It was Wainwright's blatant voice again that broke through the Sabbath afternoon stillness of the house as she approached the library door: "Yes, I've got John Cameron all right now!" he laughed. "He won't hold his head so high after he's spent a few days in the guard-house. And that's what they're all going to get that are late coming back this time. I found out before I left camp that his pass only reads till eleven o'clock and the five o'clock train is the last one he can leave Chester on to get him to camp by eleven. So I hired a fellow that was coming up to buddy-up to Cam and fix it that he is to get a friend of his to take them over to Chester in time for the train. The fellow don't have to get back himself to-night at all, but he isn't going to let on, you know, so Cam will think they're in the same boat. Then they're going to have a little bit of tire trouble, down in that lonely bit of rough road, that short cut between here and Chester, where there aren't any cars passing to help them out, and they'll miss the train at Chester. See? And then the man will offer to take them on to camp in his car and they'll get stuck again down beyond Wilmington, lose the road, and switch off toward Singleton--you know, where we took those girls to that little out-of-the-way tavern that time--and you see Cam getting back to camp in time, don't you?"
Ruth had paused with her hand on the heavy portiere, wide-eyed.
"But Cameron'll find a way out. He's too sharp. He'll start to walk, or he'll get some passing car to take him," said Wetherill with conviction.
"No, he won't. The fellows are all primed. They're going to catch him in spots where cars don't go, where the road is bad, you know, and nobody but a fool would go with a car. He won't be noticing before they break down because this fellow told him his man could drive a car over the moon and never break down. Besides, I know my men. They'll get away with the job. There's too much money in it for them to run any risk of losing out. It's all going to happen so quick he won't be ready for anything."
"Well, you'll have your trouble for your pains. Cam'll explain everything to the officers and he'll get by. He always does."
"Not this time. They've just made a rule that no excuses go. There've been a lot of fellows coming back late drunk. And you see that's how we mean to wind up. They are going to get him drunk, and then we'll see if little Johnnie will go around with his nose in the air any longer! I'm going to run down to the tavern late this evening to see the fun my self!"