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diff --git a/42102.txt b/42102.txt deleted file mode 100644 index abcc581..0000000 --- a/42102.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6657 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Boy Scouts' Mountain Camp, by John Henry -Goldfrap, Illustrated by R. M. Brinkerhoff - - -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 Boy Scouts' Mountain Camp - - -Author: John Henry Goldfrap - - - -Release Date: February 16, 2013 [eBook #42102] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS' MOUNTAIN CAMP*** - - -E-text prepared by Stephen Hutcheson, Brenda Lewis, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images -generously made available by the Google Books Library Project -(http://books.google.com) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 42102-h.htm or 42102-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42102/42102-h/42102-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42102/42102-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - the the Google Books Library Project. See - http://books.google.com/books?id=1pEXAAAAYAAJ - - - - - -THE BOY SCOUTS' MOUNTAIN CAMP - -by - -LIEUT. HOWARD PAYSON - -Author of "The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol," -"The Boy Scouts on the Range," -"The Boy Scouts and the Army Airship," etc. - -With Four Original Illustrations by R. M. Brinkerhoff - - - - - - - -New York -Hurst & Company -Publishers - -Copyright, 1912, -by -Hurst & Company - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I. A Typical Boy Scout 5 - II. Two Mysterious Men 16 - III. The Major Explains 30 - IV. The Narrative Continued 39 - V. A Midnight Auto Dash 51 - VI. In Direst Peril 66 - VII. Adrift in the Storm 76 - VIII. Eagles on the Trail 86 - IX. What Scout Hopkins Did 97 - X. A Rescue and a Bivouac 109 - XI. The Mountain Camp 121 - XII. Captured 132 - XIII. Rob Finds a Ray of Hope 144 - XIV. A Thrilling Escape 155 - XV. Out of the Frying Pan 167 - XVI. Into the Fire! 177 - XVII. "We Want You." 187 - XVIII. Jumbo Earns $500.00--and Loses It 197 - XIX. The Forest Monarch 206 - XX. The Canoes Found 216 - XXI. "The Ruby Glow." 225 - XXII. The Buccaneer's Cave 238 - XXIII. Trapped in a Living Tomb 248 - XXIV. Two Columns of Smoke 264 - XXV. The Heart of the Mystery--Conclusion 276 - - - - - The Boy Scouts' Mountain Camp. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - A TYPICAL BOY SCOUT. - - -"Hullo, Rob; what's up?" - -Merritt Crawford stopped on his way past the Hampton post-office, and -hailed Rob Blake, the leader of the Eagle Patrol, of which Merritt was -corporal. Both lads wore the natty scout uniform. - -"Not a thing is up or down, either," rejoined Rob, with a laugh; "it -looks as if things had stopped happening in Hampton ever since that -schooner was blown up." - -"And Jack Curtiss's hopes of a fortune with it," added Merritt. "Well, -I'm off home. Going that way?" - -"Yes, I'll be with you in a---- Hullo, what's happening?" - -From farther up the street, at one end of which lay the glistening sheet -of water known as Hampton Inlet, there came excited shouts. Then, -suddenly, into the field of vision there swept, with astonishing -rapidity, a startling sight. - -A large automobile was coming toward them at a rapid rate. On the -driver's seat was a white-faced young girl, a cloud of fair hair -streaming out about her frightened countenance. She was gripping the -steering wheel, and seemed to be striving desperately to check the onrush -of the machine. But her efforts were vain. The auto, instead of -decreasing its rate of progress, appeared every minute to be gaining in -speed. - -It bumped and swayed wildly. A cloud of yellow dust arose about it. -Behind the runaway machine could be perceived a crowd of townsfolk -shouting incoherently. - -"Oh, stop it! I shall be killed! Stop it, please do!" - -The young girl was shrilly screaming in alarm, as the machine approached -the two boys. So rapidly had events progressed since they first sighted -it, that not a word had been exchanged between them. All at once, Merritt -noticed that he was alone. Rob had darted to the roadway. As the auto -dashed by, Merritt saw the young leader of the Hampton Boy Scouts give a -sudden flying leap upon the running-board. He shot up from the road as if -a steel spring had projected him. - -For one instant he hung between life and death--or, at least, serious -injury. The speed with which the auto was going caused the lad's legs to -fly out from it, as one of his hands caught the side door of the tonneau. -But in a jiffy Rob's athletic training triumphed. By a supreme effort he -managed to steady himself and secure a grip with his other hand. Then he -rapidly made his way forward along the running-board. - -But this move proved almost disastrous. The already panic-stricken girl -took her attention from the steering-wheel for an instant. In that -molecule of time, the auto, like a perverse live thing, got beyond her -control. It leaped wildly toward the sidewalk outside the Hampton candy -store. A crowd of young folks--it was Saturday afternoon--had been -indulging in ice cream and other dainties, when the shouts occasioned by -the runaway machine had alarmed them. - -Instantly soda and candy counters were neglected, and a rush for the -sidewalk ensued. But, as they poured out to see what was the matter, they -were faced by deadly peril. - -The auto, like a juggernaut, was careening straight at them. Its exhausts -roared like the nostrils of an excited beast. - -Young girls screamed, and boys tried to drag them out of harm's way. But -had it not been for the fact that at that instant Rob gained the wheel, -there might have been some serious accidents. - -The lad fairly wrenched it out of the hands of the girl driver, who was -half fainting at the imminence of the peril. A quick, savage twist, and -the car spun round and was on a straight course again. That danger, at -least, was over. But another, and a deadlier, threatened. - -Right ahead lay the spot where the road terminated in a long wharf, at -which occasional steamers landed. Every second brought them closer to it. -If Rob could not stop the machine before it reached the end of the wharf, -it was bound to plunge over and into the sea. All this flashed through -the boy's mind as he strove to find some means of stopping the car. But -the auto was of a type unfamiliar to him. One experiment in checking its -motion resulted instead in a still more furious burst of speed. - -Like objects seen in a nightmare, the stores, the white faces of the -alarmed townsfolk, and the other familiar objects of the village street, -streaked by in a gray blur. - -"I must stop it! I must!" breathed Rob. - -But how? Where had the manufacturer of the car concealed his emergency -brake? The lever controlling it seemed to be mysteriously out of sight. -Suddenly the motion of the car changed. It no longer bumped. It ran -terribly smoothly and swiftly. - -From the street it had passed out upon the even surface of the planked -wharf. Only a few seconds now in which to gain control of it! - -"The emergency brake!" shouted Rob aloud in his extremity. - -"Your foot! It works with your foot, I think!" - -The voice, faint as a whisper over a long-distance telephone, came to the -ears of the striving boy. It belonged to the girl beside him. Glancing -down, Rob now saw what he would have observed at first, if he had had -time to look about him--a metal pedal projected through the floor of the -car. With an inward prayer, he jammed his foot down upon it. Would it -work? - -The end of the pier was terribly close now. The water gleamed blue and -intense. It seemed awaiting the fatal plunge overboard. - -But that plunge was not taken. There was a grinding sound, like a harsh -purr, the speed of the car decreased, and, finally, it came to a -stop--just in time. - -From the landward end of the pier a crowd came running. In front were two -or three khaki-uniformed members of the Eagle Patrol. Behind them several -of the Hawks were mingled with the crowd. - -Beyond all the confusion, Rob, as he turned his head, could see another -automobile coming. It had two passengers in it. As the crowd surged about -the boy and the girl, who had not yet alighted, and poured out questions -in a rapid fusillade, the second car came "honking" up. - -A murmur of "Mr. Blake" ran through the throng, as a tall, ruddy-faced -man descended, followed by a military-looking gentleman, whose face was -strongly agitated. Mr. Blake was Rob's father, and, as readers of other -volumes of this series know, the banker and scout patron of the little -community. It was his car in which he had just driven up with his -companion. - -The latter hesitated not a moment, but in a few long strides gained the -side of the car which Rob's efforts had stopped just in time. - -"Bravely done, my lad; bravely done," he cried, and then, to the girl, -"good heavens, Alice, what an experience! Child, you might have been -killed if it had not been for this lad's pluck! Mr. Blake," as the banker -came up, "I congratulate you on your son." - -"And I," rejoined the banker gravely, "feel that I am not egotistical in -accepting that congratulation. Rob, this is my friend, Major Roger -Dangerfield, from up the State." - -"And this," said the major, returning Rob's salutation and turning to the -girl who was clinging to him, "is my daughter, Alice, whose first -experience with the operation of an automobile nearly came to a -disastrous ending." - -Rob Blake, whose heroic action has just been described, was--as readers -of The Boy Scout Series are aware--the leader of the Eagle Patrol, an -organization of patriotic, clean-lived lads, attracted by the high ideals -of the Boy Scout movement. - -The patrol, while of comparatively recent organization, had been through -some stirring adventures. In _The Boy Scouts of The Eagle Patrol_, for -instance, we read how Rob and his followers defeated the machinations of -certain jealous and unworthy enemies. They repaid evil with good, as is -the scout way, but several despicable tricks, and worse, were played on -them. In this book was related how Joe Digby in the camp of the Eagles, -was kidnaped and imprisoned on a barren island, and how smoke signaling -and quick wit saved his life. The boys solved a mystery and had several -exciting trials of skill, including an aeroplane contest, which was -almost spoiled by the trickery of their enemy, Jack Curtiss. - -In the second volume, _The Boy Scouts on the Range_, we followed our -young friends to the Far West. Here they distinguished themselves, and -formed a mounted patrol, known as _The Ranger Patrol_. The pony riders -had some exciting incidents befall them. These included capture by -hostile Indians and a queer adventure in the haunted caves, in which -Tubby almost lost his life. - -In this volume, Jack Curtiss and his gang were again encountered, but -although their trickery prevailed for a time, in the end they were -routed. A noteworthy feature of this book was the story of the career and -end of Silver Tip, a giant grizzly bear of sinister reputation in that -part of the country. - -_The Boy Scouts and the Army Airship_, brought the lads into a new and -vital field of endeavor. They met an army officer, who was conducting -secret tests of an aeroplane, and were enabled to aid him in many ways. -In all the thrilling situations with which this book abounds, the boys -are found always living up to the scout motto of "Be prepared." - -How they checkmated the efforts of Stonington Hunt, an unscrupulous -financier, to rob a poor boy of the fruits of his inventive genius--a -work in which he was aided by his unworthy son, Freeman Hunt--must be -read to be appreciated. In doing this work, however, they earned Hunt's -undying hatred, and, although they thought they were through with him -when he slunk disgraced out of Hampton, they had not seen the last of -him. - -As the present story progresses, we shall learn how Stonington Hunt and -his son tried to avenge themselves for their fancied wrongs at the hands -of the Boy Scouts. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - TWO MYSTERIOUS MEN. - - -"Tell us all about it, Rob!" - -The Eagles and the Hawks pressed close about Rob, as, after the two -machines had driven off, the scouts stood surrounded by curious townsfolk -on the wharf. - -"Not much to tell," rejoined Rob, with a laugh. "Major Dangerfield is, it -appears, an old friend of my father. He comes from Essex County, or -rather, he has a summer place up there. On an automobile trip from -Albany, to take his daughter to visit some friends down on Peconic Bay, -he decided to stop over at Hampton and see the governor. - -"He entered the bank to give dad a surprise, leaving his daughter outside -for a few minutes, in the machine. She became interested in its mechanism -and pulled a lever, and--the machine darted off. And--and that's all," he -concluded modestly. - -"Except that the leader of the Eagles covered himself with laurels," -struck in Bob--or Tubby--Hopkins, another member of the Eagles. - -"Better than being covered with fat," parried Rob, who didn't relish this -open praise. - -"Three cheers for Rob Blake!" yelled Fylan Fobbs, a town character. - -"Hip! hip! hooray!" - -The cheers rang out with vim, the voices of the young scouts sounding -shrill and clear among them, giving the patrol call: - -"Kree-ee-ee-e!" - -Rob, coloring and looking embarrassed, made his way off while the -enthusiasm was at its height. With him went Merritt Crawford, Tubby -Hopkins and tall, lanky Hiram Nelson, the New England lad, who had -already gained quite a reputation as a wireless operator and mechanical -genius of the all-round variety. - -"Reckon that was a right smart piece of work," drawled Hiram in his nasal -accents, as the four of them trudged along. - -"Al-ice, where art thou?" hummed Tubby teasingly, with a sharp glance at -Rob. "Say, what a romance for the newspapers: Gallant Boy Scout rescues -bee-yoot-i-ful girl at risk of his life, and----" - -He got no further. The tormented Rob grabbed the rotund youth and twisted -his arm till Tubby yelled for mercy. With a good-natured laugh, Rob -released him. - -"Bet-ter sue him for damages, if he's broke your arm," grinned the -practical-minded Hiram, in consolatory tones. - -"No, thanks; I've got damages enough, as the fellow said who'd been -busted up in a railroad accident and was asked if he intended to sue," -laughingly rejoined Tubby; "but"--and he dodged to a safe distance--"that -was a mighty pretty girl." - -As he spoke, they were passing by the railroad station. A train had just -pulled out of it, depositing two passengers on the platform. But none of -the boys noticed them at the moment. Instead, their attention was -attracted by the strange action of Merritt, who suddenly darted to the -center of the roadway. - -The next instant his action was explained, as he bent and seized a big -leather wallet that lay there. Or, rather, he was just about to seize it, -when one of the two men who had alighted from the train also dashed from -the small depot, in front of which they had been standing. - -He was a broad-shouldered, rough-looking fellow, with a coarse beard and -hulking shoulders. His clothes were rather poor. - -"What you got there, boy?" he demanded, as the other Boy Scouts and his -own companion came up. - -"A wallet," said Merritt, examining his find; "it's marked 'R. D.--U. S. -A.'" - -A strange light came into the rough-looking man's eyes. His comrade, too, -appeared agitated, and gripped the bearded fellow's arm, whispering -something to him. - -"Let's have a look at that wallet, young chap," quoth the bigger of the -two strangers, almost simultaneously. - -"I don't know that I will," rejoined Merritt; "it's lost property, and -may contain valuables. I had better turn it over to the proper -authorities." - -But the rough stranger, without ceremony, made a snatch for it. Merritt, -however, was too quick for him, and the fellow missed his grasp. He -growled something, and then, apparently thinking the better of his -ill-temper, said in a comparatively mild voice: - -"Guess that's my wallet, boy. I must have dropped it coming across the -street. My name's Roger Dangerfield, Major Roger Dangerfield, of the -United States Army, retired." - -"Then there must be two of them," exclaimed Rob sharply. - -"How's that? What are you interfering for?" growled the rough-looking -man, while his companion--a much younger individual than himself, though -quite as ill-favored--edged menacingly up. - -"Because," said Rob quietly, "I had the pleasure of talking to Major -Dangerfield a few minutes ago. Moreover, there's no doubt in my mind that -the wallet is his. He probably dropped it on the way up the street." - -The bigger and elder of the two strangers looked nonplussed for an -instant, but he speedily recovered himself. Making a snatch for the -wallet, which Merritt for an instant had allowed to show from behind his -back, he upset the lad by the sheer weight of his attack. Flat on his -back fell Merritt, the bearded man toppling over on top of him. - -But, as they fell, the Boy Scout's assailant seized the wallet from him -and tossed it hastily to his companion, as one might pass a football. -This action was unnoticed by the Boy Scouts, and the younger man of the -two strangers darted off instantly, with the pocketbook in his -possession. - -In the meantime, Merritt, by a wrestling trick, had glided from under the -bearded fellow, and, despite his struggles, the man found himself held in -the firm grip of four determined pairs of young arms. He was remarkably -strong, however, and the situation speedily assumed the likeness of an -uneven contest, when another detachment of the Eagles, headed by little -Andy Bowles, the bugler of the Patrol, came up the street on their way -from the exciting scene on the wharf. - -Aided by these reenforcements, the man was compelled, despite his -strength, to give in. All about him surged his excited young captors. At -this moment an individual came hurrying up. He wore a semi-official sort -of dress, adorned with a tin badge as big and shiny as a new tin -pie-plate. It was Si Ketchum, the village constable. - -"Hoppin' watermillions!" he gasped, "what's all this here?" - -It took only a few words to tell him. Si assumed his most terrific -official look, which consisted of partially closing his little reddish -eyes and screwing up his mouth till his gray goatee pointed outward -horizontally. - -"Ef so be as you've got that thar contraption uv a wallet, in ther name -uv ther law I commands yer to surrender said property," he ordered -ponderously. - -The bearded man, still panting from his struggle, rejoined with a grin. - -"Surely you're not going to believe a pack of irresponsible boys, -constable. I know nothing about the wallet, except that I saw that lad -there pick it up." - -"Um--hah," said Si, wagging his head sagely, "go on." - -"Naturally, I was anxious to see what it was. I demanded to have a look -at it, thinking it might be some of my property that I had dropped. What -was my astonishment, when this young ruffian attacked me. In -self-defense, I resisted, and then they all set on me." - -"That story is a fabrication from start to finish," cried Merritt, while -the others shouted their angry confirmation of his denial. "Let me----" - -For the second time he was about to relate the true circumstances. But Si -interrupted him. - -"Only one way ter settle this," he said. - -"Any way you like, officer," said the bearded man suavely, "anything that -you say, I'll agree to." - -"Air yer willin' ter be searched?" - -"Certainly. But not here in the public street." - -"All right, then; at the calaboose, ef that'll suit yer better." - -"It will. Let's proceed there," said the man, with a sidelong look at the -boys, who began to wonder at his assurance. - -Followed by a small crowd, Si and his prisoner led the way to the -"calaboose," a small, red-brick structure on a side street not far from -the station. The boys waited eagerly outside, while within the walls of -Si's fortress the search went on. Before long, the constable emerged with -an angry face, and very red. The stranger, cool and smiling, was beside -him. - -"What kind uv an April fool joke is this?" demanded Si loudly, while the -boys, and the townspeople, who had been attracted by curiosity, looked at -him in astonishment. - -"You boys ain't tole me the truth," he went on, waxing more furious. - -"You--you haven't found the wallet?" demanded Merritt. "Why, I distinctly -felt him snatch it from my hand." - -"Wall, it ain't on him." - -"The other man!" cried Rob, suddenly recalling the bearded man's -companion, and perceiving, likewise, for the first time since Merritt's -adventure, that the fellow had vanished. - -"He's gone!" cried half a dozen voices. - -In the same instant, they became aware that the bearded man had also -vanished in the excitement. Almost simultaneously, Major Dangerfield put -in an unexpected appearance. He was out of breath, as if from running. - -"Is this the police station?" he demanded of Si, and, receiving a nod -from that stupefied official, he hastened on: - -"I wish to report the loss of a pocketbook. I must have dropped it on -Main Street. Has it been found?" - -"It wuz found all right," grunted Si, "but--it's bin lost agin." - -"Corporal Crawford here, found it, sir," struck in Rob, seeing the -major's evident agitation at Si's not over-lucid explanation, "but while -he still had it in his hand, a man--a rough-looking customer--demanded to -see it. As soon as Merritt told him of the initials on it, he----" - -"Tried to seize it," exclaimed the major excitedly. - -"Why, yes," rejoined Rob, wondering inwardly how the major guessed so -accurately what had occurred, "there was a scuffle, and in it the man who -had attacked Merritt must, in some way, have found a chance to pass the -pocketbook to his companion." - -"Was the man who first inquired about the book a big, bearded man, with -sun-burned face and rather shabby clothes?" inquired the major. - -Rob's astonishment increased. Evidently this was no ordinary case of -ruffianism. It would seem now that the men were known to the major, and -had some strong object in taking the book. - -The boy nodded in reply to the major's question. - -"Do you mind stepping aside with me a few minutes, my lad? I'd like to -ask you some questions," continued the retired officer. - -He and Rob conversed privately for some moments. Then the major strode -off, after authorizing Si to offer a reward of five hundred dollars for -the return of the wallet. - -"He asked me to thank all you fellows for the aid you gave in trying to -hold the man," said Rob when he rejoined his comrades, "he added that it -would not be forgotten." - -Nor was it, for it may be said here, that a few days later a fine launch, -named _Eagle_, was delivered at Hampton harbor with a card from the -major, begging the Eagle Patrol to accept it as their official craft. But -we are anticipating a little. - -As Rob walked away with Merritt, Tubby and Hiram, the lanky youth spoke -up: - -"It beats creation what there could have been in that wallet to upset him -so," he commented; "he doesn't look like a man who's easily excited, -either." - -"Well, whatever it was," rejoined Rob, "we are likely to learn this -evening. I rather think the major has some work on hand for us." - -"Hooray! some action at last," cried Merritt enthusiastically. - -"Haven't had enough to-day, eh?" inquired Tubby sarcastically. "I should -think that seeing a runaway auto stopped, being knocked down and plunged -into a mystery, would----" - -"Never mind him, Merritt; the heat's sent the fat to his head," laughed -Rob. - -"I was going to say," he continued, "that Major Dangerfield has invited -us to the house this evening to hear something interesting." - -"All four of us?" - -"Yes. I rather think then we shall learn some more about that wallet." - -Soon after, the boys, following some talk concerning patrol matters, -separated. Each went to his home to await, with what patience he might, -the coming of evening, when it appeared likely that some light would be -shed on what, to them, seemed an interesting puzzle. Rob, on his return -home, found that the major had motored on to his friend's with his -daughter, but he had promised to return in time to keep his appointment. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - THE MAJOR EXPLAINS. - - -"Well," began the major, "I suppose you are all naturally curious -concerning that wallet of mine." - -The four lads nodded attentively. - -"I must admit we are," volunteered Rob. - -They were gathered in the library of Mr. Blake's home. The banker was -seated in his own pet chair, while the major stood with his back to a -bookcase, a group of eager-eyed Boy Scouts surrounding him. - -"In the first place," continued the major, "I think you would better all -sit down. The story is a somewhat lengthy one." - -The boys obeyed, and the major began: - -"I shall have to take you back more than a century," he said, "to the -days when the first settlers located adjacent to the south banks of Lake -Champlain. Among the colonists were my ancestors, Chisholm Dangerfield -and his family. Chisholm Dangerfield was the eldest son of the -Dangerfield family, of Chester, England. He had been left an ample -fortune, but having squandered it, decided, like many others in a similar -case, to emigrate to the new country. - -"On arrival here, he and his family went up the river to Albany, and -there, hearing of new settlements along the lake, decided to take up land -there. They went most of the way by water, being much harassed by Indians -on the journey. But without any serious mishaps, they finally arrived at -their destination, and, in course of time, established a flourishing -farm. But Chisholm Dangerfield had a younger brother, a harum-scarum sort -of youth, to whom, nevertheless, he was much attached. When quite young, -this lad had run away to sea, and little had been heard of him since that -time. - -"But while his family had remained in ignorance of his whereabouts, he -had joined a band of West Indian pirates, and in course of time amassed a -considerable fortune. Then a desire to reform came over him, and he -sought his English relatives. They would have nothing to do with him, -despite his wealth, and in a fit of rage he left England to seek his -brother--the only being who ever really cared for him. In due time he -arrived at the farm with quite a retinue of friendly Indians and -carriers. - -"He was warmly welcomed. Possibly his money and wealth had something to -do with it. I don't know anything about that, however. At any rate, for -some years, he lived there, till one day he fell ill. His constitution -was undermined by the reckless, wild life he had led, and he died not -long after. He left all his gold and jewels to his brother. - -"Indians were many and hostile in those days, so in order to be secure in -case of an attack, the elder brother had no sooner buried his kin with -due reverence, and received his legacy, than he decided to secrete the -entire amount of the old pirate's treasure in a cave in a remote part of -the Adirondacks." - -"Gee!" exclaimed Tubby, who was hugging his knees, while his eyes showed -round as saucers in his fat cheeks. - -"Did the Indians get it?" asked Hiram. - -"Wait a minute, and you shall hear," continued the major. "Well, as I -said, the treasure was buried in a cave so securely hidden that nobody -would be able to find it again, except by a miracle, or by aid of the -chart of the spot, which Chisholm Dangerfield carefully made. A few -nights after that, a tribe went on the warpath, landed in canoes near to -the Dangerfield farm, and massacred every soul on the place but one--a -young boy named Roger Dangerfield, who escaped. - -"This Roger Dangerfield was my great-great-grandfather. With him, when he -fled from the burning ruins, he took a paper his father had thrust into -his hands just before the Indian attack came. All this he wrote in his -diary, which did not come into my hands till recently. Well, Roger -Dangerfield, left to his own resources, proved so able a youth that he -was, before very long, a prosperous merchant in Albany. But in the -meantime he made several expeditions to the mountains to try to find the -hidden wealth. - -"I should have told you that the paper was in cipher, and a very -elaborate one, so that it had never been completely worked out. This, no -doubt, accounts for Roger Dangerfield's failure. - -"Well, in course of time, the cipher became a family relic along with -Roger Dangerfield's diary. His descendants moved to Virginia, where I was -born. I recollect, as a youngster, being enthralled by the story of the -old piratical Dangerfield's hidden gold, and resolving that when I grew -up I would find it. We had, in our employ at that time, a butler named -Jarley. I was an only child, and he was my confidant. I naturally told -him about the cipher and what its unraveling would mean. - -"This happened when I was about eighteen and home on a vacation. Jarley -seemed much interested, but after both he and I had puzzled in vain over -the cipher, we gave it up. When I came home on my next vacation, I -learned that Jarley had left. His mother and father had died, he -declared, and he was required at his home in Maine. Well, I thought no -more of the matter, and forming new acquaintances in our neighborhood, -which was rapidly settling, I soon forgot Jarley. But one day a notion -seized me to look at the cipher and the diary again. - -"But when I came to look for them, they had gone. Nor did any search -result in my finding them. It at once flashed across my mind that Jarley -might have taken them. So fixed an idea did this become, that I visited -the place in Maine to which he said he had gone, only to find that he had -removed soon after his return from Virginia. However, pursuing the trail, -I found that he--or a man resembling him--had visited the spot on the -lake where the old-time house had stood, and had made a mysterious -expedition into the mountains. The spot was at that time known as -Dangerfield, and was quite a flourishing little town, with a pulp mill -and a few other local industries. In that quiet community they -recollected the mysterious visitor well. - -"However, as I learned, Jarley had left the town without paying his -guides or the man from whom he had hired the horses, I concluded that the -expedition had not been successful. Then I advertised for the man, but -without success. Then I was appointed to West Point, and for a long time -I thought no more of the matter. In fact, for years it lay dormant in my -mind, with occasional flashes of memory; then I would advertise for -Jarley or his heirs, but without success. - -"The last time I advertised was about a year ago. After six months' -silence I received a letter, asking me to call at an address near the -Erie Basin in Brooklyn, if I was interested in the long-lost Jarley. All -my enthusiasm once more at fever heat, I set out for the place. The -address at which I was to call I found to be a squalid sailors' -boarding-house. On inquiring there for James Jarley, the name signed to -the letter, I was conducted into a dirty room, where lay a rough-looking -sailor, evidently just recovering from the effects of a debauch. - -"So dulled was his mind, that it was some time before I could explain my -errand, but finally he understood. He frankly told me he was out for -money, and wanted to know how much I would give him for some papers he -had which his father--our old butler, it transpired--had left him. His -father, he said, had told him that if ever he wanted to make money with -them he was to seek out a Major Dangerfield, who would be likely to pay -him well for them. - -"But it appeared that his father had also told him that he stood a chance -of arrest if he did so, and that it might be a dangerous step. However, -he told me that he had at length decided to take that chance, and on a -return from a long voyage, during which he had encountered my -advertisement in an old newspaper in a foreign port, he had made up his -mind to find me on his return. - -"His father, it appeared, had always kept track of me, but fear and shame -had kept him from trying to arrange a meeting. The son, I gathered, both -from his conversation and the situation in which I found him, had always -been a ne'er-do-well. Well, the matter ended with my paying him a sum of -money for the papers, which as I suspected, proved to be the yellow-paged -old diary and the well-thumbed, tattered cipher. Then I had him removed -to a hospital, where a few days later he died in an attack of delirium." - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - THE NARRATIVE CONTINUED. - - -"But it appeared that even while on his deathbed the man had been playing -a dishonest game. Before he had made his bargain with me, he had revealed -the secret and tried to sell it to a certain money-lender at a seaport in -Maine. This man had refused to have anything to do with what he thought -was a chimerical