LOOKING FOR SIGNS.
"You mean you think you heard some one shouting, do you?" asked Thad,
apparently unmoved, though truth to tell he considered this new
information of considerable importance.
"That's what I want you to understand, Thad."
"Could you make out what was said?" continued the patrol leader, anxious
to get at the kernel of the matter as soon as possible.
"Well, no, I don't believe I did; but it just struck me it was a _yell_,
like anybody would let out if something happened to give him a shock. I
reckon that's what I'd be apt to do if a rattlesnake jumped at me, and I
dodged back."
"Well," continued Thad confidently, "there couldn't be any rattlesnake
here on this island, I should think, and even if that was so, snakes
never come out so early in the season. But Davy, do you think you could
tell which direction the shout seemed to come from?"
"Just where I pointed, over there to the east, which is the side of the
island. Now, if there's somebody out here besides us, who could it be?"
and Davy asked this question with the confidence the scouts had come to
put in their leader, whom they apparently expected to know everything.
"Oh! it might be some fisherman who had a hut here; or even a fugitive
from justice, hiding from the officers. You know we've run across things
like that. Once we even met up with a crazy man who had broken out of an
asylum, and was living like a hermit in the woods. All that will come
later on, when we find the proof that you haven't made a mistake."
"But, Thad, I ought to know a shout given by human lungs, hadn't I?"
pursued the puzzled Davy.
"We all think that, Davy, but you know for yourself that a loon for
instance can laugh so much like a man that you'd be ready to take your
affidavit there was a fellow out on the lake trying to make you mad. You
think you heard a shout; but it may have been one of a lot of things."
"Of course anybody could be mistaken, Thad," the other went on to say;
and it is an accepted fact that when your enemy begins to look over his
shoulder he is getting ready to retreat.
"You may have heard what you think, Davy; perhaps a boat was being swept
past the island, and someone in it, seeing the smoke of our fire, called
out for help; though I should think if that was the case he'd keep the
ball rolling. Come, let's take a turn across to the shore, and see if
anything is in sight down-river way."
"All right, Thad; count on me to go along. No need of saying anything to
the rest, is there?" Davy remarked, with eagerness stamped upon his face.
"Not a bit," replied the other.
When the others saw them moving off, very naturally they felt more or
less curiosity to know what was in the wind.
"Hello! there, what's up?" called out Giraffe.
"Oh! we're just going over to take a look around, boys," replied Thad.
"Don't get lost, and give us the bother of hunting you up, whatever you
do," they heard Bumpus say; and the audacity of the thing struck Thad as
so comical that he could be heard chuckling as he went on.
As there had been no invitation on the part of the patrol leader to the
others to come along, they realized that they were not wanted.
"A case of two's company, three a crowd, I reckon, suh!" remarked Bob
White, as he tossed a little more wood on the fire, which felt pretty
cheerful, since the air was still cool after the storm.
"Who cares?" said Bumpus, stretching himself out again at full length on
his comfortable blanket.
Meanwhile Thad and Davy were engaged in making their way through the
brush, and heading for the shore on the eastern side of the island that
stood in the middle of the flooded Susquehanna.
They found it more difficult work than they had expected. The island
could not have been used for any purpose, since under the trees it was a
perfect snarl of bushes and creeping vines, some of the latter as thick
as one's ankle. Unless the person who was pushing his way through this
wilderness of growth kept constantly on the alert he was very apt to
catch his foot in a snake-like vine, and measure his full length on the
ground.
Davy, indeed, uttered several little ejaculations when his hands came in
contact with thorns growing on some of the bushes.
"This isn't what it seemed cracked up to be, eh, Thad?" he muttered. "I
guess there's a sample of everything that grows around this region right
here on this island, and then some. And seems like I'm finding the same
out one after the other. There, that stub of a branch tried to poke my
left eye out, and did bring blood on my cheek. I don't see how you manage
to get along without any accidents."
"You're not as experienced as I am in passing through places like this,
that's all, Davy. You move too quick, and don't use your eyes enough. If
you think I can take the cake at it you ought to see an Indian work, and
after that you'd say I wasn't in the same class. He'd like as not glide
along like a snake; and try as hard as you pleased, you wouldn't hear so
much as a twig break under his feet."
"Then I'm pretty sure I'll never make a first-class scout," commented
Davy, "for I seem to be too clumsy. There, I thought that stick would
bear my weight; but it broke under me with a sharp snap that would have
told the enemy somebody was trying to sneak up on the camp. I guess it
must run in the blood, Thad, and I haven't got any of it in me. Yet I had
an uncle who was said to be one of the greatest big game hunters that
ever went out to South Africa after elephants and lions and all such
things. They skipped me when it came to inheriting the instincts of a
still-hunter."
