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diff --git a/9854.txt b/9854.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb06a12 --- /dev/null +++ b/9854.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6167 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Frank Roscoe's Secret, by Allen Chapman + +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: Frank Roscoe's Secret + +Author: Allen Chapman + +Posting Date: September 19, 2011 [EBook #9854] +Release Date: February, 2006 +[This file was first posted on October 24, 2003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANK ROSCOE'S SECRET *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + +FRANK ROSCOE'S SECRET + +Or, The Darewell Chums in the Woods + +BY ALLEN CHAPMAN + +AUTHOR OF "BART STIRLING'S ROAD TO SUCCESS," "WORKING HARD TO WIN," +"BOUND TO SUCCEED," "THE YOUNG STOREKEEPER," "NAT BORDEN'S FIND," ETC. + +1908 + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. PLANNING A DINNER +II. A CONSPIRACY REVEALED +III. NED IS CAPTURED +IV. NED HEARS STRANGE TALK +V. SUSPICIONS AROUSED +VI. FRANK GETS A LETTER +VII. BREAKING UP A DANCE +VIII. FRANK IS WARNED +IX. A STRANGER IN TOWN +X. MR. HARDMAN'S QUEER ACT +XI. NEWS FOR FRANK +XII. THE LAZY RACE +XIII. VACATION AT HAND +XIV. THE TELEPHONE WIRE +XV. SEARCHING FOR FRANK +XVI. WHERE FRANK WENT +XVII. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING +XVIII. A CANOE TRIP +XIX. AT THE SANITARIUM +XX. THE INTERVIEW +XXI. FRANK LEAVES AGAIN +XXII. FRANK IS EMPLOYED +XXIII. PLANNING A RESCUE +XXIV. FRANK LOSES HOPE +XXV. FRANK'S SECRET DISCLOSED +XXVI. ARRANGING AN ESCAPE +XXVII. THE RUNAWAY DONKEY +XXVIII. THE RESCUE +XXIX. THE CURE--CONCLUSION + + + + +FRANK ROSCOE'S SECRET + + + + +CHAPTER I + +PLANNING A DINNER + + +"That's the way to line 'em out, Ned!" + +"Go on now! Take another! You can get home!" + +"Wow! That wins the game! Hurrah for Ned Wilding!" + +Those were some of the shouts, amid a multitude of others, that came from +scores of boyish throats as they watched the baseball game between the +Darewell High School and the Lakeville Preparatory Academy. The occasion +was the annual championship struggle, and the cries resulted from Ned's +successful batting of the ball far over the center fielder's head. + +It was a critical moment for the score was tie, it was the ending of the +ninth inning, and there were two men of the High School nine out. It all +depended on Ned. + +But Ned was equal to the occasion. He had placed the ball well, and as +soon as he heard the crack, when his bat struck it, he had darted for +first. Then, running as he never had run before, he kept on to second. +The encouraging shouts of his friends induced him to advance toward +third, though by this time the center fielder had the ball and was +throwing it to the baseman. + +"Come on, Ned! Come on! Take a chance!" yelled Bart Keene, captain of the +High School team. + +Then Ned, from a baseball standpoint of safety, did what might be termed +a foolish thing. He reached third base just an instant before the ball +did. He heard it strike the baseman's glove with a loud "plunk!" + +A second later, stooping to avoid being touched, Ned sprang up and ran +toward the home plate. It was a desperate chance in a desperate game, for +the Lakeville players were cool and experienced hands, and Ned was almost +certain to be put out. However, he had chanced it. It was too late to go +back now. He was running straight for home, as though there was no such +thing as a baseman with a ball close behind him, waiting for a good +chance to throw to the catcher and put him out. + +Right at the catcher Ned ran. The third baseman drew back his arm to +throw the ball. The catcher put out his hands to grasp it. Then Ned +jumped up into the air, springing as high as he could. + +This disconcerted the aim of the third baseman and he had to throw higher +than he intended, to get the ball over Ned's head. + +It was what Ned intended that happened. + +The catcher was obliged to jump to reach the whizzing ball. He just +missed it, the leather sphere grazing the tips of his fingers. Then it +flew over his head, while there sounded a groan from the Lakeville +supporters. The game was a High School victory. + +An instant later Ned had passed the chagrined catcher and had touched the +home plate, while the High School boys stood up on the bleachers and made +themselves hoarse with cheers. Joining them came the shrill cries of the +girls of Darewell, quite a throng of whom had come to see the game. + +"Good, Ned!" cried Bart, as he ran up to grasp his chum by the hand. + +"That's the stuff!" exclaimed Fenn Masterson. "I knew you could do it, +Ned!" + +"That's more than I knew myself," Ned answered, panting from his home +run. + +"Three cheers for the Darewells!" called the captain of the