LOYAL SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE
This assertion on the part of their leader was so tremendous that for
almost a dozen seconds the boys could not utter a single word; but just
stood there, and gazed at Thad, speechless.
But it is a very difficult thing to muzzle some lads for any length of
time; and Giraffe presently burst out with:
"Jumped on poor Bumpus right here, did they, Thad? And p'raps pounded
him into a condition where he just couldn't give the alarm, no matter
how hard he tried? Oh! mebbe I don't wish I could have been there to
touch up the scoundrels with this fine hatchet? What I'd a done to 'em
would have been a caution, let me warn you! But how do you tell all
this from the signs, Thad? We're only a bunch of next door to
tenderfeet scouts when it comes to reading trail talk; but we know
enough to understand when she's explained to us. Please open up, and
tell us now."
"And then we must decide what we'll do, so as to rescue our chum," said
Step Hen angrily; "because scouts always stand by each other, you know,
through thick and thin; and Bumpus is the best fellow agoing, you bear
me saying that?"
"Well, it's this way," said the scout-master, always ready to oblige his
mates whenever he could do so; "you can see that some sort of a scuffle
has taken place where we're standing right now. Other feet than those
of Bumpus are marked; and then they all start away from here, heading in
that direction. But although Bumpus walked to this spot there's never a
sign of his footprints, which I know so well leading off from here."
"What's the answer to that?" asked Davy.
"Why," broke in Giraffe, quickly, "that's as plain as the nose on your
face, Davy. Our chum was carried away! Either he couldn't walk because
he'd been tapped on the head, and was senseless; or else they had got
him tied up that quick."
"Is that so, Thad?" demanded Step Hem
"Giraffe has got the answer all right," came the reply. "I can see
where these fellows must have been hiding, and let Bumpus pass them by.
Then one dropped down on top of him, so that he couldn't so much as draw
in his breath before they had him. This is what I was thinking about
when I said we shouldn't be caught off our guard; and that we'd be
foolish if we separated at all, for they could pick us off one by one,
where they'd be afraid to tackle the whole bunch. It came quicker than
I thought it would, though."
"Well, we ain't going to stand for this, I hope?" remarked Giraffe.
"We'd be a fine lot of scouts, wouldn't we," broke in Davy, indignantly,
"if we were ready to desert our chum when he was in hard luck? Anybody
that knows what the boys of the Silver Fox Patrol of Cranford Troop are
would make certain that could never go down with them. Sure we ain't
ameaning to keep on hiding our light under a bushel, and sneaking off,
while Bumpus, good old Bumpus, is in the hands of the enemy, and p'raps
with a splitting headache in the bargain."
"Headache!" echoed Step Hen; "just wait till we get our chance, and if
they ain't the fashion among these here poachers, then I don't know
beans, and I think I do. Wow! you hear me talking, fellows!" and he
caused his club to fairly whistle through the air, as though getting
into the swing, so that he would know just how to go about laying out
one of the law-breakers when they finally rounded them up.
"Hope we ain't meaning to waste any more time around here than's
necessary, Mr. Scout-master?" Giraffe observed, grimly, running his
finger suggestively along the edge of the camp hatchet, which they kept
in pretty good condition, so that it would really cut quite well.
"We're off right away," said the other.
"And Thad," observed Allan, speaking for the first time, because he was
usually a boy of few words, and one who left it to some of the others to
do pretty much all the talking, "the new trail, where we fail to find
any mark of Bumpus' shoes leads this way, which I take it is toward that
shack you said you'd seen last night when you took that little scout on
the sly?"
"It sure does, Allan," came the reply.
"Well, then, we must expect that was where they carried our chum; and so
we'll make for the cabin now," Allan continued.
"We'll see it soon enough," Thad told them, "because it's only a little
ways from where they have their powerboat hidden. Move along as still
as you can, boys; and no more talking now--except in whispers."
Every scout must have felt his heart beating like a trip-hammer as the
forward progress was continued. The very atmosphere around them seemed
to be charged with electricity; at least one would imagine so to see the
way they looked suddenly from right to left with quick movements, as
they went stooping along.
It was only a space of sixty seconds or so when Thad came to a stop.
They knew from this that the cabin spoken of must already have been
sighted; and this proved to be the case, as was made apparent when they
came to examine the territory just ahead.
Among the rocks and undergrowth it could hardly be seen; indeed, if they
had not known of its presence there, possibly none of them would have
thought a cabin was so near by.
They stared hard at it, but failed to see the first sign of any living
being in the neighborhood.
