"Talk to me about your ghastly specters, will you!" shouted a voice, as heads began to be thrust out of the several tents.
"I told you he'd come again to warn us!" chattered Bluff between rattling teeth.
"Oh! Please wait! My apparatus won't work! There, now!" And a sudden flash announced that Will had finally succeeded in his heart's dearest wish, and snapped off a picture of the terrible ghost of Oak Ridge.
The fierce illumination only added new terror to the flying feet of the two men. They could be heard crashing through the forest, howling with fear, and anger, as in the darkness they collided with sundry trees that were unseen in their blind haste.
"It's gone!" announced Jerry.
"All right. I've caught my view, just the same. Frank! Where are you?" whooped the exultant artist, capering around in his pajamas, as he hugged his camera to his breast.
"Here," answered the sentry, appearing at that juncture.
"A pretty guard, you are, old boy, to let all those chaps creep up on the camp while we slept in unconscious innocence," said Bluff, in pretended indignation.
"Unconscious innocence is good! Tell me about that, will you? Take a good look at Bluff, fellows. He's expecting to sprout wings soon."
"I was awake, and watching all the time, boys, believe me. I saw the farmer as he crept up, followed by his man. He lifted his head and looked into the camp, no doubt trying to figure which of the two tents sheltered Jed. It was my intention to shoot into the air suddenly, and then hold him up while the rest of you piled out to surround them; but something I hadn't counted on took the chance out of my hands."
"Do you think they'll live through the experience?" asked Will.
"Meaning the two countrymen? Oh, I suppose so, if they don't dash out their brains against the trees as they run," laughed Frank.
"What do you think of the ghost now, Frank?" asked Will eagerly.
"I'm still considering," returned the other, nodding his head sagely.
"But do you still hang to your opinion that it's some person playing a part?"
"More than ever."
"And trying to scare us out of this region for some purpose or other?"
"Most undoubtedly," was Frank's immediate reply.
"And you don't think it could be that Peters crowd?" went on Bluff.
"They wouldn't be equal to a thing like this. As I said before, it is the work of a clever schemer. The object is all that puzzles me," said Frank.
"You watched the thing carry on pretty closely, I suppose?" ventured Will.
"Had my eyes glued on it every second that it stood there, waving its long arms in such a theatrical fashion. Now, I can remember reading once how a man played ghost in a haunted house, and when he was caught it turned out that he wanted to buy the place, and that was his way of depressing the price."
"Talk to me about your bulls and bears, that way of knocking down prices takes the cake!" ejaculated Jerry, greatly amused.
"Wall Street wasn't in it with that man; but I think they sent him to jail for trespass or something," continued Frank.
"But there's no house up here, so that couldn't be his game," remarked Bluff.
"Now I remember hearing my father tell about a man who carried on this way once to scare people away from a certain locality. Come to find out afterward, he was boring for oil, and believed he had made a ten-strike," remarked Jerry.
"No oil around this section, that I ever heard of, so that explanation fails to hold good," laughed Frank. "Next!"
"It's my turn now. I never heard of anything that might cover the ground, but an idea came to me when I was thinking the old thing over, and perhaps you fellows might care to hear it," said Bluff.
"Listen to the long-winded lawyer talk! Of course we want to hear. That's what we're sitting around this blessed fire for, in our pajamas, shivering to beat the band. Out with it, you!" exclaimed Jerry.
"Original things cut no figure with some people. They want to read about all they learn, or have other persons tell them; but about this brilliant thought of mine: It's mighty evident that whoever the ghost is, he wants to be left alone. Now what kind of people dislike to have strangers come prowling around their secrets? Why, down in Kentucky and Tennessee it would be moonshiners. Up in the Maine forests, like as not timber-grabbers. Here it might be counterfeiters."
"Hear! hear! Bluff has spoken the last word!" exclaimed Jerry excitedly.
"What do you think about it, Frank?"
Will, as he put the question, turned toward the one upon whom the rest were accustomed to depend to settle all disputes.
"I don't know. The suggestion Bluff made might turn out to be the true solution of the mystery. At any rate, it's barely possible, and worth remembering. Later on we may be able to see light in this dark puddle, and then know how near he came to hitting the bullseye," he replied thoughtfully.
To him it appeared a serious matter, and one that should not be treated with too much levity.
"Well, I'm sleepy again, in spite of all this excitement, and as my turn comes last, I'm going to turn in. A bully old blanket feels good to me, fellows," saying which, Jerry crawled under the khaki-colored canvas.
The others followed suit. It would do no good to continue the conversation at such an unseasonable hour. All that was to be said could hold over until breakfast time, when they would be able to look at matters in a different light.
Frank sat out his watch, and then put Bluff on the job. In turn he roused Jerry, who stood it out until the dawn began to light up the east, when he started the fire into new life, put the coffee on to boil, with cold water, as was their wont, and busied himself in doing various things until the rest should appear.
Jed was the first to creep out and go down to the stream for a wash. It might be noticed that the lad seemed unusually timid this morning. Whether this sprang from his fear of the gruff farmer, or the wonderful spectacle he had seen on the preceding night, Jerry could not say.
Over the breakfast they made merry in connection with the adventures that had come their way since making camp.
"Everybody work!" called out Frank finally, as he started in to pack up.
They all seemed delighted at the prospect of a change of base, all but poor old Peter, who wheezed worse than ever as he found himself hitched up to that big load, and the fine prospect of a sturdy pull, uphill, ahead of him.
"I'm just hungry for a sight of the water," announced Bluff.
"Ditto here. Camp don't seem just the same away from it," said Jerry.
"And the views one gets with a lake for a background! Nothing can compare with them," observed the photographic fiend, sighing.
"Well, I hope none of us will be disappointed with Lake Surprise, that's all," remarked Frank, as he lashed the canvas of his tent in a bundle and placed it carefully in the wagon.
They were off by nine o'clock.
"Good-by to the old camp! Hurrah for the new one!" sang out Bluff, as he turned to wave a pathetic hand toward the scene of their late location.
