READING A "SIGN" BY TORCHLIGHT
Of course it gave the leader of the Wolf patrol a thrill when he
heard this low warning from Ralph. You never would have known it,
though, from any uneasy movement on his part.
He knew that the boy who had spent so much of his time in the woods,
trapping the cunning little furry inhabitants in seasons gone by,
would not alarm him needlessly. And so, watching his chance, Hugh
managed to shoot a glance toward the opening without betraying the
fact that he was particularly interested in that quarter.
As he did so, he was just in time to see a face vanish from view.
In fact, he barely caught a fleeting glimpse of it, and yet Hugh felt
perfectly sure that he had not alarmed the watcher in any way.
The cause of the unknown party's sudden withdrawal was speedily made
plain. Bud seemed to be gasping, and immediately whispered hoarsely:
"Great guns! did you see that, fellows? As sure as my name's Bud
Morgan there was a man peeking in at the window there! Honest Injun,
there was!"
Undoubtedly the unknown visitor must have discovered Bud staring
straight at him, and thought it high time to disappear.
"Yes, we both saw him, Bud," said Hugh, rather disappointed that, after
all, the fellow had been chased away before they could find out his
identity or what he wanted, prowling around in such a suspicious way.
"Who in the dickens was it?" exclaimed Bud, evidently growing angry
now that his astonishment had worn away. "The nerve of him, poking
his nose in where it isn't wanted! Why don't we get a move on and
chase after him? Ralph, remember that you've got your scatter-gun
handy. Don't forget to take that, will you?"
"Did you recognize that face, Ralph?" asked the practical scout leader,
turning to the young trapper of the past.
"I think---yes, I'm nearly dead sure it was one of the two men I saw
acting in such a suspicious way this afternoon," came the answer.
"Which one, would you say?" continued Hugh.
"The taller one," came from Ralph without hesitation. "I think you
said he looked a little like the German type, wasn't that about it,
Ralph?"
"Yes, that was what I believed at the time I saw him," replied the
other.
He had already stepped over and picked up his gun. There was a
gleam in his eyes that told of a spirit aroused. Ralph had become
a scout and was to the best of his ability trying to live up to the
duties of one belonging to the organization; but of course there were
times when the old spirit would come to the surface. The present
occasion was one of these moments.
"Let's go outside and look around," Hugh suggested.
"Bully idea!" muttered the impatient Bud; and having no gun to grasp,
he made a lunge for the stout stick which Ralph had been using as a
sort of poker when the fire needed attention.
Hugh did something still more practical. He stooped down and calmly
selected a certain blazing brand from the fire. This was of such a
nature that when properly handled it could be made to serve as a
pretty fair torch.
When Bud saw what the patrol leader was doing, he grunted and
nodded his head as though comprehending things. Bud always could
"see through a mill-stone that had a hole in it," as he was accustomed
to say; in so many words, he was quick to grasp things after some
smarter fellow had blazed the way. A "hint was as good as a nod"
to Bud.
"Fine thing, Hugh!" he commented admiringly. He realized how valuable
such a light might prove under the circumstances.
Ralph removed the piece of board that served to hold the door shut,
and boldly led the way outside. The others pressed closely at his
heels, Hugh holding the spluttering torch above his head and Bud
gripping his club with the full intention of using it should the
occasion warrant such action.
All was dark and still without. The night wind moaned in the branches
of the trees where the leaves had fallen, or rustled the brown foliage
of the oaks; but they could see no hostile form.
"Oh! he skipped out, all right, sure he did!" declared Bud, with
something like a sneer in his voice. "He knew I had glimpsed him,
and he didn't have the nerve to hold over and meet us face to face.
Wonder if it would make him run any faster if you banged away a
couple of times with your gun, Ralph?"
The idea did not seem to appeal to Ralph, however, for he made not
the slightest effort to act upon it. Standing there, he stared around
at the gloomy woods and waited to see what Hugh would so.
The latter had also taken a fair survey of the singular picture as
seen by the weird light of the torch. Presently he stepped forward
and turned the corner of the shack. Ralph followed him closely,
while Bud, still holding his cudgel in an aggressive manner, posted
himself at the corner, where he could not only watch what the other
fellows did but at the same time keep an eye on the door. He did
not mean to leave the way open for anybody to sneak into the shack
while their attention was directed elsewhere,---not if he knew his
duty, and he believed he did.
Now Hugh, being an experienced scout, first of all thought to make
sure that they had really been spied upon. This he knew could be
readily ascertained by examining the ground under the opening called
a window. Men can hardly stand on ordinary soil without leaving
some sort of impression there. And those boys who have spent many
a vacation in the woods, studying Indian tactics as applied to the
life of a scout, know how to read such signs almost as easily as
they might the printed page of a book.
Bending down therefore at the suspected spot, Hugh quickly pointed out
the imprint of feet to Ralph.
"That proves it!" exclaimed the other as he flung a hasty glance over
his shoulder, apparently half suspecting that the object of their
conversation might suddenly burst upon his vision.
