TO FLATHEAD BY AIRSHIP AGAIN.
Dr. Byrd said little to the boys that evening. He greeted them quietly,
but not severely, as they arrived, looked them over to see that they
were sound and unhurt by exposure, hustled them to the bath and later to
supper, and then sent them to bed.
The boys wondered a little over this. Naturally, they all expected to be
called on the carpet, lectured, and then punished. But the doctor's tone
of voice was almost reassuring. He suspected that they had been punished
enough and that if a boy won't think after such an experience, there
isn't much hope for him. He understood the motive that had caused Hal to
run away, as well as the sentiments that had moved the other boys to
accompany him.
Next morning, however, Dr. Byrd called the five truants into his office.
He asked them to be seated, and then turned to his desk, at which he
busied himself ten or fifteen minutes. At the end of this period Mr.
Miles entered and took a seat near the doctor, who now wheeled around in
his chair and gave attention to his callers.
"Well, boys," he said slowly, wiping his glasses with his handkerchief,
"what do you think of yourselves? Are you proud of what you have done,
or do you agree that such an escapade deserves something of a
reckoning?" he added as he squinted with one eye through one of the
lenses to see if it was clear.
Each of the boys waited for one of the others to answer. As the doctor
had addressed none of them individually, now was a good opportunity for
them to maintain the silence so often urged upon the young in the
presence of older persons.
"I see you're not very proud of what you've done," continued the doctor.
"And I'm not particularly proud of you either, although you conducted
yourselves well after you found yourselves in a bad fix, I understand.
Why did you decide to run away, Hal?"
Kenyon hung his head. Then he stole a glance at the aviator, who
reassured him with a kindly look.
"Mr. Miles thought I was a thief, and I couldn't prove I wasn't," Hal
answered.
"You found a nugget in the cave, did you?"
"Yes, but I didn't know what it was till I dropped it in the wash room.
I hunted for the others in the cave night before last, but couldn't find
any more."
"Well, Mr. Miles tells me he has decided that you are honest. He
believes your story after being with you and talking with you on the
mountain. But don't you think you made a mistake by running away?
Shouldn't you have remained here and faced the music?"
"Maybe I should," Hal replied dubiously. "But I don't see how I could
have proved I was innocent."
"Well," concluded the doctor slowly, "I've decided you ought not to be
punished; only I want to give you this advice: Don't ever run away from
unjust suspicion and don't do anything that will make you liable to just
suspicion. As to you other boys, there is no excuse for your running
away."
"We didn't mean to run away," broke in Pickles. "We were just going a
ways with Hal and then come back before morning. But we got caught."
"Is that true?" inquired the doctor, addressing the other boys.
"Yes, it is," came the reply in chorus.
"Well!" exclaimed the owner of Lakefarm. "It came near being a pretty
serious trap, didn't it? I'll take the matter under advisement and
decide later what I'll do. Meanwhile, there is a more important matter
to be looked after. How would you boys like to visit the top of Flathead
again?"
"In the airship?" inquired Byron eagerly.
"That's the only way to get up there, now that the passage through the
roof of the cave is closed."
All the boys were overjoyed at the prospect.
"We are going to visit the cave where you found the dead body of a man,"
continued Dr. Byrd. "I have notified the coroner and he has expressed
the desire to have you all present when he takes the body away. It won't
be necessary, but I've decided to let you go if you wish to. I am going
myself. I have full confidence in the safety of Mr. Miles' airship."
"When are we going?" Hal inquired.
"As soon as the coroner gets here--half an hour. Now go and get ready
for the trip, if you've decided you want to go."
The five Scouts left the doctor's office and went to their rooms. They
doffed their class-room clothes and shoes and substituted their coarse,
strong mountain-climbing suits and heavy-nailed footgear. Then they
hastened out onto the campus, where they found Mr. Miles getting the
airship ready to fly. Most of the other boys of the school were gathered
around the aeroplane, watching proceedings with interest.
