thought. "I wonder if they would be friendly?"
He slackened his pace and approached cautiously until within ten yards of where two men sat in earnest conversation.
One man was tall and thin and had a scar on his chin.
The other fellow was the thief who had robbed Dick of his watch.
At first Tom was not inclined to believe the evidence of his eyesight.
"Perhaps I'm mistaken," he mused.
He resolved to draw nearer and hear if possible what the two men were saying.
A clump of bushes grew close to the spring before mentioned, and he crawled up behind this, thus getting within fifteen feet of the campfire.
"You are certain you saw the boys, Buddy?" he heard the tall man with the scar say.
"I'm as sure of it as I'm sure your name is Arnold Baxt—"
"Hush, Buddy, how many times must I tell you that I want that name dropped, especially around here?"
"There aint anybody around here to hear us?"
"Well, I don't want the name mentioned. I call you Buddy. You must call me Nolly."