"Yes, it's easy to see he was standing here after creeping on his
hands and knees," Hugh remarked, still studying the marks. "And
he's wearing a pretty fine pair of modern shoes into the bargain;
which shows that the men you saw were _not_ tramps. At the same
time, Ralph, I can't believe they were timber-cruisers, either,
looking for new belts of forest that could be bought up. Whenever
I've seen one of those men, he wore laced hunting shoes that came
half way to the knee, so as to protect his legs against snake-bites
and thorns while pushing through the scrub. No, this man has rather
a dainty foot, and it strikes me as mighty queer he should be
wandering around here."
"What are we going to do next?" asked Ralph, looking as though he
stood ready to carry out any suggestion Hugh might make, even to
chasing around and trying to follow the trail of the fleeing spy.
"Nothing, that I can see," answered Hugh; "and so let's go in again.
We can talk it over better there than out here, you know."
Two minutes later and they were once more indoors. Seated before
the fire, they canvassed the matter thoroughly. From every angle
they tried to penetrate the mystery, but it seemed to baffle them.
"I had an experience once that makes me sort of think they may be
keepers from some asylum looking for an escaped lunatic," Hugh
finally remarked; "though if that were the case, they'd be apt to
wear some sort of gray uniform, and you didn't say anything about
that, Ralph."
"Yes," added the other, quickly, "but if that's what they were, why
should they act so queer? Wouldn't two such men want to scrape an
acquaintance with us scouts, so as to get a few pointers? I don't
think that covers the bill, Hugh."
"And I didn't, either, when I spoke of it," the patrol leader said,
as he smiled and nodded his head. "But perhaps Bud may set us right.
I can see from the look on his face that he has a brilliant idea."
"Oh, shucks! I don't know how brilliant it is," the party mentioned
hastened to remark, "but you're welcome to my thought. Suppose there
happened to be some desperate men hiding up here in these woods, say
counterfeiters, for instance? I've heard that such fellows always
try to pick a lonely place to do their work in. Well, the Government
always sends out smart men belonging to the Secret Service to round
these chaps up. I was speculating on whether those two strangers
Ralph saw mightn't be detectives. I reckon they looked as if they
wanted to detect, all right; and let me tell you, p'raps we're
under the ban of suspicion right now."
Bud ended his remarks in a rather awed voice, but neither of the others
seemed to be at all worried. Indeed, Hugh chuckled as though amused.
"It may be that you've guessed the right answer, Bud," he said, "but
all the same I don't believe it. There's something deeper about
those men than that. And unless I miss my guess, we'll find in the
end, if we learn anything at all, that they've got some sort of
connection with that queer flash and crash that gave us such a scare
earlier in the night."
Bud stared at Hugh on hearing this.
"Whee! do you really think so, Hugh?" he muttered, as though trying
to grasp what all this might stand for, and yet hardly able to
comprehend its full significance.
After all their talk, however, they were really no nearer a solution
of the matter in the end than when they started to discuss it. Hugh
said they would have to wait and see what turned up next, before
settling on any one explanation and both the other scouts agreed
with him.
So they finally prepared to lie down and get what sleep was possible,
which under the conditions could hardly be expected to amount to a
great deal.
Their blankets were folded in such fashion as to give them the best
results. This wrinkle they had learned in the field of practical
experience, than which there is no better guide. Theory is all very
well, but the book-taught scout has a great many ideas to change
when he gets out into the open, with the stars shining down on him
from the blue vault of heaven and the voices of Nature surrounding
him on every side, instead of the bare ceiling and walls of his
bedroom at home.
That night certainly dragged along fearfully. Every now and then one
of the boys would turn over and grunt, or else raise his head to look
around him at the flickering light of the fire on the walls of the
lonely woods' shack.
As many as six times did Hugh crawl out from the warm folds of his
blanket to replenish the fire, for the night air was chill; and after
one has slept, his body is apt to feel cold, as the heart beats
less rapidly, and the blood circulates with more difficulty.
But thank goodness, these things must all have an end, and Bud heaved
a sigh of profound thanksgiving when finally he saw signs of dawn
appear through the open window.
"Day's coming on, and we're all on deck with nothing gone wrong!" he
observed loud enough for the others to hear him. This chanced to be
one of Bud's ways of informing his chums that he thought it high
time they turned out for "reveille."
As there was no use in trying to sleep any longer with the anxious Bud
on deck, since this was to be looked upon as his particular day, Hugh
and Ralph followed the other's example, and were soon hustling out to
wash in water that nearly froze their fingers it was so cold.
The sun was nearing the horizon, and from all indications it promised
to be just such a day as the one before had proved; which fact
delighted Bud immensely.
"Because," he explained after giving an exhibition of a Highland Fling
to allow some of his pent-up enthusiasm to escape, "this is the day
a Morgan is going to win fame or else make the grandest foozle you
ever saw."