To this very day, it has never been positively known among the scouts of the Wolf Patrol whether Landy met with an unexpected accident, or allowed himself to be deliberately dragged out of the boat, seized with a sudden overwhelming desire to end his spell of drudgery.
The splash was simply terrific, and Landy vanished completely beneath the surface of the swamp water, which chanced to be fairly deep at that place, as of necessity Landy himself must have known.
"Oh! he's overboard!" exclaimed Toby, in the other boat, perhaps louder than his orders from the scout master permitted.
"What a nuisance!" grunted Lil Artha, trying to appear unconcerned, though it might have been noticed that he tried the best he could to stop the movement of the skiff by thrusting both hands in the water, and paddling.
Mark did better than that, for he snatched up a thwart that he knew was loose, and started to use it vigorously so as to check the progress of the floating boat.
Meanwhile, of course, Landy came to the surface like a bobbing cork that had been pulled down by the bite of a fish. He was floundering around like a whale, spouting volumes of water that he must have swallowed in his dive, and apparently doing his level best to stay on top.
"Hey! ain't you goin' to help a feller?" they managed to make out from his almost incoherent splutter.
The other boat had by now pushed up close alongside, and Elmer, leaning over the side, seized the swimmer by the coat collar. Landy at once allowed himself to apparently collapse. He was content to have someone support him; but some of his chums imagined there was a suspiciousmanufacturedlook in the expression of terror that had fixed itself on his face.
With plenty to lend a helping hand the fat scout was soon pushed and hauled on board the skiff from which he had fallen. The treacherous pole was also recovered and given in charge of Lil Artha, for, of course, it could not be expected that a fellow who had just been rescued from a watery grave would be able to continue that arduous task of pushing.
Lil Artha frequently looked queerly at the dripping Landy as he used the pole. Sometimes he would chuckle softly to himself, and a swift grin flash athwart his lean countenance as though a humorous thought had struck him; after which the tall scout might be observed to shake his head as if bothered.
Landy settled down to taking things easy. He wanted them all to know that he had had a remarkably close call, and every little while he would heave a great sigh, to follow it with such words as:
"I'm terrible glad you boys were on deck to save me. My clothes seemed as heavy as lead, and I sure think I'd have gone down three times if you hadn't chucked me aboard here. That was a narrow squeak for me. I guess I went and got too confident, and it made me careless. But holy smoke! how that mud can grip! I just couldn't get the old pole out nohow, and that's a fact. I won't forget what you did for me, fellers, sure I won't. I hope to be able to do the same for every lasting one of you some day."
"You're too kind, Landy," laughed Toby; "none of us are hankering after an experience like that. I'll never forget what you looked like, dangling there on that push-pole, and trying to squirm your legs around it so as to climb up. Want to know what you made me think of, Landy?"
"Go on and tell me," said the other, with a tremble in his voice, for he was by this time beginning to feel the effect of his immersion.
"Why, you remember how we used to go frog-hunting in a boat, with a three-foot line at the end of a stout pole, and a small hook baited with a piece of red flannel? Well, when we'd see a whopping big greenback we'd dangle that red stuff close to his nose. It was funny to see him squat down like a cat does on sighting a sparrow or a robin, and then jump up to grab the flannel."
Toby paused to chuckle afresh, and the object of his attack urged him to continue, although he evidently realized that he was about to be held up to boyish ridicule.
"First, the frog thinks he wants that queer red bug the worst kind," Toby went on to say, "but as soon as he feels the hook he changes his mind. Then he starts in to do the greatest acrobatic feats you ever saw, twisting his hind legs up over his head like he wanted to turn a somersault, or else climb up the line. Well, when I saw you dangling on that push-pole, I thought of a fat, greenback frog."
"Huh! guess you'd a tried to climb, too, if you'd been in my place," grunted the stout scout, drawing his coat a little closer around him, and shivering.
"No, I'd have stuck by the boat, Landy," said Toby, soberly.
Landy shot him a suspicious glance but did not make a reply. Perhaps he may have been wondering whether any of his mates already suspected that his recent narrow escape had not been such an accident as it appeared.
Elmer now took a hand in the discussion.
"Here, let's make less noise, fellows," he remarked. "In the excitement we've already broken our rule, and if there was anyone near by they must have known all about us. And we're going ashore just beyond there."
"So soon in the afternoon, Elmer; what's up?" demanded Chatz, who, having rested since last using the pole, did not understand why they should call it a day's work at not much after three o'clock.
