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+Project Gutenberg's The Outdoor Chums at Cabin Point, by Quincy Allen
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Outdoor Chums at Cabin Point
+       or The Golden Cup Mystery
+
+Author: Quincy Allen
+
+Release Date: November 9, 2006 [EBook #19743]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTDOOR CHUMS AT CABIN POINT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sankar Viswanathan, and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          THE OUTDOOR CHUMS
+
+                            AT CABIN POINT
+
+                                  OR
+
+                        The Golden Cup Mystery
+
+
+
+                                  BY
+
+                         CAPTAIN QUINCY ALLEN
+
+             AUTHOR OF "THE OUTDOOR CHUMS," "THE OUTDOOR
+                    CHUMS IN THE BIG WOODS," ETC.
+
+
+
+
+                                _The_
+                              GOLDSMITH
+                            Publishing Co.
+                            CLEVELAND OHIO
+
+
+
+
+                         COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY
+                           GROSSET & DUNLAP
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I       ON THE WAY TO CAMP
+
+II      A COOL CUSTOMER
+
+III     TAKING POSSESSION
+
+IV      AS BUSY AS BEAVERS
+
+V       A CALL FOR HELP
+
+VI      THE HOME OF THE OSPREY
+
+VII     THE CHAINED DOOR
+
+VIII    WHEN THE FLASHLIGHT TRAP WORKED
+
+IX      THE FORAGING PARTY
+
+X       TRESPASSERS
+
+XI      IN THE BIG TIMBER
+
+XII     CAUGHT IN THE STORM
+
+XIII    TAKING A BEE-LINE FOR CAMP
+
+XIV     THE RETURN OF THE VOYAGERS
+
+XV      DAYS OF REAL SPORT
+
+XVI     SHOWING BLUFF AND JERRY
+
+XVII    THE WARNING
+
+XVIII   THE ACCUSATION
+
+XIX     REPAYING HIS DEBT
+
+XX      GROPING IN THE DARK
+
+XXI     AN UNEXPECTED APPEAL
+
+XXII    FIRST AID TO THE INJURED
+
+XXIII   A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW
+
+XXIV    THE MYSTERY SOLVED
+
+XXV     CONCLUSION
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE OUTDOOR CHUMS AT CABIN POINT
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+ON THE WAY TO CAMP
+
+
+"We're going into the woods light this time, it seems, boys."
+
+"Remember, Bluff, we sent along most of our stuff, such as blankets
+and grub, as also the cooking outfit, in charge of old Anthony, the
+stage driver."
+
+"That's a fact, Will, and he was to leave it at the abandoned mine
+shaft, from which point we expect to make pack horses of ourselves."
+
+"True for you, Jerry! And unless Frank here has made a mistake in his
+reckoning we're due to reach that hole in the ground before another
+hour."
+
+"How about that, Frank?"
+
+"We'll fetch up there in less time than that I reckon, fellows. To
+tell you the truth, it can't be more than a mile away from here."
+
+"Bully for that! And after we get over the peak of this rocky ridge we
+ought to be on the down-grade most of the way."
+
+When Jerry Wallington gave expression to his gratitude after this
+fashion, two of his companions waved their hats as though he voiced
+their sentiments. One of these boys was Will Milton, and while he did
+not seem to be quite as vigorous as his chums, still his active life
+during the last two years had done much to build up his strength. As
+for Bluff Masters, any one could see from his looks that he had a
+constitution of iron, while his face told of determination bordering
+on obstinacy. The fourth member of the little party tramping along
+this road leading over the ridge was Frank Langdon. He was a boy of
+many parts, able to take the lead in most matters, and looked up to by
+his comrades.
+
+All of them lived in the town of Centerville, where, on account of
+their love for the open and for camp life, they had become known as
+the "Outdoor Chums." Fortune had indeed been kind to these four boys,
+and allowed them to enjoy opportunities for real sport that come the
+way of few lads.
+
+They had first called themselves the "Rod, Gun and Camera Club,"
+because their activities in the woods partook of the nature of these
+several branches of sport. Will was an ardent photographer, and his
+work had received high praise. Indeed, it was only recently that he
+had captured a cash prize offered by a prominent newspaper for the
+best collection of flashlight pictures of wild animals in their native
+haunts.
+
+This had been accomplished only after the most persistent and
+laborious efforts. It was carried out during a delightful trip, taken
+by the boys to the Maine country, where they met with some exceedingly
+interesting adventures, all of which were set down in the seventh
+volume of this series, under the title of "The Outdoor Chums in the
+Big Woods; Or, The Rival Hunters of Lumber Run."
+
+Those readers who have followed the fortunes of Frank and his three
+wide-awake comrades in previous stories have of course come to look on
+them as old friends, and need no further introduction. As there may be
+some, however, who are now making their acquaintance for the first
+time it may be well to mention a few things connected with their past,
+as well as to explain why they were now bound for a new camping ground
+in a region they had never before visited.
+
+Naturally, they knew every foot of country for many miles around
+Centerville. They had roamed over Oak Ridge and the Sunset Mountains,
+camped on Wildcat Island, situated in Camelot Lake, and scoured the
+region roundabout.
+
+More than this, wonderful opportunities had come to these boys to
+visit distant parts of the States. On one occasion they had taken a
+trip South, going to the Gulf of Mexico. Another time it had been a
+visit to the Rocky Mountains where they hunted big game. Then, on a
+houseboat belonging to an eccentric uncle of Will's, they voyaged down
+the great Mississippi River to New Orleans, meeting with numerous
+adventures on the way.
+
+When they returned home after their first year at college, of course
+the regular question came up immediately: "Where shall we go for the
+next outing? because we must get into the woods somehow, and live
+close to Nature for a spell, to fish, and take pictures, and just
+forget all our troubles."
+
+Many ideas were suggested, but it remained for Bluff Masters to bring
+up the most catching plan. By some means he had heard of a place a
+good many miles away from their home town where the big lake lay for
+many miles between the hills.
+
+Here he had been told by one who knew that they would be apt to find
+the seclusion they sought, since few people lived in that section of
+country. Small game was plentiful enough to give Will all the fun he
+wanted in laying his traps, in order that raccoons and opossums and
+foxes might be coaxed to snap off their own pictures.
+
+Fishing ought to be good in the waters of the inland sea, and all of
+them professed to be ardent disciples of the hook and line. In fact,
+Bluff laid out such an alluring programme that he actually carried the
+others by storm.
+
+Accordingly, preparations were made to go to the distant lake. Frank,
+as was his habit, did everything in his power to pick up information
+concerning the lay of the land. He even made up a sort of map, based
+on what he was able to learn, although frankly admitting that it might
+prove faulty in many places. It was going to be one of his personal
+tasks to rectify these mistakes, and bring back an accurate chart of
+the whole district.
+
+Besides being an ardent photographer, Will had taken up the study of
+medicine, as he anticipated some day being a physician. The boys were
+in the habit of calling him "Doctor Will" at times; and whenever there
+arose an occasion that called for his aid he was only too willing to
+apply his knowledge of the healing art.
+
+Bluff Masters had perhaps been well named by his boy friends for he
+was not only a frank sort of boy, but there were many times when just
+out of a desire to tease he would try to "bluff" those with whom he
+chanced to be arguing.
+
+At the same time Bluff was a hearty boy, with plenty of good nature,
+and was a favorite with his companions. He and Jerry were both apt to
+be a little boisterous, and to express their dislikes rather forcibly,
+but the others knew their little failings and paid small attention to
+them as a rule.
+
+As they mentioned in their chatter while they tramped along the rough
+up-hill road, they had found a chance to send most of their camp
+outfit ahead of them by the stage. It was to be left at the shaft of
+the old abandoned mine, which they had heard so much about, though of
+course had never seen.
+
+After reaching that point they expected to leave the road and plunge
+directly into the woods, taking a short-cut for the big lake. Here
+they had planned to search for an old cabin situated on a point that
+stretched out into the beautiful bay, and which Frank believed might
+serve them in lieu of a tent; indeed, trusting to the information
+they had received, they had not bothered to carry any canvas along
+with them on the trip.
+
+"What if that old cabin proves to be a myth after all, Frank?" Bluff
+was asking as they toiled along, with a wall of rock on one hand and a
+dizzy precipice close on the other side.
+
+"Perhaps we'll be sorry about leaving out that fine waterproof tent of
+ours," suggested Will, who did not like to "rough it" quite so much as
+did the others.
+
+"Shucks!" ejaculated Jerry, with fine scorn, "what's the matter with
+our building a shelter of logs, bark and driftwood on the shore of the
+lake, if the worst strikes us? It wouldn't be the first time we'd done
+such a thing either, eh, Frank?"
+
+"I reckon we could do it without straining a point," the other
+observed quietly. "But don't borrow trouble, Bluff. Time enough to
+cross your bridges when you get to them. That old cabin stood there
+last summer, I was told, and likely to hold out for a good many more
+seasons unless some one should deliberately burn it down."
+
+"Who would be apt to do such a silly thing as that, tell me?" demanded
+Bluff.
+
+"I don't think any one would," Frank hastened to reply; "but I've been
+told there's a peculiar old hermit living on an estate not a great
+way distant from Cabin Point. He is said to be a rich man, but seems
+to want to keep away from his fellows, and has built a house up here
+on his property."
+
+"You mean Aaron Dennison, of course, Frank," said Will. "I was
+interested in what we were told about him. He seems to be a regular
+bear, and refuses to make friends with anybody drifting up here."
+
+"The loggers over at Edmundson Cove tell queer yarns of the things he
+has done," Frank continued, with a faint smile; "and to own up to the
+truth, I'm rather hoping we run across old Aaron. He must be quite a
+character from all we've heard, and somehow I've grown curious about
+him."
+
+"And if I get half a chance," observed Will, whose mind usually ran in
+the one channel, which of course covered his hobby, "I mean to snap
+off a picture of him. I've got a lot of freaks in my collection, but
+nary a hermit nor a crank."
+
+"All I hope for," said Jerry, "is that he doesn't try to make it
+unpleasant for us up here. For one, I expect to give him a wide berth.
+These hermits are not much to my fancy. You never know what to expect
+from the lot. But, Frank, after all, we're not the only fellows
+traveling along this mountain road. Look up ahead and you'll see a
+chap hurrying this way."
+
+"He's not much older than any of us, it seems," remarked Bluff, as all
+of them immediately focussed their gaze on the figure that had turned
+a bend in the rough road, and was hurriedly advancing in a somewhat
+careless fashion.
+
+"He's carrying a bag just like my new one," remarked Will, patting the
+article in question affectionately, as though it contained something
+which he valued very much.
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised if he were heading for that railroad station
+we struck a mile back," suggested Frank. "It was only a flag station,
+but trains stop there on signal most likely."
+
+"But where on earth could that natty young fellow come from, do you
+think?" Will asked. "I hope there isn't a camp of city boys up here
+anywhere, because if that turned out to be the case there'd be small
+chance for me to get the pictures of game I'm hoping to strike."
+
+"He sees us now," remarked Jerry, "but is coming along faster than
+ever. Perhaps he's running away from something, for he looked back
+just then over his shoulder."
+
+"Yes, and came near taking a nasty fall in the bargain," commented
+Will, who had started with sudden fear; "it strikes me he's a pretty
+careless sort of fellow. On a dangerous road like this it pays to
+watch your step, as a fall might mean a broken leg, or even worse. Oh!
+look there, boys, he's stumbled again, and gone over the edge of the
+precipice!"
+
+All of them stared in awe, for what Will called out was only too true.
+The advancing figure was no longer in sight, for upon making that
+false step he had fallen to his knees, made a violent effort to keep
+from slipping over the edge, and then disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A COOL CUSTOMER
+
+
+"Come on everybody!" shouted Jerry, starting to run up the grade in
+his customary impetuous way.
+
+The other three were close at his heels. All were inspired by an eager
+desire to find out whether the stranger had actually fallen all the
+way down the face of that steep declivity, or had managed to catch
+hold of some friendly projection.
+
+If the chums had felt tired before that thrilling moment they quite
+forgot the circumstance in their wild anxiety to learn what had
+happened to the strange boy. Fortunately the spot where they had last
+seen the other vanish was not far away, and they soon came to the
+place.
+
+Jerry was already flat on his stomach and peering over the edge when
+the other boys arrived. Even before they could see for themselves his
+shout announced that he had made an important discovery.
+
+"He's hanging to a point of rock down there, as sure as anything,
+Frank! Oh! how are we going to get to him before his arms give way?
+See how he's throwing his feet up, trying to ease the strain, but
+there's nothing doing. Shall I go down there after him, Frank?"
+
+"Don't you think of it, Jerry!" cried the alarmed Will; "let Frank
+make up a plan. You'd only tumble yourself, don't you know?"
+
+Frank Langdon had an exceedingly active mind. He seemed to be able to
+grasp a situation instantly, and to decide quickly the best thing to
+do in an emergency.
+
+Even while running to the spot he had used his eyes to advantage.
+
+"Wait for me!" was what he snapped as he flung himself around.
+
+Bluff, twisting his head backwards, saw that Frank was making for a
+tree that had been blown down at some previous time. It chanced to be
+close at hand, and in a dozen seconds the running boy had gained the
+spot.
+
+Then Bluff gave a cry of mingled delight and admiration.
+
+"It certainly takes Frank to hatch up a clever scheme on the spur of
+the moment! He's dragging that old wild grave-vine out from the wreck
+of the tree!" was what Bluff exclaimed in an ecstasy of satisfaction.
+"Oh! why didn't he tell me to go along with him? What if he can't
+manage it alone?"
+
+Bluff was in the act of clambering to his feet when Jerry halted him.
+
+"It's all right, Bluff, for he's got it loose now, and is whooping it
+up this way like everything. If only that fellow can hold on a little
+longer we'll pull him up O. K. Hey, down there, take a fresh grip and
+stick fast! We've got a vine rope coming on the jump! Steady now, old
+chap; we're standing by you!"
+
+"Hurry!" they heard the other gasp. Undoubtedly after all his
+exertions he must have been short of breath, though the face he turned
+up toward them did not appear to be stamped with any great degree of
+fright.
+
+Just then Frank arrived on the spot, and instantly started to lower
+the section of wild grape-vine he had secured from the fallen tree. It
+was at least a dozen or fifteen feet in length, and any one acquainted
+with the amazing strength of such a parasite did not need to be
+assured that it would easily bear the weight of several persons the
+weight of one who was in such peril on the rock below.
+
+"Can you change your hold to the vine?" called Frank, when presently
+he could see that the lower end of his substitute rope dangled close
+alongside the other.
+
+It required more or less agility and reserve strength to carry such a
+proceeding through successfully. The stranger, however, appeared to
+possess these necessary qualifications, Frank was pleased to see.
+
+Will felt as though his heart was up in his throat as he watched the
+other hang on to the spur of rock with one hand, and seize the
+dangling object with the other. Frank had lowered the larger end of
+the vine. He had also sent it below the jutting rock, so that the one
+they meant to rescue could clasp his legs about it, and thus secure a
+much better grip.
+
+When they saw he had really accomplished the difficult feat of
+transferring his weight to the vine the boys, whose heads projected
+beyond the ledge above, uttered encouraging shouts.
+
+"Well done, old top!" called out Bluff, carried away by his
+enthusiasm, and acting as though he had known the other a long time.
+"Now just give us a little time and we'll run you up here in great
+shape. Here you come, then! Heave-oh, boys!"
+
+It required their united strength to raise the boy who dangled at the
+end of the grape-vine. This was on account of the fact that their
+make-believe rope refused to bend very well, thus making its hauling
+up a clumsy business.
+
+Still every foot helped, and all the while some of them kept calling
+out encouragingly to the boy below. In the end his head appeared in
+view, upon which he was seized by the arms by Frank and Bluff, and
+dragged over the edge.
+
+Somewhat to the surprise of the boys, he immediately started to
+brushing himself off, as though the dust on his clothes bothered him
+more than any slight bruises he may have received in his ugly fall.
+Frank made up his mind when he saw this that the other was certainly
+nonchalant, or, as Frank himself expressed it, "a cool customer."
+
+"I hope you're not hurt by your tumble?" Frank asked, at which the
+other shook his head, and continued dusting his coat as he replied:
+
+"Don't think I got even a scratch, which is about my ordinary luck.
+But only for your coming I'd have dropped the rest of the way down to
+the bottom of the hole, and that might have changed things some. Thank
+you very much for helping. And that scheme of the wild grave-vine was
+a corker, too. I'd never have thought of such a thing, I'm positive."
+
+"Oh! trust Frank for hitting the right nail on the head every time,"
+boasted Will, who never lost a chance to magnify the deeds of the one
+he admired above any among all his friends.
+
+The other now took occasion to look them over curiously, as though he
+had begun to wonder who they were, and what brought four boys up into
+this region. Frank guessed this much, for he immediately introduced
+himself and his chums.
+
+"We're from Centerville, a town that's a good way off from here. My
+name's Frank Langdon, this is Will Milton, the one next to him is
+Bluff Masters, and the other fellow, Jerry Wallington. We have always
+been mighty fond of camping, and just now mean to put in a few weeks
+on the shore of the big lake at a place called Cabin Point. Our stuff
+has gone ahead of us on the stage that came along here yesterday."
+
+Somehow Frank thought the other started a little and looked keenly at
+him when this announcement was made. He could not understand, though,
+why it should interest any one to know that they intended to camp at
+any particular spot on the lake shore, since there were many miles to
+choose from.
+
+"Oh! my name is Gilbert Dennison. I've been at college, and mean to
+spend my vacation playing golf. You see they do say I'm runner-up
+among the amateurs on the green links. Sent my clubs and luggage off
+yesterday, and was on the way to the train to-day when the horse
+smashed a wheel of the rig. I had to put out afoot, for, you see, I
+wouldn't miss making that train for a good deal, because of the
+match."
+
+He took out his watch and held it in a hand that hardly trembled in
+the least, which Frank thought rather remarkable, seeing what a strain
+had been upon him lately. Altogether, Frank considered him the coolest
+person he had ever met. If he could control his nerves in this fashion
+when playing in a match it was no wonder he was looked upon as a
+coming wonder on the golf links, where such a gift counts heavily.
+
+"You must excuse me for rushing off in such a beastly hurry, fellows!"
+Gilbert exclaimed, as he looked around for his bag, which,
+fortunately, had not fallen over the precipice at the time he
+stumbled; "some other time perhaps I'll run in on you at your camp,
+and be able to thank you in a more decent way for giving me a lift. I
+think I can make that train in half an hour."
+
+Bluff and Jerry had not a word to say. They stood and stared at the
+other, astonished beyond measure. Really in all their experiences far
+and wide they had never met with such a self-possessed young person as
+this.
+
+He picked up his bag, waved them a flippant good-bye, and then
+actually started to run down the slope. Bluff scratched his head and
+grinned, while Jerry exclaimed in disgust.
+
+"Gee whiz! if that wasn't the queerest thing ever! You'd think he'd
+just stubbed his toe, and we happened along in time to help him rub
+the same. He sure is a cool customer, believe me, fellows!"
+
+"Such base ingratitude I never ran across," ventured Will,
+indignantly. "Why, only for Frank's fetching that grape-vine along,
+and our pulling him up so neatly, he'd have had to let go his hold
+before now. And say, it was all of thirty feet down to the bottom of
+the hole from the rock he held on to; an ugly fall, I'd call it."
+
+"Oh! well," observed Frank, more amused than otherwise by the singular
+circumstance, "when a fellow pursues any fad as he does golf he seems
+to chase it just as we've all done one of those jack-o'-lanterns in
+the marsh. When the fever is on him he can't think of anything else.
+That match on the links is, in his mind, the greatest event under the
+sun. We've all been there, boys, remember."
+
+"But where did he come from, do you think?" asked Will.
+
+"There's a village, I recollect, over the hills that way," Frank
+explained; "and it's just barely possible his folks live there. Being
+off the railroad, you see they have to make a little journey of some
+miles every time they want to go to the city. We may run on to the
+broken-down buggy further on."
+
+"He's still running right along," remarked Jerry.
+
+"And hasn't bothered to look back once," added Will, as though he
+could not understand why the other should so easily forget about the
+service they had done him.
+
+"Well, looking back caused him his other stumble, and it's taught him
+a lesson, I reckon," laughed Frank, always ready to offer excuses for
+others' failings, but never for his own.
+
+"We might as well be going on our way then, boys," suggested Bluff, as
+he gave his knapsack a fling that caused it to land squarely on his
+back.
+
+The others picked up their scanty possessions for, as has been said
+before, the main part of their belongings had been sent on in advance
+by the stage.
+
+"For one," observed Will with a little sigh, "I own up I'll be glad
+when we get to the lake. Seems to me this bag keeps on growing heavier
+all the time; and yet when I started out this morning I thought it as
+light as a feather."
+
+"It's always that way," he was told by Frank, consolingly; "even your
+feet often begin to drag as though weighted down with lead, when once
+you find yourself growing tired. But, Will, say the word and I'll tote
+your bag for you."
+
+"Not much you will, Frank! though it's certainly kind of you to offer
+to do it. I'd be a nice Outdoor Chum, wouldn't I now, if I let some
+other fellow shoulder my burdens? If I were sick or lame it might be a
+different thing; but that doesn't happen to fit the case now. I'll get
+along all right, so don't worry."
+
+Accordingly they pushed on up the road, and presently arrived at the
+crest of the ridge. The trees prevented an extended view, however,
+much to the disappointment of Will, who wanted to make use of his
+camera.
+
+They saw no signs of the wrecked vehicle mentioned by the young
+college chap who had given them his name as Gilbert Dennison, and
+hence concluded it must be further along the road.
+
+A short time afterwards Frank announced that they were near the
+abandoned mine, which his informants had told him lay close to the
+border of the road they had followed over the rocky ridge.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+TAKING POSSESSION
+
+
+Frank had learned that many years back there had been a company
+organized to mine the iron that was known to exist in certain sections
+of the hills in that region.
+
+Considerable work had been done, and some ore even shipped away, when,
+for some reason or other, the scheme had been given up after a shaft
+had been sunk for fifty feet or more, and workings started.
+
+The entrance to the abandoned mine had been visited by curious people
+coming to that locality. It was even marked on the old map which Frank
+had used in making the outlines of his own little chart.
+
+"Here it is, boys!" cried Jerry, who had pushed to the front; "Frank
+was correct when he said he could see where the wheels of the stage
+had run in off the road just back there. I hope our stuff is all
+right."
+
+"So do I!" echoed Will, anxiously, "because I've got most of my new
+rolls of films, as well as my flashlight apparatus, in my big pack.
+I'm only carrying a lot of precious developed films in this bag, with
+other things I need. You see I'm meaning to put in quite a bunch of
+time while up here experimenting and that's why I carried them along."
+
+They had their fears quickly relieved, for their property lay just
+inside the old shaft leading into the abandoned iron mine.
+
+"It all seems to be here, and in decent shape," remarked Frank. "That
+stage driver kept his word when he said he'd take good care of our
+stuff. And now to divide it up so every one has a share."
+
+"No funny business, Frank," Bluff reminded him; "every one of us
+expects to get an equal tote load."
+
+"That's what I say, too," echoed Will, who suspected he might be
+treated too generously by his chums, and given less than his proper
+proportion to carry, for Will was over-sensitive concerning his lack
+of physical strength.
+
+In the end they managed to distribute the blankets, food, and other
+things in a fashion that was fairly equitable, and then resumed their
+journey. At this point they expected to leave the road, and follow a
+trail that if stuck to would take them to the shore of the big lake
+around Cabin Point, their intended destination.
+
+"Our course should be almost due northwest from here on," the guide
+informed his three companions as they set forth. "I'm telling you that
+for a purpose, you understand."
+
+"You mean in case we lose the pesky trail that seems so faint, we can
+keep going in the right direction all the same; is that it, Frank?"
+asked Jerry.
+
+"You've struck the right nail on the head, Jerry, for that was what I
+meant. But by keeping our eyes on the trail we ought to have little
+trouble following this old path."
+
+"It strikes me the trail hasn't been worked much for some time," Bluff
+observed.
+
+"That's true enough," said the pilot of the expedition, "but once a
+trail has been well worn you can find it years and years afterward if
+you look the right way. It's easy to notice heaps of signs that tell
+the story, where the earth was worn away by passing feet. When you're
+in doubt just push back the grass and there it lies as plain as day."
+
+Frank always prided himself more or less on his ability to follow
+tracks where others might give up the task in despair. Nothing pleased
+him half so much as to run across a puzzle along these lines that
+required his best work in order to find the answer.
+
+After they had gone on for some time a rest was called.
+
+"That's a good idea, Frank," Jerry declared when he heard the order
+given to drop their burdens and lie around for ten minutes or so. "Not
+that I'm feeling played out you understand; but I've always been told
+it was poor policy to whip a willing nag."
+
+"It's certainly a pretty rough path, all right!" Will admitted.
+
+"But we must be about half-way across by now," added Bluff.
+
+"How about that, Frank? Let's take a look at your map again," said
+Jerry.
+
+Upon examination it was found to be about as Bluff had thought; the
+shore of the big water could not be more than half a mile further on.
+Cheered by this information, even Will expressed himself as willing to
+start again.
+
+"When you've got anything unpleasant to do," he told them, "I believe
+in getting it over with as soon as you can, and off your mind."
+
+"Huh! that pleases me a heap to hear you say so, Will," chuckled
+Bluff; "because you know there's that dicker I wanted to make with you
+for that new hunting knife I took such a fancy to. I offered you my
+old one and something to boot in the bargain. Now I understood from
+the way you acted the deal wasn't pleasant to you; so please get it
+over with as soon as possible."
+
+"I'll see you in Guinea, Bluff, before I trade that splendid blade,"
+retorted the other, "but I told you where I got it, and any time you
+feel like it you can send for one just like mine. Let it go at that
+then."
+
+There came another hard pull. Sometimes the way was so rough that all
+of them panted more or less. Will showed real grit by keeping up with
+the others, though he had to shut his teeth hard together, and take
+himself mentally to task when he felt his legs tremble under him with
+weakness.
+
+All at once Jerry, always the first to discover things, gave vent to a
+yell.
+
+"Hey there, fellows! I see water ahead through the trees! Yep, it's
+the big lake as sure as anything! We've got there at last!"
+
+"Good!" muttered Will in an undertone, as though he did not wish the
+others to hear him; to tell the truth, he felt as though he could not
+stagger on much further over that rough trail, and carry the heavy
+pack in the bargain, as well as the new bag containing his precious
+films.
+
+The sight of the splendid sheet of water seemed to inspire them all
+with new energy, for they perceptibly quickened their pace until
+impatient Jerry was almost running in his eagerness to get to his
+destination.
+
+After a while they found themselves standing on the shore of the
+inland sea, where the waters were lapping the shore with a murmuring
+sound that was sweet music in the ears of Frank Langdon.
+
+"Well, one thing's settled anyhow," remarked Will, presently, as he
+heaved a sigh of relief; "we didn't get lost, did we, fellows?"
+
+"Shucks! that was the last thing to bother me," declared Bluff with a
+fine appearance of scorn. "For one, I've passed the novice stage in
+woodcraft, and reckon myself able to get along with the next chap."
+
+"All the same," he was told by Frank, "I've known the time when you
+_did_ manage to lose your bearings and run up against a whole bunch of
+trouble in consequence."
+
+"But that's past history," remonstrated the other; "and times have
+changed since then, Frank. I should hope I've learned my lesson by
+now."
+
+"Now where do you think this Cabin Point lies, that we're going to
+hunt up, with the idea of making our home there during our stay?"
+Jerry demanded.
+
+"Just look to the left and I think you'll see a wooded cape that
+reaches out into the lake like a tongue or a finger," the pilot
+explained, pointing as he spoke.
+
+"Frank, you're all to the good there, that must be our goal," Bluff
+hastened to assert; for indeed since there was no other similar
+projection of the shore in sight, it seemed reasonable to believe
+Cabin Point was before their eyes.
+
+"We'll soon settle that matter," observed Frank, once more making a
+start.
+
+They did not have far to go, for the half-concealed and wholly
+overgrown trail reached the lake close to the wooded cape. Perhaps
+long before, when loggers had a camp in that region while felling the
+virgin growth of forest, the point of land was a favorite camp with
+them. That would account for the trail, and why it had grown up in
+recent years.
+
+Once on the ground, they began to look earnestly for signs of the
+abandoned cabin which it was hoped would afford them shelter during
+their outing. For some little time this search bore no fruit, and Will
+was beginning to feel quite disconsolate.
+
+"Looks to me as if it was going to be our job to start a brush shanty
+that will give us shelter for a couple of nights till we can put up a
+more substantial affair," he told Bluff, who happened to be close to
+him, looking to the right and to the left in a vain attempt to be the
+first one to make a pleasant discovery.
+
+Will had hardly spoken when they heard a call from Jerry.
+
+"I might have known it was no good trying to beat his sharp eyes out,"
+grumbled Bluff, as though really disappointed because he had failed to
+locate the cabin.
+
+"What difference does it make who turns the trick?" ventured Will,
+looking happy again; "so long as it's done. The end and not the means
+is what counts. Hello! Jerry, have you struck pay dirt?"
+
+"Here it is!" came the triumphant answer, and the others hurried
+forward, to discover the log structure partly concealed from view by
+branches of trees, vines, moss, and every sort of green growth.
+
+"No wonder we couldn't see it easily," expostulated Bluff; "everybody
+doesn't happen to have microscopic eyes like Jerry here. I warrant you
+now I passed within thirty feet of this spot several times, and never
+tumbled to what was so close by."
+
+"One of the first things we'll do, fellows," suggested Frank, "will be
+to get busy and cut down a lot of this stuff that keeps us from
+having a fine outlook over the bay and the big lake beyond."
+
+"How about the cabin itself?" asked Will. "Seems to me the chimney is
+sort of dilapidated on top."
+
+"That can be soon remedied, and I'll take care of it," Frank assured
+him. "Then this door is hanging on one rusty hinge; we'll find a way
+to stand it up again. Let's step inside and look around a bit; I'm
+more anxious about the roof than almost anything else, for that's apt
+to leak like a sieve until we fix it."
+
+"Go a little slow," Will warned them, "for I've known of wild cats or
+other wild beasts taking up their quarters in an abandoned cabin."