Of course the five returned truants were the objects of much interest
and questioning when they appeared. The other boys all knew in a general
way what had happened to their runaway associates, and they were now
hungry for details. But the arrival of the coroner and the announcement
that the boy explorers of Flathead were about to make another trip
through the air added a new excitement and so much confusion that there
was little opportunity for anybody to gain any information.
Coroner Huffman and Pickles made the first trip with Mr. Miles to the
top of the mountain. This official, who lived in Jimtown, was a great
hunter. He had held one and another political office for fifteen years
and celebrated each election by going off into the mountains to shoot
big game. On this occasion, he had his rifle with him, hoping to get a
shot at the mountain lion that Kenyon and his companions had seen the
day before.
While the first trip was being made, Hal, Frank, Byron, and Ferdinand
were surrounded by their eager schoolmates and plied with numerous
questions. Then the doctor, in order to simplify matters, asked
everybody to keep still and suggested that Hal tell the story from
beginning to end.
So Kenyon told the story of their adventure in detail. Before he had
finished, the aeroplane returned and started on another trip, with
Byron, Frank, and Ferdinand as passengers. The aviator had decided that,
since the airship was built to carry three men including the operator,
it ought to carry one man and three boys at once. The experiment proved
that he was right.
By the time Mr. Miles returned for the doctor and Hal, the latter had
satisfied the curiosity of his schoolmates. Some of them begged for
permission to make the trip also, but Dr. Byrd said that since it would
be impossible to take all, he must limit his permission to those whom
the coroner had asked to be present at the removal of the body from the
mountain-top cave.
Finally, the entire party of eight men and boys was conveyed to the
Flathead plateau. The landing place chosen this time was a level and
comparatively smooth spot west of the patch of timber and east of the
pool.
Hal, with the permission of Dr. Byrd, had brought with him the rifle
that had been found in the cave. He, too, hoped to see the mountain lion
again and get a shot at it. As they approached the landing place he
examined closely the ruins of the homes of the cliff dwellers, where
they had seen the panther on the day before, but it was no longer there.
"Wasn't that a funny place for cliff dwellers to build their homes?" Hal
inquired as they were descending to the plateau.
"Yes, it is," replied the doctor. "I can't account for their going up so
high, unless there was unusual need of defense against some of their
war-like neighbors."
"How do you suppose they got up here?" asked the boy.
"The same way you did probably--behind the waterfall. I imagine they
were afraid to trust that secret passage alone to protect them against
their enemies, so they made their homes high up in these cliffs as a
second precaution."
"Let's go up in some of those caves before we go back," Hal proposed.
"I am planning to make as thorough an exploration of this plateau as
possible to-day," the doctor replied. "But first we must investigate the
death of this man whose body you found."
The other members of the party were awaiting the arrival of the last
airship-load of passengers, as the coroner desired the presence of all
the original witnesses when he removed the body. After all had been
landed on the top of the mountain, no further delay was necessary, and
they proceeded directly to the cave in the passage through the long
ridge.
Two lanterns had been brought along, and with the aid of these the
coroner made a careful inspection of the cave. He asked numerous
questions in order to determine if the boys had destroyed or disarranged
any clews that might lead to a clearing up of the mystery surrounding
this strange life and death on the mountain top. Meanwhile, not an
article of the contents of the cave was moved until the careful
examination was finished. Mr. Huffman even caused Hal to lean his gun
against the wall as nearly as it had been found as possible.
Then he and the doctor picked up the body and carried it out to the open
to give it a thorough examination. There seemed to be no doubt that he
had been slain by a wild beast. The body was badly mangled, particularly
the upper part and the head. The clothes about the chest were ripped in
shreds, indicating the savage nature of the slayer. But the clothing
proved to be of good quality, indicating that their owner had not been a
tramp.
"I bet he was a robber hiding from the police," Hal declared as the
coroner began to search the dead man's pockets.
The next instant the official drew forth several envelopes and pieces of
paper and began to examine them. Suddenly Dr. Byrd, who was watching
this inspection closely, leaned forward and snatched an envelope from
the coroner's hand.
"Great heavens!" he exclaimed. "This is Maxwell, the instructor who
stole my most valuable gems."