scheme, but later confided the whole thing to a friend -of his by name Stonington Hunt--a former Wall Street man, who had been -compelled to quit in disgrace the scene of his financial operations." - -"Stonington Hunt!" gasped Rob, leaning forward in his chair, while the -others looked equally amazed. - -"Yes, that was the name. Why, do you know him?" - -"Know him, Major!" echoed Mr. Blake. "He was concerned in some rascally -operations in this village not so long ago. That he left here under a -cloud, was mainly due to activities of the Boy Scouts, whose enemy he -was. We heard he had gone to Maine. Is he engaged in new rascality?" - -"You shall hear," pursued the major. "Well, as I said, this seaport -money-lender told Stonington Hunt of the chart and cipher and the old -diary recording the burial of the treasure. Hunt, it would seem, placed -more importance on the information than had the money-lender, for he -agreed, provided the latter would help to finance an expedition, to try -to solve the cipher, or else have some expert translate it. He set out at -once for Brooklyn, arriving there, as I subsequently learned, just after -I had departed with the diary and the papers which young Jarley had -carried in his sea-chest for some years. - -"He lost no time in tracing me, and offered me a large sum for the -papers. But my interest had been aroused. For the sake of the adventure -of the thing, and also to clear up the mystery, I had resolved to go -treasure hunting myself. With this object in view, I rented a bungalow on -a lake not far from the range in which I suspected the treasure cave lay, -and devoted days and nights trying to solve the cipher. At this time a -college professor, an old chum of mine, wrote me that his health was -broken down, and that he needed a rest. I invited him to come and visit -me in Essex County, at the same time suggesting that I had a hard nut for -him to crack. Professor Jeremiah Jorum arrived soon after, and his health -picked up amazingly in the mountain air. One day he asked about 'the hard -nut.' I produced the cipher, and told him something of its history. -Perhaps I should have told you that Professor Jorum has devoted a good -deal of his life to what is known as cryptology--or the solving of -seemingly unsolvable puzzles. He had translated Egyptian cryptograms and -inscriptions left by vanished tribes on ruins in Yucatan and Old Mexico. - -"He worked for several days on the cipher, and one day came to me with a -radiant face. He told me he had solved it. No wonder I had failed. It was -a simple enough cipher--one of the least complex, in fact--but the -language used had been Latin, in which my ancestor, as a well-bred -Englishman of that day, was proficient. As he was telling me this, I -noticed a man I had hired some days before, hanging about the open -windows. I ordered him away, and he went at once. But I had grave -suspicions that he had overheard a good deal more than I should have -wished him to. However, there was no help for it. I dismissed the matter -from my mind, and we--the professor and I--spent the rest of the day -discussing the cipher and the best means for recovering the treasure. We -agreed it would be dangerous to take men we could not absolutely trust, -and yet, we should require several people to organize a proper -expedition. - -"But, as it so happened, all our plans had to be changed that night. I -was awakened soon after midnight by a noise in my room. In the dim light -I saw a figure that I recognized as our gardener, moving about. The lamp -beside my bed had, for some reason, not gone out when I turned it down on -retiring, and I soon had the room in a blaze of light. The intruder -sprang toward me, a big club in his hand. I dodged the blow and grappled -with him. In the struggle his beard fell off, and I recognized, to my -amazement, that our 'gardener' was Stonington Hunt himself. - -"The shock of this surprise had hardly been borne in upon me when the -fellow, who possessed considerable strength, forced me back against the -table. In the scuffle the lamp was upset. In a flash the place was in a -blaze. Hunt was out of the room in two bounds. He seized the key, as he -went, and locked the door on the outside, thus leaving me to burn to -death, or chance injury by a leap from the window, which overhung a cliff -above the lake. I had just time to throw on a few clothes and grab the -papers, which I had luckily placed under my pillow, before the flames -drove me out. The wood of the door was flimsy, and without bothering to -try to force the lock, I smashed out a panel. Crawling through, I aroused -my friend Jorum and my old negro servant, Jumbo. - -"We saved nothing but the precious papers, but as the bungalow was -roughly furnished, I did not much care. We made our way to a distant -house and stayed there the night. The next day we took a wagon to the -shore of the lake and went by boat to Whitehall. There we embarked on a -train for Albany, where my daughter was at the home of friends. I, too, -have a residence there, but, having received an invitation from friends -to visit them on Long Island, I decided to give my little girl a motor -trip. - -"But while in Albany I perceived I was being followed, and by the two men -whom you have described to me as taking part in the filching of the -wallet. I thought I had thrown them off, however, but your adventure -to-day proves that I have not been as successful as I hoped. The most -unfortunate part of it is that the cipher was in that wallet." - -"And it's gone," groaned Tubby dolorously. - -"I'm not so sure of that. I am hopeful that we may recover it," said the -retired officer. "I have wired my friend Jorum, who, with Jumbo, is now -in New York, and I am in hopes that he can recollect something of his -translation of the cipher. If not--well, there's no use crossing bridges -till we come to them." - -"If you do recover it?" asked Rob. - -"If I do, I am going to ask your parents to let me borrow a patrol of Boy -Scouts to aid in the treasure hunt," smiled the major. - -"My dear Major," cried Mr. Blake, holding up his hands, "Mrs. Blake would -never consent to----" - -"But there would be such a lot of fun, dad," urged Rob. "Think of a camp -in the mountains. We'd have to camp, wouldn't we, Major?" - -"Certainly. It would be a fine opportunity for you to perfect yourselves -in----" - -"Woodcraft," said Tubby. - -"Signaling," put in Merritt. - -"I've got a field wireless apparatus I'd like to try out," put in Hiram, -his voice a-quiver with eagerness. - -"Well, the first thing to be done is to recover that cipher," said the -major; "at present all we know of it is that it is in the hands of two -rascals." - -"In the employ of another rascal, Stonington Hunt," put in Rob. - -"Well, we can do nothing more to-night," said the major. - -"No. We were so interested in your story that I think none of us noticed -how the time flew by," said Mr. Blake, and Mrs. Blake, entering just -then, announced that there was supper ready for the party in the -dining-room. Tubby's eyes glittered at this news. - -Soon after the sandwiches, cakes and lemonade had been disposed of, the -Boy Scouts set out for home, agreeing to meet the major next morning -after breakfast. - -They had not gone many steps from the house when Tubby stopped as -suddenly as if he had been shot. - -"Gingersnaps!" he exclaimed. "I've just thought of something." - -"Goodness! Must hurt," jeered Merritt unsympathetically. - -"No--that is, yes--no, I mean," sputtered the fat boy. "Say, fellows, I -heard this afternoon that Sam Phelps from Aquebogue told a fellow in the -village that he had seen Freeman Hunt over there this morning." - -"You double-dyed chump," exclaimed Rob, who was walking a way with them, -"and you never said anything about it. If Freeman was there, I'll bet his -father was, too, and that's where those two men have gone." - -"Gee whiz, if they have they must be there yet, then!" exclaimed Merritt, -excitedly, "unless they left by automobile." - -"How's that?" demanded Rob. - -"It's this way. There was no train after those chaps took the wallet, -till almost eight o'clock. They must have hidden in the woods and caught -it some place below, unless Si arrested them." - -"He'd have been at the house to get the reward if he had," rejoined Rob. - -"Very well, then. He didn't catch them, and if the Hunts are at -Aquebogue, that's where they've gone." - -"Yes, but what's to prevent them leaving there?" - -"No train after nine-thirty till to-morrow morning, and the eight o'clock -from here doesn't get to Aquebogue till after that time; so they must be -stranded there, unless they have a car." - -"Cookies and cream cakes! That's right!" cried Tubby, "let's phone the -police at Aquebogue to look out for them." - -But the lads found that the wire between Hampton and Aquebogue wasn't -working. The telegraph office was closed. They exchanged blank glances. - -"What are we going to do?" demanded Tubby. - -"What all good scouts ought to do--the best we can,"--rejoined Rob. - -"And that is, under the present circumstances?" questioned Merritt. - -"To go to our garage--Blenkinsop's--on Main Street, and get out the car." - -"It'll be closed," rejoined Tubby. - -"I've got a key," replied Rob; "I'll 'phone the house that I'm going for -a night spin. We can get there, notify the police, and be back in two -hours." - -"Forward, scouts!" ordered Merritt, in sharp, "parade-ground" tones, "and -'Be Prepared' for whatever comes along." - -Rob found that the telephone to his home was also out of order, owing to -repairs which were being rushed through by night. So ten minutes later, -when the car glided out of the garage on Main Street and slipped silently -through the sleeping town, there was nobody in Hampton who knew the Boy -Scouts' night mission. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - A MIDNIGHT AUTO DASH. - - -The auto, a fast and heavy machine, plunged along through the night at a -great rate. Its bright searchlight cast a brilliant circle of radiance -far ahead into the darkness. Occasionally frightened birds could be seen -flying out of the inky hedges, falling bewildered in the path of the -white glare. - -It was exhilarating, blood-stirring work, all the more keenly delightful -from the sense of adventure with which it was spiced. - -Rob was at the wheel, steering straight and steady. He knew the road -well. Part of it had been the scene of that thrilling night ride -described in _The Boy Scouts and the Army Airship_, when the boys had -overtaken the two thieves who had stolen the aeroplane documents. On that -occasion, it will be recalled, an accident had been narrowly averted by a -soul-stirring hair's breadth, as a train dashed across the tracks. - -Rob's three companions sat back in the tonneau and conversed in low -tones. Only the irrepressible Tubby was not duly impressed with the -momentousness of the occasion. From time to time a snicker of laughter -showed that he was cracking jokes in the same old way. - -"Say," he remarked, as they bumped across the railroad tracks, "even if -we do find out where these fellows are, I don't know just what we're -going to do with them at this time of night. Reminds me----" - -"Oh, for goodness' sake, Tubby," groaned Merritt. - -"Let him go ahead," struck in Hiram, "the sooner he blows off all his -steam the sooner he'll shut up for good." - -"Reminds me," went on the unruffled Tubby, "of what a little girl said to -her mother when the kid asked her what sardines were. The mother -explained that they were small fish that big ones ate. Then the little -girl wanted to know how the big fish got them out of the tins." - -There was a deathly silence, broken only by a low groan from Merritt. - -"Call that a joke?" he moaned. - -"Don't spring any more. My life ain't insured, by heck," put in Yankee -Hiram. - -"Well, that got a laugh in the minstrel show where I heard it," responded -the aggrieved joke-smith. - -Before long, lights flashed ahead of them, and, descending a steepish -hill, they chugged into the town of Aquebogue. It was a fairly large -town, and here and there lighted windows showed that some of the low -resorts were still open for business. Far down the street shone two green -lights, which marked the police station. The auto glided up to this, and -Rob jumped out, accompanied by Merritt, leaving Tubby and Hiram in the -car. - -"Let's get out and stretch our legs a bit," said Tubby presently. It was -taking some time for Rob to explain his errand to a sleepy police -official. - -"All right, my boy," drawled Hiram. "I'm not averse to a bit of -leg-stretching." - -The two lads got out and strolled as far as the street corner. - -"H's'h!" exclaimed Tubby suddenly, as they reached it. He seized Hiram's -arm with every appearance of excitement. - -"Wa-al, what is it now?" asked the down-east boy; "more jokes and -didoes?" - -"No. See that chap just sneaking down the street from the opposite -corner?" - -"Yes; what of it? Are you seeing things?" - -"No. But it's Freeman Hunt--I'm sure of it." - -"By ginger, I believe you are right! It does look like him, for a fact. -But what can he be doing here?" - -"I've no more idea than you. But he must be up to some mischief." - -"Reckon that's right." - -"I tell you that where Freeman Hunt is, his father is not far off, and -the rest of the gang must be about here, too. I guess it was a good thing -we came out here." - -"Well, what shall we do? Go back and tell the police?" - -"No. While we were gone he'd sneak away, and we might miss him -altogether. I've got a better plan." - -"Do tell!" - -"We'll follow him at a distance and see where he goes. Then we can come -back and report." - -"Sa-ay, that's a good idea. Come on." - -Freeman Hunt was almost out of sight now. But as the two scouts took up -the trail, they saw him pause where a flood of light streamed from the -window of a drinking-place. He paused here for an instant and gave a low -whistle; presently the boys' hearts gave a bound. From the doors of the -resort issued three figures, one of which they recognized, even at that -distance, as Stonington Hunt. With him were the two men who had played -such a prominent part in the filching of the wallet belonging to Major -Dangerfield. - -"Keep in the shadow," whispered Tubby, crouching in a convenient doorway; -"they haven't seen us. Hullo, there they go. Keep a good distance -behind--as far back as we can, without losing them." - -The men the scouts were trailing struck into a lively pace. They seemed -to be conversing earnestly. Through the shadows the two boys crept along -behind them. Presently they were traversing a residence street, edged -with elms and lawns and white picket fences. It was deserted and silent. -The occupants of the houses were wrapped in sleep. - -"Maybe they're going to turn into one of these houses," whispered Hiram. - -But the men didn't. Instead, they kept right on, and before long the last -electric light had been passed and they were in the open country. - -"Hadn't we better turn back?" murmured Hiram. "It looks as if we were -going too far for safety." - -"Let's keep on," urged Tubby. "There's no danger. If we gave up the chase -now we'd have had all our work for nothing." - -Hiram made no reply, and the two boys, taking advantage of every bit of -cover--as the game of "Hare and Hounds" had taught them--kept right on -dogging the footsteps of their quarry. All at once Tubby began sniffing -the air. - -"We're getting near the sea," he proclaimed. "I can smell the salt -meadows." - -Aquebogue lay some distance back from the open waters of the ocean. It -was situated, like Hampton itself, on an inlet. In the dim light of the -stars, the two boys presently perceived that they were traversing a sort -of dyke or raised road leading across the marshes. - -"Where can they be going?" wondered Hiram. - -"Don't know. But there are lots of fishermen's huts and shacks dotted -about in the marshes. Maybe they are making for one of them." - -"Maybe," opined Hiram, "but if you weren't so all-sot on following them, -I'd be in a good mind to turn back." - -"Not yet," persisted Tubby, and the chase continued. - -But it was soon to end. All at once the faint glimmer of a watercourse, -or inlet from the sea, shone dimly in front of them. Upreared, too, -against the star-spangled sky, they could see the inky outlines of a -structure of some kind. - -"Crouch down here," said Tubby suddenly, as the men ahead of them came to -a halt. - -A bunch of marsh grass offered a convenient hiding place, and behind it -the two boys lay flat. Pretty soon they heard the scratch of a match, and -then the grating of a lock, as the door of the dark building they had -remarked was opened. The men entered the place and slammed the door to. A -few instants later, from the solitary window of the shack, a light shone -out. The window was toward the creek, and the glare from it showed the -two watching boys the mast and rigging of a large sloop. At least, from -her spars, they judged her to be of considerable size. - -"Gee whiz!" exclaimed Tubby, "we've found the place, all right. They must -have come in that sloop. Maybe that's the way the two men who took the -wallet got out of Hampton unobserved." - -"But the wind's against the sloop, and she couldn't have beaten her way -down here in that time," objected Hiram. - -"She might have an engine, mightn't she?" whispered Tubby in scornful -tones. - -"That's so. Lots of boats do have gasoline motors. I guess you're right, -Tubby. What are you going to do now? Go back?" - -"Not much," rejoined the fat boy. "We'll just have a look into that hut -and see what's going on. We might even get a chance to get that wallet -back." - -"Say, you're not going to take such a chance! If you looked through that -window----" - -"Did I say I was going to look through the window, stupid? Don't you see -that chimney on the roof? Now, the roof comes down low, almost to the -ground. I'm going to climb up on it, and, by leaning over the chimney, I -can hear what is said." - -"But they'll hear your feet on the roof," objected the practical Hiram. - -"I'm going to take my shoes off." - -"It's awfully risky, Tubby." - -"Say, look here, Hiram," sputtered the fat boy, "if this country was to -go to war, you'd want to go to the front and fight for Old Glory as a Boy -Scout, wouldn't you?" - -"Of course." - -"Well, then, don't you suppose that if you were scouting after an enemy -you'd have to take bigger chances than this?" - -Hiram said no more. Kicking their shoes off, and leaving them by the -grass hummock, the two boys crept forward as silently as two cats. In the -yielding sand their feet made no noise. - -As Tubby had surmised, at the rear of the house the roof came almost to -the ground, for the sand was heaped up against that particular wall, -being driven in big dunes by the winds off the ocean. - -"Up with you," whispered Tubby, giving Hiram a "boost." The Yankee boy's -long legs carried him onto the roof in a jiffy. Then came Tubby. Already -the two boys could hear below them the low hum of voices, Freeman Hunt's -sharp, boyish tones mingling with the bass drone of the elder men's -conversation. - -The roof was formed of driftwood and old timbers, and was as easy to -climb as a staircase. Before many seconds, the boys were at the chimney. -With beating pulses and a heart that throbbed faster than was altogether -comfortable, in spite of his easy-going disposition, Tubby raised himself -and peered down the flue. It was of brick. But to his astonishment, as he -peered over the edge, he found he had a clear view of the room below. - -The chimney, as is often the case in rough dwellings, did not go all the -way down to the floor. Instead, it was supported on two beams, so that, -peering down it, the boy could command a view of the room below, just as -if he had been looking down a telescope. - -Round a table were seated Stonington Hunt, the two rough-looking men who -had stolen the wallet, and Freeman Hunt. A smoky glass lamp stood on the -rough box which served for a table. Spread out on the table, too, was -something that almost made Tubby let go his hold of the chimney and go -sliding down the roof. It was the wallet, and beside it lay the paper -covered with figures and markings, which, the boy had no doubt, was the -precious document of the major. - -"We'll have to get out of here early in the morning," Stonington Hunt was -saying. "I don't fancy having the police on my heels." - -"No. And Jim here says that those pesky Boy Scouts are mixed up in the -search for the wallet," struck in Freeman Hunt. - -"Well, this is the time we give those brats the slip," growled his -father. "Come on, let's turn in. We'll get the motor going and drop down -the creek before daylight." - -"Better leave the light burning then," said one of the men who had been -in Hampton that afternoon. - -This was done, and presently snores and heavy breathing showed the men -were asleep. Tubby could not see what resting places they had found, but -assumed that there must be bunks around the edge of the hut, as is usual -in such fishermen's shelters. - -Before retiring, the men had shoved the paper into the wallet, but for -some reason, probably they didn't think of it during their preparations -for sleep, the wallet had been left on the table. It was almost directly -below the chimney. As Tubby looked at it, he had a sudden idea. - -"Got a bit of wire, Hiram?" he asked, knowing that the mechanical genius -of the Eagle Patrol usually carried such odds and ends with him. - -"Guess I've got a bit of brass wire right here," rejoined Hiram, "but it -isn't very long." - -"Long enough," commented Tubby, scrutinizing the bit handed to him, "now, -if you had some string----" - -"Got a bit of fish line." - -"Couldn't be better. Give it to me." - -Much mystified, Hiram watched the fat boy bend the bit of wire and tie it -to the string. - -"Going fishing?" he asked in a sarcastic tone. - -"Yes," replied Tubby quite seriously. - -His quick eye had noted that the straps that closed the wallet had not -been placed round it but lay in a loose loop on the table. If only he -could entangle his improvised line in the loop, it would be an easy -matter to fish up the wallet. If only he could do it! - -Very cautiously, for he knew the risk he was running, Tubby lowered his -line. Then he waited. But the breathing below continued steady and -stentorian. Swinging his hook, which was quite heavy, the stout boy -grappled cautiously for the wallet. It was tantalizing and delicate work. -But after taking an infinity of pains, he finally succeeded in getting it -fast. - -Tubby at this moment had difficulty in suppressing a shout of "hooray!" -But he mastered his emotions, and slowly and delicately began to haul in -his "catch." Hiram, fascinated, crept close to his side. Perhaps it was -this fact that was responsible for the disaster that occurred the next -instant. - -Without the slightest warning, save a sharp, cracking sound, the roof -caved in under their feet. In a flash, both boys were projected in a heap -into the room below. As they hurtled through the rotten covering of the -hut, shouts and cries resounded from the aroused occupants. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - IN DIREST PERIL. - - -The wildest confusion ensued. Fortunately, the drop was a short one, and -beyond a few scratches and bruises, neither boy was hurt. The lamp, by -some strange fatality, was not put out, but rolled off the table. As -Stonington Hunt sprang at him, Tubby seized it. He brandished it -threateningly. - -"The Boy Scouts!" shouted Stonington Hunt, the first to recover from his -stupefaction at the sudden interruption to their slumbers. - -He dashed at Tubby, who swung the lamp for an instant--it was his only -weapon--and then dashed it, like a smoky meteor, full at the advancing -man's head. - -It missed him by the fraction of an inch, or he would have been turned -into a living torch. - -Crash! - -The lamp struck the opposite wall, and was shattered into a thousand -fragments. Instantly the place was plunged in darkness, total and -absolute. At the same instant a sharp report sounded. It seemed doubly -loud in the tiny place. The fumes of the powder filled it reekingly. - -"Don't shoot!" roared Stonington Hunt. "Guard the door and window. Don't -let them get away." - -"All right, dad," the boys heard Freeman Hunt cry loudly, as he scuffled -across the room. - -"Keep the doorway and the window," shouted Stonington Hunt. "I'll have a -light in a jiffy. We've got them like two rats in a cage." - -As he struck a match and lit a boat lantern that stood on a shelf, a low -groan came from one corner of the room. Hiram was horrified to perceive -that it was Tubby who uttered it. The shot must have wounded him, fired -at haphazard, as it had been. The man who had aimed it, the bearded -member of the gang, stood grimly by the doorway. - -Almost beside himself at the hopelessness of their situation, Hiram gazed -about him. All at once he noticed that on Tubby's chest a crimson stain -was slowly spreading. The stout boy lay quite still except for an -occasional quiver and groan. Without a thought as to his danger, Hiram -disregarded Stonington Hunt's next injunction: "Don't move a step." - -Swiftly he crossed to his wounded comrade. He sank on his knees beside -him. - -"T-T-T-Tubby," he exclaimed, "are you badly hurt, old man?" - -To his amazement, the recumbent Tubby gave him a swift but knowing wink, -and then, rolling over on his side again, resumed his groaning once more. -Mystified, but comforted, Hiram was rising, when a rough hand seized him -and sent him spinning to an opposite corner. It was the burly form of the -bearded man that had propelled him. - -"Not so rough, Jim Dale," warned Stonington Hunt. "We've got them where -they can't escape. Lots of time to get what we want out of them." - -"The pesky young spies," snorted Jim Dale, "I wonder how much they -overheard of what we said." - -"It don't matter, anyhow," put in his beardless companion of the -afternoon. "They won't have no chance to tell it." - -"Guess that's right, Pete Bumpus," struck in the bearded man. Suddenly -Hiram felt a stinging slap across the face. He turned and faced young -Freeman Hunt. - -"How do you like that, eh?" snarled the youth viciously. "Here is where I -pay you out for what you Scout kids did to me when we lived in Hampton." - -He was stepping forward to deliver another blow, when Hiram ducked -swiftly, and put into execution a maneuver Rob had shown him. As Freeman, -a bigger and heavier lad, rushed forward, Hiram's long leg and his long -left arm shot out simultaneously. The leg engaged Freeman's ankle, and -the Yankee lad's fist encountered the other's chin with a sharp crack. -Freeman Hunt fell in a heap on the floor. Hiram braced himself for an -attack by the whole four. But it didn't come. Instead, they seemed to -think it a good joke. - -"That will teach you to keep your temper," laughed the boy's father -roughly; "plenty of time to punch him and pummel him when we have them -tied up." - -"Maybe I won't do it, too," promised Freeman, gathering himself up, with -a crestfallen look. - -Stonington Hunt stepped up to Hiram. - -"Tell me the truth, you young brat," he snarled; "are the police after -us?" - -Hiram pondered an instant before answering. Then he decided on a course -of action. Possibly it was a bad one, judging by the immediate results. - -"Yes, they are," he said boldly, "and if you don't let us loose, you'll -get in trouble." - -Stonington Hunt paused irresolutely. Then he said: - -"Get the sloop ready, boys. We'll get out of here on the jump." - -A few moments later Hiram's hands were bound and he was led on board the -craft the boys had noticed lying in the creek. A plank connected it with -the shore. Tubby, still groaning, was carried on board and thrown down in -the bow beside Hiram. - -"We'll attend to him after a while," said Hunt brutally; "if he's badly -wounded it's his own fault, for meddling in other folks' affairs." - -One of the men went below. Presently there came a sharp chug-chug, and -the anchor being taken in, the sloop began to move off down the creek. As -Tubby Hopkins had surmised, she had an engine. Hunt, Jim Dale and Peter -Bumpus stood in the bow. Hiram leaned disconsolately against a stay, and -Tubby lay at his feet on a coil of rope. - -The shores slipped rapidly by, and pretty soon the creek began to widen. - -Freeman Hunt was at the wheel, and from time to time Jim Dale shouted -directions back at him. - -"Port--port! Hard over!" or again, "Hard over! Starboard! There's a shoal -right ahead!" - -A moon had risen now, and in the silvery light the darker water of the -shoals, of which the creek seemed full, showed plainly. - -"This crik's as full of sand-bars as a hound dorg is uv fleas," grunted -Jim Dale. "It won't be full tide for two hours or more, either. If----" - -There came a sudden, grinding jar. - -"Hard over! Hard over!" bellowed Jim Dale. - -Freeman Hunt spun the wheel like a squirrel in its cage. But it was too -late. The sloop had grounded hard and fast. Leaving Peter Bumpus to guard -the boys, Jim Dale and the elder Hunt leaped swiftly aft. They backed the -motor, but it was no use. The sloop was too hard aground to be gotten off -till the water rose. - -"Two hours to wait till the tide rises," grumbled Jim Dale; "just like -the luck." - -Slowly the time passed. But never for an instant was the watch over the -boys relaxed. Tubby lay still, and Hiram, almost carried out of himself -by the rapid rush of recent events, leaned miserably against the stay. - -At last, just as a faint, gray light began to show in the east, they -could feel the sloop moving under their feet. With reversed motor, she -was backed off the sand-bar, or mud-shoal, and the journey resumed. As -the light grew stronger, Hiram saw that they were dropping rapidly down -toward the sea. Right ahead of them could now be seen the white foam and -spray, where the breakers of the open sea were shattering themselves on -the bar at the mouth of the creek. - -The channel was narrow and intricate, but Jim Dale, who seemed to be a -good pilot, and who had assumed the wheel, brought the sloop through it -in safety. Before long, under her keel could be felt the long lift and -drive of the open Atlantic. - -By gazing at the sun, Hiram saw that the sloop's head was pointed west. -By this he judged that her navigators meant to head down the Long Island -shore toward New York. - -The sunrise was red and angry. Hiram, with his knowledge of scout-lore, -knew that this presaged bad weather. But the crew of the sloop did not -seem to notice it. After a while they began to make preparations to hoist -sail, as the breeze was freshening. - -"Take those kids below," ordered Stonington Hunt suddenly. Under the -escort of Jim Dale, who had relinquished the wheel to Freeman Hunt and -Pete Bumpus, the lads--Tubby being carried--were presently installed in a -small, dark cabin in the stern of the sloop. This done, the companionway -door was closed, and they heard a key grate in a lock. They were -prisoners, then, at sea, on this mysterious sloop? - -"What next?" groaned Hiram to himself, sinking down on a locker. - -"Why, I guess the next thing to do is for me to come to life, my valiant -downeaster," cried Tubby, springing erect from the corner into which he -had been thrown. The apparently badly wounded lad seemed as active and -chipper as ever. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - ADRIFT IN THE STORM. - - -At the same instant the sloop staggered and heeled over, sending Hiram -half across the dingy cabin. He caught at a stanchion and saved himself. -Then he turned his amazed gaze afresh on Tubby. The stout youth stood by -the companion stairs, regarding him with a grin. Presently he actually -began to hum: - - "A life on the ocean wave! - A home on the rolling deep! - -"Yo ho, my hearties," he added, with a nautical twitch at his breeches, -"we're going to have a rough day of it." - -As if in answer, the sloop heeled over to another puff. A tin dish, -dislodged from the rusty stove, went clattering across the inclined cabin -floor. But still Hiram stood gaping vacantly at Tubby. - -"Well, what's the matter?" inquired that individual cheerfully, "have you -lost that voice of yours?" - -"No, b-b-b-but I thought you were badly wounded!" Hiram managed to -sputter. - -"So I was, but in reverse English only," said Tubby cheerfully; "the -bullet just nicked me and knocked the breath out of me for a minute. When -I came to, I saw that the best thing I could do was to act like Br'er -Rabbit and lay low." - -Hiram looked his admiration. - -"Wa-al," he drawled, dropping, as he seldom did even in emotional -moments, into his New England dialect, "ef you ain't ther beatingist! - -"But, say," he added quickly, "what about that red stain on your shirt? -Look, it's all over the front of your uniform." - -"Jiggeree, so it is. I guess that fountain pen of mine must have been -busted cold by that bullet. I had it filled with red ink, because I'd -been helping Rob fill out some reports to mail to Scout headquarters. Ho! -ho!" the fat boy broke into open mirth, "it certainly does look as if -some one had tapped my claret. Yo-ho! that was a corker!" - -The sloop lurched and dipped deeper than ever. They could see the green -water obscure the port hole for an instant. - -"That sea's getting up right along," said Tubby presently, as he unbound -Hiram's hands. "Say, Hiram," he added anxiously, "you don't get seasick -easily, do you?" - -"N-n-n-no, that is, I don't think so," sputtered Hiram rather dubiously. - -"Well, don't, I beg from my heart! Don't get seasick till we get on land -again." - -"I'll try not to," said the downeast boy seriously, ignoring the fine -"bull" which Tubby's remark contained. - -"Reminds me," said Tubby presently, "of what the sea captain said to the -nervous lady. She went up to him and told him that her husband was scared -of getting seasick. 