+This remark caused Bluff and Jerry to laugh, for they could themselves
+look back to a ludicrous experience of the kind.
+
+It turned out that the cabin had no ferocious occupant and upon
+investigation they found that the roof was not very bad after all.
+
+"In one corner only it looks as if the rain had come in," said Frank
+finally; "or water when the snow melted, which tries a roof more than
+anything else. Why, given half a day and we shall have a weather-proof
+top all over. Take note of that big yawning fireplace, will you? I can
+see what jolly times we'll have sitting around there on cool nights;
+and up here we're apt to have many such."
+
+"We can make bunks against this wall where you can see the remains of
+two right now," Bluff intimated.
+
+"Until then we'll spread our blankets on the floor and rough it, which
+suits me all right," Jerry announced.
+
+Will had lowered his burdens to the floor. He seemed anxious to get
+settled after some fashion. First of all he opened the new bag. The
+other boys were still looking curiously around, finding a number of
+interesting features connected with the lone cabin on the point, when
+they heard Will give a cry of utter astonishment. Turning quickly they
+saw him staring down into the bag he had opened, with a look of
+consternation on his face.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+AS BUSY AS BEAVERS
+
+
+"What under the sun ails Will?" demanded Bluff.
+
+"It's his bag, don't you understand?" added Jerry. "Something's
+happened to upset him terribly. He looks as if he'd seen a ghost. Ten
+chances to one now he forgot to put the films in."
+
+"What is it, Will?" called out Frank, who, being busy just then, had
+only turned his head when the cry bubbled from the other's lips.
+
+"Oh! Frank, they're gone!" gasped Will.
+
+"What's that? Do you mean your films?" demanded the other.
+
+"Yes, oh yes, gone, worse luck! I don't understand it at all. Seems as
+though I must be dreaming, Frank!" and Will began to rub his eyes
+vigorously, as though by that means he hoped to get his proper sight
+back; after which he stared again at the open bag on the floor.
+
+"You're dead sure you put them in the bag, are you, Will?" questioned
+the skeptical Jerry.
+
+"Of course I am!" he was indignantly told. "But I can't understand
+where these silly things came from. They don't belong to me, that's
+sure."
+
+"Hello! here's a mystery all right," said Bluff, scrambling to his
+feet and hurrying over to the other; in which action he was
+immediately imitated by the other two.
+
+"Well, I declare that's queer!" burst out Jerry; "a lot of golf balls,
+a white sweater, and a pair of rubber-soled shoes! Why, Will, what has
+happened?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know," said the bewildered one, shaking his head
+sadly. "Here I pack my films and a few other little things in this new
+bag, and start out. Then when I open it, see what I get! Who's been
+playing a trick on me, I'd like to know?"
+
+"Wait a minute," interrupted Frank, just when the injured one was
+beginning to frown and look suspiciously at Bluff and Jerry; "nobody
+here has had a hand in the thing, Will; but I think I know what
+happened."
+
+"Then for goodness' sake, Frank, hurry up and tell us!" cried Bluff;
+"for Will here is beginning to have awful thoughts, and looks at me as
+if he could eat me."
+
+"Yes, please explain the mystery, Frank, if you can," pleaded Will.
+
+"To my mind it's as simple as anything could well be," began the
+other, soberly.
+
+"You remember our meeting on the road with the young chap calling
+himself Gilbert something or other? Well, I happened to notice that
+the bag he carried was as near like your new one as two peas could be.
+When he hurried away to catch his train in his excitement he must have
+unconsciously picked up the wrong bag!"
+
+"Then this one belongs to him, does it?" asked Jerry.
+
+"Don't you remember," remarked Frank, "his saying something about his
+being runner-up in the amateur class of golfers, and that he was going
+to a tournament right then, which accounted for his haste?"
+
+Will uttered a deep groan. He was evidently very much dejected over
+the unfortunate accident that had befallen him so early in their
+outing.
+
+"What tough luck I've struck!" he said, as he stared down at the golf
+balls, as useless to him as so many stones. "I do hope that chap won't
+be so mad when he finds out what he's done as to destroy my precious
+films. What if he went and put a match to them? You know they'd flame
+up something fierce, and it'd be good-bye to all my hard work up in
+Maine."
+
+"Oh! the chances are small that he'd be so venomous as all that,"
+returned Frank, "especially when he must know it was all his own
+fault."
+
+"But what do you think he'll do about it?" questioned Bluff.
+
+"If I were Gilbert," suggested Jerry, drily, "my first job would be to
+hire some caddy with a heavy foot to kick me good and hard. Then I'd
+set out to get a new sweater and another supply of golf balls. Later
+on I'd make it a point to head back this way and hunt you up, to
+apologize humbly and to hand over your bag intact."
+
+"Well said, Jerry," was Frank's hearty commendation.
+
+Will picked up a little hope at that. Perhaps after all matters might
+not be quite so bad as they looked at first glance. Even if he did
+lose a week of time, there were plenty of other things he could be
+doing, since he had his camera and flashlight apparatus intact.
+
+"Thanks, Jerry. I guess you are right," he told the other. "Every
+cloud has a silver lining, they say, if only you look for it. I'll try
+to hope for the best after this. My precious films may come back to me
+again undamaged. I hope so, anyway; but you know there's no telling
+what a fellow may do when in a sudden rage."
+
+"Think again, Will," said Frank. "We all agreed that this Gilbert
+fellow was as cool a customer as we'd ever met. Now the chances are
+he'll grasp the situation at a glance, laugh at his blunder, put
+_your_ bag safely away, and hustle to remedy the mistake so as not to
+be left out of the tournament. Believe that, Will, for your own peace
+of mind."
+
+So the forlorn chum finally fastened the bag and hung it on a peg.
+
+"I hope to see it give way to my own bag by the time a week or so has
+passed," he forced himself to say.
+
+As the afternoon was getting well along the boys busied themselves
+with what appeared to be the most urgent duties. Such things as roof
+mending and the like could wait for another time, since there did not
+seem to be any possibility of a storm coming up, on that night at
+least.
+
+"But we must surely pay attention to that roof the first thing
+to-morrow," Frank told them, as they began to make preparations for
+the cooking fire.
+
+"Yes, that's right," Jerry added; "because we mustn't be like the
+Irishman in the old story who never did mend the hole in his roof,
+although always going to do so; and when they asked why he kept
+putting it off explained by saying: 'Whin it rains I _can't_ mind it,
+and whin it's dry and fair, be jabers! phy should I bother?'"
+
+Of course things were in something of a turmoil that evening, though
+the boys were beginning to plan just how they meant to store their
+possessions away so as to have their customary system about the cabin
+camp.
+
+When the odors of supper began to fill the interior of the cabin the
+boys discovered that their camp appetites were already beginning to
+manifest themselves. They certainly appreciated that first meal in the
+open. It brought back to memory many other camps they had enjoyed
+together.
+
+And later on while sitting around in front of the blazing fire it was
+only natural that the talk should be of those earlier events, which
+have been set down in such an interesting way between the covers of
+previous volumes of this series.
+
+Having no cots or bunks as yet, they spread their blankets on the hard
+floor, and after this crude fashion settled down for the first night.
+None of them expected to obtain a good rest, because the first night
+out is always a wakeful one on account of strange surroundings. But in
+due time all this would wear away and in the end it might even prove
+to be a difficult task to arouse some of the heavy sleepers at
+sunrise.
+
+After breakfast the next morning all of them set to work. Even Will
+was not allowed to begin with his beloved photography until some
+semblance of order had been brought about.
+
+They had brought a few tools along with them, Frank resting under the
+belief that a hand-saw, a hammer, and some nails would not come in
+amiss when they meant to start housekeeping in an old cabin that might
+need considerable repairing to make it habitable.
+
+It was this habit of looking ahead possessed by Frank Langdon that so
+often made things much easier for himself and his chums than they
+might otherwise have been.
+
+So while Frank busied himself at the roof, he had one of the others
+mending the door, and the remainder of the party searching for wood
+that could be utilized in making their rude bunks along the wall.
+
+It was found that they could take down some boards that were really
+not needed, and saw them into the necessary strips required. So during
+the entire morning there was more or less hammering and sawing going
+on that must have greatly astonished the timid little woods folk
+dwelling in that vicinity, so long given over to solitude and quiet.
+
+At noon-time things began to look a little shipshape. To begin with,
+the roof had been repaired, and Frank believed it would turn water in
+any storm short of a cloud-burst. Then the door also was swinging on
+two hinges, one of stout leather, also carried in Frank's pack for an
+emergency.
+
+The four bunks were coming along nicely, and the amateur carpenters
+who worked on them promised a complete job before nightfall.
+
+"And now," said Frank, as they munched a cold lunch at noon, having
+decided not to go to the bother of doing any cooking at that time, "I
+want Will to come with me to make a little search for that old boat we
+were told could be found hidden under a shelving rock near the shore.
+It hasn't been used for some years, and is apt to be in poor shape,
+but I've got some oakum and a calking tool. With those, I hope to put
+it in condition, so with frequent baling we can use it on the lake."
+
+They made a systematic search all along the shore, but it was not
+until nearly an hour had passed that they discovered the spot where,
+under a shelf of rock, the old craft lay.
+
+After making an examination, Frank declared he could mend the rowboat
+so that it would afford them more or less pleasure. Its planks had
+survived many a winter, thanks to the protection afforded by the shelf
+of rock.
+
+Since the gaps in the open seams were so large that it would leak like
+a sieve, he realized his work would have to be done at the spot where
+the boat was found. This meant only a tramp of a quarter of a mile at
+most, going and coming.
+
+"I'll get busy the first thing in the morning," Frank told Will.
+"Altogether, the job oughtn't to take me more than a day. Then we can
+all get together and drag the boat down to the water, and one of us
+can paddle around to Cabin Point, where there's a splendid cove to tie
+up in."
+
+"The oars are good enough for our use, though splintered some,"
+suggested the other.
+
+"That will save us a hard job," Frank admitted, "because I don't think
+I ever shaped an oar in my life, and it's no little task, believe me!"
+
+In their wanderings the boys had discovered a stream that emptied into
+the lake. Frank promised himself the pleasure of following it up some
+day, and finding what the country looked like in that direction.
+
+"I've got a notion," he told Will, "that this stream runs through the
+property of that old hermit, Aaron Dennison; at least that's what one
+man told me. Perhaps he'll take it badly when he learns that a parcel
+of boys have squatted down for a month's stay so close to his place."
+
+"I hope we do run across the queer old man some of these fine days,"
+ventured Will; "and that I'm carrying my camera along with me, because
+I'd like to snap off the picture of a real hermit. I've got some odd
+people in my collection, but nothing so queer as that. I surely would
+like to get him."
+
+On arriving at the cabin they found the other pair had been
+exceedingly industrious during their absence. The sleeping quarters
+were beginning to look shipshape, and promised more or less comfort
+when completed.
+
+"Now if you fellows would only turn in and give us a helping hand,"
+suggested Jerry, "we could get through in a couple of hours."
+
+"Just what I was going to propose on my own account," Frank told him.
+"Many hands make light work, you know. So tell us what you want done,
+and we'll get busy."
+
+All of them being handy with tools, they made a good job of the bunks.
+Indeed, considering what poor material they had to work with, the
+result did them great credit.
+
+"Now who's going to be the first to pick his bunk?" laughed Will, when
+it was decided there could be nothing more done to make the sleeping
+quarters comfortable.
+
+"No, you don't!" exclaimed Frank, when unconsciously all faces were
+turned toward him. "Every fellow is going to have a square show. Here,
+I'll hold four splinters of wood in my hand, all of different lengths.
+Each one draw, and the longest has first choice."
+
+"That's a fair bargain," agreed Bluff, "though for my part one bunk is
+pretty much like another."
+
+It turned out that Will was given first choice, and he took a lower
+berth, for they had been arranged in sections of two, on account of
+limited room. Frank, having second pick, took the one above, and the
+others then divided the remaining two between them.
+
+After they had arranged their warm blankets, the place began to take
+on quite a cheery appearance.
+
+"We'll get at that cranky table next, and steady it," said Frank;
+"then we need another bench, because as it is we have to use blocks of
+wood for seats. In fact, I can already see a dozen things to be done,
+with more to follow."
+
+Jerry in passing across the cabin tripped, and uttered a grunt as
+though he had stubbed his toe.
+
+"That makes three times that loose plank has caught me," he muttered,
+"and the old motto says 'three times and out.' So I'll just yank that
+plank up and settle it down afresh. A few of those big spikes you
+brought along ought to do the trick, Frank."
+
+Accordingly the determined boy set about carrying this little plan
+into execution. Prying up one end of the plank, he managed to get a
+grip of it, and then raised it completely. It came up much more easily
+than Jerry had anticipated.
+
+"Why, hello!" the others heard him say, "here's an old rat's nest made
+years ago, I should think; and look what's lying beside it, will
+you?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A CALL FOR HELP
+
+
+Jerry was holding something up when he said this, which he had just
+picked out of the cavity under the loose plank.
+
+"Why, it looks as though it had once been a baby's shoe, I should
+say," suggested Frank.
+
+"Just what it is, but as old as the hills," remarked Jerry. "I wonder
+now, did it slip down here, or was it carried by the old mother rat
+when this nest was made?"
+
+He fumbled among the scraps of paper and such stuff that had gone to
+form the nest of the rodent. One piece seemed to be a part of an
+envelope. The writing was fairly visible, though age had yellowed the
+paper.
+
+"What do you think of this, fellows?" Jerry demanded, as though
+interested. "I can make out part of a name here, and whose do you
+reckon it is?"
+
+"Oh, tell, and don't keep a fellow guessing!" urged Bluff
+impatiently.
+
+"The word Aaron is as plain as anything," pursued Jerry, "and then
+there's part of the next one Denni--so you see it really looks as if
+away back, twenty years ago or perhaps even much longer, the rich old
+hermit used to actually live here in this log cabin. In those days he
+was land poor, mebbe; and say, the shoe--why, he must have had a wife,
+and a baby, too!"
+
+All of them looked at the poor little memento of the dim past which
+had been discovered under such singular conditions. Then Jerry
+commenced smoothing the earth level under the plank so that it would
+set more evenly. In the midst of this he uttered another exclamation.
+
+"All sorts of queer things are coming my way, I tell you!" he called
+out. "See what I've dug up now!"
+
+"Looks like a half dollar," remarked Bluff decidedly interested. "And
+see here, if you've struck a miser's hoard, remember we're all chums,
+Jerry; it's share alike, I hope."
+
+A vigorous hunt failed to disclose any mate of the coin, and in the
+end they were compelled to believe it must be only a lone specimen.
+
+"Perhaps old Aaron was a money grabber in those days," Bluff ventured,
+"and laid the foundation for his fortune while living here in this
+cabin. And this hole under the loose plank--wouldn't it be just the
+jolliest hiding-place for a miser to stow his valuables in?"
+
+"Either that," added Frank thoughtfully, "or else the half dollar
+managed to slip down through a crack. Have you examined it to see the
+date, Jerry? Because if it happens to be one that was coined within
+the last half-dozen years we'd know it couldn't have been left here
+long ago."
+
+"I can make it out easily enough, Frank; and it's away back in
+eighteen-eighty. So that allows plenty of leeway, you see."
+
+The little incident gave them considerable food for exchanging
+opinions. They even tried to picture what the cabin on the Point may
+have looked like many years ago, when a woman's hands took care of the
+home, and the prattle of a child sounded among those great trees
+overhead.
+
+Still, none of the boys dreamed that the cavity under the floor would
+play a part in the future happenings that were destined to come their
+way, though such proved to be the case.
+
+The second night things began to shape themselves much more
+comfortably. All of the boys declared they had enjoyed a sound sleep
+when dawn once more found them stirring, and ready to take up the new
+duties of the day.
+
+One thing after another was finished, and it gave them considerable
+satisfaction to find how much of an improvement this sort of work
+made in the cabin and surroundings.
+
+Frank himself cut away much of the thick growth of bushes and branches
+that interfered with their view of the big water. When he had
+completed his task it was possible to look from the open door and see
+for miles out over the lake. They believed they would never tire of
+watching the play of the waves that at times could be heard so plainly
+breaking on the shore near by.
+
+There was seldom a time during daylight when some fish-hawk could not
+be seen sailing serenely over the water, looking for a fish for his
+young fledglings. On several occasions the boys also discovered a
+bald-headed eagle wheeling far up in the blue space overhead.
+
+"We must keep on the watch to learn how the bold robber taxes the
+hard-working and honest fish-hawks for his meal," Frank remarked.
+"It's too much bother for the eagle to plunge down and hook a fish for
+himself, so he waits until an osprey gets one, then follows him up
+into the air and makes him drop his prize."
+
+Will, of course, was deeply interested. Everything that pertained to
+animal nature appealed irresistibly to him these days, since he had
+taken to securing pictures of wild birds and animals in their native
+haunts.
+
+"I've read about such things, but never had the good luck to see it
+done," he hastened to remark. "I hope I can make use of my camera if
+it happens to come along at the right time. Already I think I know
+where a pair of those big ospreys have their nest, and that ought to
+make a dandy picture, with one of the parent birds feeding the
+youngsters."
+
+"I'd go a little slow about it if I were you," Frank cautioned him.
+"They make their homes up in pretty tall trees, you know. And besides,
+some of them are savage fighters when they think their nests are going
+to be disturbed or robbed."
+
+The others forgot about the fish-hawks after that, but not Will. When
+he had anything on his mind he was very persistent. This was
+particularly true of such matters as were connected with his hobby
+along the line of photography.
+
+Several days passed, and the other boys were enjoying themselves
+greatly. For that matter, so was Will, though his activities ran along
+a single groove. Let those who cared to fish sit out there on the lake
+all they wished; or troll along, using minnows for bait, which had
+been taken in a little net made of mosquito bar stuff; Will preferred
+to roam the adjacent woods seeking signs of minks, raccoons, opossums
+and foxes, and planning just how he would arrange his traps so that
+at night time the animals would set off his flashlight, and have their
+pictures taken unawares in so doing.
+
+All the little chores had been completed around the cabin, which
+looked quite like another place now. It was kept as neat as wax, for
+Frank had even manufactured an odd but effective broom out of twigs,
+such as he had seen used by immigrants from abroad.
+
+Frank was contemplating the taking of a little tramp up the stream on
+the following day. He had not forgotten what one of his informants had
+told him concerning the hermit's place, and was more than curious to
+meet Aaron Dennison.
+
+Will had not ceased to remember his loss. He brooded over it at times,
+and even broke out into occasional lamentations. His greatest fear
+seemed to be that Gilbert might destroy the films in his sudden
+disgust on discovering what a wretched blunder he had committed in his
+haste.
+
+Will had wandered forth after lunch on this day. From the fact that he
+carried his camera along with him, the rest of the boys judged he
+meant to secure some view that had appealed to him as especially fine.
+
+It was some hours later that Frank noticed that he had not returned.
+Will was a fair woodsman by now, and there did not seem to be much
+chance of his allowing himself to become lost. Still Frank found
+himself wondering just where the boy had gone, and why Will had not
+taken any of them into his confidence.
+
+When it was but an hour from sunset he mentioned the matter to the
+rest.
+
+"Does anybody happen to know where Will set out for?" was his
+question.
+
+No one did, for both Bluff and Jerry shook their heads in the
+negative, while the last named remarked:
+
+"He was busy working at something or other this morning. I didn't get
+on to it, and meant to ask him, but forgot all about it. I saw him
+fasten a piece of rope around him and enclose a tree out there. It
+made me laugh at the time, and only that Bluff called me just then I
+would have joshed him about trying to play Indian, and tying himself
+face on to a tree."
+
+Frank chuckled at hearing that.
+
+"You've given me a clue already, Jerry," he observed. "I remember that
+Will seemed set on getting a picture of that osprey nest he had
+discovered. You know the old trick some South Sea islanders practice
+when climbing cocoanut trees is to have a loop around the trunk and
+their own body, then barefooted hoist themselves bit by bit, always
+raising the loop as they go."
+
+"Whew! and so Will thought he could do the same thing, did he, and get
+up to the first limb high above his head. But say, Frank, what if
+something has happened to him?"
+
+Jerry looked uneasy when he said this, and Bluff, too, picked up his
+hat as though ready to set out in search of Will.
+
+"We must look into this, that's a fact, boys!" declared Frank;
+whereupon they hurried out of doors.
+
+"Listen!" cried Frank almost immediately. "Seems to me I heard a call
+some distance away and along the shore. Yes, there it is again, and I
+reckon that's our chum giving tongue. He must be in difficulty and he
+needs help, so come on," at which the three of them started to run at
+full speed eastward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE HOME OF THE OSPREY
+
+
+"Coming, Will!" shouted Bluff as he ran back of Frank.
+
+"This way, along the shore!" they plainly heard a voice call from some
+distance away.
+
+Of course anxious thoughts chased through the minds of the three boys
+as they hurried along. Will was evidently in trouble. Bluff,
+remembering the ospreys, pictured him lying at the foot of a tall tree
+with perhaps one of his legs broken. That would be an awkward
+condition of affairs to be sure, with their camp so far removed from
+real civilization.
+
+Jerry, too, was imagining something of the sort, and wondering if they
+would have to make a litter in order to carry poor Will back to the
+cabin. He even went further and considered the question as to how they
+could take him to a doctor; or else force the old hermit of the
+Dennison estate to let them carry their injured comrade there.
+
+Not so Frank. He had already made the discovery that the voice came
+from up in the air, and hence had quite settled in his mind what had
+happened.
+
+"He got up all right, you see, fellows," was the way Frank explained
+it to the others, "but it wasn't so easy to creep down again. Perhaps
+he dropped the rope he had used, and couldn't clasp the trunk of the
+tree because it was so large."
+
+"We'll soon know," ventured Jerry, "because I can see one of the
+fish-hawks flying over that tall tree, and I guess the nest must be in
+that."
+
+"Here he is over here, you see," observed Frank. "He figured out that
+with the sun heading into the west he ought to get on that side of the
+nest in order to make a fine picture. So he climbed up and settled
+himself, waiting until the mother bird came with a fish for the
+fledglings, which may have taken hours."
+
+"I see him!" cried Bluff. "There, he's waving to us now! And I'm glad
+to know our chum hasn't gone and broken a leg; for besides the pain to
+him it would upset all our fine plans for a good time up here."
+
+Will was sitting astride the lowermost limb of an enormous tree
+standing about forty or fifty feet to the west of the one in which the
+nest of the ospreys could be plainly seen, close to the top.
+
+Will grinned sheepishly as his chums came underneath. He was some
+thirty feet from the ground as his legs dangled over the lowermost
+limb. And Frank, remembering his theory, on looking at the base of the
+tree discovered that the rope loop did lie there. Will had
+inadvertently allowed it to slip from his grasp after reaching the
+lower branch and clambering up on to it.
+
+He had removed his shoes and socks in order to make good use of his
+toes in climbing, just as do the blacks of the cocoanut islands. But
+later on, after getting his long delayed pictures of the old osprey
+feeding its fledglings, when the ardent photographer attempted to
+descend the big tree he found it an impossible task.
+
+The trunk was far too thick for him to clasp with arms and legs. Will
+was not an athlete, though able to climb an ordinary tree if pushed.
+He always claimed that he could go up any kind if a bull were after
+him; but evidently here was a tree he could not descend, at least.
+
+Just how long he had sat there on that lower limb trying to conjure up
+some possible plan that would take him in safety to the ground, they
+never knew. Will felt a little ashamed to be found in such a plight,
+and kept putting off his call for assistance as long as he dared.
+
+When, however, he found that night was only an hour or so off, and
+realized that unless he pocketed his pride, he stood a chance of
+spending many gloomy hours aloft with only the osprey family for
+neighbors, he started to shout.
+
+"If only I had that loop up here I could get down easily enough, I
+think, Frank," he called out as the three boys lined up below him.
+
+"Perhaps you could, and again there's some doubt whether you'd be able
+to get inside the loop," Frank told him. "The easiest way to do is for
+one of us to run back to the cabin and fetch our rope. With a few
+trials I can toss the end into your hands or over the limb, then you
+can lower yourself."
+
+Both Jerry and Bluff agreed that this was a good plan. The former even
+offered to act as messenger and get the article needed for the rescue
+work. He was gone only a short time, during which Frank asked a few
+questions, and learned that Will believed he had secured a number of
+"cracking good" pictures of the osprey group that would make a fine
+addition to his collection.
+
+Frank made several casts upward before he was able to send the end of
+the rope over the limb, and within reach of the straddling boy. It
+proved to be just long enough, doubled, to reach within five feet of
+the ground.
+
+"First I want to make sure of my camera," Will told them, and as they
+knew he would positively refuse to budge an inch unless his treasured
+black box were taken care of, Jerry told him to lower away.
+
+After that had been done Will prepared to trust himself on the doubled
+rope.
+
+"Have a care," said Frank, "and make sure of each grip as you go.
+There, you're all right now, I guess, so come along down."
+
+"Take it slow if you don't want to burn your hands, Will!" Bluff
+cautioned him.
+
+Without accident, Will managed to reach the ground. His first act was
+to snatch up his camera and look it over, sighing with satisfaction
+when he found it had received no injury.
+
+"Get on your shoes and come along back home," Frank advised him, and
+the exciting little incident was closed.
+
+Later on Will told them how patiently he had sat there, perched in the
+top of the tall tree next to the one containing the fish-hawks' nest,
+and waiting for a good chance to take the picture he wanted.
+
+"The wind blew at first, and the treetop rocked so that it almost made
+me sea-sick," he went on to say, with a sigh; "but after an hour or so
+this let up. Then came one of the ospreys with a big fish in its
+claws, and I began to get busy. I snapped off every bit of the film as
+I saw fine group pictures come up; and I do hope they all turn out
+well."
+
+As he had a daylight developing tank with him he wasted little time in
+ascertaining this fact. His exuberant shouts announced later on that
+his success was all the heart of any ambitious amateur photographer
+could wish for. And indeed, when the exposed films were passed around
+after they had sufficiently dried it was seen that Will had done
+himself justice, for they were perfectly clear.
+
+Frank himself could easily understand just how this fad was able to
+grip any one who took it up. He believed that it was much more
+interesting and profitable than hunting with a gun. In the one case
+all the result consisted of game that was soon eaten and forgotten;
+but those instructive pictures of timid animals and wild birds would
+give pleasure for an unlimited time.
+
+"There's one thing I think we ought to get busy about, fellows," Frank
+remarked that evening as they sat around the rough table enjoying the
+supper Jerry had prepared; "and that is see what can be done about
+laying in a fresh stock of butter and eggs."
+
+"Our supply of both is about down to the limit, for a fact," admitted
+Bluff, who was unusually fond of eggs, "fried, boiled, scrambled, and,
+in fact, any old way," as he himself always declared.
+
+"Have you any plan by which we can get a new lot, and perhaps some
+fresh milk in the bargain?" Will sought to learn.
+
+"So far as we know, there's only one house within several miles of
+this place," explained Frank, "and that belongs to the man they call a
+hermit because he keeps to himself, and never goes to town--Aaron
+Dennison."
+
+"A likely chance we'd have of getting any supplies from him, I should
+say!" grumbled Jerry; but Bluff was quick to make a proposal.
+
+"If you are thinking of going up that creek, and paying a visit to
+Aaron, I hope you will choose me to go along. Remember, I spoke
+first!" he called out.
+
+Will looked disappointed. He had hoped that if ever they decided to
+call on the crabbed owner of the Dennison estate he might be along
+with his camera. And seeing this disappointed expression cross his
+face, Frank easily understood what it signified.
+
+"Another time you can come, Will," he explained. "Just now we don't
+even know whether there really is a house inside of five miles. It's
+only hearsay with us, you remember. If we should manage to get
+friendly with Aaron, why, we'll be apt to wander up there many times,
+and you may come across your chance before a great while."
+
+With that, Will had to rest content. In fact, he had another little
+plan of his own in mind, which he meant to work out on the following
+day. Frank suspected as much, though he really hoped it would not be
+of the same risky nature as getting the snapshots of the ospreys.
+
+In the morning the two who had planned to follow up the stream and
+learn if it passed through the estate of Aaron Dennison waved their
+hands to Jerry and Will, after which they started along the shore.
+
+After they reached the creek at the point where it emptied into the
+bay, they turned their backs on the big water, and plunged into the
+thick growth.
+
+"How about this thing, Frank; do you really and truly mean this
+expedition to be a foraging one, with fresh eggs and butter in view;
+or is it that you just hope to get in touch with old Aaron Dennison,
+and see what a genuine hermit looks like?"
+
+Bluff put this direct question after they had been making their way
+along the tortuous bank of the winding creek for nearly half an hour.
+Such difficulties as crossed their path had been easily overcome, for
+both boys were pretty good woodsmen, and accustomed to getting around
+in the wilderness.
+
+"Take my word for it," he was assured by his chum, "I'm out for the
+grub above all things; though of course I admit to having a little
+curiosity about this mysterious Mr. Dennison. I've heard a lot of
+queer things about his doings. He has a pretty fine place away up
+here, but keeps it surrounded by a high fence, and they even say it
+has a strand or two of terrible barbed wire on top of the fence, to
+discourage any one from climbing over."
+
+"Gee whiz! I hope he doesn't own a pack of wolf dogs that would make a
+jump for stray boys that chanced to get in the grounds."
+
+"I asked particularly about that," said Frank, who somehow seemed to
+think of nearly everything, "and no one could remember ever seeing any
+around. So just as like as not the old man doesn't fancy dogs."
+
+"Yes, there are people who shiver every time they meet a collie or a
+mastiff," admitted Bluff, "though for my part I've always liked all
+breeds. I believe a dog is man's best friend, as faithful as life
+itself."
+
+"Well, here we are," remarked Frank, with a ring of satisfaction in
+his voice.
+
+"It's a high fence, sure enough," said Bluff, "with barbed wire strung
+across where the creek comes out under it, so even a fox would find it
+hard to get through. How shall we manage it, Frank?"
+
+"First of all, we'll move along the fence. There may happen to be a
+board loose where we can slip through. That would be better than
+trying the gate, to be turned down flat-footed."
+
+They had not gone fifty feet before Bluff discovered the loose board
+they sought. It required only a small amount of agility to pass
+through the opening, after which they walked along through the woods
+on the other side of the high fence.
