"Did you see him, boys?" exclaimed Will, who was shivering as if he had
just run across a ghost.
"Why, to be sure," replied Frank, laughing a little forcedly; for the
sight of that hideous face had given him a shock.
"Then it was so, after all. I began to believe I was just imagining
things. Oh! what a magnificent opportunity I missed. How can I ever
forgive myself?" groaned Will, showing signs of disgust.
"Opportunity for what--capturing the terrible wild man?" cried Bluff,
aghast at what seemed the audacity of his ordinarily peaceable chum.
"Certainly not. But if I had only been ready I could have taken his
picture to show the folks at home. My stars! what a great feat that
would have been," sighed the disappointed photographer, shaking his
head.
"Tell me about that, will you? There was my uncle laughing at me when I
mentioned about this same wild man of the island. He declared it was
only some innocent animal, or else an old woman's tale. But every one of
us saw him, and we've not been ashore five minutes, either," declared
Jerry.
"I foresee some stirring times for us here, what with the snakes, if
they are to be found, the ferocious wildcats they tell about, and now
this mysterious wild man," remarked Frank, soberly, as he began to take
the bundles out of his canoe and place them high and dry up on the
shore.
"Are we going to stay?" asked Bluff.
"Why, to be sure we are. Talk to me about your brave men, I like to hear
a fellow speak about being scared away by the first sight of some poor,
harmless chap. Perhaps it's another of Mr. Smithson's crazy people,
escaped from the asylum over at Merrick, and hiding out here."
On their camping-out trip of the preceding autumn they had met with a
remarkable personage who persisted in declaring that he was the famous
Prince Bismarck, and who eventually turned out to be an escaped inmate
of the asylum at Merrick, some miles away.
A keeper named Smithson had engaged them to help him capture the
demented one, and this was what Jerry was referring to when he spoke.
"I wouldn't wonder but what that may be true," remarked Frank,
seriously; "but no matter, we are not the kind to run at a shadow. We
laid out this trip to spend our Easter holidays on Wildcat Island, and
it's got to be something pretty threatening that will frighten us off."
"Hear! hear!" exclaimed Jerry.
"That's the stuff!" declared Bluff, thinking that he could not afford to
let his rival take all the credit for valor.
"But I'll never get another opportunity to take his picture," complained
Will.
"How do you know? Man alive, there may be no end of stirring times
coming, with that same old hermit figuring in the circus. Perhaps the
scent of our coffee and bacon will bring him back into touch with
civilization; why, he may even walk into our camp, and try to make
friends, when he gets a whiff of onions frying," and Frank slapped his
chum on the back as he spoke along this line.
"Oh! well, if you think that way I'll keep up my hopes. And you just
remember that if I seem to be hugging this little snapshot contrivance
closer than usual, why, I'm only keeping in readiness for instantaneous
work. A fellow has to be pretty quick on the trigger to get a picture of
a wild man, you know."
They soon had the boats unloaded.
"Pull them out, fellows. I've brought along the chains and padlocks
belonging to each boat. Having a canoe stolen isn't such fun, even on a
ten-mile lake like Camalot," ventured Frank, as he produced the articles
in question, and proceeded to fasten the canoes together, at the same
time making sure they were chained to the sturdy root of a nearby tree.
"He thinks of everything," admitted Will, in admiration.
"Don't you believe it for one second. I forget many things; but as they
said a wild man inhabited this bit of island, I wanted to make sure he
did not run off with any of our boats, and perhaps our supplies."
"All the same, it took your long head to think of such a thing, old
chap. Now, I defy any one to hook our boats. Besides, we don't mean to
ever leave the camp unguarded; and I guess you expect to put up the
tents close by here?" said Jerry.
"It looks good to me," replied Frank, casting another glance at the
little open spot close to the beach, which seemed an ideal place for a
canoeist's camp, having a splendid view of the lake, stretching almost
ten miles away to the north.
The four were soon as busy as beavers.
They already knew how to erect the tents, which had a fly that could be
lowered in front in severe weather, and a ground cloth of waterproof
material, quite an addition to the comfort of the interior.