"Any signs of 'em, Thad?" whispered Giraffe, who was close at the heels
of the scout-master; so close indeed, that Thad had more than once
wondered whether the tall and nervous scout were still waving that
up-to-date tomahawk, and if he the leader, might be so unlucky as to get
in the way of the dangerous weapon.
"Nothing that I can see," Thad answered, softly.
"But you think they're in that place, don't you?" Giraffe continued to
ask.
"Like as not they are," the scout-master replied.
All of them were staring hard at what they now saw. Having continued to
advance a little farther they made out what seemed to be a lot of
barrels; and some of them must have contained ice, to judge from the
straw scattered about. Well, ice was needed in order to properly pack
fish for the market; and if the poachers had ever had a supply on the
island, secured during the winter time, it must have been exhausted
before now, because the season was late.
Yes, and what was more to the point, as the breeze happened to waft an
odor to their noses all of the scouts detected the strong and
unmistakable smell of fish, which must always be associated with every
fishing camp.
"Are we agoing to walk straight up to that door, and knock it in?" asked
Giraffe, after they had stood there for a couple of anxious minutes,
staring hard at the lone shack, as though trying to peer through the log
walls, and see what lay within.
"That might be hardly the thing for scouts to do," Thad told him. "They
are taught to be cautious as well as brave. If those men happen to be
hiding inside there, wouldn't they have a fine chance to riddle us if we
walked right up as big, as camels? No, we've got to show a little
strategy in this thing, eh, Allan?"
"Just what we have, Mr. Scout-master."
"So let's begin by circling around, and coming up on the shack from the
other side," Thad said this he started off, with the others skulking
along behind, about like a comet is followed by its tail.
They kept a bright lookout all the while, not meaning to let the
poachers get the better of them by creeping away from the shack while
the boys in khaki were carrying out this evolution. Nothing however was
seen. If the men were still in there they kept very quiet, everybody
thought; and somehow this worried more than one of the scouts.
Giraffe could not see what all this creeping around was intended for,
anyhow; he would have been in favor of separating, and rushing toward
the cabin from as many points of the compass as there were scouts. That
sort of plan at least had the benefit of speed; for they would either be
at the door inside of ten seconds, or have been staggered with a volley
from within.
But it would not be for much longer, because even now they had made such
good progress that a few minutes more must put them through.
It seemed an age to Giraffe since they had started to creep to the other
side of the shack; when he saw by the actions of their leader that Thad
was now ready to order the real advance.
There did not appear to be any sign of a window on this side of the rude
building, so that the chances were no one inside could watch their
coming; which Giraffe well knew had been the principal reason why Thad
had chosen to make this rear approach.
"Now listen, all of you," whispered the leader, in thrilling tones; "I'm
going to call out to Bumpus, and perhaps we'll get a clue regarding
what's happened to him."
Raising his voice, he called out the name of the fat scout twice in
succession, being very particular to speak it distinctly, so that any
one within would have to be absolutely deaf not to hear it.
There was no reply, that is, nothing in the way of an answering voice;
but all of them caught a peculiar sound that kept up intermittently for
almost a full minute.
"Now, what sort of a queer rumpus would you call that?" asked Step Hen.
"Made me think of somebody kicking his heels into the floor, or some
such stunt as that," Giraffe declared; while Davy nodded his head, as
though there was no need for him to say anything when another voiced his
sentiments so exactly.
"Thad, are we going to stand this any longer?" Allan demanded,
"No, we must see what's inside that place; so come along, boys, and
we'll break in the door!" with which words the scout-master ran quickly
forward, the others almost outstripping him, so great was their
eagerness to be "in the swim," no matter what happened.
The door seemed to be fastened in some way; though there was nothing in
the way of a pistol shot or even a gruff voice warning them off.
Thad tried in vain to find the fastening.
"Pick up that log, and use it as a battering ram!" he ordered; and the
other four scouts hastened to do so, while the patrol leader stood ready
with his gun, not knowing how soon he might have need of it for defense.
As the log came crashing against the door it flew wide open, proving
that it had never been really intended as a means for keeping enemies
out. Dropping the log, and at once snatching up their weapons, the
scouts rushed to the open doorway, to stare into the cabin. What they
saw amazed, and yet delighted them. There was not an enemy in sight;
but some object moved upon the hard puncheon floor; and looking closer
they discovered that it was no other than Bumpus, bound hand and foot,
gagged, and with his face as red as a boiled lobster, redder by far than
his fiery hair.