It wasn't much, sir, " was the agitated answer. "I saw just a flashof dark blue, coming at me like the lightning express, and then I waskeeled over--just as if I had been a bag of meal, sir!"

"He bunted into you, did he?" asked Jack. "Who was it?"

"Indeed I don't know, sir, " was the reply. "It was dim in the room, there being only the light from the hall as I opened the door. Thenhe came at me with such a bunt that it took the breath out of mebody!"

"And what followed?" asked Ned. 

"She wint down f'r the count!" chuckled the servant who had beenfirst questioned. 

"I did not!" was the indignant retort. "When I got up the man wasstill on the stairs leading to this floor, and I picked up the greatshears which had tumbled out of me hand and heaved thim at him. I hadbrought the shears up to cut a bandage, sir. "

"Did you hit him?" asked Jack with a smile. "Where are the shears?"

"I never went back after them!" answered the girl. "I'll go thisminute. "

"Wait, " Ned said, "and I'll get them. Now, you say you saw a bluestreak coming at you, head-on! Who wears blue clothes around thehouse?"

"Chang Chu, the Chink, sir. "

"You saw him dressed in blue to-day?" asked Ned. 

"All in blue he was!" the male servant interrupted, "with his shirton the outside of his trousers, like the bloody heathen he is. "

"And so you looked for him and failed to find him on the premises?"asked Jack. 

"He's gone, bag and baggage, " answered Terance, the coachman. "Badluck to him!"

"Still, you don't really know that it was the Chinaman?" asked Ned. 

"He was dressed like the Chink, " was the reply. "He smelled like asaloon!"

"Does the Chinaman drink?" asked Ned, facing Terance. "Does he getdrunk?"

"He does not, " was the reply. "He doesn't know the taste of goodliquor!"

"That's all, " Ned concluded. "Now you two keep on looking for theChinaman. He may be hiding in the house, or he may be at some of thedens such people frequent. You, Mary, look for him in the house, andyou, Terance, see if you can learn where he usually went when he leftthe house. "

"Pell street!" cried Jimmie. "Look in Pell street!"

"Or Doyers!" Jack exclaimed. "Look in the dumps in Doyers street. "

The two went away, forgetting all about the shears which Mary hadhurled at the mysterious man she had caught in the attic. Asking theboys to remain where they were, Ned went out to the staircase andsecured the article. Taking it carefully by the handle, he returnedto the room and held up one blade. 

Jack looked at the blade casually at first, then cried out that therewas blood on it, and that Mary had speared the sneak. 

"Yes, " Ned explained, "there is blood on it. Mary hit the fellow onthe head with this blade. What else do you see on the steel?" heasked with a smile. 

Jimmie looked and backed away in disgust. His freckled face wasthrust out of the door for an instant, and they heard him calling toMary, who, being in the kitchen, beyond sound of his voice, did notrespond. 

"What do you want of Mary?" demanded Jack. "Shall I call her?"

"She said it was the Chink, didn't she?" the boy asked. "Or, she saidit was a man dressed like the Chink? Well, it wasn't the Chink. "

Ned laughed and looked at the boy admiringly. 

"How do you know that?" he asked. "Why are you so sure it was not theChink?"

Jimmie looked up into Ned's face with a provoking grin. 

"You know just as well as I do that it wasn't the Chink, " he said. "Just you look on that blade again! Ever see a Chink with light brownhair?"

"Now, what do you think of that?" roared Jack. "Sometimes this boy, Jimmie, seems to me to be possessed of almost human intelligence!" The lads gathered closer around the shears, one blade of which Nedwas still holding out for inspection. There was the blood, and therewas the long, blonde hair!

"Hit him on the belfry!" Jimmie grinned. "Knocked off a shingle andbrought away a piece of it! Now, why did the Chink run away? That'swhat I'd like to know!"

"Where did the man get the Chink's dress?" asked Oliver. "That's whatyou'd better be asking? Why did the Chink let him in and then loanhim the dress?"

"I rather think that's why the Chinaman ran away!" laughed Ned. "Youboys seem to have reasoned it all out. He might have let the sneak inand then let him have some of his own clothes to wear! And that willmake trouble for us!"

"Do you think the fellow heard about the Camera Club trip, and theobject of it?" asked Oliver. "If he was scared away half an hour agohe didn't learn much, for we hadn't begun to talk much about it atthat time!"

"He may not have heard anything important, " Ned replied, "but thefact that he was sent here to listen is significant! Some one inWashington knows that we have been chosen to search the mountains forthe prince! Some one knows that we are going out as an innocent-looking Boy Scout Camera Club, but really to find the boy. Now, whatwill that person do to the Camera Club, after we get out into themountains?"

"The question in my mind, " Jimmie broke in, "is what we shall do tohim!"

"I'm sorry the information about our going leaked out, " Ned said, gravely. "As boy snapshot friends we might have been able to dothings which the Secret Service men could not do. No one would paymuch attention to a group of boys roaming over the mountains. But nowI'm afraid our investigations will be all in the limelight!"

"Tell you what, " Jimmie cut in, "suppose we find the Chink and makehim point out the man who was in the house--listening?"

CHAPTER III

WHAT THE BOX CONTAINED

"All right, " Oliver encouraged. "Let's go out and make a throw atfinding him, anyway! He may be in the garage, or the carriage houseright this minute. "

Jimmie and Oliver rushed away to find Terance, the coachman, andundertake the search suggested, while Ned, Jack, Frank and Teddy satat the open windows looking out on the street. 

"Chang Chu was at liberty to go into the attic at any time?" askedNed, tentatively. 

"Oh, yes, " Jack answered, "the other servants sent him about onerrands. He is a handy man about the premises--or was, rather. "

"Is he a man to do such a thing as we are accusing him of?" Ned thenasked. 

"I never thought so, " was the puzzled reply. "I hope you don't thinkthat he was beaten up by the man who secured his blue clothes! Thatwould be tough on the fellow. "

"I have been thinking of that, " Ned responded, "and while the boysare looking for the Chinaman in the outbuildings suppose we look forhim in the upper part of the house. "

"But if the sneak could get into the upper part of the house withoutthe use of the disguise, " reasoned Jack, "he wouldn't need it at all, would he?"

"He might have been surprised while at work by the Chinaman, " Nedsuggested. "In that case he might have taken the clothes as anafterthought. Suppose we look and see?"

Leaving Frank and Teddy sitting by the window, looking out on aperfect May night, Ned and Jack climbed the staircase to the atticand entered the room directly over the Black Bear Patrol clubroom. Itwas a large room, more of a storeroom than an attic, with a hardwoodfloor and papered walls and ceiling. 

A great sack upon which clothing and odds and ends of alldescriptions were hanging stood at the south end of the apartment, while a long row of boxes and packing trunks occupied the floor atthe north end. The rug, which had been thrown down on the floor nearthe hole bored through a plank, was still there where the servantshad seen it. The listener had, at least, a good notion of personalcomfort!

"Where was this rug taken from?" asked Ned. 

"It was on the rack the last time I saw it, " Jack answered. 

"Was it clean at that time?" Ned continued, examining the rug with aglass. 

"What do you mean by clean? It was dusty, of course, like everythingelse here. "

"Were there any stains on it--stains like blood?" Ned went on, dragging the rug under the electric lights which had been switchedon. 

"Why, of course not. It was originally in the little den off thelibrary, but father became tired of it and told Terance to bring ithere. "

"How long ago was that?"

"Oh, a month or two. I can't be exact as to the date, you know. "

Ned handed his chum the glass and indicated a certain portion of therug. 

"What do you call that?" he asked. "What does it look like?"

"It looks like a spot of blood, " Jack declared. "And it is wet, too!What do you make of this, Ned? Was Chang Chu attacked and killed bythat sneak thief?"

"That is for us to find out, " Ned answered. "At the present moment, it looks as if Chang Chu wouldn't be found on Pell or Doyers street. What is there is those boxes--the large ones sitting against thewall?"

"About everything, I take it. I never looked into them. Why?"

"We may as well see what they contain, " Ned replied, advancing to thelargest box and throwing up the cover. "What do you think now?" heasked, as a huddled figure stirred in the box and opened a pair ofsuffering eyes. "This is the Chink, I suppose?"

Before Jack could reply, Ned had the man out of the box, with thecords cut from his hands and feet, the cruel gag removed from hismouth. His blue blouse was gone! Chang Chu tumbled over on the floorwhen Ned tried to stand him on his feet. There was a small cut on hishead. 

"Chang velly much bum!" he said, with his hands on his stomach. 

"Chang never forgets a word of slang, " Jack laughed. "He willremember the slang word for anything when he forgets the real word!What did they do to you, Chang?" he continued, addressing theChinaman. 

Chang pressed his hands to his nose significantly and dropped hishead back. 

"Chloroform!" Ned declared, sniffing at the contents of the box. 

The Chinaman could not describe the man who had attacked him. He hadbeen alone in the attic, putting away old clothes, when he had beenstruck and seized from behind by a man he described as a giant forstrength, stripped of his blouse, and lifted bodily into the box. There he had been bound, gagged and rendered unconscious by the useof the drug. 

"The man who did it, " mused Ned, "is an adept at crime, resourceful, daring. The chloroform would have attracted the attention of theservants at once if it had been administered in the open air. Thenhis taking the Chink's blouse as a disguise shows that he is quick totake advantage of his opportunities. A clever man. "

"And he left no clue!" Jack complained. "Just our luck, Ned!"

"All we know is that he is tall, has light brown hair, and is verystrong, " Ned replied. "But there are ten thousand people in New Yorkthis minute who answer to that description. "

"How do you know he is tall?" demanded Jack. 

"When he lay on the rug, " Ned explained, "he stretched out on hisstomach to look through the hole, if he could. He couldn't; he couldonly listen, for the cut was made so as to be hidden by theornamental brass piece that circles the rod from which the chandelierswings. The marks of his elbows and toes were on the soft fiber ofthe rug, showing him to be a man at least six feet tall. "

Ned walked over to the large box again and bent over it. 

"Crumbs!" he exclaimed, in a second. "Crumbs!"

"Then he must have brought a lunch up with him, " Jack exclaimedexcitedly. "There is no knowing how long he was here!"

"Some one in Washington has leaked!" Ned declared, angrily. 

"Why Washington?" demanded Jack. "Why not New York?"

"Because no one in this city knows about our being engaged to huntdown the abductor. My instructions have all come in cypher, and someof them have, as you know, been addressed to this house. And thereyou are!"

Chang Chu arose limply, rubbing a small wound in his head from whichblood had come, and tottered off toward the staircase. As he did so, Ned noticed that his pigtail was very black, very long, and verygreasy. 

"Did he take you by the cue?" asked the boy. "Did he pull your hair?"

"Velly much lough-neck pull--dam!" answered the Chinaman. 

Ned went back to the box where the Chink had been hidden and begantaking out the articles it held, slowly and one by one. 

"The cloth he poured the chloroform on must be here, " he said. "Hewould naturally throw it into the box before shutting down the cover, as there might still be enough of the drug in it to put the Chink tosleep. "

"Here it is, " Jack said, reaching into the box and lifting out a ragand smelling of it. "Here is the dope cloth, all right and prettystrong yet. "

"That's it, all right, " Ned answered. "A worn white handkerchief, eh?"

"Name or mark on it?" asked Jack, passing the cloth to Ned. 

"Nothing of the sort, " was the answer, "but there's something better. When the fellow pulled at the Chink's greasy pigtail he got his handsmeared with oil. Then he grasped this white cloth fiercely, andthere you are! See! The mark of the thumb couldn't be plainer if ithad been printed on. Observe the long cicatrice on the ball of thethumb? I'll take this down and photograph it. "

"Tall, strong, blonde, scar on the thumb!" laughed Jack. "We aregetting on. "

"It would be interesting to know how he got into the house, " Nedmused. 

"If we could only catch him and shut his mouth, " Jack muttered, "wewouldn't have such a rotten bad time in the mountains. "

"It is not what he knows, " Ned suggested. "It is what his master asWashington knows. We might put this chap under ten feet of earth, butthe opposition from Washington would go right on. "

"When was the child abducted?" asked Jack. "When and how?"

"He was taken from in front of the embassy early in the morning. Theambassador brought him out for a spin in his automobile and left himout in front a moment. When he went back to continue his morning ridethe automobile and the boy were nowhere to be seen! This was beforenine o'clock Monday morning. Yesterday, along about noon, the boy--ora lad very much resembling him--was seen by a lieutenant of infantryin a motor boat, speeding up the Potomac. "

"Why didn't he catch him, then?" asked Jack. 

"Because he did not know at that time that the prince had beenkidnapped. The authorities kept everything quiet! I presume theythought the thief didn't know that he had committed a crime, and wereafraid the newspapers would tell him about it!"

"Tell that to Frank!" laughed Jack. "He'll go up in the air!"

The boys found Jimmie and Oliver in the club-room when they wentdown. The garage and carriage house had been searched--in vain, ofcourse, for the boys had encountered the Chinaman on his way down tothe basement as they ascended the stairs, the elevator being closedfor the night. 

"I believe that Chink had something to do with it, all the same, "declared Jimmie. "He ought to be watched every minute of the time!"

"Now, here's another point I don't understand, " Jack said, going backto the conversation he had had with Ned in the attic. "Why do theauthorities think the boy has been taken to the mountains?"

"Because that would be a natural place for the thieves to hide, " Nedanswered. "The mountains are easily within reach of Washington, andthey are virtually inaccessible to known officers of the law--atleast so it is reported. The mountains run from central Pennsylvaniato central Alabama, a distance of about a thousand miles, and affordmany desirable hiding places. "

"Yes, and we're likely to get our crusts split down there!" Teddygrinned. "We will if they find out that we belong to the SecretService!"

"The Potomac river rises in West Virginia, " continued Ned, "and theprince may have been taken to the foothills in the launch he was seenin. "

"Are we going in a motor boat?" asked Jimmie. 

"We are going by rail as far as we can go, " Ned answered, "and thentake shank's horses for the wild country, with mules to tote thebaggage. In the eastern part of West Virginia, we are likely totravel forty miles without seeing a cabin. "

"Where do we get our eatings?" demanded Jimmie. "It makes me hungryto climb mountains. We'll have to have a relief expedition sent afterus if we don't get plenty of eatings, " he added, with a wink atTeddy. 

"Plenty of game up there, " Ned grinned. "Plenty of deer, turkeys, coon, rabbits, birds and bears! We can dodge the game laws! Also afew wildcats are reported to have been seen there. And there is saidto be plenty of moonshine in the caves, too. Oh, we'll have a sweetold vacation, boys. And we start tomorrow!"

CHAPTER IV

A CAMP IN THE MOUNTAINS

It was early June, and the members of the Boy Scout Camera Club werecamped on a mountain top in West Virginia. They had spent about twoweeks in making the trip to the point where they had establishedcamp. 

Three mules, divested of their burdens now, were "staked out" in alittle corral fragrant with grass down near the timber line. The tentthey had carried was a short distance below the summit, on theeastern slope, with packages and bags and boxes of provisions piledaround it. 

To the south lay Virginia, to the north, east and west stretched themountainous district of West Virginia. Far below them ran the NorthFork of the Potomac river. 

What they saw was a wild and lonely country, with more deer, wildturkeys, and raccoons than human beings. On their hard and frequentlydelayed journey in they had passed cabins, surrounded here and thereby rail fences, but there were none in sight from where they nowstood. 

The sun, a round ball of fire in the west, would be out of sight inhalf an hour, and then the desolate darkness of the mountains wouldsurround them. A wild turkey called to its mate in the distance, andsmall creatures of the air fluttered about, as if determined to knowwhat human beings were doing there, in their ordinarily safe retreat. 

The boys had visited Washington the day following the incidents atthe clubroom of the Black Bear Patrol, but had learned nothing ofimportance there. The launch in which the young prince had been seenhad been traced up the river to the vicinity of Cumberland, but therethe trail had ended. 

"It is a case of needle-in-the-haystack, " the Secret Service chiefhad said to Ned, on the morning of his departure for the mountains. "We have men looking over every inch of the large cities. We want youto rake those mountains with a fine-tooth comb! Personally, I believethat the prince is there. "

"But, " Ned had replied, "how are we to communicate with you in casewe require more definite instructions?"

"You know what Sherman did when he left Atlanta?" laughed the chief. 

"Why, he cut the wires, " returned Ned, "so as not to have hismovements hampered by orders from men who, not being on theground, could not possibly know as much as he did of what oughtto be done. "

"That is what I want you to do!" the chief continued. "Cut thewires. "

"But that is assuming a great responsibility, " urged the boy. 

"Very true, but I have an idea that you want to work in your own way, so go to it. A mess of lively boys running up and down the mountainsides looking for game and snap-shots ought not to arouse thesuspicion of the thieves if they are there. Make friends with themountain people if you can. They are naturally suspicious, but goodas gold at heart. "

That was his last talk with the chief. After that supplies had beenbought and transported by rail to the nearest point, and there themules had been bought and the difficult journey begun. They had justmade their first permanent camp. 

"I wouldn't mind living here a few years!" Teddy said. "It beats thehot old city! If I had plenty of reading matter and a full larder, Idon't think I would ever go back. I wish Dad could step out of thatHarvard thing and eat supper with us!"

The shrill scream of a mule now came up from the feeding groundbelow, and a commotion at the tent showed that one of the animals waskicking up a row there. 

"That's that long-eared Uncle Ike, " Jimmie McGraw exclaimed. "I feelin my bones that I'm going to love that mule! He's so worthless! Ifhe had two legs less he'd beat Jesse James to the tall timber inpiracy! He won't work if you don't watch him, and he'll stealeverything he gets his eyes on! Yes, sir, I feel that there's acommon sympathy between that mule and me, yet I know that we'll havea falling out some day! He's so open and above-board in hismischief. "

"Can you see what he's doing now?" asked Teddy. 

"Why, I saw him knocking at the door of the tent, and I presume thatby this time he is sitting in my chair picking his teeth, afterdevouring the bread! That sure is some highwayman, that mule, yet Ifeel that I'm going to love and admonish him!"

The boys dashed down the slope to the tent and found Uncle Ike, asJimmie insisted on calling a tall, ungainly, raw-boned mule, chewingat a slice of ham which he had pilfered from a box by the side of thefire. 

"There's one thing about Uncle Ike, " Jimmie grinned, as Ned drove theanimal away with a club. "He always looks like he had been sent forto lead an experience meeting! He'll put on a face as long as a cableto a freight train, and then he'll turn to me and wink one eye, as ifexplaining that it was all for a joke. "

"That's your ham he's chewing, Jimmie!" Ned declared. 

"I suppose so, " the boy replied. "That's what you get by beingbrother to a long-eared mule that for cussedness has Becker's gunmenbacked up a creek with the oars lost!"

While the mule was being restored to his companions, Jimmie and Teddybegan getting supper. They had plenty of tinned goods, plenty offlour, potatoes, meal and ham and bacon. Still, they thought theyought to have something in the way of game. 

"I saw a wild turkey back there, " Teddy volunteered. 

"And I saw a coon, " Jimmie added. 

"Is there any law on turkeys and coons?" asked Jack, who was tryingto make the fire burn bright with lengths of green wood. 

"There ain't no law of any kind up here, " Frank insisted. 

"Then we'll go and get a coon, " Jimmie declared. "You boys get ared-hot fire and I'll have the bird here before Ned gets that mule tiedup!"

"Guess I'll go along, " Teddy suggested. "I never did like to haveanyone else go to the trouble of getting my wild meat for me! I'll goalong, and Frank and Ned and Oliver can get supper. "

Without waiting for any affirmative replies from their companions, the two lads darted away, and were soon lost in a canyon which ran atright angles with the ridge much farther down. Frank and Oliver beganpiling dry wood on the fire. 

"Those boys will be back here in time for breakfast--just about!"Frank commented, as the coffee water boiled and the bacon begansizzling in the pan. "If they get any supper here they'll have tocook it!"

Presently Ned came back from the little valley where the mules werefeeding and took a field glass from the tent. 

"What's up now?" Teddy asked, as Ned walked back to the ridge andlooked down into the valley of the North Fork. "Ned must be seeing, things!"

Ned remained oh the summit a long time, until the sun sank behind therange to the west and the valleys became ribbons of black between thelighter crests of the mountains. 

Presently Frank scrambled up the yards of rugged, rock-strewn slopewhich led to the summit where Ned was standing, still with his fieldglass in his hand. 

"Anything in sight over that way?" the boy asked, as he came to Ned'sside. 

"There is a column of smoke in the valley, " Ned answered. "I thoughtat first that there were two, but I may have been mistaken. Do youremember what two columns of smoke would have indicated?"

"Of course!" laughed Frank. "If I should become lost in woods ormountains, or anywhere, I'd build two fires and get wet wood to makesmudge, good and plenty. That would mean that I was lost and neededassistance. That's the Boy Scout Indian signal for help. I rememberwhen we saw it north of the Arctic Circle, don't you?"

"I won't be apt to forget it right away, " was the reply. 

The boys remained standing on the summit for some moments, althoughit was now too dark for them to distinguish objects in the valleybelow. All around the June night called to them with its silences andits sharp and sudden rasp of sounds. There were the mountains, brooding, heavy, mysterious, and there were the fleets of flyingclouds reaching down to wrap their summits!

"It is simply great up here!" Ned exclaimed presently. "That is theonly word that seems to express it--great!"

"Yes, it is fine for a change, " Frank admitted, "though I don'tbelieve in the wilds as a permanent thing! Everything in themountains and forests seems to me to be crude and half done. This, Ipresume, is because the world isn't finished yet. Those who come toplaces like this catch the Creator with his sleeves rolled up, ifthat isn't a coarse way of saying it. "

"I like it, just the same!" Ned declared. "It is glorious! It islife!"

"It is healthful so far as animal life goes, " laughed Frank, "butwhat about mental life? There would never have been anythingwonderful in the way of inventions--like the wireless, and thetelephone, and the uses of electricity--if mankind had been contentto live and die in the wilds! It is crude, as I said before, unfinished, out of line with all the decrees of art. I'll take thecity for mine, with its marble buildings, its wonderful artgalleries, its beautiful parks!"

"Say, you mooners!" came a voice from the camp below, "if you've gotdone surveying the beautiful black landscape, suppose you come downto supper?"

The boys went down to the tent to find Jimmie and Teddy still absent. 

"There are two things we'll have to set aside time for, " Neddeclared, as he took a seat on the ground before the blaze, with agreat plate of food in his lap. "We'll have to arrange for keepingUncle Ike, the mule, out of mischief, and for keeping track of Jimmieand Teddy. Those boys will get lost in the mountains yet, and gohungry for a few days. That would be punishment enough for Jimmie--hunger!"

The boys sat by the campfire a long time, heaping dry wood on theblaze until they were obliged to widen the circle about it. There wasonly the light of the stars, looking down from a cloud-flecked sky, but there would be a moon shortly after ten o'clock. 

"If the boys don't return before long, " Frank broke out, after amoment of silence, "I'm going to take a searchlight and go outlooking for them. "

The boy expressed the thought which was brooding in the minds of themall. They were more than anxious for the safety of the two truants. Oliver arose and walked away from the fire up the slope, until hisfigure was out of sight, but shortly came back and sat down again, his face expressing impatience as well as anxiety. 

"There's no reason why they shouldn't see this fire, " he said. "Iwalked over the summit a bit to see if the light was reflected overthere. It is. If anywhere within two miles, they ought to see thisblaze or the glow from it. They're just doing this to make us worry. I'd like to get them by the neck, this minute, " he added. 

Uncle Ike, the mule, gave vent to a vicious scream at that moment, and Ned arose and started in the direction of the feeding ground. When he reached the spot he saw that the mules were agitated, weavingabout on the tying lines in either fear or anger. 

"Uncle Ike, " Ned said, patting the ugly beast on the neck, "what isit about your sleeping chamber that you don't like? Or it is yoursupper you object to?"

Uncle Ike thrust his long ears forward and elevated his heels, as ifkicking at some imaginary object back of him. Then Ned saw a figuremoving in the darkness. 

"Come out of that!" he called. "Why are you sneaking around here?"

The figure advanced toward the boy then--the figure of an old woman!

CHAPTER V

JIMMIE AND TEDDY MISS A MEAL

"I was scared to come up until I heard your voice, " the old ladysaid, as she came close to Ned. "I didn't know you were only a boy. "

The woman appeared to be very old. Her hair was white and her leanface was wrinkled and leathery with time and storm and exposure tothe winds of the hills. Still, old as she seemed to be, she walkedalertly, with the swinging grace of the true mountain woman. She wasvery plainly dressed in a one-piece gown of dark calico. Her head wasnot covered at all, and the white hair took on a tinge of gold fromthe distant campfire. Her black eyes were sharp, yet kindly inexpression. 

"Good evening, mother, " Ned said, removing his cap as he greeted theold lady, "we didn't expect to meet ladies here. Do you live in thislocality?"

"Quite a step, " the old lady said, in a gentle, hesitating tone, "quite a bit down the slope is where I live. I wanted to know whatthe fire meant, and so I came up. You don't mind my being here, doyou?"

"Glad to have you come!" Ned responded, truthfully. "If you care tocome up to our camp we'll be glad to give you a cup of tea andwhatever else you want. "

"I'll be glad to get a cup of tea" the woman declared. "We don't gettea up here in the mountains--not very often. We don't have the moneyto pay for it, and, then it is such a long way to go after it. Yes, I'll go with you. "

Ned noted that the woman did not speak the dialect of the mountains. He wondered how long she had lived there, and if she lived alone. Shedid not long leave him in doubt on these points, for she seemedanxious to talk. 

"I'm Mary Brady, " she said, as they ascended the slope toward thefire. "I came here years ago with my husband, Michael Brady, to livein peace. Mike was a good man when he was himself, but the saloon menof New York were always after him when he had any money. We came hereto be rid of them. "

"That was the correct thing to do, it strikes me, " Ned said, for wantof something better, as she seemed to expect some friendly comment. 

"I don't know, " she went on. "We meant it for the best--but there wasthe moonshine! I didn't know about the moonshine when we came here. All I thought of was to get away from Houston street! He fell one dayand they brought him home dead. "

Ned was strangely interested in this simple life history. The poorold woman living there, probably alone and in want, after such anending to a hopeful plan!

"And you kept on here?" he asked. "Why didn't you go back to thecity?"

"There was the boy, " she answered. "He was ten when we came here. Ididn't want him to get the thirst! After Mike died I lived here tokeep him in the good path. He is a good boy, but when he was twentythey got him, too--the moonshiners!"

"And he left you?" asked Ned. 

