when mike murphy hurried off the opposite end of the porch of the bungalow, his single purpose was to rid himself of hoke butler, who had set his heart upon keeping him company for the day. it was a happy thought thus to send the youth to collect an imaginary debt from alvin landon, and it would seem could scarcely fail of accomplishing the end in view.
“the spalpeen can thravel a good deal faster then mesilf, owing to the lingth of his legs, but i’ve got too good a start for him to find me among the traas.”
mike still walked fast, often glancing behind and more and more relieved that he failed to gain sight of a living person, or rather of him whom he dreaded to see.
“hello, mike, where are you?”
the youth appealed to almost leaped from the ground, for the familiar voice sounded much too near for comfort.
“i’m here just now,” muttered mike, “but i don’t intind to stay. worrah, worrah, is there no way of shaking ye loose?”
the shout was repeated twice and then ceased. it looked as if hoke believed he was too far separated from his friend to reach him by calling, though he was not likely to give up the search for some time to come. mike changed his course and in doing so came near losing himself. it was impossible in the circumstances to go far astray, but he was likely to waste a good deal of time.
coming to a halt he took his bearings. he knew he was well to the westward of the bungalow and not far from the lake. he was sure also, after noting the position of the sun, of the course he should follow to reach the body of water. his plan was to keep along shore until he came to the western end of the lake, around which he would make his way if necessary, returning by the northern bank which would take him past the home of dr. spellman. the 128conviction, however, was strong with the young man that he would not be called upon to travel that far before gaining the knowledge which was drawing him onward as the steel draws the magnet.
when he had traveled far enough to bring him to the lake and still failed to catch the gleam of its surface, he halted once more and stared around.
“if i’m lost agin i’ll hire some of the byes to lead me about by the hand, fur i ain’t fit to travel alone—hello! there’s one of ’em, that i’ll question without letting him know i’m a stray lamb.”
he had a glimpse of a moving body almost directly ahead, and knowing it was one of the scouts he called:
“i wish to remark, me friend, that it’s a foine day; if ye agraa wid me i shall be plaised to have ye signerfy the same.”
“why, mike, i’m so glad to see you again; you ain’t mad because i got lost?”
“oh, not a bit, as jim o’toole said whin the sheriff apologized for shooting him on the wing.”
and mike extended his hand to hoke butler as he came grinningly forward.
“how was it ye missed me?” asked mike innocently.
“i’ll be hanged if i can tell; i hurried back after talking to alvin and ought to have found you, but somehow or other i didn’t.”
“why didn’t ye holler?”
“i nearly split my throat calling to you.”
“strange! i wonder if i’m getting deaf.”
“gracious! i hope not; don’t say that or you’ll worry me awfully.”
“did alvin hand ye the five dollars?”
“not a bit of it. say, mike, they must be blamed poor, for they had only a canadian quarter between them. i don’t think they amount to much.”
mike couldn’t stand this slur upon his chums.
“let me tell ye something that will make ye open yer eyes. alvin landon’s father is one of the richest men in new york, and chester’s is almost as wealthy. they are worth millions upon millions of dollars, and the byes have all the money they want, but they are not such fules as you and me and don’t throw it away, though they give a good deal of it to poor folks. so ye may rist aisy on that score, friend hoke.”
“gee! i never suspected that. they don’t put on any more airs than the poorest of the boy scouts.”
“which the same shows their sinse; they’ve always been that way and always will be. but this isn’t tending to bus’ness. do ye wish to keep company wid me till night?”
“you bet! i’m going to stick to you like a burr; i hope you haven’t any hard feelings on account of my losing you for a little while. i really didn’t mean it.”
“it’s mesilf that has no hard feelings, but i was thinking that if we don’t get back to the clubhouse till night ye will be obliged to lose your dinner.”
“i don’t like that much, but i’ll stand it for your sake. i’ll even things up at the supper table. a boy scout should learn to suffer when it can’t be helped.”
