THE MISSING SCOUT
"What the mischief is the matter with you?" demanded Tompkins, rubbing
his head where it had come into violent contact with the floor.
"A snake!" palpitated Vedder, from the entrance of the tent, to which
he had fled. "There's a snake in my bed!"
"You're crazy with the heat, Puffy!" exclaimed Ranny Phelps, forcibly.
"How could a snake get into your bunk?"
"It's there, just the same," panted Vedder, his eyes bulging. "When I
put my feet down they hit against something cold and--and slimy that
squirmed about. Ugh! If I hadn't got out so quick, it would have bit
me sure as anything. You look and see, if you don't believe me."
By this time the camp was astir. As Ranny took the lantern and went
over to Vedder's bunk, several boys from neighboring tents crowded in
to see what was up. When they learned the nature of the rumpus they
were vastly more excited than the other occupants of Tent Three, who
seemed strangely unaffected by the situation.
"Hanged if there isn't something here!" said Ranny, in a puzzled tone,
looking down on the blankets. "Get a couple of sticks, fellows, and some
of you hold down the edges of the blankets so it can't get out."
Court Parker turned his back suddenly and choked oddly; Tompkins's face
was flushed and twitching. But the new-comers obeyed the order with
enthusiasm, and two of them, darting out, returned in a few moments with
a couple of crab-nets and the heavy butt of a fishing-rod. Meanwhile,
Ranny and several others had drawn the blankets taut across the bunk,
revealing an irregular bulge down near the foot that certainly moved
slightly.
"Everybody hit together when I give the word," said Ranny. "One,
two--three!"
The sticks descended with vigor, and there was a violent wriggling and
thrashing about beneath the blankets. But the blows came thick and fast,
and in a moment or two all movement ceased.
"I guess it's dead, whatever it is," said Ranny, just as Mr. Reed and
Mr. Curtis appeared behind Vedder, still standing prudently in the
background. "Let's open it up and have a look."
As he turned down the blankets, the boys gripped their sticks tighter,
ready for instant action in case the reptile were not quite dead. But
when a final twitch exposed the cause of the commotion, there was a
moment's silence, followed by a united exclamation of surprise and
disappointment.
"Why, it's nothing but an eel!"
Instantly a yell of laughter went up. Parker and several other occupants
of the tent rolled on their bunks in paroxysms of delight. The two
scoutmasters, smiling broadly, slipped away. Vedder, jaws agape, stared
at Ranny as if unable to believe his hearing.
"An--eel?" he gasped.
"That's all," grinned Ranny. "You've got the whole camp stirred up over a
blooming eel instead of a snake."
The fat boy's teeth came together with a click, and, with face flaming,
he flounced over to his bunk. "You fellows put it there!" he accused
angrily.
"Oh, never!" chuckled Frank Sanson. "I'll bet it got fond of you, like
the crabs, and climbed up there to make friends. And now they've gone
and smashed the poor thing all up, and--"
A roar of laughter drowned his words, and Vedder, grabbing up the eel,
flung it square at his tormentor. But Frank ducked, and the slimy missile
flew past his head to land with a thud on the sand outside. A moment
later the sound of taps sent everybody scurrying for his bunk; but for
some time after lights were out subdued giggles could be heard from
all parts of the camp.
For at least an hour next morning Vedder was very dignified and offish.
But he was too easy-going to maintain a grudge very long, and before
dinner he had become his comfortable, smiling self again. It was noticed,
however, that during the remainder of his stay in camp he pointedly
ignored the entire race of snakes, eels, and kindred reptiles.
The athletic meet was a great success. The scouts were divided, according
to weight, into juniors and seniors, and there was keen competition
in the running, jumping, and swimming events. But great as was the
interest excited, it seemed excelled the following afternoon when the
crowd set out to resume their hunt for the lost copper-mine. This was
both a competition and a fascinating mystery, and a good many beside
the members of Tent Three had apparently fallen victims to the spell.
When they reached the starting-point and separated, Ranny and his bunch
lost no time in heading for the old foundation. A little digging opened
up what seemed to have been the main entrance to the building, but,
search as they might, they failed to find anything that in the least
resembled a road or path or tramway leading to the mine entrance.
Evidently the means by which ore was formerly brought to the smelter had
been obliterated by the passing years, and it looked as if they would
have to proceed from this point more or less at random.
"It can't be so very far off," said Ranny, as they lined up before him.
"We'd better take the hillside first, and remember to look over every
foot of ground. The entrance may have been covered by a fall of rock, so
we can't count on finding it open. Keep about the same distance apart as
you were the other day, and whistle if you strike anything promising."