Jerry worked just as hard as the rest, although every now and then
pretending to laugh at all this fuss, when a humble shack of branches
ought to serve any fellow who called himself a true sportsman.
By the time the fireplace had been built of stones, over which several
stout steel bars rested, upon which the cooking utensils would set, the
Spring afternoon was drawing to a close.
"What will we have for our first supper?" Bluff asked; for he did not
mean to let Jerry carry off all the honors in the cooking line this
trip.
Secretly Bluff had been getting the hired girl at his home to teach him
some of the kitchen lore, and he had a few surprises up his sleeve which
he intended to spring upon his unsuspecting chums when the occasion came
around that he was left alone in charge of the camp.
"Nobody thought to bring a steak this time," ventured Frank; "so if
you're all agreeable, I say that we begin our cooking with a little
canoeist's menu something along this order: Tea, succotash, a can of
corned beef, fresh bread and butter, and finish with a jar of preserves
and cake from home. How does that strike you?"
"It suits me. And as the sun is sinking low, the sooner we get to work
the better," declared Bluff, readily enough; for he was fairly ravenous,
and kept wetting his lips like a hungry dog that scents a rich, juicy
bone.
"Talk about your feasts, what could equal that programme? Me for the
corned beef every time. Why, it's my best hold, and I just worship
it--hot, cold or medium. How do you stand, Will? Any further
suggestions?"
"Well, I brought some imported Switzer cheese along, and you know,
fellows, I'm particularly fond of it; so if it's just the same to you,
I'll add that to the list," replied the one addressed.
"Oh, my! that's what I get for speaking too hastily. Now I shall
certainly be punished. I suppose as long as that cheese lasts my
appetite will vanish at every meal. I only hope that gay old wild man
takes a fancy to it, and elopes with the whole blessed bunch. Why didn't
you fetch limburger and kill us outright, instead of our dying by
inches? But it will help draw the wildcats around, that's one comfort,"
groaned Jerry.
Preparations for supper went on apace.
They had set the tents at the base of a little bluff; for Wildcat Island
was a singular formation, being quite hilly in parts. Indeed, some
people were fond of comparing it to the volcanic islands that suddenly
rise up out of the sea in regions like the Alaska coast; and as
frequently vanish in a night. It was moreover heavily wooded, and the
rank vegetation made it anything but an easy task to do any exploring.
Frank had calculated that this steep bluff overhanging the camp would be
of considerable benefit to the expedition should a severe storm set in
from the west.
As the boys busied themselves with various tasks they chatted and joked
after their custom.
The stew of succotash and corned beef, which Frank had called the
Canoeist's Delight, was now ready. He set it aside on a stone to cool a
trifle while the table was being prepared.
"How's the coffee getting on, Jerry?" asked the chief cook of the
evening; for they usually changed around, and gave each fellow a chance
to show what he knew along the line of preparing appetizing dishes, or
of exposing his ignorance, which method of procedure naturally created
some rivalry.
"Just about ready. I've allowed it to boil furiously three times, and
settled it with a dash of cold water on each and every occasion. Talk to
me about the nectar of the gods, this suits me all right."
"Oh! please hurry up. I'm almost trembling with eagerness, after sitting
here and sniffing those delicious odors for so long a time," pleaded
Will, who happened to have nothing to do with the supper on this
occasion, his time coming on the morrow.
But they gave him no heed, those unfeeling wretches.
The one who camps out must expect to prove himself a hero daily by
conquering his appetite and holding it in check with a firm hand until
the head chef declares that all is ready for the feast to begin.
Frank had just finished placing the aluminum plates and cups, and was
about to reach out for the kettle of steaming stew, when to his
astonishment he found the stone, where he had laid it, empty.
Thinking that one of the others might be playing some trick, he opened
his mouth to remonstrate, when a cry from Will caused him to turn his
eyes upward.
There he saw the little kettle swinging in mid-air, and being drawn
hastily upwards by some unseen mysterious agency!