"In her hurry to get away she must have forgotten all about this. But I warrant you, fellows, she's discovered the loss by now. What follows? She makes up her mind that she's justgotto return and find it, if so be we haven't taken it from that nail where it was hanging when we came in."
"Good! You've got things down just pat, Elmer. And then what?" asked Matty.
"I expect to hide near by while the rest of you go noisily away. She can't know how many came, and she'll think all have departed. Then, when she comes in I'll make her a prisoner. Perhaps they'll be glad to exchange Nat for their woman. Or else, if we can make her understand that we're only toy soldiers, and mean the men no harm, she will lead us to their hide-out."
The scouts were listening attentively, as they always did when Elmer was talking. He possessed such a fund of interesting information that they knew full well they could learn many useful things by trying to grasp the ideas he advanced.
"There's only one thing about it that I object to on general principles," remarked Mark.
"What's that?" asked Elmer.
"You shouldn't think to stay here alone," the other went on. "Perhaps one of the men might return with the woman—if she does come."
"Yes, that's true; there is a chance," Elmer admitted.
"Well, you see how you'd be up against it then," Mark went on, earnestly. "A savage Italian woman, who might have a knife along, would be bad enough for one fellow to handle."
"That's so, Mark."
"And should there be a dago man along, why, I guess you'd just have to sit sucking your thumb and not making a move," Mark continued.
"I reckon I would," laughed Elmer. "All of which means that you think I ought to pick out a couple of husky fellows to keep me company."
"That's what I'd do."
"And that you wouldn't mind being one of the same guards, eh, Mark?"
"I'd enjoy it all right, Elmer."
"Well, I'm thinking that way myself now. You can hold over with me, then. I'll want another fellow, too. Let's see," and he glanced at the eager faces by which he was surrounded: "oh, well, Lil Artha will be the other."
"Oh, shucks!" grumbled Red, bitterly disappointed, because he dearly loved action.
"Matty," said the acting scout master.
"On deck," replied the leader of the Beaver Patrol, saluting.
"You might try and see how far you've gone in the art of following a trail. I don't believe these rough fellows know the first thing about trying to hide their tracks, so you oughtn't to have a great deal of trouble."
"Oh, I guess I'd be equal to the job so long as they keep down on the low ground. But if they once start up the side of the hill, where it's all rocky, I reckon my cake will be dough, then, Elmer."
"Do your best, anyhow, Matty," the scout master went on; "nobody can do more. But to tell you the truth, I believe the first chance lies here."
"You really think, then, the woman will return?" queried Mark.
"I am almost dead certain of it," Elmer replied. "I've been among the Italians some in the colony they have on the outskirts of our town. And I've studied them more or less. They seem a queer people to us, but their religion is a big part of their lives—at least that goes with the women part of the settlement."
"I think you're right, Elmer," remarked George, who had not spoken up to now; "I happen to know a little about the Italians, too, because my father employs a lot of 'em, you see. Wouldn't be surprised one bit if she sneaks back here to recover those beads. They mean a heap to her, fellows."
Everybody stared to hear George talk like that, for as a rule he was hard to convince; which fact, as has been stated before, had caused him to be known as "Doubting George."
"Well, let's get busy," suggested Red, who, if he could not hold over to assist Elmer, at least felt that the sooner he and the rest started on the trail the better.
"That's the stuff," added Toby, also anxious to be doing something, he cared little what.
"All right," remarked Elmer, "and, as a first move, suppose you fellows begin to back out of here. Keep in a bunch outside. Mark, you and Lil Artha watch for a chance to drop down in the bushes, and lie as quiet as church mice till I give the signal, which will be a whistle. Understand?"
"Sure," replied Lil Artha, pausing in the doorway to watch Elmer hang up the beads again on the nail where he had found them; "but why ought we be so particular about dropping out of sight, if you don't mind telling us?"
"Well, it might be the woman has already returned, and is hiding somewhere close by, waiting for the crowd to move."
"That's so," admitted Lil Artha.
"And of course if she even suspected that any of us hung out she wouldn't try to enter the shack at all," Elmer pursued.
"Then we'll have to be mighty careful, Mark, how we do the great vanishing act," the tall scout remarked.
"Wait till the boys happen to bunch around you, then just drop, and let them go on. But Mark, as you will be the last one out, suppose you close the door after you, just as if the shack were empty."
"Are you expecting to hide behind that box, Elmer?" demanded his chum, pointing to the affair that had evidently served as a rude table.
"Just what I am," replied the other, promptly.
"Oh, I see."
And with one last look around, Mark advanced toward the exit, beyond which the scouts could be seen talking and gesturing as Matty looked for the trail left when the Italians fled in such haste.
Evidently it was Mark's idea to take a good mental impression of the interior of the shack away with him. This would prove useful in case there arose a sudden necessity for his presence, and that of Lil Artha, on the scene of action.
When the last of his companions had gone, and the rough door of the shack was swung shut, Elmer hastened to softly move the big box a little, so that it might suit his purpose better.
He did not imagine that this would appear suspicious in the eyes of the woman, should she return for her rosary, because it was to be expected that in a search of the cabin such changes were apt to take place.
He could still hear the chatter of many voices outside, but they were growing fainter. Evidently Matty must have found the trail he wanted, showing where the four Italians, together with their prisoner, had left the concealed shack.
So, knowing the value of time in an affair like this, Elmer hastened to crawl behind the big box.
Anyone entering the room could not see him, nor would his crouching form be visible from the hole in the shack wall, intended as a window.
At the same time Elmer had so contrived things that, by making use of an old bunch of straw which he allowed to hang over the edge of the table, he was easily able to keep watch upon both openings, the window and the door.
Then he waited patiently for something to happen.
Some minutes passed.
Outside all seemed as quiet as a Sunday in Hickory Ridge.
The sound of boyish voices had utterly died away, proving that Matty must be showing considerable skill in leading his detachment along a trail.
Indeed, once the presence of human beings no longer acted as a disturbing element, a little frisky red squirrel hopped up in the open window and peeped within the shack.