"He said he couldn't make anything of himself here, so he went toWashington. He's never come back, though I've always kept a home forhim, and never ceased to look for him. He writes me now and then thathe's coming home, but he doesn't come! When I saw your fire I thoughthe might be with you. "

By this time they were at the camp, and Mary Brady was presented tothe boys and made comfortable by the fire, with tea and canned fruitbefore her. She enjoyed the lunch immensely and looked the gratitudeshe did not speak. 

"When did you hear from your boy last?" asked Frank, by way ofkeeping the conversation going. "Did he write from Washington? Was itto Washington you said he went?"

"It was Washington, " was the reply. "He wrote me a month or more agothat he would be here with friends in June. I thought he might bewith you. He has been married since he left home, and has a child, though his wife is dead. "

"And he said he was thinking of bringing the child here?" asked Ned, glancing significantly at Frank. "Did he say that in his lastletter?"

"Yes, that he was thinking of bringing the boy here. It is only amite of a boy--not more than seven years old, he said. I'm anxiousfor him to come. "

Jack and Oliver gathered closer about the old lady in order to hearevery word that was spoken. One brought her more tea and the otherfilled the sauce dish with peaches. Ned motioned to them to remainsilent. 

"And so you expect him to drop down on you any time?" Ned asked. 

"Yes, my son and the boy. He's a cute little chap, Mike says. Mikewas named for his father, and the lad's name is Mike, too. I'manxious for him to get here. And I'm wondering whether he's light andblonde, with brown hair and blue eyes like his father, or dark, likemy side of the family. 

"What do you make of it?" Jack whispered to Oliver. 

"What do I make of what?" demanded the other. 

"Of the old lady and her three Mikes?" replied Jack, scornfully. "Have you been asleep all this time?"

"I was waiting for you to express an opinion, " Oliver declared. "Doyou think it possible that they would change the name of a prince ofthe royal blood to Mike?"

"So you've caught on, at last!" whispered Jack. "Do you really thinkwe've tumbled on a streak of luck at the send-off?"

"I don't know, " was the hesitating reply. "We'll have to cultivatethis old lady. "

"Sure thing!"

"Did she say where her cottage is?" asked Oliver, directly. "We oughtto verify her story, it seems to me. I'd like to hear Ned's opinion!"

"Do you remember what she said about Mike II. Having blonde hair andblue eyes?" asked Jack, presently. 

"Sure!" was the answer. "That made me sit up and take notice. Itbrought back to my memory the light brown hair on the bloody blade ofthe shears. "

"Same here, " announced Jack. "If this Mike II. Comes here we'll haveto find out if he has a cicatrice on the right thumb and a scar onthe head, a scar which might have been brought about by a pair ofshears thrown by a frightened maid in the city of New York!"

"Think of a crown prince being called Mike!" chuckled Oliver. 

"Ned didn't say it was a crown prince!"

"He might just as well have said it! He didn't dispute me when Iasked if it was a crown prince who had been abducted. "

"If Jimmie and Teddy don't return soon, " Jack said, changing thesubject, "we'll have to start the Boy Scout Camera Club out lookingfor them. "

"They'll be back when they get hungry!" laughed the other. 

But Jimmie and Teddy were still away when the moon rose over theridge to the east. Mrs. Brady was still by the campfire. She appearedto delight in the companionship of the boys. Having lived alone foryears, she would have been delighted at any companionship whatever, but the boys were full of life and vitality, they were sympathetic, and, besides, they were from her old home--New York!

As the moon showed her round face over the summit of the range to theeast she arose and stretched out a withered hand to Ned. 

"I'm going, " she said. "I've had a pleasant evening. You don't knowhow much it has been to me to sit here and talk with you! If you'llcome down to my cabin some day I'll try to make it pleasant for you!"

"Some day, " laughed Ned. "What do you say to my going right now? Ofcourse I've got to see you home! Couldn't think of letting you goaway alone. "

"I've walked these mountains night and day for more than twentyyears, " faltered the old lady, "and I'm not afraid now!"

"You don't object to my going?" asked Ned. 

"I'm awful glad to have you go, " was the reply. "But you'll find it along walk, there and back, " she added. 

"If it is too far for me to walk back, " Ned laughed, "you may give mea bunk on the floor! Anyway, I'm going to see you home!"

As the boy spoke he beckoned to Frank to step to one side with him. 

"Of course this looks all straight, on the face of it, " he said, whenthe two were alone together, "but one can never tell. We've got to bepretty careful, for we are in a strange country, and are here for apurpose which may be resented by the mountaineers. We can't afford totake any chances. "

"Do you suspect the old lady?" asked Frank, in amazement. 

"I don't know what to think, " was the hesitating reply. "The firstnight we spend in a permanent camp, up she comes with a story about ason being about to bring in a boy of seven for her to mother! Then, as if that wasn't enough of a bait for us to snap at, she goes on tosay that the son is blonde, with light brown hair and blue eyes. Looks like we were being led on!"

"You bet it does, " Frank replied. "Jimmie and Teddy have disappeared, and this may be a frame-up, and so I wouldn't go off alone with her. And, look here, " Frank went on, "do you believe Uncle Ike would havekicked, and screamed, and made a row generally, if only this old ladyhad approached him? Do you, now?"

"She might have frightened him, " Ned replied, "for he may not be usedto women. Still, she may have had some one with her! I was thinkingthat Uncle Ike sounded a warning on slight cause, " he added. 

"Well, if I were you, I wouldn't go away alone with her, " advisedFrank. "Let me go with you if you insist on going. "

"Of course I've got to go now, " Ned went on. "I've promised her, andshe is expecting me to go. But I'll tell you what you may do. You canwait until I have gone some distance and then follow on behind, notso as to be seen by any other person trailing us, but still closeenough to be available in case of trouble. "

"All right, " Frank agreed. "I'll keep back far enough to see any onewho might be following the two of you! I wish Jimmie was here! He'dbe just the one to go with me. And there's always something doingwhen Jimmie is around!"

"I'm worried about those boys!" Ned answered. "I'm going to keep asharp lookout for them, all the way to the cabin. "

"There's something wrong, " Frank hastened to say. "They never wouldhave remained away from camp like this. And without supper, too!Jimmie is particular to be on hand when it comes to eating time. There! There's Uncle Ike talking in his sleep! I wonder what's eatinghim now? Shall I go and see?"

"No, " Ned said, hastily, seizing Frank by the arm. "Don't even lookin that direction. Watch Mrs. Mary Brady!"

The old woman's face was turned toward the spot where the mules werestaked out, her figure was straight, tense, alert. She appeared to belistening and watching for some agreed-upon signal from the corral. Ned moved over toward her cautiously. 

Once the old woman moved, involuntarily, toward the mules, but shedrew back in a moment and stood, waiting, with her eyes on the boys, now in a little group not far from the spot where she stood. 

CHAPTER VI

SIGNALS IN THE CANYON

Jimmie and Teddy passed over the summit to the west of the camp andtook their way down a difficult incline toward the headwaters of theGreenbrier river. They traveled some distance, walking, sliding, creeping, before they came in sight of a copse which appeared to beworth looking over for wild game. 

"I don't know about this wild turkey business, " Teddy said, as theboys stood on an elevation lifting above the patch of timber. "IfI've got it right, wild turkeys are precious birds in West Virginia. "

"I never once thought of that!" Jimmie exclaimed. "Why, we won't haveany fun hunting at all! I wonder if there is a closed season forcoons?"

Teddy took out a memorandum book and turned to an insert pasted onthe inside of the cover. Dropping to the ground, so as not to attractthe attention of any natives who might be near by, he read the slipby the aid of his electric searchlight. 

"Open season for wild turkeys in West Virginia from October fifteento December one, " he read. "Now, what do you know about that? Rotten, eh?"

"I guess we can get one to eat, all right, " grumbled Jimmie. "Who'sgoing to know anything about it if we do, I'd like to know? Away offhere in the mountains!"

"I presume there are constables and justices up here who would beglad to soak us for fifty or a hundred apiece!" Teddy grinned. "Ireckon we'd better eat hens, and coon, and fresh fish--if we can getthem! And deer! We get no venison steaks!"

"Not this season!" Jimmie grunted. "They'd take great joy, as yousay, in getting us into jail and extracting all our vacation money!I'm going to take photographs of the West Virginia game laws. A manis about the only creature one can shoot down here during the summerand get away with it! I'll have Frank put that idea in his dad'snewspaper!"

"We've got enough to eat, anyway, " laughed Teddy. "The questionbefore the house right now is how are we going to get down into thatpatch of trees?"

"The laws of gravity will take us down!" answered Jimmie. "Just stepoff this ledge and see if I'm not right. What do we want to go downthere for, anyway, if we can't shoot a wild turkey after we getthere? I'm going back to camp. "

The night was falling fast, and stars were showing between masses ofclouds. The boys had traveled farther from the camp than they hadintended, and the return journey was all up hill. They surveyed theprospect gloomily. 

"I could eat the top off one of the mountains!" Jimmie declared, asthey turned to make the climb. "I never was so hungry in my life. Wish we were back in camp!"

Teddy, who had turned to look down into the valley, now caught Jimmieby the arm and pointed downward, where a low-lying ridge jutted outof the general slope and made a small canyon between itself and thebody of the mountains, a canyon in which a trinkle of water showed. 

"Do you see that column of smoke?" he asked, as Jimmie turned. 

"There must be a camp there, " Jimmie exclaimed. "I thought we wouldbe all alone up here for a time--until we got a line on the men whostole the prince. "

"Wait a minute!" Teddy answered. "There! Now do you see two columnsof smoke?"

The two columns lifted skyward for only a second, then died down. 

"That's the Boy Scout signal for help!" Jimmie commented. "I wonderwhat shut it off so quickly? It would be strange if we found BoyScouts here in the mountains--eh?"

"According to all reports, " Teddy answered, "you boys found Scouts inall parts of the world, even in China and the Philippines! If it is aScout making that Indian sign for help, he'll get the smoke goingagain before long. There they are!"

The two columns of smoke were in the air again, ascending from thecanyon between the mountainside and the outcropping ridge. Directly agleam of fire was seen. 

"That's the call for help, all right!" Jimmie cried. "What shall wedo about it?"

"We ought to go right there. The boy may have been injured in a fall, and may be starving! We ought to get there as soon as possible. "

"Without going back to camp to tell the boys?" asked Jimmie. "We havebeen gone a long time now, remember. They will be worrying about uspretty soon. "

"But we ought to go right now!" insisted Teddy. "The boy may be introuble. "

"Something else coming!" cried Jimmie, then. "See that blazing stickworking overtime? He's going to talk in the Myer code! Now countright and left. "

"There's one to the right!" Teddy said. "I've lost track of the codealready. "

"No. 1 motion is to the right, " Jimmie quoted from the wig-wag lessonhe had learned on first becoming a Boy Scout. "It should embrace anarc of ninety degrees, starting at the vertical and returning to itwithout pause, and should be made in a plane exactly at right anglesto the line connecting the two stations. 

"And No. 2 motion is the same, only on the left side. And three isthe same, only the signal goes to the ground and comes back to thevertical! Now I've got it! Then he wig-wags again I'll tell you whathe says. You read, too, and see if we agree. "

"One to the right!" cried Jimmie, "and two to the left!"

"That means H, " Teddy translated. "What comes next?"

"No. 1 and then No. 2, " replied Jimmie. "That's plain enough!"

"It stands for E, " Teddy went on, "and I know what the next letterwill be, too. "

"No. 2, No. 2, No, 1! I knew it! That is L. The other will be P!"

"No. 1, No. 2, No. 1, No. 2!" read Teddy, following the flight of theblazing stick as it moved through the darkness. "That's L, and theword is HELP!"

"And here we go to see about it!" Jimmie decided, moving down theslope. "The boy can't be very far off. I'd like to know how a BoyScout got lost out here. "

"We may become lost ourselves, " laughed Teddy, "if we don't look outwhere we are going. I wouldn't know where to head for if I wanted togo back to camp right now. "

"All we would have to do would be to climb the mountain, " Jimmiedeclared. 

"There's more than one summit, " persisted Teddy. "We'd better get aline on something to guide ourselves by when we go back. "

"We came straight west, " the other said, "and if we get lost the moonwill tell us which way to go--if it doesn't rise in the west downhere!"

The wig-wag code below was still in evidence, always repeating thesame word, "Help. " The boys hesitated no longer, but went rattlingdown the slope at a speed which spoke well for their balancingpowers! As they entered the little canyon from the north, Jimmiehalted and settled back on a rock, his hand on Teddy's shoulder. 

"Do you suppose he heard us coming down the slope?" he asked. 

"He must have been deaf if he didn't, " was the reply. "We broughtabout half the mountain down with us, it seemed to me. Of course heheard us. "

"Well, we ought to have been more cautious, " Jimmie declared. 

"I guess we aren't likely to frighten him away, " suggested Teddy. 

"But this may be a frame-up" warned the other. "Look here! The peoplewho sent that spy to Jack's house knew the Boy Scouts were going outto look for the prince, didn't they? We have never seen or heardanything of them since that night, but there is good reasons forbelieving that they have had us under surveillance. "

"And you think this may be a trap for us?" asked Teddy. 

"It may be, " was the reply. "If they wanted to trap us, they would goabout it in just about this way, if they were wise, wouldn't they?Sure they would. "

"Then we'd better sneak up to that campfire and find out what isgoing on before we show ourselves, " suggested Teddy. "We ought tohave come down here as softly as two flakes of snow? What? We'll knowbetter then to make so much noise next time!"

"There may be no next time, " Jimmie advised, as they moved down thecanyon, in the middle of which ran a small stream of water, a rivuletconnecting with the Greenbrier river farther to the south and west. It was now quite dark, and they were obliged to feel every step oftheir way, for there were numerous crevices in the floor of thecanyon. 

Pressing on, slowly, cautiously, their weapons within easy reach, theboys finally turned a little angle of rock and came within sight of acamp-fire not far away. 

"There!" Jimmie whispered. "I had a notion that we should find morethan one here. Why did the Scout wig-wag for help when there werethree husky men with him?"

Teddy opened his eyes wider, but attempted no solution of the puzzle. 

"There's a little chap sitting alone by the fire, " Jimmie went on, peering through his field-glass, "and there are three men gathered ina huddle on the other side of the fire. They all look like they werelistening for something. "

"I don't wonder--the way we came down the slope!" The other grinned. 

While the boys watched one of the men strode over to where the boywas sitting and, evidently, began questioning him. The watchers weretoo far away to hear any conversation between the two. Presently theboy sprang up and started to run. 

In a moment the heavy hand of the man was on his shoulder and he wasdragged back to the fire and dumped down like a sack of grain. He layquite still for a moment. 

"I'd like to know what that means!" Teddy whispered. "That's brutal!"

"That gives me faith in the boy!" exclaimed Jimmie. 

"What's the answer to that?" demanded Teddy. 

"They probably saw him doing the wig-wag!" was Jimmie's reply. "They're threatening him. "

"And they may have been beating him up for doing it? That may be. "

"And, again, " the other continued, "that may be a little rehearsalall for our benefit! There are men in the world sharp enough to putup just that kind of a bluff. "

"That's very true, " was the reply. "We've got to lie here until weknow what it all means. We can't go away and leave the little fellowwithout knowing more about the signals. Those men may be moonshiners. We might get a reward!"

"We'll be lucky if we don't get into jail!" Jimmie grunted. "If wedon't, we'll get into an infirmary for the hungry! If I have to lieon this rock much longer with nothing to eat I'll have to be carriedback on a stretcher!"

"You always were the brave little man with the knife and fork!"grinned Teddy. 

The four figures by the fire remained in the old order for a longtime, the men grouped together, the boy alone on the side of theblaze next to the watchers. 

"I wish I could get up to him?" Teddy said, as if requesting adviceon the question of a nearer approach to the boy. "I'd like to see ifit is the prince!"

"The prince isn't a Boy Scout!" declared Jimmie. "Besides, this boyis too old to be the prince! The prince is only seven years old--justa little baby. "

"Anyway, I'm going to make a sneak up there, " insisted Teddy. 

Before Jimmie could stop him he was away, crawling on hands and kneesthrough the heavy shadows of the cliffs which lay about the camp-fire. Jimmie watched him anxiously for a moment and then started tofollow him. The two were not far away from the lad, and werethinking of doing something to attract his attention when a stonerolled into a crevice with a great bumping sound. The boys droppeddown on their faces and waited, their hearts beating like trip-hammers as the men around the fire sprang to their feet. 

"What was that?" demanded a hoarse voice. "Who is out there?" headded, turning to the darkness beyond. "I'm going to shoot out thatway in a minute!"

"I like this!" whispered Jimmie. "This is some adventure! What?"

CHAPTER VII

A MINT IN THE MOUNTAINS

"Why, " the old woman said, stepping closer to the group of boys, "that's Buck!"

A heavily-built man with a scraggly beard stepped away from thecorral and approached the group by the fire, his stubby fingerstwining in and out of his unkempt whiskers as he walked along, hiseyes fixed on the fire and those about it. 

"That's Buck Skypole, " the old woman went on, as the advancing figurestopped. "I didn't know you was to come after me Buck, " she added, speaking to the new-comer. 

"I 'lowed you'd be right skeered of the dark, " the man answered, "soI 'lowed I'd come on up an' tote you home. "

He rubbed his left thigh carefully for a moment and then spoke toNed. 

"That's a right pert mule, " he said. 

"Did Uncle Ike kick you?" asked Jack, nudging Oliver in the ribs withan elbow. "We'll have to wallop him a bit, if he did. "

"I reckon I ain't got no mad at the creeter, " Buck replied. "A manmust keep out'n reach of a mule. Seein' the mule's got only a fewfeet of play in his laigs, he ought to be able to do that! No; Iain't goin' to recommend no beatin's f'r the mule!"

"Buck, " said the old lady, "these are boys from New York, my oldhome! They're taking pictures of the mountains. "

"They c'n take the mountains, too!" Buck laughed. "F'r all me!"

"I thought Mike might have come in with them, " the old lady went on. "He isn't here, but I've had a real pleasant time with the boys. I'mmuch obliged to you, lads, " she added, facing Ned. "I'm grateful forthe tea and the fruit. They're rare here. "

"I reckoned you wouldn't find Mike here, " Buck chuckled, "f'r whileyou was gone a message come from Mike. He can't get here now, buthe's sent the kid!"

"He has?" cried the woman, joyfully. "Do you mean to tell me, Buck, that the boy is right down there this minute, in my cabin?"

"Sure I do, " was the reply, "an' a bright little feller he is. "

"Give us a guess on that, " whispered Jack to Oliver. "Is the kid inthe cabin Mike III. , or is he the prince? Give you three guesses!"

"I give it up!" the boy whispered back. 

"Why didn't you bring the kid along with you?" asked Frank. "We allwant to see him. His grandmother has been telling us about him. "

"Its a right smart walk for a little one!" Buck answered. 

"You're welcome to come down and see him" Mrs. Brady said. "I'd beproud to give you all a snack in the morning. "

"Suppose we do go and see the kid?" asked Oliver. "I'm curious toknow all about the little shaver!"

"I'm for it!" Frank exclaimed. 

"And I'll be the first one there!" Jack put in. "I always liked kids--from Washington! No one will molest the camp while we are gone. "

"I wouldn't leave it alone, if I were you, " advised the old lady. "There's a heap of bad people come into the mountains sometimes. Don't all leave at once. "

"That's good advice, mother, " Ned said. "Two will go and two willremain here. In a short time the two out in the hills will return, and then there will be a good-sized guard for what little stuff wehave. "

"All right, " Jack declared, "if any one is going to stay here, itwill be me! Come to think of it, I'm too blamed tired to walk anotherstep to-night. Eh, Oliver?"

"I'll remain here if you do, " the boy replied. "I'm worn out up to myknees now, climbing mountains. And, besides, Uncle Ike would belonesome without me away!"

"Very well" Ned agreed. "That leaves Frank and me for the visit. WhenJimmie and Teddy come, put them to bed without supper!"

"You'll know when they come, then, " laughed Jack, "for Jimmie goingto bed without supper will be a noisy proposition. You can hear himfor ten miles. "

"I'm anxious about the boys, " Ned went on. "I'm afraid something iswrong with them. They should have been back here hours ago. "

"You remember the Indian signal for help you saw in the valley?"asked Frank, in a moment. "Well, they may have seen that, too, andtaken a notion to find out about it. They went in that direction whenthey left the camp. "

"That may be the reason for their delay, " Ned answered. "We shouldhave attended to that signal ourselves, " he added. "There may havebeen some one in serious trouble down there. I hope the boys did go--that is, if nothing happens to them because of their going. BoyScouts should assist each other at every opportunity. "

After a little more talk regarding the boy who had been sent to MaryBrady by her son in Washington, and after Buck had been given acouple of cups of steaming hot coffee, the four started down theslope to the west. 

"Did any one say how far it was to the old lady's cabin?" asked Jackof his chum, as they nestled down by the fire, the mountain air beingcold, even in June. 

"Buck said it was three whoops and a holler!" almost shriekedOliver. "Do you know what he meant by that?"

"I don't know, " answered Jack, "but I should think, from what shesaid, that the boys won't feel like walking back up the mountainto-night. Therefore, if Jimmie and Teddy don't come, well be alone. "

"I wonder if they would know the prince if they met him in the road?"laughed Oliver. "That kid down there is just as much the prince as Iam. What did they steal the kid for, anyway?"

"Politics!" yawned Jack. 

"What did they send him over here for, anyway?"

"Politics!" with another yawn. 

"Aw, go on to bed!" grinned Oliver. "I'll build up another fire, toserve as a sort of lighthouse for the boys and sit up for them. "

So Jack went into the tent, pulled down a great heap of blankets, drew off his coat and shoes and stockings, and was soon asleep in aneat little nest!

Oliver sat by the fire for a short time and then went up to thesummit to look over the valley. The moon was rising now, and he couldsee the four who had recently left the camp working their way over aridge to the south and west. 

Straight down, in a canyon made by an outcropping ledge of rock, hesaw a faint light, as from a campfire which had been allowed to diedown. 

"The mountains are full of people to-night!" he mused. "If I thoughtI could make Uncle Ike behave himself, I'd ride down there and seewho those campers are. "

The boy stood undecided for some moments, then his eyes opened widerand he moved downward toward the fire. He was thinking of the BoyScout signals for help which Ned and Frank had mentioned seeing!

"I wonder if Jack would go down there with me!"

When he reached the camp Jack was in the land of dreams, and hedecided not to awake him. He could go alone just as well!

He went on down to the feeding ground and presented Uncle Ike with alump of sugar. The mule thanked him with wiggling ears and dived asoft muzzle into his coat pocket for another lump. 

"Not until you come back, Uncle Ike!" Oliver explained. "If you do agood job traveling up and down the mountainside, you're going to haveanother piece of sugar when we get back!"

The boy saddled and bridled the animal, mounted, and urged him awayfrom the feeding ground. Uncle Ike, thinking his day's work finished, objected to being put into harness again, and reared and kicked untilOliver was obliged to dismount and bribe him with more sugar. 

"Will you go now, you fool mule?" he asked. 

Uncle Ike finally decided to go, and his sure feet were soon pressingthe slope toward the campfire. Oliver struck the canyon just aboutwhere Jimmie and Teddy had entered it. 

He left Uncle Ike there and advanced toward the campfire on foot. There were only a few embers left, and no signs of the fires whichhad sent up the two columns of smoke! There was no one in sight fromthe place where Oliver first came in direct view of the blaze. 

He stepped along cautiously, listening as he walked, and soon came toa second fire. This, too, was burned down low. Beyond this he saw thedark opening of a cave in the outcropping ridge. 

As Oliver stepped toward it, thinking the boys might have takenrefuge there for the night, he stumbled over something which rolledunder his foot and nearly fell to the ground. When he stooped over tosee what it was that had tripped him, he saw an electric flashlightlying before him. 

"The boys have been here, all right" he mused. "Now, I wonder if thiswas taken from them, or whether they lost it, or whether it wasplaced here to mark the trail? Either supposition may be the correctone!"

The question was settled in a moment, for a voice which he knew cameout of the darkness. 

"Found it, eh? Give it to me!"

"Jimmie!" whispered Oliver. 

"Get in here out of the light of the fire!" Jimmie whispered, "andbring the electric in with you. Come on in, and see what we'vefound. "

The opening in the ridge was a shallow one, Oliver discovered as heentered it. To his surprise he found three lads there instead of thetwo he had been looking for. 

"You saw the fires?" asked Jimmie, in a low tone. 

"Of course I did. Why didn't you come to camp?"

"This is the boy that built the Boy Scout signals!" Jimmie said, bringing the other forward. "His name is Dode Surratt, and he's abold, bad boy, being at present lookout for a gang of counterfeiters!"

"That's a nice clean job, " Oliver replied. "Where are thecounterfeiters?"

"At work in a hole in the ground. Hear the click of their machines?They are turning out silver dollars faster than we can spend them. Wehid around until they went to work, then came up to talk with Dode. "

Jimmie pointed to a crevice in the rock and invited Oliver to look. Alance of light came up into the cave, and the boy's eyes followed it. He could see a square room below, with a bright fire burning at oneend and figures moving about it. 

"Making counterfeit money, are they?" asked Oliver. 

"That's what they're doing! We were just thinking of getting out whenyou came. Dode wants to go with us, but we tell him to remain withthe gang until they can be rounded up by the officers. "

Dode started to make some remark, but Jimmie stopped him. 

"They haven't got any consideration coming from you, have they?" heasked. "They stole you, didn't they? They brought you here fromWashington to make a thief of you, didn't they?"

"And they beat you up for making the signals, too, " Teddy put in. "And they're coming out now!" he added. "So we'll all git--but Dode!"

CHAPTER VIII

UNCLE IKE PRESENTS HIMSELF

Mrs. Brady and Buck walking together, Ned and Frank discussed thesituation thoroughly as they descended the mountainside. 

"This may be a frame-up, " Ned observed, "but it is up to us to see itthrough. The boy who has just been brought in may be the prince, orhe may be the grandson, and we are here to get the answer. "

"Or there may be no boy at the cabin at all!" Frank suggested. "Theconspirators know that we are in the mountains for the purpose oflooking up the prince. What better plan than the one now workingcould they have settled on? If they are sharp at all, they wouldunderstand that a story of a child brought on from Washington wouldset us in motion--would be likely to get us into a trap!"

They scrambled on down the slope for some distance, too busy keepingupright to do any talking, then Frank went on. 

"You know very well that I'm no prophet of evil, Ned, but it looks tome that we have betrayed our mission here by taking such an interestin the child. Would a lot of boys looking for snap-shots trail off inthe night to see a boy when they might have taken a look at him thenext day?"