By degrees they forced their way through all these obstacles, and Davy
seemed to improve as he went along, as Thad took occasion to tell him.
"Anyhow, it'll be easy enough going back again!" Davy declared, "because
we've left a fair trail behind us. I wouldn't be surprised now if some of
the other fellows take advantage of that to cross over here, so's to get
a squint of the river." "Well, here we are, and it looks as if we might
get a fairly decent look down stream, Davy."
"Yes, there's a little point sticking out here, thank goodness. Look at
all the water going past, would you, Thad? This is a great flood, all
right; and I hope it goes down a lot before we try to cross over to the
mainland, to-morrow, or the day after. Do you think it's come to a stand
yet?"
"I guess you'll find it that way," returned the other; "and while we're
here I mean to make a mark, so as to tell just before dark what's
happening. But Davy, can you see anything like a boat down below?"
Davy shook his head, for he had been earnestly gazing in that direction.
"Not a single sign, Thad!" he declared, in a disappointed tone. "And as a
boat couldn't have passed from sight in this short time, why, that proves
there wasn't such a thing at all."
"Looks that way," assented the patrol leader confidently.
"And," continued Davy, "that if I did really hear a shout, which of
course hasn't yet been proved for certain, then there's somebody on this
island besides our crowd!"
"We'll have to let it go at that," Thad told him. They looked about for a
short time, and Thad arranged a stick at the edge of the river, that
stood where the current would not displace it. By means of this he could
tell whether the water rose or fell, since he had cut a groove in it to
mark the present height of the flood.
"There, that ought to do the business for us," Thad remarked, after he
had finished his little job.
"Do we go back to the camp now?" Davy wanted to know, as though a little
fearful that the other might propose a trip around the island, which, on
account of the dense thickets of brush, he would not altogether fancy,
though not the kind of a scout to easily back down.
"I reckon we might as well," the patrol leader told him; and with this
encouragement Davy immediately started off.
Thad used his eyes as he went, but could not say that he had managed to
make any discovery that would throw the least light on the mystery of
that strange noise his companion claimed to have heard.
Of course, when they joined the others, everybody was curious to know
what their little jaunt meant; so they had to tell all about it.
"None of us heard a single thing," remarked Giraffe sturdily, as though
that fact ought to settle it, and that Davy must have allowed his
imagination to work overtime.
"I should think you couldn't, what with all the row you kept up," Davy
answered back sturdily. "All I want to say is this, that I heard
something like a shout; and I'll keep on saying that forever, no matter
how you laugh, and make fun."
Of course they talked it over, and viewed the happening from all sides.
Every fellow had some sort of explanation to make to cover the ground. A
few of these followed the same track Thad had hewn when stating his ideas
to Davy; and yet after exhausting the subject the boys were no nearer a
solution of the mystery than when they started.
Later on, just as Davy had suggested might be the case, several of them
made up their minds they would like to take a look at the river, for
Bumpus and Smithy started forth.
"Just follow our trail!" sang out Davy after the pair, "and you won't
have any trouble. But keep your eyes peeled every minute of the time if
you don't want to get in trouble."
"What from?" demanded Bumpus, halting in his departure.
"Oh! all sorts of snares, in the shape of concealed vines that grab you
by the ankles and throw you down; or branches that smack you square in
the face, and nearly blind you. If you get in any hole and want help,
just sing out, fellows."
"Thanks, we will!" replied Bumpus scornfully, as though he did not
anticipate such a thing happening; if Davy considered that he and Smithy
were still greenhorns and must be treated as babes in the woods, he was
very much mistaken, that was all.
As Giraffe liked to say, "you never can tell," and stranger things than
that can come about when boys are loose in the wilderness.
Those left by the fire continued to sprawl around in favorite attitudes,
and take their ease. The day had another hour or so left, and there was
Giraffe overhauling the food supply, evidently making out the menu which
he meant to serve up for the evening meal--trust Giraffe for taking care
of such things.
The sun was shining cheerily now, and that at least was some comfort to
these castaway scouts. They expected that with the coming of another day
they would be able to start a scheme looking to making a move to get
away; and that thought gave them encouragement.
It was at this moment there rang out a sudden cry that caused everyone to
spring up and look startled.
"It sounded like Smithy's voice!" exclaimed Thad, as he gained his feet.
"Yes, that's what it did!" echoed Giraffe; "something must have happened
after all! Mebbe they've gone and met up with trouble! Mebbe there _are_
some people on this island that don't like us being here! Thad, what
shall we do?"
Quick and energetic came the patrol leader's order.
"Step Hen, stay here to guard the camp; the rest of you follow me!"
Without wasting another second the five boys rushed away toward the spot
where again and again they could hear Smithy's shrill voice calling for
help!