The battle lasted for some time
The battle lasted for some time.
"Come on, now! Charge on the enemy!" cried Frank, when he thought he saw a good chance to take the fort.
He led the charge, and with such good effect that the fort was captured, and he and his chums left in possession. Thenthe battle turned about, and the snowball fight began all over again.
Several days of winter fun passed. The boys and girls went coasting before and after school, made snow-men and rolled large snowballs. The weather was pleasant, and just warm enough so that the snow would pack well.
One day Mrs. Blake called on Mrs. Brown, to thank her for the way in which Sammy and his chums had helped her.
"Your son and his chums are very bright and good boys," said Mrs. Blake, who had gotten over her fall in the snow. "I have written to my brother, Peter Jessup, about them, and he says anytime they want to visit his end of Pine Island he'll be glad to look after them."
"That is very kind of him," said Mrs. Brown, "but Sammy and his two friends go off now on more strange trips than I think is good for them."
"Oh, pshaw!" exclaimed Mrs. Blake. "Boys will be boys! Let 'em roam, I say, as long as you know where they are, and that they are safe."
"Well, I guess if they get the chance they'll go," laughed Mrs. Brown. "They generally get what they're after. I'll tell them of your kindness."
When Sammy and his chums heard of what Mrs. Blake had said, and of the invitation of Mr. Jessup, the hunter, they grew excited at once, and wanted to start for Pine Island the next day.
But there was school to be thought of, and they, as well as the other pupils, had missed considerable on account of the delay caused by the fire.
"Besides, it's Winter now—not Summer," said Mrs. Brown. "It would not do to go to the island in Winter."
"Oh, yes, it would," cried Sammy. "We could dress warm."
"Besides," said Frank, "Mr. Jessup had a warm cabin."
"Well, you'd better wait," suggested Sammy's mother, and they had to do so.
But, about a week after this, there came a cold spell of weather and the lake was frozen over. When Frank awoke one morning he looked out of his window, and saw a sheet of ice on Rainbow.
"Oh, fine!" he cried. "Now for some skating!"
He took his skates to school with him that morning, as did Sammy and Bob, and during the noon recess the chums, and several of their friends, tried the ice. It was smooth, and thick enough to be safe.
"Let's skate over to Pine Island after school is out!" proposed Sammy.
"I'm with you!" cried Bob.
"And I'll go too," added Frank. "Maybe we'll see the hermit."
They said nothing to their companions about their plans, but when school was dismissed that afternoon they put on their skates and started across the frozen lake. They felt sure they could reach the island and get back home before dark, and each had received permission to go skating after school, though the island was not mentioned.
It was glorious fun on the ice. For some time the three chums found themselves in the midst of their skating companions, but they soon left them behind, and, a little later, were nearing Pine Island.
"Make for the upper end," advised Sammy. "That's where the hermit will be, if he's anywhere."
But though they had had good luck up to this time, bad luck now set in. First the skate of one of the boys would become loose, and he would have to stop and tighten it. Then the same thing would happen to another. So they weredelayed, and it was almost dusk when they came opposite the far end of the island. This was a place they had seldom, if ever, visited.
"Well, here we are at last," said Sammy. "I'm going to take off my skates and go ashore a while. My feet ache."
"We really ought to go back," said Frank, slowly. "It's getting dark, and if we're as long going home as we were coming it will be after six when we get in. The folks will worry."
"Oh, well, we won't stay but a minute—just to rest," said Bob. "I'm all out of wind."
"Well, all right," agreed Frank.
So they took off their skates and walked on the island. It was covered with snow, and curiously still and silent.
"I wonder where Mr. Jessup has his cabin?" spoke Sammy.
"Probably well inland," said Frank.
"Hark!" cautioned Bob.
There sounded a rustling in the bushes just ahead of the boys, near a clump of trees. Something moved.
"Maybe it's a bear!" exclaimed Sammy.
"Huh! Like the one you thought you saw before, only it was a dog!" laughed Bob.
"Forget it!" grunted Sammy. He did not like to be reminded of that.
"Look!" suddenly exclaimed Frank. With trembling finger he pointed straight ahead. It seemed as if a snowbank was moving. And then the boys saw a queer sight.
A shaggy head of white hair, and a long white beard rose up almost in front of them. The hair and beard framed a scowling face, that glared directly at the three boys.
"Quick! Run!" cried Sammy. "It's the wild hermit of Pine Island!"
For a moment, in spite of Sammy's warning, neither of his chums was able to move. Nor, for that matter, was Sammy either. As snakes are said to charm birds by looking at them steadily, so the sight of the old hermit, if such he was, seemed to charm the three boys into standing still there in the snow on the shore of Pine Island.