"If I know anything about human nature" Ned answered, "those twopeople ahead of us are honest. If it is a frame-up, they are not init. "

"Anyway, " Frank went on, "I'm glad the plans were changed by thearrival of Buck. It is much better for us to meet whatever is comingto us side by side than to have me sneaking back in the distance!"

Ned agreed to this, and the two quickened their pace in order to comeup with Buck and Mrs. Brady, who were now turning from the west tothe south, keeping along the slope of the mountain. Directly theycame to a narrow trail which led into a green valley. 

Following this, they soon came to a couple of acres of cleared land, in the middle of which stood a rough cabin of peeled logs. A dimlight came from a square window by the door, and there came from theinterior the sound of a man's voice humming a song. 

The woman drew up and looked suspiciously at Buck. 

"Who is that?" she asked. "You didn't tell me my son came, too. "

"No, " replied Buck, "I didn't, because, you see, Mike didn't come! Hesent this young fellow in with the kid, bringing word that he wouldbe along later. "

"And who is it?" demanded the woman. 

"A likely young chap, " was the reply. "He asked me to get you hometo-night, because he wants to leave early in the morning. "

"He won't leave early in the morning if he sees us here, " Nedwhispered to Frank. "If that is the prince in there, the man with himmay be the fellow who made his way into Jack's house and listenedfrom the attic. "

"What are we going to do about it, then?" asked Frank, anxiously. 

"We've got to meet him, " Ned replied. "Whoever he is, he knows fromBuck that Mrs. Brady went up the mountain to visit a camp ofstrangers. We've got to go in and face him! I wish we had kept awayfrom here to-night. "

Mrs. Brady and Buck now opened the door and entered the cabin, theboys close behind them. A log fire was burning on a stone hearth, anda tall, rather handsome young man with light hair and blue eyes wassitting in a homemade chair before it. 

He stirred the fire to a brighter blaze as they entered, and theleaping flames disclosed a dark-haired child of perhaps seven yearsasleep on a bed in a corner of the small room. Without speaking, without so much as a glance at the visitor, the old lady walkedswiftly to the bed and took the child in her arms. 

The boy opened his eyes and started to cry, but she quieted him withlow words and sat down on the edge of the bed, swinging him back andforth with a motion of her arms and shoulders. The man at the fireglanced sharply at the woman and then turned his eyes to the boys, now standing not far from the bed. 

"The little dear!" the woman cried, mothering the child. "He's alltired out with his long journey!"

"This is the man that brung the boy in, " Buck said, pointing to thefigure by the fire. "A mess of a time he must have had of it, too. "

"You are the grandmother?" asked the stranger. "Yes, I understand. And are these boys your sons, too?" he added, nodding at Ned andFrank, suspiciously. 

"Only New York boys spending a vacation in the mountains, " Ned said, answering the question. "Mrs. Brady came to our camp tonight lookingfor her son and we came home with her. We are looking for goodpictures, " he added. 

The stranger pointed to the old lady, sitting with the sleeping childon her breast. 

"There is one, " he said. 

"Yes, and I'm sorry I haven't my camera with me. "

"Are you thinking of remaining in this section long?" the visitorasked. 

"We can't say, " laughed Ned. "We may move on to-morrow, and may stayhere a week. "

The man's suspicions seemed to have vanished. He talked frankly withthe boys, and occasionally addressed a word to the old lady. He gaveher, briefly, a good report of her son's progress in Washington, andhanded her a roll of bank-notes. 

"He is coming here himself soon, " he said, "and he will bring more. He is doing very nicely there. "

Ned was wishing the boy would waken when the old lady arose from thebed and laid him gently down. He stirred uneasily in his sleep andshe stood by his side, smoothing his dark hair away from hisforehead. 

"He favors my side of the family, being dark, " she said. "The Stilesesare all dark. If one of you boys will sit with him a moment, " sheadded, with mountain hospitality, "I'll get you all a snack. It was along road over the mountains. "

Ned accepted the invitation eagerly and sat down by the child. Theface was dark and slender, the eyebrows turned up a trifle at theouter comers. 

"Is it Mike III. , or is it the prince?" he was asking himself whenthe boy awoke and sat up in bed with a jerk. 

"What's comin' off here?" he demanded, rubbing his sleepy eyes. "Whatkind of a bum game is this? I want my daddy. "

The visitor by the fire laughed. 

"He's up in city slum talk, " he said. "And he's learned something ofFrench, too, knocking around with the boys in school. "

"I can talk Franch like a native, " asserted the boy. 

"And what else?" asked the man by the fire. 

"Any old thing!" boasted the child. "They keep me at books all thetime. I'm glad I'm with grandmother in the hills. Are you mygrandmother?" he asked, pointing to the old woman, now bending overthe fire. 

"Yes, deary, " was the reply. "I'm going to take care of you now. "

"I'm glad!"

The boy tumbled back on the bed again and closed his eyes. Franklooked at Ned significantly. 

"There's no doubt about it!" his eyes said. "This child is Mike III. "

The old lady made hot corn bread and brewed a pot of mountain tea. The boys were not at all hungry, but managed to eat and drinkmoderately. Then Ned arose. 

"We've got to be on our way, " he said. "It will be morning before weget back to camp if we don't start pretty soon!"

When the boys, after a cordial good night from Mrs. Brady and Buck, left the cabin the visitor followed them out. Ned stopped breathing, almost, as he took him by the arm. 

"There's one thing I want you to explain to the old lady after atime, " the man said. "I suppose I might do it myself, but I prefer tolet her know from personal observation something of the case first. That boy is not exactly right. "

"Not mentally sound, you mean?" asked Ned. "He appeared to be allright just now. "

"Oh, he's bright enough, " answered the other, "but he's been ill andhas been in a hospital at Washington, and has been cuddled andhumored so long that he likes to boss! Not good people to boss, theattendants in a hospital, you will say, but I guess they let this kidhave his way. When he was delirious they told him all sorts of fairytales about kings and princes, and he actually thinks some of themare true. If he breaks out in any of his tantrums before you leave, kindly tell the old lady what I am telling you, will you?"

Ned almost gasped! So the boy was likely to talk of kings andprinces! He was likely to become masterful in his manners!

"I may have to change my mind, " he thought. "This may be the prince, and not Mike III. But the boy's English, and there's his streetslang! What about that? I reckon that we have a job on our hands!"

The two stood talking together in the moonlight for some moments, thestranger evidently resolved to make a good impression on the boys, while Frank walked on along the trail, looking back now and then tosee if his chum was coming. 

"This boy's father, " the man went on, "has permitted him to have hisown way about everything. That was a mistake, of course, but he istrying to rectify it now by placing him under the care of hisgrandmother, who, if I mistake not, will see that he is properlydisciplined. "

"It has been a long time since the father left here, " Ned suggested. 

"Yes, along time. "

"He is doing well in Washington?"

"Yes, he is connected with the State department. "

Ned made a mental note of that!

"And is receiving a fair salary?" he asked. 

"Oh, yes; he's doing nicely, far better than his mother has anynotion of. "

Here was more food for thought. Why had the father delegated thepleasant duty of taking the boy back to the old mountain home toanother if he had been situated so that he might have taken thejourney himself?

"Is it the prince, or is it Mike III. ?" he kept asking himself. 

While they stood there together a great clattering came down thetrail, and they saw Frank turn aside and stand at attention, as ifwaiting for some object, seen in the distance, to come up. Directlythe sounds settled down to the rattling of stones and the steadypounding of hoofs. 

"Look what's here!" Frank shouted, pointing. 

Ned moved forward, closer to the trail, and in a moment caught sightof a tall, lank, ungainly mule coming galloping toward him!

"What do you think of him?" called Frank. "He's come to tell us thatit is time we were home and in bed. "

"Uncle Ike!" called Ned. "Come here, you foolish mule!"

Uncle Ike, now in plain sight, kicked up his heels in derision butfinally came to an abrupt halt in front of Ned, and stood with earspitched forward and forelegs braced back, evidently very muchfrightened. 

CHAPTER IX

A LANK MULE AS A DECOY

Judd Bradley, the young man who had brought the boy into themountains, stood for a moment watching the mule curiously. Then hestepped nearer to Ned, who was trying to quiet the fractious animal. 

"Be careful, " Ned warned, as Bradley approached. "Uncle Ike doesn'ttake to strangers. He may kick if you come within reach. "

"Hell kick you whether you come within reach or not!" grumbled Buck, who had been brought from the cabin by the clatter of the mule'shoofs. "He reached over forty acres of rock to hand me one on thelaig!" he added, rubbing his left thigh. 

Mrs. Brady came to the doorway of the cabin and stood there, outlinedagainst the red firelight within, with the boy in her arms. The childreached forth his arms impatiently, then began beating the old womanwith his small fists. 

"Go an' get me the horse!" he commanded. "Mike wants a ride!"

"That's the prince, all right!" whispered Frank to Ned. "That's theprince of some slum alley in Washington. What he needs is a club, applied just before and after meals, and just before retiring, with adose at intervals during the night!"

"I'm not thinking of the prince now, " Ned returned, still in a lowtone, for the others were not far off, "I'm wondering how Uncle Ikecame to be here. "

"Broke away and eloped with himself, probably, " laughed Frank. 

"Yes, " grinned Ned, "and put on saddle and bridle before he started!"

Frank's eyes now began to stick out. 

"S-a-a-y!" he whispered. "We'd better be getting back to camp!There's something out of whack there! If the mule could only talk!"

Bradley, who had backed away at Ned's warning, now came up to themule's head. 

"He doesn't kick with his ears, does he?" he asked, with a smile. 

"He's an outlaw, " Ned answered, wishing Bradley would return to thecabin. "He's thrown one of the boys, and we must be on our way. Ifyou have time before you leave, come up to the camp. We've got thelatest things in cameras and photographic material. "

"I may get up there in the morning, " was the reply. 

Bradley and Mrs. Brady entered the house and closed the door, and Nedturned to his chum with an odd look on his face. 

"I've seen that man somewhere before tonight!" he said. 

"Then you'd better try hard to place him" Frank answered, "for we aregoing to see more of him in the future, if I'm not mistaken. Perhapsyou saw him on one of your visits to Washington. "

"That may be, " Ned replied. "Anyway, I may be able to think it outbefore morning. "

Uncle Ike laid his nose against Ned's shoulder and gave him a push. 

"He's in a hurry!" the boy laughed. "We ought to be, too! Is itpossible that one of the boys saddled him for a ride on the mountainin the night?"

"Just like Jack or Oliver. Or Jimmie may have returned and plannedone of his midnight expeditions!"

"Get up and ride, " Ned advised. "I'll walk and try to place thatman's face. "

"You might have seen it in the rogue's gallery, " suggested Frank, leaping into the saddle and starting away, the mule pulling andrearing every moment. 

Finally Ned called out to him to stop, and walked up to his side. 

"What is the matter with Uncle Ike?" he asked. 

"He insists on keeping down toward the canyon, " was Frank's reply. "We came cat-cornering down the slope, didn't we?"

"We certainly did, " Ned answered, considering the matter gravely. "Tell you what you do, " he went on, "let the mule have his head! Lethim go just where he wants to. It is the instinct of animals tofollow precedent, same as men. A man will follow a cow path until itbecomes a city street, and a cow, a horse, or a mule will follow atrail previously used--if only passed over once! Let the mule havehis head, and he may take us to the place where somebody was dumped!"

"Solomon had nothing on you, Ned!" laughed Frank. "Go to it! UncleIke, it is you for the scene of the abduction! And you may go just asfast as you please!"

The mule started off at a fast pace, keeping to the bottom of thevalley and finally entering the canyon at the south end. Ned walkedby Frank's side, his hand on the stirrup, listening for a sound hedreaded to hear. He was afraid one of the boys had been thrown fromthe animal's back, and might be lying, suffering, in one of thecrevices or breaks which marked the bottom of the canyon. 

After traveling some little distance in the canyon, Frank drew up andpointed ahead. 

"Right over there, " he said, "is the spot where we saw the smokesigns!"

"That's a fact!" Ned answered. "One of the boys must have come hereto investigate and left Uncle Ike without tying! The mule has beenhere before, or he wouldn't plod along so steadily. Suppose we leavehim here and walk on cautiously?"

"Just what I was about to propose, " Frank agreed. 

Uncle Ike seemed to resent being left alone in the canyon, which wasnow almost as light as day, save where the shadows of the mountain tothe east lay along the wall on that side. The mule was finallyquieted and left in a dark angle. 

Moving in the shadows, the boys soon came to an angle in the cut andlooked out on the remains of a campfire. They pushed on until theycame opposite to it, but saw no one. In order to reach it they wouldbe obliged to cross the canyon, not very wide there, but flooded withmoonlight in the center. 

While they stood in the shadow of the mountain a man came stumblingdown the slope ten yards away from them. At first they thought it wasone of their chums, but when the man's figure came into the moonlightthey saw that he was tall, heavily built, and also heavily bearded. He walked straight across to the fire and passed it, turning into ashallow cave there was in the rock of the outcropping ridge. 

The boys saw him enter the cave and look sharply around, then hedisappeared as suddenly and completely as if he had walked into thesolid rock. 

"We're getting all the stage effects!" Frank whispered. "That manducked into a moonshiner's establishment!"

"He ducked in somewhere, all right, " Ned answered. "I wish we couldget across there without exhibiting ourselves to the whole country. "

"I believe the boy that rode the mule is over there!" Franksuggested. 

"Yes; and he's probably been picked up by the moonshiners, " Nedagreed. "We've got to get over there, so here goes!"

The boys went across the streak of moonlight like a couple offlashes, and drew up at the mouth of the cavern. So far as they coulddetermine no one had observed them. 

They crept to the very back of the cave and huddled close together, listening. 

"Not a soul in sight!" Frank whispered. "That might have been aghost!"

"Do ghosts rattle metal?" asked Ned. 

There followed another silence, and then the clink of metal cameclearer to the ears of the listening boys. 

"Where does it come from?" asked Frank. "There's not a crack in sightin this rock. "

A puff of soft coal gas wafted into the cave, causing the boys tohold their breaths. Then, in spite of all he could do to prevent it, Frank sneezed. 

Almost instantly a dark figure appeared between the place where theboys were hidden and the space of moonlight in front. The man steppedout, looked up and down the canyon, and came slowly back to meetanother figure. 

"Nothing doing!" a gruff voice said. 

"But that wasn't any bird!" insisted another gruff voice. 

"Well, you may look for yourself!"

"I tell you, " the second speaker went on, "that those boys are stillout in the hills! When I was at the camp there was only one in thetent, and he sat there with a gun in his lap, watching for the othersto come back. "

"Did you speak with him?"

"What for would I speak with him?"

"To get his story. What are they here for? That is worth knowing. "

"Well, I didn't show myself because we're not supposed to be hereourselves!" came the other voice. "If you hadn't built the fireoutside to-night we'd have been in no danger. Now we've got a lot ofboys sneaking around. What did you do with the others?"

"They're in the work-room. "

"In the work-room, seeing everything! You're a bright lot! You knownow, I suppose that we've got to leave those lads here when we goaway?"

"I have known that all along. There are plenty of kids in the world. These won't be missed. It is a bad job, but it must be done!"

"They shouldn't have come sneaking around!"

The two men disappeared again, but this time Ned saw the opening tothe work-room, as they had termed the underground apartment, whenthey swung an imitation rock made of plank aside and stepped down. For a moment their figures were illumined by the red light of thefire within, and then they were no longer in sight. 

"They're a cheerful pair!" Frank whispered. 

"Counterfeiters!" Ned whispered, in reply. "And murderers!"

"How are we going to get the boys out?" asked Frank. "They'll bekilled if we don't. "

"One must raise a ruction on the outside, and the other must sneak inwhile the outlaws are gone. That is the only way I can think of now. If you go out there and get Uncle Ike, and coax a couple of sobs outof him, and rattle stones, and shoot your automatic like rain, theoutlaws may all rush out of the cave. "

"I can do all that, but how will you get in?"

"When they run out, they will pass me. Then I'll get in through thedoor, " Ned replied. "If there's no one in there it won't take me longto find the boys and turn them loose. "

"But if there is some one in there?"

"Then you'll hear shooting, " Ned answered, grimly. "In that case, mount the mule and get back to camp and bring Jack and Oliver and alot of guns. "

"But one of those boys must be in there, " Frank insisted. "Some onerode Ike here!"

"We don't know who it is that is here, " Ned reflected. "Anyway, you've got to get away with the mule after making all that noise. Don't go in the direction of the Brady cabin. We don't want that manBradley mixing us up with police officers!"

"Every minute counts!" Frank declared, "I'm off. You'll hear a racketlike the blowing up of a world in about three minutes! Good luck!"

The lads shook hands and parted. It seemed to each one that the otherwas going to his death, but only encouraging words were spoken. 

In five minutes a horrible clamor rang down the canyon. Uncle Ikescreamed, and the beating of hoofs sounded like a charge of cavalry. Then came sharp, quick pistol shots. 

Three men dashed out of the cavern and Ned crept in at the open door!

"I don't know what I shall find in here!" he mused, as he came intothe light of a great fire, "but I'll know all about it right soon!"

CHAPTER X

"PACKED AWAY LIKE SARDINES"

Even in that underground room Ned could hear the shooting outside andthe screams of the aggravated mule. Several weapons seemed to bepouring out lead, and the boy wondered if the outlaws were gettingthe range of his chum. 

The firing seemed to grow fainter as he advanced into the room. Either the outlaws were pursuing Frank or the shooters were takingrefuge behind rocks which deadened the sound. 

At first the boy kept his eye out for an attack on himself, but thereseemed to be none of the outlaws left in the subterranean place. Thefire was built at one side, and the light from it filled the wholeapartment. Counterfeit dollars lay about, scattered over the floor asif dropped in great haste. 

Halting in the center of the room, after closing and baring the outerdoor, Ned put his fingers to his lips and gave out a low whine, oneof the signals used by the boys of the Wolf Patrol. While he listenedfor a response, the firing outside came nearer, or appeared from thesound to do so. 

"I'd be in a nice fix if they should seek to retreat to the cave!"Ned thought. 

While he listened an answer came to his call--the low, sharp signalof the Wolves!

"That's Jimmie!" Ned muttered. "He's in some of the holes justoutside this room. "

"Where are you?" he asked, and the answer came with a giggle. 

"We're packed away like sardines! Come get us out! We're only tiedwith ropes, but the ropes know their business! Here! To the right ofthe fire!"

Ned soon found that the wall at the point indicated was of plank, like the door, painted and sanded to imitate rock. He had nodifficulty in finding the opening, and in a short time the boys wererelieved of their bonds. Ned opened his eyes wide at sight of Dode, the fourth boy, and of Oliver, who had been left at the camp. 

"What's the shooting outside?" asked Jimmie, stretching his arms, cramped from long confinement. "Who's out there with Uncle Ike? Say, but I was glad to hear the gentle voice of that wicked old mule!"

"And now, " Teddy observed, "how about getting out of this? I'mhungry. "

"If Frank keeps that racket going, " Ned answered, motioning the grouptoward the door by which he had entered, "we may be able to get outwithout being seen. You can tell me how you got caged later on. Nowwe'll try the door. "

"Wait!" whispered Jimmie. 

"Wait!" said Dode. 

Ned turned and faced both boys with enquiring eyes. 

"Why wait?" he asked. 

"I want my gun!" Jimmie replied. "They searched us and put theplunder in that alcove in the rock on the other side of the fire. We'll need the guns, I take it. "

The three boys, Jimmie, Teddy, and Oliver, made a quick rush for thealcove and soon came back with their guns and electrics. The firingoutside was again farther away, and the chances for getting outwithout being attacked appeared to be good. 

"What is it?" Ned asked Dode, as he pulled at his sleeve. 

"There's another door, " the lad explained. "It opens on the slope onthe west side of the ridge we are under. We can go that way withoutbeing seen. "

"That's just the thing!" Jimmie exclaimed. "We can get out and joinFrank in the mess outside! Then I reckon we'll put the skids underthe outlaws!"

Dode led the way to the opening indicated, passed, with the others athis heels, through a long passage, and finally came to a plank doorwhich was securely fastened on the inside. From this position theracket outside became only a hum. 

The boy unfastened the door and swung it inside. Beyond lay theslope, and, beyond that, the valley and the distant mountains. Theair of the night was sweet and clear after the close atmosphere ofthe underground room. 

From the other side of the ridge, which was not very high, came shotsand the vicious shrieks of a pestered mule! Ned turned to the south, from which direction the clamor came, and passed as swiftly aspossible along the slant of the elevation. 

"Are you going to attack the outlaws from the rear?" asked Teddy. "Weare taking the wrong course if you want to go back to camp. "

"Huh!" Jimmie grunted, trudging along puffing at every breath, "we'vegot to find Frank and Uncle Ike, I guess. "

When the party came to the end of the ridge under which thecounterfeiters had been working, they faced the valley, some distanceaway, in which the cabin of Mary Brady stood. Through the moonlightthey could just distinguish the crude stone chimney of the structure. 

"Now, Ned, " Jimmie explained, "if we turn up the slope here and do alittle shooting when we reach a good elevation, the counterfeiterswill think they are being attacked by a fresh party and duck back tothe cave. Then Frank can come along with that blessed old mule. Didyou ever hear a lop-eared old rascal of the mule tribe make such aracket? I wonder what Frank was doing to him?"

"I know!" Teddy broke in. "He was tickling him with his heels. Thatmakes Uncle Ike half crazy! There goes another yell! Fine old bird, is Uncle Ike!"

It was plain to the boys that the battle was quite a distance to thesouth and leading down into the valley, so they began the ascent ofthe rocky slope and continued up until they were all out of breath. Then they stopped and looked back. 

The outlaws came into sight, in a minute, making for their cave. Theyfired an occasional shot as they retreated, and this fact convincedthe boys that Frank had not been wounded by any of the shots whichhad been fired at him. 

"We'll quicken their steps a trifle!" Ned said. "You boys go on up tothe next shelf and I'll fire from here. They may charge us, and ifthey do I can cover your retreat. Besides, you will have a longerstart. "

"I'm going to stay right here and shoot, too!" Jimmie declared. "Those men have several bumps coming from me!"

"Ain't he the great little gunman?" snickered Teddy. 

"But I need you up there with the others to protect my retreat, "urged Ned, so Jimmie unwillingly toiled up the acclivity. They cameto a shelf perhaps three hundred feet beyond Ned's stand and croucheddown. 

Ned's fire, when it came, had the effect of sending the outlaws on arun toward their cave, so the boy joined the others without facing areturn fire. 

"They'll be out again when they see what's been going on at thecave!" Jimmie predicted, but the prophecy was not a good one, for nofigures were seen in the canyon after that, and no more shots werefired from that direction. 

"I know what the bogus money-makers will do now, " Jimmie snickered. "They'll pack up their tools and vanish! They'll be thinking thewhole Secret Service bunch is after them!"

"That's just the trouble, " Ned said. "I'm afraid the mountaineerswill also think we are Secret Service operatives and spies and maketrouble for us. "

"We'll have to get busy with our cameras, then, " Jimmie went on, "andtake pictures of everything in sight. We may be believed if we tellthe truth, that we blundered on their cave and they attacked us. Iwonder why Frank doesn't show up? He may have been killed orwounded!"

"If he has been hurt, " Teddy observed, as the sound of hoofs cameFrom the south, "Uncle Ike hasn't, for here he comes, ugly as ever. "

Believing that Frank was indeed approaching, the boys fired a numberof shots to direct his course and waited. The hoofbeats, the laboredbreathing of the mule, became more distinct directly, and then Frankcame into sight. 

The greeting he received was a warm one, and Uncle Ike was petted andpermitted to search every pocket for sugar!

"I don't see how you escaped being hit, " Ned observed. "The outlawsfired enough shots to cripple an army. "

"They never saw me, " declared Frank. "I kept behind ridges andoutcropping rocks, and in the shadows. They were afraid to come tooclose, for they must have thought a dozen men were attacking them. Whenever I fired I changed my position, and when Uncle Ike yelled Ihustled him along! I reckon a good many of the shots you heard camefrom my gun! When you began shooting that settled it! They will befifty miles from here by tomorrow noon!"

"That's likely, for they won't dare remain here after they have beencaught at their work, " Ned admitted. "Moonshiners might remain andfight, but counterfeiters will get away right soon. I take it theydon't belong to this section anyway. "

On the way to the camp, during the brief rests, Jimmie explained howthey had been surprised while in the outer cave and had been takeninside and tied up. The boy Dode was overjoyed at his escape from thegang, and explained that they had captured him not far fromWashington and forced him to accompany them, the idea being to usehim in the future in getting rid of the spurious coins. 

"They are making a lot of it, " he declared, "and the country will beflooded with their work if the government doesn't catch them. "

It may be well to state here that the reasoning of the boys withregard to the future actions of the outlaws was correct, as theydisappeared from that section that night. When the lads visited thecave later on some of the counterfeit coin which had been made wasstill scattered about the subterranean room. 

When they first reached the camp Jack was not in sight, but he soonappeared, coming from a hiding place near the summit. 

"I thought I'd better not expose myself by remaining in the tent, " heexplained, "so ducked away and hid where I could watch the mules andthe provisions without being seen. I had about made up my mind thatthe state militia had been called out, you made such a racket!"

"We're going to give Uncle Ike a medal, also a barrel of sugar, forheroic conduct in the face of the enemy!" Jimmie declared, and themule, for once in his life, found a full pocket when he nosed aboutfor sweet lumps!

While the lads were eating a delayed supper, Jack turned to Oliverwith a mock frown on his face. 

"The next time you go away in the night and leave me alone in camp, "he said, "I'm going to break your dial in! I might have been shotwhile asleep. According to the conversation between the outlaws, justrelated by Jimmie, one of the toughs came up here! Don't you ever dothat again, if you want to keep a whole hide. "

"I guess Uncle Ike has a larger kick coming than you have!" Jimmieremarked. 

When the boys compared notes and thoughts concerning the child, theold lady, and the blonde stranger, they could not agree at all. Someof them insisted that the boy was Mike III. , while the othersdeclared that he was the prince!"

"If he isn't the grandson, " one asked, "why this American slang?"

"And if he is, " questioned another, "why this talk about French andother foreign languages? Mike III. Wouldn't know a foreign tongue, would he?"

CHAPTER XI

JACK'S ELEGANT CHICKEN PIE

The sun was high over the mountains when Ned awoke on the morningfollowing the adventure with the counterfeiters. Leaving Jimmie, Frank, Teddy and Oliver in their bunks and Dode, the new acquisitionto the party, curled up in a nest of blankets, he issued forth fromthe tent and looked about for Jack, who had been left on guard. 

