“Whew! what’s all this mean?” Andy whispered to himself, as he took notice of the fact that there was quite a procession of fellows changing base from the road to the field:  “Percy and Sandy thought they might need help in their little game of smashing our machine, or carrying it off somewhere, so as to give us a bad scare; and I reckon they’ve picked up a couple more of the same kind as themselves.  Well we ought to be able to take care of four just as easy as two 5 and the howl will be all the louder, I guess.”

He moved over a little, and with the toe of his shoe nudged Felix under the ribs.

“Quit shovin’ there!” muttered the farm hand, possibly thinking he was in bed with some other boy.

Luckily the night breeze was making the windmill turn, not very far away; and as it needed oiling, there was a constant succession of squeaks and groans; so that the chances of Felix being heard when he spoke in this way were very small.  Andy would not take any further risk but creeping over shook the boy roughly.

“Wake up, Felix; they’re coming across the pasture!” he whispered in his ear.

That was quite enough for Felix.  He seemed to grasp the situation at once, and only muttering the one significant word, “Gosh!” he immediately sat up.

Andy, moving as little as possible, pointed to where moving figures could just be detected advancing in a bent-over attitude.

“How many?” whispered the farm hand.

“I counted four,” replied the other.

“Whee! bully for that!” chuckled Felix, no doubt tickled because the promised circus would be a double-ring affair, instead of the ordinary kind, and therefore quite up to date.

Both of them lay there watching intently.

They could see how the intruders were crawling along, anxious apparently only to avoid being seen from the direction of the farmhouse, the roof of which showed dimly in the moonlight over on the other side of the little ridge.

As the creepers drew closer, the watchers saw that they had adopted the method spoken of by the farmer in connection with the bank thieves, keeping their identity secret—­they all seemed to have handkerchiefs tied across their faces, and kept their hats pulled well down, so that they could easily have passed close to an acquaintance without much risk of discovery.

Of course Andy could tell that they were boys, and not men; and it was an easy task for him to guess who two of the party at least must be.

The preparations he and Felix had made were about as simple as anything could be.  The farm hand possessed an old musket that had been used in the Civil war, and which, muzzleloader that it was, had probably brought down many a plump rabbit when held in the hands of the owner, as well as black ducks in the marshes along the shore of Lake Sunrise.

Besides this, the farmer had loaned Andy his double-barrel Marlin shotgun, an old model when compared with the up-to-date hammerless and the repeaters, but no doubt a good, serviceable weapon.