the camp consisted of three wall tents, a small tent of modified tepee fashion, and a lean-to used for cooking, outside of which was erected a huge, rough dining board. the whole appearance of the place was very homelike. woods trophies and articles of woodcraft handiwork hung about from the low-spreading branches, and it was evident that the campers had been there for some time.
before each of the wall tents was planted a patrol flag, and gathered about the cheerful fire was as merry a company as gordon had ever seen. a genial-looking man of perhaps thirty-five years was sitting amongst a score or so of boys, who in negligée scout attire squatted and lolled about him, as if intent upon what he was saying.
all this gordon saw from a distance. but before he had approached within fifty yards of the camp, and before he could possibly have been seen and scarcely heard, a tall boy rose suddenly, looked intently in his direction, and called:
“who’s there?”
“gee, he’s a peach, all right!” breathed gordon, never answering, but rushing pell-mell into their midst. every boy rose, surveying him wonderingly. the man remained seated. gordon paid not the slightest heed to the gaping throng, but made a bee-line for the man and, standing panting and disheveled before him, made him the full salute. then, breathlessly, he gasped out his errand. instantly all was activity.
“call in billy,” said the man, quietly, as he took a railroad lantern from a tent pole. “you, my boy,” he went on to gordon, “will stay here. who are you, anyway?”
“kid—i mean, gordon lord, sir; 1st oakwood new jersey, troop. my patrol leader and i came up to see if we could find camp—our own camp, i mean. they’re somewhere up this way. i—”
“well, you can tell me the rest when we get back,” said the man, cheerfully. “where’s billy, anyway? give him another call, george.”
a succession of shrill whistles was repeated, and presently a boy wearing spectacles came dashing into camp.
“get your kit, billy, and come along,” said the man. “walter’s gone down that chasm in the farther woods—head cut and leg in a bad way. here, wentworth, you and norton get the stretcher and come along—you’d better come too, charlie.”
“sure you can find the place?” asked gordon, a little doubtful.
“oh, yes,” answered the man. “we put up the logs. is cattell there? here, cattell, you rake up some grub for this boy. go over there, my boy, and let the ravens take care of you.”
the ravens knew how to do more than croak, as gordon presently found, for they sat him at the rustic table and gave him such a helping of hunters’ stew as would have sufficed for the entire patrol. he entered upon the ambitious task of eating it with the same nonchalant determination that had led him into the woods, without the slightest idea of the magnitude of the task before him, but with cheerful confidence in his ability to see it through somehow.
while he ate, the boys gathered about him, plying him with questions, and soon had the full story of his trip and the circumstances of his finding the injured boy. he learned that they were a troop of albany scouts, three full patrols, that the man was mr. wade, their scoutmaster, and that billy, or “four eyes,” or “doc,” as he was indifferently called, was their “first aid” boy, who had attained to a superlative proficiency in that art. he learned also that walter, the injured boy, was, as he had surmised, trying to complete his fourth test for first-class scout, on his way back from a visit to the city.
“they have pink chalk in albany,” said gordon, “haven’t they?”
“sure they have,” answered several boys.
“we have that in oakwood, too,” gordon commented.
presently, a tall, serious-looking boy vaulted up on the table and began to question gordon while he ate.
“you say you saw a footprint just as you left the chasm on this side?”
“yes.”
“did you see any more of them?”
“no, it was too dark in the woods. in a few minutes when the moon came out and the woods thinned out the other side of the hill i saw a wet spot on a stone.”
“footprint?”
“no—place where a turtle had been.”
“well, what of that?”
“turtle went away.”
“what of it?”
“somebody must have passed.”
“bully for you!” chimed in several voices.
“that’s nothing,” said gordon, encouraged. “do you know how—”
“just a minute,” interrupted the serious-looking boy. “after you saw the turtle mark, didn’t you see any other sign?”
“no,” answered gordon. “i was so crazy to get here that i didn’t look.”
“yes, of course,” agreed the boy. “you say you saw the wet spot near the swamp, then you started up the hill crossing the road?”
“yes.”
“have some more stew?”
“y-es.”
“here, cattell, fill her up again! he’s game.” then to gordon, “did you find any trail up the hill?”
“no—didn’t look. if i hadn’t spotted you fellows from the top of the hill, i’d have gone back down again, most likely, and tried to pick her up, bird’s-eye.”
“you mean with the fire, the way you did before?”
