"Look at them run, Frank! Such a scared crowd of singed cats! Did you
ever see such a sight? But where is that old wild man gone?" exclaimed
Bluff, who had arisen fearlessly to his feet the better to watch the mad
flight of Pet Peters and his cronies through the dense thickets.
"I couldn't say, Bluff. I was too much taken up with the way some of
those boys banged headlong into the trunks of trees to notice anything
else. Did you see, Tom?"
"He climbed the same old tree, and popped into that hole like a
jack-in-the-box," declared the one addressed, quickly.
At that Frank laughed again and again, though Bluff looked at him as if
hardly understanding what there was about the manner of the wild man's
disappearance to amuse his chum so.
"Jerry!" he called presently.
"Tell me about that, will you?" a familiar voice said, and they saw the
object of their solicitude clambering down from a tree not far away from
the house.
In another minute the three chums were shaking hands with a vim. It was
certainly good to see Jerry again, and Bluff could hardly keep from
embracing him.
"Did they treat you mean, old pard?" he asked, looking darkly toward the
cabin, as if meditating an immediate assault if Jerry complained.
"Well, it wasn't a nice experience, I tell you; but on the whole they
didn't kick me more than a dozen times, and I reckon I sassed 'em enough
to expect that. Glad to see you again, fellows, I tell you. Who's this?
Hello! what's Tom Somers doing with chums of mine, I'd like to know?"
demanded the escaped captive, curiously.
"He had a fight with the rest, and they left him on the island, tied to
a tree?" explained Bluff, eagerly.
"Oh; yes, I see, and you rescued him, so that out of gratitude he joined
forces to storm the stronghold of the common enemy. Say, this beats
anything we ever met up with. That wild man is sure the greatest thing
that ever came over the pike," and to Bluff's surprise Jerry also had a
fit of laughing.
"You fellows seem to be tickled over something that I don't just grab. I
didn't think you were the kind to laugh at a poor, silly fool that has
escaped from the asylum, and imagines, perhaps, he's Father Adam in the
woods," he complained.
At which remark the others had another burst of laughter. Frank looked
at Jerry, made a gesture with his head, and placed his finger on his
lips to indicate silence, upon seeing which, Jerry nodded and grinned.
"Tell us about your experiences, will you?" asked Bluff.
"Only a few words. The rest will have to keep until we're settled around
the fire in camp," returned Jerry.
"But we have no camp, now," retorted Bluff.
"What's happened? Did those criminals burn you out, boys?" asked the
other, with clenched hands; for he had a few things he prized among the
traps they had carried along with them, and the loss of which would be
deeply regretted.
"No, but we decided that while off hunting for you we couldn't leave
Will there alone; so we dug up stakes, piled the 'duffle' in the canoes,
and he's off somewhere on the lake waiting a signal to land again,"
remarked Frank.
"Great scheme. I can guess in whose brain it originated. But you don't
know how bully it is to see you again, fellows. Hang it, if it doesn't
seem like a month since I saw you last. And as to feed, I've just had a
few things pushed into my mouth as if I were a bird in a nest. I'm just
longing for a decent meal again."
"What happened while I was examining that Indian mound?" asked Frank.
"I was dozing when something landed like a thousand of brick on my
chest. For the life of me I couldn't say a single word. I guess I must
have fainted, though perhaps I ought to be ashamed to admit it. Next
thing I knew I was being toted off on the shoulders of the big tramp, a
fellow called Biffins, who, I expect must be a yeggman, because he
seemed to know all about blowing open safes in country stores, and such
things," went on Jerry.
"Just to think of it, and carrying you on his shoulders like a log!"
palpitated Bluff, listening with eagerness to these disclosures.
"They fetched me here to this cabin, and kept me tied up part of the
time. That night was a long horror to me. Sometimes they were in with
me, and again off somewhere. In the morning I saw that they had made a
raise of some provisions, and it was then they fed me like a baby."
"But you got your hands free after a while, didn't you?" asked Bluff,
too anxious to wait until the other reached this point.
"To be sure, and commenced that tunnel. You see, the hole in the wall
was too small to crawl through, and they were in the other room where
the door lay. When I caught hold of a hand I seemed to guess instantly
that it must belong to one of you fellows, and then the signal squeeze
told me so. Biffins caught me just then, and threw me aside. They filled
up the hole and drove some stakes down alongside so I couldn't tunnel
any more. After that I thought of the old roof, for it was full of
holes. So I climbed up and got out that way."