Perhaps the little chap was more or less at home there. At any rate Elmer was pleased to see him sit up on his haunches and begin to gnaw at a stray nut he had evidently discovered.
To his mind the red squirrel was apt to serve in place of a vidette. Should anyone approach the shack now the little nut-cracker would give warning by frisking away in sudden alarm.
So the wide-awake scout finds opportunities to make use of the most ordinary and commonplace things to be met with in the woods.
Everything may have a meaning, if only the scout possesses the key of knowledge so necessary for the unlocking of the door.
Not moving a finger Elmer simply awaited the turn of events.
And not once did he doubt the outcome, so positive was he that his reasoning must be correct.
If the woman returned alone, he believed they ought to easily take her prisoner; but, on the other hand, should one or more of the men accompany her, he must expect the conditions to be changed, and alter his own plans in consequence.
Two minutes must have gone by now.
Elmer was not simply guessing this, or, as Lil Artha would say, "making a blind stab at it." He knew because, as he crouched there watching, he was continually marking the flight of time by counting to himself.
In imagination his gaze followed the swinging pendulum of the big grandfather clock that stood in the hall of his home.
"Tick, tick, tick!" he could see it go back and forth, each movement marking the passing of another second of precious time.
Ah! the squirrel had ceased to work at his nut now. He even gave signs of sudden alarm, as though his keen little ratlike ears had caught a foreign sound indicating the coming of a human being.
And yet Elmer knew positively that he himself had not moved in the slightest degree, so that the squirrel's panic could not be laid at his door.
"I guess something's going to happen," he thought, "unless either Mark or Lil Artha showed themselves recklessly; and I don't believe they'd do it."
He continued to watch his four-footed little sentinel perched up there in the apology for a window.
Even as he looked the timid squirrel vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.
Elmer only silently chuckled, quite satisfied with the way things were working.
And he somehow still continued to keep his eyes glued on that hole in the wall, as though laboring under the impression that when the Italian woman did come she would first of all appear in that particular quarter.
And he was right.
Even as he looked he discovered a suspicious movement in the gap. This was brought about by the uplifting of a human hand, upon the fingers of which he could count at least five broad rings without settings.
Perhaps the owner of that hand was on her knees, and in this manner sought to rise up.
Elmer, still looking, saw a head presently fill part of the crude window.
It was a woman who stared in, there could be no questioning that fact. And so far as he could tell she seemed to be alone, for he neither saw nor heard any sign of a second party.
Once he knew her burning gaze was fastened upon the bunch of straw which he had arranged so as to serve as a veil, back of which he might continue to watch what was taking place.
Elmer fairly held his breath, fearing that she might have discovered the lurker, or at least entertained suspicions regarding his presence there.
But not so.
Her eyes, having swept back and forth until they hadfairly covered the whole interior of the dimly lighted shack, seemed to be attracted toward one particular spot.
This was where the string of beads hung from the nail driven into a log.
It was the lodestone which had served to draw this woman once more into the danger zone.
And from that instant, if Elmer had allowed the slightest doubt to creep into his mind before, it no longer found lodgment there.
The woman was bound to enter in order to obtain possession of that precious string of beads.
Once she thrust her head and shoulders through the opening and attempted to clutch the rosary, but the effort was useless.
"Now she is coming!"
Elmer whispered this to himself as he saw that the woman no longer occupied the opening—she had undoubtedly started for the door.
Yes, now he could see the closed door begin to quiver, as though eager hands had started to open it.
Elmer held his breath with eagerness, and all the while watched the door.
Between his strong teeth the scout master held a little German silver whistle, such as patrol leaders usually carry for signaling purposes.
This he expected to sound when the time was ripe, and he had every reason to believe that his two comrades would rush into the shack the very instant they heard the call.
Now the door was surely opening wider. Even in her hurry the Italian woman did not forget the need of duecaution when all these enemies seemed to be hanging around.
Her experiences across the ocean may have made her exceedingly ill disposed to trust anything that wore a uniform.
Yes, the door had given way by now to admit a moving figure, and then it was drawn shut again.
Elmer smiled to see how closely his guess had come to the actual truth. The Italian woman was not only squatty, and "broad of beam," as Lil Artha would have put it, but, as Elmer had said, might be close on sixty years of age, for she had many wrinkles, and her hair was certainly gray.
She left the door unfastened behind her. Elmer chuckled to himself under his breath, for he saw that in doing this the woman had not only left a way of speedy escape open for herself in case of necessity, but also a free passage for the scouts when the signal whistle blew.
Straight across the floor of the shack glided the woman.
She was making a bee line for the string of beads with the little silver cross at the double end.
And the hidden scout could hear the low words of musical Italian flowing from her lips when she reached out an eager hand to seize upon the sacred article.
Now was his time.
The critical moment had arrived when he must proceed to spring his trap.
As silently as he could, then, Elmer arose to his feet. He was behind the woman and could never bring himself to believe that he had made even the slightest sound when rising.
Then the only explanation left was that the woman happened to be in front of the broken looking glass at the moment, bent on fastening the beads about her thick neck. And if so, she must have discovered him as he arose from behind the big box.
At any rate she uttered a cry that to his mind was not unlike the snarl of a wild beast. He saw the almost savage look that came over her swarthy face, and knew that after all, such a woman was fully as much to be feared as the stoutest ladrone.
And so Elmer did not think it was unworthy of a true scout to send out the call for help.
The woman might be disposed to defy just one half-grown lad, whereas if she believed herself to be up against the whole troop she would submit with the best grace she could command.
And so he blew a shrill blast that must bring both Mark and Lil Artha dashing to the spot.
The effect upon the woman was rather surprising.
Perhaps Elmer might have expected seeing her cower down, seized with a sudden overwhelming fear, but nothing of the kind occurred.
To his surprise she snatched out a wicked-looking knifefrom the bosom of her dress. It looked to Elmer like a broken kitchen knife that had been ground down to a point. With such a blade he remembered seeing the Italian women from the settlement just outside Hickory Ridge wandering around in the early spring, digging dandelion plants for "greens."
He could hear the rush of approaching footsteps even as the woman sprang for the door with a wild look on her face.