“yes.”
a murmur of admiring comment passed through the group, and one or two enthusiastic boys pounded gordon on the shoulder. but the serious-looking boy was absorbed in thought.
“whoever it was,” he finally said, “must have turned down the road—or up.”
“sure,” said gordon.
it was characteristic of him that the suspicion of foul play had sat but lightly in his thoughts up to this moment. the footprint near the chasm had puzzled him and he had attached a significance to the wet spot on the rock—perhaps a greater significance than it deserved. he had also wondered how the three slender logs, out of which he had fashioned the rough couch, came to be at the bottom of the chasm. but he was altogether too lighthearted to connect any or all of these circumstances with the idea of a crime. with him, tracking and such arts were a delightful species of amusement, and the idea of using these things as a means to a serious end had never entered his head.
but now he realized that this serious, precise, calculating boy who sat at his elbow was endeavoring to squeeze information out of these trivial signs and make them point to the solution of a secret, the very existence of which gordon had hardly suspected. he perceived, somewhat to his annoyance, that he had only noticed those things which appealed to his romantic love of woodcraft, and that certain other things which harry arnold might have seen had entirely escaped him.
“you say the pamphlet was lying in the mud?”
“yes—it—it never occurred to me how it got there.”
“of course not—you were in a great hurry. don’t think i’m criticising you. you’ve got the silver cross coming to you for what you did.”
“honest—do you think so?”
“it would be a queer committee that would refuse it.”
“cracky!” said gordon.
“have another dish of stew?”
“n-no.”
“now listen. there were no tracks, prints, signs of any kind in the chasm?”
“no, the mud was so thick it would close right up. besides—”
“yes, i understand; you were busy and excited, and you did fine. but i’ll tell you something that you didn’t know. that boy had forty dollars with him to buy a canoe. at least, i suppose he had it. he intended to get it while he was at home.”
“you think somebody robbed him?” said gordon.
“i think it’s likely. there were two young men here, strangers, just dropped in on us a few days ago. walter and the rest of us talked pretty freely about his trip to albany.”
“yes, and he said he was going to get the money,” chimed in another boy.
“he expected to come back last night, too,” said another.
“who were the strangers?” gordon ventured.
“no idea,” answered one of the boys, “except that they said they were hunting. they were country fellows,” he added quickly.
most of the boys, including gordon, had now repaired to the camp-fire, which was blazing cheerfully. there was a slight constraint among them, caused by their suspense and uncertainty as to the news mr. wade would bring them; and gordon, despite his native buoyancy, felt the influence of this atmosphere.
presently, the tall, serious boy (the others called him al), who had been pacing back and forth like an animal in its cage, suddenly paused and spoke to gordon. the question that he asked, however, was destined to lead him on to very dangerous ground, as he soon found.
“where did you say your friend is now?”
“he kept to the straight road north from ticonderoga,” gordon answered. “he was to wait for me where the road i took joined his again—right under dibble mountain.”
“now this road you crossed coming up the hill yonder—do you know where that goes? well, if you had taken it and turned to your right, you would have made a long, sweeping curve and brought up under dibble mountain on the same road where your friend is waiting, about a quarter of a mile above him.”
“then that’ll be the best way for me to get to him,” commented gordon. “i must start along as soon as your scoutmaster gets back. he’ll be wondering what’s become of me.”
“how long do you suppose he’s been waiting?”
“close on to an hour, i guess, but he knew i was going to stop to make inquiries.”
“then you think he’s still there?”
“guess so.”
“don’t think he’ll get rattled because you haven’t shown up?”
“he never gets rattled,” said gordon, contemptuously.
the boys smiled.
“he understands the morse code—probably?”
to this question gordon disdained to reply except in a very general way. “he understands everything,” said he.
“bully for him!” called several of the boys.
“he’s the real thing, all right,” commented another.
gordon was conscious of the suggestion of “jollying” in these remarks, and his answer was not altogether tactful; but he had been touched in a sensitive spot, for he could tolerate no question as to harry’s all-round proficiency.
“he can do anything he tries,” he said vehemently. “he’s been down long island sound in a canoe; he lived in a lumber camp—he was lost in the canadian woods once—he knows all about south africa—he swam three hundred miles, i mean yards—and shot the rapids—and—and—he can make a rice pudding!” that was the best he could do for harry on the impulse of the moment, and he paused to take breath.
“did he use his rifle when he shot the rapids?” asked one boy, quietly.
