THE PATCHED SHOE AGAIN.
Those on the shore, after the bugle's sad refrain had been silenced,
gave the departing adventurers a last cheer, and a wave of their
campaign hats. Over the water sounds carry unusually clear; and Thad and
his mates smiled when they distinctly heard Step-hen bawling from the
interior of the tent where he had his sleeping quarters:
"Hey, you fellers, which one of you hid my coat? None of your tricks
now; don't I know that I hung it up all right last night, when I came to
bed; and blessed if I can find it now? Funny how it's always _my_ things
that go wandering around loose. Own up now; and whoever hid it just come
right in here, and show me where it is!"
"The same careless Step-hen," remarked Thad; "always leaving his things
around loose, and then ready to accuse some one else of hiding them. To
hear him talk you'd believe in the bad fairies, and that they just took
their spite out mixing his clothes and things up, while he slept. I
wonder if he can ever be cured of that trick. He'll never pass for a
merit badge till he does, that's sure. Neatness in a scout is one of the
first things to be won."
Davy was handling the paddle. While he did not show the proficiency that
the Maine boy, Allan Hollister, could boast, or Bob White, who loved
everything pertaining to the water, still Davy did manage to keep the
prow of the canoe in a fairly straight line for the island, as he dipped
first on one side and then on the other.
Thinking the chance to show Davy a few points in the art of paddling
ought not be lost, the scout master took the spruce blade, which was a
home-made one, from his hands. By turning the canoe around, and using
the stern as the bow, he was able to illustrate his meaning easily
enough.
"Now, it is not necessary to change from one side to the other as often
as you do, Davy, when you have a breeze blowing like it is now, and
you're heading across it. By holding the blade in the water this way
after a stroke, it serves in place of a rudder and checks the turning of
the canoe under the influence of the push. And another thing, you reach
too far out. That helps to whirl the boat around in a part circle. Dip
deeply, but as close to the side of the canoe as you can."
Davy was a ready observer, and not above picking up points from one who
knew more than he did.
And presently, profiting from these plain hints, he was able to make
easier progress.
"Why," continued Thad, "Allan tells me that among the expert canoemen up
in his State of Maine lots of them wouldn't be guilty of lifting the
paddle out of the water at all, and make swift work of it too. You see,
in creeping up on a deer that is feeding on the lily pads in the shallow
water near the shore, just around a point perhaps, the water dripping
from the paddle when it was raised; or even the gurgle as it came out,
would give warning of danger; and about the only thing they'd know about
that deer would be its whistle as it leaped into the brush. So they
always practice silence in paddling, till it gets to be second nature,
Allan tells me."
"Say, I certainly do hope we get a chance to see that same thing for
ourselves," remarked Davy; "I've heard and read a heap about Maine, and
always wanted to get there. Since Allan's been talking about his life in
the pine woods that feeling's just grown till I dream of it nights, and
imagine myself up there."
"And I'd like to go along too, if my mother could be persuaded to let
me," was what Smithy said, a little doubtfully; for he had been so long
"tied to his mother's apron-strings," as the other boys called it, that
he could not believe she might overcome her fears for his safety enough
to let him go far away.
Nevertheless, Smithy had now had one full breath of what it meant to be
a boy with red blood in his veins; and he was inwardly determined that
never again could he be kept in bonds, while the smiling open air
beckoned, and these splendid chums wanted his company.
All this while good progress had been made, and they were now drawing
close in to the island. It lay there, looking calm and peaceful in the
morning sunlight. A few birds flew up from along the shore, some of them
"teeter" snipe that had been feeding. Davy even pointed with his paddle
to a big gray squirrel that ran along a log in plain view, and sat up on
his haunches as if to curiously observe these approaching human beings
who intended to invade his haunts.
"What's that bird out yonder on the water?" asked Smithy, just then
pointing beyond a spur of the island.
"That's a loon," remarked Thad. "Allan heard him drop in here last
night; and both of us happened to be awake when he gave one of his
cries. You'll be apt to hear him some time or other; and if you think
it's a crazy man laughing, why just remember they named that bird
rightly when they called him a loon."
"I don't see anything moving on shore; anyhow there's no man in sight,"
Davy remarked a minute later, as they drew in still closer.
"Oh! I didn't expect to see a crowd waiting to receive us," laughed
Thad. "We may have all our trouble for our pains; but I just couldn't
rest till I got one more squint at that imprint of a shoe on the
island."
"Oh! yes, I remember that Bob White was telling me about you being taken
up with that track," Davy went on; "but he didn't say just why. Perhaps
you'll show me, now that I'm along on the trip?"