"Did you take some of the bear meat along with the hide?" asked Will.
"All we want, I guess. I forgot to bring a file, and my teeth need attention before I tackle any more of that pemmican," groaned Jerry.
"Wait and see. The next time I expect to boil a chunk, and serve it that way, as a bear stew. If I have any choice, I prefer a cub, myself; but you fellows know that in this case it was a question whether we got the bear or he got us; and since circumstances compelled me to shoot——"
"Keep some of that hot air for to-night, when you'll need it to blow up your old rubber bag," called Jerry derisively.
"——why," went on Bluff composedly, paying no attention to the interruption, "it would be a sin to waste all that good wholesome meat. Hence these tears on the part of our envious friend."
"Envious friend is good—for you!" muttered Jerry; but all the same, he stopped trying to plague the other, as though the shaft might have gone home.
Soon they were climbing the hills that stretched along the foot of the mountain range proper. Old Peter was put to it, at times, to draw the load, and more than once Frank called to his comrades to put their husky young shoulders to the wheels in order to help out.
Will wandered on as they descended the other slope, with the mountains before them. He carried his beloved camera, of course, and no doubt hoped to come across some charming picture that would add to the pleasure of the boys when the season of cold and snow was upon them.
In this way he managed to get quite some distance ahead, for the wagon was halted while Frank rebuilt the load, in danger of falling off with the sharp descent.
Down at the bottom of the valley that lay between Oak Ridge and the Sunset Mountains proper, Will came to a stream. It was a broad but shallow one, and believing he could easily wade across, he pulled his shoes off, tied them to his belt, and then turning his trousers up, started in.
It had a soft, sandy bottom that felt very pleasing to his feet. Half-way over Will stopped to look about him.
"Say, now, that would make a dandy picture, with the water lazily swirling downstream, and the trees hanging over. I've a good notion to try it," he said.
Standing there, he set to work. Perhaps he was more than usually particular to get things just as he wanted them. Sometimes one can overdo this good trait, and Will came to that conclusion when, upon attempting to move on, he found to his surprise that his feet seemed locked, as in a vise.
When he tried to lift one, his entire weight falling upon the other seemed to push that one down several inches deeper.
"What does this mean? Why, the water is already up to my trousers! I guess I'll have to hitch them up higher, or get wet."
He was not at all excited, as yet, for the danger that menaced him had not come into his mind. He managed to accomplish the little task which he had set out to do, but by that time he was in up to his knees, and apparently still gradually going down, slowly but surely.
Now he could hardly move either foot, and as for pulling one of them out of the sucking sand, it seemed utterly impossible.
Will looked up. There was a stout limb of a tree just above him. If he could only get hold of that he might manage to draw himself out. Vainly did he stretch up his hands, for they fell short fully a dozen inches of touching the very nearest twigs of that friendly limb.
For the first time a cold chill began to chase up and down his spinal column.
"What if the boys fail to come along for half an hour! At this rate I'd be completely out of sight, and they'd never know what had become of me!" he exclaimed, in new horror.
The surface of the stream looked so very innocent, no one would ever suspect that such a terrible trap lay just beneath the slowly running water.
"It's what they call quicksand—that's what!" he ejaculated, as he looked down with distended eyes, and saw that line of water gradually rising above his knees—slowly and almost imperceptibly, but as surely as that the sun shone overhead.
Then Will grew frightened.
"Help! help! Frank! Jerry! Come quick!" he shouted at the top of his voice; but only the echoes seemed to come back to taunt him.
"Listen! What was that?"
"Sounded to me like Will shouting," said Frank quickly, as he tied the last knot in the holding rope that was bound around the wagon-load of camp material.
"Sounds like he was only trying to awaken the echoes," ventured Bluff.
"They do come back clear enough. I hope nothing is wrong with him."
"Oh, hardly, Frank. What could happen in broad daylight? Ghosts don't come out of their holes then, and we all agreed that the chances were the farmer, as well as that ugly Peters crowd, must have hiked back to town. Will's all right," observed Jerry, coolly.
"There he goes again. I don't like the sound of his voice, and it seems to me that he is calling us by name. Listen once more. Wasn't that word 'help'?"
"It sure sounded like it," declared Bluff, looking with startled eyes at his two chums.
"Come on, Bluff, with me. Jerry, you stay by the wagon, and keep your eyes on the lookout all the time. Nobody can say what we might run up against in these Sunset Mountains. If there are ghosts, there may be other things."
"All right, I'll stay," replied Jerry, though the disappointed look on his face told plainly enough that he would much rather accompany them.
Frank and Bluff ran down the rough road at a fast clip. The nearer they came to the bottom the louder grew the cries.
"No mistake, now, Bluff. He's calling for help," declared Frank, quickening his pace even more.
"Oh! I wonder what's happened. Perhaps he fell and broke a leg," suggested Bluff.
"I hope not. That would be hard for poor Will, and break up our outing entirely," returned the other.
"Look! There he is, Frank!"
"That looks serious!" exclaimed the boy from Maine.
"What's he standing in the middle of that dinky little stream for, up to his waist in water? Why, he's getting all wet!"
Frank simply turned his head and shouted over his shoulder the one word:
"Quicksand!"
"Good gracious! Is that so?" gasped Bluff, as he ran, panting, after his chum.
In another minute the two stood on the bank.
"Oh! I'm so glad you came," said poor Will, "for I'm going down awful fast!"
Bluff was for dropping his gun and rushing out in the water to the assistance of his imperilled chum. It did his heart credit, this impulsiveness, but just then, no doubt, it was well that he had a comrade near by possessed of a cooler head, or there might soon have been a pair of them in the quicksand.
"Stop! None of that, Bluff!" said Frank, clutching him by the arm.
"But, look! The poor fellow will be drowned if we don't help him mighty fast!" expostulated the rash boy, struggling to break away.