It was rather a scary scene, with dusk falling, amid a silence that was more startling than noise would have been. The old man rose up from the snow-covered bushes, seeming to tower more than six feet in height. He looked steadily at the boys.
Then Sammy found his voice again, and yelled:
"Come on, fellows, run!"
"That's right! I'm with you!" added Frank.
And by this time Bob Bouncer had gotten over his first fright, so he, too, added his voice to those of his chums.
"Hit him!" he cried. "Throw a snowball at him!"
"Don't you dare do it!" came from Sammy. "That'll make him awful mad! Run for all you're worth!"
This seemed the best advice, for really the old man, in spite of his long white hair and beard, that made him look something like the pictures of Santa Claus, had not a kindly-appearing face. He scowled, as though very angry at the boys.
As yet he had not said a word, only, as he rose to his full height, he made a move as if to come from behind the bushes, back of which he seemed to have been hiding.
"Here he comes!" yelled Sammy. "Come on, fellows!"
They needed no other warning. The three boys took to their heels, and crashed over the snow and bramble-covered ground to the edge of the frozen lake.
"You'd better get away from here!" yelled the strange old man after them. "If I catch you around here again, I'll——"
But the boys did not stop to hear what he would do to them. They did not even stop to fasten on their skates, but ran over the ice, slipping and sliding.
"Is—is he coming?" gasped Bob.
"I don't know. Look back and see for yourself," said Sammy.
Bob did so, but as one cannot very well run over slippery ice and look backward at the same time, what happened to Bob can be easily imagined.
Down he went in a heap, rolling over and over, and sliding along as well.
"Hey, fellows!" he cried. "Don't leave me. Help! He'll get me sure! Stay with me!"
His appeal touched the hearts of his chums.
"We can't leave him like that!" said Frank.
"No," panted Sammy. "We'll have to stay with him."
They slid along, unable at first to stop on the slippery ice, and then they slowly came to a halt. Turning, they went back to pick up Bob, but he had already scrambled to his feet, and was running after them.
"He isn't coming," said Frank, catching sight of the strange man, standing on the shore of the island, near where the boys had landed. "I guess he isn't going to chase us."
"It's a good thing, too," panted Bob.
"Why?" asked Frank, with a smile.
"Because if he'd come after me I'd have hit him with my skates; that's what I would!" boasted Bob.
"What did you run for then?" asked Sammy.
"'Cause you fellows did. Think I was going to stay there all alone and tackle him? I was not! So he isn't coming after us; eh?"
"No, there he stands," answered Sammy, peering through the darkness. They could just make out the old hermit, and as they looked they saw him shake his fist at them. Then he disappeared behind a tree.
"Well, come on, let's get on our skates and make for home," proposed Frank. "It's getting late, and the folks will be worried."
"That's right," agreed Sammy. "But I guess, after this, you fellows will believe what I tell you about hermits and—and things; won't you?"
"Well, you were right about the hermit," admitted Frank. "He sure is there. But that doesn't say there's treasure on the island."
"Treasure! Of course there is!" insisted Sammy. "Did you ever know of a hermit where there wasn't treasure? That's what hermits are for—to guard a treasure."
"Well, maybe," said Bob, slowly. "Anyhow if therewastreasure on the island, I wouldn't want to hunt for it if that terrible old man was guarding it."
"I would," spoke Sammy, bravely. "Maybe he doesn't look so scary by daytime. I'm coming up again."
"I'm not!" exclaimed Bob. But none of the boys knew how soon they would again visit Pine Island, nor what strange adventures they would have there.
They soon had their skates on, and struck off across the frozen lake toward Fairview and their homes. It grew darker and darker, but presently the stars came out, and as the ice was glaring white they did not have much trouble seeing their way.
Reaching home, they found their parents just beginning to get alarmed about them, fearing there had been some accident on the ice. The boys told of their adventure, but in their own homes, with the lamps lighted, and warm fires glowing, the encounter with the hermit did not seem so terrible as it had at the time it happened.
"If I see him again I'm going to speak to him," declared Sammy. "I'm going to ask him why he doesn't want anybody on that part of the island."
"Better not," advised Sammy's father. "He may be harmless if let alone, but his mind may be diseased, and if you annoy him he might do you some harm."
"Well, I'll ask Mr. Jessup, the hunter, about him then," decided Sammy, and his father thought this might be all right.
There were happy days in Fairview now. Winter had set in to stay, it seemed, and there was skating and coasting enough to satisfy everyone.