“i’ve found out the same,” replied mike with a significance which his companion did not catch; “i hope we shan’t starve to death.”
“no danger of that,” remarked hoke, not absolutely certain that some such calamity did not threaten them.
mike murphy like a philosopher made up his mind to accept the inevitable. it seemed to be decreed by fate that he should have this young man as a companion throughout at least this day, so what was the use of kicking against it? besides, it was not impossible that where there was so much eagerness on the part of hoke to help, he might be able to do so in the strange task mike had laid out for himself.
one pleasing fact about the intruder was that he never lost his way. he pointed out the direction in which the lake lay and mike took care not to let him know he himself had believed that an altogether different course led to it. pausing on the shore they looked out upon one of the most beautiful and romantic bodies of water to be found in a region which abounds with them. both saw the canoe laden deeply with three men which was heading for a point to the westward of dr. spellman’s home. the boys studied it closely, but the distance was too great to identify the old man, and his companions were strangers.132
mike had told young butler nothing of his experience of the day before, nor did he do so now. whatever hoke was able to do in the way of aid he could accomplish as well while ignorant as if he knew everything.
“would it be too far, hoke, for ye to walk wid me round the end of the lake to the spot where the canoe wint from sight?”
“it’s a pretty good walk, mike, but it’s nothing so long as i am with you. i can’t think of anything i wouldn’t do to please you.”
“i could, but i’ll not mintion it,” grinned mike as they resumed their course with hoke in the lead.
the forenoon was half gone when they came to the western end of the lake and changed their course so as to follow the curvature that would take them to the northern shore. all the time they were in sight of the water, which they examined at intervals in quest of other boats. while the home of dr. spellman, as we remember, was invisible from the lake, it was easy to locate it by the thin wisp of smoke which filtered through the tree-tops. the same could have been said of uncle elk’s cabin had there been any fire burning.
“i am thinking, mike,” remarked hoke some time later, “that if you intend to go clean round the lake we haven’t any time to throw away.”
“we kin take all day and the night, should the same be nicissary, but there’s no call to hurry and if ye find yersilf growing weary, ye have me permission to turn back whin the notion takes ye.”
“we have gone so far that i don’t see much choice in taking either direction. i say, mike, isn’t that something queer ahead of us?”
“i’d like to know where ye could be without something qua’ar being ahead of ye,—begora! i belave ye are right,” added mike in surprise. an object loomed up which he had not seen before nor had he heard any one speak of it, though he and others had been in the neighborhood more than once.
at a point where the undergrowth was plentiful and less than a hundred yards back from the shore, were the ruins of what probably had once been a fisherman or 134hunter’s cabin. long before the present time, some party had erected these rude quarters as a refuge during cold or stormy weather only to abandon them for more inviting protection. the ruins were simply four walls of logs hardly a dozen feet square and less than half as high. if there had once been a roof, it had disappeared long since. no door was visible from where the boys stood.
“it reminds me of the castle of donleigh, which i niver obsarved,” remarked mike after they had stood for some minutes.
“i think some one started to put up a cabin such as uncle elk did, but changed his mind before he built a roof. maybe it was uncle elk himself.”
“aither him or somebody ilse; let’s look further.”
instead of going nearer, the two slowly circled the ruins, keeping a little way from them. when the circuit was completed the surprising fact became known that nothing in the nature of a door had been made by those who laid the logs. manifestly the structure had been abandoned before it was half finished.
“it’s easy to raise yourself high enough to look inside,” suddenly remarked hoke; “i’m going to have a peep. wait here till i come back.”
he ran to the side of the pile, with mike slowly following. the latter gripped his shillaleh firmly, but was moving so slowly that he had not passed a third of the distance when hoke inserted the toe of one foot in a lower crevice, sprang lightly upward and seized the topmost log with both hands. this raised his head above the barrier, and in the same minute mike saw a hand thrust forward from the inside, grasp the collar of his companion’s coat and violently yank him out of sight.