"If you look at Landy, you'll understand why," continued the patrol leader.
"Why, he is shivering, sure enough!" exclaimed Chatz; "what ails you, suh? Are you feeling cold on such a warm day as this?"
"What, me cold!" stuttered Landy, trying to put on a brave face, though his lips were turning blue and quivering; "of course I ain't. It must be the excitement of the little scare has gripped me, that's all."
But wise Elmer knew very well he was assuming a degree of comfort which he did not feel, and he could not stand for it.
"You've got to do one of two things, Landy,", he said, with authority, "either take the push-pole again, and warm your blood up, or else go ashore to dry your clothes. Otherwise, we'll have you getting a chill, and then the fat will be in the fire as far as our hunt goes. Which shall it be?"
"If it's all the same to you, Elmer, and you mean the whole kit to stop off too, I say let's go ashore," hastily replied Landy.
"Head for that little cove, Lil Artha, and you too, Toby," said Elmer.
"I'd like to lend him something I've got in my pack," remarked Lil Artha, apparently taking pity on the shivering one; "only you c'n see with one eye it wouldn't come within a mile of meeting around his waist."
"I've got a sweater he could put on while his clothes are drying," volunteered Toby Jones; "of course, it isn't his size by a jugfull, but then you know sweaters stretch. Like as not it'll go around me twice though, after Landy's worn the same. But he's our chum, and scouts should always be ready to make sacrifices for each other."
"That's real good of you, Toby," mumbled Landy, strangely enough unable to meet the honest gaze of the generous donor.
The landing was soon made, and when the dripping Landy got ashore the first thing Elmer made him do was to jump around, and thresh his arms back and forth. This, of course, was to induce a circulation of blood, so as to resist the chill following his late immersion.
"Lil Artha, I leave it to you to make the fire," said the patrol leader. "Use dry wood so there'll be little or no smoke; and build it in that low spot over to the right. If we choose to keep it going to-night, there's only a small chance that anyone will discover the light in that dip."
Nothing pleased Lil Artha better than to make a camp fire. Besides the genial glow, which he so dearly loved, being a fire worshipper by nature, it doubtless meant that before a great while they would be cooking supper; and as we happen to be aware such a task was never onerous to the lanky scout, whose appetite seldom failed him.
There were others to help pick up the right kind of wood, for every scout has to learn such things early in his career in woodcraft. Soon a crackling little blaze sprang up, which, being carefully fed, presently amounted to a considerable fire.
"Here you are, Landy," said Elmer, when he could feel the genial heat at a distance of five feet away; "strip off, and hang your duds on these sticks we've planted around the fire. They'll soon begin to steam, and then dry out."
Elmer even took a hand himself, wringing each article cast off by the bulky Landy before he hung it judiciously before the fire.
Fortunately, the fat scout had made out to carry an extra pair of socks and a suit of clean underwear in his pack, and having donned these, with the help of Toby's expansive sweater, he had to make out. There was considerable fun poked at him as he squatted there by the fire attending to his clothes, so as to make sure they did not get scorched by the heat.
"There's one thing bad about this drying-out process, though," Lil Artha was heard saying to Ted, who chanced to be near by; "and that's the way clothes shrink after they've been wet."
"Which reminds me," Toby called out, "of that story about the fat bachelor who had washed a suit of his new underwear himself, and hung it on the clothes-line to dry; but the maid came along afterwards and finding them ready to take in hung up a suit belonging to the kid, about four years of age. When the stout bach stepped out to get his suit and saw that baby outfit hanging in its place, he rubbed his eyes and was heard to say to himself: 'Great Scott! and the clerk swore they wouldn't shrink a bit!'"
"But I hopemyclothes won't shrivel up so I can't get in the same," Landy observed, anxiously. "A nice figure I'd cut going around day and night like this. And let me tell you the skeeters would fairly eat me alive. As it is, I'm cracking at them all the time right now."
Frequent examinations, however reassured him. His clothes were drying nicely, and did not seem to be losing any of their former generous proportions. So in time Landy might hope to be garbed in his proper attire as became a scout, and not an Arab or a "side show freak," such as Toby persisted in dubbing him.
Supper was later on taken in hand. There was no lack of recruits when it came to doing the cooking; in fact, Elmer found that he had six enthusiastic would-bechefsto choose from, even Landy expressing a willingness to serve, as he had to hover near the blaze more or less anyway, and might as well be busy.
