THE KING OF SUMATRA
The boys had been traveling along a broad highway that ran to a town
on the other side of the woods. The trees were thick and so were the
bushes, with here and there a big rock, covered with the dead vines of
the summer previous.
At one point some distance ahead was an old stone house, standing
where another road ran in the direction of the river. This house had
not been inhabited for years, and the doors and windows were gone, and
the falling of the chimney had smashed in a large portion of the
sloping roof.
It was from in front of the old house that the cries for assistance
came, and now the boys heard two voices, both somewhat girlish in
tones.
"Oh, let me go! Please, let me go!" came, wildly.
"You have no right to touch us!" was added, in another voice.
"What's the matter?" called out Dave, as loudly as he could. But in
his mind there had already flashed an inkling of what was going on.
For some time past the wild man of that locality had not shown
himself. Now, perhaps, he was again at his old tricks.
"Oh, make him go away!" screamed a girlish voice, and then, as our
hero made a turn of the road, he caught sight of two girls standing
near the old stone house. Back of them was another figure, that of a
tall, powerful man, but this figure disappeared as if by magic, behind
the ancient building.
"Why, Miss Rockwell!" exclaimed Dave, as he recognized a young lady
from town whom he knew well. "And you, too, Miss Feversham! What is
the matter?"
"That man--the wild man!" panted Vera Rockwell. "He--he--stopped us!"
"He wanted our purses!" added Mary Feversham, the other young lady.
"Where is he?" asked Roger and Phil, in a breath.
"He just ran behind the house--I saw him," answered Dave. "Did he hurt
you any?" he went on, anxiously, for he and Vera and Mary were good
friends.
"No, but he--he scared us so!"
"Let us go after him!" put in Phil, quickly. He had taken Mary
Feversham out a number of times and the two were well acquainted.
"Come on!" and he started around the house.
All of the others were not slow to follow. Behind the building they
came upon a mass of weeds and bushes and in their midst the remains of
an old well, long since caved in. What had once been a path led to the
side road before mentioned.
"That's the way he must have gone--down the side road!" cried the
shipowner's son.
"Supposing we see if we can catch him?" suggested Dave. "But somebody
ought to go back, and stay with the girls," he added thoughtfully.
"I'll go back," answered Phil. He was only too glad of a chance to
talk to Mary, not having seen her for a long time.
"If that fellow comes back, whistle for us," advised Roger.
Dave was already on the side road with Buster and Gus beside him, and
the senator's son quickly followed.
"Don't go too fast or I--I can't ke--keep up with you!" panted
Buster.
"Do you see anything of him, Dave?" queried Roger.
"Not yet, but there is a turn just ahead. When we make that we'll be
able to see almost to the river."
All of the students sped on, the stout lad doing his best to keep up
with the others. They reached the turn with Dave a step or two in
advance.
"There he is!"
"I see him! Say, he's wild-looking enough!"
"He is making for the river!"
"We ought to be able to catch him. We are four to one."
Dave and Roger pressed forward with increased speed and poor Buster
fell somewhat behind.
"I'm coming as fa--fast as I ca--can!" blurted out the fat youth. "Go
on--I'll get there sooner or later!"
"Pick up a stick, if you see one," cried Dave, to Roger and Gus. "We
may have a hot fight on our hands. That man ought to be in jail, or in
an asylum."
As they sped along, the three kept their eyes open and each presently
armed himself with a fair-sized club. The wild man was running like a
deer, pausing occasionally to turn and brandish his long arms at them
savagely. They could see that his clothing was in tatters and that his
hair and beard were long and unkempt.
"Hi! stop!" called out Dave, although he had but little hope of
causing the man to halt. "We want to talk to you."
"Go back! Beware! Go back, or it will be the worse for you!" called
the wild man. "Leave the King of Sumatra alone!"
"The King of Sumatra?" repeated Roger. "Say, he's crazy sure enough,
to imagine himself that!"
The boys continued after the wild man and urged him to stop. But
instead of heeding them, he ran on the faster.
"He's an athlete, when it comes to running," remarked Dave, as he
tried in vain to get closer to the man.
"They say crazy people are always strong," answered the senator's
son.
"I've go--got to gi--give up!" panted Gus, and came to a halt.
"Go--got a pa--pain in my side!" And he put his hand over his hip.
"All right, we'll manage alone!" cried Roger. "I don't think we can
catch that fellow anyway," he added, half under his breath.
Another turn of the woodland road brought the Leming River into plain
view, at a point where the stream was both wide and deep. The wild man
kept sprinting along and it was impossible for the boys to draw any
closer to him.
"Shall we threaten to shoot him if he won't stop?" asked Roger.
Neither of the lads carried firearms.
[Illustration: "STOP!" CRIED DAVE.--_Page 87._]
"No, he might do some shooting on his own account,--if he is armed.
