GOOD-EYE TO STURGEON ISLAND--CONCLUSION
All sorts of loud cries and exclamations arose, as the startled boys
began to dodge the falling pieces of the blown-up boat.
Thad, although almost stunned by the sudden catastrophe that had come
upon them, in spite of their vigilance, kept a bright lookout, for fear
lest the next thing they knew the poachers would come dashing among
them, hoping to take advantage of the confusion to disarm them.
But nothing of the sort occurred, and presently the six boys huddled
there in a heap, trying to figure out what had happened, and why the
three men had resorted to such desperate tactics rather than allow the
seeming soldiers to sail away in the morning, and perhaps carry the news
to some place where the authorities would be sure to fit out an
expedition at once, looking to their capture.
After a great deal of talk, and many odd ideas being advanced, which it
would not profit us to mention here, they settled on what seemed to be
the most plausible theory. This was that the three poachers, believing
they could not make use of their boat so long as the boys in uniform
held the key, in the shape of that crank, had decided to blow it up.
Their reason for this may have been that they would in this way compel
the others to remain marooned there on the island; and perhaps it was
expected that another boat, with a fresh lot of poachers, would be along
after a certain time.
This was the nearest they could ever come to it, for they did not have a
chance to make the personal acquaintance of the three hide-out men, and
therefore could not get information at first quarters.
When the morning came the scouts were not so merry as they had felt on
the previous evening when all things looked rather rosy. Still, it is
difficult to keep some fellows moping all the time; and even Giraffe
tried hard to look at the bright side; thought he often complained that
he had consider difficulty in making up his mind which side that was.
As long as the food supply held out, Giraffe was not going to give up to
despair; even if fish as a steady diet might pall on the ordinary
appetite, Giraffe thought he could stand the bill of fare for a week or
two, if they had to stick it out that long.
Thad kept them on the watch for some sort of vessel, steamer, sailing
craft, whaleboat barge or anything that would afford an asylum, if only
they could by the greatest of good luck attract the attention of those
on board.
As the morning got pretty well along the boys were beginning to feel
downcast once more, when all at once Step Hen, who had been using the
glasses at the time, let out a joyous whoop.
"Would you believe it, fellows," he cried, "while we've been nearly
breaking our necks looking to the east and south for a sail, why, here's
a little buzzing motorboat acoming along an the same tack we carried;
and ten chances to one now, it's carrying our two good Silver Fox pards,
Smithy and Bob White!"
All of them had to take a look through the glasses, and the consensus of
opinion seemed to trend that way; though at first some of the more
dubious were inclined to fear that it might only be another poaching
boat, that was coming straight to the island to land a catch of
illegally taken fish.
"Get busy right away, and let them know where we are!" exclaimed Bumpus,
all of a tremble with anxiety. "Goodness gracious! just think how we'd
feel if they went speeding past old Sturgeon Island, never heating us
yell; because the breeze was wrong. Bang away with the gun, Thad, and
make 'em look! Do something that'll stir things up! Wish I could let
out a whoop that'd carry ten miles, you'd hear me spreading myself some,
I tell you."
But all Bumpus's fears were useless, for those aboard the little
motorboat that had really come all the way from the Soo, starting
earlier than Thad and his five companions, heard the combined shouts,
and signaled that they would head in without delay.
"Say, couldn't you hold up a little while, and let me go back after a
few more of those fine fish?" pleaded Giraffe, when the rescuing craft
was drawing close; and when the scout-master shook his head in the
negative the tall member went on: "you never know how much grub you need
when on one of these here lake trips, with the chances in favor of
something happening to knock the engine out. Besides, remember there
will be two more mouths to feed, Thad; and sure I could snatch up some
of them fish in a jiffy. Say yes, won't you?"
"No need of it, Giraffe," the other assured the lean scout; "it's true
that we'll have a couple more with us, but don't forget that they are
expected to have a pretty good supply of food aboard as it is. Then who
wants to live on fish diet."
"And we'll get to a place right soon," added Bumpus, "where we can lay
in all the stores we want."
"Yes," Step Hen thought fit to remark, "and then too, if we loaded down
so with too much fish, what's ever going to become of that game you and
Bumpus are working? We expect to have the table supplied right along
now with the product of your combined skills as anglers."
"Oh!" chuckled Giraffe, "after all that honey, I give up, and agree to
let things run as they are. But I want to warn the said Bumpus here and
now that I'm camping on his trail; and from this time out the fight is
agoing to be just fierce!"
"Bah! who's afraid?" sang out the fat scout, with a shrug of his
shoulders.
