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  CHAPTER VII

  "BE PREPARED"

  "Paul!"

  Jack's groping hand gripped the arm of his chum as he gave vent to thiswhisper.

  "Yes," came the low reply close at hand, showing that Paul was awake,and alert.

  "Did you hear it?" asked Jack, eagerly.

  Bobolink was breathing heavily on his blankets, and it seemed as thoughhe must have been the first one to get to sleep, after all hiscomplaining about the hardness of his bed.

  "Yes. Some one shook the door," answered the patrol leader, stillwhispering.

  "That was what I thought. Shall I wake Bobolink and William?" askedJack.

  "Let me do it. If one of them gave a shout it would tell that we had aguard in here."

  Paul, while saying this, started to crawl to where Number Three wasenjoying a nap. He shook him gently, and when that failed to arouseBobolink, the motion was increased.

  "Hey! what are you----" but further sound was instantly cut off byPaul's clapping his hand over Bobolink's mouth.

  "Keep still! They're at the door right now!" he breathed into the ear ofthe struggling one.

  That seemed to tell Bobolink what it all meant. No doubt his firstimpression had been that the enemy had stolen a march on them, and meantto make them prisoners in their own quarters.

  He ceased to squirm, and encouraged by this Paul by degrees removed hismuffling hand, so that Bobolink could breathe freely again.

  The sounds had commenced once more. William was also sitting up by now,and fairly quivering with eagerness, as he fondled the extra large clubhe had selected for his individual use.

  Voices, too, reached their ears, as though the unknown parties without,finding themselves balked by the fact that the door was locked, wereconferring as to how they might gain entrance.

  "Maybe they've gone and made a duplicate key," suggested William, as heand the other three scouts put their heads close together.

  No one thought it at all out of the question. They had run up againstthese energetic plotters so often in the past, that they were wellacquainted with their ways; and nothing surprised them in connectionwith Ted Slavin's crowd.

  "Perhaps we'd better move closer to the door, so as to be ready in casethey do push in," Paul said, leading the way.

  Creeping across the floor of the gymnasium, they hovered close to theentrance. All of them gripped their novel weapons of offense and defensewith a grim determination to give a good account of themselves when thechance arrived.

  As for William, he was fairly shivering with impatience. Several timeshe swished his club through the air, as though eager to test itsqualities on an unlucky intruder; so that Paul had finally to warn himagainst such indiscreet action.

  The voices without came more plainly now. Evidently the plotters weredisputing as to their best course under the circumstances, some beingfor one thing, and the balance for another.

  "Oh! rats!" came a voice that Paul easily recognized as belonging to TedSlavin himself; "Who's afraid? Go get the old gravestone, boys, andwe'll ram her through the door like soup. It's only a weak door anyhow."

  "Yes," came in Ward's cautious tones, "but that would be destroyingchurch property, and we could be punished for it. Better try and open awindow, fellows. Bud here knows where there's a weak catch, don't you,Bud?"

  "Huh! I unscrewed the catch myself," came in still another voice;"that's how it's weak. But we can get in that way easy, boys. If you saythe word, Ted, I'll creep in and open the door in the back, where oldPeter chases his ashes out in Winter time."

  "You're the candy-boy, Bud. Do it right away. And we'll be awaitin'there at the ash door, ready to push in when you open up. Get a move onyou, now."

  When Ted spoke in that strain he meant business, and few among hiscronies ever dared hesitate. He ruled his camp followers through sheerforce of brutal instincts; and many a head had ached in consequence ofthat bony fist coming in contact with it, when a dispute had to besettled.

  Paul gave a tug at the sleeve of Jack, who, recognizing the signal,passed it on to William; and in turn he notified the remaining member ofthe quartette.

  Thus they were presently all in motion, making a careful detour aroundthe pile of camping material that occupied the middle of the floor. Someboys seem to be gifted with the remarkable faculty of seeing in thedark, that a cat enjoys. Jack was of the opinion that his chum mustsurely be favored in this way, judging from his success in moving aboutthrough that darkness without tumbling over obstacles.

  The furnace room was off the gymnasium. Gaining the door Paul passedthrough, and presently came to a number of metal receptacles in whichold Peter stored the ashes until such time as he thought fit to get awagon around to take the refuse away.

  Most of them were still full and running over, for Peter had keptputting off his last cleaning up, owing to an attack of rheumatism.

  "Every fellow pick out his can and hide behind it," whispered Paul.

  When he understood that this had been done he himself slipped back tothe connecting door, intending to watch for the coming of Bud.

  Presently sounds proceeded from a window near by, one of the small onesthat in the daytime gave light to the gymnasium. Looking intently inthat quarter, Paul was soon able to make out a moving object; for he hadthe sky with its stars and young moon as a background.

  Then came a series of grunts, announcing that Bud was pushing his way inthrough the little opening, after having gently forced the catch of theswinging window.

  Paul could hear the sound of his heels striking on the boards of thegymnasium floor. And just as he had anticipated, the intruder wassupplied with matches, for he immediately struck a light, in order tolook around, and get his bearings.

  Paul thought it time to beat a silent retreat in the direction of theashcan he had selected as his cover. When settling down he managed togive the signal that the other three would recognize as denotingcaution, and that they must remain on the alert every second of thetime.

