“Where on earth did that Jap go to?” asked Jack in a mystified tone, as they hurried away.
“Don’t know,” rejoined Freeman, with a trembly feeling. “There was something uncanny about it.
“I—I begin to wish we hadn’t met those fellows or had anything to do with them,” he burst out, in a complaining tone.
“There you go, sniveling like a baby,” sneered Jack Curtiss. “Why, a short time ago, you were only too pleased to have found such an easy way of getting even on Rob Blake and those other young whelps.”
“I know,” rejoined Hunt timidly, “but—but I don’t like the look of that fellow Dugan. He scared me. If he ever suspects us of betraying him, he’ll take a terrible revenge. I wish we hadn’t meddled in the thing at all, I wish——”
“Say, you make me tired,” broke in his companion angrily, “we’re not going to tell about it, are we? We won’t be foolish enough to let on that we had anything to do with the beating Rob Blake is bound to get.”
“Oh, tell it to your grandmother,” scoffed Jack. “Come on. Hurry up; we want to get away from here before the fun begins.”
Hastening on, they soon were out of sight and earshot of the spot in which their momentous colloquy had taken place.
In the meantime, from behind a large rock, not far from where Dugan was standing, the lithe form of the Jap suddenly upreared itself.
“Wow! You gave me a scare that time!” exclaimed Dugan, as his ally came into view. “How did you vanish like that, a few minutes ago?”
“Simple, my dear friend. I simply took advantage of a large rock by the roadside, and dodged behind it. There was nothing of Oriental mystery in it, I assure you.”
“Huh!” rejoined Dugan, as if only half convinced. “You’re a queer fellow, Hashashi. What did you come after me for, anyhow? Not but what I’m mighty glad to see you right now.”
“I hastened after you to give you some final instructions I had forgotten,” was the reply. “But what were you talking to those boys about?”
“Something mighty interesting to us both. Listen.”
Dugan rapidly related all that Jack had told him.
“Of course,” he concluded, “there is a chance that they may not come down this road, but, in any event, we know now where the plans are, and if the worst comes to the worst——”
“The vaults of country banks are not proof against Shimose,” grinned the Jap.