The Boy Scouts'First Camp Fire

OR

Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol. 

BY HERBERT CARTER

 Author of "The Boy Scouts In the Blue Ridge, " "The Boy Scouts On the Trail, " "The Boy Scouts In the Maine Woods, " "The Boy Scouts Through the Big Timber, " "The Boy Scouts In the Rockies. "

[Illustration: A. L. BURT COMPANY

NEW YORK]

Copyright 1913

BY A. L. BURT COMPANY

 * * * * *

THE BOY SCOUTS' FIRST CAMP FIRE. 

[Illustration: The announcement of the bear by Davy Jones was succeededby a mad scramble of every boy to reach a place of safety. Page 48. 

_The Boy Scouts' First Camp Fire. _]

THE BOY SCOUTS'FIRST CAMP-FIRE. 

CHAPTER I. 

A HALT BY THE ROADSIDE. 

"Tara--tara!"

Loud and clear sounded the notes of a bugle, blown by a very stout lad, clad in a new suit of khaki; and who was one of a bunch of Boy Scoutstramping wearily along a dusty road. 

"Good for you, Bumpus! Can't he just make that horn talk, though?" criedone. 

"Sounds as sweet as the church bell at home, fellows!" declared asecond. 

"Say, Mr. Scout-Master, does that mean a halt for grub?" a third calledout. 

"Sure, Giraffe. Brace up old fellow. You'll have your jaws working rightsoon, now. And here's a dandy little spring, right among the trees! Howshady and cool it looks, Thad. "

"That's why we kept on for an hour after noon, " remarked the boy calledThad, and who seemed to be a person of some authority; "when all youscouts wanted to stop and rest. You see Davy, Allan here, and myselfmade a note of that same spring the other day, when we came along onhorseback, spying out the lay of the land. "

"Well, now, " remarked the boy called Davy, as he threw himself down tostretch; "that's what our instruction book says, --a true scout alwayshas his eyes and ears open to see and hear everything. The more thingsyou can remember in a store window, after only a minute to look, thefurther up you are, see?"

The boy called Thad not only wore a rather seedy and faded scout khakiuniform; while those of all his comrades were almost brand new; but hehad several merit badges fastened on the left side of his soft shirt. 

These things would indicate that Thad Brewster must have been connectedwith some patrol, or troop of Boy Scouts, in the town where he formerlylived before his father, dying, left him in charge of the queer oldbachelor uncle who was known far and wide among the boys of Scranton asplain "Daddy Brewster"--nobody ever understood why, save that he justloved all manner of young people. 

In fact, it was a memory of the good times which he had enjoyed in thepast that influenced Thad to start the ball rolling for a troop ofscouts in Scranton. In this endeavor he had found energetic backing;and the Silver Fox Patrol of the troop was now starting out upon itsfirst hike, to be gone several days. 

Several of the eight boys forming this patrol were lagging more or lessalong the dusty road; for the brisk walk on this summer day had tiredthem considerably. 

At the cheery notes of the bugle, blown by "Bumpus" Hawtree, the strayones in uniform quickened their pace, so as to close up. Of course thestout youth had another name, and a very good one too, having beenchristened Cornelius Jasper. But his chums had long ago almost forgottenit, and as Bumpus he was known far and wide. 

He was a good-natured chap, clumsy in his way, but always willing tooblige, and exceedingly curious. Indeed, his mates in the patroldeclared Bumpus ought to have been born a girl, as he always wanted to"poke his nose into anything queer that happened to attract hisattention. " And this failing, of course, was going to get Bumpus into alot of trouble, sooner or later. 

His one best quality was a genuine love for music. He could play anysort of instrument; and had besides a wonderfully sweet high sopranovoice, which he was always ready to use for the pleasure of his friends. That promised many a happy night around the camp-fire, when once theSilver Fox Patrol had become fully established. 

And this love of music which the fat boy possessed had made theselection of a bugler for Cranford Troop the easiest thing possible. Heactually had no competitor. 

Presently the entire eight lads had thrown themselves down in suchpositions as seemed to appeal to them. Some lay flat on their stomachs, and drank from the overflow of the fine little spring; while othersscooped up the water in the cup formed by the palms of their hands. 

One rather tall boy, with flaxen hair, and light dreamy blue eyes, tookout his handkerchief, carefully dusted the ground where he meant to sit, then having deposited himself in a satisfactory manner, he opened thehaversack he had been carrying, taking out some of the contents verycarefully. 

"My! but they're packed smartly, all right, Smithy, " remarked the fellowwho had responded to the name of Davy Jones; "you certainly take a heapof trouble to have things just so. My duds were just tossed in as theycame. Threatened to jump on 'em so as to crowd the bunch in tighter. What are you looking for now?"

"Why, my drinking cup, to be sure, " replied the other, lifting hiseyebrows in surprise, as if he could not understand why any one would beso silly as to lie down and drink--just like an animal, when nice littlealuminum collapsible cups could be procured so cheaply. 

And having presently found what he wanted, he deliberately returned eacharticle to its proper place in the carryall before he allowed himselfthe pleasure of a cooling drink. But at least he had one satisfaction;being the possessor of a cup allowed him the privilege of dippingdirectly into the fountain head, the limpid spring itself. 

They called him just plain "Smithy, " but of course such an elegantfellow had a handle to the latter part of his name. It was EdmundMaurice Travers Smith; but you could never expect a parcel of Americanboys to bother with such a tremendous tongue-twisting name as that. Hence the Smithy. 

While the whole patrol, taking out the lunch that had been provided, andwhich one of them, evidently from the South from the soft tones of hisvoice, called a "snack, " were eating we might as well be making theacquaintance of the rest. 

The Southern lad was named Robert Quail White. A few of his chumsaddressed him as plain Bob; but the oddity of the combination appealedirresistibly to their sense of humor, and "Bob White" it became fromthat time on. Sometimes they called to him with the well-known whistleof a quail; and he always responded. 

There was a very tall fellow, with a remarkably long neck. "Giraffe" hehad become when years younger, and the name was likely to stick to himeven after he got into college. When his attention was called toanything, Conrad Stedman usually stretched his neck in a way that gavehim a great advantage over his fellows. He was sometimes a littletouchy; but gave promise of proving himself a good scout, being willingto learn, faithful, and obliging. 

Another of the patrol had a rather melancholy look. This was StephenBingham. He might have gone to the end of the chapter as plain Steve;but when a little fellow at school, upon being asked his name, he hadpronounced it as if a compound word; and ever since he was known asStep-hen Bingham. Whenever he felt like sending his companions into fitsof laughter Step-hen would show the whites of his eyes, and lookfrightened. He could never find his things, and was forever appealing tothe others to know whether they had seen some article he had misplaced. Step-hen evidently had much to learn before he could qualify for thedegree of a first-class scout. 

The one who seemed to be second in Command of the little detachment wasa quiet looking boy. Allan Hollister had been raised after a fashionthat as he said "gave him the bumps of experience. " Part of his life hadbeen spent in the Adirondacks and in Maine; so that he really knew byactual participation in the work what the other lads were learning fromthe books they read. 

He lived with his mother, said to be a widow. They seemed to haveplenty of money; but Allan was often sighing, as though somehow histhoughts turned back to former scenes, and he longed to return to Maineagain. 

Here then was the complete roster of the Silver Fox Patrol of CranfordTroop, as called by the secretary, Bob White, at each and every meeting. 

1. Thad Brewster, Patrol Leader, and Assistant Scout-Master. 

2. Allan Hollister, upon whom the responsibility rested after Thad. 

3. Cornelius Hawtree. 

4. Robert Quail White. 

5. Edmund Maurice Travers Smith. 

6. Conrad Stedman. 

7. Davy Jones. 

8. Stephen Bingham. 

Of course, as the rules of the organization provided, there was agenuine scout-master to accompany the boys when possible, and look aftertheir moral welfare; as well as act as a brake upon the naturalexuberance of their spirits. This was a young man who was studyingmedicine with Dr. Calkins in the town of Cranford. Frequently the cleveryoung M. D. Could not keep his appointments with his boys; at such timeshe had to delegate to Thad his duties. And to tell the truth when theylearned that as the elder doctor was sick himself, their scout-masterwould be unable to accompany them on this, their first real hike andouting, none of the scouts felt very sorry. 

"Pretty near time we started again for the lake, isn't it, Thad?"demanded Step-hen, something like an hour after they had stopped tobreak the march with a bite and a cool drink. 

"Oh! please let me finish this little grub, " called out Giraffe, who wastremendously fond of eating; "it's a shame to waste it. You stopped mefrom making a fire you know, Thad; and I fell behind the rest of youthat way. "

"I never saw such a fellow, always crazy to set fire to things, "remarked Davy Jones. "He'll burn the whole world up some day. "

"I expect to set the river on fire when I get in business, " grinnedGiraffe. 

"Give the signal to fall in, Mr. Bugler--but I say, where _is_ Bumpusanyway?" asked the acting scout-master, looking around. 

"Oh! he went wandering away some time ago, " remarked Davy. "But here'shis horn; let's see if I can blow the old thing. "

He put the shining instrument to his lips, puffed out his cheeks, andemitted a frightful groaning sound. The rest of the scouts had juststarted to laugh when there came a strange, rattling noise from thewoods near by, as though a landslide might be in progress. Andaccompanying the racket they heard a feeble voice that must belong toBumpus, though no one recognized it, calling out:

"Help! help! Oh, somebody come quick, and save me!"

With that call every member of the scout patrol leaped erect, staring atone another in dismay. 

CHAPTER II. 

THE PRISONER OF THE TREE STUMP. 

"Oh! perhaps a wolf has got poor Bumpus!" exclaimed Smithy, who hadnever had any real experience in the woods, and was therefore a genuine"greenhorn" scout. 

"Or a bear!" suggested Step-hen. 

Thad was not the one to stand and speculate, when a comrade appeared tobe in deep trouble, so he immediately cried out:

"Get your staves, and come along, everybody; no; you stay with ourknapsacks, to guard them, Bob White. This may be some trick of BroseGriffin and his cronies to steal our stuff. This way, the rest of you, boys!"

"Hurrah!" shouted Step-hen, showing great animation; but cautiouslyfalling in the rear of the procession that went rushing into the depthsof the woods. 

"Which way did it come from, Thad?" asked Smithy; who, despite hisgirl-like neatness of person and belongings, and dainty ways, was closeto the leader, his face whiter than usual, but his eyes flashing withunaccustomed fire. 

"I think over in this direction, " said Davy Jones, before the leadercould reply. 

"Listen!" commanded Thad, as he held up his hand, bringing them all to ahalt. Straining their ears, each scout tried to catch some sound thatwould give him the privilege of being the first to point to the spotwhere Bumpus was in sore need of assistance. 

"I think I heard a groan!" remarked Step-hen, in an awe-struck voice, that trembled in spite of his effort to seem brave. 

"So did I, " declared Allan; "and it was over yonder to the left. "

Accordingly the six boys went helter-skelter into the underbrush, makingall the noise an elephant might in pushing through the woods. Perhaps itwas only the result of their eagerness to reach the companion, whoseemed to be in trouble; and then again, a racket like that mightfrighten away any wild beast that had attempted to carry their stoutbugler away. 

"Stop again, and listen, " said Thad, half a minute later. "We must benear the place where that groan came from. Hear it again, anybody?"

"Help! oh, help! they're eating me alive!" came in a muffled voice fromsome unknown place near by. 

Thrilled by the words, and half expecting to see some savage monsterstruggling with their fellow scout, the six boys stared about them indismay. Not the first sign could they see of either Bumpus or theattacking beast. 

"Where under the sun can he be?" exclaimed Giraffe. 

"Perhaps it was a big eagle, or a hawk; and it's carried him up into atree!" suggested Step-hen; and strange to say, no one even laughed atthe silly idea. 

"Allan has guessed it!" cried Smithy, who had chanced to see a littlesmile chase across the face of the boy from Maine. 

"Where is he, then?" asked Thad, wheeling on his second in command. 

"I think if you move over to that big old tree-trunk yonder, you'll findBumpus, sir, " replied Allan, making the scout salute; for he believed incarrying out the rules of the organization when on duty, as at present. 

"But we can see the whole thing from top to bottom, and never a sign ofBumpus anywhere?" remarked Step-hen, doubtfully. 

"And he ain't such a little chap that he could hide under the bark of adead tree either, " remarked Davy, scornfully. 

Thad was already advancing upon the stump in question. Perhaps he hadcaught the hidden meaning to Allan's words; and could give a pretty goodguess as to why the other smiled. 

"Surround the stump, scouts!" he ordered; and the boys immediatelystarted to obey, holding their stout staves in readiness to resist anattack, if so be some unseen wild beast made a sudden leap. 

"Say, it's all a mistake; there ain't a blessed thing here!" grumbledStep-hen, when, after reaching a point on the other side of the immensestump, he could see the entire surface of its trunk, some three feetthrough, possibly more. 

"Yes there is; and I want to get out the worst kind! Ouch! they'rebiting me like hot cakes! I'm getting poisoned, I know I am! Oh! dear!"came the muffled voice that they knew belonged to Bumpus. 

"Whoop! he's _in_ the old stump!" shouted Davy Jones, starting to grinbroadly. 

"That's right, " replied the unseen Bumpus; "but please don't standthere, and guy a poor feller, boys. Do something for me before I'm agoner. Oh! how they are going for me though! I'm beginning to swell uplike anything! Be quick, Thad, Allan, and the rest of you!"

"But what's biting him, do you think?" said Step-hen, looking seriousagain. "Can it be rattlesnakes, Thad, or bumble-bees?"

"Hardly, " replied the other, readily; "I'd expect rather that it wasants. What do you say, Allan?"

"No doubt of it, " came from the boy who had practical experience in theways of the woods. "They like to make their nests in old dead trees. But ask Bumpus. "

Evidently the boy who was imprisoned inside the stump of the forestmonarch must have heard every word spoken by his mates, without, for heinstantly called aloud:

"Yes, that's what it is, ants, and they are fierce, I tell you. I'mcovered all over right now with lumps as big as hickory nuts. Be quick, boys, and get me out!"

"How under the sun d'ye think he ever got inside that stump; for thelife of me I can't see any hole down here?" Davy asked, wonderingly. 

"He must have fallen in through the top, " replied Allan, casting a quickglance up toward the place in question. "The old thing's hollow, and itgave way under Bumpus. "

"Sure, that's the way!" called out the unseen sufferer, eagerly. "Get amove on you, fellers. I want to breathe some fresh air, and take somestuff for all these poisonous bites. "

"But what were you doing up that stump?" demanded Step-hen; while Thadand Allan were examining the remains of the once proud tree, as if todecide what ought to be done, in order to rescue the unlucky scout. 

"I know what ails Bumpus, " cried Davy; "his old curiosity bump wasworking overtime, and coaxed him to climb up there. "

"Well, how'd I know the old thing'd give in with me like that?"protested the other, faintly. "I saw a bee going in a hole up there; andyou know I'm just crazy to find a wild bees' nest in a hollow tree, because I dote on honey. But I was mistaken about that; it's ants bitingme; because I caught one on my cheek after he'd taken a nibble. Oh!ain't they making me a sight, though? Where's Thad? I hope you don'tjust go on, and leave me here to die, boys. Please get busy!"

"Just hold up a little, Bumpus, " called Thad, cheerily. "We haven't anyrope to pull you up again; and besides, Allan says the top of the rottenstump would like as not give way, if anybody tried to stand on it. ButI've sent Giraffe back to the spring after the ax we carried. We'll justhave to cut a hole, and let you climb out that way. "

"But be careful not to give me a jab, won't you, please, Thad?" askedthe other, between his groans. "I'm bad enough off as it is, withoutlosing a leg. "

"Don't be afraid, " replied the scout-master; "we're going to let Allando the job, and few fellows know how to handle an ax as well as he does. And here's the tool right now; Giraffe made pretty quick time. "

"But what do you want me to do?" asked the prisoner of the stump, piteously. 

"Why, here's a hole already, big enough for me to stick my hand in; feelthat, do you, Bumpus?" and Thad inserted his hand, to clutch the leg ofthe other. 

"Oh! how you scared me at first, Thad; I sure thought it was a wildcat, or something, that had grabbed me. I'm trembling all over, what with thebites, the tumble, and the excitement. "

"Now keep as far back from this side as you can, " continued the other. "Is the hollow big enough to allow that, Bumpus?"

"It surely is, Thad, " replied the other, somewhat more cheerfully, as ifthe confident manner in which Thad went about his business reassuredhim. "Guess there must be nearly a foot of space between. "

"That's fine, " Thad went on to say; "now keep back, and leave it all toAllan. He's going to commence chopping. "

Immediately there sounded the stroke of the descending ax. 

"Huh! went all the way through, that time, " said Step-hen, who waswatching the operation closely; "reckon the old tree must be as rottenas punk. "

"Make a dandy blaze, all right, " ventured Giraffe, whose mind was benton fires, so that he never lost a chance for making one; and who lovedto sit and watch it burn, much as the old fire worshippers might havedone in long-ago times. 

"Take care, Allan, " remarked Thad; "don't strike so hard next time. Why, you'll knock a hole in that stump in a jiffy. It's only a shell. "

"I could drop the whole thing in fifteen minutes, believe me, " answeredthe boy who wielded the ax so cleverly, having learned the trick fromthe native woodsmen up in Maine, his native State. 

Again the sharp-edged tool descended; and the hole grew considerablylarger. The prisoner kept urging them to make more haste, and exclaimthat he was swelling up so fast as a result of his bites, that he'd soonbe unable to crawl out, even if half the tree trunk were chopped away. 

But Allan was a methodical chap, and could not be urged intocarelessness when making use of such a dangerous tool as a keen-edgedax. He chopped close to the imaginary line he had drawn; and as largechips fell in a shower the aperture increased in size until they couldsee the lower limbs of the prisoner. 

"Can't you drop down on your hands and knees, Bumpus?" called Thad. "Ishould think the hole was big enough now to let you get out. "

"Oh! I'll try, " wailed the other; "I'm willing to do anything you say, Thad, if only you can patch me up, and keep me from bursting. There, Idid manage to squeeze down on my knees; but I don't believe I can everget through. "

"We're willing to help you, old fellow, " remarked Davy, as he seizedhold of a hand; while Step-hen took the other; and between them theypulled, while Bumpus used his legs to kick backward; and finally he wasdragged triumphantly out of his strange prison. 

But when the boys saw his swollen face they stopped their loud laughing;for although the fat boy tried to grin good-naturedly, he was such asight that pity took the place of merriment in the hearts of his chums. 

The vicious ants had really bitten his cheeks so that they were swollenup very much, and Bumpus looked like a boy with the mumps. 

CHAPTER III. 

THE ACCUSATION MADE BY STEP-HEN. 

"Am I going to swell up any more, Thad; and will you just have to puthoops on me to keep me from bursting?" asked Bumpus, earnestly. 

The other fellows wanted to laugh, but to their credit be it said thatthey restrained this feeling. It would be heartless, with poor Bumpuslooking so badly. 

"Oh! don't get that notion into your head, " said the young leader; foras assistant scout-master, in the absence of Dr. Philander, Thad wassupposed to take charge of the troop, and assume all his duties; "here, fellows, bring him along back to the spring. I've got something in myhaversack the doctor gave me, that ought to help Bumpus. "

"Was it meant for ant bites, Thad, do you know?" asked the victim, as heallowed his comrades to urge him along slowly; while he rubbed, firstone part of his person, and then another, as the various swellings stungin succession. 

"Well, he really said it was to be used in case any of us got scratchedby a wild animal, and there was danger of poisoning; but it strikes meit would be a good antiseptic, he called it, in this case. "

Having reached the spot where Bob White still faithfully stood guardover their few belongings, Thad hurriedly threw open his bundle, andtook out a little package carefully wrapped up. It contained rolls ofsoft white linen to be used for bandages in case of need; adhesiveplaster, also in small rolls; and a few common remedies such as camphor, arnica, and the like, intended for ailments boys may invite whenovereating, or partaking too freely of green apples. 

"Here it is, " he remarked, holding up a small bottle. 

"How purple it looks, " observed Davy Jones, curiously; "and what's thison the label, here. 'Permaganate of Potash, No. 6; to be painted on thescratch; and used several times if necessary. ' That's Doc. Philander'swriting, sure. "

"It looks pretty tough, " commented Giraffe. 

"The remedy is sometimes worse than the disease, they say, " remarkedSmithy. 

"You don't think it'll hurt much, do you, Thad?" asked the victim, trying to smile, but unable, on account of his swollen cheeks. 

"Not a bit, I understand, " came the reassuring reply. "Besides, I shouldthink that you wouldn't hold back, even if it did, Bumpus. You're in abad way, and I've just got to counteract that poison before your eyesclose up. "

"Go on, use the whole bottle if you want to, " urged the alarmed boy. 

"The only bad thing about it is that this stuff stains like fun, andyou'll be apt to look like a wild Indian for a day or two, " Thadobserved, as he started to apply the potash with a small camel's hairbrush brought for the purpose. 

"Little I care about that, so long as it does the business, " repliedBumpus; and so the amateur doctor continued to dab each bite with thelavender-colored fluid until the patient looked as though he might besome strange freak intended for a dime museum. 

Of course that was too much for the other boys. They snickered behindtheir hands, and presently broke out into a yell that awoke the echoes. Bumpus only nodded his head at them, for he was a very good-naturedfellow. 

"Laugh away and welcome, boys, " he remarked, grimly. "Feels betteralready, Thad, and if the stuff will only do the business I don't carewhat happens. Besides, the fellows must have their fun. But theywouldn't think it a joke if any of them had climbed up, looking for ahoney pot, and dropped through the rotten stuff that covered the hole inthe top of that stump. "

"Well, " said Step-hen, "if it had been our monkey, now. He'd have had agreat time climbing out; but Davy could have done it; he's more at homein a tree than on the ground. "

He said this because the Jones boy was as nimble as an ape when he foundan opportunity to show off his gymnastics; he dearly loved to hang froma limb by his toes, and carry on like a circus athlete or trapezeperformer. 

"Do we make a start now?" asked Bob White; "exactly fifteen minutesspent, suh, in rescuing our comrade in distress. "

"Are you able to walk with us, Bumpus?" asked Thad. 

"Oh! I guess I can amble along somehow, " responded the fat boy; "butplease detail a couple of scouts to keep near me, in case I begin toswell again. I'm sorry we haven't got a rope along; because I'd feelsafer if I had one wrapped around me right now. "

"Where's my campaign hat?" burst out Step-hen just then; "anybody seenit layin' around loose? I declare to goodness it's queer how _my_ thingsalways seem to disappear. I often think there must be some magic aboutit. "

"Huh! the only trouble is you never keep a blessed thing where itbelongs, " declared Davy, in scorn. "Now, there's Smithy, who goes tojust the opposite extreme; he's too particular, and wastes time, which atrue scout should never do. The rest of us try to be half-way decent;and you notice we seldom lose anything. There's your old hat right now, just where you flung it when we dropped down here. "

"Oh! thank you, Davy; perhaps I am just a little careless, as you say;but all the same it's funny how _my_ things always go. Hope, now, Idon't lose that splendid little aluminum compass I bought the other day, thinking that it might save me from getting lost in the woods sometime. "

"Oh! come along, old slow-poke, we're going to start There's Bumpustrying to screw his lips into a pucker right now, so he can blow thebugle. Ain't he got the grit, though, to attend to his business withthat swollen face?"

Presently, after the inspiring notes of the bugle had sounded, thepatrol once more took up its line of march. Each scout had his staff inhis hand, and carried a haversack on his back. Blankets they had none, for all those necessary things had been entrusted to the care of afarmer, whose route home from early market took him near the intendedcamping place on Lake Omega; a beautiful, if wild looking sheet of watersome miles in length, and situated about ten from Cranford town. 

Allan and Thad headed the procession that soon straggled in couplesalong the side of the dusty road. 

"What made you mention the name of Brose Griffin when you detailedNumber Four to remain at the camp?" asked Allan, who had evidently beenthinking about this same thing. 

"Well, " replied the scout-master, "it flashed into my mind that thesetough fellows might have dogged us up here, to play some of their trickson us when in camp; and that holding Bumpus was meant to draw the restoff, so they could run away with our haversacks, which they knew mustcontain lots of things we couldn't well get on without in camp. "

"Smithy couldn't if his hair brush and his little whisk broom weremissing, " declared Allan, with a chuckle. "Why, that boy seems to onlylive to fight against dirt. He's the most particular fellow I everknew. "

"Oh! wait and see how he gets over that before he's been a scout twomonths, " said Thad, also laughing. "Nothing like the rough and readylife in camp and on the march to cure a boy of being over-clean. He'dnever learn any different at home, you know, because his mother is thesame way, and brought him up pretty much like a girl. But he's reachedthe point now where the true boy nature is beginning to get the betterof that false pride. "

"But seriously, Thad, do you believe we'll see anything of Brose Griffinand his two shadows, Bangs and Hop?"

"I certainly hope we won't, " replied the other; "but you know what theyare; and I've been told that they went around asking all sorts ofquestions about where we intended to make our first camp-fire. Itwouldn't surprise me much if they did try to give us trouble. "

"What will we do if it happens that way?" asked Allan. 

"Defend ourselves, to be sure, " replied the scout-master, promptly, ashe gave a weed a snap with his staff that cut its top off neatly. 

"But scouts are not supposed to fight; that is one of the principles ofthe organization, " Allan remarked. 

"In a way you're right, " replied the other, slowly; "that is, no truescout will ever seek a fight; but there may be times when he has toenter into one in order to defend himself, or save a comrade from beingbadly hurt. You know the twelve rules we all subscribed to when wejoined the Silver Fox Patrol, Allan? Suppose you run them over rightnow?"

"Oh! that's easy, " laughed the second in command. "A scout must betrustworthy, loyal, helpful to others, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient to his superiors, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean andreverent. "

"Well, in order to be brave, and helpful to others, he may even have tofight; but he is expected only to resort to such extreme measures whenevery other means fail. And if those three roughs come playing theirjokes around our camp we'll try and speak decently with them first. Then, if that doesn't work, they'd better look out. "

The way Thad snapped his teeth shut when saying those last few wordstold what he would be apt to do if forced into the last ditch bycircumstances over which he had no control. 

"I hope we can coax Giraffe to quit trying to make fires all the time, "said Allan. "It's a dangerous thing to do in the woods. Why, up in Maineevery hunter has to employ a licensed guide just to make sure he doesn'tleave a camp-fire burning behind him when he breaks camp, which therising wind would scatter into the brush, so that valuable timber wouldbe burned, and heaps of damage done. I've stood my turn as a fire guardmyself in the Fall, and was hired by the State too. "

"Listen, would you?" said Thad, just then; "what do you suppose is thematter between Bumpus and Step-hen now? The chances are he's gone andlost something again and is accusing poor old Bumpus of taking it. Let'swait for them here, and settle the trouble. "

The two in question brought up the van of the trailing patrol. As theycame along Step-hen was venting his disgust as usual over the "mightyqueer way" _his_ things had of vanishing without anybody ever touchingthem. 

"What's gone now, Step-hen?" asked Thad, as they came up, stillwrangling. 

"Why, just to think, " called out Bumpus, "he says I never gave him backthat new compass of his, after he showed me how it worked, before westarted on this hike; and I say I did. As if I'd want to take his sillycompass, when I learned how to tell north from the mossy side of a tree, and the way the sun hangs out up there. "

"Well, I just can't find it on me anywhere, " complained Step-hen; "andas I remembered showing it to Bumpus, I thought he was setting up a gameon me by hiding it somewhere about him. He wouldn't let me look in hispack, either, you know. "

"Course I wouldn't!" cried the fat boy, indignantly; "because that'dlook like I half admitted the charge. Guess I know enough about law tounderstand that. Just you think real hard, Step-hen, and p'raps you'llremember where you put it; but don't throw it up at me, please. "

The other grumbled something, but made no further charge. From thesuspicious way in which he looked at Bumpus out of the corners of hiseyes, it was plain that his mind was far from convinced, and thatmissing compass would be apt to make trouble during the whole trip. 

CHAPTER IV. 

WHEN THE FIRE WAS KINDLED. 

"How are you feeling now, Bumpus?" asked Thad, some time later, as heonce more stopped to allow all the stragglers pull up; for some of theboys were beginning to look rather fagged, though they tried to hide thetelltale signs, being too proud to own up to any weakness that illbecame a scout. 

"Pretty ragged, to tell the truth, " replied the fat boy, who was puffingas he came along. "It ain't the poison I've absorbed in my system, somuch as a weakness that just makes me shiver all over. And Thad, I'vewalked this far before, and never felt like this, either. "

"Oh! I expected that you'd have that sort of a spell, " remarked theother. "You see, that tumble, and the shock of feeling something bitingyou, that was terrible because you were in the dark, must have givenyour nervous system a bad jolt. But keep up if you can, Bumpus. In alittle while now we'll be near the lake, and our first camp. "

"And just think of it, boys, what a roaring old fire we'll haveto-night, " spoke up Giraffe, craning his long neck to glance around thecircle that had gathered about the leader. 

"You'll just leave all that to me, Giraffe, " said the patrol leader, sternly. "Here we are about to get into our first camp, and begin totake up the duties all scouts ought to learn, so they can take care ofthemselves, and be of help to others in the woods. And let me tell you, the first camp-fire is too serious a thing for you to start it off-hand. So I positively forbid you to think of using a single match to-nightwithout permission. "

Giraffe shrank back, looking crushed. He had been building high hopes onhaving unlimited chances for carrying out his favorite diversion, onceaway from the restraints of civilization. But he must learn by degrees, possibly through sad experience, that a fire is just as terrible in thewilderness, once it gets beyond control, as in a settled community. Itis a good servant, but a very bad master. 

"How far is the lake from here, would you say, Thad?" asked Davy Jones. 

"Not over two miles, " was the reply. "You notice that the country isgetting wilder the further we go. And around Lake Omega they say itbeats everything, for you can't see a single house. "

"How does it come that this lake, lying so close to Cranford, has neverbeen visited by any of you fellows?" asked Bob White, who, being acomparative newcomer, like Allan and Thad, could not be supposed toknow as much about things as the rest of the scouts, who had been bornin Cranford, and brought up there. 

"Why, you see for a long time all this country up here was owned by arich man, who meant to make a game preserve out of it. He even had ahigh wire fence built around part of the tract, including the lake, andkept game keepers here, so nobody could get in to steal a single fish. But he died before he ever had a chance to finish the job; and his widowsold the ground to a lumber concern, that never cared a thing for game. Chances are there'll be some high old hunting around up here this Fall;and I'm going to get in on it if I can. "

It was Davy Jones who gave this information. He had a father who wassaid to be a very smart lawyer; and Davy bade fair to follow in hisfootsteps. At least, the boy was never asleep when anything was goingon; and he could easily subscribe to that scout injunction whichrequires that a boy keep his eyes and ears open, in order to learnthings the ordinary person would never see nor hear. 

Once more they took up the march, Bumpus being a little refreshed fromthe halt. A couple of the other fellows kept near him from now on, andeven linked arms with the fat boy, who was universally well liked onaccount of his disposition being sunny, no matter whether in fairweather or in storm. 

Along about four in the afternoon a shout arose. 

"I see water ahead!" yelled Giraffe, who had managed to get in ahead ofthe others. 

"Well, with that neck you ought to be able to see anything, " called outBumpus, from further back in the line. 

"I guess I could see whether a bee went into a hole in a stump, or justswung past, " retorted the other. "But there's your lake, fellows; andwe're right close up on the same, now. Just look through that opening inthe trees; see the sun shining on the little waves. Say, don't it lookfine, though? Talking about fires--but that'll keep, " as he saw thepatrol leader turn his eyes quickly upon him. 

Every one felt like quickening his pace, even the weary Bumpus. Step-henseemed especially solicitous about the welfare of his stout comrade, forhe kept hovering near him, offering to lend his arm, or do any otherkindly act. Bumpus eyed him a little suspiciously, as though he had anidea the other might have some dark motive in being so extra kind. 

"See here, Step-hen, " he declared once, when the other slipped an armthrough his and helped him on his way; "I reckon you're thinking that ifyou're good to me I'll own up to taking that beastly little compass ofyours, eh? Well, just get that notion out of your head, won't you?Because I ain't goin' to confess to something I never did. And don't yousay compass to me again, hear?"

"Oh! never mind, " said Step-hen, very sweetly, for him, and with acurious smile that made the fat boy uneasy; "of course if you say youdidn't keep it, there must be some mistake; only it seems mighty funnyhow _my_ things are always disappearing, and the rest of you get offscot free. But don't bother about it, Bumpus; sure the thing is bound toturn up somewhere. Only I hope I find it before I go and get lost in theforest. I always was afraid of that, you know. I'll try and forget allabout compasses. Here, lean on me a little harder if you want to. Iain't tired a whit, and can stand it. "

But Bumpus was able to walk alone. Truth to tell he fancied Step-hen wastrying to frisk him all over, as if endeavoring to locate the positionof some object that might feel like the missing compass. 

"There's the stuff the farmer brought, fellows!" said Thad, presently. 

It had been dumped alongside the road at a certain place marked by thetwo who had come up here on a spying trip beforehand. Each boy took whathe could carry, and in this way the entire equipment was carried down toa camp site on the shore of the splendid body of water known as LakeOmega. 

"That word Omega means the end, don't it?" said Davy Jones, as theystarted to put up one of the two tents, and gather the provisions, blankets, cooking utensils and such things together. 

"I hope it won't be the end of any of us, " chuckled Giraffe, who hadbeen casting furtive looks around, as if searching for an ideal spot onwhich he hoped the first camp-fire would be built. 

"Well, every fellow who doesn't know how to swim has got to get busy, and learn the first thing, " said the patrol leader, looking towardSmithy meaningly. 

