THE SUDDEN PERIL.
"II SEE you found your buckle, Chatz," remarked Elmer, noticing what the
other was holding in the hand that was not occupied in grasping the
lighted lantern.
"Oh! yes, I picked that up where I tripped, and nearly fell flat,"
replied the other, quickly. "Just as I got up off my knees I happened to
look alongside the road, where the trees grow so thick, and I give you
my word, fellows, I saw a moving white figure that had the most terrible
yellow eyes ever! I know you all laugh at me whenever I say I believe in
ghosts; but if that wasn't one I miss my guess, yes suh."
"I'll dare you to go back with me till we find out," said Elmer,
quickly.
Chatz hesitated; but for all his silly notions in this one line the boy
was far from being a coward.
"All right, if you say so, I'm willing," he declared. "I'd just like to
know what that was, anyhow, if not a specter. Come on, Elmer."
"Take me along, won't you?" asked Lil Artha, gaining his feet, as he
thrust his kodak away.
"Me, too!" called out several others; while a few hung back, not caring
to take chances of a meeting with a real ghost.
"You can go along, Arthur, likewise Ted and Toby. The rest had better
stay here with me to guard the camp, in case there happens to be a raid
of ghosts," remarked the scout master, in a tone that put an end to all
protestations.
So the little party trotted off, followed by wishful glances from the
balance of those who would have liked to be with them.
Down the road they went, Chatz keeping in close contact with Elmer, and
maintaining a discreet silence. Presently they arrived at the spot where
he had found the missing buckle.
"Here's where I stooped down to hunt, boys," he remarked, in a low
voice; "and when I looked over yonder, I saw IT standing just back of
that fringe of brush, waving its long arms at me, and staring to beat
the band. Do you see anything there, fellows?"
"Not a thing, Chatz," replied Artha, cheerfully. "To the foolish house
for you!"
"What's that?" said Toby, holding up his hand, suddenly.
"Did you see anything move?" demanded the Southern lad, eagerly, as
though he wanted to prove that his alarm had been well founded.
"I thought I did," replied Toby, quivering with eagerness.
"Listen, fellows," observed Elmer, with a chuckle.
From somewhere back in the woods there came a weird sound, mournful
enough to strike a chill to the heart of anyone not familiar with its
nature.
"Oh! whatever can that be?" cried Toby. "Sounded just like some poor
feller calling for help."
"Elmer, you know; tell uth, pleath!" entreated Ted, with his usual lisp,
which even the alarm that was seizing hold of him now could not
dissipate.
"Well, I declare, I'm surprised to think that none of you fellows ever
heard an owl hoot before!" laughed the scout leader of the Wolf Patrol.
"An owl--that only a poor little dickey of an owl!" cried Toby.
"Yes, it sounds just like the white owl we used to have up in Canada,"
continued Elmer, seriously. "And ten to one now, it was what Chatz here
saw in that brush alongside the road. Of course it had staring yellow
eyes; and in the dim light he must have fancied he saw an arm waving at
him. That was only a shadow, Chatz. So come along, let's get back to the
fire."
"Well, anyway, it looked mighty spooky," declared the Southern boy,
stubbornly.
And he persisted in this attitude, even when some of his companions, who
might not have been one half so brave as Chatz, if ever put to the test,
began to "josh" him because of his recent alarm.
Mr. Garrabrant, accompanied by Elmer, went the rounds to ascertain just
how the boys had erected their tents. He found little cause for
complaint, since the young assistant scout master had drilled the
members of the troop in this science, and they had it down quite pat, at
least so far as theory went.
While the Boy-Scout movement of to-day has little to do with military
tactics, still discipline is taught; and numerous things that soldiers
employ in their daily life are practiced. One of these is setting a
guard at night, and teaching the boys the necessity of keeping watchful
when in the woods.
Each patrol had to set a guard or sentry, and lay out a plan whereby the
various members would take turns in standing duty during some period of
the night.
The two unattached scouts were temporarily added to the six composing
the Wolf Patrol, so that they might come under the charge of Elmer, and
profit from his instruction.
By ten o'clock the camp had relapsed into a condition of silence. "Taps"
had been sounded on the bugle, which meant that every light must be
extinguished except the two fires; and each scout not on duty seek his
blanket.