The other two scouts had of course caught his shrill signal, and were hastening to join their leader.
Undoubtedly both Mark and Lil Artha must have seen the woman, if not while she was looking in at the window, then when she turned the corner of the hidden shack to enter by the door.
And hence they would surely understand that there was no man opposed to their combined force.
The fact of the woman being armed with so terrible a weapon as a knife, and that look of grim determination on her dark face, alarmed Elmer.
What if she attacked the two scouts—what if in her sudden panic she wounded either of his chums? There could be no telling what a fear-crazed, ignorant woman, strong as an ox, and almost as irresponsible, might do in an emergency like this.
Of course he would have only been too well pleased could he have shown the woman that it was all a mistake, and that they meant her no ill.
But with her brandishing that wicked-looking knife and leaping for the door, there was certainly no opportunity for argument.
Elmer sprang forward.
His main idea was to try and knock that blade from her grasp by striking sharply on her arm or her knuckles.
At the same time he thought to warn the other scouts, so that they might take due precautions when suddenly brought face to face with the Italian woman who was running amuck.
Perhaps when they heard him shout they would just naturally believe he was being hard pressed. And in that case, instead of deterring them, his cries would only further spur the others on.
Nevertheless Elmer lifted his voice in warning:
"Look out, boys! She's got a knife, and is coming out at you! Take care there!"
Just then something happened.
The woman had not turned her head as Elmer thus gave tongue, as might a hound on the warm trail of the fox.
She kept straight on. The door was before her, and while she had drawn it shut after entering, it has been mentioned before that she made no attempt to fasten the same.
So now, when she hurled her whole weight against the barrier it flew outward with a jump.
As luck would have it, the two scouts had managed to reach the door at exactly the same time. And that second chanced to be the identical one when the frightened foreigner crashed into the door.
There could only be one result, and that filled with bitterness and woe to both Lil Artha and Mark. As the uncouth door was thrown suddenly outward, as if forcedby a battering ram from within, it struck the scouts a tremendous blow.
They crumpled up and went over. A couple of ten-pins struck by a swiftly hurled ball could hardly have collapsed more ingloriously than did Lil Artha and his mate.
Indeed, the long-legged scout seemed to perform a complete revolution in the air, landing on his knees among the bushes.
Two seconds later, when Elmer dashed out of the shack, this was the astonishing spectacle he saw—the woman running away as best her bulk allowed, casting glances that were half frightened, half triumphant, behind her; while Mark was sitting up, rubbing a bump on his forehead ruefully, and Lil Artha had taken out a handkerchief to dab at his bleeding nose.
Still, nothing short of an earthquake could ever bottle up the flow of animal spirits that usually possessed the lanky one.
While he applied his handkerchief until it looked particularly gory, he was bent upon giving expression to his views.
"Wow! and again I say, wow! What cyclone was that we ran up against, Elmer? Did you let fly with that club of yours, or did the old shack just take a notion to fall over on us? It felt like I was being kicked by an army mule."
"Same here, Elmer," lamented Mark, as he succeeded in struggling to his feet.
"Well, it wasn't anything like that at all," declared Elmer, hastily; "and if you take the trouble to lookyonder, before your eyes begin to close up, you'll see what hit you, running away like a scared hippopotamus."
"Glory be! Was it that dago woman?" yelled Lil Artha, now on his feet again.
"Yes, she burst the door open when she saw me, and as you chanced to be in the way, why, you got the benefit, that's all," Elmer remarked.
"Don't let her get away, fellows! Come on, who's afraid? We can cover three feet to her one. Let's make her a prisoner," shouted Lil Artha, whose usually even temper seemed to have been decidedly ruffled by his recent mishap.
So the three scouts left the shack and began to rush after the fleeing Italian woman.
Of course she knew immediately that she was being pursued. She tried to increase her pace, but evidently with little success. Short, dumpy people can never hope to compete with slim, long-legged greyhounds like Lil Artha.
And so, almost from the start, the three scouts began to close in upon the fleeing Italian woman.
"Say, she's got a bloody old knife," gasped Lil Artha, as they struggled on through the woods where the creeping vines and the underbrush, not to mention frequent logs and occasional woodchuck holes, made running a desperate business.
"That's so, Elmer," piped up Mark, "I saw her shake it at us then."
"I know it, fellows," said the scout master, "and that's what I was shouting about, to warn you."
"Are we gaining any, Elmer? I can't see just as wellas I'd like, with this thing up to my nose," the lanky runner asked.
"Pulling up on her fast, my boy," came the reassuring answer.
"And what're we goin' to do when she turns on us?" demanded Lil Artha.
"First of all, surround her."
"That sounds good as far as she goes. What next?"
"We must try and knock that nasty thing out of her hand by a sharp blow on the arm," continued Elmer, who strangely enough seemed as cool as a cucumber, while both of his companions showed the effect of the mad pace.
"I tumble to it, Elmer," gasped Lil Artha, "and I'm the fellow to give that lovely little tap. I made Red drop his stick seven times when we were having a bout with long sticks, and which we pretended were the old-style quarterstaves."
Even the long-legged Lil Artha must see now that the distance separating the pursuers from the fugitive had been greatly shortened. Another five minutes would see them overhaul the woman, unless something not down on the bills came to pass.
Five minutes—why there would surely be ample time to bring this result about, judging by the way they were covering two yards to her one.
The woman knew it, too.
She was becoming more and more anxious. This was shown by the way she kept turning her head from time to time as she ran.
Elmer knew what was apt to happen. For himself hefound that he had need of both his eyes with every step forward he took through that tangle, where trailing vines lay in wait to trip him up, and branches hung low as if seeking to catch in his hair, to make him another Absalom.
Already had Lil Artha gone down with a thud, but as he said himself, his "dander" was aroused, and no little things like this could be allowed to interfere with his pursuit.
So he had hastily scrambled to his feet and followed at the heels of his more fortunate chums, a sight calculated to excite wild laughter among the rest of the troop, with his blood-flecked face.
At any rate Lil Artha was game to the backbone, and Elmer often remembered it afterward when "trying out" his scouts.
The closer they drew to the fleeing woman the greater her fright seemed to become.
