IN THE DESERTED LOG CABIN.
"KEEP your eyes about you!" shouted Davy Jones; "mebbe there's more
where that stone came from!"
But after the rock had settled quietly in the road, silence again fell
upon the scene; a little trickle of dirt glided down the face of the
descent, in the track the round rock had made; but that was all.
"Whew! that's a pretty hefty stone, believe me, fellers!" cried Step
Hen.
"Whatever loosened it, d'ye s'pose?" asked Giraffe, who had jumped
several feet when he heard the alarm given; for his recent adventure in
the bed of the treacherous stream seemed to have unnerved the tall boy,
usually as brave as the next scout.
Thad stepped forward. The others saw him bend over the big rock that had
just played such a queer trick, narrowly missing falling among the
gathered scouts.
"Look at Thad, would you?" exclaimed Step Hen.
"What's he taking out of that crack in the rock?" Giraffe added. "Say,
looks like a dirty piece of paper; and that's what it is, sure as
shootin', fellers!"
"A message from the enemy; p'raps he's goin' to Surrender
unconditionally--ain't that the way they always put it?" Bumpus called
out, in high glee.
Thad, however, after glancing down at the paper he had extracted from
the crack in the rock, looked serious. Evidently to him at least it was
no laughing matter.
"What does she say, Thad?" demanded Giraffe, always curious.
"Sure, if we've got any right to know, read it out, Mr. Scout Master,"
Bumpus echoed, in his merry way, his eyes shining with eagerness.
The scouts clustered around Thad as he once again held the scrap of
soiled paper up so he could see the comparatively few words scrawled
upon it with a pencil, that must have been a mere stub, since it
evidently had to be frequently wet in order to make it do duty.
"It's brief, and to the point, I give you my word, boys," he said.
"Here, let me hold it up, and every one of you can push in to read for
yourselves. The writer believes in making his words correspond with
their sound. With that for a tip you ought to be able to make it out."
And this, then, was what they read, as they bunched together on the
mountain road running through the valley of the Smoky Range:
"Beter tak my advis an skip outen this neck ov the woods. The men round
heer aint gut no use fo you-uns in thes mountings. That's awl. Savvy?"
There was no signature to the communication.
"Well, that's cool, to say the least," remarked Allan, after he had read
the uncouth note that had come down with the rock that fell from above.
"Tells us to turn right around, and go back," declared Giraffe, who was
inclined to be peppery, and a bit rash. "Now, I like the nerve of the
gent. Just as if we didn't have as much right to wander through these
mountains and valleys as the next one."
"We're minding our own business, and I don't see how anybody would want
to shoo us away from here," said Smithy, brushing off some imaginary
specks of dust from his neat khaki uniform, always spic and span in
comparison with--that of Bumpus for example, showing the marks of many a
tumble.
Thad was rather puzzled himself. He knew that it would be hardly wise
for a parcel of boys to deliberately defy such a notorious character as
Old Phin the moonshiner, whom the Government had never been able to
capture; but then again there was a natural reluctance in his boyish
heart to retreat before making some sort of show with regard to carrying
out their original design.
Besides, when he happened to glance toward Bob White, and saw how
cruelly disappointed the Southern boy looked, Thad immediately changed
his mind. Still, he wanted to hear what his comrades thought about it;
since they had long gone by the wise principle that majority rules.
"Shall we take this kind advice, and go back, boys?" he asked.
A chorus of eager dissenting voices greeted his words.
"Not for Joseph, not if he knows it!" Giraffe chortled.
"We never turn back, after once we've placed our hand to the plow,"
remarked the pompous Smithy; and his sentiment was cheered to the echo.
"Take a vote on it, Thad," advised the sagacious Allan, knowing that if
trouble came along after they had decided to continue the advance, it
would be just as well to point to the fact that by an _overwhelming
majority_ the patrol had decided upon this rash course.
Every fellow held up his hand when Thad put the question as to whether
they should continue the mountain hike. And the sad look vanished from
the dark face of Bob White, as dew does before the morning sun.
So the march was immediately resumed, and nothing happened to disturb
their peace of mind or body. No more rocks came tumbling down the face
of the mountain; and as the afternoon advanced they found themselves
getting deeper and deeper into the heart of the uplifts.
"Wow! but this is a lonesome place, all right," remarked Step Hen,
looking up at the lofty ridges flanking their course. "I give you my
word for it I'd hate to be caught out nights alone in this gay
neighborhood. If ever there was a spooky den, this is it, right here.