The boy was nowhere in sight at first, then he saw him at a springwhich bubbled out of the mountain not far from the corral. It was thewater from this spring which brought forth the tender grass uponwhich the mules were feeding. 

Jack looked up with a shout when he saw Ned, and came running up tothe camp, carrying in one hand a pail in which three large-sizedchickens lay, nicely boiled, carved and washed. 

"What do you think of that?" he demanded, pushing the pail up underNed's nose. "I guess we're some hustlers for sustenance!"

"Where did you get the hens?" asked Ned. "They sure look good to me. "

"You couldn't guess in a thousand years!" Jack replied. "So I'm goingto tell you, right off the handle! Judd Bradley, the blonde fellowwho brought the boy in, came up with them, with the compliments ofMrs. Brady, about an hour ago. He brought the boy up with him, too. What do you know about that?"

"Is it the prince, or is it Mike III. ?" asked Ned, with a smile. 

"If you leave it to me, " Jack answered quite positively, "it is theprince!"

"How does he look and act this morning?"

"Like a kid raised under restraint, now free and full of the de--OldNick!"

"And Bradley?" asked Ned. 

"That's another point! He watches the kid every second of the time, and when the boy speaks a word of French he looks daggers at him! Ireckon the son of Mike II. Wouldn't be talking French! Nor hewouldn't be here with a chaperon from Washington. We have found theprince, all right, and I'm sorry for it! It makes our work too easy!"

"Don't crow until you're out of the woods!" laughed Ned. "There maybe a few adventures in store for us yet! So this seven-year-old boytalks French, does he?"

"You bet he does! Like a native!"

"Where are they now--Bradley and the boy, I mean?"

"Down by the mules! The boy, who is constantly called Mike--ostentatiously called by that name--wants to ride Uncle Ike! Fat timehell have if he gets aboard of that argumentative brute!"

"Are they going to help eat the chicken?" asked Ned. 

"Sure! I told them to stick around until I got the most beautifulchicken pie built they ever touched tongue to. They're going to stay. You go and talk with them while I make the pie. It is going to be acorker--melt in your mouth, make you dream of the old red barn downon the farm!"

"Ever make a chicken pie?" asked Ned. 

"Of course not! There's got to be a first time to everything! But Iknow how. I've got a recipe here which is used by the chef atSherry's. "

"Go to it!" laughed Ned. "I'll take my chances on having canned meatfor dinner. "

"You just wait!" roared Jack, as Ned dashed down to the spring. 

Jack stood a moment, pail in hand, watching Ned washing at thespring, and then went on to the fire, leaving Ned to proceed to thecorral and entertain the guests. 

Jimmie was just tumbling out of the tent when Jack came up with thechicken. That young man immediately set up a shout which awakened theothers and brought them out rubbing their eyes. 

"Chicken for breakfast!" he shouted. 

"Chicken pie for dinner!" Jack corrected. 

"All right!" sighed the boy. "Then I'll cook a couple of pounds ofham and a couple of dozen eggs for breakfast! That ought to keep usalive until you get the pie ready!"

"How do you make chicken pie?" demanded Frank. "I've always wanted toknow how to make a pie out of a hen. "

"You just watch me, " Jack answered, not without a touch of pride, "and I'll show how it is done. Here, young man, don't set down on mydough! That's for the crust. "

Jimmie bounded off a camp stool where the cook had deposited hiscrust-dough on a clean white paper and watched Jack line a six-quarttin pail with the mixture of flour, water and baking powder. 

"That ain't thick enough!" he commented. "The crust ought to be aninch thick. "

"You go out and feed the mules!" ordered Jack. "When I want any helpin making a chicken pie I won't call on you!"

"Anyway, " Jimmie insisted, "it ought to be an inch thick. "

Jack laid the pieces of chicken in the bed of dough--the chickenshaving been cooked tender long before Ned was out of his blankets--and put in salt, pepper, a small piece of butter--out of a glasscan!--and then poured in some of the liquid the chickens had beenstewed in. "

"If there should happen to be a drumstick you can't get in, " Jimmievolunteered, "I can eat it for breakfast!"

"So that's why you wanted the crust so thick!" cried Jack. "Youwanted to crowd the chicken out so you could stuff yourself with ahen for breakfast! Run along and play you'r a baker's wagondelivering goods on the Bowery!"

"You're the wise little man--not!" Jimmie grunted and set aboutcooking ham and eggs for breakfast. 

"How long will it take that chicken pie to cook?" asked Teddy. 

"Couple of hours, " replied Jack. "Sometimes it takes longer. "

Jack prepared a great bed of coals, drew up dry wood to make more, and set the pail of chicken pie in the heavy double oven to cook. 

"I'm making this 'specially light and sweet, " he said, poking thecoals up to the oven, "because we're going to have a prince of theroyal blood to breakfast. "

"Where is he?" asked Jimmie, with a grin, "Down by the mules! Hebrought these chickens to us--or his chaperon did! Rather thoughtfulof him! Say, Frank" Jack added, "will you go down to the corral andtake a lot of snapshots of the kid? I want to send some home toChicago, just to convince the boys I've been dining with royalty. "

"Dining with Mike III. , " Frank laughed. "It is dollars to dills thatthe boy trying to get on Uncle Ike's back is fresh from theWashington slums!"

"Look you here, little man, " Jack began, but just at that moment Ned, Bradley, and the boy appeared on the slope, headed for the camp. Theboy was seated on the back of Uncle Ike, who, for a wonder, wasmarching along sedately, as if accustomed to being made the playthingof children. 

"I wouldn't have believed it of him!" Jimmie muttered. "I wouldn'thave trusted a kid on that wild animal's back any sooner than I wouldhave trusted eggs to a hay-baler. Uncle Ike's sure going into adecline!"

The boy came riding up ahead of the others and shouted to Jimmie:

"Gardez! A cheval!" he shouted, urging the mule into a trot. 

"That's your kid from the Washington slums!" Jack laughed, scornfully. "Talking French!"

"What does he say?" demanded Jimmie. 

"He says for you to be on your guard--to look out for yourself--as heis coming on horseback. I don't know much French, but that is easy!"

Bradley hastened to the boy's side and said something to him in atone which the others could not hear, the lad coloring slightly as helistened. 

"He's jawing him for speaking French!" Jimmie commented. 

"It looks like it, " Jack observed. "Oh, I reckon we've got the princeall right. I wonder when we are going to start back to Washingtonwith him, and if Ned will pinch that blonde beauty who brought himin?"

Uncle Ike stopped at the campfire and stuck his nose into Jimmie'spocket, looking for sugar. Mike III. , as some of the boys insisted onthinking of the little fellow, dropped off and seized the animal bythe tail and began to pull. Frank ran to get the child out of hisdangerous position, but Uncle Ike merely looked around to see what itwas that was pulling his tail winked one eye at Frank, and went onsearching pockets. 

"That mule sure gets my goat!" grinned Jimmie. "What do you think ofhis standing still while his tail is being pulled?"

By this time Jimmie had prepared breakfast, and the boys gatheredabout the fire with tin plates on their knees, and devoured ham andeggs, baked beans, and bread and butter and coffee with a mountainrelish. Mike III. Ate what was given to him at the first helping andthen clamored for more. Bradley whispered something in his ear, butthe boy pushed him off with a scowl:

"Alles-vous en!" he cried, angrily. 

Jack snickered and Frank looked as if he had made a mistake in hisestimate of the boy and knew it! Bradley drew the boy away, butJimmie hastened to replenish his plate. 

"Let the kid have all he wants!" he said. "We can cook more. We'regoing to have a chicken pie for dinner, and he'll like that. "

"Seems to me it is about time Jack was looking after that pie, " Franksuggested. 

"Pretty near forgot it!" Jack admitted, going to the oven and openingthe door so as to look inside at the dainty. 

Something took place when he did that! The square piece of metal flewback on its hinges with a thump, and cut of the oven flew the coverof the tin pail in which the chicken pie had been tucked. It shotacross the fire and struck Jimmie under the ear and then rolled backinto the blaze!

"Jerusalem!" cried the boy. "What you shootin' at me for?"

No attention was paid to what the boy said, for at that moment a waveof dough, spotted here and there with pieces of chicken, puffed outof the pail and tumbled over Jack's stooping shoulders and on intothe fire, where it continued to grow until the fire half consumed it. 

"Catch the chicken!" yelled Frank. "He's running away. "

Jack tried to keep the dough in the oven, but it rolled out andcovered his hands and arms with a sticky mess. The little fellowscreamed with delight. 

"Oh, oh, _de mal en pis!_" he shouted. 

"Grab the chicken!" shouted Teddy. "We can finish breakfast on that!"

While the mess was being cleared up, Frank asked Jack:

"How much baking powder did you put into that dough?"

"Only one can!" was the reply, and Frank went away and rolled on theground!

"Say, " Jimmie whispered to Jack, who was scraping the chicken pie offhis clothes, "what did the kid say when he pushed Bradley away, andwhen the pie busted?"

"First he said 'be off with you' or 'let me alone' next he said 'frombad to worse' Or something like that. Look at Bradley. He's callinghim down for it, right now. I'm going, to talk French to that kidwhen Bradley goes away. I'm going to know about this three Mike andthis prince business!"

CHAPTER XII

THE BLACK HAND GAME

Shortly after breakfast, and after what remained of the chickens hadbeen eaten, Bradley and his charge left the camp, after inviting theboys to visit them in the cabin in the valley. Bradley appearedanxious to be friendly, and seemed absolutely frank in his talks. Theonly suspicious thing they noticed in him was his jealous care of theboy--his reproaches when the lad had indulged in a word or two ofFrench!

"You bet I'll visit you at the cabin!" Jack said, as the twodisappeared over the summit. "I'll be there with the lingo, too! Ican soon find out from the boy what he knows of the French language!Of course I'll be down to the cottage!"

"Bradley will see that you don't talk with the boy alone!" Jimmiedeclared. 

"I'll catch him doing it!" was Jack's reply. 

"What do you think about it, Ned?" asked Frank. "Is that the prince, or is it Mike III. ? You may have all the guesses you need. 

"First, " Ned said, turning to Jack and Frank, "tell me what the boysaid when he spoke in French. "

Jack repeated the interpretations as previously given, and Nedremained in a thoughtful mood for a long time. Then he went into thetent, without answering any questions, and began overhauling thestock of reading matter brought along. 

When he found what he wanted to he threw himself on the bunk where hehad slept and read steadily for an hour or more. At least he held tothe book for that length of time, turning the leaves rapidly attimes, and then not at all for several minutes. 

"What's he up to?" asked Teddy. "Something on his alleged mind!"

"I'll go and find out what he's reading, " Jimmie volunteered. 

The boy entered the tent, but was back in a moment with a broad grinon his face. 

"It is a French dictionary!" he gasped. "Ned is learning French, sohe can talk with the prince in his native tongue!"

"The prince isn't French!" Jack declared. "He belongs away in theEast somewhere. French is the polite language of Europe, so ofcourse, he's been taught it!"

After a time Ned came to the door of the tent and beckoned to Jimmie. 

"Suppose we go and get some pictures of the mountains, " he said, whenthe boy entered. "We haven't taken a snap-shot since we came here. 

"I'm strong for it!" Jimmie declared. "We might go and take a fewsnaps at the counterfeiter's den. That will be fine!"

"What's that?" demanded Frank Shaw, poking his nose into the tent. "Going to take pictures of the counterfeiters den! I'm in on that. We'll take a bunch of pictures--enough for a first-page layout--andsend 'em in to dad's newspaper. Hot stuff! What? And I'll write thebiography of Uncle Ike, and send it in with the rest. His pictureought to go in the center of the layout. He'll be a hero, all right. "

"All right!" Ned agreed. "We'll go and take the pictures, and we'llsend them in when you get the story written! Will that answer?"

"Sure it will!"

So Ned, Jimmie, and Frank started away laughing, for all knew Frankwould never write the story, toward the counterfeiters' cave. Whenthey came in sight of the ridge which jutted out of the slope to makethe canyon, and under which the workroom was situated, they saw a manmoving northward, keeping close to the jagged summit of the lesserelevation, and looking sharply about as he advanced. 

"That may be one of them, " Jimmie suggested. 

"I don't believe it!" Frank contradicted. "What do you think, Ned?"he added. 

"Never saw the outlaws, " Ned answered, "so I can't decide thequestion. Still, I doubt if one of the counterfeiters is withinfifty miles of this spot now. "

"That's the idea!" Frank said. "Of course the shooting of last nightwould draw out the natives. There'll be dozens around the cavesto-day. "

The boys walked on to the canyon, taking snap-shots of everythingthey saw. The slope, the canyon, the valley to the west, the greenvalley to the south, the shallow cave from which the entrance to theworkroom gave, all were transferred to films to await development. When at last they entered the shallow cave they paused. 

"There may be some of them in here yet, " Frank suggested. 

"Not to-day!" Ned replied. "There are too many strangers about!"

They entered cautiously. There was now no fire on the stone hearth, and the atmosphere of the place was damp and chill, as well as dark. Here and there a break in the rocky roof above--the ceiling of theapartment was very near to the surface of the outcropping ridge--letin a shaft of light, but for the most part the apartment was in heavyshadows. 

Ned took out his electric light and turned it enquiringly about theroom. Counterfeit money still lay scattered over the floor. Themelting pot and the dies were on the cold iron shelf where they hadbeen left, and even a coat hung against the wall. 

"They got out in a hurry, " Jimmie declared. 

"And they are not likely to come back in a hurry!" Ned added. 

Frank paced the apartment off, set his camera tripod, and got out hispowder. 

"You boys stand over on the other side, " he requested, as he movedback to his tripod, "and when I give the word you, Jimmie, touch offthis flash. "

"What do you want a view of that corner for?" asked Jimmie. "You aretoo close, anyway, to get a good picture. "

"I'm going to have a picture of every corner, and the middle, and theroof, and the chimney, and everything about the blooming place!"Frank declared. 

"Wait a minute!" Jimmie shouted. "I'll hide in the passage we wentout of last night, and when you are ready to spring the print I'lllook out, with a fierce expression on my pretty face. That will makethe picture look like the real brigandish thing. What?"

"All right, " laughed Frank, "get in there! It is only an excuse forgetting your mug into dad's newspaper, but we'll let it go. "

Frank and Ned busied themselves for half an hour or more, takingpictures and looking over the implements used in the manufacture ofspurious coin. At length, when they returned to the outer cave, theyremembered that Jimmie had not returned from the west passage to theworkroom, and Ned went there to look for him. He was not there, norwas he in any of the niches or shallow openings in the rocky walls. Ned called to him, but he did not reply. Then Frank came running intothe passage and joined in the hunt. In vain! Jimmie was nowhere to befound. 

"Wherever he is, " Frank said, after a long search, "he has his camerawith him. "

"I didn't see him have one, " Ned replied. "You must be mistaken. "

"It was the baby camera he had, " Frank explained. "He carried itunder his coat. The little monkey has doubtless gone off on apicture-making tour of his own. "

"That is just like him, " Ned agreed, "so we'll go on about ourbusiness and let him present himself when he gets ready. "

"He seemed to take quite an interest in that child, " Frank suggested, "and he may have gone on to the cabin. "

"We may as well go that way and thank the old lady for the hens Jackdidn't make into a pie, " Ned observed. "I'd like another look at thatchild myself. "

"Is it the prince, or is it Mike III. ?" laughed Frank. 

Ned smiled, but made no reply, They walked on down the slope andconnected with the valley at the south end of the ridge. When theycame to the cabin they found Mrs. Mary Brady sitting in the doorway, the child playing on the ground--beaten hard by years of wear--infront of her. She arose as they appeared, and the boy darted off intothe fenced garden farther to the south, looking back with a grin frombehind the stake-and-rider fence. 

"Good day to you, young gentlemen, " the old lady said. "I hope youpassed a pleasant night! The mountain air is good for those who seeksleep. "

Then it occurred to Ned that neither Bradley nor the child hadreferred in any way to the shooting of the night before, though, ifat the cabin, they must have heard it. He regarded the old ladykeenly as he said:

"Has any one seen anything of the outlaws to-day?"

"The outlaws?" repeated the other. 

"You heard nothing in the night?" Ned asked. 

"I thought I heard a gunshot now and then, " was the indifferentreply, "but they are too common here to attract attention. Did theshooting disturb you?"

Ned did not believe the old lady had slept through the furiousfusilades of shots of the night before. What her motive was inignoring the matter he could not understand, but he decided to sethimself right with her and also with her mountain friends by tellingof the events of the night. 

If they were to remain long in that section, it was quite necessary, he thought, that the natives should understand that the boys of theCamera Club were not there to spy on counterfeiters or themoonshiners, if any there were in that region. 

So he told her that the boys had blundered on the workroom of thecounterfeiters, had been suspected of being spies sent by thegovernment and seized, and finally had been released by strategy. Headded that they were not there to molest the people of the district, whatever their occupation might be, but to take pictures and have along vacation in the health-giving mountain air. "

"And I hope you'll pass the word along, " he closed, "so that yourfriends will not regard us as enemies. We are anxious to meet as manyof them as possible, and to be on good terms with them. "

This was strictly true, as the boys were not there to convict any ofthe natives, whatever their offenses might be, but to deal with thestrangers who had abducted the prince from his home in Washington. Ned was certain that no one belonging in that region had had a handin the crime, although he suspected that some of them mightinnocently harbor the outlaws he was in quest of. 

The old lady listened to Ned's story and his explanation with astartled face. 

"I'm sure, " she said, "that no one belonging here was interested inthe counterfeiting gang you boys came upon. I am sure, too, that noone will blame you for what you did. We are law-abiding people, butour mountains constitute a secure refuge for some who are not worthyof protection. "

Ned was more than pleased at the outcome of the matter, for he wassure the old lady would take pains to set the matter before herfriends in the correct light. The conversation soon changed to othersubjects. The child did not return, and directly Frank saw himwalking along a distant hillside, hand-in-hand with Bradley. 

"Mr. Bradley seems to stick close to Mike, " he said, tentatively. 

"Never lets him out of his sight, " was the reply, and Mrs. Bradyseemed to resent the face as stated. She evidently had little of thelad's companionship. 

When the boys reached the camp Jimmie had not returned, but theirchums were gathered around a sheet of letter paper which had, no oneknew how, been thrust into the tent. Jack's face was deadly white ashe handed it to Ned. 

"We are up against a black hand game, " he said. "Jimmie has beenstolen!"

CHAPTER XIII

THREE DAYS TO MOVE IN

Ned took the paper into his hand and read:

"You boys are not wanted in the hills. We give you three days to getout. On the morning of the fourth day, if you are still here, weshall send you your friend's right hand. On the fifth day you willreceive his left hand. On the sixth day his right foot. On theseventh day his left foot. On the eighth day his head. If you obeythis command he will be restored to you, in good health, atCumberland. "

"Is it a joke?" asked Frank, white to the lips. 

"It must be!" cried Jack. "No one would mutilate Jimmie. "

"It is a corase joke!" Teddy cut in. 

"I'm afraid it is no joke, boys, " Ned said. "I'm afraid we'll have togo. "

"But we'll come back again!" shouted Oliver. "We'll come back with awhole company of Boy Scouts! There are enough Boy Scouts in New Yorkto tear these mountains up by the roots!"

"But I don't understand how they got him, " Teddy wailed. "He wentaway with you. "

"He went into a hidden passage to make a picturesque effect, " Franksaid, "and did not return. We thought it one of his jokes, and paidlittle attention to his absence. We might have rescued him if we hadknown. "

"Of course he was seized in that passage, " Dode said. "Did you getthe picture he was to be in?"

"Sure we did!" cried Frank. "I'll see if he was there when the cameraopened. "

As he spoke the boy made a rush for his suitcase, took out hisdevelopment tank, printing frame and other tools, and set to work onhis film roll. He used two powders instead of one, and in ten minuteswas ready for the printing. 

In a few minutes more he was at work in the tent, with the boysgathered around him. The developer had worked perfectly, notwithstanding the haste, and the printing was well advanced in thesoft light of the tent. Directly he had the picture taken in the caveunder view--the snapshot of the wall showing the entrance to thesecret passage. 

"Quick work!" Ned declared. "What does it show?"

They all gathered around the print, each trying to get the firstglance at it. 

"There's Jimmie!" Teddy shouted. "He was looking out of the door whenthe picture was taken! I can almost see his freckles!"

"There he is, sure enough!" Frank cried. "The little monkey!"

Ned took the print and examined it carefully, while the others waitedfor him to express any discoveries he might make. 

"Did you see anything back of Jimmie?" he asked of Frank. 

"Just the dark wall, " was the reply. 

Ned passed the print to him and left the tent. 

"Yes, " Frank said, with a threat in his voice, there's a face lookingover Jimmie's shoulder. "Oh, I wish we had known!"

"Can you see the face plainly?" asked Teddy. 

"Quite plainly, " was the reply. "The door was open, as you see, andJimmie stood with his hand on the edge of it, looking at the camera, his head in the room. "

"Yes; that makes the picture good, " Teddy observed. 

"And there was a slant of light from the passage, and the head of theoutlaw shows in that. He's an ugly looking brute!"

"Observe the alfalfa on his map!" exclaimed Teddy. 

"That picture may send him to prison!" Frank cried. "I hope so!"

He put the tank, the printing frame, the print, and the otherarticles away in his suitcase and went out to where Ned was standing. 

"Did you see the face behind the boy?" asked Frank--"get a good lookat it?"

"Yes, " was the reply. "It shows that this is not a joke!" Did younotice the face closely?"

"I think so. "

"What about the beard?"

"Quite a growth, I should say. "

"Anything else odd about it?" persisted Ned. 

"Not that I saw, " was the wondering reply. "What about it?"

"It was a false beard! The man was disguised!"

 Frank's face looked, for an instant, as if he had received a blow. 

"And I was counting on that beard, " he said, "as a means ofidentification!"

"Keep the print safe, " Ned advised. "It may be useful in that wayyet. "

"Well, " Frank declared, "we've got to go away! We can take no chanceson Jimmie being murdered. Isn't that your idea?"

"We certainly will take no such chances, " Ned responded. "Up to thistime we have been successful in getting out of trouble, though, andwe may be able to rescue the boy without giving up the search for theabducted lad. "

"Here's another question, " Frank said, "was that note sent by thecounterfeiters, or are the men interested in the abduction of theprince resorting to such tactics?"

"I have an idea that the abductors are the ones who are doing it, "Ned answered. 

"It may be moonshiners, " suggested Frank. 

"I don't think there are any illicit stills in this district, " Nedreplied. 

"Well, we're up against a desperate gang now, anyway, " Frank said, "and it looks as if they held the high cards! If we had onlysuspected what was going on in that passage, we might have rescuedthe boy before they got him away!

"I believe we'll do well to watch Bradley, " he suggested. 

"But Bradley was at the cabin when we got there. "

"Oh, he had plenty of time to get Jimmie away and get back to thecabin!" Frank insisted. "We remained at the cave half an hour afterJimmie left us, and we took our time in getting to the cottage. "

"Also we took a great many snap-shots at the scenery, " Ned went on. "Now, I wish you would take all the films out of the cameras anddevelop and print a picture of each. "

"I'll go right at it, " Frank replied, turning back to the tent. 

"And if any of the boys were taking pictures about the tent, or thecorral, have them developed. It may be that one of the snap-shotswill show the person who slipped the note into the tent. "

"I don't see how it was ever done without the man being seen, " Frankexclaimed. 

"But it was done, " Ned replied, "and we've got to find out when andhow if we can. "

When Frank left for the tent Ned started on toward the summit. He hadtraveled only a short distance when Frank came puffing after him. 

"Here's another print Jack and Teddy took, " he said. "It showssomething in the cave we never noticed. See if you can tell what itis. "

Ned glanced at the print and returned it. 

"There is another opening in the wall at the east side, " he said. "The picture shows it. I noticed something there, but neglected toinvestigate. "

While the two talked Jack came up the slope, his camera over hisshoulder. 

"I think it is about time for me to be having an outing, " he said. "I've been in the camp most of the time since we've been here. "

"Come along, then, " Ned replied. "I'm going back to the cave, and itmay be just as well to have some one with me. "

Frank went down the slope to the tent and Ned and Jack hastened downthe slope on the other side. They were busy with their thoughts andfor a long time neither spoke. 

"Of course it is the abductors?" Jack asked, presently. 

"I have no doubt of it, " was the reply. 

"Do you connect the man Bradley with it?" was the next question. 

"There is no proof against him, " Ned replied. 

"But you must have some idea about it, " persisted Jack. 

"For all we know, " Ned remarked, "he may be entirely innocent in theabduction matter. He may have brought the real grandchild here. "

"The grandchild!" repeated Jack. "Here's the old question once more:'Is it the prince, or is it Mike III. ?'"

"I have the answer to that question written down in my memorandumbook, " Ned said. "I don't want to show it to you now, because I maybe mistaken. When the case is closed I will show you the entry. Thenyou may laugh at me if you feel like it. "

"I'd like to see it now, " Jack coaxed. 

"I want all you boys to think for yourselves, " Ned went on. "Don'tget a theory and pound away at it. If you do, you'll overlookeverything which doesn't agree with that theory. If I should show youwhat I have written, you might look only for clues calculated toprove it to be correct, or you might look only for opposing clues. "

A second examination of the counterfeiters' cave revealed nothing ofimportance except that the broken wall on the east side showed asmall room into which Jimmie and his captor might have fled after theabduction. Still, there was no proof that they had done so, Nedexplained. 

"Why didn't the little fellow yell?" asked Jack. 

"I think he would have yelled if that had been possible!" Ned said. 

The boys left the cave in a short time and passed south, toward thevalley and the cabin. Instead of going directly to the cabin, however, Ned kept away to the west and came out south of it, in thesection where Bradley had walked with the child. 

After a time Jack wandered away to the east, so as to come up on thatside of the cabin. Although the boys had circled the building, nosign of life had been seen. 

While Ned was yet some distance away he saw Jack standing on theslope of the valley watching the front door. He walked back andlooked in at a small window in the rear wall. The child lay asleep ona bed in one corner of the room, and Mrs, Brady sat by his side. Bradley occupied a chair not far away. 

"Quite a domestic scene!" Ned muttered. 

While the boy watched through the window, the old woman arose andleft the cabin by the front door. Then Bradley arose, went to asuitcase in a corner by the hearth, took therefrom a small greenpaper parcel, and went to the cupboard, hanging on the north wall. 

After feeling about for a time he took out a cup, filled it with warmwater from a kettle on the fire and stirred the contents of the greenpackage into it with a brush which he took from a pocket. Ned couldnot see the contents of the cup, but when the man held the brush upto the light he saw that it was soaked in what seemed to be a blackdye. It appeared too thick to suit the taste of the man, and hepoured in more water out of the kettle. 

