BACK IN CAMP
"What's this you are saying, Link?" demanded Phil, who had overheard the
conversation just recorded. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself to talk
that way. Just because Dave spent part of his life in the poorhouse
after he was stolen away from his parents is no reason why you should
speak as you do."
"And that isn't the reason why I am talking this way," retorted the
prisoner. "I've got another reason, and Dave Porter will find out what
it is before very long."
"You just said that I was not Dave Porter," remarked our hero. "What do
you mean by that?"
"Never mind what I mean; you'll find out sooner or later," answered
Link, with an expression of cunning on his countenance.
"Oh, don't listen to him!" broke in Roger; "he is only trying to worry
you, Dave. Let us get back to the bungalows and tell Mr. Wadsworth about
this capture."
"I'm not going back with you," retorted Link Merwell. And now, with his
hands tied behind him, he made a leap over the rocks in the direction of
the woods.
The sudden movement on the part of the prisoner, surrounded as he was by
all of the boys, came somewhat as a surprise. But Dave, Roger and Phil
were quick to recover, and away they bounded in pursuit of the fleeing
one.
Terror lent speed to Link Merwell's feet, and soon he gained the edge of
the growth, which at this point was quite heavy.
"Hurry up or he'll hide himself!" called Dave, who was in advance of his
chums.
The runaway might have made good his escape had it not been for the fact
that his hands were so tightly bound behind him. As he dashed between
the first of the trees, his foot caught on an outcropping root. Unable
to throw out his hands to save himself, he came down heavily, striking
his forehead on another tree root.
"I've got him, come on!" cried Dave, and in a few seconds more was
beside the fallen one. To his surprise Link Merwell lay motionless.
"Collar him! don't let him get away again!" yelled Roger, as he came up
with Phil beside him.
"I think he hurt himself when he fell," answered our hero. "How about
it, Link?" and he bent over his enemy as he asked the question.
There was no reply, and getting down on their knees, the three boys
raised Link Merwell up and turned him over. He was unconscious, and the
blood was flowing from a cut on his left temple.
[Illustration: "YOU JUST SAID THAT I WAS NOT DAVE PORTER," REMARKED
OUR HERO. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?"--_Page 201._]
"He came down pretty hard, I imagine," said Dave. "Let us carry him down
to the brook."
Not without some difficulty, the three lads raised the unconscious form
and carried it toward the brook, meeting the other boys on the way.
"Hello! what did you do; sock him one?" queried Luke.
"No, he fell, and as he couldn't use his hands he hit his head on a tree
root," answered Dave. "Get a little water, somebody, and we'll see if we
can revive him."
The water was soon brought, and with this they washed off the wound,
after which they bound up Link Merwell's head with several
handkerchiefs. The sufferer groaned and gasped several times, and
finally opened and closed his eyes.
"Say, he may be hurt worse than we think," remarked Roger, gravely.
"I guess he ought to have a doctor," added Dave. "But where to get one
around here I don't know. I don't believe there is one at Carpen Falls."
"I know there isn't, because I heard my mother asking about it," added
Ben. "But I think we ought to get him down to the bungalows."
All of the boys were agreed that this was the best thing to do, and so,
after putting up their fishing outfit, they began the return to the lake
shore, taking turns at carrying the unconscious youth.
"O dear! who is hurt?" cried Laura, as she saw the party approaching.
"It's Link Merwell," answered her brother. "Call Mr. Wadsworth; will
you?"
"Oh, Dave! so you've caught him; have you?" cried Jessie, while Laura
ran off on her errand. "Did you have a fight?"
"Not much of a one, Jessie. He got hurt through a fall."
"What a very foolish boy he has been!" was Belle's comment. "But I think
his father is partly to blame. He always allowed Link to do as he
pleased on the ranch, and when Link went to the city he always gave him
more spending money than was good for him, at least, so my father said."
"It was up to Link to do the square thing on his own account," broke in
Roger. "He had all the chance in the world to make a man of himself. But
he preferred the company of fellows like Jasniff. And this is the
result."
Mr. Wadsworth was in his bungalow writing a letter. He was surprised and
gratified at the news brought by Laura, and quickly followed her
outside. A little later Mrs. Wadsworth and Mrs. Basswood joined the
group. The boys had unbound Link, and now they placed him on a large
hammock with a comfortable pillow under his head. As the jewelry
manufacturer approached, the sufferer opened his eyes and then struggled
to sit up.