Afterwards the fire was allowed to go down, though Elmer did not feel that it was positively necessary for them to let it die out entirely. If it was bound to betray them doubtless the mischief had already been done; and having to shoulder the blame, they might as well have the game.
It was a great delight to them all to squat there around the fire and talk in low tones. There were no boisterous language or actions tolerated. Elmer gave them to understand that they were now out on serious business, and all such conduct must be left to another time.
Still, they found plenty to talk about, most of it connected with the strange happening at Hickory Ridge, in which their unfortunate comrade, Hen Condit, bore such a prominent part.
"I wonder now," Toby was saying at one time, "whether the Chief of Police got a clue like we did that'd fetch him up in this region of the country with a posse, meaning to try to round up this escaped rascal?"
There was a variety of opinions concerning this point, some believing one way and the rest having contrary views.
"It would be too bad, now," said Ted, "if they managed to haul both of them up before we could get Hen in hand, and hear hith thory of what happened."
"That's a fact," added Lil Artha. "We know the Chief, and that he'd take Hen back to town just like he was a real criminal. No matter what excuse the boy'd try to give, the Chief wouldn't listen, leaving all that for the Justice of the Peace before whom he'd take his prisoners. Boys, we've just got to find Hen first; that's all there is to it."
That seemed to be the consensus of opinion among them. By degrees they had come to believe that Hen Condit must be under a spell, to have acted as he did. Nothing else would explain the mystery, for Hen had always been reckoned a mild, inoffensive sort of fellow, one of the last boys in Hickory Ridge to do anything so terrible as commit a robbery.
"That's just what it is!" declared Toby, as they again talked it all over in hopes of getting a better conception of the truth, "the man who's got Hen must be one of those terrible hypnotists you read about. I saw one down in the city last summer at a show, and he made fellows do the most ridiculous things anybody ever heard tell of."
"Such as what?" asked Lil Artha, looking as though he might be skeptical.
"Why, one boy thought he was a goat, and ran all around on his hands and feet, hunting for tin cans and old shoes to eat. Another believed he was a dog baying at the full moon, and I nearly took a fit listening to him whoop. Then there was a third fellow who believed he was made of iron, so he stretched himself from one chair to another, and three men stood right in his middle; and he didn't break, either. Say, it was the greatest sight you ever saw."
"Fakes, all rank fakes!" snorted Lil Artha; "every one of those boys was a confederate of the impostor. You notice they never come to small places where everybody knows everybody else, but show in cities, where a new audience comes each night. I'd like to see a circus like that, just to laugh; but you couldn't get me to believe in hypnotism worth a cent."
"Well, then," demanded Toby, "what do you think this man's got on Hen that he's made him do whatever he wanted, tell us that, if you can?"
"I don't know," replied Lil Artha, promptly.
"See?" cried Toby, exultantly, "he backs down right away."
"There are a lot of things I don't know," added the tall scout; "but it's my opinion that Hen's being held to that man through some kind of fear. P'raps he's been made to believe he did somethingterrible, and his only hope is to skip out before the police get him. But let's wait till we find him, and then we'll know it all."
"A sensible conclusion," remarked Elmer, who had listened to all the talk with considerable interest; "and as the hour is getting late suppose we begin to settle how we're going to sleep through our first night in Sassafras Swamp."
Up to then none of them had apparently bothered about figuring how they would make themselves comfortable, so that Elmer's suggestion was like a bomb thrown into the camp.
"I should think we had better get busy if we want to have a place to sleep on," Landy exclaimed, for the hard ground did not appeal very much to the fat scout, accustomed as he was to a feather bed at home.
"We have no blankets, remember," said Elmer, "and that is one reason why I laid out to keep the fire burning in a small way through the night."
"But luckily," added Mark, who apparently had been looking around more or less since they came ashore, "there are plenty of spruce and hemlock and fir trees close by. We can make our beds like hunters always used to do, away back in Daniel Boone's time."
"Every fellow will have to shift for himself, then," said Elmer; "so let's start in and lay a foundation for a soft and fragrant bed."
"Hay was good enough for me last night, suh!" declared the Southern boy; "but I've got a hunch I can sleep just as sound on balsam."
"Hemlock for mine every time!" announced Lil Artha.
Then there was a bustling time as the entire seven scouts started to break off small branches and twigs from the adjacent trees, laying them in piles until it looked as though they had secured enough for their purpose.
The beds were arranged in something like a circle around the fire, and acting on the advice of Elmer, who had been on the cattle range and knew what was right, each sleeper expected to keep his feet toward the fire.
