The Boy Scouts at the Panama-Pacific Exposition Part 7

"I will at another time, Rob; but between the way that Marsters acted, and the caution these people on the Coast impressed on me, it all got on my nerves. You see, I thought it was only business to tell the Golden Gate people how Eastern concerns had men buzzing me continually to sell to them. That made them warn me not to take anyone into my confidence while traveling. They know some unscrupulous firms would steal an idea as big as my invention, if they could get away with it. But it's all right now, and they can whistle for their prize for all I care."

CHAPTER VIII.

A SHOCK AT LOS ANGELES.

The time pa.s.sed, and when one of the waiters pa.s.sed through to announce supper, the boys had laid out their program. As before, Rob and Hiram were to go first, while Andy held the fort for them.

"Remember and don't leave the seat under any condition while we're gone,"

was what the scout leader told Andy.

"Do you suspect that they might even try to get away with our hand baggage?" asked the other. "I thought it was only Hiram's pockets they wanted to explore."

"If they are thieves nothing is safe from them," explained Rob. "'An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.' Keep your foot on my bag as you sit here. If anybody tries to tempt you to change seats just say you've got a bone in your leg, and don't care to move around more than you can help."

"Sure thing!" chuckled Andy; "it hurts terribly, too; and the only thing that is able to make me use it is the walk to the dinner-the cake-walk I call it. Leave it all to me, Rob; I'm frozen to this seat."

Accordingly, the pair pa.s.sed along the aisle and headed for the dining-car. Again the two men did their best to be civil, even nodding and smiling genially as the two boys pa.s.sed them.

"Rob, they're chasing after us!" muttered Hiram, in some little anxiety, just as he and his chum had entered the next car and were pa.s.sing along the narrow corridor.

"All right, there's no law to prevent them from getting hungry at the same time we do," replied Rob over his shoulder.

"But they may choose to sit down with us at the same table, and make themselves chummy," objected the other.

"I guess not if we know it," Rob told him.

"How can we help it without making some sort of scene?" asked Hiram.

"That's easy enough, if we can pick a table that only accommodates two,"

explained the scout leader, "and as we're in the advance, we have our choice."

"Oh!"

Evidently, Hiram was considerably relieved by what his comrade had said.

He once more realized that Rob promised to be equal to the occasion.

Indeed, the record of past achievements should have told Hiram this long ago; but in the presence of new dangers he was apt to forget what splendid things Rob had accomplished on other occasions when the tide seemed adverse.

Upon entering the dining-car Rob smiled to see that there was just one table seating two that did not have some one at it.

"There's our chance, Rob, down at the further end of the car!" said Hiram hastily, as though he feared the other might not see the table.

Rob took the chair that placed his back against the part.i.tion. This allowed him to survey the rest of the car. Nothing could have suited his plans better, for there was a small mirror that he could use to spy upon the two men who were now sitting facing him, halfway up the car.

As the meal progressed and evening drew on, the electric lights in the diner were turned on. Hiram somehow seemed to lack his voracious appet.i.te.

"Don't just know what's the cause, Rob," he remarked, when the other accused him of not disposing of much of the food he had ordered, "it may be the rocking of the car, which is fierce just now; or else it comes of my riding backward. I've been told that some people never can stand for that. But I guess I won't starve to death between now and morning."

The two men talked a good deal, but then there was nothing suspicious in that. Rob also noticed that they watched him and companion from time to time, as if their interest kept on growing.

When Hiram happened to think of his instructions, and occasionally raised a hand to feel for his coat in the region of that inner pocket, Rob kept a close watch on the men. He could plainly see the shorter one nudge his companion in the side, and say something, for his lips moved. Undoubtedly he was calling the other's attention to Hiram's suggestive movement, and while not a lip-reader, Rob could easily imagine him saying half under his breath:

"See, there he goes at it again! Just as we decided, he must have something rich hidden away there. And we're fools if we don't make a big bid for it!"

Rob was by this time fully satisfied that the men had evil designs on his comrade's inside pocket. He was determined to be unusually careful about riding in a public conveyance while in Los Angeles, since that would give the rascals a chance to accomplish their purpose.

"If you're satisfied, Hiram, let's be getting out of here," said Rob, who had seen the two men getting an extra portion of food, believing that this might be a good chance to leave them in the lurch, since they would hardly jump up and accompany the boys, for fear of attracting attention.

The two scouts quickly arose, seized their hats, and pa.s.sed along between the tables, which were pretty generally occupied by that time. Rob took occasion to keep his eyes on the two men, for several reasons. He even returned their nods as though no such thing as a suspicion regarding their honesty had come into his head.

"They missed that chance, anyhow!" Hiram remarked, as with some difficulty they threaded their way through the next car, for the train was making fast time, and things rolled more or less.

"We've got to keep on the alert all the time if we expect to leave those smart chaps in the lurch," Rob told him. "You know the old saying, 'eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,' and it applies to us right now."

"Then you don't think they've given up all hope yet, Rob?"

"That kind of men never do until they've exhausted every plan," the scout leader replied. "I expect that right now they've got some scheme in mind they mean to spring on us if they get but half a chance."

Reaching their section in the sleeper, they sent Andy ahead to get his supper. He told them he was as hungry as a wolf, and would make up for what Hiram failed to dispose of, so that the company should not get too rich off what they paid into its coffers.

After a while the men came in and took their seats. Rob was a little afraid one of them might be bold enough to push himself upon them. He had prepared for this during their absence by having Hiram sit alongside of him next the window, while the other seat was piled high with some of their luggage, thus offering no chance for a third party to find room.

But it proved a false alarm. Neither of the men made any advance whatever, and Rob believed they had figured that action on their part while on the train might get them into trouble.

"The time will come when we are in the station at Los Angeles," he told Hiram.

"Do you really think so?" asked the other curiously; and it might be noticed that he did not seem to be trembling any longer; for since his packet was safe in the possession of Rob Blake, Hiram did not see any necessity for further worrying over the matter.

"We must be careful every minute of the time until we reach the hotel,"

the scout leader explained.

"Huh! do you know, Rob, what I've got a good notion to do?"

"Be reckless, perhaps," chuckled the other, guessing this, perhaps, from the little boastful strain he detected in the language Hiram used.

"Why, to be frank with you, Rob, I really feel sorry for those chumps.

They've taken a whole lot of interest in a poor country chap like me, and it seems a shame they should be bitterly disappointed."

"Oh! that's the way things set, do they?" continued Rob. "You feel so bad on their account that you're tempted to give them a chance to steal that dummy packet you have fastened inside your pocket?"

"I've gone so far as to take the pin out, you see," chuckled Hiram. "If they do get busy they needn't have the worry of that to keep them back.

And when you look at it in the right light, Rob, wouldn't that be just the quickest way to get rid of the slick rascals?"

"Well, the chances are that if they did manage to lay hands on your packet, they'd disappear in a big hurry, Hiram."

"All right, then. Let them make the opportunity, and I'll try to be as accommodating as possible. You know, Rob, that I'm said to be an easy mark among the boys of Hampton. I hate to disappoint anybody in the worst way."