“But that old skiff suits me
all right,” objected Landy, who did not particularly
fancy shouldering his pack, to tramp through brush
and over marshy tracts of land, such as must be their
portion.
“Why ought we make a change,
Elmer?” asked Ted, also unable to grasp the
meaning of this new move.
Not so Lil Artha, who was quick to
see things, especially when some suggestion on the
part of the scout-master was concerned.
“Why, what ails you fellows?”
he exclaimed, scornfully, as became one possessed
of superior brains; “don’t you understand
my sighting that man last night alters the whole business?
Now, there’s no need of hunting a needle in
a haystack, for we’ve got a real trail to follow
up.”
“That’s right, suh, and
scouts ought to be able to accomplish the task,”
Chatz remarked in his superior way, which, however,
everybody knew was only skin-deep, the result of his
Southern birth and training, for he was a splendid
fellow at heart, and well liked.
“What about the skiffs then,
if we abandon the same?” asked Toby.
“Oh! we’ll mark the place,
and Johnny can easily find his property when we’re
paying him five dollars for their use,” said
Lil Artha, lightly. “And boys, better make
a start with those packs right now.”
Landy sighed heavily, and seeing there
was no escape he started to carry out the suggestion
of the tall scout. His lack of ambition was
so noticeable that Lil Artha could not resist the temptation
to take a shot at him.
“I was just thinking, fellows,”
he went on, maliciously, “that Landy’s
going to play out on us, and give no end of trouble;
so we might leave him here to watch the boats while
we’re gone.”
“What! me stay here, and starve
to death?” ejaculated Landy, commencing to put
considerably more vigor into his labor; “I guess
not, if I know myself, and I think I do.”
“Oh! for that matter we’d
let you have some grub,” continued the generous
Lil Artha; “enough for one full meal anyway.”
“No thank you, not any in mine.
I’m going where the rest do, make up your mind
to that. If the old boats have to be watched
stay yourself, Lil Artha, that’s all.
You couldn’t coax or hire me to remain alone
a single night in this awful swamp, not if you tried
till doomsday. I like company, and if I have
to I c’n even put up with you as a steady, Lil
Artha. Now that’ll do for you. It
isn’t to be considered for a second.”
Of course, Lil Artha was only having
a little fun, because there was no thought of leaving
anybody behind to stand guard over the two abandoned
skiffs; and least of all would Elmer have dreamed of
appointing the fat and timid scout for such a duty.
When deciding on such a radical change
in their plans, Elmer did not forget that it might
also be well for them to conceal the two boats.
Should the man they were hunting chance to come upon
the skiffs he might think it good policy to smash
in the planks to such an extent that they would be
useless for further voyaging; and possibly the scouts
would be glad to get out of the swamp by the same means
they had taken when entering.
“First of all, let’s hide
the boats somewhere,” he suggested. “They’re
pretty heavy, of course, but seven of us ought to be
able to carry them, one at a time.”
“It needn’t be for far
either,” Lil Artha assured them, “because
here’s a jimdandy place close by. Everybody
on the job, and see what you can lift.”
After all it was nothing to speak
of, for the two skiffs were easily handled, and nicely
concealed from view. When the boys had removed
all traces of their passage, anyone might walk by
within five feet of the patch of bushes and never
suspect what lay there so neatly hidden.
“There, that job’s done,”
said Elmer; “now finish packing, and we’ll
be off.”
Landy hurried now. He had a
lingering fear that there might be more in that obscure
threat made by Lil Artha of desertion on their part
than appeared on the surface. The more he considered
being left alone in that dreary swamp the faster Landy’s
fingers flew. He also kept a wary eye on the
tall scout, and had Lil Artha shown any intention of
hurrying off he would have surely found Landy tagging
at his heels, whether he had his pack or not.
Meanwhile, Elmer, having quickly arranged
his possessions, because of long familiarity in the
packing line, had gone over once more to the bush
patch where on the preceding night Lil Artha had seen
that suspicious lurker.
Of course, it was Elmer’s intention
to examine the tracks left by the mysterious visitor,
and see whether it would be possible for them to pick
up the trail.