+
+Presently they came in sight of a long, low house, which was half
+hidden amidst dense foliage, and looked, as Bluff called it, "spooky."
+
+Straight up to the door of this building the two boys strode, and
+Frank without hesitation rapped loudly with his knuckles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE CHAINED DOOR
+
+
+It seemed to the two boys that Frank's knock sounded weirdly through
+the house, though it did not bring any immediate result. Accordingly,
+he again brought his knuckles against the door panel, this time with
+even greater force than before.
+
+"That fetched them, Frank," muttered Bluff. "I can hear somebody
+shuffling along the hall and heading this way."
+
+Presently they heard a bolt withdrawn, a rather ponderous affair it
+seemed; and somehow this struck Frank as rather queer. Why should any
+one living so far away from town, and off the beaten track of travel,
+take such pains to secure his door?
+
+"Gee whiz! I shouldn't think they'd ever be bothered with hoboes or
+sneak thieves away up in this part of the country," whispered Bluff,
+who always had a mind of his own and was hard to repress.
+
+The door was slowly and cautiously opened. Frank saw that it was still
+held by a stout chain, so that no one outside could enter against the
+will of the inmates. It made him think of one of the old feudal
+castles he had lately been reading about in Sir Walter Scott's
+romances, where they had draw-bridges, moats, and a port-cullis to
+protect them against assault.
+
+A face was seen in the narrow opening. It was an old face, wrinkled,
+so that at first Frank imagined it might belong to Aaron himself. Then
+he discovered his mistake, for the white hair belonged to a woman,
+evidently the housekeeper of the hermit.
+
+She looked more or less frightened at first, and no wonder, because
+such a resounding knock as Frank had given might have seemed backed by
+authority. When she discovered just two friendly looking boys standing
+there astonishment crept over the features of the woman.
+
+"Who are you, and what do you want?" she asked a little sharply, as
+though annoyed because they had given her such a sudden start.
+
+"My name is Frank Langdon, and this is my chum, Bluff Masters. We are
+camping for our holidays down in the old cabin on the Point. We ran
+out of butter and eggs, and came up here hoping we might be able to
+buy some."
+
+Frank made it as simple as he could. He did not even mention the fact
+that they had ever heard there was such a singular person as Aaron
+Dennison in all the wide world. It was his intention to appear as
+though he looked upon this place as an ordinary farmhouse, where
+hospitality might be supposed to abide, and a friendly call on the
+part of decent boys would not be taken amiss.
+
+The woman looked a little more keenly at Frank, but at the same time
+she shook her head in the negative. Bluff grunted to himself. He took
+that as a bad sign, and immediately concluded that they would have to
+go back to camp with as empty hands as they had come.
+
+"Nothing doing," was what Bluff was saying to himself just then, while
+the old housekeeper hesitated; "she's got her orders. Old Aaron
+doesn't fancy boys, I guess. We'll be mighty lucky if he doesn't see
+fit to order us out of that cabin we've gone to all the trouble to fix
+bang-up."
+
+Then the housekeeper spoke.
+
+"I'm sorry, but you mustn't expect to get anything here. This place
+belongs to Mr. Aaron Dennison. No doubt you have heard of him. He has
+lived here almost alone for many years now, and will brook no
+intrusion. That is why the fence has been built around the estate,
+with the wire on top, and locked gates. How did you get inside?"
+
+"We came to a loose board and passed through, not meaning any harm,"
+replied Frank, who imagined the old housekeeper was inclined to be
+human, but having her strict orders from her employer dared not act in
+a friendly manner toward them.
+
+"I shall have to report your being here to Mr. Dennison, and I am
+afraid that he will be very much annoyed. He would never brook
+intruders, and has a violent temper when aroused. I hope you will go
+away at once, and come no more."
+
+"Then you can't let us have any supplies, I suppose?" asked Bluff,
+bent on squeezing the orange dry, and not throwing the skin away as
+long as there remained a single chance for extracting a drop of juice.
+
+"I would not dare to do it, though if I had my own way--but no matter,
+you must not stay here a minute longer. Even now he may have heard the
+knock, and come to investigate. It is most unusual; we have not had a
+visitor for years. I wish I could oblige you, but it is impossible.
+Good-bye!"
+
+With that she closed the door in the faces of the astonished, as well
+as amused, campers, and Bluff burst into a series of low chuckles.
+
+"Wow! but doesn't that beat the Dutch?" he exclaimed, as though
+overpowered by the humorous aspect of the adventure. "Listen to her
+pushing that monster bolt into its socket. Gee whiz! I never knew
+before I looked so dangerous. I'll have to cultivate a new sort of
+grin, because the one I practice now didn't have any effect on the old
+lady."
+
+"Let's move along, Bluff. There's no use in our staying here any
+longer after having the door slammed in our faces," said the amazed
+Frank.
+
+Together they started slowly away from the house, glancing back
+curiously over their shoulders several times, for they wished to
+remember what the mysterious building looked like.
+
+"Will must manage to get up here some time," Bluff was saying,
+"because I'd just like to have him get a picture of the place as we
+see it now. Then if ever we happen to hear anybody speak of old
+Dennison and his hide-out we can flash that view before them."
+
+They had almost reached the place where the loose board had afforded
+them ingress to the enclosed grounds belonging to the estate when a
+strange sound came stealing to their ears. Both boys instantly
+stopped and listened to learn if it was repeated, but such did not
+come to pass.
+
+"What in the dickens do you suppose that was, Frank?" demanded Bluff,
+turning his face, marked by a commingling of wonder and awe, on his
+comrade.
+
+"Tell me what you think first," the other replied.
+
+"I'll be switched if I know, Frank! It just went through me like a
+knife, it was so queer. If this were the middle of the night now I
+might mention ghosts, because if there were such things I'd imagine
+them making just about that sort of a sound."
+
+Frank laughed at that.
+
+"Well, since this is broad daylight," he observed, "and ghosts are
+said never to walk except around twelve at night, we'll have to look
+somewhere else for our explanation. Now I've known a chained dog to
+make a noise like that, a sort of half bay, half growl that would give
+you a start until you found out the cause."
+
+"But we've understood they keep no dog up here," urged Bluff. "And if
+they did have one wouldn't he have scented us, and started barking
+long ago?"
+
+"What you say sounds reasonable enough, Bluff," Frank admitted. "It
+couldn't have been a donkey braying either, because we know how they
+drag it out. Besides unless I'm mistaken the sound came straight from
+the direction of the house itself."
+
+"Sure it did," said Bluff, as they started to pass through the gap
+that could be made by swinging the loose board aside. "I wonder if old
+Aaron learned of our being there, and gave that yawp to show his
+anger. I'm almost sorry now we didn't meet the gentleman face to
+face."
+
+"Perhaps it's just as well, from what the housekeeper said," replied
+Frank, although secretly he was even more disappointed than his chum.
+
+"Then of course you wouldn't dream of going back to look around in
+hopes of finding out what that queer noise, almost like a shriek,
+meant?" pursued Bluff, in a wheedling tone.
+
+"I guess not this time," decided the other; "it's really none of our
+business, you know, and our errand at the Dennison place has ended in
+smoke. We'll have to settle on trying at that village we can see miles
+away along the lake shore. Perhaps to-morrow you and Jerry can take
+the boat and row over there."
+
+"Oh! Barkis is willing, all right, because we just can't keep house
+without our fresh eggs and butter, you know."
+
+So it was settled. Bluff, always desiring action, was satisfied with
+this half plan made for the future. In his active mind he began
+immediately to picture all sorts of exciting things happening on the
+contemplated cruise along the lake shore to the distant village in
+search of the needed supplies.
+
+Frank happened to come upon what looked like an old path leading
+toward the lake, and decided to follow it instead of keeping down the
+stream with its zigzag course. Sure enough it took them directly to
+Cabin Point, although in many places the bushes had sadly overgrown
+the trail, and walking was not easy.
+
+"Still, you must notice," Frank remarked, "that some one has come
+along this way every once in a while, because there are footprints,
+and the twigs have been bent down."
+
+"Mebbe one of the men employed on the Dennison place comes down for a
+swim, or to look after some night line he's set here for trout,"
+suggested Bluff.
+
+On their arrival at the camp, the two boys had to give an account of
+their little adventure in detail, for the benefit of those who had
+stayed behind. Will in particular asked many eager questions.
+
+"If you ever go up there again, Frank," he told the other seriously,
+"I do hope I shall be along."
+
+"And I think I can promise you that, Will," replied the other
+smilingly, as if even then entertaining some thought of a second trip
+to the place, though evidently he did not care to go deeper into the
+subject.
+
+Bluff soon started to talk of the trip he and Jerry were to make to
+the distant village on the next day. Whenever he had a thing on his
+mind Bluff was apt to chatter about it unendingly.
+
+"We've just got to have those supplies, you understand, Jerry," he
+told the other, "and since there was nothing doing up at the Dennison
+ranch, why, our next job is to see if we can make that settlement we
+glimpse off yonder."
+
+"How far away do you reckon it is?" asked the interested Jerry.
+
+"If you look in my pack, boys," Frank spoke up just then, "you'll find
+a pair of small but powerful glasses. They may help you figure it out,
+and may give some idea how the shore lies between Cabin Point and the
+village."
+
+Bluff went hurriedly for the glasses, and when he returned he and
+Jerry amused themselves for a long time.
+
+They decided that the village lay all of eight miles off in a straight
+line, and concluded it would be a pretty long row in case they
+chanced to meet contrary wind. In that case the waves would bother
+them not a little.
+
+Bluff presently proposed that they try to equip the old boat with some
+sort of sail. Then should they be favored with a wind setting in the
+right quarter this would save them much hard labor.
+
+Jerry seized the idea eagerly, and before long they were hard at work
+trying to rig up a makeshift mast and sail out of such material as
+they could find. It was hardly likely to pass muster so far as looks
+went, but both boys believed they could make it useful, given half a
+chance.
+
+That night around the table the talk was largely of the events of the
+day, and what the morrow was apt to bring forth. Jerry and Bluff
+entertained high hopes that they were bound to be successful in their
+foraging expedition; and already counted on an abundance of supplies.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+WHEN THE FLASHLIGHT TRAP WORKED
+
+
+"Frank, I'm going to ask you to give me a little help in setting my
+flashlight trap before we go to bed to-night," remarked Will, when
+they were sitting in front of the fire.
+
+The evening air was nearly always cool, even after a warm day, and it
+seemed so "jolly," as Jerry called it, to have a small fire crackling
+on the hearth while they sat around engaged in various tasks and in
+chatting.
+
+"Then you must have settled on a place from tracks you have found?"
+inquired Frank.
+
+"Why, yes, and pretty close to the cabin in the bargain," answered the
+other, whose one hobby had become this method of securing strange
+pictures of small wild animals caught while in the act of taking the
+bait in their native haunts.
+
+"What species are you after this time?" asked Frank.
+
+"Somehow I never get an absolutely perfect snapshot of a 'coon. It
+seems as if every one has some kind of a blemish; and I told myself
+that while we were up here at Cabin Point that fault must be remedied
+if I tried a dozen times. And judging from the tracks of this fellow I
+think he must be a dandy. I only hope his barred tail shows plainly in
+his picture."
+
+"That's so," spoke up Bluff, "because his shrewd face and his striped
+tail make up the main part of any raccoon."
+
+"Why, if the job has to be done, Will, I'd just as soon go with you
+now. I'll carry my little hand torch, which ought to give us all the
+light needed, since you say it's close at hand."
+
+Accordingly Will jumped up eagerly to get the necessary things,
+including the stout cord which was to be used to start the trigger of
+the trap into action, and set the flashlight going.
+
+"I'm ready Frank, if you are," he soon announced; and together they
+went forth on their errand, Will just as excited as any hunter could
+be when creeping up on some coveted game.
+
+Frank immediately noticed one thing, which was that his companion led
+him along in the direction he and Bluff had taken when coming from the
+Dennison place. Indeed when the other finally decided that they had
+arrived at the spot where he had discovered the marks made by the big
+raccoon in passing to and from the water's edge, Frank saw evidences
+of the identical path he and Bluff had followed all the way down. He
+did not give the fact another thought just then; there was no reason
+for doing so, since in his mind it was merely a little coincidence.
+
+Having had considerable experience in arranging these clever little
+traps by which roving night prowlers were made to be their own
+photographers, Will knew just how to go about it. He fixed his camera
+in an immovable position, and focussed it in such a fashion that it
+would catch any object chancing to be within a certain radius at the
+second the cartridge was fired by means of the cord, pulled by the
+animal at the bait.
+
+"That seems to be as fine as silk," announced Will, after bending down
+several times in order to change the camera a trifle, "and if only Mr.
+'Coon comes tripping along here to-night he will get his sitting. If
+you happen to find yourself waked up by a dazzling flash, Frank,
+please poke me out, because I'd like to come and get my camera. It
+might rain later in the night, you see, and ruin it for me."
+
+Frank, knowing how much store his comrade set by that little black
+box, readily gave the desired promise. He entered into all these
+delightful schemes engineered by Will with his whole heart. Will had
+always been different from Bluff and Jerry. Even on their big hunt out
+in the Rocky Mountains he had never cared as much for getting prize
+game as the others, his disposition being more gentle.
+
+Later on the boys concluded it was time to go to bed, since the day
+had been a busy one for all. Besides, the two who were to row the boat
+sixteen miles, more or less, on the following day expected to have
+their hands full.
+
+Some time later all of them were suddenly awakened. It was Bluff who
+gave the loud exclamation that aroused the others. He afterwards
+explained that he chanced to be lying awake at the time when a sudden
+blinding glare dazzled him, which at first he thought to be lightning,
+though puzzled because no thunder accompanied the flash.
+
+"What is it?" shrilled Jerry, bumping his head as he tried to sit up
+in such great haste; for the three had opened their eyes in time to
+catch a part of the fierce glare.
+
+Will was already tumbling out of his bunk, and could be heard
+chuckling to himself as he started to put on some clothes in the
+darkness.
+
+"Frank, he did it, all right, you see!" was what Will exclaimed in
+tones that fairly trembled with eagerness.
+
+"Oh! Great Jehoshaphat! all this row about a measly old 'coon sitting
+for his picture!" grumbled Jerry, falling back again, and apparently
+meaning to seek once more relief in slumber, if the bump on his
+forehead did not hurt too much.
+
+"Better take my hand torch along with you, Will," advised Frank, not
+thinking it worth while to accompany the other.
+
+"Thank you, I guess I will, Frank, because it's pretty dark out there.
+I'll be back in a jiffy."
+
+"Whoop it up if the cats tackle you, Will," called out Bluff, but even
+if the other heard this vague intimation of peril he was too filled
+with enthusiasm to pay any heed to it, for he kept straight on.
+
+A short time afterwards Frank heard him returning. Then the light came
+into the cabin, and Will set down his camera.
+
+"The trap was sprung then, was it?" asked Frank sleepily, upon noting
+this action on the other's part.
+
+"Just what it was! and I certainly hope I got a cracking good picture
+that time. Old Br'er 'Coon didn't run away with the bait, though, I
+noticed. It was still there, as good as ever."
+
+"Must have been too badly scared to think of eating," remarked Frank,
+and as the torch was extinguished just then, and Will tumbled into
+his bunk, no more was said.
+
+The rest of the night passed in perfect peace. By now the boys had
+grown used to hearing the squirrels or other small animals running
+over the top of the cabin, and paid little attention to the sounds at
+any time, night or day. So long as they did not drop down the chimney
+and destroy some of the food, Frank and his chums did not mean to do
+anything to disturb the merry little creatures as they played
+hide-and-seek over the roof.
+
+Another day found them all up betimes. Those who cared to do so took a
+plunge in the cold waters of the lake and rubbed down afterwards,
+feeling all the better for the experience. Will, however, wanted to
+discover what luck he had had with his first flashlight exposure of
+the season; and so he started preparations looking to the development
+of that particular film, which he could easily do after breakfast was
+over.
+
+It devolved on Frank to get breakfast that morning. Bluff and Jerry,
+having hit upon a better way in which to use the sail they had
+fashioned with so much care on the previous afternoon, were already
+busily engaged in making changes, just as though for once they were
+not thinking of the eternal food question, except so far as new
+supplies went.
+
+But then Frank could fry the sliced ham as well as any one, and he
+soon had the coffee, the toast, the fried potatoes, and the meat on
+the table, after which he called the others.
+
+"Take notice that this is the last of our butter, fellows," remarked
+the cook as he helped each one in turn to a generous portion of what
+had just been taken, piping hot, off the red coals on the hearth.
+
+"Oh! that's all right, Frank," said Bluff carelessly, "we expect to
+have plenty more here before sunset, don't we, Jerry?"
+
+"Simply got to," replied his ally, "if we find it necessary to raid
+some farmer's hen-coop, gather up the eggs, wring the necks of two
+pullets, clean out his dairy, and leave the ready cash on the
+windowsill to settle the bill."
+
+"We're glad to hear you talk that way," laughed Will. "For one I'm
+going to make up my mouth for fried eggs to-night, unless it's chicken
+on the half shell."
+
+"No danger of that up here in the country; all the eggs are guaranteed
+fresh by the farmer tribe, you know," asserted Bluff.
+
+"That guarantee doesn't always go with me," Jerry observed. "It's
+generally the smart farmer who finds a hen trying to sit under the
+barn floor, and gathers up the seventeen eggs to ship with what he has
+in stock. They're as bad as the next one when it comes to deceiving
+the poor public."
+
+"You'll just have to excuse me now, because I've had all I want; and
+to tell you the truth I'm just wild to see what my Br'er 'Coon looks
+like. If he doesn't show up, tail and all, I'll have to try for him
+again, that's all."
+
+With that remark Will hurried off, just as Frank expected he would,
+for he had noticed how the other hastened with his breakfast. Bluff
+and Jerry took longer, because both of them realized they might be
+hours on the journey. The village was possibly further away than they
+thought; and it was just as well that they "laid in a good foundation
+to start with," as Jerry sensibly observed.
+
+"Make the start whenever you get ready, fellows," remarked Frank.
+"I'll look after the dishes, and the bunks too, when the blankets are
+aired. It seems as if you might have a smooth sea to begin with."
+
+"Yes, but you see we've been banking on some wind from the right
+quarter," observed Bluff, "in order to make good use of our sail. I'm
+fond of lying back at my ease in a boat, and letting the breeze do
+all the work. There's nothing like it, eh, Jerry?"
+
+"Oh, well, if you notice the way the clouds are moving slowly, and
+then watch the tiny ripple on the bay, you'll reckon that when the
+wind does come up it's going to favor us. We may even get too much of
+a good thing before we're done."
+
+"Remember, fellows," Frank cautioned them, "that old boat isn't to be
+wholly depended on. I calked the seams the best way I could, but the
+wood's a bit rotten, and there's always danger that the oakum may work
+loose. Then the water would come in through the open seams in
+bucketfuls. So my advice to you is, keep fairly close to the shore all
+the time, even when cutting off coves."
+
+"That is, you mean keep within swimming distance," added Jerry, "which
+we'll be sure to do, Frank, make your mind easy. A fellow that's fated
+to be hanged doesn't want to go and cheat things by being just simply
+drowned, you know."
+
+"Hello! there's Will broken loose!" exclaimed Bluff.
+
+"Just hear him whoop it up, will you?" added Jerry. "And here he comes
+on the run right now. He's holding a film he's developed, and from
+the look on his face I'd say he must have gotten a corker that shot."
+
+Indeed Frank could see that the approaching boy was very much excited;
+and it was also evident that what he was carrying so carefully before
+him had everything to do with his condition.
+
+"Frank, here's something that will make you sit up and take notice!"
+he was calling out. "I started to take the picture of a boss 'coon,
+and see what I got, will you?"
+
+Will held the still wet film up so they could have it between them and
+the light. All of the boys were accustomed to looking at negatives,
+and figuring out the high lights and the shadows in their proper
+proportion.
+
+What they saw there plainly and clearly delineated on the film gave
+them such a sense of surprise that for several seconds none of them
+uttered a single word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE FORAGING PARTY
+
+
+"A 'coon on two legs, as sure as you're born, Will!" ejaculated Bluff
+presently.
+
+"It's a man!" cried Jerry. "A man with a white beard in the bargain!"
+
+"Frank, it's going to turn out a pretty fair picture, don't you
+think?" demanded the proud artist, thinking first of all of the
+success that had crowned his efforts.
+
+"Seems like it, Will," replied the other; "but you've certainly given
+us a big surprise when you sprung this on the crowd. He must have run
+across the cord you had connected with the trigger of your flashlight
+apparatus, and it went off while he was in the act of falling
+forward."
+
+"His face doesn't show as well as I'd like," continued Will,
+reflectively; "but even as it stands the chances are we'll find a look
+of astonishment there when I come to get a print."
+
+"Well," remarked Bluff, "who wouldn't look staggered if, when he was
+walking along through the woods, all of a sudden he caught his toe in
+a cord that was stretched across the path, and then had what seemed to
+be a flash of lightning strike him in the face?"
+
+"I never happened to go through the experience," confessed Frank; "but
+I'm pretty sure it would give me a fierce jolt."
+
+"But who can the sneaker be, Frank; some darky chicken thief prowling
+around in hopes of picking up some of our camp duffle?" asked Jerry.
+
+Will turned on him with the scorn an expert photographer always
+displays when he meets crass ignorance.
+
+"Why, can't you see from the dark shade of his face in the negative,
+Jerry, that he's a white man?" he demanded. "If it were a negro you'd
+see his face almost white here. That point is settled without any
+question."
+
+"All right, Will, I acknowledge the corn," Jerry hastened to say; "but
+that doesn't bring us any nearer a solution of the mystery. Why should
+a white man, and one with a white beard at that, be wandering around
+our camp in the night?"
+
+They looked at Frank. It was an old habit with the three chums.
+Whenever an unusually knotty point arose that needed attention, and
+their powers seemed baffled, Frank was always depended on to supply
+the needed answer.
+
+"So far as I'm concerned, fellows," he told them, "I can think of only
+one old man around this vicinity, and that happens to be Aaron
+Dennison."
+
+"Ginger! why didn't I guess him right away?" grumbled Bluff. "Seems as
+if my wits go wool gathering nearly every time there's some sudden
+necessity for thinking up an answer. Course it's Aaron, and nobody
+else!"
+
+"Yes," Jerry went on to say, as though not wholly convinced; "but what
+under the sun would Aaron be doing here, tell me, and acting
+suspiciously like a thief in the night?"
+
+"Of course we can't say what tempted him to come out," Frank observed;
+"we've never met the gentleman face to face, but we have heard that
+he's a queer one. Besides, if you stop to think, you'll remember a
+little circumstance that seemed to connect old Aaron with this cabin
+on the Point many years ago."
+
+"It takes you to piece out these things, Frank," admitted Bluff
+candidly. "Sure! We figured that out by finding a part of an old
+envelope in the deserted rat's nest under the floor board."
+
+"Just as like as not," added Jerry, "the old chap owns all the ground
+along the lake shore, including this cabin; and if that's so he'd
+have a perfect right to walk out this way whenever he chose, at
+midnight or noon, as the notion struck him."
+
+"Oh, well," remarked Will with a sigh, "he spoiled my little game with
+Br'er 'Coon, though I mean to make another try along that line. When
+this film dries, which may be around noon, I'll strike off a proof,
+and then we can see what the old hermit looks like."
+
+"One thing goes without saying," chuckled Bluff.
+
+"What might that be?" Jerry asked him.
+
+"Our night visitor didn't wait to find out what had blinded him on the
+trail, but must have turned and made lickety-split for home."
+
+"Can you blame him?" demanded Will, demurely. "Stop and think how
+you'd feel if all of a sudden you got such a shock. Bluff, you said
+you were awake at the time, and heard some sort of a sound, didn't
+you?"
+
+"Why yes, I'm dead certain I did; and now that we know it was a man
+who got the scare I reckon he gave a little screech. I thought it was
+a yelp from some wild animal at the time, but it could have been an
+exclamation just as well."
+
+They continued to talk about the incident for some little time, but
+although several suggestions were advanced, in the end they were
+really no closer to an explanation of the mystery than when they
+started.
+
+All they knew was that some man, probably Aaron Dennison himself, had
+been walking along the old trail leading to the cabin from above when
+his foot caused the concealed trap to be sprung.
+
+He must have turned hastily and retreated after the flash. What he
+thought the sudden dazzling illumination was caused by, the boys had
+no means of knowing.
+
+Jerry and Bluff were now getting ready to start on their mission in
+search of supplies. They both expressed the hope that these could all
+be procured, once they reached the distant village on the lake shore,
+many miles off.
+
+It promised to be an interesting trip, for they would pass along a
+shore neither of them had ever examined at close range before. To
+those who love outdoor life there is always a novelty about
+exploration. With new and interesting scenes opening up constantly
+before the eyes the senses are kept on the alert.
+
+Bluff even had the temerity to suggest that Will loan them his camera
+for the occasion.
+
+"We might run across some dandy pictures that would be worth while
+snapping off, you know, Will," he went on to say in a wheedling tone
+of voice, which Bluff knew so well how to use.
+
+Will, however, shook his head. Usually he was of a most accommodating
+nature; and on numerous occasions had willingly entrusted his highly
+valued camera into the keeping of the other boys, who knew how to use
+it almost as well as did the owner himself.
+
+"I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you, Bluff," he remarked
+slowly.
+
+"Oh! well, just as you say," declared the other, shrugging his broad
+shoulders as though it did not matter much after all, and as if taking
+care of the camera might possibly prove a task rather than a pleasure;
+"I reckon you're thinking about the chances of my dropping it
+overboard; or our running into a storm where the little old black box
+might get soaked and ruined."
+
+"Not so much that, Bluff, as that I want to do some work on the
+camera," explained Will. "There's a little matter that really needs
+adjusting, and I told myself I'd fix it this morning sure. Then again
+I've laid out a scheme for to-day that if it works will call for the
+use of the camera."
+
+"That's all right, Will," remarked the other, briskly; "it doesn't
+matter a pin to me, only I thought you mightn't ever be going all the
+way to that village; and something fine could be run across between
+here and there."
+
+He dropped the subject and began to talk with Frank about other
+things. Will looked a little uncomfortable. He disliked being thought
+selfish, and seemed almost on the point of changing his mind. Then on
+second thoughts he determined to carry out his original plan.
+
+Frank looked over the old boat that had been patched up as well as the
+conditions allowed.
+
+"It seems to hold pretty well," he told the two who expected to make
+use of it during the day. "Of course if the lake gets very rough so
+that you pitch about considerably, keep on the watch for a sudden
+inflow of water. The planks will hold, but I'm not so sure about the
+oakum I pounded into the open seams."
+
+"But you did a good job, Frank," objected Jerry, "and so far none of
+it seems to have started to loosen."
+
+"That's because we haven't had a chance to subject it to any big
+strain," Frank explained. "When a boat tosses up and down on the waves
+it gets a terrible wrench with each jerk. I've known seams to open at
+a time like that when they were believed to be closed as tight as a
+clam."
+
+"Oh, well, we mean to follow your advice, Frank, and keep fairly close
+to the shore," Bluff promised.
+
+"And if there is any trouble both of us are good swimmers, you
+remember," added Jerry confidently. "All I hope is that we get those
+precious eggs packed in a way that they won't be scrambled on the
+journey home. It'd be rough now if after all our hard work we had that
+happen. I prefer my eggs boiled or fried every time."
+
+None of the four chums as they joked in this fashion dreamed of what
+Fate had in store for them before the sun went down behind the western
+horizon. How could they suspect when just then the heavens looked so
+fair and inviting?
+
+"What's that you've got there with you, Jerry?" asked Bluff, who had
+been fixing a phantom minnow on a troll, in the expectation of picking
+up a fish or two while they rowed.
+
+"Oh! a little cold snack in the shape of grub," explained the other,
+who on all occasions possessed a voracious appetite.
+
+"But don't you remember we planned to be in the village long before
+noon, and expected to get dinner there?" protested Bluff.
+
+"All right, that strikes me as a good scheme," came the ready reply;
+"but with my customary caution I'm only insuring against starvation.
+How do we know but what we'll be shipwrecked half-way there, and find
+ourselves up against it? For one I don't propose to go hungry when
+there's a chance to save myself."
+
+Bluff laughed on hearing this explanation.
+
+"Trust you to look out for that, Jerry!" he declared. "And I suppose
+that in case we do get dinner at the village tavern or a farmhouse,
+you'll be ready to make way with your snack on the voyage back?"
+
+"I might be influenced by strong pressure," chuckled the other.
+
+"How about the weather, Frank; see any sign of a storm in the offing?"
+asked Bluff, turning to the leader of the camp.
+
+"Nothing in sight right now," he was told; "the chances are you'll
+have clear weather going, though there may be some wind behind you.
+What's going to happen in the afternoon is another matter. I'm not a
+weather sharp, and so I throw up my hands when you ask me to lift the
+veil."
+
+All being ready, the boys launched their boat. Bluff was to use the
+oars for the first shift. When he began to tire he was to call on his
+chum to change places, unless in the meantime the breeze had
+freshened enough for them to make use of their sail.
+
+"Good-bye, fellows!" called out Will; "see you later, and take mighty
+good care of those eggs, remember!"
+
+"Listen to him, would you?" jeered Jerry. "So long as the hen fruit
+gets here unbroken Will doesn't seem to care what happens to his
+chums. But that's all right, and we hope to turn up safe and sound
+before sunset." And under the steady influence of the oars the boat
+glided on until the voices of the boys died away in the distance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+TRESPASSERS
+
+
+The two guardians of the camp at Cabin Point, being left to their own
+devices, set about carrying out certain tasks they had in mind.
+
+Frank always found plenty to occupy his attention. He could discover
+numerous ways of bettering the conditions of affairs, and took keen
+delight in making changes calculated to lessen the friction of camp
+life.
+
+On his part Will pottered with his camera for fully an hour. When in
+the end he laid it aside in working order he was satisfied with what
+he had done.
+
+"I've got it in splendid condition now, Frank," he announced, "and
+from this time on there'll be no danger of a slip when the trap is
+sprung. That's been bothering me a whole lot for some time now, and
+I'm tickled to know the ghost is laid."
