“Whew!” whistled Jack. “Dad won’t like that.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t help it,” Gilroy returned. “Your father measured surface distances only. He didn’t figure how many thousands of miles I’d have to go up in the air in order to find you!”
“It is some climb,” Jack admitted, “but what’s the rush?”
“If you’ve got a place here where we can talk without being in danger of being overheard,” Gilroy suggested, “I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Oh you can say whatever you have to say in the presence of my chums,” Jack answered. “They won’t leak.”
“That isn’t the idea,” Gilroy stated. “Your father even instructed me to report to your chums if you were not to be found. I know the boys are all right, but the fact is that he is afraid of rank outsiders.”
“Rank outsiders!” repeated Jack with a laugh. “Who is there up here on the mountain to listen to private conversation? Eavesdroppers couldn’t get within sound of our voices without being seen if they tried.”
“They couldn’t, eh?” Harry cut in. “They couldn’t get close enough to steal our beans, or to tell you boys to beat it while the beatin’ was good, or to send a fake note in order to get hold of Ned!”
“What’s that you say?” asked Gilroy. “Has Ned Nestor already been lured away?”
“He certainly has!” answered Jimmie. “While Frank and I were away a strange boy brought a note and Ned fell for it.”
“And some one stole your provisions, too?” the fat clerk asked.
“Stole everything last night that wasn’t locked up in the provisions boxes,” answered Harry.
“And appeared to us in the bushes and told us to beat it,” put in Jimmie. “I wonder if he did that before he brought that lying note to Ned? Oh, we seem to be keeping busy all right!”
“Why,” Frank suggested, “he must have seen us before he brought the note, for he went away with Ned.”
Gilroy looked very much puzzled for a moment and then said:
“I’m afraid that this is a scheme to get Nestor out of the way. If I could only have reached you on schedule time, this would never have happened. Still, I did the best I could under the circumstances.”
“I hope you also didn’t come out here to tell us to ‘beat it,’” laughed Frank. “We’ve just got to enjoying ourselves.”
“I came out to deliver a message from Mr. Bosworth,” Gilroy answered. “He has some work he wants you boys to do.”