"Looks a heap like a big cart-wheel," observed Lil Artha.
"The fire is the hub, and each scout a spoke, that's right, suh," Chatz agreed.
Landy acted as though he would never get enough of the fragrant browse. Long after the others had stopped gathering it, he continued. When they joked him about being greedy when there was no price to pay, he had an answer ready.
"I'm a whole lot heavier than anybody else, don't you know?" he told them. "And on that account I ought to have a higher pile under me. Besides, I always did like to gather things in."
"We'll remember that, Landy," threatened Lil Artha, "the next time we need a big supply of firewood. You've fixed it up good and tight, and you'll find us the most obliging lot of scouts east of the Rockies."
After considerable fussing and joshing, they managed finally to get "fixed." As none of them had slept too soundly on the preceding night, owing to their strange environment, and the wild alarm that sounded when Johnny's chicken-thief trap was sprung, the boys were both weary and drowsy.
Elmer was really the last to drop off, and he smiled as he raised his head to glance around at the stretched-out figures of his six chums. Some were breathing pretty loud, but Elmer could forgive that, and so he also gave himself up to indulging in refreshing slumber.
He was awakened by a horrible crash that made him instantly sit up. Other figures were bobbing up all around the smouldering camp fire. From the condition of this latter, Elmer knew that he must have been asleep much more than an hour.
"What happened?" gasped Landy the first thing, for he was digging his fat knuckles into his heavy eyes as though trying to rout the last atom of drowsiness from them.
"It was me," replied Lil Artha, promptly; "I fired my gun!"
"What at?" demanded Elmer, thrilled in spite of himself.
"A creeping man!" came the astounding answer.
"Wow! what's all that, Lil Artha?" Toby exclaimed; "you must have been dreaming, and did it in your sleep. It's a good thing none of us happened to be in range of your old Marlin scatter-gun, that's all."
"Rats! I tell you I was wide awake, and sitting up when I fired," insisted the tall scout.
Of course, by this time all were on their feet, for the excitement had gripped hold of them. Elmer realized that Lil Artha was speaking earnestly, and showing no symptoms of having played a practical joke.
"Now tell us all about it, Lil Artha," he commanded.
"Why, it was about thisaway," said the other, obediently. "I happened to wake up and felt a bit thirsty, so I sat up thinking I'd crawl over to our big jug of fresh water and take a swig. But just as I sat up I saw something moving over in the bushes about twenty-five feet away. Yes, sir, and the fire picked up just then so I could make out what looked mighty like a man peeking at me through the same bushes—fact is, Iknowthat's what it was, and nothing else."
"Well, what did you do then?" asked the patrol leader.
"I always keep my faithful Marlin handy when I sleep out in the woods, you remember, Elmer," continued the other, with a touch of boyish pride in his voice; "so all I had to do was to grab up the gun and blaze away as quick as I could throw the same to my shoulder."
Elmer caught his arm in a fast grip.
"Not aiming at a man in the bushes only twenty-five feet away, Lil Artha—don't tell me you were silly enough to do that?" he asked, somewhat hoarsely.
The tall scout chuckled, and Elmer's fears were instantly dissipated.
"I'm not a fool, Elmer," he said, loftily. "I aimed away up in the air, and shot to scare not to hurt!"
"Good enough, Lil Artha," the scout master went on to say in a relieved tone; "I couldn't believe you'd be so reckless. A charge of bird shot at that distance goes like a bullet, because it hasn't a chance to scatter."
It was apparently Toby's turn to appear skeptical now.
"Huh! I s'pose he lit out then like a streak, after you'd wasted a good charge of shot in the air, and knocked leaves from the branches of trees—is that what you want us to believe, Lil Artha?"
"Didn't you hear the row he made rushing away?" demanded the other, severely; "but then all of you started talking at once, and I guess you didn't take much notice."
"I heard some sort of noise off that way," asserted Elmer, pointing.
"Correct, Elmer, for that's where he was kneeling, right over there in those thick bushes. You see I mightn't have noticed him at all only he happened to move just when a little flame shot up along that piece of partly burned wood."
"Oh! I admit that you may have seensomething," persisted Toby; "but the chances are ten to one it was a white-faced heifer that had hit on our camp, and was looking to see who and what we were. We happen to know there's a stock farm not a great ways off, and I reckon their cows get into the swamp once in so often."
"Think you've laid it down pretty pat, don't you?" sneered Lil Artha; "but I'm going to show you where you're away off your base. Guess I've got eyes, and know a human from a white-faced heifer. Watch my smoke, that's all."