"And if you go in there we'll only have to drag out both of you, that's all. Now suppose you leave the thing to me. I've seen a man taken out of the quicksand before," declared Frank calmly.
He had taken in the whole situation in that one glance, and knew just what danger there was, as well as how he should go about the rescue.
"All right, Frank, only please be quick. Tell me what to do right now."
"Run back to the wagon and bring that spare rope we got from those Peters fellows. I said at the time it might come in handy, and this is the occasion. Be as fast as you can, Bluff."
"But you——"
"I'll be doing something right here. Go!"
When Frank spoke that way he meant to be obeyed. Bluff turned in his tracks and started back up the grade, running as if for a wager.
"Please do something, Frank, to keep me from slipping down any farther. I'm going faster, now, I think. It makes me feel cold with the awful chance of being sucked underneath the water," called Will just then.
"It's all right, pard. Keep up your pluck, and we'll yank you out of there in a jiffy. While Bluff is gone for that rope watch what I'm going to do."
He ran to the base of the tree that overhung the stream just there, and climbed into its branches like a monkey. Then he made his way out on the limb that Will had so vainly tried to reach, until in a few seconds he was directly over his imperilled chum.
"Oh, I see now, Frank! It's a bully idea, all right!" cried the boy in the sand, the anxious look beginning to leave his face.
Frank hung on the limb and reached down his hand. He could just touch that of the lad below.
"I can't take hold! Oh! what shall I do, Frank? You can't reach me, and before the others come I may go under!" Will called, in new terror.
"I'm not trying to take your hand. What I want is for you to hand me up your camera, so as to have both hands free. There, that's it."
He hung the precious black box upon a branch of the tree.
Will, looking up piteously, saw him take off his coat. Then Frank slipped it down so that the sleeves dangled above the other's head.
"Take hold of those, one in each hand. Then bear yourself up as best you can by means of the coat, while I brace myself up here," he said.
Will struggled a bit.
"But I don't seem able to recover an inch, Frank!" he exclaimed.
"I don't expect you to. Few men could pull themselves out of the clutch of a quicksand bed after getting in as deep as you are. All I want is to keep you from going down any deeper until they come with the rope."
"Oh! I see now. It's a good idea. And then what?" asked Will, cheering up.
"We'll pass it over the limb here, get you to slip the noose under your arms, and on shore all of us pull like fun. If that doesn't move you, then we can hitch old Peter to the rope, and you've just got to come!"
Shouts announced the appearance of the others. Bluff and Jerry were running, the former carrying the needed rope, while in the rear Jed could be heard urging the horse at a rapid rate down the incline.
Under Frank's direction, the rope was made with a noose at the end. Then Bluff crept out and handed it to Frank, relieving him of the suspended coat. Will let go just long enough to place the noose under his arms, though he exclaimed that he had sunk six inches immediately.
Jerry now pulled at the other end of the rope, to hold it taut, while the others were scrambling ashore.
"Now!" cried Frank, "a good pull, a long pull, and a pull together! Yo heave-o!"
Will uttered a cry.
"I don't seem to move a bit!" he exclaimed.
Again and again the three boys pulled. Even Jed, who had come up, took hold. They could not get the proper grip, it seemed, for the imprisoned lad still stuck there, groaning with pain and mental torture mingled.
"You haven't gone down any further, at any rate, Will. I suppose we'll have to ask Peter to help us out," sang out Frank cheerily, for he saw that his chum was rapidly becoming very despondent again.
Accordingly, Peter was fastened to the end of the line.
"Wait just five seconds before you say the word!" cried Will.
"What's the matter?" asked Frank, a little alarmed.
"Give Bluff a chance. He's got the camera back there, and is trying for a focus. It ought to be a great picture, fellows!" answered the sinking boy.
"Talk to me about grit! Did you ever hear the equal of that? He's a camera crank of the first water, all right!" exclaimed Jerry.
"And this is the water. Hurry up, Bluff! Snap her off! I'm tired of staying here!"
"I've got it. Now start the circus, Frank!" cried Bluff, with a grin, as though he quite enjoyed turning the tables on the ardent photographer for once.
So the horse was urged to start moving. Frank tried to ease the jerk as much as he was able, but all the same, poor Will cried out that he felt as if he were being drawn in two.
"But I moved then! Keep going, now that you've started, boys! Oh! sure enough, I'm coming up! Faster, now! Hurrah! I'm free from that horrible mire!" he continued to shout, as he dangled there with his feet in the water and his head almost touching the friendly limb.
"Try and climb up. Here, Jerry is coming out to help you, Will!" called Frank.
With the assistance of his chum, Will managed to straddle the limb. Then, after he had rested a little while, he crept along until at last he jumped to the ground, to be received with hearty handshakes by all the others.
"But that was a terribly close shave, all right," he said, as Jerry scraped the sand and mud from his legs. "Whatever would you have done if it hadn't been for that bully old tree, Frank?"
"I don't know, exactly, but I'd have found some way to pull you out," returned the other; and those boys, who knew what he was equal to in an emergency, felt positive that he would have proved the victor, no matter what the conditions.
"Frank, what about the other wagon?" asked Will.
"Well, what about it?"
"Suppose it got caught the same way I did, and the horses were dragged down?"
"But it won't, all right, depend on that. In the first place, you didn't try to cross at the regular ford, but wandered downstream a bit, you see. Then, again, I mean to leave a notice fastened to a stick right here in the road, warning Adolphus against turning aside. I've tested the ford, and it's safe," was Frank's reply.
The wagon was taken over without any accident. Then they started afresh for the upper regions, where that jewel of a lake nestled in the heart of the mountains, awaiting their coming.
"It's a much longer journey than I thought," admitted Frank, an hour later, as, having climbed the ascent, they were winding in and out among the heavy forest.
"And a harder pull than I dreamed of. Peter is the boss horse, for all his wheezing and grunting," declared Bluff.
