OVER THE RIDGE.
“Glad to see you, Mr. Scout Master!” called Bud Morgan as the dinghy
drew in to the shore, and all the boys crowded down so as to be ready to
shake hands with Hugh. “How’d you come up here, I’d like to know?”
“Oh! he’s got the dandiest looking twin-cylinder motorcycle you ever
laid eyes on!” burst out Cooper Fennimore.
“But there’s something more than that he’s got to tell us,” added Sam as
he threw his paddle ashore, and made ready to follow it personally. “He
said there was no time to string the yarn more’n once, so we would have
to wait till all the bunch had gathered around. Get ready to quiver,
everybody, because there’s a thrill coming for you!”
Of course these words aroused the curiosity of the scouts. Even as they
shook hands with Hugh, they were beginning to watch his face as though
under the impression that they might be able to read his secret there.
“I ought to start right in the beginning, boys,” began the newcomer,
“and tell you how we three, Billy Worth, Monkey Stallings and myself,
planned to give you a surprise by running up here on our new
motorcycles, which came the day after you left on the motorboat. That
was why we said we couldn’t go along, but might be up in time to share
the homeward voyage. Well, we had a great time practicing, because Billy
was bound to get into all sorts of trouble. But we managed to get off
to-day. Somebody bring me a drink, please, I’m as dry as a bone.”
Quickly his want was supplied, and then Hugh went on with his brief
story. As it is already familiar to the reader, there is no need of
repeating it here. Hugh wasted as little time as he could in bringing
out the facts. From the way in which those boys hung on his every word,
with eyes full of eagerness and wonder, it could be seen that he was
making a decided sensation.
In a few minutes he had reached the conclusion by merely mentioning the
fact of his coming to the island camp for help. Looking around him, he
saw that there were just eleven boys present not counting himself. He
also noticed that Arthur Cameron seemed to limp more or less whenever he
had occasion to move, as though he might have sprained his ankle in some
way; and that was an unfortunate thing for Arthur, since it marked him
as one of those who would have to remain behind in order to watch the
camp while the others were away on duty.
“Call for volunteers to go back with you, and clean up those hoboes at
the old mill, Hugh!” suggested Don Miller, who had been having his hands
full keeping the boys in order during the absence of both Lieutenant
Denmead and Hugh, and was only too well pleased at having some one come
to relieve him.
“All who want to go, raise their right hand!” called out Walter Osborne,
leader of the Hawk patrol.
It seemed to be unanimous, for there were just eleven hands elevated.
Hugh smiled and seemed pleased, though he knew that at least two among
the scouts would be compelled to endure heart burnings through
disappointment.
“Listen to me,” he remarked quietly and seriously, so that the boys knew
he meant every word that was said, “Several will have to stay in camp.
Arthur, with that lame ankle, you would hardly be fit to take an
over-hill hike, so make up your mind that this time you’re not to be in
the swim. And Ned Twyford will keep you company.”
He selected the last named scout because he knew that Ned had been sick
before coming on this trip, and was not overly stout at best. If there
was apt to be a battle of any sort with those tramps, then only the
strongest boys should be allowed to take part in it, Hugh concluded.
Ned bit his lips as though in protest; but he knew better than to give
vent openly to his disappointment. A scout learns to obey without
questioning when it is a superior who gives the order; and in this way
he shows that he has some of the elements of a true soldier in him
though fighting is foreign to his training, and it must be resorted to
only when all other means fail.
“How will we go, Hugh?” asked Bud Morgan, who had stepped over to one of
the tents and reappeared, bearing a baseball bat in his hands.
His example started the others to skirmishing around in search of clubs.
One of the boys strapped on his camp hatchet; another secured the belt
that held his hunting knife. Still more found various-sized sticks to
their liking. One and all looked grim and determined, as though they
realized that this expedition was not in the nature of a picnic, but a
serious undertaking, indeed.
“I was hoping that some of you might know a short-cut over the hill in
the direction of that abandoned grist mill?” Hugh observed, looking
straight at Don Miller.
The smile that immediately broke out on the face of the Fox leader told
him that he was about to receive reassuring news.
“We do know a way over,” Don hastened to say. “Fact is some of us had
heard about that old mill, and knew about where it lay. So just the day
before yesterday, Arthur coaxed me to go with him. He said he wanted to
snap off a few photographs of the ruin, which was worth while seeing,
somebody had told him. Well, we made a cut across, and found the mill
all right, but the clouds had come up so black that he never took a
single picture. Arthur was feeling pretty bad about it, and made me
promise to go with him again before we broke camp. Then, on the way
back, he wrenched his foot, and I had to half carry him the last mile.”
“You saw no sign of anyone around the place when you were there, I
suppose,” Hugh remarked.
“Well, there were footprints enough,” Don replied, “and we reckoned that
parties sometimes wandered up that way to try the fishing in the pond
above the mill or in the runway. But we didn’t meet anybody, if that’s
what you mean, Hugh.”