With that the indignant scout handed his gun to Chatz, and stepping over to the fire picked up the half-burned brand which he had mentioned before. This Lil Artha whirled briskly around his head several times until he had it crackling and taking fire afresh, so that it promised to make a very fair torch, if used for only a brief time.
Elmer made no objections to the programme. Indeed, he was deeply interested in the outcome, whatever it might prove to be.
After having made sure of sufficient light, Lil Artha boldly strode directly toward the spot he had indicated as the scene of the near-tragedy.
"Go slow, Lil Artha," warned cautious Landy; "he might be laying for you there. Keep him covered, Chatz, with the gun, won't you?"
"Oh! give us a rest, Landy; didn't I tell you he hoofed it like fun after that shot gave him a scare? Who's afraid?"
With that Lil Artha reached the bushes indicated, and the others were close on his heels, every fellow eager to find out whether what he had told them was in fact true, or if the apparition had only been a figment of Lil Artha's imagination, the tail-end, as it were, of a stirring dream.
Bending down, the long-legged scout began to scan the ground. His discoveries started almost immediately, as his excited words announced:
"Here's where he pushed back the brush, as you c'n see for yourselves. Yes, and there's aplenty of footprints besides. Looky where he knelt down, because here's the mark of his knees as plain as anything. Now what do you say, Toby Jones? Is the laugh on me, after all?"
Toby had to confess that it did not look that way.
"Oh! I'm ready to own up you did see a man snooping around our camp, Lil Artha," he confessed, frankly; "and when you let fly with that load he lit out like all possessed. Elmer, of course the chances are it wasthat man, don't you think?"
"We know of no other in this region," said the patrol leader. "He must have discovered our fire, and was creeping up when our vigilant comrade saw him, meaning to steal part of our food supply. We happen to know they're short of grub, and now that the country is being roused against them this man is beginning to be more or less afraid to venture out of the swamp to secure another lot of fowls, or anything else along the eating line."
"But it looks as if he came here alone, Elmer, seeing we can find only one set of footprints," remarked Lil Artha.
"Oh! mercy! I certainly hope now he hasn't done anythingterrible to our chum, Hen Condit," quavered Landy, in a panic.
"There's no reason why we should believe such a thing," announced Elmer, decidedly; "we've already agreed that he possesses some sort of strange power over poor Hen, and I suppose the boy is waiting in their camp away from here, for the man to come back with provisions."
They walked back and the fire was revived, for since no one felt just like trying to sleep again they concluded to sit up a while and talk it all over. This attempted visit on the part of the unknown man had apparently put a new face on the whole matter. It might change their plans considerably, too, some of the scouts feared.
"I don't see why that should be," Elmer explained. "Of course, after this we'll have to keep a watch every night, so as to hold him up if he tries to get away with any of our stuff. It may hurry things along in the end. If they have little to eat, and the man is really afraid to go outside of the swamp thinking the police are waiting to arrest him, he may make up his mind to surrender to us."
"Then you believe he knows why we're here, do you, Elmer?" demanded Toby.
"It seems possible, although, of course, we have to jump at conclusions, because we really don't know," came the answer.
"Whew! but this is all a dark mystery," confessed Landy; "and I never was much account at guessing the answer to riddles. Who is this man; what is he holding over Hen Condit's head; why should our chum do that awful thing, and then leave such a silly letter behind to convict himself? I'm all in a whirl, and if anybody can straighten me out I'd be a heap obliged."
Apparently, nobody could, at least there was no effort made in that direction. In fact, to tell the truth, all the boys felt that they were groping in the gloom, and even their best guesses had only a slender foundation.
"We've enlisted in the war, though," said Lil Artha, grimly, "and we won't be kept back by any little thing. If that chap comes snooping around any more he stands a mighty good chance of getting hurt, that's all I'm going to say about it."
"And we'll run across Hen, sooner or later, you can put that in your pipe and smoke it," asserted Toby Jones, firmly.
When they had discussed the subject from every side, without picking up much additional information worth while, the boys began to feel sleepy again. So Elmer told them off in watches, two scouts being assigned to duty at a time. Landy was left out, because he was the odd fellow, and perhaps for other obvious reasons.
He pretended to be quite indignant over the slight, and vowed that he would certainly sit up through one of the watches with the pair whose turn it happened to be. But none of them took his threats seriously, because they knew full well when Landy Smith once got asleep it required something like a young earthquake to arouse him. Elmer hardly anticipated another visit from the mysterious unknown that night. He fancied the fellow must have imagined Lil Artha really shot point-blank at him, and that it was only his good luck which enabled him to escape disaster.
