<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
<h3>PREPARING AN AMBUSH</h3></div>
<p>“Say, you came as quietly as a shadow,” whispered
the plump youth. “How do you ever do it?”</p>
<p>“You don’t expect me to blow a whistle under
the circumstances, do you?” asked Bob.</p>
<p>“Never mind that, but tell us what you heard,”
said Joe impatiently. “What are they up to,
Bob?”</p>
<p>“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:</p>
<p>“Truck—silk—Barberton Road—to-night.
Meet me and others—Hicks Bridge—eight
o’clock. Truck due—ten o’clock.”</p>
<p>Having deciphered the message, the boys gazed
questioningly at one another.</p>
<p>“That doesn’t give us much time to act,” said
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='page_194' name='page_194'></SPAN>194</span>
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.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“Now, for the love of butter, 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.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“Well, go easy, anyway,” said Bob. “Now,
are we all ready?”</p>
<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='page_195' name='page_195'></SPAN>195</span>
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.</p>
<p>“I wonder if we can’t take some sort of a short
cut,” came from Joe as they raced along.</p>
<p>“That’s the talk,” puffed poor Jimmy, who had
great difficulty in keeping up with his chums.
“The shorter the better.”</p>
<p>“We won’t dare risk it,” returned Bob. “Why
we might get lost.”</p>
<p>“Who’s afraid of getting lost?”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“How much further have we to go?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know.”</p>
<p>“We’ve got to chase along until we reach
camp,” put in Joe. “Hustle now, every minute
may be precious.”</p>
<p>“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?”</p>
<p>“Maybe we’d better go along and leave Jimmy
behind,” suggested Joe, with a wink at Bob.
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='page_196' name='page_196'></SPAN>196</span></p>
<p>“Not much,” cried the stout youth, and after
that did his best to keep up with the others.</p>
<p>Not a great while later they came in sight of
camp, much to their relief.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“You fellows have done a clever bit of detective
work, and with reasonable luck it ought to be
possible to bag the whole gang to-night,” said
Brandon. “I know where Hicks Bridge is. It’s
about five miles this side of Barberton, and an
ideal place for an ambuscade. The road runs between
high banks just before it gets to the bridge,
and some of the gang posted on those banks could
command the road from either direction. But I’ll
get in communication with the chief of police of
Barberton, and we’ll see if we can’t catch the
thieves in their own trap.”</p>
<p>“I suppose the two men you were expecting
haven’t arrived yet, have they?” inquired Bob.</p>
<p>“No. And I’m afraid we won’t be able to wait
for them, either,” said Brandon. “I could radio
to the Barberton chief, but I’m afraid the message
might be intercepted by the crooks, if one
of them happened to be listening. I guess it will
be better to go by way of my automobile, although
I hate to lose the time that it will take.”
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='page_197' name='page_197'></SPAN>197</span></p>
<p>“Isn’t there a telephone line from the camp?”
suggested Joe.</p>
<p>“No, unfortunately, one hasn’t been installed
yet,” replied the inspector. “But we can do the
trick with the car if we start right away. I suppose
there’s no need of asking if you fellows
would like to come with me?”</p>
<p>“None whatever,” answered Bob, grinning.