"I'll never forget what he did for me!" exclaimed Will, who had been feeding the old animal on lumps of sugar at intervals for the last hour, until Frank forbade him to keep it up longer, lest he founder the beast with kindness.
"Well, that ought to pay us for all we've endured!" cried Jerry, pointing.
"It's sure-enough Surprise Lake!" cried the others in chorus, for they had burst out of the woods at a point that allowed the first glimpse of the beautiful sheet of water for which they were headed.
Presently they reached the bank, and Frank, with the instinct of a true sportsman, picked out the ideal spot for the tents to go up.
First they had a bite to eat, for the hour was long past their customary lunch time, and all of them owned to being hungry. Will, in particular, declared he could eat even cold bear meat, if there was any handy. Though somewhat sore around his waist and arms, he said he felt all right.
Then the tents went up, and the place assumed the appearance of a genuine camp.
"When the canoes are floating on that lovely lake it will look like fairyland!" declared Frank enthusiastically.
"I don't see any sign of a living being," remarked Bluff.
"Nor do I believe any one is camping up here right now. We've got the whole lake to ourselves, fellows," observed Will.
The afternoon passed slowly. They were anxiously waiting to hear the cheery voice of old Adolphus in the distance, talking to his horses to encourage them.
"What are you so serious about, Frank?" asked Jerry, dropping down beside the other on the soft turf.
Frank looked cautiously around to see that the others were engaged elsewhere.
"I was going to take you into it, Jerry, when a chance came, but thought that just now it might be well not to tell all the others. Listen, then. You remember that some time ago we were talking over that dog matter, when you spoke of the bloodhounds Colonel Halpin brought up from the South, and which were borrowed by the warden to chase the two escaped prisoners?"
"Why, yes, I remember that," answered the other, looking surprised and curious, as well he might.
"One man was recaptured through the aid of the dogs," went on Frank.
"That's so. You and I heard different stories about how it happened the other poor chap got away. One account said he took to the water, while another spoke of him using red pepper to fuddle the scent of the hounds."
"All right, Jerry. The main point is that he got away, isn't it?"
"It sure is; and I give him credit for some smartness. Any man who can outwit that head warden of the penitentiary, and backed up by a couple of trained hounds, at that, is no slouch, in my opinion."
"Well, it happened that in a paper we had wrapped around some of our things I found an account of that escape. It was interesting to me," said Frank.
"Why?" asked Jerry eagerly.
"For one thing, because it was a thrilling story. Another thing lay in the fact that all sorts of strange possibilities flashed before my mind, for, Jerry, the name of the escaped convict was familiar to me, and will be to you."
Frank gave another hasty look around. Then taking out a piece of paper, evidently torn from an old news sheet, he held it out so that the other could see where he had drawn a heavy black ring with his lead pencil.
"Thaddeus Lasher!"
As Jerry muttered that name his eyes sought those of his chum.
"Whew!" he whistled in an expressive way.
"It looks serious for Andy, don't you think?" asked Frank.
"It does now, for a fact. Do you think this can be his dad?" asked the other.
"Don't know; either that, or an uncle, for the account mentions that he is a man about fifty years of age. He seems to have been imprisoned a good long time back for the crime of robbery. There was a little doubt about it at the time, and he was sentenced on purely circumstantial evidence. Some people even thought he might be innocent," went on Frank.
"And all these years he has lain in the penitentiary, forgotten by every one but his family; that's pretty tough," muttered sympathetic Jerry.
"How long have you known Andy?"
"He and his mother came to Centerville about five years back. Nobody ever knew anything about the family. I always supposed his father was dead," replied Jerry thoughtfully.
"Well, it looks as though this escaped convict, who still had years to serve, might be his father. Some cruel people would say that that is why Andy has always been a wild, tough boy; but I think that came from other reasons. But, Jerry, do you remember that we couldn't for our lives guess what was taking Andy up in this region?"
"Yes. He never peeped a word about it, for a fact!"
"And he carried a bag. We supposed he had clothes in that, but now I'm of the opinion that it might have been food," said Frank.
"For his hiding father? Frank, it takes you to see through these mysteries. Ten to one, you solve the ghost racket before we go back."
"Don't be too sure. I may slip up on that; but I may as well hint, even now, that I've got, a sort of vague idea in connection with an explanation there. Later on I'm going to try and prove it out. But say nothing to the others until I give you permission."
"Of course not. It's your say in the matter. But what can Andy be thinking of? Perhaps he means to help smuggle his dad out of the States, into Canada, when the coast is clear. Anyhow, I can't help feeling sorry for the fellow. It shows that he has something good in him, just as I always said."
"That's so, Jerry. Any fellow who stands up for his father can't be all bad."
"All right, Frank. Glad to hear you say so. What do you want to ask me?"
"Have you any idea about the matter? Can you give a guess what the escaped convict would be doing up here all this time?"
"What date is that paper, Frank?"
"Some three months back. The man has been loose all that time."
"But perhaps not up here. He may have gone far away, and only come back to this neighborhood recently, for some reason," ventured Jerry.
"That's what I wanted to hear from you. I know that you have inherited a little of the clear reasoning power that has made your father the successful banker he is. Apply it to this case, now. Supposing Thaddeus Lasher did go away, and has recently come back here, what brings him? What does he mean to do here?"
"H'm! Evidently he found means to communicate with his family," mused Jerry.
"Yes; if, as we believe, Andy had provisions in that stout grip which he was taking up to his father, to tide him over. But the clamor has long since died out, Jerry. Then why doesn't this escaped convict get away for good?"
Jerry looked at him keenly.
"I can see that you've got something on your mind, Frank," he said.
"I admit it."
"Something connected with this affair and the coming of Andy with the grub his mother has sent. Wait a minute till I put two and two together, and perhaps I can catch a glimpse of the same thing that has struck you."
Frank watched him curiously.
Presently Jerry looked up and grinned.
"You've hit something, I see," remarked his chum.
"I reckon I have, pard. It may sound foolish, but all the same, as my dad would say, it seems like a logical sequence to me," he ventured.