Come on, he may fall, or something like that."
Inside of three minutes more the wild man gained the shore of the
river and disappeared around a point of rocks and brushwood.
"Be careful, Dave," warned Roger. "He may spring out at you with a
club."
"I've got my eyes open," was the ready reply.
Both advanced with caution, and soon came up to the nearest of the
rocks. With clubs ready for use, the two youths continued to move
forward. Then they came to a sudden halt. The wild man was no longer
in sight. What had become of him?
"Maybe he ran into the woods," suggested Roger.
"Perhaps, but--hark!" And our hero held up his hand. From a distance
came a scraping sound, like something sliding over a rock.
"Look!" called out the senator's son. "He's got a boat! There he
goes!"
Dave turned in the direction pointed out by his chum. Both saw a small
rowboat sweep out from under some brushwood. In it stood the wild man,
using an oar as a pole on the rocks.
"Stop!" cried Dave. "Stop, or you may be sorry for it."
"You can't catch the King of Sumatra!" yelled the wild man, and
flourished his arms and made a hideous face at them. Then he sat down
on the middle seat of the craft, placed the oars in the rowlocks, and
commenced to row rapidly down the stream.
"Well, that's the end of the chase," remarked Dave, in some disgust.
"That's right, since we haven't any boat," returned Roger. "Wonder
where he got that craft? I don't think he bought it."
"It isn't likely. Probably he saw it somewhere along the river and
simply appropriated it." And this proved to be true.
The boys watched the wild man until a bend of the stream hid rower and
craft from view. Then they turned back in the direction of the old
stone house.
"Did you get him?" demanded Buster, who was waiting with Gus at the
point where he had dropped out of the race.
"No," answered Roger, and told why.
"He sure is a cute one," went on the stout youth. "Say, if they don't
catch him soon, he'll have this whole neighborhood scared to death."
The students soon reached the old house. Here they found the two girls
and Phil, the latter with a heavy stick in his hand, ready for any
emergency. The girls had calmed down a little, but were still much
agitated.
"We were to come home in my uncle's carriage," said Mary Feversham.
"But the horse got a lame foot and so we decided to walk. We had heard
of the wild man, but did not think we would meet him. Oh, it was
dreadful!"
"He didn't hurt you, did he?" asked Dave.
"Oh, no, but he frightened us so! He danced around us and caught us by
the arms, and he wanted us to give him money! Oh, it was dreadful!"
"He ought to be in an asylum," said Dave. And then he and Roger
related how the wild man had escaped.
"I sha'n't go out alone again," said Vera Rockwell. "That is, not
until that man is captured."
"We'll take you both home," said Phil, promptly, looking at Mary.
"But we don't want to keep you from what you were going to do," said
Vera.
"Oh, we were only out for a walk," replied Dave. "We'll walk to town
with you. Maybe we'll hear something more of this strange fellow."
All turned back on the road that led close to Oak Hall, and after
discussing the wild man from various points of view, the conversation
turned to other matters. The girls told of what they had been doing
during the past holidays and asked the boys about themselves.
"I heard that that horrid Jasniff is under arrest," said Vera to
Dave. "I am glad of it. It is a pity that Merwell got away."
"Perhaps," answered our hero. "But, somehow, I sometimes think that
Link Merwell will turn over a new leaf."
Vera looked back, to make sure that none of the others were near.
"Just like Mr. Plum, I suppose you mean," she whispered. "Oh, it was
splendid, what you did for him, Dave!"
"Oh, I didn't do much for Gus."
"My brother thinks you did. He heard the whole story. It was brave and
noble of you, it was indeed!" And Vera's face showed her earnestness.
"Well, Gus has turned out a nice fellow. I wish Merwell would turn out
as good."
"But he helped to take those jewels."
"That is true--and that will always be a black mark against him," said
Dave, soberly.
Soon all reached the outskirts of Oakdale and there, at one of the
corners, the boys left the girls.
"Pretty late!" cried Gus Plum, consulting the watch he carried. "We'll
have to hike back lively, if we don't want to be marked up for
tardiness."
"We can get an excuse, if we tell about the wild man," said Buster.
"I've hurried all I'm going to."
"We'll certainly have a yarn to spin when we get back to the school,"
was Phil's comment.
At the entrance to the campus the boys, who were a little late, met
the first assistant to Doctor Clay. As my old readers know Mr. Dale
was as pleasant as Job Haskers was disagreeable.
"Had a fine walk, boys?" he asked, with a smile.
"We had an adventure," answered Dave, and then he and his chums told
what it was.
"Well! well! that wild man again," mused the instructor. "This is
getting truly serious. I was hoping he would leave this neighborhood.
And so he calls himself the King of Sumatra? That is strange."
"It certainly is strange," answered Dave.
But how strange, our hero was still to find out.