Jerry showed by his actions that he did not wish to talk any longer on
the score of his adventures. He kept looking toward the cabin
suggestively.
"What do we do now, fellows? Want to trek back to the shore and leave
these two in peace?" he asked.
"Not for me," answered Bluff, readily enough; "I say that after the way
they held you a prisoner it's our duty to turn the tables on the
rascals. We've got 'em in a hole, and all we have to do is to wait until
Mr. Dodd comes."
Jerry glanced inquiringly toward Frank.
"Yes, we heard whistles a bit ago, and imagine the posse must have
landed. If we could only communicate with them in some way now, and get
them to come here, we might hold the fort meanwhile."
Frank looked at Tom Somers as he spoke. The other could not mistake his
meaning.
"Oh! I'll go, all right, if so be you write a little note to the
sheriff. Him an' me ain't on the best terms, I reckon," grinned that
worthy.
"Done. Got a pencil with you, Bluff--mine seems to have disappeared."
The pencil being forthcoming, Frank dashed off a few lines to Mr. Dodd,
and signed his name.
"Sure you can get to the beach, Tom?" he asked.
"Easy as fallin' off a log. I'm off, then, fellers."
Saying which, Tom entered the bush, and disappeared from view.
"Now, what is the programme?" asked Bluff.
"Wasn't that a boat whistle again? It seemed to come from another
quarter, too?" remarked Frank.
"I heard it, all right. Perhaps the tug is circling the island so as to
make sure the thieves get no chance to make off," suggested Jerry.
"You're right, that is just what their programme must be. Meanwhile
they've landed the posse to search the whole place over. I hope Tom
meets up with them in good time," continued Frank, earnestly.
"There's somebody shouting in the woods," remarked Bluff.
"Oh! that's the Peters tribe trying to get together again. Reminds me of
a covey of quail that has been flushed and scattered, calling to each
other from the brush," laughed Frank.
"Will they come back here again?" Bluff continued.
The others exchanged looks, and chuckles followed.
"Talk to me about your sprinters, I don't think you could hire any one
of those same chaps to come within fifty yards of this place after the
scare they got!" exclaimed Jerry.
"And the dose of hot water in the bargain. My! but they must feel sore!
I saw several bang headlong into trees as they galloped away. There will
be some lumps as big as goose-eggs among that crowd to-night. And, after
all, they don't get even a look-in on that prize money," chuckled Bluff.
"I've got a proposition, fellows. If the reward should happen to come
our way I move we turn it over to Tom Somers. His family is poor, and
perhaps this may be the turning point in Tom's life, who knows?" said
Frank.
"Hear! hear! Them's my sentiments!" cried the impulsive Bluff.
"Ditto," echoed Jerry; for since they all belonged to families of wealth
the promise of a reward held no attraction for Frank and his chums.
"But perhaps if we simply hold these chaps where they are the sheriff
may claim he did the bagging of the game; how about that?" asked Bluff.
"You mean we ought to try and make them surrender to us?"
"If it could be done. I've got an idea in my head. You'll say it isn't
original, and perhaps the trick they were going to play may have had
something to do with it. But suppose they made a sneak while we talked
here and left us to hold the bag?"
"No danger of that, Bluff, while we keep a watch on the door. Presently
we can circle around the old rookery and make sure that they don't take
up your plan of tunneling out. Jerry, I'm going to keep an eye on this
tree with the hole in it. If our friend, the wild man, ventures forth,
it shall be my pleasant task to hold him up. What do you say?"
Bluff looked at Frank as he made this remark, with uneasiness in his
eyes.
"Seems to me you ain't afraid of anything, Frank. That crazy man gets on
my nerves, and I don't think I could stand for a tussle with him at
close quarters. Better be careful how you let him get hold of you. They
say these lunatics are just as strong as grizzly bears, and this one
must be, to see the way he swung about in that tree like a big ape. Ugh!
Excuse me!"
Bluff shuddered as he spoke, and consequently did not see the look that
passed between his two chums, and which was more of amusement than
concern.