"You think, then, there is some connection between this hiding of Thaddeus Lasher in the hills and something that has puzzled us? Suppose you say plainly just what you believe. What do you lay at his door, Jerry?"
Jerry raised his heavy eyebrows and uttered a couple of words that brought a smile to the face of his companion and a quick nod of the head.
"The ghost!"
"What would he want to play ghost for, Frank?" asked Jerry presently.
"Give it up. There might be one of a dozen reasons. You know the old story about Columbus and the egg, and how easy it seemed to stand it on end after being shown? Well, this is something the same. I've no doubt that after we learn all about the matter, if we ever do, all of us will say, 'how easy,' just as those Spanish grandees did at the court of Philip."
"Mention one or two reasons, then, just to push me along," urged Jerry.
"Well, perhaps he may fear that a search will be made up here for him, and wants to frighten people away. I forgot to tell you that the account says Thaddeus Lasher was once an actor of no mean merit," remarked Frank.
"Say, now, that kind of fits in real well, don't it? Who but an actor would ever think of playing ghost up here in this lonely region? But somehow I seem to feel that there must be a deeper reason than that for it all."
"I do, too, Jerry; but the truth is, I don't seem able to get hold of it. All the while I feel as if it might be just there beyond my reach, and I keep stretching out my hands without finding a grip. But it'll come, sooner or later."
"Yes; they say everything does to the one who waits long enough. What if we run across Andy again?" queried Jerry.
"All right. We'll treat him just as though we never suspected a thing."
"Then you won't think of putting him on the rack?"
"Certainly not. What business is it of ours what he is doing up here? We can guess all we like, but if that convict is hiding here for any reason, let the authorities catch him. I'd hate to think that I'd been the means of sending any poor wretch back to such a life. And remember, he may have been innocent, after all, so that all these years he was suffering for something he never did."
"Frank, I guess you're right; you nearly always are. Look at Bluff swimming like a duck out there! I heard him say the water was colder than our lake."
"I should think it would be. This mountain lake is fed by springs, and even in the dog days I imagine it would feel delightfully cool for swimming. I hope Bluff doesn't go out too far. Sometimes a fellow is apt to catch a cramp when plunging into one of these cold bodies of water."
"But he didn't plunge in. I watched him, and he just waded out, Frank."
"So much the worse, then, for in that way one drives the warm blood up from the extremities suddenly, and there is always more danger of cramps. Always take a header into the water first. It's the safest way. Hi, Bluff!" he called, elevating his voice.
"Hello! What do you want, Frank?" asked the swimmer, who was spurting water out some twenty yards from the shore, and seemingly enjoying himself hugely.
"I wouldn't go out any further. I don't believe it's safe," called Frank.
"Oh, bosh! There isn't any ghost out here. I'll guarantee to drown the first one that bobs up. Give you my word on it."
He vanished under the water, and presently came up again, snorting and puffing.
"How deep?" demanded Will, who was also watching, as if in doubt whether to go in or not.
"Ten feet or so out here. Looks like it might be a hundred out in the middle. Gee! but it's cold, fellows! Like you were taking a turn in an ice bath."
"Better come in closer," advised Frank uneasily.
"Will soon," grunted Bluff, who could be stubborn when he liked.
So Frank sat down again, though occasionally, as he and Jerry talked on, he kept casting glances out toward the spot where the venturesome bather was disporting himself like some aquatic animal.
"An idea came to me just now," remarked Jerry, who could not get his mind off the subject that had been holding their attention at the time Frank spoke to Bluff.
"Suppose you pass it along, then?" smiled his chum.
"There may be something up in these mountains that Thaddeus Lasher wants, and he doesn't feel like allowing others to get in on the discovery."
Frank shook his head, as he said:
"Possible, but hardly probable. Put all such notions as a discovery of gold in the rocks or sand out of your head. There isn't any formation to make that even a gambler's chance; and I think the same would apply as to an oil discovery. Men once looked this field over carefully, and pronounced against any hope of that."
"But you have an idea, you said?" suggested Jerry insinuatingly.
"I'm not going to mention that one just yet. But I don't mind telling you what came into my mind at first, as the most probable thing," replied Frank.
"I suppose I'll have to be satisfied with that, then," grumbled Jerry.
"It isn't at all to the credit of either Thaddeus Lasher or Andy, and let me say right here that I take very little stock in it now."
"But tell me, anyhow, Frank," persisted Jerry.
"Supposing that the escaped convict felt that everybody's hand was raised against him, and that from this time on he must fight the world as a crooked man? In such a case he would be apt to feel that since he had the name he might as well have the game."
"I'm following you, and I must say you put the case just as well as Bluff could do, with all his dad's lawyer blood backing him up. Go on, Frank. This thing is mighty interesting to me, I tell you."
"Supposing the hunted man did feel that way, he might be tempted to start up in some unlawful business here in the quiet of the hills back of Oak Ridge. The only thing that occurs to me would, of course, be counterfeiting," said Frank.
"Had he been accused of that before?"
"Oh, no; or he would have been punished by the United States authorities rather than those of the State. But you know men in prison learn many bad things they never knew before going there. Somehow they seem eager to learn what every old lawbreaker has to tell, in secret. I've been told that, anyway, and believe it. So Thaddeus Lasher might have learned about counterfeiting while in prison."
"Follow up that idea still further, Frank. I've been reading the 'Count of Monte Cristo,' by Dumas, lately, and that gives me an idea. Perhaps Thaddeus found a chance to do something for one of the prisoners while there. That rascal, in return, may have told him where he had buried his tools for making money, and up here in these hills, too!" exclaimed Jerry eagerly.
Frank laughed at the conceit.
"Say, you are a great fellow for leaping to conclusions, and yet, when you come to examine the thing closer, it doesn't seem so very far-fetched, either. Such a thing has happened before Dumas ever wrote his immortal story, and I suppose it will come about a good many more times," he remarked.