Then, with the brush wet in one hand and the cup in the other, Bradley drew closer to the bed where the child slept. Ned watched fora few seconds more, then the footsteps of the old lady were heardapproaching the door, ringing on the hard earth at the front of it. Ned made another entry in his memorandum book and turned away. 

CHAPTER XIV

POINTING OUT THE TRAIL

After leaving the window at the rear of the cabin, Ned moved to thenorth side, where there was no window at all, and stood there, huddled against the wall, until he heard the old lady enter the houseand close the door. Peering around the corner to see that no one wasin sight, he crossed the open space swiftly and approached the grovewhere he had seen Jack. 

Jack was not in sight, but a round hole cut in the bark of a treetold the direction in which he had gone. In the Indian sign languageused by the Boy Scouts this meant:

"This is the trail. Keep on in this direction. "

Wondering what had taken Jack away so suddenly, Ned followed on untilhe came to an open space where no trees were growing. He, however, kept straight ahead, taking snapshots as he came to desirable scenes. 

A hundred yards from the edge of the grove he came to a small roundstone sitting on top of a large one. Then he walked faster and withmore confidence. This, too, said:

"This is the trail! Keep on!"

It was now after noonday, and the sun poured fiercely down into thevalley between the great ridges. There were patches of forest hereand there, and now and then the boy came to a field which had beenplanted to corn. Still, he came upon no human being. The two cabinshe saw seemed empty and deserted. 

Weary and hungry as he was, Ned kept on, now reading the trail signfrom a tree, now from a stone, now from a bunch of grass tied at thetop, with the ends of the blades sticking straight up. He walked acouple of miles without turning to the right or left, and then founda new signal. The hole in the bole of the tree where the sign stoodwas accompanied by a long cut in the bark of the left side. 

This, as plainly as a voice from the thicket could have done, said:

"Turn to the left and keep on in that direction until you are furtherinstructed. "

The turn to the left led Ned up the slope. So the field of action waslikely to be in the mountains again! The signs were closer togethernow, and Ned followed them with faith that he was on the right track. 

But who had made the trail? Was it Jimmie or Jack? Probably thelatter, Ned concluded, for Jimmie would not be likely to have had anopportunity of so blazing his trail, while Jack was free to do so atwill. 

But why had Jack gone away on the trail alone? Why had he not calledto him, Ned, in order that they might proceed together?

It was possible that the boy might be following some person whom hesuspected of the abduction, still that did not seem to be likely, asany one tracking another in the broad light of day, in such a countryas that, over open places and rocky elevations, would be almostcertain to be discovered. Ned feared the boy was being led into atrap. 

Finally, almost at the edge of the timber, Ned came to a third sign. There were three holes cut in the bark of a tree, facing the trail hehad followed, and on the right side was the familiar slit in thebark. 

"Turn to the right and be careful, for there may be danger ahead!"

That is what the talk on the tree said!

To the right lay a rim of trees, facing the bare face of themountain. Between the trees and the summit lay a long stretch ofrocky slope, in some places actually inaccessible to one not anexpert in mountain climbing. 

Obeying the signal, Ned turned to the right and kept under theshelter of the trees. It was very still there, save for the sharpraspings of insects hiding in the foliage and the sleepy call ofbirds in the sky and in the tops of the trees. 

The boy made his way through the underbrush for some distance withoutfinding any sign. At a loss what course to pursue, he decided to donothing! So he sat down in a thicket and waited. And while he waitedhe took snapshots!

His thought, sitting there in suspense, was that Jack might havewaited for him at some point on the trail! At best the boy could havebeen only a half hour ahead of him. He waited an hour, until the sunbegan to touch the tops of the distant western mountains, and thenclimbed cautiously up a tree and looked about. 

Then there came a rustling in the bushes farther to the south, andthe low, angry growl of a black bear came up to him! Ned begansliding down the tree at once. 

That was the call of the Black Bear Patrol! He knew now that Jack wasnot far off. At the bottom of the tree he found the boy waiting forhim!

"Say, but I've had a long wait!" Jack complained. 

 "Why didn't you signal before, then?" demanded Ned. 

"Why, I thought you'd come right on, come on and meet me!"

"And you never knew I was here until I climbed the tree?"

"Of course not. How should I?"

"Well, " Ned observed, "we'll know better next time. I presume Ishould have made a sign myself--the call of the pack, for instance. "

"Of course, " Jack replied. "Now, " he went on, "do you know what'sdoing here?"

"I'm in quest of information, " Ned grinned. "What have you found?"

"I've discovered that the Brady cabin is being watched!"

Ned couldn't understand that, and said so. Jack went on: "When Istood in front of the house, two men came out of the canyon andwalked down to the tree belt and stopped. They stood there a longtime, talking, and then started off in this direction and I followedthem. "

"Are they mountaineers?" asked Ned. "People of this section?"

"Certainly not! They are to all appearances city people, at least indress. "

"You couldn't hear what they were saying?" asked Ned. 

"No, but I could get some idea of their thoughts from their gestures. One was kicking about something, and the other was trying to pacifyhim. "

"Well, where did they go? Where did you see them last?" asked Ned. 

"They went up the slope, and disappeared behind that chimney of rock. I've got pictures of that rock!"

"This looks like a three-cornered game!" Ned mused. 

"What do you mean by that?" asked Jack. "Where are the threeinterests?"

"We'll probably have to come back here tonight, " Ned went on, withoutanswering the question. "We can never get up that slope in daylightwithout attracting their attention. "

"We must be at least four up-hill miles from camp, " Jack calculated. 

"All of that, " answered Ned. "It is a long walk there and back. "

"Then why not remain here?" asked Jack. "I'm hungry, but I'm more inneed of rest than food just now. We can lie here in the thicket untilnight, and then creep up the slope and see what's doing. "

"I was about to suggest that, " Ned observed, "but I thought you'd beravenous for the sight of a camp dinner!"

"I have a hunch, " Jack declared, after a time, "that Jimmie issomewhere in this section! I don't know why, but when I saw thosemen, strangers, evidently, walking so stealthily over the country Igot the hunch! Then I followed them, because I thought I might get aclue to the boy's whereabouts by so doing. "

"If the boy is here, " Ned replied, grimly, "we'll find him!"

"Of course we'll find him! That's what we are here for!"

The boys thus encouraging each other crawled deeper into the thicketand lay down. They were more than tired, worse than hungry, but theynever thought of sleep, or of leaving their post of observation. Theafternoon passed slowly, the boys taking snapshots now and then. 

"The boys will be thinking we've been geezled!" Jack said. "I wishthey knew where to find us. There's no knowing what they will do, they're so anxious about Jimmie. And if they scatter over the countryothers may be captured. "

"They usually show good sense in emergencies, " Ned commented. 

When the first tint of twilight came, the boys crept to the edge ofthe thicket and sat looking out on the mountain. There was the brokenway to the summit, and there was the chimney rock behind which themen had disappeared, but no human being was, for a long time imsight. 

Then a small figure came swinging down the slope, off to the north, and presently came opposite to where the boys lay. Jack seized Ned bythe arm and pointed. 

"Is it the prince, or is it Mike III?" he asked. 

Ned got out his field glass and studied the face and figure until, whistling some childish discord, the boy turned back and disappearedin the direction of the cabin. 

"What is that boy doing off here alone?" asked Jack, then. 

"Keep watch of the chimney rock, " Ned advised. 

"But what do you think of it?" demanded Jack. "How did that boy getup here?"

"If you see any one moving up there, " Ned went on, provokingly, "letme know. "

"Oh, look here!" Jack insisted, half angrily, "what's the use ofshutting up like a clam? What is your idea about that boy? We'venever seen him before except in Bradley's company. Do you think heran away? Why can't we go and get him and hold him until Jimmie isreleased?"

"So you think the men who have taken Jimmie are the men who areconducting the abduction game?" asked Ned. 

"Yes, don't you?"

"I have written the answer to that down in my little book, " smiledNed, "and when the right time comes I'll show it to you. "

"Well, if we are going to catch the boy we'll have to be moving. "

"We are not going to catch the boy. "

Jack threw himself down on the ground in disgust. 

"You're the Secret Service man, " he said, "and I presume you knowwhat you are about, but it looks to me as if you had been reading adream book, or something like that. "

"Why should we catch the child?" asked Ned. 

"To hold him! To be able to say to the outlaws that we hold the tophand!"

"And trade the child for Jimmie, as you suggested?"

 "Why, of course!"

"That would make a failure of our mission, me son!"

"But it would save Jimmie's life. "

It was now growing quite dark in the valley, especially where thetree growth was heavy, but upon the slope objects might still beclearly distinguished some distance away. While the boys watched thechild came out of the thicket to the north and began ascending themountain, walking with a light, springing step, as if out forexercise after a long and tiresome confinement. 

"Now keep your eye on the mountain, " Ned requested. 

In a moment a column of smoke arose from behind the chimney rock. Theboys watched it intently and the child with it, for he was nowapproaching the rock. 

"Cooking supper!" remarked Jack. "I wish they would pass it around!"

"Does it take two fires to cook supper up there?" asked Ned, with asmile. 

Jack half arose in his excitement, but Ned drew him down again. 

"Jimmie's up there!" he whispered. "There's the Boy Scout call forhelp!"

CHAPTER XV

A NIGHT ON THE SUMMIT

"Now, " Ned said, as the signal columns died down, "we'll hike back tocamp with our pictures and get supper! How does that strike you?"

Jack turned toward Ned impatiently. There was not light enough forhis face to show clearly, but Ned knew how the boy was scowling!

"And go off and leave Jimmie here?" Jack said. "I'd like to know whatyou're thinking of! Why have you changed your mind? I'm going to stayhere until it gets good and dark and then go up there. "

"You may spoil all my plans if you attempt to reach him to-night, "Ned replied, in a matter-of-fact tone. "On the way back I want tostop at the cabin a moment. "

"All right, " Jack grumbled. "I suppose I'll have to go with you! Whenare you thinking of rescuing Jimmie? After they send us one of hishands?"

"Donft be sarcastic, " laughed Ned. "You'll understand it all beforelong. "

Jack was not at all pleased with the idea of returning to camp, andsaid so repeatedly as they walked along both keeping in the thicketas far as possible, but Ned seemed to take no offense at his remarks. 

"What I can't get through my head, " Jack finally said, changing thetopic of conversation, "is why they let us travel through herewithout nipping us. "

"I have an idea, " Ned answered, "that they are pretty busy just now. "

"Well, what was the use of our going at all if we sneak away as soonas we get where we might accomplish something?" demanded the boy, reverting to the old subject. 

"You did a good job in finding and following them, " Ned replied, ignoring the question, "and another good job in showing me the way. We have accomplished more than you think! I'm anxious for the end tocome, so you'll know just how much you have accomplished! There isthe cabin light, " he added. 

The boys walked boldly up to the door and Ned knocked. Mrs. Bradylooked out with a welcoming smile on her faded face. She invited themin and tried to appear pleased at their visit, but Ned saw that shewas under a great mental strain. 

Judd Bradley sat by the hearth, with the child by his side. He smiledwhen Ned nodded to him and pointed to a chair. 

"Pardon my not arising, " he said. "The fact is that I'm a bit leg-wearyto-night. This little chap ran away to-day, and I had a long chaseafter him!"

"We were worried about him, " Mrs. Brady added. 

"Aw, what's the matter wid youse folks, anyway?" demanded the boy, ina strident tone. "I didn't promise to sit in a chair an' play wid acat all day!"

"I've had quite a busy day myself, " Ned observed, "for one of theboys has been abducted by the counterfeiters, as I suppose, and we'vebeen looking for him. "

"Have you found him?" asked the old lady, anxiously. 

"No, " was the reply. "He must be securely hidden. "

"The poor little fellow!"

Ned glanced casually at Bradley and saw that he was all interest. 

"It seems, " he went on, "that the counterfeiters blame us for whattook place last night, and want us to leave the district. If we dothey will send the boy out to us unharmed, at least that is what theypromise. "

"I don't see how they can blame you for the trouble of last night, "Bradley said, and Ned caught a tone of irony in his voice. 

"That's what I can't see, " Ned went on, "but it seems that they do. "

"And so they have ordered you out of the hills?" asked Bradley. "That's too bad, just as we were getting well acquainted. But, then, you don't have to go!"

"I think we'll go, " Ned replied. "There are other localities where wecan take pictures, and we can't afford to take any chances on the boybeing injured. "

"Sorry to have you go, " Bradley remarked, "but that may be the wisestcourse. "

"We think so, " Ned replied. "Anyway, we're going day after to-morrow, in time to meet Jimmie at Cumberland. I think we can get packed upand out by that time. "

"Shall we see you again before you go?" asked the old lady, anxiously. 

"Oh, I presume so. I am going now to leave a note in the cave, sayingthat we are going out, and then on to camp. "

When the boys stepped outside the cabin the old lady followed as faras the threshold standing with her gray head outside. 

"I'm sorry, " she said. "If there is anything I can do--"

Jack stood a couple of yards away, whistling shrilly. At a word fromNed the old lady stepped out into the open air, half closing the doorafter her. From the inside came the heavy tread of Bradleyapproaching the door. 

But before the visitor gained the threshold Ned and Mrs. Bradley hadexchanged half a dozen short sentences, and when Bradley looked outshe was saying. 

"I shall look for you if you ever come this way again. "

"I'll surely be back, some bright day!" laughed Ned, and the two boyswalked on. 

"Well, " Jack said, as they left the cabin behind, "of all the fire-proof, enthusiastic, gilt-edged, slicky-slick members of the Ananiasclub I ever heard mentioned, you certainly take the bakery! What didyou go and tell Bradley we were going out for?"

"Because, " Ned answered, "we are going out. "

"Not by day after to-morrow?"

"I hope so! We ought to get ready by that time!"

"I don't ask any more questions!" grumbled Jack. "I don't know hotfrom cold! I'm deaf and dumb and blind from this minute on. Uncle Ikehas a classical education in comparison with what I know. Go to it, Neddie, boy!"

They stopped at the cave and Ned wrote a note to the effect that theywere going out inside the limit set, placed it in a conspicuous placeon the shelf with the dies, and then the two boys set out for camp. It was a long, hard climb, but they made it before the boys were intheir bunks. 

"You're a nice party!" Frank exclaimed, as Ned came up. "We thoughtyou had been pinched! There's plenty of hot supper in the oven foryou, but you don't deserve a thing! Square yourself!"

"Don't ask him a single question!" grumbled Jack. "He won't tell youa thing! We've been within sight of a signal from Jimmie thisafternoon, and we've had a chance to tell the outlaws where they cango, but he's muffed every play! I'm going to eat and go to bed!"

Jack really was out of temper, so no objections were made to hisgoing to his bunk as soon as he had finished supper! Ned laughedgoodnaturedly at the boy's remarks and thought no more about them. 

Frank came and sat down by Ned while the latter was eating a heartysupper. 

"The worry doesn't seem to affect your appetite!" the boy laughed. "Have you solved the riddle, that you are so calm through it all? Ifyou have, just tell me this:

"Is it the prince, or is it Mike III. ?"

"I've written the answer to that in my little red book, " laughed Ned. 

Frank eyed the other with a grin, but made no reply for a time, thenhe merely said:

"You are up to your old tricks! Well, what is on for to-night?"

"Why, " Ned answered, "if you would like a stroll by moonlight, Ithink we might get a good view of the south country from the top ofthe mountain. "

"I don't know what you're up to, " Frank answered, springing to hisfeet, "but I'm game for anything. I've been eating my heart out allday. "

"What about the prints?" asked Ned. 

"They are remarkably good, " Frank replied, "but there are no specialfeatures. In one picture, taken down in the canyon, there is a facethat we did not see, though. "

"What sort of a face?"

"A strange one to me. But I'll show them all to you in the morning. When are you going out for that stroll in the moonlight?"

"In two hours. That will be about midnight. Between now and that timeI'm going to get a little sleep. Wake me at twelve, will you--and, bythe way, say nothing to the others about it. They'll all want to go!We can notify whoever is on watch when we get ready to start. "

Ned hastened to his bunk and lay down. Five minutes later, when Franklooked in, he was studying a French dictionary by the light of hiselectric candle. Ten minutes later he was sound asleep. At twelve theboys were ready to start, and Teddy, who was on watch, was warned tokeep wide awake and listen for noises from the south. 

"If you hear shooting, " Ned said, "two of you jump on Uncle Ike andcharge along the summit to the south. Make all the noise you can!Don't go down the slope, but keep to the summit. "

"Now where?" asked Frank, as they walked over the rocks and woundaround jutting crags. "If you'll give me time I'll take somemoonlight pictures for Dad's newspapers. He must be expecting some bythis time!"

"Poor old Dad!" laughed Ned. "By this time he must have given upsitting around the New York postoffice, waiting for your pictures tocome!"

"I'm going to send him some on this trip, sure!" declared the boy. "He deserves them, you know, and his newspaper needs them! Besides, we are planning another Boy Scout trip, and I shall want a whole lotof money!"

"I see!" cried Ned. "You are casting an anchor to windward!"

"In other words, " grinned Frank, "I'm laying the foundation foranother appropriation! I'm going to send on some of the pictures ofthe counterfeiters' den!"

The summit of the ridge was by no means a level pathway. There werepeaks, canyons, gulleys and twistings to east and west which causedthe boys to travel two miles or more for every mile they advancedtoward the point where the two men Jack had followed had takenrefuge. 

It was about two o'clock in the morning when they came in sight ofthe chimney rock which Ned had noted on the trip of the afternoon. Itrose from the west slope of the mountain like a tower, tall, bulky, forbidding. 

Looking down upon it from the east, Ned saw that there was a smallcanyon in between it and the slope, much the same as the formationnear the cave of the counterfeiters. It was evident that the rock hadbeen cast down from the summit, and had caught there--on a projectingridge of stone. 

"Looks like a fortress!" Frank whispered as the rock sparkled in thelight of the moon. "Notice the campfire in the canyon?" "There weretwo there this afternoon, " Ned said, "and we thought one of them wasthere simply to make the second column--the Boy Scout call forassistance. "

"If Jimmie isn't tied up hand and foot, " Frank suggested, "if he isallowed to move about, under guard, and help in the cooking, he couldeasily build two fires, and the outlaws wouldn't know what he was upto. That is how Dode came to signal to us, you remember. Thecounterfeiters never suspected that he was making Indian talk!"

"I think it was Jimmie, " Ned declared. "He would find some way tomake the signal, if he wasn't tied hard and fast! Anyway, " the boyadded, "I'm going down the slope right now to see if he is there!"

CHAPTER XVI

THE CALL OF THE PACK

Ned and Frank stood in the shadow behind a protecting rock and peereddown into the moonlit canyon for a long time. At first there was noone in sight below, but presently a man came out by the fire, whichwas burning low now. 

It appeared to the boys that he must have crawled out from under thechimney rock itself! He appeared so suddenly that they knew that, atleast, there must be an underground hiding place in which he had beenconcealed when they had first come in view of the canyon and therock. 

The man mended the fire, gathering up the ends of the logs and limbswhich had burned through in the middle and placing them back on thecoals. Then he opened a box which he had brought from some out-of-sight place and took out canned food and cooking utensils. He wasevidently going to get an early breakfast. 

Presently a second man joined the first arrival, and they sat down bythe fire to wait for water in a great pot to boil. At least, the boyssupposed that they were waiting for it to boil. 

"I'd like to know what they are talking about, " Frank said. "I'mgoing to see if I can get close enough to them to find out. "

"I was just thinking of that myself, " Ned responded, "so we may aswell be on our way. Keep your gun handy, but don't shoot unless oneof them seizes you. "

"I'll take good care they don't get hold of me, " Frank answered. "Say, " he went on, "if Jimmie is there, he must be in some hole underthat rock--the one they came out of! If they turn away, I may be ableto get in there and see. "

"Wait until there is little danger of detection, " Ned advised. "Wedon't know how many men there are in the party, remember. "

The boys walked softly back to the north, keeping ridges andoutcropping rocks between the canyon and themselves, and then creptsoftly down the slope so as to come out at the north end of thelittle cut. The men they were watching were frying bacon and boilingcoffee now, and appeared to be thoroughly occupied with their tasks. 

In a few moments both boys were within hearing, distance. The menwere not talking much, however. In fact, they both seemed to beharboring a grouch, from the infrequent low, grumbling complaintswhich the boys overheard. 

"I'm through with the bunch after this!" one of the men said. "I'mnot going to do all the work and let some one else draw all themoney. "

"It is time we got out of here anyway, " the other said. "Those freshboys were around here this afternoon. "

"Why didn't you plug them if you knew they were here?" demanded theother. 

Frank nudged Ned in the side with his fist. 

"Cheerful sort of people!" he said. "I'm looking to see somethingstart soon. "

"I didn't know at the time that they were here!" the man replied, with a snarl. "I'm no Indian sleuth. After they left I startedthrough the grove and found their tracks. Good thing for them that Isaw their tracks instead of their heads!"

"Well, " the other grunted, "if we are agreed that it is time for usto get out, why don't we get out? I'm not going to take all thechances! Why don't the others come? They won't come, and that's allthere is to it. They're waiting for us to do the job! Then they'llclaim the pay. "

By this time the bacon was crisp and the coffee was simmeringfragrantly in the pot and the two men fell to with an appetite. Frankwatched them eat with an appetite of his own, rubbing his stomach andtrying to show how near the point of starvation he was, although ithad been only a short time since he had eaten a hearty meal!

"They don't trust us!" one of the men muttered, at length. 

"We haven't got a thing on them, if they see fit to welch on us, " theother admitted. 

"But if we obey orders, they will have so much on us that we won'tdare say a word, even if they make us walk back and buy our own mealson the way!"

"Is it agreed, then, that we're going to cut it?" asked one. "If itis, we may as well go now as at any future time. "

"All right. "

"Now?" asked the other. 

"Why not? It will soon be daylight. "

"Good idea, for we can't be seen trailing that kid along with us inthe broad light of day, " was suggested. "Let's move right now!"

"Now, " whispered Frank, "do they mean Jimmie, when they speak of thekid, or some one else? And if they are speaking of some one else, here's a question: Is it the prince, or is it Mike III. ?"

"It seems to me, " Ned whispered back, "that I've heard something likethat before. "

"Well, get the kid out and feed him!" one of the men commanded. "We've got to keep him with us until we get pay for what we havealready done. "

"Now we'll know!" Frank suggested, as one of the men turned towardthe rock. "If it is Jimmie we'll soon know it. What?"

They were not long kept in doubt. Jimmie shot out of a hole under therock like an arrow in full flight and squatted down by the fire. Frank snickered when he saw the boy, and turned hastily away toward aledge which showed back to the north. 

While Ned was wondering what the boy was up to, the long, viciouswhine of a wolf reached his ears. The call died away slowly, and wasfollowed by silence, then by the snarling call of the pack!

The men by the fire started to their feet and seized their revolvers. Jimmie jumped away from the blaze and held up his hands, boundtightly together. 

"Cut me loose!" he cried. "Are you going to let the wolf come and eatme?"

"There are no wolves in these mountains, " declared one of the men. "That was a signal of some kind!"

"I've seen wolves since we came in here, " Jimmie declared, tellingthe exact truth, at that, only the wolves he referred to belonged tothe Wolf Patrol, Boy Scouts of America! "They're fierce wolves, too!"he added. 

Frank crawled back to Ned's side and lay laughing at the commotionthe signal had caused in the little camp. The men hastened theirpacking, and one of them who had been about to give Jimmie hisbreakfast snatched the bread and bacon away and put them in a pack hewas making up. 

"Here!" the boy shouted. "You give me the eats! Think I'm going totravel over these mountains with me tummy abusing me for not doingthe right thing by it?"

"You're lucky to have any tummy!" snarled one of the men. 

"Aw, give the kid his breakfast!" commanded the other. 

The men quarreled and growled at each other while the packing wasgoing on, and Jimmie sat looking around for some sign of the BoyScout who had given the signal. In half an hour they were ready, andthen Jimmie was ordered to move on. 

"If you try to run away, " he was informed, "you'll be chased by abullet. We have no time to fool with you! Just keep a pace or two inadvance, and march straight ahead and you'll have no trouble. Getalong, now!"

"But where's the prince?" asked Frank. "I thought we were going tofind the royal prince here!"

"The prince of what?" asked Ned. "The prince of the slums or theprince of a little patch of ground over the sea?"

"Blessed if I know, " Frank commented. "See me throw a scare intothose bums!"

The men stopped still in their tracks when the ugly snarl of a bearcame to them out of the darkness. Frank did himself proud in themanner in which he put out the bear talk. The men were surelyfrightened. 

"Now there's a bear!" wailed Jimmie, although Ned thought he caught anote of fun in his voice. "Don't you know these hills are full ofbears? We saw some at our camp last night, " he added, "eating breadand honey!"

"Bear nothing!" shouted one of the men. "There ain't a bear within ahundred miles of this place! This is some trick!"

Again the fierce, angry snarl of the bear! Ned caught Frank by thearm to keep him quiet, but the boy finished the bear talk he hadbegun. 

Then Jimmie hastened matters by breaking away and running toward therock from which the sound had proceeded. Both men took after him, buta shot from Frank's gun caused them to halt. They stood still for aninstant, their figures tense and tall, and then turned and ran, almost tumbling over each other in their fright!

They did not stop at slight declivities. They leaped gulleys andalmost fell into canyons which split the summits. In vain Ned calledto them to halt, that they would not be injured. They ran like racehorses, and were soon out of sight. Frank and Jimmie were rolling onthe ground in their delight. 

Ned looked grave and annoyed. Without speaking he looked over thecamp where the men had cooked the breakfast and then returned to theboys. 

"I am sorry for that, " he said, mildly. "I wanted to put those menthrough the third degree! We should have held them up and put on thehandcuffs. "

"You didn't say so!" observed Frank sheepishly. 

"No use to talk about it now, " Ned declared. "Perhaps Jimmie knowswhat we expected to learn from them. "

"All I know is that the bums got me at the cave and tied me up, "Jimmie said. 

"How many men have you seen in the party?" asked Ned. "Just those two. They were always talking about some one else comingin, but I never saw any one else. "

"What did they talk about?" asked Ned. 

"They were trying, most of the time, to make me admit that the CameraClub was a secret service organization, " laughed the lad. "Of courseI denied it!"

"What did they say about a child?"

"Not one word! I kept my ears open for that kind of talk!"

"Did they have a boy with them at any one time?" asked Ned. 