  Now Bud was coming. Paul could hear him stumbling along, grumbling whenhe banged into the open door, simply because his sense of observationhad not been so highly developed as had that of the young scout leader.

  But by striking another match Bud managed to locate the cause of histrouble. He was glimpsed by Paul, spying around the edge of his screen,and seemed to be rubbing his forehead vigorously, as though he mighthave raised a lump there in his contact with the door.

  Some one pounded from without.

  "Hi! there, Bud, what's keeping you?" demanded Ted, gruffly, unable tocontrol his impatience.

  "All right, I'm here. But you'll have to wait a little, fellers," saidBud, who had struck a third match in order to size up the situationaround the neighborhood of the exit.

  It was rather strange that in looking about him he failed to discoversome sign of the presence of those four forms cowering behind as manytall ashcans; but perhaps this was because they managed to keep well outof sight.

  "What's the matter in there? Why don't you open up?" called Ted, againrapping his knuckles on the wooden barrier.

  "Hold on! There's a lot of cans heaped up with ashes in the way. I'llhave to move a bunch of 'em first, before I kin open the door," declaredBud; and to himself he muttered: "and I just don't like the looks ofthis hole any too much, tell yuh that, now. Reckon theys a hull heap ofrats ahangin' around here. Ugh! what a fool I was to come in hereanyhow. Gee! listen, would you?"

  A sudden squealing sounded somewhere close to the feet of Bud. It wasexactly like the angry cry of a fighting rat. But Paul understoodinstantly that Bobolink must be the cause of all this racket; for he hadknown his friend on numerous occasions to make good use of his gift asan amateur ventriloquist.

  Bud was in a terrible state of mind. Being very much afraid of rats hewould have fled from the spot could he have known which way to go. Twicehe tried to strike a match, but each attempt proved a failure, onaccount of his extreme nervousness. And now he had no more matches withhim, so that it was
impossible to see the connecting door, through whichhis retreat must be conducted.

  Ted was growing more and more angry outside. He used his knuckles onthe door again, to emphasize his demand.

  "Open up here, you lazybones! What ails you?" he roared, discretiongiving way to rage at the delay, when his fingers were fairly itching tolay hold of those tents, and the balance of the camp stuff belonging tothe boys he detested so much.

  "Oh! I'm trying to do it, Ted;" answered his tool within, "but you seethe place is alive with great big rats. They're all around me in here,and wanting to take a nip out of my legs. Oh! get out of that, hang you!One got me then! I bet he took a piece out of me as big as a baseball.They'll eat me alive! Help! Help!"

  But Bud was mistaken. It was Bobolink who had pinched him on the sly.Still, since the other did not know this, his terror was just as much inevidence.

  "Hurry up there, unless you want us to break the old door in!" calledTed.

  "Ah! go roll your hoop!" called out a voice just like the sharp twangingtones belonging to Bud.

  "What's that you say?" shouted the astonished and enraged Ted, whobelieved his slave was rising up in rebellion.

  "Go chase yourself! I'm openin' as fast as I kin, an' if you talk tillyou're blind I aint agoin' to hurry any faster!" Bobolink made Budappear to say.

  "Aint, hey? Just wait till I get hold of you, Bud Jones; if I don't makeyou eat them words, my name is mud!" exclaimed the furious leader,outside.

  "Oh! I never said a word, Ted, sure I didn't!" cried Bud, stillwrestling with the ashcans in the darkness, and kicking right and leftat imaginary rats which he believed were advancing in a drove to snap athis shins.

  "Oh! yes, tell that to the ducks, will you? Every feller here heard whatyou said, too. I'm goin' to make you eat it just as soon as I get holdof you!" declared the furious leader, still bruising his knuckles inuseless attacks on the boards of the door.

  Bud Jones was in the most terrible predicament of his whole life. Besetby innumerable fierce foes as he believed within, there was that bigbully outside, only waiting for a chance to give him a thrashing hewould never forget. And the mysterious voice that sounded exactly likehis own, startled him; for, not being a friend of Bobolink's he probablynever heard him give those strange imitations when making his voiceappear to come from some other person.

  "I've got hold of the last can, Ted!" he wailed, presently, after muchtugging and another series of wild kicks into space; though hesometimes bruised his toe by striking it against one of the ashreceptacles near by; "and I'm going to open up now; but please don'ttouch me. I never said a word against you, Ted; it must have been therats, I guess!"

  Bobolink could hardly keep from bursting into a shout at this, for heknew that poor Bud must be very near a complete breakdown throughfright.

  "Here it goes, fellers. Now I'm startin' to tackle the door, if thevarmints will give me half a chance," the intruder called out once more.

  He could be heard working away with all his energy at the heavy bar thatsecured the door, now and then giving a dismal little squeal, as inimagination he felt the sharp teeth of a rodent nipping him againcruelly.

  "Oh! there it goes, Ted!" he cried suddenly, as the bar fell on hisfeet.

  The door swung open, knocking poor Bud over; for there was an immediaterush of many eager figures. So Ted Slavin led his backers into thefurnace room of the church, where Paul lay secreted behind an ashcan,flanked by three of his trusty and loyal scouts.