Sammy and his chums told their friends of their trip to Pine Island, and of having seen the hermit, and several of the smaller boys of their acquaintance shivered with fear. A number of the larger boys, including Jed Burr, at once said they were going up and see if they could not find the hermit themselves.
Jed Burr, I might say, was quite a different boy now. He no longer was a bully, tormenting those younger or weaker than himself. His suspension, and the apology he had had to make, seemed to have taken good effect on him.
Then, too, he was looked upon somewhat as a hero, from having gone back to rescue the little boy at the time when it was thought the school was going to be toppled over by an earthquake.
"I like Jed now," said Sammy, one day.
"So do I," added Bob.
"He's real kind," said Frank. "Yesterday I had to bring home from the store a heavy basket of potatoes. Jed met me and carried it for me."
And Jed himself was glad that he had "turned over a new leaf." He was finding out that it is more fun, in the end, to be good than to be bad. And Jed's teacher was glad, too, for he gave her less trouble.
So, as I say, Jed and some of the bigger boys in the school, having heard of the experience of Sammy and his chums, had decided to go to Pine Island, to see if they could not find the hermit.
"Will you come along, Sammy, and show us where you saw him?" asked Jed.
"I will, if Bob and Frank will," was the answer.
But Bob and Frank would not go, and Sammy would not go without them. So Jed and his chums set off by themselves on their skates for Pine Island. They were gone nearly the whole of one Saturday, but when they came back they were disappointed, for they had seen nothing of the hermit.
"I guess you fellows dreamed it," said Jed, with a laugh. "Or else you saw shadows on the snow."
"We did not dream it!" declared Sammy.
"And can shadows holler at you?" Bob wanted to know.
"No, but maybe you heard an echo," suggested Jed.
"There couldn't be any echo unless somebody said something," spoke Frank, "and we heard that hermit speak as plain as anything, and we weren't saying a word."
"Well, it's queer we didn't see him," returned Jed.
Several days passed—days filled with many winter joys. Sammy and his two chums made themselves skate-sails. They took some sticks, and stretched cloth over them, something between the sail of a boat and a kite in shape. Then, holding these sails in their hands, they would let the wind blow themover the ice. Thus they could skate without getting tired out.
Then there were sleighing parties, and coasting races on the big hill back of the schoolhouse. Sammy and his chums made themselves a bob, by fastening two low clipper sleds together with a long plank. It had a steering wheel, and a bell that sounded, as the bob went down hill, to warn everyone to get out of the way.
More snowball battles, and the building of snow houses and snow-men made up other fun for the boys and girls.
"I'm going to make the biggest snow house that ever was put up in Fairview!" exclaimed Sammy, one day. Like everything else he did, or had a part in, Sammy wanted his undertakings to be out of the ordinary.
"All right, we'll help you," said Bob and Frank.
They started the snow house in Sammy's yard, as he had proposed it. A dozen large snowballs were rolled, and put in line on four sides of a square. These were to be the walls of the house. The walls were made quite high. Then inside of them was piled all the snow the boys could gather. They cleared the ground for some distance about the house, and Sammy's father said if only they would work as hard cleaning off the sidewalks in winter, they would be doing a good thing.
"But cleaning sidewalks isn't any fun," declared Sammy, and his chums agreed with him.
They were going to make a big snow pile inside the walls of balls, and then hollow it out, leaving a roof of snow on top. This would be the house. Besides the door, by which the snow would be shoveled out, there were also to be windows.
All went well for a time. Then, when the house was nearly finished, Sammy's father came out to look at it.
"You're making your roof too thin, boys," he said. "It will fall in on you."
"Oh, I guess not!" boasted Sammy. "We want to have the walls and roof thin, as that gives us more room inside."
"Well, you mind what I'm telling you," said Mr. Brown.
Hardly had he spoken when Sammy, who was using his shovel to scrape some snow from the ceiling of the house, sent his shovel right through the roof.
"Oh!" he cried.
He did not have a chance to say anything more, for, just then, the whole roof fell in, burying himself as well as Frank and Bob out of sight.
"I told you so!" cried Mr. Brown.
However, little harm was done, as the roof was too thin to hurt any of the boys. They began to dig themselves out, with Mr. Brown's help, and soon were outside the ruins of their snow house.
"That's too bad," said Bob.
"It sure is," agreed Frank.
"And it was all my fault," admitted Sammy, with a sigh.
"Never mind," went on Bob. "We can put boards across the walls, now, for a roof, and cover them with snow."
"I think that would be the safest plan," spoke Mr. Brown. The boys had much fun after that, in their snow house.
"Say, when are we going to take another trip to Pine Island, and look for—" began Sammy Brown one day, about a week after the falling in of the snow house roof.
"Were you going to say look for the hermit?" asked Bob, with a laugh.