"This afternoon, or yesterday afternoon, rather, I saw a kid movingabout on the slope. I was cooking, and built two fires so as to makea signal. Did you see it?"

"Yes, we saw it, " answered Ned, "but did not reply to it for thereason that we feared discovery. We wanted to come here in the nightand release you and capture the two outlaws! But what sort of a childwas it that you saw?"

"Why, it was the kid from the cabin. Say, Ned, " he added, with a winkat Frank, "is that the prince, or is it Mike III. ?"

"Cut it out!" roared Frank. "We've heard enough of that. "

Ned laid a hand on the shoulder of each boy. 

"That shot attracted attention, " he whispered, "or the runaways arecoming back. I hear some one tramping over rock, and a moment ago Icaught the gleam of a gun barrel. "

"Then it's me for a hole to crawl into!" whispered Jimmie. "I've hadtroubles of my own for the past few hours! Say, but I'm hungry, boys. "

The boys left their place of retreat just as a couple of bulletsspattered on rock. 

CHAPTER XVII

JUST A LITTLE DARK WASH

More shots were fired, but the boys were soon out of range. A flushof pink was showing in the sky now, and the sun would be up in halfan hour. Jimmie looked longingly toward the camp, and Ned turned hisfootsteps that way. 

"Speaking of quitters, " Jimmie said, as they moved along, "the twomen who geezled me take the bun! They quarreled all the time becausesome one else didn't come and do something they wanted done! Nowonder they ducked when one shot was fired!"

"About the boy you saw yesterday afternoon, " Ned asked. "Are you sureit was the lad who was brought to our camp?"

"Of course it was!"

"Dressed just the same?"

"Just exactly. "

"Why didn't you take a picture of him?" asked Frank. 

"Huh, don't you ever think I didn't, " was the reply. "I've got it inmy camera now. When we get to camp I'll develop it and print some. I've got pictures of the men, too, and about everything around thehole in the ground where they hid me. "

"That is as it should be!" Ned declared. "But how did you do it!"

"They are easy!" was all the reply Jimmie made. 

A quarter of a mile away from the chimney rock Ned paused and lookedback. 

"I can't understand where those men went to, " he said. 

"My friends do you mean?" asked Jimmie with a grin. "They're going ona hop yet. "

"No; the men who did the shooting, " said Ned. 

"Well, " Jimmie went on, in a minute, "there is a place somewhere nearthe rock where some friends of the men who ran are camping. I heardthem talking together. "

"You little rascal!" Ned exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me thatbefore?"

"Oh, you won't find them there now!" Jimmie advised. "I'll bet theyducked when we got away. They won't remain around here now. "

"Are they counterfeiters?" asked Frank. 

"They're bums from the city, brought here in connection with theabduction of the prince!" laughed Jimmie. 

"How did you manage to cook and take pictures when you were tied uplike a fish for shipment?" asked Frank. 

"They didn't tie me up for a time, for I gave them a lot of talkabout liking their society, " was the answer. "They just watched me. When it came night and they wanted to sleep, they put the harnesson!"

"That was careless of them, " declared Frank, "not to tie you uptight. "

"They're just cheap bums, " Jimmie insisted. "They couldn't kidnap abird in a cage. "

The sun was up when the boys reached the camp, and Teddy was getting breakfast. 

The arrival of Jimmie was hailed with manifestations of joy, as maywell be supposed. The boys clustered around him excitedly, and evenUncle Ike, from the corral, sent forth a he-haw greeting. Thebreakfast Teddy prepared for him was a wonder!

The meal was scarcely finished when Bradley came sauntering into thecamp. He stopped suddenly when he saw Jimmie. Watching him closely, Ned saw that he was dismayed as well as astonished. However, he sooncame forward with a set smile on his face and took the boy by thehand. 

"You're lucky, " he said, "to get out of the clutches of thecounterfeiters so soon. I was afraid something serious might havehappened to you. How did you do it?"

"Ned came after me, " was the only reply the boy made. 

"We've decided to go away, " Ned explained, "and so they gave him up, after a short argument. "

"With a gun!" whispered Jimmie to the others. 

Bradley loitered about the camp for a long time, asking questions andtalking of a great many things which did not interest the lads atall. 

"And so you are going out to-morrow?" he asked, arising to go. 

"We expect to, " Ned replied soberly. 

"Perhaps I'll meet you outside somewhere, " Bradley laughed. 

"I hope so!" Ned replied, whispering an aside to Frank. 

Frank walked away toward the tent, and directly, while Bradley's facewas in clear outline, Ned heard the click of a shutter and knew thatthe snapshot had been made. 

When Bradley at last started away Ned called the boys together andasked them if it wouldn't be a good idea for them to take a prisoner--just to equalize things!"

"Bradley?" asked Frank and Jimmie in chorus. 

"That's the man" laughed Ned. "Do you think you could head him offand hide him in some out-of-the way hole in the ground?"

"What for?" demanded Jack. "I don't see what you want to do thatfor. "

"Just for the fun of it!" Jimmie exclaimed. "I'll guard him after heis taken!" he added, with an appealing look at Ned. 

"Well, " Ned went on, nodding at Jimmie, "I have an idea that if twoof you work down the slope and come out ahead of him you can coax himto throw up his hands easily enough. "

"Then, after that, if you leave it to me, " Jack continued, "you'll godown to the cabin and get the prince and start away with him!"

"You're sure it is the prince?" asked Ned. 

"Of course! I should think any one with sense could see that. Justsee how suspiciously the kid is watched! Of course, if you want totake the abductor along too, why that will be all right, but I'd getthe prince first!"

"That's good advice, " Ned declared, seeking to conciliate the boy, "and I'll go down to the cabin now and look after that end of thegame!"

"If things work this way, " laughed Oliver, "I guess we _will_ getaway to-morrow!"

"Why don't you let me go with the boys and help capture that stiff?"asked Jack, speaking to Ned. "He may be armed and perfectly willingto shoot. "

"We have messed things up a bit here, " Ned answered, "so whatever wedo must be done at once. I have another little errand to do whilethey capture Bradley!"

"Oh, we'll get him, all right!" Frank insisted. 

"You bet we will!" Jimmie added. "I'll tie him up tight, too! Hewon't take no pictures while he is my prisoner. "

"Perhaps he won't have a baby camera hidden under his coat! laughedFrank. 

"What are you going to say to him, boys, when you take him?" askedTeddy. 

"We ain't going to say anything, " Jimmie answered, "We're just goingto get him!"

"Be careful, boys, " was all Ned said as Frank and Jimmie left ontheir dangerous mission. "Be careful!"

After they had disappeared up the slope Ned turned to Jack. 

"You saw one act of the play yesterday, " he said to him. "Suppose youcome with me now and see another act. "

Jack came forward with outstretched hand and downcast face. 

"Say, Ned, " he said, "I'm sore at myself!"

"What's that for?" Ned asked, shaking the hand heartily and liftingthe boy's face by taking him by the chin. "Why are you sore atyourself?"

"Because I acted like a dunce when we left chimney rock withoutsignaling to Jimmie, " was the reply, "and because I grumbled like abear with a sore head when you suggested that Bradley be captured. "

"You had a perfect right to express your opinion, my boy, " Ned said. 

"Yes, but I might have known that you knew what you were about. To behonest, I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw you bringing Jimmieback. "

"The least demonstration on our part at that time, " Ned said, then, "might have caused the men who were guarding Jimmie to shift theirquarters. Besides, I wanted Bradley in the toils before I made thefinal break. "

"But he wasn't when you released Jimmie, " Jack suggested. 

"He will be before the final card is laid down, " Ned replied. "Butcome, " he went on, "we must be moving if we get to the cottage beforethe trouble begins. "

"I'm all in the dark, " Jack said, "but I'm willing to take yourjudgment now. "

Ned and Jack hastened away, traveling down the slope to the west andsouth so as to get to the cottage in the quickest possible time. Whenthey came in sight of the structure they saw Mary Brady sitting inthe doorway, her head bent forward, her face buried in the palms ofher hands. 

She arose at the sound of their footsteps and advanced withoutstretched hands to meet them. There were tears on her face and hermanner was excited. 

"You came too late!" she cried, wringing Ned's hand. "They have takenhim away. "

"When?" asked Ned, leading the old lady into the cabin. 

"Oh, I don't know when! Sometime in the night. I awoke and saw thatthe bed was empty and called to Bradley. He arose and has beenlooking for him ever since. "

"He was just up at our camp--looking!" Ned said, with a wink at Jack. 

The old lady now went to a cupboard and brought forth a glass inwhich a dark fluid rested. A small black brush stood against the sideof the vessel. 

"I found this for you, as you asked, " she said. 

Ned examined the contents of the glass and made a mark on a whitepaper with the brush. The color transmitted to the paper was a lightbrown, not black. 

"You washed the boy, as I asked you to?" Ned then enquired. 

"I tried to, " was the reply, "but Bradley said he would take him outand give him a swim in the run down in the valley. He wouldn't let metouch him. "

"Well, what did the pillow case show this morning?"

The old lady pointed to the white paper. 

"It was stained like that, " she said. 

During this talk Jack had been standing looking from Ned to the oldlady with all shades of expression on his face. Now he spoke. 

"Say, Ned, " he almost gasped, "what is the meaning of all this?"

"Wait a minute!" Ned said, facing the old lady again. "And youlistened to their talk when they sat together last night?"

"Indeed I did, sir, and its the first time I ever played the spy!"

"What was Bradley saying to him?" asked Ned, then. 

"He was saying French words over and over for him to repeat!"

Jack dropped into a chair and looked helplessly at his chum. 

"Foolish little French phrases, like one finds at the back of anydictionary?" asked Ned. "He was repeating them so that the boy couldsay them after him?"

"Yes, sir, that is just it. "

"Now, Jack, what about your prince of the royal blood?" asked Ned. 

"I gather from what I hear that he was painted, " said Jack, with ashamed look in his eyes. "Painted!"

"Sure he was!" cried the woman. "Painted and taught foolish littleFrench words to say! But he is Mike's boy! I know that!"

"This is like the Arabian Nights!" Jack cried. 

"Worse!" Ned declared, "for all my plans have gone wrong with thedisappearance of the boy. "

CHAPTER XVIII

BRADLEY BECOMES INDIGNANT

Frank and Jimmie hastened down the slope to the west, after toilingup and crossing the broken summit, and soon caught sight of the manthey had been instructed to take prisoner. Bradley was walkingswiftly, his haste not at all matching the leisurely air he hadaffected at the camp. 

"How do you feel now?" asked Jimmie, wrinkling his nose at Frank. "How does it seem to be a bold, bad gunman?"

"I think it is a little shivery, " Frank answered. "When I get back toNew York, " he went on, "I'm going to write a story for Dad'snewspaper entitled: 'Desperate Desmonds I have Shot Up in the Hills. 'That title ought to make a hit on the East Side, south of Firststreet!"

"I feel like a second-story man, and a gopher-worker, and a train-robber, and a confidence operative all rolled into one!" Jimmieadmitted. "This holding people up is new exercise for us! Say, willyou agree to let me push the gun into his face?"

"We'll both have guns, you little highway-man!" Frank replied. "Youneedn't think I'm going to look on and miss all the fun!"

"Then you let me tie him up!" coaxed Jimmie. "I won't tie him verytight, just so he can't breathe, and so his blood won't circulate!""You're the fierce little bandit!" declared Frank. 

"Well, the gang he belongs to tied me up!" complained the boy. "I'mgoing to get even on this geek! We can walk right down on him at anytime now. He'll never suspect that we're pirates. "

"First, " Frank observed, "I'd like to know where he is going sofast. "

"He may go so fast that he'll get to friends before we harness him!"warned Jimmie. "Then we couldn't get him at all, but might, instead, get geezled ourselves. "

"There seems to be a little sense left in that head of yours, " Franklaughed, "even if your friends do think it is solid bone! So we'dbetter skip along and take him under our protection before we have anarmy to fight. Say, but won't he take a tumble to himself when hefinds himself stuck up by two boys?"

Not withstanding their half-humorous talk concerning what they wereabout to do, the boys both realized that they were facing a serioussituation. They had every confidence in Ned's judgment, still theyhad no knowledge of Bradley which seemed to them to warrant the boldstep they were about to take. 

Jimmie was under the impression that Bradley belonged to the coteriewhich had taken him prisoner, but he had no proof of it. Bradley hadbeen, apparently, accepted by Mrs. Mary Brady, and that seemed a goodrecommend for him. Still, there were the instructions, and they wereresolved to carry them out. Neither expressed to the other his secretthought on the subject. 

"Where are we going to hide him, after we take him?" asked Jimmie, after a time, during which the lads had managed by hard work todecrease the distance between themselves and Bradley. "How about theold counterfeiters' den?"

"That's the first place his friends will look for him! No, sir, we'vegot to find a little retreat of our own, and one of us must guardhim. Do you know how long Ned wants to keep him?" asked Frank. 

"Don't know a thing about it, " was the reply. "I don't even know whyhe wants him captured, or what proof he has against him. "

The boys were now not far away from Bradley, and, hearing the rattleof broken rock behind him, he turned and looked back at the boys, whowere swinging along with their hands in their pockets. He waited forthem to come up. 

"Taking a little walk, eh?" he questioned, as the boys came to thelevel space on the mountainside where he had paused. 

Bradley seemed to be entirely unconscious of danger, for he turnedhis back to the boys presently, after a few short sentences hadpassed between them, and moved forward, as if to continue his waydown the slope. 

"Just a minute!" Frank said, sharply, and he faced them. 

Two automatic revolvers were within a foot of his head, and the eyesof the boys back of them declared that the situation was not theresult of a joke. 

"Hold out your hands!" Jimmie ordered. "We want to see if you'retoting any smoke-wagons! Push 'em out, Mister!"

Bradley did not hesitate a second. His hands went out like a flash. There was a smile on his lips as Jimmie removed his revolver, but hisjaw was threatening. 

"And so you are just common thieves?" he said. 

"Aw, quit it!" Jimmie answered. "We're taking care of you so youwon't fall over a precipice and hurt yourself. "

"You'll find very little money on me, " Bradley went on. "I've sent into the city for a couple of hundred. You ought to have waited a fewdays. "

"We don't want your money, " Frank cut in, "all we want is the benefitof your society for a time. "

Bradley flushed angrily when Jimmie adroitly snapped a pair ofhandcuffs on his outstretched wrists, but he made no protest. 

"Now you can put down your hands, " Jimmie announced. "They'll getstiff if you hold 'em out too long. Now, sit down and pick out yourhotel. You may have a room in most any section of this district. Immaterial to us where we put you!"

"What does it mean?" demanded Bradley. "I presume you boys know whatyou are doing. There's law in this state, as wild as this countrylooks to be. You'll get years behind prison bars for this. "

"Before I forget it, " Jimmie asked, with a wink at Frank, "I want youto tell me something. Will you?"

"That depends. What is it you want to know?"

"This: Is the boy down at the cabin the prince, or is he Mike III?"

The eyes of both boys were fixed keenly on Bradley's face as thequestion was put. So far as they could see, it did not change aparticle in color or expression. 

"That's a queer question for you to ask, " he said. "You'd betterasked Mrs. Brady whether it is her grandson or not! And I don't knowwhat you mean, talking about a prince. I haven't seen any princeabout here--except the prince of the son of thieves!"

"So you won't tell, eh?" asked Frank. 

"The boy I brought in is Michael Brady, son of the son of Mrs. Brady. "

Sitting on the level space half way down to the outcropping ledgewhich held the workroom of the counterfeiters, Bradley lookedanxiously in the direction of the canyon. 

Jimmie noted the look and took out his field glass. People weremoving about in the canyon, and down in the valley to the south, where the cabin stood, something out of the ordinary seemed to begoing on. 

"You are expecting friends?" asked Frank. 

"They are liable to come any minute, " was the cool reply. 

"Then we'd better be going, " Jimmie cut in. "There are men in thecanyon, and in the valley, and they may be coming up here to find outwhy you don't meet them, as per agreement! Are they good waiters? Ifthey are, you may find them still in the valley after you've served acouple of terms in a Federal prison!"

"Be careful what you say, " warned Bradley. "I'm in your power now, but there'll come a time when I won't be. Remember that!"

Jimmie's glass showed him that the men below were starting up theslope. 

"We'll go back toward camp, " he said to Frank. "I guess the fellowsdown there are watching us through glasses. If you don't mind, " headded, turning to Bradley with a provoking laugh, "we'll stow youaway in a hole in the rocks somewhere until they get tired of lookingfor you!"

"Go as far as you like!" was the reply. 

Frank and Jimmie stepped aside and conversed together in low tones, trying to make up their minds what to do with the prisoner. It hadtaken little trouble to capture him, but it seemed to them that itwould be no easy matter to hold him. 

"There's a cute little dip in the summit not far from the camp, "Frank said, at length. "A boulder tumbled out of the slope, andthere's a cave big enough to hide three in, only there is a part ofit which has no roof. "

"Don't mind that!" Bradley said, in a sarcastic tone. "We won't havea long residence in any place you select now. "

"The summit is spotted with queer little openings where soft rock hasbeen washed out, " Frank said, "and we can locate not far from thecamp if we want to. "

"I suppose you boys are doing this under the orders of this Nestorboy?" asked Bradley. "When you get to him, kindly ask him to call onme. I want to know what all this means. "

"Let's see, what was it you said about the child you brought in withyou?" asked Jimmie, wrinkling his freckled nose until it did not seempossible to ever get it out straight again, "what was it you said hisname was? Was it Prince Abductable or Mike the Third?"

Bradley scowled but said nothing. The boys now set off up the slopewith their prisoner. Now and then they turned to look into the canyonand the valley below. 

The men they had observed in the canyon were slowly ascending. Therewere four of them, and it seemed to the boys that they were examiningevery foot of the ground they covered. Bradley looked downward, too, and a smile came to his face as he did so. It was plain that heexpected help from that quarter. 

The boys walked as swiftly as possible, and soon came to the summit, where a view of the camp was had. The corral where the mules werefeeding was also in sight, farther down, and Teddy was seen makingfriends with Uncle Ike. 

The camp looked so quiet and deserted that Jimmie took out his fieldglass again and looked closely. The flap of the tent was up, and theboy could see for some distance into the interior. 

Trunks and boxes were open, their contents scattered about the floor. A figure lay still on the floor, as if asleep. Jimmie could not seethe face, but from the size and expression of the shoulders heimagined it to be Dode. 

Oliver was not to be seen. Then, while the boy watched, with apremonition of approaching evil in his mind, he saw two men move outinto the center of the tent. They were looking through handfuls ofpapers, or pictures, or something similar. Jimmie could not determineat that distance just what they were carrying. 

"Look here, Frank, " the boy said, "just take a look at the tent. "

Not a word to arouse the interest of the prisoner was said. Franklooked and handed the glass back to his chum. Jimmie knew what hischum feared as well as if he had put that fear into words. Bradleywas smiling calmly. 

"They have raided the tent!" Jimmie whispered, and Frank nodded. 

"And they are destroying our plates and prints, " Jimmie went on, "andso we'd better be getting down there to see about it. "

CHAPTER XIX

NED PLAYS THE MIND-READER

Jack stood in the little cabin in the valley and looked Nedexpectantly in the face. 

"Tell me, " he finally said, "tell me why they painted this boy?"

"To get us off the trail of the prince, " replied Ned. 

"But it seems that they failed, " suggested Jack. "You know?"

"I suspected from the very first, " Ned answered. "Yesterday afternoonI knew. "

"Well, it may be all right, " Jack muttered, "or the man who broughthim here may need a new wire on his trolley, but I can't see why theyshould bring this counterfeit prince here at all. "

"They knew that we were coming here, " Ned explained, resolved to givehis chum a full understanding of the situation. "They knew we werecoming here in quest of the prince. How they knew I can't make out, but they knew. "

"They might have heard more than we supposed from the attic over theclubroom, " Jack suggested. 

"If the story of the maid and the coachman is straight, " Nedcontinued, "they heard little that night. But they knew! They mighthave bribed some of the servants. I don't know. They might have beenin that room before that evening. 

"At any rate, when the Boy Scout Camera Club started for WestVirginia by way of Washington the friends of the abductors knew whatwas going on. Now, it is my opinion that the prince had been headedfor the mountains before the conspirators became aware of ourconnection with the case. "

"I begin to see daylight!" Jack cried. 

"Well, the prince being on his way to the hills and we having a goodidea as to the locality of his place of hiding, the conspiratorsconceived the idea of giving us a false little prince to play with!"

"They're no fools!" Jack exclaimed. "No fools at all!"

"Now, " Ned went on, "some of the conspirators knew Mrs. Brady's sonin Washington. They knew of his many promises to his mother to returnto the mountains. They knew of his recent promise to her to come homeand bring the boy with him. They were doubtless very intimate withMike Brady, Senior, for they knew all the little details of the lifehis mother was living. 

"So they got him to permit them to bring the boy to his grandmother. They knew he would be looking for a prince in the hills, and so theygave us a false one to engage our attention! Rather clever, that, Jack. "

The old lady was now regarding Ned with eyes which expressed awe aswell as wonder. 

"How did you find it all out?" she asked. "How do you know what tookplace in the minds of those wicked men?"

"After they took possession of the boy they began bribing him to playthe part he has played here so imperfectly. They taught him cheaplittle French phrases from the dictionary, and touched up his alreadydusky complexion so as to make him look darker than ever. Yesterday Isaw Bradley at work on his face with a brush!"

"And the lad played his part!" the grandmother declared. "I don'tknow how Bradley led him along, but the boy was willing to do as hewas told. I never saw such a wild little chap so thoroughly subduedbefore. He wouldn't even tell me the truth when I took him in my oldarms last night and talked to him. "

"But he evidently told Bradley what you said to him, " Ned continued, "for he got the child away in the night. Then he came to camp thismorning to see if he could find out how much I knew. He's probablytied up by this time!"

"You have had him arrested, " asked the old lady. "Then he'll nevertell where the boy has been hidden, and he'll die of starvation--diealmost within sound of my voice. "

"We'll find him, " Ned answered, grimly. "We can make Bradley talk, Iimagine. "

"And while this has been going on, " Jack said, "the true prince, theboy we came here to find, has doubtless been carried to some otherpart of the country?"

"I don't believe it!" Ned replied. "The conspirators would naturallyexpect us to shift our search for him back to Washington, or Chicago, or New York, wouldn't they? As soon as we discovered that this boywas not the person we sought, they would expect us to leave the hillsat once, wouldn't they? Well, if they anticipated such a move on ourpart, what is more natural than that they should take advantage ofthis alleged idea on our part and leave the prince right here?"

"That is just what they would do!" cried Jack. "That is just whatthey have done. I wondered why you told Bradley we were going out! Ihad no idea that you knew so much about the case. "

"Bradley knew that I knew the boy to be an imposter, " Ned went on. "He intended we should make the discovery in time--after he hadwatched the grandson for a few days, sized up the situationgenerally, and dropped out of sight. He intended me to know in acouple of weeks, after he was out of harm's way. But I discovered thetrick too quickly for him. "

"When did you first suspect?" asked Jack. 

"That first morning. The boy's French was from the back of the book, and there was too strong an atmosphere of Washington about him--anatmosphere which does not savor of the quiet life of the prince ofthe blood. Then when I watched him closer I saw that he had beenpainted. Oh, it was all plain enough. "

"So you think the prince is here--in these hills?" asked the oldlady. 

"I can't say, now, " Ned replied. "I am sure that he was hereyesterday. I think I saw him! But the escape of the two men whocaptured Jimmie mussed things up a lot. I wanted to put them througha little examination. 

"After their escape I could not pose longer as a lad after snapshots!I can't say as I deceived the conspirators when I laid the capture ofJimmie to the counterfeiters. I think I did fool them when I said wewere going out of the hills in order to protect the captive. 

"Well, when we released Jimmie and let the two guards escape, thatpart of the game was off. If I could have held the men it would havebeen different. "

"Perhaps Bradley can be made to tell where the prince is, " suggestedJack. 

"I hardly thinks he knows, " Ned replied. "He has not, I think, beentaken fully into the confidence of the men higher up, any more thanhave the men who guarded Jimmie. "

"He certainly knows where my grandson is, " exclaimed the old lady, "and I'll tear his heart out but I'll make him tell me. He took himaway!"

"I am not so certain of that, either, " Ned mused. "I don't know justhow far the criminal head of the conspiracy has trusted him. "

"You'll do all you can to find my boy, won't you?" pleaded the oldlady. 

"Don't worry about the boy, " Ned urged. "Well find him. If Frank andJimmie have had good luck Bradley is under arrest now, and somethingwill be brought out to lead to his discovery. Besides, with thedisguise penetrated, there is no longer any motive for holding him, unless he knows too much, which is not likely. "

"If his father was here he might help, " suggested the old lady. 

Jack, who had been looking steadily out of the window for some littletime, now turned to Ned with a smile on his face. 

"I know now what you wrote in your little red book!" he said. 

"Are you certain of that?"

"Why, of course. You wrote the answer to the question: 'Is it theprince, or is it Mike III?' Didn't you, now?"

"Yes, I did!" was the reply. "I was almost positive before, but Iknew that day. "

"And now we are just where we began, " Jack said. "We've solved onephrase of the case, but we haven't found the prince. "

"That will come later, " Ned declared, confidently. "Well, " he went on, "we have finished our work here for the present. We have learned ofthe disappearance of the grandson and we have confirmed my previousbelief, that the boy was sent in here to draw our attention from theabducted child. So we may as well go back to camp and see what theboys have been doing. "

The old lady still clung to Ned piteously, begging him to restore herboy, and Ned promised to do all in his power to place the lad in herarms. 

"If my son would only come!" the woman kept saying. 

"If you'll give me his address, " Ned promised, "I'll see him when Iget back to Washington, if he is not already here or on his wayhere. "

The address was given and the boys started on the return trip to camp. 

"Now, Jack, " Ned said, when they were on their way up the slope, "doyou know where the nearest telegraph station is?"

"There's one over on the south fork of the Potomac, " Jack replied. 

"You are good friends with Uncle Ike?" Ned then asked, with a laugh. 

"Sure I am. Uncle Ike is a friend of every person who carries sugarin his pocket. "

"Well, when we get back to camp I'll give you a night message. Youmust take the mule and get it to the station. You may not be able toget there to-night. If you can't, send it when you do get there. Waitfor an answer. When you get it tell Uncle Ike it is important and gethere with it as soon as possible. You've got a hard trip ahead ofyou, boy!" he added. "I'm game!" laughed Jack. "If there's any ofthis prince trouble leaked out, " he added, "what shall I say?"