'My husband's dreadfully liable to seasickness, -captain,' she said. 'What must I tell him to do if he feels it coming -on?' 'You needn't tell him anything, ma'am,' said the captain; 'no need -to tell him what to do--he'll do it.'" - -But somehow this bit of humor did not bring even a wan smile to Hiram, -willing as he usually was to laugh at Tubby's whimsical jokes. Instead, -he turned a pale face on his companion. - -"I--I--do feel pretty bad, for a fact!" he moaned. - -"Oh, Jiminy Crickets!" wailed Tubby, "he's going to be seasick!" - -Hiram, with a ghastly face of a greenish-yellow hue, sank down on one of -the lockers, resigning himself to his fate. The sloop began to plunge and -tumble along in a more lively fashion than ever. Overhead Tubby could -hear the trample of feet, as her crew ran about trying to weather the -blow. - -Suddenly, above the howling of the wind, Tubby heard a sharp click at the -companionway door. The next instant the companionway slide was shoved -back and a gust of fresh, salt-laden air blew into the close cabin. -Stonington Hunt's form was on the stairway the next moment, and Tubby, -with a quick dive, threw himself on the floor in a corner, carrying out -once more his role of the badly wounded scout. - -Lying there, and breathing in a quick, distressed way, Tubby, out of the -corner of his eye, watched the man as he moved about. Hunt's first idea -was evidently to rouse Hiram. Perhaps he needed him to help in navigating -the storm-buffeted craft. But he soon gave up the task of instilling the -seasick lad with ambition or life. Then came Tubby's turn, but after -bending over the fat boy for an instant, Hunt muttered: - -"He's no good," and without offering to aid the supposedly injured boy, -moved away. He ascended the steps and presently the companion slide -banged to, and the padlock clicked once more. - -Tubby arose, as soon as he was convinced the coast was clear, and, -despairing of arousing Hiram, sat on a locker and began to think hard. -Rather bitterly he went over in his mind the circumstances leading to -their present predicament. In the first place, he could not but own he -had had no business to embark on such an enterprise at all without a -bigger force. In the second place, if he had lived up to the Scouts' -motto of "Be Prepared," there was a strong possibility that they would -not have been so disastrously precipitated through the roof of the lonely -hut. However, before long, Tubby's naturally buoyant temperament asserted -itself. As became a boy who had won a first-class scoutship, he did not -waste any further time on vain regrets. Instead of crying over spilled -milk, he began to figure on finding a way out of their predicament. - -Casting his eyes about the cabin, he suddenly became aware of a small -door in the bulkhead at the forward end of it. Curious by nature, Tubby -opened it, and peered into a dark, cavernous space. A strong odor of -gasoline saluted his nostrils, and presently--his eyes becoming used to -the light--he could make out the occasional glint of metal. In a flash he -realized that this was the engine-room of the sloop, and housed her -auxiliary motor. - -A button-switch being made out by the boy at this moment, he turned it. -Instantly two incandescent lights shone out, illuminating the place. By -their light Tubby made out another door beyond the motor. Determined to -investigate the sloop thoroughly--come what might--he thrust it open, and -found himself in what seemed to be the hold. But it was too dark to -perceive much. Besides, the sloop was pitching and rolling so terribly -that the lad had all he could do to hold on. - -Returning to the engine-room, he almost stumbled across an electric torch -secured to a bracket on the bulkhead. It was evidently used for examining -the motor without exposing an open light to the fumes of the gasoline. -Armed with this, Tubby once more investigated the hold. It was a -capacious place. Stanchions, like a forest of bare trees, supported the -deck above. So far as the boy could make out, the place was empty. Far -forward was a ladder leading up to a hatchway. Tubby, following out his -naturally inquiring bent of mind, was about to examine this, when his -heart gave a great bound and then stood still. - -He had not thought to cast a glance behind him in his eagerness to -examine the hold. - -This had proved to be a fatal bit of oversight on his part, for -Stonington Hunt and his son, descending to the cabin for some purpose, -had observed his absence. A brief investigation showed them the open door -into the engine-room and thence they had glimpsed the flash of Tubby's -torch. - -The boy turned, warned by some instinct, just as they tiptoed up behind -him. Freeman Hunt, with a grin on his face, rushed straight at the Boy -Scout. But Tubby was prepared this time, at any rate. He dashed the -torch, end down, on the floor of the hold, extinguishing it instantly. At -almost the same instant, he rushed straight at the place where he had -last seen Freeman Hunt. - -To his huge satisfaction, he felt the other go down in a sprawling heap -under his onrush. As he fell, Freeman gave a shout of: - -"He ain't wounded at all, dad! He was fooling us!" - -"Yes, the brat! He was!" shouted Stonington Hunt, blundering about in the -black hold and striving to keep his footing on the pitching, heaving -floor. - -Tubby, guided by instinct, dashed forward toward the spot, as nearly as -he could judge its location, where he had noticed the ladder. He found -it, and had placed his foot on the bottom rung, when there was a sudden -shock. - -The motion of the sloop seemed to cease, as if by magic. Tubby felt -himself hurled forward into darkness by the shock. His head crashed -against something, and a world of brilliant constellations swam in a -glittering array before his eyes. Then something in his head seemed to -give way with a snap, and young Hopkins knew no more. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - EAGLES ON THE TRAIL. - - -"Hullo! Wonder what's become of those two fellows?" - -Merritt voiced the inquiry, as he and Rob emerged from the police -station. The sergeant in charge had promised to do all he could to -apprehend the stealers of the pocketbook if they were anywhere within -striking distance of Aquebogue. - -Rob looked about him. There stood the automobile. But of the two lads -they had left to guard it there was no sign. After waiting a reasonable -time, the two Boy Scout leaders began to feel real alarm. - -"Somehow I feel as if Hunt and his gang have got something to do with -this," murmured Rob uneasily. - -"It does seem queer," admitted Merritt. "Let's look around a bit more, -and then, if we find no trace of them, we'll go back to the police -station and look for aid." - -"All right; I guess that's the best thing to do." - -But, as we know, it was impossible that their search could terminate in -anything but failure. Not a little worried, Rob informed their friend, -the sergeant, of what had occurred. That official at once galvanized into -action. Before this, he had not seemed to take much interest in their -affairs. But now he really moved quickly. By telephone he summoned two -detectives, and the lads soon put them in possession of the facts in the -case. - -"Pretty slim grounds to work on," remarked one of them with a shrug. - -Rob could not but feel that this was true. After their consultation with -the detectives, who at once set out to scour the place for some trace of -Hunt and his crew, the two lads, much dispirited, and with heavy hearts, -set out for home. They arrived there in the early morning, and turned in -for a brief sleep. As Rob had expected, his father was not at all pleased -when he learned of the nocturnal use made of his car, and of the serious -consequences which had ensued. But Major Dangerfield, who had listened to -the lad's story with interest--it was related at the breakfast table--was -inclined to take a less serious view of the matter. - -"After all, Mr. Blake," he said, "the boys behaved like true Boy Scouts. -It was their duty to try to aid in the matter of the pocketbook, and they -did their best. I think that it was cleverly done, too." - -"But young Hopkins and Hiram are missing," protested Mrs. Blake. "What -will their parents say?" - -"I don't think, from my observation of Master Hopkins, that he is the -kind of lad to get into serious difficulties," said the major. "In fact, -I am convinced that he has stumbled across some clew and is following it -up." - -"I hope it may be so, and that both of them are safe," said Mrs. Blake -fervently. - -The first duty, after the morning meal, was to call on Mrs. Hopkins, who -was a widow, and also on Hiram's parents, and explain the case. It was -not a pleasant task, but Rob saw it through with Spartan courage. He -succeeded in quelling the first vivid alarm of the lads' parents, -however, and promised to return with news of them before the day was -over. This done, Major Dangerfield, Merritt and Rob set out in the Blake -car for Aquebogue. - -"It is your duty as Boy Scouts to find your missing comrades," said Mr. -Blake, as the car started off. - -"We'll do it, if it's possible----" began Merritt dolefully. - -"We'll do it, anyway," said Rob stoutly. - -"That's the right Scout way to talk," said the major commendingly, "that -is the spirit that will win." - -No news greeted them on their arrival in Aquebogue. The two detectives -were still out on the case, and the officials in charge had nothing to -report. This was discouraging, but before long one of the detectives -arrived with an important clew. He carried in his hand a paper package. -On being opened, it proved to contain two pairs of shoes, of Boy Scout -pattern. Rob and Merritt immediately identified them as belonging to -Hiram and young Hopkins. The major seemed much impressed by the value of -this bit of evidence, and before many minutes had passed they were all in -the auto and spinning toward the spot where the articles of apparel had -been discovered. - -The detectives, it transpired, had not yet explored the hut, and Rob's -keen eyes were the first to spy the jagged hole in its roof. He at once -set his scout training to work. The first thing he observed was that the -hole had been freshly torn. An investigation of the inside of the hut -showed the traces of the fight between Hiram and young Hunt. - -All at once Rob gave a sharp exclamation, and pounced on some object in a -corner of the place. Its bright glitter, as the light fell on it through -the hole in the roof, had attracted him at first. True Scout as he was, -Rob did not allow even the minutest object to escape his scrutiny. In -this case, he was richly rewarded, for what he had seen turned out to be -a Scout button. It was one that had been torn from Hiram's coat in the -struggle. - -"This is conclusive evidence that the two lads were here," decided the -major. "What else can you deduce from what you have seen, Rob?" - -The leader of the Eagle Patrol pondered a moment. Then he spoke. - -"In the first place," he said decidedly, "it is evident that Tubby and -Hiram in some way got on the track of our enemies in the town. They -followed them here. That is proved by the finding of their shoes on that -dune near the hut. They took their shoes off for some object, of course. -Evidently it must have been to silently observe the men who occupied this -shanty. By looking at the footmarks in the sand outside, I traced them to -the wall of the place. The steps did not turn in at the door, therefore, -obviously, they must have climbed on the roof, for the steps ended at the -low-hanging eaves, and they do not go back. - -"An examination of the roof shows that it must have given way under their -combined weight. See, that beam is as brittle as match-wood, from dry -rot. They could not have been hurt--at least, I don't think so--or this -button, which must have been torn off in a struggle, for they are tightly -sewn on, would not have been found." - -"Very good," approved the major. "I have seen Indian scouts on the border -who could not have done much better. But what is the next step?" - -"To find out what has become of them, of course," put in Merritt. - -"Well, let's see how close we can come to deciding that," said the major, -with a side glance at the detectives, who seemed puzzled and bewildered -at the swift deductive work of the young Scout. - -Merritt left the hut and made a hasty examination of the numerous tracks -without. He then scrutinized the muddy banks of the inlet closely. The -tide was not yet full, and the marks of the sloop's keel still showed. -Also sand had been tracked on to the little wharf. It was evident that a -vessel of some sort had lain there between tides. Equally plain did it -appear, that the two missing lads had been carried on board her. Merritt -lost no time in communicating his discoveries to his companions. - -"You have done well," commended the former army officer, "I am convinced -that your deductions are, in the main, correct. But now the thing is to -get some craft to go in pursuit of these fellows." - -"Ike Menjes, up the creek a little way, has a big gasoline launch he lets -out," volunteered one of the detectives. - -"We'll get it if possible," said the major instantly. "Is she a fast -boat?" - -"None quicker hereabouts," said the other arm of the law. - -Ten minutes later a bargain had been struck, and with Ike Menjes at the -engine, and Rob at the wheel, the swift launch _Algonquin_ was dashing -off down the winding creek headed for the open sea. As she tumbled and -rolled through the rough waters of the bar at the creek's mouth, Rob's -eye swept the sky. - -"Bad weather coming," he remarked. - -"No need to worry in this craft," declared Ike; "she's weathered the -worst we ever get off here." - -"I expect so," agreed the major, with an approving glance at the craft's -broad lines and generous beam. - -Before many moments had passed, Rob's prediction came true. The -_Algonquin_, without any diminution of speed, was being pushed along -through a rapidly rising sea, while the wind howled about her, growing -stronger every moment. Rob caught himself wondering what sort of a craft -the kidnappers of the boys possessed. He hoped it was staunch, for in his -judgment the blow was going to be a bad one. - -"It'll get worser before it gets betterer," opined Ike Menjes, coming -forward from his engines and peering ahead at the tumbling masses of -green water. The rising wind caught their tops and feathered them off in -masses of snowy spume. Overhead, dark, ragged clouds raced along. So low -did they hang that they seemed almost to touch the crests of the angry -waves. - -Each time the _Algonquin_ topped a roller and then staggered down into a -deep trough, Rob scanned the surrounding sea eagerly. But no sign, had, -so far, appeared, of any craft resembling the one which they knew must -have left the creek. Seaward some sails showed, but they were all those -of large coasting schooners. - -The craft they were in search of was, no doubt, a smallish vessel, -otherwise she could not have negotiated the narrow, winding creek, with -its innumerable bends and shallow places. - -"Keep more in shore," advised Ike. "They may have hugged the land to get -the benefit of the weather shore." - -Rob headed closer in toward the low-lying coast. He could see the waves -breaking angrily in white masses on the sandy beach. All at once, above a -distant point of land, he sighted the gray shoulder of a sail. The next -instant it had vanished. - -Had it found an opening through which to slip into an inlet in the bleak -coast, or had it foundered in the wild breakers? - -The question agitated Rob hugely. Some intuition told him that the craft -he had glimpsed had been the one they were in search of, but of its fate -they could have no immediate knowledge. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - WHAT SCOUT HOPKINS DID. - - -When young Hopkins came to himself, he was dimly conscious that the -driving motion of the sloop had ceased. Instead, lying there in the -pitchy darkness of the hold, he could feel the vessel being struck with -what appeared to be mighty blows from a Titanic hammer. Tubby guessed -instantly, from the sensations, that they were aground, and that what he -felt was the terrific bombardment of enormous breakers. - -A swift "overhauling" of himself soon showed the lad that he was not -hurt, although the blow on his head, when he had been hurled from the -ladder, had stunned him. Of how long he had been unconscious, he had, of -course, no knowledge. Worse still, he could not form any idea of how to -get out of his dark prison, and he realized that he had no time to lose -if he wanted to save Hiram and himself. - -Risking the chance that their enemies were prowling about, waiting for -the lad to declare himself, Tubby set up a shout. - -"Hiram! Oh, Hiram!" - -In the intervals of the crashing blows that shook the frail sloop from -stem to stern, Tubby listened intently. But for some time no answering -cry came to greet him. Then all at once he thought he caught a feeble -shout. He responded, and the cry came more distinctly. Guided by it, he -made his way aft with considerable difficulty. Presently a dim, gray -light, filtering through the blackness, apprised him that he was nearing -the door in the bulkhead through which he had blundered into the hold. A -moment more and he had passed through the engine-room and was in the -cabin. Hiram, looking pale and wild, was clinging to a stanchion. Water -had come into the cabin through a broken port, and was washing about the -floor. - -"Oh, Tubby, I'm so glad you've come. Where have you been?" breathed the -unfortunate Hiram, weak and shaky from his bout with seasickness. "What -is happening?" - -"I guess we're aground somewhere," rejoined Tubby. "I'm going to see." - -He made for the companionway and rattled the door at the top. As he had -dreaded, it was locked. They were prisoners on board a doomed vessel. For -an instant even young Hopkins' resourcefulness came to a standstill. His -heart seemed to stop beating. His head swam madly. Was this to be the end -of them, to be drowned miserably, like two captive rats? - -But the next instant the thought of their plight acted as a stimulus. "A -true Scout should never say die," thought the boy, and then, retracing -his steps, he joined Hiram. - -"What's become of Hunt and his outfit?" he asked. - -"Why, Stonington Hunt and Freeman passed through the cabin a few minutes -ago," replied Hiram, "right after that terrible bump----" - -"When the sloop struck," thought Tubby. Aloud he said: - -"Well?" - -"I heard them say that you were done for, and that I could be left to -drown." - -"Yes, yes, Hiram; but did they say anything about escaping themselves?" - -"Yes. I heard them shouting on deck to cut loose the boat. Then I heard a -lot of noise. I guess they launched her. That's all, till I heard you -shouting back in there." - -"Humph!" ejaculated Tubby; "so they left us to perish on this old sloop, -eh? Well, Hiram, we'll fool 'em. We'll get away yet in spite of them." In -talking thus, young Hopkins assumed a confidence he was far from feeling, -but he deemed it best to stimulate Hiram with hope. - -"Got any matches?" was his next question. - -Hiram nodded, and presently handed out a box. - -"Good. Now follow me. By the way, how's the seasickness?" - -"Oh, better, but I feel shaky yet. I can manage, though." - -"That's the stuff--wough!" - -A heavier blow than usual had been dealt the sloop. The two lads could -feel her quiver and quake under the concussion like a live thing. - -"Come on, we've got to move quick," said Tubby. Striking a match, he set -off into the hold. Hiram followed. Before long they stood at the foot of -the ladder from which Tubby had been so violently flung a short time -before. - -The stout youth darted up it with an agility one would not have expected -in a boy of his girth. With the strongest shove of which he was capable, -he pushed up the scuttle above. - -To his great joy, it gave, swinging back on hinges. But, as he opened it -fully, Tubby came nearly being hurled from the ladder for the second -time. A great mass of green water swept across the deck at that instant, -and the full force of the torrent descended into the hole through the -open hatch. Luckily, Tubby had seen it coming in time to warn Hiram, and -the downeast lad clung on tightly enough to avoid being carried from his -foothold. - -In a jiffy young Hopkins clambered through, shouting to Hiram to follow -him. It was a wild scene that met both boys' eyes when they emerged on -the deck of the stranded sloop. She lay in a small inlet which, though -partially sheltered, in hard storms was swept by the seas from outside. -The sloop was heeled over to one side at so steep an angle that standing -on her wet decks was impossible without clinging to something. - -About three hundred yards away lay the shore, a wild, uninhabited expanse -of wind-swept sand dunes, overgrown with dull, green and prickly -beach-grass. No sign of a human habitation could be discerned. Outside on -the beach the big seas thundered, flinging masses of white foam skyward. -It seemed almost impossible that she could have been navigated through -the narrow inlet leading into the small bay where she had stranded. As a -matter of fact, it had been more by luck than by design that she had -accomplished the passage. - -All at once, as the two castaways stood looking about them, a figure -bobbed up from behind one of the sand hills. It was instantly recognized -by Tubby as Stonington Hunt. The lad now saw that a boat lay on the -beach; evidently then, that was how they had reached the shore, as Hiram -had surmised. Hunt had apparently been seeking shelter from the storm -behind the dune, with the rest of his band. As his eyes fell on the -figures of the two Boy Scouts standing on the deck of the stranded sloop, -he beckoned toward the dune. Instantly there appeared the rest of the -lads' enemies. - -They stood staring for a few minutes, as if amazed to see the Boy Scouts. -But before they had time to take any action, an astonishing thing -happened. - -The sloop began to move. - -The incoming tide, which had been steadily rising, had floated her, and -she gradually reeled off the sand bank, on which she had struck, into -open water. As she did so, Tubby suddenly ducked low, and something -whistled by his head. Above the wind came the crack of a firearm's -report. Gazing toward Stonington Hunt, Tubby saw that the man held a -revolver in his hand. It was from this weapon, evidently, that the -projectile had been discharged. - -"Get out of the way, Hiram, quick!" exclaimed the stout lad, for he now -saw that the others were preparing to discharge pistols at them. It was -apparent that they did not mean the boys to escape if they could avoid -it. - -But Tubby had suddenly thought of a plan. It had been born in his mind -when the sloop rolled off the shoal into deep water. He knew something of -gasoline engines from his experiences on board the _Flying Fish_. Why -would it not be possible to get out of the little and dangerous bay under -motor power? The shots hastened his decision. Clearly if they remained -where they were, destruction swift and certain threatened. Stonington -Hunt did not mean to let them land, so much was only too apparent. - -Before the men left the sloop they had hauled down the canvas, probably -in an effort to keep her from grounding. It was the work of an instant -for Tubby to dash below and give a turn to the rear starting device on -the engine. It worked perfectly. Then he turned on the gasolene, easily -finding the connection, and threw on the switch. A blue spark showed that -the current was on. Then, with a beating heart he turned the starting -device once more. - -Bang! - -The engine moved. To the lad's delight it worked steadily. This done, he -darted back on deck and took the wheel. He was not a moment too soon, -for, with no one at the helm, the craft was heading once more for the -sand bank. Crouching beneath the stern bulwarks, and ordering Hiram to do -the same, young Hopkins navigated the sloop skilfully ahead, steering -straight for the open sea. Tempestuous as it was, the sloop seemed still -staunch, and he felt they were safer there than in such close proximity -to Hunt. Especially since they were followed by an unceasing fire from -the pistols of the gang. But although some of the shots splintered the -bulwarks, sending showers of slivers about the two crouching lads, -neither were hit. - -At last, after a dozen hair-raising escapes on the choppy bar, the sloop -gained the outside, and throwing showers of spray high over her bluff -bows, began to breast the sweep of the seas. - -"Go below and take a look at the glass oil cups," ordered Tubby as soon -as they were safe from the firing, "if any of them are empty fill them. -There is an oil can on a shelf beside the motor." - -Glad to do anything to help out, Hiram hastened on this errand. He was -below about ten minutes. When he returned on deck his face was white, and -he was breathing quickly. Tubby's quick eye noted, too, that the lad was -wet to the waist. - -"What's up below?" he demanded. - -"The cabin's half full of water, and it seems to be rising every minute;" -was the disquieting reply. - -At the same instant the sloop's motion stopped and she began rolling in a -sickening fashion in the troughs of the mighty seas. - -"Jehoshaphat!" exclaimed Scout Hopkins, "we're in for it now. The water's -reached the engine and it's stopped!" - -As he spoke a gigantic mountain of green water suddenly towered right -above the helpless sloop. Its crest seemed to overtop the mast tip. -Automatically Tubby crouched low and reached out a hand for Hiram. - -The next instant the wave swept down on them enveloping the lads in a -turmoil of salt water. The two boys were swept away in the liquid -avalanche like feathers before a gale. - -When the wave had passed, the wreck of the sloop could be seen staggering -and wallowing like a stricken thing. But of her two recent occupants -there was no trace upon the wilderness of heaving waters. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - A RESCUE AND A BIVOUAC. - - -From the bow of the _Algonquin_ Rob kept his eyes riveted on the spot at -which he had seen the sloop vanish. But for some time he could see -nothing but the billowing crests of the waves. Suddenly, to his -astonishment, from the midst of the combing summits, there was revealed -the swaying mast of the sloop, cutting great arcs dizzily across the -lowering sky. - -As the _Algonquin_ climbed to a wave top the entire length of the sloop -was disclosed to the lad's gaze. On her deck he could now plainly see two -figures. - -"Got a glass?" he inquired of Ike. - -"Sure," responded that individual, floundering forward with a pair of -binoculars. - -Rob clapped them to his eyes. The figures of Hiram and Tubby Hopkins swam -into the field of vision. At the same instant, or so it seemed, Rob made -out the wall of green water rushing downward upon the sloop. - -While a cry of alarm still quivered upon his lips, the sloop rallied an -instant, and then--was wiped out! - -The others had pressed forward too, and the _Algonquin_ had, by that -time, gotten close enough for them all to witness the marine tragedy. - -"Steady, Rob," exclaimed the major, his hand on Rob's shoulder, "they may -be all right yet." - -Rob's face was white and set, but he nodded bravely. It seemed impossible -that anything living could have escaped from the overwhelming avalanche -of water. - -Merritt seized the glasses as Rob set them down to take the wheel again. -He peered through them with straining eyes. - -"Hullo, what's that off in the water there?" he shouted suddenly, -pointing. - -The next instant the object he had descried had vanished in the trough of -a sea. - -"Could you make out anybody?" asked the major anxiously. - -"It looked like a spar with--Yes, there are two figures clinging to it." - -"Here, let me look!" Rob snatched the glasses out of his comrade's hand. - -"Hooray!" he cried the next instant, "it's Tubby and Hiram!" - -"Are you sure?" asked the major, "perhaps it's some members of Hunt's -crew." - -"No, it's Tubby and Hiram. I can make out their uniforms," cried Rob. As -he spoke he swung the wheel over, and the _Algonquin's_ head was turned -in the direction of the spot where a spar with two objects clinging to it -had last been seen. - -"Wonder what can have become of Hunt and his crowd?" said Merritt -presently. - -"Maybe they've met with a watery grave," conjectured one of the -detectives, "and from what you've told me it would be a good end for -them." - -"If they hain't taken that pocket-book with them," put in his companion, -"the kidnapping of those boys was as desperate a bit of work as I've ever -heard tell of." - -In a brief time the two lads, none the worse apparently for their -immersion, had been hauled on board the _Algonquin_, and were being plied -with eager questions. - -"I guess I caught on to that boom more by instinct than anything else," -explained Tubby, "when I got the water out of my lungs I looked about me -and saw that Hiram had grabbed it too." - -"That's what I call luck," said one of the detectives in a wondering -tone. - -"It surely was," agreed Hiram, "but I guess there's a bigger bit coming." - -"What do you mean?" asked the major, struck by something odd in the lad's -tone. - -For answer Tubby thrust a hand into an inside pocket of his coat and drew -forth something that, dripping with water as it was, could be easily -recognized as--the missing pocket-book! - -"I guess they forgot to search me for it in the excitement following the -collapse of the roof. I'm sorry it got wet, major," he added. - -But the major and the others could only regard the fat boy with wondering -eyes. Suddenly the major, the first to recover his senses, spoke: - -"I don't know how I'm ever to thank you for this, Hopkins----," he began. - -"Tell you how you can," spoke the irrepressible Tubby swiftly. - -"How, my boy?" - -"By taking us some place where we can get something to eat," quoth Tubby, -"I'm so hungry I could demolish the left hind leg of a brass monkey -without winking." - - * * * * * * * * - -From the tumbling waves of an angry sea to the cool shadows of a -magnificent forest of chestnut and oak may be a long distance to travel, -but such is the jump over time and space that we must make if we wish to -accompany our Boy Scouts to their Mountain Camp. The evening sun, already -almost touching the peaks of the nearest range, was striking level shafts -of light through the forest as our party came to a halt, and Major -Dangerfield ordered the canoes, by which they had traversed the smooth -stretches of Echo Lake, hauled ashore. - -It was more than three days since the party had left the shores of Lake -Champlain. The passage of the lake from its lower end had been made by -canoes. The same craft they were now using had transported them. There -were three of the frail, delicate little vessels. One was blue, another a -rich Indian red, and the third a dark green. - -The canoes had been purchased by Major Dangerfield at Lakehead, a small -town at which they left the railroad. They had been stocked with -provisions and equipment for their long dash into the solitudes of the -Adirondacks. Reaching Dangerfield, the canoes had been transported -overland till the first of a chain of lakes, leading into the interior, -had been reached. Here, to the boys' huge delight, they once more took to -the water. - -In the party were Rob, Merritt, young Hopkins, Hiram and little Andy -Bowles, the bugler of the Eagles. Andy had been brought along because, as -Rob had said, he was so little he would tuck in anywhere. Of course there -had been keen regret on the part of the lads who were, of necessity, left -behind. But they had borne it with true scout spirit and wished their -lucky comrades all the good fortune in the world, when they embarked from -Hampton. - -Travel had bronzed the lads and stained and crumpled their smart -uniforms. But they looked very fit and scout-like as they bustled about, -making the various preparations for the evening's camp. Two members of -the party have not yet been mentioned. One of these was a tall, lanky man -with a pair of big horn-rimmed spectacles set athwart his nose, and -arrayed in a queer combination of woodsman's clothes and a pedant's -immaculate dress. He had retained a white lawn tie and long black coat, -but his nether limbs were encased in corduroys and gaiters, with a pair -of big, square-toed shoes protruding beneath. On his head was an -odd-looking round, black hat, which was always getting knocked into the -water or caught on branches and swept off. This queer figure was -Professor Jeremiah Jorum. - -The second addition to the party was the major's factotum, Christopher -Columbus Julius Pompey Snaggs. But for purposes of identification he -answered to the name of Jumbo. Jumbo was a big-framed negro, intensely -black and with a sunny, child-like disposition. He had a propensity for -coining words to suit his convenience, deeming the King's English -insufficient in scope to express his emotions. - -Standing on the sandy strip of beach as he emerged from the red canoe, -with a load of "duffle," Jumbo gazed about him in an interested way. - -"Dis sutt'in'ly am a glumpferiferous spot to locate a camp," he remarked, -letting his big eyes roll from the tranquil expanse of lake, fringed with -feathery balsams and firs, to the slope above him clothed in its growth -of fine timber, some of it hundreds of years old. - -"Here you, Jumbo, hurry up with that bedding and then clean those fish!" - -The voice was the major's. It hailed from a level spot a short distance -above the sandy beach. On this small plateau, the canvas "tepees" the Boy -Scouts carried were already erected, and a good fire was burning between -two green logs. - -"Yas, sah, yas, sah! I'se a comin'," hailed the negro, lumbering up among -the loose rock, and almost spilling his load in his haste, "I'se a coming -so quintopulous dat you all kain't see muh fer de dus' I'se raisin'." - -Before long the fish, caught by trolling as they came along, were -frizzling in the pan, and spreading an appetizing odor abroad. The aroma -of coffee and camp biscuit mingled with the other appetizing smells. - -"Race anybody down to the lake for a wash!" shouted Rob suddenly. - -In a flash he was off, followed by Merritt, Hiram and Tubby. Little Andy -Bowles, with his bugle suspended from his shoulders by a cord of the -Eagle colors, hurried along behind on his stumpy little legs. - -"I win!" shouted Rob as he, with difficulty, paused on the brink of the -lake. But hardly were the words out of his mouth before Merritt flashed -up beside him. - -"Almost a dead heat," laughed Rob, "I----But hullo, what's all this?" - -Above them came a roar of sliding gravel and stones that sounded like an -avalanche. In the midst of it was Tubby, his rotund form dashing forward -at a great rate. His legs were flashing like the pistons of a racing -locomotive as he plunged down the hillside. - -"Here, stop! stop!" shouted Rob, "you'll be in the lake in a minute!" - -But the warning came too late. Tubby's heavy weight could not be checked -so easily. Faster he went, and faster, striving in vain to stop himself. - -"He's gone!" yelled Merritt the next instant, as a splash announced that -Tubby had plunged into the lake water. - -In a flash the fat boy was on the surface. But he was "dead game," and -while his comrades shouted with laughter he swam about, puffing like a -big porpoise. - -"Come on in, the water's fine," he exclaimed. - -"Even with your uniform on?" jeered Hiram. - -"Sure! Oh-ouch! what's that?" - -The fat boy had perceived a queer-looking head suddenly obtrude from the -water close to him. It was evident that he was not the only one to enjoy -an evening swim that day. A big water snake was sharing his involuntary -bath with him. - -Tubby struck out with might and main for shore, and presently reached it, -dripping profusely. The major, when he heard of the occurrence, ordered a -change of clothes. When this had been made, Andy's bugle sounded the -quick lively notes of the mess call, and the Boy Scouts and their elders -gathered round the table which the boys' deft hands had composed of flat -slabs of birch bark supported on trestles of green wood. They sat on camp -stools which they carried with them. How heartily they ate! They had the -appetites that are born of woods and open places. - -"Mah goodness, dose boys mus' have stumicks lak der olyphogenius -mammaothstikuscudsses!" exclaimed Jumbo as he hurried to and from his -cooking fire in response to constant demands for "more." - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - THE MOUNTAIN CAMP. - - -Supper concluded, the talk naturally fell to the object of their -expedition. The chart or map of the treasure-trove's location was brought -out and pored over in the firelight, for the nights were quite sharp, and -a big fire had been lighted. - -"How soon do you think we will be within striking distance of the place?" -inquired Rob. - -"Within two or three days, I should estimate," replied the former -officer, "but of course we may be delayed. For instance, we have a -portage ahead of us." - -"A-a--how much?" asked Tubby. - -"A portage. That means a point of land round which it would not be -practicable to canoe. At such a place we shall have to take the canoes -out of the water and carry them over the projection of land to the next -lake." - -"Anybody who wants it can have my share of that job," said Tubby, "I -guess I'll delegate Andy Bowles to carry out my part." - -There was a general laugh at the idea of what a comical sight the -diminutive bugler would present staggering along under the weight of a -canoe. - -"Andy would look like a little-neck clam under its shell," chuckled -Merritt. - -"Well, you can't always gauge the quality of the goods by the size of the -package they come in," chortled Andy, "look at Tubby, for instance. -He----" - -But the fat boy suddenly projected himself on the little bugler. But -Andy, though small, was tough as a roll of barbed wire. He resisted the -fat lad's attack successfully and the two struggled all over the level -place on which the camp had been pitched. - -Finally, however, they approached so near to the edge that Rob -interfered. - -"You'll roll down the slope into the lake in another minute," he said. -"Two baths a day would be too much for Tubby. Besides, he'd raise the -water and swamp the canoes." - -The fat youth, with a pretence of outraged dignity, sought his tepee and -engaged himself in cleaning his twenty-two rifle. After a while, though, -he emerged from his temporary obscurity, and joined the group about the -fire, who were happily discussing plans. - -"One good thing is that we have plenty of arms," volunteered Hiram, "in -case Hunt and his gang attack us we can easily keep them off." - -"Good gracious!" exclaimed the professor, "surely you don't contemplate -any such unlawful acts, major?" - -"As shooting at folks you mean," laughed the major. "No indeed, my dear -professor. But if those rascals attack us I hope we shall be able to -tackle them without any other weapons than those nature has given us." - -"I owe Freeman Hunt a good punch," muttered Tubby. "I'd like to make the -dust fly around his heels with this rifle." - -"Goodness, you talk like a regular 'Alkali Ike'," grinned Hiram. - -"Bet you I could hit an apple at two hundred yards with this rifle, -anyway," asserted the stout youth. - -"Bet my hunting knife you can't." - -"All right, we'll try to-morrow. This rifle is a dandy, I tell you." - -"Pooh! It won't carry a hundred yards." - -"It won't, eh? It'll carry half a mile, the man who sold it to me said -so." - -"Minds me uv er gun my uncle had daown in Virginny," put in Jumbo who had -been an interested listener, "that thar gun was ther mos' umbliquitos gun -I ever hearn' tell uv." - -"It was a long distance shooter, eh?" laughed the major, scenting some -fun. - -"Long distance, sah! Why, majah, sah, dat gun hadn't no ekil fo' long -distancenessness. Dat gun 'ud shoot--it 'ud shoot de eye out uv er lilly -fly des as fur as you could see." - -"It would, really, Jumbo?" inquired Andy Bowles, deeply interested. - -"It sho' would fer sartain shuh, Massa Bowles." - -"Pshaw, that's nothing," scoffed Tubby, with a wink at the others. The -fun-loving youth scented a joke. "My uncle had a gun that once killed a -deer at three miles." - -"At free miles, Massa Hopkins?" - -"Yes. It sounds incredible I know, but they had the state surveyor -measure off the ground and sure enough it was three miles." - -"Um-ho!" exclaimed Jumbo, blinking at the fire, "dat's a wun'ful gun shoh -'nuff. But mah uncle's gun hed it beat." - -"Impossible, Jumbo!" exclaimed the major. - -"Yas, sah, it deed. Mah uncle's gun done cahhey so fah dat mah uncle he -done hed ter put salt on his bullets befo' he fahed dem." - -"Put salt on his bullets before he fired them, Jumbo! What on earth for?" -demanded Rob while the others bent forward interestedly. - -"Jes' becos of de distance at which dat rifle killed," explained Jumbo. -"Yo' see, and especially in warm weather, dat salt was needed, 'cos it -took mah uncle such a time te git to it after he done kill it dat if -those bullets weren't salted the game would hev spoiled. Yes, sah, da's a -fac', majah." - -A dead silence fell over the camp at the conclusion of this interesting -narrative. You could have heard a pin drop. At last the major said, in a -solemn voice: - -"Jumbo, I fear you are an exaggerator." - -"Ah specs' ah is, majah. I specs' ah is, but you know dat zaggerators is -bo'n and not made, lak potes." - -Then the laughter broke loose. The hillside echoed with it, and Jumbo, -who deemed that he had been called a most complimentary term by the -major, gazed from one to the other in a highly puzzled way. - -"Reminds me of old Uncle Hank who keeps a grocery store near my uncle's -farm up in Vermont," put in Hiram. "One night in the store they were -talking about potato bugs. One old fellow said he had seen twenty potato -bugs on one stalk. - -"''Pshaw!' said an old man named Abner Deene, 'that's nothing. Why, up in -my potato patch they've eaten everything up and now when I go outdoors I -kin see 'em sitting around the lot, on trees and fences, waitin' fer me -ter plant over ag'in.' - -"Then it came the turn of an old fellow named Cyrus Harper. Cyrus laughed -at Abner. - -"'Sittin' roun' on fences,' he sniffed, 'that's nuffin'. Nuffin' at all. -Why whar I come from the potato bugs come right into the kitchen, open -the oven doors and yank the red hot baking potatoes out of the stove.' - -"My uncle hadn't said a thing all this time, but now he struck in. - -"'Gentlemen,' he said, 'all these potato-bug stories don't begin to -compare with the breed they had down near Brattleboro, where I come from. -Down there I used to clerk in Si Toner's grocery and general store. Well, -the potato bugs used to come into the store in the spring and look over -Si's books to see who'd been buying potato seed.'" - -"Funny thing your uncle never met the wonderful rifle shot, Philander -Potts," said the professor musingly, after the laughter over Hiram's yarn -had subsided. - -"Philander Potts," exclaimed the boys, "never heard of him." - -"Too bad," said the professor musingly, "he was the best shot in the -world, too, I guess. Why, once he undertook to fire at a rubber target -2,000 times in two minutes. The way he did it was this. He had a -repeating rifle and kept firing as fast as he could at the india-rubber -target. The bullets would bounce off and he caught them in the muzzle of -his rifle as they flew back and fired them over again." - -"But what about the bullets that were coming out? Didn't they collide -with the ones coming back?" asked Andy Bowles in all seriousness. - -"No," said the professor gravely, "you see, Philander was so swift in his -movements that he was able to fire and catch alternately." - -"I'll have to practice that," laughed Tubby. - -Soon after the narration of this surprising anecdote, the major looked at -his watch. - -"Bless my soul!" he exclaimed, "nine o'clock. Time for lights out. Andy, -sound 'Taps' and we'll post the sentries for the night." - -Tubby and Hiram were selected for the first watch. The major and young -Andy were to stand the second vigil while the third period of sentry duty -fell to Merritt and Rob. It seemed to the latter that they had not been -asleep half an hour when the major entered their tepee and aroused them -for their tour of duty. He reported all quiet, and a clear moonlight -night. - -Hastily throwing on their uniforms the Boy Scouts turned out. For some -time they paced their posts steadfastly without anything occurring to mar -the stillness of the night. The moon shone down brightly, silvering the -surface of the lake which could be glimpsed through the dark trees. - -Suddenly Rob, who had reached the limit of his post, which was not far -from where the canoes had been hauled up, was startled by a slight sound. -It ceased almost instantly, but presently it occurred again. - -Cautiously the boy crept through the forest toward the water's edge. He -took every advantage of his scout training and carefully avoided treading -on twigs or anything that might cause a sound of his approach to be made -manifest. - -Gliding from tree trunk to tree trunk he soon arrived at the spot in -which the canoes had been dragged ashore. At the same instant he became -aware of several dark figures moving about among them. Suddenly, right -behind him, a twig snapped. In the stillness it sounded as loud as the -report of a pistol. Rob wheeled round swiftly, but not before a figure -leaped toward him from behind a tree trunk. Before Rob could raise a hand -in self-defense another form sprang at him. - -The lad tried to cry out and discharge his rifle, but before he could -accomplish either act he was felled by some heavy instrument, and a gag -thrust into his mouth. The next instant, bound and incapable of uttering -a sound, he was borne swiftly toward the canoes. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - CAPTURED. - - -But silently as the attack upon Rob had been made, it had not taken place -without causing some disturbance. Moreover, the sharp crack of the -snapping twig which had attracted Rob's attention to his trailers, had -also reached Merritt's sharp ears. In the silence of the night-enwrapped -forest sounds carry far. - -Merritt was all attention in a flash. The snap of the twig might have -been caused by some prying animal or---- - -"Gee whiz! That's the scuffling of feet!" exclaimed the young sentry the -next moment as the sounds of the tussle came to him. - -His first act was to fire a shot. It should have been aimed in the air, -but in his excitement Merritt fired low. The bullet whizzed in the -direction of the camp, struck a tin kettle which was piled up with a -number of other tin utensils, and brought the whole pile down with a -crash. Now Jumbo's chosen sleeping place was right behind this barricade -of tin hardware. When it fell it came crashing about the colored man in -an ear-splitting avalanche. Jumbo leaped to his feet with a howl. He was -attired in his shirt, trousers and shoes, not having bothered to remove -these when he retired. - -"Fo' de lan's sake what dat gum gophulous racket?" he yelled. In a flash -his long legs began to move. - -"Ah'll bet a pint uv peanuts dat's Injuns!" he shouted as he sped along, -"mah goodness, ah wish ah had mah uncle's gun. But as ah ain't ah's jes' -a gwine te trus' ter mah laigs." - -Jumbo, in great leaps and strides, arrived at the lake-side in a few -instants. In the meantime, the camp behind him was in an uproar of -excitement over the midnight alarm. - -The negro had already reached the waterside before he felt himself -knocked flat by a heavy blow on the head. Now Jumbo's head, like all -negroes', was about as hard as a bit of adamant. But the cowardly fellow -deemed it better to lie perfectly still when he was knocked flat. -Presently he felt himself being picked up and thrown into something that -the next instant began to move off. He realized in a flash that he was -lying in the bottom of one of the canoes. - -"Hailp! Hailp!" he began to yell, but was silent instantly as a harsh -voice breathed in his ear: - -"You shut up if you don't want a bullet in your black head." - -Jumbo lay silent after that. But his thoughts were busy. - -"Bullet in mah haid, eh?" he mused, "mah goodness, ah don't want nuffin' -lak dat. Mah cocoanut feels now laik ah'd done tried ter butt a -locusmocus off'n de track. Wondah what deportentiousness uv all dis -unusualauness done mean?" - -His meditations were interrupted by a shout from the shore. - -"Bring back those canoes at once!" - -"Mah goodness, dat am de majah," exclaimed Jumbo, but to himself. "He -shuh am po'ful mad. Wondah if dem boys is playin' pranks. If dey is -dey'll be sorry fer it." - -The black ventured to raise his head a little and peep up to see who was -in the canoe with him. In doing so his eyes fell on another figure lying -beside him. In the moonlight he could see the cords that bound it. The -radiance of the moon also revealed the Boy Scout uniform. - -"Gabriel's Ho'hn! Dat's one of dem Boy Scrouts!" he exclaimed, "an' mah -gracious, ah wondah who dat fierce lookin' man am whose paddlin' dis yar -boat. Reckon ah'd better lay quiet. He looks pretty frambunctious." - -In the meantime, the aroused inmates of the camp had rushed to the shore. -They reached it just in time to see their entire flotilla of canoes being -paddled swiftly off across the smooth, moonlit waters. Tubby and Hiram -raised their rifles when a hoarse laugh of defiance greeted the major's -command to the marauders to halt. But in a flash the officer saw what -they were about to do. - -"None of that, boys," he ordered sharply, "put down those rifles." - -"No use for them now," grumbled Tubby, "see, they've disappeared round -that point." - -"Let's get after them," suggested Hiram. - -The major shook his head. - -"Over this rough ground they could easily outdistance us," he said, "is -anyone missing?" - -It took but a few minutes to ascertain that both Rob and Jumbo were not -among them. - -"This is even more serious than the theft of the canoes," exclaimed the -professor, "do you suppose that it was Hunt's gang that took them?" - -"I don't doubt it," said the major, "who else would be interested in -annoying us? But let's hear Merritt's story. What did you hear, my boy?" - -Merritt soon told his narrative of the crackling twig and the struggle. A -visit to the beach showed that there had, indeed, been a struggle before -Rob had been landed in the canoe. A disconsolate silence fell on the -little party. - -"What are we to do now?" wondered Hiram. - -"Get in pursuit of them as quick as possible, I should think," opined -Tubby. - -The major shook his head. - -"Not much use in that," he decided, "we would not be likely to find them. -No, the best plan is to wait right here. If Rob escapes he will be able -to find his way back again." - -"Do you think they mean him harm?" inquired little Andy Bowles -tremulously. - -"I hardly think so," responded the major, "they wouldn't dare to do much -more than keep him prisoner. But even that's bad enough." - -"But what object can they have in all this except to annoy us?" asked the -professor. - -"Simple enough," said the major, rather bitterly, "I guess they are going -to hold Rob as a hostage." - -"What do you mean?" - -"That if they manage to keep him prisoner we shan't see him again till I -have given them the plans to the location of the Dangerfield treasure -cave." - -"They wouldn't dare----" began the professor. But the major interrupted -him. - -"We have already had a proof of what they will dare," he said, "they are -as desperate a band of ruffians as I have ever heard of." - -"I guess that's right," agreed Tubby, "but I'll bet," he added stoutly, -"that Rob will find a way out of it yet." - -In the meantime the canoes sped on through the night. Rob mentally tried -to keep some track of the distance traversed, but he was totally unable -to do so. He judged, however, when the paddles finally ceased their -splashing, that they must have come some distance, for it was day-break -when the canoes came to a halt. - -Rob was roughly jerked to his feet and then, for the first time, became -aware of Jumbo. For his back had been toward the negro in the canoe. - -"Mah goodness, Marse Blake," exclaimed the black, "ain' dis de mostes' -parallelxillus sintuation dat you ever seen. Ah declar'----" - -But further remarks on Jumbo's part were roughly checked by the man who -had paddled the two prisoners to their present situation. He was none -other than the big-limbed rascal, Jim Dale, who had played such a -prominent part in the theft of the pocket-book. - -"Shut your black head, nigger," he ordered gruffly. - -"Ah ain't no niggah. Ah's a 'spectabilious colored gent"; protested -Jumbo, "'nd I kain't shut mah haid nohow 'cos it keeps openin' an' -shuttin' of its own accord whar you busted me on it." - -But a fierce look from the man made even the garrulous negro subside. As -for Rob, he disdained to talk to the fellow, or bandy words with him. -Instead, he gazed around while the other canoes, filched from the Boy -Scout camp, were coming up. He noted that one was paddled by Peter -Bumpus, while the third one contained Stonington Hunt and his son -Freeman, the lad who had already given the Boy Scouts so much trouble. - -It was a curious place in which the boy found himself. But Rob, with his -scout instinct, could not but admire the skill with which it had been -chosen as a retreat. - -The spot was like a large basin with steep rock walls on all sides but -one. On the open side a narrow neck of the lake led into this natural -fortress. Great trees and luxurious water growth masked the entrance and -anybody, not knowing of it, might have passed by it on the lake side a -hundred times without noting its presence. The canoes had been paddled -through this natural screen of water maples and rank growth of all kinds, -which had closed like a curtain behind them. - -A beach, narrow except at the far end of the cove, ran round the water's -edge at the foot of the rocky walls. A small tent was pitched there, and -a fire was smoldering. Evidently the place had been occupied for some -little time as a camp. Rob found himself wondering how the men, in whose -power he now was, had ever found the place. He did not know then that Jim -Dale and Pete Bumpus had once been associated with a gang of moonshiners, -whose retreat this had been before the officers of the revenue service -broke the gang up and scattered them far and wide. - -Hunt had gleaned enough knowledge from the plan, during his brief -possession of it, to divine which route the party would take to the -hidden treasure trove. He had, therefore, sought out this place when Dale -and Bumpus told him of it. The boys' enemies had made straight for it, -and had been encamped there some days awaiting the arrival of the party. -The notes of Andy Bowles' bugle floating out across the lake the night -before had apprised them of the arrival of the party, and plans had -immediately been made for a hasty descent on the Boy Scouts' mountain -camp. How successful it had proved we already know. But of course, to -Rob, all this was a mystery. - -The canoes were grounded at the end of the cove on the broad strip of -beach. Rob and Jumbo were at once ordered to get out, and Rob's leg-bonds -being loosened and gag removed, he followed Jumbo on to the white sand. -Hardly had their feet touched it before Stonington Hunt and his rascally -young son, the latter with a sneer on his face, also landed. - -"Fell neatly into our little trap, didn't you?" jeered Stonington Hunt, -staring straight at Rob with an insolent look. - -"Yo' alls kin hev yo' trap fo' all I wants uv it"; snorted Jumbo -indignantly, as Rob disdained to answer. - -"Be quiet, you black idiot!" snapped Hunt, "we didn't want you, anyhow. -I've a good mind," he went on with a brutal sort of humor, "to have you -thrown into the lake." - -"By golly yo' jes bring on de man to do it," exclaimed the negro with -great bravado, "ah reckon ah kin tackle him. Ah'm frum Vahgeenyah, ah is, -an----" - -But Hunt impatiently checked him. He turned to Peter Bumpus. "Cook us up -a meal," he ordered. - -"For them, too?" asked Bumpus, jerking his thumb backward at Rob and -Jumbo. - -"Of course. You may as well get used to it. I expect they'll make quite a -long stay with us." - -Rob's heart sank. He was a lad who always schooled himself to look on the -brightest side of things. But no gleam of hope lightened the gloom of -their present situation. Things could not have been much worse, he felt. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - ROB FINDS A RAY OF HOPE. - - -The meal, a sort of stew composed apparently of rabbits, partridges and -other small game, was despatched and then Rob, who had been released from -his bonds while he ate, was tied up once more. - -"These fellows don't think much of breaking the game laws," he thought as -he ruminated on the contents of the big iron pot from which their -noon-day meal had been served. Then came another thought. If they so -openly violated the laws, the country was surely a lonely one, and -seldom, or never, visited. Indeed, the thick forest of hemlock and other -coniferous trees that fringed the cliff summits, would seem to indicate -that the spot was well chosen. - -Jumbo was not confined. The gang seemed to esteem him as more or less -harmless for, although a sharp watch was kept on him, he was not -fettered. Once or twice he caught Rob's eye with a knowing look. But he -said nothing. One or another of the men kept too close and constant a -watch for that. And so the hours wore on. Tied as Rob was, the small -black flies and other winged mountain pests made life almost intolerable. -With infinite pains the lad dragged himself to a spot of shade under a -stunted alder bush. He lay here with something very like despair -clutching coldly at his heart. The canoes had been anchored, with big -stones attached to ropes, at some distance out in the little bay. Only -one remained on shore, and by that Jim Dale kept an unrelaxing vigil. - -Jim and Peter were talking in low voices. Rob overheard enough to know -that their talk was of the old lawless days when the moonshine gang made -the hidden cove their rendezvous. - -"Those were the days," Dale said with a regretful sigh, "money was plenty -then. By the way, Pete, did you ever hear what became of Black Bart and -the others after the revenues broke us up?" - -"No, I never wanted to take a chance of inquiring," rejoined Peter, -puffing at a dirty corn cob. "I did hear, though, that they had resumed -operations some place around here." - -"They did, eh? I suppose they figgered that lightning don't never strike -twice in the same place." - -"Just the same, they are taking a long chance. With revenues against you -it's all one sided--like the handle of a jug." - -"That's so. But there's good money in it, and Black Bart would risk a lot -for that." - -The conversation was carried on in low tones. Rob, intent though he was, -could not catch any more of it. But he pondered over what he had heard. -If what Jim Dale and Peter had said was correct, a gang of moonshiners -still made the mountains thereabouts their habitat. - -"It's a strange situation we've stumbled into," thought the boy. - -Then he fell to observing Stonington Hunt and his son, Freeman. The man -and the boy were talking earnestly at some distance from Peter and Jim -Dale. From their gestures and expressions Rob made out that the -conversation was an important one. From the frequent glances which they -cast in his direction he also divined that he himself, was, in all -probability, the subject of it. - -All at once Stonington Hunt arose and came toward him. Freeman followed -him. They came straight up to Rob and stood over him. - -"Well, Rob Blake," sneered young Hunt, "I guess things are different to -what they were the time you drove me out of Hampton and forced my father -to profess all sorts of reformation." - -"I don't know," rejoined Rob coolly and contemptuously, "you seem to me -to be very much the same sort of a chap you were then." - -The inference, and Rob's unshaken manner, appeared to infuriate the -youth. - -"We've got you where we want you now," he snarled, "it would serve you -right if I took all the trouble you've caused us out upon your hide. You -and that patrol of yours cost us our social position, then that Hopkins -kid lost our sloop for us----" - -"The sloop in which you meant to decamp with the major's papers," put in -Rob in the same calm tones, "don't try to assume any better position than -that of a common thief, Freeman." - -With a quick snarl of rage the boy jumped on the helpless and bound boy. -He brought his fist down on Rob's face with all his force. Then he -fastened his hands in Rob's hair and tugged with all his might. But -suddenly something happened. Something that startled young Hunt -considerably. - -Rob gave a quick twist and despite his bonds managed to half raise -himself. In this position he gave the other lad such a terrific "butt" -that Freeman was sent staggering backward, with a white face. Unable to -regain his balance he presently fell flat on the sand. He scrambled to -his feet and seized a big bit of timber, the limb of a hemlock that lay -close at hand. He was advancing, brandishing this with the intention of -annihilating Rob when Stonington Hunt, who had hitherto been an impassive -observer, stepped between them. - -"Here, here, what's all this?" he snapped angrily. "This isn't a fighting -ring. Put down that stick, Freeman, and you, young Blake, listen to me." - -"I'm listening," said Rob, in the same cold, impassive way that had so -irritated Freeman. - -"You want to regain your freedom and rejoin your friends, don't you?" was -the next question. - -"If it can be done by honorable means--yes. But I doubt if you can employ -such, after what I've seen of you." - -"Hard words won't mend matters," rejoined Hunt with a frown, "after all, -I've as much right to this hidden treasure as anyone else--if I can get -it." - -"Yes, if you can get it," replied Rob with meaning emphasis, wondering -much what could be coming next. - -"Your liberty depends on my getting it," resumed Hunt. - -"My liberty?" echoed the boy, "how is that?" - -"I want you to write a note to Major Dangerfield. He thinks a good deal -of you, doesn't he?" - -"I hope so," responded Rob, mightily curious to know what Hunt was -driving at. - -"He's responsible, too, in a way, for your safety, isn't he? I mean your -parents rely on him to bring you back safe and sound?" - -"I suppose so. But why don't you come to the point. Tell me what it is -you want." - -"Just this: You write to the major. I'll see that the note is delivered. -You must tell him to give my messenger the plan and map of the treasure's -hiding place. If he does so you will be returned safe and sound. So will -the nigger and the canoes. We didn't want that nigger anyhow. In the -darkness we mistook him for the major." - -Rob could hardly repress a smile at the idea of the dignified major being -confused with the ubiquitous Jumbo. - -"Are you willing to write such a letter?" - -"You mean am I willing to stake my safety against the major's hopes of -recovering his relative's hidden fortune?" - -"That's about it--yes." - -Rob's mind worked quickly. It might be dangerous to give a direct -negative and yet he certainly would have refused to do as the rascal -opposite to him suggested. - -"I--I--Can you give me time to think it over?" he hesitated, assuming -uncertainty in decision. - -"Yes, I'll give you a reasonable period. But mind, no shilly-shallying. -Don't entertain any idea of escape. You'll be guarded as closely here as -if you were in a stone-walled prison." - -"I know that," said Rob, feeling an inward conviction that Hunt's words -were literally true. The cliff-enclosed cove was indeed a prison. Hunt -turned away, followed by his son. The latter cast a malevolent look back -at Rob as he went. - -"My! His father must be proud of that lad," thought Rob. - -Hunt and his followers fell to playing cards. Rob was left to his -reflections. Jumbo sat gloomily apart and yet in full view of the card -players. After a while Rob's thoughts reverted to the conversation he had -overheard between Dale and Peter Bumpus. In this connection he suddenly -bethought himself of something. Jim Dale had spoken of the revenue -officers raiding the moonshiners' plant. If that was the case, and the -miscreants had all escaped, how did they go? - -The revenue officers probably attacked the place from the lake side of -the cove. This would have effectually shut off all hope of escape in that -direction. The only conclusion left, to account for the freedom of the -gang was a startling one. - -The cove must have some secret entrance or exit. If such were the case it -could only be by a passage or by steps cut in the seemingly solid rock. -Rob's heart began to beat a bit faster. There might be a chance of escape -after all, if only he could discover the means of exit he was now certain -must exist somewhere in the cove. - -But a careful scrutiny failed to show any indications of such a device as -he was looking for. The walls were bare and clean as cliffs of marble. -Not more than two or three stunted conifers grew out of an occasional -crevice. The enclosing walls would not have afforded footing to a fly. - -"Guess I was wrong," thought Rob to himself and lying back on the sand he -closed his eyes the better to concentrate his thoughts. But what with the -strain of the early hours and the warm, sultry atmosphere, the lad found -his ideas wandering. Presently, without knowing it, he had dropped off -into a sound slumber. - -When he awoke it was with a start. The long shadows showed him that the -day was far spent. All at once voices near at hand struck in upon his -half awakened senses. - -Rob heard a few words and then, with wildly beating pulses, he fell to -simulating sleep with all his might. From what he had heard of the -conversation he believed that a hope of escape lay in the words of the -talkers. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - A THRILLING ESCAPE. - - -It was Peter Bumpus and Jim Dale who were talking. From their first words -Rob gathered that Stonington Hunt and his son had gone fishing, and that -Jumbo, like himself, was asleep. - -"You're sure that kid is off good and sound, too?" asked Dale. - -"Soon find out," rejoined Bumpus. - -Rob felt the man bend over him, his hot breath fanning his ear. It was a -hard job not to open his eyes, but Rob came through with flying colors. - -"He's sound as a top," decided Pete, "and old Hunt and the kid won't be -back for half an hour anyway. Now's our time to see if the old rope -ladder is still there." - -"It sure did us a good turn the night the revenues came," said Jim Dale. - -"Let's see, it was over this way, wasn't it? Right under that big hemlock -on the top of the cliff?" - -"That's right." - -Rob heard them cross the sandy strip of beach. Luckily, he was lying with -his face toward that side, and by half-opening his eyes could observe -their movements without danger of being discovered. - -They approached a clump of bushes and fumbled about in it for a brief -time. Peter did most of the searching, for that was what it seemed to be, -while Dale stood over him. - -"Well?" demanded Dale at length, "is it there?" - -"Is what there?" wondered Rob. - -"It's here, all right," responded Peter Bumpus and in triumph he held up -something which only by great straining of his eyes Rob was able to -recognize as a strand of wire. It was so slender that if his attention -had not been drawn to it he would never have seen it. - -"I'd like to give it a yank and bring the rope ladder down," said Dale. - -"I wouldn't mind a run in the old woods myself," said Peter. He seemed -half inclined to pull the wire, which Rob judged, though he could not -distinguish it against the dull background of rock, must lead to the -cliff summit. On that cliff summit the boy also assumed, from what he had -heard, there must lie a rope ladder. The mystery of the escape of the -rascals from the revenue officers was solved. They had mounted by the -rope ladder on the first alarm and pulled it up after them. Rob could -hardly help admiring the strategy that had conceived such a scheme. - -Suddenly, while Peter Bumpus still hesitated, there came the sharp -"splash" of a paddle. - -"Here comes the boss," warned Dale. - -Instantly the two men strolled aimlessly across the beach, as if their -minds were vacant and idle. Evidently then, Hunt was not aware of the -existence of the rope ladder, and the two men had some strong object in -wishing to hide it from him. - -The two Hunts brought back several fish, perch and pickerel, which were -cooked for supper. After that meal the men sat about and talked a while, -and then preparations were made for bed. Jumbo was tied hand and foot, -much as Rob was. But not content with these precautions, Dale was -stationed to watch the captives. From what Rob could hear he was to be -relieved by Bumpus at midnight. - -That Dale took his duty seriously was evident by the fact that, beside -him, as he crouched by the fire, he laid out a ready cocked rifle, and -kept one eye always upon the two prisoners. To amuse himself during his -vigil he drew out a big case knife and began whittling a bit of driftwood -into the likeness of a ship--a reminder of his old seafaring days. Rob, -watching the ruffian at this innocent employment while the firelight -played on his rough features, caught himself wondering what sort of -childhood such a man could have had, and how he came to drift into his -evil courses. - -"I'll bet that the Boy Scout movement in big cities is keeping hundreds -of lads out of mischief," he thought, "and helping to make good men out -of them. After all, or so dad says, most bad boys are only bad because -they have no outlet but mischief for their high spirits." - -After a while, Dale finished his carving. Then he darted a cautious look -about him. - -"Wonder if any of that old moonshine is still in the hiding place?" he -muttered. - -For a while he remained still. Then he once more cast a scrutinizing look -around him. Rob interpreted this as a meaning that Dale was anxious to -see if everything was quiet. The boy lay still and silent and Dale -evidently assumed he was asleep. After a careful inspection of the spot -where the others slumbered, the fellow cautiously made for the base of -the cliff near the clump of bushes where he and Bumpus had investigated -the wire that afternoon. Reaching toward a stone he pulled it aside, and -thrust his arm into a recess which was suddenly revealed. When he drew -his hand out it clasped a demijohn. The recess was the hiding place -formerly used by the moonshiners to conceal their product. - -With a swift glance about, to make sure he was not observed, Dale raised -the demijohn to his lips. It stayed there a long time. He set it down and -looked about him furtively once more. Then he raised the jug again and -took another long swig of the poisonous stuff. Rob, through lowered lids, -watched him with a shudder of disgust. - -When Dale finally thrust back the jug into its hiding place and returned -to the firelight, his step was unsteady and his eyes had a strange, -glassy light in them. He sank down on the log which served him as a seat, -and once more drew out his knife. His intention, apparently, was to -resume his whittling. But after a few unsteady strokes at the bit of wood -he had selected, he gave over the attempt. - -His head lolled limply forward and the corners of his mouth drooped. One -by one his fingers relaxed their grip on the knife, and, resting his head -on his hands, he allowed himself to sink into oblivion. - -Instantly the Boy Scout's faculties were alert and at work. The firelight -played temptingly on the knife the liquor-stupefied man had dropped. Very -cautiously the fettered Rob rolled over upon his stomach and, slowly as a -creeping snail, began a tedious progress toward the weapon. How he -blessed the days he had spent practicing such stealthy means of advance. -It was the old scouting crawl of the Indians he used. A means of approach -as silent as that of a marauding weasel. - -It was ticklish, scalp-tightening work, though. But Rob did not dare to -hurry it. The rattle of a misplaced stone, the snap of a twig, might -spoil all. To add to the peril at any moment, either the drowsy man by -the fire, or one of the sleeping men beyond, might awaken. - -But at last, without a single accident, Rob reached the proximity of the -precious knife. It was a heavy weapon and lay on the rock-strewn ground -with its blade upward. The boy noted this with a quick gulp of -thankfulness. For, fettered as he was, he could not have manipulated it -till he got his hands free. - -With infinite caution he rolled his body so that his wrists were close to -the keen blade. Then he began sawing at the ropes, rubbing them back and -forth against the blade. At length one of the strands parted. Then -another was severed, and, with a strong jerk, Rob tore loose the rest. -Then, cautiously picking up the knife in his freed hand, he slashed his -leg-bonds. In less time than it takes to tell it he was free. - -His next task was to liberate Jumbo. And then---- - -Rob had allowed his thoughts to dwell on the daring possibility of -recovering the canoes and paddling away with them. But on second thoughts -he deemed this too risky. Instead he determined to trust to the rope -ladder. It had flashed across his mind in this connection, that the -strands of the ladder might be too weak to support his weight, or the -much greater avoirdupois of Jumbo. But the lad felt that they must risk -it. - -Jumbo very nearly ruined everything. For, as Rob bent over him, he -awakened with a start. - -"Oh, fo' de lan's sake, massa, don' you go to confustigate dis yar----" - -But in a flash Rob had clapped his hand over the garrulous black's -capacious mouth. Jumbo's first fear that his last hour had come was -speedily relieved as he saw who it was. - -Rob, after a quick look about, assured himself that Jumbo's words had not -aroused any of the sleepers. Then, taking his hand from the negro's lips, -he quickly slashed his bonds. In another instant Jumbo, too, was at -liberty. - -"Wha' you go fo' ter do now, Marse Blake?" he whispered. - -"Hush! Not a word. Follow me," breathed the boy. - -"Dis suttingly am a pawtuckitus state of affairs," muttered the black, -"don' see no mo' how we can git out uv this lilly place dan er fly kin -git out of a mo'lasses bar'l." - -However, he followed Rob, who, on tip-toe, approached the clump of bushes -where he knew the wire he had observed that afternoon lay hidden. With -beating pulses he poked about in the scrub-growth till, suddenly, his -fingers encountered the filament of metal. The most dangerous step of -their enterprise still lay before him. What would happen when he pulled -it? Would the ladder come down with a crash that would awaken their foes, -or---- - -Rob lost no time in further indulging his nervous thoughts, however. He -gave the wire a good hard tug. Simultaneously, from out of the blackness -above them, something came snaking down. Rob dodged to avoid it. - -He could have cried aloud with joy as, in the faint glow cast by the -fire, he saw that, right in front of him were the lower rungs of a rope -ladder. It was padded at the bottom so that its descent, abrupt as it had -been, was almost noiseless. Rob noted, too, with inward satisfaction, -that the ropes seemed strong and in good condition. - -"Up with you, Jumbo," he ordered in a tense, low whisper. - -The black turned almost gray with apprehension. - -"Ah got ter clim' dat lilly ladder lak Massa Jacob in de Bibul?" he -whimpered. - -"You certainly have, or----" - -Rob made an eloquent gesture toward the camp of Hunt and his gang. The -hint conveyed proved effectual. - -"Mah goodness, dis am suffin' dis coon nebber thought he hab to do," -muttered Jumbo, "but all things comes to him who waits--so heah goes!" - -He set his foot on the ladder and, rapidly ascending it, soon disappeared -in the darkness above. As soon as the slackness of the appliance showed -Rob that the negro was at the cliff summit, the boy prepared to follow -him. - -But as he set his foot on the lower rung the man by the fire awakened -with a start. Before Rob, climbing like a squirrel, could mount three -more steps he became aware that his prisoners were missing. - -Snatching up his rifle he ran straight toward the rope ladder. The next -instant Rob, with a hasty glance backward, saw that the weapon was aimed -straight at him. His blood chilled as he recollected having heard Dale -that afternoon boasting of his ability as "a dead shot." - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - OUT OF THE FRYING PAN. - - -For only an instant did Rob remain motionless. Then, as if by instinct, -he suddenly crouched. It was well he did so. A bullet sang above his head -as he clung, swinging on his frail support, and flattened itself with an -angry "ping!" against the rock wall above him. - -The report brought the rest of the sleeping camp to its feet. In an -instant voices rang out and hastily lighted lanterns flashed. Rob, taking -advantage of even such a brief diversion, sprang upward. But with a roar -of fury, Dale sprang to the foot of the ladder. Desperation gave Rob -nimble feet. He literally leaped upward. - -In his mind there was a dreadful fear. The ladder was hardly strong -enough to bear two. By placing his weight on the lower part of it, it was -Dale's intention to bring him down to the ground. That in such an event -he could escape with his life, seemed highly improbable. - -But fast as he went, he felt the ladder quiver as Dale's hold was laid -upon it from below. At this critical instant a sudden diversion occurred. -From right above Rob's head, or so it seemed, a voice roared out through -the night. - -"Tak' yo' dirty paws off'n dat ladder, white man, or, by de powers, it's -de las' time you use 'em!" - -It was Jumbo's voice. But Dale answered with a roar of defiance. He shook -the ladder violently. Rob felt himself dashed with sickening force -against the cliff-face. But all at once there was a warning shout. -Something roared past his ears, just missing him. - -"Haids below!" sung out Jumbo as he watched the huge rock he had -dislodged go crashing downward. - -It missed Dale by the fraction of an inch. But his narrow escape unnerved -the fellow for an instant. In that molecule of time Rob gained the summit -of the ladder, and Jumbo's strong arms drew him up to safety beside him. - -"Well done, Jumbo," he exclaimed. - -"Oh, dat wasn' nuffin'," modestly declared Jumbo, "if dat no-account -trash hadn't uv leggo I'd have flattened him out flatter'n dan a hoe -cake. Yas, sah." - -"I guess you would, Jumbo. But there's no time to lose. Come, we must be -getting on." - -"One ting we do firs' off wid alacrimoniousness, Marse Blake," said -Jumbo. - -"What's that?" - -"Jes' len' me dat lilly knife you take frum dat pestiferous pussonage -below an' I shows yoh right quick." - -Rob had thrust the knife into his scout belt. He now withdrew it and -handed it to the negro. With two swift slashes, Jumbo severed the top -strands of the ladder. A crash and outcry from below followed. Rob, -peeping over, saw that Dale, who had just begun to mount after them, was -the victim. He was rolling over and over, entangled in the strands of the -ladder, while Stonington Hunt stood over him in a perfect frenzy of rage. - -"Now den, Marse Blake, ah reckin' we done cook de goose of dem -criminoligous folks," snorted Jumbo as he gazed. "He! he! he! dey is sure -having a mos' fustilaginal time down dere." - -"I guess they'll have plenty to think over for a time," said Rob, rather -grimly; "come, let's set out. Have you any idea in which direction the -camp lies?" - -"No, sah. But I raickon if we des foiler de lake we kain't go fur wrong." - -"We must go toward the south, then. See, there's the Scout's star, the -north one. The outer stars in the bucket of the dipper point to it." - -"Wish ah had a dippah full ob watah. I'm po'ful thirsty," grunted Jumbo. - -"We'll run across a stream before very long, no doubt," said Rob. - -With these words the lad struck off through the forest of juniper and -hemlocks. The moon had not yet risen, and it was dark and mysterious -under the heavy boughs. Jumbo held back a minute. - -"Come on. What's the matter, Jumbo?" exclaimed Rob. - -"It look powerful spooky in dar, Marse Blake." - -"Well, I guess the spooks, if there are any, will do us less harm than -that gang behind us," commented Rob. - -Jumbo, without more words, followed him. But he rolled his eyes from side -to side in evident alarm at every step. On and on they plunged, making -their way swiftly enough over the forest floor. From time to time they -stopped to listen. But there was no sound of pursuit. In fact, Rob did -not expect any. With the ladder destroyed, there was not much chance of -the Hunt crowd clambering over the cliff tops. - -At such moments as they paused, Rob felt, to the full, the deep -impressiveness of the forest at night. Above them the sombre spires of -the hemlocks showed steeple-like against the dark sky. The night wind -sent deep pulsations through them, like the rumbling of the lower notes -of a church organ. All about lay the deeper shadows of the recesses of -the woods. They were shrouded in a rampart of impenetrable darkness. - -"I hope we're keeping on the right track," thought Rob, as it grew -increasingly difficult, and finally impossible, to see the north star -through the thick mass of foliage above them. - -The boy knew the danger of wandering in circles in the untracked waste of -forest unless they kept constantly in one direction. Without the stars to -guide him, it grew increasingly difficult to be sure they were doing -this. - -"Golly! Ah suttinly hopes we gits out of dis foliaginous place befo' -long," breathed Jumbo stentorously, stumbling along behind Rob over the -rough and stony ground that composed the floor of the Adirondack forest. - -All at once, as Rob strode along, he stopped short. Some peculiar -instinct had caused him to halt. Just why he knew not. But he was brought -up dead in his tracks. - -"Wha's de mattah, Marse Blake?" quavered Jumbo, "yo' all hain't seein' -any hants or conjo's, be yoh?" - -Rob replied with another question. - -"Got a match, Jumbo?" he asked. - -"Yas sah, Marse Blake, I done got plenty ob dem lilly lucilfers." - -He dived in his pocket and produced a handful of matches, which he handed -to Rob. The boy struck one, and, as the yellow flame glared up, he -uttered a little cry and stepped back with a perceptible shrinking -movement. - -No wonder he did so. At the young Scout's feet the flare of the match had -revealed a yawning abyss. One more step and he would have been over it. -Gazing into the ravine he could hear the subdued roar of a stream -somewhere far, far below. A cold blast seemed to strike upward against -his face. - -"Gracious, what a narrow escape!" he exclaimed. Then, stirring a small -stone with his foot he dislodged it and sent it bounding over the edge. -Bump! bump! tinkle! tinkle! plop! plop!--and then--silence. - -"Golly, goodness, dat hole mus' be as deep as de bad place itself!" -exclaimed Jumbo, shrinking back in affright, "dat hole mus' go clean -frough de middle of de world an' come out de odder side in China." - -"It certainly does seem as if it might," agreed Rob; "at any rate, if -we'd gone over it we'd have had no time to investigate--ugh!" - -Rob gave a shudder he could not subdue as he thought of their narrow -escape. - -The only thing to be done under the circumstances, was to turn aside and -keep on slowly, awaiting the daylight to see where they were, and the -nature of their surroundings. They had progressed in this fashion perhaps -half a mile or so, when Jumbo gave a sudden cry: - -"Look, Marse Blake! Wha' dat froo de trees dere? Look uncommon lak a -light." - -"It is a light. Although I don't know what any habitation can be doing in -this part of the world," answered Rob. - -"Maybe even ef it's only er camp we kin git suffin' ter eat dar," -suggested Jumbo hopefully, "ah'm jes' nacherally full ob nuttin' but -emptiness." - -"You'd never make a Scout, Jumbo." - -"Don' belibe I wants ter be no Skrout nohow," retorted Jumbo, "dar's too -much peregrinaciusness about it ter suit me." - -Rob did not reply. But a moment later he cautioned Jumbo to progress as -cautiously as possible. The boy could see now that the light proceeded -from the open doorway of a hut. Within the rude structure he could make -out a masculine figure in rough hunting garb bending over a stove at one -end of the primitive place. - -All of a sudden Rob's foot encountered something. He tripped and fell, -sprawling on his face. At the same instant the sharp report of a gun rang -out close at hand. - -The wire over which the boy had tripped, and which was stretched across -the pathway, had discharged the alarm signal. As the echoes went roaring -and flapping through the forest, the man who had been bending over the -stove, straightened as if a steel spring had suddenly sprung erect. - -He was a small, dwarfish-looking fellow, with a clay-colored skin, beady, -black eyes, shifty as a wild beast's. The animal-like impression of his -face was heightened by a shaggy beard of black that fell in unkempt -fashion almost to his waist. He wore blue jean trousers, moccasins and a -thick blue flannel shirt. - -With a swift, panther-like movement, he snatched up a rifle that stood in -one corner of the hut. His next move was to extinguish the light with a -sharp puff. Then, with every sense wire-strung, he stood listening. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - INTO THE FIRE! - - -The moon had just risen. Her light silvered the dark hemlock tops, and, -by bad luck, fell in a flood full upon Rob and Jumbo. The man who had -sprung into such sudden activity was, on the contrary, completely -shrouded in the black shadow of the hut. - -Even had they had weapons they would, situated as they were, have been -completely in his power. To use a slang term, but one full of -expressiveness, he had "the drop" on them. - -"Who are you?" rasped out the inmate of the hut in a harsh, startled -voice. "Speak quick, for I'm right smart on the trigger." - -"We are two wanderers who have lost our way," rejoined Rob, "we have no -weapons and have no wish to harm you." - -"Come forward a bit while I look you over," said the man, his suspicion -mollified a bit by the boyish tone. But the next instant, as his eyes -fell on Rob's uniform, he seemed to bristle with suspicion again. - -"What's that uniform?" he demanded; "be you some new-fangled revenue?" - -"I'm a Boy Scout," rejoined Rob, and then, thinking it best not to relate -his whole story at once, he added, "I got lost on a scouting expedition. -Our camp is not far from here on the other side of the lake. All we want -is some food, drink and shelter." - -"Boy Scout, eh?" said the man, eyeing him curiously, "um, ay, I've read -of 'em. To my mind you'd be best at home instead of gallivanting around -the country and getting lost. But who's that black fellow?" - -"Ah'se a 'spectable colored gen'ulman, suh," began Jumbo indignantly in -his usual formula. But the black-bearded man checked him with a gesture. - -"You're just a nigger, nigger, don't forget that. I come from south of -the Mason and Dixon line." - -"Yas, sah, yas, sah," grinned Jumbo. The big black shivered and showed -all the gleaming white of his teeth and eyes in his alarm at the bearded -little man's fierce looks and gestures. - -"S'pose I feed yer," was the bearded one's next question, "kin you pay? -I'm a poor woodsman and----" - -"Oh, we can pay," Rob assured him. Foolishly he drew out a rather -well-filled purse. The next moment he wished he hadn't. For a brief -instant the hut-dweller's keen, serpent-like black eyes had kindled with -an avaricious flame. - -But he cleverly masked whatever emotion it was that had swept over him at -sight of the money receptacle. - -"Guess that'll be all right," he said, "come on in." - -Rather troubled in his mind, but deciding that it was best to accept the -situation as it unfolded, Rob followed his conductor into the hut. Jumbo -ambled along behind, his black face expanded in a grin of wonderment. The -hut, within, proved to be a roughly constructed affair of raw logs. The -chinks were plastered with clay, mixed with grass to give it consistency. -A few skins hung on the walls and some rough, home-made furniture stood -about. - -At one end of the place was a huge, open fireplace, with a big -hearthstone. It was not used, however, the cookery being done upon the -stove, which also provided the heat. - -At the end of the hut opposite to the chimney a rough flight of steps led -to an attic. After the two half-famished wanderers had concluded a hearty -meal, washed down by strong, hot, black coffee, their host motioned to -the steps. - -"Ef you want a shake-down you'll find straw up thar," he said. - -Rob thanked him civilly and he and Jumbo climbed the stairway and found -themselves in a low-ceiled loft. The floor was of unnailed boards. -Through the chinks between them the ruddy lamplight below could be seen. - -"Dere's wusser beds in dis wale ob tears dan nice clean straw," observed -Jumbo philosophically as he threw himself on his heap. Rob agreed with -him. The straw did, indeed, seem soft and grateful after their recent -hard knocks and experiences. Following Jumbo's example, the lad made for -himself a kind of nest. Curling up in it he was soon off in the deep, -dreamless slumber of healthy boyhood. - -Voices awakened Rob. He sat up sharply. They were coming from below. The -sounds of the conversation floated up through the wide chinks in the -rough floor. - -Rob rolled on his side and peered through the most convenient crack. -Three men were now in the room below him. As he gazed he was amazed to -see the hearthstone swing bodily backward, on some concealed hinges, and -a fourth man emerge from some secret passage. - -"Wall," said the newcomer, a huge figure of a man with a big, blond -viking-like beard, "the last keg is headed and fixed up. We've finished -our work. To-morrow----" - -But the black-bearded man checked him with a sharp gesture. - -"Shut up, Sims," he warned, "not so loud. Go ahead, Watkins," he went on, -turning to one of the men with whom he had been talking. - -"What I ses is," resumed this fellow, a squatty-built, loosely-hung -little fellow, with close-cropped sandy hair, and a bristly growth on his -chin, like the stubble on an old tooth brush, "what I ses is, don't take -no risks." - -He paused impressively and then added in a lowered voice, but one that -reached Rob, nevertheless, with thrilling clearness: - -"Fix 'em." - -"Great Abraham Lincoln!" gasped the boy, "this is a nice nest of hornets -we've stumbled into. 'Fix 'em,' that must mean us." - -But the talk went on, and Rob strained his ears for the continuation. - -"But if they was guvn'ment men they wouldn't hev walked in like they -done, I reckon," put in another man, a pallid, sickly-looking chap, with -pink-rimmed eyes and a ferrety, furtive manner. - -"Best be on the safe side," counselled the black-bearded man, who had -introduced the travelers to the hut, "they've got money, too." - -"Money?" questioned the blonde-bearded man. - -"Yes. The boy has. And they haven't got any weapons. I guess we'll have -an easy time of it with them." - -"That nigger looks pretty hefty, and the kid's no weakling." - -It was the pink-eyed man who spoke. Rob felt a shiver run through him. So -they had been observed while they were asleep and never knew it! - -"Oh, I'm a fine Scout!" thought the lad bitterly. - -"Seems kind of tough on the kid," said the blonde-bearded man, "but you -never did have no sense of pity, Black Bart." - -Black Bart! Rob's heart stood still and then beat furiously. These men -then, were the moonshiners of whom Dale had spoken that afternoon. It -seemed, too, from their talk, that they suspected him and Jumbo of being -government spies. In that case they would stop at nothing. And they were -four to one. The Boy Scout felt for the knife he had filched from Dale, -but in their passage through the woods it must have been lost, for he -could not find it on him. - -"Kid or no kid," retorted Black Bart, viciously, "he can tell the -revenues a story jes' as well as anybody else, can't he?" - -"That's so," agreed the red-headed man, "and if they get us this time -they'll make it hot for us." - -This argument seemed to extinguish all regrets in the blond-bearded man's -mind. - -"When air you goin' ter do it?" he asked. His voice was perfectly -matter-of-fact and cold-blooded. - -"No time like the present. But it's best to get 'em asleep. We don't want -no noise," said Black Bart, with deliberation. "Pinky," to the pink-eyed -man, "jes' take a look upstairs and see if they are asleep." - -Rob laid down and crouched still as a mouse while he heard Pinky ascend -the creaking stairs, satisfy himself that the intended victims were -asleep, and retreat again. - -Then the boy awakened Jumbo. In a few words he apprised him of the -situation. To Rob's great relief, the negro, in this dire emergency, -seemed to be as self-possessed as he was cowardly in minor matters. Many -natures are so constituted. - -"What we gwine ter do, Marse Rob?" he breathed, crawling noiselessly -about on his straw. - -"There's a window over there," whispered Rob; "we'll have to drop through -it and chance coming out safely." - -"Lawsy sakes! S'posin' it looks out on one ob dem bottomless pitses lak -yo' all near fell inter ter-night?" - -"Can't be helped, it's the only way we can escape. Hark! They're coming -now. Get over to the window with as little noise as you can." - -"How 'bout you alls?" - -"I'll follow. You get it open first." - -Without another word the negro noiselessly wriggled across the floor to -the window--a mere opening in the wall--that Rob had observed. At the -same instant there came the "creak! creak!" of the staircase as one of -the men below began to ascend the stairway. - -There was a big bit of loose timber lying near Rob's straw. With a sudden -flash of anger at the thought of the men's treachery, the lad snatched it -up. - -"They shan't get off scot free, anyhow," he decided within himself. - -With the bulk of timber clutched in both his hands, ready poised for a -blow, Rob waited by the opening at the head of the rickety stairway as -the midnight assailant ascended. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - "WE WANT YOU." - - -A stubbly red-head protruded itself through the opening. The crucial -moment had come. - -"Take that!" cried Rob bringing down the bulk of timber with a resounding -crack on the fellow's pate. He grunted, clutched at the sill of the -opening for an instant, and then went toppling down the stairway in a -heap. - -A roar of fury and a rush of feet from below followed. But Rob did not -wait for the sequel. - -"Hope I haven't seriously injured the chap," he thought, as he sprinted -for the window, "I hit a bit harder than I meant to." - -But the next instant, when red-head's voice was added to the uproar -below, Rob knew that he had, at least, not impaired the miscreant's -talent for profanity. - -All need of concealment was gone now. Rob's heart leaped to the -adventure. Jumbo was half way through the window as the lad reached it. -Rob hastened him with a shove and a quick word. The black held for an -instant, clutching the sill, and then he dropped. The next moment Rob had -followed him. He fell in a sprawling heap on top of the black. Both were -up in a jiffy. - -"Which way?" gasped out Jumbo. - -"Any way--this!" cried Rob, dashing across a moonlit strip toward a dark -belt of woods. - -A fusillade of shots rang out behind them. Rob heard the bullets screech -as they spun by. - -"Law'sy, Marse Rob, dem bullets talk ter me mighty plain," gasped Jumbo -as they gained the comparative security of the dark hemlocks. - -"What did they say?" asked Rob, breathlessly. - -"Dey say Jum-bo, we'se ah lookin' fo' you, chile!" - -Whatever Rob's reply might have been it was forestalled the next instant -by an entirely unsuspected and startling happening. From the woods -_ahead_ of them, came a sudden trampling of feet. - -"Quick, Jumbo. Down in here!" exclaimed the Boy Scout, dragging the -quaking negro down into a clump of bushes. They were just in time. The -next moment half-a-dozen dark figures rushed by them through the woods, -going in the direction of the hut they had just vacated so summarily. - -"What on earth does this mean?" gasped Rob, half aloud in his utter -astonishment. Parting the bushes a bit, he could perceive the dark -outlines of the hut and the newcomers deploying across the moonlit strip -in front of it. - -A loud crash echoed through the sleeping woods as the door of the hut was -suddenly slammed shut. - -Almost simultaneously, the walls of the hut and the space in front of it -seemed to spit vicious flashes of fire. - -"Gee whiz!" cried Rob, excitedly, "they're attacking the hut, Jumbo! What -under the sun does this mean?" - -"Dunno," said the negro, "but mah hopes is dat dey jes' nachully -exterminaccouminicate each other like dem Killarney cats." - -"Kilkenny cats, you mean, don't you?" - -"It's all de same," retorted Jumbo, "but say, Marse Rob, we'd bettah be -clearing out ob here." - -"No, let's stay awhile. We're in no danger here. In fact I've an idea -that this may all turn out to be a good thing for us." - -The attacking party now dropped back a bit. - -"They're well armed and desperate," Rob heard one of them say, "better -breathe a bit, boys, and then we'll go for 'em again." - -"Let's get a log and smash the door down," said a voice. - -"Good idea, O'Malley," was the response, "here's an old hemlock trunk. -It's just the thing. Lay hold, boys, and we'll smoke out that nest of -rats in a jiffy." - -Willing hands laid hold of the big stick of timber, and the next instant -they were staggering with it toward the hut. There was a low word of -command and a sudden dash. The log was poised for an instant and then: - -Smash! crash! - -The massive door stood for a moment and then toppled inward, falling with -a splintering crash. But a dead silence followed the fall of the door. No -more pretence of defense was made by the inmates of the hut. Could they -be going to give up so tamely? - -Then a sudden voice floated through the night. The voice of one of the -attacking party. - -"Say! There's nobody here, boys!" - -"Confound them! Have they escaped us again?" came another voice. - -"Look's like it. Scatter and find them--back for your lives, all of you!" - -The warning cry was followed almost instantly by a deafening explosion. A -vivid flash of blue flame occurred simultaneously. - -"Gollyation!" gasped Jumbo, "de end ob de worl' am comin'." - -The whole hut seemed to burst into flame at once. Lurid, vivid fire -seemed to gush from every window and opening in the place. In color it -was an intense blue. - -"Shades ob Massa George Wash basin!" yelled Jumbo, "all de debils in dat -pit we see back dar is on de job! Come on, Marse Rob. Let's git out ob -here in double quick jig time." - -"Nonsense," said Rob sharply, "I see it all, now, Jumbo. That place was a -moonshine joint--an illegal distillery. Those men who just attacked it -are revenue officers. The explosion was caused by hundreds of gallons of -spirits. I guess the moonshiners set it on fire to destroy the evidence." - -Each instant the blaze rose higher. The hut, within its four walls, was a -mass of flames. It glowed like a red hot furnace. Rob watched it with -fascinated eyes. The whole clearing was bright as day. The dark woods -beyond were bathed in a blood-red glare from the flames. - -The intense heat fairly blistered the trunks of the nearest hemlocks. -Resin ran from them freely. - -"Let's get further back, Jumbo, it's too hot here," said Rob presently. - -"Golly goodness! It am dat," declared Jumbo in awed tones, "dat fire dere -puts me in mo' fear ob dat bottomless pit dan all de preachifying I ever -listened to." - -But their retreat into the woods was checked in a strange manner. Rob, -who was in advance, recoiled suddenly. A whole section of the woodland -floor seemed to uprear itself before his eyes, and a wild figure, with a -tangled black beard and shifty, wicked eyes, emerged. Rob realized in a -flash that it was a trapdoor cleverly concealed by brush and earth that -had just opened. Simultaneously he recognized the figure that was -crawling from it as that of Black Bart himself. - -The man was too much perturbed to notice their nearness to him. But -suddenly his eyes fell on them. With a furious oath he dashed at Rob. - -"You young fiend! You're responsible for this!" he yelled in a frenzy. - -A knife glittered in his hand, but before he could use it Jumbo's black -fist collided with his jaw. Black Bart fell sprawling back upon the trap -door which he had just opened. - -"Reckon Jack Johnson himself couldn't hev done no bettah!" grinned the -negro. - -"Oh, no you don't, sah!" he exclaimed the next instant as Black Bart -struggled to rise; "ah reckon you can repose yo'self right dar fo' a -peahriod ob time." - -So saying he pinioned the ruffian's arms to his sides and held him thus. - -As he did so, violent knockings began to resound from under the -trap-door. Evidently somebody was imprisoned there. - -"Hey! Let us out! Let us out!" came sharp cries from below, albeit they -were considerably muffled by the trap-door. - -"Yo' all come an' sit on hyah too, Marse Rob," urged Jumbo. "Ah reckon -den dey kain't git dat door open till we am willing dat dey should -conmerge inter terrier firmer." - -Rob guessed at once what had happened. The moonshiners, following the -attack of the revenue officers, had realized that continued resistance -would be useless. They had, therefore, made their escape by the secret -passage, led into by the swinging hearthstone. Its outlet evidently being -by the trap door on which they were then stationed. But first, with -wicked craft, they had ignited their whole stock of spirituous liquors, -hoping in the consequent explosion, that the revenue men would perish. -This much seemed clear. Indeed, it was confirmed afterward, and--but we -are anticipating. - -The Boy Scout had just reached these conclusions when a sudden stir in -the brush behind him made him look up. Two men stood there, the light of -the conflagration showing every detail of their figures and countenances -plainly. They were regarding the group on the top of the trap-door with -peculiar interest. - -Rob started up toward them but was abruptly checked as two rifles were -jerked to two shoulders, and aimed straight at him. - -"Don't move a step!" warned one of the men, "I guess we want you." - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - JUMBO EARNS $500.00--AND LOSES IT. - - -"Guess you do want us, but not exactly in the same sense as you mean," -retorted Rob with a chuckle. - -"What do you mean, boy?" asked one of the men sharply, as several others -of the revenue officers--as Rob had guessed them to be--came up. - -"I mean that we've got the whole gang you were after bottled up in a -tunnel under this trap door," rejoined Rob breezily. - -"Yas sah, Misto Arm-ob-de-Law," grinned Jumbo, "ah reckin no coon up a -tree was eber moh completely obfusticated dan dose same chill'uns." - -"What does all this mean?" asked another of the group, a gray-moustached -man of stern appearance, "this boy is either one of the gang or he has -been reading dime novels." - -"Nebber read a bit ob dat classification ob literachoor in mah life," -snorted Jumbo indignantly, "ef yo' alls don' want dese men we got -obfusticated under hay'ah, why we jes' gits off dis yar trap door an' -lits dem skeedaddle." - -"Who's that you're sitting on, nigger?" demanded the gray moustached man, -who seemed to be in authority. - -"Why, dis am a genelman what answers to de ufoinious name ob Black Bart," -grinned Jumbo amiably, "an' ah's not a nigger, ah's a 'spectable----" - -"Do be quiet, Jumbo," exclaimed Rob, as the inevitable protest came into -evidence. "The case is just this, gentlemen," he continued. "I am a Boy -Scout. This man is attached to our camp. We wandered away and got lost." - -Rob did not tell all that happened, for he foresaw that such a procedure -might lead to questions which would bring out the fact of their treasure -hunt. - -"I see that you wear a Scout uniform now," said the gray-moustached man. - -"Yes, and Boy Scouts don't lie," put in another man, "my sons are both in -the organization." - -"What troop?" asked Rob. - -"The Curlews of Patchogue." - -"Why, we've met them in water games at Patchogue," exclaimed Rob, "my -name is Rob Blake." - -"And mine's Sam Taylor," said the man, advancing, "glad to meet you, Rob -Blake, I've heard of you. This lad is all right," he said, turning to the -leader. "I'll vouch for him." - -"All right," rejoined the gray-moustached revenue officer, "but we can't -be too careful. Well, Rob Blake, what's your story? Go ahead." - -"As I said, we lost our way," went on Rob. "We stumbled on that hut. We -were tired and faint, and for pay this man, on whom Jumbo is sitting, -took us in. I awoke in time to overhear a plot to rob us. We escaped and -while hiding in the brush--not just knowing who you were, friend or foe, -we saw that trap-door open and nailed that man--Black Bart. At least -Jumbo did." - -"Then it looks as if Jumbo gets five hundred dollars reward for the -capture of Black Bart, and more may be in store. You say that the rest -are in that passage?" - -"Yes." - -"Some of you fellows tie Black Bart," ordered the leader. - -When this was done, the sullen prisoner not uttering a word, the order to -open the trap-door was issued. - -"No monkey tricks, you fellows," warned the revenue officer, as it swung -back, "we'll take stern measures with you." - -One by one the occupants of the hut crawled out and were promptly made -prisoners. They were almost exhausted, and could not have put up a fight -had they been so inclined. - -"Glad to get out," said the blonde-bearded man as he submitted to being -handcuffed, "it was hot enough in thar to roast potatoes." - -"So you got scorched by the same fire you intended should destroy us," -said the chief revenue officer dryly. - -"Young man," he went on, turning to Rob, "I shall bring this bit of work -to the attention of the government. In the meantime, I may tell you, that -besides the five hundred dollars offered for Black Bart's capture, there -was a reward of two thousand dollars for the apprehension of the gang as -a whole. I shall see that you and your companion get it." - -"But--but----" stammered Rob, "you had all the trouble and risk----" - -"Hush, Marse Rob! don' be talkin' dat way. Dey may take dat reward away -ag'in," whispered Jumbo, whose eyes had been rolling gleefully. He could -hardly credit his good fortune. - -"We're paid for our work," said the revenue man briefly, "I'm not saying -that we always get much credit for the risks we take. Half the time they -don't even mention our raids in the papers. But we do our duty to Uncle -Sam and that's enough." - -Soon after, a search having been made of the ruins of the hut, the -revenue men set out with their prisoners for the lake, where they had a -boat and two small bateaus. Rob and Jumbo accompanied them. Jumbo walked -like one in a trance. He saw money fairly hanging to the trees. - -"What will you do with all that money, Jumbo?" asked Rob amusedly as they -strode along. Under the skilled leadership of the revenue men the path to -the lake was a simple matter to find. - -"Ah reckon's ah'll buy a 'mobile, Marse Rob, an' a pair ob patent lebber -shoes--dem shiny kind, an' some yaller globes (gloves) an'--an' what's -lef' ober ah'll jes' spend foolishly." - -"If I were you I'd put some of it in a savings bank," advised Rob, -smiling at the black's enumeration of his wants. "You get interest there, -too, you know." - -"Wha' good dem safety banks, Marse Rob? Dey calls dem safety but dey's -plum dangerous. Fus' ting yo' know dey bus' up. Ah had a cousin down -south. Some colored men dey start a bank down dere. Mah cousin he puts in -five dollars reposit. 'Bout a munf afterward he done go to draw it out -and what you think dat no-good black-trash what run de bank tole him?" - -"I don't know, I'm sure, Jumbo," answered Rob. - -"Why, dey said de interest jes' nacherally done eat dat fibe dollars up!" - -As Rob was still laughing over Jumbo's tragic tale there came a sudden -shout from ahead. - -Then a pistol shot split the darkness. It was followed by another and -another. They proceeded from the knot of revenue men who, with their -prisoners, were a short distance in advance. - -"Gollyumptions! Wha's de mattah now?" exclaimed Jumbo, sprinting forward. - -A dark form flashed by him and vanished, knocking Jumbo flat. Behind the -fleeing form came running the revenue men. - -"It's Black Bart! He's escaped!" cried one. - -Rob joined the chase. But although they could hear crashing of branches -ahead, the pursuit had to be given over after a while. In the woods he -knew so well the revenues were no match for the wily Black Bart. With -downcast faces they returned to where the other prisoners, guarded by two -of the officers, had been left. - -"I'd rather have lost the whole boiling than let Black Bart slip through -my fingers," bemoaned the leader, "wonder how he did it?" - -"Here's how," struck in one of the officers, holding up a strand of rope, -"he slipped through the knots." - -"Serves me right for taking chances with such an old fox," muttered the -leader, self-reproachfully. - -"Anyhow we got the rest of them," said the man who had recognized Rob, -"better luck next time." - -"Dere ain't agoin' ter be no next time," muttered Jumbo disconsolately, -"dat five hundred dollars and dat gas wagon I was a-gwine ter buy hab -taken de wings ob de mawning!" - -The lake was reached shortly before dawn. True to their promise, the -revenue men put Rob and Jumbo ashore at the Boy Scouts' camp. The -amazement and delight their arrival caused can be better imagined than -set down here. Anyhow, for a long time nothing but confused fusillades of -questions and scattered answers could be heard. Much hand-shaking, -back-slapping and shouting also ensued. It was a joyous reunion. Only one -thing marred it. The canoes were still missing, and without them they -could not proceed. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX. - THE FOREST MONARCH. - - -"Say, what's that up yonder--there, away toward the head of the lake?" - -Tubby, standing on a rock by the rim of the lake where he had just been -performing his morning's ablutions, pointed excitedly. - -"I can't see a thing but the wraiths of mist," rejoined Merritt, who was -beside him. The lads were stripped to the waist. Their skin looked pink -and healthy in the early morning light. - -"Well, you ought to consult an oculist," scornfully rejoined Tubby, -"you've got fine eyes for a Boy Scout--not." - -"Do you mean to tell me you saw something, actually?" - -"Of course. You ought to know me better than to think I was fooling." - -"What were they then--mud hens?" - -"Say, you're a mud rooster. No, what I saw looked to me uncommonly like -our missing canoes." - -"You don't say so," half mockingly. - -"But I do say so,--and most emphatically, too, as Professor Jorum says," -rejoined the stout youth, "there they've gone now. That morning mist's -swallowed 'em up just like I mean to swallow breakfast directly." - -"But what would the canoes be doing drifting about?" objected Merritt. -"From Rob's story yesterday, Hunt and his gang had them in that cove. Do -you suppose they'd have let them get away?" - -"Maybe not, willingly," rejoined Tubby sagely, who, as our readers may -have observed, was a shrewd thinker, "but it blew pretty hard last night. -The canoes may have broken loose from their moorings." - -"Jimminy! That's so," exclaimed Merritt, "I'll go and tell----" - -"No, you won't do anything of the kind," said Tubby, half in and half out -of his Boy Scout shirt. - -"Why not?" - -"Because if they did turn out to be mud hens we'd never hear the last of -it." - -"H'um that's so. What do you advise, then?" - -"We'll wait till after breakfast. Then we'll say we're going to take a -tramp and sneak off toward the head of the lake. If they are the canoes -they'll still be there." - -"And if not----" - -"We'll have had a tramp." - -"Say," exclaimed Merritt as a sudden idea struck him, "how do you propose -to get them, even if they do turn out to be the canoes. Stand on the bank -and call 'come, ducky! ducky!'" - -Tubby looked at his corporal with unmixed scorn. - -"We can swim, can't we?" - -"I see you have every objection covered, like a good Scout, Tubby. Well, -we'll try after breakfast. If they're not the canoes there's no harm -done, anyhow." - -"Except to our shoe leather," responded Tubby finishing dressing. - -The morning meal over, and Jumbo washing the tin plates in silence--he -was still regretting that five hundred dollars--the two lads, in -accordance with their plan, got ready for their tramp. - -They buckled on their belts, saw that their shoe-laces were stout and -well laced, and equipped themselves with two scout staves. It was against -the rules to carry firearms unless the major or one of the leaders was -along. No objection was interposed to their going. In fact, the major, -worried as he was over the vanished canoes, was rather glad to have an -opportunity for a quiet talk with the professor. Rob was still rather -fagged by his experiences of the preceding night and day, and Hiram and -Andy Bowles had decided to indulge in signal practice. - -"Well, good-bye," called the major as the young Scouts strode off. - -"Bring back the canoes with you," mockingly hailed Rob. - -"Sure. We'll look in all the tree tops. I'm told they roost there with -the gondolas," cried the irrepressible Tubby, with a wave of his hand. - -The next instant the two adventurers had vanished over the ridge. - -"Say, what a laugh we'll have on them if we really do bring the canoes -back," chuckled Tubby merrily, as they plodded along. - -Distances in the mountains are deceptive. From the camp it had not looked -so very far to the head of the lake. But the two lads found that, what -with the innumerable ridges they had to cross, and the rough nature of -the ground before them, it was considerably more of a tramp than they had -bargained for. - -Of the canoes too, there was no sign. The mists had now vanished and the -sun beat down on the smooth surface of the lake as if it had been a -polished mirror. - -"Maybe they've drifted ashore," said Tubby, hopefully. - -"If they have I'll bet they chose the other one," said Merritt, "it's -what they used to call at school 'the perversity of inanimate things.'" - -"Phew!" exclaimed Tubby, "don't spring any more like that. I didn't bring -a dictionary." - -It was about noon when they came to a halt in a ravine near the lake -shore and sat down on a log to rest. - -"Gee, I wish we had something to eat," groaned Merritt. - -"Ever hear of a fairy godmother?" inquired Tubby, gazing abstractedly up -through the tree tops. - -"Well, if you aren't the limit, Tubby. What on earth have fairy -godmothers to do----" - -"They were always on the job with what was most wanted, I believe," -pursued Tubby. - -"Oh, don't talk rot. Let's---- Gee whiz! I'll take it all back, Tubby. -You are a real, genuine, blown-in-the-glass fairy godmother." - -Merritt's exclamation was called forth by the fact that Tubby had -produced, with the air of a necromancer, two packets of sandwiches and -ditto of cake. - -"There's water in that spring, I guess," he said laconically ignoring -Merritt's open compliments. - -The two lads munched away contentedly. They were seated at the head of -the little ravine which ran back from the shore of the lake. Above them -towered a rocky cliff from which flowed the spring. Ferns of a brilliant -green and almost tropical luxuriance festooned its edges. The water made -a musical tinkling sound. It was a pleasant spot, and both boys enjoyed -it to the full. They would have appreciated it more though, if they could -have stumbled across the canoes which Tubby was beginning to believe were -a figment of his imagination. - -"Wonder if there were ever Indians through here?" said Merritt, after a -period of thought. - -"Guess so. They used to navigate most of these lakes," said Tubby, -stuffing some remaining crumbs of cake into his mouth. - -"Why?" he added, staring at Merritt, with puffed out cheeks. - -"I was just thinking that if we were early settlers and an Indian -suddenly appeared in the opening of this canyon or ravine or whatever you -like to call it, that we'd be in a bad way." - -"Yes, we couldn't get out. That's certain," said Tubby, looking around, -"I guess the red men would bury the hatchet--in our heads." - -"I'm glad those days are gone," said Merritt, "I should think that the -early settlers must have--Hark! What's that?" - -A sudden crunching sound, as if someone was leisurely approaching had -struck on his ear. - -"Sounds like somebody coming," rejoined Tubby. - -His heart began to beat a little faster than was comfortable. What if -some of the Hunt gang were prowling about. - -"What do you think it is?" he asked, the next moment, in rather a -quavering tone. - -"Jiggered if I know," said Merritt; "let's go toward the beach and -investigate." - -"Better do that than stay here," agreed Tubby. - -Picking up their scout staves both boys cautiously tip-toed toward the -mouth of the ravine. But before they could reach it a sudden shadow fell -across the white strip of sand at the outlet. - -The next moment a huge body came into view. Its great bulk loomed up -enormously to the eyes of the excited boys. - -"It's a big deer!" exclaimed Tubby; "what a beauty! Look at those horns!" - -The deer, a fine antlered beast that was moving leisurely along the -beach, looked up at the same instant. It gazed straight at the boys for a -moment. Then it began pawing the ground angrily, and tossing its head. - -"What can be the matter with it?" said Merritt in a whisper. - -"Bothered if I know," rejoined Tubby, "it looks kind of mad, doesn't it? -Maybe we'd better try to climb up that cliff." - -"I think so, too," said Merritt, as the stag buck lowered its head and -its big eyes became filled with an angry fire. - -"Quick, Tubby!" he cried the next instant, "it's going to charge!" - -Hardly had he voiced the warning before, with a furious half-bellow, -half-snort, the buck rushed at them at top speed, its antlers lowered -menacingly. - - - - - CHAPTER XX. - THE CANOES FOUND. - - -Merritt made a spring up the side of the steep-walled little ravine. He -succeeded in grabbing an outgrowing bush and drawing himself up to a -ledge about ten feet above the ground. Tubby followed him. But the fat -boy's weight proved too much for the slender roots of the plant. It -ripped out of the cleft in which it grew, and Tubby, with a frightened -cry, went rolling over and over down the steep acclivity. He fell right -in the path of the advancing stag. The creature saw him and prepared to -gore him with its horns. But just as Tubby was giving himself up for -lost, an inspiration seized Merritt. - -A big stone lay close at hand. He grabbed it up and hurled it with all -his might at the buck. The lad's experience on the baseball diamond stood -him in good stead at this trying moment. - -The rock, with all the power of Merritt's healthy young muscles behind -it, struck the buck between the eyes. The animal staggered and snorted. -For one critical instant it hesitated, its sharp forefeet almost on the -recumbent fat boy. Then, with a shrill sort of whinny of terror, it -swung, as swiftly and gracefully as a cat, and clattered off, running at -top speed. - -Merritt lost no time in clambering down to Tubby, who was sitting up and -looking about him in a comical dazed way. - -"H-h-h-has it gog-g-g-gone?" he stammered. - -"I should say so," laughed Merritt, "it stood not on the order of its -going, but--got! as they say in the classics." - -"I'm glad of that," remarked Tubby, getting up slowly, "I could almost -feel those antlers investigating my anatomy. Let's see how far he's run." - -The two boys made for the entrance of the ravine. Gaining it they had a -good view up and down the beach in either direction. On a distant -projection of rock stood the buck. He was looking back. As he saw the -boys he wheeled abruptly and dashed into the forest. - -"Too bad," said Tubby shaking his head with a serious air. - -"What's too bad?" asked Merritt, struck by the other's pensive air. - -"Why, if he'd stood still a little longer and we'd had a gun we might -have shot him," rejoined Tubby with a perfectly serious face. - -They turned, and as they did so a shout burst from the lips of both. - -Bobbing about serenely on the placid water, not half a mile in the other -direction, was the red canoe. - -"I'll bet the others are ashore right there, too," cried Tubby. - -As he spoke the stout boy dashed off at surprising speed for one of his -build. It was all Merritt could do to keep up with him. - -It was as Tubby had suspected. The blue and the green canoes lay on the -beach, their bows just resting on the sand. The paddles were in them and -it was an easy task to embark and capture the red craft. This was made -fast to the one Tubby paddled and the boys, congratulating each other -warmly, set out for the camp. As they glided along Tubby uplifted his -voice. - - "R-o-o-w, brothers, row! - The stream runs fast! - The rap--ids are ne-ar - And the day--light's past." - - "Ro-o-w----" - -"But it isn't rowing, it's paddling," objected Merritt. - -"Whoever heard of a rhyme to paddling?" demanded Tubby, "you might as -well expect one to motor boating," and he resumed his song. - -As they drew near to the spot where the camp had been pitched they saw -the black figure of Jumbo on the beach. Tubby hailed him in a loud voice. -Instantly the negro looked up, and as his eyes fell on the canoes he -tossed the frying pan he was scouring high into the air. It descended on -his head again with a resounding whack. - -But that African head seemed hardly to feel it. Bounding and snapping his -fingers in joy, Jumbo raced up to the camp, electrifying everybody with -the glad news that the canoes had been found. - -"How on earth did you discover them, boys?" demanded the major, as the -prows grated on the beach and a glad rush of excited feet followed. - -"Simple," said Tubby, with a grand air and a sweep of his hands, "simple. -They were up in a tree, just as I suspected." - -Before long Merritt had to tell the real story. But when they looked -about for Tubby to congratulate him that modest youth had slipped away. -He was found later, devouring a raisin pie of Jumbo's baking. - -"You deserve pie and anything else you fancy," said the major warmly. - -"There's only one thing I'd fancy right now," rejoined Tubby. - -"What is that?" - -"I'd like to have hold of Freeman Hunt for about ten minutes." - -An examination of the canoes showed that, as Tubby had guessed, their -mooring ropes had chafed through during the wind storm of the night -before. This set them wondering how Hunt and his companions could have -escaped from the cove. The next day on resuming their journey they -examined the place--the entrance to which was not found without -difficulty--but of Hunt and his gang no trace was found but the embers of -the camp fire. Rob and Jumbo viewed with interest the rope ladder which -lay in a heap at the foot of the cliff, just as it had fallen on the -night that they made their escape. Further investigation showed that, by -walking along the lake shore, the rascals who had harried the Boy Scouts -must have managed to find a place to climb up to the forests above. - -"I'm sorry they got away," said Merritt. - -"So are we all, I expect," said the professor. "I don't suppose we shall -ever see them again now." - -"I hardly think so," agreed the major. - -"Dere's only one man ah'd lak ter see ag'in," put in Jumbo. - -"Who is that?" inquired Rob. - -"Dat five hundred dollah baby wid de black whiskers," was the prompt -rejoinder; "de nex' time ah gits mah han's on him ah'm gwine ter fin' de -bigges' chain ah can, den ah'm gwine ter fasten dat to de bigges' rock ah -kin fin' an' den ah's gwine ter k'lect!" - -"I hope for your sake and for that of law and order that you succeed," -said the major, "liquor is vile stuff, anyhow. It's bad enough that it is -made legally in this country. It is ten thousand times worse when laws -are broken to distil it. I'm afraid, however, that all the rascals have -slipped through our fingers. We shall hardly set eyes on them again." - -How wrong the major was in this supposition we shall see before long. -Such men as Stonington Hunt and his chosen companions are not so easily -thrown off the trail for a rich prize. The thought of the treasure was in -Hunt's avaricious mind day and night, and already he was plotting fresh -means of wresting the secret from its rightful possessors. - -Possibly, if the major had seen an encounter which took place in the -woods not so many hours before our party landed in the hidden cove, he -might have felt less easy in his mind. Black Bart, in his flight, had -encountered Hunt's party. Creeping through the woods he had seen the -light of their camp fire. He had approached it cautiously. But as he -neared it, keeping in careful concealment, he recognized his erstwhile -comrades, Dale and Pete Bumpus. Hesitating no longer to declare himself -in his half-famished condition, he had come forward and been greeted -warmly. What he had to tell of his meeting with Rob and Jumbo, held, as -may be imagined, the deepest interest for Hunt and the others. The -consultation and plan of campaign that resulted therefrom, were fraught -with important results for our party. - -What these were we must save for the telling in future chapters. But -stirring events were about to overtake the Boy Scouts and their friends. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI. - "THE RUBY GLOW." - - -Camp, that night, was made at the portage of which the major had spoken. -Although strict watch was kept all night nothing unusual occurred. Bright -and early the work of the portage was commenced. The Major, Jumbo and -Professor Jorum, each burdened themselves with a canoe, which they -carried across their shoulders, turned bottom up and resting on a wooden -"yoke." - -The lads carried the "duffle" and provisions. The portage, connecting the -lake they had traversed with the one beyond, was over rough ground. In -fact, at one place, they had to clamber up quite a ridge. It was rocky -and grown with coarse undergrowth interspersed with scanty trees. Further -on the trail ran beside quite a deep ravine. - -Tubby, with his load of duffle, was slightly in advance of the other -lads, and humming a song as he trudged along. With the curiosity natural -to the stout youth, he could not refrain from wandering from the path to -peer over into the depths of the gulch. - -"My goodness!" he exclaimed to himself, as he gazed interestedly, "it -would be no joke to fall in there." - -As he spoke he drew closer to the edge of the rift and craned his short -neck to obtain a still better view of the abyss below him. At this -juncture the others, laboring along the trail, caught up with him, and -Rob gave the stout Scout a hail. - -"Better come away from there, Tubby," he warned, "you know what happened -out west, when you went rubbering about the haunted caves." - -"It's all right," retorted the fat boy, "it looks nice and cool down in -there. I'd like to----" - -The rest of his speech was lost in an alarmed exclamation from the -onlookers. - -As Tubby uttered his confident remark he seemed to vanish suddenly, like -an actor in a stage spectacle who has dived through a trap door. Only a -cloud of dust and a roar of stones sliding into the ravine told of what -had happened to the over-confident youth. Standing too close to the edge -he had stepped on an overhanging bit of ground and had been precipitated -downward. - -"Good gracious!" cried Rob, in real alarm, "he's gone over!" - -With a swift fear that Tubby's accident might have resulted fatally, Rob -was at the edge of the ravine in two jumps. The rest were not far behind -him. - -Rob experienced a feeling of intense relief, however, as he gazed into -the depths. Some time before, a tree had become dislodged and slid into -the rift. It lay upon the bottom of the place. Tubby, luckily for -himself, had fallen into its branches and was, except for a few -scratches, apparently unhurt. - -"Are you injured?" demanded Rob, anxiously, nevertheless. He wanted to -hear from Tubby's own lips that he was all right. - -"Nothing hurt but my feelings," the stout youth assured him. "Say, it -_is_ cool down here." - -"Well, if nothing's hurt but your feelings you're all right," cried -Merritt; "you couldn't hurt those with an axe." - -"Just you wait till I get out of here," yelled Tubby from his leafy seat. - -"Well, how are we going to get you up?" demanded Merritt. "Guess you'll -have to stay there till we get a ladder." - -"Tell you what we'll do," said Rob, "we'll take the ropes off the packs -and join them together. Then we can knot one end to one of the staves and -haul Tubby up." - -"That's a good idea," called the stout youth, who had overheard, "and -hurry up, too." - -"Gracious, it needs an elephant to haul your fat carcass out of there," -scoffed Merritt. "I guess we'll take our time over it." - -"Take as long as you like, so long as you get me out," parried Tubby, -"you always were slow, anyhow, as the fellow said when he threw his -dollar watch into the creek." - -It did not take long to rig up an extemporized life-line with the pack -ropes. This done, one end was made fast to the staves, and the other -lowered to Tubby. At Rob's orders the rope was passed round a tree trunk, -and when Tubby had adjusted the rope under his arm pits the young Scouts -began to haul. As Merritt had said, Tubby was no lightweight. Once they -had to stop, and the rope ran back quite a way. A yell from Tubby ensued. - -"Hey! Keep on hauling there!" he roared, "what do you think I am, a sack -of potatoes?" - -"You feel like a sack of sash weights!" shouted Rob, "keep still now, and -we'll have you out in a jiffy." - -A few minutes later Tubby's fat face, very red, appeared above the edge -of the rift over which he had taken his abrupt plunge. Rob seized him by -the shoulders and dragged him into safety. - -"There now, for goodness sake don't fall in again," he said. - -"As if you aren't always telling me to fall in," scoffed Tubby. - -"When, pray?" - -"Every time we drill," said the stout youth solemnly, flicking some dust -off his uniform with elaborate care. - -Owing to the length of time occupied by extricating Tubby from his -difficulties, the canoe bearers had become apprehensive of harm to the -following body and had halted. Of course questions ensued when the rear -guard came up. - -"What happened?" demanded the major, noting the suppressed amusement on -the lads' faces. - -"Oh, Tubby fell