"No, I meant Mr. Jessup, the hunter. I think it would be jolly to go up and camp there."
"It would," agreed Frank. "But we have to go to school. It wouldn't be much fun just to go for one day. I'd like to stay a week."
"Well maybe we could go when the Christmas vacation comes," suggested Sammy. "I'm going to ask my folks, anyhow."
"So will I!" cried Frank.
"And I," added Bob.
They were on their way home from school that afternoon, talking over the proposed trip to Pine Island, when, as they came within sight of Rainbow Lake, Sammy uttered a cry.
"Look!" he exclaimed, pointing. "The ice must have all melted. There's a sailboat on the lake!"
"Sailboat! That isn't a sailboat!" said Bob.
"No, it's an ice yacht!" cried Frank. "Come on down and let's see who has it. Maybe they'll give us a ride."
The boys broke into a run, and soon saw that what Frank had said was true. It was an ice-boat—one built with runners, like big skates, and a sail, fixed on a mast, standing up in a platform—shaped like a triangle. The boat was skimming swiftly over the ice.
"Say, that's all right!" cried Sammy. "I'm going to make one of those!"
"There he goes again!" laughed Frank.
"Well, I am—you'll see!" went on Sammy. "Come closer, and we'll look how they're made. That seems to be a new kind."
The three chums went out on the ice toward the skimming boat.
Suddenly there was a cracking sound, a deep boom, like a shot from a distant cannon, and a wide crack appeared in the ice, just in front of the ice-boat. Before those aboard could turn aside, the front part of the craft had slid into the cold waters of the lake, and several figures were seen floundering about.
"Come on!" cried Sammy, breaking into a run. "We've got to help save them!"
The boys, following Sammy, broke into a run. With anxious eyes they looked toward where the ice-boat had broken through a great crack in the frozen surface of Rainbow Lake.
"There's somebody climbing out!" cried Frank, as he saw a figure pull itself up on the side of the overturned boat.
"But there are some others there!" exclaimed Sammy. "We've got to save them all! There's nobody else around!"
It was true. That part of the lake was deserted at this moment.
"How are we going to save them?" asked Bob, as he plodded on.
"I don't know how, but we've got to do it!" panted Sammy.
"Don't go too close, or the ice will give way with us," cautioned Frank.
"I was thinking of that," answered Sammy.
They were now nearing the boat. Part of it rested on firm ice, but the front part sagged into the water, and the sail was half covered. Sitting astride of the side of the craft was a boy whom Sammy and his chums recognized as Jed Burr.
"Anybody else there?" cried Sammy, as he came to a stop, and looked at the ice to see if it would be safe to go further.
"Yes!" cried Jed, as well as he could from shivering, for he was wet through, and very cold. "Hank Blair is there, and Jim Eaton!"
"Can you get 'em out?" asked Sammy. "Shall we run for help?"
"Time help gets here they'll be gone!" groaned Jed. "Oh, why didn't I see that crack?"
"Help! Help us out!" came faintly from the black water that could be seen through the opening of the ice.
Sammy and his chums, looking under the mast of the overturned ice-boat, saw two forms struggling in the water. Their hands clung to the edges of the ice, only to have it break off in their grasp. Then they would bob under again.
"We've got to save them!" cried Sammy.
"We can't!" moaned Bob. "Let's go for help!"
"Can you reach them?" asked Sammy of Jed, paying no attention to what Bob said.
"I could if I had a rope to throw to them. But I can't get a rope! Oh, what shall I do?"
Sammy was doing some hard and quick thinking. Something like a rope was needed so that Jed could hold one end and throw the other to the floundering lads. A rope? Where could they get one now? True there were ropes on the ice-boat, but they could not be reached.
"I have it!" cried Sammy. "Our book straps! Quick, fellows, take the straps off your books!"
It was a bright idea. The straps were the very thing needed.
Now it happened that Sammy and his chums had very long book straps, much longer than were really needed. They were at least a yard in length, and often only a few books were carried in them. But the boys had a habit of also including their skates, and other playthings, in with their books, so they declared that long straps were needed.
Frank and Bob at once grasped Sammy's plan. In a trice they had loosed the buckles, and handed him their straps.He fastened the three together and thus had a leather rope almost ten feet long.
"That's the idea!" cried Jed, still shivering on the side of the ice-boat. "I can reach 'em with that!"
"You'd better—better reach us—s-s-s-soon!" called Jim Eaton, his teeth chattering with cold.
"That's—ri-ri-right!" shivered Hank Blair.
"Have you out in a jiffy now!" called Jed. "Throw me the strap, Sammy!"