"Oh! I want to know how, Thad, believe me, " returned that worthy, earnestly. "My mother doesn't believe any fellow should go near thewater until he knows how to swim; but how could he ever learn in thatcase, I'd like to know?"

"Fix himself up in a tree, and strike out!" suggested Davy, to whom atree appealed very frequently as the first way out of any trouble. 

"Now, you're away off there, suh, " broke in Bob White, smiling; "heshould immediately proceed to get in touch with one of those schoolsthat teach everything through the mails; and take his dives off thedining-room table. "

It was at least satisfying to see how, under the management of the twoexperienced leaders, Thad and Allan, the tents were soon raised. Thenseveral of the boys were set to work digging around the upper halfoutside the canvas. 

"What's all this for, Mr. Scout-Master?" asked Smithy, as he laid an oldnewspaper on the ground to kneel on, and began digging away with thehatchet; having actually drawn on a pair of new working gloves made ofcanvas, in order to keep his hands from getting soiled. 

"Why, in case of a sudden and heavy rain, we'd be in danger of having aflood rush through the tents if we didn't make this gutter or sluice tothrow it off. Notice that it's on the upper side only. And while you'refinishing here, boys, Allan and myself will make the stone fireplacewhere we expect to do pretty much all our cooking. The big camp-fire isanother thing entirely, and we'll let you all have a hand in buildingthat of logs and brush. "

So they constructed a long fireplace of stones easily found along theshore of the lake; it looked a little like a letter V, in that one endwas wider than the other. And across the smaller end a stone was placedas a support for the coffee-pot which would occupy a position in thatquarter, the frying-pan needing considerably more room. 

Taking pattern from this first fireplace some of the other scouts, ambitious to try their hand at making such a useful adjunct to camplife, fashioned a second one close by. For the patrol was to be dividedinto two sections, when the matter of cooking was concerned. 

The sun was sinking low behind the hills when the matter of supper wasagitated. Giraffe was calling for something to stay the terrible senseof hunger he declared was making him feel weak. This thing of not beingable to sneak into the home pantry between meals was already giving himtrouble; and evidently Giraffe would have to lay in a greater stock whenthe regular chance arose, or else go hungry. 

Finally, however, those who did the cooking on this first night, Thadand Allan they chanced to be, announced that the meal was ready. So, tocarry out the idea of being under rules and regulations, the bugler wastold to sound the assembly call, though every member of the patrolhovered close by, ready to fall to with the eagerness of half famishedwolves. 

Then came the job of making ready for their first camp-fire. That was amatter of such tremendous importance in the eyes of all that everyfellow had to share in bringing the fuel, and helping to stack it, according to the directions of Allan. 

No one worked with greater eagerness than Giraffe. He was fairly wild tosee the red flames dancing upward, and the sparks sailing off on thefaint night air, as though they carried messages from the camp of theBoy Scouts to some distant port unseen from that lower world. 

And when finally all was ready, the young scout-master after groupinghis followers around the heap, solemnly took a brand from one of thecooking fires, and with a flourish applied it to the inflammable tinder. Immediately the crackling flames shot up through the stuff prepared, andin another minute there arose a brilliant pyramid of fire that causedthe neighboring trees to stand out like red ghosts. And then arose ashout from eight lusty young throats, as the Silver Fox Patrol dancedaround the first camp-fire of their new organization. 

That was an event long to be remembered, and to be written down in theannals of the outing with becoming ceremony. 

CHAPTER V. 

AN UNINVITED GUEST. 

What a truly glorious hour that was, as those eight lads sat around thesplendid camp-fire, chatting, asking questions, and giving information, as it happened they were able. 

Of course Thad and Allan were usually called upon to explain thethousand and one things connected with woods life, as yet sealedmysteries to those of the patrol who were experiencing their very firstcamping out. 

Some of the other six had doubtless made fires in the woods after afashion, and possibly tried to cook fish over the same, with poorsuccess. Bob White admitted that he had often been in the mountains withsome of the men who worked on his father's place, and had spent lots ofnights afoot in the Blue Ridge; so that he could not really be called a"tenderfoot scout. "

But Bumpus and Smithy were very green; Davy Jones knew but little more;and as for Step-hen and Giraffe, they would not commit themselves, watching every move the leaders made, as though hoping to pick upinformation in this way that could be used at another time, and whichwould stamp them as real woodsmen. 

To all appearances Bumpus had entirely forgotten all about hissuspicions toward Step-hen. Malice he could not harbor any great lengthof time toward any one, his nature being too broad and forgiving. 

But in the midst of an earnest discussion between several of the scoutson the subject of Indian picture writing, which it is recommended allscouts should learn as a very useful and interesting means forcommunicating with companions who may be late on the road, Bumpus gaveout a roar. 

"Hey! guess you think my eyes got closed up by that swelling, didn'tyou, Step-hen Bingham? Now, whatever are you sneaking my knapsack offlike that, for? Want to search it, perhaps, to see if that old compassyou left behind could a got in there? Well, you put it back right away;and keep your hands off my property, or I'll complain to thescout-master, see if I don't. What would I want your compass for, tellme that?"

"I thought you might have hid it just to tease me, Bumpus, " grumbled thedetected one, as he hastened to hang the bag back where he had found it. 

"All right, " returned Bumpus, falling back lazily, again; "you don'tchoose to accept my word for it when I say I ain't got it; and so youcan take it out any old way you want. But don't you bother me againabout that compass, hear?"

Some of the boys began in due time to yawn, at first slily; and then asthey saw others openly gaping, they forgot to hide it behind their hand. 

"Pretty near time we thought of making up our beds, ain't it?" inquiredGiraffe; who secretly wondered how he was ever going to tear himselfaway from sitting there, his hands clasped around his shins, andadmiring that magnificent sight of the fire eating up the dry fuel thatwas fed to it in liberal doses. 

"Yes, after I've gone the rounds, to see how well our stock ofprovisions has been protected, " replied the scout-master, getting uponhis feet. 

"We've got it stowed pretty much in the two tents, suh, " remarked BobWhite, to whom this particular duty had been detailed. 

"Think any wild animal might try and raid the camp, and get away withsome of our grub?" asked Bumpus, a little uneasily. 

"Oh! hardly that, " laughed Thad; "but one of the duties of a scout isnever to just take things for granted. He must be wise enough to makeprovision against any ordinary happening that might come about. In otherwords he insures his stock of provisions like a sensible merchant doeshis goods. He doesn't expect to have a fire, you know; but he wants tobe sure he won't be ruined if one does come. "

"Huh! he'd have to pay a pretty big premium on insurance if it was knownthat Step-hen Bingham was around, then, " remarked Davy, meaningly. 

"I'm going to tell you more about that picture writing another time, fellows, " Allan remarked, as he proceeded to get his blanket out of thepile, and fold it double, just as he wanted it. "You'll say it's a finething too. Perhaps we can get a chance to try it out at the time we senda good swimmer over to the island in the lake, to signal with the flagsand looking-glass. "

The rest of the boys immediately busied themselves with their blanketstoo; for when in camp they are pretty much like a flock of sheep, andwill follow their leader, or bell-wether, without questioning. 

Presently a cry arose, and it came from Davy Jones. 

"Say, look at that Smithy, would you; bless me if he ain't got some_white sheets_, and a regular nightgown. Now, what dye think of that, fellows? Are we going to allow such sissy goings-on in this, our firstcamp? He'd hoodoo the whole business, sure. No luck with such baby play. Use the sheets for towels when we go in swimming; I've got an extra pairof pajamas along, that I'll lend him, if he promises to be a true scout, ready to rough and ready it in camp. Next thing he'll be pulling out anightcap to keep from getting cold!"

All of them were laughing by now. As for Smithy, he looked as if hecould not understand what all the fuss was about. 

"Why, I always sleep this way at home, " he stammered, as he glancedaround at his hilarious comrades. 

"Perhaps you do, " jeered Davy Jones, who could take hard knocks withoutany whimper; "but mother's darling boy ain't home right now. A truescout must learn to sleep in his blanket alone. An old boot will do fora pillow; and he won't ever want to be rocked to sleep either. Thebreeze will be his lullaby, and the blue canopy of heaven his coverlet. "

"Hurrah for you, Davy; that's as good a definition of what a Boy Scoutshould accustom himself to, as I ever heard. I didn't know you had it inyou to talk like that, " said Thad, warmly. 

"Oh! I got that out of a book, " declared Davy, frankly. 

"And Thad, do I have to give up these nice clean sheets; and crawl inbetween the folds of a nasty, rough, tickly blanket?" asked Smithy, pleadingly. 

"It will be just as well for you to begin right, Number Five, " said thescout-master, pleasantly but firmly. "Sooner or later, if you stick bythe Silver Fox Patrol, you've got to learn how to rough it. And if youthink enough of your fellow scouts to make this sacrifice, all thebetter. "

Without a word then, Smithy tossed the offending sheets across to Thad;and followed with his usual night apparel. 

"I'll take those pajamas, Davy; and thank you kindly for offering toloan them to me;" he said, bravely; but when the faded and somewhat tornnight suit was immediately handed over to him, the particular boy wasseen to shudder, as though they gave him a cold chill. 

Still, he proved to be true grit, and was soon donning them, so as tokeep up with the balance of the boys. Thad winked toward Allan, as muchas to say that he felt very much encouraged at the progress being madein the education of Edmund Maurice Travers Smith, the spoiled darling ofa weak mamma. 

"Mark my word for it, " he said in a low tone to his second in command;"with all his pink and white complexion, and girlish ways, there's themaking of a good scout in Smithy. Given a little time for him to getover the cruel shock these rough ways bring to his orderly system, andyou'll see a different sort of fellow spring up. The seed's there allright. And mamma's baby boy will turn into as sturdy and hardy a scoutas there is in the troop. "

Allan smiled, and nodded. Perhaps he did not have quite as much faith asthe young scout-master, because he may not have been as good a readerof character; but he realized that what Smithy had just done was asvaliant a thing for one of his nature as attacking a wildcat would befor another boy, built along different lines. For he was defying whathad threatened to become a part of his own being, and with grittingteeth trying to show himself a real flesh and blood boy for once. 

"When we're all ready, fellows, " remarked Thad, presently; "the buglerwill sound taps, and after that, see to it that all lights are out butthe camp-fire. I've fixed that so it will burn several hours; and onceor twice during the night Allan or myself will crawl out, to add somewood from the pile you heaped up here. Not that we need the heat, youunderstand; but there ought to be a lot of sentiment connected with afirst camp-fire; and the Silver Fox Patrol must never forget this one. All ready now?"

"Hold on!" called some one from inside the near tent; "I can't find partof my pajamas; and it'd be too cool to sleep with only half on. Nowain't it funny why it's always _my_ things that get taken? Just like Iwas going to be a target for all the fun that's going. "

"Of course it's that poor old careless Step-hen again, always throwinghis things around, and forgetting where he put 'em, " said Davy, in atone of disgust; then he took a peep inside, and burst out into a roarof laughter, adding: "Well, did I ever see such a crazy thing? Hi!fellows look here, and see him hunting around like fun for the lowerhalf of his pajamas, when they are trailing behind him right now, fastened to the shirt part; and he never got on to it. It's rightkilling, I declare. "

"How could I see behind me?" grumbled Step-hen, as he hastened to getinto the balance of his night outfit; "my eyes happen to be fixed infront; but some of you smart set may be able to see both ways. Allready, Mr. Scout-Master; let her go!"

The eight boys presented a comical appearance as they stood there, awaiting the sweet notes of the bugle sounding "taps;" for their pajamaswere of all sorts of patterns, from gay stripes to deep solid blues andreds. 

Thad gave one last look around, and picking up a lantern motioned toAllan to take charge of the other, so that at the last notes they could"douse the glim. "

Then he turned toward the stout bugler, clad in the gayest suit of all, and looking like "a rolypoly pudding, " as one of the other boysdeclared. 

"Now!" called out the patrol leader, in a tone of authority. 

So the official bugler raised the instrument to his swollen lips, gameto do his duty; and started to put his whole soul into the thrillingscore that, heard at a late hour of the night, always brings with it afeeling of intense admiration. 

He had just uttered the first few notes when they saw him suddenly whirlaround in consternation, and at the same time point with the bugle, ashe shrieked:

"Oh! look! look what's coming in on us, fellows!"

"It's a bear!" whooped Davy Jones, making a bee-line for the nearesttree, just as might have been expected of such a gymnast. 

And Thad, with one look, realized that there was no laughing matterabout it; because it was a sure-enough bear that walked into their campon his hind feet!

CHAPTER VI. 

THE DANCING BEAR. 

The excited announcement made by Davy Jones was instantly succeeded bysuch a mad scramble as those boys had certainly never witnessed beforein all their lives. Indeed, none of them saw more than a very smallproportion of the queer sights that took place, and for a very goodreason; because every single fellow was more concerned about reaching aplace of safety than anything else. 

Davy gained his tree in about five mad leaps, and the way he mounted upamong the convenient branches would have made a monkey turn green withenvy. There was Giraffe also, who had very good luck in picking out atree that offered easy stages for climbing, in that the branches beganfairly close to the ground. 

Thad and Allan just happened to choose the same resting-place, and metas they began to mount upward. Still, as they seemed to have forgottenan important engagement above, they did not stop to enter into anyconversation just then. There was no telling which one of the crowd theinvader might have selected for his victim, and each boy imagined thathe could feel the hot breath of the bear right at his bare heels. 

Some were not so fortunate. 

For example, poor Bumpus was having a perfectly dreadful time. He hadhad the advantage of sighting the bear first; but that did not go veryfar toward counteracting his unwieldy heft, and his clumsy way of alwaysfinding something to stumble over. 

True to his habits, Bumpus tripped over one of the guy ropes holding atent in taut shape. He rolled over with a howl of fright, fancying thatnow he was surely bound to become bear's meat; for you see poor Bumpushad considerable to learn about the woods animals, or he would haveknown that as a rule the American black bear lives on roots and nuts andberries, and bothers his head not at all about feasting on fat boys, such as a tiger might fancy. 

Bumpus, however, did not mean to just lie there, and let himself beeaten, not if he could do anything whatever to prevent such a vacancy inthe Hawtree family. As he struck the ground he began revolving rapidly. No doubt it was rather like a barrel rolling, for Bumpus was quiteround. 

This sort of thing quickly brought him up against the other tent. He hadnot meant to make for it, but as soon as his second or third revolutionbrought his clutching hands in contact with the canvas, Bumpus had abrilliant idea. It was not often that he could boast of such aninspiration; but then a fellow may even surprise himself when thenecessity is great. 

If he could only tear away one or two of the loops that were fastened toground stakes, what was to hinder him from pushing his way into thetent, and possibly hiding under some of the blankets?

Eagerly he jerked at the nearest one; and fortunately it seemed to be atrifle loose, for it came free in his hands. But try as he would hefailed to budge the next stake, which had taken a firm hold. 

In a panic, when he saw the walking bear still drawing nearer, poorBumpus managed to push his legs under the lower rim of the tightlystretched canvas. Only the lower half of him could find admittance; thebalance was of such larger girth that in spite of his frantic labor hecould not push under the tent. 

There he lay, one half of him safe, and the other exposed to all theperil. He dropped his face on the grass. Perhaps it was to shut out theterrible sight; or it may have been that Bumpus was like the foolishostrich, which, upon being hotly chased, will thrust its head into atuft of grass, and imagine itself hidden from the foe simply because itcannot see anything. 

The others? Well, the boy from the Blue ridge proved himself no meansprinter when a real live bear threatened to embrace him; for he hadmanaged to clamber up a tree with more or less difficulty, and was eventhen astride a limb. 

There was Step-hen on the other side of the same friendly oak, breathinghard, and casting frequent looks aloft, as though considering whether itmight not be a wise thing to mount upward, so as not to attract theattention of the bear towards himself. 

Smithy was perhaps almost as badly frightened as Bumpus, only he did notmeet with the series of mishaps that befell the fat boy. 

Like the balance of the covey the "particular" boy made a bee-line forthe tree that happened to catch his eye by the light of the camp-fire. Had any of his chums thought to observe the movements of Smithy theywould have discovered that for once he did not even think of stopping tobrush his hair, or pick his steps. Barefooted as he was, he dashed overthe intervening ground, and hugged the trunk of his tree with a zealthat spoke well for his activity. 

And now they were all securely seated in various attitudes, breathinghard, and gazing at the invader with various emotions. Some still hadtheir hearts going after the fashion of trip-hammers; others werebeginning to see the funny side of the affair, and chuckle a little, even though confessing that they too had been more or less alarmed atthe unexpected call of Bruin. 

Of course Allan and Thad belonged to this latter class, partly becausethey were built a little differently from their comrades in the SilverFox Patrol; and also on account of previous experiences along this line. 

The Maine boy had come from a State where bears are plentiful; perhaps, now, it may not have been the first time in his life that AllanHollister had found himself chased by one of the hairy tribe. 

All this, which has taken so long to describe, really happened in a bareminute of time. When Thad reached a safe perch on a friendly limb, andlooked around at the strange fruit those neighboring trees had suddenlytaken to bearing, it was really little wonder that he felt likelaughing. Some were clad in red, others blue; while a few had the gayeststripes running in circles or lengthwise throughout their pajamas. 

What was this to a hungry bear? Absolutely nothing; and doubtless theinvader of the first camp of the Boy Scouts saw little that appearedhumorous in the situation. He had entered in a friendly way, expectingto be treated to a supper; and here his intended hosts had fled wildly, as though they feared lest he meant to make a meal of them. 

Strange enough, no doubt Bruin thought, if he was capable of thinking atall. He still remained standing on his hind feet, and turning his headfrom one side to the other, thrusting out his nose in an odd way, asthough he might be sniffing the air in order to locate the place wherethe food was kept. 

It began to strike Thad as really comical, now that his own little panicwas in the past. He also noticed certain things that had not appealed tohim before, no doubt chiefly because he was too busy at the time to payattention. 

But fancy the horror of poor Bumpus when, raising his head presently, consumed by a horrible fascination he could not control, he actually sawthe bear _looking straight at him_! That settled it, and he just knewthat the savage beast had already picked him out as a tender morsel. Oh!why was he so unlucky as to be born to plumpness? If only he could bemore like the skinny Giraffe, or Step-hen, perhaps this awful beastwould have passed him by. 

He let out a roar as he saw the bear start toward him another step, moving his forepaws as though growing anxious to embrace him. 

"Keep away! Just you try to get one of them other fellows! They're theones you want, not me, I tell you. Scat! Get out!"

But the bear only advanced still another half hesitating step, andBumpus, unable to look longer, wriggled vainly in the endeavor towithdraw within the shelter of the tent, and then dropped his face tothe earth again. 

He believed that his time had come, and he might as well be saying hisprayers before he made a late supper for a wild bear. 

About this time a glimmer of the truth began to work in upon Thad'sbrain. He realized in the first place that no ordinary bear of the wildwoods would act in this remarkable fashion. No doubt, had it venturedinto the camp at all, it would have come on all four legs, "woofing" itsdispleasure that human beings had disturbed the loneliness of itshaunts. 

And by the way, as a rule wild bears were not in the habit of goingaround dangling chains behind them, which was just what he discoveredthis animal did. He had heard the peculiar jangling sound as the beastfirst rushed the camp; but at the time was hardly stopping toinvestigate its cause. 

And perhaps that was why Allan was laughing to himself, rather thanbecause of the queer looks of the party perched in the surroundingtrees. He had already guessed the truth. 

But the situation afforded no comfort to those other boys who stared, and wondered what under the sun they could do if the creature selectedtheir tree to climb. Most of them were trying to remember whether bearsreally did climb trees or not; and hoping that because this one seemeddifferent from the common black American bear, he might not be able todo much in that line. 

He still stood there, erect, sniffing to the right and to the left. Why, now that Thad had guessed the secret, he could see something almostpitiful in the begging attitude of the poor bear. No doubt the animalwas very hungry, and did not know how to go about finding his own meals, he had been accustomed to having them brought to him in the shape ofhunks of bread or such things, most of his life. 

Thad had a sudden brilliant idea. He saw a chance to have a little fun, and give his frightened companions an opportunity to further expresstheir surprise. 

When poor Bumpus tried to escape in such a clumsy fashion that hetripped over the stretched guy rope of a tent, he had let go his belovedbugle. What was music to a fellow when his existence hung in thebalance. He could get another horn, but never another life. 

Thad had by chance discovered the shining bugle even while on his way tothe friendly tree, and had snatched it up; mechanically perhaps, for hecould not have entertained any fear lest the bear would swallow such athing. 

At any rate he had it in his possession right then, and being able toplay a little, he put it to his lips and trilled a few bars of a dittythat sounded like a queer sort of a waltz. And to the utter amazement ofhis companions the bear immediately started to tread a lively measurewith his two hind feet, extending his shorter forepaws as thoughholding a pole. 

In future years no doubt the thought of that strange picture would neverappeal to Thad Brewster without exciting his laughter; for it wascertainly one of the most comical things that could be imagined. 

CHAPTER VII. 

SMITHY DID IT. 

"Oh! would you look at him waltzing!" cried Giraffe. 

"He's turning around and around, like a real dancing bear!" echoedStep-hen; and then, still feeling a little malicious toward poor Bumpus, whom he really believed was hiding his precious compass, just to annoyhim, he could not help adding: "he feels so good, because he sees hisdinner all ready for him under the flap of that tent there. "

That brought out another whoop from Bumpus, who felt impelled to raisehis head once more, even though it gave him renewed pain. 

"Oh! now I know what it all means!"

It was Smithy who uttered this cry, and drew the attention of all hischums toward the tree where the boy in the borrowed pajamas sat astridea limb, just like all the rest, and which he had certainly never stoppedto brush off with his handkerchief before occupying, either. 

"Have you seen the beast before, Smithy?" asked the scout-master, ceasing his little racketty waltz; which caused the bear to once morestand at attention, waiting for the piece of bread that usually cameafter he had performed his little trick; and still sniffing hungrilyaround this way and that. 

"That's what I have, Thad, " replied the other, eagerly. "Why he camepast our house only a few days ago, and gave us quite a performance. Imade friends with him too, and the man let me even give him some bread Ibrought out. "

"Sure he did, and glad in the bargain to have some fellow help keep hisshow bear, " Allan remarked, half laughing still. 

"Hey, Smithy, suppose you climb down right now then, and renew youracquaintance with the ugly old pirate!" sang out Davy Jones. 

"And there's half a loaf of that stale bread wrapped in a newspaper, left right where you c'n put your hand on it, inside the tent whereBumpus is kicking his last. You're welcome to feed it to the bear, Smithy. "

It was Step-hen who made this magnificent announcement; how easy it wasto think up things for some one else to do, while he clung to his safeanchorage up there among the branches of the beech tree. 

"Only half a loaf, remember, " put in the cautious and always hungryGiraffe; "we don't want to run short too early in the game; and there'sa lot of meals to be looked after yet. "

"Somebody's got to do something, that's sure, " remarked Bob White. "Thisnight air is some cool to a fellow with my warm Southern blood; and Igive you my word, suh, I'm beginning to shiver right now. "

"And if we don't think up some way to coax the beast to get out, "declared Step-hen, gravely; "why, just as like as not he'll eat upeverything we've got, and then go to sleep in our blankets, with ushanging around here like a lot of ripe plums. "

"Let Davy do it, " remarked Thad; for that was an expression often usedamong the boys, Davy being such a spry chap, and usually so willing. 

But he at once set up a determined protest. 

"Now, I would, believe me, boys, if I only knew the gentleman, which Idon't, never having been properly introduced. Must have been out of townwhen he gave his little show the other day. So I respectfully but firmlydecline the honor you want to pay me. Now, it's sure up to Smithy to getbusy, and make up with his old chum again. Here's his chance to winimmortal glory, and the thanks of the whole Silver Fox Patrol as well. Smithy, it's your move. "

The delicate boy was pale before, but he turned even whiter now, as helooked in the direction of Thad. 

"Perhaps I _might_ coax him to be good; and get a chance to whip the endof that long chain around a tree, " he said, in a voice he tried in vainto keep from trembling. 

Thad hardly knew what to say. He understood that animals never forget anenemy, or one who has been good to them. An elephant in captivity hasbeen known to bear a grudge for several years, until a good chance cameto pay his debt. 

Now Smithy said he had fed the traveling bear at the time it danced forhis amusement. Doubtless, then, it might recollect him, and would beless inclined to show any vicious temper if he approached, than should astranger try to take hold of the trailing chain. 

"You said you had fed him, didn't you, Smithy?" he asked. 

"Yes, with half a loaf of good bread; and I would have gone after moreonly just at that minute my mother happened to come to the window, andbecame so frightened at seeing me near the bear, she called to me tocome in the house. But I shook hands with him before I went, " the lastproudly, as though he wanted the boys to know he was not the milksopthey sometimes had imagined in the past. 

"And do you think he would remember you?" continued Thad, only halfconvinced that he ought to let the other take the risk; though therereally seemed no other way out of the difficulty that promised one-halfas good chances. 

"Oh! I'm sure he would, he acted so very friendly. Please let me tryit, Thad. I really want to; and see, I'm not afraid at all; only I dowish I had my shoes on, for the hard ground hurts my feet. I never wentbarefooted before in all my life. "

"Oh! let him try the trick, Thad, " called out Davy; "I'm getting cold, too. This here private box is full of draughts you see; and my attire isso very airy. Blankets are what I want most right now. Give Smithy achance to show what he can do in the wild beast taming line. "

"It'll sure be the making of him, " echoed Step-hen cheerfully, from hisperch. 

"But perhaps a quarter of a loaf would do just as well; I'd try it onhim if I was you, Smithy, " suggested Giraffe; who groaned to think ofall that good food being wasted on a miserable traveling show bear thathad strayed into camp. 

"All right, if you feel confident, Smithy;" said Thad; "but watch himclose; and if he makes a move as if he wanted to grab you, shin out forthe tree again. We'll all stand by, ready to give a yell, so as to scarehim off. "

Bumpus was staring at all this amazing procedure. Slowly the fact hadbegun to filter through the rather sluggish brain of the fat boy thatafter all fate had not decided to offer him as a tempting bait to whetthe appetite of a bear. He even began to pluck up a little bit of hopethat Smithy might succeed in chaining the ugly old terror to a tree, and thus saving his, Bumpus' life. 

When the delicate boy started to scramble down out of his leafy bowerthe others tried to encourage him in various ways. 

"Good boy, Smithy!" cooed Step-hen. 

"You've certainly got more grit than any fellow in the bunch; and I takeoff my hat to you, suh!" cried the Southern boy, making a movement withhis hand as if in salute. 

"Try the quarter loaf, Smithy; you'll find it just where Step-hen said, inside the tent where Bumpus is hanging out, " Giraffe called. 

"Only half-way out, " corrected that party; and then ducked his head ashe saw that his voice had attracted the attention of the bear. 

So Smithy dropped to the ground. Thad saw that he was fearfully whiteabout the face, and was half tempted to recall him; but had an ideaSmithy would refuse to obey, now that he had resolved to prove hisvalor, which must have been more or less doubted in the past. 

The tall, slim boy started walking toward the tent where Bumpus wasconfined, unable to go or come, so tightly had he become wedged underthe canvas. 

They saw the bear had become greatly interested. Watching the movementsof the boy in the borrowed pajamas he made some sort of pitiful soundthat was not unlike a groan. Evidently mealtimes had been a long waysapart lately for Bruin; but he seemed to understand that the boy hadgone to secure him something. 

The short forelegs began to beat imaginary time, and the bear started toagain tread that queer measure, turning slowly around and around as hecontinued to follow out the line of discipline to which he had beenbrought up. 

He was really begging for something to stay the pangs of hunger. 

Meanwhile Smithy, though doubtless shivering like a leaf, had reachedthe open flap of the tent. Passing inside his eyes quickly found thehalf loaf of bread wrapped in a newspaper. And seizing it he tore thecover away, after which he once more appeared in view. 

As he now advanced, slowly yet eagerly, in the direction of the dancingbear, he held out the bait, and began to softly call, just as he hadheard one of the two keepers of the bear do:

"Bumpus! Bumpus, good boy! here supper for Bumpus!"

"Hey, quit calling him by my name, " said the fat boy, indignation evenmaking him forget his recent fear. 

But Smithy paid not the least attention to him. He was advancing, repeating the name over and over; and trying the best he knew how tospeak in tones resembling the thick voice of the man who had held thechain at the time the animal danced for him. 

So he presently came close to the bear, which had now ceased dancing, and was thrusting out his nose toward the coveted bread, while making aqueer noise. Not a fellow among the scouts moved so much as a littlefinger. Every eye was glued on the form of Smithy, and doubtless morethan one of them really wondered while thus holding his breath insuspense, if the starving beast would actually seize upon the boy whocame offering gifts. 

"Oh! he took it!" gasped Step-hen. 

"And it was the whole of that half loaf too, " added Giraffe, with a sighof regret. 

"The chain, quick! Smithy; there's a small tree right by you that oughtto hold him! That's the way! Hurrah for you, Smithy; he's done it, boys;and you can drop down now without being afraid, " and Thad followed thewords by allowing himself to leave the branches of his tree, landingsoftly on the ground. 

Loud shouts attested to the delight of the other prisoners, when thedelicate and pampered boy snatched up the end of the long and strongchain, bringing it around the tree Thad mentioned, and apparentlylocking it securely. After which Smithy staggered away from the spot, and sank down upon the ground, trembling and weak from the great nervousstrain under which he had been laboring. 

The shouts turned into cheers, and Smithy's name was given three and atiger; so that the racket made even the hungry bear look wonderingly atthe fantastic group that took hold of hands, and danced around the heroof the hour. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

A NIGHT TO BE REMEMBERED. 

"Are you sure that chain will hold, Smithy?" asked the still nervousStep-hen, when some of the noise and enthusiasm had died away, so thatthe scouts could act like reasonable human beings again. 

They had dodged into the tents, and appeared wrapped in their variousblankets; so that as they walked to and fro they resembled so manysolemn Indian braves. 

"No question about it, " returned the other, in whose cheeks a splash ofcolor had come, while his eyes were sparkling with satisfaction over thereceipt of honors such as any Boy Scout should be proud to deserve ofhis fellows. 

"Hey! ain't you goin' to help me out of this?" called Bumpus just then. 

"Well, would you ever, if he ain't sticking there under that tent, toolazy to help himself crawl out again, " remarked Step-hen; possiblywondering whether this might not be a good opportunity for him to sneakoff with that knapsack belonging to Bumpus, so that he could secure thecompass he was positive the fat boy was hiding from him. 

"Yes, I _am_ stuck here, and so tight I just can't hardly breathe, "complained the prisoner. "Somebody go inside, and give me a shove. Ifthat don't do the business, then another of these here pegs has got tobe lifted, that's all. "

Allan obliged the other with a helping hand, and Bumpus was soon able todon his blanket like the rest. Sleep had been banished for the timebeing, by this remarkable happening. The boys began to speculate as towhat they should do with the bear, now that they had him tied up. 

"It's sure a white elephant we've got on our hands, " laughed Thad. "Wedon't dare let him loose; and if we keep him here long, he'll eat us outof house and home. "

At that Giraffe groaned most dismally. If there was anything he hated tosee it was good food being tossed to the beasts. 

"Our first camp-fire brought us bad luck, fellows!" he complained. 

"Oh! I don't know, " remarked Thad. "It gave us a run for the money; andchances are, we'll never get over laughing at the funny things thathappened. Then besides think what it did for Smithy! After what he did Iguess there isn't a scout who will ever taunt him about being a coward. "

"No, Smithy certainly made good this night; and I pass him up awayahead of me on the roll. He deserves a merit badge, suh, for his truegrit, " was what the generous Southern lad declared firmly. 

"Hear! hear! we'll put in an application to Headquarters for a badge tobe given to our comrade Smithy for saving our bacon!" cried Davy Jones. 

"Well, " declared Giraffe, "it might have been our bacon, in fact;because I saw him sniffing in the direction of the tent where it happensto be lying. A fine lot of scouts we'd be, camped away up here, far fromour base of supplies, and to run out of bacon the first thing. What's abreakfast without coffee and bacon; tell me that?"

But apparently none of the others were so much given to thinking aboutthe delights of eating as Giraffe, for nobody answered his question. 

Thad had pulled Allan aside. 

"What did I tell you about that boy?" he whispered, as he watched theemotions that flitted across the now flushed face of the proud Smithy, receiving the homage of his fellow scouts. 

"Well, you were right, that's all; he did have the pluck as you said, and he showed it too. I never saw a better piece of grit, never, " wasthe reply the Maine boy gave to the question. 

"His mother and aunts may have done their level best to make a sissy outof him; and we always believed they had come mighty near doing it too;but I tell you, Allan, I just feel sure that his father or grandfathermust have been a brave soldier in their day. There's warrior blood inSmithy's veins, in spite of his pale face, and his girlish ways. "

"Oh! it won't take long for him to get rid of all those things, " saidthe other, confidently. "Already we've seen him accept that tattered oldpair of pajamas from Davy Jones; either of us might have hesitated toput 'em on, because of the laugh they'd raise. I think Davy only fetchedthem along to get a rise from the boys. Smithy is all right, Thad. Givena few months with us, and his mother won't know her darling angeliclittle boy. "

"Say, Thad, " sang out Step-hen just then; "what d'ye reckon could havehappened to the fellers that own the bear? We've been talking it over, and no two think alike. Some say they got tired feeding the beast, andturned him loose on the community, to browse off poor scouts, campingout for the first time. Then others got the notion that p'raps somehobos might have stopped the show foreigners, and took their money, letting the bear shuffle off by himself. "

"We'll just have to take it out in guessing, and let it go at that, " wasthe reply Thad made. "You see, we haven't anything to go by. The bearwasn't carrying any message fastened to his collar, or anything of thesort that I could see. "

"Now you're joking, Thad; the only message he had about him was a hungryone, and it showed on his face and in the way he begged, " Bob Whiteremarked. 

