THE TORN MAP.
"Well," said Nate, "it seems to me you fellows keep rather late hours. I
have been waiting for you upwards of two hours. Where have you been
keeping yourself? I calculate likely as not you fellows have been to a
theatre."
"Half of your guess is correct," said Garry, with a laugh, "but since
leaving the show, we have had a wild time. First place, we found a dead
man, and second place, we got arrested."
"'Sho' now, you don't say so. What have you fellows been doing that got
you in the grip of the law?"
"Why, as to that, Nate, I can hardly say myself," said Garry. "Things
came so thick and fast, that I haven't yet found out what it was all
about, so I think now would be as good a time as any for each one of us
to tell his story, and just for the sake of having things in order, and
because I have so little to tell, I will take the first turn. When we
went into the old abandoned boarding house, for such as I discovered it
to be, I searched the entire lower floor and the cellar, and finding
nothing, was about to make my way up the stairs, when I leaned too heavy
against the balustrade, and in another moment I found myself crashing to
the floor below. Next thing I knew, Dick and Phil here came tumbling out
after me, and in another few moments, we found ourselves arrested and
taken to the police station; now that lets me out. Now Dick, your story
is the next shortest, and I don't suppose that anything happened to you
that was any more exciting than my search."
"Don't you fool yourself on that score," said Dick, "because I think I
have some very startling news. There has been so much excitement in the
last hour or two that I have given little or no thought to it. I went,
as you know, to the top floor, and there hearing nothing or seeing no
light, I simply crept from door to door, peeking through the keyhole,
and then listening closely to see if I could hear anything stirring
within. Search of several doors revealed nothing, until I came to one
back of which I believed was several men, as I seemed to hear a low
murmur of voices. The keyhole was plugged up, so I got down on my knees;
I could see no light coming out from beneath the door. I was certain
someone was in the room, so very cautiously I turned the handle, but
the door refused to budge an inch. However, there was one way to find
out. In getting out my knife, I drilled a small hole through the door,
using the point of the knife. I had no sooner finished this, when a
small gleam of light came through the door, showing that I had not been
wrong in my conclusions. Without making any noise, I enlarged the hole,
so that I could get a clearer view of the room. There were three men
sitting about a table, playing cards. It was certain that the screams
did not come from this room, and I was about to knock on the door, when
suddenly I recognized the men. You remember the week before we went into
the big woods, and the adventure we had when we caught the three tramps
in our shack by the river? Well, right there, sitting at that table,
were the identical three men for whom we received the reward!"
"You must be mistaken Dick," remarked Garry. "Those three were dangerous
men, but I don't believe they could have escaped from the jail in
Portland."
"Nevertheless," said Dick, "I am absolutely certain that those are the
three. There are any number of ways in which they might have gotten
away. There is even a chance that they have been tried by this time, and
have been released."
"That seems hardly possible," interrupted Phil. "The authorities were
sure they had the right men or they would never have given us the
reward."
The entire matter was very puzzling to the boys, when Nate, who was
always on the job, broke in with a suggestion. "Why don't you fellows
telephone down to 'Moose Boone' and ask him if the tramps got away."
"I don't think he would know anything about it," said Garry, "for I was
talking with him on the 'phone, when we were in Augusta, and he didn't
make any mention of it."
Then Dick came to bat with a suggestion. "Why don't we telephone to Sam
Preston, the newspaper man, surely he would know if anybody would." The
call was immediately put in, and while they were waiting for an answer,
they made use of the opportunity, and asked Nate how it was he happened
to be there. "Why, I simply got a long distance call from the Chief
Ranger, asking me to meet you boys here, to give you whatever
suggestions I could as to the place you are going, and also to see if I
could remember the names of two or three of my friends in that part of
the country who might be of some help when you need it."
"Why, of course, Garry," remarked Dick, "you remember the Chief of
Customs telling us he would arrange to have Nate meet us here? However,
perhaps we had better defer getting any advice from Nate until Phil has
told his story."
That moment the telephone rang, and on answering it, Garry found that
the person on the other end of the wire was Sam Preston. After chatting
a moment with Sam, he asked if there was any news of the three burglars
whom they had caught early in the summer. There was silence for several
moments in the room, while Sam talked, and then with a goodbye, Garry
replaced the receiver on the hook, and turned around to face his
companions.