"All right. If, in the end, it proves to be something like that, don't forget, will you, Frank, that I guessed it. Ordinarily, I'm not a very good hand at solving riddles, and it would about tickle me to death if by chance I had hit on the answer to the thing that's bothering us now."
"I'll give you all the credit, my boy, depend on that," laughed Frank.
"But I hope it won't turn out to be anything nearly so serious as that," continued Jerry, loyal to his belief in Andy's reformation.
"Ditto. After all, there's a good chance that it may be something that will surprise us. But enough of that for the present, Jerry. Let's turn to what concerns us more closely. There's Jed keeping up a fine fire, and Bluff has his stew of bear meat cooking nicely while he flounders in the water. If only Adolphus would show up now we'd feel prime."
"I thought I heard a distant shout just then, but it may have been only the crows scolding over there in that dead tree. Hark! There it came again!"
"Yes, I caught it that time. Adolphus is coming, all right. I'd know his whoop among a thousand. He can never drive, it seems, without talking to his horses; and when he wants them to put on an extra spurt he shouts. That's him, sure," declared Frank, rising to his feet.
"Look at Bluff! How queer he is acting, Frank!"
Frank was startled by these words. He whirled around, all the smile gone from his face, for he had been half expecting something of this sort for quite some little time.
Bluff was indeed acting queerly. He seemed to be in distress, and yet his very obstinacy kept him from calling out for help. He was trying to swim, and at the same time kept doubling up, as though in agony. At such times his head would bob under the water for a second or two.
"He's got a cramp!" cried Frank, instantly recognizing the signs.
"And we have no boat!" exclaimed Jerry, wringing his hands.
Frank was already hurling off some of his clothes. His shoes flew, one to the right and the other to the left, as though torn from his feet.
"What can we do, Frank?" cried Will, standing there.
"Form a chain, and wade in as far as you can stand; no further. Leave the rest to me," Frank answered.
Even as he was saying the last word he ran straight for the bank of the lake. The other boys, watching in stunned surprise, saw him give one leap from the shore, strike the water, and vanish from view.
"Quick, fellows! We must do what he said!" cried Jerry, tearing off his shoes and wading in, without thinking of removing his clothes.
When Frank reappeared on the surface he was a third of the way out to where his chum was struggling so desperately in the water.
With powerful strokes he swam swiftly onward. Bluff saw him coming, and stretched out his hands appealingly, as though he realized now the peril he was in.
"Help me—Frank—cramp got me!" he gurgled.
Then he went under again, despite his struggles. Frank pushed on, his eyes on the lookout for the upcoming of the drowning lad. He seemed to know that Bluff had not yet lost every atom of his vitality, and was capable of another tussle at least.
When Bluff came fighting to the surface Frank was there. He avoided the frenzied clutch of the other, knowing how fatal such a thing would be. The only hope of saving Bluff was to catch him from behind. Then, if there was danger of his trying to wrap his arms about his would-be rescuer, even more desperate tactics must be employed to stop such a move, and in some cases it seems necessary to strike the drowning person over the head to make him desist.
Of course, Bluff did not know what he was doing now. He had reached that point where he would clutch frantically at a straw, in the hope that it would bear him up. To him, Frank was only as much as a plank would have been.
Watching his opportunity, ere the boy could sink again Frank managed to get a firm grip on the back of his neck. The fact that Bluff wore his hair rather long aided him in this maneuver, he afterward confessed.
Then he worked hard to swim toward the shore, towing Bluff along. It was a difficult task to keep the face of the other above the surface and at the same time fight off his hands when he sought to clutch the swimmer's arms. Such a catastrophe would have possibly been the means of a double tragedy.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party had waded in, holding to each other's hands. Even Jed was at the end of the chain, on the side nearest the shore, but just as eager to lend a hand toward the rescue of the drowning lad as any of the others. Bluff had been kind to the bound boy, and the heart of the waif was full of gratitude toward these friends who had been suddenly raised up for him.
Foot by foot Frank worked his way in, while Jerry held out an eager hand to assist when he came within reach.
Frank remained perfectly cool through it all. It was marvelous how this boy seemed to know just what should be done in any emergency, and how to do it. Bluff did not struggle to get at him so much now. This was not because he knew better; the truth was, he had become partially unconscious.
Still Frank did not lose hope, for he knew matters had not gone so far but what the other could be readily resuscitated by the ordinary means.
Now he reached the outstretched hand of Jerry, who had insisted upon being at the outer end of the chain, he having an inch or so more stature than Will. Then they all got safely to shore, and Frank laid Bluff down on the ground.
"Turn him over, the first thing, with his head down the bank. Draw his arms back and forth with a regular motion, as if he were breathing; and don't be frightened, any of you. He will be all right in a jiffy. I've seen men brought back when they had sunk for the last time, and the rescuer had to dive twice before he got his man. There! You see!" For Bluff had actually sighed.
In five minutes he was looking up at them and trying to smile, although it was a mighty pitiful attempt. In twice that time they had him by the fire, and two were rubbing him vigorously with coarse towels, under Frank's directions.
"I'm all right, fellows," said Bluff, with a look of gratitude in his eyes, as he squeezed Frank's hand.
"Only for Frank, here, just think where you'd be right now," said Will in an awed tone, looking out on the water and shuddering.
"Here, none of that now! Won't allow it! Get up a brisk circulation, and then he must dress. The balance of you fellows had better be thinking of drying yourselves somewhat. I can see you are pretty wet," laughed Frank.
"And for once, Will didn't think of getting his camera!" said Bluff whimsically.
"Talk to me about that, will you! It would have been just like him to have sung out to Frank to please wait there a minute while he ran up on the bank and got a focus on the two," sang out Jerry.
Will gave him a reproachful look.
"I'll admit that I'm keen on getting a picture nearly every time, but really I hope I'm not quite so much of a heathen as all that," he said.
"What's the racket I hear?" asked Bluff just then.
"That is old Adolphus coming along the road, and whooping at his horses to beat the band!" exclaimed Jerry exultantly.