"But, oh! dear me, don't I hope then that the two foreign chaps are hoton the trail of their lost performing pet; and will show up here brightand early to-morrow morning; for just think what an immense stack ofprecious grub that bear can put away inside of forty-eight hours. "

Nobody but Giraffe could have had a thought along these lines. 

"Well, he's tired as all get-out now, it seems, " said Step-hen; "forthere he's lying down like he meant to go to sleep in the shadow of thattree. Makes himself right at home, I must say. I reckon he likes us, fellows. "

"Please don't say that, Step-hen; it makes me nervous, " remarked Bumpus, wrapping his blanket around him after the way an ancient Roman might histoga, as if, in spite of its warmth, he had started shivering again, asthe significant words of Step-hen awakened unpleasant thoughts in hisnow active mind. 

"But how about appointing a sentry to stay on guard during the night?"suggested Giraffe, turning to the scout-master. 

"What for?" asked Thad, winking at Allan. 

"To watch that he don't get loose, and spread himself at our expense, "the other explained. "Why, if that bear overfed, and killed himself, those foreign men'd be just awful mad, fellows. I wouldn't be surprisednow, if they tried to make us pay a big sum for letting the old sinnerfeed on our rich truck. Sometimes these educated animals are worth aheap. "

"Oh! you c'n watch all you're a mind to, Giraffe, " jeered Step-hen; "therest of us want some sleep. Be sure and shoo him away if he does breakloose, and try to wreck our cooking department. I'm going to hunt for asoft spot right now inside this tent. Don't anybody dare to wake me upbefore the sun shows again. "

With that he started to crawl under the flap of the tent. His action wasthe signal for a general disappearance, as the boys remembered again, now that the excitement was a thing of the past, that they were bothtired and sleepy. 

Thad was the last in sight. He wanted to stroll over in the direction ofthe uninvited guest; and if the bear remained quiet, he meant to examinefor himself just how securely Smithy had made the chain. 

No one could question his intentions; but then at the time Smithy wasworked up to a degree that might excuse some bungling. 

The bear was lying down. He raised his head and made that queer sniffingsound when Thad approached, as though possibly anticipating anotherfeed. Thad spoke to the beast in a low, soothing tone, as he used hisfingers to ascertain just how the end of the chain was fastened. 

Smithy had done his work in a business-like way, in spite of tremblinghands. There was a little metal bar which was intended to slip throughan extra strong ring, that in turn was connected with one of the links. This being done the bear would be held securely, unless through someaccident the ring and bar parted company, which might not happen once ina year's time. 

So Thad, quite satisfied, left the shady tree under which the prisonerhad stretched his hairy form, and returned to the vicinity of the fire. Here he busied himself for a little while, fixing things so that therewould be no necessity for any one attending the camp-fire during severalhours at least; indeed, the big back log would doubtless last untilmorning, smouldering hour after hour. 

Giving one last look around, and quite satisfied with the arrangement ofthis, the first camp of the newly organized Silver Fox Patrol ofCranford Troop of Boy Scouts, Thad finally followed the example of hischums, crawling under the flap of the tent, which he left up forventilation. 

He found three fellows apparently already far gone in sleep, if he couldjudge from their steady and heavy breathing. 

So Thad, chuckling to himself as some humorous thought flitted throughhis mind, settled down to join them in dreamland. He knew no reason whyhe should deny himself the rest he sorely needed. There was no dangerhovering over the camp that he was aware of; the bear was securelyfastened, and apparently content to take up regular lodgings again withhuman companions; and the fire could not communicate to any dry brush orgrass, so as to cause an alarm. 

And on this account Thad gave himself up to the pleasure of securing hisfull measure of sleep, intending to awaken inside of, say three hours, when he could creep softly out, to throw a fresh log on the camp-fire, without disturbing any one. 

The last sounds he remembered hearing consisted of a crackling of theflames as they seized upon a particularly fine piece of fuel; and thecroaking of some bullfrogs along the shore of the lake. Thad lazily madeup his mind to try and secure the hind legs of a few of these big green"mossbacks, " as he called them; for he knew from experience what adainty meal they would make, fried with some salt pork, being equal toany tender spring chicken he knew of. 

Then he slept, perhaps for some hours, Thad could not tell; when he wasaroused by the greatest kind of shouting from somewhere near by. He satup instantly, his senses on the alert, listening to locate thedisturbance, and get some sort of line on its nature. 

CHAPTER IX. 

LUCKY BRUIN. 

"Oh! murder! he's broke loose, and remembers about me!" Bumpus wasshouting close to the ear of Thad; and there was a great scurrying inthat quarter, as if the fat boy might be trying to hide himself underthe blankets. 

Thad hurried outside as fast as he could; and in this he was closelyimitated by Bob White and Giraffe, who happened to be his other tentmates. 

Already Thad had made a most important as well as surprising discovery. Those yells did not appear to be given by Allan, Step-hen, Davy Jones orSmithy. They were fashioned on another key from the well-known voices ofthese fellow scouts. 

Of course, the first and most natural idea that flashed into Thad's mindlay in the direction of the two foreigners, whom Smithy seemed tobelieve must be Bohemians. Could they have followed the trail of theescaped bear, and entering the camp of the scouts by stealth, were nowengaged in administering the beating to the poor animal, as they thoughthe deserved for leaving them in the lurch?

In one way it sounded like that might be the case, for amidst all theclamor of shouts Thad could detect something like roars or grunts fromthe bear. 

But no sooner was he outside the tent than he realized that this couldnot be the case at all. The voices were certainly not those of men, butrather sounded like cries falling from boys' tongues. And instead ofbeing raised in anger, they were frantic with _fright_!

An old moon had risen while the campers slept, so that it was no longerdark out on the lake near by. 

The first thing Thad did was to look toward the tree where the bear hadbeen chained at the time Smithy took care of him so neatly. He wasstanding on his hind legs, and giving tongue to his feelings in deeprumbling roars that seemed to almost make the very air tremble. 

"Just listen to 'em go, would you?" ejaculated a voice close to Thad'sshoulder, and he turned to find Allan there; while his three tent mateswere close behind, all worked up again over this new and excitingmystery of the first night in camp. 

"Who in the wide world can it be?" asked Bob White. 

"Don't know; but I'm sorry for one of them, " remarked Thad; "because hesmashed into the trunk of that tree just then; and I rather guess he'llhave the marks to show for it a long while. "

"And listen to that splash, boys!" exclaimed Step-hen. 

"Just as like as not another of the lot slipped and fell into the lake;"spoke up Giraffe, "there he goes splashing like fun, and how he doesholler in the bargain!"

"Hark! what is he shouting?" asked Allan. 

"Why, he's calling for help, because he thinks the old bear will get himnow, sure. I c'n see him near the shore there, kicking up the water likean old stern-wheel steamboat. Say, ain't he the worst scared fellow youever saw?"

"Don't forget there were a bunch about as bad off as that, a whileback, " declared Thad; "but he seems to be calling for some one to comeback and help him. "

"I got it then, and it was Brose!" exclaimed Bob White, who had veryacute hearing. 

"That explains it all, " declared Thad. "Now we know who we have to thankfor making all this racket. Brose Griffin and his two shadows, Hop, andEli Bangs were going to pay us a nice little surprise party visit. Perhaps when we woke up in the morning we'd have found all sorts ofthings gone, and have to hike back to town to-morrow. But they didn'tknow we had a bear in camp, did they, fellows?"

"Oh! my, and if they didn't stumble right on the beast!" exclaimedBumpus, who, not wanting to be left by himself in the tent, had crawledout, after taking a cautious look first. "What a rich joke on Brose andhis crowd. I can just see 'em scooting for home for all they're worth. Never catch any of that bunch around our camp again on this trip, that'ssure, boys. "

"I hope, " Thad went on to say as he stood listening; "the fellow in thelake don't go under; it must be Hop; because you know he does limp some, from that broken leg he got last winter. "

"Oh! he got out all right, " observed Allan. 

"Sure thing, " added Giraffe; "because I saw him climb up the bank; andthere, if you listen, you can hear the silly right now, going whimperingalong. Say, what a time we are having, eh, fellows?"

"Who'd ever think so much could be crowded inside a few hours?" declaredSmithy; who felt that he would have good reason to look back on thisremarkable experience as the crowning feature of his whole life, becausehe had certainly lived more in the last four hours than all the balanceof his years thrown together. 

"And boys, don't forget we owe a lot to our guest--what was that youcalled him, Smithy--Bumpus?" Thad continued. 

"Oh! let's change it to just plain Smith, " suggested Bumpus. 

"But we do owe the old fellow a whole lot of thanks, " remarked BobWhite. "And in the morning, suh, I intend to see to it that he gets agood filling breakfast, even if I have to cut down my own allowance. "

At that Giraffe groaned dismally. 

"Oh! say, you don't think of going that far, I hope; and for only adancing bear; we ought to be able to feed him on the leavings, don't youthink?" he asked. 

"He'd soon kick the bucket, then, Giraffe, if he waited for any leavingsfrom your platter, " observed Davy Jones; "because I notice that you lickit clean every time. "

"Listen, do you hear any more shouting?" asked Thad. 

Though they strained their ears no one could catch a single sound. 

"Guess they've got beyond earshot, " remarked Step-hen. 

"But you take it straight from me, suh, they're running yet; and Iwouldn't be afraid to say that they'll keep it up until they fairlydrop, " Bob White gave as his opinion; and indeed, all of them agreedwith him there. 

Then the funny side of the thing seemed to strike them. First onecommenced to laugh, and then, as the others looked at him they toostarted, until the merriment grew, and some of the scouts were holdingeach other up in their weakness. Bumpus even solemnly declared the bearjoined in the general hilarity; he did act a bit queerly, and made aseries of sounds that might be construed into bear laughter. 

Smithy remarked that the old fellow deserved another feed after suchsplendid service in guarding the camp. 

"There's that heavy cake Step-hen fetched along; might try him on that;and if he likes it, we'll be saved more'n one stomach ache, " Davyproposed. 

"Why, I didn't think it was so _very_ bad, " spoke up Giraffe; and then, seeing the others frowning at him, he hastened to add; "but if you thinkhe ought to be fed again, to keep him quiet, why break off a piece, Smithy. "

"A piece!" cried Step-hen, "he gets the whole cake, understand. Talkabout base ingratitude, some persons can never feel anything but theempty state of their stomach. Why, that bear saved us the whole of ourgrub, mebbe, by giving the alarm; and Besides, he scared that bunch sobad they'll let us alone after this. The bear takes the cake, don't he, Thad?"

"He certainly does, " replied the scout-master, laughing again. 

Smithy found that the chained visitor was perfectly agreeable, for theway he took that heavy cake and devoured, it was a caution. 

"Watch him eat, Giraffe, " suggested Davy Jones; "he can give you somevaluable pointers on how to stow the grub away. You see, his neck ain'tlike yours, and it takes less time to navigate the channel. "

"Huh! I only hope it gives him a cramp, and doubles him up, " gruntedthe other, in more or less disgust. 

"Now you're getting one off on me, you think, " remarked Davy; for he hadbeen subject to cramps a long time, and never knew when one would attackhim, making him perfectly helpless for the time being; and the boys werebeginning to notice how accommodating the said "cramps" seemed to be, visiting Davy just when some hard work loomed up in which the victim wassupposed to have a part. 

"And now what?" demanded Step-hen, yawning, and stretching his longfigure. 

"Do we go back to our downy couch again, fellows; or is it so nearmorning that we'd better stay awake?" asked Davy Jones. 

"Do you know what time it is?" asked Thad, who had been inside toconsult the little nickel watch he carried: "just ten minutes aftertwo!"

"Wow! me to get seven more winks!" exclaimed Giraffe; "and please don'twake me so suddenly again, boys. My eyelids popped open with a bang. Ifthey hadn't been fastened on as tight as they were, I'd have lost one, sure. "

"That's the way you wake up, eh?" remarked Step-hen. "Remember theIrishman who heard the cannon fired when the flag went down, and askedwhat it was. When they told him it meant sunset he said----"

"'Sure, the sun niver goes down in ould Ireland wid a bang loike thot!'"called out Giraffe from the interior of the tent, spoiling the tellingof Step-hen's little story, which no doubt every one of the boys knew. 

Soon the camp was wrapped in silence again, even the contented bearlying down, better satisfied than ever with his new friends. And thatwish of Giraffe's could not have borne fruit, for there was nothingheard to indicate that the bear suffered the least bit of indigestionfrom devouring the whole heavy cake that would have lain like lead ineven a boy's strong stomach. 

The rising moon sailed higher in the heavens, and looked down upon thepeaceful camp of the Silver Fox Patrol. The little wavelets washed up onthe shore with a sweet musical tinkle that must have been like a lullabyto the boys, seeing that even Thad failed to awaken again, while nightlasted; and the smouldering camp-fire had to take care of itself fromthe time of that second alarm. 

Some of them would very likely have imitated their habits when at home, and tried to sleep until long after sunrise; only that they were undermilitary rules while in camp. 

And so it was the clear notes of the bugle, blown by the now recoveredBumpus, as he alone could blow it, that rang out over the water, tellingthe sleepers that they must make their appearance for the early morningdip in the clear lake, after which the various duties of the day couldbe taken up, beginning with the first camp breakfast. 

CHAPTER X. 

LOOKING TO BIG THINGS AHEAD. 

"Ain't this fine and dandy, though?" remarked Bumpus, as he stood on theshore, after a short session in the water, and rubbed his plump formwith part of the fine sheet Smithy had fetched along, foolishly thinkinghe would need it for sleeping. 

They had splashed, and swam about to their hearts' content, until Thadtiming the bathing period, ordered the last scout from the water. 

There was an absence of the frolicsome spirit so often seen among boyswhen in swimming. Discipline would not allow Step-hen, for instance, slapping a lump of mud upon Bumpus just after he had succeeded in dryinghimself; though possibly he might have enjoyed doing it first-rate;since he still felt that the fat boy was playing a joke on him byconcealing his precious compass upon which he depended to show him theright road, should he ever get astray in the woods. 

Breakfast was an easy meal to get. They just had to boil the coffee, andfry several rashers of bacon for each mess; after which the appointedcooks, tried their hands at making flapjacks; which, be it mentionedhere, are about the same as the common pancake at home, though nevercalled by that ordinary name in camp. 

These were fairly good, though a bit heavy, not quite enough "rising"having been put in the flour. The next time, Thad said, they would carrythe self-raising kind of flour along, when they would be sure of havinglight bread. 

"If there are any left, boys, " remarked Thad, "don't forget that we arehonored by the presence of a guest in our camp. He came withoutinvitation, and is kept here perhaps against his will; but all the samewe owe him a heavy debt of gratitude. "

"Yes, " spoke up Bumpus, who had not cared very much for the latter endof his breakfast, as he was a light eater, and rather particular, "fussy" Step-hen called it, "which we will proceed to cancel by a heavydose of dough. Give him my share, boys, and welcome. I've got too muchrespect for my poor stomach to cram such prog down into it. "

"Hold on, " remarked Giraffe, looking up, hungrily; "perhaps everybodyain't through yet; and Bob, I think those flapjacks you made are simplydelicious. "

"Thanks, suh!" returned the cook of his mess, with a pretended bow; "butI beg to diffah with you; and by the orders of the scout-master I amhanding the balance over to Smithy, from the other mess, who willproceed to feed it to the prisoner. Our scout-master is afraid that ifyou did get sick so early in the outing, he might have to exhaust themedicine chest befo' your appetite returned. "

"Oh! all right, Bob, just as you say; and perhaps I have devoured asmany as I had ought to; but they _were_ good, I don't care what you say. Come again, Bob. "

"Hey! anybody seen my head--" began Step-hen; when Davy interrupted himto bawl:

"Anybody seen Step's head; he's done gone and lost that, now. Alwayssaid he would have done it long ago, only Nature had it fastened ontight. But the catastrophe has arrived at last. Step's lost his head, fellows; not that it matters much. A liberal reward is hereby offered tothe finder. Apply to Step-hen Bingham. "

"Think you're smart, don't you?" jeered the lean one, as he kept onoverturning all manner of things. "I was only going to ask if any onehad taken my head gear, otherwise known as my campaign hat? Of course Iknow what the answer'll be--nobody's seen a thing of it. It does beatthe Dutch how _my_ things are always going, the funniest way ever. Now Icould declare I hung that hat up on the broken branch of this tree. "

"Well, you've been sitting on it all the time you were eating breakfast;and there it lies, as flat as any pancake that was ever cooked. Nowperhaps you'll learn sometimes just to put things where you c'n find'em, " said Bumpus. 

Step-hen turned to shoot an accusing stare at the speaker that made thefat boy writhe, for he knew what was passing in the mind of the other. 

"Didn't, so there!" he snapped, as he turned away; and Step-hen, looking after him, wagged his head as he muttered:

"Honest Injun now, I really believe he _did_ take it, and the joke'sgone so far he just hates to own up. Oh! all right, Bumpus, I'll get onto your game sooner or later; and then the laugh will be with you, justwait and see. "

It was the purpose of Thad, in the absence of Dr. Philander Hobbs, thereal scout-master of Cranford Troop, to daily put the scouts throughvarious interesting exercises connected with the education of a BoyScout. 

For instance there was the following of a trail in the woods, observingevery little item of interest connected with it, until the properlyeducated scout would be able to actually describe the man who had madethe tracks without ever having seen him, telling his height, whetherthin or stout, even the color of his hair, what sort of shoes he wore, whether new or old, and that he walked with a limp, carried a cane, andmany other interesting facts in connection with the unknown. 

Then there was photography in which two of the Silver Fox Patrol weredeeply interested, so that they kept continually in a fever ofexpectancy regarding the prospects for pictures that would be out of thecommon. 

One of the scouts even went so far as to propose that the boys don theirfancy pajamas in the broad daylight, and hunt up the friendly trees, inwhose branches they had sought refuge when the bear first invaded thecamp; so that a snapshot could be taken that would preserve the eventfor all time. 

Bumpus, however, put his foot down flatly against having anything to dowith such an "idiotic proceeding, " as he chose to term it. 

"Huh!" he remarked, disdainfully; "all very fine for you fellows, looking so grand up in your leafy bowers, like a flock of queer parrots;but what about poor me, pinned there on the ground by that pesky oldtent, that wouldn't let me back in? Think I want to be the butt of thejoke? Count me out. I refuse to join in any such silly game. "

Besides there were classes in tying difficult knots, which every scoutin good standing is supposed to know how to do neatly. Then came lessonsin erecting and taking down the tents, so that every fellow might knowjust how to go about making camp, and breaking the same. 

In the water they played the game of landing the big fish, one of theboys allowing a stout line to be fastened to him; and then by swimmingand struggling making it as difficult as possible for the angler to reelhim in. 

Thad knew considerable about first "aid to the injured", because, as hasbeen stated, he had belonged to a patrol before he came to Cranford. Sohe was able to show the others many things about stopping the flow ofblood in case any one happened to be cut with a knife, or an ax, andbandaging the wound afterwards. 

But the drowning person being brought back to life when it seemed nextto hopeless was what interested Allan most of all. He had seen more thana few accidents while up in the woods of Maine, and knew of the veryrough means adopted by the native guides looking to resuscitating aperson who has been in the water until life seems extinct. 

So he eagerly watched the way Thad placed the supposed patient on hischest, and kneeling over him, started pressing down on his back whileothers worked his arms with a regular motion; the whole endeavor beingto imitate breathing, and in this artificial way induce the muscles totake on genuine respiration. 

"That takes with me, I tell you, " said Allan, eagerly. "I saw a mandrowned once, and I believe right now his life could have been saved ifonly the guide had known the right way to go about it. I'll never forgetthat lesson, Mr. Scout-Master, never. "

"It's a splendid thing for any boy to know, " said Thad, "and might savea chum's life at any time. Because, boys are always falling into thewater, in summer while swimming, and in winter skating. I intend topractice that every day we're here. It's one of those things you maynever want; but in case you do, you want it in a hurry. "

"How about the fire building tests?" demanded Giraffe, eagerly. 

"Yes, that's where Giraffe feels at home. Give him a chance to start ablaze, and you'll make him happy, " laughed Step-hen. 

"You know you're as good as licked, before we begin, " replied the other, derisively. 

"I'm going to start on that fun right away, " returned Thad. "Some of youmay be thinking that we're spending entirely too much time with thesethings; but all the same they go right along with all that a Boy Scouthas got to know. Pretty soon Cranford Troop will be getting its charterfrom the organization headquarters, and I'd like to have a few meritbadges come along with it. That isn't all, either. "

"I reckon I can give a pretty good guess what you mean by shaking yourwise old head that way, Thad, and looking sorter mysterious-like, "declared Davy Jones; who seldom showed the proper amount of respect tothe acting scout-master, that by rights he should. 

"Then tell us all about it, Davy; because we want to know, " demandedStep-hen. 

"That's right, and we _must_ know; so start up the music, Davy, " saidGiraffe. 

"Why, there's been a whole lot of talk between Thad and Allan here aboutthe new Silver Fox Patrol taking a trip away from home. It's only aquestion of getting the money, and the consent of our parents andguardians. I guess the money part could be taken care of, all right; butwhen it comes to getting permission to really leave Cranford, and godown to the Blue Ridge mountains, that's another thing. It might bedone; but my father is a lawyer, and hard to convince. "

"You're wrong there, Davy, " said Thad, with a laugh; "he was theeasiest proposition of the whole lot to fix. There'll be no trouble inthat quarter. What we can do about Smithy's mother is another thing. "

"But why the Blue Ridge mountains; whatever put that notion in yourhead, Thad?" demanded Giraffe, deeply puzzled. 

"I did, suh, " announced Bob White, drawing himself up; "you see, I camefrom that section, and I've been telling my chums so much about it thatthey've become wild to make it a visit. And I invited them to drop in onmy old home there, you understand. It would be very nice for me to haveyou all there as my guests; and to tell you the truth, my mother hasbeen telling me that I ought to go down there right soon now onparticular business. If you all could be with me, I should be mightyglad of it. And it might be a splendid thing foh me, I confess. "

"The Blue Ridge!" repeated Bumpus, as if to see just how it sounded. "Say, I've read a lot about the Alleghanies, the Big Smokies, and theBlue Ridge mountains down there in North Carolina, where Bob White camefrom; but honest now, I never expected to find myself there, at leastnot till I grew up. The Blue Ridge! Well, if so be you can win my folksover to letting me go along, say, won't I wake up the echoes in them oldmountains with the merry notes of my bugle? But there goes thescout-master to start the fire building, and water boiling test. Comealong boys and see who can beat Giraffe at his pet game!"

CHAPTER XI. 

THE SCOUT WHO USED HIS EYES. 

"Hold on, " called out Step-hen, "let's start even all around. Hasanybody seen my tin cup? Funny how _my_ things are always the ones totake to hiding. Now I give you my word, fellows, I laid that cup in asafe place after we washed up the breakfast dishes this morning. And Ijust can't run across it anywhere. If we're all going to take part inthat water-boiling, fire-making test I can't enter unless I have my cup, can I? So if anybody's trying to play a joke at my expense, call it off, won't you, please?"

"You put it in a safe place, did you, and then forgot where that placewas?" laughed Thad, who knew the weakness of Step-hen very well by thistime. "Now, what's that hanging from that little broken twig up there?"

"Well, I declare, I do remember putting it there!" cried the other, witha wide grin, as he unhooked the handle of the tin cup, and took itproudly down. "And after this, you fellows had better go easy with me. I'm learning to keep my things where they won't get lost, understandthat?"

"Yes, but write it down each time, Step-hen, " laughed Smithy. 

Step-hen turned upon this new tormentor. 

"Oh! Smithy, " he remarked, pleasantly, "you're sure going to get anothernew suit of clothes, because there's a measuring worm right now, crawling up your back, with his tape line working over time. "

Smithy writhed, and looked piteously at his nearest neighbor. 

"Oh! please knock him off, Bumpus; and do be careful not to mash him, because you know, it would make a nasty spot. Ugh! I detest worms, andsnakes, and all the things that crawl. Thank you, Bumpus; I'll do thesame for you some day. "

Smithy was getting on very well, Thad thought, considering how much hehad to "unlearn" in order to make a good scout. That morning, after thedip in the lake, the boys had had considerable fun with the tidy one. They had watched him dress in his fastidious way, and before longseveral of them were mocking him. He brushed his clothes with a lovelybrush he had brought along, and which was better fitted for a lady'sdressing table than a boys' camp. Then he adjusted his tie before alittle mirror he produced, spent a long time fixing his flaxen locks tosuit him, with another silver mounted brush; and finally dented in hiscampaign hat with the greatest precision. 

Then the boys burst out into a roar, and Smithy became aware that he hadbeen an object of great interest to his campmates for ten minutes. Heturned fiery red, looked confused for a brief time; and finallysnatching off his hat, gave it several careless blows, after which hethrust it on his head in any old way. 

At that a cheer had arisen from the other scouts. They seemed tounderstand that in a short time Smithy would have learned his lesson. The work which had taken his doting mother and maiden aunts years toaccomplish, would be thrown overboard in a week, and a new Smithy arise. 

Each fellow having taken his tin cup, they sought an open spot where thewater boiling test could be carried out without one scout interferingwith the work of the others. 

Then the acting scout-master mentioned the rules governing the sport. 

"I'm going to give each scout just three matches, " he remarked, "and heis put on his honor not to have another one about him. Then you willline up here, after you have each selected a spot inside the boundarieswhere you mean to conduct your experiment in quick-fire making. For fiveminutes you can look around, so as to get your mind fixed on just whereyou will get your kindling, and water. Then at the word you start. Now, line up here, and get your supply of fire sticks. "

After the time limit had expired the word was given. All of the patrolsave the scout-master started to get busy; and it was a comical sight tosee some of them running around in a haphazard way, having lost theirbearings in the sudden excitement. 

Bumpus was early out of the game. He did succeed in getting his cupfilled with water at the lake some little distance away, but of coursein his clumsy fashion he had to stumble, and spill most of it on the wayto his chosen station. And as one of the rules insisted that each cupshould be at least three-quarters full of water, Bumpus gave up the gamein abject despair, contenting himself with watching his more agilecompanions, and cheering them on. 

Smithy also had his troubles. He took so long to get his cup filled, actually washing it out because he discovered a few coffee grounds inthe bottom, that the others were building their fires before he awoke tothe fact that again had his love for neatness lost him all chance ofmaking a favorable showing. So he too threw up the job as hopeless; butfrom his determined looks Thad knew Smithy would do better the nexttime. 

This left but five competitors at work. Step-hen was doing very well, and Allan knew just how to get tinder with which to start a quick fire;but even these two could not be said to be in the same class withGiraffe. 

Fires had ever been his hobby, and what he did not know about starting ablaze could be put in a very small compass. More than that, Thad noticedthat Giraffe certainly had good powers of observation. During thatperiod of five minutes when those who had entered the contest were givenan opportunity to look around, Giraffe had certainly used his eyes toadvantage. 

While the others had hastened to the border of the lake to fill theircups with water, the shrewd Giraffe had simply stepped over to a tinylittle spring which he had noticed not ten feet away, and there managedto get all he needed. 

And the way he shaved that fine kindling was a caution. Giraffe was aborn Yankee in that he always carried a keen-edged jack-knife, and couldbe seen cutting every enticing piece of soft pine he came across. Why, he had applied his match to the tinder before the others returned fromthe lake; and the smoke of his fire blew in their faces most enticingly. 

Then he added just the right sort of bits of wood, not too much at atime, until he had coaxed his fire into doing the very best it knew how. 

His four rivals were bending every energy to heat up the water in theircups, testing it now and then with disappointed grunts, as it failed toscald their fingers, when a shout from Giraffe announced that he neededthe attention of the judge, as his cup of water had commenced to bubble. 

"Giraffe has won, hands down, " Thad said, "but the rest of you go righton, and see how long it takes each one. Then another time you will learnto use the faculties that every fellow has just as well as Giraffe. "

When the last one had finally succeeded in coaxing his fire to get upsufficient heat to cause the water in the cup to bubble, the competitionwas declared closed, with Giraffe an easy winner, and Allan a fairsecond. 

"Huh!" said Step-hen, "he got the bulge on us right in the beginning byfilling his old cup, at that little spring right here, instead ofrunning to the lake like all the rest of us did. Don't seem fair to me, Mr. Scout-Master. "

"Why not?" demanded Thad, while the victor smiled serenely, knowing whatwas coming. "You all had the same chance to look around that Giraffe wasgiven. If he was smart enough to notice that he could save time byfilling his cup at the spring rather than run away over to the lake, somuch the more to his credit. A first-class scout will always discovermeans for saving time. He will keep his eyes and wits about him to seeand hear things that an ordinary person might pass right by. That's oneof the first things he's got to learn. 'Be prepared' is the slogan ofthe Boy Scouts; but in order to get the best out of anything, a fellowhas to keep awake all the time. "

"I guess that's so, " admitted Step-hen, rather sheepishly. "Giraffe issmart, and if anybody thinks to get ahead of him he must wake up earlyin the morning. Just wait till we try this game a second time, and see. "

Thad was more than satisfied. He believed the lesson would not be wastedon the ambitious scouts. Even Bumpus would use more care in makinghaste, and look for treacherous roots that always lay in wait for hisclumsy feet. While Smithy, it might be understood, would either have hiscup thoroughly clean to start with, or let a few innocent grains ofcoffee go unnoticed. 

"I don't know why, " remarked Allan, as they were cooking a little lunchthat noon; "but somehow that island over there looks mighty inviting tome. "

"Do you know, " Thad remarked, "I've thought the same myself, and some ofthe other fellows have their minds set on it. If we only had some way ofgetting over, I might think of changing our camp, and going across. Ofcourse I could swim over and see what the island is like, but thatwouldn't do us any good without a boat. "

"A boat up here is something nobody ever saw, I reckon, suh, " said BobWhite. 

"It certainly does look cool and fine across the water there; and Isuppose the bear could swim it if we chose to go; unless we made up ourminds to turn the old rascal loose, " Step-hen put in. 

"Say, I think myself he'd follow us, we've fed him so well since he camein on us, " Giraffe grumbled; for it certainly did provoke him to see ashaggy beast devouring good food that human beings could make use of. "Why, I had to get up from breakfast hungry because of him. The islandfor mine, if it's going to help us get rid of our star boarder anyquicker. "

"Star boarder!" mimicked Step-hen; "well, that's a joke I take it;because all of us have got our minds made up who fills that bill, allright. "

But Giraffe pretended not to notice what was said. He did not like tohave his comrades pay too much attention to his little weakness in thefood line. 

"How about my being rewarded for coming in first in the water boilingtest, Mr. Scout-Master?" he called out. "Wasn't there something held outas an inducement, a sort of prize, so to speak? Seems to me you said thefeller that won might have the privilege of making the big camp-firethis evening; and that would be reward enough for me, I tell you. "

"That was the offer, Giraffe, " replied Thad; "and I'm going to give youthat chance, on one condition only. It is that you promise not to carrya single match around with you this blessed day. "

Giraffe knew only too well what that meant, for he understood how Thadworried over his propensity for starting fires at any time the notioncame upon him. He gave a big sigh, shook his head, and then handed overhis matchsafe, remarking:

"Well, I reckon I'll just have to comply with the rules; but it's prettyhard on a feller, not to have just _one_ match along, in case he needsit right bad. But anyhow, it's me to build that big blaze to-night, remember, boys, and I'm going to make your eyes shine, the way I do it, too. "

CHAPTER XII. 

BUMPUS MAKES A FIND. 

"I say, Thad, come over here with me; I've got something to show you, "remarked Allan, about half an hour after they had finished lunch, andwhile most of the boys were lying around, taking it easy. 

The young acting scout-master quickly followed his chum, who led the wayback of the tents and into the timber. Here they discovered Giraffe, bending down, and so industriously engaged with some object he had inhand that he seemed to pay no attention to anything else. 

At first Thad thought the boy was sawing something, for there was acontinuous movement to his right arm, and a sort of low, buzzing sound;but then he knew they had not brought a saw of any kind along with them, an ax and a hatchet being the only tools considered necessary in camp. 

Presently Giraffe halted, to draw out a red bandana handkerchief withwhich to wipe his dripping forehead, while he stared hard at the objecthe had before him, and looked dubious enough. 

Thad saw now what it was, and he could hardly keep from laughing as thedetermined boy once more started sawing away as though his very lifedepended on his accomplishing the end he had in view. 

The object he had in his right hand was a queer sort of a little bow, made by fastening a stout cord to a piece of bent hickory. This cord wasdoubled around a stick that stood upright, its pointed lower end placedin a sort of hollow wooden dish where a socket had been scooped out. Theupper was also kept from burning the hand of the aspiring scout byanother bit of wood. 

Of course Thad knew what Giraffe was trying to do. Deprived of matchesfor the balance of the day, and feeling a gnawing desire to see a firesparkling, the scout had started in to try and make a blaze after theold-fashioned method used by some South Sea islanders. But evidently theboy did not twirl the stick fast enough to produce sufficient heat tomake the fine tinder smoke, and then take fire. Giraffe's ambition wascommendable, however, and so Thad said nothing; only crept away again, after touching Allan on the arm, and beckoning. 

"What are you going to do about it?" asked the latter, when they hadreached a safe position, where their voices might not be heard by theobject of their attention. 

"Why, nothing, I suppose, " replied Thad, smiling. "Did you ever see sucha fellow in all your life? He's a regular fire worshipper. I think hemust have come down from the old Aztecs in Mexico. He's never happywithout his little blaze. "

"But he might get fire after all?" protested Allan. 

