n the shack saw us he
wouldn't be suspicious. Because if he thought we had seen him and were
going to tell, he'd probably start running away.

"Don't look back," Westy said. "What are we going to do? We can't
capture him ourselves, can we?"

"The only way would be to sprinkle a little salt on him," Warde
Hollister said.

It seemed sort of funny the way that fellow talked because all of us had
seen that black face in the shack and a bandit is no joke, especially a
negro bandit, but any color is bad enough. Anyway, I was glad to see
that Warde was getting crazy like the rest of us. But I didn't know till
another minute how crazy he really was.

CHAPTER XVI

SUSPENSE

I said, "All right, but it's pretty serious. There's that black man in
there. If we start toward Little Valley or back toward Bridgeboro he'll
be suspicious and escape. We know where he is and maybe he doesn't know
we know. How are we going to notify Mr. Pinchem or anybody else, that's
the question?"

Westy said, "Maybe one of us could sneak away and hurry to Little
Valley."

"Yes, and maybe he'll sneak away too," I said.

"Maybe we could start a fire and send up a smudge signal," said Dorry.

"Sure, and make it good and black because he's a negro," Warde said.

I said, "It's all very well to joke, but we have that man as good as
caught. What are we going to do about it?"

"Some one hustle to Little Valley," Westy said.

"A smudge signal," said Dorry and Will.

Warde Hollister said, "Well, of course I don't know so much about scouts
because I'm not really a member yet."

"They're supposed to be observant," the kid said.

"And brave," Warde said.

"Sure, but they have to be cautious," the kid said.

"They're supposed to use sense," I put in.

Warde said, "Well, I'm not afraid of what's in there. Maybe I'm not so
observant, but that fellow in there can't scare _me_. If Pee-wee doesn't
want to go and nab him, I'll go and nab him myself."

Just then he got up and started for the shack.

"Come back!" I said. "You're crazy!"

Pee-wee grabbed him by his jacket and said, all excited, "_Do you want
to get killed? Do you want to get killed?_ Sit down! Do you want to get
killed? Don't you know that man fired two shots?"

Westy said, "Come back, you fool!"

Hunt jumped up and grabbed him and he and Pee-wee both tried to hold
him back. "_Sit down, sit down!_" they said. "Do you want to get shot?"

Warde just shook them off, and he