RECONNOITERING
The small guide steered the boat into the mouth of a tiny creek as
skillfully as if it had been noonday, and when her bow grounded
motioned for Jet to step ashore.
Then he followed the example and hauled her farther up to prevent any
possibility of the craft's drifting away, after which he stood
motionless as if awaiting orders.
"How far from here do you count on camping?" Jet asked, in a cautious
whisper.
"A short bit straight back is a thick clump of cedars. We could stay
there a month without being seen, no matter how many people might come
on the lake."
"Take hold of the fellow's feet, and I'll carry his head. He'd better
be taken care of first."
Jim obeyed, and thus loaded down led the way to the place he had
described.
It was, indeed, just such a spot as Jet would have asked for.
The cedars, with their branches growing to the very ground, covered
about fifty square feet of space, and through the center of this
apparently impenetrable thickness ran the stream at whose mouth the
boat had been brought.
It would not have been possible to put up a decently-sized shanty,
because the trees were so near together; but there was ample
opportunity for a hundred boys to find comfortable places in which to
sleep, and the foliage would shelter them sufficiently well except in
case of a rainstorm.
Although it hardly seemed necessary, Jet insisted that the prisoner
should be made fast to one of the trees in a sitting posture, and not
until this had been done was the balance of the work attended to.
First the provisions were carried into the natural camp, and stored in
the center, then the other goods were cared for in the same manner, and
nothing but the boat remained to mark their landing.
"It's goin' to be a hard job; but she's got to come here too," Jim
said, when they stopped for a moment to rest.
"Do you think we can do it?"
"Oh, yes, she isn't so heavy but that we could take her around a carry,
and I reckon it's to be done here."
"How long before the moon rises?"
"Somewhere about midnight."
"Then suppose we try to find out for certain if those camping on Dollar
Island are the ones we want to keep in sight?"
"I'm willing if you say the word."
"Then come on. That fellow is safe enough, and we shall be just so
much farther ahead with our work."
Jim led the way back to the boat, removed his shoes and stockings as a
precaution against making a noise, Jet doing the same, and the two
started, with the small guide paddling instead of rowing.
The faint glimmer of light served as a beacon, and toward it they
advanced slowly until the boat's bow struck the shore.
Jim motioned for his companion to help him pull her up, and then stole
through the woods as noiselessly as a shadow.
The gloom was so dense that it was necessary Jet should hold on to the
leader's coat, otherwise they would speedily have been separated, and a
watcher ten feet away could not have said a human being was passing.
Thanks to the fire-light, it was not a difficult matter for the two to
go straight to the camp, and in a comparatively short time they were
where it was possible not only to see the occupants, but to hear
everything which was said.
Jet's spirits rose very high as he recognized the two he had followed
so long, and now all previous discomforts and suffering were forgotten
in the knowledge that he was once more carrying out Harvey's
instructions to the letter.
The men had built quite a comfortable looking hut in the center of the
island, where it would not be seen from the water, and near by was the
boat, turned bottom-up as if they did not expect to use her for some
time.
The fact that they allowed themselves a camp-fire at a time when it
could be distinguished from a distance was probably owing to the fact
that visitors seldom visited this particular lake after dark, since the
absence of deer in the vicinity prevented hunters from scouring the
banks with a jack light.
Both were ready for trouble, however, as could be told by the guns
stacked within reach while they smoked and drank in front of the cheery
blaze, and Jet was forced to admit to himself that these men could not
be made prisoners with as much ease as in case of the other.
For some time the boys watched in silence, mentally jotting down all
the details of the camp for future reference, and then Sam said, with a
yawn:
"This is what I call mighty dull sport."
"It ain't very lively, for a fact; but I reckon it's way ahead of what
poor Joe's having."
"If it's so bad now what will it be in another week? I don't think I
can stand it very long."
"There's nothin' to prevent your goin' any time you get ready; but here
I stay for quite a spell."
"What about more liquor an' grub?"
"There won't be any trouble in getting all we want as long as the money
holds out."
"And by fall you'll have bark on your back."
"Better that than a striped coat. It isn't so bad as you make out,
though. We can move our camp whenever we feel like a change, an' then
there's plenty of fishin' an' sich like that the swells call sport."
Sam's only reply was another prolonged yawn as he stretched himself out
at full length, and Bob replenished the fire without moving from his
seat.
Jet understood that it was time for them to take their departure.
When the men got ready to turn in for the night, one or the other might
take a fancy to have a look around to make sure they had no unwelcome
visitors, in which case the spies would be discovered.
Motioning Jim to follow his example, he started toward the shore,
moving at a snail's pace to prevent a noisy disturbance among the
foliage, and not until they were in the boat once more paddling toward
the opposite bank did he feel at liberty to draw a long breath.
Arriving at the point from which they started, Jim insisted on carrying
the boat to the clump of cedars, and this required so much time and
labor that it was nearly midnight before they could seek the
well-earned rest.