"Between you and me, my boy, I don't think he will this time. Evidentlyhe's never tried that game before; and no fellow ever succeeds at it thefirst time. It's harder than it seems. Let Giraffe work away; he'll havehis fingers sore with the business before he gives up. "

"But what do you think makes him experiment that way right now, when heknows you're trying to put a curb on his weakness for building fires?"the other demanded. 

"Well, in the first place, I suppose he feels like starting _something_;and then again, Allan, it's a part of a boy's nature, you know, toalways want to do that very thing he's been told he musn't do. Now, Giraffe wants to show me that even keeping matches away from him won'tprevent a really smart scout from making a fire, in case he feels likeit. My praise of this morning must have spurred him on to let us seejust what he can do. "

"But if the bow and spindle way turns out bad, there's an easier chancefor him, if he only thinks of it, " said the Maine boy. 

"What's that?" asked Thad, smiling calmly. 

"Why, all he's got to do is to take one of the lens out of the fieldglasses we have along with us; and as the sun is hot enough, he couldset fire to some tinder in three shakes of a lamb's tail. Why, I'vestarted fires that way dozens of times myself, when matches were scarewith us in the pine woods. "

Thereupon Thad quietly drew something, from each pocket in his khakitrousers. 

"Well, I declare, you thought of that same thing, didn't you?" exclaimedthe astonished Allan; "and took the trouble to remove both lens, so asto upset his calculations if he started to try the dodge. Giraffe has tobe pretty cunning to get ahead of you, all right, Thad. "

"But I never imagined he'd be trying that saw method, " admitted thescout-master. "There, he's given it up and thrown his bow away. Nexttime he'll like as not make some improvement on that outfit. It musthave been faulty, so he just couldn't get enough speed out of it. Forthe thing can be done; and I've seen it more than once, though I nevercould make fire that way myself. "

"Giraffe has one good quality, " admitted Allan, "and that's persistance. Once he makes up his mind to do a thing and he hates the worst kind toquit. "

"Especially around grub time, " chuckled the other. 

"Oh! that's a little weakness of his. Step-hen says he must have hollowlegs, or how else could he stow away all he does, and never show it. Butjust look how the sun shines on the trees over across the water, wherethat pretty little island lies in the middle of the lake. I never saw anicer camping place, Thad. "

"And the same here, " admitted the scout-master. "I've about made up mymind I'd like to investigate that island, even if we can't hope to getthe whole outfit over. You're a good swimmer, Allan, what do you say togoing across?"

"Alone, or with you?" asked the other, quickly. 

"Oh! I wouldn't think of sending any one alone, " remarked thescout-master. "You know, some of the boys have already said the islandhad a terrible mysterious look, as though it might be concealing somewonderful secret. The more they talk about it, and speculate that way, the stronger grows my desire to explore it. "

"Then let's call it a go. Think we can leave the rest of the patrolalone for an hour or two this afternoon?" asked Allan, eagerly, as hetoo cast wistful looks across the shimmering water toward the strangelittle island that lay nestling there so modestly. 

"If they're put on their honor to behave, they'll be all right, " repliedThad. "A scout must never dream of breaking his word, once given. Thatis a part of his creed, you know, Allan; and even Bumpus understandsthat. "

"By the way, where is Bumpus; I haven't noticed him around in camp forten minutes or more?" remarked the second in command. 

"I suppose he's wandering around somewhere close by, " replied Thad. "Bumpus certainly has got a big bump of curiosity, and is always pokinginto everything he can think of. I heard him asking you this verymorning when you would find a bee-tree for him, the way you used to doup in Maine. He's just bound to get honey, if there's any to be foundaround this region. "

"Yes, and I said I would try it out while we were up here, if thechance came. You see, perhaps there mightn't happen to be any wild beesaround, for I haven't noticed 'em working. "

"Oh! make up your mind to that, " declared Thad. "I've heard severalfarmers tell how they lost a fine swarm, no matter how much racket theykicked up with dishpans and all sorts of tin buckets. There are lots ofbee trees in this region I'd be willing to wager now. And if we couldfind one, it would be great. I like honey about as well as the nextfellow, don't you forget it, Allan. "

"There goes Giraffe into the tent; and from the sly way he lookedaround, I've got an idea he's suddenly remembered the lens in that fieldglass, and means to try one of them with the rays of the sun, to make alittle fire. "

"Yes, Allan, I saw him; and just as you say, if his manner counts foranything, that's just what Giraffe has in hand. But won't he be the mostsurprised boy in seven counties when he finds that the lens have beentaken from the glass?"

"There he comes out now, and say, don't he look sheepish, though?" Allanwent on to remark. "I can see him peeping out of the corner of his eyeat you; and just make up your mind Giraffe is saying to himself thatit's a mean game to cheat a poor fellow out of a little expectedpleasure that way. "

"On the other hand, " remarked the scout-master, "I reckon he feels cheapto know that I'm on to his game, and have made ready to upset hiscalculations. But next time I'll put him on his honor not to try andmake a fire in any way, shape or style. Now, I don't fancy going awaywith Bumpus absent. He might get into trouble while we were off. PerhapsI'd better take his bugle, and give a few notes to let him know he'swanted. "

"A fine idea, Thad, " observed Allan; "I'll go and get it for you, as Ihappen to know just where Bumpus keeps it inside the tent here. He'sjust the opposite of Step-hen, and never leaves his things scatteredaround. "

He had even climbed to his feet, for they were sitting at the time, whenthere broke out a sudden clamor that caused Allan to turn quickly, andgive his superior officer a meaning look. 

For the voice that made all that racket was only too well known to bothboys; in that it belonged to the very scout about whom they had beentalking. 

Bumpus must be in some trouble again, if they could judge from the noisehe was making. Immediately visions of rattlesnakes, and all manner ofdangers connected with the forest trails, flashed into the mind of Thad. What could the luckless fat boy have stumbled into now? That bump ofcuriosity which he was pleased to term his "investigating spirit, " musthave led him into some fresh difficulty. 

The boys were all on their feet by this time, and several had evensnatched up the stout staves which had proven so useful during theirarduous tramp from home to this far-off region of Lake Omega. 

"He's coming this way!" called out Step-hen, excitedly. 

"Yes, suh, and on the full gallop, too, believe me!" added Bob White, actually taking a step forward, as if ready to meet the danger half way, should there any peril develop. 

Thad did not give the order to advance because he had 'ere nowdiscovered that there was no evidence of fright in the shouts of Bumpus. Rather could he detect a note triumph, as though the fat boy believed hehad accomplished something worth while, and was deserving ofcongratulation. 

And now all of them could make out what he was calling as he camestumbling along. 

"Hey! fellers, what d'ye think, I've found--oh! that old vine nearly cutmy neck in two, plague take it--a boat! Yes, a regular boat, hid away inthe brush where I was looking for rabbits' tracks; meanin' to learn howto follow the same. And better still, it's got a paddle in it, too. Nowwe c'n go fishing, and have a bully old time exploring that island outyonder. Don't you think I ought to get a merit badge, Thad, for being sosmart, hey?"

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND. 

Sure enough, when the others followed the proud Bumpus through the woodsfor a little distance, and then down close to the edge of the water, they found that he had really come upon a boat in a dense thicket, whereit had evidently been hidden. 

"Must a belonged to some of them game keepers that rich man hired towatch his property up here, " declared Step-hen, as he examined thecraft, while they all crowded around. 

"Looky here, got a bully old paddle under the seats too!" called outGiraffe, holding up the article in question, admiringly, after they hadturned the canoe over. 

"Ain't this a great find, though?" declared Bob White, who wasparticularly fond of the water, and boats of all kinds. 

Bumpus smote himself on the chest, and puffed out his fat cheeks, as helooked around at his comrades. 

"Make fun of that wonderful investigating instinct of mine, will you, boys?" he remarked; "well, see what a feller gets for beingpersevering, and wanting to learn all the while. Now, if I'd been like, say Step-hen here, and content to lay around after eating, where'd we beabout the boat question? But I wanted to find out why a rabbit makes twomarks with its front paws and only one with the hind legs; and so Ilooked around to see if there wasn't a track where we saw that bunnyscoot away yesterday when we got here. I didn't find the tracks, but Idid run across a boat!"

"It was all right, Bumpus, " said Thad; "and I'm going to congratulateyou on it. A scout can be a bit curious, and keep on the right side, too. But Allan, there's no need of our taking that long swim, now. "

"And no need of both of us being away at the same time, " remarked theother, who did not feel easy about leaving such careless fellows asBumpus and Giraffe behind, since there could be no telling what troublemight not follow. "Suppose you draft Bob White to do the paddling, Thad;he just dotes on that sort of thing, you know. "

The eyes of the Southern boy gleamed with delight. 

"I surely do the same, suh; and if so be you think to take me along onthe exploring expedition I'll be proud to accompany you. Depend on me todo the work, and glad of the chance. I just love to be in a boat, anykind of boat from a dugout to a cedar canoe. And this paddle isn't sobad, even if home-made. "

Thad bent down to examine closer. Then he turned to give Allan a littlenod that brought the other quickly to his side. The two leaned overwhere they could exchange a few words without the others hearing whatwas said. 

"Did you notice that the boat was turned upside-down when found?" askedThad, first of all. 

"Yes, that was done to keep the rain from filling it, I reckoned, "replied the Maine boy. "They do that up my way too; because you see, ifwater stays very long in a boat it rots it. No matter what it's builtof, canvas, cedar, or birch bark, water in a boat is a bad thing. "

"Some of the boys think this boat has been lying here since the gamekeepers left this part of the country; which, as I understand it, musthave been quite a few months ago?" Thad went on to say. 

"Yes, that's what I heard them saying, " returned the other. 

"And what do you think?" asked the scout-master. 

Allan knew that he was on trial. He also understood that there must besomething suspicious about the boat to make Thad speak in this way. Sohe instantly scanned it, foot by foot, from one end to the other; afterwhich his eyes sought the paddle which Giraffe was still handling. 

Then he smiled. 

"I'm on to what you mean, Thad, " he observed. "That paddle has been inthe water not a great many hours ago, for it's still wet. Yes, andinside the boat I can see signs that point to the same thing. "

"Last night, perhaps, while we were sleeping here, this boat was beingused on the lake by some person or persons, " Thad continued, earnestly;while the balance of the scouts disputed among themselves as to whoshould be given the privilege of accompanying Bob White and Thad on thetrip to the island. 

Thad looked a little serious. 

"Kind of queer, any way you take it, " he remarked. "Our camp-fire couldhave been seen easy enough by any fellow who was landing here, andhiding his boat. Then tell me why he didn't come into camp, and see whowe were? Seems to me any honest man would have been glad to do that samething. "

"Say, perhaps he doesn't happen to be honest, Thad?" suggested Allan, inrather a hushed voice; for there was something a little mysterious aboutthe finding of this boat that excited his curiosity more or less, andcaused strange ideas to form in his boyish mind. 

"Oh! I hardly think it could be as bad as that, " Thad hastened toremark. "Just because he avoided our camp doesn't mean that he's athief, or a rascal, I take it. Perhaps he saw we were Boy Scouts; andmost men wouldn't want to bother knowing a parcel of boys in their firstcamp. "

"But what could he be doing, away up here in this lonely place?" askedthe other. 

"Well, of course I don't pretend to know, " replied the scout-master;"but then I might give a guess. Suppose one of the men who used to behired to guard these preserves of that rich gentleman who meant to makea game park here, after the idea was given up, took a notion to comeback up here for some reason. He might be getting ready to trap animalsin the fall; or shoot deer out of season. Then again, perhaps this samelake was stocked with game fish some years ago, and a couple of smartfishermen might take out a heap of bass that would net them a lot ofmoney in the market. Sometimes they use nets too, Allan, when the gamewardens are far away. "

"I know, " replied the other. "It's just the same up in my country, I'msorry to say. But are you going over to take a look at that island justthe same, Thad?"

"Sure thing; and as the boat is large enough, to hold three or fourwithout crowding, perhaps I'd better pick another to go along. Step-hen, how would you like to help Bob White, Bumpus and myself look that islandover?"

Step-hen was about to give an affirmative answer, when he just happenedto remember something. 

"Guess I'll have to decline the chance this time, Thad, " he remarked, making a wry face. "Thought I felt the signs of one of my fits comin'on, a while back. I'd sure hate to have anything like that happen insuch a cranky little boat; 'cause it might upset, you know. "

"Oh! all right, then just the three of us will go, " returned Thad, carelessly. 

But there was one who had heard what Step-hen said, with suspicion inhis heart. Of course this was Bumpus. He looked at the other, andcatching a sly glance cast in his direction, immediately sized up thesituation. So marching directly into the camp, Bumpus plunged into thetent to which he was assigned, appearing with his haversack in hishands. And this he deliberately hung on a nail that had been driven intoa tree, in plain sight of all who might happen to be in camp. 

Everybody saw the act, and could guess what the motive was that actuatedBumpus to do this queer thing. Step-hen turned somewhat red in the face, as he felt the eyes of his comrades turned toward him. 

"Huh!" he exclaimed, "think you're funny, don't you, Bumpus? Seems to meyou're mighty careful of that old bag of yours. If you had a lump ofgold in it you couldn't handle it nicer. And sometimes haversacks dohold all sorts of queer things. I've known lost knives, and medals, yes, and even _compasses_ to get in 'em. Hung it out to air, did you? Mightyafraid somebody might _happen_ to peek in it by accident when you wasgone, ain't you?"

But Bumpus never made any reply, only grinned, and looked wise, asthough he felt satisfied at having outgeneraled the cunning Step-hen, and spiked his guns. 

The boat upon being launched was found to be water tight. This fact wentfar toward convincing Thad that his suspicions regarding its havingbeen recently used were based on a good foundation. Had it been lyingthere ashore for weeks, and possibly months, it would have been leaky;and required many hours' soaking before the wood swelled enough to stopthis fault. 

Thad took up his position in the bow, while the heavy weight of theexpedition, Bumpus, who had been invited to go because of his discoveryof the boat, occupied the middle. Bob White, paddle in hand, shoved off;and then squatted in the stern to propel the craft. 

They soon saw that he was indeed an adept with the paddle. Even theMaine boy, standing there on the shore, called out words of commendationwhen he saw how cleverly Bob White feathered his paddle, and seemed ableto do almost anything he wished without removing its blade from thewater. 

Often when a hunter is creeping up on a feeding deer in the water, thisproves to be a valuable quality, in allowing him to get closer thanwould be possible did the water drip from the blade of the paddle everytime it was raised above the surface. 

And so they headed straight for the mysterious island. Thad was turnedhalf-way around in his seat, so that he could observe the shore theywere rapidly approaching. And Bumpus, squatted there amidships like abig frog, kept his eyes fastened on the same place, with a growingfeeling of uneasiness. 

He even wished now that he had not been so greedy to take part in thisexploring expedition. After all, it was much more comfortable ashore, than in a cranky boat that wobbled every time he chanced to move hisweight from one side to the other. And then again, there was somethingrather queer about that same island; the trees and bushes grew so verydense all over it, and Bumpus wondered if it might not be the home ofwildcats, or even something worse. 

One or twice he imagined he could see staring eyes among the bushes, butwas ashamed to mention the fact to his chums. 

The boat had arrived at a point within about eighty feet of the shorewhen there came to the ears of the three boys a sudden gurgling soundthat sent the blood leaping through their veins much faster thanordinarily might be the case. Thad turned his head to see what Bumpusand Bob White might appear to think of that thrilling sound; for it wasnot repeated; and although plainly heard, Thad could not at the timemake up his mind whether it was a husky voice calling aloud for help, orsome bird uttering its discordant scream. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

MAROONED. 

"W-w-what d'ye think it was, Thad?" asked Bumpus, presently; and thefact was very evident that his teeth were rattling at a lively rate, warm though the afternoon sun was at the time. 

Bob White said nothing, only he tried to read the face of their leader. Bob gave promise of making the finest kind of a Boy Scout. He was nextdoor to fearless; or at any rate would scorn to allow his naturalfeelings to sway him when he believed a sense of duty required his doingsomething. 

"Well, at first _I_ thought it might be somebody calling for help, "replied Thad, slowly; "but you notice that it wasn't repeated. And thatmakes me think now it must have been some fishhawk screaming. I've knownthem to make a queer sort of a sound. "

"Just what it must have been, " remarked Bob, nodding his head inapproval. 

Bumpus, however, did not seem to be wholly satisfied. 

"Say, it went right through me, " he observed. "I just seemed to have acold feeling run up and down my spine, like you'd emptied a cup ofice-water down my neck. Think we've seen enough of the old island bynow, Thad? Hadn't we better be turning around, and heading back forcamp?"

"Well, I should say not, Bumpus, bless your timid soul, " replied Thad, laughingly. "Why, that only makes Bob here and myself the more anxiousto land, and look the island over. If there's anything queer around, weought to find out all about it. Am I right, Bob?"

The answer the Southern lad made was very suggestive. He simply dippedhis paddle into the water again, and with several sturdy movements ofhis arms sent the boat forward once more, headed directly for the shoreof the island. Bumpus drew up his plump shoulders, but he made noprotest. It would not have done him much good if he did try to sayanything. No doubt they would have told him that the walking back tocamp was good, and no dust blowing, if he wanted to return. 

He simply gripped both sides of the boat, and held on, while keeping hiseyes fastened on the shore they were now fast approaching. 

No further sounds were heard, save the water lapping among the rocks, and giving out a musical gurgling in the rising wind. 

"There's a good landing where that little sandy beach runs along, " Thadremarked, as they drew in closer. 

"So it is, suh, " replied the paddler. "I was just making up my mind tohead foh it when you spoke. Here she goes, now. "

Thad was half standing, and as the prow of the boat grated on the sandhe made a flying leap for the shore. Bumpus looked as though he halfexpected to see some terrible monster dart out of the brushwood, andseize upon the scout-master. He heaved a sigh of relief when nothing ofthe sort came about; and even condescended to waddle ashorehimself--that is the only word capable of doing justice to the clumsyactions of Bumpus when in a narrow boat like a canoe. 

So the three scouts now stood on the sandy beach. Bumpus scanned thebushes, but Thad was observing certain marks on the little sandy beachthat told him others had drawn a boat up in that same place before now. In fact, to judge from the freshness of the signs, it had not been verylong ago since men or boys were here. 

Now, there is something in the makeup of certain lads calculated to drawthem on, when there is an element of uncertainty in the air. Thad hadbeen curious to explore this island before; and now that he had seensigns of others having landed, he began to feel doubly anxious. Perhapsit was the "call of the wild" in his composition; or possibly he hadinherited some trait bordering on a love of adventure, handed down fromsome remote ancestor who may have roamed the world seeking excitement. 

"Are you really going in there, Thad?" asked Bumpus, his face showingsigns of uneasiness as he surveyed the fringe of bushes under the densetrees that overhung them. 

"That's just what we expect to do, Bumpus, " replied the scout-master, firmly. "You may pull the boat up further, and follow after us; or ifyou prefer staying by the boat, you can do that, just as you please. Ready, Bob?"

"Yes, suh, and more than anxious to be on the move, " answered theSouthern boy. 

They turned their backs on poor Bumpus, who found himself in a quandary, hardly knowing which course would be the worse for him to pursue, tag atthe heels of these two adventurous comrades, and meet with what dangerthey might unearth; or stay there alone with the boat. 

He quickly decided that it would be far more risky to separate from hiscomrades. If the island _did_ contain savage beasts, which Bumpus reallybelieved to be the case, they would be sure to select such a nice juicymorsel as he promised to afford, in preference to one of the otherfellows. And it horrified him to think of being pounced on while all byhimself. 

"Hold on, Thad, I'm coming along!" he called out, hurrying as best hecould so as to overtake the other scouts, who were already plungingboldly into the heavy growth. 

Being eager to keep in close touch with the others, Bumpus quicklyovertook them, and panting with the effort, jogged along as close as hecould get. At any rate, if trouble should spring out upon them, therewas always a satisfaction in having loyal comrades along. And Bumpusnoted with considerable satisfaction that both of the others had armedthemselves with stout cudgels, fully three feet in length, with whichthey would be able to give a good account of themselves if the occasionarose when defense would be necessary. 

"Oh!" exclaimed the fat boy, when with a sudden whirr a partridge aroseclose beside them, and flew away with a rapid motion. 

He saw the Southern boy throw his stick to his shoulder, as thoughtaking aim. 

"Oh! what a dandy shot that would have been, Thad, if I had had a gun!"Bob exclaimed, eagerly. "I could have dropped that beauty like a stone. "

"Well, " replied the other, "since it's the close season on partridgesperhaps it's just as well you didn't have a gun. But I wouldn't besurprised if we got up more'n a few of those fellows here. The islandwould be a great place for their nests. "

"Then I wish they'd let a poor feller know when they meant to scootoff, " remarked Bumpus, wiping his face with his handkerchief; "becausethat one nigh scared me to death, he went buzzing off so sudden-like. "

"You'll never make a hunter, whatever else you turn out to be, Bumpus, "Thad remarked, smiling, as he turned to look at the red face of theperspiring fat boy. 

"I don't know, " the other said, with a vein of regret in his voice; "Ialways wanted to roam the woods, and do all that sort of thing; but thenyou see Nature, she wasn't kind to me. I don't seem to be made justright for tramping. And I must say some things do make my heart jumplike fun. Oh! well, there are other things a scout c'n do, perhaps, --findin' boats, and lookin' for bee trees mebbe. "

"Lots of things, Bumpus, " replied Thad. "You can't change your make-up;and so you'll have to do what suits you best. Shall we head to the lefthere, Bob; or take to the right?"

Secretly Thad was keeping his eyes on the ground part of the time as hepushed on. He had an idea they might find footprints that would lead theway to some old cabin or hangout, where perhaps the game-keepers used tolive when they were employed to patrol the district, so that no onehunted or fished against the orders of the rich man who owned thecountry around. 

"Well, " replied the other, after taking a glance about him, "I don'tsuppose it matters much which way we turn, since we propose to look overthe entire island one way or another, suh. Say we turn off here to theleft, and circle around. Or if you would rather have it, we mightseparate and spread out like a fan. "

Bumpus drew in his breath with a half gasp. It looked so very gloomyaround the spot which they had reached that not for worlds would hedrift away from his association with one or the other of his companions. Besides, they might need him in some way or other; because there were_some_ things he could do, if he wasn't cut out for an agile fellowbecause of his heft. 

"No, we'd better all keep together, I think?" Thad answered, much to hisrelief. "You see, we're in a strange situation, and even if we put inhalf an hour looking this place over, what does it matter? Time isn't sovaluable as all that. The others will wait for us, and take things easy. Allan has promised to show them some Indian picture writing thisafternoon, and I know he'll amuse the bunch so they won't miss us. "

"Now, I'd be sorry to miss that same myself, " remarked Bob; "becausehe's got me worked up to top notch fever about it, and I wanted to tryand read the sign he left behind him. I've sure heard a heap about thatpicture writing, and what fun scouts have trying to make out what it allmeans. But there don't seem to be anything out of the way on this sameisland, suh. A sure enough pretty place, and would make the finestcamp-site you ever saw. "

"Perhaps we may move over here to-morrow, " said Thad. "I've severalreasons for thinking that way. "

"One of which is that you'd like to get rid of that bear, " chuckled Bob. 

"Don't be too sure of that, " answered the other; "we might want to fetchhim over here with us. He did us one good turn when he frightened thatBrose Griffin crowd away, and who knows but what he might repeat?"

They came out on the other side of the island, and had seen no sign ofany sort of human habitation. On the way back again to the other shoreThad took a different route, so that he believed they would thus coverthe better part of the territory that went to make up the lake island. 

"Sure we're heading right, Thad?" asked Bob, presently. 

"Oh! my goodness I hope we don't get lost!" exclaimed Bumpus, in alarm. 

"It's all right, " replied Thad, with not a trace of uneasiness in hisvoice; "we are pretty nearly across now; and unless I've made a bungleof it, we ought to come out right on that same little sandy stretchwhere we landed. "

"I can hear the waves beating against the rocks, and they sound rightloud now, " remarked Bumpus. 

"That must be because the wind has been getting stronger all the timewe've been gone; and even now you notice the trees begin to thin out. Tell me, isn't that our sandy stretch right ahead there, and am I a goodwoodsman or not?"

"You brought us through as straight as a die, " said Bob, admiringly;"and just as you say, Thad, that's the same spot we landed on. "

"But tell me, " broke in Bumpus, "if that's so, where's our boat, fellows?"

The others stared, and well they might, for although they easilyrecognized the pretty little beach, it was now entirely destitute of anysign of a boat!

CHAPTER XV. 

THE BOY FROM THE BLUE RIDGE. 

"I expected this, but not so soon!" quavered Bumpus, dropping in a heapon the ground, and continuing to mop his heated face with that enormousbandana. 

The other two walked forward. 

"We must make sure that this is the same place, " remarked Thad. "Because, you see, there might happen to be two little sandy beachesvery much alike. "

"No danger of that, suh!" declared Bob, with conviction in his manner. "I took right good notice of a heap of things, and they all seem totally. This is the same place, I give you my word on that. "

"Well, here's all the proof we want, " said the scout-master, pointingdown at his feet, as they stood close to where the little waves wererunning over most of the sandy stretch. "The water has washed out someof our footprints; but you can still see where Bumpus tripped at theedge of the rise here, where that root sticks up a little. Rememberthat, don't you Bumpus?"

"That, you're IT, " replied the fat boy, getting up to come forward, andstare at the marks he had made, as though they confirmed his worstfears. "And now fellers, you see the blessed old island _has_ got peoplehidin' on it! They came back here and hooked our boat while we werepoking along through the scrub like a bunch of geese. Now, how are wegoing to get back home? We'll just starve to death out here. AndStep-hen he c'n turn my bag inside-out while I'm gone, too!"

That last seemed to worry him more than anything else, Thad noticed, with a little surprise; because he did not believe for a minute thatBumpus knew anything about the compass which Step-hen accused him ofhiding. 

They looked across the wide stretch of water. The waves were indeeddancing at quite a lively rate now, showing that a fresh breeze hadstarted up since they started on their little exploring trip. 

Thad suddenly conceived an idea. Perhaps it was the wash of the wavesagainst the bank that gave it to him. 

He turned on Bumpus. 

"See here, how far up did you pull that boat?" he asked, suddenly. 

The fat boy stared, and scratched his head. 

"Do you mean when we first landed; or afterwards when you told me tocome along or stay here, just whichever I liked?" he asked; but it wasonly to gain a little time that he said this, because he already knewwhat the answer would be. 

"When Bob and myself were going into the brush I told you to pull theboat up, and either stay here, or follow. Did you do it, Bumpus?" Thadwent on. 

"Oh! I heard you say it, all right, " admitted the fat boy, frankly; "butwhen I looked back, it seemed to me that the old boat was far enough upon the sand; and then you fellers were making off so fast I just thoughtyou'd leave me alone if I didn't hurry. So I just put after you, pellmell. "

"Well, that's what's the matter, " said Thad, with a look of disgust. "Next time see to it that you obey orders, no matter what you happen tothink. "

"Then the boat's drifted away, suh, you think?" Bob remarked, eagerly. 

"That's what I imagine, " replied Thad. "Notice which way the wind iscoming, and you can see that it throws the water up on this beach, whichis wasn't doing when we left here. Once she was loose and the samebreeze would make her move along past that little wooded point yonder. Ireckon that if we climb out there, we'll see the boat adrift. "

"But why haven't some of the boys ashore noticed it, and let out a whoopto draw our attention?" asked the boy from the Blue Ridge. 

"They may have been too busy to look this way, " answered Thad; "andthen, besides, the boat would be carried behind the island so theycouldn't see it. Come on, and we'll soon find out. "

"But if we don't find it however am I going to get on the main landagain?" complained Bumpus. 

"Well, it would serve you right if you did have to stay here aloneawhile, " Thad told him, with a sternness in his face which the merrytwinkle in his eyes belied. "After being so shiftless as to let such anaccident happen, you surely deserve to suffer. Isn't that right, Bumpus;own up now?"

"Oh! I suppose it might be;" the fat boy admitted; "but I hope you won'tthink of leaving me out here all alone. I might get a scare, and betempted to jump in; and you know what a poor swimmer I am, Thad. Oh!bully, bully, there she is, Thad, and floating along just as sassy asanything!"

The boat was not more than a hundred and fifty feet away, though bydegrees moving further off all the while, as the wind and the wavesinfluenced her movements. 

"Now somebody will have to strip and go after her, " said Thad. "And ifyou were a better swimmer, I'd say it ought to be you, Bumpus. "

"You'll have to excuse me this time, Thad, " declared the other, earnestly. "But are you sure it was only the wind that carried her off?"

"You can see for yourself that there's no one in the boat, using thepaddle, " the scout-master replied. 

"That's so, Thad, but seems as if I c'd see somethin' in the water underher bow; and it looks like two hands holding on to the gunnel above, just as if somebody might be swimmin' along and dragging the boat afterhim. "

Both the others broke out into a laugh at that. 

"I see that imagination of yours is working overtime, Bumpus, " remarkedThad; and then turning to the Southern boy he went on: "Shall it be youor I, Bob?"

"I hope you'll let me go after her, suh, " said the other, quickly, beginning to throw off some of his clothes, as if anticipating afavorable decision on the part of his superior officer in the Silver FoxPatrol. 

"Go then, if you want to, Bob, " suggested Thad, smiling; for he wasbeing drawn closer to this gallant son of the Sunny South every day; andconstantly found new causes for admiring the other's self sacrificingdisposition. 

Inside of three minutes Bob White went in from the headland with asplash, and swam toward the floating boat like a water spaniel. Reachingthe runaway he was seen to clamber aboard, after which he picked up thepaddle, and started to urge the boat toward the shore again. 

Not until then did Bumpus seem to heave a sigh of relief. Evidently thepoor fellow had really expected to see some dreadful enemy clasp Bobaround the neck as he started to slip over the side of the boat. 

After Bob had resumed his clothes, they entered the boat, and left thevicinity of the island. Thad kept looking it over as they graduallymoved further away, as if not satisfied, by any means, with what littlehe had seen of the place. 

"Yes, " he remarked, "I'm pretty much of a mind to put it to the fellows;and if the majority favors, we'll change our camp to-morrow, for a tryon the island. There's _something_ about that place that seems to drawme. "

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, " declared Bumpus, dolefully; "because Ijust know they'll want to ferry over--Allan because he's ready to doanything you say; Step-hen, for he wants to meet up with all sorts ofadventures, and says he means to get away out in the Rockies some ofthese days; Smithy because he's afraid you'll all think him weak andgirlish if he draws back; and Giraffe too when he gets the idea thatmebbe we'll be leaving the bear behind; because it'll mean just so muchmore left for him to eat. Huh! if I'm the minority, might as well makeit unanimous, and be done with it. Can't die but once, anyhow, so whatdoes it matter?"

Of course neither of the others paid much attention to what Bumpus said. He always liked to hear himself talk; and as his comrades said, his"bark was worse than his bite. " Bumpus often said he wouldn't, andchanged his mind immediately. 

When they landed the others were just about starting out to have Allanshow how the long talked-of Indian picture writing was done. They askedquestions, of course but neither Thad nor Bob would gratify theircuriosity. 

"We're going to keep all that for around the camp-fire to-night boys, "declared the scout-master, firmly. "Wouldn't interrupt this arrangementfor anything. And to tell the truth we didn't find anything so seriousas to warrant a recall. So go right along with the game, Allan, and letthe rest of us in on it; because Bob here is as eager to learn as anyof the boys. "

Bumpus, however, declared he was that tired he preferred staying in thecamp, to keep the bear company. 

"He might get loose and try to clean us out of all our grub, " hesuggested, with a broad smile. 

"Sure, " replied Step-hen, sneeringly; "and I just warrant you've alreadygot your tree all picked out beforehand, if he does. Much good you'd betrying to defend our provisions. Now, if it was _me_, I'd fight to thelast gasp before I'd let him make way with a single piece of cheese, oreven a cracker. "

"I believe you would, Step-hen, " replied Bumpus, calmly; "and by theway, perhaps my knapsack has aired enough by now, so I'll put it in thetent again. "

Step-hen made a face at him, and hurried away after the rest; but fromthe manner in which he looked back a number of times, and continued toshake his head as he talked to himself, it was plain to be seen that hestill believed the fat boy was hiding something in that same haversack, which he did not wish any one, particularly a fellow named Step-henBingham, to set eyes on. And what else could that be but the missingcompass, which Bumpus had once so indignantly denied having seen, afterhe handed it back to its owner?

Allan did not intend going far, since there was no need of it. He couldillustrate all he wished to in the way of the famous Indian picturewriting, which Boy Scouts in other troops had found so interesting astudy in connection with woodcraft. Even Thad, who had dabbled in it tosome extent in the past, was deeply concerned; because he knew that themore these boys became interested in observing things that werehappening all around them, the sooner they would climb up the ladderleading to merit badges, and a right to the name of a first classscout. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE PICTURES THAT TALKED. 

"What's that Allan's got in his hand?" asked Davy Jones, as the littleparty reached an open spot, and the Maine boy came to a halt. 

"Looks like a strip of fresh birch bark, " remarked Giraffe. 

"Just what it is, " Allan spoke up, "and if you watch me, you'll see howthe poor Indian, not carrying a hammer and nails along, finds a way toleave his message so that it attracts the attention he wants, just aswell as if he nailed it against the trunk of a tree. "

He bent down, broke off a long wand from a bush, and seemed to partlysplit one end of this. Into the crotch he inserted the birch bark. Theother end he pushed into the ground. 