Glad to have company; such as it is, fellers."
No one took any notice of the pretended slur. The fact was, the scouts
no longer straggled along the road as before that incident of the
falling rock. They seemed to feel a good deal like Step Hen expressed
it, that under the circumstances it was a good thing to have company. In
union there was strength; and eight boys can do a great deal toward
buoying up one another's drooping courage.
"And say, looks more like a storm comin' waltzin' along than ever
before," Bumpus observed, as he nodded his head toward the heavens,
which were certainly looking pretty black about that time.
"Thought I heard a grumble, like thunder away off in the distance; might
a been that same Old Phin Dady speakin' his mind some more, though,"
remarked Giraffe.
"Only a little further, suh, and we'll come to an old abandoned log
cabin, unless my calculations are wrong; which ought to serve us for a
shelter to-night," was the cheering news from Bob White, who was
supposed to know this country like a book.
"Bully for the log cabin!" ejaculated Bumpus, who, being heavy in build,
could not stand a long hike as well as some other fellows, the tall
Giraffe, for instance, whose long legs seemed just made for covering
ground rapidly.
Ten minutes later Davy Jones, who had pushed to the van, gave a shout.
"There's your deserted log cabin!" he remarked, pointing. "Am I correct,
Bob?"
"You surely are, suh," replied the Southerner. "And as I fail to see
smoke coming from the chimney at the back, it looks to me as though
nobody had got ahead of us there. If the roof only holds, we can laugh
at the rain, believe me."
When the scouts hurried up to the cabin, for there was now no longer any
doubt about the storm being close at hand, since lightning flashed and
the grumble of thunder had changed into a booming that grew louder with
every peal, they found to their great satisfaction that it seemed in a
fair state of preservation, despite the fact that it must have been left
to the sport of the elements for many a long year.
"Nothing wrong with this, boys," announced the scoutmaster, as they
pushed inside the log house, and looked around. "And if we know half as
much as we think we do, there'll be a pile of wood lying here before
that rain drops down on us. Just remember that we've got a whole night
ahead."
"Hurrah! that's the ticket! Get busy everybody. We don't belong to the
Beaver Patrol, but we can work just as well as if we did. Whoop her up,
fellers!"
Bumpus was as good as his words. Dropping his haversack and staff in a
corner, he pushed out of the door. Although the evening was being
ushered in sooner than might have been expected, owing to the swoop of
the storm, there was still plenty of light to see where dry wood was to
be picked up for the effort. And immediately every one of the eight
scouts was working furiously to bring in a good supply.
No doubt the rattle of the thunder caused the boys to hurry things; for
by the time the first drops began to fall they had secured as much as
they expected to use. And already there was Giraffe on his knees in
front of the big fireplace that lay at the foot of the wide-throated
chimney, whittling shavings with which to start a cheery blaze.
This had just started into life when the rattle of a horse's hoofs came
to the ears of the boys who had clustered at the door to witness the
breaking of the summer storm.
"Hey! looks like another pilgrim overtaken by the gale," said Davy
Jones, as a man on horseback came riding furiously along the wretched
road, heading straight for the old cabin; as though he knew of its
presence, and might indeed have found its shelter acceptable on other
occasions.
He was evidently greatly astonished to find the place already occupied
by a bevy of boys dressed in khaki uniforms. At first Thad thought he
could see an expression akin to fear upon the thin face of the man, who
seemed to be something above the average mountaineer; possibly the
keeper of a country store among the mountains; or it might be a doctor;
a lawyer, or a county surveyor, for he had rather a professional air
about him.
Allan had immediately assured him that they were only seeking temporary
shelter in the old cabin, and that he would be quite welcome to share it
with them until the storm blew over, or as long as he wished to stay.
As the man, leaving his horse tied outside to take the rain as it came,
pushed inside the cabin, Thad saw Bob White suddenly observe him with
kindling eyes. Then to his further surprise he noticed that the Southern
boy drew the rim of his campaign hat further down over his eyes, as
though to keep his face from being recognized by the newcomer.
Another minute, and Bob had drawn the young scoutmaster aside, to
whisper in his ear a few words that aroused Thad's curiosity to the
utmost.
"That is Reuben Sparks, the guardian of my little cousin Bertha, a cruel
man, who hates our whole family. He must not recognize me, or it might
spoil one of my main objects in coming down here into the Blue Ridge
valleys. Warn the boys when you can, please Thad, not to mention me only
as Bob White. Oh! I wonder if this meeting is only an accident; or was
guided by the hand of fate?"