Being too good a scout to take unnecessary chances, and not wishing to lose the main part of such supplies as they had fetched along for several days' use, the patrol leader took all due precautions.
The fire was kept up the balance of the night in the bargain, for they felt as though the illumination helped to guard them. Complete darkness might have tempted a raiding thief to try again, while he would be afraid to attempt such a risky move while the flames crackled and lighted up the immediate surroundings.
After all, nothing happened to disturb them. The sentries stuck diligently to their duties, and changed at the time appointed. This had been laid out by Elmer, as the sky had cleared and the stars could be plainly seen in places. He figured time from the position of certain bright planets, and their setting would mean the different changes in guard mount. Scouts who have been in camp have learned these methods of telling time by the use of the heavenly watch, and few of them after once mastering the interesting method find a need for Ingersols.
When daylight sifted in through the treetops overhead, the boys gave signs of arousing. Landy, of course, was the last to awaken, and he professed to be quite heart-broken because no one had called him in time to help stand out that watch. The gleam of humor in his eyes, however, told Elmer that the fat boy was not quite so much disappointed as he made out to be. In fact, the patrol leader was beginning to fear that Landy had latterly shown signs of developing a new trait in his composition, and started to play the part of a deceiver, in return for constant badgering on the part of his fun-loving mates.
It was while they were eating breakfast that Elmer propounded a new scheme, and after placing it before his comrades asked them what their opinions were.
"The question now is," was what he said, seriously, "whether we mean to keep on poling our skiff along the waterways; or shouldering our packs take the shore from now on; and as our rule always has been, majority votes carry the day."
"But that old skiff suits me all right," objected Landy, who did not particularly fancy shouldering his pack, to tramp through brush and over marshy tracts of land, such as must be their portion.
"Why ought we make a change, Elmer?" asked Ted, also unable to grasp the meaning of this new move.
Not so Lil Artha, who was quick to see things, especially when some suggestion on the part of the scout-master was concerned.
"Why, what ails you fellows?" he exclaimed, scornfully, as became one possessed of superior brains; "don't you understand my sighting that man last night alters the whole business? Now, there's no need of hunting a needle in a haystack, for we've got a real trail to follow up."
"That's right, suh, and scouts ought to be able to accomplish the task," Chatz remarked in his superior way, which, however, everybody knew was only skin-deep, the result of his Southern birth and training, for he was a splendid fellow at heart, and well liked.
"What about the skiffs then, if we abandon the same?" asked Toby.
"Oh! we'll mark the place, and Johnny can easily find his property when we're paying him five dollars for their use," said Lil Artha, lightly. "And boys, better make a start with those packs right now."
Landy sighed heavily, and seeing there was no escape he started to carry out the suggestion of the tall scout. His lack of ambition was so noticeable that Lil Artha could not resist the temptation to take a shot at him.
"I was just thinking, fellows," he went on, maliciously, "that Landy's going to play out on us, and give no end of trouble; so we might leave him here to watch the boats while we're gone."
"What! me stay here, and starve to death?" ejaculated Landy, commencing to put considerably more vigor into his labor; "I guess not, if I know myself, and I think I do."
"Oh! for that matter we'd let you have some grub," continued the generous Lil Artha; "enough for one full meal anyway."
"No thank you, not any in mine. I'm going where the rest do, make up your mind to that. If the old boats have to be watched stay yourself, Lil Artha, that's all. You couldn't coax or hire me to remain alone a single night in this awful swamp, not if you tried till doomsday. I like company, and if I have to I c'n even put up with you as a steady, Lil Artha. Now that'll do for you. It isn't to be considered for a second."
Of course, Lil Artha was only having a little fun, because there was no thought of leaving anybody behind to stand guard over the two abandoned skiffs; and least of all would Elmer have dreamed of appointing the fat and timid scout for such a duty.
When deciding on such a radical change in their plans, Elmer did not forget that it might also be well for them to conceal the two boats. Should the man they were hunting chance to come upon the skiffs he might think it good policy to smash in the planks to such an extent that they would be useless for further voyaging; and possibly the scouts would be glad to get out of the swamp by the same means they had taken when entering.
"First of all, let's hide the boats somewhere," he suggested. "They're pretty heavy, of course, but seven of us ought to be able to carry them, one at a time."