"There you are, fellows, " Allan went on. "When you reach this pointalong the trail of your friend, you find that he has left this messagefor you. Being an Indian, or a border man used to the ways of theIndians, you take the strip of bark in your hands, and examine it. Tothe eye of the experienced one it is as plain as so many words would beto all of us. Here, look at what I've written, boys. "

"Say, it's a cute little boy's idea of a procession, " remarked Step-hen;"for I take it that all these figures must be meant for men. "

"And I can see a fire burning, right here, " declared Giraffe, eagerly. 

"What's this four-legged critter, a wolf or a dog?" asked Step-hen, pointing to the object he had in mind. 

"What would you say, Thad?" asked Allan, smiling. 

"Well, it strikes me that it must be a dog, because you've made it havea curly tail; and no wolf was ever known to possess such a thing. Besides, it always appears close to the heels of one of the men, and thesame one too; so I should say it belongs to that fellow. "

"Just exactly what I wanted to convey, " Allan went on, nodding his headin approval. "Now, if you'll pay close attention, fellows, I'll show youhow easy it is to write messages this way. Just as Step-hen said, it'slike a boy trying to show his first skill in drawing; but in this caseevery little mark has its meaning. "

"It's interesting, all right, Allan, " observed Davy Jones. 

"That's right, it is, " echoed Smithy, who had apparently never beforerealized what a delightful thing it was to get out in the woods with aparcel of chums, and discover what strange things can be found there. 

"Now, here is what the man in advance is telling the one who comesafter, " continued the boy who knew. "He is himself following on thetrack of a party of enemies, and has discovered certain facts connectedwith their movements, which he wishes to communicate to his comradecoming after, so as to gave him the trouble of wasting time ininvestigating for himself. And here's the way he does it. "

He held the birch bark up so all could see. Six pair of eager eyes wereimmediately glued upon the marks which he had made on the smooth browninside bark, with possibly the point of his knife, just as the realIndian might. 

"First, you see, here are five figures represented, " Allan began. 

"That means the total number of the enemy, don't it?" asked Davy, quickly. 

"Just what it does, and I'm glad to see how you catch on, " continuedAllan. "Now, after telling how many foes they have ahead, the scouttries to mark each one in some way so they can be distinguished allthrough the letter. Here's a fellow who seems to be one-armed, for healways appears that way. A second is very tall, you notice, while athird is a dwarf, and a fourth limps a little, for his leg is bent somein every picture. The fifth wears a hat; and as for the sixth, he mustbe feeling the effects of looking into a bottle too many times; becausehe wobbles some as he pursues his way. Got all that, fellows?"

"Sure, and it's some interesting, Allan, " declared Step-hen. 

"Well, they've been in camp here, for you can see the remains of a fire, but with very little smoke ascending, showing that it is nearly dead. They have gone due northeast after breaking camp. Here are five markslike the pickets on a fence, just alongside this cross. Now, what wouldyou think those meant?"

"Looks to me as if the men had gone five miles up to that cross, " Thadremarked. 

"Just what I was going to say, " said Davy, disappointed to come insecond. 

"Both of you have hit the nail on the head, " laughed Allan; "for that iswhat the Indian wants to say. And here at the five mile station theparty of hostiles appear to have separated, the tall man and the one whois groggy, together with the dog, going off toward the east; while theothers keep on straight. And you can see that our friend chooses tofollow the three, for some reason of his own. "

"Here's another picket fence, " remarked Davy; "this time only fourmiles. "

"Then what?" asked Allan. 

"There's a crooked line running across. Can't be a snake they've struck, because it's too big for that, " mused Davy. 

"I know, " remarked Smithy. "That must be a river, because here's a boat;anyhow, it looks like one to me. "

"Why, of course, " broke in Bob White; "and I must have been blind not tohave glimpsed that before. They've got to a river, and found a boatthere. But what do all these funny marks on the river stand for? Lookslike the three chaps might be in swimming. Is that what it means, Allan?"

"In one way, yes, " replied the other, laughing again, for he found itgreat fun to have his comrades guessing at the explanation of his crudechart. "Here you see them standing up in the boat, and all of them areholding their hands over their heads. That is the Indian's idea ofshowing fright. "

"And just beyond, the boat seems to have broken in two; that showssomething happened, I reckon, " Davy hastened to remark. 

"Well, here the three of them are swimming like ducks, and the boatdoesn't appear again, so something _did_ happen. Go on Allan, this isjust as fine as any illustrated rebus I ever struck, " Thad said, himselfdeeply interested. 

"Perhaps the one who writes this birch bark message was himselfresponsible for the sinking of the boat. You failed to notice that justbefore the accident happened there was a _dot_ on the water close to theboat. That may have been his head, and he managed to cut a hole in thebirch bark canoe. "

"But see here, a little further on you forgot to mark the whole threeagain; I can only see two, all told, " Davy declared. 

"Well, evidently then the scout wants to convey the impression thatthere were only two of the enemy at that time, " Allan went on. "He musthave found some means of disposing of one, either in the water, or fromthe shore with his gun while they were floundering there. "

"I guess the two chaps crawled out here on the bank, " said Step-hen, pointing. 

"And plunged into the woods too, for here are trees again, and whatlooks like a trail, leading toward the west, which is marked by asetting sun. An Indian always designates a _setting_ sun by the spursthat stand up like spokes; while the sun rising is simply a half circleon the horizon. "

"Well, " remarked Davy, his eyes round with eagerness; "I declare, thisis mighty interesting; and I must get the hang of this Indian picturewriting as quick as I can. You'll see what stunts I'll do after a littlewhile. I'll sure have the rest of you guessing at the puzzles I get up. "

"You're near the end of the picture, Allan, " remarked Thad; "and as Ican see only one figure ahead now, I think something must have happenedto our friend Limpy, because he doesn't appear again. "

"I suppose that the scout who follows must have found a chance to cutdown the number of the enemy in advance to one, " remarked Allan; "and hewants to let his friend know he is still on the trail of that fellow. Here the pursued one must have spent the night, for you can see anotherdead fire. Away off here it looks like a village, for there are lodgesand dogs and squaws. He marks that as ten miles off, and evidentlyexpects to overtake the lone warrior before he reaches the shelter ofthe tepees. And so you see he has managed to tell the story of hisadventure, crudely of course, yet just as well as any one of us mightwrite it out. And once you've got the knack of reading this sort oftalk, you can manage it just as fast as you would hand-writing. That'sall I'm going to tell you about it to-day; but if you feel that wayanother time, I'll show you a lot more that is interesting. "

Davy Jones declared that he would keep the Maine boy to his promise. This queer way of communicating a whole story without writing a singleletter seemed to appeal to him especially. And all that evening he wasscribbling away upon a pad of paper he had brought along, drawing allmanner of remarkable figures, which he jumbled up in such a way that heactually forgot the key to the combinations; and had to get Allan's helpin solving some of them, which the others considered a rich joke. 

During the balance of the afternoon the boys amused themselves invarious ways. Several tried the fishing, with the result that there wasa good mess of gamey bass caught for supper. 

Thad, Allan and Bob White lay in the shade for a long time, talking. TheSouthern boy was eagerly telling his chums various things in connectionwith his old home away off in the distant Blue Ridge; and from the waythe others asked questions it was evident that the proposition to havethe Silver Fox Patrol visit the mountain region where Bob had once livedmust have sunk deeply into their minds. 

"I know one thing sure, " remarked Thad; "if we're lucky enough to gothere, I'm going to carry my shotgun along. A Boy Scout as a rule isseldom seen bearing arms; but there's nothing in the rules of theorganization that I can find to prevent a member from enjoying a huntwhen he has the chance. Besides, if we camp out, as we expect to, wemust depend on getting game for part of our supplies. "

"And as for the money part, " remarked Bob, "while a scout is required toearn the money for his suit and outfit, there's nothing to prevent himfrom accepting a railroad ticket from his folks, or any other cash toprovide him with a summer's outing. So far as I can see it, suh, thewhole intention of the organization is to make its members manly, independent, helpful to others, and thrifty. I hope, suh, all of us aretrying to carry out those rules. And it would please me more than I cantell you, if you decided to accompany me to that mountain country wherethey grow men; because I am compelled to go there for my mother, andwould be the happiest fellow alive if my seven chums went along to keepme company. "

"Don't tell it around, Bob, " said Thad, quietly, "but really it's asgood as settled that if we get back from this first little camping tripin good shape, we're going to get the chance to make a bigger tour, " andthen the three exultant scouts shook hands, as they saw a gloriousfuture prospect opening before them. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE MAKER OF FIRES. 

Giraffe spent fully half an hour, if not longer, that afternoon, makingample preparations for his anticipated building of the camp-fire thatnight, after supper had been disposed of. 

He had his busy jack-knife at work laying in a store of shavings thatwould flare up in a jiffy, and set the next-sized kindling to going;when by degrees the larger logs would take fire under the fierce heat. Thad kept an eye on him, and others were a bit worried lest the boy whojust doted on building fires overdo the matter, and set the forestablaze. 

"Why, you've already got twice too much tinder, Giraffe, " remonstratedDavy Jones, as he saw the boy with the knife start in again to cut more. 

"Do for starting the fire in the morning then, " replied Giraffe. "Mustbe doing something all the time, you know; and I don't enjoy anythinghalf so much as making whittlings for a blaze. You go along with yoursilly pictures, Davy, and let me alone. Thad's keeping an eye on me, allright. And I haven't got a single match about me, you know. "

Supper was finally in preparation. The bass had been neatly cleaned bythose who had caught them, Step-hen and Smithy; and for the first timein his life no doubt, the pampered son of the rich widow found himselfdoing the work of a cook's helper. Whether he fancied it or not, Step-hen declared that he did his work neatly, and fairly fast; whichcompliment made Smithy's light blue eyes shine with real pleasure. Hehad entered into a new life, and was evidently resolved to pursue itfurther, taking the bitter with the sweet. 

But of course the fish did not constitute the only food they had. Healthy appetites like those possessed by the eight scouts could notfare on fish alone. Thad, for instance, cared very little for freshwater bass, though fond of catching them. And he saw to it that a largecan of corned beef was opened, together with one containing succotash, out of which he constructed a savory dish which he called the canoeists'stew. 

Then besides they had stewed prunes, together with a kettle of boiledrice, over which those who preferred it could sprinkle sugar, and wetdown with the evaporated cream which was carried in sealed tins. 

Given the voracious appetites which healthy boys usually carry alongwith them into camp, and it was amazing how this mess vanished. AndGiraffe, as he scraped the kettle that had contained the stew, remarkedthat the only mistake made on the trip had been in providing too smallcooking utensils. 

"Make your mind easy, Giraffe, " said Davy; "next time we'll fetch alongall our mothers' preserving kettles. Fact is, there must be times wheneven a wash boiler looks about the regulation size, to you!"

"That's mean of you, Davy, " remarked Giraffe, when he could make himselfheard above the roars of laughter. "Just because I happen to have abetter appetite than the rest of you, is no reason you should keep onjoking a feller about it. You eat twice as much as Smithy here, and yetyou think that's nothing. Well, I happen to be able to go a littlefurther than _you_, that's all. Nothing to be ashamed of, is it, Thad?"

"Oh! the boys must have their fun, Giraffe; and if you're wise you'lllaugh with them, " Thad remarked. "When they find it doesn't bother you, the chances are they'll quit quizzing you on your eating ability. DoctorPhilander said that the only danger lay in your putting to great astrain on your digestive powers. "

"Well, Doctor Philander ain't here, and we seem to be getting along O. K. Without a regular scout-master, too, " remarked Davy Jones. "Iwouldn't care if business kept on chaining him to town whenever theSilver Fox Patrol has a chance to camp out. Thad, here, keeps us subduedjust about right. "

The bear had not been forgotten at meal times. Thad saw to it that therewas enough food given to the animal to satisfy its hunger; thoughGiraffe always complained that it was just ruinous the way that animaldid eat into their supplies. 

"Lucky you laid in an extra amount, Thad, " he remarked that sameevening, as he saw the captive make way with all that was placed beforehim. "Guess you must have had an idea we'd have company up here. "

"Why, no, the boys warned me that the fresh air might sharpen up some ofour appetites, " replied Thad; "and I guess it has. "

"That's just it, " said Giraffe, quickly; "and I can't be heldresponsible for what this ozone does, can I, Thad? Why, ever since westarted, I've just got an empty feeling down there, like the bottom haddropped out. Half an hour after I fill up, I'm hungry again. It's anawful feeling, let me tell you. "

"I was just wondering, " said Thad, "if those two foreigners who own thisbeast will ever show up to reclaim him. "

"My stars! I hope so, " remarked the other, looking horrified at the verythought of keeping Bruin much longer. "But what can we do to let 'emknow we've got their old hairy exhibit eating us out of house and home?"

"Nothing that I know of, " laughed Thad, "No use advertising, becausepapers don't circulate through the wilderness; and those ignorantforeigners couldn't read the notice if we put one in. And we can't findwhere to stick the message even if we printed one in picture writing, asAllan had shown us the Indians do. Guess after all we'll just have totake pot luck, Giraffe. "

"That means, I reckon, that we'll just have to keep on stuffing our goodgrub down the throat of this silly old bear, until his owners happenalong. Tough luck, Thad! Why, oh! why did the beast ever smell us out inthe beginning?"

"Oh! the odor of our supper cooking must have done that, " Thad went onto say. "If you were almost starved, and got on the track of onionsfrying, wouldn't you make a bee-line for that camp-fire, and beg toshare the meal? That's what he did, came walking in, and in his clumsyway tried to dance himself into our good graces. But the hour was late, and we all made a break for the branches of the trees. I'll neverremember that without laughing. It was sure the funniest sight ever. "

"There's Step-hen, " Giraffe had gone on to remark, "always talking aboutthat uncle of his who lives out somewhere in the wild and woolly west;he says he expects to pay him a visit some day, and brags about howhe'll have a chance to bag his grizzly bear then; but excuse me, if agrizzly can eat any more than this tame one; I wouldn't bag him for agift. "

"Oh! you mistake his meaning, " chuckled Thad, "When he speaks of bagginga bear he means shooting him and bringing him to bag, not capturing one. The man doesn't live who would try to capture such a monster, single-handed. "

"Have you ever shot one, Thad?"

"Well, hardly, seeing that I've never lived where they grew grizzlies;but the time might come when I would have the chance. I'd like to beable to say I had brought such a fierce beast down. But I want to getback, and keep an eye on that fire you've built. It's sure a wonder, only I wouldn't throw any more wood on it for a long time. Those flamesshoot up pretty high, right now. "

"Oh! it's just glorious!" declared the young fire worshipper; "and Idon't see how I'm ever going to get to sleep to-night for tinkering withit. When I can attend a fire I seem to thrill all over. Funny, ain't it, Thad, how it affects me? My folks say they'll have to send me to thecity, and make a fireman out of me. "

"Well, if they asked my advice, " remarked the other, "I'd say you oughtto be put on a railroad engine to stoke. Inside of a month you'd be sosick of making fires you'd never want to try it again as long as youlived. "

"Hey! don't you go to putting them up to that dodge, then, " remarkedGiraffe, in sudden alarm, "because I don't want to get an overdose ofmaking fires. Just now it's a passion with me. I love to sit, and stareinto the blaze, because I can see all sorts of things there. Why, Thad, honest now, they talk to me just like that silly old Injun picturewritin' does to Allan. I read stories in the fires I make. "

"Well, " remarked Thad, drily; "we'll make sure then, that this camp-firedies out before we go to our blankets; because I'm bound to know justwhere you are, Giraffe. And now that the bear has finished his supper, and is begging for more, let's go over to the rest of the boys again. "

"Yes, for goodness sake let's get away from here, " the other scout said. "Somehow or other I just know that beast feels a grudge against me. There's Bumpus, as choice a morsel as you'd like to see; yet it's alwaysme the bear is watching. I sometimes believe that if he did get loose, he'd be mean enough to try and make a meal off me. "

"Well, if he can understand English, or even the actions of humanbeings, you'd admit he's had good cause for disliking you, " chuckledThad; "because all along you've put up quite a good-sized objectionagainst our wasting any more food on him. And animals can tell who theirfriends are, you understand. "

"Is that really so?" Giraffe remarked, uneasily; "then me for a tree ifever he does break that chain. And I'm going to keep a way open underthe edge of the tent, so I can slide out while he's searching among thelot for me. If I had a gun along. Thad, we might enjoy bear steak onthis trip yet. "

"Pretty tough eating, believe me; and I'm just as well pleased that youhave no rifle, " with which Thad threw himself down by the roaring fire, the heat of which felt good, since with the coming of night the air hadbecome quite chilly. 

Giraffe soon fell back on his shaving occupation again. Allan wastelling stories about the Maine woods, and enthusing his hearers, sothat even Smithy was heard to declare that he hoped they would some dayhave a chance to visit that country, to see for themselves if it was asfine as Allan pictured. 

"I hope it will be in the early fall, then, " remarked Allan; "becausethen you would be in time for the late fishing, and the opening of thedeer season. That's the best time for going up into the Maine woods. "

Davy Jones, who had gone down to the edge of the lake to listen to thebass jumping as they fed upon some smaller species of fish, asfrequently happens at night time, came hurrying back to the fire justthen, his face filled with excitement. Thad saw at once that somethingmust have occurred to give the scout a shock; and he wondered whether itcould have anything to do with the mystery of the boat, and thosefootprints over on the island. 

"The ghost walked, fellers!" exclaimed Davy, as he caught his breathagain. 

"What's all that silly talk mean, Davy?" demanded the scout-master. 

"Well, he's been prowling around with a lantern, all right, lookin' forsomething; I give you my word I saw it, Thad, " Davy declared, crossinghis heart, boy fashion. 

"Where was all this happening?" pursued Thad. 

"Why, over there on the island!" answered Davy, positively. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE ALARM. 

Davy's words created no end of excitement in the camp of the Boy Scouts. Every fellow jumped to his feet, and several immediately stepped out sothat they could get a better view of the dark lake. The stars shonebrightly, and gleamed on the tiny wavelets that purled along toward thebeach close by. 

Knowing just where the distant island lay, they could manage to locateit by the inky blur that seemed to settle upon the water at this oneparticular spot. But if any one expected to see lanterns moving to andfro like animated fireflies, they made a sad mistake. It remained asdark as the inside of a pocket over there. 

"Oh! come, what sort of talk were you giving us, Davy?" remarkedStep-hen, in disgust. "I was mighty comfortable lying on my blanket, andyou just thought you'd see how you could stir us up with some fakenews. "

"I tell you I _did_ see it!" affirmed Davy, stoutly. 

"Say, I know what he glimpsed, " remarked Bumpus. 

"What was it, then?" asked Step-hen. 

"That star hanging low over yonder, " the fat boy went on, eagerly; "if afeller saw it all of a sudden, he might think it moved. And it does looklike a lantern, now, it sure does. "

"Think everybody is a booby like, --well, some people, do you, Bumpus?"demanded Davy, indignantly. "What I saw waved back and forward, justlike I might do, if I wanted to make a signal to somebody over here onthe mainland. Thad, you believe me, don't you?"

Before the scout leader could answer, another took up the argument. 

"Boys, " said Smithy, "what Davy Jones says is perfectly correct, becauseI myself saw some sort of moving light. I just happened to turn my head, for perhaps Davy said something right then, and it was out there overthe dark water. "

"There, what d'ye think of that, Smarty?" demanded Davy, turning onStep-hen and Bumpus, who were on the same side for once, and about theonly time the others could remember:

"It goes, " said Thad, positively. "What Davy told us has now been provenby a second reliable witness. Then there must have been some sort oflight moving over there on the island. If a light, then a human being, either boy or man. And that makes me all the more anxious to look thatsame island over again. I didn't get to cover all the ground when wewere there last. "

"But there wasn't any cabin or hut there?" Bob White declared. 

"I don't believe there could be one, and none of us sight it. Still, it's a rocky island, you remember, and there might be some sort of caveon it, good enough to be used to keep a man from the rain, or housinggoods, if need be. "

"Whew! listen to Thad, would you?" said Step-hen, drawing a big breath, which betrayed his state of mind, and the excitement that was beginningto make his pulses thrill. "Whatever do you suppose these unknown mencan be doing around here?"

"You remember what I said before about this country having been stockedwith game, and this lake with thousands of young bass years back?" Thadcontinued. "It is possible that some of the late gamekeepers have a neatlittle plan to make a pile of money out of their knowledge. And as thelaw would punish them if they were caught, perhaps they're hiding whilewe're in camp so close by. "

"That sounds good enough for me, " remarked Giraffe, taking advantage ofThad's attention being diverted to softly toss another pine knot uponthe fire. 

"Perhaps it's worse than that, " Step-hen remarked, in a half-awed voice. "I've been reading a lot lately about some convicts that broke out of apenitentiary up in the next county. Mebbe now some of 'em have locatedhere, and are living off the game they snare in the woods, or the fishthey hook. "

"That might be, of course, though I doubt it, " Thad went on to remark. "In the first place, if they were convicts they would be wearing heavybrogans, such as are always used in prisons. One of these men had on aneat pair of pointed shoes, for I saw the marks clearly. The other'sshoes were pieced. I pointed that out to Bob White, didn't I, Bob?"

"It is just like you say, suh, " replied the other, readily; "and youshowed me how I could tell that shoe again any time, and under anyconditions; foh it had a home-made patch on the sole, running crisscrossfrom side to side, " and he made the figure with his finger in the earthbeside him. 

Davy Jones had left the fire again, to go back to the lake shore, and sodid not happen to hear this explanation. He seemed to be hoping anotherglimpse of the moving lantern would be granted to him. There wassomething so weird and fascinating about the mystery that Davy wished itto keep up. 

"How about our moving the camp over on the island to-morrow; have youchanged your mind about that, Mr. Scout-Master?" asked Allan. 

"Yes, I was just hanging in the balance, when this new thing happened, and settled it for me, " replied Thad. 

"Then we don't go?" asked Step-hen, guessing the way things were movingfrom the expression he saw on the other's face. 

"It would hardly pay us, " answered Thad. "In the first place we'renicely fixed where we are. Then again, if that island should be aharboring place for hoboes or some other rough men, we'd soon get intotrouble with them. I don't think many of us would enjoy sound sleep ifwe camped over there. It would mean sentry duty every night, just likewe were soldiers. "

The boys had voted in one way to go over, and no one would have liked toshow the white feather. But this decision on the part of theirscout-master let them "down easy, " as Step-hen afterwards confessed. Andthey all seemed to look pleased over the decision, even Davy, who camein just in time to hear the last words Thad spoke, having seen nofurther sign of a lantern. 

But perhaps there was one who remained silent, and looked glum when itwas thus decided to remain in the old camp. Giraffe dropped his head, sothat his comrades might not see how disappointed he felt over the changeof plans. For he had hoped that the bear would be set at liberty whenthe last scout took passage for the new island camp; and that the beastwould start off hunting food in the woods after the fashion of bears ingeneral. 

Now they faced a panic in the food department, Giraffe feared; for heseemed to be certain that some night that beast would break loose fromhis chain, and devour everything they had in the line of provisions. 

"Who goes over with you to-morrow, Thad?" asked Davy, hoping that hemight be the favored one; for Davy loved adventure, and could never gettoo much of the same, he believed. 

"Well, I hope he don't choose you, for one, Davy, " said Step-hen, jealously. 

"Why not?" demanded Davy, showing resentment at once. 

"Because you might have one of your fits in the boat, and upset thewhole outfit, " Step-hen went on, with a grin; "you know, when we wantedyou to help clean up around the camp yesterday, you said you were afraidof exerting yourself too much, because you felt the signs that alwayscame along before you got one of them terrible cramps. "

Davy looked a little confused. Deep down in his own heart he knew thathe had been playing a little game of "shirk" about that time, and takingwhat was a mean advantage of the good nature of his fellow scouts. Andnow it was coming back to make him pay the penalty. So he said notanother word. 

"I haven't decided yet who I want to take, " remarked Thad, lookingaround at the circle of eager faces upon which the light of the glowingcamp-fire shone; "and perhaps the fairest way will be to draw lots, thenthe lucky one will not be of my picking; and there can be no badfeeling. "

Bumpus had been sitting there for some time now, taking things easy. Hecertainly enjoyed remaining quiet as well as any one in the patrol, which, considering his weight, was not to be wondered at. 

Some thought must have struck him just about that time, for he wasobserved to struggle to his knees with many a grunt, and then gaininghis feet vanish within the nearest tent. 

Nobody was paying any particular attention to the fat youth, however, unless it might have been Step-hen, who turned his head to see what wasgoing on; and even he joined in the laugh when Davy Jones performed oneof his comical antics, jumping up, and hanging from the lower limb of atree by his toes, so that he swung to and fro like a big pendulum. 

"Better be careful, suh, how you play that trick, if ever you go downwith me into the Blue Ridge country, " laughed Bob White. 

"Why, would they arrest me for cruelty to animals?" demanded Davy, as hemade a flying leap, turned completely over in the air, and landed everso lightly on his feet, as neatly as a circus gymnast might have done. 

"No, but if some of the darkies were passing through the woods, suh, andsaw you hanging like that, they'd positively think it was the biggest'possum that ever was grown in North Car'lina. And you'd hear an ax atthe butt of that tree in a jiffy, believe me. "

Just then Bumpus came staggering out of the tent, having tripped asusual on a guy rope in his hurry. He scrambled to his feet, and althoughnearly out of breath, managed to grasp:

"Well, there's thieves broke loose in this same camp, fellows, or elsethe place is just bewitched, that's what!"

"You'll have to explain what you mean, Bumpus?" declared Thad; whileStep-hen half started from his seat on a blanket, his face becomingscarlet as if he expected that every eye would immediately be turned inhis direction. 

"I tell you I hung it right on the pole in the middle of the tent, andnow it's clean gone. Yes, I even hunted around on the ground, andeverywhere, but nary a sign did I see. Things have come to a prettypass, I think, when a fellow just ain't allowed to leave his haversackaround without somebody running off with the same. Like to know what therules'd say to that sort of thing. Thad, is this going to keep up rightalong? It's downright robbery, that's my opinion; and I don't care whoknows it. Oh! my goodness gracious! there they come now, walkin' rightin on us!"

From the way Bumpus spoke, one would think he meant the thieves weredescending on the camp to complete its looting; and as the boysscrambled to their feet, no wonder they were thrilled to see two shadowyfigures of men advancing from the direction of the dense forest!

CHAPTER XIX. 

A GOOD RIDDANCE. 

Bumpus somehow seemed to keep his senses about him. Frightened as hewas, he never forgot that, as the chosen bugler of Cranford Troop, hehad certain duties devolving upon him which should not be neglected. 

So he made a frantic dive for his precious bugle, hanging close by. Seizing the instrument, he clapped it to his lips, and blew a clarioncall. It was the rallying signal of the scouts, and which they knew fullwell. 

The bear immediately set up a whimpering, and then merged this into aroar that echoed from the side of the hill far away. Thad wonderedwhether this action on his part was intended to be disgust with themusic produced by the silver-voiced troop bugle; or if the coming of thetwo men had anything to do with it. 

Immediately he saw that the latter was the case, for one of the men leftthe side of his companion, and striding swiftly toward the dancing bear, began to fondle the beast, while speaking words in some outlandishtongue. 

That told the story. The newcomers then, were the two men whom Smithyhad seen exhibiting the trained beast near his house, and one of whom hehad declared asked him ever so many questions in good English about thecountry above, and the people living on the farms there. 

But the scouts had had their little scare all right. Under the beliefthat the camp was in danger of being raided by a couple of thievingtramps, who had already picked out the bag of Bumpus as the choicestprize of the lot, Davy and some of his mates had gained their feet onlyto jump for the spot where their stout staves happened to be restingagainst various trees. 

They really presented quite a warlike front as they began to wave thesesticks in a menacing manner, and ranged on either side of theirscout-master. 

"Hold on, boys, there's no need of making such a show as that, " Thadremarked, secretly pleased, however, to see how bold a band he had underhim; "these men are the ones who own the bear; and I rather thinkthey've come for him at last. "

"Hurrah!" shouted Giraffe, ready to dance with happiness over the suddenprospect of being rid of their "star boarder, " while the stock of foodstill remained fairly bountiful. 

Thad was observing the man who kept on toward them. He was coarselydressed, and to all appearances as much of a foreigner as the one whowas caressing the whining dancing bear, and speaking such strange wordsto him. At the same time Thad, who was quite an observer, felt thatthere was a vast difference between the two men. 

This one had clear features, sunburned and begrimed it is true, but withintelligence in his manner; while his gray eyes were keen andpenetrating. 

Just now, as he surveyed the hostile attitude of some of the scouts, Thad could detect a grim smile passing over the face of the other. Henodded his head to the boy whom he guessed must be the leader of thecampers. 

"We lost the bear by accident, and my companion has been mourning eversince. You see he brought the beast over the ocean, and cares a heap forhim, " he said, as he pointed to where the bear and keeper were actuallyhugging each other, so it seemed. 

"He walked in on us the other night, just when we were ready to go toour blankets, " Thad went on to explain, "and nearly scared some of theboys out of their wits. But we happened to have a scout who had fed yourbear, and talked to him. He was brave enough to get down from his tree, and offer the animal part of a loaf of bread. "

"Half a loaf it was too, mister!" broke in Giraffe, determined that theother should not be left in any doubt as to the immense hole the beasthad made in their provision chest. 

"And while the bear was eating, Smithy managed to get the chain fastaround that tree, " Thad continued. "We hoped you'd come for him, sooneror later, because we hadn't laid in stores for a bear when we startedout on this hike. And Giraffe here is anxious to see the last of him, because he's afraid his rations will have to be cut pretty soon if itkeeps on much longer. "

"Thank you, boys, for keeping the bear, " the man remarked, in excellentEnglish, as he smiled, and bowed around the half circle. "If you say so, we will gladly settle his board bill right now, as we have to be off, too much time having been lost in this hunt. But he refused to doanything without his bear, and I had to give in. "

"That's kind of you; but I guess we don't want to ask any pay for thelittle he ate of our food, " Thad hastened to say. 

"Little, oh, my!" Giraffe burst out with; and then subsided at a frownfrom the scout-master. 

"And besides, " went on Thad, "he happened to do us a service byfrightening away a lot of boys from town who meant to play some trick onus, perhaps stealing all our eatables; so you see we feel square. Butperhaps you'd like to have a cup of coffee while you're here? We haveplenty, and can fix you up in short order. "

Giraffe could only groan. To his mind it seemed that they must bekeeping open house for all the roving creatures at large in that sectionof the country. And besides, who could say what manner of men these twowith the trained bear might turn out to be? For his part, the one whotalked so well, looked very suspicious, to say the least; and why shouldan educated man be tramping all over the country in company with anignorant foreigner and his dancing bear, if he did not have some slygame back of it?

"That is very kind of you, boy, " remarked the man, with a smile thatmade Thad forget his soiled face and rather ragged clothes; "and as thenight is cool, and we've still got a long tramp before us if we expectto make half the distance to Faversham before morning, I'm going to takeyou at your word. But I wish you'd let me pay you something for all thistrouble. "

Thad of course shook his head, and gave orders for coffee to be put inthe pot, which might be set close enough to the hot camp-fire to soonstart boiling. 

The man sat down and began to talk to Davy Jones, who happened to benext him. He seemed to be asking a few questions, possibly concerningthe road to the town toward which they were bound, and which was reallya good many miles away. 

Thad walked over to where the other was still chattering to hisrecovered pet. He found, however, that the man could not speak enoughEnglish to answer any question. If the other man was able to communicatewith this fellow at all then he must be educated enough to speakRussian; for that was what the foreigner's native country seemed to be, as far as Thad could make out. 

When the coffee was ready, the man by the fire accepted of a cup, andthanked Step-hen warmly. Davy carried another cup to the bear keeper, who took it with some strange words, which the boy supposed were meantto express his gratitude. 

And after that, to the immense delight of Giraffe, they prepared todepart. The bear was made to shake hands with each scout, and in his oddfashion express his thanks for the attention that had been given him. But Giraffe declined the honor. 

"It's all right for you fellows, " he grumbled, when they joked him onhis timidity; "he likes you, and wouldn't do anything to hurt you; butit's different with me, you see. The old rascal's taken a dislike to me, and I'd be afraid he'd give me a sneaky bite, or claw me. Just saygood-bye for me, and a good riddance. "

Thad was afraid the man who could talk such good English might show somesigns of being offended by these frank expressions of Giraffe's views;but instead he laughed quite heartily, as though rather tickled. 

"A bear can eat a big amount of stuff in a day, " he remarked, "and Idon't blame your friend for being afraid he'd clean you out, if hestayed longer. Good-bye, boys. Hope you enjoy your outing to the limit;and that the time may come when I can return that favor of a bully cupof coffee. "

With that they were off, the bear growling one minute, as it struggledwith its chain, and looked back; and then whimpering in its joy atseeing a familiar face again. 

"See, he knows he'll miss the good feeds he's had since he dropped in onus, " remarked Davy. 

"You're away off there, Davy, " declared Giraffe, drawing a big sigh;"he's ugly just because he can't get a bite at me. He's been waiting allthe time to do that, and he shows how mad he is to be taken away withouta chance. Perhaps I'll sleep easier to-night, boys. It's an awful thingto lie awake there in a tent, and know a revengeful bear is trying tobreak his chain only twenty feet away, meaning to take a nip at you. "

But the others only laughed at Giraffe, as the shadowy figures of menand bear were swallowed up in the dense darkness of the forest. 

Still, every one was glad the bear had gone. They might have laughed atsome of his antics; but his little eyes looked treacherous; and Thad hadgiven orders that nobody should be too familiar with the beast while hehonored them with his company. 

"That one man was sure a foreign chap, " remarked Allan; "but the othertalked as good English as any of us, perhaps better than some. I saw himspeaking with you, Davy; did he tell you who he was, and all about hisroving life?"