"Sure I will; and tell you a few things I got from him," the
scout-master went on to say, as they pushed in toward the little beach
where the landing had been made on the first occasion of their visiting
the lake island.
"Bob must have been through some stuff in his old home," remarked Davy,
enviously; "from the few little things he's said. Things _happen_ there
in the Blue Ridge mountains, down in the Old Tar Heel state. Up here
it's as dead as a door nail; nothin' goin' on atall to make a feller
keep awake. Don't I just hope you get that deal through, Thad, and take
the whole patrol along, to pay a visit to Bob's home country. I just
know we'd have a scrumptuous time of it. Imagine me up in the real
mountains, when I've never even seen a hill bigger than Scrub-oak
mountain, which I could nearly throw a stone over!"
Then the prow of the canoe ran aground in a few inches of water. Thad
sprang ashore, and holding the painter, drew the boat in closer.
Relieved of his weight in the bow its keel grated on the dry sand, and
the other two were able to step out easily enough.
They drew the boat up good and far on the beach.
"The wind's liable to get even stronger than it is," remarked Thad, "and
we don't want a second experience of having the canoe blown out on the
lake."
"I should say not," observed Smithy, uneasily; for he had only recently
learned how to swim, and the shore seemed a tremendous distance away,
with the flag of the camp floating in the morning breeze, and the tents
showing plainly against the green background.
"Now, this time I'm going to comb the whole island over, and see what's
here," announced Thad, resolutely. "You see, we can make a start, and
keep close to this shore until we strike the other end. Then changing
our base, we'll come back this way, keeping just so far away from our
first trail. After that, it's back again; and in that way we ought to
see all there is."
"Going to be pretty tough climbing, I reckon?" remarked Davy, surveying
the piled-up rocks, of which the island seemed to consist mainly, with
the trees growing from crevices, and in every odd place, so that they
formed a dense canopy indeed.
"That'll make it more interesting, perhaps," said Smithy; and Thad
nodded his head encouragingly; for he liked to see evidences in the
spoiled boy tending to show what his real nature must be, back of the
polish his fond mother and maiden aunts had succeeded in putting upon
his actions in the past.
They reached the other end of the island and began to make the return
trip. As Davy Jones had said, it was strenuous work at times, since the
rocks were piled up in a way to suggest that some convulsion of nature
had heaved this island up from the bottom of the lake.
"Just see the black holes, would you?" Davy declared, again and again.
"Why, lots of 'em'd make the finest kind of fox dens; and I reckon a
wolf wouldn't want a better hiding-place than that big one over there.
Say, Thad, I c'd crawl in easy, myself, and I'd like to do it for a
cooky now, if you said the word."
"Not just yet, Davy," remarked the scout leader; who began to wonder
himself if the men of the island might not be hiding right then in one
of the cavities Davy pointed out. "We want to see what the place is
like, you know. Come along, and in a jiffy we'll be at the end where our
boat lies."
"But what are you keeping on looking so close at the ground, whenever we
strike any soil at all, Thad?" the Jones boy continued. "S'pose now, you
think you might run on that footprint Bob was speakin' about, say?"
"Just what was in my mind, Davy," replied the other, always willing to
give information to those with him. "I wanted you to see what it looked
like, so you and Smithy here could be keeping on the watch. If we found
that it made a regular trail, and led to one of these same black holes,
we'd know more than we do right now. There, I saw a track, but it wasn't
a clear one. Hold on, and let's see what this patch of open ground will
show up."
"This just suits me to a dot," remarked Davy. "Feels quivery-like, you
know, just like something queer was agoin' to happen right soon. Wonder
if there's any wildcats loose over here. I'd like to get a whack at one
with this club; wouldn't I belt him a good crack between the eyes.
Hello! found what you wanted, Thad?"
The scout-master had come to a sudden stop, and was down on his knees,
examining something on the ground. He beckoned the others to drop beside
him, and both boys did so eagerly.
As Davy Jones saw the imprint of the shoe that had a patch on it, he
gave a low exclamation, and his eyes sought those of Thad.
"Well, what d'ye think of that, now, Thad?" he muttered; "the same
patched shoe that feller with the bear man was tellin' me about. Say,
listen, he said that he was lookin' for a man with a shoe just like
that! Yes, siree, he described it to a hair, and asked me if ever I saw
a footprint like that to send word to Malcolm Hotchkiss up at
Faversham!"
Thad felt a thrill at these words, for he realized that they meant there
must be some connection between the supposed hobo who accompanied the
owner of the dancing bear, and the two men who were hiding on the
island!