"It needn't be for far either," Lil Artha assured them, "because here's a jimdandy place close by. Everybody on the job, and see what you can lift."
After all it was nothing to speak of, for the two skiffs were easily handled, and nicely concealed from view. When the boys had removed all traces of their passage, anyone might walk by within five feet of the patch of bushes and never suspect what lay there so neatly hidden.
"There, that job's done," said Elmer; "now finish packing, and we'll be off."
Landy hurried now. He had a lingering fear that there might be more in that obscure threat made by Lil Artha of desertion on their part than appeared on the surface. The more he considered being left alone in that dreary swamp the faster Landy's fingers flew. He also kept a wary eye on the tall scout, and had Lil Artha shown any intention of hurrying off he would have surely found Landy tagging at his heels, whether he had his pack or not.
Meanwhile, Elmer, having quickly arranged his possessions, because of long familiarity in the packing line, had gone over once more to the bush patch where on the preceding night Lil Artha had seen that suspicious lurker.
Of course, it was Elmer's intention to examine the tracks left by the mysterious visitor, and see whether it would be possible for them to pick up the trail.
He was, of course, taking it for granted that the party must have been the same man they had been hunting ever since reaching the swamp. So far as Elmer could say, his footprints resembled those they had seen with Hen's, although there was really nothing remarkable about them to distinguish the indentations above all others.
Elmer knew that they took certain chances in figuring this way. After all this man may have been the farmer who had a stock farm. Some of his cattle breaking bounds would likely enough wander into the swamp, and in looking for the strays perhaps he had discovered the smouldering fire.
As tramps, and possibly bad men as well, sometimes hid in the depths of swamps, the cautious cattle-raiser may have been crawling up to find out the truth when that sudden shot frightened him, so that he had run wildly away.
Well, no matter which of these two solutions to the mystery proved to be the correct one, Elmer meant to try and come upon the party whose trail now lay before him. He still favored the original idea, and, in fact, never bothered mentioning the other speculation to his comrades.
All of them being ready they set out. Elmer and Lil Artha led the van, for they were recognized as the best equipped scouts in the Wolf Patrol when it came to a question of trailing. What Lil Artha lacked in actual experience, he partly made up for in his pertinacity, as well as his constant practice along these lines.
It soon became evident to them that the fugitive had not thought it worth while to try and hide his trail at the time he fled from the camp. That sudden shot must have given him a nervous shock, so that all he cared about just then was to put as much distance between himself and those seven khaki-clad boys as possible. The fact that they carried weapons and would not hesitate to use their firearms must have convinced him it was a risky thing to hang around that region any longer.
For half an hour the boys moved on. Sometimes it was at a fair walk, and then again when the trail grew fainter so that those at the head of the column were compelled to exercise all of their knowledge in order to make sure progress, things slackened more or less.
The boys had been warned not to make any unnecessary noise. Talking save in the lowest of whispers was strictly tabooed, and even at that Elmer did not encourage any conversation. They also had to take care of their feet, and not press their weight upon some stick that would break with a loud snap. Even such small things have spoiled well-laid plans before now, and trackers, whether of wild beasts of human fugitives, cannot be too careful.
If Landy puffed a little the other made no objection, since he took care to do it half under his breath. It was not such very easy work, though as scouts most of them enjoyed every minute of the time, being constantly thrilled with the expectation of suddenly coming upon a camp where those they sought might be found, and taken by surprise.
Lil Artha even had it all arranged in his mind just how he meant to threaten that man with his gun, warning him savagely that it would be as much as his skin was worth to attempt to flee.
It was in this humor that they came to a log that lay across their path. Here the trail ended, but, of course, such clever fellows as Elmer and Lil Artha would understand a little trick like that. The stumbling man had naturally taken to the log, passed well along to the other end, and then jumped off.
"You take that side and I'll cover this one," said Elmer, without the least hesitation; "ten to one we'll get him again."
They did, for Lil Artha quickly found the tracks once more. The incident, however, told them that the man had begun to fear he would be followed when morning came, since this was his first effort to baffle pursuit.
"I'm sorry that happened," said Elmer, softly, to his working partner; "because it's going to make our task all the harder you see."
"Do you mean because he's begun to be afraid he'll be followed?" asked the other.
"That's just it," continued the patrol leader; "if that idea gets a firm hold of him he's bound to do everything he knows how so as to leave us in the lurch. In the end he might even decide to quit the swamp, and take his chances of getting away outside."
"Well, we don't quit at that, do we?" asked Lil Artha, with a gritting of his teeth that told of grim determination.
