THE END OF CAMP MYSTERY
"Well," said Mr. Jessup slowly, "this may be all clear to you and your
nephew, Mr. Addison, but it's like Greek to me. If you wouldn't mind
explaining----"
"Of course I'll explain," said Mr. Addison eagerly. Sammy hoped
something would be said to clear up the mystery of the strange room in
the old mansion.
"First of all," said the hermit, "I want to tell you boys how sorry I am
that I pushed you into the snow. I was all excited when I saw you
following me, and I really didn't know what I was doing. You see I had
been expecting my nephew for some time, and when he didn't come I was
afraid something had happened so that I couldn't get the spring I had
tried so hard for. So first I want to beg your pardon."
"Oh, that's all right," said Sammy, easily. "It was as much our fault as
it was yours. We had no right to follow you, and really we weren't hurt
a bit."
"I'm glad of it," said the old man. "Well, to begin at the beginning.
Some months ago, when I was walking over this island, I found this
boiling spring. It was in a place few people would visit, and I guess
that's why it was never talked of before. For a good many years I have
had the rheumatism, and I've tried all sorts of cures. Just by accident
I thought of trying this spring water, as I could easily tell that it
had some sort of medicine in it.
"I took some home, and in a few days after taking it I felt better.
Then I made more tests, and I was sure I had found a cure for some of
the worst kinds of rheumatism. Then I decided to try to get possession
of the land on which the spring was.
"This was not easy, as the title was in dispute. But I got my nephew to
help me. In order that no one else would claim the spring, I decided to
put up a cabin near it, and live on the land until I could buy it. This
I did, and I became a sort of hermit. I was so afraid someone would
discover the secret of the spring that I drove away anyone who came
near. In that way I suppose folks began to think I was crazy, and a sort
of crank.
"But I did not care. I wanted to get title to that spring, for I knew I
could sell the waters and get rich. And now I can. My nephew has brought
me the final papers, and the spring is mine. I am going to form a
company, and bottle the boiling water. Of course it won't stay hot, but
it will be just as good, for it can be heated before being swallowed.
"So I'm no longer the hermit of Pine Island. I'm going back where I
belong, and I'll let others do the work. And I'll say this, Mr. Jessup,
if ever you get the rheumatism you can have free all the water from my
mineral spring that you want."
"Thank you!" said Mr. Jessup, with a laugh, "but I hope I'll never have
the rheumatism. But if I do I'll use your spring water."
"I had a hard time getting the final papers," said Mr. Houghton, "and
that's what took me so long. But now, Uncle, the boiling spring is
yours, and you needn't worry any more."
"How can it be hot water in the Winter time?" asked Bob.
"Well, that's one of the mysteries of Nature," said the former hermit.
"I suppose the waters must come from deep down in the earth, and the
wise men tell us that inside the earth are raging fires. I don't know
about that, but I do know my medical spring will cure rheumatism. And I
guess now, everything is explained."
"No, not everything," said Sammy quickly.
"Eh?" asked the old man.
"We found a secret room in the old mansion," went on Sammy, "and it's a
counterfeiters' den, I'm sure. We thought you were going there, Mr.
Addison, that's why we followed you.
"And while we were in there," Sammy went on, "there was an explosion. We
thought someone was shooting at us, and we ran out. That has to be
explained yet."
"That's so!" exclaimed Mr. Jessup. "I've got to look into that."
Mr. Houghton laughed.
"It won't take much of an explanation to do away with that mystery," he
said. "If you'll come with me I'll show you all about it. I fancy you
stumbled across one of my fads. Will you come, Uncle Frank?"
"No, I'll go back to my cabin," was the hermit's answer. "I'm going to
pack up and go back to the mainland to live, now that my medical spring
is safe."
"Then the rest of us will go," suggested the young man.
They left the little glade where the hot spring made grass grow in the
middle of Winter, and soon reached the hermit's cabin again. He went in
there, while Sammy and his chums, with Mr. Jessup and Mr. Houghton, kept
on to the deserted mansion, telling the hermit they would soon be back
to look after him. The doctor, whom Mr. Jessup had brought, had gone
back to the mainland in his cutter.
"Shall we go right in?" asked Sammy, when Mr. Houghton and the others
reached the old house, and prepared to enter.
"Of course--why not?" inquired the young man, with a smile.
"Well, I was thinking that the counterfeiters----"
Mr. Houghton laughed.
"I'll explain all that," he said.
The place of the secret room was soon reached. It was just as when Sammy
and his chums had rushed away from it after the explosion that had so
frightened them. The sliding door was still wedged back with the piece
of shutter.
Mr. Houghton went over to the table on which was piled the strange
apparatus. He moved some of the wires and springs.
"Look out!" cried Sammy. "You may get shot!"
"No danger!" laughed the young man. "I fancy you boys set off the
flashlight, and there isn't another."
"Flashlight!" cried Sammy.
"Yes, that was what made the smoke and explosion," said Mr. Houghton.
"You touched the spring that worked the electric battery, and the
current set off some flashlight powder in a box. It did make quite an
explosion, I fancy."
"But what was flashlight powder doing up here?" asked Mr. Jessup.
"I was trying to get some night photographs of bats," explained Mr.
Houghton. "You see all this apparatus is just some photographic cameras,
set to work automatically. I fancy I have the pictures of you boys on
the plate, instead of the bats," and he smiled at the three chums.
"Photographs!" cried Sammy.
"Cameras!" exclaimed Bob.
