Produced by David Garcia, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
THE STRANGE CABIN ON CATAMOUNT ISLAND
[Illustration: "THE VOYAGE WAS RESUMED"]
THE STRANGE CABIN ON CATAMOUNT ISLAND
BY LAWRENCE J. LESLIE
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.--HOW THE DARE WAS GIVEN
II.--BANDY-LEGS IN TROUBLE
III.--ON THE ISLAND WITH THE BAD NAME
IV.--THE SUDDEN AWAKENING
V.--EXPLORING THE ISLAND
VI.--WHAT THE ASHES TOLD MAX
VII.--THE MYSTERY OF THE CABIN
VIII.--AN UNWELCOME DISCOVERY
IX.--WATCHED FROM THE SHORE
X.--THE BUILDER OF THE STRANGE CABIN
XI.--WHAT HAPPENED ON THE SECOND NIGHT
XII.--A BOLD PLAN
XIII.--UNSEEN PERILS THAT HOVERED NEAR
XIV.--HOW THE SCHEME WORKED
XV.--UNEXPECTED ALLIES
XVI.--THE LAST CAMP FIRE ON CATAMOUNT ISLAND
THE STRANGE CABIN ON CATAMOUNT ISLAND.
CHAPTER I.
HOW THE DARE WAS GIVEN.
"And so Herb Benson dared you, Max, you say?"
"That's what he did, Steve."
"To camp on Catamount Island?"
"And stay there a full week. He said that even if we did have nerve
enough to make the _try_, he'd give us just one solitary night to hang
out there!"
"Huh! just because Herb and his old club got scared nearly to death a
while ago by some silly noise they thought was a ghost, they reckon
every fellow is built on the same plan, don't they, Max?"
"I guess that's what they do, Steve."
"So they challenge us to make a camp, and stick it out, do they? What
did you tell Herb? Oh, I hope you just took him up on the spot!"
"Well, I said I'd put it up to the rest of the chums, my cousin, Owen
Hastings, Toby Jucklin, Bandy-legs Griffin, and yourself."
"Count me in as ready to accept the dare. Why, I'd start this blessed
minute if I had my way, Max!"
"I know you would, because you're always so quick to flare up. That's
why they all call you 'Touch-and-go Steve Dowdy.' But come along, and
let's get the other fellows. We can go down to the boathouse and talk it
over, anyhow."
"But tell me first, when _can_ we be ready to go, Max--some time
to-morrow?"
"You certainly are the most impatient fellow I ever knew," replied Max,
with a laugh; "yes, if the other boys are willing, I guess we might get
off at noon to-morrow. It wouldn't take long to lay in our supplies; and
you know we've already got tents, cooking things, and all that stuff on
hand."
"Oh, shucks! leave the grub part of the business to me," remarked Steve,
instantly. "What's the use of having a chum whose daddy is the leading
grocer in Carson if he can't look after the supplies. But I'm just
tickled nearly to death at the chance of this little cruise up the Big
Sunflower."
"I can guess why," Max observed, as he kept pace with his nervous
companion's quick strides.
"The new canoes!" exclaimed Steve; "it gives us the chance we've been
wanting to find out how they work in real harness. We've only tried
little spins in them so far, you know, Max. Gee! I hated like everything
to let my motorcycle go; but the folks put their foot down hard, after
that second accident to our chum, Bandy-legs; and, like the rest of the
bunch, I had to send it back to the shop for what it was worth. It was
like going to the scrapheap with it, because I lost so much money."
"Well, let's hope we can make it up in fun on the water with our boats,"
was the sensible way the other put it. "Here's Ordway's drug store, and
we can use his 'phone to get the rest of the crowd along."
A minute later, and inside the booth they were calling for M-23 West. It
was not later than eight-twenty in the evening when the two boys met
down in front of the hardware store, where a brilliant light burned all
night long; so that the evening was young when Max caught the well-known
voice of Toby Jucklin at the other end of the wire.
Toby stuttered, at times, fearfully. He kept trying to overcome the
habit, and the result was that his affliction came and went in spasms.