+
+Every little while he examined the negative he had drying, as though
+anxious to get a proof from it when it was in proper condition.
+
+About eleven o'clock he came to Frank holding a browned bit of paper
+on which the sun had printed a very clear picture as taken when the
+flashlight cartridge burned.
+
+"The face shows fairly well," he announced. "I'd easily enough
+recognize the man if ever I ran across him, and that's something."
+
+Frank looked long and earnestly at the proof.
+
+"So that's our hermit, is it?" he remarked; "the old man they say acts
+so queerly, and has kept to himself up there on his estate for years,
+living the life of a recluse among his books and papers. There must be
+some good reason for his acting that way. He's met with some sort of
+terrible disappointment in life it may be; but then that's no business
+of ours."
+
+"But Frank, I was meaning to suggest something to you to-day," began
+Will, looking uncertain, as though he did not know just how the other
+might take the proposition he had on the tip of his tongue.
+
+"Oh! so that's the way the wind blows, does it?" remarked Frank,
+raising his eyebrows as he looked at his chum. "Somehow when you
+declined to let Bluff take the camera along with him I had an idea you
+were figuring on some scheme. You look like a regular conspirator,
+Will. Out with it before you choke."
+
+"Listen then, Frank; I was hoping I might coax you to go up there
+again to-day when I could be along."
+
+Frank whistled upon hearing this suggestion.
+
+"I reckon you mean go to the hermit's place, Will?" he remarked
+inquiringly.
+
+"Yes, that's just it, Frank, and please, now, don't shut down on me
+too quickly. Say you'll think it over, and let me know at noon."
+
+Frank scratched his head as though considering. The fact of the matter
+was he himself had a peculiar yearning to make that trip again. There
+is a sort of subtle fascination about prowling around forbidden
+territory. Then the mystery connected with the hermit had aroused his
+curiosity. That strange cry, too, lingered in his memory even more
+than Frank cared to confess to Bluff.
+
+"But what excuse can we give for trespassing if we run across old
+Aaron, his housekeeper, or any man connected with the place?" he asked
+Will.
+
+At that the other smiled calmly.
+
+"Well, you know an amateur photographer never wants for a reason when
+he gets caught intruding on private grounds," he explained; "his
+enthusiasm is supposed to tempt him to take any risks. And Frank, if
+we run across any trouble don't hesitate to pile all the blame on me.
+I'm willing to stand for it."
+
+"Is it the house you're aiming to take a picture of, Will?"
+
+"Partly that," the other confessed. "You and Bluff described it as a
+strange looking building, and worth seeing, so I'm fairly wild to snap
+it off. And then, if we just happened to come on Aaron himself, why I
+might manage to get him in focus and click my camera without his
+knowing it. I hope you'll go this time, Frank. Somehow I've got my
+heart set on it."
+
+"Well, perhaps I may, Will. Let the thing drop till we're eating our
+lunch, and then I'll tell you what I'll do."
+
+"Good for you, Frank!" exclaimed Will, beaming on his chum, for
+somehow he must have guessed that the chances of their going were
+pretty fair.
+
+When noon arrived and they sat down to enjoy what had been prepared
+Will's face looked so much like one big interrogation point that Frank
+did not have the heart to keep him longer in suspense.
+
+"I see no good reason why we shouldn't wander up that way if we feel
+like it," he went on to say, at which the other looked greatly
+pleased. "Of course," Frank continued, "it isn't exactly the right
+thing for us to crawl through that opening in the fence again,
+especially after we've been warned off by the housekeeper; but since
+you say you _must_ get a snapshot of the house, why, we'll risk it."
+
+"That's kind of you to agree, Frank."
+
+"Oh! I rather guess it's six for you and half a dozen for myself,"
+chuckled the other lad; "because I own up there's something about
+Aaron's place up there that draws me more than I ought to allow. But
+after all we mean no harm, and besides we may not meet any one on our
+trip."
+
+"Remember," added Will, with a grin, "it's only returning the old
+gentleman's visit of last night, you know. We want to be neighborly,
+of course."
+
+There was no hurry, since they had the whole afternoon ahead of them.
+Will, however, urged a start because he had hopes that they might
+return by a long, roundabout course, and possibly pick up some
+interesting views on the way.
+
+"There are some clouds passing overhead," remarked Frank, "and we may
+get a little thunder shower while away; so we'd better fix things here
+shipshape."
+
+This was easily done, though of course they did not think to fasten
+the door in any way. The other two boys might get back before they
+did, and it would be foolish to bar them out of the cabin. Besides,
+what reason had they to fear any invasion from tramps up in this
+lonely section of country?
+
+Once started, Will seemed very happy. Frank on his part had no great
+difficulty in following the dimly seen trail. From time to time he
+would show his companion the marks of footprints both going and
+coming, and which were other than those left by himself and Bluff on
+the preceding day.
+
+"That proves we guessed right when we said it was old Aaron who ran
+against the string of your flashlight trap," Frank explained; "and I'd
+give a cooky to know why he was making for the cabin at the time."
+
+"You told the housekeeper, didn't you, Frank, that we had bunked in
+the cabin on the point jutting out into the bay?"
+
+"Yes, and she may have informed him," Frank mused. "Even if he's kept
+himself up here away from everybody for so long, buried in his books,
+old Aaron might have enough curiosity to walk down over this trail
+that he knows so well, just to take a look at us."
+
+"If he's half as gruff as they say," suggested Will, "he may have
+meant to order us to vacate the ranch. Then that awful flash came and
+frightened it all out of him."
+
+Other things cropping up caused them to change the subject. And in due
+course of time they sighted the high board fence with which the
+strange hermit had surrounded his estate, thus warning strollers to
+keep out.
+
+Will was interested in everything connected with the isolated home of
+the rich and mysterious recluse.
+
+"Of course," he remarked, reflectively, "we could climb over that
+fence if we went to a lot of trouble, even if it has got a barbed wire
+strand along the top; but it would take more or less time. And you
+said there was an opening we could use, didn't you, Frank?"
+
+"It's just ahead a little way, if some one hasn't found the loose
+board and fastened it up securely," replied the pilot of the
+expedition.
+
+They were pleased to discover that this had not happened. The loose
+board still hung in position, and could be easily moved to one side,
+allowing them a ready entry to the enclosed grounds.
+
+Neither of them spoke above a whisper as they advanced. Frank followed
+the tracks he and Bluff had made when leaving, since these marked the
+shortest route to the building. And it was not long before they
+caught their first glimpse of the house.
+
+The sun happened to be just about right for a good picture of the
+front; Will hoped those drifting clouds would not come along in an
+exasperating way, as so often happens in the experience of every
+amateur photographer, and obscure the light.
+
+"It's going to make a cracker-jack of a picture, Frank!" said Will,
+eagerly, and in the lowest of tones, as though he feared that
+something might still happen to keep him from accomplishing his
+cherished purpose.
+
+"Just what I thought," replied the other, in an equally cautious
+voice; "which was one reason I agreed to bring you up here. Get busy
+now, Will."
+
+The boy with the camera glanced about him, looking for the proper spot
+from which to snap off his picture. Taking into consideration the
+situation of the sun at that particular minute, together with the
+direction the long, low building faced, Will saw that he could get in
+the entire front and the western side.
+
+He moved a little to the left and gauged matters with his practiced
+eye. Being quite a skillful operator with the lens and the shutter,
+Will could judge these things much better than any of his chums. In a
+case of this kind at least he had no occasion to ask the advice of
+Frank.
+
+The latter in the meanwhile was looking from window to window of the
+two-story building. It must have many rooms, he judged, from the
+number of these openings. He was also wondering whether that old and
+vigilant housekeeper would chance to discover the intruders in front
+of the house, and hasten out to warn them away, lest they get in
+trouble with her master.
+
+Then, too, Frank was letting his curiosity have free rein again; he
+remembered the weird cry that had come floating to the ears of himself
+and Bluff, giving them such a queer feeling.
+
+Nothing happened to spoil Will's chance of getting a good picture. The
+clouds kept away from the sun in the most accommodating way, and no
+gruff keeper of the grounds came along with an angry demand that he
+desist in his undertaking, as the owner of the estate did not wish the
+public to see what manner of home he had built for himself there
+behind that towering fence.
+
+When Frank heard a slight "click" he knew that Will had made at least
+one exposure, though like a cautious photographer he might decide to
+shift his location a trifle and try again, so as to make sure of his
+work.
+
+Their excursion, then, promised to meet with success. If only the
+eccentric owner of the place himself should come along and give Will a
+chance to snap his picture off it would be doubly satisfactory.
+
+That was what Frank was saying to himself as he stood and waited for
+Will to complete his work. Once he fancied he heard some slight sound,
+like the rustling of bushes, and wondered whether, after all, there
+could be a dog at large within the enclosed grounds.
+
+Frank realized that they were intruders, and as such could not give
+any good excuse for being there. He decided that they had better
+linger no longer; and was really in the act of turning to wave his
+hand to Will, some twenty feet or more away, when something happened
+that stopped his plan.
+
+A voice that was trembling with anger came to his ears, and gave him a
+rude shock.
+
+"How dare you trespass on this private property, and even have the
+assurance to take a picture of my house, you young rascals?" was what
+this furious voice said, and turning quickly Frank saw the speaker not
+five feet away from him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+IN THE BIG TIMBER
+
+
+Of course it was Mr. Dennison himself. Frank could easily have guessed
+as much from the manner in which the other behaved, even had he not
+spoken of the building as "my house."
+
+The first thing Frank settled in his mind was that their visitor of
+the preceding night had been Aaron Dennison. The white, close-cropped
+beard told him that. Then he saw that the old gentleman held a stout
+cane in his hand, which he had half raised as though sorely tempted to
+make strenuous use of it upon the backs of these two ambitious amateur
+photographers.
+
+Frank knew how to talk, and use soothing language. His chums always
+said he would make a good lawyer. Apparently he might go a long time
+before running across a better opportunity for smoothing the "ruffled
+feathers" of an angry man than was now offered to him.
+
+"I hope you'll excuse us, Mr. Dennison, for entering your grounds to
+take a picture of your house," he started to say. "We didn't mean any
+harm, and will go away at once, sir."
+
+The man looked sternly at Frank, but the boy noticed with a feeling of
+relief that the half upraised stick was slowly lowered. Apparently
+something influenced Aaron Dennison to decide not to take the law into
+his own hands, and use that heavy cane on these rash intruders.
+
+"How did you get in here?" he demanded abruptly.
+
+"There is a board loose on the fence, sir, and we couldn't resist the
+temptation to come through. My chum here is making a hobby of taking
+pictures, and he wanted one of your house, because it was so peculiar
+in its build. I hope you won't think too badly of us for intruding."
+
+Aaron Dennison did not take any notice of this last remark; but
+apparently he caught some meaning back of Frank's words.
+
+"How did you know my house differed from any other one; have you been
+in here before this?"
+
+Evidently the discreet old housekeeper had decided not to tell of the
+former visit of the boys, and it was Frank himself who had given the
+secret away. He determined not to evade the issue, but continue to be
+frank with the irate gentleman.
+
+"Yes, sir," he said, steadily. "I wandered up this way yesterday, and
+saw the house. It was because I was so enthusiastic in my description
+that Will here wanted to come and get a picture of it."
+
+"So as to tell every one, I suppose, that it is the secluded home of
+the eccentric old hermit, as I believe they call me in the towns where
+my men trade," the other continued with a half sneer. "But what are
+you boys doing up in this section of the country? It is the first time
+for a long while that I have seen a stranger about here."
+
+"We are camping, sir, on the lake shore, and having a good time for a
+few weeks, fishing, taking pictures, and all that. In our home town of
+Centerville they call us the Outdoor Chums, because we love to camp
+out."
+
+"On the lake shore, you say?" repeated the other, looking keenly at
+Frank. "Tell me, is your camp anywhere near Cabin Point?"
+
+"Yes, we've gone to work, Mr. Dennison, and fixed the old cabin all
+up; and it's there we're staying," Frank told him.
+
+"I wonder--" began the other, frowning, "if you had anything to do
+with startling me last night, when I was taking a walk down to the
+lake, as I sometimes do when the spirit moves me. Do you know anything
+about that frightful blinding flash that gave me such a shock I had
+to hurry home?"
+
+"I am afraid we are to blame for that, sir, though I give you my word
+of honor we had no idea any human being would spring the trap. You
+see, my chum here is devoted to getting flashlight pictures of wild
+animals and birds in their native haunts. To do that he has to place
+his camera at night, and with a bait coax the little creature to set
+the trap off. And it happened, sir, that you ran across the cord
+connected with the trigger of the flashlight gun."
+
+"Is this the truth you are telling me, boy?" demanded the puzzled
+hermit.
+
+"Will, do you happen to have that proof with you?" called out Frank.
+Upon hearing this, the other hastened up, though there was a satisfied
+smirk on his face, as though he had accomplished something daring.
+
+As Frank believed he had heard a soft click just before this, he could
+give a pretty good guess as to what the other had been up to.
+
+Upon the proof being produced Frank stepped forward and held it out to
+the old gentleman, who took it eagerly. He even smiled faintly as he
+saw himself in the act of falling, and with all the elements of sudden
+surprise and alarm connected with his action.
+
+"At least this satisfies me that you had no intention of giving me
+such a bad fright. I can forgive you in part, because I, too, am
+interested in photography, which is indeed my only recreation nowadays
+besides reading. But you must not come here again. I do not allow
+intruders, and if you had chanced to be seen by one of my men the
+consequences might have been unpleasant for you."
+
+"Then we will go away at once, sir," said Frank; "though we'll always
+be glad we met you, Mr. Dennison."
+
+The recluse frowned again as though he remembered that he had a reason
+for not wishing to hold intercourse with others. And seeing he did not
+mean to continue the conversation any further Frank nodded to Will,
+after which they walked away.
+
+When they looked back a minute later Mr. Dennison was still standing
+there as though in a deep study. Somehow he interested Frank very much
+indeed, for the boy realized that there must be some very good reason
+for his shunning his kind.
+
+They had almost reached the hole in the fence, when, just as had
+happened on the preceding day, there came that strange cry. Will
+thought it might be the screech of a peacock, though he could not
+remember having seen such a fowl strutting about the lawn.
+
+"It may be what you say," admitted Frank, "but when you hear a queer
+sound under such conditions as these it seems different from anything
+you ever ran up against. Bluff thought it was a dog chained up; you
+say a peacock; and for my part I hardly know what to believe."
+
+"Anyhow, Frank, I got him all right," chuckled Will.
+
+"Meaning the old hermit, of course," said the other. "I thought I
+heard your shutter click. It will be worth something to say you took
+his picture as well as that you got one of his peculiarly built house,
+which I reckon few people have ever so much as seen."
+
+"But after all's said and done, Frank, old Aaron isn't just the kind
+of man I always thought a real hermit must be. Why, he's a gentleman,
+and not a bit careless of his appearance, the way most of them are
+described to be. He dotes on books, they say. And oh, Frank! did you
+hear him admit he was fond of dabbling in amateur photography
+himself?"
+
+"Yes, that was what he said, Will."
+
+"I wish I could make a good impression on old Aaron, then, because
+like as not he'd have some dandy pictures to show. He's got rafts of
+money, you know, and must have traveled a heap in his time."
+
+Frank laughed at hearing this.
+
+"Now I wouldn't be surprised," he remarked, "if you tried to get thick
+with our hermit before we shut up shop at Cabin Point!"
+
+"I own I'd like to, though I don't think I'll have much of a chance,
+Frank, because you see he's shut down on us, and forbidden us to ever
+look in on him after this. Now what do you reckon ails the man, and
+why should he act in that way? He must have just soured on the world
+for some reason or other."
+
+They passed outside, and allowed the loose board to fall back into its
+place again. Unless one were looking for a break in the fence it would
+be possible to pass by without noticing anything wrong there.
+
+"But now since he knows some of us were in his grounds twice,"
+lamented Will, "old Aaron may give his men orders to search all around
+till they find the break. If they had any sense at all they could
+follow our tracks and come to it. But, Frank, how about taking a swing
+around on the way home?"
+
+"You spoke of that before, Will, and as we have plenty of time I don't
+know any reason we shouldn't make something of a circuit. I'm as
+curious as you can be to see something of the country."
+
+"Likely none of us will ever be up this way again," remarked Will,
+"and so we'd better make the most of our opportunities. Besides,
+there's no telling what cracker-jack chances we may strike for
+pictures. I'm always on the lookout for anything like that, you
+remember."
+
+Frank of course knew next to nothing about the lay of the ground, but
+he could give a pretty good guess, for he had kept his eyes about him
+all of the time. Accordingly he laid out the course they would take.
+
+"Unless we strike something tougher than we figure on," he explained
+to Will, "we ought to make the round and be back in camp long before
+sundown."
+
+"What if the other fellows do arrive before us," remarked the
+photographer of the expedition, "they can start in to get supper if
+they're half starving. I just feel like making hay while the sun
+shines. This seems to be one of my lucky days, because I've already
+snapped off some pictures that ought to be worth while. When we start
+to talking about hermits and such things we'll have something to show
+for it."
+
+Starting off, they were speedily in the heart of what seemed to be a
+dense wood. Will expressed himself as well pleased with the
+surroundings, and soon discovered some remarkable sights that called
+for the use of his camera.
+
+They pushed on for more than an hour, and by that time had covered
+considerable distance. When Frank hinted that perhaps they had better
+turn back Will begged him not to give up just then.
+
+"You see we've still plenty of time to make the cabin long before
+dark," he urged, "and I'm sure we'll find it worth our while to keep
+on the way we're going. It seems to me the country keeps getting
+rougher the further we push ahead. Already I'm just tickled to death
+with what I've seen."
+
+"It's a fact that we've run across as wild a section as I've ever met
+with," admitted Frank. "I never would have believed there could be
+such a primitive stretch of land within a hundred miles of
+Centerville. Right now you can look around in every direction, and
+there isn't a sign to show that you're not out at the foot of the
+Rockies, just as we found it at the time we had our big hunt."
+
+"At that time, you know, Frank, I hadn't caught on to this wild animal
+photography business. What wonderful pictures I could have taken then
+if only I'd known the racket. It keeps growing on me all the while,
+too. Right now I expect I get more of a thrill when I'm snapping off
+the picture of a bull moose bellowing his defiance to the guide's
+call, than you would with your rifle at your shoulder ready for a
+shot."
+
+"I reckon you do, Will, for I can understand what you feel. I really
+believe that if you hadn't gone in for the game I'd have picked it up
+myself. But one photographic crank in the party is enough; some of us
+have to stick to the gun in order to supply the meat for the camp when
+the season is on."
+
+Frank had been persuaded by Will's logic, and he continued to push on,
+though constantly keeping track of conditions. He did not wish to have
+to confess sooner or later that he was lost, which would not be so
+impossible a thing to happen in that dense wood.
+
+It was while they were making their way along in this fashion toward
+the middle of the afternoon, that, without the slightest warning,
+there came a loud and angry crash of thunder; and looking up in a
+startled way they saw inky black clouds gathering overhead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+CAUGHT IN THE STORM
+
+
+"Why Frank! What does this mean?" exclaimed the astonished Will, as he
+stared first at his chum, and then up past the lofty tops of the
+forest trees to where those inky thunder-caps were thrusting their
+ugly noses into sight.
+
+"Simply that we've been caught napping for once," replied the other,
+with an expression of mingled amusement and disgust on his face; for
+such a thing did not happen very often in the experience of a
+wide-awake fellow like Frank Langdon.
+
+"It's going to storm like fun," continued Will, with growing
+apprehension.
+
+"And the first thing we've got to do," his companion told him, "is to
+look for shelter. Under these big trees we might find a place to keep
+dry, for there's one that's hollow right now; but the danger of its
+being struck by lightning is too great for me to risk."
+
+"Whew! We're in for it, I expect!" cried Will, who apparently had
+received quite a severe shock upon making this sudden discovery, when
+up to the time that loud thunder clap startled them neither of the
+boys had suspected anything.
+
+Frank began to look hastily about him. He knew what he wanted to find
+above all things, and fortunately the country around that section was
+capable of producing such a safe shelter.
+
+"Hurry along this way, Will!" he called out. "If I remember rightly I
+noticed some outcropping ledges back a little bit. We may be lucky
+enough to find shelter under a shelf of rock."
+
+"That's a good idea, Frank," admitted Will, as he tried to keep close
+on the heels of his hurrying comrade.
+
+"If the rain will only hold off ten minutes, even less, we ought to
+get to that rocky section, unless I miss my guess," Frank threw back
+over his shoulder.
+
+They pushed on with all their vim. Meanwhile it grew very dark and
+forbidding. Will could not remember ever to have seen the day
+swallowed up in the gathering shades of night so quickly before. It
+appalled the boy, for he did not possess the same unconquerable nature
+as Frank.
+
+One crash of thunder followed another in rapid succession. The very
+earth under their flying feet seemed to quiver with the concussions.
+Lightning shot downward with such vivid flashes that it fairly blinded
+them; so that Will's soul was filled with awe.
+
+"Frank, oh, Frank!" cried the boy in the rear.
+
+"All right, Will, what is it?" replied the other, who kept glancing
+back at very brief intervals to make sure his chum still ran at his
+heels, for he feared that should they ever be separated in that
+gathering gloom it would be impossible for them to come together
+again.
+
+"Do you think we can make it?" demanded the other, with a touch of
+despair in his voice, for the situation looked frightfully appalling
+to Will.
+
+"Sure we will!" he was immediately assured in Frank's most cheery
+fashion. "Right now I can see the first of the rocks. Given two more
+minutes at the most and we'll be able to crawl under a shelf, and lie
+there as snug as two bugs in a rug."
+
+Frank did not feel any too sanguine himself, but he would not let Will
+know of any fears he possessed regarding the possibility of their not
+finding the shelter among the rocks after all.
+
+A terrific peal of thunder drowned their conversation for a brief
+interval, but they were pushing resolutely forward all the while.
+Frank was straining those keen eyes of his to some purpose. He knew
+they were at the border of the rough, rocky section now. If only they
+could run upon the friendly outcropping shelf which he remembered to
+have seen at the time they passed before, they would find shelter.
+
+All would have been easy enough had they been given ordinary daylight
+so as to look around them. The gathering gloom made it very difficult
+to see twenty feet away with any degree of certainty. Frank was being
+guided partly by instinct, and the knowledge that he had taken his
+right bearings to start with.
+
+"Frank, I felt the first drop of rain!" shrilled Will, filled with a
+new fear, for he was afraid that his pet camera would be ruined should
+they be soaked to the skin, which was a calamity terrible enough to
+break his heart.
+
+Frank did not need to be told of the falling rain, for he, too, had
+discovered the ominous fact even before his chum announced it. There
+was nothing to be done but set their teeth grimly and bear it. The
+rocks were now all around them. If only they could discover that
+friendly ledge!
+
+"Yes, it's beginning to come down now, because I can hear it in the
+treetops over that way, can't you, Frank?"
+
+"What you hear is mostly the wind, Will; but that sounds bad enough, I
+own up. There, I remember that broken tree making a bow above the
+path we followed. And the ledges were close by it, I'm dead certain.
+Come this way, Will; chances are we'll run on them right off."
+
+This cheery talk buoyed up the despondent spirits of the other, and he
+set his teeth grimly, determined to hold out to the end. Another flash
+that almost blinded them, quickly followed by a resounding bellow of
+thunder, announced that the downpour of rain must be very close
+indeed; doubtless it would descend upon them with that furious gale of
+wind.
+
+"Hurrah! here they are, Will! Brace up, old fellow, for it's going to
+be all right!"
+
+So dense had the darkness become that Frank found himself relying
+almost wholly on the electric flashes for his illumination. The last
+brilliant charge had disclosed the fact of the near presence of the
+ledges which he had kept in mind so long.
+
+Fortune favored them in that Frank was able to discover the largest
+ledge close at hand. It stood out far enough to allow of their
+crawling well underneath, where the rain, no matter how it was driven
+by the furious wind, could not reach them.
+
+Even as the two fugitives dropped down on their hands and knees, and
+started to creep under the flat rocks, the rain began to fall
+heavily. In fact it seemed to Will that hardly had his feet been drawn
+under the accommodating shelter than the heavens opened, and the
+floods descended.
+
+The two boys pushed well in and made themselves as comfortable as
+their condition allowed. This of course was not saying much, for they
+were sitting on hard rock, with their heads touching the shelf that
+hung above.
+
+It was utterly impossible for them to exchange a single word just
+then, owing to the riot of sound that came from beyond. The thunder
+bellowed, the wind roared, trees could be heard at intervals crashing
+to the ground, and the rain beat a terrible tattoo on the rock that
+sheltered them.
+
+So fast did the lightning play that they were glad to close their eyes
+lest in staring into that dazzling glare they should find themselves
+blinded.
+
+Will managed to push up close to his chum. Somehow it seemed to give
+him more confidence just to feel the contact. Thus he knew he was not
+alone in the midst of that hurricane, really the worst he had ever
+experienced in all his life.
+
+The time wore on. Once the dreadful storm seemed to have passed, and
+it even grew considerably lighter. Will plucked up fresh hope,
+believing the end had come, and that they could soon be on their way
+to camp, to reach there at dusk perhaps.
+
+Frank, however, began to see things in a different light. He noted
+that there were signs telling of a return of the gale. The second
+spell might be as bad as the first; and if it kept them confined there
+under the rocks until night came on it would be utterly out of the
+question to think of setting forth.
+
+So Frank, foreseeing fresh trouble ahead, braced himself to meet it.
+They would have to make a virtue of necessity, and stay there all
+night. That was not a pleasant outlook, but then things might be a lot
+worse, Frank told himself.
+
+Sure enough the gloom once more descended, and again the thunder took
+up the old rumble and crash. Perhaps the wind was not as furious as
+was the first rush, and the rain may have been less in quantity, but
+the second part of the storm was severe and terrifying enough.
+
+"If it wasn't that we've had an even worse spell," Will managed to
+call out, "I'd think this was the worst ever. Frank, what's the answer
+to all this? How are we going to get back to camp?"
+
+"Walk, of course," replied the other; "it's the only way."
+
+"But even now the afternoon must be pretty well gone," objected Will.
+
+"It certainly is," he was told.
+
+"We don't know the exact way to camp," continued Will, "the night is
+coming on in a hurry, the trees are dripping with water, and in lots
+of places they have been thrown down every-which-way by that
+hurricane. We never can make camp to-night, that's sure!"
+
+"I'm glad you understand that, Will, because I was just going to break
+it to you. No, it would be foolish for us to try such a thing. We've
+been pretty lucky as it is to escape getting wet jackets. We'll have
+to put in a long night here the best we can."
+
+"Whew! it will be a terribly long one, too," declared Will, listening
+to the retreating growl of the thunder. "And the worst of it is the
+weather usually turns cold after one of these storms. We'll get to
+shivering to beat the band. I wish we could make a fire some way or
+other."
+
+"I'm afraid that's going to be out of the question," Frank told him.
+"Of course we have matches in plenty, but we couldn't get dry wood
+after that deluge. You see we had no chance to look around us for a
+dead tree, and we have no camp hatchet along with us to do any
+chopping."
+
+"Oh, well, I guess we can stand it, Frank. Morning is bound to get
+here sooner or later. We've gone through as bad times as this more
+than once, haven't we?"
+
+"I should say we had," Frank immediately replied, anxious to buoy up
+the spirits of his companion as much as possible. "And for one thing,
+that wind isn't going to reach in under here to any extent."
+
+"You're right about that," admitted Will; "it comes from back of the
+ledge, now that it's shifted into the west. Surely we have lots to be
+thankful for. But of course we'll feel pretty hungry, because neither
+of us is used to going without supper, you see."
+
+At that Frank laughed.
+
+"I thought I'd do it for a joke, first of all," he remarked; "you see
+I'd been reading about the way the Indians make their pemmican by
+drying venison, and how they carry a handful in their pouches when
+they have a day's journey afoot to make, munching on it once in a
+while."
+
+"But what has that to do with us, Frank; we have no pemmican in camp,
+have we?"
+
+"No, but that piece of dried beef made me think of it, and for fun I
+carved off a small hunk, intending to spring it on you as a joke if
+you happened to say you felt hungry, I've got it here in the pocket of
+my coat."
+
+"Well! of all the luck, that takes the cake!" exclaimed Will. "We can
+grind our teeth on that once in a while, and make believe we're
+enjoying the most magnificent camp dinner going, eh, Frank?"
+
+"It's apt to make us thirsty, of course, but just now it happens that
+pools of water can be found for the looking, so that needn't bother us
+any. So we're fixed in the line of grub; and there's no danger of
+starving to death yet awhile."
+
+By the time the last of the storm died away in the distance it was
+almost night; in fact Will discovered the first star peeping through a
+rent in the clouds overhead. Therefore the two chums started to make
+themselves as comfortable as the hard conditions of their shelter
+allowed, thankful that they had been spared being caught in the open
+by that fearful summer storm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+TAKING A BEE-LINE FOR CAMP
+
+
+Frank and Will were not apt soon to forget that night. They were
+compelled to remain under the shelf of rock, because outside
+everything was soaking wet; and besides, the night wind blew unusually
+cold for that time of year. Without a fire to cheer them it would have
+been unbearable to try to stay in the open.
+
+Of course the rocks proved very hard. Every little while the boys
+would change their positions in the endeavor to relieve their aching
+limbs. Many times did Will find himself sighing for his blanket, which
+had never seemed half so precious as now, when it was far away.
+
+Frank managed to divide the piece of hard dried beef with his knife,
+and give the larger portion to Will, who, of course, knew nothing of
+the sacrifice. They munched away from time to time, taking minute
+bites, and grinding the tough meat between their teeth as long as
+possible before swallowing it.
+
+This served in some measure to keep their thoughts away from their
+unhappy condition, which was one object Frank had in mind.
+
+At times they talked of the two comrades who had gone off, aboard the
+boat, bent on reaching the far distant village on the lake shore. Will
+worried about them. Frank professed to have the utmost confidence in
+the ability of the chums to look after themselves.
+
+"Stop and figure it all out, Will," he told the other. "If they made
+as good time as we expected, they must have reached the village long
+before noon came. In fact, we felt pretty sure they were in port at
+the time we ate our own lunch in camp."
+
+"Yes, that's what we agreed," admitted the other, briskly.