"Everybody get their things together so we can climb aboard as soon as
our comrades come close enough to shore. We may have to wade a little,
for the landing places are few and far between, and we don't want to
take any chances."
"Then I hope some kind friend will have the goodness to carry me on his
back; because I sure hate to get my footsies soaked again," remarked
Bumpus, unabashed.
It turned out, however, that there was no need of this. The two boys in
the motorboat knew how to manage, and brought the little vessel in close
enough so that even clumsy Bumpus was able to clamber aboard, after
handing up his possessions. And Thad smiled when he saw that the other
included among these the rusty crank belonging to the destroyed boat
which the poachers had used in their illegal business, evidently
romantic Bumpus meant to keep that as a reminder of his little adventure
on Sturgeon Island.
Smithy and Bob White were two of the Silver Fox Patrol whom many readers
will remember figuring largely in previous books of this series of Boy
Scout tales.
They were instantly almost consumed with eagerness to know what had
happened to maroon their chums on the island; but until they had passed
some distance out Thad would not attempt to relate the stirring
circumstances.
"Looky, there they are, ashaking their fists after us; and I reckon
they're letting out a few remarks that might burn our ears if we heard
the same, which the breeze keeps us from doing," and Giraffe, as he
spoke, pointed to where the trio of lawless poachers stood on a rock
near the other end of the island.
That was the last they were fated to see of the men. Later on they
happened to enter a Canadian port in search of supplies, and of course
Thad made it an object to narrate their adventure to some person in
authority. The boys heard afterwards that an expedition was at once
started out by the Canadian people, looking to the capture of the
poacher crowd, and the breaking up of their illegal business; but
apparently the other boat must have arrived before them; for while they
found the ice pit, just as the boys had described to them, the fish were
all gone, nor did a search of the entire island reveal any sign of human
occupation.
Of course it did not matter at all to Thad And his chums whether the
three men were ever apprehended, as they did not expect to cruise in
this region again and consequently there was no chance of their ever
meeting any of them afterwards.
They would never be apt to forget the strange things that had come to
them however, while marooned on Sturgeon Island; and often when they
pored over the Government charts that Thad kept, they could see again in
memory many of those adventures looming up along the mental horizon the
wreck of the boat; the lively time they had getting ashore; the
discovery of the fish packing cabin; the mysterious disappearance of
Bumpus; how he was found again under such remarkable conditions; the
blowing up of the poachers' boat; and last but not least the opportune
arrival of their mates with the other craft.
No doubt many a time the very odor of fish would carry the thoughts of
those boys away back to this period in their adventurous careers. Not
that it marked the culmination of the good times fortune had in store
for them; because before many months passed a splendid chance was going
to come along that would give the members of the Silver Fox Patrol an
opportunity to enjoy another outing, this time while the North, where
their home town lay, was swathed in snow and ice. The title of this
next book will be "The Boy Scouts Down in Dixie; or, The Strange Secrets
of Alligator Swamp." And the reader of this volume may rest assured
that the adventure's befalling Thad and his jolly mates, Allan, Giraffe,
Bumpus, Davy, Smithy, Step Hen and the Southern boy, Bob White, will
afford them as rich a treat in the new story as anything that has
preceded it.
As to that wager between Giraffe and Bumpus, it kept dragging along
during the balance of the cruise, sometimes one, and then the other
being ahead. But luck finally favored Giraffe, as on the very last day,
with the score a tie, he happened to be trailing a stout line out, when
his hook became fast to the tail of a big fish that came near pulling
him overboard before he succeeded in landing the same, after the engine
was hurriedly stopped.
After that Bumpus threw up his hands, and said he would wait on the
crowd when they had their dinner upon arriving home; which he certainly
did, and with such success that the boys voted he continue to accept
"tips" in that vocation whenever they were in camp, Bumpus vigorously
dissenting, of course.
Thad learned later an that the poor old Chippeway Belle was fully
insured, and no word of complaint ever reached them after they had
furnished the owner with all the evidence he needed in order to collect
the amount; so there may have been a little truth in what several of the
scouts hinted among themselves, that the sinking of the powerboat
cleared the air, and allowed the gentleman to replace her with a newer
model. "Blessings often come, in disguise," Bumpus says, as he looks up
at that rusty crank, tied with a red bow of ribbon, and hanging from the
wall of his den at home; and then feeling of his head to ascertain
whether that lump has fully subsided, he is apt to go on to remark that
sometimes they even drop down from trees, and give a fellow the queerest
kind of a thump; for if he had not conceived that little plan of hiding
a part of the machinery belonging to the poachers' boat, things might
have turned out vastly different from what they did.
The End