Sometimes he could talk as well as any one of his four chums; then
again, especially when excited, he would have a serious lapse, being
compelled to resort to his old trick of giving a sharp whistle, and then
stopping a couple of seconds to get a grasp on himself, when he was able
to say what he wanted intelligently.
"That you, Max?" asked Toby, who had lived with an old, crabbed uncle
and been treated harshly, despite the fact that his father had left
quite a little fortune for him when of age; until Mr. Hastings took hold
of the case, had the court depose Uncle Ambrose, and place the boy in
charge of a generous gentleman whose name was Mr. Jackson, with whom he
now lived in comfort.
"Just who it is, Toby," replied the other. "Say, can't you hike down to
the boathouse and meet us there?"
"Now?" demanded Toby, his voice beginning to show signs of wabbling.
"As soon as you can get there," was what Max answered.
"Hey! what's on the carpet now, tell me, Max?" demanded Toby, quickly.
"Keep cool," warned the boy in the booth. "Steve is here with me in the
drug store. We've got a scheme for a little outing in our canoes, and
want to put it up to the rest of the bunch. How about coming down,
Toby?"
"S-s-sure I'll b-b-be there!" exclaimed the other.
"Then make a start soon," and with that Max rang off, because he knew
Toby would hold him indefinitely if once he got started asking questions
and stuttering at the same time.
He soon had another boy on the wire, this time Bandy-legs. And the
response was as rapid and favorable in this quarter as it had been with
Toby. From the tone of the inquiries Max made, the boys understood there
must be something out of the common on tap, and their curiosity was
therefore excited. They would have been at the place of meeting, even
though they found it necessary to crawl out of bedroom windows and slide
down the post of the front porch; which in neither case was required,
for both Toby and the other chum had plenty of freedom.
When Owen, who, being an orphan, lived at his cousin's house, had been
brought to the 'phone and asked to join the rest for a serious
consultation, Max "shut up shop," as he called it.
"Let's get a move on ourselves now, Steve," he remarked, as they left
the booth, "and hustle around to the little boathouse my splendid dad
bought for us when we got the canoes. It isn't a beauty, but it answers
our purpose fine."
"Just what it does," replied Steve, as they walked out of the store. "I
reckon all the boys are on their way by now, eh, Max?"
"I'd like to see anything hold them back after the way I stirred things
up. Why, just as like as not even poor old Bandy-legs is tumbling all
over himself, sprinting down to the river through the dark."
"He does have the greatest time trying to keep his legs from tripping
him up," remarked Steve; "but all the same there never was a better chum
going than Bandy-legs Griffin. In a pinch he'd stand by you to the
limit, no matter what happened. But hurry, Max; as we did the calling,
it's up to us to get there ahead of the rest, and have the lamps lit.
Wow! I barked my shin then to beat the band. Hang the dark, say I!"
"A little slower, Steve," cautioned the other, catching hold of his
chum's coat sleeve. "Rome wasn't built in a day, you know. We'll get
there just as soon, and with our skin whole, if only you don't rush
things so hard."
"I can see the boathouse ahead there, I think," suggested Steve,
presently.
"That's right; and we're the first after all, you see, because every
fellow has a key, and if any one got in ahead of us we'd notice a light
in the window. Hello! who's that?"
"Think you saw something, did you, Max?" asked the other; "but as there
wasn't any answer, I guess you must have been off your base that time."
"Perhaps I was," replied the other; "but here we are at the door now,
and as I've got my key handy, I'll open up."
The boathouse had once been some sort of low, squatty building, which,
being made over, answered the new purpose very well. And when Max had
started a couple of lamps to burning the prospect was cheery enough.
Several canoes were ranged in racks along one side. Three of these were
single canoes; the other a larger boat, which two of the boys paddled,
and they called it the war canoe.
Hardly had they reached this point than there was heard the sound of a
voice at the door. Steve opened it to admit a panting boy, whose short
lower extremities had a positive inclination to pattern a little after
the type of bows, which gave Bandy-legs the name by which he was known
far and wide.