Whenever he saw her looking backward over her shoulder Elmer would make pantomime gestures with his free hand.
He was trying the best he knew how to tell her to give over this foolish flight, and that they had no hostile intentions.
But the chances were she interpreted these movements just the other way, and believed he must be threatening her with all sorts of terrible things unless she yielded herself a prisoner to their prowess.
Well, no matter, it could hardly last more than another minute or so. Do what she would the woman must find it utterly impossible to get away.
Already the active mind of the young scout master wasbusy, weaving a clever scheme by means of which they could surround the woman, and by attacking her all at once, succeed in knocking the shining knife out of her hand.
No doubt he would have succeeded in doing the job, too, had conditions continued to make such a move necessary.
But they did not.
The fickle hand of Fate came in between just in time to share in the matter.
It seemed to Elmer that they were constantly getting into a more tangled mess of undergrowth. All around and ahead were traps calculated to slyly catch unwary feet and trip them up.
Suddenly Elmer gave vent to a low gasping cry; but while Mark involuntarily turned his head to learn if his companion had gone lame, to his surprise and gratification he found the other running as smoothly and easily as ever, as though perfectly fresh.
"The woman!" shrieked Lil Artha, who, apparently, from his position in the rear had been enabled to see just what had happened.
"Where—is—she?" gasped Mark, once more allowing his eyes to travel ahead.
For, apparently, the fleeing Italian had vanished at that instant, as completely as though the earth had opened and swallowed her up.
"She's down—caught her foot in a root!" cried Elmer, not slackening his warm pace, for he wanted to make a quick job of the thing.
Then Mark saw that some object was threshing the bushes furiously. Twice the woman tried to rise, but on each occasion she fell back again.
Then presently he gave a shout as he guessed the true situation.
"She's caught fast in a vine, Elmer. Even the woods work with us! I tell you she's a prisoner right now! All we've got to do is to tie her hands!"
"But look out for that dandelion knife, boys," warned Elmer, as the three of them reached the spot.
It happened just as the boys had expected. While turning her head so often to see how near these persistent pursuers were, the woman had caught her foot in a stout vine.
She had been hurled to the ground with considerable force, but apparently received no serious injury. When she tried to regain her feet, however, on each occasion the clinging vine refused to release its hold. As a consequence she went down again.
Finally, as though realizing the uselessness of further struggling against Fate, the woman stopped trying to get up.
Having twisted around in some manner, she just sat there and stared at the three boys in khaki.
"Now she's wondering what we're going to do," said Mark, as they stood with the woman between them.
"Yes, she's frightened again, poor thing," remarked Elmer. "I'm afraid it's these uniforms that have done it. She surely takes us for soldiers, and thinks we've come here just to arrest the whole bunch."
"I'm glad of one thing, though," said Lil Artha.
"What might that be?" asked Elmer.
"Looks like she must have dropped that fierce frog sticker when she fell, because you notice she hasn't got the old knife in her claws just now."
"That's right," admitted Mark, cheerfully, for the fact naturally pleased him.
"And here it is, right at my feet," said Elmer, as he stooped and took something from the ground.
It was the knife which the Italian woman had flourished so recklessly.
"My stars, what a savage-looking thing!" ejaculated Lil Artha, as he stared at the knife.
"Well, it does look wicked for a fact," remarked Elmer; "but after all, I reckon she's never done anything with it but cut dandelion greens, or else prepared fish," and he took occasion to bring the blade close to his nose while speaking, only to make a face, as though the fishy odor that clung to the steel might be far from pleasant.
"Well, we've overhauled the lady; now whatever are we going to do with her?" demanded the tall scout.
"I wonder if she understands English?" remarked Elmer.
"Try her and see," Mark suggested.
The woman had been watching them keenly all this while. Her manner suggested that she might be trying to read herfate more from their actions than any words which they would let fall.
Accordingly, Elmer stepped forward a pace.
"No hurt," he said, in the gentlest tone he could muster; "friends—boys—no soldiers."
"She don't savvy worth a cent, Elmer," said Lil Artha, in disgust.
"And her eyes keep following your movements with the knife, as if she thought you meant to strike her," observed Mark.
Elmer himself saw that this was a fact. Plainly, then, the woman could not understand English, and in her present state of fright she seemed incapable of reading his reassuring gestures. What he meant to be a sign of friendliness she interpreted as a symbol of hostility.
"Seems to me we ought first of all to get her foot free from that nasty tangle," he remarked.
"Sure, and I guess the only way to do it is to cut the plagued old vine," said Lil Artha. "But I guess I hadn't ought to run the thing down, because it served us a mighty good turn just now."
"Step in and cut the vine, Elmer," suggested Mark.
When, however, the young scout master had taken a step or two forward, knife in hand, the woman's fears were once more aroused.
She threw herself forward, struggling violently to release her trapped foot. But the vine proved as strong as a new clothesline, and held tenaciously.
"Good gracious, what a silly goose!" exclaimed Lil Artha, "when all we want to do is to set her free."
"But you see she don't look at it that way. The poor creature thinks we're conspiring to turn the tables on her, just because she threatened us with this knife. Here, hold it, Mark."
Elmer handed over the knife to his chum at a moment when he saw that the woman's eyes were fastened upon him.
Then he held up both his hands as he smiled reassuringly. It was the universal "peace sign" known throughout the world. Hardly a savage tribe in the heart of Darkest Africa but would recognize the meaning it expressed.
This time when he advanced the Italian woman did not struggle again. She watched him. Curiosity was overcoming fear. Perhaps she had even begun to realize that these dreadful soldiers did not present such a savage front after all.
So Elmer dropped down on his knees, at a point where he could come in contact with her imprisoned foot, and the wiry vine that gripped it.
A brief examination convinced him that since she had turned around several times during her violent struggle to break away, the only means of freeing the entrapped foot was to cut the vine.
Of course that meant the knife again, and if he asked Mark to hand it to him, possibly the foolish foreigner would have another fit of terror.
So Elmer commenced to use tact again.
First of all he commenced to work at the vine, the woman watching him eagerly.
