UNEXPECTED ALLIES.
It was with a feeling of thankfulness, as well as a sense of
satisfaction, that Max Hastings started to head for the shore of the
island once more. By this time he felt that he ought to know every foot
of the way, after passing over it so often. And it afforded an easier
passage than by keeping straight through the dense underbrush and woods;
though the crazy man seemed to prefer that course, having a possible
secret trail of his own.
As the island was not many acres in extent, Max expected to reach the
camp before ten minutes had elapsed, or fifteen at most. The boys would
be anxious to see him. Perhaps they had been sitting up inside the tents
all the time, too worried to go to sleep. If so, he wondered whether
they had known when the wild man of the woods again entered the camp,
and made way with the provisions waiting for him.
Reaching the shore, where he could look out upon the passing river, he
turned his head in the quarter whence he knew his destination lay.
In this way then he had been going, perhaps five minutes, and all seemed
well, when he met with a sudden and disagreeable surprise.
Something sprang upon him without the least warning. Max, although
horrified, and with that ferocious bobcat in mind, attempted to struggle
the best he knew how; but to his astonishment his arms were pinioned at
his sides, so that he really found himself helpless to move, as he was
thrown heavily down.
Of course he had understood before this that it was not an animal at all
that had jumped upon him, but a human being like himself. His first
thought lay in the direction of the madman whom he had left in the cabin
with the barricaded door. In some mysterious way the fellow must have
escaped, and following fast upon his heel had now accomplished his
capture.
And just when this awful thought was getting a grip on the mind of poor
Max, he found occasion to change his opinion once more. A face had come
in contact with his, and it was smooth, and destitute of the hair he had
seen straggling over the long unshaven countenance of the crazy man.
Could Ted Shafter and his cronies have dared venture back after
receiving that severe fright earlier in the evening? The idea seemed
next door to preposterous to Max; but what other explanation could there
be to the mystery.
"Got him safe, Jenkins?" asked a gruff voice close by; and Max realized
that it was a question addressed to the unseen party who held him so
tightly.
"That's what I have, sir; but seems to me there's something wrong here,"
replied the other party, the athletic fellow to whom Max owed his
tumble.
"What d'ye mean by saying that, Jenkins?" demanded the man who seemed to
be in authority, since the second one called him "sir," and seemed ready
to obey his orders.
"He don't feel near as big as our man; and his face, it's as smooth as
my own. I reckon we've hit on the wrong bird, Mr. Lawrence," continued
the man, slightly relaxing his firm grip on Max.
"I'm sure you have," said the boy, thinking that it was time he let
these mysterious parties know that he seriously objected to being set
upon, pulled down, and roughly treated, just as though he were a common
criminal.
"Well, this _is_ a joke on us, sure enough," remarked the man who gave
orders; "let him up, Jenkins; it must be one of the boys we saw through
the glasses yesterday camped at the foot of the island. They didn't go
back home after all, as we believed, when we came back here with a boat
this evening. That must have been another lot we heard coming down the
river."
Max began to grasp things now. From these words he knew that these two
men must be the same whom Steve had seen watching the island on the day
before, and who had appeared to go away _up_ the river. They must have
circled around, so as to finally reach Carson, where they heard certain
things that had sent them up again, this time in a boat, late the
afternoon before.
And hearing the splash of oars as Ted and his cronies hurried back to
town, they had believed that the boys were those whom they had seen
camped at the lower end of the island. Doubtless they even suspected
that Max and his chums might have been also frightened off by the same
wild-looking man who had appeared to Herb Benson weeks ago.
"Who are you, and what are you looking for over here on Catamount
Island?" Max now asked, boldly, feeling pretty sure he could give a good
guess, even before the other spoke a word in explanation.
The crackle of a match told him that the leader of the couple wished to
take a look at him, so as to be satisfied. And when the little piece of
wood flared up, Max was able to see that both men were, as Steve had
declared, dressed in gray uniforms, that were decorated with the brass
buttons of authority.
"Well, it _is_ a boy, as sure as anything, Jenkins," remarked the man,
who wore a short-pointed beard, and had a keen face, as though he might
be in the habit of dealing with charges who required constant vigilance.
"Now, I hope my assistant didn't hurt you much when he jumped you,
following my orders, when he heard you coming?"
Now, Max did feel a trifle sore, where he had struck the ground with the
said Jenkins on top of him; and doubtless the feeling would be still
more pronounced by another day. But then he was too proud to confess to
any such small thing.
"Nothing to mention, sir," he remarked, just as though it were a common
thing to have people wallow all over him, as though they were playing
tackle in a football struggle. "But are you looking for a lunatic?"
"Hello! Do you mean to say you can put us on the track of one?" demanded
the man who had been called Mr. Lawrence by his assistant.
"A rather big man, with a shock of white hair, and staring eyes; a man
dressed in a faded suit of brown, and wearing an old blue flannel
shirt?" Max went on.
He could not see the men now, because the match had long since gone out;
but it was evident that they were delighted to hear him talk in the way
he did.
"You've described him to a dot, my lad," remarked the gentleman; "only
his hair was cut fairly short, and his face smooth, when he broke loose
from the asylum, now two months back, and disappeared. Such a job I
never before struck. We've been on twenty different trails, and everyone
turned out false. And we were about to give it up, when I remembered
that long ago he had lived in this section of the country; and the idea
came to me that perhaps even a crazy man might remember places. So we
came up here to look at the island, only to find a party of boys camped
on it; and that seemed to indicate a crazy man could not be anywhere
near them. But down in Carson I heard a story from a boy about a
wild-looking creature that had frightened himself and his friends nearly
to death up here on the island; so, not knowing what else to do, Jenkins
and myself got a boat and came back, meaning to explore the place in the
night time, as well as by daylight. We intended going back home and
giving it all up as a bad job, if this last hope failed, and we didn't
locate old Coombs in the place he once lived, they told me."