+
+"Well, let's try to guess what they'd be apt to do," continued Frank.
+
+"I know what Jerry would have in his mind first of all, if it happened
+to be anywhere around noon," said Will. "Jerry never forgets when it's
+meal time; and the chances are ten to one he'd try to make sure they
+were going to get dinner somewhere."
+
+"All right," agreed Frank; "that might bring them to nearly one
+o'clock. Afterward they'd want to get a hustle on them trying to
+gather up a supply of butter and fresh eggs, according to their
+orders. Now if they had to go outside the place to get the supplies it
+would be long after two before they'd be in shape even to think of
+starting back to camp."
+
+"I see what you're hitting at, Frank; you mean they'd likely enough
+notice how the inky black clouds were moving up in the sky about that
+time, because being so close to the big lake they could see all this;
+while the woods hid it from us."
+
+"Just so," Frank continued, his one desire being to convince the
+anxious chum that Bluff and Jerry could be in no real peril. "And the
+people of the village, you see, would urge them to hold over, telling
+them it was too risky to try to row an old leaky boat all those miles
+with such a storm coming up."
+
+"Then you believe they are still there in the village, do you, Frank?"
+
+"I really and truly do," came the steady answer; "and, even at the
+worst, if the boys were foolish enough to make the start you can
+depend on it they'd hurry to get ashore long before the storm broke."
+
+"Well," concluded Will, "nothing could have tempted me to stay out on
+the lake a minute, once that thunder started to crash, and I knew the
+wind must soon come tearing along. I guess Jerry wouldn't take too
+many chances, even if Bluff wanted to keep rowing on."
+
+"Another thing you've got reason to be satisfied about is your
+camera," suggested Frank, knowing what store his comrade set by his
+treasured instrument.
+
+"Yes, for it hasn't been wet even a little bit!" Will declared. "I've
+always been pretty lucky that way. In fact the only streak of
+misfortune that ever struck me was the loss of those Maine films. I
+even dream about them, Frank; and I certainly do hope that Gilbert
+brings them back, if he comes this way."
+
+"He may turn up any time now," Frank assured him. "The golf tournament
+must have been played before this, and if Gilbert lives around this
+part of the country you'll see him coming after those golf balls of
+his. They look extra fine to me."
+
+"And my films would be worth next door to nothing to him; just as I
+look on his silly old golf balls. Queer how one man's food is another
+man's poison, isn't it?"
+
+A dozen times Frank had to scratch a match at the request of his mate
+in order to take a glance at his watch. The time seemed actually to
+drag along.
+
+"I've read about the minutes passing on leaden wings," said Will, with
+a long-drawn sigh, "but now I know just what that means. Eleven
+o'clock you said, didn't you, Frank? That means six more to bring us
+to five in the morning; and I suppose we couldn't think of making a
+start any earlier than that."
+
+"As soon as it's broad daylight we'll get a move on us," promised the
+other. "We only want to make sure we can see how to avoid pitfalls and
+fallen trees."
+
+"How far are we from camp, do you reckon, Frank?"
+
+Will asked this last question rather drowsily; for in spite of his
+pains he was beginning to get sleepy.
+
+"Only a few miles as the crow flies," he was assured.
+
+"Of course you've got the direction down all--er, what you call it,
+pat, I suppose?"
+
+Frank told him he felt sure he could take a bee-line for camp; and a
+minute afterwards, there being no further questions, only the regular
+breathing of a tired lad, he knew that Will had dropped off.
+
+Neither of them managed to secure any great amount of sleep. Their
+hard resting-place prevented such a thing. After a nap of possibly
+half an hour Frank would awaken to find one of his legs numb under
+him, while his muscles fairly ached with the severe strain to which
+they were quite unaccustomed.
+
+Twice both boys felt so numb with the cold that acting on Frank's
+advice they crawled out from under the sheltering rock, and for a
+short time went through with exercises devised to send the blood
+leaping through their veins.
+
+It was by all odds the longest night either of the lads had ever
+experienced, in so far as their feelings were concerned. Twice the
+eager and impatient Will gave a false alarm, under the impression that
+he had glimpsed the dawn stealing in upon them. The first time Frank
+showed him by his watch how impossible this was, for it had hardly
+reached two o'clock.
+
+But all things must come to an end, bad as well as good; and finally
+Frank himself detected the coming of dawn. It was not by sight that he
+knew this but through the twittering of birds in neighboring trees,
+where the poor things had hidden to escape the terrible storm.
+
+"I guess that's meant for a tune of thanksgiving and praise on account
+of having escaped death in all that wind and rain," Frank told himself
+as he listened to the faint songs taking form around him.
+
+He did not awaken his chum, because there was no need. They could not
+start at once, and the boy needed what sleep he could get after such a
+wretched night.
+
+It was broad day when Will awoke.
+
+"Why! what's this, Frank?" he exclaimed, reproachfully, "how could you
+let me waste time sleeping when we might have been on our way?"
+
+"Oh! no hurry," he was told; "and you seemed to be getting forty winks
+after such a tough night. But now that you've waked up, let's crawl
+out of here."
+
+Neither of them felt any sorrow at leaving their hard beds, though
+that did not mean they could ever be anything but grateful for the
+welcome shelter of that nook under the rocky shelf.
+
+Frank had no hesitancy about pointing toward the quarter where he
+believed the camp must lie.
+
+"We'll take our bearings, Will, and then head straight. In the course
+of two hours at the most we ought to strike the lake, and close to
+Cabin Point in the bargain."
+
+"Before we leave here," remarked Will, the old instinct still gripping
+him, "I'd like to get a snapshot of that bully ledge, now that the sun
+is peeping up, and shines full on the place."
+
+"A good idea," Frank told him; "we'll often smile when we look at it,
+and remember our rough experience. I think every time I happen to
+munch a bit of jerked or dried beef my thoughts will go back to this
+adventure."
+
+"Yes," added the other, with a chuckle, "and with me, every time
+anybody mentions dried beef you'll see me begin to rub my poor bones
+where they ache right now as if my joints were so many boils."
+
+They had not gone far before they began to notice many signs that told
+of the fury of the wind during the storm. Trees had been toppled
+completely over or else lay up against some neighboring trunk in a
+helpless condition, "much like drunken men," Will declared.
+
+Will discovered a number of remarkable sights that appealed to his
+artistic instinct, so that Frank had to wait until he had focussed his
+camera and then pressed the button. Those pictures would always remind
+them of their lively experiences when on the way back to camp after
+the second visit to Aaron Dennison's place.
+
+When about an hour had passed Will began to show signs of fresh
+anxiety, but he was confidently assured by his chum that everything
+was all right.
+
+"The lake is straight ahead of us, you can depend on that," was what
+the pilot told him; "and pretty soon I think I can prove it to you,
+since seeing is believing."
+
+"How is that?" asked Will, his curiosity aroused at once, as Frank
+intended it should be.
+
+"We're coming to a little hill," was the explanation, "and unless the
+trees are too dense to hide our view I figure we ought to see the big
+water from the crown; anyway we'll take the trouble to climb up and
+find out."
+
+Frank was right, for upon arriving at the top of the elevation they
+managed to find one avenue among the treetops through which they could
+glimpse the glistening waters of the sun-kissed lake.
+
+After that Will complained no longer, having the utmost confidence in
+the ability of his companion to guide the expedition into a safe
+harbor.
+
+Before the second hour had fully elapsed they realized that the shore
+was close by. Will declared he could even hear the lapping of the
+waves on the pebbly strand.
+
+"We might have made it in much less time, you understand," said Frank,
+"if it had not been for the fallen trees we had to go around; and then
+there was the ravine we skirted a long way before meeting with a place
+where we could cross."
+
+"But it's all right in the end, Frank; and let me tell you I'm
+thankful we came through the business as well as we did. Now the only
+thing to bother us is the fate of the other fellows."
+
+"Oh! they're all right, you can depend on it," said Frank.
+
+"But I don't hear any chopping or talking, and we must be close enough
+to the cabin to get that, you know," speculated Will.
+
+"Which proves my theory was sound, and that they had to stay all night
+in the village. You can depend on it, Will, they fared better than we
+did, because the chances are they slept on feather beds, and had all
+they wanted to eat."
+
+"Oh, good, now we can cook something! I'm about as near empty as I
+want to be, and feel able to make way with the biggest beefsteak
+going. There, I can see the cabin, Frank! I'm glad to find out the
+storm didn't pick it up bodily and carry it into the lake, as I
+sometimes thought it might have done."
+
+Both of them hurried their steps a little, for the thought of a warm
+and tasty breakfast certainly appealed to them as seldom before.
+Consequently they soon reached the cabin on the Point, which they now
+called their camp home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE RETURN OF THE VOYAGERS
+
+
+"After all the old cabin has had a pretty narrow escape, Will."
+
+Frank, as he said this, pointed to where a tree had crashed to the
+ground close by. It lay with its head toward the northeast. Had the
+wind been more in the west at the time of its fall the roof of the log
+structure must have been crushed in like an egg-shell.
+
+Will was just about to enter when Frank caught hold of his arm and
+held him back.
+
+"What's the matter, Frank?" instantly questioned the other, looking
+around him in surprise.
+
+"Why, I wonder how it comes that the door is ajar. We both know as
+well as anything that we made sure to shut it securely at the time we
+left."
+
+"Then Bluff and Jerry must have got back home!" exclaimed Will,
+excited again. "Since they don't seem to be here, I reckon they've set
+off to search for us, believing we must have gone out for a stroll,
+and been caught in the storm."
+
+"You forget one thing, Will."
+
+"Do you mean the boat?" demanded the other, quickly. "Well, it doesn't
+seem to be around, for a fact, Frank; and, sure! it ought to be if
+they'd come home."
+
+"Well, let's go inside now," remarked the other. "If they did come
+home, and have gone out again, I think they would have left some word
+for us."
+
+No sooner had the two boys entered the cabin than they could see that
+some one had been there. A home-made chair was lying on its side on
+the floor; also some things had been swept from the heavy table which
+Frank had repaired so that it stood firmly on its four legs now.
+
+Will looked around, and then turned his eyes on Frank.
+
+"Somebody or some animal has certainly been in here since we left
+yesterday, or I miss my guess!" he announced.
+
+"There's no question about that," returned Frank, a puzzled look on
+his face. "And as we fastened the door in the only way we have, which
+would prevent any but an educated monkey from opening it, I can't
+believe any wild beast entered here. Take that from me, Will."
+
+"Then of course it must have been a human being," remarked Will, for
+Frank's decisions seemed to leave no other explanation possible.
+
+"I'm wondering why he came in here, and what he did," continued the
+other, as he wandered about the place scrutinizing everything.
+"There's not a sign of anybody's sleeping in one of our bunks, and so
+far as I can make out there's been no cooking going on here since we
+had our lunch yesterday, because I remember just how I put everything
+away then."
+
+"Frank, it's certainly a deep mystery."
+
+"Oh, well! what's the use of bothering our poor heads over it when
+there was no mischief done. Let's get busy with something to eat. I'm
+as hollow as a drum right now, and I'm not ashamed to say it, either."
+
+When presently the coffee began to throw out the most tantalizing
+odor, and the sizzling bacon added its quota to the aroma, the boys
+felt they could hardly wait until things were ready.
+
+Munching some crackers helped them to hold off a bit, and presently,
+when things were done, the welcome call to breakfast sounded.
+
+The lake must have been rough and high during the previous night's
+gale, for the waves still rolled up on the beach in places, though the
+wind had changed.
+
+"Don't you think they must have started from over yonder by now?" Will
+was asking as he and Frank began to eat more slowly, having taken the
+fierce edge from their appetites.
+
+"Yes, the sea has gone down enough by now to let them take chances,"
+Frank admitted; "and after we're through eating we'll use the glasses
+to find out."
+
+Although he had not said anything about it to his chum, Frank believed
+he had detected a moving spot far away on the water, and in the
+direction of the village, which he thought might be the camp boat with
+their two mates.
+
+He did not hurry through his breakfast, for as the object was
+constantly drawing slowly but steadily nearer Cabin Point they would
+be better able to discover who the occupants of the boat were later
+on.
+
+Will kept the other to his promise, and in good time the small but
+powerful pair of field glasses was brought out and adjusted.
+
+Frank took the first look. He did not say a single word or betray the
+result of his survey by the faintest smile, only handed the glasses to
+Will.
+
+"My sight must be different from yours, Frank, because I have to focus
+all over again. There, now I reckon I've got it O. K. because I can
+see the village over there as plain as anything. The boat ought to be
+this way--there, I've got it located. Oh, Frank, it's Bluff and Jerry,
+as sure as you live!"
+
+"Of course it is!" declared the other. "And now you can see that I hit
+the right nail on the head when I tried to figure out what they'd
+probably do in the storm. They spent last night among the villagers,
+and started this morning just as soon as the water went down enough to
+make it seem safe."
+
+"They're almost half-way here as it is," continued Will; "and rowing
+like fun, let me tell you! Well, that relieves my mind a heap. I
+couldn't feel altogether easy about the boys, knowing what an old tub
+that boat is at best. But it's all right, Frank; and I think I can
+drink another cup of coffee on that."
+
+"We ought to have some ready for them when they get here," suggested
+thoughtful Frank; "though of course they'll have eaten breakfast at
+the village. But a cup of _our_ fragrant coffee is something to make
+you forget you're tired."
+
+"Yes," agreed Will, "I warrant you they didn't get anything like that
+over there at the village tavern, or wherever they put up."
+
+They spent much of their time watching the approach of the boat. The
+sunbeams glinted from the flashing oars as they were methodically
+raised and lowered. All the while it came nearer and nearer.
+
+"I can see that they're anxious about the camp, and wondering how we
+came through the storm," ventured Frank; "because every once in a
+while they stop rowing, seem to be talking together, and then turn
+around to stare this way."
+
+"Let's step out in the open, and I'll wave my big red bandanna to
+them, Frank."
+
+"They ought to see that easily enough," laughed the other; "I remember
+the old bull did that time he had you treed for several hours. Now
+stand ready, and as soon as I give the word start to waving, while we
+both shout."
+
+It was easy to tell when the rowers looked around again, thanks to the
+powerful glasses; and while Will waved his red bandanna, both of them
+yelled vociferously.
+
+"They see us, because they're waving their hats now!" observed Frank.
+
+"Yes, and I can hear them shouting," added his companion.
+
+Slowly the boat drew nearer, until in the end it was run up on the
+sandy beach of Cabin Point. Then Bluff and Jerry scrambled out,
+stretched their stiff legs, and picking up several bundles that had
+lain in the bottom of the craft, started toward the cabin, sniffing
+the welcome odor of coffee as they came.
+
+"Looks as if you'd got what you went for," remarked Frank, as he
+hastened to relieve one of the boys of his burden, a cardboard box,
+evidently holding several dozen eggs.
+
+"We did all of that," replied Bluff, "and then had to hold the fort
+through the night because of that nasty little tooter of a storm."
+
+"Listen to him! Trying to make out it didn't amount to much after
+all!" laughed Jerry. "I wish you could have seen him holding on to the
+chair he was sitting in at the village inn, whenever there came a
+terrific blast that made the house shake all over. I even heard him
+ask the landlord if it was bolted down to its foundation."
+
+"Well, to own up to the honest truth," said Bluff, with one of his
+wide grins, "it was a regular buster of a howler. I never saw such
+wind or rain, and my ears ring even yet from the smashing
+thunder-claps. Wow! but you two must have wondered what was coming
+when that big tree came tearing down to the ground not thirty feet
+away from the cabin."
+
+"But we didn't hear it fall," said Will, mysteriously.
+
+"What do you want us to believe by your saying that?" demanded Jerry.
+
+"We didn't happen to be around these parts just then, you see,"
+continued the artist, smilingly. "Fact is, we spent the night under a
+ledge of rock some miles away from here, hungry and cold as could be."
+
+"Suppose you up and tell us what happened?" said Bluff. "Why so much
+mystery, I want to know? What took you away, and how did it come that
+you never noticed that old whooper coming up in time to hurry back to
+camp?"
+
+"Oh, Frank and I took a little stroll after lunch," remarked Will.
+"You must know I've been wild to see that place belonging to Aaron
+Dennison, and snap off a view of it, because Bluff said it is such a
+remarkable affair. Well, we got the picture, all right, and also one
+of the owner of the ranch holding up a big cane as though about to
+strike Frank here."
+
+"Gee whiz! tell us more about that!" begged Bluff, eagerly.
+
+"After you get started on that coffee we made for you," said Frank.
+And while the two boys were enjoying their cups of hot coffee the
+story was related.
+
+Then those who had gone to the village were asked about their trip.
+Nothing remarkable had happened except that on several occasions they
+were compelled to bail out, and had once to stop in order to pound
+more oakum into an opening that appeared in one of the seams of the
+boat.
+
+"Excuse me from ever taking such a long trip again in an old
+rattletrap of a boat like that," declared Bluff. "Luckily for us, you
+insisted on our carrying a bunch of that oakum along, Frank. With it
+we patched up more seams this morning, and managed to pull through,
+though it's been a hard drive."
+
+"But we've lots of dandy fresh eggs, and five pounds of new butter,"
+added Jerry, proudly.
+
+"The storm came up before you could start, I suppose?" questioned
+Will.
+
+"Yes, and Bluff here wanted to pull out anyhow," Jerry replied, "but I
+kicked on that, and some of the villagers also warned him it would be
+suicidal--yes, that's the exact word they used, Bluff, and you know
+it. What if I'd given in to you, and we had been caught all of a
+sudden by that hurricane? Well, I'll bet deep down in your heart
+you're just as glad as anything I kept you from making that silly
+start."
+
+"Sure I am, Jerry! and I hope you didn't really think I meant to go. I
+was only trying to keep up to my reputation and name as a bluffer. All
+the while I knew as well as anything we never could get a quarter of
+the way here. I've cut my eye-teeth for all I sometimes make out to
+be so brash and bold."
+
+Frank and Will only laughed at the expression of disgust they saw
+creeping over Jerry's face. Surely all of them ought to know Bluff
+well enough by this time to understand that he did not always mean
+what he said.
+
+"And now," remarked Frank, "see if either of you can figure out this
+mystery." With that he told them how he and Will had found signs of
+some one's having been in the old cabin on the point between the time
+they had left it and their late return on that morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+DAYS OF REAL SPORT
+
+
+"You're dead sure nothing was taken, are you, Frank?" Bluff demanded
+first of all, his suspicions running in the direction of a sneak
+thief.
+
+"We looked, but couldn't find the first trace of anything having been
+stolen," he was assured. "Things seemed knocked around a bit, and the
+door was ajar, though we left it tightly closed, but that was all."
+
+"It surely is a deep mystery," admitted Jerry, with a puzzled
+expression on his face. Jerry had never been remarkably clever at
+finding out hidden things, and the whiff of a mystery generally
+confused him.
+
+"I'd be inclined to think it must have been some sort of animal,"
+ventured Bluff, "only you feel certain you fastened the door, so a dog
+or a wildcat couldn't get inside."
+
+"Besides," spoke up Will, "if it had been any sort of animal bent on
+getting something to eat, wouldn't we see signs of his nosing around
+in the cabin?"
+
+"That's a fact," admitted Bluff, immediately, "there's that shank of
+our ham lying right on the table where we left it. I said we'd boil
+the same the first chance we got, so as to get the pickings. Any dog
+would have pulled that on to the floor and gnawed at it."
+
+"Oh, well, what's the use guessing when we haven't got a single clue
+to go on?" remarked Jerry. "Let's change the subject and talk of
+something pleasant."
+
+"One thing I know," said Will, with a happy smile.
+
+"Then tell us, won't you?" asked Bluff.
+
+"I'm going to set my little trap again to-night for Br'er 'Coon,"
+continued the enthusiastic amateur photographer.
+
+"Huh! wonder what you'll spot next time?" observed Bluff. "You nailed
+an old fellow that you tell us is Aaron Dennison himself. I hope the
+next crack won't give us a picture of the Old Nick himself, horns,
+split hoofs, forked tail and all! Ugh!"
+
+"Well," muttered Jerry, "seems to me when you set one of those
+flashlight traps right in the woods of nights you never can tell what
+kind of a job you're going to get away with."
+
+Will laughed as though amused.
+
+"Why," he went on to say, "don't you understand that's part of the
+game? The uncertainty of the thing adds to the charm. You never do
+know exactly what you're going to strike."
+
+"Well," Jerry continued, shaking his head in a contrary fashion as
+though far from convinced, "I never did take much to the grab-bag
+business--putting your hand in, and groping around to pull out a prize
+or a blank."
+
+"Ditto here, Jerry," spoke up Bluff; "I prefer to know what I'm trying
+for, and then chasing after it for all I'm worth."
+
+"Oh, well, what's the use of talking?" Will concluded. "Many men, many
+minds. It's a mighty good thing everybody doesn't think alike. Variety
+is the spice of life, they say. But excuse me, fellows; I've got some
+work to do developing the snaps I took yesterday."
+
+That was the last they saw of Will for some time. Once he buried
+himself in that fascinating photographic labor to which he was devoted
+heart and soul, it required some strong incentive such as a summons to
+dinner, to make him break away.
+
+After noon had come and gone, the boys settled down into something
+like the old life. Less was said about events that had occurred, while
+new plans were being broached for the immediate future.
+
+Having secured some live bait with a little seine made of mosquito
+netting, Bluff and Frank tried the fishing, using the boat to reach
+what seemed to be good ground. A hidden ledge of rock ran from the
+point, and Frank judged that where the water was something like ten
+feet deep there ought to be bass.
+
+His figuring proved to be correct, for they were soon busily engaged
+in playing the fish that struck the live minnows. At times the work
+became even exciting, as a larger and more gamy fish took hold.
+
+Jerry, who also liked to fish, watched the sport from the shore and
+envied those who were thus engaged. The next time he was asked by
+Bluff to accompany him in the boat Jerry's answer would be of a
+different nature. This was a time when his laziness cost him dearly,
+he admitted to himself, as he watched Bluff lift a struggling bass
+into the boat, and then heard him give a yell of triumph.
+
+Will had long since finished developing the films, and all they had
+heard him say with reference to them was that they seemed to have
+turned out "pretty fair."
+
+About three o'clock in the afternoon, however, he set to work and
+printed a lot of proofs by the aid of the sun which aroused the
+interest and admiration of the other three.
+
+Frank in particular was delighted to find they would have such
+splendid views by which to remember their singular adventure. The one
+of "Old Aaron and His Rod," as Will designated it, was perfectly clear
+and reflected considerable credit on the artist who had snatched it
+off on the spur of the moment.
+
+Over the proof that showed the strange ledge of rock under which the
+two storm-bound fugitives had passed the night, Bluff and Jerry
+lingered longest. There seemed to be some peculiar fascination about
+the picture that held their attention.
+
+"Some time soon, Frank," said Bluff, "we must go up there and take a
+look into that cave under the rock. It was a bright dodge on your part
+to notice the formation of the ground in passing, and then remember it
+right away when the necessity arose for shelter from the rain, wind
+and lightning."
+
+"Which only shows," remarked Will, shaking a warning finger at Bluff,
+"that you ought to keep your eyes about you every minute of time when
+you're tramping through a woodsy country. You never know the second
+you'll be called on to remember something. And also let me say that
+it's best to have along with you a chum who never gets left, no matter
+what happens."
+
+Even Frank had to join in the general laugh that greeted this wise
+sally.
+
+"My advice to you all is, never depend on anybody else to pull your
+chestnuts out of the fire, but learn to do things for yourself," was
+all the remark Frank would allow himself to make.
+
+They had fresh fish for supper that evening, and such fish! Bluff
+himself cooked them, and of late he had proven himself to be a most
+excellent hand at getting up a meal.
+
+His method, of course, was the usual camp way of using fat salt pork
+melted down in the pan until it was sizzling hot; then placing in the
+fish, nicely covered with cracker crumbs, and allowing the fish to
+become browned all over, as well as fairly crisp before pronouncing
+them done.
+
+Every one enjoyed them, and it was voted unanimously that fish should
+form one of the staple dishes of their stay in camp at Cabin Point.
+
+Judging from the game qualities of the bass, there would be no lack of
+candidates for the honor of pulling them in. Even Will, who did not as
+a rule profess to be much of a sportsman, declared he believed he
+would like to test that new "pole" which his father had given him for
+Christmas; at which Bluff groaned, and immediately threw up his hands
+in affected horror, exclaiming:
+
+"Pole! For goodness' sake, Will, never call that dandy lancewood rod
+by such a degrading name again. The farmer's boy cuts a pole from the
+bushes, or buys a fifteen-foot one at the grocery store, the kind that
+comes up from the Louisiana swamp districts. A true sportsman carries
+a jointed _rod_--spell it out, r-o-d. Why, I'd turn red to the roots
+of my hair if ever you said 'pole' in the presence of real disciples
+of Isaac Walton."
+
+"Oh, well, 'rod,' if you prefer it that way," chuckled Will. "But no
+matter what you call it, the farmer boy's pole is generally the one
+that knocks the persimmons down."
+
+"That taffy about the genuine sportsman buying his fish from the
+barefooted farmer's boy is as old as the hills," retorted Bluff.
+"Maybe it's been true in some cases; but I've seen the time when the
+man with the fly tackle, and who knew how to use it, got all the fish,
+while the barefooted boy could only look on."
+
+"There!" exclaimed Frank with a laugh, "I knew the worm would turn
+some day. Up to now there's been no champion for the man with the
+fancy fly rod. It was the boy who used the humble worm who did all
+the business. He'll have to take a back seat after this when our chum
+Bluff is around."
+
+No one knew whether the flashlight did its duty on that particular
+night or not--that is until Will hurried out early in the morning and
+brought his camera in.
+
+He had cleverly arranged it so that when the cord was pulled that set
+the cartridge off it also caused the time-exposure arrangement on the
+camera to work. Thus for perhaps several seconds the delicate film was
+exposed, after which the action caused it to become once more securely
+hidden from the light. In this way it was not necessary for the
+operator to get out to his camera before daylight came in order to
+save his night's work.
+
+All of them had slept soundly. If Frank did happen to arouse several
+times during the night he saw and heard nothing to indicate that there
+were any animals prowling around in the vicinity of the camp.
+
+Will knew, however, that his trap had worked, for the bait was gone,
+the cord pulled taut, and he could even detect traces of sharp claws
+around the spot.
+
+It turned out that he had managed to secure a splendid snapshot of the
+big fellow boasting the striped tail; indeed, the picture was bound
+to be one of the most prized in all his collection.
+
+That day also passed with nothing unusual happening. The campers
+enjoyed every hour of it, for there always appeared to be a variety of
+things awaiting their attention, and all of the boys were full of
+vigor.
+
+Bluff noticed that it had gradually grown quite warm, after the
+delightful cool spell following the big storm.
+
+"And a hot wave means another rattler, I should guess," he declared
+when discussing the weather with his comrades.
+
+Bluff had of late shown a disposition to prove himself somewhat of a
+weather prophet. He studied the various conditions of the sky, noted
+the mottled clouds that people used to say denoted rain, consulted
+calendars he had brought along that explained the phases of the moon,
+and every little while solemnly announced that according to all the
+signs such and such a condition of weather was going to follow.
+
+It was on the second morning that Bluff outlined his plan. Waiting
+until they had all eaten the excellent breakfast which he himself had
+prepared, and until he had reason to believe Frank must be in an
+especially good humor, Bluff spoke up.
+
+"Frank, why not all of us go up to that rock ledge to-day before the
+weather takes a turn for the worse? How about it, Jerry; are you game
+for a tramp?"
+
+"Every time," came the immediate response; "and as you say, if we're
+going to have a look in at that queer section of the country, to-day's
+as good a time as any."
+
+To the delight of both boys, Frank offered no objection. In fact, he
+himself felt rather inclined to do a little more exploring, for the
+country in that region interested him deeply. And so presently the
+four left their cabin camp to plunge into the woods.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+SHOWING BLUFF AND JERRY
+
+
+It pleased Frank to set out in almost a direct line for the rocky
+ledges. He wanted to cover once more the ground which he and Will had
+passed over on their way to camp.
+
+"In the first place," he explained to the others when they remarked on
+this fact, "there were several interesting sights that Will said he
+wanted to snap off; and his supply of film had run short the other
+day. Then we know this route, and can point out a lot of things.
+Besides, it's a short way to the place, which is a good excuse for
+taking it."
+
+In due time they reached the rocks, and both Bluff and Jerry must
+creep under the friendly ledge, to see for themselves what sort of
+shelter their chums had found from the storm.
+
+"Couldn't be beaten, and that's a fact, Frank!" was Jerry's final
+verdict, after he had remained under the rock for a time.
+
+"And in such a terrible electric storm," added Bluff, sagely, "I
+don't know of a better place to take refuge than under a shelf of
+rock. There's no danger of being struck by the lightning, and only a
+slim chance of an avalanche tumbling down on top of you."
+
+"All boys ought to make a note of a thing like that," urged Will,
+wisely nodding his head as might a school-master. "When a storm comes
+along in summer time, with thunder and lightning, they should never
+dream of taking shelter under a tree or in a barn. Frank, I'm right
+there, I reckon, am I not?"
+
+"Every time!" responded the other vigorously. "It's better to drop
+flat down in the open and take a good ducking, rather than risk
+chances under a tree or in any sort of barn. Lightning picks out those
+objects for a blow. But I think myself a shelf of rock like this is
+about the finest shelter going."
+
+"And I'll always be on the lookout for places like this," asserted
+Bluff, who could take a lesson to heart for all his bluffing ways.
+
+"I can promise you I will," added Will, "because while I'm still sore
+from lying so many hours on that hard stone, I feel deep down in my
+heart that I ought never to look a gift horse in the mouth. That rock
+ledge was the best friend we had all through the terrible hurricane."
+
+"Well, we're in no great hurry to get back home, are we, boys?" asked
+Jerry.
+
+"We started out with the intention of making a day of it," Frank
+observed, "and there's no reason to change our minds. I'm going to
+take a turn in a new direction, though in the end we may strike the
+old trail that leads to the Point from Mr. Dennison's place."
+
+Jerry looked at him eagerly.
+
+"Now it so happens that everybody's gone and seen that place but poor
+me," he went on to state; "and Frank, if we just happened to be in
+that vicinity between now and sunset would you mind if I took a peep?"
