Chapter VIII: Pursuing the Depredators

Toward morning the major was awakened by loud and repealed shouting. As passers-by had sometimes amused themselves by calling him up and cracking jokes at his expense, he did not at first respond to the summons. But the continuance of the shouting argued the occurrence of something unusual, and, hastily dressing, he went to the dining-room window.

In the road was a band of mounted men, the advance of which only could be seen by Ratke, while the main portion of the body was obscured by the evergreens. Some of the troop carried guns, several bore pitchforks, not more than one or two appeared unarmed, and these probably had revolvers.

"What is the matter?" inquired the major.

"Matter enough!" returned a voice. "Two horses was stole last night, and we're after the thieves."

"We've got some inquiries to make here," said Green, riding through the large gate and within a short distance of the house, where he was followed by the band. "You have men from every part of the country, and nobody knows whether they are honest or not. What we want to know is, where are they?"

"You may search the premises if you like," said Ratke. "All of my men are in the club-house. All but one," he added, "and he is above suspicion. I will call him."

"Trace, Trace," called the major, going to the door of Montcalm's room with a lamp.

"Come in," said Montcalm, "I thought I heard some one calling."

As soon as Ratke had left him, Montcalm sprang up, scaped together some patches of swamp muck which bad not been noticed by his unobservant employer, and, wrapping them in a paper, threw them hastily into one of his trunks.

Stepping out of doors, he saw the thief-hunters, who were returning from the club-house.

"Hurrah, boys!" called a young fellow in a white hat; "everybody get on a horse."

"What is the use of making such a racket?" asked Green. "You let the thieves know you are coming long before we get to them."

"I am my own boss," answered the fellow in the white hat.

Montcalm ran to the horse-barn, unlocked it with the key which he had obtained from Ratke, bridled the steeds and led them out before he was rejoined by his employer. After assisting the major to get on the back of Bill, he too mounted, and they at once sped eastward toward the party, which they presently overtook.

The band halted in front of Takum's.

"We want to see where Phleet is," said Green.

Shout after shout was given, but Philetus did not respond.

"There is no use in disturbing him," said the major. "He has not enterprise enough for a horse-thief."

"Don't be too sure," said Green, proceeding to the front door and administering several loud taps.

"Who's there?" asked a female voice after the lapse of a few seconds.

"Where is Phleet?" inquired Green, ignoring her question.

"He ain't to home," replied Mrs. Takum. "He's gone to his uncle's."

"There, Ratke," exclaimed Green triumphantly as he neared the road. "He's gone, and right in the middle of the night. We'll take a look after him."

"It is probable that he is where he hadn't ought to be," said a red-whiskered man whose name was Holmes. "I shouldn't wonder at all if he's with the horses now."

Montcalm, realizing that it would be dangerous to allow suspicion to fall upon his subordinate, jumped to the ground and inquired, "What is his name?"

"Phleet," answered Sparks,

Rushing to the door of the house and giving it some kicks which threatened to tear it from its hinges, Montcalm shouted, "Phleet, Phleet, if you don't come, we will kick down your door and drag you out of bed."

"Yes, I'm a-coming'," answered the trembling Philetus. "Don't be a-gittin' mad now."

"There," said the major, triumphing in his turn, "he was afraid to answer. He thought you were about to do him violence."

The band, unanimously agreeing not to disturb Takum further, continued their course, which they decided to direct through the swamp, instead of along the road which branched southward.

"Where have you been hunting?" asked Ratke.

"We've been all along the road by Lyme's," answered Holmes. "We turned the corner east of his house and went up by Rob Eliot's, and so around to Oakville and your house. But we have found no trace of the thieves."

"The funniest thing of the whole bisness is that they didn't leave no tracks," remarked Sparks. "There was a ways that the ground was all scraped up, places two or three feet across. But it didn't go far, an' then we couldn't find hide nor hair."

"In my opinion," said Holmes, "we had better stop at the house of every suspicious character. If we find them at home, very good. If not, we will suspect them. I think the men that took those horses are with them now. When I was a boy I had some traps stolen. There was a very light snow, and I started to follow the tracks of the thieves. I happened to meet an old trapper, and he said, 'I'll go with you, but we won't follow these tracks. There's no telling where they go to. We'll take the back track.' So we followed the tracks back. They led to a house not more than half a mile from the trapping ground. They were two surprised boys, when I caught them walking into the house with my traps."