"I'll bring it to you," said Sammy.
"No, don't. It mightn't be safe. The whole boat might slip into the water."
So Sammy tossed the three straps, fastened together as they were, to Jed, who caught them. The next moment, holding firmly to one end, Jed swung the other to Hank. Hank grasped it and carefully began to pull himself forward so he could reach the edge of the ice-boat. A very little help, from a person on a solid place, will allow a person in the water to lift himself up. The water buoys him, so to speak. You boys who have been in swimming know that if you keep low in the water you can support yourself by merely placing one finger on the edge of a pier or a boat.
Sammy tossed the three straps, fastened together
Sammy tossed the three straps, fastened together.
It was so with Hank. Slowly, by means of the straps, he was pulled up until he could grasp the ice-boat.
"I—I'm all right now," he panted. "Get after Jim!"
He released his hold of the strap, and it was tossed to Jim. And not any too soon, either, for Jim could not hold on much longer. He was weak from the cold.
But he, too, was soon safely towed to a place where he could grasp the half-submerged ice-boat. All three was now comparatively safe.
"Now look out!" called Jed, as he threw back to Tommythe buckled straps. "I'm going to work my way to the solid ice, and you two fellows follow. Can you do it?"
"We've got to!" cried Jim, desperately.
"Go ahead—I'm with you!" exclaimed Hank.
Slowly Jed edged his way to where the stern of the ice-boat rested on the solid, frozen surface. In a few seconds he was in safety, though he was wet and shivering, and his clothes were beginning to freeze to him.
"Come on!" he called to Hank and Jim, and they followed, but more slowly, for they were quite exhausted. But soon they, too, were safe.
"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Sammy Brown.
"So am I!" echoed his two chums.
"And maybe we aren't also, youngsters!" chattered Jed, "We won't forget this on your part!"
"I should s-s-s-say n-n-n-not!" stammered Hank. "Those straps saved our lives!"
"Well, you'd better run home as soon as you can," advised Frank, "or you'll catch your death of cold."
"That's good advice," said Jed. "Come on. We can leave the ice-boat where it is for a while. I'm going to run and see if I can get warmed up. See you later, Sammy!"
He set off on a trot toward shore, his two soaked friends following. Sammy and his chums remained to look at the ice-boat. Some men and boys came up then, too late, however, to help in the rescue. Then the men got ropes and pulled the ice-boat up on the hard surface, whence it was hauled to where it was kept tied up. Some of the ropes had broken, so that it could not be sailed.
"Sort of a queer accident," remarked Jerry Grow, who, with his dog Prince, had come up with the crowd. "Those fellows could have sailed almost anywhere else on Rainbow Lake and not gone through. But they had to pick out a spotover a spring, where it never freezes very thick, and of course they went through. There ought to be a mark put up here to warn ice-boats and skaters to keep off."
"We'll put one up," said Sammy, and a few days later they did mark the danger spot in the ice. It had frozen over again, and could not have been noticed except for the red box which Sammy and his chums placed there. Thus further accidents were avoided.
As for Jed and his companions, prompt action saved them from anything worse than slight colds. They got home, took hot baths, drank plenty of hot lemonade and, in a day or so, were out again.
It appeared that the three larger boys had bought the ice-boat at second-hand from a man in another town. It was the first time they had tried it that they sailed over the thin ice, and went in.
"But it won't happen again," said Jed to Sammy, when he and Jim and Hank again met the three chums. "Thanks to you chaps we'll know where the danger spot is now."
"And thanks to them that we're not down there under the ice now," added Hank, with a slight shiver.
"That's right," chimed in Jim. "Say, any time you boys want a ride in our ice-boat, let us know."
"Sure enough!" exclaimed Jed. "Maybe you fellows would like to take a sail. It's perfectly safe on the lake now, and we've fixed the boat where she was broken that day."
"Is the ice safe?" asked Sammy.
"Sure," answered Jim. "It's frozen ever so much thicker than it was the day we went out, and besides, we won't go near the danger spot. Don't you want to come for a trip?"
"Fellows, I've an idea!" cried Sammy, looking at his chums.
"What, another?" asked Bob.
"Yes," went on Sammy, with a grin. "This is a fine chance for us. Christmas vacation starts next week. Why can't we go to Pine Island on the ice-boat, camp there a few days with Mr. Jessup, and have Jed come back for us—that is if he will?" and he looked at the former bully.
"Of course we'll come for you!" he exclaimed. "We'd do anything for you boys. We'll take you to Pine Island any time you say!"
"Then it's all settled!" spoke Sammy, though it was far from that. "We'll go camping with Mr. Jessup, and—we'll find out the secret of the old hermit," he added in a whisper to his chums.