+
+Frank shook his head as though he did not wholly like the idea.
+
+"The old gentleman seemed pretty huffy when we had our little
+heart-to-heart talk with him," Will remarked, noticing this
+disinclination on Frank's part; "and on the way down we made up our
+minds it was none of our business. Jerry, I can guess that it's the
+queer cry we heard that interests you more than wanting to see the
+house itself, for I've good pictures of that."
+
+Jerry laughed.
+
+"Oh! I own up you fellows have kind of excited me a little when
+telling about that thrilling sound you heard," he admitted candidly.
+"I'd like first-rate to do some prowling around up there to satisfy
+myself that it wasn't a peacock that screamed, or even a tied-up dog
+that yelped."
+
+"But I hope you'll give over that idea then, Jerry," said Frank
+soberly. "You must understand that Mr. Dennison is a gentleman, for
+all he looks so queer and acts so strangely. He's had something upset
+him in the past, and chooses to live away from everybody."
+
+"Yes," added Will, "and he's got a right to do as he chooses with his
+own property, you'll allow, Jerry."
+
+"Sure thing!" agreed the other, though with a shade of disappointment
+crossing his face, "and I guess I'll have to keep my hands off, since
+the sign is up 'no trespassing allowed here!' But anyway, I do hope we
+shall run across Old Aaron and his Rod somewhere in our jaunt to-day."
+
+Frank had nothing more to say on the subject. He was determined not to
+yield to any temptation, and enter those forbidden grounds again after
+being so plainly warned off by the irascible owner.
+
+Leaving the rocky section of country, they began to traverse a region
+quite different in its character. From time to time various
+interesting things cropped up to attract their attention.
+
+Bluff and Jerry wanted the photographer to snap off all sorts of what
+they called "mighty absorbing subjects," but Will wisely used his fine
+discrimination.
+
+"Why, look here," he finally told them, "if I took your advice right
+along I'd be out of stock in the film line before half the day was
+over. And I don't know of anything to make a fellow feel worse than to
+have used his last film and then run across a subject that he'd give
+heaps to get."
+
+"Will is right, boys," remarked Frank; "leave it to him to decide
+things like that. I'd stake a lot on his judgment, you must know."
+
+"Well," commented Will, with a chuckle, "I'm a ninny when it comes to
+lots of things connected with outdoor life; but I do know something
+about taking pictures, if I say it myself."
+
+At noon-time they stopped and rested for more than an hour, and ate
+the cold lunch that had been provided. It was warm, and consequently
+no one felt sorry for the chance to lie in the shade.
+
+Frank afterwards swung around in a half circle. He kept his bearings
+all the time, and professed to know accurately just where they were,
+and in what quarter the camp lay.
+
+"For what's the use of claiming to be a woodsman," he told Bluff when
+the other looked a little incredulous over something or other, "if you
+don't keep track of your direction? I feel sure that as the crow flies
+Cabin Point lies over there, right beyond that tree with the feathery
+crown."
+
+About three in the afternoon all of them owned up to feeling a bit
+weary.
+
+"But I reckon we must be getting within a mile or so of the lake,"
+Jerry suggested. "I'm saying that partly because I've noticed how
+Frank has swung around, and is heading in the direction he pointed out
+when he told of our camp lying in that quarter."
+
+"You hit the nail on the head when you say that, Jerry," commented
+Frank; "for we're going to strike the old trail before another ten
+minutes passes."
+
+"Meaning the one that leads to the lake from Aaron's place, eh,
+Frank?" continued Jerry, with a sparkle of expectancy in his eyes.
+
+"That's right, Jerry," he was told quietly.
+
+"Then I hope--" began the other, stopping suddenly, with half-opened
+mouth, to listen, for just then there came to their ears a
+half-muffled sound that might be the scream of a red-headed woodpecker
+up on some rotten treetop, or anything else for that matter.
+
+Will and Bluff uttered exclamations indicating that they recognized
+the cry. Even Frank looked serious, while Jerry was plainly excited.
+
+"Frank!" he exclaimed, "was that the queer cry you fellows told me you
+heard those two times you were up here?"
+
+"I think it was," replied the other; "but please don't go to getting
+excited over it, Jerry. You know we agreed it was none of our business
+whether a peacock on the lawn or a dog in his kennel let out that
+yawp. The only thing that interests me about it is the fact that we
+have proof that the high board fence around Mr. Dennison's place ought
+to loom up any minute now."
+
+Hardly had Frank said this than Bluff broke in with his customary
+abruptness.
+
+"Right now I can see a little patch of the same fence over yonder,
+Frank. Notice that big beech, and look under the slanting limbs. How
+about it, am I right?"
+
+He was immediately assured that his eyes had not deceived him, for it
+was certainly a small section of the tall fence that he had
+discovered.
+
+"I hope you will go close enough anyway," ventured Jerry, "so I can
+see that strand of cruel barbed wire you say runs along the top of the
+fence."
+
+"Oh! there's no reason you should be cheated out of that little
+favor," he was told by the leader. "The fact is we have to pass close
+to the fence in order to strike that trail through the woods."
+
+"The one he took when he struck my trap, and set my flashlight off,
+eh, Frank?" asked Will.
+
+"Of course it was that trail and no other," said Frank; "you remember
+we followed it before, and came to the Point. We also agreed that it
+was used by the old gentleman once in a while when he took a notion to
+go down to the lake."
+
+"Well, here's the fence, Jerry!" observed Bluff, as they came to a
+full stop.
+
+Jerry surveyed it critically, even stepping back the better to see how
+the barbed wire entanglement ran along its apex.
+
+"A rather tough job to get over that fence," he was heard to say, as
+though half to himself, "though I reckon I could manage it if pushed."
+
+"But I hope you'll never try it," ventured Frank, severely.
+
+"I was wondering," continued Jerry, paying no attention to the
+reproof, "whether that barbed wire was put there to prevent outsiders
+from getting in, or to keep some one who was in from breaking out!"
+
+Frank started, and looked serious. He even exchanged glances with
+Will, as though they might have a little secret between them; but at
+any rate he did not see fit to encourage Jerry to pursue the subject
+any further.
+
+"Suppose we let the matter drop now," he said, in that way of his
+which all of them considered final.
+
+They once more moved along, and, in following the plan Frank had of
+reaching the old trail that led through the woods and tangle to the
+lake, they kept close to the high fence.
+
+Jerry looked around him from time to time, and whenever he chanced to
+discover a knot-hole in one of the boards he immediately glued his eye
+to the aperture as if in hopes of glimpsing the hermit's house, or
+something else equally interesting.
+
+As they did not hear him utter any expression of satisfaction after
+several of these attempts, the others set his labor down as futile.
+
+A short time later they neared the lower end of the fenced-in estate.
+Frank knew he would run upon the trail near this point, and
+accordingly he had his eyes fixed on the ground looking for the first
+signs.
+
+On this account he was not the first to discover something that came
+to pass. It was when he heard an exclamation from Jerry that Frank
+looked hastily up, and saw to his dismay that they were once more
+face to face with the same old gentleman whom he and Will had
+encountered.
+
+Aaron Dennison had evidently stepped through a narrow gateway, for the
+opening appeared just behind him. He must have been quite as
+astonished as the boys at the unexpected meeting. Frank could see that
+he was very angry, for his face turned red, his eyes gleamed, and the
+muscles of his cheeks worked under the strain.
+
+Knowing the impetuous nature of one or more of his chums, Frank
+hurriedly blocked the path so that none of them might pass by. Then,
+trying to control his own feelings, he faced the scowling owner of the
+mysterious retreat in the wilderness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE WARNING
+
+
+"So this is the way you keep your word, is it, boy?" demanded Mr.
+Dennison, as he glared at Frank, who, however, managed to keep cool
+and collected, because he could easily understand how the old
+gentleman might deem their presence there very suspicious.
+
+"But what I promised you, sir," said Frank, "was that we would not
+trespass on your enclosed property again, and we have done nothing of
+the sort, sir."
+
+"Then why do I find you here, alongside this fence that was
+constructed to keep such curious people as you from intruding on my
+privacy? I believe even now it was your intention to enter again by
+that loose board, which, however, I had nailed fast in order to keep
+lawless prowlers out."
+
+"You wrong us, Mr. Dennison," declared Frank; while Bluff could be
+heard muttering his indignation. "Just how we happen to be here is
+easily explained."
+
+"Of course. And you expect me to believe any kind of silly story you
+may make up, I suppose?" snarled the angry owner of the property.
+
+"After we left you the other day, sir, my chum and I walked many miles
+into the woods, to see the country, and find some views, for you
+remember he is a photographer. We were caught unawares by that storm,
+and had to spend the night under a rocky shelf. Our comrades were
+naturally curious to see the queer place that had been of such great
+use to us, and so to-day we took a trip up there."
+
+"Here is a picture of the rock ledge, Mr. Dennison, so you can see we
+are telling you the truth," and Will eagerly held up one of his proofs
+as he spoke, which he had hastily taken from his pocket in order to
+convince the obstinate old gentleman.
+
+"But that does not explain your presence here," objected the other,
+though he had deigned to glance at the really excellent sun print, for
+Will of course had remembered hearing him say that he, too, took a
+great interest in photography.
+
+"Having set our faces toward home," explained Frank, "it was only
+natural, sir, that we should make for a trail we had been over before.
+That brought us out close to your place, and we are at this very
+minute making for the corner below, where I remember we can find what
+we are looking for, the trail to Cabin Point."
+
+Mr. Dennison looked doubtfully at Frank. Few people could resist
+believing anything the boy said, for his manner was convincing; but
+apparently there was some unknown reason for Mr. Dennison's being
+unusually suspicious.
+
+He shut his teeth hard together as though repressing some sign of
+weakening.
+
+"Whether you are telling the truth or not, boy," he said sternly, "I
+want you to understand once for all that you must not come up here
+again. I shall instruct my men to keep a constant watch for
+trespassers, and deal severely with them. This place is posted, and
+any one who dares to enter does so at his own risk. I hope you
+understand that, for I should not like to have anything unpleasant
+happen to boys."
+
+"Yes, sir, we understand what you say," replied Frank, "and I give you
+my word of honor again that none of us will trespass on your grounds.
+If ever we enter there again it will have to be on invitation from the
+owner. I can safely speak for my chums as well as myself."
+
+This last was really meant for impulsive Jerry, just to notify him
+that under no conditions must he dream of making Frank's promise void.
+
+"Then see to it that you keep away from here," said Mr. Dennison, as
+unyielding as ever. "Even now you are camping on my property, and I
+could order you away if I chose to be harsh. But I have not forgotten
+that I too was once a boy. You can stay at Cabin Point unmolested by
+my men, but only on condition that you avoid this region up here."
+
+With that he stepped suddenly back and closed the gap in the board
+fence by pulling the door shut after him. The boys walked on, Jerry
+looking disappointed.
+
+"Course I'm glad to say I've actually seen the queer old hermit," he
+remarked, "but even there I'm away behind the rest, for all of you
+have been inside the dead line, and glimpsed his odd house. Oh, well,
+don't look at me that way, Frank; you know mighty well I don't mean to
+make you out a liar by sneaking up here and poking my nose into his
+private business."
+
+"Huh!" grunted Bluff presently, as though he had been thinking deeply
+over the whole matter, "what's he got in there, anyway, he's so afraid
+that people should see, I'd like to know! It's all mighty mysterious,
+take my word for it, fellows. But then, like as not none of us will
+ever know the truth."
+
+Again did Frank and Will exchange that sudden glance and nod, showing
+that the little secret they shared in common must have some
+connection with the subject Bluff was even then harping upon.
+
+On the way home the talk of course reverted several times to Aaron
+Dennison and his strangely fenced-in property. But although many
+suggestions were brought out in the discussion, none of them were
+fully accepted as correct.
+
+Frank and Will remained almost silent, and let the other two do most
+of the talking. If the opinion of the former was requested now and
+then he gave it off-hand, but neither Bluff nor Jerry found much to
+encourage him in the information thus gleaned.
+
+Frank never once lost the dim trail on the way home. He had no
+difficulty whatever in following his course, because by now he was
+getting familiar with it; and since several of them had tramped over
+the ground there were many signs to be found that had not been there
+the first time.
+
+A tired lot of boys it was that joyfully greeted the sight of the
+cabin on the Point late that afternoon.
+
+"But after all's said and done," declared Bluff, "we've had a bully
+day!"
+
+"And I've added considerable to my stock of pictures, if only these
+turn out O. K.," added Will, his mind, as usual, running to the one
+great subject.
+
+Later on he and Frank happened to be left alone. Bluff had gone down
+to the edge of the lake to clean some fish left over from the day
+before, being kept in the water at a shady place; while Jerry was
+trying his hand at mending the leaky boat.
+
+"Let me see that first picture you took of the house, Will," remarked
+Frank.
+
+"I keep it separate from all the rest," explained the other, as he
+drew out a little book, and opening it took a print from between the
+leaves. "You told me to do that, Frank."
+
+"Because I didn't know whether we ought to let the other fellows into
+this suspicion we've got between us," said Frank, as he accepted the
+little print that displayed the building inside the high board fence.
+"And right now I'm wondering if we hadn't better keep this out of
+their sight until we get home."
+
+"I take it to mean you're afraid of Jerry and Bluff?" queried Will.
+"They are both of them determined fellows, once they take the bit in
+their teeth. That face might tantalize Jerry so much that he'd give
+in."
+
+"Of course it's struck you, Will, that there are what seem to be bars
+across that window, though neither of us remembers seeing them at the
+time. For that matter we failed to glimpse the white face or the
+waving handkerchief."
+
+"Frank, you've been thinking this business over," observed Will,
+soberly; "please tell me what decision you've come to. I've kept my
+word about not dropping a hint to the other fellows, as you asked me;
+and I've also hidden this print away from them. What does it mean,
+Frank?"
+
+"Of course you must remember that I'm only guessing," replied his
+chum. "In the first place then, it seems that old Aaron is keeping
+some one a prisoner up there!"
+
+"Whew! is it as bad as that?" gasped Will.
+
+"It's impossible to make out whether the owner of that white face is a
+man, a woman or a child," continued Frank, slowly; "but I'm pretty
+sure the window has bars across it. The person saw us, and tried to
+attract our attention, but made no sound just then, you remember.
+Afterwards we heard that cry."
+
+Will was plainly much exercised. He seemed to shiver as though he felt
+a chill creep over him.
+
+"But Frank, what would old Aaron keep any one shut up in his place
+for?" he demanded. "Why, it would be against the law, you know, to
+deprive any one of his liberty."
+
+"Not under certain conditions, Will," he was told; "and perhaps Mr.
+Dennison has the backing of the law in what he's doing."
+
+Will stared hard at the speaker.
+
+"Oh! do you mean, Frank, that the person behind that barred window
+might be a madman?"
+
+"That's the only reasonable explanation I'm able to scare up, Will.
+Suppose, now, his wife went out of her mind years ago. He cared so
+much for her that the thought of having her confined in any ordinary
+insane asylum was repulsive to him. What would he do then, having
+plenty of money?"
+
+"It sounds reasonable to me, for a fact. Who could blame him if he
+built this house, and surrounded it with a high fence that would keep
+the inmate from escaping when allowed in the grounds with an
+attendant? Yes, I shouldn't wonder but that you've guessed the truth,
+Frank. Everything seems to go to prove it. And then, after all, can
+you blame him for getting so huffy when he believed we were trying to
+pry into his terrible secret?"
+
+"I don't think he acted queerly, if what we suspect is true," ventured
+Frank.
+
+"On my part I'm inclined to feel sorry for old Aaron," declared Will,
+who had a tender heart. "He looks like a man who has suffered heaps.
+And then, you know, he's interested in the same things I am, which
+ought to make me think of him as a fellow artist."
+
+After more talk Will hastily hid the tell-tale print as Jerry was seen
+approaching. The other looked a little suspiciously at them as though
+he wondered why Will secreted something so hurriedly at his coming;
+but other matters arising, he soon forgot the circumstance.
+
+On the following morning Bluff and Jerry went out in the boat to fish,
+and the latter soon found himself enjoying the thrill that comes to
+the angler when fast to a vigorous two-pound black bass bred in the
+cold water of a big northern lake.
+
+The fun grew when Bluff struck the mate to Jerry's fighter, and both
+boys were put to their best efforts in order to save the fish, as well
+as to keep them from fouling the lines, in which case one or both
+might have broken away.
+
+In the end they managed to scoop up both prizes in the landing net,
+and this gave them more pleasure than many generals would find in
+capturing a fortress.
+
+About ten o'clock the boys came in. Jerry said they were tired of
+sitting in the sun and playing havoc with the fish, for they had put
+back many small ones, being real sportsmen. Bluff, on his part,
+admitted that he was tired, but declared it lay along the line of
+baling out the leaky boat, and not of taking fish.
+
+"Hey! you two fellows in camp, come down here and look, if you want to
+see a sight good for sore eyes!" called Jerry, as he jumped ashore and
+commenced to drag the old boat up on the sandy beach.
+
+Accordingly Frank and Will approached to look at the catch, and not
+only admire but tender their congratulations.
+
+"As fine a mess of bass as I've set eyes on in many a day," announced
+Frank.
+
+"Hello! see who's coming past the cabin, and heading for us!"
+exclaimed Will. "There's Mr. Dennison, to begin with, but I don't know
+the other man."
+
+"Well, we do, don't we, Jerry?" ventured Bluff, a vein of uneasiness
+in his voice. "We happened to talk with him over at the village. You
+can see the badge on his coat from here. That tells who he is--the
+constable of the village, and he said he was also the marshal of this
+district. But what under the sun does he want at _our_ camp, I'd like
+to know!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE ACCUSATION
+
+
+Frank Langdon watched the two men hurrying toward the beach with an
+uneasy feeling in the region of his heart. He could easily see that
+Aaron Dennison looked angry, and from this it was not difficult to
+surmise that fresh trouble hung over the heads of the Outdoor Chums.
+
+"Whew! what's in the wind now, I wonder?" he heard Bluff asking
+himself; and so far as that went both Jerry and Will were also plainly
+disturbed.
+
+The two men quickly reached the spot where the boys were grouped.
+Jerry mutely held up the two finest bass he and Bluff had taken. It
+was as though he meant to show that they were engaged in legitimate
+sport, such as boys in a summer camp were supposed to follow.
+
+"Here they are, the young rascals, Mr. Jeems. Now do your duty!"
+exclaimed Aaron Dennison, harshly.
+
+Bluff managed to catch the eye of the constable whose acquaintance he
+and Jerry had made when in the lake village. Perhaps he gave him a
+humorous wink. At any rate, the tall lanky man shrugged his shoulders
+and immediately remarked:
+
+"I guess that you'd better tell the boys what you be suspectin' them
+of, Squire. I don't know nothing about the same, and I'm only here to
+do what I believes to be my bounden duty as an officer of the law."
+
+"But I explained to you," expostulated the old man, "that my treasured
+cup disappeared mysteriously, and also that yesterday I came upon
+these four boys acting in a suspicious manner close to my enclosed
+grounds."
+
+"_Outside_ your grounds, you said, Mr. Dennison," urged the constable.
+
+"That is very true, Constable. But I chance to know that on two
+different occasions some of their number actually had the brazen
+audacity to push their way through a gap in the fence."
+
+"You don't tell me!" exclaimed the other, trying to look very fierce;
+but when he saw that whimsical grin on the features of Bluff the
+attempt was not much of a success.
+
+"Worse than that even," continued Mr. Dennison, whipping himself into
+higher rage. "That boy with the angel face had the nerve to take a
+picture of my house. I caught him in the very act. Think of that, Mr.
+Jeems, will you?"
+
+Frank could have laughed if the situation had not been so very
+serious. It seemed as though Mr. Dennison looked on such a thing as
+any one's taking a picture of his hidden home as a capital offence;
+hanging would about fit such a terrible crime, according to his
+opinion. And Will's "angel face" vastly amused them all.
+
+Desirous of finding out what all the trouble was about, Frank now
+turned his attention to the irate old gentleman. When he spoke his
+voice was as soothing and respectful as he could make it; for Frank
+believed in pouring oil on troubled waters.
+
+"Mr. Dennison, you surely are very much mistaken if you think for a
+minute that either I or any of my chums would ever steal anything. We
+are proud of the reputations we have in our home town of Centerville.
+None of us can understand what you are accusing us of doing, just
+because we happened to be up in the neighborhood of your place
+yesterday."
+
+"Where you had no business to be," snapped the other.
+
+"Perhaps not, sir," continued Frank, "but I explained to you just how
+it happened. And I assure you positively that none of us so much as
+put a finger inside your grounds yesterday."
+
+"You give us your solemn affidavy on that, do you, young feller?"
+asked the village constable, eagerly, as though seizing on the first
+pretext to make peace.
+
+"No matter what he says!" cried the owner of Cabin Point. "I tell you
+their being in that vicinity just when my treasure was taken so
+mysteriously looks suspicious. I firmly believe they know something
+about the gold cup, and I shall not leave this spot until I make
+certain of their guilt or innocence."
+
+"Gold cup!" muttered Jerry; "now, what do you think of that? Since
+when have the honorable Outdoor Chums taken to cracksmen's ways, I'd
+like to know? Wow!"
+
+"Please let me understand this thing better," pleaded Frank,
+determined to win the angry old man over if he could do so. "You say
+something you think very highly of has disappeared, Mr. Dennison?"
+
+"I told you it was a gold cup!" snapped the other. "My nephew, who is
+one of the most famous amateur golf players in the country, won it as
+a prize in a great competition last summer. He is very proud of it,
+and I have cherished that magnificent cup as the apple of my eye. To
+have it mysteriously disappear, and feel that in all probability it
+may be melted down just for the gold there is in it, almost breaks my
+heart."
+
+"I can easily understand your feelings, Mr. Dennison," said Frank,
+quietly. "We happened to meet your nephew while on the way here,
+though it never struck any of us before that Gilbert was a Dennison,
+for we didn't wholly catch his last name. And, sir, if we can do
+anything to help you find the lost cup we'd be only too glad to lend a
+hand in the search."
+
+"Now that's what I calls reasonable, Mr. Dennison," spoke up the
+friendly constable, who evidently did not mean to be urged into
+extreme measures, if diplomacy and soft words could avoid such a
+thing.
+
+The old man eyed Frank keenly. He looked just as suspicious as ever,
+and as though he were trying to understand what the boy might have
+secreted back of his words.
+
+For years Mr. Dennison had been hiding something from the world, and
+during that time it was only natural he should be growing more and
+more suspicious of every one about him.
+
+"Your words sound all right, boy," he finally remarked coldly, "but I
+am not so easily deceived. You want time to cover up your tracks.
+Perhaps you even hope I may invite you and your rowdy companions to
+my house, and that the occasion will allow you to satisfy your vulgar
+curiosity to the bent."
+
+These cruel words struck the boys severely. Bluff was heard to mutter
+half under his breath, while Jerry frowned and bit his lip as though
+he found it very hard to keep from telling Aaron Dennison what he
+thought of him.
+
+Frank himself had to hold back the angry words that tried to escape
+his lips; the insult was so uncalled for, so unjust, he thought.
+
+"Of course, sir, if you have that sort of opinion of all boys," he
+went on to say, deliberately, and with considerable dignity for a mere
+lad, "you wouldn't want us bothering around. I only meant to show you
+how ready we are to lend a hand. I am sure that if the cup you speak
+of wasn't simply mislaid it must have been taken by some one belonging
+to your own household, and may be returned again."
+
+The angry man chose to see some hidden meaning back of Frank's words,
+which were after all only natural, considering the circumstances.
+
+"There, straws show which way the wind blows!" he exclaimed, turning
+toward the constable; "and you can see, Mr. Jeems, how these boys have
+been talking over my private affairs among themselves. They are really
+consumed by a curiosity to know about matters that do not concern
+them; and in prowling around my place have perhaps been tempted to
+take things that did not belong to them."
+
+"But Mr. Dennison, if this prize gold cup was so precious why did you
+leave it around so that it could be easily taken?" asked Will,
+suddenly, as though this idea had struck him as strange.
+
+"Because in the first place," replied the old man, "I was fool enough
+to believe my people were as honest as the day was long; and the
+thought that any outsider would ever try to enter my house never came
+to me until lately. In fact, it was after meeting you boys in my
+grounds that I began to feel uneasy, since I saw it would be possible
+for a robbery to occur, once desperate men conceived the plan to break
+in."
+
+"And even then you did not put the golden cup away in some place of
+security--you continued to leave it out where servants and others
+could reach it, did you, sir?" Frank continued, with something of a
+lawyer's skill at cross questioning.
+
+"It was beginning to worry me," confessed the old man, frowning. "I
+found myself wishing my nephew would hasten his return, and take
+possession of his prized cup. Then last night I had a bad dream in
+which it seemed to me that thieves entered my house, and among other
+things took away Gilbert's loving cup."
+
+"Last night, you say, sir, this happened?" questioned Frank.
+
+"Yes, and it gave me such a shock that when I awoke and remembered the
+dream, the first thing I did was to hurry to the closet where two days
+previously I had placed the gold cup. It was gone!"
+
+"Of course you questioned your servants, sir, to learn if any one had
+misplaced it?" asked Frank, bent on understanding everything.
+
+"They were filled with consternation," continued Mr. Dennison. "I have
+a housekeeper, a nurse, and two men employed on the place, no more.
+One of them suggested that I send to the village and have Mr. Jeems
+come to the house. While waiting for the constable I suddenly
+remembered about meeting you boys yesterday, and like a flash it
+struck me that you were guilty."
+
+"That is a hard thing to say about us, Mr. Dennison," urged Will.
+"What object could we have in taking your gold cup? We have plenty of
+money, as you can discover by telegraphing to Centerville; and our
+neighbors will vouch for our honesty."
+
+"I do not know," said the old man, rubbing his forehead as though
+puzzled. "Boys have always been a deep mystery to me. I never had one
+to raise, for as a baby he was taken away from me; and I have always
+felt it was that loss which unsettled--but it does not matter. I
+believe you might have carried off the gold prize cup won by Gilbert
+in the golf tournament last year, perhaps thinking it a lark. So I am
+prepared to say to you here and now, if such was the case, and you
+will immediately restore my property to me, I will say nothing about
+it. If you refuse, it will go hard with you."
+
+"But Mr. Dennison!" expostulated Frank, "we have never so much as set
+eyes on any sort of a gold loving cup, so you can see how impossible
+it would be for us to hand it over to you."
+
+"And what is more," burst from the indignant Bluff, unable to hold
+back any longer, "we insist on your searching all our duffle to see
+whether we've got that cup hidden away."
+
+"Yes," added Jerry, "I'm sure none of us would feel right if you
+didn't examine every bit of our possessions. We're in just the same
+position as Joseph's brethren when they were leaving Egypt, and
+overtaken by a messenger who said a cup or something had been stolen
+while they were getting corn at the capital."
+
+"Hey! what's that you're saying, Jerry?" exclaimed Bluff, startled by
+the comparison, "don't you remember they did find the lost thing, and
+in Benjamin's pack, too?"
+
+"But it was put there at the orders of Joseph, wasn't it?" demanded
+the one who had told the old-time story; "and for a purpose too. But
+make your mind easy for they can't play that game on us. The lost cup
+isn't at Cabin Point."
+
+"Then you will offer no objections to our making a search, do I
+understand?" asked Mr. Dennison, eagerly.
+
+"Rather, we insist on your doing that, sir!" said Will, promptly, for
+it galled his proud soul to be under suspicion, especially when such a
+thing as the taking of a valuable piece of property was concerned.
+
+Frank immediately led the way to the log cabin. Mr. Dennison paid not
+the least attention to the fact that the boys had done so much to make
+the forlorn place habitable since taking possession. All he seemed to
+be thinking of just then was that missing golden cup, and the
+possibility of discovering it somewhere among the possessions of these
+young boys, to whom he had taken such a violent antipathy.
+
+They passed inside the old building, which, if the guess of the boys
+was correct, had long years before been the home of Mr. Dennison at a
+time before he possessed much of this world's goods.
+
+"I call on you to help me in the search, Constable!" said the owner of
+the cabin.
+
+"And we will only too gladly do all we can to assist, sir!" declared
+Will, who secretly meant to keep hold of his camera, for fear lest it
+be knocked to the floor and injured beyond repair.
+
+Upon that every one began the search. Mr. Dennison did not do so much
+himself, but he kept those keen eyes of his constantly on the watch,
+as though to let nothing escape him.
+
+The constable apparently did not fancy his job. He went about it in
+what appeared to be a half-hearted fashion. In fact, when he and Bluff
+came together, as the boy emptied his clothes bag, and shook each
+individual extra garment, the wearer of the nickel badge muttered
+something half under his breath that sounded in the nature of an
+apology.
+
+Evidently Mr. Jeems was a believer in boys, if the old hermit was not.
+And when Frank afterwards learned that he had seven youngsters of his
+own at home, he knew the reason of the constable's sympathy.
+
+By degrees the search included every nook and cranny about the old
+cabin where it seemed possible an article like the missing golden cup
+could be secreted. Still nothing rewarded the efforts of the
+constable.
+
+"It shore ain't here, Mr. Dennison!" remarked the perspiring officer,
+as he dropped the empty clothes bag belonging to Jerry; "and I guess
+we'll have to give the hunt up, sir."
+
+"Wait!" snapped Mr. Dennison, his eyes sparkling afresh, as though a
+sudden and brilliant thought had flashed across his mind. "It stands
+to reason that a thief would be apt to hide his plunder in some place
+where he believed it could not be easily found. Of course it was not
+among their clothes. But perhaps there may be other secret hiding
+places."
+
+He seemed to glance around at the bare walls. Then Frank saw him drop
+his gaze toward the floor.
+
+"That's a loose board there, Mr. Jeems," the hermit said excitedly;
+"see if you can raise it. I should think a cavity under that board
+would offer a safe hiding place for anything that had been stolen.
+Lift it up, Mr. Jeems, and let us see."
+
+"I will help him do it!" exclaimed Bluff, eagerly, and leaning forward
+he inserted his fingers in the crack, and secured a good hold of the
+loose plank.
+
+The constable, also, had by this time taken a firm grip on the board.