"Hello! I guess he isn't hurt as much as we thought," remarked Shadow,
in a low tone.
"Maybe he's only playing 'possum," was Luke's comment.
"No, he was hurt, that's sure; the cut on his forehead shows it,"
answered Dave.
"Well, Merwell, so they have caught you; have they?" began Mr.
Wadsworth, as he stepped up in front of the youth. "I thought we would
get you sooner or later."
"I--I can't talk to you no-now," faltered the prisoner.
"I don't think it will be necessary to do much talking, Merwell," went
on the jewelry manufacturer. "We can do our talking later--possibly in
the police court."
"All right, have your own way about it," growled the prisoner. "You've
got me and I'm down and out, so you can do your worst." And with this he
rolled over on the hammock once more and again closed his eyes.
"Talk about nerve!" whispered Ben. "Doesn't that take the cake!"
"I'd like to know whether he is really hurt so much, or only shamming,"
added Phil. "He always was a sly one."
"Tell me how you came to capture him," said Mr. Wadsworth.
Thereupon Dave and Phil related how they had gone up the brook to the
vicinity of the cliff, and there heard the words between Link and the
so-called wild man.
"O dear! is that awful creature around here again?" cried Jessie.
"Yes," answered Dave. "And I wish he would keep away."
Then Dave and Phil related how Link Merwell had plunged over the cliff
and had been made a prisoner, and then how, later on, he had tried to
escape, struck his head on the tree root, and how all of the boys had
brought him to the bungalows.
"I am glad he didn't get away from you," said Oliver Wadsworth. "I think
he ought to be in prison to keep Jasniff company."
"How will you get him to jail?" questioned Phil.
"I don't know what we can do except to march him down to Carpen Falls.
But we can't do that to-day, for he seems too weak. Perhaps we can take
him down there to-morrow, or else some of us can go down and get an
officer to come up here and take charge of him."
The matter was talked over at some length, and it was finally decided
that nothing more should be done that day. Link Merwell did not join in
the discussion, nor even open his eyes to look at them. But by close
observation, Dave became satisfied that the prisoner was listening
intently to every word that was said.
"What will you do with him to-night?" asked Roger.
"We might lock him up in one of the rooms in the bungalow," suggested
Dave.
"I don't think we'll give up one of our rooms to that fellow!" put in
Mr. Wadsworth. "I think a bunk in the woodshed will be plenty good
enough for him."
"Oh, Pa, wouldn't that be rather hard on him?" questioned Jessie, who
did not want to see even a rascal like Merwell suffer physical
discomfort.
"I dare say he has been putting up with worse than that in the woods
here and while he was on Cave Island and in the far West," returned her
father. "We'll place an old couch and some blankets in a corner of the
shed, and that will be plenty good enough for him."
"But somebody will have to watch him," answered Dave. "I'll do it if you
want me to."
"That wouldn't be quite fair, Dave," broke in Phil. "If he has got to be
watched, let us take turns at doing it."
"We might bind him fast to the cot," suggested Mr. Wadsworth.
"He's so slick I'd be afraid to risk that," answered Dave. "I'll not
mind staying up watching him."
"Let us all take a hand at it," broke in Ben. "Every fellow can go on
guard-duty for two hours, and call the next fellow." And so, after a
little discussion, the matter was arranged.
"I suppose I'm not to have anything to eat?" grumbled Link Merwell, a
little later, when they were arranging to place him in the woodshed,
which was a small lean-to of the Wadsworth bungalow. This place was used
for the storage of firewood, but just now was almost empty.
"Oh, yes, we'll see to it that you get something to eat," answered Mrs.
Wadsworth, quickly.
"I haven't had a square meal for twenty-four hours," went on the
prisoner.
"Give him all he wants, but nothing fancy," said Mr. Wadsworth. "He
deserves nothing but the plainest kind of victuals."
"Where have you kept yourself since you ran away from Mr. Appleby's
camp?" questioned Phil, curiously.
"Oh, I just roamed around in the woods," was the somewhat sullen answer.
"Did you meet that wild man more than once?" questioned Roger.
"No. If it hadn't been for that fellow, whoever he is, you wouldn't have
caught me," added Link, bitterly.
"I wonder what the Pooles will do when Mr. Basswood tells them what we
think, that it is Mr. Wilbur Poole," came from Dave. "Perhaps they will
send some of the sanitarium authorities up to try to catch him."
"I hope they do catch him!" came from Jessie. "I'll never feel safe as
long as that man is at large."