“Just give us a chance to go in and snatch a little
grub off the table, and we’ll eat it on the way.”</p>
<p>Frank Brandon nodded, and the three boys
dashed into the mess hall and caught up anything
in the way of eatables that came nearest to hand,
Jimmy, of course, specializing on his favorite
doughnuts. Then they hurried out, and found
Mr. Brandon waiting for them, with the motor
running. After a short search they found Herb
fast asleep in his bunk, and roused him unceremoniously,
hustling him out before he was fairly
awake.</p>
<p>“What’s it all about?” he questioned, rubbing
his eyes. “Has the camp caught fire, or do you
just want to borrow some money from me?”</p>
<p>“Never mind the funny business now, we’ll tell
you all about it while we’re traveling,” said Bob,
as they reached the automobile. “In you go,
Herb.”</p>
<p>Before they could find seats Mr. Brandon had
let in the clutch, and the car started with a jerk
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='page_198' name='page_198'></SPAN>198</span>
that landed them in a heap on the cushions. Regardless
of the rough road, he kept picking up
speed, and soon it was all they could do to stay in
the car at all. Barberton was about thirty miles
from the camp, and to reach it they had to cross
Hicks Bridge. All looked calm and peaceful just
then, and it was hard to believe that in a few short
hours a desperate fight might be raging between
the high banks that flanked the road. The bridge
was some two hundred feet long, and passed over
a deep cut between two hills. In spite of its present
peaceful appearance it was easy to see that
the place would be an ideal one to perpetrate such
a crime as the robbers contemplated, and after
they had passed over the bridge Mr. Brandon
opened the throttle wider in his impatience to
reach Barberton.</p>
<p>They slowed down to go through the streets
of the town, and as they drew up in front of the
police station, Brandon shut off his motor and
leaped to the sidewalk.</p>
<p>“Come on in, boys, and we’ll tell the chief about
the little party scheduled for this evening,” he
said, and the boys followed him into the police
station.</p>
<p>Fortunately the chief of police, Mr. Durand,
was in, and he greeted Mr. Brandon with a heartiness
that showed they were old friends.</p>
<p>After they had shaken hands, Brandon introduced
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='page_199' name='page_199'></SPAN>199</span>
the radio boys, and then proceeded to acquaint
the chief with the details of the plot they
had discovered. As Mr. Durand listened a dark
frown gathered between his bushy eyebrows, and
his fingers drummed angrily on the table before
him. When Mr. Brandon had finished, the chief
jumped to his feet and strode fiercely up and down
the room.</p>
<p>“This won’t be the first trouble we’ve had with
those rascals!” he exclaimed wrathfully. “Members
of the same gang have held up and robbed
stores in this town, and we have two of them
doing their bit in jail right now. And if we have
any luck to-night we’ll have the whole gang under
lock and key before the morning. These young
fellows must have been right on the job from start
to finish, Frank.”</p>
<p>“Yes, I guess they were,” replied Brandon.
“If we land this gang, we’ll have them to thank
for it. But now what are your plans for capturing
the crooks?”</p>
<p>For answer the chief pressed a button, and a
capable looking police lieutenant appeared.</p>
<p>“Get together ten of our best men,” he directed,
“and put them into two automobiles.
When they are ready to start, report to me.”</p>
<p>The lieutenant saluted, and left the room.</p>
<p>“According to the code message, the robbers
won’t be at Hicks Bridge much before eight
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='page_200' name='page_200'></SPAN>200</span>
o’clock, which is after dark these days,” said the
chief. “We’ll get there a lot earlier than that,
and I’ll conceal my men in the woods. Then I’ll
leave orders here to stop the motor truck as it
comes through, and replace its crew with a few
picked men from my force. When the robbers
try to hold up that truck, they’ll have a big surprise
in store for them.”</p>
<p>“It might be a good plan,” suggested Bob, “to
mount a searchlight or two on the motor truck.
At the right minute you could turn these on the
crooks, and while it would confuse them, it would
give your men in the woods a big advantage, as
they’d be able to see the hold-up men plainly without
being seen themselves.”</p>
<p>“Young man, that’s a first-rate suggestion!”
exclaimed the chief, eyeing him appraisingly,
“and you can believe we’ll take advantage of it.
I’ll commandeer a couple from the Electric Light
Company in readiness to mount on the truck when
it comes along. I wish we could persuade you
and your friends to join the Barberton police
force.”</p>
<p>“We’ll be pretty nearly a part of it until those
crooks are captured, if you’ll let us,” said Bob.
“We all want to be in at the finish.”</p>
<p>“It will be a dangerous business, and bullets
may fly thick,” the chief warned him. “You fellows
have done more than your full duty already,
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='page_201' name='page_201'></SPAN>201</span>
and we can hardly call on you to do any more.”</p>
<p>“Just the same, we’ll come along if you don’t
mind,” insisted Bob.</p>
<p>“Oh, I’ll be very glad to have you, as far as I’m
concerned,” said Mr. Durand. “I suppose you’ll
want to be in on it, too, Frank?”</p>
<p>“You’re dead right,” Brandon assured him emphatically.
“I’ve gone too far with this to want
to drop out now.”</p>
<p>At this point the lieutenant appeared and reported
that the men were in the automobiles,
ready to start. Picking up the telephone, the chief
ordered his own car. He invited Mr. Brandon
and the radio boys to ride with him.</p>
<p>“You can leave your car in the police garage,
Frank,” he said, and Brandon was not slow in
availing himself of this offer. In a short time
he returned, and the three automobiles started for
the scene of the projected hold-up, the chief’s car
leading and the other two following close behind.</p>
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