He was, of course, taking it for granted
that the party must have been the same man they had
been hunting ever since reaching the swamp. So
far as Elmer could say, his footprints resembled those
they had seen with Hen’s, although there was
really nothing remarkable about them to distinguish
the indentations above all others.
Elmer knew that they took certain
chances in figuring this way. After all this
man may have been the farmer who had a stock farm.
Some of his cattle breaking bounds would likely enough
wander into the swamp, and in looking for the strays
perhaps he had discovered the smouldering fire.
As tramps, and possibly bad men as
well, sometimes hid in the depths of swamps, the cautious
cattle-raiser may have been crawling up to find out
the truth when that sudden shot frightened him, so
that he had run wildly away.
Well, no matter which of these two
solutions to the mystery proved to be the correct
one, Elmer meant to try and come upon the party whose
trail now lay before him. He still favored the
original idea, and, in fact, never bothered mentioning
the other speculation to his comrades.
All of them being ready they set out.
Elmer and Lil Artha led the van, for they were recognized
as the best equipped scouts in the Wolf Patrol when
it came to a question of trailing. What Lil Artha
lacked in actual experience, he partly made up for
in his pertinacity, as well as his constant practice
along these lines.
It soon became evident to them that
the fugitive had not thought it worth while to try
and hide his trail at the time he fled from the camp.
That sudden shot must have given him a nervous shock,
so that all he cared about just then was to put as
much distance between himself and those seven khaki-clad
boys as possible. The fact that they carried
weapons and would not hesitate to use their firearms
must have convinced him it was a risky thing to hang
around that region any longer.
For half an hour the boys moved on.
Sometimes it was at a fair walk, and then again when
the trail grew fainter so that those at the head of
the column were compelled to exercise all of their
knowledge in order to make sure progress, things slackened
more or less.
The boys had been warned not to make
any unnecessary noise. Talking save in the lowest
of whispers was strictly tabooed, and even at that
Elmer did not encourage any conversation. They
also had to take care of their feet, and not press
their weight upon some stick that would break with
a loud snap. Even such small things have spoiled
well-laid plans before now, and trackers, whether
of wild beasts of human fugitives, cannot be too careful.
If Landy puffed a little the other
made no objection, since he took care to do it half
under his breath. It was not such very easy work,
though as scouts most of them enjoyed every minute
of the time, being constantly thrilled with the expectation
of suddenly coming upon a camp where those they sought
might be found, and taken by surprise.
Lil Artha even had it all arranged
in his mind just how he meant to threaten that man
with his gun, warning him savagely that it would be
as much as his skin was worth to attempt to flee.
It was in this humor that they came
to a log that lay across their path. Here the
trail ended, but, of course, such clever fellows as
Elmer and Lil Artha would understand a little trick
like that. The stumbling man had naturally taken
to the log, passed well along to the other end, and
then jumped off.
“You take that side and I’ll
cover this one,” said Elmer, without the least
hesitation; “ten to one we’ll get him again.”
They did, for Lil Artha quickly found
the tracks once more. The incident, however,
told them that the man had begun to fear he would be
followed when morning came, since this was his first
effort to baffle pursuit.
“I’m sorry that happened,”
said Elmer, softly, to his working partner; “because
it’s going to make our task all the harder you
see.”
“Do you mean because he’s
begun to be afraid he’ll be followed?”
asked the other.
“That’s just it,”
continued the patrol leader; “if that idea gets
a firm hold of him he’s bound to do everything
he knows how so as to leave us in the lurch.
In the end he might even decide to quit the swamp,
and take his chances of getting away outside.”
“Well, we don’t quit at
that, do we?” asked Lil Artha, with a gritting
of his teeth that told of grim determination.
Elmer looked at him and smiled.
“We’d be a nice lot of
scouts, wouldn’t we,” he said, sarcastically,
“if we were ready to throw up the sponge at the
first sign of trouble? No, we’ve started
on this trail, and we’ll run it down if it keeps
us busy the rest of our vacation.”
“In the immortal words of General
Grant while flanking Lee and driving him back toward
Richmond,” continued the other, “’we’ll
fight it out on this line if it takes all summer!’
I’m glad to hear you say that, Elmer.
But here we are up against it again, seems like.”
This time the fleeing man had reached
a certain point, for his tracks could be plainly seen,
but the trail abruptly ended.