+
+"All together, son; there she be!" Mr. Jeems called out, as he
+strained himself at his task; and in another second the plank was
+placed to one side.
+
+Mr. Dennison leaned eagerly over. Then, uttering a cry of mingled
+delight and savage satisfaction, he snatched an object from the gaping
+hole, and hurriedly held it up so that every one could see plainly
+what it was.
+
+Frank and his three chums held their breath in astonishment, for they
+found themselves looking on a loving cup made of gold, upon which were
+fashioned various beautifully executed designs especially interesting
+to those who were devoted to play upon the golf links.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+REPAYING HIS DEBT
+
+
+"Gee whiz!"
+
+Of course it was Jerry Wallington giving vent to the feeling of utter
+amazement that very nearly overcame him. His words accurately
+expressed the feelings that filled the heart and soul of the other
+three chums as well.
+
+Meanwhile Mr. Dennison was holding that wonderful trophy aloft, and
+laughing to himself. He acted as though wild with delight over its
+recovery. Frank was watching him closely, and could see no sign of
+"make-believe" in his actions.
+
+"What did I tell you, Mr. Jeems?" cried the old hermit, excitedly. "I
+said they had taken the cup, either to sell it, or in a spirit of
+boyish mischief. And now you'll believe me, because here we find it
+hidden under the floor of their cabin. The young rascals--to add to
+their offense by trying to deceive us so! Do your duty, Mr. Jeems; I
+will prosecute them to the limit of the law!"
+
+Frank began to feel anxious. He could see that Mr. Dennison meant what
+he was saying. Even the recovery of his property had apparently not
+softened his heart as might have been expected.
+
+All then depended on the constable. If he showed a disposition to
+assert his authority there would be an untold volume of trouble, and
+their vacation plans would be "all messed up," as Jerry would say.
+
+"Mr. Dennison," said Frank, trying to keep his voice steady, "I am
+glad that you have found your lost golden cup; but I want to tell you,
+sir, none of us knows the least thing about it, nor how it happened to
+be in that hole."
+
+"A likely story, boy," sneered the other, "which may and may not be
+believed by the justice of the peace when you are brought before him.
+Evidence no stronger than this has hung men before now."
+
+"Whew!" gasped Bluff, startled more than he would have cared to admit
+upon hearing the vindictive old hermit talk in that strain.
+
+Jerry and Will were both indignant.
+
+"When we first came here," said the former, "we tripped so many times
+over that loose plank that we raised it up to settle the earth
+underneath. There was certainly no gold cup lying there then where
+you just now found it, I give you my word on that, sir!"
+
+"Certainly not," agreed Mr. Dennison, "because at that time it was
+safe under my roof. But I want you to notice, Mr. Jeems, that they
+admit knowing of this hole under the loose plank. It made a very good
+hiding-place for valuable property, as you can see."
+
+"Yes, sir," suddenly spoke up Frank, "and apparently this is not the
+first time it has been used for that same purpose. When we looked we
+found this silver coin there, a part of an old yellow envelope, and
+this fragment of what seems to have once been a baby's shoe."
+
+He picked the several things up as he mentioned them, for they had
+been lying on a little shelf, where Frank himself had placed them days
+before. Watching Mr. Dennison's face, Frank saw it turn white as the
+eyes of the old man were focussed on that poor little remnant of what
+had once been a baby's shoe.
+
+Involuntarily the old man thrust out his hand, and Frank quickly
+dropped the article into his palm. He could see that Mr. Dennison was
+very much affected. Doubtless memories long since buried were once
+more resurrected by the sight of that reminder of his once happy past.
+
+Frank wondered whether he would relent and decide to let matters
+drop, or once more demand that the constable take them all to the
+village, to be held for trial before the justice.
+
+When he saw the man thrust into his pocket the fragment of the tiny
+shoe, the leather of which was now dried up and hard, and then frown
+again at them, Frank expected the worst.
+
+"Since you have also tried to deceive me, after robbing my house in
+this shameless manner," said Mr. Dennison, "I believe I shall be only
+doing my duty toward the community if I see to it that you are
+severely punished."
+
+"Do you mean, sir, that you would have us arrested?" asked Frank.
+
+"That is exactly my present intention," affirmed the other, showing
+that he was still angry, and bent on punishing those he believed to
+have wronged him.
+
+"But you have found your cup again, sir; and we still declare on our
+honor that until you picked it up just now none of us has ever set
+eyes on it before."
+
+When Frank said this he found the keen orbs of the hermit fastened on
+his face as though the other would read his very soul through the
+windows of the boy's eyes; but not once did Frank flinch.
+
+"That is very true, boy," said Mr. Dennison, "but I believe in
+justice, and that it is the wrong thing to be too lenient with
+culprits. When young fellows are given to such practices as this they
+need to be brought up with a round turn. So I mean to have the
+constable arrest you all!"
+
+To the astonishment of Frank and his three companions, just at that
+moment there was a new element injected into the game. Some one
+hurriedly entered the cabin; and somehow Frank breathed a little more
+freely when he recognized the newcomer as the young man whom they had
+been able to help while on the way to Cabin Point.
+
+It was Gilbert Dennison, the old hermit's nephew.
+
+"Please wait a minute before you go to such extreme measures, Uncle!"
+he exclaimed, as he hurried to the side of the hermit, whose face lost
+some of its stern expression as he recognized his relative.
+
+"I'm glad to see you again, Nephew," he observed; "and pleased to give
+over into your keeping the cup you value so highly. I shall insist on
+your taking it back to town with you when you go. It has already given
+me one bad scare, and I do not feel able to stand another, with all
+the troubles I already stagger under."
+
+"But what is this I heard you say about having these boys arrested,
+Uncle?" continued Gilbert. "Surely you must believe them when they
+protest their innocence? I have been up at the house, and was told
+about the cup's disappearance; also that you had come down here with
+the constable, meaning to have some one taken up for the crime. But I
+hope you will not think of doing such a thing now."
+
+"I consider it a sacred duty I owe to the community, Nephew," urged
+the stubborn old hermit. "All the circumstances point to one of these
+boys as the culprit, and he should by all means be punished. Why
+should you interfere with my designs, Gilbert?"
+
+"Let me tell you, Uncle," burst out Gilbert, eagerly. "I owe my life,
+it may be, to these same boys."
+
+"How is this?" asked his uncle, looking somewhat bewildered. "They did
+say they had met you while on the way here, but in what fashion could
+they have done you a favor?"
+
+"In my hurry to catch the train after the vehicle broke down,"
+explained Gilbert, "I stumbled in a very dangerous place on the road,
+lost my footing, and fell over the edge of a precipice. I managed to
+clutch hold a dozen feet down, but must in the end have let go and
+fallen to the bottom only for the coming of these boys, who rescued
+me in a remarkably clever and very unusual way."
+
+Bluff gave a satisfied grunt. After all Gilbert was a pretty decent
+sort of fellow, he made up his mind; though at the time of the
+adventure Bluff had thought him rather ungrateful to hurry away so
+fast, and not half thank them for all the trouble they had taken.
+
+Mr. Dennison apparently had reason to believe anything his nephew
+said. That was evident from the change that came over his manner. He
+looked at Frank and his three chums again, shrugged his shoulders, and
+then went on to remark:
+
+"Of course if that is the case, Nephew, and you are indebted to these
+boys for helping you out of a bad fix, I have nothing more to say.
+Because of that they can go free, for all of me; though I may live to
+repent my kindness; because no matter how they protest, the fact
+remains that the cup was found under this floor, and I still firmly
+believe they secreted it there."
+
+The kind-hearted constable was grinning as he winked at Bluff. It was
+very evident that the new conditions pleased Mr. Jeems; since he was
+relieved from executing a most disagreeable duty.
+
+Mr. Dennison told the officer to come outside with him, and Gilbert
+added that he would join his uncle in a minute.
+
+Left in the company of the four chums Gilbert's first act was to offer
+Frank his hand. It was done with such a boyish freedom that the other
+eagerly grasped the outstretched hand, and squeezed it in return.
+
+"Of course it goes without saying," began the college boy, "that I do
+not believe any one of you could do such a thing as steal my cup.
+There's a queer mystery about its being found under this floor, and I
+intend to discover the truth before long. In the meantime I hope
+you'll stay here and enjoy yourselves the best way you know how."
+
+"And we'd like to see more of you, if you expect to stay around here
+longer," spoke up Jerry, impulsively.
+
+"I promise that you shall," assented Gilbert; "because I, too, am fond
+of camping, fishing, and all such things; and I can see how my stay up
+here might be prolonged indefinitely, if such a jolly set could be
+found to help kill time."
+
+"Did you win in the golf tournament?" asked Bluff, as though to show
+that they knew about his ambition in that sport.
+
+"I'm sorry to say that I came in a poor second this time," laughed the
+other; "and I really believe it was because I didn't have the kind of
+balls I'm in the habit of using."
+
+This was the opportunity poor anxious Will had been waiting for.
+
+"We've got your bag safe and sound here, Gilbert!" he exclaimed,
+springing forward to pick the leather receptacle up, for it, too, had
+been closely examined by the constable, acting under Mr. Dennison's
+orders; "and I certainly hope my precious Maine films are in the same
+condition."
+
+"Make your mind easy on that score, my boy," he was told by the other;
+"although I was terribly provoked when first I opened the bag and saw
+them, I understood that the mistake was all mine. So I took good care
+of your films, though I had a photographer make me a print from the
+whole bunch. I must say they are some of the most interesting pictures
+I've ever seen. I wanted Uncle to admire them, for he, too, is devoted
+to photographic work."
+
+Of course this news caused Will to lose the anxious expression that
+his chums had noticed on his face at times.
+
+"The bag I left up at the house," continued Gilbert, "but you shall
+have it in a short time. There's uncle calling me, so I'll have to
+move along; but you can expect me again before long," and with that he
+hurried out of the cabin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+GROPING IN THE DARK
+
+
+"Well, I feel as weak as a sick cat, after meeting with such an
+adventure as that!" exclaimed Jerry, after he and his three chums once
+more found themselves alone in the cabin.
+
+"To think of our being accused of being common, every-day thieves!"
+grumbled the indignant Bluff. "Why, it just makes my blood fairly
+boil!"
+
+"But I'm mighty glad to know my films are all right," Will burst forth
+with, and this remark showed that this important fact took precedence
+of all others in his mind.
+
+Frank stepped over to the opening where the plank had been removed,
+and glanced down as he rubbed his chin reflectively.
+
+"Look here, fellows," he said to the others, "all of you saw the hole
+under this board that time we found the coin, the half of an old
+envelope with Mr. Dennison's name on it in faded writing, and that
+baby shoe; isn't it so?"
+
+"Of course we did, Frank," assented Jerry; "and I want to make my
+solemn affidavit to the fact that there wasn't any gold cup lying
+there then."
+
+"Will, you are just as positive about that as Jerry, of course?"
+continued Frank.
+
+"Well, I should say I was!" came the prompt reply.
+
+"And you too, Bluff?" Frank went on, evidently intending that there
+should not be a single dissenting voice in the group.
+
+Bluff immediately lifted his hand, with the fingers stiffened as
+though he fancied himself on the witness stand.
+
+"Give you my word for it, Frank; nothing doing," he asserted in his
+customary vigorous manner, that was usually very convincing.
+
+"Gilbert came up to the scratch smiling, didn't he?" remarked Jerry;
+"and I take it he's going to turn out a pretty decent sort of a
+fellow."
+
+"Queer, isn't it," Will was saying, "how chickens do come home to
+roost? When we stopped a little while on our way here, and pulled
+Gilbert up by the use of that wild grape-vine, none of us ever dreamed
+he'd be in a position to return the favor, and yet see what happened.
+What's that old proverb about the bread thrown to the fishes, or
+something like that?"
+
+"You must mean 'bread cast upon the waters will come back again ere
+many days,'" explained Frank, smilingly.
+
+"All right, no matter how it runs, it worked, you see," continued
+Will. "We got Gilbert out, and now he has returned the favor."
+
+"Huh! strikes me he kept us from getting in," interrupted Bluff;
+"because the old gentleman seemed bent on ordering Mr. Jeems to arrest
+us, and throw us in the village lockup."
+
+"Luck still seems to hang out with us," ventured Jerry; "and you know
+they say it's a heap better to be born lucky than rich. Money may fly
+away, but so long as luck stands back of you it's easy to get
+everything you want."
+
+"But all the same that mystery of the golden cup bothers me," said
+Frank.
+
+"Yes, that's a fact," added Jerry. "How in the wide world could it
+ever have come into this cabin, when we know it wasn't here a few days
+ago?"
+
+"Mr. Dennison admits it was safe in his house until about the day
+before yesterday," continued Frank; and then he cast a sly look out of
+the tail of his eye in the direction of Jerry.
+
+Truth to tell, Frank was just a trifle uneasy concerning that member
+of the little party. There was a shadow of a reason why he should
+feel that way, too. He could only too easily remember how impulsive
+Jerry had hinted that he felt a great temptation to try to find out
+what the secret of the hermit's house was. At the time he expressed
+this longing Frank had taken him severely to task; and Jerry had
+promised faithfully to forego all effort to pry into matters that were
+none of his concern.
+
+Jerry as a rule could be depended on. When he gave his word about
+anything it was as good as his bond, and Jerry was proud to declare
+that.
+
+Frank could not bring himself to believe there could be anything in
+this sudden thought. Even if Jerry had crept out in the night-time
+while his chums were fast asleep, how could the boy possibly have made
+his way along the trail to the hermit's place, have entered the house
+and carried off the valuable cup, to hide it under the cabin floor?
+
+No wonder Frank decided that such an explanation of the mystery was
+impossible. Even if they never learned the truth he could not bring
+himself to suspect any of his chums of doing such a monstrous thing.
+
+To the surprise and also the consternation of Frank, he found that
+Jerry had noticed his manner, and he immediately accused the other.
+
+"I can guess easily enough what you're thinking, Frank," asserted
+Jerry, with offended dignity marked in his manner; "but 'tisn't so, I
+tell you. I never set eyes on that old cup before he snatched it up
+out of that hole."
+
+"No need of your saying that, Jerry," declared Frank, "because I
+believe you are as innocent as I can be myself. I only happened to
+remember that you talked of wanting to sneak up there and spy around a
+bit, though you owned it would be mean. And I also chance to know that
+you've been around every hour since you came back from the village."
+
+"I'm blessed if I can make head or tail out of the game," admitted
+Jerry. "I never was a good hand at guessing answers to riddles; and
+say, let me tell you this thing is the toughest nut to crack that ever
+came our way, eh, Frank?"
+
+"It's going to bother us a heap, that's right, Jerry."
+
+"But somehow I've got my little hunch, Frank, that in the end you'll
+hit on the answer. It may take a lot of time and figuring, but I sure
+believe you can do it."
+
+"It may be Gilbert can help us out," suggested Will, just then.
+
+"But how would he know anything about the job," objected Bluff, "when
+he just got back from that golf tournament?"
+
+Frank bent down and looked closely into the hole.
+
+"All we know for certain is that somebody put that gold trophy cup in
+here," he observed reflectively.
+
+"Yes, and if the old plank could talk it'd be easy for us to get at
+the truth. But then of course that isn't possible," Jerry remarked,
+with a sigh.
+
+"Help me to put the plank back in place again," said Frank, and after
+this had been done he commenced to work at it as if to see whether one
+person could manage to raise the heavy board.
+
+"It can be done, you see," was what Frank said, as, managing to get
+his fingers underneath, he raised the plank a little.
+
+"Now what's the line you're figuring on, Frank?" demanded Jerry;
+"because it's as plain to me as the nose on my face that you've struck
+a strong clue."
+
+"Yes, tell us what it is, won't you, Frank?" urged Will.
+
+"Well, listen," the other began to say, slowly, as with upraised
+finger he marked off each point in his theory. "Look back a little,
+Will, to when we got home here after our high jinks up in the woods.
+Don't you remember what we discovered the first thing?"
+
+Will thereupon uttered an exclamation, while his face lighted up with
+eagerness.
+
+"That's so, Frank!" he exclaimed; "we knew somebody had been in here
+after we started out the afternoon before. The door wasn't shut close,
+and a chair lay on its side on the floor. Besides that, a number of
+little things showed they had been disturbed. Yes, somebody had been
+in the cabin!"
+
+Jerry gave a shrill cry in which delight could be traced.
+
+"It was that person, then, who hid the pesky old cup under the loose
+plank; that goes without saying, Frank!" he announced, as though his
+mind was made up to that fact and could not be easily changed.
+
+"Well, even if we agree on that," said Bluff, "how're we going to
+learn who the intruder was? To tell you the truth, it gets me why a
+sneak thief would steal just that gold loving cup of Gilbert's, and
+then come all the way down here to hide it under the floor."
+
+"Frank, you're keeping something back; I can see it in your face!"
+cried Will. "Tell us, do you think old Aaron put that cup here
+himself?"
+
+"Whew! that would be the limit, I should say!" gasped Jerry.
+
+All of them waited to hear what Frank would have to say. The leader
+of the Outdoor Chums did not reply hastily, for Frank did not wish to
+commit himself in so grave a matter without due consideration. Still,
+he must have had his mind made up fairly well, for presently he
+started to answer.
+
+"Let's see, fellows, how the case stands," he told them. "We know that
+long ago Aaron Dennison once lived in this cabin. We also know that he
+probably kept what little money he owned in those days down under that
+loose plank. The finding of that old mouldy half dollar points toward
+that. So you see he knew about the cavity under the board."
+
+"So far as that goes, Frank," observed Bluff, "you could see by the
+way he had the constable raise the plank that he knew. But I was
+watching his face at the time, and let me tell you he looked as
+astonished to see the cup lying there as any one of us did, and that
+means a lot."
+
+"That's what bothers me," admitted Frank; "one minute I seem to think
+Mr. Dennison put the cup there; and then again I'm just as certain
+that he believes us guilty of stealing it. We'll have to keep trying
+to find the answer; but just now, Jerry, you and Bluff had better get
+busy cleaning those fine bass you hooked, if we mean to have them for
+dinner to-day."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+AN UNEXPECTED APPEAL
+
+
+The fish were what Bluff called "gilt-edged." Perhaps he was a little
+prejudiced in the matter, because he had had a share in capturing the
+gamy fighters. But there was not a dissenting voice when Jerry moved
+that they pronounce the finny denizens of the big lake unequalled for
+their many fine qualities.
+
+That evening, as they sat around taking things easy, for it was rather
+warm and the fire not needed, the conversation ranged over a wide
+field. Many events of the past were recalled, one thing seeming to
+lead to another.
+
+Will was fairly bubbling over with joy on account of his recent streak
+of good luck. He counted the promised safe return of those precious
+films as a glorious thing.
+
+"Why shouldn't I feel that way?" he expostulated, when Bluff took him
+to task for referring to the matter so frequently. "Think of our great
+trip up into the Maine wilderness and the many strange things we saw
+there," he went on, referring to matters already related in "The
+Outdoor Chums in the Big Woods." "My pictures took a prize, remember;
+and besides they recall the happy days we spent up there last fall."
+
+"Will is right," declared Frank; "and I'm almost as glad as he is over
+the recovery of his property; because I know he's got some sort of
+scheme in his mind to enlarge some of those same pictures. It couldn't
+easily be done with the negatives lost."
+
+"Before we shake the dust of this section from our feet," continued
+the ardent photographer, "I mean to explore every rod of territory
+around here."
+
+"Looking for new and interesting sights, of course?" quizzed Bluff.
+
+"Yes, because you never do know at what minute you may run smack up
+against the most wonderful picture going," pursued Will. "That's one
+reason I'm so keen about traveling over new ground. There's always a
+chance ahead of you."
+
+"Well, right here we're bounded on one hand by the big water, which
+cuts off about half your chances," suggested Jerry.
+
+"Some time or other you might go to the lake shore village," said
+Bluff; "because if I'm any judge of things you'd find some remarkable
+characters there to snap off."
+
+"You've already got pictures of old Aaron and his hermit shell; one of
+the latter being a cracking good snap of the house. How did the other
+view turn out, Will?"
+
+Again that quick look of intelligence passed between Frank and Will.
+They were still of the opinion that for the present there was no
+necessity for the other boys to know about the strange white face in
+the barred window of the hermit's lonely home.
+
+"Oh! it doesn't seem to be quite as clear as the one you saw," Will
+explained. "The sunlight didn't strike as well, and there are too many
+shadows. Some time or other when I think of it I'll take off a lighter
+print, which may improve the looks of the thing."
+
+Not having the least suspicion there could be anything singular
+connected with that second view of the hermit's house, Bluff did not
+pursue the subject any further.
+
+Of course Will had his flashlight working again. In roaming around he
+had found traces of a sly fox that made its home amidst some rocks,
+and Will, after more or less hard study, believed he could see the
+regular track taken by clever Reynard in coming and going.
+
+"There's one thing sure," remarked Will, proudly, when relating how he
+had investigated, and figured, and found out many things in connection
+with that particular little animal, "this hunting with a camera
+certainly does force a fellow to become acquainted with the habits of
+every kind of bird and animal."
+
+"There's no doubt about that, Will," Frank immediately assented; "and
+I warrant right now you're in closer touch with Nature ten times over
+than you'd have been if you hadn't taken up this fad or hobby."
+
+"I should say so!" continued the enthusiast, his face kindling with
+earnestness. "Why, before that I never bothered my head much about the
+habits of foxes, 'coons, squirrels, minks, bobcats, or anything that
+had its hiding-place in the woods or in burrows under the rocks. But
+now I'm forever trying to learn new things about the way they live,
+and how they get their food."
+
+"Of course I can understand that," admitted Jerry; "us fellows who
+love to hunt wild game have to know a lot about their habits. It's the
+same if you go after the wily black bass--if you're green about his
+ways you can fish till you drop and never get a single bite."
+
+"I've had something to do with both kinds of sport," said Frank,
+seriously; "and I want to say right here that I certainly believe
+hunting with a camera beats the gun business all hollow. You get in
+closer touch with the little animals when you're only trying to take
+their pictures, and not harm them. I warrant now Will often counts
+them as his friends, and that they show little fear of him."
+
+That launched the camera advocate into a fervent description of many
+meetings with his coy subjects, and the tricks he was compelled to
+resort to in order to let them understand he meant them no harm.
+
+So the evening passed pleasantly.
+
+There was nothing in the way of a disturbance to break in upon their
+sleep. Will had posted his camera trap a full quarter of a mile away,
+and even if it worked at any time during the night they would not know
+it.
+
+The moon arose about the middle of the night, but none of the boys had
+any use for the battered lantern in the sky, since they remained under
+the cabin roof until morning broke.
+
+As before, they took a little dip in the cold waters of the lake in
+order to get in good trim for a warm day. Then breakfast followed, and
+was heartily enjoyed, although with their healthy appetites there was
+nothing wonderful about that.
+
+Each of them had laid out plans for the morning.
+
+"We'll give the bass a rest for one day," remarked Bluff; "because if
+we make it too common the zest of catching and eating them is apt to
+wear away. Besides, I don't believe it's as good a morning for fishing
+as yesterday was. Then, we'd have to use that little mosquito netting
+seine, and get some more minnows."
+
+"Last but not least," laughingly added Jerry, "the cranky old tub of a
+boat leaks again like a sieve, and some of us ought to get busy
+patching it up while we have a chance."
+
+"Yes," said Will, who of course knew that the job would never fall to
+his share, "I always believe in having everything ready beforehand;
+because you never know in what a big hurry it may be needed."
+
+Of course Will had hurried out to where his camera lay long before he
+would touch a bite of breakfast; he even gave up the early morning dip
+in his anxiety to learn whether the bait had been jerked, and the
+camera made to do its duty.
+
+By this time Will had become quite expert, so that there was little
+danger of what Bluff, taking his cue from the golfers, would have
+called a "foozle."
+
+To see the joy written upon his face when he came hurrying back to
+announce almost breathlessly that success had rewarded his efforts,
+one might even suspect the boy had never before succeeded in
+photographing a sly fox in this manner.
+
+It was a busy morning for all.
+
+Frank rather expected to see Gilbert, but when noon came and the other
+had not as yet put in an appearance he decided that he must be
+detained for good reasons. Perhaps by another day he would find it
+convenient to drop in and see the campers at Cabin Point.
+
+"From the way he talked," Bluff remarked, when at lunch they were
+speaking of Mr. Dennison's nephew, "I got the notion that Gilbert
+would like to stay over here a spell with us, and enjoy some of our
+doings."
+
+"He did say he was fond of camping, and for all we know he may have
+been around some up in Michigan or Wisconsin," suggested Jerry.
+
+"Well," added Bluff, a little boastfully, "when it comes to
+experiences I reckon the Outdoor Chums don't have to occupy a back
+seat! We might relate some things that would make Gilbert sit up and
+take notice."
+
+"I think he's the kind of fellow who would enjoy hearing about the
+things we've seen and done," Frank told them. "I'm glad now I brought
+along my little note-book in which I jotted down many of the things
+that have happened since we first got together and formed the 'Rod,
+Gun and Camera Club.'"
+
+"Yes, and I'm fond of looking over that journal of yours myself,
+Frank," admitted Will. "Of course I didn't have as big a part in a
+whole lot of the adventures as the rest of you, but all the same they
+belonged to our crowd."
+
+"And then don't forget, Will," continued Frank, "that Mr. Dennison
+admitted to us he was fond of photography. Gilbert said as much, too,
+when he spoke about having a set of your Maine pictures printed to
+show his uncle. You may get on good terms with this singular old man,
+and have some mighty pleasant times in his company."
+
+"He looks pretty severe," commented Will, "but then there's a reason
+for that, I guess; and once he gets thawed out he'll be a different
+sort. Nothing like finding a fellow's pet hobby and working it, to
+make him friendly."
+
+None of them thought to go far away during that afternoon. It did not
+look very promising, for clouds could be seen hovering along the
+horizon, the heat was intense, and all of them agreed that a storm
+might creep up.
+
+Their last experience in a storm had been so unpleasant that somehow
+they seemed to shrink involuntarily from a repetition so soon. Later
+on, when the memory became fainter, they might again take risks, after
+the manner of buoyant youth the world over.
+
+Bluff and Jerry were pleased with their work on the boat. They had
+taken great pains this time, and felt sure the calking was there to
+stay. Still, they contented themselves with planning another fishing
+excursion for the coming morning. Bluff had discovered a place where
+minnows were very plentiful, and hence they could be assured of a good
+haul at any time, with but little exertion.
+
+The day was nearing an end, and there was some talk of getting supper
+ready when a cry from Jerry outside the cabin brought the others
+hurrying forth.
+
+They found him talking with a small boy who seemed greatly excited,
+for his face was peaked and white, and terror could be seen in his
+dilated eyes.
+
+Apparently he had hurried in a veritable panic through the forest, for
+he had various scratches on his face, and a lump on his forehead
+showed where he had struck a stone after tripping over a root or a
+vine.
+
+Naturally Frank and the other two were at once filled with curiosity
+to know who the boy was, and what had brought him to Cabin Point.
+Jerry had already started to question the panting lad, and the other
+was trying to explain, although his words came in jerks and disjointed
+sentences.
+
+"I'm Sandy Moogs--my dad's a woodchopper--workin' now up yonder 'bout
+three miles--tree fell on him--broke his leg, he reckons--in a heap o'
+pain--can't hardly crawl--knowed you-uns was at Cabin Point--sent me
+to git help--he sez as how he'll bleed to death by mawnin' if he ain't
+helped--I hopes as how you'll kim along with me--he's my dad, you
+know!"
+
+The four exchanged looks when this pitiful story was unfolded in
+gasps. It was a foregone conclusion that they would go, for never had
+the Outdoor Chums rejected an appeal for assistance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+FIRST AID TO THE INJURED
+
+
+"Of course we'll all go, Frank!" Bluff was saying, almost before the
+boy who had given his name as Sandy Moogs finished speaking.
+
+Frank had to decide without much waste of time, and he did so in his
+customary sensible way.
+
+"This woodchopper is probably a pretty husky sort of fellow, as most
+of them are," he said, loud enough for the others to hear; "and if
+he's in such a bad shape we may even have to carry him all the way
+here, so as to look after his hurts, and keep him out of a storm."
+
+"We could make a litter and carry him, you know, Frank," suggested
+Jerry.
+
+"Just what I had in mind," the other agreed.
+
+"And it would need four to carry a heavy man for a long distance," was
+Will's comment; "so that means we must all go along."
+
+"Then we'll call it settled," Frank decided.
+
+"How about supper?" came from Jerry, faintly, as though he felt bound
+to mention such an important matter, and yet at the same time
+experienced more or less shame about seeming to be greedy.
+
+"Have to wait until we get back," the leader announced. "If anybody is
+near the starving point right now let him pick up some crackers to
+munch as he trots along."
+
+No one seemed willing to display such weakness, for there was only a
+rush to get hats and coats, while Frank made sure of the camp hatchet
+and some heavy twine, as well as a piece of strong canvas that could
+be used in making the stretcher on which the injured woodchopper was
+to be carried.
+
+By this time the small boy had managed to get his breath. He looked
+pleased on discovering that the campers meant to respond so handsomely
+to his appeal for aid. It could be plainly seen that Sandy cared
+greatly for his father, and now that the prospect of the injured man's
+being assisted had grown brighter, the boy felt greatly relieved.
+
+After all, only a brief time elapsed before they were ready to start.
+Frank had of course seen to it that Doctor Will carried along some of
+his stock in trade, in the shape of bandages and liniment. They would
+certainly be needed, for the boy had assured them that his father was
+losing considerable blood because of his wound.
+
+"You're certain you can take us straight to the place, are you,
+Sandy?" asked Frank, just as they were ready to start.
+
+"I shore kin do that same!" replied the sturdy little chap. "I was
+born in the woods, and never got lost even onct. I smell my way dark
+nights."
+
+This last assertion amused Bluff and Jerry, but Frank knew what the
+boy meant. He had been given an intuition that never failed him in so
+far as direction was concerned. If asked a question in connection with
+any point of the compass he could reply with positive accuracy, and
+without the slightest hesitation.
+
+Watching how he made his way along, Frank soon ascertained that the
+boy was actually leading them over the very route he had taken in
+making for Cabin Point. He proved this several times by pointing out
+where he had fallen when an unseen vine caught his foot; or made a
+little detour in order to avoid some thorny bushes that had scratched
+his face and hands on the other occasion.