"No use, pardner," remarked Lil Artha. "That thing is like steel bands, and the old woman has managed to tieherself up handsomely. Nothing but a knife, and a sharp one, too, will do the business."
"I know it," replied Elmer, quietly. "I'm only pretending to try and get her foot out just to make her understand that we want to help her. Now just watch me, and see how I manage."
Presently, as if despairing of success, he ceased his labor. Then he pointed to the vine, and made several slashes across it with his forefinger, after which he pointed to the knife Mark was holding out, and nodded his head.
The woman was interested.
"Go through it all again; she's beginning to understand," said Mark, himself deeply interested in the success of this deaf and dumb method of communication.
"Well, of all the stupids going, give me one of these same dagoes," grumbled Lil Artha. "Why, you make it plain enough for a Hottentot to grab, Elmer. But I'm beginning to hope she'll get on soon. Try her once more, pardner. You're the boss hand at wig-wagging. Give her the high sign, Elmer."
Deliberately Elmer again pretended to cut the vine with his forefinger, then shook his head and afterward pointed to the knife.
The woman's black eyes followed each movement, and evidently she began to grasp the idea that he did not desire the weapon so as to injure, but to assist her.
"Glory be!" ejaculated Lil Artha, who had been almost holding his breath with suspense while all this pantomime business was going on, "look at that, would you, fellows? A bright thought has managed to get a foothold in herbrain. I bet you it needed a sledge hammer to pound it in. Say, she's beginning to smile at you, Elmer. You've won out. She believes you mean all right. Give him the toad-sticker, Mark, and let him get to work."
Elmer knew that his actions would no longer be misconstrued. The Italian woman understood.
So he held out his hand and received the knife from Mark. The woman moved uneasily, but the smile Elmer gave her was surely enough to disarm any lingering suspicion she may have entertained.
Of course it was only a small job now to cut through the obstinate vine at a point where the greatest holding point lay.
"There you are!" remarked Lil Artha, as the knife severed the last strand.
The woman got slowly to her feet. She folded her arms across her bosom with what seemed to be an air of resignation. Yet Elmer knew that all the while those sparkling black eyes were watching him intently.
The woman had guessed that Elmer must be the leader of the three strangers in uniform. Hence she looked to him for orders.
"Well, what're we going to do with this pretty thing, now that we've got it?" remarked Lil Artha.
"I suppose, first of all, we ought to go back to the shack," said Elmer.
"You mean to hold her a prisoner, I take it?" asked Mark, who had the utmost faith in the acting scout master's ability to grasp the situation.
"That's about the only thing open to us," Elmer replied."Through the woman perhaps we can get in touch with the three men who are holding Nat Scott a prisoner, and bring about his release."
"I don't see how," grumbled Lil Artha. "If you had all that trouble getting her to understand you only meant to cut the old vine, and not her foot off, how in the dickens d'ye expect to get her to know we don't mean to do her bunch any harm?"
"Oh, there may be ways," smiled Elmer.
"But you don't speak Italiano, Elmer; that's dead sure, else you'd have used it right now to tell her you only wanted to cut the vine," Lil Artha went on.
"How about George?" remarked Elmer.
"What! George Robbins?" asked the tall scout.
"Why, yes, you remember he told us his father employs a large number of these foreigners, and unless I'm mistaken I think I remember hearing George say he'd been picking up quite a lot of Italian words."
"That sounds all to the good then," declared Lil Artha, with enthusiasm. "Bully for George! His knowledge may be the key that's going to unlock this old padlock for us."
"Then let's get back to the shack. Fall in around the woman. That ought to tell her what we want her to do."
Elmer, as he spoke, took up his position alongside the prisoner, while Mark and the long-legged scout clapped their sticks to their right shoulders as though parading arms.
Then Elmer pointed backward in the direction they had just come from.
"Go!" he said, impressively.
Whether the prisoner understood the word, or judged from their actions what was required, Elmer could not say. All he cared for was the fact that when he started off she accompanied him, limping a little as though she might have twisted her ankle somewhat in the violence of her struggles, looking sullen rather than fearful now, and apparently resigned to her fate, whatever that might prove to be.
There was no difficulty about reaching the abandoned shack again. All Elmer had to do was to follow the broad trail they had made when chasing after the fleeing woman.
They found no change when they presently drew up at the hidden retreat. Nor was there any sign of the other scouts, though once Elmer thought he did hear loud and excited voices up on the side of the mountain, as though Matty and his detachment might have found it necessary to leave the lowlands, and were having troubles of their own.
"Well," remarked Lil Artha, as they arrived in front of the shack, "here we are, all to the good, and right side up with care. The question is, what d'ye expect to do with the signorina, now that you've got her?"
"She must be kept a prisoner in the shanty until we can decide on our course, and get George here," replied Elmer, so readily that the others understood how he must have his plan of action fully mapped out in his own mind.
"Let's see you usher her in, then," chuckled the tall scout, just as though he anticipated enjoying a treat when Elmer tried to "shoo" the Italian woman into the place.
But it proved the easiest thing possible. When Elmer took her by the arm and pointed to the open door the woman gave him one look, shook herself free from his grasp, and hastened to vanish within the shack.
"Easy as falling off a log," declared Lil Artha, a shade of disappointment in his voice, for he had anticipated more or less of a struggle.
Elmer quietly closed the door.
"How are you going to fasten it?" asked Mark.
"I wish that was the hardest nut I had to crack," laughed the scout master. "Fortunately the door opens outwardly."
"Unfortunately, you mean," echoed Mark, as he touched the painful lump on his forehead.
"I say yes to that," grinned Lil Artha, whose nose had stopped bleeding by this time, but whose face was a sight to behold, being smeared with all manner of strange red marks that made him resemble an Apache Indian on the warpath.
"As it does open outwardly, however," Elmer went on saying, with a sympathetic smile for the woes of his chums, "it ought to be easy enough for us to barricade the door. Look around, boys, and see if you can find several good stout sticks about three or four feet long. Even a small tree trunk would be about what we want."
"And I think I know where to find one," said Lil Artha, hastening away, "because I took a header over it when we were chasing the dago woman."
