"What is that boy doing off here alone?" asked Jack, then.
"Keep watch of the chimney rock," Ned advised.
"But what do you think of it?" demanded Jack. "How did that boy get
up here?"
"If you see any one moving up there," Ned went on, provokingly, "let
me know."
"Oh, look here!" Jack insisted, half angrily, "what's the use of
shutting up like a clam? What is your idea about that boy? We've
never seen him before except in Bradley's company. Do you think he
ran away? Why can't we go and get him and hold him until Jimmie is
released?"
"So you think the men who have taken Jimmie are the men who are
conducting the abduction game?" asked Ned.
"Yes, don't you?"
"I have written the answer to that down in my little book," smiled
Ned, "and when the right time comes I'll show it to you."
"Well, if we are going to catch the boy we'll have to be moving."
"We are not going to catch the boy."
Jack threw himself down on the ground in disgust.
"You're the Secret Service man," he said, "and I presume you know
what you are about, but it looks to me as if you had been reading a
dream book, or something like that."
"Why should we catch the child?" asked Ned.
"To hold him! To be able to say to the outlaws that we hold the top
hand!"
"And trade the child for Jimmie, as you suggested?"
"Why, of course!"
"That would make a failure of our mission, me son!"
"But it would save Jimmie's life.
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