HOW THE SCHEME WORKED.
"Now it's about time for me to be doing something!"
That was what Max whispered to himself, after he was sure the unknown
party had taken up his quarters within that queer cabin with the green
roof and lichen-covered walls.
The very thought of being able to move, and start doing things, seemed a
relief. His muscles were so cramped from long sitting in the one
position that at first he experienced quite severe twinges, when he
started to leave the hiding place he had been occupying for some hours
at least.
It took Max but a very short time to creep up to the side of the cabin.
He had to be exceedingly careful, to be sure, since he could not tell
what keen ears the fugitive from justice might possess. And surely an
escaped convict would be apt to always be on the alert for sounds
calculated to spell danger to him.
Before reaching the wall, however, Max had made a discovery. As is usual
in the case of old log cabins that have stood neglected for many years,
subject to storms, and the heat of summer, as well as the wintry blasts,
some of the dried mud that had once been plastered between the logs to
fill in the "chinks" had become loosened and fallen away.
Max had noted this fact before when prowling around. Indeed, ere
entering the suspected cabin on that very day, he had taken the
precaution to glue an eye to one of these cracks, and endeavor to find
out whether it were safe for him to go in.
And now, through these same chinks there came streams of light, showing
that the occupant possessed a supply of matches at least, and had
lighted something that served him for a candle; possibly a long splinter
of lightwood, picked up in the daytime at a point where the lightning
had riven a resinous pine tree, and scattered it over the surrounding
ground.
With the intention of seeing what the escaped convict looked like, Max
made for one of these slender openings that ran the same way as the
horizontal logs. He, of course, picked out the one that seemed to offer
him the best advantages, in that it was a trifle larger than any of the
rest.
Avoiding the shaft of light all he could, until ready to thrust his face
up to the logs, and fill in the gap, Max crept along on hands and knees,
trailing his gun.
He could hear slight movements from within, as though the man might be
doing something. Max could give a pretty good guess what that was, if,
as he suspected, the bait had been taken from the trap in the camp, and
the convict arrived here with his arms filled with provisions.
Now Max was close enough to be able to accomplish the end he had in
view. The very second he fastened his eye to that slender aperture he
felt a thrill pass over his frame again, similar to that which had
attacked him at the time he faced the crouching wild-cat.
He saw a man seated tailor fashion, with his legs crossed, on the hard
earthen floor of the cabin. He seemed to be tearing at some food with
almost the ferocity of a half-starved dog.
Max looked in vain for the expected and well-known stripes that would
distinguish a prison convict. This man did not wear anything of the
sort. His garments were of a very ordinary kind, though just now
exceedingly ill kept, from groveling in the dirt, and sleeping night and
day without taking them off.
His hair seemed to be rather long and unkempt, while there was a wild
look in his face; and the way he cast his staring eyes about sent a cold
chill into the heart of the watching lad.
Max realized that after all he and his chums had made a very poor guess
of it, when they tried to figure things out. But he also felt a little
satisfaction when he remembered how he had declared the footprint was
made by a common shoe, such as inmates in all public institutions wore,
as they are made in prisons by those who are serving long sentences.
This wretched man, then, was no escaped convict; but he was undoubtedly
a crazy being, who, having fled from some retreat, thought to elude
recapture by hiding in this lonely place!
Max hardly knew what to think. The change was so complete that he felt
as though he must alter his plans in accordance with the new line-up. It
would have been all right for the boys to help recapture a desperate
criminal, whose being at large was a constant menace to the peaceful
community; but would the same apply when it was a lunatic who kept house
in that strange cabin on Catamount Island?
No matter what he decided, he must make his mind up quickly. The man
looked very dangerous, though Max knew that appearances are very
deceptive when those who are out of their right minds are concerned.
Often the very man who seems most harmless is the crafty one ready to
commit a terrible deed; while he who looks to be a veritable terror may
turn out to be a mild fellow, who would not harm an ant.
Rapidly he ran things over in his mind. Why, evidently anyone devoid of
sense and reason had no right to be at large. While he might manage to
live through the summer, by snaring birds and catching fish, what would
happen to the poor fellow when the biting blasts of bitter winter swept
down from the cold Northland!
No matter who he was, where he came from, and what his object in hiding
here might be, it were better that his presence be made known to the
authorities. Somewhere or other they must be looking for him, since even
the helpless inmates of public institutions for the insane are objects
of concern; and one of them at large will create a reign of terror in a
community, especially among the women.
"I must do it!" Max was saying to himself, as he continued to watch the
wretched man tear away at the food, and act as though he were a wild
beast rather than a human being, once gifted with a mind that could
reason, love, hate, and learn.
As he had explained to his chums, when they pressed him, ere consenting
that he venture upon this night expedition alone, Max had fixed it so
that when the opportunity arrived he could fasten the door of the cabin
securely.
A stout log would do the business. He had examined it, yes, and even
tried the effect when he placed it in a leaning position against the
door, although declining to go inside at the time, as he did not want to
be caught in his own trap.
It had worked splendidly, too; and once it was fixed as he meant to have
it, the lad felt positive that no single man, however powerful he might
be, confined within the shack, could dislodge that barrier.