"Well, I guess not, " replied the other, "to tell the truth, he wasasking questions about getting to Faversham, and finding a couple ofparties he seems to want to come up with mighty bad. But I couldn't givehim much help, because you see, I've never been as far as that town; andI sure never met up with the men he described. But I promised him I'dkeep my eyes open, and if so be I ran across 'em, I'd send him word, incare of a man up in Faversham named Malcolm Hotchkiss. "

"Well, " broke in Bumpus just then, after his usual impetuous style, "formy part, I'm believin' that they're the very two rascals Thad spokeabout, hanging out in this region, and taking game out of season. Andperhaps now, one of 'em even sneaked in camp when nobody was around, andgot away with my bag. "

He said this in a sneering way, and kept his eye fixed reproachfully onStep-hen while speaking. The other frowned, and shook his head, in acombative way. 

"Of course you mean it's me that touched your old bag, Bumpus, " heremarked; "but you've got another guess coming. I watched you hunting inthe tent like you'd lost your head. Reckon you have, all right, because_you took the wrong tent_! Just step in the other one for a change, andmy word for it you'll find your blessed old haversack just where youhung it!"

And Bumpus, looking rather shame-faced, did go into the second tent; toappear a moment later carrying the disputed bag in his hand, and with arosy blush mantling his fat face. 

CHAPTER XX. 

DRAWING STRAWS FOR A CHANCE. 

At any rate Bumpus was manly enough to do the right thing. He walkedstraight up to Step-hen, and held out his hand. 

"I was a fool, and that's all there is about it, Step-hen, " he said, frankly. "Will you shake hands with me, and excuse the blunder I madewhen I felt sure you had hooked the old bag, just to bother me?"

"Sure I will, Bumpus, " said the other, gripping the fat hand extended soconfidingly toward him, and giving it a squeeze that brought tears tothe eyes of poor Bumpus. "And after all, I don't hardly blame you forthinking I had a hand in gettin' away with the bag; because, you know, I've wanted to look through it this long time. Don't you think you mightlet me have it now, Bumpus?"

"But I tell you I haven't got anything that belongs to you, Step-hen, and you ought to believe me, " protested the fat boy, firmly. 

Step-hen looked at him queerly, as though he might be still a littleundecided. Then with a sigh he turned away; and Bumpus knew that he hadnot been convinced. 

"Here, you c'n tumble out everything I've got in the haversack, if youwant to, Step-hen, " added the other, giving in finally. 

"Never mind, I take your word it ain't there, " said the other, over hisshoulder; but somehow Bumpus knew that the feeling of suspicion was only"scotched, " not killed; and that Step-hen fancied that he, Bumpus, hadonly changed the hiding-place of the lost compass. 

Thad had considerable to think about as he sat there, looking into thefire, and listening to the talk that was going the rounds. His mind wasfixed upon the mystery that seemed to be hovering over the island; andin various ways he found himself trying to connect the coming of the twomen and the bear, with the presence of those tracks across on the woodedterritory beyond the water. 

He even got up, and went across to the other side of the fire, to stoopdown and examine the plain footprints left by their late guest. Then heshook his head as though the result failed to tell him what he sought. 

To make absolutely sure, he took a pine knot that had been thrust intothe fire; and using this as a torch, made his way to the tree where thebear had been chained ever since coming among them. 

It was no great task to discover the imprint made by the heavy shoesworn by the Russian. They were marked all around by hobnails such as areused by the lower classes across the water, in order to save the leathersoles, for leather costs more money than a few nails. 

Apparently Thad found little satisfaction in his labors, for he wasfrowning when he returned to the circle. 

"Not the same parties, eh, Thad?" asked Davy, who had kept a wonderingeye on the movements of the young scout-master, and could give a shrewdguess as to the reason for his action, as well as the disappointingresult. 

"I'm dead sure of that, " replied Thad. 

"Different shoes make different trails, eh?" went on Davy. 

"Oh!" Thad replied quietly, but conclusively; "that splutteringforeigner has hobnails in his soles; and I saw none like that over onthe island. And this other man wears a shoe with a square toe; butpretty good material in it. There was no print like that either. "

"Well, then, that proves them innocent, don't it?" asked Smithy. "For mypart now, fellows, I rather took to that man who sat here, and drank hiscoffee. He's no hobo, I give you my word. His hands may look soiled, butunder it all they're decent enough to belong to a gentleman. "

"Hey! listen to Smithy, would you?" exclaimed Step-hen, as if surprised. "Now, I never knew he had such a way of figgering out things. If hekeeps on like that, he'll leave us all in the lurch, fellers. "

"To tell the truth, " admitted the other, smilingly; "time was when Iwouldn't have thought of noticing a single thing about such a man; butyou see, I've been studying up the rules and suggestions ourscout-master loaned me, and it keeps on telling greenhorns andtenderfeet to always be on the lookout, so as to remember what they see. And when he sat there, I just thought it would be a fine chance to makea mental note of anything queer about him I could detect. "

"Good for you, Number Five, " said Thad, warmly. "I said you were goingto make your mark yet, once you got into the fever of things; andalready you're proving a credit to the Silver Fox Patrol. "

"Then you saw the same things, did you, Thad?" asked Smithy, eagerly, and with a really happy look on his delicate face; because this practiceof "doing things" was a new experience for him, and success made himfeel proud indeed. 

"Partly so; though you went me one better when you made out that hishands were white under the grime, " answered the scout-master. 

"That sounds like you think he took on all that dirt on purpose?"remarked Bumpus. 

"Perhaps he did, " replied Thad; "perhaps the man is playing some sort ofpart, for a reason of his own. "

"Bunking with an ignorant foreigner just to get a chance to sneak intocamps, and run off with the haversacks that have been carelessly leftlying around loose?" suggested Step-hen, still harping on his wrongs. 

"Well, I don't agree with you there, Step-hen, " remarked Allan. "LikeSmithy here, I found something about that man that interested me. Ifasked me point-blank now, possibly I couldn't tell you what it was thatattracted me--his eyes, his smile, or his whole manner. But I'd be badlymistaken if he would turn out to be a rascal. "

"And I say the same, " observed Thad, vigorously. 

"Oh! well, you fellows may be right, " remarked Giraffe; "but to my mindthere's something mighty suspicious about the way they came snoopingaround here. Reckon that party might know more about how certain kindsof wild game find their way to the New York hotels in the close season, than he'd like to own up to. And I tell you right now what I mean todo. "

"Go on, we all want to know, " urged Thad. 

"While I'm up here, " Giraffe continued, loftily, "I expect to keep myeyes open to find evidences of traps and snares set in the woods tocatch partridges, rabbits and the like. And some time, if anybody wantsto paddle for me, I'm agoin' to go all the way around this here lake, lookin' for nets, set to haul in the game bass. "

"You ought to be wearing the badge of a game warden, Giraffe, " declaredDavy, with a mock bow in the direction of the speaker; "but they'd haveto watch you right smart now, because some of that game would go to keepyou from starving. "

They continued to talk until a late hour, and every boy was given achance to air his opinion. Still, no wonderfully new ideas seemed to bein evidence; and when the patrol sought the blankets, leaving thecamp-fire dying down, they were about evenly divided on the question asto whether the educated tramp keeping company with the foreign owner ofthe bear was a smart man, or just a scamp. 

But a night of peace followed all these thrills. The skies above showedno sign of storm; and from the neighboring forest there issued no morebears, or any other savage beast, to raid the camp, and produce anothermad scamper of the scouts to places of refuge among the branches of thefriendly trees. 

Once or twice Allan came out to take a look around. It seems to be thehabit of all old campers to do this, whenever they happen to awaken; notthat he suspected that there would be any peril hovering around; butthen possibly the fire might have worked its way through a line of deadgrass, and threaten to extend; or it perhaps needed another small log tokeep the blaze going, and ward off the chill of night. 

Over the water came a weird cry at the time Allan last performed thisvigil; and the Maine boy smiled as he listened for a repetition; becauseit was a familiar sound in his ears, and reminded him of his former homefurther north. 

"Was that a loon, Allan, " asked a quiet voice near him; and turning, theMaine boy saw the acting scout-master poking his head out from under thecanvas of the second tent. 

"Just what it was, Thad, " replied the other, when the last speakercrawled out to join him; "I think he must have just dropped down here, for I heard a splash before he gave tongue; and we know there wasn'tany such bird around up to sunset. If any of the others wake up and hearthat cry, they'll think it's the ghost of the island, sure. "

As it was too cool to sit around with such a scanty amount of clotheson, both scouts soon vanished again. The fish were jumping as on theprevious night; and in the eastern sky the battered old moon had thrusther remnant of a circle above the horizon for a little peep at the worldbelow. 

Morning came along in due time, and of course the usual swim was firstin order. Giraffe was apparently in high spirits. The others saw himtaking stock of what stores they had left, and evidently the big eaterfound that there would be an abundance to see them through. That sort ofthing always pleased Giraffe. He was gloomy only when he feared for theworst; and in his mind that consisted of short rations. 

After breakfast the question came up as to which one of the other scoutsThad was to take with him. As he had stated he would do, in order to bequite fair, and keep the others from feeling that any favoritism hadbeen shown, Thad took a number of short blades of grass, each of adifferent length. These he mixed up in his hand, so that no one couldknow which was the long, and which the short ones. Then he invited theboys with the exception of the second in command, Allan, to draw as theypleased, the shortest straw to win out. 

Of course there was more or less joking as the operation was carriedout; for boys can hardly do so simple a thing as draw lots without acertain amount of fun being injected into the game. 

"Now, the last belongs to Smithy, because he didn't draw, " said Thad. "Hold up the one you got, Bumpus, and see if you go along with me. "

Bumpus actually shook a little when he compared his "straw" and findingthat it was longer than the other, he laughed with glee. That island didnot have much drawing power for Bumpus; in fact, he hoped never to setfoot on it again. 

Each one tried to show that he had a shorter straw than the one thatfell to Smithy, but without success. 

"It's Smithy who goes, " observed Thad; and possibly he looked pleased;for he was beginning to take a great interest in the boy who had beenwrongly raised by his mother and maiden aunts, to be what is known as a"sissy;" and hoped to see him turn out to be a manly, self-reliant andbrave scout. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

STEP-HEN'S STRATEGY FAILS. 

"Don't throw your straws away yet, fellows;" remarked Allan, after thedrawing had come to a conclusion; "Thad has something more to say. "

"Yes, " remarked the patrol leader, smiling; "after talking it over withAllan, who will be left in charge here during our absence, I'veconcluded to take a second scout along. Three will be better than two, in case of any trouble. "

"Trouble! Oh! my stars!"

It was Bumpus who said this; and he actually turned pale as he glanceddown at the short stick he held in his hand. What if after all he shouldturn out to be the ill-fated one chosen to cross again to the island? Hethought it would be just his luck. 

"Now, it's only right that the one who has the next shortest stickshould be the second fellow in the boat with me, " Thad went on; "solet's compare lengths again, boys. "

Some came up anxiously, actually hoping they might be the lucky one;while others were indifferent; because there had been an interestingprogramme laid out for that morning's work, and they should hate tomiss the "wigwagging" with signal flags; as well as more of Allan'strail talks, which were so great. 

"Davy Jones, you go!" remarked Thad, after the various "straws" had beencompared, and his was found to be the shortest. 

Davy gave a pleased grunt and his face glowed with delight. If there wasone fellow in the patrol whose soul seemed to crave excitement, and theelement of danger, it was the Jones' boy. When everything else failed hewas in the habit of climbing a tree, and ascending to a dizzy height, perform some of his astonishing gymnastics there. No wonder they calledhim "Monkey" at times. 

"Me for another chance to hook a three pound bass, if I can get a fewminnows with that little seine made of mosquito net, " announced Giraffe, after they had cleaned up the breakfast dishes, and the camp looked spicand span as a camp always should look when boys are being taught how tolive in the woods. 

"Of course you are; though we've got plenty to eat besides fish, "remarked Step-hen; "but they sure did taste mighty fine, Giraffe; andI'll take a turn with you along the shore. We can get on without theboat, I reckon. "

"Count me in that job, if Allan will let me go along, " Bumpus declared, showing considerable interest. 

"If you do come, the chances are three to one you'll trip on some vine, or stone, and take a header into the lake, " remarked Giraffe. 

"Well, what if I did, I know how to swim, don't I?" burst out Bumpus, who seemed to be carrying "a chip on his shoulder, " these days, as someof the boys declared. 

"Course you do, Bumpus, " said Step-hen, coming to the defense of the fatboy in rather a strange manner, Bumpus thought; "I wouldn't be surprisedif you could give Giraffe a race, and beat him out. He never will be afirst-class scout when it comes to the water tricks; though if you hungup a whole ham as a price it might make him stir himself some. "

Of course Giraffe was indignant. 

"Why, I could beat Bumpus with one hand tied behind me!" he declared. 

"Oh! you don't say so?" mocked Step-hen, who for some reason seemeddesirous of arousing the feeling of rivalry between these two scouts, and egged them on as a boy who loved to see dogs fight, would sick oneon the other. "Mebbe, you'd be willing to back up that assertion rightnow, and prove your boast?"

"I'm willing, if he says he wants to try it out!" snapped the arousedGiraffe, who at any rate was not lacking in spunk. 

Bumpus, too, seemed to be fully aroused. The other boys crowded around, with wide grins, because they fancied it would be rather a comical sightto see a race between the fat boy, who had only recently learned toswim, and made a tremendous splashing in the water; and Giraffe, who wasa clumsy water dog at best, with one arm tied down to his side. 

Just then Bumpus happened to look at Step-hen. He could not helpnoticing how unduly the other seemed tickled at the prospect. And thenand there a sudden terrible suspicion gripped hold of Bumpus. 

Now, there could be no particular reason why Step-hen should want to seehim enter for this queer water race, unless he had some deep motivebehind it. What could that motive be? Did the artful scout expect tofind a chance for searching his, Bumpus' clothes, while he was in thelake, engaged in an exciting competition with Giraffe; and all the otherfellows having their attention centered on the race?

"Oh! he believes he can find out something that way; and he's justpushing me in over my head so I'll leave my clothes on the bank, and hec'n search 'em!" was what Bumpus was now saying to himself. 

Indignation filled his honest soul. Thank goodness he was too smart tofall into such a silly little trap. Step-hen would have had all histrouble for his pains. 

So Bumpus, looking the other straight in the eyes, went on to say:

"Come to think of it, we'll have to call the race off for to-day. Ipromised my folks that I wouldn't go in swimming more'n once each day. To-morrow morning then, Giraffe, I'll promise to go you just as we said, you to have one arm working. And I warn you right now you'll have to doyour best, unless you want to be left in the lurch, because I'm learningfast. "

Step-hen certainly looked very much disappointed. There was a sneer, aswell as a shadow on his face, as he remarked scornfully:

"Huh! you take water, eh, Bumpus?"

"Only once a day, " replied the fat boy, calmly; and yet the look he gaveStep-hen told the other that his clever scheme had been understood. 

Of course the action of Bumpus in calling the race off convincedStep-hen more than ever that the fat boy did have his precious compass. If it was not in that old haversack then, he had, as Step-hen suspected, transferred the same to one of his pockets; and was even then carryingit around, in defiance of the owner. 

Now Step-hen could have ended all this disturbance by appealing straightto the scout-master, who would have asked Bumpus to tell on his honor ifhe had what did not belong to him. But it did not suit the boy to dothis. He was naturally rather obstinate, and had a bulldog nature. 

"I started out to recapture that compass on my own account, and I ain'tgoing to play the baby act now, and ask Thad to get it for me, no siree. Just you wait, Bumpus Hawtree, and see if I don't find some way to foolyou. It's in one of those pockets of yours that stick out so; and sooneror later I'll prove it before the rest of the troop. "

Step-hen was saying this to himself as he watched the three, who wereto go to the mysterious island, finishing their preparations for thejourney across the lake. But apparently the fat boy had alreadyforgotten all about the trouble. He had a disposition that could notharbor resentment any great length of time. Like a little summer stormit quickly blew over; and Bumpus was then the same smiling, genialcomrade, ready to do anything to oblige his late antagonist. 

Thad did not have many preparations to make, however. Most of his timewas spent in talking with Allan, and arranging for the work that was tobe done that morning, in showing the balance of the patrol numerousinteresting things connected with scout life. 

"I reckon we'll be back in time for lunch, " he remarked, when Davycalled out to say the boat was ready; "but to make sure we won't gohungry each of us is carrying what Bob calls a 'snack, ' along withus--some ham between crackers. "

"Well, " said Allan, who secretly wished he might be going along too;"here's hoping you learn something about the queer men who have beenusing that island for some purpose or other. "

"I hope so, too, " replied Thad; "because, somehow, they've aroused asort of curiosity in me. They seem to hide from us, as if they didn'twant anybody to see what kind of fellows they were. Why, all the timewe've been here they must have known about us, and could even see ourflag flying from the pole in front of the tents; yet they've never asmuch as said 'good morning' to us. "

"Never a peep, " Allan went on to say. "And that makes me think there'ssure something crooked about 'em. I wish----"

"Now I know what you're going to say, " broke in Thad, with a smile; "youfeel bad because I didn't fetch my double-barrel gun along on this trip. Well, between you and me, I do, myself. It would have been a whole lotof comfort right now. But you know, Boy Scouts don't want to look toomuch like soldiers. Some of the town people talked a heap about notwanting their sons to join a military company; and we had troubleconvincing them that the scouts didn't have a thing to do with armylife. That's why we've only been able to organize one patrol up to now. But the feel of that little twelve bore would be good this morning, evenif game laws stood between me and getting a few partridges. "

"Please hurry up your stumps, Thad!" called Davy, who was wild witheagerness to get moving; for he had envied those who were allowed to goto the island on the preceding day, and felt anxious to set foot on theenchanted ground, where mysterious strangers seemed to have their abode, yet could not be found. 

"That's all I wanted to say, Allan, " the scout-master concluded; "and asDavy will have one of his fits soon, if I don't get off, I reckon I'llstart. If we fail to show up at noon, why, don't worry. Nothing is goingto hurt any of us, that I can see. "

The rest of the scouts gathered at the water's edge to see them embarkon the exploring expedition; and all sorts of chaffing was indulged inbetween Davy and some of his camp mates. Bumpus in particular was sopleased over not having been drafted to go in the cranky canoe that heseemed to be just bubbling over with exuberant spirits. 

When the boat had gone some fifty yards from the shore he drew out hisbugle, kept hidden up to then, and sent the most mournful notes acrossthe water after the departing voyagers. It was so like a funeral dirgethat Davy Jones thrust his fingers in his ears; and then shook a fist atthe stout bugler; who however kept on with his sad refrain until Allanput a stop to it. 

And so the scout-master backed, by his two valiant assistants, set outto learn what the secret of the mysterious island might be; nor did anyof the trio suspect right then in the beginning of the voyage whatstrange results would follow this invasion of the haunt of the unknownprowlers. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE PATCHED SHOE AGAIN. 

Those on the shore, after the bugle's sad refrain had been silenced, gave the departing adventurers a last cheer, and a wave of theircampaign hats. Over the water sounds carry unusually clear; and Thad andhis mates smiled when they distinctly heard Step-hen bawling from theinterior of the tent where he had his sleeping quarters:

"Hey, you fellers, which one of you hid my coat? None of your tricksnow; don't I know that I hung it up all right last night, when I came tobed; and blessed if I can find it now? Funny how it's always _my_ thingsthat go wandering around loose. Own up now; and whoever hid it just comeright in here, and show me where it is!"

"The same careless Step-hen, " remarked Thad; "always leaving his thingsaround loose, and then ready to accuse some one else of hiding them. Tohear him talk you'd believe in the bad fairies, and that they just tooktheir spite out mixing his clothes and things up, while he slept. Iwonder if he can ever be cured of that trick. He'll never pass for amerit badge till he does, that's sure. Neatness in a scout is one of thefirst things to be won. "

Davy was handling the paddle. While he did not show the proficiency thatthe Maine boy, Allan Hollister, could boast, or Bob White, who lovedeverything pertaining to the water, still Davy did manage to keep theprow of the canoe in a fairly straight line for the island, as he dippedfirst on one side and then on the other. 

Thinking the chance to show Davy a few points in the art of paddlingought not be lost, the scout master took the spruce blade, which was ahome-made one, from his hands. By turning the canoe around, and usingthe stern as the bow, he was able to illustrate his meaning easilyenough. 

"Now, it is not necessary to change from one side to the other as oftenas you do, Davy, when you have a breeze blowing like it is now, andyou're heading across it. By holding the blade in the water this wayafter a stroke, it serves in place of a rudder and checks the turning ofthe canoe under the influence of the push. And another thing, you reachtoo far out. That helps to whirl the boat around in a part circle. Dipdeeply, but as close to the side of the canoe as you can. "

Davy was a ready observer, and not above picking up points from one whoknew more than he did. 

And presently, profiting from these plain hints, he was able to makeeasier progress. 

"Why, " continued Thad, "Allan tells me that among the expert canoemen upin his State of Maine lots of them wouldn't be guilty of lifting thepaddle out of the water at all, and make swift work of it too. You see, in creeping up on a deer that is feeding on the lily pads in the shallowwater near the shore, just around a point perhaps, the water drippingfrom the paddle when it was raised; or even the gurgle as it came out, would give warning of danger; and about the only thing they'd know aboutthat deer would be its whistle as it leaped into the brush. So theyalways practice silence in paddling, till it gets to be second nature, Allan tells me. "

"Say, I certainly do hope we get a chance to see that same thing forourselves, " remarked Davy; "I've heard and read a heap about Maine, andalways wanted to get there. Since Allan's been talking about his life inthe pine woods that feeling's just grown till I dream of it nights, andimagine myself up there. "

"And I'd like to go along too, if my mother could be persuaded to letme, " was what Smithy said, a little doubtfully; for he had been so long"tied to his mother's apron-strings, " as the other boys called it, thathe could not believe she might overcome her fears for his safety enoughto let him go far away. 

Nevertheless, Smithy had now had one full breath of what it meant to bea boy with red blood in his veins; and he was inwardly determined thatnever again could he be kept in bonds, while the smiling open airbeckoned, and these splendid chums wanted his company. 

All this while good progress had been made, and they were now drawingclose in to the island. It lay there, looking calm and peaceful in themorning sunlight. A few birds flew up from along the shore, some of them"teeter" snipe that had been feeding. Davy even pointed with his paddleto a big gray squirrel that ran along a log in plain view, and sat up onhis haunches as if to curiously observe these approaching human beingswho intended to invade his haunts. 

"What's that bird out yonder on the water?" asked Smithy, just thenpointing beyond a spur of the island. 

"That's a loon, " remarked Thad. "Allan heard him drop in here lastnight; and both of us happened to be awake when he gave one of hiscries. You'll be apt to hear him some time or other; and if you thinkit's a crazy man laughing, why just remember they named that birdrightly when they called him a loon. "

"I don't see anything moving on shore; anyhow there's no man in sight, "Davy remarked a minute later, as they drew in still closer. 

"Oh! I didn't expect to see a crowd waiting to receive us, " laughedThad. "We may have all our trouble for our pains; but I just couldn'trest till I got one more squint at that imprint of a shoe on theisland. "

"Oh! yes, I remember that Bob White was telling me about you being takenup with that track, " Davy went on; "but he didn't say just why. Perhapsyou'll show me, now that I'm along on the trip?"

"Sure I will; and tell you a few things I got from him, " thescout-master went on to say, as they pushed in toward the little beachwhere the landing had been made on the first occasion of their visitingthe lake island. 

"Bob must have been through some stuff in his old home, " remarked Davy, enviously; "from the few little things he's said. Things _happen_ therein the Blue Ridge mountains, down in the Old Tar Heel state. Up hereit's as dead as a door nail; nothin' goin' on atall to make a fellerkeep awake. Don't I just hope you get that deal through, Thad, and takethe whole patrol along, to pay a visit to Bob's home country. I justknow we'd have a scrumptuous time of it. Imagine me up in the realmountains, when I've never even seen a hill bigger than Scrub-oakmountain, which I could nearly throw a stone over!"

Then the prow of the canoe ran aground in a few inches of water. Thadsprang ashore, and holding the painter, drew the boat in closer. Relieved of his weight in the bow its keel grated on the dry sand, andthe other two were able to step out easily enough. 

They drew the boat up good and far on the beach. 

"The wind's liable to get even stronger than it is, " remarked Thad, "andwe don't want a second experience of having the canoe blown out on thelake. "

"I should say not, " observed Smithy, uneasily; for he had only recentlylearned how to swim, and the shore seemed a tremendous distance away, with the flag of the camp floating in the morning breeze, and the tentsshowing plainly against the green background. 

"Now, this time I'm going to comb the whole island over, and see what'shere, " announced Thad, resolutely. "You see, we can make a start, andkeep close to this shore until we strike the other end. Then changingour base, we'll come back this way, keeping just so far away from ourfirst trail. After that, it's back again; and in that way we ought tosee all there is. "

"Going to be pretty tough climbing, I reckon?" remarked Davy, surveyingthe piled-up rocks, of which the island seemed to consist mainly, withthe trees growing from crevices, and in every odd place, so that theyformed a dense canopy indeed. 

"That'll make it more interesting, perhaps, " said Smithy; and Thadnodded his head encouragingly; for he liked to see evidences in thespoiled boy tending to show what his real nature must be, back of thepolish his fond mother and maiden aunts had succeeded in putting uponhis actions in the past. 

They reached the other end of the island and began to make the returntrip. As Davy Jones had said, it was strenuous work at times, since therocks were piled up in a way to suggest that some convulsion of naturehad heaved this island up from the bottom of the lake. 

"Just see the black holes, would you?" Davy declared, again and again. "Why, lots of 'em'd make the finest kind of fox dens; and I reckon awolf wouldn't want a better hiding-place than that big one over there. Say, Thad, I c'd crawl in easy, myself, and I'd like to do it for acooky now, if you said the word. "

"Not just yet, Davy, " remarked the scout leader; who began to wonderhimself if the men of the island might not be hiding right then in oneof the cavities Davy pointed out. "We want to see what the place islike, you know. Come along, and in a jiffy we'll be at the end where ourboat lies. "

"But what are you keeping on looking so close at the ground, whenever westrike any soil at all, Thad?" the Jones boy continued. "S'pose now, youthink you might run on that footprint Bob was speakin' about, say?"

"Just what was in my mind, Davy, " replied the other, always willing togive information to those with him. "I wanted you to see what it lookedlike, so you and Smithy here could be keeping on the watch. If we foundthat it made a regular trail, and led to one of these same black holes, we'd know more than we do right now. There, I saw a track, but it wasn'ta clear one. Hold on, and let's see what this patch of open ground willshow up. "

"This just suits me to a dot, " remarked Davy. "Feels quivery-like, youknow, just like something queer was agoin' to happen right soon. Wonderif there's any wildcats loose over here. I'd like to get a whack at onewith this club; wouldn't I belt him a good crack between the eyes. Hello! found what you wanted, Thad?"

The scout-master had come to a sudden stop, and was down on his knees, examining something on the ground. He beckoned the others to drop besidehim, and both boys did so eagerly. 

As Davy Jones saw the imprint of the shoe that had a patch on it, hegave a low exclamation, and his eyes sought those of Thad. 

"Well, what d'ye think of that, now, Thad?" he muttered; "the samepatched shoe that feller with the bear man was tellin' me about. Say, listen, he said that he was lookin' for a man with a shoe just likethat! Yes, siree, he described it to a hair, and asked me if ever I sawa footprint like that to send word to Malcolm Hotchkiss up atFaversham!"

Thad felt a thrill at these words, for he realized that they meant theremust be some connection between the supposed hobo who accompanied theowner of the dancing bear, and the two men who were hiding on theisland!

CHAPTER XXIII. 

FIGURING IT OUT. 

"That's what he said to you, did he, Davy?" asked the scout-master; andperhaps unconsciously his voice was lowered a little when he spoke, asthough he felt that peril lurked close by. 

"Yes, when we were sitting close together by the fire, and he wasdrinkin' his cup of coffee, " the other replied, also in hushed tones;while Smithy hovered as near as he could get to them, his face filledwith apprehension. 

"And he told you he wanted to meet up with the man who had a patch onthe sole of his shoe, did he?" Thad continued, thoughtfully. 

"Just what he did, " Davy answered, cheerfully. "I remember thinkin' thatit was a mighty funny way to describe a feller, by telling how one ofhis shoes had been mended in that way. But, Thad, you know Bob didn'tfinish tellin' me about this track over here on the old island. If hehad, I'd sure remembered; and then I c'd have spoken about it to you. "

"I'm sorry now it didn't happen that way, " remarked the scout-master, "it might have made some difference in my plans, you see, boys. "

"You mean you wouldn't a come here, is that it?" demanded Davy; "thenI'm glad you didn't know about it; because this just suits me. Whew!don't it make a feller have just the nicest cold creepy feelin' run upand down his back, though? I wouldn't have lost the chance foranything. "

Thad was compelled to smile at the odd way the other had of expressinghis pleasure in the thrill that passed over him, as he contemplated thepossibility of meeting with new adventures. 

"Oh! no, I didn't mean that, " he replied; "but I'd have asked you a lotof questions before coming, and perhaps we'd have been better posted. Then again, I might have brought a couple more scouts along, so we couldfeel stronger, in case--" and he suddenly paused, with his head cockedon one side as though listening. 

"In case, what?" pursued Davy, who wanted to know everything. 

"I thought I heard a voice somewhere, but it might have been a bird inthe bushes, " Thad continued, in a relieved tone. "Why, I was only goingto say in case we had any trouble with these men. But they may not behere at all now. I've got an idea they own another boat, in which theycould have slipped away last night while it was so dark. "

"Then what's the use of our hunting all over the place as we're doing?"asked Davy, fanning himself with his hat; for the day was turning outwarm, and it began to seem like tiresome work, and all for nothing, too. 

"In the first place, " went on Thad, with that steady glow in his grayeyes that bespoke determination; "I want to see if there really is ahidden shack or a cave here, where they could be hiding out. Then I'dlike to learn if they're poachers, snaring the wild game, or the bass uphere, and getting it to market on the sly; or some tramps who have beenbreaking into a store or a bank and are hiding from the constables. "

"A bully good place to hide, all right, " remarked Davy, as he glancedaround at the wild character of their surroundings, and heaved anothersigh in contemplation of further scrambling over those sharp-pointedrocks. 

"But Thad, " put in Smithy, who had been listening all this time withoutsaying a single word, "have you changed your mind about what thesestrange men may be, since you heard what Davy said about that man at ourcamp-fire?"

"Well, yes, I am beginning to, right fast, " answered the other, frankly. 

"You don't think he was as bad as they are, and meant to join them, doyou?" continued Smithy, taking an unexpected interest in the matter; forhe had observed the party in question closely, as Thad knew, and formedrather a good opinion of him, somehow. 

"No, I don't, " replied the scout-master, decisively. "If you asked mepoint-blank what my opinion was, I'd say that he might be a game wardenplaying a part, or else an officer of the law, looking for yeggmen whohave done something that they knew would send them to prison if caught!"

"Whew! just keep right along talking that way, Thad, " muttered Davy. "Itsure does give me the nicest feeling ever to hear you. Yeggmen now isit, and not just poor game poachers? That's going some, I take it. Say, perhaps they've been and broke into a rich man's place over inFaversham. I happen to know that quite a few city people own cottagesthere for summer use. "

"Have you ever been in Faversham, Davy?" asked Thad, suddenly. 

"Well, no, I must say I haven't; but I've heard some about it from a boywho visited Sim Eckles, and who used to live there. It's a big place, Thad. "

"Oh! size has nothing to do with this matter, " remarked the other. "Iwas just wondering whether you might not have heard that name before. "

"You mean Malcolm Hotchkiss, don't you?" asked the other, eagerly. 

"Yes, the name he mentioned to you, when he spoke about the markedshoe?" the patrol leader went on to say. 

"Hold on!" Davy exclaimed, hoarsely; "now, that's queer; I never oncebothered my head to think about it till you asked. Sure I've heard thename before. The boy over at Sim Eckles' mentioned it more'n once. "

"Who is he, then, Davy?"

"Why, Malcolm Hotchkiss, he's just the Chief of Police over atFaversham, that's what, Thad, " replied the other scout, almostbreathless in his renewed excitement. 

"Oh; is that so?" remarked Thad. "Well, how does it strike you now, Davy?"

"Looks bad for these here men, that's what, " came the reply. 

"You mean they must be worse than game poachers; is that it?" continuedThad. 

"I just reckon they are, Thad. Game wardens are hired by the State; andseems to me it don't interest the common police if a man chooses to takea few deer out of season, or net black bass against the law. "

"Sounds like good logic, Davy, " Thad continued; "and anybody could seethat you're all fixed to follow in the footsteps of your father, whenyou get through law school. That settles it, in my mind. After this Idon't expect to run across any nets in the lake, or snares forpartridges in the woods around here. "

"You mean there might be something stronger than that to be found, ifonly we could run up against the place they use for a hideout; is thatit, Thad?"

"I certainly do; but I wish you could tell me one thing, " the otherremarked. 

"Try me and see, " grinned Davy. "I'm loaded with information, like a gunis, to the muzzle; and all you have to do is to pull the trigger. "

"Try and remember if that boy said anything about this MalcolmHotchkiss that would describe him--was he tall or short; did he wear abeard or had he a smooth face; were his eyes blue or black?"

Davy screwed up his eyebrows as though he might be cudgeling his brainto remember. Then he grinned again, showing that the result had at leastbeen satisfactory from his point of view. 

"I caught on to it, Thad, " he declared with the air of a victor. 

"Well, what do you think about it now, Davy?"