He thought a great deal of Bluff, and his heart swelled with gratitude over the recent rescue of the imperilled swimmer. Nor was Jerry in the least jealous because it had fallen to Frank to save their mutual chum. Jerry could be generous, and even broad, in his way of looking at things.
Closer came the shouts. Then around the bend appeared a strange moving spectacle, with the three canoes piled up, and secured on the wagon that was pulled by the two stout horses.
The boys broke out into loud cheers. It seemed almost like a miracle to see the beloved mosquito craft away up here in the Sunset Mountains.
No sooner had the wagon arrived than they were as busy as beavers. The canoes that had only a few hours back been calmly reposing on the waters of Camalot Lake were quickly wedded to those of Lake Surprise.
"Say, don't they look fine, though? Did you ever see a prettier picture than our camp, right now, with the forest for a background, the lake in front, and those dandy little craft bobbing up and down like corks? Me for a paddle!"
So saying, Jerry leaped into one of the single canoes and went swiftly up the lake, followed by Will in the other. Bluff looked after them wishfully.
"Not to-night, I guess. You must be feeling a little weak after all your labor out there, old chap," said Frank, smiling.
Bluff caught his hand again and squeezed it. Though he said not a word just then, it was evident that his heart was full.
"And another thing bothers me," he remarked presently, as humor followed close on the heels of tragedy. "I won't be in decent condition to match Jerry to-night, and he's already one inning ahead on lung capacity."
"Well, for this night, then, we'll declare the match off. Some of the rest of us will take a turn at blowing up those rubber mattresses. Save yourself for to-morrow," said Frank, glad to know that Bluff could put his recent experience out of his mind, for he had heard of cases where it had proved a haunting fear for a long time, men even waking out of a sound sleep with loud cries, as they imagined they were once more going through all the horrors of drowning.
Will soon came back with the canoe, while Jerry kept on further, desirous of exploring the shores of the lake while about it.
"I saw a likely-looking rocky glen a short distance above where we came in, and as the sun is just right for a good picture of it, I think I'll meander over that way and have a look in," he remarked.
Saying which, he picked up his camera and sauntered off. Everybody being busily engaged, they paid little attention to him. Adolphus was putting out his horses near where good old Peter was cropping the grass, being held by a long rope to keep him from straying away.
"Dis 'pears tuh be a mighty fine place up hyar, sah," the old darky was saying to Frank, who worked near him, doing something connected with the coming supper.
"We think so, Adolphus, and expect to enjoy our stay immensely. Glad you can keep us company. You say that they're all well at home? Seems as though we had been away for a couple of weeks, instead of a few days," Frank went on.
"Everybody well, I done reckons, Mars Frank, sah. Libely times along dis yer Oak Ridge, dey sez, wat wid dat ghostses, an' now de sheriff he am on de track ob a man he wants tuh git mighty bad, him an' his possum."
Frank knew that what old Adolphus meant to say was "posse," and at another time he might have laughed at the comical blunder, for evidently "all possums looked alike" to Adolphus. Just then, however, Frank was startled by what he had heard.
"Hunting for a man, did you say, Adolphus," he asked quickly.
"Yes, sah. An' it are a bad man that 'scaped from de jail sum time ergo. Dey done kotched one, but dis critter he erludes 'em like er fox. But dey got er clue, dey sez, an' dey turned out 'bout two mile back, leabin' me de hull road," the colored man chattered on, never dreaming that Frank was deeply interested in what he was saying.
Frank's thoughts flew like lightning. Then, after all, what he and Jerry had suspected bade fair to prove true—the escaped convict was hiding in Sunset Mountains, and Andy had come up to join him, for some strange purpose or other.
It began to look as though the chains might be tightening around Thaddeus Lasher, and that before long he would find himself once more in the clutches of the law.
"There's Will shouting again, I declare! Wonder what is up now? He can't be trusted to go off by himself alone any more. You don't think he's in another quicksand, do you, Frank?" exclaimed Bluff just then.
"No. This time he doesn't call for help, but wants us to come up there and see something strange. Will you come along, Bluff? I wonder what he has found?"
"This way, fellows!" came a voice.
"There he is, over yonder," said Bluff, pointing.
"He seems to be interested in something down in a hole. Wonder if it could be another bear's den?" laughed Frank.
"What ails you, Will?" demanded Bluff, as he and his comrade drew near.
"I'm in a peck of trouble again, that's what," replied the other.
"No quicksand this time, eh? And I see no sign of a bear. What's happened? Where is your camera?" asked Frank, quickly noting the fact that Will failed to have the little black box, as usual, in his hand.
"That's just what's the matter with me. The blessed things have taken possession, and I don't dare go near. Ugh! I always hated 'em like poison!"
Frank stepped closer to where he could look down into the gully which seemed to be holding the attention of his chum.
"Snakes!" he exclaimed.
"Wow! Look at the bunch, will you? They seem to think there's something mighty good in that same black box of yours, Will. See how they keep twisting around it, going and coming. Say, there are more of the vipers! Bless my soul, if they ain't peeking out of every crack in the place, dozens and dozens of 'em!" cried Bluff, aghast.
"Do you mean to say you were down there?" demanded Frank.
"Why, yes, and there wasn't one in sight then. I meant to cross over so as to get a view of the glen with the sun at my back. I laid down the camera to fasten my belt, where it had slipped. Just then I saw several of the nasty things creeping up close by me," and Will shivered.
"I bet you cut and run, forgetting all about your camera," declared Bluff.
"Well, now, Mr. Smarty, I did just that same thing. Who wouldn't? You know that I'd sooner face seven wildcats than one snake. They always give me the creeps. But I want my camera, snakes or no snakes," said Will.
"How are you intending to get it?" observed the unsympathetic Bluff.
"If I'd known that, do you suppose I'd have called you up to help? I want advice, that's what," snapped Will.