Of course there was more or less whispering from time to time; and
apparently it was a hard thing for some of the boys to settle down to
sleep. But both Mr. Garrabrant and Elmer knew boy nature full well, and
for this one night were disposed to overlook little infractions of the
rules. But later on they would expect to hold the entire troop rigidly
to discipline, when the time for skylarking had gone by.
Elmer had left word with the boy from the Wolf Patrol who first went on
duty to awaken him if anything out of the way occurred. And in turn he
was to transmit the order to the fellow who succeeded him.
When a hand gripped his arm as he lay under his blanket Elmer was
immediately awakened; nor did he evince the slightest alarm.
"What is it?" he asked, softly, not wishing to arouse the others in the
tent, who were sound asleep, if their heavy breathing stood for
anything.
"Something moving on the river, and I thought you ought to know,"
replied the one who had crept excitedly under the canvas.
"All right, Toby, I'm coming after you. Back out!" replied Elmer, as he
wriggled from under his comfortable blanket, and pulled on his trousers;
for the air of an August night often feels decidedly chilly, especially
after one has been snuggled beneath covers.
He found the fires had died down, though the boys made sure that they
did not wholly go out, since they had no great love for the darkness.
"Listen! There it goes again," remarked Toby, once more clutching the
sleeve of the scout leader in a nervous hand.
Elmer chuckled.
"Well, this is a funny thing," he said, as though amused. "First Chatz
takes a poor old owl with its yellow eyes for a ghost, and now you
imagine the dip of oars to be something as mysterious and thrilling.
Why, don't you make out two sets plashing at different times. Those are
the boats we expect. Perhaps the men from Rockaway down the river were
delayed; or else they preferred to do their rowing after the sun set.
But that's all it means, Toby."
"Aw! well, I thought it my duty to let you know," observed the other.
"And you did quite right, Toby. But I'd better try and get Mr.
Garrabrant out here without awakening the lot, if it can be done," and
saying this Elmer started toward the second tent, where the scout master
had some four boys under his especial charge.
It proved to be just as Elmer had guessed. The two men who rowed the
boats had preferred to do their work after the heat of day had gone by.
They would not even pass the balance of the night in camp, being anxious
to get back to Rockaway, the town some five miles down the river.
So this little excitement died away, and once more silence brooded over
the camp on the Sweetwater. The night passed without any further alarm;
and with the coming of morning the clear notes of the bugle sounding the
reveille aroused the last sleepers, and caused them to crawl forth,
rubbing their eyes and yawning.
Mark's grandfather had been a famous artist, and the boy bade fair to
some day follow in his illustrious footsteps. He was forever drawing
exceedingly apt pictures, with pencil, a bit of chalk, a scrap of
charcoal or anything that came handy; and as a rule these were humorous
caricatures of his chums in many amusing attitudes. So he now busied
himself catching the sleepy scouts in various striking postures, to the
great delight of those who gathered around.
Between Mark's readiness with the crayon and the eagerness of Lil Artha
to use his camera, it seemed likely that little worth remembering would
escape being handed down to illustrate the events of this, their first
outing.
"Me for a bully good swim!" exclaimed the long-legged boy, as he started
for the nearby river.
Others were quick to follow his example, for few healthy boys there are
to whom the opportunity for splashing in the water on a summer morn does
not appeal.
"Keep on your guard, fellows!" called Mr. Garrabrant, who was busily
employed doing something near one of the tents. "The current is swift,
and unless I miss my guess the river is quite deep here. Elmer, you go
along and watch out that no one comes to harm," and he turned once again
to his task, confident that his assistant was capable of executing his
wishes properly.
Ten minutes passed away, and Mr. Garrabrant, having managed successfully
to complete the little job he had set himself to execute, was thinking
it time the boys who were bathing should be recalled, when he heard
sudden cries that pierced him like an arrow.
"Hey! look at Jasper, would you, how funny he acts!"
"Elmer! Elmer! come here! Jasper's got a cramp! He's gone down!"
Hurriedly did the alarmed scout master leap to his feet and start wildly
in the direction of these loud outcries. No doubt in that second of
time he saw the faces of the Merriweather boy's parents, filled with the
agony that comes to those who have lost a son by drowning; and the
mental picture sent Mr. Garrabrant flying over the ground.