Part 27 (2/2)
”Real bloodhounds,” said her brother. ”Sheriff's posse----”
”Hus.h.!.+” gasped Laura, clapping a hand over his mouth. ”Haven't you any sense at all? Want to scare Lil and Nellie out of their next five years' growth?”
”Wow!” muttered Chet.
”Shut Billy off, too. And then come and tell me all about it,”
commanded Laura.
Chet grabbed Billy by the collar and dragged him away from the girls.
Then, after whispering to the smaller boy, emphatically, for a minute, he let him go and rejoined his sister.
”Now, what do you want to know, Sis?” he demanded.
”All about it,” said Laura, eagerly. ”Is there really a sheriff's posse hunting him?”
”Who's who?” asked Chet, in much amazement.
”Why--whoever they are chasing,” replied Laura, rather blankly.
”Just curiosity?” Chet wanted to know.
”You can call it that,” responded the girl, smiling whimsically at him.
”You never were just idly curious in all your life,” declared Chet, grinning at her. ”Well! the men were after that fellow who stole from the Merchants and Miners Bank of Albany.”
”Oh!”
”They got wind of his being up this way. Somebody saw him, or thought he did. Crackey! Do you suppose _he_ was the fellow who took the food from your tent, Laura?”
”Yes, I do,” admitted his sister.
”Then he's far enough away from the lake now,” said Chet, nodding.
”That amount would have lasted him till he got over the Canadian border.”
”Perhaps,” said Laura. ”At any rate, those dogs won't be able to follow his trail much after the hard rain of last night.”
”Sure not,” Chet rejoined. ”That's what the sheriff said. He got us to promise to let him know at Creeper Station if we saw anybody who looked like Norman Halliday----”
”That's it!” gasped Laura, clapping her hands together.
”What's 'it?'” demanded her brother, wonderingly.
”His name.”
”Of course it is. The fellow who stole the securities from the bank.
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