It would take him only a little time, a minute or two at the most, to
lift that log, and place it just where he wanted to have it. And Max was
again pleased because he had gone through all the operation when there
in daylight, since it made things so much easier now.
So he quitted his post at the open chink, where the light filtered
through, and which had served his purpose so well in the line of
observation.
It was to be hoped, in carrying out the balance of his scheme, he would
not make any sound that, reaching the ears of that wild-looking inmate
of the cabin, would bring him flying through the doorway. Max had not
the slightest desire to come into close connection with the mysterious
unknown crazy man. And his motives in attempting the capture of the
other were purely along the line of kindness. If a man is unable to look
after himself, then it stands to reason that he ought to have attention
from those whom the state appoints as his guardians.
The log was where he had left it. Max knew this, for he had made it a
point to feel for it at the time he crept close to the cabin, and
listened for sounds of any sleeper being within.
He had to lay his gun aside, if he wished to work out his plan, for he
must use both arms, and every pound of muscle he could summon to the
fore, such was the heaviness of the log.
It was a minute of considerable suspense while Max was carrying that log
forward.
He reached the door, and nothing had happened, thank goodness. And it
was with a grateful heart that the boy presently carefully planted the
log in the position he had fixed upon as being best.
Now one end rested against the door, which opened outwardly by good
luck; while the other dug into the ground, and was held by the end of a
huge rock that cropped up close to the surface just in that convenient
spot.
Max drew the first decent breath he had had since starting to carry out
his daring project. He believed that he had the trap so arranged now
that escape from it was well-nigh impossible; and yet almost immediately
his heart seemed to jump in his throat with sudden apprehension.
Perhaps in dropping the log into place he may have made some little
sound that reached the ears of the crazy man within the cabin. Max heard
a shuffling of feet. Then the door was shaken, at first gently, and then
with more and more violence, until the very walls of the cabin seemed to
quiver under the force employed.
Although he had been so very confident before, Max now experienced a new
feeling of acute alarm. What if the imprisoned man succeeded in breaking
out of his place of confinement, would he not be raging mad in every
sense of the word, and in a humor to attack the camp of the boy chums?
Max had started to grope for his gun, but as this fear sprang into being
again, instead of doing that he stumbled over to where he knew of a
second log lying on the ground; perhaps where poor Wesley Coombs had
left it in that long ago time, when he started to make a home in this
wild land.
Frantically Max tugged at this larger log. Under ordinary circumstances
he might not have been able to have more than moved the heavy tree
trunk; but keyed up to a pitch of desperation by the conditions that
confronted him, he bent himself to the task with a strength equal to
that of almost any man.
Rolling the log along until he had brought it to just the proper point
where it could be best used, Max exerted himself once more, and to some
purpose. Afterwards he wondered himself how he had ever accomplished
such a feat, because it did look far beyond the power of a half-grown
lad. But necessity compels all of us to do things that, in our calmer
moments, we would call preposterous, and out of reason.
All Max knew was that the log went up against the door, that was
quivering under the attacks of the crazy man within.
He drew a sigh of relief when assured of this fact. Panting for breath
he stood there and listened. The walls and roof he knew were absolutely
sound, which had seemed wonderful enough, considering all the years that
the cabin had stood here unoccupied.
It would take any man hours to dig under those logs, and burrow out,
especially if he had no hatchet or knife to assist in the labor, as Max
believed was the case now. And long before that happened he could have
his four chums on the spot, ready to lend the assistance of their strong
young arms in securing the escaping prisoner.
What they should do about it, Max as yet hardly knew. This was a matter
in which he felt he would like to have the advice of grave and
thoughtful Owen. Four of them might keep guard over the raging madman,
trying to appease him by thrusting bits of tempting food through the
cracks; while the fifth fellow sped down the river in one of the canoes
to bring help from Carson.
And right then and there Max was boy enough to feel that it would be
something of a feather in their caps if, in addition to camping a whole
week on Catamount Island, they could lay the ghost that had frightened
Herb and his friends at the time they tried to spend a single night in
the strange cabin.
But he must not waste any more time here. Minutes were worth something,
with the trap sprung, and a desperate lunatic caught.
He must hasten back to the camp, tell his chums all that had happened,
and after arming them as best could be done, they must hurry to the
cabin. Max had decided that Owen ought to be the one to spin down the
Big Sunflower as soon as the first peep of daylight appeared in the
east. He would not dare allow him to attempt the voyage in the dense
darkness, for fear of a spill, and possible peril; since there were many
cross currents, and rocks that would sink a frail canoe if struck at
full speed.
Now the man seemed to have become quiet again. Max hoped that he had
realized the foolishness of trying to break through the door, and that
the lure of the stolen food had drawn him back to his feast. He
listened, and could catch just the faintest of sounds, which it was
impossible to analyze. But above all else the anxious boy hoped that his
captive might not think about burrowing under the log wall, at least not
for some time yet.
And so, having finally located his gun again, Max turned away from the
cabin, meaning to retrace his course along the shore to the camp where
his chums would be found.