+
+One mile, two, had been passed over, and still the boy led them on.
+Sandy had called it about three miles, and since he was so remarkably
+clever at woodcraft in so far as direction went, Frank hoped his
+knowledge of distance might be equally accurate.
+
+No one complained. Even Will, who was less robust than his mates, and
+not as accustomed to hurrying along through dense woods, shut his
+teeth hard together and persevered. He had been sensible enough to
+leave his camera behind, Frank having convinced him that it would be
+an unnecessary burden, for if they had to carry the wounded man all
+that distance back to the cabin they would find their hands full
+without other impedimenta.
+
+After more time had elapsed the question was put to the boy.
+
+"Are we nearly there now, Sandy?"
+
+"'Most nigh the place," came the prompt reply. "This here's the
+burnin' where the charcoal was made last year. On'y a little furder,
+an' we'll be up to dad. And oh! I hopes he's alive yet, I shore does!"
+
+Frank of course comforted him the best he could.
+
+"Your father is a big strong man, Sandy, and like as not he knows
+something of the way to stop some of the bleeding by using a rag
+twisted around a stick and pressed down on the artery. Most woodsmen
+do, I've found. He'll be all right, Sandy. And boys, let's all give a
+loud whoop. It may encourage the poor fellow some to know we're
+coming along."
+
+Accordingly they united their strong young voices in a brave shout
+that could easily have been heard half a mile away. Although they
+listened they did not hear a reply. A woodpecker screamed as he clung
+to a rotten treetop; some saucy crows scolded and chattered as they
+craned their necks and looked down on the line of passing boys; but
+all else was silence.
+
+Sandy was evidently worried because of this, but Frank reassured him.
+
+"He doesn't want to waste what strength he has in shouting, Sandy; but
+three to one we'll find him waiting for us to come along. How far are
+we away now?"
+
+"Oh! it's just over there at t'other side of that rise!" gasped the
+boy.
+
+They pushed quickly on, increasing their pace if anything, such was
+the anxiety they were now beginning to share with poor Sandy Moogs,
+the woodchopper's son.
+
+"I see him!" cried sharp-sighted Jerry.
+
+"There, he waved his hand at us, Sandy, so you see he's all right!"
+added Frank, only too glad of the opportunity to relieve the pent-up
+feelings of the dutiful son of the injured man.
+
+In another minute they had reached his side. Frank and Will began
+immediately to busy themselves with attending to his injury. Bluff and
+Jerry, taking the hatchet, started to hunt for the proper kind of
+poles with which a litter could be framed.
+
+Frank instantly saw that the man had suffered a serious injury. Not
+only was the leg broken but the flesh had been badly lacerated, and he
+had lost a large amount of blood.
+
+It turned out just as Frank had said, for the woodchopper, after Sandy
+had run away to seek aid, had bethought himself of a way to stop some
+of the bleeding. His method of procedure was crude, but it had been on
+the well-known tourniquet principle of applying a bandage with the
+knot resting as nearly as possible on the artery above the wound, and
+then by twisting a stout stick around and around increasing the
+pressure as far as could be borne.
+
+When Frank saw what he had done he told the man his action had likely
+enough been the means of saving his life, for in the two hours that
+had elapsed since the boy left him he might have bled to death.
+
+Will of course was quite in his element now. If there was one thing in
+which he excelled besides taking pictures it lay along the lines of
+medicine and practical surgery.
+
+Indeed, Frank himself was only too glad to take orders from the other
+chum at such a time as this, although he too knew considerable about
+caring for gunshot wounds, broken bones, and such accidental
+happenings as are apt to occur in the woods.
+
+While the two amateur surgeons labored to the best of their ability to
+stop the bleeding, and set the broken bones, at least temporarily,
+Bluff and Jerry had taken a little saunter around the place looking
+for stuff that could be utilized in making the litter.
+
+"Here's where a hickory tree was cut down a year or two back," said
+the former, finally, "and all around the old stump new growth has set
+in. Some of it is as much as an inch or more thick."
+
+"Yes, and just the sort we want for our litter," Jerry admitted; "so
+get busy with your hatchet, Bluff; and when you feel tired let me have
+a show for my money."
+
+As the camp hatchet was always kept exceedingly sharp it bit into
+those hickory stems "like fury," according to Bluff; and one after
+another they fell before the onslaught.
+
+Then the straightest and strongest were selected for the outside
+poles, which must be gripped by the four bearers. Across from these,
+side sections were fastened by means of the strong cord. Next came
+the placing of the strip of canvas which had really been fashioned
+particularly for the very use to which it was now being put. All
+around the edges brass eyelets had been inserted in the canvas.
+Through the holes the twine was to be run, enclosing a portion of the
+side poles with every loop. This procedure would result in giving them
+a splendid litter.
+
+"I guess Frank was right when he said no party should ever come out
+into the woods without carrying along a strip of canvas fixed like
+this one is," Jerry was saying as he laced away vigorously, admiring
+his work as he went along.
+
+"That's right," assented the other; "because when it's needed it's
+always wanted in a big hurry. Besides, such a strip can be made useful
+in many ways. If the ground is damp it comes in handy when you have to
+sleep with only a blanket between you and the cold earth. In that way
+it takes the place of a rubber poncho."
+
+"There's one thing bad about all this, I'm afraid," ventured Jerry.
+
+"I hope now," cried Bluff, "you're not mean enough to consider the
+drain it'll be on our grub resources to have two more mouths to feed!
+But there, I take that back, because I know it wouldn't be like you
+even to think that. What did you mean, Jerry?"
+
+"It's nearly night as it is, and we'll sure be overtaken before we
+cover a single mile. Think of tramping along in the pitch dark
+carrying a man hurt as badly as he is."
+
+"Between you and me I don't believe Frank will risk it. We can go as
+far as possible, and when it grows dark pull up. Along about midnight,
+if it stays clear, we ought to have the moon, and it'll give us enough
+light to go on again."
+
+It proved to be just as Bluff had said, for when the wounded man had
+been carefully lifted and placed on the litter, with one of the boys
+ready to take hold of each corner, Frank set forth his plan.
+
+"We'll do the best we can, fellows, until it gets too dark to see
+well; then we can lie down and rest for hours. When the moon gets
+fully up, so that the woods are light again, we'll finish our tramp to
+the cabin. Get that, everybody?"
+
+The woodchopper seemed to be resting fairly easily now. Of course he
+was in great pain and often groaned in spite of his close clenched
+teeth; but the strain on his mind had lessened. He felt confident that
+these lads would see him through his trouble in some way or other.
+Their manner inspired the utmost confidence.
+
+Again they left it to the boy to lead the way. His wonderful instinct
+made him an infallible guide. Frank would have probably been able to
+fetch up close to the cabin on the Point, but there was always a
+chance of his going astray, while Sandy knew no such word as fail when
+it came to "sensing" direction.
+
+The little procession started. As well as they could, the four boys
+bearing the litter kept step with one another, since that helped to
+make the jar less noticeable.
+
+It was no child's play carrying that heavy man through the darkening
+forest, for unusual care had to be taken constantly, lest a stumble
+occur that would cause him to cry out with sudden pain.
+
+Just as Bluff had said, they must have covered about a full mile when
+Frank called a halt, saying that it had grown too dark now to continue
+the tramp.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW
+
+
+When the halt was made they were almost half-way to the cabin on the
+Point. Bluff grumbled because none of them proved to be a modern
+Joshua, able to command the sun to stand still for a sufficient time
+to cover the remaining distance.
+
+"Never mind about that, fellows," Frank observed, after laughing
+heartily at the quaint remark; "what we want to do just now is to make
+Moogs here as comfortable as we can, and then try to get some rest.
+All of us are tired, and we've still a mile and a half to cover."
+
+"And I want to serve warning right now," Jerry announced, "that the
+first thing we do when we strike camp is to get the fire going, and a
+big pot of coffee boiling. I'm as hungry as a wolf."
+
+Frank found that the injured man was standing the trip as well as
+could be expected. He suffered great pain, though at times a sort of
+numbness came over his limb, as often happens.
+
+Bluff and Jerry had found some dead leaves behind a log, and here they
+decided to settle down. Frank and Will had already seen to it that
+their patient was placed upon a bed of leaves, and had made things as
+comfortable as possible for the poor fellow.
+
+He seemed to be very grateful, and constantly assured them that their
+kindness would never be forgotten, and that he would only too gladly
+repay them if ever it lay in his power.
+
+The small boy, Sandy Moogs, crouched alongside his father and seemed
+happy just to know that everything was moving along in a satisfactory
+way.
+
+Frank was more concerned about the weather than anything else. There
+were signs of a brooding storm. The low-hanging clouds they had
+noticed in the afternoon close to the western horizon might push up
+and cover the heavens.
+
+That would be a serious thing for them, under the present conditions.
+To be caught afoot in the woods far from camp by one of those
+drenching rains was bad enough; but it meant a terrible risk to poor
+Moogs should he be soaked through while suffering from such a wound.
+
+Still the time passed and there was no particular change in
+conditions. So long as he could see the stars Frank needed no watch to
+know the hour. He knew when the moon would appear in the east, as
+well as which of the bright planets would set by that time. All he had
+to do when desirous of knowing how time was passing was to observe the
+stars.
+
+Jerry and Bluff could be heard talking from time to time. As for Will,
+who was close to Frank, seeing the other lift his head for a look at
+the sky above, he asked for information.
+
+"What time do you think it is, Frank?" was what Will said.
+
+"Close to eleven," was the immediate reply.
+
+"Did you guess that, or are you reading the answer in the stars?"
+continued Will.
+
+"See that bright star a little way above the horizon?" asked Frank.
+"Well, that's Mercury, and when it drops out of sight to-night it'll
+be just eleven. When that other brighter planet goes down, look for
+the moon to peep up. That will be at twelve-seven, according to the
+almanac."
+
+"You've certainly got it all down pat," chuckled the other, satisfied
+that what Frank said must be exactly so; for he did not make a
+practice of simply guessing at things.
+
+It happened that when the big star did pass out of sight behind the
+far distant horizon Will was watching, being wide awake.
+
+"It's time for the moon to show up, thank goodness!" he was heard to
+say, whereupon Bluff from his bed of dead leaves close by called back:
+
+"If you look close you can see the sky lighting up over in the
+northeast a bit. Trouble was you didn't remember that in summer the
+moon makes a different sweep, and to do that often rises far away from
+the true east."
+
+They could all see that Bluff spoke truly, and that before long the
+darkness that hung over the woods would be partly dispersed. Will had
+been impressed with what the other had said concerning the phases of
+the moon. He made up his mind that when he got home again, and could
+find books on astronomy in the town library, he would study up on the
+subject, for it promised to be interesting.
+
+They did not start immediately, for it would be some time before the
+light became strong enough to be of benefit to them. After the moon
+could be fairly seen the boys sat around and made comments that were
+not at all complimentary to the heavenly luminary.
+
+"Wow! looks like she'd been out all night on a tear," commented Jerry;
+"her face is that battered."
+
+"Makes a regular practice of these all-night affairs, I reckon,"
+chuckled Bluff; "no wonder she looks so peaked. Nobody can stand that
+sort of life for long and not show it."
+
+"Please quit looking a gift horse in the mouth," pleaded Will. "We're
+staking a whole lot on that same old moon, it seems to me; and you
+fellows are an ungrateful bunch. What if you hurt her feelings so she
+puts her hands over her face, in the shape of black clouds? Where
+would we be then, tell me?"
+
+Finally Frank decided that they should start.
+
+"Of course we must use an extra amount of care at first," he told
+them; "and as the moon gets higher up the thing will come easier. But
+be careful how you go."
+
+"Yes, watch your step!" added Bluff, as he reached down to get a good
+grip on the end of the litter pole.
+
+The start was made in fairly good shape, and if their movements caused
+the wounded man new pain he managed to repress his groans. Realizing
+the great debt he owed these sterling boys, the woodcutter felt that
+he ought to suppress the signs of suffering, at least as much as he
+possibly could.
+
+Frank watched to see with what confidence little Sandy again started
+in the lead. He was immediately convinced that there need be not the
+least anxiety concerning his ability to serve as a true guide. The
+instinct was born in him; if asked how he picked out his course he
+could never have explained save by saying he _knew_ it, and that was
+all.
+
+When they had covered about a mile Frank called for a rest. He felt
+sure Will in particular must be getting weak and weary with all this
+strenuous work, to which he was quite unaccustomed.
+
+Sandy had offered to lend a hand, but was told to stick to his post as
+guide.
+
+"It's a more important service you can render leading us straight,
+than the little help you could give lifting," Frank told the boy when,
+for the third time, Sandy offered to relieve Will.
+
+"We ought to get there on the next turn," decided Bluff.
+
+Jerry was sniffing the night air.
+
+"Why, it seems to me," he remarked, blandly, "that I can just smell
+the lake, and according to my guess it can't be more than half a mile
+away."
+
+They waited to rest for about ten minutes. Then as Bluff and Jerry
+began to manifest signs of restlessness Frank gave the order to move
+along once more. Will declared that he felt able to keep on for a
+time, long enough, probably, to take them over the remainder of the
+ground.
+
+There were numerous occasions when one or another stumbled, for with
+poor illumination it was not always possible to see small
+obstructions. Once or twice the man on the litter groaned, and at such
+times the boys took themselves to task with fresh energy, afterwards
+trying more than ever to avoid all such petty pitfalls.
+
+"Pretty nearly there, I guess!" said Jerry, who felt sure he had
+recognized some of the surrounding woods, although they looked
+different to him in the weird moonlight from their usual seeming in
+broad day.
+
+"We'll break out of the trees inside of five minutes," prophesied
+Bluff, going his chum one better, since he set the time, which Jerry
+had not.
+
+"Make it seven and I'm with you," Frank told them, knowing that a
+certain amount of chatter would be apt to make them forget their
+weariness.
+
+"I even thought just then I could hear water lapping upon the shore,
+Frank," remarked Will.
+
+"That was what you heard, because I caught it too," he was assured by
+the one in whom Will placed such confidence.
+
+"Be ready, then, to see our old cabin as soon as we get to the edge of
+these woods," remarked Frank; "everybody watch, and see who's the
+first to call out. Of course you two fellows ahead have the best
+chance."
+
+Shortly afterwards Jerry broke out again.
+
+"Frank, there's the water through the trees!"
+
+"Yes, and with the moonlight playing across it like a pathway of
+silver," added Will, who was a little inclined to be poetical.
+
+"Home, sweet home," sighed Bluff; "be it ever so lowly there's no
+place like home."
+
+"Oh! quit that, Bluff!" urged Jerry. "Don't you know you'll make us
+want to quit Cabin Point and hike for our real homes. Just let's keep
+thinking of what a spread we're in for, once I get started hustling
+the supper along. Wow! in fancy I can see it now, with the coffee-pot
+boiling on the hob and--holy smoke! Frank, what does this mean now?"
+
+"Tell us what's happened!" demanded Will, beginning to show signs of
+excitement, as Jerry came to a full stop.
+
+"Why, there's our cabin; can't you see, fellows--and as sure as you
+live somebody's inside it, because the light is shining through the
+window where that wooden shutter can't be coaxed to close tight. Now I
+wonder what that funny business stands for."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE MYSTERY SOLVED
+
+
+"Yes, it's a light, that's what it is!" Bluff was heard to mutter.
+
+"This is certainly a queer piece of business, as you say, Jerry,"
+admitted Frank.
+
+"Oh! I hope now it isn't a messenger from home with bad news! That
+would upset all our plans. And my mother wasn't feeling just up to the
+mark when I left home, either," cried Will.
+
+Will's mother was a widow, and he had a twin sister named Violet. The
+three of them lived by themselves in one of the most substantial and
+beautiful houses in Centerville; so the boy's sudden sense of anxiety
+could be easily understood. He was really the man of the house, and
+often felt his conscience stab him when he left his mother and Violet
+alone.
+
+"Oh! stow that, Will!" urged the more practical Jerry. "It isn't going
+to turn out as bad as that. How do we know but that they do have
+hoboes up this way, and that the tramps have taken a shine to our
+bunks? Frank, what shall we do?"
+
+Of course they looked to Frank to decide; but as he was used to doing
+more than his share of the planning for the crowd, he thought nothing
+of this request.
+
+"First of all, let's put the litter down gently," he proposed.
+
+"That's right, boys," said the wounded man, "don't ye bother any 'bout
+me, but look after yer own 'fairs first. I'll get on all right, with
+Sandy hyar to stand by and keer for me."
+
+They were very careful as they put the stretcher down, for only too
+well did they know how the wretched occupant suffered from any jolt.
+This having been accomplished successfully, the four chums were ready
+to take the next step.
+
+"Now we'll go on and see what it all means," said Frank.
+
+He managed to control his voice so that none of the others could
+discern any undue emotion; yet truth to tell Frank was more worried
+than he would have cared to admit.
+
+What Will had voiced was in fact the very fear that had flashed upon
+him. They had left word at home for a messenger to be sent up after
+them should sickness or accident overtake any of those left behind.
+And it seemed at least reasonable to believe that something of the
+kind had happened.
+
+As the boys advanced eagerly though noiselessly they were keyed up to
+the top notch of excitement.
+
+When he dropped his end of the stretcher Bluff discovered a stout club
+lying on the ground. It answered his present needs admirably, and
+accordingly the boy snatched it up with a sense of exhilaration. To
+himself Bluff was muttering:
+
+"Tramps, hey? Measley hoboes roosting in our nice shack, are they?
+Well now, let me just get a whack at the same with this bully home-run
+bat, and if I don't make 'em sick of their job you can take my head
+for a football. Tramps, hey? Wow! Count me in the deal, will you? I
+just eat tramps!"
+
+Frank led the way from long habit. It was perhaps the same training
+that kept Bluff and Jerry just at the heels of the pilot, although
+they were in a fever to make faster time.
+
+So far as they could see there was no sign of life about the old
+cabin, only the light shining through that gap in the wooden window
+shutter. If a party of vagrants had indeed taken possession of the
+place they were wonderfully quiet. Not a sound smote the stillness of
+the night.
+
+Presently, however, from some tree not far away a whippoorwill
+suddenly sent out his vociferous notes, complaining again and again
+of the severe punishment "poor Will" might expect. The cabin was now
+close at hand. Frank could see that the door was ajar, as though
+inviting the passerby to enter without the formality of knocking.
+
+"Huh!" Bluff was heard to grumble, as he, too, discovered this fact.
+
+Approaching the window, Frank leaned forward and took a first peep. He
+did not say a single word, although very much surprised at what he
+saw; but simply made room for Will, who in turn moved slightly on so
+that the others might also see.
+
+The wooden shutter, which had been repaired as well as possible, even
+when closed left a slight gap, and through this hole it was possible
+for one outside to survey the whole interior of the cabin.
+
+A single figure sat in the most comfortable chair the cabin boasted.
+The lantern had been lighted, and hung so that its rays illuminated
+the interior of the place fairly well.
+
+None of the boys had the slightest difficulty in recognizing the
+person they were looking at through the window. It was Gilbert
+Dennison.
+
+Somehow or other it seemed that none of the chums had once considered
+Gilbert when trying to guess who could be in the cabin. When they now
+discovered him sitting there, and apparently waiting for them to come
+in, a great load seemed to be lifted from their hearts.
+
+At least poor anxious Will was heard to give a long sigh of relief.
+His worst fears were dissipated when instead of some messenger from
+Centerville he discovered Gilbert Dennison sitting there, watching and
+waiting.
+
+Frank was also well pleased at the discovery. At the same time there
+flashed into his mind a conviction that it must be something beyond
+the ordinary desire to visit them that had brought Gilbert there.
+
+None of the boys paid quite as much attention to secrecy as before. It
+was different now, since they knew a friend occupied their cabin, and
+not a party of dusty tramps, who had been making free with their
+supplies.
+
+Apparently the sound of their footsteps must have reached the ears of
+the one inside, for as Frank pushed back the door he found Gilbert on
+his feet. Also, he seemed to be crouching there as much in the shadows
+as possible; and really his whole attitude struck Frank as
+astonishing.
+
+As Frank and then Bluff, Jerry and Will pushed into the cabin Gilbert
+looked at first a little surprised and disappointed; but he instantly
+raised his hand to indicate silence, and at the same time pressed a
+finger on his lips.
+
+These mysterious actions astonished the four chums. They stared as
+though they found it difficult to believe their eyes.
+
+"Gee whiz! what next?" Bluff was muttering, as though things were
+happening so rapidly that almost any sort of surprise could be
+expected.
+
+Frank pushed forward.
+
+"Glad to see you here, but what's up, Gilbert?" he asked.
+
+"Please speak in a whisper when you have to talk, Frank," replied the
+other.
+
+"All right," said Frank, doing as he was told, "but please explain
+what it all means, for we've got a wounded man outside, who had his
+leg broken by a tree he was dropping, and we wish to bring him in here
+to make him easy."
+
+"It'll all be over in a short time, I should think," continued
+Gilbert; "for he ought to be here any minute now."
+
+"Who do you mean?" asked Bluff, like most boys caring naught for
+grammatical rules when far away from the school room.
+
+"My uncle!" replied Gilbert.
+
+"But why under the sun is Mr. Dennison coming down here to the cabin,
+and at midnight, too?" asked Jerry.
+
+"That's just it," replied the visitor at the cabin. "I've known for
+some time that Uncle Aaron is a sleep-walker, you see."
+
+Frank had already grasped the meaning of the situation, but Bluff was
+still groping in the dark. He proved this by asking:
+
+"But what would your old uncle wander down here for in his sleep,
+Gilbert, when it must be all of half a mile anyway, and over a crooked
+trail?"
+
+"I'll tell you what I think," replied the other, in a very low tone.
+"You see, he understands that I set great store on that gold cup I
+won, and which I brought up here with me when I came. He had it on his
+mind after I went away, being afraid some one would steal it."
+
+"Oh! now I get what you mean," whispered Bluff. "In his sleep he took
+a notion to try to hide the thing where no one would find it. And
+since he used that cavity under the floor to keep his savings in long
+years ago, somehow he just wandered down here the one night we were
+all away, and put the cup there."
+
+"Yes, and knew nothing about it when he came to search the cabin later
+on," explained Gilbert. "But keep still, everybody, for I really think
+I saw him coming out there in the open before the door. Please don't
+say a word, but just watch!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+It was an exciting time when Gilbert and the four chums stood there as
+silent as ghosts, and waited for the arrival of the sleep-walker.
+Perhaps a dozen seconds had passed when there was a rustle and a sigh
+at the open door. Then a figure stalked in.
+
+They could see that it was Aaron Dennison.
+
+Mr. Dennison walked straight over to where that loose plank lay. He
+did not show the slightest sign of hesitancy, but stooping down placed
+some object on the floor, after which he began to raise the plank as
+though familiar with its working.
+
+No wonder the boys stared, and Bluff chuckled softly, when they saw
+the object so carefully deposited on the floor by the man who walked
+in his sleep.
+
+It was the golden cup, won in the amateur golf tournament by Gilbert
+Dennison!
+
+They watched him lift the plank, and then quickly place the cup in
+the hole underneath; after this he gently lowered the board, patted it
+affectionately, and arose to his feet as if to go.
+
+Frank was more than satisfied. The mystery had been explained in a
+fashion that left not a shred of doubt behind.
+
+At the same time Frank found himself wondering what Gilbert would do
+next. To convince Mr. Dennison that he himself was wholly to blame, it
+would seem to be the proper thing to awaken him before he quitted the
+cabin, and show him the cup nestling under the plank.
+
+Frank dimly remembered reading that it was not a wise thing to arouse
+a sleep-walker suddenly; he understood that the sudden shock had a
+tendency to affect the brain. Apparently Gilbert did not know this,
+for he stepped forward and reaching out caught hold of the old man's
+arm, shaking it as he called:
+
+"Wake up, Uncle Aaron, wake up!"
+
+They saw the sleeper give a tremendous start. Then he stared first at
+Gilbert, and then around him as though dazed.
+
+"It's I, Uncle, and you've been up to your old tricks again, walking
+in your sleep," the young fellow told him. "Yes, no wonder you look as
+if you could hardly believe your eyes; for you've wandered down to the
+old cabin on the Point And, Uncle, what do you think we saw you
+doing?"
+
+As he said this Gilbert in turn suddenly stooped, and managing to get
+the loose plank up he pushed it aside. When he picked up the golden
+cup and held it before the eyes of the old gentleman, Bluff could
+hardly keep from bursting into laughter, the look of astonishment on
+Mr. Dennison's face was so ludicrous.
+
+"Did I bring that cup here, and stow it away again in that hole,
+Gilbert?" he demanded.
+
+"You certainly did, Uncle," he was told.
+
+"Then it stands to reason that I must have been guilty on that other
+occasion, too, Nephew?" faltered the old hermit.
+
+"Of course you were, Uncle. Don't you see, you worried over having the
+cup there on your hands; and in your sleep you must have dreamed about
+the old place here under the floor where you once used to hide things.
+And down you came all the way. It happened that the boys were all away
+on that night after the storm; isn't it so, fellows?"
+
+"Yes," replied Frank, "Will here and I were caught up in the woods,
+and slept under a shelf of rock, while Bluff and Jerry stayed at the
+village, where they met the constable, Mr. Jeems. So the cabin was not
+occupied at all that night."
+
+"And we knew somebody must have been in here," spoke up Will, "because
+the door wasn't closed as we left it, a chair had been pushed over,
+and some other things were disturbed. It was a great mystery to all of
+us, sir."
+
+Mr. Dennison proved himself equal to the occasion. The look of
+consternation on his face had now given way to one of friendliness.
+
+"Then I can plainly see how I have wronged these boys by accusing them
+of this mysterious taking of the golden cup," he said, frankly. "I
+trust all of you will forgive me, and that Gilbert will some time or
+other fetch you up to see me. I want particularly to become better
+acquainted with the one who is interested in wild animal photography."
+
+Mr. Dennison whispered a few sentences to his nephew. Evidently he
+must have been telling Gilbert that he was at liberty to explain
+certain sad things connected with his past life, when the occasion
+arose, so that the boys would understand just why, for all his money,
+he lived in such a lonely place.
+
+Then he said he must go, and asked Gilbert to accompany him.
+
+"Be sure and bring that precious golden cup of yours," he told the
+other. "We'll have to find a safe place to keep it, if I'm going to
+have any sound sleep after this. At my age I cannot afford to take
+chances of meeting with some accident when wandering around the woods
+at night-time. Good-bye, lads, and remember I shall hope to have you
+take supper with me some evening soon, when we can get better
+acquainted."
+
+After Mr. Dennison and Gilbert had departed Frank thought again of the
+injured woodcutter, and, hastening out, they soon had him under the
+roof of the cabin.
+
+In the morning it was decided that, as the weather seemed promising,
+two of them had better start for the village with the wounded man and
+Sandy. The boat was now in extra-good shape, and seemed hardly to leak
+a drop. Besides, the sooner Moogs was placed under the care of an
+experienced surgeon the better. Frank did not want to be responsible
+for the consequences any more than seemed absolutely necessary.
+
+In time the injured woodcutter recovered from his severe wound; and
+the boys afterwards received a letter from Sandy, in which the boy
+tried hard to express the heavy obligations under which he and his
+"dad" felt themselves bound to the Outdoor Chums.
+
+In the afternoon Gilbert came down to see them, and stayed over night.
+
+As they sat around after supper and exchanged confidences the boys
+learned of the tragedy that had taken place in the life of Aaron
+Dennison. It fully explained the mystery hovering over his enclosed
+estate.
+
+He had had a single child, as the poor fragment of a baby shoe had
+informed Frank; but the little fellow had been taken away from them.
+The wife and mother had never been the same after that, though for
+years she continued to be the faithful partner of the man, as he
+fought his way up in the world.
+
+In the end she entirely lost her reason, and Mr. Dennison, unwilling
+that the one he loved so fondly should be placed in even the best
+asylum, had conceived the idea of building this home far removed from
+civilization.
+
+Here the poor lady lived attended by a trusty nurse day and night.
+There were bars across the windows of her sleeping chamber, because of
+late she had developed a mania for wanting to leap from a height and
+hence they had to take all precautions.
+
+No doubt she imagined herself a prisoner, and seeing the boys below,
+she had waved her handkerchief to them, and also had made gestures
+with her hands as though invoking their aid.
+
+Of course Frank assured Gilbert that when they came up to take supper
+with his uncle not a word would be said on that painful subject. Even
+if they heard that pitiful wailing cry they would pretend that it was
+the screech of a strutting peacock, as once they had really believed.
+
+After that the Outdoor Chums found each day bringing new pleasures.
+They went up to see Mr. Dennison, not only once but many times, for
+the old hermit soon found himself deeply interested in the boys. He
+asked a thousand questions concerning the things connected with their
+past, and seemed never to tire of listening while these little
+adventurous happenings were being narrated.
+
+The glorious days slipped away and finally the day arrived when they
+must say good-bye to Cabin Point and all its happy associations.
+
+Will had a large number of splendid pictures to carry back; and all
+the boys would often think of the happy times spent at the big lake.
+
+Other events would undoubtedly cross their path, but in reviewing the
+strenuous past Frank and his Outdoor Chums would always remember with
+deepest interest the mystery of the golden cup, and how strangely it
+was solved while they were in camp at Cabin Point.
+
+THE END
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Darewell Chums
+
+SERIES
+
+_By_ ALLEN CHAPMAN
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Heroes of the School
+Ned Wilding's Disappearance
+Frank Roscoe's Secret
+Fenn Masterson's Discovery
+Bart Keene's Hunting Days
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Up and doing from the word go are these "Darewell Chums," a
+    group of boys who stick together thru thick and thin; thru
+    high adventure and scrapes. On the field of sport and in the
+    broader field of life, their comradeship persists. There are
+    several mysteries interwoven thru these tales that baffle the
+    most astute. To follow the fortunes of "The Darewell Chums,"
+    prepare for an exciting journey in Bookland.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Goldsmith Publishing Co.
+
+CLEVELAND, O.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Outdoor Chums at Cabin Point, by Quincy Allen
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTDOOR CHUMS AT CABIN POINT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 19743.txt or 19743.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sankar Viswanathan, and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
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