"Sammy, do you really think we can do it?"
"How did you happen to think of it?"
Thus Frank and Bob questioned Sammy as they walked away from Jed and the larger boys, after getting the promise of the use of the ice-boat any time they wanted it.
"Of course I think we can do it," answered Sammy. "And I don't just know how I happened to think of it, except that I knew if we did go camping on Pine Island we'd have to take some extra clothes with us, and maybe something to eat, and we couldn't very well do that and skate. So I thought of the ice-boat. It'll hold a lot."
"It's a fine idea!" exclaimed Frank. "Now the next thing is to see if our folks will let us go."
The boys were a little worried about that part of the program. True, they had been in a number of adventures of late, and their parents had not objected to their going off on several trips during the Summer; trips, too, that kept them away over night.
But now it was Winter, and sleeping away from their warm beds might mean severe colds, if nothing worse. So all three of the boys were a bit doubtful about being allowed to go.
"I'll tell you what let's do," proposed Sammy.
"What?" asked Frank.
"Let's go see Mrs. Blake," he went on. "We'll tell her we want to go up and call on her brother. She said he'd be glad to have us, and we'll get her to ask our folks if we can't go. They'll be sure to let us then."
"Good idea, Sammy!" cried Frank.
"I believe that will work!" declared Bob, slyly sticking out his foot to trip up Sammy. But the latter was too quick for him, and it was Bob himself who went down in a snowbank.
"I—I'll wash your face for that!" he cried, as he scrambled to his feet and made a rush for Sammy. But at that instant old Mr. Dolby, popularly called a miser, came unexpectedly along, and Bob ran full tilt into him, knocking him down.
"Whew!" whistled Frank. "Now you have gone and done it!"
The miserly old man struggled to his feet. All the boys were afraid to go near to help him, for fear he would use his cane on them.
"Ah, ha!" he spluttered as he got up, brushing the snow from his clothes. "Ah, ha! Up to your old tricks again; are you? Knocking folks down! I'll fix you for this! I'll have you all arrested, that's what I will!"
He shook his cane at the frightened boys.
"I—I didn't mean to!" faltered Bob, as he picked up the angry man's hat and gave it to him.
"Didn't mean to! Humph! That's what ye allers say! But I'll have the law on ye jest the same! I'll have ye all arrested! Look at my hat—all snow!"
"It'll brush off," said Sammy.
"Hold your tongue! Don't speak to me!" snapped the angry man, as he stalked off down the street. "I'll attend to your cases."
For a moment the three chums remained looking after him.Then, as he noted the direction taken by the miser, Frank said anxiously:
"He's going toward the police station. Maybe he will have us arrested."
"He can't have you two taken in," said Bob. "I'm the only one that knocked him down."
"Huh! S'pose we'd let you stand it all?" demanded Sammy. "We'll all stick together. But come on. There's no use waiting for trouble. If he does make a complaint let the officer find us. I'm going home and ask my mother if I can go to Pine Island."
He turned aside, but stopped a moment later to pick up a paper from the snow. He unfolded it and exclaimed:
"Why! it's a check—a check for ten dollars, and it's for Mr. Dolby! He must have dropped it."
"Say! This is just the thing!" cried Frank, with ready wit. "Let's run and give it to him. Maybe he won't be mad then."
There was no need to race after the old miser, for a moment later he turned the corner, coming toward the boys. He seemed very much in a hurry, and quite excited.
"Have you found it? Did I drop it here? If you boys have found it and don't give it up—" he spluttered.
"Is this it?" asked Sammy quickly, holding out the check.
The miser fairly snatched it from the boy's grasp.
"That's it! Where'd you get it? You must have took it from my pocket when you knocked me down!" the peevish man exclaimed.
"We did not!" cried Sammy, in righteous anger. "We found it in the snow where it fell. And knocking you down was an accident."
Perhaps the miser realized this, or perhaps the joy atfinding the ten dollar check he thought he had lost made him more humane. At any rate he growled out:
"Well, maybe you couldn't help it. But you boys shouldn't be so rough. I won't have you arrested this time, but I will next. I'm an old man, and I can't stand bein' knocked around rough-like. Here—here's a penny for you for findin' my check," and he fumbled in an old wallet.
"No, thank you!" exclaimed Sammy, turning aside. "We don't want any reward."
"Oh, all right," said the miser, and with a sigh of relief he put the cent back in his purse. "Boys have too much money now-a-days as it is."
He shuffled off, followed by the indignant glances of the lads.
"Isn't he the limit!" murmured Frank.
"He sure is," agreed Bob.
