"I know I did!" exclaimed the other. "But I suppose it was only some animal prowling around."

"Bein' alone in this shack has got on your nerves, maybe," taunted one of the gang.

"Nerves, my eye!" exclaimed the other. "I don't own such things! But I've got a notion to take a look through those bushes, anyway," and he started in Bob's direction.

"Come on back, Blackie," urged another of the gang. "We can't be foolin'

around here all day. Be yourself, can't you?"

The others chimed in to the same effect, and their leader reluctantly abandoned his search and returned to the cabin. Had he gone another twenty feet he would inevitably have discovered Bob, who had been on the point of springing to his feet and giving battle. It was a narrow escape, and the radio boys heaved sighs of relief as the door of the cabin closed on the formidable figure of the leader. They knew that these men were desperate criminals, heavily armed, who would not hesitate at murder to avoid capture.

Bob resumed his advance, an inch at a time, and at length reached the edge of the clearing. Before him lay a stretch of perhaps twenty feet of open ground, and should one of the desperados chance to open the door while he was crossing this s.p.a.ce, discovery would be certain. However, this was a chance that Bob knew he must take, and without hesitation he sprang to his feet and ran swiftly but silently toward the cabin.

Fortunately he reached it un.o.bserved, and crouched close to the wall beneath one of the little windows. There were numerous cracks in the side of the rude structure, and he had no difficulty in hearing what was going on inside.

The crooks were engaged in a heated debate, but soon the voice of their leader spoke out commandingly and the others fell silent.

"I tell you we haven't had a chance to get rid of that last load of silk we got near Castleton," he said, in an angry voice. "I couldn't get the price I wanted for it, and, besides, it will be just as easy to get rid of two loads as one, and no more risk. Now, I'm going to send out a radio message in code to the rest of the gang, and we'll pull off the job to-night, just as I've already told you."

There were no dissenting voices, and presently Bob heard the whirr of the sending set, followed by the voice of the leader.

"HDEA' HDEA'," he called again and again, switching over to the receiving set to get an answer. At length he evidently reached the station he was after, for he listened intently for a few minutes. Then the generator hummed again, and Bob heard the black-moustached man speaking again.

"Get this, and get it right," he commanded, and there followed a string of words that would have been mere gibberish to Bob had he not held the key to their meaning. He searched frantically in his pockets for a pencil, and scribbled the words down as the man spoke them. When he had finished, the leader of the gang shut down the generator, and turned to the others.

"That's fixed," he said. "There won't be much to do for the rest of the day but look over your guns and make sure they're in good working order.

Since we got that last truck they've been putting guards on them, and we want to be prepared to shoot before they do."

There was a general pushing back of chairs, and Bob realized that at any moment the door might open. His mind worked quickly, and instead of going back to his friends the way he had come, he made a rush for the woods on the opposite side of the clearing. In this way the "blind," or windowless, end of the cabin was toward him, so that he would not be likely to be detected unless the robbers came out and walked around the house.

Lucky it was for Bob that he acted as he did, because he had barely started when the door was flung open and those inside came streaming out. For a few moments they stood in a group in front of the door, talking, and then scattered, some walking about, while others threw themselves on the ground and smoked.

But by this time Bob had reached the cover of the woods undiscovered, and set out to rejoin his friends. This necessitated a long detour, and it was a full hour later that he crept silently into their hiding place.

So quietly did he come that Jimmy was on the point of uttering a startled exclamation, but checked himself just in time.

CHAPTER XXIII

PREPARING AN AMBUSH

"Say, you came as quietly as a shadow," whispered the plump youth. "How do you ever do it?"

"You don't expect me to blow a whistle under the circ.u.mstances, do you?"

asked Bob.

"Never mind that, but tell us what you heard," said Joe impatiently.

"What are they up to, Bob?"

"I can't tell you until I compare what I copied down with the code key,"

said Bob, as he fished in his pocket for the bit of paper on which he had noted down the robber's message. Having found this, he and Joe searched through the key and soon had the following message pieced together:

"Truck--silk--Barberton Road--to-night. Meet me and others--Hicks Bridge--eight o'clock. Truck due--ten o'clock."

Having deciphered the message, the boys gazed questioningly at one another.

"That doesn't give us much time to act," said Joe. "If we wait here it may be close to eight o'clock before the others come to relieve us, and then it will be too late to prevent the robbery."

"The answer is, that we won't wait here," said Bob decisively. "As long as we know their plans up until this evening, there's no need of watching this cabin any longer, anyway. We'd better start back right away, and tell Mr. Brandon what we've found out. He'll know the best thing to do then."

"That sounds all right to me," said Joe, and as Jimmy saw a chance of getting back to camp in time for dinner, he put in no objections.

"Now, for the love of b.u.t.ter, try to go quietly, Jimmy," warned Bob. "If those fellows hear a sound from this direction, they'll be right after us, because their suspicions are already aroused."

"I'll do the best I can," promised his rotund friend. "But I'm heavier than you fellows, and I can't slide around so easily."

"Well, go easy, anyway," said Bob. "Now, are we all ready?"

With infinite caution the boys wormed their way through the brushwood, Bob leading. By luck rather than good management Jimmy managed to be as quiet as his friends, and after almost an hour of this slow progress Bob judged that they were far enough away from the cabin to risk a faster pace. The shack was out of sight among the trees when he sprang to his feet, followed by the others, and in a short time they had reached the path leading to the main road. Here it was still necessary to be extremely careful, for they never knew at what moment some turn in the path would bring them face to face with some of the robber band.

Fortunately nothing of the kind happened, and soon they reached the main road and started at high speed for camp.

"I wonder if we can't take some sort of a short cut," came from Joe as they raced along.

"That's the talk," puffed poor Jimmy, who had great difficulty in keeping up with his chums. "The shorter the better."

"We won't dare risk it," returned Bob. "Why we might get lost."

"Who's afraid of getting lost?"

"We are, for we might lose too much time and all our plans would go to smash. No, we've got to stick to the main road."

"How much further have we to go?"

"I don't know."

"We've got to chase along until we reach camp," put in Joe. "Hustle now, every minute may be precious."

"I can't hustle any more than I am hustling," panted poor Jimmy. "Do you want me to drop down of heart failure or something like that?"

"Maybe we'd better go along and leave Jimmy behind," suggested Joe, with a wink at Bob.

"Not much," cried the stout youth, and after that did his best to keep up with the others.

Not a great while later they came in sight of camp, much to their relief.

Mr. Brandon was astonished to see them back so soon, but as briefly as possible Bob told him of what they had learned and showed him the code message.