"Tell the old story. Say that we are in the hills for art's sake, andthat we have been annoyed by counterfeiters! Nothing serious, understand? Not a word about our real mission here. You notice thateven the men we are battling with want it understood that it is thecounterfeiters who are trying to drive us out. "

"There must be something mighty strange about this abduction game, "Jack grinned. "No one will even admit that there is a prince in thecase. "

When the boys came to the vicinity of the summit, south of a point inline with the camp and the canyon where the counterfeiters had beendiscovered, they stopped and took a good survey of the landscape. 

"We can probably learn more about what has been going on, " Jacksuggested, "by hiking straight for the camp. I'm anxious to be off onthat trip. Uncle Ike will like it--not! But I'll make him like it!I'll give you a good imitation of a boy sailing over the mountains onthe freight deck of a mule!"

"I was wondering, " Ned said, composedly, though his eyes weretroubled, "whether we had any camp left! If you'll look off to thenorth, you'll see four men crouching in a dent in the slope. Rough-looking chaps, eh?"

"I see!" Jack whispered. "Have they seen us? That's the questionnow. "

"If they saw us, " Ned continued, "they would either be making for usor trying to get out of sight. No; they are watching the camp. See!They are where they can look over the summit. "

"If they haven't been to the camp I'll think ourselves lucky, " Nedsaid. 

"They probably haven't!" Jack cried. "But look there, they are goingon a rush right now! Must be Bradley's friends. What?"

CHAPTER XX

SHOOTING ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE

Bradley smiled cynically as he looked down toward the tent. He couldnot, of course, distinguish the figures as plainly as Jimmie couldwith the glass, but he knew from the excited manner of the boys thatsomething unusual was taking place. 

"You have visitors at the camp?" he asked cooly, as the lads motionedto him to move on. "I shall be glad to meet them, you may be sure. "

He held out his manacled hands suggestively as he spoke. 

"You're not invited!" Jimmie grunted. "We've got private date withthose people. You might muss things up, if we permitted you to gowith us!"

"Very well, " Bradley replied. "They'll know where I am. But, for fearthey'll not recognize me, at this distance, I'll just give themnotice that I'm here. "

Jimmie and Frank both sprang forward to prevent the promised outcry, but Bradley proved too quick for them. The cry that rose from hislips was long, shrill and significant in its insistance. It wasfinally stopped by Bradley being thrown to the ground, where he laywith the old sarcastic smile on his face. 

"You've done it now!" Frank gritted. "You ought to be shot. "

"You are none too good to commit a murder--to kill an unarmed anddefenseless man. "

"If you don't keep that twirler of yours reefed I'll tie it up!"Jimmie declared, with a threatening motion. 

He might have gagged Bradley there and then only that Frank calledhis attention to the camp. The two men who had been seen inside werenow hiding on the west side of the tent, and Teddy was coming up theslope from the corral. Oliver was nowhere to be seen, and thesupposition was that he had been captured by the outlaws. 

"We've got to tie this robber hand and foot and gag him!" Frankcried. "We've got to get down to the camp right away!"

"Perhaps, " Bradley observed, with a provoking laugh, "you'll also tieand gag the men who are coming up the hill from the canyon. "

The four men were now nearly half way up the slope from the cut, andhaving heard the cry, were making good time in the ascent. Thesituation looked anything but peaceful!

The boys were anxious and excited, and Bradley counted on this whenhe made the next move. The men on the west slope had of course heardhis call, he reasoned, and were hastening up to his rescue. 

Believing this, he took a desperate chance when he sprang away fromthe boys, dropped to the ground and went bumping over the brokenslope, handcuffed as he was. Jimmie had his automatic out in amoment, but by that time Bradley was concealed by one of the boulderswhich lay on the declivity. 

It was useless to try to recapture the fellow, for the men coming upthe slope had seen something of what had taken place, and were now onthe run wherever the nature of the ground permitted. Besides, theywere already within shooting distance, and the boys would be directlyunder fire if they sought to bring Bradley back. 

"It is a hopeless case!" Frank cried. "We can't get him!"

"The best thing we can do, then, is to get to the camp, " Jimmieobserved. 

"Then duck low and cut away to the north!" Frank cried. "Perhaps wecan make most of the distance under cover. Say, " he added, as theymoved along, northward on the slope toward the east, "did you eversee anything like that? That Bradley is some wise guy when it comesto a pinch!"

"He's daring!" Frank commented. "He will make us trouble yet!"

"I believe, " Jimmie went on, "that he's the fellow that got into theattic over the clubroom of the Black Bear Patrol. When he was down onthe ground, sitting looking over the country, I saw a scar on hishead, a sharp cicatrice, three-cornered. You know how he got that?"

"The maid threw a large pair of shears at some one that night, " Franksaid. "You remember we found blood and a blonde hair on one of theblades. "

"Just the sort of hair that gink carries on his dome!" Jimmie added. 

The men coming up the west slope had not yet reached the summit, andthe men below were still hiding behind the tent. Teddy wasapproaching the fire. 

"They'll get the kid in a minute!" Jimmie said. 

"I don't know about that, " Frank replied. "He seems to me to begetting suspicious. Notice how he stops and looks around--probablylooking for Oliver or Dode. "

It was clear that the men waiting behind the tent were becomingimpatient, for they moved along and made ready to spring upon theboy. Teddy, however, was not advancing. 

Something about the tent had warned him that it was in the hands ofthe enemy. With a shout of warning to Oliver and Dode, if theychanced to be free and within hearing, he turned and dashed towardthe corral. 

While the two men were getting under way in pursuit, Frank and Jimmiecame out on an easier slope and moved rapidly downward. Teddy wassoon out of sight, and then the men turned back. 

At that moment a shot came from the summit, and the boys turned tosee the four men whom they had observed on the slope heading down forthe camp. 

"They've found Bradley, of course!" Frank said. 

"Yes, " answered Jimmie, "there's no use of playing double now, forthey know that we are next to their game. "

"Shall we rush for the camp?" asked Frank. 

"Nothing doing, " Jimmie answered. "We can't do a thing there, and weare under cover here! Bradley has, of course, told them that we arehere, but they won't be able to find us for a long time. If they gettoo gay with the things at the camp we'll send a few bullets down. Looks like things were coming their way now, eh?" he added. 

"We can't hold the top hand all the time, " Frank grunted. "Ned willcome along directly and even things up a little. I wish he was herenow!"

The four men were now scrambling along the slope, looking for the twoboys as they walked, slid and jumped down. The two men who were atthe camp had turned back from the pursuit of Teddy at the sound ofthe shot, and were now awaiting the approach of their friends. 

"I suppose they'll burn the tent and drive the mules off!" wailedJimmie. "I'd like to have a machine gun up here a little while!"

"I reckon they won't!"

This from Frank as a shot came from the slope to the south. The menwho were rushing from the camp paused and looked at each other. 

While they waited, uncertain as to what they ought to do, anothershot came, this time from the corral. Teddy was evidently gettinginto action!

"Just for luck!" Jimmie shouted. 

He fired two shots as he spoke, and two more came from the south andone from the corral. The four men beckoned to their companions at thetent--if such they were--and made a break for the summit which theyhad just left. 

"Whoo--pee!" shouted Jimmie. "Look at the racers!"

At sound of the voice one of the men turned and fired a shot at therock against which the boy lay. It broke off a splinter but did noharm to the boys. 

Frank left cover and ran up the slope. 

"Come one!" he cried. "We'll get Bradley yet!"

Jimmie was not long in catching up with him. When they gained thesummit the four men were losing no time in their journey to thecanyon. They were on their feet only a part of the time. 

The boys saw Bradley rise from a sheltering rock and start afterthem, but he fell in a moment. Handcuffed as he was, he could notkeep pace with them. The fugitives paid no attention to his calls forassistance. It was every man for himself at that moment. Bradley sathopelessly down to await the arrival of the boys. 

Just as they gained the spot where he sat Ned and Jack came out ofthe jungle of broken rocks to the south and looked smilingly down atthe prisoner. 

"Good day!" laughed Jack. 

Bradley forced a smile and turned away. 

"You took that trick!" he said. 

Jimmie stepped forward and put his fingers into the blonde hair ofthe captive. 

"Where did you get this scar?" he asked, and Ned at once bentforward. 

"I fell down and stepped on it!" Bradley answered, still smiling. 

"I'll tell you how you got it, " Jimmie went on. "You sneaked into aroom in New York where you had no business to be and a girl threw apair of shears at you!"

"That's a fine story!" snarled Bradley. "I never was in New York. 

"Bring him along, boys, " Ned said. "We'll go on down to camp and seewhat's been done to our tent and things by this man's friends. "

When they once more came to the summit, Teddy was standing outsidethe tent with Oliver and Dode and the two outlaws were nowhere to beseen. After that Bradley complained at the rate of speed the boysinsisted on. 

"Your friends must have thought they had butted into an ambuscade!"Jimmie said to the captive. "Have they had much training in running?They bobbed along like professionals, it seemed to me. "

"You'll see how fast they can run!" Bradley growled. "They'll go fastenough to send you all over the road. "

"Now about this grandson, " asked Ned, falling back. "Mrs. Brady wantsto know where he is. No use for you to hide him, now that we all knowhe was disguised to look like the prince stolen from Washington. Whydid you paint him if not to imitate this other boy we speak of?"

"I don't know anything about the boy, " was the reply. "He was takenwithout my knowledge, and that is on the level. I was ordered to dothe paint act. "

They trudged on for some minutes in silence, and then Bradley asked:

"What is it about this prince you are always talking about? What isthere about the prince? Where is he? Why is he supposed to be in thissection?"

"You don't know a thing about him, do you?" asked Ned, laughing, "andyet you painted a boy to represent him?"

Bradley only scowled. 

"When I find him, " Ned continued, "I'll present him to you!"

When the boys reached the tent they found Oliver and Teddy mourningover the destruction of a large number of films and plates. Manypictures, developed and printed with great care, had also been tornor burned. 

"Well, " Jimmie declared, "they didn't get their hands on the films inmy baby camera. I've got a few good ones left. "

"Now, Jack, " Ned said, "suppose you connect with Uncle Ike and makefor the nearest telegraph office? Don't break your neck, and the neckof the mule, but get there as soon as you can. And get back as soonas you receive an answer. "

"Why can't I go with him?" asked Jimmie. "I guess I want a muleride. "

"Go it, if you want to!" Ned laughed. "That will leave us one mule torun away on if things get too hot for us here!"

CHAPTER XXI

TOLD BY THE PICTURES

"You'll think we took great care of the camp!" Teddy said, flushing, to Ned, as Jack and Jimmie, followed by the cheers and good wishes oftheir chums, started away. 

"Aw, it wasn't Teddy's fault at all, " Oliver declared. "He went downto tell Uncle Ike what a gentleman and a scholar he was, and I wassupposed to watch the tent. "

"And I was to help him, " wailed Dode. "See how well I did it!"

He swung a hand around at the mess on the ground. 

"So, while Teddy was down at the corral, Dode and I sat down todevelop some snapshots. We never looked out at all! After we had alot of pictures ready to show on your return, we heard a noiseoutside and thought Teddy had come back. "

"And there is when we got it!" Dode cut in. 

"Yes, there, is where we got it in the neck, " Oliver went on, whileTeddy grinned. "The gun I looked into seemed about as large as thetunnel under the Hudson, and I became the good little boy withoutfurther argument. "

"I thought the gun I saw was a room in a cavern!" grinned Dode. 

"So they performed with their ropes and gags, and we lay there liketwo little kittens while they tore up our work and smashed thingsgenerally. And the way they wrecked the trunks and boxes was acaution. "

"What did they talk to each other about while they were searching?"asked Ned. 

"Nothing much. They seemed to be too busy looking for papers. Fromwhat I could make out; I reckon they thought you had some officialdocument with you. "

"I have, " laughed Ned, "but they did not find it. "

"After they had made all the trouble they could, " Oliver went on, "they spoke of burning the tent, and I guess they would haved one it, too, if other things hadn't attracted their attention just at thattime!" he added, with a wink at Ned. 

"Well, " Ned observed, "I'm sorry we lost the pictures, but there maybe some of the valuable ones left. We'll look them over right now. "

"Jimmie left the films from his baby camera, " Teddy remarked. "We cansee what he got while he was in the hands of those cheap skates!"

Nearly all the snapshots taken by Ned and Jack on the afternoon theyhad come to the hiding place of Jimmie's captors had been printed bythe boys, and most of them had been destroyed, plates and all. Stationing Oliver and Dode out on the slope to watch for any approachwhich might be made, Ned gave his attention to the pictures. 

"The worst of it is, " Frank declared, "that the good ones were theones the boys printed, and the ones which were burned up. "

"I don't know about that, " Ned said. "The camera sees things thehuman eye does not see! What we want now is a knowledge of thecountry near the spot where Jimmie was held. We took plenty ofpictures around there, and Jimmie took some, too, so we may be ableto find what we want. "

"I'll work over the baby camera pictures while you handle theothers, " suggested Frank, and the two boys were soon busy at theirtasks. Finally Ned handed a torn print to Frank, pointing out asingle feature as he did so. 

"You see the tree in the foreground?" he asked. 

"Yes, of course. "

"Now follow along back to the bush at the left and in the rear. "

"I see the bush, " Frank said. 

"What else do you see there?"

Frank bent closer over the print. 

"Is that a face there?" he asked. 

"It certainly is a face. "

"But it looks too small for a human face. It may be caused be someodd arrangement of the leaves. Besides, it is very indistinct. "

"Sure, because it is in the shade. It is almost a miracle that we seeit at all. I 'll get a better print of it soon and enlarge it. Thenwe shall know more about it. Now, look lower down. What do you seethere?"

"Say, " cried Frank, "that's a child's face up there! Here is the legbelow. Now, what do you think of that?"

"That is doubtless the boy Jack and I saw, " said Ned. 

"The grandson?" asked Frank. 

"The prince, unless I am much mistaken, " Ned said, cooly. 

"So you saw him?" asked Frank. 

"We saw a child, " was the reply. "He came toward us for a few stepsand then ran back! Now we'll look over the remaining pictures and seewhat we can find. "

"That wasn't the grandson, was it?" asked Frank. 

"Mike III. Was at the cabin that afternoon, " was the reply. 

Presently Ned came to another torn print showing the mountain slopedirectly in front of Chimney rock. He passed it over to Frank with anodd look in his eyes. 

"Look right in the foreground, between those two stones, " he said. 

"What is it between the stones?" asked the boy. 

"Looks to me like a coat. "

"Do you really think it is?"

"Sure thing!" laughed Ned. "I'm going over there directly and see ifit is still there. "

Frank looked puzzled. 

"But how did it come there?" he asked. "Why should it be left there?"

"I have known children to throw off coats or jackets on a hot day, "smiled Ned. "I imagine that princes are not different from otherchildren. "

Ned went on with his examination of the pictures. At last he came toone which was badly torn, almost half of it being missing. 

"There, " he said. "This is a picture taken right there at Chimneyrock. Do you see the face above it?"

The face referred to was not that of either of the two men Jimmie hadbeen captured by, or of Bradley, who sat scowling just beyond reachof their voices. 

"That is the man we want, " Ned said, with a sigh. "If we had theother part of the picture we should see the boy looking over therock, close at the man's side. "

"Very close!" Frank observed. "They seem to have hold of hands. Doesn't that look like a closed hand down lower?"

"That is just what it is!"

Ned laid the picture aside and Frank brought out those which had beenmade from the films taken from the baby camera. There were half adozen of them and all were remarkably good. 

"Look here, " Frank said, "the kid took a picture of the slope back ofthe rock. Our pictures do not show that. Look up a short distance!"

Not very far up the slope hung a huge boulder which seemed on theverge of falling. 

"If you'll notice the point of contact with the ground, " Frank wenton, "you'll see that the boulder is propped up by wedge-like stonesput under it. "

"Exactly!" Ned said. "And that means that the boulder has fallen orbeen pried out of its nest, and that the cavity behind it is regardedas a good hiding place. "

"Do you think the prince could have been there?"

"Not when Jack and I were in that section. We saw him out on theslope. "

"But he went back that way?"

"Yes. "

"Tell you what!" Frank exclaimed. "I'm going to take these pictureshome to Dad, and let him print them in his newspaper. "

"You'll have to write a story to go with them. "

"Oh, I suppose so, but stories aren't read when there are pictures. The cuts tell the story. Dad will like the photographs. "

After a time Ned came to the picture of a man with the head torn off!In destroying the print the outlaws had contented themselves bymerely ripping it into two pieces. The head part was not to be found. 

"What's the dangling things in front of the man's breast?" askedFrank. 

"Legs!" replied Ned. 

"I never knew a man to wear his legs up there!" laughed Frank. 

"But you have known men to lift kids to their backs and let theirlittle legs hang down in front for handles? What?"

"Never thought of that?" Frank exclaimed. 

"If we only had the face!" Ned worried. 

Then he paused a moment and went back to the print carrying thestrange face. 

"Here it is!" he said. "See! This is the same man. There are theboots and the buttons. The camera caught the man twice. "

"I don't know why you didn't see some of these things when thepictures were made, " laughed Frank. "Next time I go out takingsnapshots I'm going to study the landscape, so I can choose subjectsfor my pictures!"

"All this means, " Ned began, "that we were watched when we weretaking the pictures that afternoon. These people were looking at us!We might as well have been walking through an open street. "

"But why didn't they do something to you, then?" demanded Frank. "They captured the ones who entered the workroom. "

"Those were counterfeiters, not abductors. "

"Well, then, they caught Jimmie and lugged him away?"

"In an effort to drive us out of the country, yes. "

"Then why didn't they capture you?"

"Because they thought they had us scared so we'd go, and so didn'twant to show their hand. Remember that it was the counterfeiters whowere supposed by us to have taken Jimmie. "

"I understand. When you found that the boy at the cabin was not theone you were looking for you were supposed to go away so as to saveJimmie's life, and leave the true prince here in hiding. "

"That is just it. "

Bradley now called out to the boys that he had something to say tothem, and they hurried to his side. 

"I want you to get the widow's grandson and take him to her, " hesaid. "I was used decent, and I don't like to have her suffer. "

"Where is the boy?" asked Ned. 

Bradley open his eyes wider in wonder. "Do you really think I took him away?" he asked. 

"Not a doubt of it!" Frank declared. 

"Well, I didn't, " Bradley insisted. "I don't know where he is, but Ithink I can point out the likeliest place to hunt for him. "

"Down at Chimney rock?" asked Frank. 

"In that section, yes. And, look here. You will need to be in ahurry, for the men who have him are anxious to get rid of him--andthey are unscrupulous!"

CHAPTER XXII

A RECRUIT FROM THE ENEMY

"So you know the men who have taken the boy we call Mike III. ?" askedNed. 

"I know him too well, " was the bitter answer. "He's one of the menwho use their friends up to the limit and then drop them!"

"You say 'him, '" Ned suggested. "Is there only one in this outrage?"

"There are several, but all bow to the will of the leader. I can'ttell you anything more about it! I don't like the way I have beentreated, or I wouldn't have said as much as I have. "

"I thought your motive was to secure the return of the boy to hisgrandmother?"

"I want that done, of course, but I wouldn't have suggested it to youonly for the high and mighty airs of the man placed over me. "

"Why don't you tell me who this man is?" asked Ned. "Why don't youtell me the object of this abduction of the prince? Why not tell mewhere to find this little chap you seem honestly interested in?"

"I don't know anything about any prince!" insisted Bradley. 

"Look here, " Ned said, "I believe I can tell you just how this manyou hate looks. If I describe him, will you tell me if I am right?"

"I will tell you nothing, except that you ought to look in thevicinity of Chimney rock for the grandson--not at the rock, but closeto it! That is more than I ought to tell you. "

"This man you speak of, " Ned went on, recalling the features of theface caught above the rock by the camera, "has a very slim face, aprominent nose, a wide, thin-lipped mouth, high cheek boned, smalleye-orbits, and eyebrows which tip up at the outer corners. He isfond of children, and will play with any child he comes across. He isalso fond of mountain climbing, and delights in long tramps over thehills. "

Bradley looked at Ned with the old cynical smile on his face. 

"Where did you run across him?" he asked eagerly, "That is enough!" laughed Ned. "You needn't say another word. We havetwo snapshots of him--one without a head. In one he has hold of thehand of a child, and in the other he has the child on his back, withthe little fellow's legs hanging down over his shoulders. A man wouldnot be apt to ride children about on his shoulders unless he was fondof little ones generally, would he?"

"I presume not, " Bradley admitted. 

"And he wears in both pictures a mountain-climbing costume, " Ned wenton. "He evidently likes the errand he was sent here on!"

"The man I referred to a few moments ago as unscrupulous does, "Bradley said. 

"But if he likes children he won't be apt to injure this Mike III. , will he?"

"He is a man who will do anything for expediency's sake. Now go awayand leave me to my very entertaining thoughts! If I ever get out ofthese hills alive, and free, I'll never leave Manhattan islandagain. "

"I remember you saying that you had never set foot in New York!"laughed Ned. "You'll have to make your stories consistent if you wantthem believed!"

"Never mind all that now, " Bradley replied. "You get busy restoringthat child to Mrs. Brady! Say, boy, but he is a bright-one!"

"Learned French quickly, didn't he, and consented to being blacked uplike a negro minstrel, in order to pose as a prince?" asked Ned. "Ireckon, however, that the credit does not all belong to the lad. Heseems to have had a good instructor. "

"If you'll release me, " Bradley offered, after a pause, "I'll go andget the boy. "

"That's an easy promise to make, " laughed Ned. 

"But I'll go and get him and bring him to you, and you can return himto his grandmother. Then you may put these bracelets on me again ifyou like. But, boy, let me tell you this: You've got nothing on me! Ihaven't done a thing in this state at least, to render myself liableto punishment. I supplied, for good pay, certain information in NewYork, and I brought the boy you call Mike III. On here fromWashington, where I know his father well. "

"You must have known what you were doing it for?"

"I did know--for money!"

"But you must have known that the boy was to personate some oneelse?"

"I didn't care about that. I had my orders! See here, boy, if youever work with these highbrow rulers of petty kingdoms, you'll soonfind out that you're to obey and not ask questions! Do you get me?"

"That's enough!" laughed Ned. "You haven't betrayed your employer, but you have told me all I wanted to know. "

The boys unlocked the handcuffs and laid them aside. 

"I believe you'll do the right thing, " he said. "Go and get the boy. If you need any help let me know. "

Bradley arose and stretched out his arms luxuriously. 

"That's the first time I ever stood in the accused row, " he said, "and it will be the last! But, see here, boy, I can't get the kid ina minute! I'll go to the mother and tell her what I'm doing, if Ilive to get there!"

"You think your ex-friends may seek to terminate your lease of life?"

"They surely will--now. And, here's a pointer for you, look out foryourself. "

"I think I can fix you out so they will receive you with open arms, "Ned grinned. "Here. I'll put these cuffs on again, with one armlocked carelessly. You can draw the bar out when you pull right hard. Now, eat what you need and take a run up the slope. We'll follow youwith a serenade of bullets. When you join the outlaws down in thecanyon you'll be a hero. "

"That's a fine notion!" said Bradley, actually smiling. 

"And don't come back here with the boy. Send him home to the oldlady. Then, if you want to help me in the work I'm on--"

"I don't, and I won't!"

"Don't blame you a mite! I never did like a traitor! If you won'thelp me, then cut sticks for New York. Some day when you are inbetter mood, come to the Black Bear Patrol clubroom. You know whereit is! Well give you a look into the place without sending you up tothe attic!"

Bradley's face twisted into a laugh, but Ned did not seem to noticethe fact. 

"I'm not saying anything more about the prince, understand, or theattic, or the French, or the black stain, but perhaps you'll tell methe whole story some day!"

And so, handcuffed again, Bradley was taken back to the tent, wherehe was given a hearty meal. Then he carefully made his way out andran for the summit. Ned and his chums sat back and laughed at thetumbles he took in his eagerness to deceive any one who might bewatching the camp. Now and then he fell down behind a rock and laythere for a moment, peering out in the direction of the tent. 

Just before he gained the summit, Ned and the others ran out of thetent with shouts of alarm and dashed up the slope, firing as theywent. At that time Bradley's speed might have shown a world record ifit had been set down! He cleared the summit, shouting for assistancefrom anyone who might be below, and half rolled down toward thecanyon. Ned fired a few shots and went back to the tent. 

"What's the game?" asked Frank, as Ned sat down and roared. "This manBradley seems to be It--Tag!"

Ned explained the situation and Frank immediately began taking notesfor a story for his father's newspaper. 

"If I had had a motion picture machine here, " Frank declared, "Icould have made a fortune out of the films! It was glorious, the waythe old boy tore up the rocks on his way down. Think he'll return?"

"I think he will, " was the reply. 

"But if he doesn't?"

"Then we shall have to find the boy ourselves, just as we are goingto find the prince! That is the next job, you understand. "

"And geezle the man who stole him--that's in the job, isn't it?"

"Nothing said about that, but I hope to get him and have the goods onhim, too. When I present him to the chief he can do whatever he likeswith him. "

"But how are you going to get the goods on him?" asked Oliver. 

"I'll manage that easily, " laughed Ned. "The first thing is to catchhim. Now, Frank, you saw where Bradley went?"

"Why, he headed for the old counterfeiter den. "

"Think you can keep track of him for a short time?"

"Can I?" You know it!"

"Then take Dode with you, so as to be in communication with the camp, and follow him! Don't show yourself if you can help it, but if youare discovered keep busy with your camera. We are here only to takepictures, you know!"

"So you don't trust that chap, after all?" asked Frank. 

"Yes, I trust him, but he won't betray the men he has been workingwith. In order to get the boy he'll have to go to the man I want. "

"All right!" Frank laughed. "Come on, Dode! I might have known thatNed was next to his job. I'll come back just before sunset to report, if not before. If you love me have a supper fit for six of us readyfor me!"

The two boys started away, and Ned, Teddy and Oliver went back to thepictures. After an hour or more Ned went down to the corral, as iflooking after the mule. He saw no one on the way there, but when hereached the level spot, rich with June grass, he saw that it had hadvisitors during the day. 

The grass was beaten down flat behind a boulder on the edge of thefertile spot, and there were cigarette stubs and half-burned matchesscattered about. The lush grass still carried the odor of tobacco, and the boy knew that the watcher had not been long absent from hispost. 

He went back to the camp, and, much to the surprise of Teddy andOliver, began packing. 

"What's doing now?" the boy asked. 

"Why, " laughed Ned, "haven't I agreed to get out of here to-morrow ornext day?"

"Yes, but--"

"We're going to pack, anyway, " Ned said, "whether we leave or not!There are people watching every move we make, and I want to convey tothem the idea that we are going at once. "

"If they are watching us, " Oliver suggested, "they doubtless saw Jackand Jimmie leave the camp. "

"They undoubtedly did, " Ned admitted. 