Then came Owen Hastings, a quiet sort of a fellow, looking very like his
cousin Max; and a minute later Toby Jucklin appeared.
"Now open up, and explain what all this fuss and feathers means?"
demanded Owen, as the five gathered around the table upon which the
larger lamp stood.
The boys expected to fit this building up as a sort of club room later
on, and in this place during the next winter keep all their magazines,
as well as other treasures connected with their association, together.
So Max explained just how it came that Herb Benson, the leader of
another group of Carson boys, had challenged them to spend a certain
length of time on Catamount Island, far up the Big Sunflower branch of
the Evergreen River, which flowed past the town.
Some time previous to this Max and his four chums, wishing to secure
funds in order to carry out certain pet projects for the summer
vacation, and early fall, had conceived the notion that perhaps the
mussels, or fresh-water clams, that could be found, particularly along
the Big Sunflower, might contain a few pearls such as were being
discovered in so many streams in Indiana, Arkansas, and other Middle
Western States.
They had been fairly successful, and during a search discovered a number
of really valuable pearls. From the proceeds of the sale of a portion of
their find they had purchased motorcycles, with which they enjoyed a few
runs. Then, as Steve had remarked so forlornly, Bandy-legs being so
clumsy with his mount as to have a few accidents, which, however, had
not been serious, their folks had united in declaring war on the
gas-engine business. Consequently they had been compelled to dispose of
the machines at a sacrifice. And the canoes had been their second
choice.
After the other three had heard what the proposal was, they united in
declaring their perfect willingness to take up the dare, if only to show
Herb that there was a big difference between his brand of nerve, and
that which the five chums possessed.
Of the lot possibly Bandy-legs was the only one who did not show great
enthusiasm over the project. Max noticed that he seemed to simply let
the others do the talking, though when a vote was taken upon whether or
not they should accept the challenge, the Griffin boy's hand went up
with the rest. Still, that was certainly a sigh that broke from his
lips.
"What's the matter, Bandy-legs? Don't you feel like making the try?"
demanded the impetuous Steve, quick to notice that the other was not
brimming over with the same kind of eagerness that actuated himself.
"Oh! I'm going along, all right," declared the shorter chum, doggedly.
"Ketch me staying out when the rest of you want to go. But I never
dreamed I'd ever pluck up the nerve to stay a night on that blooming
island. Why, ever since I c'n remember I've heard the tallest yarns
about it. Some say it's just a nest of crawlers; and others, that all
the varmints left unshot in the big timber up beyond have a roost on
that strip of land in the middle of the river."
"Rats!" scoffed Steve, derisively. "That's all talk; hot air, you might
say. Don't believe there's any truth in it, any more'n that story about
ghosts, and queer noises that Herb and his crowd tell about. Anyhow, I
never let a dare go past me."
"That's right, Steve," remarked Owen; "it acts on you just like a red
flag does on a bull. But it's decided, is it, fellows, that we go
to-morrow noon?"
"We ought to be able to paddle up there in five hours or so," remarked
Max.
"Sure, and I'm in fine trim for the job; how about you, Toby?" Owen
continued, for the stuttering boy was to be his mate in the double
canoe, which could hold the tents, and some of the more cumbrous luggage
devoted to camping comfort.
"Just aching for exercise," the other managed to say, promptly enough.
"Well, I reckon we'll all get what we want," Max remarked, as they
prepared to quit the boathouse; "for the current is pretty strong in
places, and the island lies a good many miles off. Everybody be on hand
early to-morrow, for we've got a heap of things to do before lunch time.
Skip out now; I'm going to douse the glim."
As the chattering boys walked away in the darkness they were followed by
a stealthy figure that seemed desirous of not being seen. And a little
later, when passing a house where a light gleamed from a window, this
figure came for just a second in the shaft of light; so that had any one
of the five chums happened to glance behind just then they might have
recognized the evil face of their most vindictive enemy, Ted Shafter,
the bully of Carson!