Elmer looked at him and smiled.
"We'd be a nice lot of scouts, wouldn't we," he said, sarcastically, "if we were ready to throw up the sponge at the first sign of trouble? No, we've started on this trail, and we'll run it down if it keeps us busy the rest of our vacation."
"In the immortal words of General Grant while flanking Lee and driving him back toward Richmond," continued the other, "'we'll fight it out on this line if it takes all summer!' I'm glad to hear you say that, Elmer. But here we are up against it again, seems like."
This time the fleeing man had reached a certain point, for his tracks could be plainly seen, but the trail abruptly ended.
"It's an easy guess," said Elmer, after a brief examination. "You can see that he stood up on his toes here, for the indentation is heavier forward. Then, besides, look at this bark lying fresh on the ground, only a few small pieces, but scraped from the tree above us."
"Sure thing, Elmer!" declared Lil Artha, while the others stood and watched the actions of their comrades with the utmost curiosity, "he just grabbed hold of that lowermost limb, gave his feet a fling against the trunk of the tree, and hoisted himself up yonder."
"Then perhaps he's somewhere up there still," suggested Landy.
"I don't think so," continued Elmer; "but we'll send up an expedition to find out after we make sure that all avenues of escape are closed. My own opinion is that he passed out along some other low-hanging limb, and dropped to the ground again, perhaps thirty feet away from here."
"Let's look and see!" cried Toby, eagerly.
"Be careful," warned Lil Artha, hurriedly; "for unless you step mighty fine you may cover up the prints of his shoes where he dropped down."
Elmer had already decided just about where he would have descended from the tree had he been in the place of the fugitive. Lil Artha, too, seemed to have settled on the same spot for he was just at the heels of the leader.
Instead of looking down, Elmer kept glancing up. It might be he was mentally following the straddling figure along that great limb. Presently he abruptly stopped.
"I can see signs that tell me he came this far, but they end up there," he told his companion. "Yes, and here you see fresh leaves on the ground. Look sharp, Lil Artha, and it may be your eyes will light on the fresh trail."
Hardly had Elmer spoken when a low but eager cry told that success had been achieved. Lil Artha pointed to the mark of feet close beside them. Undoubtedly, the fugitive had dropped once more to the ground.
"Say, let me tell you he's a slick article, that chap," said Toby, after they had once more made a fresh start. "I wouldn't be surprised to learn he'd been out on the plains in his day, he seems to know so much about Indian ways and all that."
"But he's met his match in our scout-master, for a fact," blustered Landy, full of genuine admiration for the commander who had many a time led the Wolf Patrol boys to victory over stupendous obstacles.
"Silence everybody now," came from Elmer, though naturally it must have given him a warm feeling in the region of his heart to know that these good chums felt so kindly toward him and were not backward in expressing their sentiments.
So they continued on for another stretch. The fugitive must have come to believe that by this time he would have thrown any possible tracker off the scent; at any rate, he tried no new game looking to baffling pursuit.
Gliding along like shadows the seven scouts made fair progress. Elmer was of the opinion that at any minute now they might come upon the spot where the unknown had his hide-out. He had communicated his plans to the others before this, and they all knew the parts they would be expected to play should it come to a hold-up.
Covered by the guns that he and Lil Artha carried, it was doubtful whether the man would dare take chances and try to flee. If he did and left Hen behind him, the first thing for them to do would be to secure the boy, even if he evinced a desperate desire to avoid them.
Somehow, Elmer himself believed they would find what they were seeking in the unusually large patch of brush that now lay ahead of them. He caught glimpses of the water just beyond, which proved that an arm of the swamp extended in this direction.
Pushing steadily on as noiselessly as possible, they were presently able to part the bushes and discover a dead fire in plain sight. The boat lay on the shore, with one plank smashed in, doubtless the result of an accident that had wrecked the hopes of the two fugitives.
Eagerly they surveyed the prospect, and then Lil Artha gave a grunt of disgust.
"Skipped out, that's a measly shame!" he exclaimed, wrathfully.
"But what's that white thing stuck in the crotch of the wand yonder?" demanded Toby; "looks to me like it might be some sort of communication from our poor pard Hen Condit; because that's an old scout and Indian way of leaving word, you know."
Elmer was already hurrying forward to possess himself of the message. The others watched him take it from the crotch of the stick and open the soiled paper on which there seemed to be more or less crooked writing in pencil. Then the patrol leader turned to his comrades, a look of satisfaction on his face.