"Well," remarked Frank soberly, "it looks to me as if you'd had another narrow escape, Will. Some of those snakes may be of a poisonous variety. Seems to me I can see rattlers among them, or copperheads, at least. What if one of them had struck you in the hand?"
"Ugh! Please don't mention it, Frank! I'll have the cold shivers now, for sure. If I wake the camp to-night with a wild whoop, don't blame me. What with quicksands and poisonous snakes I ought to be excused for any racket," he declared.
"Why, hang it, if the place ain't fairly alive with the crawling critters! Frank, you wouldn't think of going down there to get that box, I hope?" demanded Bluff, as the other commenced to make a move.
"It would have to be something ten times as valuable as that to tempt me," was the reply, "but all the same, we must find a way to rescue Will's camera. Without it how can he take any more pictures of our wonderful deeds? Let's see, once to-day I've used the limb of a tree to good advantage. Perhaps it can be made to play a part again."
He happened to be holding his little, keen-edged camp hatchet in his hand, having been using it at the moment he heard Will calling. With this he walked about until he found just the little sapling he wanted. A few blows sufficed to lay it low.
The others watched for a moment in silence.
"I catch on to the game," said Bluff presently.
"And so do I," added Will. "That hook at the end gives it away. You intend to fish for the camera, eh, Frank?"
"Well, luckily, the box has a strap which I can easily catch, if only this pole happens to be long enough. Now, when I get out to a point just over the spot, one of you hand me the stick, will you?"
"Sure," replied Bluff, anxious to have a hand in the game.
"Oh, Frank! Be careful, please! Not for a dozen cameras would I see you fall down into that horrible snake den!" ejaculated Will.
"And notice that the limb isn't overly stout, pard," warned Bluff.
"But it happens to be a hickory tree, and there's no danger of it snapping off. I examined into all that before starting out, thank you. Now the stick, please."
When this was poked out to him, as he clung to the down-hanging limb, Frank immediately placed himself in a position to angle for the black box.
"Is it long enough?" asked Will.
"Just, with nothing to spare," replied the other, as he sought to get the crotch of the stick under the strap of the camera.
"Look at 'em striking at it! My! ain't they mad, though? Just as if they had made up their minds to take to the business of picture snapping, and hated to be knocked out of the deal. Did you ever see such a writhing mass of snakes in your life?"
"I never did, Bluff. There! I had it fast, and that big rascal deliberately upset all my calculations by twisting over the strap. Seems as if they really knew what I was after, and meant to block me all they could."
Half a minute later and Will gave a cry of satisfaction, for the camera was coming slowly up from the depths, fastened to the end of Frank's stick.
"Say! look at 'em, will you? Ain't they mad, though? Frank, do you think it's safe for us to have the camp near such a snake den as this?" asked Bluff.
"Oh, yes; safe enough. It isn't as near as you seem to think. Besides, there happens to be a brook between. I don't believe one of these snakes will ever cross that water. Still, I admit I'd feel better if the whole thing were wiped out."
"All right. I'm going to think up some way of doing it. Perhaps we could throw heaps of dead brush down there, and set it on fire. Another way would be to blow it up with a dynamite cartridge."
"Only we haven't got one," added Will quickly, as he rubbed his precious camera off with an old handkerchief, which he then threw away.
"Let's get away from here," said Frank, "and perhaps you'd better postpone all snapshotting in this neighborhood until after we have found some way to dispose of those ugly customers. They might make you trouble, Will."
Arriving back in camp, Frank went on with his preparations for supper. Adolphus must be tired after his long day of it on the way from town with that unwieldy load, and Frank thought it well to let the ancient darky rest up a bit before putting him at cooking for the hungry crowd.
Frank was always thinking of every one's comfort but his own, and this sort of thing made him an ideal comrade for a camping trip in the wilderness.
The supper was pronounced a success by all. Even Bluff's stew of bear meat was tasty, and "filled a long-felt vacuum," as Jerry expressed it, when he passed up his pannikin for a third helping.
Despite their adventures of the day, which had been of an alarming character, the boys made merry, as youngsters always will, for trouble sets lightly on their shoulders, as a rule.
They sang and joked as they sat about the fire. Indeed, one would not think that any of them had the slightest cause for anxiety as the evening waned, and they made preparations for the first night on Lake Surprise, far up in the Sunset Mountains.
Frank and Will took a turn at blowing up the rubber mattresses, though Bluff could hardly be restrained from challenging Jerry to a trial.
Long after the others had crawled under the tents Frank sat there, thinking over the long list of queer things that had come to them in the short campaign since they left home a few days before.
Most of all, his thoughts seemed to run in line with Andy Lasher, and his mysterious mission into the hills. Could it be in connection with that escaped convict? And did the one-time actor, Thaddeus Lasher, have anything to do with this humbug of a ghost, seen so often along Oak Ridge by various people?
Then, as he sat there, Frank took out the little gold locket which poor Jed had trusted to his keeping. Here was another mystery awaiting explanation. He looked at it very hard, as though wondering how he could penetrate to the secret attaching to that same small ornament, and learn just why the covetous old farmer, Cal Dobson, wanted to get possession of it so badly.
His boy chums were soundly sleeping long before this, but Frank had decided to keep watch as long as possible, when he would arouse Jerry.
And as he sat there, once in a while he would look around. The grim steeps of the mountains arose beyond, for the lake was far from being on the summit of the cluster known as Sunset Range.
He could hear Adolphus snoring back where he had his bed under a canvas fly. Once the old man awoke with startled exclamations about the ghost, but he had only been dreaming, and soon passed into slumberland again.
As Frank happened to look up to the side of the mountain he caught sight of a flare that came and went several times, as though it might be a signal, after which he saw it no more.
"That was strange," he muttered uneasily, "and the more I see of things the stronger I feel that something mighty queer must be going on up in this region. What with a ghost roaming about, and a posse of officers searching for an escaped convict, anything is liable to happen at any time. H'm! That is a pleasant thought, now, but it's true, nevertheless."