"And will follow them, I'm afraid. "

"I've been wondering whether the boys got out of the hills insafety, " Ned went on. "They were well mounted, and should have beenable to dodge the outlaws. Besides, Jimmie and Jack are, as the boyssay on the Bowery, inclined to be 'foolish in the head--like a fox. 'So they are probably safely out by this time. "

"But, still, I'm worrying about them!" Oliver replied. 

CHAPTER XXIII

RACING MOTORS ON THE WAT

"Some day, " Jimmie said, as he urged Uncle Ike down an eastern slopeof the Alleghany mountains, "I'm going to have this mule put in abook. "

"If he keeps up his stealing, " Jack declared, "he is more likely tobe put in jail. That mule is certainly a bad actor. "

"Huh!" grunted Jimmie. "He's got a sugar tooth, or he wouldn'tsteal!"

The boys drew up when nearly to the valley through which runs theNorth Fork and looked over the landscape. There was another range ofmountains straight ahead, and beyond that the valley of the SouthBranch, for which they were headed. 

"Looks like another climb and good-night!" Jack complained. "And Nedwanted this sent to-night. That's a right smart climb ahead of us, "he added. 

Jimmie coaxed Uncle Ike back to four feet again and patted him on thehead before making any reply. Then he pointed to the south. 

"Over there, " he said, "is the Virginia line. The ridge ahead of usdoes no cross that. I know because I looked up this section once whenNed and I were thinking of running away for a rest. "

"You always need a rest!" grinned Jack. "Why don't you make Uncle Ikestand still, like Dill Pickles, this old mountain ship of mine does?"he added. 

"Why do you call him Dill Pickles?" asked Jimmie. "He looks more likea razor-back with sails set in front. "

"He's Dill Pickles because he's got a good disposition gone sour, "Jack explained. "He's just about shaken the life out of me now. Doesn't look it, does he?"

"Better call him Bones!" Jimmie advised. "As I was saying, " he wenton, "the ridge ahead of us drops down this side of the Virginia line, and we can dodge a climb by going around it. "

"And get lost!" Jack grumbled. 

"Lost--not. We follow down this valley--or up this valley, rather--until the ridge drops down. Then we go straight east until we come tothe South Branch. And there you are. "

"Here we go, then!" Jack shouted. "Set your sails and come along. "

Uncle Ike wanted a test of speed and endurance right there, butJimmie held him back. It might be that they would be obliged toreturn to the camp that night. 

They soon left the high places and wound among foothills. Below lay afertile valley, with handsome and well-tilled fields. 

"We're making a hit with these mules!" laughed Jimmie, as they passedalong, the people staring at them from gates, doors, windows andfence-tops. "If these ladies and gentlemen ever see us again they'llbe sure to know us. "

It is not a great distance from the place where they came to theriver to the city they sought, and the ground was covered in a coupleof hours. The sun was still shining when they passed through a busystreet, certainly the center of observation. 

When they entered the telegraph office Jack took out the message andhanded it to the clerk at the desk without looking at it. The clerkstudied it a moment and asked: "Day rates? This seems to be a nightletter. "

The boys eyed each other keenly for a moment, and then Jimmie said:"I'd have it sent right off if I were you. Ned wouldn't have saidanything about its being a night letter if he had had any idea we'dget here so soon. "

"All right, " Jack said. "Send it now. We'll wait for a little whileto see if there's an answer. "

"It is in cipher, " the clerk said, "and will take some time to send. "

"I never looked at it, " Jack cried. "I' don't even know where it isgoing. "

"To the Secret Service chief, Washington, " said the clerk. "Are youboys out here on secret service business?"

"We're out here to take pictures, " Jimmie cut in. "We have nothing todo with that dispatch. It was given to us by an acquaintance to sendout. "

"He wanted to make sure it got into the right hands, " Jack said. "Will you call Washington and see if he's there--the chief?"

"You'll have to pay for the message. "

Jack laid a banknote of large denomination down on the desk. 

"Ask for the chief, " he said, "and tell him to wire any instructionshe may have for the sender in cipher if he wants to, but to give anyinstructions he may have for us about the delivery of the message inplain United States!"

"Come back in half an hour, " said the clerk, "and I'll probably havesomething for you. I suppose this cipher message is an importantone?" he added, suspiciously. 

"Don't know what it is, " Jack answered, truthfully. 

The clerk evidently did not believe the boy for he stood at the deskgazing after him with a look of distrust on his face. The lads wereno sooner out of the office than a thin, angular gentleman, dusky offace and very black and bright of eye, entered and walked up to theclerk. 

"I sent a message here by a couple of boys, " he said, "and I wish towithdraw it. "

"You'll have to find the boys, then, and have them withdraw it, "replied the clerk. 

"But can't I recall the dispatch--my own dispatch?" demanded theother, exposing a $100 banknote in his palm. "It is worth somethingto me to get it back. "

The clerk was angry at the plain attempt at bribery, so he turnedback to a table and took up the message the boys had left. 

"We have a message here, " he said, "which may be recalled underproper conditions. Kindly tell me what your dispatch says. "

"Which one did they file?" asked the other. "The one to Washington orthe one to New York?"

The clerk laid the paper back on the desk. 

"Give me the address you sent your message to at Washington, " hesaid. 

"It was the secretary of state, " was the reply. 

"And the message? Give me a few opening words. "

"Read them!" snarled the other. "Can't you read English?"

"The message is in cipher!" said the clerk, "You also have theaddress wrong. You are evidently a fraud. Get out!"

When the boys returned to the office in half an hour the clerk calledthem over to the desk at once and told them of what had taken place. 

"How did he ever follow us out without our seeing him?" asked Jimmie. 

"He must have shot through the air, " the other declared. 

"Are you sure you kept a good lookout?" smiled the clerk. 

"Well, we looked about a good deal, " Jimmie admitted, "and I can'tsay as I thought of being chased up. What did Washington say?"

"You boys are to wait here until you receive instructions. The ciphermessage is now going on the wire. "

The boys sat down in a restaurant not far from the telegraph officeand ordered porterhouse steaks, French potatoes, and all the sidedishes that were on the menu. 

"We may have to ride to-night, " Jack said, "and may as well preparefor it. "

"I don't like the idea of our being followed here, " Jimmie observed. "We'll be apt to come across that chap on the way back. The funnypart of it all is that we never suspected there was a sleuth outafter us!"

"We ought to have known, " Jack grumbled. "Somehow everything has gonewrong with us. If we ride back in the night we'll probably have askirmish. "

After eating they went back to the telegraph office. The clerk waswaiting for them, that being the usual hour for his supper. 

"Here's your orders, " he said, with a smile, "right from the chiefhimself. He seems to know who you are all right!"

Jack took the dispatch and read:

"Remain where you are until motor cars now on the way from Cumberlandreach you. Our men say the cars can make good time clear to thefoothills. The cipher message will arrive shortly. Be on your guard. "

It was signed by the chief of the Secret Service department. 

"What do you know about that?" asked Jack, passing the message overto Jimmie. 

"How far is it to Cumberland?" he asked of the clerk. 

"Something like eighty miles, " was the reply. 

"Are the roads good? Can a motor car make good time to-night. "

The river roads are fairly good. A fast car ought to get here inthree hours. "

"I see that Chinese-looking guy that wanted the message catching usif we go back in an automobile!" Jimmie laughed. 

"But a motor car, " Jack interrupted, "is an easy thing to wreck on amountain. "

"What do you think was in that dispatch?" Jimmie asked of Jack, asthey sat in the telegraph office waiting. 

"Something which brings out motor cars and secret service men, " Jackanswered. "I guess it made a hit at Washington. "

"Perhaps he wired that he was going to bring the prince in!" laughedJimmie. "Well, if he did, he'll do it, and that's all I've got to sayabout it. "

Twice that evening a dark face appeared at the window of thetelegraph office and peered in at the boys. Each time the owner ofthe dark face hastened away after a short inspection of the lads andconferred with two men in a dark little hotel office. 

Shortly after ten o'clock two great touring cars, long, lean racers, ran up to the curb in front of the telegraph office and stopped. Thestreet was now well-nigh deserted, but what few people were stillastir gathered around the machines. 

There were three husky men in each machine, and in each car was roomfor one more person. Only one man alighted and entered the office. When he saw the boys waiting he beckoned to them. 

"Got your cipher?" he asked, and Jack nodded. 

"Then come along. We'll get to the high climb before the moon comesup. "

"Do you know the way?" asked the clerk. 

"Only from verbal description, " was the reply, "but we can find it. "

"I'm off duty, " the clerk said, "and I know every inch of the way. Iwas reared in the mountains west of the short ridge. I'd like alittle adventure, too!" he laughed. 

"What about the mules?" asked Jimmie, determined that Uncle Ikeshould be cared for. 

"Get them into a barn, quick, " said the chief, sharply. "We must beoff. "

When Jimmie came back the clerk and Jack were crowded into one seatin the rear machine, while a vacant seat in the front car was waitingfor him. The party was off with a snort of motors and faint cheersfrom the little crowd which had gathered. 

The river road was fairly good, and in an hour they were at thefoothills, around the south end of the short ridge. The driver drewup there, and in the clear air, from the north came the sound ofgalloping horses. 

"Get out and under cover, boys!" the chief commanded. 

CHAPTER XXIV

THE MAN-TRAP IS SET

Ned, Oliver and Teddy remained in camp all the afternoon--waiting. They were not, of course, anticipating the immediate return of Jackand Jimmie, but they were looking every moment, after a couple ofhours had passed, for some signs of the boys who had been sent out inthe wake of Bradley. 

"I'll bet a cookie, " Teddy exclaimed, as the sun set over the ridgeto the west, "that Frank and Dode have bumped into something hard!"

"I may have made a mistake in not going on that trip myself, " Nedmused, "but I had an idea there would be business for me at the camp. I don't know what to make of this lack of attention on the part ofour enemies!"

"It may be, " Oliver suggested, "that they have taken alarm and duckedwith the prince. "

"That is just what I fear, " Ned answered. "It will spoil all my plansif they move now; still, I admit that they've had enough unpleasantexperiences here to make them long for a quieter retreat!"

The boys prepared supper, taking pains to provide enough food forFrank and Dode, but they did not come. The meal over, Ned made readyfor a trip down the mountain. 

"I'm going to Chimney rock, " he said to the boys. "I should like tohave one of you with me, but two ought to remain here. I'm going totake some rockets with me. If I do not return before midnight, one ofyou advance along the summit to the south, provided with rockets. Ifone of my rockets is seen, the watcher must send one up to notify theboy in camp. Then both must make a run for Chimney rock, traveling soas to come upon it from the up-hill side. Is that clear?"

"Perfectly, " Oliver declared. "You are going to bring this princeback with you?"

"Perhaps!" laughed Ned. "I may have to bring Frank and Dode back withme!"

There was only the light of the stars when Ned reached the vicinityof Chimney rock, coming in from the slope to the north and movingwith extreme caution. There was a dull glow in the dip back of therock, the glow of coals nearly burned out. 

The men who had captured Jimmie at the cave of the counterfeiters hadfled before the shooting, and Ned had no idea that they had returned, or would return. Any fire built by them would have long since turnedto ashes. 

"The party having direct charge of the prince has been here, " the boymused, "though why they should come here is a puzzle to me, as theyhave, or had a camp of their own not far away. Still, the theory ofhiding in a place which has been searched is an old one, and thesefellows may have adopted it. 

"They certainly adopted a theory something like it, " the lad thought, as he watched the dying embers from a distance--from the secureshadow, if the stars may be said to have cast a shadow that night, ofa great rock--"when they decided to remain here after the disguise ofthe widow's grandson had been discovered. They took it for grantedthat no one would look for the real prince where the disguised onehad been found! They might better have taken him away!"

Ned knew very well that the men having charge of the abducted boy hadhidden farther up the slope. His idea was that at the time thepictures were taken the men in charge were watching the two who hadran away. 

From what Bradley had said, it was not likely that he, Bradley, hadbeen permitted to associate with the actual custodians of the stolenlad. This had been the main source of his complaints. 

Ned believed that a portion, at least, of the men sent into the hillsas custodians of the prince had followed Jack and Jimmie out Whiletrembling for the safety of the two boys, Ned had figured on cuttingthe force of the enemy in two before making an attempt to seize thelittle prisoner. 

Even now, he figured, the force left on the ground had been againdivided, for he was positive that the camp was being watched. Forthis reason he had caused the packing to be done, thus giving theimpression that his party was going out at once. 

The boy lay in the dark spot under the boulder for a long time, watching, listening, for some indication of human life in thatvicinity. He had a half notion that Bradley would head that way, andthat the boys would follow him. 

"If Bradley does come here, " Ned thought, "my trap will be set right!That is, if the dusky little chap from over the sea has not beentaken away. If he has, the trap will not serve; still, I shall beable to console myself with the thought that it was at least wellset!"

Every clue the boy had gained pointed to the spot where he lay. Thathad undoubtedly been the point of communication between the leaderand his subordinates--with Bradley and the men who had taken Jimmieprisoner. 

"That was rather clever, " Ned mused, "taking the boy while at thecave of the counterfeiters in order to give the impression that thecoiners had seized him!"

Ned realized, too; that the capture of the grandson just at that timehad been a master stroke on the part of the conspirators. The ladwould have talked too much when he became satisfied that he was safefrom all coercion. 

Ned lay in his hiding place for what appeared to him to be a longtime before he heard anything to indicate that his man-trap had beenset in the right spot. Then the voice he heard caused him to springquickly up to his feet. It was the low, soft, plaintive voice of MaryBrady. 

"I haven't seen anything here I could talk about, " the old lady wassaying. "I wouldn't think of betraying anyone who put my boy in myarms. I've seen him with you--I've been waiting about here for a longtime. Bring him out to me and I'll go home and never trouble you anymore. "

"Now, " thought Ned, "how did the old lady manage to find the boyhere?"

"You shouldn't have come here, " a low, well-modulated masculine voicesaid. "You have put your own life and the life of the boy in dangerby so doing. How long had you been watching and listening before Isaw you?"

"A long, long time. "

"And you heard much of what was said?"

"I heard a good many words, but I don't remember now what theymeant. "

The voices came clearly from farther up the slope, and a little tothe south. The figures of the speakers could not be seen by thewatcher. 

"Come up to the camp, " the masculine voice said, presently. "I'llturn the boy over to you, but you can't go back to your cabinto-night. "

"Are you going to keep me here against my will?" asked the tremblingold voice. 

"You have seen and heard too much, " was the almost brutal rejoinder. 

There was a rattle of pebbles as footsteps moved along the rockysurface of the slope. From above came the shrill cry of a child. 

"I don't know of any better time to move up and take a peep at thecamp of the man who crossed the sea to steal a child, " Ned mused. "Iwish Frank and Dode would come, but if they don't I'll have to takechances on going alone. "

Keeping those in front of him as guides, Ned crept along the slope. More than once a loose pebble rolled with a great noise from underhis feet, but those ahead seemed to pay no attention to theseevidences of pursuit. 

When, perhaps, two hundred paces up the slope the sounds above theboy ceased. The night was still, save for the rustling and creepingof the creatures of the air and the forest. For a long time not asound indicative of the presence of human life was heard, then awoman's cry of fright came from above. 

Ned was about to hasten forward when a voice came to his ears fromthe darkness. 

"We can't permit either of them to leave!" the low, well-modulatedvoice he had heard before that night said. "Even if we get away withthe prince, their stories would ruin us. There is no knowing how soonthe gabblings of the old woman might reach the ears of the adherentsof the prince. "

"Then you propose--"

"Nothing that will not come to them in due course of time! They cango to sleep in the snug inner room and never wake again. They willnot know when the change comes. They will sleep forever in theirmountain tomb. "

"I am opposed to murder, " said another voice, harsher, more decisive. 

"And so the trap was well set!" mused Ned. "The princeling is stillhere! Well, the battle may not bring victory to me, but I will atleast know that I planned it right, acting on the best information athand. "

It was plain, from what the first speaker had said, that the camp ofthe conspirators was in a cave, for he had spoken of a snug innerroom. The entrance to this cave was undoubtedly closely guarded. 

The boy crept along cautiously. The slope was steep, with here andthere a ledge which had to be surmounted or circled, always at greatrisk. In a few hours the moon would be up, and then the work he hadbefore him would be more difficult. 

"I must get into the cave before the moon rises!" he thought. "Buthow?"

When he came to the precipice in the side of the mountain from whichthe cave opened, he saw the black spot which marked the entrance. Itwas not large, and, close in front, sitting with his back against therock, was a guard!

Ned lay down to wait. When the moon rose it would cast the shadow ofthe mountain on that spot. For a few hours more he might wait for hischance. 

Directly he heard a call which brought him to an alert attitude in aninstant. It was the call of the wolf pack, sharp, vicious, warning!

There was a movement at the mouth of the cave, and a quick lightshowed for only a second. Then came a sound of footsteps negotiatingthe gravelly slope. 

Ned dropped back to the west. The call had come from that direction. It might have been uttered either by Frank or by one of the boys leftat the camp. 

Presently the snarl was heard in a dark crevice toward which the boywas descending. Ned dropped down faster then, and soon heard Frank'svoice. 

"Are you alone?" he asked. 

"Yes; and you?"

"Bradley and Dode are here. "

Bradley moved forward and took Ned by the arm. 

"Be careful!" he warned. "Those men would toss dynamite down here andtake their own risk of death if they knew. "

"We've had a run for our money!" Frank panted. "We've beeneverywhere. The cabin is deserted, and the lower camp and thecounterfeiter cave are bare of life. Bradley caught us following him, and so we joined with him in his search for Mike III. "

"Mike III. , " Ned answered, "is up there in the cave with theabductors, and Mrs. Brady is with him. We've got to act quickly. "

"They'll be murdered!" Bradley whispered. "What can we do?"

"They'll be spared for a short time, " Ned answered, "but we must beon the move. "

CHAPTER XXV

THE CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH

"There's a ravine off to the right where the machines may be hidden, "the clerk said, when the racing automobiles stopped at the foot ofthe hills. 

"Show the way, then, quick, " hastily commanded the leader. "We wantto see what sort of people they are who ride at break-neck speed inthe darkness. "

The machines were driven into the ravine referred to, and the secretservice men and the boys secreted themselves in a clump ofundergrowth close to the roadside. The horsemen came on swiftly, andwould have passed only that the detectives closed in about them, three in front and three in the rear. 

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded the dark little man who hadshown himself at the telegraph office. 

The two men with him whispered together but said nothing in the wayof protest. 

"Dismount!" ordered the leader. 

The men hesitated, and a bullet cut the air within a fraction of aninch of the right ear of the leader. There was now no delay inreaching the ground. 

"You shall pay for this!" shouted the little dark man. 

"Of course, " laughed the leader. 

Jimmie pulled at the sleeve of the chief. 

"That is one of the men I saw in the mountains, " he declared. "He isthe second one in command, as far as I could determine. "

"What does the boy say?" demanded the other. 

"What are you doing here?" asked the chief, impatiently. 

"We are hunting in the hills. "

"Hunting at this season?"

"Hunting and resting. Please now do we go on?"

The chief made a significant motion, and before the three men knewwhat was going on they were securely handcuffed. They roared at theircaptors and at each other in a foreign language for a moment and thensat down stolidly at the side of the road. 

"You, Jerry, and you, Sam, take them back to the town and lock themup, " ordered the chief. "Perhaps you, Charley, would better go withthem. Ride and make them walk!"

"Locked up!" shouted the dark little man. "What for?"

"Treason to your country, " was the short reply. 

For a moment there was no word spoken, then the three men arose totheir feet and approached the chief, standing with a hand on hisrevolver. 

"There is money, " one of the men said. "Plenty of money. "

"Cut that out!" ordered the chief, curtly. 

"Not in the thousands!" the other went on, "In the millions!"

"If they renew this proposition on the way in, " ordered the chief, "gag them!"

In a moment the three men were away with their prisoners, the soundof the horses' feet dying away in soft echoes from the hills. 

Then the chief turned to the clerk. 

"Does our auto ride end here?" he asked. 

The clerk shook his head. 

"A few rods further on, " he said, "you can turn into the bed of ahalf dry stream which runs out of the hills almost at the rocky wallof the mountain itself. "

"And the bottom of the stream?" asked the chief. 

"Sand and fine gravel. The grade is not steep. "

"And how far from the summit shall we be when we get to the end ofthe water route?" asked the chief. 

"Not more than three miles, but it is a stiff climb. "

"Get under way then, " was the order, and the motors sang their tunein the hills once more. 

"What time does the moon rise?" the chief asked, after a few momentsof splashing in the bed of the stream, which at that season of theyear was not more than three inches deep, except in places, whichwere avoided. 

"About twelve, " was the reply. 

"We must be well up the hill before that, " the chief declared. 

When they came to the end of the water course the machines werehidden in a canyon not far away and the men and the boys proceeded onup the slope. 

In the meantime Ned and those with him were listening for the soundof footsteps in their immediate vicinity. The call of the pack hadaroused the suspicions of the guard, and it was evident that he hadleft his place at the entrance of the cave to learn the meaning ofit. 

After a brief wait Ned heard the sound he was listening for andclutched Frank eagerly by the arm. 

"Move away to the right and repeat the wolf call, only lower, " hedirected. "When you have done so dodge back here-quick! The guard mayshoot!"

"What are you going to do?" whispered Bradley. "Be careful! ThoseOrientals are dangerous people to handle! Be careful!"

"I guess we won't start anything we can't finish, " Frank grinned. 

The boy did as requested, and Ned moved up the slope. Bradley satwatching the dim figures disappear and wondered what sort of companyhe had fallen into. 

When the call of the pack came from the spot indicated by Ned, therewas a rush of footsteps. The guard evidently, was advancing towardthe suspicious sound. 

The next event was so sudden, so unexpected, so startling, thatBradley almost held his breath for an instant. There was a chokinggurgle, a blow, and a noise of falling bodies. Then Ned and the guardrolled into the little dip where the others were hiding. 

Frank, back by this time, threw himself on the struggling mass andthe guard was soon handcuffed and gagged. Then Frank sat back andlaughed until Dode tried to gag him with a handkerchief. 

"Come!" Ned whispered, giving the boy a poke in the ribs. "We'regoing into the cave now! Are you going, Bradley?" he added, turningto the blonde fellow. 

"If you forget what took place at the club-room in New York, I'll--"

"You're on!" whispered Ned. "Now--quick and cautious!"

The old lady, sitting dejectedly with her grandson in her arms, in arough cave-room, saw the boys creeping forward. Ned held up a warninghand and waited. The old lady, evidently knowing what was wanted, pointed to a small opening to the south. 

"They are in there, two of them, asleep!" she whispered a momentlater, when Ned had reached her side. "The others are away!"

"And the other boy?" asked Ned, anxiously. 

"He is with them, " was the gratifying reply. 

It was Frank who accompanied Ned into the sleeping chamber where theheads of the conspiracy lay asleep. It was Frank who snapped themanacles on the wrist of the one who was lying across the entrance asa guard. 

The supreme head of the wicked conspiracy struggled, half awake, asNed slipped the handcuffs on and searched him for weapons. But it wasall over in a moment, much to the amazement of Bradley, who, attracted by a gleam of light, looked through the low opening to seethe searchlights of the Boy Scouts lighting up two angry faces. Theprince--the real prince this time!--was asleep on a costly rug notfar away. Later, when awakened, his attention was at once attractedto Mike III. , who made a pretty good playfellow for him for the timebeing. 

For there was little sleep in the Boy Scout Camera Club camp thatnight. When the boys, the old lady, the prince and the others cameout of the cave, just as the moon was showing above the rim of theworld, a rocket was mounting the sky to the north. 

"One of the boys!" Ned exclaimed. "I reckon something is wrongthere!"

But nothing was wrong there--nothing at all, so far as the boys wereconcerned. Oliver and Teddy had succeeded in capturing the man whowas watching the camp. Pretending to fall asleep by the fire, theyhad lain in wait for the spy and captured him just as he was in theact of setting fire to the tent. 

Dode accompanied Mrs. Brady and her grandson to the cabin, where, ather request, he remained a welcome guest for many days. 

When the stories of the night had been told Jack, Jimmie, and thethree secret service men made their appearance, puffing from theirlong climb. Then new stories had to be told, and the prince was by nomeans slow in telling of his adventures in the hills. 

"The boy lies!" the leader of the conspirators declared. "I hadnothing to do with the boy! I was not here when he was brought in. Icame on separate business with one of the men already here, and didnot know of the lad's presence here until to-night, and even then Idid not know who he was. "

"All the others will swear to that, " Bradley said, "in an attempt tosave the man's life by sacrificing their own. "

"Never mind, " Ned said, "you can testify to his interest in theabduction. "

"I don't know a thing about it, " was the reply. "I was hired to watchyou in New York, and to bring Mike III. In here. I never saw this manwhile here--never saw the prince. I don't even know how they got MikeIII. From his father! They kept me in ignorance of all their moves. "

"Well, " laughed Ned, "then we'll fall back on the confession that hasbeen made. "

"Confession!" repeated the others. "Who has confessed?"

"The photograph!" smiled Ned, taking out the two pictures in whichthe man and the prince were shown. "The pictures show this man in thecompany of the prince, and the prince will tell the rest. This closesthe case. "

"When are you going out?" asked the chief of the secret service men. 

"Why, " replied Ned, "I promised the outlaws that I would get awayto-morrow morning. I'm going to keep my word!"

"You'd better go out with us and travel in the machines, then, " saidthe other. 

"And leave Uncle Ike?" demanded Jimmie. "Not for me! I'm going toride that blessed mule to Cumberland, and ship him to New York. "

And he actually did! While the others were riding at their ease inthe racers, Jimmie was urging his mule along the country road, alighting now and then to let him thrust a soft muzzle into a pocketin quest of sugar. 

At Cumberland Ned met Mike II. , who was going in to spend a long timewith his mother and the boy. He had sent the son in by a Washingtonfriend, he said! That was all! Dode, he said, would be asked toremain there permanently. No one even knew how much the father knewof the trick to be played with his son. 

And so, save for a few raveled ends, the story of the Boy ScoutCamera Club is told. 

Bradley was given a position by Oliver's father, and became veryfriendly with the boys. He insists to this day that he did not knowabout the abduction of the prince. 

The conspirators were turned over to their own government, and therethe record ends, though none of them was ever seen out of prisonagain!

Those who wish to follow the Boy Scouts farther can do so by readingthe next book of this series, entitled: "The Boy Scout Electrician;or, the Hidden Dynamo. "