"You want to stop your fooling, Bob," advised Sammy. "You nearly got us into trouble."
"All right—I'll be good," promised the fun-loving Bob. But his chums knew that it would be only for a short time at best. However, they were used to it now.
The three soon forgot the little happening with the miser, in their hurry to get home and find out if they could go camping on Pine Island. School would close for Christmas in a day or so, and there was much to do to get ready.
It was no easy matter for the boys to get their parents' consent to the trip. They had to "tease" very hard. But their plan of getting Mrs. Blake to put in a good word for them was not in vain.
"Of course you ought to let the boys go," she said, when she called in turn on Mrs. Bouncer, Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Haven. "My brother will be delighted to see them, and he'll take thebest of care of them. It will do them good. They're only boys once, and they have studied well this term."
So it came about that permission was given. The boys were to take along plenty of warm clothing. As for food, Mrs. Blake said her brother had plenty in his cabin. She had written that the boys were coming, and he had laid in a good stock of provisions.
"Hurray!" cried Sammy, when the matter was settled, "we can go!"
Arrangements were made, and Jed and his larger chums promised to take the three boys to the island on the ice-boat. The lake was frozen over thickly now, and there was no danger.
School closed, Christmas came, with all its joys, and two days after the holiday the little party of three, in charge of the older boys, set off on the ice-boat.
It was a fine sunny day, though cold, and there was a good wind, so they were only a comparatively short time in getting to the upper end of Pine Island. As they neared the dock in front of the cabin where Mr. Jessup had his camp, Sammy and his chums kept a bright lookout. None of them admitted as much, but they were all thinking they might see the mysterious hermit.
"There's your friend, I guess," said Jed, as the ice-boat came up into the wind, and headed for the dock. "That's Mr. Jessup waving to you. I know him."
A tall man, with a gun under his arm, was standing on the edge of the little pier that extended out into the frozen lake.
"Yes, that's him," said Sammy, who knew the hunter from the way in which Mrs. Blake had described her brother.
"I wish we were you chaps," spoke Jim Eaton. "You'll have no end of good times here."
"That's what they will," added Hank.
But neither they, nor Sammy and his chums, dreamed of the queer, as well as good, times in store.
The ice-boat came to a stop, the three small boys got off, and the craft veered away again.
"Well, boys, glad to see you!" called Mr. Jessup, cordially as he met them. "Welcome to Camp Mystery!"
Sammy Brown and his chums looked queerly at one another. Then they glanced at Mr. Jessup. He smiled as he peered at them from under his shaggy eyebrows.
"Camp Mystery, did you say?" asked Sammy, wonderingly.
"That's what I said," was the answer. "But don't get frightened, I don't believe the mystery will hurt you."
"Is there really a mystery?" asked Sammy, eagerly. "Is there a—a ghost—or something like that?"
Mr. Jessup laughed heartily.
"No need to ask your name," he chuckled. "You're Sammy Brown? My sister told me all about you."
Sammy blushed.
"Well—er—well," he stammered, "I only thought——"
"No harm done at all!" went on the hunter, still laughing. "My sister said one of you boys was always on the lookout for something strange, like buried treasure, or a lost diamond mine. Well, we haven't got either of those things on this end of Pine Island, whatever they may have down below. But that's how I guessed your name, Sammy.
"And now let me see, you ought to be Bob Bouncer, by rights," and he looked at Bob with his head on one side. "How about it?"
"That's my name," admitted the owner of it.
"I thought so. Then of course, as you're the only one left," he said to Frank, "you're Mr. Haven's son."
"How did you guess my name?" asked Bob.
"Oh, my sister said Bob was the one with a twinkle in his eye that meant mischief. You've got it, so you're him. I hope you don't cut-up too much. I don't mind sitting down on a pin once in a while, but I don't like to find mud turtles in my bed——"
"I don't do any of those things!" cried Bob, in confusion.
"No, I s'pose you don't, but it's just as well to warn you," and by the merry twinkle in Mr. Jessup's eyes the boys knew he was only joking.
"Now then," he went on, "forward for Camp Mystery! Got all your luggage?"
"All we need, I guess," answered Sammy. Each of the boys had a good-sized valise. "But what makes you call your place Camp Mystery?" asked the lad. "Your sister didn't say anything about that."
"No, for it's only lately that I've had occasion to call it that. You see——"
But Mr. Jessup was interrupted by a crashing sound in the underbrush at one side of the path, and from the bushes there was shaken down a shower of the light snow that had fallen the night before.
"Look out!" cried Frank, starting back.
"Maybe it's him!" added Bob.
"Don't run!" advised Sammy.