"Not the same man. You remember our visitor was a tall feller, don'tyou? Well, I heard that boy say how they played a trick on Malcolm, andthey was only able to do it because he happened to be a small man, withwhite hands, and looked kinder like a woman dressed up in policeuniform. But then he's smart as chain lightnin', he said at the sametime. "

"Well, that proves one thing. Our visitor couldn't have been theFaversham Head of Police. Perhaps they're in the game together, and hewanted you to send word that way, knowing that Hotchkiss would be ableto reach him, " Thad concluded. 

"Looks like you'd got it all figgered out right, Thad, " admitted Davy, in open admiration for the genius of his chum. "And if that's the truth, I reckon it must be a pretty big game that has made this here fellertake all the trouble to hire that bear man to go 'round the country withhim, just so he could ask questions, and nobody think he was anythingbut a common tramp. "

"I don't just understand what sort of officer would be doing that, " Thadcandidly admitted. "Now, if these men were what Bob White tells us theyhave down in his country, moonshiners, I could understand it. But we'verested enough now; let's go on to the boat. Perhaps after all, we mightdecide to leave the island to look after itself from now on. "

"I'd sure be sorry to hear you say that, Thad, " remarked Davy, his faceshowing keen disappointment. 

"After all, it's really none of our business, " continued Thad; "and nowthat you know the man he is looking for everywhere is somewhere aroundhere, perhaps it'd be best for you to start over to some place wherethey have a telephone, and call up Mr. Malcolm Hotchkiss at Faversham. "

"Huh! reckon I c'd surprise him a little now, " chuckled Davy, falling inbehind the leader, as they continued on down toward the spot where theboat had been left some time before. 

"We've done all that could be expected of a patrol of Boy Scouts, underthe circumstances, " said Thad firmly; "and the rest had better be leftto men who are used to such things. Listen to that wind blow, boys? Ihope a storm doesn't come up before we get back to camp again. Careful, Davy, don't be in such a hurry; we're nearly at the beach, and ourboat. "

"That's just it, " remarked the Jones boy; "I had a look in at that samebeach under the branches of the trees, Thad; and believe me, I didn'tsee a sign of any boat!"

"What's that?" demanded the scout-master, quickly, a sense of gatheringclouds beginning to oppress him; for it would indeed be a serious matterif they were actually taken prisoners by these unknown parties of theisland, whom they now believed to be worse even than game poachers. 

"Look for yourself, Thad; for here you can see the beach end to end, "Davy went on; and the others stared as though hardly able to believetheir eyes; for it was just as Davy said; there was the little sandystretch, without a doubt, where they had left their canoe; but from endto end it was vacant!

Again had the boat vanished while they were away; and this time it wasutterly impossible that it could have gone without the agency of humanhands, for they had pulled it high up out of the water!

CHAPTER XXIV. 

WHAT SMITHY FOUND. 

"Here's tough luck, and more of it!" remarked Davy Jones; but whileSmithy was looking excited, and rather white, the Jones boy wasgrinning, just as if the new condition of affairs, thrilling in theextreme, pleased him intensely. 

Thad hastened to examine the ground, as a true scout always thinks ofdoing when he seeks information concerning the movements of others; forneither men nor boys can well move around without leaving some traces oftheir late presence; and when one knows how to use his eyes toadvantage, it is possible to learn many valuable things after thisfashion. 

"Did they take it, Thad?" continued Davy, as the scout leader arose fromhis knees again, his face filled with all sorts of wild conjectures asto the meaning of this new mystery. 

"They must have, " replied Thad; "because they've been around since wewere. Fact is, as you can see for yourselves, boys; here's where theimprint of that marked shoe has half covered Smithy's track. And ofcourse that could mean only one thing. "

"You're right, it could, " admitted Davy, easily convinced. 

Smithy looked around at the undergrowth, out of which they had justpushed. No doubt his imagination was working at full speed, and he couldsee a face leering out from behind every scrub bush. Smithy was at leasta great reader, even if he had until lately never been allowed toassociate with other boys; and likely enough he had spent many hoursover Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and kindred stories of adventure. Andbeing of a nervous temperament, the consciousness of hovering perilacted on him to a much greater extent than it did in the cases of hisfellow scouts. 

"But where do you think they could have taken the boat, Thad?" Smithynow asked, as he stared out on the waves that were sweeping past somerrily, and could see no sign of any craft. 

"Perhaps gone around the island, hiding it in some place they knowabout; or it might be they've just sunk the canoe out in deep waterthere, " replied Thad. 

"Sunk their own boat!" remarked Smithy, in bewilderment; "now, pleaseexplain to me just why they would want to do so remarkable a thing asthat, Thad?"

"So that we couldn't have the use of it to get back ashore again; andour comrades over there mightn't be able to come over, " was the reply ofthe young scout-master. 

"Do you mean they've made up their minds to try and keep us prisonerson this terrible island?" asked the other. 

"It looks a little that way to me right now, Smithy; fact is they've gotme guessing good and hard what they do mean by that sort of thing. Perhaps they want a certain amount of time to make their escape, andexpect to get it by keeping us cooped up here. The question now is, shall we let them carry that scheme out?"

"Not if we know it, we won't, " Davy spoke up, and declared in hispositive way. "Why, I think I could manage to get over to the mainlandsomehow, with that log there to help me. The wind and waves would carryme along, you see, Thad; and I could do my clothes up in a bundle andkeep 'em dry. Seems to me that's the kind of work for a scout to try, ain't it?"

"A pretty good idea, Davy, " admitted the scout-master, readily enough;"there's only one drawback to it, that I can see. "

"And what might that be?" asked the one who had conceived the brilliantthought, and who seemed to be disappointed because his chief had notimmediately declared it to be a marvel of ingenuity. 

"Well, you're not much of a swimmer, and couldn't make any headwayagainst the wind and the waves. Consequently you'd just have to let themcarry you along with them. That would take a lot of time; and even ifyou did get ashore safely it'd be at the far end of the lake. You knowthe country is pretty rough between there and the camp. By sticking tothe beach, where there is any, you might make it in a couple of hours;but altogether it'd be well into afternoon before you got in touch withAllan and the rest. "

"All right, I'm willing to make the try, if only you give the word, Thad, " the Jones boy went on, with a vein of urgency in his voice. "Justthe idea seems to tickle me more'n I c'n tell you. And if I kept on theother side of the log, why you see, these fellers wouldn't know a thingabout it. They'd think it was just an old log that had drifted around, and was going wherever the wind wanted. "

"Well, such talk would convince anybody, I guess, " laughed Thad. 

"Then you're goin' to let me try it, I hope?" ventured Davy, joyfully. 

"Perhaps I may a little later, " the other admitted. "After we've talkedit over some more. And first of all, I think Smithy and myself hadbetter arm ourselves in the same way you have, with a good stout club. If the worst comes, it's a jolly good thing to have in your hand. "

"Well, I should say, yes, " Davy went on; "more'n once I've stood off asavage dog with a stick like this, and dared him to tackle me. But here, if I'm going to take that little swim with the log, I won't need myclub. S'pose I hand it over to Smithy?"

There was a method in his madness; and Thad, who could read between thelines, understood it easily enough. If allowed to give Smithy hisweapon of offense and defense, such permission would really be settingthe seal of approval on his proposition to swim ashore. And Davy wasshrewd enough to figure on that. 

"All right, give it to Smithy, " said Thad; making up his mind that sinceone of them ought to make the effort to get in touch with the balance ofthe patrol, it were better to allow Davy to go than that he leave thetwo boys on the island; for that might look strange in a leader. 

And so the delighted Davy hastened to comply; indeed the manner in whichhe thrust the stick into the willing hands of the other seemed toindicate a fear on his part lest the scout-master alter his mind. Andonce the club had changed hands he appeared to believe the thing wassettled beyond recall. 

"Do you think they might attack us, Thad?" asked Smithy, who wassomewhat pale, but showing a resolute front in this crisis. 

"I don't know any more than you do, Smithy, " replied the other; "theyhad some scheme in view when they scooped the boat, and hid it from us. As I said before, I can't make up my mind whether they only want to maketime by cutting off all chances of pursuit; or else mean to come down onus. "

"What do you suppose they'd be apt to do to us for giving them so muchtrouble, and taking their boat?" continued Smithy. 

"What Paddy gave the drum, perhaps, " remarked Davy; "a beating. But ifyou two fellers can only manage to keep out of their hands a littlewhile, I ain't afraid about my being able to reach shore, and the camp. Then what, Thad?"

"Just what I said--have one of the boys, Giraffe perhaps, because he's agood runner, start over to Rockford. I think from the rough map acharcoal burner made of this section of country for me, that town can beonly about seven miles or so across country, though the going might bepretty rough. Here, take my little compass, in case he is afraid he mayget lost in the woods, " and Thad detached the article in question fromhis silver watch chain. 

"I'm glad you said Giraffe, " remarked Davy; "because if it had beenStep-hen, who is also a clever long-distance runner, he'd have been sureto lose himself, because he says he's going to take the first chance, just because somebody took his old compass. Then, when he gets toRockford you want Giraffe to get Faversham the 'phone; is that it, Thad?"

"Yes, and tell his story to the Chief--all about the queer things thathave happened to us up here since we made camp, --the coming of the bear;then our finding the boat; the tracks on the island; how we had a visitfrom the bear man, and what his companion told you to do in case youever saw the imprint of a shoe that had a crooked patch across the sole. I reckon Mr. Malcolm Hotchkiss'll know what to do when he gets all thesefacts in his head. And then Giraffe can rest up before he tries to comeback to-morrow. "

"I got it all just as you stated it, Thad, " declared Davy, beginning tounfasten his shoes, as if anxious to be busy; "now, if you fellers wouldjust roll that same log into the water while I'm doing up my duds in alittle package that I c'n tie on top, so as to keep 'em dry, I'll beready in short order. Then you watch me paddle my own canoe for theshore. It'll be just more fun than a circus for David, believe me. "

So Thad and Smithy took hold, and with the aid of the sticks in theirhands it was found that the log could be readily turned over. Each timethis was done it drew closer to the water's edge, and presently splashedinto the lake. 

"See her float just like a duck, will you?" remarked the delighted Davy, who was by this time making a bundle of his shoes, hat and clothes, which he expected to secure somehow to the log, or thrust into acrevice, where the package might not be seen by watchful eyes ashore. 

"Well, anyhow, if that boat did have to be captured by the enemy, "remarked Smithy, just then, as if remembering something; "I'm glad Ifound that stuff before it went, that's a fact, boys. "

Thad turned on him in some surprise. 

"Now you've got us both wondering what you mean, Smithy, " he remarked;"suppose you explain before Davy leaves us. "

"Oh! I forgot to say anything about it, " declared the other, in more orless confusion; "the fact of the matter is, Thad, when I found I wasgoing to be your canoemate on this little adventure, I went down atonce and turned the boat over to see that it was perfectly clean. Youknow it's a hobby of mine to want everything just so; and I noticed thata little washing would improve the looks of our boat. So I took out thefalse bottom that keeps heavy shoes from cutting into the thin planking;and what do you suppose I found in the cracks below?"

He had thrust his fingers into one of his pockets, and now held upsomething at which both the others stared in surprise, that graduallydeepened into dismay, on the part of Thad at least. 

"Let me look at them, please, Smithy, " said the scout-master, quietly;and in response to his request the other placed in his outstretched handtwo bright new silver half dollars!

A rather queer find, to say the least, to run across under the falsebottom in a little canoe that had been secreted among the bushesbordering this lonely sheet of water known as Lake Omega!

CHAPTER XXV. 

THE SCOUT-MASTER'S SCHEME. 

Smithy and the Jones boy watched their patrol leader with something morethan ordinary curiosity, as Thad examined the two shining coins. Andwhen the other even tried his teeth on each half dollar in turn, Davygave an exclamation of delight; while the other scout was in a measurefilled with sudden consternation. 

For both of them could understand what this meant, and that Thad feltmore or less suspicious regarding the genuineness of the two coins. 

"He thinks they might be counterfeits, Smithy, " said Davy, in low butthrilling tones. "Now wouldn't that be a great joke if we foundourselves bunking on this old island along with a lot of desperate bogusmoney-makers! Oh! say, things are just turning out tremendous, andthat's a fact. But I don't exactly know, whether there'd be more funstaying here, or taking that little voyage with the log. "

"That part of it has already been settled, " remarked Thad, with a veinof authority in his voice; for he wanted Davy to understand that as atrue scout, he must always pay respect to the orders of his superior, and never try to evade a duty that had been imposed upon him. 

"Oh! all right, Thad;" Davy replied; "I'm willin' enough to try theswim; but say, what if they jump on you fellers while I'm away?"

You would have thought from the patronizing manner of the Jones boy thatupon his presence alone depended the safety of the group of scouts. Thad, however, knew Davy pretty well by this time, and did not take allhe said seriously. 

"We'll have to manage to get on, somehow, " he said; "and perhaps, afterall, the danger may not be so very great. If there are places for thesetwo men to hide, why, seems to me we ought to be able to keep out oftheir sight some way or another. "

Smithy was not saying much, but it might be understood that he was doinga whole lot of thinking. This was certainly a novel experience for him. A short time before, and he had not really known what it was toassociate with any boys save a delicate little cousin away off in acity, and who was very girlish in all his ways. And here he was now, notonly in the company of seven healthy fellows, fond of fun, and alloutdoor sports; but a genuine scout in the Silver Fox Patrol, and facingdanger with a bravery no one had ever dreamed he could display. 

That was why Smithy felt pleased, even while he at the same timeexperienced a touch of uneasiness because of the new developments thatwere constantly making their situation look more desperate. 

As Thad had discovered, under all that gentle exterior there beat aheart within Smithy that yearned to have its fair share of excitement. Reading Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island might be all very well; butacting a part in a little bit of daring seemed much better. 

Thad bent down to assist Davy secure his clothes to the log. The Jonesboy had waded in, and upon examining one side of the old tree trunk asit floated buoyantly on the water, he found that there was just thenicest hiding-place one could wish for in the shape of a cavity wellabove the reach of the water. 

"You see, Thad, " he explained, "it ain't goin' to be on the side thatthe waves beat against, and so my duds won't be apt to get _very_ wet. The cutest pocket you ever saw; and looks like it might just have beenmade specially for a feller that wanted to take a tour of the lake withhis private yacht Now, do I go, Thad? I'm ready, and only waitin' fororders. "

"Then you might as well start, Davy; and if I was you I'd keep out ofsight all I could. If they happened to spy you, and believed you weregoing for help, so that they might be captured before night came, itwould go hard with you perhaps. "

"I got your meaning, Thad, " Davy replied, without showing the leastconcern, for he was a fearless chap; "which is, that they've got theboat, and could chase after me if they thought I was going to get 'em ina peck of trouble by flitting. Never you fear, I'll keep low down, andout of sight. "

He thereupon proved how easy it would be to lie in a position where hecould guide the floating log, and yet be out of sight from the side thatwas toward the island. 

"Oh! this is the greatest thing that's come my way for a long time, " hesaid, as he walked further away from the shore, the water getting deeperall the time until his body was very nearly all submerged; "and I'm everso much obliged to you for giving me the chance, Thad. Don't bother athing about me. If some big mud-turtle don't grab me by the toe, andpull me down, I'll come out swimmingly, see?"

Thad knew that he could depend on the Jones boy. When a fellow can eventhink to joke like that when facing danger of any sort, he certainlycould not be feeling in a state of panic. 

"Now the breeze strikes me, fellows, and I'm off. I'd like to give awhoop, I feel so great; but something tells me that would be wrong. Sojust consider that's what I'm doing inside, anyhow. Good-bye, boys, andI hope you pull through O. K. "

Thad did not answer, for the simple reason that the log with its boyishfreight was already so far away that he would have to raise his voice tomake Davy hear; and such a thing would be foolish, when they wanted tokeep as quiet as possible, so as not to attract attention. 

Standing there, they watched the strange argosy floating away on thedancing waves. Davy was urging it from the shore of the island as wellas he could by swimming, and without showing any part of his person. 

"He's going to make that point, all right, " said Thad, knowing that theJones boy's one fear had been lest he ground on the bar that put outthere, and be compelled to show himself in order to push off again. 

"But you said it would be hours before he could even get to camp, didn'tyou, Thad?" asked Smithy. 

"The way he's drifting now, he'll surely be at the end of the lake inhalf an hour; and given four times as much to make his way round all thecoves, would bring him to camp about noon, I reckon. Then, if Giraffestarts out at once, and has fair luck traveling he ought to get toRockford in two hours, running part of the way, once he strikes theroad. "

"That would mean two in the afternoon, then, Thad?"

"About that, if all goes well, " the other continued, as though mappingout the programme, step by step. "Then give him a quarter of an hour totell Mr. Hotchkiss the story over the wire; and after that theFaversham officers would have to come on here. But perhaps they mightget a car to bring them along the road. It's not a first class autoroad, but could be navigated I guess. Say by four o'clock they could beat our camp, Smithy. "

The other sighed. 

"That means something more than six hours for us to play hide and seekhere on the island, doesn't it?" he remarked; but Thad saw with reliefthat Smithy was certainly showing less signs of alarm than he hadexpected, under the best conditions. 

"Well, if you were only as good a swimmer as you hope to be one of thesedays, Smithy, " he remarked, pleasantly, "we might try for the shore. Butas it is, we've got to make the best of a bad bargain, and wait. You'vegot good sight, so suppose we try and see if we can tell what the boysare doing in camp. Two pair of eyes ought to be better than one anyday. "

"But honest now, I don't seem to see a blessed fellow there, " declaredSmithy, which was just what Thad had himself found out. "I can see thefire burning lazily, and the flag whipping in that splendid breeze; butas far as I can make out the whole pack have deserted, and gonesomewhere. Perhaps they're fishing. "

"You could see them on the bank, if that were so, Smithy, " remarkedThad. "Try again with another guess; and this time think well beforeyou answer. "

"Well, " remarked the new tenderfoot scout presently, after he had stoodthere, conjuring up his thoughts; "I remember that you told themsomething before we set sail on our trip. "

"Just what I did, and tell me if you can remember the nature of the taskthey were to handle during our absence?" the scout-master continued. 

"Allan was going to show them some more interesting things aboutfollowing a trail, " Smithy immediately replied; "how to tell what sortof little animal like a fox, a woodchuck, a mink, a muskrat or an otterhad made the marks; what it was trying to do; and how it was captured bythe men who make a business of collecting skins, or as they call them, pelts. "

"Just so, " Thad observed, "only it was to be this afternoon Allan meantto show them all that. If you think again, now, Smithy, I'm sure you'llrecollect there was another piece of scout business, and a veryimportant one too, that they were to practice this morning. "

"Yes, I remember it all now--wigwagging it was, " the tenderfoot went onto say with eagerness, and not a little satisfaction, because he hadrecalled everything that Thad wanted him to. "Allan was to go up to thetop of that little bare hill back of the camp, and two of the otherfellows were to hike over to another about a mile or so away. Then theywould exchange sentences by means of the signal flag, waved up and downand every which way, according to the alphabet used in the U. S. SignalCorps. And to-night the result was to be given to you to correct. "

"I see your memory is in good working order, Smithy, for that is exactlywhat sort of a task I set the boys we left behind. And now, I've justthought up a dandy scheme that if it can only be carried out, may gainus just about two hours over Davy's best time, in letting our chums knowwhat a hole we're in. "

Smithy looked interested. Indeed, whatever Thad did always excited hisenthusiasm; for he believed the young scout-master to be the smartestboy he had ever heard of in all his life. 

"It's something to do with this same wigwagging, Thad, I'm sure ofthat?" he remarked, drawing a big breath in his new excitement. 

"Well, there's no use wasting any more time in beating around the bush, so I'll tell you right now what the idea is, " Thad continued, smiling atthe eagerness of his comrade. "Suppose I could climb to the top of sometree, and attract the attention of Allan, as he stood on that bald hill, which is in plain sight from here; don't you understand that by makinguse of my handkerchief, and the code, I might be able to tell him what'shappened, and get him to send Giraffe to Rockford so as to call theFaversham Chief over the 'phone?"

Smith's face was wreathed in a smile of mingled admiration and delightas he caught the full meaning of the bright thought that had come to themind of his companion, the scout-master. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

A SIGNAL STATION IN A TREE-TOP. 

"Oh! that's the finest thing that ever could happen, Thad;" was the waythe delighted Smithy put his feelings into words. "And just to thinkthat right here you can make use of scout knowledge to tell Allan what'shappened. Why, without the wigwag telegraph we'd never be able to lethim know one single thing. "

"Just what I was thinking myself, Smithy, " returned the scout-master. "And as you get deeper into the splendid things a Boy Scout is supposedto learn, while he climbs the ladder, you'll find that never a daypasses but what he can help himself, or some other fellow, by what heknows. "

"I'm quite certain about that, Thad, " Smithy went on, brimming over withsatisfaction, and wonder at the cleverness of his chum. "Why, I was justthinking it all over this morning, and what great chances a scout has todo things that an ordinary boy would never be able to even try, becausehe had not learned. Right now I'm positive I know how to best stop arunaway horse without endangering my life more than is absolutelynecessary. "

"That's the kind of talk I like to hear, Smithy; it shows that youunderstand what the scout movement stands for; and mean to make the mostof the opportunities. "

"Then suppose a chum of mine got in the water, and was taken with acramp, " Smithy went on hurriedly, his blue eyes sparking with delight;"why, after what you showed me this morning, I believe that as soon as Iknow a little more about swimming, I could get him ashore. "

"And when you had done that?" questioned Thad, who was meanwhile keepinghis eyes around him for the purpose of discovering the best tree whichhe could use as a signal tower, in the carrying out of his bold plan forcommunicating with the balance of the Silver Fox Patrol. 

"Why, I wrote down every little thing you did when showing us how torevive a partly drowned person; and Thad, I practiced on a dummy whennobody was around to laugh. I'm positive I have it down pat, and coulddo the business. "

"Laugh!" repeated the pleased scout-master; "I'd just like to see anyscout under my control make fun of a fellow who was so much in earnestthat he devoted some of his spare minutes to practicing the art ofsaving a human life. I hope you may never have to put that knowledge topractical use, Smithy; but if the occasion ever does come along, Ifirmly believe you'll be equal to it. I'm more than pleased at theearnest way you've taken hold of these things. "

"Thank you, Thad, " replied Smithy, actually with tears in his eyes; "butif I have, you can lay it partly to the fact that up to now I've beenhalf starved in respect to all the things that most boys know and do, and just wild to learn; and also that I've had the finest chum that everdrew breath to coach me. Oh! yes, there are dozens of other things I'velearned that are bound to widen the horizon of any boy. It was afortunate day for _me_ when you coaxed my mother to let me join the BoyScouts. Nobody else could have done it but you, Thad. "

Smithy was growing more and more excited; and Thad thought best to endthat sort of talk. Besides, the time and place were hardly suited for anexchange of opinions with respect to the advantages of the scoutmovement. 

"We'll talk it over another time, Smithy, " he said, kindly. "Just now weought to bend our minds wholly on finding the right sort of tree for mywigwag station. Come along, and let's take a look at that tree just upthe bank yonder. Seems to me it ought to answer my purpose. "

So he led the way to the tree in question, which happened to be closeby. It was little effort for Thad to climb up into the branches, leavingSmithy below; with directions to return to the beach when he heard awhistle from his chief; it being Thad's idea that the presence of someone below might draw attention to his flag work above, and interrupt themessage. 

The higher he climbed the better he was satisfied; for he found that thetree was dead from a point half-way up, and consequently there was astronger chance that he could manage to attract the attention of Allan, on the hill a mile and a half away. 

Finding the perch that seemed to answer his purpose best, Thad broke offa few small dead branches that threatened to interfere with the free useof his arm. After that he gave the whistle to let Smithy know thesignalman was fixed, and that he had better go back to the beach towait. 

As yet he had seen nothing of Allan. The bald top of the hill was inplain sight from where the scout-master sat, perched aloft, but hescanned it in vain. Thad would not allow himself to doubt that presentlythe second in command of the patrol would show up there. He knew Allanwas a stickler for obeying orders to the very letter, and if hissuperior had said that he should reach the crown of that hill at exactlyseven minutes after ten, the chances were fifty to one Allan would makehis appearance on the second; or there would be trouble in the camp. 

So, to amuse himself while waiting Thad turned partly around, andlooked after Davy. At first he was astonished not to see the floatinglog on the troubled surface of the lake to leeward, where it had beenmoving at a pretty fast clip when the scout-messenger left the island. 

He experienced a sudden sensation of alarm, but immediately took a freshgrip on himself. Surely the waves were not so very boisterous now, forthe wind seemed to be diminishing, if anything. And Davy was a prettyfair swimmer, all things considered. 

Thad presently gave expression to a little sigh of relief; for far away, just under the fringe of trees bordering the extreme end of Lake Omega, he had discovered a moving object. It was the flash of a breaking waveover the same that had attracted his attention first; and he now madeout the floating log. 

Then Davy must have made much better time than he, Thad, had expectedwould be the case. No doubt he had assisted the progress of his novelcraft by swimming, being desirous of reaching land as soon as possible. 

So Thad divided his time between the bald top of the signal stationhill, and the log that as he knew concealed the swimming scout. 

"There he goes, creeping through the shallow water and heading for thebank, " he presently muttered to himself in a pleased way. "And I cangive a pretty good guess that right now Davy is the happiest fellow inthe county; because he just loves adventure of any kind, and he's suregetting his fill. There, he pulls himself up on the shore, and ducksbehind that bunch of brush! Good boy, Davy; that ought to count for amerit mark, all right. Nobody could have done it better, and few aswell. "

After that Davy vanished from his sight. He knew that the other wasmaking for camp at his best speed; but as he had a difficult task, withthe way so rough, it must be a couple of hours at least before he couldexpect to bring up at the tents, where the flag floated gaily from themast. 

Turning wholly, so as to devote his full attention to the signal stationhill, Thad counted the minutes that seemed to drag so heavily. 

Once or twice he thought he heard some sort of rustling sound down onthe island somewhere. He hoped that nothing was happening to Smithy; butof course it was utterly out of the question for him to call aloud, toinquire whether the tenderfoot scout was safe. 

"He ought to be showing up soon now, " Thad was muttering as he keptwatch of the smooth hilltop; "Every minute lost counts now. I hopenothing has happened in camp to disarrange the programme I laid out. "

He had hardly spoken when he started, and a pleased look came over hisanxious face; for at last there was a movement on the bald top of theelevation, as if something might be doing. 

Yes, a human figure was climbing steadily upward, now and then stoppingto make some sort of gesture to an unseen comrade at the base of thehill, either with his arm, or one of the signal flags he carried. 

Eagerly Thad watched the ascent of his chum. He knew that Allan wascarrying the precious field glasses, for he saw the sun glint from theirlens when the other stopped to take a survey. 

Oh! if he would only look toward the island now; for Thad was alreadywaving his handkerchief up and down, and ready to make a certain signalwhich had often been used as a sign of importance between himself andthis chum from Maine. Once Allan detected it, he would know instantlythat the person waving was the scout-master, and that he had news ofgreat importance to communicate. 

But it seemed as if Allan were devoting all his attention to the otherquarter, where he doubtless anticipated seeing the second signalmanbegin to tell him that the station was ready to receive messages. 

Still, knowing that three of the patrol had gone that very morning tothe mysterious island, to investigate further into the strange things itseemed to hide, it would seem that presently Allan _must_ turn his head, and sweep the shore of the same with his glasses. 

Ordinary curiosity should cause him to do that; Thad thought as hewaited; waving his handkerchief and fixing his eyes on the far-awayfigure of the khaki-clad scout with the flags. 

He even found himself hoping that the one sent to a more distant stationmight meet with some unexpected delay on the way; so that, becomingweary of looking for a sign, Allan would presently amuse himself bytaking a view of other quarters. 

Five minutes later, and Thad's heart gave a throb. He could see that hiswish was coming true, for the sun flashed more brightly than ever as itglanced from the moving lens of the field glass. Allan was now surveyingthe landscape around him, and gradually his attention must be drawingnearer the island. 

So Thad began to make the circular movement, followed by a downwardplunge of his handkerchief, that would surprise Allan when he noticedit, for he was bound to understand what it signified. 

A few seconds of suspense, and then Thad breathed with relief. 

He had seen the other focus his glasses straight toward the tree, in thedead upper branches of which, he, Thad, was clinging, and wildly wavinghis improvised signal flag. 

"He sees me! Good for that!" Thad said to himself; while his heart waspounding wildly within its prison, because of the excitement that hadseized him in its grip. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE WIGWAG TELEGRAPH. 

Thad now devoted himself to the task of communicating all he had to sayto his second in command, and as briefly as possible. Time was a factorin the affair; and it would not pay to waste more minutes than wereabsolutely necessary. The full particulars must be kept, to thrill thepatrol as they sat around the next blazing camp-fire, each one tellinghis individual part of the story. 

Fortunately Thad and Allan had long been practicing this exchange offlag signals together; and in this way had become fairly expert in theuse of the little telegraphic code that takes the place of thedot-and-dash of the wire process. With but his handkerchief to use inplace of the flag, Thad knew he would be hampered more or less; but hehad faith in the ability of his chum to grasp the truth, once he caughtan inkling of the peril that threatened. 

And now Allan was signaling that he understood the chief wished to sendan important message, which he was ready to receive. 

So Thad commenced by asking:

"Who have you close by to send with a message to Rockford?"

Allan asked him to repeat; and no wonder, for he could not exactly graspsuch an astonishing query; but on its being waved again he repliedpromptly:

"Giraffe, Bumpus; other two gone signal station beyond. "

"O. K. Send Giraffe at once. Tell him to make it as fast as he can. AtRockford get Chief Police at Faversham on 'phone; name MalcolmHotchkiss. Tell him all that happened to us, about bear men, and thatone of them asked Davy to let chief know if he saw footprint of markedshoe around. Believe that man on island, and that he is thief wanted byauthorities. How?"

This last was the query they understood between them. It meant that thesender wished to know if the burden of his message was being fullysensed by the one at the receiving end. 

"O. K. Tremendous! Go on!" came the immediate reply. 

Such long messages took more or less time, and would have beenimpossible only that in their enthusiasm the two scouts had abbreviatedthe code, so that they were able to really exchange sentences in ashort-hand way. 

Thad went on to give the other more knowledge, believing that Giraffeought to be posted up to a certain point, so that he could urge theChief of the Faversham police to hasten his movements; for if nightfell, without the hidden men being captured, they could get away undercover of darkness. 

"Davy gone ashore behind floating log. Just landed at end of lake. Thought of this scheme after he left. Man with owner of bear we believeto be officer of law, looking for these rascals. Let Giraffe have yourcompass. Give him map I left in tent. Our boat taken, and we can't getashore, for Smithy not able to swim. Let all practice for day drop, andkeep in camp, ready to take another message. "

Then Thad made the winding-up movement that told Allan he did not wishto consume more time by further talk. Enough had been sent in thistedious way to let the other know the main facts of the matter; and theywere surely startling enough in themselves, without the particulars thatwould follow later on, when peace had settled over the camp. 

He saw that Allan understood the need of haste; for as soon as he hadmade that peremptory signal, the second in command commenced going downthe slope of the hill with the bald top, taking great leaps as he went. 

Eagerly did Thad watch his progress. Once, in his haste, Allan trippedand fell headlong; and Thad's heart seemed to be in his mouth with thesuspense; but immediately the other scrambled to his feet again. Hisfirst thought must have been of the chum whose eyes he knew were gluedupon him; for he made a reassuring wave of his arm, and resumed hisdownward progress, a trifle more carefully now. 

Presently he vanished among the trees that grew about two-thirds of theway up, and Thad saw only occasional glimpses of him from that momentonward; as the flying figure flashed across some little gap in theverdure-clad hillside; never failing to wave his arms reassuringly tothe watcher. 

"He must be nearly down at the base now, " Thad said to himself, aftersome time had elapsed since he saw any sign of the hurrying scout. 

Knowing what was apt to follow, he kept his ears on the alert forwelcome sounds which would tell that Allan had given the recall to thetwo scouts sent to the distant station, with their relay of flags, inorder to receive and send messages. 

A minute, two, three of them glided away. Thad was beginning to feel atrifle uneasy, not knowing but that some further accident might havehappened to Allan, in his eagerness to reach the foot of the hill. 

But his fears proved groundless. Presently there floated distinctly tohis ears, for water carries sounds wonderfully well, the sweet notes ofthe bugle which Bumpus Hawtree knew so well how to manipulate. It wasthe "assembly" that was sounded, and those distant scouts, upon hearingthe well-known signal, would surely understand its tenor; and that forsome reason the plans of the day had undergone a decided change, so thatthey were to return forthwith to the camp. 

Sweeter sounds Thad believed he had never heard than those that camestealing over the troubled surface of Lake Omega that morning, whenaffairs were beginning to have such a serious look for the Silver FoxPatrol. 

He gave a sigh of relief. Some of the strain seemed to have departed, now that his signaling task had apparently been successfully carriedout. 

"In a short time, Giraffe will be starting across for the road leadingto Rockford, " Thad was saying to himself, as he sat there in his loftyeyrie, and surveying the whole island that lay bathed in the sunlightbeneath him. "With a fair amount of good luck he ought to get there byhalf-past one, perhaps much earlier; for Giraffe is a fast runner, andhas staying powers. "

The prospect was of a character to give Thad infinite pleasure. Andsomehow he seemed also greatly delighted because he had been able tohurry matters along in a wonderful manner, thanks to the knowledge heand Allan possessed of this Signal Corps work. 

"Why, it's already paid us ten times over for all the trouble we tookto learn the code, " he was saying to himself, between chuckles. "Andbesides, it was only fun, learning. Smithy was right when he said thisBoy Scout business was the best thing ever started in this or any othercountry to benefit fellows. And I'm glad I had that idea of starting atroop in sleepy old Cranford, so far behind the times. "

Just then he happened to remember that he was not alone on the island. Smithy would be getting quite anxious about him by now; and Thadconcluded that he ought to hunt the other scout up, so as to relieve hismind. 

