Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/430

 “Yes, your neck’s goin’ to be wrung!” puffed Fat Ole Bill. “Yes, your neck’s goin’ to be wrung! Let her try it! Let her try it! What will she get, fellers?”

It was at that instant that the police whistle and the commotion awakened Jamie, and it was an instant later, as he came around Margaret Cameron’s house from the back, that he met John Carey coming around it from the front.

He said to him: “There’s something going on over in the bee garden. I think maybe the Scouts are having a sham battle. Keep behind the bushes and follow me. You might be interested in what you see and hear. Sometimes it gets good!”

So the two men slipped through the gate, and under cover of the shrubs and bushes, came down very close to the flower wall behind the jacqueranda, where they paused.

“Scout One!” commanded the Scout Master, “tell it to the probate judge. Did you hear the witness before you say that she was a liar?”

“I’ll tell the world I did! And she said she stole the papers, and she was tryin’ to burn ’em so she could steal this garden. You bet I’ll tell the judge!”

“Scout Two!” said the Scout Master, and Jamie and John Carey, with eyes as wide as the eyes of the young sters, leaned forward and peered through the bushes.

“Sure! Sure I heard her!” said Angel Face. “Sure I heard her say she lied, and she was trying to steal this place and she pushed little Mary. Sure I heard her!