Max uttered a cry.
"What was that name you spoke, sir?" he asked.
"Why, the name of the lunatic that broke out, and has given us all this
chase over the blessed country; Wesley Coombs his full name is. Have you
heard of him, my boy?" replied the warden of the asylum.
"Oh, yes, and to think that when he escaped, after being confined for so
many years, the poor man turned back here to the last place he had lived
when he had a wife and child. They were both drowned in a freshet. I
understood he had gone, too; but he must have been taken to the lunatic
asylum instead, poor fellow."
Max was feeling very sad as the truth broke in upon him after this
fashion. To think that Wesley Coombs had been alive all these years;
restrained of his liberty. And how pathetic it was to know that when he
finally found an opportunity to get away, he had, through some queer
freak of fate, come back to this island of the Big Sunflower, where he
had brought his young wife and child years ago, and which still
remained, the one remembrance of the past in his poor dulled mind!
"Is he here now on the island?" asked Mr. Lawrence, eagerly.
Perhaps Wesley Coombs was a person of very little importance in himself;
but he had been sought for so long that his recapture would bring
considerable satisfaction along with it.
"To the best of my knowledge and belief, he is," replied Max, chuckling
to think how he was in a condition to know, and enjoying the prospect of
springing a surprise upon the two wardens of the asylum.
"Then you've seen him?" continued the head keeper.
"I certainly have, sir, or I couldn't have described him very well," Max
went on, not too anxious to make his disclosure; for he thought he ought
to enjoy the situation a little, after experiencing that rough tumble.
"Can you take us to where we can find him?" next asked the warden.
"Inside of five minutes, sir. I was just on the way to get the rest of
my chums, and then send for assistance, because I've caught the crazy
man in a trap!"
"A trap! D'ye hear that, Jenkins? This lad has been able to do what you
and I would have given a lot to accomplish. What sort of a trap, would
you mind telling us, young man?" continued Mr. Lawrence, with more
respect in his voice than at any time previous.
"In his old log cabin, sir," Max replied, "where once upon a time he
used to live. He has been sleeping there every night, but hiding in the
thick jungle during the day. Several times now he's gone and raided our
camp for provisions, which he would take to the cabin, and eat up. So I
fixed it for him to get something more to-night, while I waited up here,
ready to fasten the door of the cabin with a log."
"Well, that sounds clever of you, I must say," remarked the other,
admiration in his voice, "and the trap worked, did it?"
"He came along, and he walked into the cabin. Somehow he must have
secured a supply of matches, for he has been having fires there, sir;
and he lighted a splinter of wood when he came in to-night. I peeped
through a chink and saw him for the first time. He gave me a chill, I
tell you. You see, we got the idea in our heads that it was an escaped
convict hiding out on the island; but none of us ever thought of a crazy
man, and poor old Wesley Coombs at that."
"After he went in you fastened the door, did you?" the other asked.
"I had a heavy log handy, and this I propped up against the door, so no
single man could ever push it open. But because he threw himself against
it so hard I dragged a second one over to back up the first. And now,
sir, I'm sure he can't get out of that cabin unless he takes to
burrowing under the logs; which would take him hours; for he had no
knife, and the earth is as hard as stone there."
"Well done, my lad. Allow me to thank you for the great help you have
given us, and to congratulate you as well. Shake hands, won't you,
please," and this Max did with all the sincerity in the world.
"And I sure hope you don't hold any grudge against me, young feller,
because I bumped your head when I took you in?" remarked Jenkins, as he,
too, brushed up, and felt for the hand of the boy in the darkness.
"Why, of course not," replied Max, giving an unseen grimace as his
bruised side hurt him just then. "You were only doing what you thought
was your duty; and, after seeing that wild man, I can understand that he
must be strong as an ox, and I suppose violent, too."
"Oh, no, not a bit," declared Mr. Lawrence; "that is, he's never been so
in the past. No keeper ever had the least trouble with old Coombs. They
all liked him, because he was so gentle and tractable. But would you
mind taking us to that cabin now, young fellow!"
"I wish you'd go with me down to our camp first," said Max.
"To be sure we will, and it's a very little favor to ask after doing us
such a good turn; but what's the idea, my boy?" asked the head warden,
cheerfully.
"My name is Max Hastings," replied the boy, who did not just fancy being
called "my boy" and "young fellow" any too much. "You see, I wanted to
have my four chums on hand at the time you opened the door, and secured
poor old Wesley Coombs. We can get back there in a jiffy, and they'd be
ever so much obliged for the chance of seeing how the last thing
worked."
"Well, it seems to be your game all along, Max, since we don't even know
where this strange old cabin, that we've been hearing so much about
lately, is located. So, as you promise to lead us back there with as
little delay as possible, certainly we'll go with you. And the sooner we
start, the quicker we can be back again."
That was a hint from Mr. Lawrence that Max could not ignore. There was
logic and a world of truth back of it, too.
"Come on then, please, sir; the going is better close to the shore line;
and that's the way I came up."
With that he started, the others trailing along in his wake. And Max
chuckled to himself more than a few times while thus drawing nearer and
nearer to the camp, where a great surprise awaited his chums.