in again," answered Merritt. - -"Fell in?" asked the professor in an astonished tone. - -"I went hunting for botanical specimens at the bottom of a ravine, -professor," said Tubby gravely. - -"For botanical specimens? Most interesting. Pray did you find any?" - -"Nothing but a Bumpibus Immenseibus," replied Tubby with perfect gravity. -The other boys had to turn aside and stuff their fists in their mouths to -keep from laughing outright. - -Even the major's lip quivered. But the professor displayed immense -interest. As for Jumbo, he was lost in admiration. - -"Dat suttinly am de mos' persuasive word I've done hearn in a long time," -he exclaimed. "Blumpibusibus Commenceibus. What am dat, fish, flesh or -des corned beef?" - -"It's a pain," rejoined Tubby, "and usually follows a fall. But not a -fall in temperature, or----" - -"Ah, Hopkins, I fear you are making merry at my expense," exclaimed the -professor, good-naturedly. - -"Well, I took a tumble, anyhow," said Tubby. - -"About time you did," came in Merritt's voice. - -In the chase that ensued a wave of merriment burst loose. But time -pressed, and the march was speedily resumed, with but a short -interruption for lunch. - -Late that afternoon they emerged on the shores of the other lake. It was -a beautiful sheet of water, narrow and hemmed in by high hills which shot -up abruptly on every side. At the far end could be seen a series of three -peaks, jagged and sharp against the sky. The major turned to the -professor, and both consulted the map and the translation of the cipher. - -"When the ruby mound masks the Three Brothers take a course by the great -dead pine. Four hundred to the west, three hundred to the north, and -below the man of stone." - -Such were the words which the major read aloud from the professor's -translation. - -"How do you interpret that, professor?" he asked. - -"Why, plainly enough: the three brothers referred to are those three -similar peaks," said the professor; "the map indicates them. The ruby -mound is not quite so clear. But I don't doubt that we shall stumble -across its meaning, and also that of 'the man of stone,' which, I -confess, I cannot make out." - -"May be it's some mass of rock that looks like a man," volunteered Rob, -who, like the others, had listened with eager attention while the major -read. - -"An excellent idea, my boy. That is possibly the correct meaning, -although the old buccaneer may have spoken in riddles. Such men -frequently did. However, we are at the gateway of our venture. To-morrow -we shall know if it meets with success or failure." - -"To-morrow!" echoed the Boy Scouts. - -"Ef ah could cotch dat five-hundred-dollah-pusson to-morrow dat would be -all de treasure ah'd want," mumbled Jumbo as he set down his canoe. He -had kept it on his back up to now, like a shell on a black turtle. - -"Ah don' lak dis business ob interfussin' wid a dead man's belongin's. No -good ain't gwine ter come uv it." - -"What are you mumbling about, Jumbo?" asked the major, overhearing some -of this last. - -"Why, majah, I was jes' a communicatin' to myself mah pussonal -convictions on de subjec' ob dead men's gold." - -"Why, Jumbo, are you superstitious?" inquired the professor. - -"No, sah. Ah's bin vaccinated an' am glad to say it _took_. We ain't -neber had no supposishishness in our fam'bly. But dis yar meddlin' an -monkeyin' wid what belongs to dem as is daid and buried is bad bis'nis, -sah--bad bis'nis." - -"I thought that you had more courage than that," said the professor -seriously. - -"Ah got lots ob dat commodity, too, sah. Ah dassay dat ah is de bravest -man in de--Oh! fo' de law's sake, wha' dat? Oh, golly umptions! Majah! -You Boy Scrouts, help!" - -Jumbo suddenly cast himself down on the ground and began rolling over and -over, trying to seize the major's feet in his paroxysm of real alarm. - -"Get up!" ordered the major curtly, "get up at once, you cowardly -creature. What's the matter?" - -"Oh, mah goodness, majah, you didn't see it. You had yo' back to der -bushes. So did de odders. But ah seed it." - -"Saw what, sir?" - -"Oh, golly gumptions! De ugliest lilly face wid black whiskers an' eyes -dat I ebber seed. It was lookin' frough de bushes an' listening to you -alls." - -"Where? Show me the place at once." - -The major's tone was curt and fraught with a deeper meaning. - -"Right hyah, sah, majah. Right hyah, dis am whar I seen dat homely lilly -face. Yas sah." - -But although they made a thorough search of the vicinity no trace of a -concealed listener could be found. - -"I'd be half-inclined to put it down to Jumbo's foolishness if it wasn't -that we know we have enemies in the mountains," said the major, after -supper that night. - -"But as it is, sir?" asked Rob. - -"As it is," replied the major, "I think we had better keep a sharp look -out and 'Be Prepared.' Jumbo's description of that face seems to tally -pretty closely with the countenance of Black Bart." - -"Just what I think," rejoined Rob; "if he hadn't got so frightened Jumbo -might have secured that five hundred dollars after all." - -"Marse Rob," said Jumbo, who had been listening intently, "you ebber hyah -dat lilly story 'bout de man wot caught de wild cat?" - -"No; heave ahead with the yarn, Jumbo," said the major. - -"Well, sah, onct upon a time two men was campin'. One went to der spring -ter git watah. Pretty soon de one lef' behin' hearn de awfullest racket -and caterwaulin' by dat spring you ever hearn tell ob. - -"'What de mattah?' he call. - -"'I got a wild cat!' holler de man by de spring. - -"'Kain't you hole him?' hollers his fren'. - -"'I kin hole him all right,' hollered de udder feller, 'but I don't know -how ter let him go ag'in'." - -After the laughter excited by this narration had subsided, Jumbo rolled -his eyes solemnly and cleared his throat. Then he spoke: - -"An' dat lilly nanny-goat (anecdote) applies sah, dat applies ter me and -dis yar Black Bart or whateber his name am." - - - - - CHAPTER XXII. - THE BUCCANEER'S CAVE. - - -"The three peaks are in line, but no trace of the 'ruby glow' the cipher -speaks of." - -The speaker was Rob Blake. He and Merritt, in the red canoe, were in -advance of the other craft. The first level rays of the early sun were -slanting down over the precipitous hills surrounding the lake and gilding -the placid sheet of water with a glittering effulgence. The canoes seemed -to hang on the clear water as if suspended. - -Right ahead of the adventurers, the three jagged peaks seen the previous -evening had gradually swung into line, until the first and nearest one -veiled the other two. - -"Let's run the canoe ashore. May be we shall come across something to -make the meaning of the cipher plainer," suggested Merritt. - -Presently the bow of the canoe grazed the beach, and the two active young -uniformed figures sprang out. For an instant they looked about them. Then -suddenly Merritt gripped Rob's arm with such a tight pressure that it -actually pained. - -"Look!" he cried, "look!" - -Rob followed the direction of Merritt's gaze and was tempted to echo his -cry. Through the trees a rectangular mound of rock, with a dome-like -summit, had just caught the rays of the sun. - -In the early morning light it glittered as redly as if bathed in blood. - -"The ruby glow!" breathed Rob poetically, gazing at the wonderful sight. - -"Must be some sort of mica or crystal in the rock that catches the -sunlight," said the practical Merritt; "good thing we didn't come here on -a dull, cloudy day." - -"I guess so," rejoined Rob; "we might easily have missed it." - -"Let's get the others!" exclaimed Merritt. "See, the ruby glow is masking -the Three Brothers." - -"That's so," agreed Rob, "this is the place, beyond a doubt." - -By this time the other canoes had been beached and their occupants were -presently gazing in wrapt wonder at the spectacle. As the sun rose higher -they could see the glow diminishing. - -"Your ancestor chose his hiding place well," said the professor to Major -Dangerfield, "only at sunrise and at sunset can the glow be visible. At -any other hour of the day there would be nothing unusual about that rock -but its shape." - -Suddenly Tubby broke into song. He caught at the others' hands. In a -jiffy the Boy Scouts were dancing round in a joyous circle, singing at -the top of their lungs: - - "Ruby glow! ruby glow! - We have sought you long, you know! - Now you're found we won't let go - Till we get the treasure--ruby glow!" - -"Rather anticipating, aren't you, boys?" asked the major, "there is still -quite a lot to be done before we discover the cavern where the treasure -is supposed to be buried." - -But despite his calm words they could see that the major was quite as -much excited as themselves at the idea of being on the threshold of great -discoveries. - -"Suppose we press forward," suggested the professor presently; "I think -that the base of the ruby mound is the place to start from." - -The canoes were hauled up on the beach and concealed in a high growth of -tangled water plants. They did not wish to risk having them stolen for a -second time. Then they struck forward into the gloom of the woods lying -between the ruby mound and the lake. As they went the Boy Scouts hummed -Tubby's little song. Even Jumbo seemed to have cast off his gloom. His -great eyes rolled with anticipation as they pressed on, ambition to find -the treasure cavern lending wings to their feet. - -Before long they were at the base of the ruby mound. It was quite bare, -and rose up almost as if it had been artificially formed. The professor -declared it to have been of glacial origin. Certain markings on it he -interpreted as being Indian in design. - -"They seem to indicate that at one time the Indians, who formerly roamed -these mountains, used this mound as a watch tower," he said. "It must -have made a good one, too." - -"Too high colored for me," said Tubby in an undertone. - -But by this time the glow had fled from the conical-shaped top of the -mound. It was a dull gray color now, and, except for its shape and -barrenness, looked just like any other rock pile. - -"There's the dead pine!" cried Hiram suddenly. - -"So it is!" exclaimed the major, as his gaze fell on an immense blasted -trunk soaring above the rest of the trees, "boys, we are hot on the -trail." - -"Looks so," agreed Rob. - -"Now, then," exclaimed the professor, as they stood at the base of the -pine, which appeared to have been blasted by lightning at some remote -period, "now then, one of you boys pace off four hundred feet to the -west." - -Rob drew out his pocket compass and speedily paced off the distance. This -brought them into a sort of clearing. It was small, and circular in -shape, and dense growth hedged it in on all sides. By this time the boys -were fairly quivering with excitement, and their elders were not much -behind them in eager anticipation. - -"Now, three hundred to the north," ordered the major. - -"We'll have to plunge right into the brush," said Rob. - -"All right. Go ahead. In a few minutes now we shall know if we're on a -fool's errand or not." - -The former army officer's voice was vibrant with emotion. - -Followed by the others, Rob pushed into the brush, pacing off the -required three hundred feet as accurately as he could. All at once he -came to a halt. - -"Three hundred," he announced. - -As they looked about them a feeling of keen disappointment set in. Tall -brush was hemming them in on all sides. No trace of a stone man, or -anything else but the close-growing vegetation, could be seen. - -"Fooled again!" was the exclamation that was forcing itself to Tubby's -irrepressible lips when he stopped short, struck by the look of keen -disappointment on the major's face. - -"It looks as if we had had all our trouble for nothing, boys," he began, -when Rob interrupted. - -"What's that off there, major, through the bushes yonder. You can see it -best from here." - -The major hastened to the young leader's side. - -"It's a sort of cliff or precipice," he cried. - -"Maybe the man of stone is located there," suggested Rob; "it's worth -trying, don't you think so, sir?" - -"By all means. This growth may have sprung up since the treasure was -hidden away, and so have concealed the place." - -Once more the party moved on. A few paces through the undergrowth brought -them to the foot of a steepish cliff of rough, gray stone. It appeared to -be about thirty feet or more in height. Above it towered the rugged peak -of the first of the Three Brothers. - -"Now, where's the man of stone?" asked the professor in a puzzled tone, -gazing about him. - -"There's certainly no indication of a man of that material or any other," -opined the major, likewise peering in every direction. - -"What's that mass of rock on the cliff top?" asked Merritt suddenly; "it -looks something like a human figure." - -They all gazed up. A big mass of rock was poised at the summit of the -cliff. There was a large rock with a smaller one perched on the top of -it. To a vivid imagination it might have suggested a body and a head. - -"It's worth investigating, anyway," decided the major; "we'll look at the -face of the cliff directly beneath it. Maybe there is an opening there." - -But this decision was more easily arrived at than carried out. Thorny -brush and thick, tall weeds shrouded the base of the cliff for a height -of eight or ten feet. But the Boy Scouts had their field axes with them, -and before long the blows of the steel were resounding. In a few minutes -they had cleared away a lot of the brush directly beneath the two poised -stones. - -The major and the professor, with Jumbo looking rather awe-stricken at -the major's side, stood watching. - -"These balanced stones prove my theory that all this is of glacial -origin," the professor was saying. "Some antediluvian water course must -have left them there. Why, it wouldn't take much of a push to shove them -over." - -"That is true," agreed the major; "in that case, supposing that an -entrance does exist at this spot, they would block it effectually." - -"Very much so," agreed the professor dryly; "in fact----" - -"Hoo-r-a-y!" - -The shout rang gladly through the silent woods. The boys had thrown down -their axes and stood with flushed, triumphant faces turned toward the -elder members of the party. The major was quick to guess the cause of -their excitement. - -"They've found it!" he cried, springing forward. - -The professor and Jumbo followed. As they came up Rob was pointing to an -opening at the base of the cliff which the cleared brush had revealed. - -"The entrance to the cavern of Ruby Glow!" he exclaimed dramatically, -while the rest of the Boy Scouts swung off into Tubby's extemporized song -of triumph. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII. - TRAPPED IN A LIVING TOMB. - - -After the first excitement and confusion had quieted down a bit, the -major and the professor began discussing ways and means for exploring the -cavern. - -"When shall we start?" asked Merritt. - -"At once, I think," said the major. - -"I agree with you," said the professor; "no time like the present." - -"That being the case," declared the major with a smile, "Jumbo had better -set out for the canoes at once, and bring some provisions and the -lanterns." - -The lanterns referred to were of the variety used by miners, which had -been brought along for the special purpose in which they were now to be -employed. - -But Jumbo was not allowed to set off alone on his expedition. The eager -Boy Scouts raced off with him. They soon returned with a supply of canned -goods, plenty of matches and some firearms and the lanterns. The latter -were quickly lighted and, each member of the party shouldering a burden, -the dash into the cave was begun. - -It was a creepy, mysterious sensation. The light seemed to go out with a -sudden snap as they passed the portals of the cave entrance. Only the -yellow light of the lanterns, pale after the bright sunshine, illumined -the damp walls. A queer, dead, musty smell was in the air. - -"Better proceed carefully," said the professor; "we may encounter a -pocket of poisonous air before long." - -"I thought we were looking for a pocket full of money," whispered Tubby -to Merritt, behind whom he was pacing. - -The party had to advance in single file, for beyond the entrance of the -cave was a narrow passage. - -"I wonder how your ancestor ever located this place?" said Rob, -wonderingly, as they proceeded cautiously. - -"The family legend has it that he came in here in pursuit of a wounded -wild animal he had shot, and which sought refuge here," said the major. - -It was a strange, rather uncanny feeling to be treading the long unused -path leading into the bowels of the cliff. They talked in whispers and -low tones. A loud voice would go rumbling off in a weird way, not -altogether comfortable to listen to. - -"Gee! I wouldn't much care to be trapped in here," said Tubby, as they -pressed on. - -All at once the path they had been following took a sudden dip. Right -under their feet was a narrow chasm. If they had not had lights they -might have been precipitated into it, but luckily their lanterns showed -them the peril just in time. - -For a short time it looked as if the treasure hunt would have to end -right there. There seemed to be no means of crossing the chasm, and they -had brought none with them. - -"So near and yet so far," breathed Merritt. - -But presently the major discovered a stout plank resting against the wall -of the passage. It was worm-eaten and old, but a test showed it would -support them. It had evidently been left there by the old buccaneer. It -caused an odd thrill to shoot through Rob, as he stepped upon it, to -reflect that the last foot to press it had been in the tomb for many -scores of years. - -On the other side of the chasm the cave widened out. In fact, it -developed into quite a spacious chamber. The rock walls, imbedded with -mica, glistened brightly in the yellow glow of the lanterns. - -"We look like a convention of lightning bugs," commented Tubby, gazing -about him at the unusual scene. The professor drew out a paper. He and -the major bent over it, while the others listened breathlessly to -ascertain the outcome of this inspection of the plan of the long lost -treasure trove. - -"According to the plan the treasure is located in this chamber," said the -major at length. - -"At any rate," added the professor, "the plan does not give any further -details of the cave." - -"Do you think it extends further?" inquired Merritt. - -"Impossible to say. Some of these caves and their ramifications extend -for many miles. When the major has concluded his quest, I think it would -be of scientific interest to explore the subterranean thoroughfares at -length." - -All agreed with this view. But the present business speedily banished all -other thoughts from their minds. Like so many hounds on the scent, the -boys ran about the place, seeking for clews to the hiding place. But to -their bitter disappointment all their efforts resulted in nothing. No -trace of any hoarded stock of precious articles could be found. - -"We had better have something to eat and then we can determine on our -further course," said the major, looking at his watch; "I am convinced -that the treasure is here, however, and equally positive we shall find -it." - -When they sat down to their meal it was discovered that, in their haste, -they had forgotten to bring any water. Tubby, Hiram and Jumbo at once -volunteered to fetch some in the canteens which had been left in the -canoes. - -"Ah'm jes' pinin' ter see dat ole Massa Sol once mo';" confessed the -negro. - -"All right," said the major, "you can be one of the party, Jumbo. But -hurry back, Hopkins, for I am anxious to waste no more time than -necessary." - -"We'll hurry," Tubby assured him. - -The trio, the two boys and the black, hastened off, retracing their steps -through the dark passage of the cavern. It was a distinct relief to -regain the sunlight and open air. So much so that perhaps they lingered -by the concealed canoes rather longer than they should have done. - -"Come on. We've wasted enough time," said Tubby at length; "let's hurry -back." - -They set out at a good pace. But as they pushed through the brush -separating them from the cliff; in the face of which was situated the -cave entrance, a sudden sound brought them to an abrupt standstill. -Tubby, who was in the lead, raised his hand for silence. - -In the hush that followed they could distinctly catch the sound of voices -ahead of them. At first Tubby thought that they were those of some of the -party in the cave who had come out to see what had become of them. But he -was speedily undeceived. - -One of the voices struck suddenly on his ear with an unpleasant shock. It -was a harsh, grating voice, and Tubby, to his dismay, recognized it in a -flash as being that of Stonington Hunt. He had heard it too often to be -mistaken. - -"Are you all ready?" Hunt was saying. - -A sort of growl of assent followed these words. - -"What can they be up to?" asked Hiram, who was also aware now of the -identity of the voices in front of them. - -"I don't know," rejoined Tubby in the same low tones; "as well as I can -see, they are all on that cliff top alongside those balanced stones." - -"Wonder what they are doing up there?" mused Hiram; "I suppose that----" - -His voice was drowned in a loud crash as the larger of two stones was -pushed over the edge of the cliff. In a flash Tubby perceived the -fiendish object of Stonington Hunt and his followers. - -The great rock fell directly in front of the opening of the cave. The way -in or out of the underground chamber was effectually blocked, unless the -obstruction was blasted with dynamite. - -Cold chills ran up and down Tubby's spine. Hiram shuddered and turned -white, and Jumbo groaned. - -"Oh lawsy! lawsy! I knowed no good 'ud come uv meddling wif dat ole dead -teef's money." - -"Be quiet," ordered Tubby, sternly. With every nerve on the alert he -watched Hunt peer over the cliff-face. The next moment their enemy -retreated with a chuckle of laughter. - -"They're all sealed up good and tight," he said. "We'll let them stay in -there a day or two and then we'll blast the rock away." - -"Gee, that fat kid will be thinner when he gets out," Tubby heard Freeman -Hunt say as his father rejoined the group. - -"Ho! ho!" thought the lad, "'that fat kid' as you call him is on the -outside, Master Hunt. And it's a good thing he is, for the outside is -where help will have to come from." - -The watchers concealed in the brush below saw a new figure join the group -on the cliff summit, a man with a great, bushy, black beard and shifty -black eyes. - -"Mah goodness!" exclaimed Jumbo; "dat am de pussonage who peeked frough -dem bushes las' night. I thought I knowed him. Dat's Black Bart, the -sun-shiner." - -The party at the cliff summit turned and vanished. Apparently they had a -camp up there from which they had observed every movement of the Boy -Scout party. It was plain enough now, since Jumbo's recognition, how they -came to be there. Black Bart must have overheard the major discussing the -plan the night before. By making a forced march by night the rascals had -arrived ahead of the rightful searchers for the old buccaneer's hoard. - -"We'd better get back toward the boats before they take a notion to -investigate," said Tubby. "I don't fancy sticking around here much -longer." - -"Nor I," said Hiram; "come on." - -"Golly knows ah'm willin'," breathed Jumbo. - -Snugly hidden in the thick growth into which the canoes had been dragged, -the two Scouts and the negro discussed the situation. It was a desperate -one. For the present, at least, Hunt and his party dominated it. One -unpleasant thought, too, kept obtruding itself. The party in the cave had -no water. - -"And Hunt says he won't blast it open for two days, anyhow," put in -Hiram; "I suppose he figures that the major would be too weak to oppose -him then." - -"Guess that's it. What a rascal that Hunt is! But what are we going to do -to help them? We can't move that rock, and we've got nothing to blast it -away with." - -Tubby's face showed the dismay, the almost despair, that he felt. - -"Tell you what, Hiram," he said at length, "you'll have to take one of -the canoes and get off down the lake. When you reach the foot of it make -a dash to the westward, where there is a village. I'll wait here with -Jumbo till you return." - -"But it will take two days, at least, maybe a week," objected Hiram. - -"Can't be helped. We've got to do something. You are lighter and can -travel quicker than I. Take food and a rifle and get through as quick as -you can." - -Ten minutes later the red canoe, well stocked with food, and paddled by -the young Scout, shot out from the shore. By hugging the rim of the lake -the boys had figured that he would be able to undertake the first stage -of his journey without running much risk of being seen by their enemies. -Besides, it was unlikely that Hunt or his cronies would be keeping a very -keen lookout as they evidently believed that all the party was imprisoned -in the cave. - -Tubby and Jumbo watched the canoe while it remained in sight, and then -returned to their hiding place. Toward the middle of the afternoon they -saw smoke on the cliff top and well back from the edge. - -"At any rate," thought Tubby, "they are camped at a good distance back -from us. I reckon there's no danger of their seeing us moving about." - -With great caution the lad wormed his way through the brush, leaving -Jumbo to guard the canoes. He had formed a daring determination to -examine the rock and see if it was not possible in some miraculous way to -move it. But an examination confirmed his worst fears. - -The great stone was as immovable as if it had formed a part of the living -rock. Tubby actually gave a groan of despair. - -"There's not a thing we can do," he moaned disconsolately. A sudden -footfall above him made him dive into the brush. He flattened out, -immovable, in a flash. The next instant Hunt strode into the glade, -followed by his son. They also examined the stone. - -"If they won't come to our terms," said Hunt, as they turned away again, -"we can immure them in a living tomb." - -Tubby Hopkins, lying as quiet as a rabbit in his place of concealment, -could not but feel the bitter truth the words held. - - * * * * * * * * - -"Those fellows are a long time getting that water, and I'm as dry as a -jar of salt," said Merritt, as they munched on their provisions. - -"I guess we're all pretty thirsty," said the major. "Perhaps you'd better -go and hurry them up, my boy." - -Merritt sprinted off on this errand. He had almost reached the ravine and -was about to step on the narrow bridge across it when there was a sudden -crashing jar that shook the earth. - -Though, of course, he did not know it, the noise was occasioned by the -falling rock dislodged by Hunt and his followers. - -"Wonder what that was?" thought the boy, little guessing the real cause. - -"If we were in the west I should think it was an earthquake. But I never -heard of any in the Adirondacks." - -Before long he gained a point in the passage where he knew he should have -seen a disc of daylight ahead of him. Puzzled by its absence, the boy -pushed on. Every minute he expected to see the light, but the darkness -continued to prevail. Sorely perplexed, he took a few steps more, when he -was abruptly confronted by a mass of solid rock. The passage appeared to -have terminated. - -It was several moments before the meaning of this conveyed itself to the -boy's mind. When he mastered the situation it was with a sense of shock -that for an instant almost deprived him of his senses. - -Recovering his wits he lost no time in communicating his alarming -intelligence. Incidentally, the cause of the noise he had heard was -abundantly explained. - -It required but a brief examination by the major, to make known the full -extent of their calamity. - -"We are walled in," he said hoarsely. - -"Is there no hope of escape?" gasped the professor. The boys were too -much overcome to speak. - -The major shook his head. Unconsciously he repeated Tubby's words. - -"Help, if it is to come, must come from the outside," he said. - -His words rang hollowly in the musty, subterranean passage. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV. - TWO COLUMNS OF SMOKE. - - -Through the deep woods a boyish figure was creeping. It was Hiram, -footsore, sick and despondent. It was the second day since he had left -the scene of the Boy Scouts' misfortune. Behind him lay the lake. And -that was about all he knew definitely of his situation. - -For the last hour of his slow progress over the cruelly rough ground, the -lad's heart had almost failed him. But he had kept pluckily on. At last, -though, he was compelled, from sheer exhaustion, to sink down under a big -hickory tree. He was lost, hopelessly lost in the midst of the Adirondack -wilds. - -Few men or boys who have ever been in a similar fix will not realize the -extreme danger of Hiram's position. There are still vast tracks in these -mountains untrodden, except, perchance, at long intervals, by the foot of -man. The predicament of one who misses his way in their lonely stretches -is serious indeed. Hiram was a nervous, sensitive boy, moreover, and, as -the dark shadows of late afternoon began to steal through the woods, he -felt a sense of keen fear, and alarm. He even thought he could make out -the forms of savage beasts prowling about him. - -At last the boy determined, by a brave effort, to make the best of it. He -ate a meal of bread and salt meat from his haversack and washed it down -with water from his canteen. Then he set himself to thinking about a way -out of his position. - -But as is often the case with those hopelessly lost in the wilderness, -his brain refused to work coherently. A sort of panic had clutched him. -To his excited, overwrought imagination it appeared that it was his fate, -his destiny to die alone in these great, silent woods, stretching, for -all he knew, to infinity on every side of him. - -"I must brace up and do something," thought Hiram desperately; "maybe I -haven't wandered as far as I think. Perhaps a signal fire might be seen -by somebody. I'll try it, anyhow." - -The thought of doing something cheered him mightily. The task of -gathering wood and bark to make his fire also helped to keep his mind off -his predicament. - -The young Scout built his fire on the summit of the highest bit of ground -he could find. It was a bare hillock, rocky and bleak, rising amid the -trees. - -The fire Hiram constructed was, properly speaking, composed of two piles -of sticks and dry leaves and bark. Close at hand he piled a big armful of -extra fuel to keep it going. For he had determined to watch by the fires -all night, if necessary. It was, he felt, his last hope. - -The fires arranged to his satisfaction, the boy set a match to each pile -in turn. From the midst of the forest two columns of smoke ascended. The -afternoon was still. Not a breath of wind ruffled a leaf. In the calm air -the columns of smoke shot up straight. Hiram piled green leaves on his -blazing heaps and the smoke grew thicker. - -The message the two smoke columns spelled out, in Scout talk, was this: - -"I am lost, help!" - -Hiram knew if there were any Scouts within seeing distance of the two -smoke columns, that he would be saved. If not--but he did not dare to -dwell on that thought. - -The late afternoon deepened into twilight, and still Hiram sat on, -feeding his fires, although the flames of hope in his heart had died out -into gray ashes of despair. As the darkness thickened and a gloom spread -through the woods, his fears and nervousness increased. It is one thing -to have a companion in the woods and the surety of a camp fire and -comfort at night, and quite another pair of shoes to be lost in the -impenetrable forest. Anybody who has experienced the dilemma can -appreciate something of poor Hiram's state of mind. - -It grew almost dark. The two fires glowed in the twilight like two red -eyes. - -All at once Hiram almost uttered a shout of alarm. Then he grew still, -his heart beating till it shook his frame. Somewhere, close to him, a -twig had cracked. He was certain, too, that he had seen a dark form dodge -behind a tree. - -"Who's there," he cried shrilly. - -As if in reply, from behind the surrounding trees, a dozen dark forms -suddenly emerged and started toward him. Half beside himself with alarm, -Hiram, his mind full of visions of moonshiners, Indians and desperadoes, -leaped to his feet and started to run for his life. - -But he had not gone a dozen steps before he stumbled and fell. As he did -so his head struck a rock and the blow stunned him. - -The men who had emerged with such suddenness from behind the trees -hastened up. - -"We needn't have feared a trap," said one; "it was a genuine Scout -signal. I'm glad my boys taught them to me or we might have been too late -to save this boy." - -The speaker was the same man who had recognized Rob Blake, and whose two -sons were members of the Curlew Patrol. He picked Hiram up. - -"Lost and half scared to death," he said tenderly; "and just to think -that we crept up on him like a bunch of prowling Indians." - -"Well, we've got to look out for traps, you know," put in the leader, the -gray-moustached man; "those two smoke columns that you knew the meaning -of might have been a trick to decoy us. I'm glad we approached -stealthily, but I'm sorry we scared this poor kid so badly." - -"Oh, he'll be all right directly," was the easy reply. "Sam, you and Jim -get a kettle boiling and make coffee. We'll camp here to-night," said -Rob's friend. - -He set Hiram down at the root of a big tree just as the lad opened his -eyes and gazed with astonishment on the group of stalwart, kind-eyed men -gathered in wonderment about him. - - * * * * * * * * - -It was moonlight, and almost midnight, before Tubby deemed it safe to -reconnoitre the vicinity of the cave mouth. Followed by Jumbo, who was -quaking with fear, but accompanied the stout youth in preference to being -left alone, Tubby cautiously made his way through the undergrowth. A spot -of bright light above showed him the location of the camp fire of Hunt's -gang. It was hardly likely that they would be patroling the entrance to -the cave, effectually blocked as it was. But Tubby took no chances. With -the skill and silence of an Indian he wormed his way along. - -He had almost reached the open space where they had chopped down the -brush when, without an instant's warning, the figure of Stonington Hunt -strode into view. - -At the same unlucky instant Jumbo, lumbering along quite silently, -stubbed his toe against an out-cropping rock. He fell headlong with a -crash. - -"Gollygumptions! I'm killed dead!