“he’s been on a log jam, too,” shouted gordon.
“that anything like currant jam?” inquired another.
“he can lick any scout in—”
“let up,” said al, still pacing the ground thoughtfully, and the whole thing went up in a general laugh. it was gordon’s fate always to be jollied, which meant (if he had only known it) that everybody, especially older boys, liked him. and on the present occasion it was done largely to relieve the suspense of waiting.
suddenly, however, al paused and addressed the group: “scouts, i suspect walter has been robbed—by whom i don’t know. i shouldn’t like to say that i suspect any one in particular, but it looks funny. if the things our friend here noticed mean anything, they mean that whoever tampered with the bridge and then went through walter’s pockets after he fell, came in this direction till he reached the road on the other side of the hill. if there had been any trail over the hill, i think our young friend here would have found it. now, if somebody turned into the road and went north, he’s making a long circuit to dibble mountain. there’s no crossroad, and he’ll come out on the road where this fellow’s friend—”
“he’s patrol leader of the beavers,” said gordon.
“yes,—where the beavers’ patrol leader is supposed to be waiting.”
“well?” said several voices.
“well, you see that hill? i propose to send a morse message to that fellow from the top of the hill. i think if he’s still where we think he is, he could see it; even if he was farther along the road, he could see it. there’s just about one chance in fifty that the scheme will pan out right. but i propose right now to flash a morse message northeast from the hill. the top of the hill is bare. if this oakwood scout is anywhere along that farther road, he ought to see it. whether we can make our meaning clear is another question. if he sees it and understands it—well, here, wait a minute.” he entered a tent and presently came out with a paper on which he had written something. this he read aloud.
“camp here. take first road north. notice strangers. scout robbed. am safe. lord.”
“how does that strike you?” said he, as a dozen boys crowded eagerly about him.
gordon was all excitement. he had used the morse code as a plaything many a time, but now it was to flash a message through the night, over wood and valley, perhaps to outwit a criminal. it was to sweep aside darkness and distance, and take a short cut to the country under dibble mountain. if harry was still there and saw it and read it, he would go a quarter of a mile or so along the road, to where it met the circling road from the hill, and watch any one who might pass. he thought of the boy at the other end, waiting in the darkness of a strange country. and his heart beat with anxiety lest, for some reason, the plan might not carry. perhaps he doubted a little the reliability of the morse code. never for an instant, at least not yet, did he doubt the efficiency of harry arnold.
there was a rustling among the trees, and presently the little group of rescuers appeared bearing the stricken scout on a stretcher.
“come inside a minute, al,” said mr. wade, in a low, grave voice. “you come in, too, my boy,” he said to gordon.
there was something in his tone that almost frightened gordon, and he had difficulty in controlling himself as he followed al into one of the tents. there was no one there but mr. wade, the “first aid” boy, al, and gordon.
“walter’s been robbed, al,” said the scoutmaster. “he was thrown down the cliff—the bridge was fixed. he’ll get well. i want winthrop to go right to ticonderoga.”
“i’m going to flash a morse message from the hill, sir,” said al. “this boy’s patrol leader is over east there somewhere. there’s a possibility that he might get it and watch the road.”
“that’s right,” said mr. wade. “good idea.”
it seemed to gordon, however, that he did not have much faith in this. al did not pause to discuss the matter, but left the tent. presently, he and a dozen other boys started through the woods in the direction of the hill.
gordon stood, rather uncomfortably, near the entrance to the tent, not knowing what he was supposed to do.
“did you have something to eat?” mr. wade asked.
“yes, sir.”
“well, go over there a second, then; don’t stand and talk to him, and i want you to go right out.”
gordon crossed to the stretcher where the “first aid” boy was adjusting a bandage on walter’s forehead. mr. wade stood quietly by. the “first aid” boy leaned over and whispered to the stricken scout, “here he is.”
gordon stood looking down into the white face. presently, he was aware of a movement under the blanket. the “first aid” boy evidently knew what it meant, for he raised the covering slightly and a white, shaking hand appeared from beneath. the twitching fingers seemed to grope for a moment, then the little finger was bent down and the thumb pressed over it. the hand was raised feebly to the shoulder, resting on the pillow. then gordon became conscious of a film over his own eyes and everything seemed to glisten. he pressed his own little finger down with his thumb and raised his three middle fingers level with his shoulder. then the eyes of the prostrate boy weakly closed. neither spoke.