"That's the ticket, Lil Artha," said Elmer, as the tall scout returned presently, bearing on his shoulder quite a good-sized log about five feet in length.
"Reckon that ought to hold all right," panted the burden bearer, as he cast the small tree trunk at Elmer's feet.
"Fine and dandy," commented Mark, beginning to get the barricade in position.
Of course the log had to be planted in such a way that it might secure a grip on the door. This meant that it must incline at an angle of more than forty-five degrees.
Elmer dug a little hole, first of all, at a certain distance from the door, after the length of the log had been tested.
Then, with the help of his chums, he seated one end of the log firmly in this. When the other end was allowed to slip down the face of the door it rested about halfway.
"No danger of that slipping loose if she tries to push out," remarked Elmer.
Mark gave several additional pulls downward at the upper end of the log, to make it still firmer.
"I'll just wager," he said, finally, "that nobody, man or woman, could open that door now from the inside."
"How about the window?" asked Lil Artha.
"You might manage to crawl through that small opening, but that broad-beamed woman, never," declared the scout master, positively.
"Then we've got our wild bird safely caged."
"Looks like it, for the time being, anyhow," was the way Elmer replied.
"Say, see here, you don't seem to go very strong on the jail business. What's on your mind now, Elmer?" and Lil Artha confronted the other as he spoke, lifting a reproachful finger at him.
"Well, there's many a slip between the cup and the lip, you know."
"Oh, rats! Get down to business, Elmer. What might happen to upset our plans?" asked the tall scout.
"One of the men might return."
"And of course throw down the log and liberate our prisoner. But between you and me and the lamp-post, Elmer, I don't believe that's going to happen. 'Cause why? Well, it's my honest belief that this Italiano woman's got all the nerve there is in that crowd. The men are cowards."
"I'm rather of the same opinion, Artha," remarked Elmer. "And I've thought that same thing more than once when watching some of them in their settlement."
"But how about your other reason, Elmer?" asked Lil Artha. "Suppose now the men don't come, what danger is there of her getting out? D'ye expect she could burrow under the walls like we did once up at that old lumber camp?"
"Perhaps. But I was thinking of another thing. Notice how poorly this shack is put together? Why, if that Amazon got on the rampage and just took a notion, I believe she could bring the whole business down in ruins about her head."
"Wow, I guess she could, Elmer!" remarked the tallboy, nodding his head, "just like Samson did long ago when he yanked the temple down, and kicked the bucket himself, with all his enemies. But I don't think this dull-witted creature's got sense enough for that; do you?"
"Perhaps not. I hope she won't, anyhow, because I mean to leave you and Mark here to guard our prisoner while I'm gone," said Elmer.
"Oh, I see, you want to join the rest of the troop. Perhaps you've got a hunch they might be needing you about now?" Lil Artha observed.
"One thing I know, and that is they've left the low ground and gone up the side of the mountain."
"I guessed that myself when I heard some of the fellers callin' up yonder. So it stands to reason they've lost the trail among the rocks," Lil Artha went on.
"I expect as much," Elmer said, "and you know that since the men carried Nat Scott away with them we've just got to find them sooner or later."
"But why d'ye suppose now they'd be so pesky mean as to climb the hill?" demanded the tall scout.
"Oh, perhaps they guessed it would be harder for anyone to track them up there," Elmer answered.
"Yes, that's so," Mark put in; "or it might be they know of some fine cave up yonder where they can hide. You often run across caves, big and little, on stony hills."
Elmer seemed to agree with this suggestion, for he nodded his head after Mark had advanced it.
"Do you think you can manage?" he asked.
"Well, we'd be a pretty pair of scouts, wouldn't we now, if we failed to make good on a job like this?" scoffed Lil Artha.
He threw his staff over his shoulder, gun fashion, and began tramping up and down before the door of the hidden shack, just as though he were a military sentry on duty.
"I guess you'll do all right, Lil Artha," laughed Elmer.
"Before you go, Elmer," said Mark, "please tell us just why you believe these Italians haven't meant to hurt our chum Nat."
"Well, I just seem to feel it in my bones, and that's about all I can say," returned the other. "I'm more convinced now than ever that it's going to turn out only a silly mistake on their part. Perhaps they've been doing something here that's against the law, and the sight of our uniforms threw them into a panic. They've carried Nat off with them just so he couldn't give the alarm, and bring the rest down on 'em."
"Counterfeiting, perhaps," suggested Mark. "Seems to me I've heard that the Italians are pretty smart at that sort of thing."
"Well, I don't imagine it's anything as serious as that," Elmer replied.
"Then tell us what youdothink," demanded Lil Artha.
"Youwillforce my hand, will you?" laughed Elmer.
"It's only fair to tell us," pleaded the tall scout.
"Well, all right, seeing that I'm more than ever convinced I'm on the right track. Here, smell that, both of you and tell me what it reminds you of."
He thrust the queer, sharp-pointed knife that had been taken from the woman into the hand of Lil Artha.
That individual immediately raised it to his nose, took one good smell, and made a wry face.
"Ugh! rank fishy odor, all right!" he declared.
"Then look back a bit, Lil Artha," Elmer continued. "Don't you remember that in the mill and cottage we discovered a strong fishy smell when we tried to investigate that underground place?"
"You're right, we did," assented the tall scout; "it made me feel a bit squeamish, too, for if there's one thing I can't stomach it's rank fish. Ugh!"
"I see what you're leading up to, Elmer," announced Mark, briskly, "and I must say it looks as if there might be a whole lot of truth in it, too."
"These Italians are often fishermen. A cousin of mine once told me that along the Gulf coast and around New Orleans the whole fishing industry lies in their hands," Elmer went on.
"Then you believe this bunch is getting fish out of Munsey mill pond, and selling them, perhaps over in Scarsdale?" said Mark.
"They are netting fish illegally, I imagine," Elmer answered. "That would explain their alarm. Perhaps the game warden has been around and threatened to have them hauled in if they didn't take warning. And ever since that time they've been on the nervous lookout."
"Gee, I bet you now that's what it means, fellows!" declared Lil Artha, filled with new enthusiasm, as he grasped the startling idea advanced by the scout master.