“It’s an easy guess,”
said Elmer, after a brief examination. “You
can see that he stood up on his toes here, for the
indentation is heavier forward. Then, besides,
look at this bark lying fresh on the ground, only
a few small pieces, but scraped from the tree above
us.”
“Sure thing, Elmer!” declared
Lil Artha, while the others stood and watched the
actions of their comrades with the utmost curiosity,
“he just grabbed hold of that lowermost limb,
gave his feet a fling against the trunk of the tree,
and hoisted himself up yonder.”
“Then perhaps he’s somewhere
up there still,” suggested Landy.
“I don’t think so,”
continued Elmer; “but we’ll send up an
expedition to find out after we make sure that all
avenues of escape are closed. My own opinion
is that he passed out along some other low-hanging
limb, and dropped to the ground again, perhaps thirty
feet away from here.”
“Let’s look and see!” cried Toby,
eagerly.
“Be careful,” warned Lil
Artha, hurriedly; “for unless you step mighty
fine you may cover up the prints of his shoes where
he dropped down.”
Elmer had already decided just about
where he would have descended from the tree had he
been in the place of the fugitive. Lil Artha,
too, seemed to have settled on the same spot for he
was just at the heels of the leader.
Instead of looking down, Elmer kept
glancing up. It might be he was mentally following
the straddling figure along that great limb.
Presently he abruptly stopped.
“I can see signs that tell me
he came this far, but they end up there,” he
told his companion. “Yes, and here you
see fresh leaves on the ground. Look sharp,
Lil Artha, and it may be your eyes will light on the
fresh trail.”
Hardly had Elmer spoken when a low
but eager cry told that success had been achieved.
Lil Artha pointed to the mark of feet close beside
them. Undoubtedly, the fugitive had dropped once
more to the ground.
“Say, let me tell you he’s
a slick article, that chap,” said Toby, after
they had once more made a fresh start. “I
wouldn’t be surprised to learn he’d been
out on the plains in his day, he seems to know so
much about Indian ways and all that.”
“But he’s met his match
in our scout-master, for a fact,” blustered
Landy, full of genuine admiration for the commander
who had many a time led the Wolf Patrol boys to victory
over stupendous obstacles.
“Silence everybody now,”
came from Elmer, though naturally it must have given
him a warm feeling in the region of his heart to know
that these good chums felt so kindly toward him and
were not backward in expressing their sentiments.
So they continued on for another stretch.
The fugitive must have come to believe that by this
time he would have thrown any possible tracker off
the scent; at any rate, he tried no new game looking
to baffling pursuit.
Gliding along like shadows the seven
scouts made fair progress. Elmer was of the
opinion that at any minute now they might come upon
the spot where the unknown had his hide-out.
He had communicated his plans to the others before
this, and they all knew the parts they would be expected
to play should it come to a hold-up.
Covered by the guns that he and Lil
Artha carried, it was doubtful whether the man would
dare take chances and try to flee. If he did
and left Hen behind him, the first thing for them
to do would be to secure the boy, even if he evinced
a desperate desire to avoid them.
Somehow, Elmer himself believed they
would find what they were seeking in the unusually
large patch of brush that now lay ahead of them.
He caught glimpses of the water just beyond, which
proved that an arm of the swamp extended in this direction.
Pushing steadily on as noiselessly
as possible, they were presently able to part the
bushes and discover a dead fire in plain sight.
The boat lay on the shore, with one plank smashed
in, doubtless the result of an accident that had wrecked
the hopes of the two fugitives.
Eagerly they surveyed the prospect,
and then Lil Artha gave a grunt of disgust.
“Skipped out, that’s a
measly shame!” he exclaimed, wrathfully.
“But what’s that white
thing stuck in the crotch of the wand yonder?”
demanded Toby; “looks to me like it might be
some sort of communication from our poor pard Hen
Condit; because that’s an old scout and Indian
way of leaving word, you know.”
Elmer was already hurrying forward
to possess himself of the message. The others
watched him take it from the crotch of the stick and
open the soiled paper on which there seemed to be
more or less crooked writing in pencil. Then
the patrol leader turned to his comrades, a look of
satisfaction on his face.