"Had we not better divide our party?" asked Ratke. "Concentration of power is necessary when we wish to apply a prodigious force at a particular point. But in this case, where the resistance is apt to be small, we had better get at the short end of the lever, thus providing for much agility and extension of movement."

"I can't make out how we can get around any livelier by dividin' up," said Sparks. "I can move just as fast when I'm with somebody as when I'm alone."

"I am not to blame," returned Ratke, "because you cannot see why we can look over more ground by dividing our force, why we can stand a better chance to catch the thieves by watching a mile than a rod of territory. I suppose that they would not dare make any resistance if we found them."

"There's just where you're mistaken," replied Sparks. "They come a-chargin' up my lane to beat all, an' they drove me an' my boy to the house, in spite o' all we could do."

"Yes," said Wingscheut, "tey come a-charchin' up. Put, provitin' I hat hat a coot man vith me, I coot a kilt efery tam horse-tief."

"How many of them were there?" inquired Ratke.

"Vell," answered Wingscheut, "tere vass two in te first place. Unt von of 'em he run. Unt, provitin' my short lec vass crowet out long like it vass started to crow, I coot a caught 'im. Put I catched te otter von hiplock, Unt I trowet 'im. Unt, provitin' you ton't pelieve it, you can ask Sparks. Ten tere vass four more, tey come a-ritin' up. Unt von of 'em he was a pic feller. He vass proat unt he vass long, Unt he vass pic all ofer. Unt he hat plack viskers Come vay town here," said the German, drawing his hand across his waist. "Vell, ten I let te feller co vat I hat, Unt I hit te feller vat hat te viskers. Unt tey run teir horses pack, vippin' 'em like tey vass no man vant to pe pehint. Provitin' I hat a hat somepoty vat coot a het 'em off, tey vass cone up horse-tiefs. Unt, if you vant to know who te feller vass tat I trowet, I can tell you tat."

"Who was he, Wingscheut?" asked the fellow in the white hat.

"Vell," answered Wingscheut, "maype you ton't pelief it, put he vass Panicky."

The German's statement was greeted with a laugh of derision which silenced him for some minutes.

"That was a fine animal you lost, Sparks," remarked Ratke.

"Yes," said Sparks, "she was the best blooded animal in the county."

"You are mistaken," replied the major. "My Taylor has better blood than Madge T."

"They don't nobody else think so," returned Sparks. "Madge T. is by Wellington, an' Wellington is by Cyclone, an' Cyclone is by Mohammed, an' Mohammed is by the Duke of Argyle, and he was good for 2:26. Madge's mother was from Petoskey Chief, an' she could go in three minutes."

"Taylor has no blood as slow as three minutes," replied the major. "Taylor's sire was Aleck, he by King Henry, he by Maurice A., he by the Duke of Argyle. Taylor's dam was Matilda, sired by Cal, he by Marshal Ney, he by Royal John. Matilda went in 2:28 on Long Island, and every horseman knows that Aleck could distance Wellington."

"The proof of the puddin' is in the eatin'," said Sparks. "Madge T. could always go by Taylor."

"Always?" said Ratke. "Sparks, did I not go by you coming from the donation at Osborne's?"

"Yes," admitted Sparks, "an' didn't you run your horses, too?"

"Taylor did break up," returned Ratke. "But when you regain possession of Madge T., bring her over and I will try conclusions with you."

"I'm afraid we won't race very quick," sorrowfully observed Sparks.

They had now passed through the swamp and were approaching a dilapidated barn, beyond which was an unpainted frame-house.

"Had we better stop here?" inquired one.

"Yes," was the answer. "They're hard customers. We better rout 'em up."

The crowd, stopping their horses by the front gate, called the name of Wallace and uttered with it many an unnecessary and insinuating remark. At last a window was raised, a head thrust out and Wallace inquired, "What do you want?"

In spite of their want of respect for the place and its occupants, the party hesitated to answer the gruff interrogation. But Green, who was unscrupulous in wounding the feelings of others, boldly replied, "We wanted to know if you was at home."

"I'm much obliged to you," said Wallace. "I like to be waked up out of a snooze to hear some half-baked nuisance ask if I'm to home. I s'pose you want to know next if the folks is all well."

So saying, he shut down the window, and it was only after some severe threats that the band succeeded in bringing him back for a second interview.

"There were some horses stole to-night," said Green, "and we thought that we would satisfy ourselves that you was at home."