"And I never saw so many big frogs as there are around here," Elmer went on.
"That's because even the boys keep away from the haunted mill," Mark added.
"You know how frogs sell in the market, and how it would pay anybody to catch a few hundred such jumboes as there are here," Elmer remarked.
"Well, it does take you to figure things out just, I must say," laughed Mark.
"He's a wizard, that's what," declared Lil Artha, whose admiration for his leader was boundless.
"Not at all," smiled the other; "a little common sense was all that was needed. The strong odor of fish in that cellar put me on the track first. You know there's an old saying to the effect that where there's smoke there must be fire."
"And then this knife, too—like as not the woman does all the cleaning of the fish. I thought she reminded me of black bass or pickerel, I wasn't sure which," Lil Artha stated, with a chuckle.
"But we've been around more or less, Elmer," Mark put in, "and I don't remember seeing any signs of fish cleaning, scales or anything."
"Of course not," came the quick reply. "If these people knew they were breaking the law, and expected the game warden to pop in on them any day, you can just believe they'd be mighty careful to hide all traces of this thing."
"Perhaps they throw it all back in the pond for fish bait," suggested the tall scout.
"Not a bad idea," commented Elmer.
"And the cellar under the mill cottage?" asked Mark.
"They might use that as a cool place to keep the fish until they can get them to market," Elmer replied.
"That's a fact, seeing they have no ice to pack themin," Lil Artha observed. "And the more I think of it all, the better it looks to me, fellows."
"Then you believe my explanation may be the true answer to our chum's vanishing?"
"I sure do."
"That they came upon him by accident," Elmer went on, "and filled with a sudden panic, just captured him to keep Nat from calling out, and bringing the rest of us around?"
"That's what they did," Lil Artha affirmed. "And no matter how sorry they might be afterward because they did it, they just can't drop him now."
"Then, since we've agreed on that point I don't see the need of my hanging around here any longer," Elmer observed, drawing his belt one notch tighter, as though preparing for new labors.
"And your orders are just the same?" Mark asked.
"Yes, you two keep guard over the shack, and don't let the prisoner get away, if you can prevent it."
"Depend on us, Elmer. And say," Lil Artha remarked, "don't you think now it would be a good thing to send George down here?"
"That's an idea worth while," Elmer quickly replied.
"Oh, I get 'em once in a long time," grinned the other.
"A good scheme, and I'll send George back as soon as I can. When he comes, take him in to see the woman. Have him try and get her to understand that we mean her men no harm, and only want them to set our chum free."
"And then what? Supposing George is able to get that pounded into her head?" asked Lil Artha.
"Why, he must make her understand that we want to conduct an exchange of prisoners."
"By that, Elmer," Mark broke in, "I suppose you mean well give the woman up if they let Nat go free?"
"That's it," returned the leader. "And as she is the only one who knows their new hiding place, she must lead us to them."
"That puts me wise, all right," declared Lil Artha. "But get good old George here as soon as you can, Elmer. I'm just crazy to see if he knows how to tell the old woman all this."
"That's all, boys; I'll be going now."
But although Elmer said this he continued to stand there immovable. Neither of his comrades thought it strange, for they, too, had caught the same sound that had reached his ears.
It was evidently a pretty good imitation of the howl of a wolf.
Now, as this was the signal call of Elmer's own patrol they knew immediately that some scout belonging to that section of the Hickory Ridge troop must be approaching, and took this customary method of announcing his coming.
All eyes were accordingly turned toward that quarter from whence the note of the wolf had seemed to come.
This was a little up the side of the mountain. Elmer, thinking to give the other his location, sent out an answering signal.
"You're scaring the old woman again with your howls," remarked Lil Artha, pointing to the shack, at the smallwindow of which they could see the face of the prisoner, filled with wonder and awe.
Perhaps the Italian woman was beginning to suspect she had fallen into the hands of a pack of crazy people.
"There he comes!" suddenly announced Mark, pointing as he spoke.
"Looks like Dr. Ted," remarked Lil Artha.
"Just who it is," said Elmer. "I wish it had been George Robbins, now, because that would have saved time. No such luck, it seems, so we'll just have to make the best of it."
"But what d'ye suppose Ted's coming back after?" pursued the tall scout.
"Help," declared Mark, decisively. "You heard what Elmer said when he turned the troop over to Matty? If they found themselves up a stump they were to let Elmer know, just so he could swing in somehow, and pull them out of the hole."
"They're up against it, good and hard, bet you a cooky on it," declared Lil Artha, as the other scout drew near.
As Dr. Ted approached he made the scout salute in due regulation style.
"You're wanted above, thir," he said to the acting scout master.
"By that I suppose you mean they've struck a snag?" questioned Elmer.
"The rockth bothered Matty. Tho long ath they left a trail in the earth he could follow it all right. But when it kept on athending it got tougher and tougher. Then he lotht it altogether, and thent me to fetch you along, thir."
"All right, I'll go with you, Number Three. You'll be interested to know that we've got a prisoner here in the old cabin," remarked Elmer.
Ted glanced that way, and caught sight of the face in the window.
"The old Italian woman, eh?" he exclaimed.
"Sure," said Lil Artha, as proudly as though the honors of the capture belonged exclusively to him.
"Then she did come back for her beadth?"
"Yes. Tell you all about it on the way, for we must be moving now, Ted," the scout master remarked.
"All right. I'm with you, Elmer. Come on, then," and, wheeling sharply around, Ted started to retrace his steps.
So Mark and his long-legged comrade were left to guard the prison of the old Italian woman, while the other two scouts climbed the hill.
"No uthe going over the trail we made," remarked Ted. "It wound around and then climbth the hill. We could thee about where the cabin lay, and I made a bee line downhill for the thame."
As they toiled upward Elmer, keeping his promise, related all that had happened in the neighborhood of the hidden shack.
Ted seemed to enjoy the narrative very much indeed. He was particularly pleased with the account of where the old woman in her panic had burst the door open, and upset both Mark and Lil Artha.