Even then Jet took pity on the prisoner, and removed the gag
sufficiently long to give him food and water, the small guide standing
over him with the cocked revolver, lest he should make an outcry.
"What are you boys countin' on doin' with me?" he asked, when his
hunger and thirst had been appeased.
"Deliver you to the officers in a day or two."
"Am I to be kept trussed up in this fashion until then?"
"It's pretty rough, I know; but there's no other way out of it. You'd
treat us the same or worse if the tables were turned, and we're bound
to take care of ourselves."
"I don't reckon it would do any good if I was to swear I wouldn't so
much as yip?"
"Not a bit, for we shouldn't dare run the risk you would break your
word."
The prisoner had nothing more to say; but obligingly held his mouth
open so that Jet might replace the gag, and after this had been done
the boys wrapped themselves in their blankets, lying down in the
softest spot they could find.
"How are we ever goin' to get the best of them fellers?" Jim whispered
when they were ready to go to sleep.
"I don't know; but we must cook up some kind of a plan."
"Don't you think it would be better to send for the officers, an' let
them do the job?"
"I'm afraid the fellows will make another move before anybody could get
here. You heard what Sam said, and it shows he is so discontented that
he'll be insisting on breaking camp very soon, unless he turns his back
on this place entirely."
"That's all right enough; but at the same time I don't see that we can
do anything without somebody to help us," Jim said, with a sigh, and
then he rolled over as if determined not to rack his brain with the
perplexing subject any longer.
Neither of the boys slept very soundly on this night. The fact of the
prisoner in their midst, and the problem which they must solve shortly,
prevented that feeling of restfulness which is necessary for profound
slumber.
The sun had not yet risen when Jet awakened, shook Jim into
consciousness, and made his toilet in the tiny stream which wound its
way through the camp.
"We'll feed the prisoner the first thing, and then keep watch of the
island," Jet proposed, and this task was performed as quickly as
possible, neither captive nor jailors indulging in conversation during
the operation.
There was to be no cooking, and the boys carried as much food as they
thought would afford them a hearty meal to the edge of the water, they
crouching behind the bushes with their gaze centered on the spot where
they knew the camp to be located.
"Have you thought of anything?" Jim asked, while they were eating the
not very palatable meal.
Jet shook his head despairingly.
Half an hour passed, and neither spoke.
Then both started as if electrified, for they saw both the men
approaching the shore of the island nearest the main land.
"They heard us last night, and are comin' over here to see who has
come," Jim whispered, his face growing pale.
It certainly looked as if he had guessed correctly, and Jet drew his
revolver.
The men were carrying the boat between them, and on reaching the water
launched it.
The distance was not so great but that a conversation carried on in an
ordinary tone could be distinguished from one shore to the other, and
the first words spoken by the fellows caused the greatest relief.
"Now, don't fool your time away up there," Bob said, sharply, as Sam
took his seat in the boat and pushed her off.
"Why? Do you think this is such a pleasant place that I shouldn't lose
the opportunity to stay here as many hours as possible?"
"I think that if you once begin drinking you'll get full, and five
minutes afterward every loafer in the village will know we are hiding
here."
"You must allow I'm a fool."
"So I do, or you'd be willing to stay twenty-four hours longer without
liquor rather than run the first minute the bottle is empty."
"There would be jest as much risk to-morrow, as now, so what's the use
waitin' with our tongues hangin' out when plenty can be got by takin' a
short walk?"
"When shall I expect you?"
"Some time before mornin'. I'll start back within half an hour after I
land."
"If you do that there'll be little harm come to us," and Bob
disappeared amid the foliage while Sam rowed vigorously up the pond.
"There is no need of our trying to cook up a plan now," Jet whispered.
"Why?"
"Because it is all arranged. We must tackle Bob before Sam comes back."
Jim appeared thoroughly alarmed by his companion's bold statement.
He looked upon Bob as the most desperate of the three men, as really
was the case, and the idea of a struggle with him seemed alarming; but
yet he said nothing against the plan.
"What puzzles me is why they launched the boat on this side of the
island? They had to bring her way across."
"Perhaps they have seen some one on the opposite shore, and don't care
to let folks know where the boat started from."
"Do you suppose that fellow will call at our old camp?"
"I shouldn't be surprised; but it will be too late to do us any harm,
unless he comes directly back with the news that we have made a change
of base."
"You seem to think there isn't a question but we shall get the best of
that fellow."
"I didn't say anything of the kind. We shall either have him prisoner,
or be in the same fix ourselves in his camp by the time Sam gets back.
Bob will take good care we are not in condition to trouble him again,
if we fail this day."
"How are we to set about it?"
"In the same way as the other was taken. Trust to our chances of
finding him asleep, or so far from his gun that he can't get at it
until we have the drop on him."
"Don't you suppose he carries a revolver?"
"Of course he does."
"Then he'll be certain to shoot."
"This case is different from the other. There I had no right to fire;
but here I should take the chances rather than let him kill me."