"Aren't these things telescopes?" asked Frank.
"And isn't there any counterfeiting plant?" Sammy wanted to know.
"Nothing half as sensational as that," answered Mr. Houghton, with a
hearty laugh. "This is only my new apparatus for having animals take
their own pictures."
For a moment there was silence, and then Sammy, in a queer sort of
voice, murmured:
"Stung again!"
All his mystery had vanished into thin air.
"Make animals take their own photographs; eh?" said Mr. Jessup. "That's
rather odd."
"Oh, it is often done," said Mr. Houghton. "All you have to do is to set
your camera in the woods after dark, near where you have noticed marks
of a raccoon, muskrat or other wild animal. You put a string across the
path the animal usually takes, and in the dark it runs into the string
and breaks it. This sets off a flashlight which makes the place as light
as day. The breaking of the string also opens and closes the shutters of
the camera, and so the animal takes its own picture. I've been doing it
for some time, and had good results. I left my cameras, flashlights,
batteries and so on here, in the hope of getting pictures of bats, but I
guess I'll have to try again."
"So that's what it was that exploded," said Sammy--"flashlight powder?"
"That was it," said Mr. Houghton. "You see I happened to discover this
secret room by accident. I was going through the old mansion one day,
thinking it would be a good place to get bat pictures, and I found the
secret chamber. So I fitted it up as a room where I could sleep when I
had to. Often I would take my cameras out in the woods and leave them
there until nearly morning. Then I would get up and go bring them in. I
did not want to disturb my uncle so I stayed here. I fancy the secret
room must have been built by the man who put up the old mansion, for his
own use."
"I think so," agreed Mr. Jessup. "He was a queer character anyhow. And
to think I've been in and out of the old place so much, and never found
the secret room!"
"It was pretty well hidden," said Mr. Houghton. "Well, I don't imagine
I'll use it any more. I'll try for bat pictures somewhere else. Besides,
if my uncle's mineral spring turns out as well as he thinks it will,
this place may become a Summer resort, and the old mansion could be made
into a hotel for people who want to take the rheumatism cure."
"But there's one thing I don't understand," said Mr. Jessup, "and that
is who took my grub."
"I think I can explain that, too," spoke Mr. Houghton. "I had hired a
young man to assist me, in my photographic work, but when I found out he
was not honest I discharged him. I saw him come along one day with a
strip of bacon, and a long pole with a hook on the end. He said he had
hooked the bacon."
"And so he had!" cried Mr. Jessup. "That was one of the pieces I
missed."
"The fellow must have stood some distance away from your cabin, and
caught the string of the bacon in the hook on the pole," said the
photographer. "That's why you never saw any footmarks."
"Then this is the end of Camp Mystery," said Sammy, faintly.
"That's right!" cried Frank. "I told you there weren't any
counterfeiters."
"Well, there might have been," returned Sammy.
And he wondered why the others laughed.
But it was really the end of Camp Mystery. The hermit's secret had been
the warm, medical spring, and now that he had full title to it he need
not worry any more, nor drive away those whom he thought might try to
cheat him out of the property.
Mr. Houghton had explained the queer machines in the secret room, and
had told how he used to photograph wild animals at night. A few days
afterward he showed the boys how he set the cameras in the wood, with a
string which the animals themselves would break, thus setting off the
flashlight and taking their own picture.
Mr. Jessup made some inquiries, and found out that the secret room in
the old mansion had been built by the former owner of it. He had no
particular use for it, but it was just a notion on his part to have it
made. Mr. Houghton had accidentally discovered it, just as Sammy had
done.
As for the young man who had taken things from Mr. Jessup's camp, he was
not heard of again. After all, he had not taken a great deal, and his
plan of using a long pole with a hook on it explained why he had never
left any marks. He could reach in the window or door of the cabin when
Mr. Jessup was away, and get what he wanted. He had been in the habit of
staying in the secret room when Mr. Houghton did not sleep there.
"Well, as long as everything is explained, we may as well go back to
camp," said Sammy, when they left the old mansion.
"Yes, I guess so," agreed Mr. Jessup. "You boys are entitled to some fun
after your hard work."
"Yes, and they're entitled to more than that," said Mr. Addison, a
little later. "I owe them something for helping take care of me," and
some time afterward, when the Mineral Spring Company was formed, he sent
each of the boys a nice present.
"Well, now we'll take it easy," suggested Sammy, when they got back to
the hunter's cabin, late that afternoon. "We'll go skating and coasting,
and----"
"Fishing through the ice," added Mr. Jessup. "I've had that in mind for
you for some time."
"Say, this trip to Camp Mystery is all right!" cried Frank, with a
laugh. "I wonder if we'll have as much fun as this next Winter?"
"More I hope," said Sammy. "But Summer will come before Winter."
And what the chums did the following Summer may be learned by reading
the next volume of this series, to be called "Fairview Boys at
Lighthouse Cove; Or, Carried Out to Sea." In that we will meet all our
young friends again.
In the days that followed Sammy and his chums had many good times. They
roved about the island with Mr. Jessup and watched him at his hunting.
They had many good meals, too. Mr. Addison left Pine Island, now that he
had possession of the spring, and one of the members of the company he
had formed took up a residence in the cabin. But there was no further
trouble. The mystery had been solved.
"Come on for a skate!" cried Bob, one afternoon. "We only have a few
more days here."
"That's right--and then school once more!" exclaimed Sammy.
And as the Fairview Boys are starting off on the glittering ice, we will
take leave of them.