“And Don, couldn’t you manage to carry my camera along, so if the sun
shines you might find a chance to snap off those three views I showed
you?” pleaded Arthur, as he held up the little black box.
Don gave a quick look toward the scout master.
“No harm carrying the camera,” the latter told him. “If you get some
decent views, we’d all like to have copies later on to remind us of the
adventure. Better be getting ashore as fast as you can, boys. Every
minute is going to count, you know. Ned, if you feel like it, act as
ferryman, won’t you? Three passengers might crowd aboard if you’re
careful how you sit.”
“It’s so shallow that you could almost wade with your trousers turned up
to your knees,” one of the boys declared, but since they all had their
leggings on none of them started to try this method of getting ashore.
Hugh, ever thoughtful, gave a few more orders.
“We hope to be back some time to-night,” he told Arthur, who would have
to remain behind, “but, in case necessity keeps us from doing it, we
ought to take something to eat along to serve as a snack.”
“Well, that’s sensible advice, I must say,” remarked Walter Osborne. “It
is tough to lie down to sleep on an empty stomach.”
“I generally lie on my back!” put in Tom Sherwood quickly.
“And that accounts for your snoring so loud,” he was told by one of the
others.
Meanwhile the ferrying process was in full blast. When Ned had landed
three of the scouts, he hastened back for another lot. After all, it did
not take a great while to get those who were going on the tramp ashore,
there being four trips necessary, since ten were to make up the party
that expected to hike over the hill to the region of the old mill.
“Now I’m going to put the trip in your hands, Don,” Hugh said, as the
entire party stood on the bank. “Look out for my motorcycle, will you,
Ned, while I’m off? And if there is any chance for rain get some sort of
cover over it if you can. So long as it’s so new and shiny I hate to get
any part rusty. So-long, and here’s hoping we’ll all come back as sound
of limb as we start out!”
“Same here, Hugh, and fellows. The best of luck go with you. If you come
home by way of the hill, give us the signal when you’re up there, so we
can have the dinghy ashore and waiting,” and as the party trailed along
by twos and threes, with Don and Hugh in the lead, Ned waved his hand
after them.
They were soon busily engaged in climbing the hill. Don kept on the
alert, for he did not want to make any error of judgment now that the
scout master had given him free reign. He had paid strict attention to
many features of the landscape when going and coming on that other day,
as a true scout is always expected to do when on the move, and in this
way it seemed almost as though he were following a blazed path.
Now and then they could look back when an opening occurred, and secure
glimpses of the winding river and the broad stretch of water where
Raccoon Island lay. Once they caught sight of the two scouts in camp,
who had evidently glimpsed their moving forms, for they were waving
their hats. The sound of their cheers also came, borne on the wind up to
the high spot where Hugh and his comrades had stopped for a minute to
get their breath, as the summit of the hill was still above.
All of the boys were young and vigorous. They had also had more or less
experience in mountain climbing, so that their muscles were fairly
hardened to the exercise.
“The top of the ridge!” announced the guide as he came to a fourth
pause, and perhaps at another time some of the scouts might have thought
it their duty to raise a cheer at hearing how they had surmounted the
difficult climb; but they knew better than to start anything of that
sort now without orders from the chief.
Scouts on duty must refrain from giving expression to their feelings,
leaving all that to the time when they are at play. They are expected
always to keep their wits about them, and to exercise judgment.
It was down-grade after that, and much easier for making their way
along. Don was showing commendable ability in following the return
tracks of himself and Arthur, for they had saved considerable time and
distance in coming back, having learned where short cuts might be made.
“We are getting close to the mill, Hugh,” announced the Fox leader,
after some more time had elapsed, during which they had made good
progress.
“Here, what’s this right now over here?” asked Bud Morgan.
“It’s a little stream,” Ralph Kenyon volunteered, “and like as not the
overflow of the mill pond. I’ve never happened to get over in this part
of the country while setting my traps for mink, otter, skunk, foxes and
the like in winter, so you see I can’t post you as I might were we on my
old stamping grounds. But from the specks of foam on the water here I
should say it has come over a dam not far away from this spot.”
“Just what I thought, Ralph,” said Tom Sherwood. “If that’s the case, I
reckon we’d all of us better close our potato traps and talk low.”
“The mill is still some distance away,” Hugh told them. “I know because
that foam comes from the creek tumbling down among those rocks yonder.
Don, you’ve been here before, how about it?”
“Won’t get there for nearly ten minutes according to my figuring,” came
the ready response that proved the reasoning of the scout master to be
nearly accurate.
“And I should think we’d only have to follow up this little stream to
strike the mill,” suggested Walter Osborne.
“That was what we laid out the other day,” Don told him, “and it turned
out all right. So, as I’ve luckily managed to bring you over the rise
and within touch of the mill, I’ll only too gladly turn over things to
Hugh here. He knows the lay of the land, I wager, and——”
“’Sh! drop down, everybody, behind these bushes!” whispered Hugh. “I saw
something moving over yonder, and chances are the hoboes have broken
loose!”