They set off promptly, Dale Tompkins as before being about the middle
of the line, with Court Parker on his right. The thick undergrowth
and the rocks piled up in confusion made progress necessarily slow and
prevented him from seeing very far in any direction. But every now and
then the rustling of bushes or the cracking of dead twigs under foot on
either side told Dale that he was keeping on the right course.
For over an hour he searched systematically, zigzagging back and forth
along his beat and examining the ground carefully. The slope grew
steeper, and at length he paused to wipe the perspiration from his
forehead. The sound of foot-falls on his right was plainly audible,
and through the undergrowth he glimpsed a khaki-clad figure.
"Say, Court," he called, raising his voice slightly, "found anything yet?"
"It's not Court," came back in Frank Sanson's familiar tones. "What the
dickens are you doing so far over, Tommy? Did you change places?"
"Why, no!" Dale's voice was puzzled; instinctively he moved toward the
other boy. "I've been keeping right along the way I started," he went on,
as they came face to face. "Court was on this side then."
"Sure! He was on my left. I haven't seen him for half an hour or more,
but I kept hearing him every now and then. You don't suppose he could
have strayed over behind you and to the other side?"
"I don't see how. I'd have heard him, wouldn't I?"
For a moment or so the two boys stood looking at one another in a puzzled
fashion. "It's funny," Sanson said at length. "He wouldn't have gone
back, either. If he found something, he'd have whistled. Let's call and
see if he's over the other way."
Tompkins nodded, and together they walked briskly back a few steps. But
it was Ranny Phelps who answered their hail, and in a few moments they
saw him coming toward them through the brush.
"What's up?" he asked quickly. "You haven't found--"
"No; it's Court," interrupted Tompkins. "He started out between Frank
and me, but he must have got mixed up somehow, for we can't find him.
We thought he might be over your way."
"I haven't seen him," said Ranny, briefly. He hesitated an instant and
then, pursing up his lips, whistled shrilly. "Best way's to get them all
together and straighten things out," he went on. "If he's off his beat,
the chances are that part of the ground isn't being looked over at all.
This way, fellows."
Bob Gibson was the first to hurry up. Then came Trexler, Bennie Rhead,
and lastly Vedder, panting with his haste. But Parker was not among them,
nor did Ranny's repeated whistling bring sight or sound of the missing
boy. None of the others had seen him since leaving the old foundation,
and as they stood there, puzzled and a bit anxious, Tompkins suddenly
remembered that for some little time before the meeting with Sanson
he had failed to hear the rustlings on his right that had kept him
aware of Court's presence. At the time it had seemed unimportant, but
now he made haste to mention it.
"Bennie, you chase back to the smelter and see if he's there by any
chance," ordered Ranny, crisply, when Dale had finished. "The rest of
us get in a close line and beat back along Court's territory. I can't
imagine anything happening to him that Tompkins or Sanson wouldn't hear
or know about--unless, of course, it's a joke."
His jaw squared in a way that boded ill for the volatile Courtlandt if
this should prove to be one of his familiar escapades. But, somehow,
Tompkins did not believe that this could be the explanation. Court had
been too keenly enthusiastic about the search to delay it by senseless
horse-play. Though he, no more than Ranny, could think of any accident
which would render the boy unconscious without his making a sound of
any sort, Dale took his place in the line with a feeling of distinct
uneasiness.
So close together that they could almost touch each other's outstretched
hands, the scouts started down the slope. There was little conversation,
for by this time all were more or less worried. Just where they expected
to find the missing boy would have been hard to tell, but a rabbit could
scarcely have escaped their close scrutiny of bush and rock and thorny
tangle.
It was fifteen minutes or so before they came to a giant rock that thrust
its lichened bulk up from the forest mold. At least that was what it
seemed at first--a single, flat-topped mass of stone, ten or twelve feet
through and about as high. But passing close to one side, Tompkins and
Sanson discovered that it was split in two pieces, one of which had
fallen away from the other just enough to leave a jagged crack, not
more than three feet wide, between them. A spreading mass of laurel
screened the opening from any but the closest inspection, and as he
pushed this to one side Dale gave a sudden start and stared intently at
the ground beneath it.
"Look at that!" he exclaimed, turning to Frank, who was close behind.
The latter pressed forward and glanced over his shoulder. "What? Oh! You
mean-- Gee! Didn't you break it off?"
"No!"
Dale's heart was beating unevenly as he bent to pick up the tiny broken
twig. There were three leaves on it, as fresh and green as those on the
parent bush; the broken end showed white and living. He met Sanson's
glance and, dropping the twig, stepped into the jagged crevice. A moment
later he gave a smothered cry. At his feet lay a scout hat of brown
felt. A few inches beyond yawned a black hole, the leaves and mold and
rotten branches about its edges scuffed and torn and freshly broken.