He had read enough of the character of the new tenderfoot scout to feelcertain that Smithy would obey orders to the letter. Told to wait on thelittle pebbly beach until his superior officer joined him, he would staythere indefinitely; just as another lad, known to history and fame, Casibianca, "stood on the burning deck, whence all but him had fled, "simply because his father had told him to remain there. 

So Thad commenced to descend from his lofty perch, meaning to huntSmithy up, and not only relieve his natural suspense, but reward him forhis long vigil by relating the result of the exchange of signals. 

That the new recruit would be deeply interested, he felt sure; foreverything connected with the scouting business had a fascination forSmithy; now living an existence he may have dreamed about in formerdays, but really never hoped to personally experience. 

Just then the loon, floating and diving out on the bosom of the watersomewhere, had to give vent to his idiotic laugh. Possibly he had beenobserving the watcher in the dead tree-top, and was announcing hisopinion of such silly antics when he noticed Thad begin to descend. 

The sound struck a cold chill to the heart of the boy, though he laughedat himself immediately afterward for allowing such a feeling to comeover him. 

"It's only the loon, " he said, as he again slipped from limb to limb, constantly nearing the base of the tree. "I suppose the thing's beenwatching me all the time, and wondering what under the sun a fellowcould be doing, waving his old handkerchief around as though he weredaffy. He looks on me as a lunatic, and I know him to be a loon. "

Chuckling at his little joke, Thad presently reached a point where hecould hang from the lower limb by his hands, and then drop lightly tothe ground. 

He waited only a minute to recover his breath, for after all the comingdown had been more of a task than the mounting upward. Then he startedfor the shore of the lake, and the little beach that had witnessed bothlandings of the invading parties of scouts. 

Twice now had that same beach afforded a surprise as unwelcome as it wasunexpected, when the boat had vanished so strangely. Thad hoped historywould not feel bound to repeat itself. True, they no longer had a boatto lose, since it had already disappeared; but then, there was Smithy!

As he drew near the beach, he tried to discover the form of his comradesomewhere in the open, but without success. Still, Thad knew that thetenderfoot would doubtless consider it the part of wisdom to hide, whilewaiting for his comrade to finish his work aloft, and join him. 

Thinking thus, and yet with an uneasiness that he could hardlyunderstand, Thad kept on, until presently he had broken through the lastline of bushes, and stepped out on the little sandy stretch of beach. 

Certainly Smithy was not in sight. He turned in both directions, andswept the half circle of brush with an anxious gaze. 

Then he called in a low tone, but which might easily have been heard byany one chancing to be hiding behind that fringe of bushes:

"Smithy, hello!"

There was no answer to his summons. The loon laughed again out on thelake, as though mocking his anxiety; a squirrel ran down a tree, andfrisked about its base; but the tenderfoot scout seemed to have vanishedas utterly as though the earth had opened and swallowed him up. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE TRAIL AMONG THE ROCKS. 

Of course the scout-master was given a shock when he realized thatSmithy could not be where he had told him to wait until relieved. Allsorts of dire things commenced to flash through his head. 

"Here, this won't do at all, " he presently muttered, starting to get afirm grip on himself; "I've myself alone to depend on, to find out thetruth about Smithy, and to do that I must keep my head level. Now, Iwonder have I made a mistake about the calibre of Smithy, and could hehave wandered off in a careless way?"

Somehow he did not find himself taking any great amount of stock in thistheory. Why, had it been easy-going Bumpus now, or even rather carelessStep-hen, Thad fancied that there might have been more or less truthback of the suspicion; but unless his study of the tenderfoot had beenwrong, Smithy would not be guilty of disobedience. 

"Well, what am I thinking about?" was the way Thad took himself to taskpresently; "trying to find the answer to a riddle by bothering mybrains, when it ought to be written here on the sand as plain as print. "

Immediately he commenced to move about, looking for signs. Of coursethere must be all manner of footprints there, some recent, and othersmade on the occasion of the preceding visit of the scouts. But Thad hadstudied trail finding more or less under the watchful eye of the Maineboy, who knew considerable about it; and hence he was able to decidewhat were new, and what old footprints. 

And he had not been at this task more than half a minute when hereceived considerable of a shock. 

"Why, here's that footprint with the marked sole!" he whispered, a newthrill in the region of his heart. 

He could guess what that meant, for it was very fresh and new. The manwhom he now believed to be some sort of criminal, had been right thereon the beach since he, Thad, had quitted the spot to climb the treeselected for his signaling operations!

And since Smithy was supposed to be waiting there, only one inferencecould be drawn--the tenderfoot scout had fallen into the enemy's hands!

Evidently matters were approaching a crisis now. The two men who hid onthis island as though they feared their fellows to see them, werebeginning to grow bolder. At first they had only felt annoyed by thecoming of the scouts, and the making of the camp opposite their secretretreat. Then, by degrees, as the boys began to infringe on theirterritory, they had commenced to strike back; first by causing the boatto disappear; and now by capturing poor Smithy, who must be nearly deadwith fright because of his peril. 

Thad suspected the men may have begun to fear that their hiding-placewas known, and that the boys would be trying to either effect theircapture, or communicate their discovery to the authorities in someneighboring town. 

Perhaps they hoped to keep matters boiling at fever heat until nightfell, when they could make use of the recovered boat to slip away; orelse swim from the island retreat. 

He looked further, and soon found marks that plainly told the story of astruggle. It had been brief, however, for evidently Smithy was evidentlytaken by surprise, and with his breath immediately cut off by a cruelgrip, must have soon yielded. 

Thad looked around him. Would the two desperate characters be comingback to find the other scout? Did they know that Davy had gone with thatlog? Perhaps even at that minute hostile eyes might be upon him!

The very thought caused Thad to take a firmer grip on the stout cudgelhe carried, and resolve that should he be attacked, these rascals wouldnot have the easy victory they had found with his comrade, Smithy. 

But all was quiet and peaceful around him; and by degrees his excitednerves quieted down. What should he do, now that he knew the worst? Ofcourse, being such a good swimmer, Thad might easily have stripped, andmade his way over to the mainland, providing the men did not take anotion to chase after him in the boat. He put the thought aside withimpatience. That would be deserting Smithy, who looked up to him as afaithful friend and ally; and this Thad would never be guilty of doing. 

Should he simply conceal himself somewhere on the island, and wait forthe coming of afternoon, and the expected officers? Suppose, forinstance, Giraffe lost his way while trying to make Rockford, what thenwould become of Smithy?

Thad felt that he could never look a scout in the face again if he wereguilty of such small business. 

"I'm going to do my best to find Smithy, no matter what happens, " hesaid to himself, as he shut his teeth hard together, and took a freshgrip on that comforting cudgel he carried again. "Perhaps they may stickclose to their hiding-place, wherever that is, thinking they've scaredthe rest of us nearly to death; and that we'll swim ashore. Here goes, then, to follow the trail. "

He had already discovered where the party had left the sandy stretch, plunging into the shrubbery, at a point beyond that where he and Smithyhad made use of. 

The island, as has been stated before, was so very rocky that Thad, notbeing an expert at following a trail under such difficulties, might havehad a hard time of it in places, but for unexpected, but none the lesswelcome, assistance. 

Here and there, when he came to a small patch of earth, he was surprisedto find plain marks of feet, and several deep furrows, as though someone had sagged in his walk, and was being half dragged along by thosewho had hold of either arm. 

This must have been Smithy; and at first Thad was dreadfully worried, under the belief that his comrade might have been struck on the head, and injured. But when the same thing kept on repeating itself, andinvariably when there was earth to show the marks, he suddenly graspedthe splendid truth. 

"Oh! isn't that boy a dandy, though?" he whispered to himself, indelight; "as sure as anything now, he's just doing that on purpose, meaning to leave as broad a trail as he can, so I could follow. Didn't Isay Smithy had it in him to make one of the best scouts in the wholetroop; and don't this prove it? Good for Smithy; he's all right!"

It made Thad feel quite pleased to know that the tenderfoot could be sosmart, with such little training. He continued to follow the trackswith new ambition. So energetic a chum deserved to be looked after; andThad was better satisfied than ever because he had resolved to hunt forSmithy, rather than lie around, trying to hide from the enemy in casethey were out looking for him. 

By degrees he found that he was getting into a section of the islandwhich did not seem familiar to him in the least. Evidently, then, intheir various trips over the place, the boys had unconsciously avoidedthis part; possibly because of its very roughness, and the difficulty ofpushing through the dense vegetation, and over the piled-up rocks. 

"No wonder they chose this place to hide, " thought Thad, as he climbedacross a barrier that taxed his powers; and wondered at the same timehowever poor Smithy was ever able to make it, tied as he must be, orgripped in the hands of his two captors. 

He realized that he must now be getting nearer the den where the twounknown men used as a hideout. The very solitude of the place affectedhim. It was as if a heavy weight had been laid on his back, thatthreatened to crush him. 

Still, Thad was a very determined lad. Having made up his mind toaccomplish the rescue of his comrade, if it were at all possible, hewould not allow himself to be daunted by trifles such as these. Onlyshutting his teeth more firmly together, he kept pushing resolutely on, eyes and ears constantly on the alert. 

Perhaps Giraffe was having just such a difficult job in making his wayacross the country between the lake and Rockford; and if so, Thad hopedhe too was pushing resolutely forward, undismayed by no obstacles thatloomed up ahead. 

Now and then Thad was at a loss which way to turn, for the rocks leftlittle or no trace for him to follow. At such times he had to exercisehis knowledge of slight clues to the utmost. Then besides, he could lookaround him and judge pretty well how those he was following, foot byfoot, must have gone. 

And finally Thad saw something just beyond that told him he had reachedthe end of the faint trail. It was a gloomy looking hole among the rocksthat stared him in the face, with the trail leading straight toward it. 

If ever there was a bear that had its den on that island, surely thismust have been the spot; for it far excelled anything else that thescout had seen since he had started to prowl around. 

As he crept closer he was astonished to see what a peculiar conditionexisted with regard to that open mouth of the bear den. Just above hungan immense stone that ordinarily several men could never have turnedover, or even moved; yet by some convulsion of nature far back, thisrock had been so delicately poised above the mouth of the cave thatThad believed even a boy could send it crashing down, if he but hurledhis strength against it. 

"And if it _did_ fall, " he said to himself, with a sudden shiver ofdelight, "I honestly believe it would fill in that hole, so that noteven a rattlesnake could crawl out. Oh! if those men are in there, as Ihope, and I could start that cap-stone rolling, wouldn't they be shut upas snug as if they were in a bottle, with the cork shoved in?"

But fascinating as that possibility appeared to Thad, he must rememberthat the men had Smithy with them as a hostage. They could dictate termsof surrender so long as they held the tenderfoot scout a prisoner. Andunless he could manage in some clever way to effect the release ofSmithy, he had better go slow about trying to bottle them up in thatbear's den. 

He crept still closer, and lying there on his breast, listenedanxiously, his ear close to the black opening. A regular sound camestealing out that, for a short time, puzzled him; and then Thad decidedthat it must be the snoring of a man who was asleep, and lying on hisback. 

Dare he try and crawl into the cave, to ascertain how the land lay? Thadwas anything but a coward; but he could be excused for hesitating, andtaking stock of the chances before deciding this important matter. Butafter a little he must have made up his mind; for he crept past theguardian rocks, and slipped into the entrance of the bear's den!

CHAPTER XXIX. 

SPRINGING THE TRAP. 

When Thad Brewster was thus making his way into the hole in the rocks, perhaps he may have remembered reading what old Israel Putnam, theRevolutionary hero, did when a mere stripling, entering the den of asavage wolf, and dragging the beast out after him. 

Well, in a way Thad was doing just as brave an act. True, those whom hehad reason to fear, were human beings like himself; but they must becruel men, since he knew them to be desperate characters; and if theydiscovered him invading their retreat, no doubt they would attack himwith the ferocity of wolves. 

He found himself in a passage-way among the rocks. It had evidently beenwell traveled by the feet or knees of the men who may have longconcealed themselves in the snug retreat; while officers were searchingthe surrounding country in a vain quest for clues to their hiding-place. 

Thad started when he suddenly heard a gruff voice; it sounded so veryclose by, that his first thought was he had been discovered. But as hecaught the words that were spoken he realized his mistake. 

"Mebbe ye'll be sorry now, ye bothered a couple of poor fellers atryin'hard to make a few honest dollars a takin' game out of season, an'sellin' the same to the rich folks what jest has to have it any oletime. Jest sit up, an' tell me what yer friends are thinkin' of doin''bout it. "

Then Thad was thrilled to hear the voice of his chum respond. Evidently, if the men had kept some sort of muffler over Smithy's mouth during thetime they were bringing him to their underground retreat, it had nowbeen removed, as if they no longer feared that he would bring the othersdown upon them. 

"Why, you see, we just wanted to explore this queer island, and that'sall there is to it. Yes, we did rather guess that somebody must havebeen taking fish or game when the law was shut down on it; but then, yousee, that was none of our business. We're just Boy Scouts off on acamping trip; and nobody's employed us to bother with game poachers, orsend word to the wardens. "

"Game wardens, hey? Ye seem to let that slip off yer tongue, younker, like ye might be used to sayin' the same. What we want to know is, whyare ye so pesky anxious like to look this here island over? Lostanything here?"

"Well, a boat we had seems to have disappeared in a funny way, " Smithysaid; and Thad could not notice anything like a tremble in thetenderfoot's voice, which fact pleased him greatly. 

"Huh! thet boat belonged to us in the fust place, younker, an' ye hookedit from us. Spect ye thought boats jest growed in the bushes like wildplums, when ye run acrost that un. Wall, they don't, an' ye had nobizness to take it. An' what's more, me and my pal think ye mean to letthe wardens know 'bout what we've been adoin' up this ways. "

Smithy made no reply, and Thad knew why. The tenderfoot was well awareof what his chum had been doing while wigwagging Allan. He also knewthat in all probability Giraffe must even then be on his way over toRockford, to get the Faversham Chief on the 'phone, and give him amessage that would bring the whole police force hustling over to OmegaLake, bent on making a big haul. 

"Don't try to deny it, do ye, younker?" the man continued to growl; andfrom the fitful light that rose and fell Thad found reason to believethat there must be some sort of fire around the bend in the passage. "Well, let me tell ye what we mean to do about it. We'll jest keep yefast here till night sets in, while yer friends hunt around, and gitmore an' more skeered, believin' ye must a fell inter the lake. Thenwe'll cut stick out of this place, and leave ye behind. P'raps so ye cudyell loud enough to draw 'em in here. Better be asavin' of yer breath, boy; 'cause ye'll have to do some tall shoutin' if ye wants to get outalive, arter Bill'n me vacate. Now roll over, and go to sleep. I'mhungry, and mean to cook a bite or two. "

After waiting for a few minutes, and hearing nothing more, Thad venturedto peep around the rocky bend. He saw that he had sized up the situationperfectly. One man bent over a small fire, and seemed to be busilyengaged in cooking himself some food, which already began to scent thecave. From the quarter where the rumbling sounds came, the boy could seean indistinct form huddled on a blanket. 

The man at the fire seemed to have a bandage around his left leg, andhobbled as he walked; from which Thad supposed he must have met with anaccident of some kind. This might in a measure account for their havingtaken refuge on the island, rather than make their safety sure byflight. 

He looked further, and was soon able to make out another figure lying onthe rocky floor of the place. This he had no doubt must be his chum, Smithy. Yes, once, as the limping man threw a handful of fresh fuel onthe fire, causing the flames to leap up, and for the moment illuminatethe place, Thad's eager eyes discovered the well-known khaki color ofthe Boy Scout uniform worn so jauntily by the particular new recruit. 

Oh! if only he could creep across the space that lay between, and setthe bound boy free, how gladly would he attempt it. And the more hecontemplated the thing, the better satisfied did Thad become that hecould accomplish it. 

Why, there did not seem to be any great obstacle to prevent him. Surelythe man who snored so deeply would not be able to interfere; and thesecond fellow at the fire was so deeply concerned with getting himselfsome lunch that apparently he had thought for nothing else. 

So Thad decided to make the attempt. Even if it turned out to be afailure he believed he could elude any pursuer in the gloom of the caveentrance, and manage to reach the open in safety. 

And the possible result was so pleasant to contemplate that he justcould not resist trying for it. 

Accordingly, Thad started to creep around the bend. He kept as flat onhis stomach as possible, and always made it a point to watch the man atthe fire. If the hungry one seemed to be looking that way, Thadflattened himself out as near like a pancake as he could, and did not somuch as move a finger until such time as he felt convinced that theenemy had his full attention again taken up with his work. 

In this cautious way, then, did the scout draw closer and closer to thefigure of the captive. He hoped Smithy would be sensible, and not betrayhim by an incautious exclamation, when he learned of his presence. 

Now he was within a foot of the other, and could hear him breathingsoftly as he lay there. Thad had figured it out that if he kept quiet, and merely tried to feel for the other's bound hands, Smithy might letout a whoop as he felt something touch his wrists, under the belief thatit might be a crawling snake. So, to avoid this chance of betrayal, Thadhad determined to get his lips as close to the ear of the prisoner as hecould, and then gently whisper his name. 

Watching for his chance, Thad found it when the man at the fire washumming a snatch of a song to himself, as though care set lightly on hisshoulders. 

"Smithy--'sh!"

Thad saw a movement of the bound form. Smithy even lifted his head, andturned his eyes toward the spot from whence that thrilling, if soft, whisper had come. But fortunately he did not attempt to make the leastsign, or try to whisper back. 

Now that his chum had been warned of his presence Thad believed he couldproceed to the next step in his carefully-arranged programme. This wasto reach over, find just how Smithy was tied, and with the use of hispocket-knife, which he held open in his hand, effect his release. 

The most risky part of the entire affair must lie in their retreat. HereSmithy, being a veritable greenhorn, was very apt to make some blunderthat would draw the attention of the hungry man, and result indiscovery. 

But there was no need of wasting time when the choice lay only in oneselection. 

Thad fumbled around until he could locate the bonds that had been tiedaround the wrists of Smithy. These he quickly severed, at the same timetrusting to luck that he did not cut the boy with the sharp blade of hisknife. 

Next in order he crawled a little further, and managed to saw apartanother piece of old rope that had been wound around the ankles ofSmithy. 

The latter knew what was expected of him. Perhaps it was mere instinctthat told the tenderfoot, since he had never gone through any suchexperience as this before. But at any rate, no matter what influencedhim, Smithy had already commenced to move backward. Thad was greatly"tickled" as he himself expressed it later, when he saw how Smithymaneuvered, keeping his head toward the enemy while moving off, as if hejust knew he ought to watch the man, and lie low in case he looked. 

Thad had waited only long enough to fix the blanket upon which Smithyhad been lying, so that it would look like a human form reclining there. This he did by causing the middle to remain poked up a foot or so in theair, by deftly crunching the folds in his hand. 

At a casual glance in that uncertain light, any one over there, with hiseyes dazzled by looking into the flickering firelight, might be deceivedinto believing that the prisoner still lay where he had been left. 

Foot by foot the two scouts backed away. Why, Smithy was doing as wellas any experienced fellow could have shown himself capable ofperforming. Smithy had certainly all the qualities in him to make afirst-class scout; and Thad meant to encourage the ambition of the otherto the utmost, given the opportunity. 

Now they were turning the bend, and everything seemed to still be goingsmoothly. It began to look as though Thad had accomplished a task thatat one time he feared would be beyond his capacity; and that freedom layahead for the late prisoner of the old bear's den. 

Just as they reached the outlet there sounded a loud shout coming fromthe interior. It could have but one meaning, and this, discovery. Thehungry man had possibly walked over to say something else to Smithy, andfound that the prisoner had taken "French leave. "

"This way, and give me a hand, quick!" exclaimed Thad, as he leaped outof the mouth of the den, and toward the pivotical rock that hung sotemptingly above. 

Smithy seemed to have noticed the same stone, for he threw himselfagainst it at the very instant Thad did. Their combined weight, added tothe force with which they struck the trembling rock, proved to besufficient to start it moving. It appeared to hesitate just a second, and then went crashing over, making the very ground tremble with thetremendous shock. 

And so the mouth of the old bear's den was sealed, imprisoning within, the two fugitives from the law. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

THE MYSTERY SOLVED--CONCLUSION. 

"There!" exclaimed Thad, as he panted for breath after his supremeeffort which resulted in the toppling of the boulder over the mouth ofthe rocky retreat of the two desperate characters; "if only there is noother way out, I reckon we've got those birds safely caged till theofficers come. "

"Well, " remarked Smithy, who actually had some color in his usually palecheeks, and whose blue eyes were sparkling with excitement; "fromcertain things they let fall when they were conversing, Thad, I am ofthe opinion that this is the only exit, as well as entrance to theplace. "

Smithy had been fed on big words, and very exact language so long, thatas yet his association with other boys less particular had failed to rubaway any of the veneer. In time, no doubt, he would fall into thecustomary method among boys of cutting their words short, and savingbreath in so doing. 

"Yes, " remarked Thad, smiling broadly, "and from the way you can hearthose two fellows on the other side of the stone carrying on, I guessyou must be right; for they seem to be some angry I take it. "

"You don't think they could upset this rock, do you?" asked Smithy, alittle anxiously. 

"Not in a thousand years, without crowbars to help them. There they staytill we get ready to invite 'em out. When the officers come, they'llfind a way to do the trick, never fear, Smithy. But how do you feelabout taking a trip across to the camp right now?"

Smithy started, and turned an anxious face out to the water, where thewaves were still running fairly high, though the wind had died down. 

"I'm willing to do anything you say, Thad, " he replied, with a sigh. 

"Even if you never swam fifty feet in your whole life, " remarked thescout-master, admiringly, for the pluck of the tenderfoot appealed tohim strongly; "but make your mind easy, Smithy, for I don't want you toswim, this time. "

"But Thad, how else can I go?" pursued the other. "We have no boat; Inever did learn to walk on the water, you see; and so far, my wingshaven't sprouted worth mentioning; so how can I get over to our camp?"

"Why, I didn't think to mention it to you, and I really haven't had thechance, to tell the truth; but I happened to discover where those menhid _our_ boat in the bushes as I came along on the trail you left. AndSmithy, while I think of it I just want to say that was a clever dodgeof yours, making all the mess you could with your shoe every time youcame to a patch of dirt. It helped me a heap, and saved me a lot oftime. "

Smithy fairly glowed with pride. A compliment from the scout-master wasworth more to this boy than anything he could imagine. 

"I don't know what made me think of that, Thad; it just seemed to popinto my mind, you see. And I'm delighted to hear you say it helped some. As to my going over to the camp in the boat, I'm ready, as soon as wecan launch the canoe. While I have had only a little experience in aboat, I've managed to pick up a few wrinkles, and ought to be able toget ashore safely. What do you want me to do, Thad?"

"Explain the situation to the others, and then have Allan and Bob Whitepaddle over; yes, Step-hen might as well come with them to take back theboat again, for the officers will need it when they arrive. "

The canoe was easily carried down to the water and then Smithy with afew directions from his chief, started across. He managed very well, though once Thad had a little scare, thinking there was going to be anupset. 

In due time Smithy was seen to land, with the other boys crowdingaround, doubtless plying him with eager questions. Shortly after theboat started off again, this time holding Allan, who plied the paddlewith wonderful skill, Bob White, who might have done just as well ifgiven the chance, and Step-hen. 

When they reached shore Thad breathed easier. If the two men shouldbreak out now there would be four stout fellows to oppose them; but allthe same no one was anxious to have such a thing happen. 

The boys had brought something to eat along, and they all sat down tohave a bite. Everything was quiet inside the old bear's den. Bob Whitesaid he hoped the rascals had not been smothered; and Thad declared theycould get plenty of air through the crevices between the rocks. On hispart he was secretly hoping that the fellows might not be able to cuttheir way out before help came. 

The time dragged slowly. Again and again did some impatient fellow askThad to look at his watch, and tell him how much longer they must waitbefore the officers might be expected. 

As the westering sun sank lower and lower, Thad himself began to growanxious; and could be noticed listening intently every time the faintbreeze picked up; for it was now coming exactly from the quarter whencethe assistance they expected would come. 

"There, that was sure an auto horn, tooting!" he exclaimed abouthalf-past four in the afternoon. 

Every one of them listened, and presently sure enough they agreed thatit could be nothing else, though the loon out on the lake started hisweird cry about that time, as though he considered it a challenge fromsome rival bird. 

"Get aboard, and pull for the shore, Step-hen, " ordered thescout-master; and as he had been expecting this, the long-legged scoutpushed off. 

They watched him paddling, and when he had almost reached the spot whereSmithy and Bumpus, together with Davy Jones stood, a car came in sight, loaded with some four or five men in blue uniforms; Giraffe, andanother, wearing ordinary clothes. 

Step-hen brought two of the officers, and the extra man over, and thenwent back for another pair, while Thad talked with the Chief of theFaversham police, and the man whom he recognized as the guest they hadgiven a cup of coffee to at the time the owner of the bear claimed hisproperty. 

The story was soon told, and it thrilled the scouts as they had seldombeen stirred before. It seemed that the two men were notoriouscounterfeiters, known to the authorities as Bill Dalgren and Seth Evans. They had been surrounded by officers a month before, at a place wherethey were engaged in the manufacture of bogus half dollars; but hadcleverly managed to escape with some of their dies and other material. One of them had been injured in the fracas accompanying this failure tocatch them at work. 

Since then their whereabouts had become a matter of considerable momentto the authorities at Washington, and one of the cleverest revenueofficers was put on the case. He had disguised himself, and hiring theowner of the dancing bear, had gone around the country trying to gettrace of the men, one of whom he knew wore a shoe with an oddly patchedsole. 

This gentleman, Mr. Alfred Shuster, assured the scouts that they wereentitled to the heavy reward offered by the Government to any one givinginformation leading to the capture of the two bold rascals; and hedeclared that he would see to it that this amount was paid into thetreasury of the Cranford Troop of Boy Scouts, as they had certainlyearned it. 

When the big rock was finally rolled away, with the aid of heavy woodenbars, the trapped men came meekly forth when ordered. All the fightseemed to have been taken out of them. Indeed, the one with the lame legdeclared he was glad that he might now have the assistance of a doctor, for he had of late begun to fear that blood poisoning was setting in. Inthe place plenty of evidence to convict the two men was found. 

So by degrees everybody was ferried over to the camp, Bob White takingturns with Allan in wielding the paddle. Afterward the big auto whirledaway, taking the wretched prisoners, as well as their exultant captorsalong. Then the camp of the Silver Fox Patrol settled down once more toits usual peace. 

Until late that night, however, the boys, unable to sleep after all thisexcitement, sat around the blazing camp-fire, talking. From every anglethe story was told until each fellow knew it by heart. And all united inpraising Smithy for the part he had had taken in the capture of the menfor whom the officers of the law were searching. 

For two more days the scouts remained in camp, and during that time manywere the things Allan and Thad showed them. No one ever missed the realscout-master for a single minute. And when the hour arrived for thetents to come down, since a wagon had arrived to bear them back home, the eight members of the patrol united in declaring that they had hadthe time of their lives; and did not care how soon the experience mightbe repeated. 

On the way back Thad ordered a halt at the identical spot where thatlittle spring bubbled up, and ran away with such a cheery sound. Whilethe fellows were drinking and sitting around, Thad called the attentionof them all to some peculiar sort of fruit the small tree close byseemed to be bearing, in one of the lower crotches, where three limbsstarted out, forming a sort of cup. 

"Why, I declare, if it isn't my compass!" cried Step-hen, turning veryred in the face, as he eagerly reached up, and secured the littlealuminum article. 

"Yes, " said Thad, severely, "I saw you put it there, carelessly, when wewere all here, and said nothing at the time; for I wanted to teach you alesson. And now, all the time we were in camp, you've been accusingBumpus here of losing, or hiding your compass. I think you owe himsomething, if you're a true scout, Step-hen. "

"You're right I do, " said the other, jumping up, and hurrying over towhere the fat boy sat, his eyes dancing with delight over being clearedso handsomely; "and right here I want to say that I humbly apologize toBumpus, who is the best fellow in the whole lot. I hope he'll forgiveme, because I really thought he was playing a joke on me. You will, won't you, Bumpus? I was just a silly fool, that's what. "

"Mebbe you were, Step-hen, " said Bumpus, calmly, as he gingerly acceptedthe other's hand; "and I hope that this will be a lesson to you, as ourpatrol leader says. When a scout gives his word, he expects it to bebelieved, Step-hen. But it's all right; and I hope you find right gooduse for that fine little compass when we get off on that trip into theBlue Ridge mountains. "

And at that every scout snatching off his campaign hat, gave threecheers, as though right then, with the coals of their first camp-firehardly cold, they were looking forward with eagerness to another outingthat would bring new adventures in its train. 

THE END. 

THE JACK LORIMER SERIES

5 Volumes By WINN STANDISH

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CAPTAIN JACK LORIMER; or, The Young Athlete of Millvale High. 

 Jack Lorimer is a fine example of the all-around American high-school boy. His fondness for clean, honest sport of all kinds will strike a chord of sympathy among athletic youths. 

JACK LORIMER'S CHAMPIONS; or, Sports on Land and Lake. 

 There is a lively story woven in with the athletic achievements, which are all right, since the book has been O. K. 'd by Chadwick, the Nestor of American sporting journalism. 

JACK LORIMER'S HOLIDAYS; or, Millvale High in Camp. 

 It would be well not to put this book into a boy's hands until the chores are finished, otherwise they might be neglected. 

JACK LORIMER'S SUBSTITUTE; or, The Acting Captain of the Team. 

 On the sporting side, the book takes up football, wrestling, tobogganing. There is a good deal of fun in this book and plenty of action. 

JACK LORIMER, FRESHMAN; or, From Millvale High to Exmouth. 

 Jack and some friends he makes crowd innumerable happenings into an exciting freshman year at one of the leading Eastern colleges. The book is typical of the American college boy's life, and there is a lively story, interwoven with feats on the gridiron, hockey, basketball and other clean, honest sports for which Jack Lorimer stands. 

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 For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the publishers A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. 

THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS SERIES

By HILDEGARD G. FREY. The only series of stories for Camp Fire Girlsendorsed by the officials of the Camp Fire Girls Organization. PRICE, 40CENTS PER VOLUME

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THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or, The Winnebagos go Camping. 

 This lively Camp Fire group and their Guardian go back to Nature in a camp in the wilds of Maine and pile up more adventures in one summer than they have had in all their previous vacations put together. Before the summer is over they have transformed Gladys, the frivolous boarding school girl, into a genuine Winnebago. 

THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT SCHOOL: or, The Wohelo Weavers. 

 It is the custom of the Winnebagos to weave the events of their lives into symbolic bead bands, instead of keeping a diary. All commendatory doings are worked out in bright colors, but every time the Law of of the Camp Fire to broken it must be recorded in black. How these seven live wire girls strive to infuse into their school life the spirit of Work, Health and Love and yet manage to get into more than their share of mischief, is told in this story. 

THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE; or, In The Magic Garden. 

 Migwan is determined to go to college, and not being strong enough to work indoors earns the money by raising fruits and vegetables. The Winnebagos all turn a hand to help the cause along and the "goings-on" at Onoway House that summer make the foundations shake with laughter. 

THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS GO MOTORING; or, Along the Road That Leads the Way. 

 The Winnebagos take a thousand mile auto trip. The "pinching" of Nyoda, the fire in the country Inn, the runaway girl and the dead-earnest hare and hound chase combine to make these three weeks the most exciting the Winnebagos have ever experienced. 

 * * * * *

 For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price by publishers A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. 

 * * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired. 

Page 6, "Granford" changed to "Cranford". (bugler for Cranford)

Page 9, "geniue" changed to "genuine". (a genuine scout-master)

Page 9, "Calikns" changed to "Calkins". (medicine with Dr. Calkins)

Page 13, "Sop" changed to "Stop". (Stop again, and)

Page 17, "examing" changed to "examining". (Allan were examining)

Page 34, "Omerga" changed to "Omega". (word Omega means)

Page 44, "week" changed to "weak". (of a weak mamma)

Page 45, "conneced" changed to "connected". (connected with a)

Page 51, "befel" changed to "befell". (that befell the)

Page 63, "Bumus" changed three times to "Bumpus". ("Bumpus! Bumpus, goodboy! here supper for Bumpus!")

Page 96, "Allen" changed to "Allan". (remarked Allan, as they)

Page 122, "emormous" changed to "enormous". (with that enormous)

Page 125, "sterness" changed to "sternness". (sternness in his)

Page 125, "draging" changed to "dragging". (along and dragging)

Page 144, "owuld" changed to "would". (would some day)

Page 149, "Allen" changed to "Allan". (Master?" asked Allan)

Page 158, "freigner's" changed to "foreigner's". (foreigner's nativecountry)

Page 173, "semed" changed to "seemed". (seemed tickled at)

Page 175, "arrnging" changed to "arranging". (arranging for the)

Page 186, "remarkd" changed to "remarked". (way, " remarked the)

Page 199, "Haversham" changed to "Faversham". (get Faversham the)

Page 214, "the" changed to "he". (for he found)

Page 214, "Smihty" changed to "Smithy". (let Smithy know)

Page 230, "yeielded" changed to "yielded". (have soon yielded)

Page 231, "conforting" changed to "comforting". (that comforting cudgel)

One instance of both game-keepers and gamekeepers was retained, as wasmakeup/make-up. The title and copyright pages both use Camp Fire, whilethe remainder of the book uses camp-fire. This was retained.