"Well, Dick, you sure hit the matter about right. The three burglars
were brought up for a hearing, and were allowed to go free on bail,
pending their trial. They took advantage of the opportunity to
disappear. Now the authorities of Portland are searching high and low
for them."
"Yes," said Dick, "the reason I hurried out of the house there, bringing
you fellows with me, was because I saw one of them starting toward the
door, and believe me, I knew more than to stack up against three of them
all alone. We have made enough enemies in the past few weeks without
getting others on our trail.
"That is something we can discuss later. I suggest now that Phil tell us
what happened on the second floor, as he seems to be the one that had
the real adventure of the night." Phil told his story, and in the
speaking of it, recollected the torn piece of paper that the old man
with his dying words had given him. He pulled it from his pocket, and
the three boys, as well as Nate, spread it out on the table and began to
examine it. It seemed to be a rough, crudely drawn map with a dotted
line, running from the spot marked by a figure 1, with a circle drawn
around it. The dotted line, however, unfortunately ran direct to the
part that had been torn off when Phil seized the paper from the old
man's assailant. On the reverse of the paper, written in a laborious and
cramped hand, was the following inscription: "The lost mine lies 100
paces from the spot marked 2. The land mark noted on the map as figure
1, is a ravine, exactly two miles east of the Shohela River, at the
point where it makes a sharp turn above the town of Jennings. Start at
the mouth of that ravine and travel directly north for about two miles
and one-half, until you come to----"
Here the boys found that the missing part of the note corresponded to
the portion which had been torn off during the struggle.
"Well," said Nate, "the pesky map doesn't mean to do you much good now,
does it? I know of the place mentioned in that note, but I have never
been there, so I can't tell you much about what the old something or
other might be. Without wanting to throw any cold water upon your
plans, I should say to forget about the whole business. I know the Maine
woods pretty well, and I never heard tell of any mines which have been
found in this part of the country, except, maybe, limestone mines, and
surely nobody would have a secret map as to where a limestone mine would
be, so I think you had better just tuck that piece of paper away and
forget all about it."
The boys, however, with romantic ideas of finding a lost gold mine
hidden away somewhere in the wilds of the Maine woods, refused to be
discouraged by Nate's pessimistic remarks, and each one decided, that at
the first opportunity, they would visit the scene told of in the map,
and see if possible they could not discover the secret of the lost mine.
"Now boys," said Nate, "we might as well get over the main business of
the evening, that being to tell you about what I know about Hobart. It
has been a good many years since I was in that part of the woods, but I
remember it as well as though I had been there only yesterday. Hobart is
a small town, nowhere near the size of Millinocket. About ten years ago
it was the center of industrial lumbering operations. As a matter of
fact, Garry, I believe that your father was interested in the timber
cutting of that place at that time. It is only four or five miles away
from the Canadian border, and about fifty miles to the south the States
of Maine and New Hampshire and the Dominion of Canada are joined
together. It is right about that point, also, that is, where the three
territories come together, that the National Forest Preserve begins;
that you know, without my telling you, is the movement recently started
by the Government for conservation of the timber lands of the State.
Eventually, every bit of forest land in the State will be under the
control of the government. That means that timber cruisers, appointed by
the government, will go on everybody's land, marking the trees that may
properly be cut. This will prevent ruthless timber owners from clean
cutting great tracts of land, and there will be a perpetual source of
new timber."
"As for the town of Hobart itself, I have been trying to think ever
since I heard from Augusta of some people that I knew there, but can't
seem to remember a single one. However, as soon as I get back home, I
will inquire from Silas Peabody and some of the other guides if they
remember any people in that section, and I can write you in care of the
postmaster at Hobart. However, I will warn you of this, that as I
remember it, it was a mighty tough town,--border towns nearly always
are,--for you get a good deal of the rougher element of both countries.
That doesn't mean, of course, that you won't find a few mighty nice
people up there, although I don't suppose your work will allow you to
make many friends. I am sorry that I can't tell you more about the
country, but I don't doubt that you will be able to take care of
yourselves as well there as you have in your first station. The only
thing I do hope is that you have seen the end of LeBlanc and his
friend."
The hour by this time had grown late, so the boys all hopped into bed.
Nate retired to his own room, promising to arouse them at an early hour,
so that they might get a good start for their new station.