Mr. Jessup stared in surprise at the three lads, but before he could ask them the reason for their strange remarks there burst out from the bushes a fine hunting dog, who ran straight for the man, wagging his tail in delight.
"Oh, so there you are, Maybe!" exclaimed Mr. Jessup. "I was just wondering what had become of you."
"Is that your dog?" asked Sammy.
"Did he make that noise?" inquired Frank.
"Yes. What did you think it was—a ghost?" Mr. Jessup wanted to know. Once more he looked strangely at the boys.
"We—we thought," began Bob, and then he glanced at Sammy, as if asking him to explain the thoughts of his chums.
"Oh, you thought maybe it was the mystery; is that it?" Mr. Jessup wanted to know. "No, it isn't that. The mystery, if that's what I am to call it, doesn't make that much noise. It's a very quiet sort of a mystery; the one in my camp."
The boys were puzzled. Clearly there was more than one queer thing, to be gotten to the bottom of, on Pine Island.
The dog was frisking about, soon making friends with the boys.
"Quiet now, Maybe," cautioned the hunter. "We can't scare up anything to-day. Down, sir!"
"Is—is his name Maybe?" asked Bob, thinking there might be a joke attached to the animal's title.
"It is," said Mr. Jessup. "You see I call him Maybe because when we go out hunting—he and I—maybe we'll have luck, and—maybe we won't. It's been mostly not, of late, though maybe my luck will change, now that you boys have come.
"But come. Tell me what you thought it was when you heard the dog make a noise in the bushes."
"And then will you tell us what the mystery is?" asked Sammy.
"Of course. I'll tell you first, if you like. To be brief I've been missing things from my camp—food mostly, though the other night one of my best blankets was taken. And the funny part of it is that I can't get a trace of the thief. Things disappear when I'm away from camp, and sometimes when I'm asleep. It's all quite strange, so that's why I call this CampMystery. I wish I could find out who is at the bottom of it."
Sammy was eager to relate his story now.
"Perhaps we can tell you!" he eagerly exclaimed, when Mr. Jessup nodded to show that he had finished. "It must be the hermit who's taking your things."
If he and his chums expected Mr. Jessup to show surprise at the mention of the hermit they were disappointed. Mr. Jessup only shook his head.
"So you've seen him, too," he murmured. "He's showing himself more often of late. I hope he doesn't get into trouble."
"Who?" asked Frank.
"The hermit."
"Oh, then you know him?" asked Sammy. His expected surprise had amounted to nothing. He was rather disappointed.
"Oh, yes, I know him," admitted the hunter, "but that isn't saying I know what he's up to. That part is queer, I admit."
"Who is he?" asked Sammy, and he briefly told how they had encountered the strange old man, with his white hair and beard.
"Well, his name is Franklin Addison," answered Mr. Jessup, "and he has been here for some time. Just when he came I don't remember, but I know I ran across him one day, and he ordered me off the island. Of course I didn't go, owning considerable land here. So I stood my ground, and explained matters.
"Then Mr. Addison grew more reasonable. He told me he had come to live here to be away from the world, and he showed me a little hut he had made for himself, on a small piece of land he said was his. A poor enough place it is, but he seems to like it. Since then, though we haven't met often, we have been better friends. I let him alone, and he lets me alone. He lives about a mile from here, in a lonesome place.
"What he is doing here I can't make out. Maybe he's here for his health. There are some folks, you know, who believe in getting off alone like that, and living as much out of doors as they can."
"I thought maybe he was the mystery," explained Sammy, "and that he had been taking your things."
"No," answered the hunter, "Mr. Addison wouldn't do a thing like that. He has often asked me for food, and I have given it to him. Then again he has given me money to buy things for him when I go to the mainland. He isn't the thief, I'm sure."
"Maybe it's a bear—or some wild animal," suggested Bob.
"I wish it was!" exclaimed the hunter. "If it was maybe we could get it—Maybe and I. But there are no animal tracks, and anyhow the biggest beasts here on Pine Island now are foxes. No you'll have to guess again, boys."
"Well, it will give us something to look up," said Sammy. "We can solve that mystery, and the one about the hermit, too."
He was quite delighted over the prospect, as his chums could easily tell by the light in his eyes. Give Sammy a mystery, or put him on the trail of buried treasure, be it ever so small, and he was happy.
"Well, come on to Camp Mystery," suggested Mr. Jessup. "You must be hungry—I know I am."
With Maybe, the dog, running on ahead, and the hunter and the boys bringing up in the rear, the little procession started off along the snowy trail.
They went on for perhaps a mile, when, through the trees, the boys caught sight of a large house—a mansion in size.
"Is that your cabin?" asked Sammy. "It's big!"