"You see I am," replied Wallace. "Now I wish you'd go off and mind your business."

"Where is Ab?" inquired Green.

"Abed, where all honest men ought to be," returned Wallace. "Got any more questions to ask?"

"We don't know whether he's there or not," said Green. "Call him up."

"Ab, Ab," cried Wallace, "show these fools you're to home."

A cord bedstead gave forth a dolorous groaning, and directly after the face of Ab appeared at a chamber window.

"Now," said Wallace, "get out of here, or I'll let daylight through some of you."

This injudicious threat brought a shower of stones, which several substantial citizens, including Ratke and Holmes, in vain strove to prevent. Two windows were broken, a piece of one clapboard was split off and knocked down, and the house received other marks from the rocky bombardment. It was fortunate for Wallace, that some of the younger and more hot-headed of the party were at the barn looking at his horses. They drew out an old buggy and rummaged through the empty bay and stable. They even led out the horses to see if one of them were not Madge T. or Green's Billy in disguise. But the protruding ribs and low hanging heads were convincing proofs of the no non-identities of the steeds.

The morning was near at hand, and, tired and discouraged, the men retraced their steps across the swamp. "If we could only get our hands on 'em," said a man from Oakville who had lost a valuable Percheron in the winter. "I'd like to see 'em hanging to an oak limb."

"The proper way to punish misdemeanor," replied the major, "is to execute sentence proceeding from a legally organized tribunal. The decisions of men unaccustomed to jurisprudence and unrestrained by the statutes are apt to be hasty. Your conduct toward Wallace illustrates my statement. You had not the slightest evidence against him, but you waked him up in the middle of the night, insulted him, and when he replied to your insults, stoned his house and threatened to do him bodily injury."

"There didn't any of it come amiss," was the response. "If he didn't deserve it one time, he did another."

"The greatest and most widespread danger to society," said the major, "is lawlessness. It is in the rural districts, in high places, among the legislators themselves. Citizens whose general morals are irreproachable, who read the Bible and strive to abide by its teachings, forget that they should remain subject to the powers that be. It matters not whether the act of disobedience be the spearing of a fish in May, the shooting of a quail out of season, or the illegal hanging of a horse-thief; the effect is the same, for it brings contempt of the law. The insubordination thus fostered, building upon precedents unintended as such by their authors, walks with mobs in cities, overthrows the virtue and very existence of states, and spreads panic and instability among the nations. We must not be rash in following our projects of vengeance."

"Rash, or no rash," said the Oakville man, "I'd help put 'em where they wouldn't do any more mischief."

"If am along when they are captured," returned Ratke, "and any injury is attempted, I will defend them to the best of my ability."

"That's the talk," exclaimed the fellow in the white hat who was an admirer of Ratke's courage. "And I'm with you every time, Major. We'll turn 'em over to the law, and we won't give 'em anything more than a good sound drubbing."

"You'll see," replied the obstinate Oakville man. "If we can't hang 'em, I'll put some cold lead into 'em."

"Afore you hang 'em or shoot 'em," said Jake Sheppard, "hadn't you better catch 'em?"

At the western extremity of the swamp they stopped.

"Gentlemen," began the major, "we have made as thorough a search as we could under the circumstances. But we can do no more without organization. Random efforts will avail us nothing. In order to recover the stolen property we must plan, and plans are quite certain of failure when they are known to a strong and vigilant enemy. If the measures we adopt are understood throughout the country, they will be revealed to the thieves. I think we ought to choose a committee of five to direct our movements. This committee should have the power of making its deliberations secret or public, as it may deem proper."

"The major is right," said Holmes. "It won't do to let everybody know just what we are going to do. I move that we have an executive committee of five."

The motion was passed, and the party chose, as members of the committee. Holmes, Ratke, Sparks, Green and Montcalm, of whom the latter was nominated by the major. Ratke's house was selected as the location for a temporary committee room, and two o'clock that afternoon named as the hour of meeting.

The business concluded, the band dispersed. The major's farm hands, with the exception of Archer, who had been too sleepy to join the hunt, commenced to do the chores.

"Now, Trace," said the major after breakfast, "I am going to take a nap. You were disturbed of your rest. Come in the house and lie down."

"Thank you," replied Montcalm. "I slept well the forepart of the night, and I am not very tired."

"I know what is the trouble with you," said Ratke. "You do not want the gentler sex to suspect that you are so weak as to feel fatigue. I do not blame you. Go and lie down in the club-house."