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, -utterly regardless of consequences. - -Tubby turned and was about to dodge back into the shelter of the dense -growth when Hunt espied him. With an angry oath he sprang at him, -pointing a pistol. But Tubby, in a flash, changed his tactics -surprisingly. Converting himself into a human battering ram, he lowered -his head and rushed full tilt at Hunt. - -Completely taken by surprise by Tubby's onslaught, Hunt stopped and -hesitated. The fat boy, at the same instant, rushed between the man's -legs, seizing them in a firm grip as he did so. The unexpected assault -resulted in hurling Hunt violently forward. He fell sprawling in a heap. -At the same instant his pistol was discharged in the air. - -As the report rang out from close at hand half a dozen figures sprang -into being. They were those of his followers who had been behind him at -some distance on this nocturnal visit of inspection. - -Dale and Bumpus instantly recognized Tubby. - -"That's the fat kid who wrecked our sloop!" cried Dale. - -"A hundred dollars to the one that gets him!" shouted Hunt from the -ground where he still lay. - -"How under the sun did he escape?" shouted Freeman Hunt, taking up the -chorus of cries and exclamations. - -But before Dale, agile as he was, could reach him, Tubby had darted -nimbly off. He was heading for the bushes. In another instant he would -have reached them but a second figure suddenly dodged into the moonlight -and blocked his way. It was Black Bart. He outspread his long arms to -catch the hunted youth. - -The next instant he had shared Hunt's fate. Tubby, for the second time -that night, executed his skillful tackle. Black Bart, with a string of -bad words accompanying his fall, was upset without ceremony. But Dale was -close on Tubby's nimble heels. As the lad dodged from his fallen foe Dale -reached out, and his big hand grabbed the fleeing lad's collar. Tubby -gave a dive and a twist but he could not get away. - -"Good boy, Dale. Hold him!" came Freeman Hunt's voice. - -Suddenly another figure appeared. The newcomer sprang out of the shadows -behind them. With one blow this personage knocked Dale sprawling beside -Black Bart, and the next instant, as Pete Bumpus essayed to take part in -the fray, he was sent to join the other two. - -Tubby felt himself snatched up and carried swiftly off into the darkness -of the friendly brush. - -"Gollygumptions!" chuckled Jumbo, for it was he, as he ran, "but it shuah -did feel good to swat dem no-good trash." - -"Hullo, Jumbo, is that you?" asked Tubby as he heard; "I'll forgive you -for almost getting us captured." - -"Tank you, Marse Hopkins," rejoined Jumbo gravely; "but we bes' keep our -words till we get furder away. Hark!" - -Behind them they could hear angry voices, and shouts and trampling in the -brush. - -The strong-muscled black, bent almost double, ran swiftly with his burden -for some distance further. Then he set Tubby down and rested, breathing -heavily. The sounds of the chase came from afar to them, much fainter -now. - -"Ha! ha!" chortled Jumbo; "dey look an' look, but dey no find us." - -"That's all right, too, Jumbo," said Tubby, sitting down on a decayed -log; "but it doesn't help to get the major and the rest out of that hole -in the ground." - -"Maybe Marse Hiram got frough," suggested Jumbo hopefully. - -"I hope so, I'm sure," said Tubby with a mournful intonation; "it looks -now as if that was our only chance of saving them. - -"Where are we?" added Tubby, suddenly gazing about him. There was -something familiar about the scenery. Especially about a tall, -cone-shaped rock that loomed up close at hand. - -"That's Ruby Glow!" he exclaimed the next instant. - -"And gollygumptions, ef dere ain't a spook or suthin' on top of it," -cried Jumbo. - -He pointed to a dark figure standing upright in the white moonlight that -flooded the isolated mass of rock. - - - - - CHAPTER XXV. - THE HEART OF THE MYSTERY--CONCLUSION. - - -We left the major and his party marooned in the cave, and overcome by the -suddenness of the disaster that had overtaken them like a bolt from a -clear sky. We must now return to them. - -After the first shock of the discovery the major suggested that they -retreat to the chamber and talk things over as calmly as possible. Each -one of the party, with a strong effort to master his feelings, followed -the advice. A long consultation followed, the result of which was that -they determined that the first thing to be done was to institute a search -for water. - -The far end of the cavern had not yet been explored and it was decided to -begin with that. Headed by the major, they started for what seemed a -blank wall at the end of the chamber. But on nearing it, it proved that -its appearance of blankness was chiefly caused by a sort of screen of -rock that masked an opening as effectually as if it had been placed there -by someone anxious to conceal it. - -"We'll penetrate beyond this," announced the major, and holding his -lantern high, was stepping forward when he stopped. One word came to his -lips: - -"Water!" - -From a tiny rift in the rock, sure enough, a small but blessed stream of -clear water was flowing. The delight with which the imprisoned party -hailed the discovery may be imagined. For a short time, while they -assuaged their pangs of thirst, already painful, they almost forgot the -seriousness of their situation. - -While the others drank, Andy Bowles, who had been one of the first to -taste the cool water, strayed further into the passage. Presently his -voice was borne back to the others. - -"Say!" he cried; "there's a funny sort of box in here." - -"What kind of a box?" hailed the major, alert in an instant. - -"Why, it's awful old by the looks of it. It's all bound with iron, and -nails are stuck all over it. And--say! There are two more back beyond -it." - -"The treasure trove!" gasped the professor. - -"Beyond a doubt," said the major. Then he added gloomily, "but what good -is it to us now? If we cannot escape from here before long we shall -perish miserably, and nothing but dynamite can release us." - -"At any rate we must not give up hope," counselled the professor; -"suppose we investigate these boxes. At any rate it will give us -something to do. It is better than doing nothing." - -"That is right," declared the major; "it may keep us from dwelling on the -situation." - -Merritt's axe was called into requisition, and, as the others stood round -with upraised lanterns, the boy swung the weapon down on the iron lock of -the first of the old chests. It was old and rotten, and, after a few -blows, it gave way. - -With trembling, nervous hands the lid of the box was pushed back. But a -surprise greeted the fortune hunters. Instead of a mass of gold objects -or coins meeting their eyes only a faded piece of red velvet, covering -the contents of the box, met their gaze. - -"Pull it off!" ordered the major. - -Merritt and the professor raised the bit of fabric and then started back -with startled faces. Under the velvet was a picture. A grim portrait of a -tall man in black garments holding a skull in his hands, while he knelt -beside an open grave. Under it was painted in old fashioned letters: - - "The End Of The Quest for Riches." - -"Good heavens," exclaimed the major, who had paled a little under his -tan, "that seems almost like a warning." - -Mastering a feeling of dread, Merritt helped the professor to raise the -picture. Under it was an old sea cloak, a brass spy glass of antique -make, and an old-fashioned compass and--that was all. - -"It begins to look as if my ancestor had played a grim joke on -posterity," said the major; "however, let us see what is in the other two -boxes." - -Crash! - -Down came Merritt's axe on the first of the remaining two chests. The lid -flew open with such suddenness that it startled them. It was operated by -concealed springs. - -As the light of the lanterns fell on the contents of this box, however, -all doubt as to the success of the quest was removed. It was filled to -the brim with golden candlesticks, vases, plates and cups of priceless -value. Some of them flashed with gems. The hoarded treasure of the wicked -old pirate of the Spanish seas lay before them. - -"Now the other," said the professor in a faint voice, "I can hardly -believe my eyes." - -"It does seem incredible," commented the major. - -The contents of the other chest, which was speedily opened, proved to be -of the same nature as that of the second one rifled. On the interior of -the lid, however, there had been a secret chamber. The spring of this, -rotten with age, gave way as the cover was lifted. A niagara of coins of -all nations, Spanish doubloons, French crowns, English Rose nobles and -florins, and queerly-marked Oriental wealth, flowed out. - -"What should you think was the value of all this, professor?" asked the -major when he recovered his voice. - -"At least two million dollars," was the rejoinder in tones the man of -science tried in vain to render steady. - -"I'd give half of it now if we could get out of here," said the major. - -"Perhaps there is a way." - -It was Merritt who spoke. - -"What makes you think so, my boy?" - -"Why, while we've been standing here I've noticed a draught. Look at the -lantern flames flicker in it. It comes from further down the passage. We -might explore it, anyway." - -"I think so, too," said the major, and followed by the others, still -dazed by the sight of the hoarded fortune, he struck out into the -darkness. For some distance the passage into which he had plunged was -level. Then his feet encountered rough steps. Calling to the others to -follow him the major mounted them. - -Up and up they climbed, the wind blowing more freshly in their faces -every instant. All at once, without any warning, the major emerged into -the open air. He looked about him amazed. The others, as they joined him, -heard his astonishment. They seemed to be on the summit of a small island -in the midst of a sea of woods. - -Gazing over the edge, they soon ascertained that they were at the summit -of a high cone-shaped mass of rocks. The sides were steep as church -walls, and offered no foothold. - -All at once the explanation burst upon the major. "We are at the summit -of Ruby Glow!" he cried. - -Astonishing as it appeared, this was the truth. The professor regarded it -as a proof of his theory that the place had been used as an Indian watch -tower. - -"I know now what puzzled me before," he said, "and that was the manner in -which they gained the summit of the cone." - -"But that doesn't help us to get down," said Merritt, "it looks as if we -are as badly off as before." - -"I'm afraid you're right," said the major; "no living being could scale -those walls." - -"And no living being could move that rock from the entrance to the cave," -echoed Rob miserably. - -They retraced their steps. The hours passed slowly in the cavern. But in -order to employ them somehow they made an inventory of the contents of -the treasure boxes. - -Supper was eaten from their fast diminishing store of eatables. Nobody -talked much. They did not feel inclined for conversation. At length -nature asserted itself. Rob actually began to feel sleepy. Andy and the -professor had already flung themselves down and were fast asleep. - -"Guess I'll take one more look out from Ruby Glow before I turn in," -thought Rob to himself. - -With this intention in mind he left the cave. He did not take long to -reach the top of the cone. Moonlight flooded it, and the surrounding -forest. Rob looked about him. It was a lovely scene, but somehow its -beauty didn't impress him much just then. All at once he became aware of -two figures below the cone gazing curiously up at it. One was oddly -familiar to him. In fact they both were. - -"Who is it?" he asked, feeling that there was no danger in speaking -clearly. - -"Hush!" came up the answer in Tubby's voice, in a low, but penetrating -whisper, "it's me, Tubby. Jumbo's with me. How under the canopy did you -get up there?" - -"It's a long story," responded Rob, in the same cautious tones; "the -question is how are we going to get down again?" - -"Gee whiz! that's so. There's no way of clambering down the sides. If -only we had a rope." - -"We've got one. The canoe ropes joined together would be long and strong -enough," said Rob, "but how could you get them up to us? No trees grow -close enough. I don't see how----" - -He stopped short. Tubby had suddenly begun to execute a grotesque sort of -war-dance. His figure capered oddly about in the moonlight. - -"Wait there till I come back!" he exclaimed, and suddenly darted off, -followed by Jumbo. - -"Well, if that isn't just like Tubby," said Rob; "what in the world is he -up to now?" - -But Rob knew Tubby well enough to divine that the lad would not have told -him to wait if there had not been some good reason for it. So he sat down -with what patience he could. It was some time before Tubby reappeared. -When he did, he had something in his hands. - -"Watch out!" he cried to Rob. - -The leader of the Eagle Patrol watched his Scout carefully. Suddenly he -realized what Tubby was doing. He had made a bow and arrow out of springy -wood. Then he had attached one end of a light string to the arrow. To the -other extremity of the string, which was long enough to reach the summit -of the cone, was attached the knotted lengths of canoe and pack rope. Rob -had hardly time to take in the details of this clever trick before the -arrow came whizzing by his ear. He grabbed the string as it followed and -began hauling in. - -Before long he had reached its end, and started pulling on the rope. He -made one end fast about a projecting pinnacle of rock, and then called -down his congratulations to Tubby in a low but hearty voice. - -"I always told you I could do something else than fall in," was the -message Tubby sent back as he strutted about below. - -Rob's next act was to arouse the sleepers and Major Dangerfield. They -were all naturally warm in praise of Tubby's clever device. It was tested -by Rob who slid down it in perfect safety, but landed with barked shins -and scraped hands. That was a cheap price to pay for deliverance, though, -and the others, when they followed him, felt the same way about it. - -"Now what are we going to do?" said the major as they all stood in a -group on the ground. - -"I think----" began the professor. - -But the words were taken out of his mouth. Rob made a hasty sign to the -others to conceal themselves. A sudden heavy rumbling sound had echoed -through the air. It was followed by a red flash from the direction of the -mouth of the cave. - -"They've blown the rock up!" cried the major. - -"That's why they were all prowling around there to-night, I suppose," -exclaimed Tubby. - -"Let's get to the canoes and arm ourselves," said the major; "we can -catch them all red-handed." - -First the rope by which they had escaped was cut as high as possible from -the ground, and then the major's suggestion was carried out. They reached -the entrance of the cave just in time to hear footsteps approaching down -the passage. - -They crouched quietly till Dale emerged from the cavern entrance, -stumbling over the shattered fragments of the big rock that had blocked -it. His arms were full of plunder from the chests, and he was able to -offer little resistance. He was seized and bound and gagged without his -having any opportunity to make an outcry. One after another, as they came -out, the rest of Hunt's gang were served the same way. Hunt and his son, -however, in some manner became alarmed as they neared the entry. They -dashed back, outfooting the lads who pursued them. Down the passage they -fled and stumbled blindly, in their fear, along the further passage and -up the steps to the top of the Ruby Glow peak. - -Arriving here they spied the rope. In a flash they were over the edge and -down it. Although they had bad tumbles when they reached the part where -it had been cut off, they managed to make good their escape. It would -have been folly to pursue them in the woods at night. - -Black Bart's capture deserves some mention. It was effected by Jumbo, who -literally threw himself on the black-bearded man as he emerged. It was -probably the noise of this scuffle that alarmed Hunt and his son. - -"You looks like five hundred dollahs to muh," grinned Jumbo, as Black -Bart, sullen and defiant as a wild cat, was manacled. - -The remainder of that night was spent in the cave, the prisoners being -closely guarded. The next day Dale was induced to tell how they had -stolen the explosive from the hut of an eccentric old character who did -some experimental mining not far away. - -"We figgered we'd find some use for it," he said cheerfully. - -That day was occupied in packing the precious articles, in bags brought -for the purpose. By evening all was complete. If they had known how Hiram -was faring they would have felt perfectly content. It was decided, if he -did not reappear, to leave some of the party in camp to await his return, -while the others pushed on to give the prisoners up to the proper -authorities. - -But at midnight that night they had a great surprise. Rob, who was on -watch, heard a sudden hail out of the darkness: - -"K-r-r-r-e-e-e-e!" - -It was the cry of the Eagle Patrol. - -"Who can be giving it, I wonder," he exclaimed. - -The next minute he knew. Hiram and the revenue officers, who had made a -night march of it, burst in upon the camp. Hiram had, in his wanderings, -retraced much of his way back toward the camp so that they had not had so -very far to tramp. The officials were delighted to learn of the clever -manner in which the moonshiners had been apprehended. They had been -searching for Black Bart, when they sighted Hiram's signal fires. - -Jumbo was assured that his five hundred dollars would be awarded to him -at the earliest opportunity. - -Had we space, or opportunity, we would like to tell of the journey back -to civilization, of the share that each Boy Scout, much against his -inclination, was forced to accept of the treasure, and of Alice -Dangerfield's thanks to the Boy Scouts for the brave way in which they -stood by her father in time of peril. They really valued this--like true -Scouts--more than the monetary reward. - -But further adventures impend in the Boy Scouts' eventful -lives,--exciting, as well as amusing, incidents "by flood and field." If -our readers care to follow further the careers of our young friends, they -can find them set forth in detail in the next volume of this series: - - THE BOY SCOUTS FOR UNCLE SAM. - - - THE END. - - - - - Reasons why you should obtain a Catalogue of our Publications - - - _A postal to us will place it in your hands_ - -1. You will possess a comprehensive and classified list of all the best -standard books published, at prices less than offered by others. - -2. You will find listed in our catalogue books on every topic: Poetry, -Fiction, Romance, Travel, Adventure, Humor, Science, History, Religion, -Biography, Drama, etc., besides Dictionaries and Manuals, Bibles, -Recitation and Hand Books, Sets, Octavos, Presentation Books and Juvenile -and Nursery Literature in immense variety. - -3. You will be able to purchase books at prices within your reach; as low -as 10 cents for paper covered books, to $5.00 for books bound in cloth or -leather, adaptable for gift and presentation purposes, to suit the tastes -of the most critical. - -4. You will save considerable money by taking advantage of our Special -Discounts, which we offer to those whose purchases are large enough to -warrant us in making a reduction. - - - HURST & CO., _Publishers_, - 395, 397, 399 Broadway, New York. - - - OAKDALE ACADEMY SERIES - - Stories of Modern School Sports - By MORGAN SCOTT. - - Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 60c. per vol., postpaid - - BEN STONE AT OAKDALE. - - Under peculiarly trying circumstances Ben Stone wins his way at - Oakdale Academy, and at the same time enlists our sympathy, interest - and respect. Through the enmity of Bern Hayden, the loyalty of Roger - Eliot and the clever work of the "Sleuth," Ben is falsely accused, - championed and vindicated. - - BOYS OF OAKDALE ACADEMY. - - "One thing I will claim, and that is that all Grants fight open and - square and there never was a sneak among them." It was Rodney Grant, - of Texas, who made the claim to his friend, Ben Stone, and this story - shows how he proved the truth of this statement in the face of - apparent evidence to the contrary. - - RIVAL PITCHERS OF OAKDALE. - - Baseball is the main theme of this interesting narrative, and that - means not only clear and clever descriptions of thrilling games, but - an intimate acquaintance with the members of the teams who played - them. The Oakdale Boys were ambitious and loyal, and some were even - disgruntled and jealous, but earnest, persistent work won out. - - OAKDALE BOYS IN CAMP. - - The typical vacation is the one that means much freedom, little - restriction, and immediate contact with "all outdoors." These - conditions prevailed in the summer camp of the Oakdale Boys and made - it a scene of lively interest. - - THE GREAT OAKDALE MYSTERY. - - The "Sleuth" scents a mystery! He "follows his nose." The plot - thickens! He makes deductions. There are surprises for the - reader--and for the "Sleuth," as well. - - NEW BOYS AT OAKDALE. - - A new element creeps into Oakdale with another year's registration of - students. The old and the new standards of conduct in and out of - school meet, battle, and cause sweeping changes in the lives of - several of the boys. - - - Any volume sent postpaid upon receipt of price. - HURST & COMPANY -- Publishers -- NEW YORK - - - BUNGALOW BOYS SERIES - - LIVE STORIES OF OUTDOOR LIFE - By DEXTER J. FORRESTER. - - Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 50c. per vol., postpaid - - THE BUNGALOW BOYS. - - How the Bungalow Boys received their title and how they retained the - right to it in spite of much opposition makes a lively narrative for - lively boys. - - THE BUNGALOW BOYS MAROONED IN THE TROPICS. - - A real treasure hunt of the most thrilling kind, with a sunken - Spanish galleon as its object, makes a subject of intense interest at - any time, but add to that a band of desperate men, a dark plot and a - devil fish, and you have the combination that brings strange - adventures into the lives of the Bungalow Boys. - - THE BUNGALOW BOYS IN THE GREAT NORTH WEST. - - The clever assistance of a young detective saves the boys from the - clutches of Chinese smugglers, of whose nefarious trade they know too - much. How the Professor's invention relieves a critical situation is - also an exciting incident of this book. - - THE BUNGALOW BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES. - - The Bungalow Boys start out for a quiet cruise on the Great Lakes and - a visit to an island. A storm and a band of wreckers interfere with - the serenity of their trip, and a submarine adds zest and adventure - to it. - - - Any volume sent postpaid upon receipt of price. - HURST & COMPANY -- Publishers -- NEW YORK - - - BORDER BOYS SERIES - - Mexican and Canadian Frontier Series - By FREMONT B. DEERING. - - Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 50c. per vol., postpaid - - THE BORDER BOYS ON THE TRAIL. - - What it meant to make an enemy of Black Ramon De Barios--that is the - problem that Jack Merrill and his friends, including Coyote Pete, - face in this exciting tale. - - THE BORDER BOYS ACROSS THE FRONTIER. - - Read of the Haunted Mesa and its mysteries, of the Subterranean River - and its strange uses, of the value of gasolene and steam "in running - the gauntlet," and you will feel that not even the ancient splendors - of the Old World can furnish a better setting for romantic action - than the Border of the New. - - THE BORDER BOYS WITH THE MEXICAN RANGERS. - - As every day is making history--faster, it is said, than ever - before--so books that keep pace with the changes are full of rapid - action and accurate facts. This book deals with lively times on the - Mexican border. - - THE BORDER BOYS WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS. - - The Border Boys have already had much excitement and adventure in - their lives, but all this has served to prepare them for the - experiences related in this volume. They are stronger, braver and - more resourceful than ever, and the exigencies of their life in - connection with the Texas Rangers demand all their trained ability. - - - Any volume sent postpaid upon receipt of price. - HURST & COMPANY -- Publishers -- NEW YORK - - - MOTOR RANGERS SERIES - - HIGH SPEED MOTOR STORIES - By MARVIN WEST. - - Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 50c. per vol., postpaid - - THE MOTOR RANGERS' LOST MINE. - - This is an absorbing story of the continuous adventures of a motor - car in the hands of Nat Trevor and his friends. It does seemingly - impossible "stunts," and yet everything happens "in the nick of - time." - - THE MOTOR RANGERS THROUGH THE SIERRAS. - - Enemies in ambush, the peril of fire, and the guarding of treasure - make exciting times for the Motor Rangers--yet there is a strong - flavor of fun and freedom, with a typical Western mountaineer for - spice. - - THE MOTOR RANGERS ON BLUE WATER; or, The Secret of the Derelict. - - The strange adventures of the sturdy craft "Nomad" and the stranger - experiences of the Rangers themselves with Morello's schooner and a - mysterious derelict form the basis of this well-spun yarn of the sea. - - THE MOTOR RANGERS' CLOUD CRUISER. - - From the "Nomad" to the "Discoverer" from the sea to the sky, the - scene changes in which the Motor Rangers figure. They have - experiences "that never were on land or sea," in heat and cold and - storm, over mountain peak and lost city, with savages and reptiles; - their ship of the air is attacked by huge birds of the air; they - survive explosion and earthquake; they even live to tell the tale! - - - Any volume sent postpaid upon receipt of price. - HURST & COMPANY -- Publishers -- NEW YORK - - - MOLLY BROWN SERIES - - College Life Stories for Girls - By NELL SPEED. - - Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 60c. per vol., postpaid - - MOLLY BROWN'S FRESHMAN DAYS. - - Would you like to admit to your circle of friends the most charming - of college girls--the typical college girl for whom we are always - looking but not always finding; the type that contains so many - delightful characteristics, yet without unpleasant perfection in any; - the natural, unaffected, sweet-tempered girl, loved because she is - lovable? Then seek an introduction to Molly Brown. You will find the - baggage-master, the cook, the Professor of English Literature, and - the College President in the same company. - - MOLLY BROWN'S SOPHOMORE DAYS. - - What is more delightful than a re-union of college girls after the - summer vacation? Certainly nothing that precedes it in their - experience--at least, if all class-mates are as happy together as the - Wellington girls of this story. Among Molly's interesting friends of - the second year is a young Japanese girl, who ingratiates her - "humbly" self into everybody's affections speedily and permanently. - - MOLLY BROWN'S JUNIOR DAYS. - - Financial stumbling blocks are not the only things that hinder the - ease and increase the strength of college girls. Their troubles and - their triumphs are their own, often peculiar to their environment. - How Wellington students meet the experiences outside the class-rooms - is worth the doing, the telling and the reading. - - - Any volume sent postpaid upon receipt of price. - HURST & COMPANY -- Publishers -- NEW YORK - - - MOTOR MAIDS SERIES - - Wholesome Stories of Adventure - By KATHERINE STOKES. - - Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 50c. per vol., postpaid - - THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS. - - Billie Campbell was just the type of a straightforward, athletic girl - to be successful as a practical Motor Maid. She took her car, as she - did her class-mates, to her heart, and many a grand good time did - they have all together. The road over which she ran her red machine - had many an unexpected turning,--now it led her into peculiar danger; - now into contact with strange travelers; and again into experiences - by fire and water. But, best of all, "The Comet" never failed its - brave girl owner. - - THE MOTOR MAIDS BY PALM AND PINE. - - Wherever the Motor Maids went there were lively times, for these were - companionable girls who looked upon the world as a vastly interesting - place full of unique adventures--and so, of course, they found them. - - THE MOTOR MAIDS ACROSS THE CONTINENT. - - It is always interesting to travel, and it is wonderfully - entertaining to see old scenes through fresh eyes. It is that - privilege, therefore, that makes it worth while to join the Motor - Maids in their first 'cross-country run. - - THE MOTOR MAIDS BY ROSE, SHAMROCK AND HEATHER. - - South and West had the Motor Maids motored, nor could their education - by travel have been more wisely begun. But now a speaking - acquaintance with their own country enriched their anticipation of an - introduction to the British Isles. 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There were many stumbling-blocks in their terrestrial path, - but they soared above them all to ultimate success. - - THE GIRL AVIATORS ON GOLDEN WINGS. - - That there is a peculiar fascination about aviation that wins and - holds girl enthusiasts as well as boys is proved by this tale. On - golden wings the girl aviators rose for many an exciting flight, and - met strange and unexpected experiences. - - THE GIRL AVIATORS' SKY CRUISE. - - To most girls a coaching or yachting trip is an adventure. How much - more perilous an adventure a "sky cruise" might be is suggested by - the title and proved by the story itself. - - THE GIRL AVIATORS' MOTOR BUTTERFLY. - - The delicacy of flight suggested by the word "butterfly," the - mechanical power implied by "motor," the ability to control assured - in the title "aviator," all combined with the personality and - enthusiasm of girls themselves, make this story one for any girl or - other reader "to go crazy over." - - - Any volume sent postpaid upon receipt of price. - HURST & COMPANY -- Publishers -- NEW YORK - - - MOTOR CYCLE SERIES - - Splendid Motor Cycle Stories - By LIEUT. HOWARD PAYSON. - Author of "Boy Scout Series." - - Cloth Bound. Illustrated. 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There is - not a dull page in this lively narrative of clever boys and their - attendant "Chinee." - - THE MOTOR CYCLE CHUMS IN THE GOLD FIELDS. - - The gold fever which ran its rapid course through the veins of the - historic "forty-niners" recurs at certain intervals, and seizes its - victims with almost irresistible power. The search for gold is so - fascinating to the seekers that hardship, danger and failure are - obstacles that scarcely dampen their ardour. How the Motor Cycle - Chums were caught by the lure of the gold and into what difficulties - and novel experiences they were led, makes a tale of thrilling - interest. - - - Any volume sent postpaid upon receipt of price. - HURST & COMPANY -- Publishers -- NEW YORK - - - Harry Castlemon Books - -The popularity enjoyed by Harry Castlemon as a writer of interesting -books for boys is second to none. His works are celebrated everywhere and -in great demand. 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