A TIME FOR QUICK ACTION
"What would he want to play ghost for, Frank?" asked Jerry presently.
"Give it up. There might be one of a dozen reasons. You know the old
story about Columbus and the egg, and how easy it seemed to stand it on
end after being shown? Well, this is something the same. I've no doubt
that after we learn all about the matter, if we ever do, all of us will
say, 'how easy,' just as those Spanish grandees did at the court of
Philip."
"Mention one or two reasons, then, just to push me along," urged Jerry.
"Well, perhaps he may fear that a search will be made up here for him,
and wants to frighten people away. I forgot to tell you that the account
says Thaddeus Lasher was once an actor of no mean merit," remarked
Frank.
"Say, now, that kind of fits in real well, don't it? Who but an actor
would ever think of playing ghost up here in this lonely region? But
somehow I seem to feel that there must be a deeper reason than that for
it all."
"I do, too, Jerry; but the truth is, I don't seem able to get hold of
it. All the while I feel as if it might be just there beyond my reach,
and I keep stretching out my hands without finding a grip. But it'll
come, sooner or later."
"Yes; they say everything does to the one who waits long enough. What if
we run across Andy again?" queried Jerry.
"All right. We'll treat him just as though we never suspected a thing."
"Then you won't think of putting him on the rack?"
"Certainly not. What business is it of ours what he is doing up here? We
can guess all we like, but if that convict is hiding here for any
reason, let the authorities catch him. I'd hate to think that I'd been
the means of sending any poor wretch back to such a life. And remember,
he may have been innocent, after all, so that all these years he was
suffering for something he never did."
"Frank, I guess you're right; you nearly always are. Look at Bluff
swimming like a duck out there! I heard him say the water was colder
than our lake."
"I should think it would be. This mountain lake is fed by springs, and
even in the dog days I imagine it would feel delightfully cool for
swimming. I hope Bluff doesn't go out too far. Sometimes a fellow is apt
to catch a cramp when plunging into one of these cold bodies of water."
"But he didn't plunge in. I watched him, and he just waded out, Frank."
"So much the worse, then, for in that way one drives the warm blood up
from the extremities suddenly, and there is always more danger of
cramps. Always take a header into the water first. It's the safest way.
Hi, Bluff!" he called, elevating his voice.
"Hello! What do you want, Frank?" asked the swimmer, who was spurting
water out some twenty yards from the shore, and seemingly enjoying
himself hugely.
"I wouldn't go out any further. I don't believe it's safe," called
Frank.
"Oh, bosh! There isn't any ghost out here. I'll guarantee to drown the
first one that bobs up. Give you my word on it."
He vanished under the water, and presently came up again, snorting and
puffing.
"How deep?" demanded Will, who was also watching, as if in doubt whether
to go in or not.
"Ten feet or so out here. Looks like it might be a hundred out in the
middle. Gee! but it's cold, fellows! Like you were taking a turn in an
ice bath."
"Better come in closer," advised Frank uneasily.
"Will soon," grunted Bluff, who could be stubborn when he liked.
So Frank sat down again, though occasionally, as he and Jerry talked on,
he kept casting glances out toward the spot where the venturesome bather
was disporting himself like some aquatic animal.
"An idea came to me just now," remarked Jerry, who could not get his
mind off the subject that had been holding their attention at the time
Frank spoke to Bluff.
"Suppose you pass it along, then?" smiled his chum.
"There may be something up in these mountains that Thaddeus Lasher
wants, and he doesn't feel like allowing others to get in on the
discovery."
Frank shook his head, as he said:
"Possible, but hardly probable. Put all such notions as a discovery of
gold in the rocks or sand out of your head. There isn't any formation to
make that even a gambler's chance; and I think the same would apply as
to an oil discovery. Men once looked this field over carefully, and
pronounced against any hope of that."
"But you have an idea, you said?" suggested Jerry insinuatingly.
"I'm not going to mention that one just yet. But I don't mind telling
you what came into my mind at first, as the most probable thing,"
replied Frank.