"I wondered what happened to our friendth," said Ted. "And if you hadn't been in thuch a big hurry to cut out, I'd have tried fixing both the poor fellowth up. Lil Artha lookth like a pirate chief, and ath for Mark, you'd think hith brains might be breaking out."
Elmer had no trouble at all in following the plain trail left by Ted when he came down from above. His practiced eye could easily see the marks on turf, leaf mold, or even where the other's heels with their steel nails had scraped along a slanting rock.
"Tell me thome more about that, pleath," said Ted, while they were still climbing.
Nothing loath, for he really believed he had solved the secret of the whole business, Elmer gave him the story, from his first faint suspicion upon looking down into the strange-smelling cellar of the mill house, up to his detecting such a strong odor of fish about the Italian woman, and particularly the knife she carried.
"That'th a bully good idea, all right," said Ted, when the story was finished.
"Do you think it sounds fishy?" laughed Elmer.
"Yeth and no," answered the other, immediately. "While it theemth to be a fish yarn, yet it ith all to the good. I really believe you've gone and figured it out, Elmer. And if that ith tho, it ith going to be another big feather in your cap, don't you forget it."
"We ought to be close to where you left the rest of the boys, by now," suggested the scout master, desirous of changing the conversation, for, strange to say, Elmer never liked to hear himself praised.
"I reckon we are," replied Ted. "Suppothe you try your whistle, and give 'em a call."
So the patrol leader's whistle was brought into play again. Hardly had it sounded than there came an answer from a point not far distant.
"There they are!" cried Ted, pointing, "I thee Red waving hith hat to uth right now. We'll join 'em in a jiffy, if the walking ith good."
It proved to be decent enough for the two climbers to reach the spot where Matty and the rest of the troop awaited them.
"I'm all in, Elmer," admitted the leader of the Beaver Patrol, as he threw up both hands in disgust. "Just as I said, it was all hunk till I struck the rocks, and I've been up in the air ever since."
"Yes, Matty has even hinted that he believes those Italians must have had wings somewhere around here, and just flown away," laughed Chatz.
"Well, that wouldn't be so very queer," declared Toby Jones, always thinking of things touching on aviation. "It's a bully good place to make a start, anyway, if a feller only had the wings."
"Yes, and a gay old place to bring up on all the rocks down there. And how about our chum Nat; he never had any longing to soar through the air. But tell us what's doing, Elmer," said Red, impatiently.
"Oh, he's got lots to tell you," declared Ted, with the air of a highly favored one who had been already taken into the great secret.
Of course his words stirred the scouts as nothing else could have done. They crowded around and began to beg for particulars.
"Where's Lil Artha?" one questioned.
"And Mark?" exclaimed another.
"Say, Elmer, did she come back, and step into the nice little trap you were going to get ready?" asked a third scout, with intense interest aroused.
When Elmer nodded his head they broke out into a rousing boyish cheer.
"Tell us all about it, Elmer," was flung at the scout master from all quarters.
As this was Elmer's intention anyway he lost no time in briefly though forcibly describing all that had taken place down below.
"And now I want George to go down with Ted, here," Elmer went on, "and try to engage the woman in conversation. Tell her, if you can, who and what we are, and the reason for our coming here in uniform. Tell her we mean them no harm, but that we want our chum set free. Do you follow me, George?"
"Of course I do," came the ready answer.
"You understand Italian, and talk it some, I've been told?" Elmer went on.
"Oh, yes, I can really converse with some Italian men. Don't know about a woman, though. But I'll do my best to make her see things straight."
"I like to hear you talk that way, George," continued Elmer; "the true scout is always ready to do his best. And I think you're going to make a fine addition to our troop before long."
"After I've told her, what then?" asked George, who looked pleased at hearing these words of praise from one he respected as highly as he did Elmer.
"Why, you must bring her along, and rejoin us. Lil Artha and Mark will accompany you, because all ought to be in at the finish. You understand, don't you, George?"
"I sure do. Come on, Ted, show me the way down to the old shack. As we go along I'll be brushing up my Italian words so as to spring 'em on the old lady. This way, Ted."
"And while you're jabbering with the woman, why, perhaps now I might be amuthing mythelf doctoring the noble woundth of our two chumth," declared the fellow who was never so happy as when engaged in the work of a doctor.
Why, some of the boys often called Ted "Sawbones," because he gave himself over, heart and soul, to his one great hobby.
So the two of them vanished down the side of the hill. As their voices died away among the thickets Elmer turned his attention to the task of finding and following the trail of the Italians.
"Show me where you saw it last, Matty," he said.
"Here you are, then," came the reply; "that footprint is as plain as anything."
"So it is," remarked Elmer, after studying the mark briefly. "Our chum made that, I'm positive."
"Then he must have done it on purpose," said Matty, "because I've noticed that one footprint right along."
Elmer smiled.
"Good for Nat," he remarked. "If he don't dare use his voice and call out to us, he's doing everything in his power to show us the trail. That's what he's learned of scouting tactics. I'm glad he remembered. It shows how much a fellow can learn."
"That's right," remarked Matty; "I see it all plain enough right now; but d'ye know the suspicion never did break in on me that these tracks had been made purposely, and by Nat? Why, I just had an idea one of the bunch was a little careless, that's all."
"Well, you'll know better after this, Matty. But stand back, and let's see what luck I'll have, if so be you fellows haven't killed the trail by running around."
They watched his actions eagerly, each fellow bent on learning all he could of the science that was already proving to be so interesting.
First of all Elmer took a comprehensive survey of the ground above; for everyone understood that those they were tracking must be aiming to reach some cave or crevice farther up the slope.
Then, having settled in his mind about where the fugitives might be aiming for, the scout master began to look for marks on the rocks.
For a little while he found it very hard work, indeed, but after reaching the limits of the search maintained by Matty and those with him, the task became considerably easier.
And mindful of his position as acting scout master to thetroop during the temporary absence of Mr. Garrabrant, Elmer made it a point to explain more or less as he went along.
"See, here is where one of the men slipped on this rock, and left a new scratch. And this shows where another broke a twig off this branch in passing. You can see it has been freshly done, because the green leaves do not show much sign of wilting."