"I suppose I'll have to be satisfied with that, then," grumbled Jerry.
"It isn't at all to the credit of either Thaddeus Lasher or Andy, and
let me say right here that I take very little stock in it now."
"But tell me, anyhow, Frank," persisted Jerry.
"Supposing that the escaped convict felt that everybody's hand was
raised against him, and that from this time on he must fight the world
as a crooked man? In such a case he would be apt to feel that since he
had the name he might as well have the game."
"I'm following you, and I must say you put the case just as well as
Bluff could do, with all his dad's lawyer blood backing him up. Go on,
Frank. This thing is mighty interesting to me, I tell you."
"Supposing the hunted man did feel that way, he might be tempted to
start up in some unlawful business here in the quiet of the hills back
of Oak Ridge. The only thing that occurs to me would, of course, be
counterfeiting," said Frank.
"Had he been accused of that before?"
"Oh, no; or he would have been punished by the United States authorities
rather than those of the State. But you know men in prison learn many
bad things they never knew before going there. Somehow they seem eager
to learn what every old lawbreaker has to tell, in secret. I've been
told that, anyway, and believe it. So Thaddeus Lasher might have learned
about counterfeiting while in prison."
"Follow up that idea still further, Frank. I've been reading the 'Count
of Monte Cristo,' by Dumas, lately, and that gives me an idea. Perhaps
Thaddeus found a chance to do something for one of the prisoners while
there. That rascal, in return, may have told him where he had buried his
tools for making money, and up here in these hills, too!" exclaimed
Jerry eagerly.
Frank laughed at the conceit.
"Say, you are a great fellow for leaping to conclusions, and yet, when
you come to examine the thing closer, it doesn't seem so very
far-fetched, either. Such a thing has happened before Dumas ever wrote
his immortal story, and I suppose it will come about a good many more
times," he remarked.
"All right. If, in the end, it proves to be something like that, don't
forget, will you, Frank, that I guessed it. Ordinarily, I'm not a very
good hand at solving riddles, and it would about tickle me to death if
by chance I had hit on the answer to the thing that's bothering us now."
"I'll give you all the credit, my boy, depend on that," laughed Frank.
"But I hope it won't turn out to be anything nearly so serious as that,"
continued Jerry, loyal to his belief in Andy's reformation.
"Ditto. After all, there's a good chance that it may be something that
will surprise us. But enough of that for the present, Jerry. Let's turn
to what concerns us more closely. There's Jed keeping up a fine fire,
and Bluff has his stew of bear meat cooking nicely while he flounders in
the water. If only Adolphus would show up now we'd feel prime."
"I thought I heard a distant shout just then, but it may have been only
the crows scolding over there in that dead tree. Hark! There it came
again!"
"Yes, I caught it that time. Adolphus is coming, all right. I'd know his
whoop among a thousand. He can never drive, it seems, without talking
to his horses; and when he wants them to put on an extra spurt he
shouts. That's him, sure," declared Frank, rising to his feet.
"Look at Bluff! How queer he is acting, Frank!"
Frank was startled by these words. He whirled around, all the smile gone
from his face, for he had been half expecting something of this sort for
quite some little time.
Bluff was indeed acting queerly. He seemed to be in distress, and yet
his very obstinacy kept him from calling out for help. He was trying to
swim, and at the same time kept doubling up, as though in agony. At such
times his head would bob under the water for a second or two.
"He's got a cramp!" cried Frank, instantly recognizing the signs.
"And we have no boat!" exclaimed Jerry, wringing his hands.
Frank was already hurling off some of his clothes. His shoes flew, one
to the right and the other to the left, as though torn from his feet.
"What can we do, Frank?" cried Will, standing there.
"Form a chain, and wade in as far as you can stand; no further. Leave
the rest to me," Frank answered.
Even as he was saying the last word he ran straight for the bank of the
lake. The other boys, watching in stunned surprise, saw him give one
leap from the shore, strike the water, and vanish from view.
"Quick, fellows! We must do what he said!" cried Jerry, tearing off his
shoes and wading in, without thinking of removing his clothes.