preparatory +school nine. + +The tribute to victory was paid with a will. + +"Three cheers for the Lakevilles!" shouted Lem Gordon, pitcher on the +High School team. + +The winners fairly outdid their rivals in cheering. Then the diamond was +thronged with girls and boys, all talking at once, and discussing the +various points of the game. + +"It was a close chance you took, Ned," remarked a tall, quiet youth, +coming up to the winner of the game. + +"I had to, Frank. I didn't risk much in being put out, but it meant a lot +if I could get home, and I took the chance." + +"Oh, Ned's always willing to take chances," said Bart Keene. + +"Yes, and sometimes it isn't a good thing," replied Frank. + +"Oh, you're too particular," came from Fenn Masterson. "What's the use of +doing the safe thing all the while?" + +"That's right, Stumpy my boy," commented Ned, "Stumpy" being Fenn's +nickname because of his short, stout figure. + +"Oh, I believe in taking chances once in a while," went on Frank, "but +of course--" + +He did not finish his sentence, and his three chums looked at one +another, for Frank seemed to be dreaming of something far removed from +the ball game. + +"He's getting stranger than ever," remarked Bart to Ned in a low tone. +"We'll have to get his mind off of whatever it is that's troubling him." + +"That's right," agreed Ned. + +"We ought to celebrate this victory in some way," suggested Fenn, as +a crowd of boys, including several members of the ball team, joined +the chums. "We ought to get up a dinner and have speeches and things +like that." + +"Nothing to eat, of course," said Ned. + +"Oh, sure; lots to eat," Fenn hastened to add. + +"Where could we have it?" asked Lem. + +"In our barn," replied Fenn. "There's lots of room, and we don't keep +horses any more. It's nice and clean. We could put some boards over +saw-horses to make tables, and have a fine time. We can make all the +noise we want, and no one would say a word." + +"That's the stuff!" cried Bart. "The very thing! Stumpy, you're a +committee of one to see about it." + +"I'm not going to do all the work!" objected Stumpy. + +"I'll help," put in Ned. "Where'll we get the stuff?" + +"I guess there's enough in the club treasury for a little spread," said +Bart. "This is the last game of the summer season, and we might as well +spend some of our cash. We don't want to get too rich." + +By this time most of the High School pupils had left the ball grounds and +were on their various ways home. It was a Saturday afternoon early in +June, and the fine weather had brought a big crowd to see the game, which +was played on the Lakeville grounds. The members of the High School nine, +including a few substitutes, rode home in a big stage, but trolley cars +took the other Darewell boys and girls back. + +On the way home the dinner was discussed in its various details, and it +was voted to have it a week from that Saturday night. + +"Better not talk too much about it," suggested Bart + +"Why not?" asked Stumpy. + +"I've got an idea that if too much is known about it there may be +trouble." + +"Trouble? What do you mean?" + +"Well, you know the first-year boys have formed a sort of secret +society. They call themselves the Upside Down Club." + +"What has that got to do with our dinner?" + +"Nothing, maybe, and again it may have." + +"Have they any grudge against us?" asked Ned. + +"No, nothing special, but it's part of their game to play tricks on all +the other school societies, from the athletic teams to the debating club. +Archie Smith, a cousin of mine, belongs, and I got that much out of him +before he knew what I was after. Then he wouldn't tell me any more. So +that's why I think the Upside Down boys may make trouble for us." + +"Well, if they wish to make trouble we'll give them all they want," +put in Fenn. + +"Yes, but we don't want the dinner spoiled," said Bart. "There's a big +class of first-year boys this term, and they could make a 'rough-house' +of our spread in short order. That's why I think it would be better to +keep quiet about the affair, at least as to the place where we're going +to hold it." + +After some discussion Bart's suggestion was agreed to. Further details of +the dinner were arranged, and it was planned that Ned should be +toastmaster, an honor which he would gladly have declined. + +"No, sir, you won the game for us, and you've got to preside at the +dinner!" declared Bart, to which all the others on the nine gave their +approval with a shout. + +"Mind now," Bart added, as the team was about to disperse, having reached +Darewell, "no talking about the dinner. Everyone keep mum or there may be +no spread at all. If any one hears of the Upside Down boys getting wind +of the affair, tell me and we'll arrange to fool 'em." + +The club members left their uniforms and outfits in the basement of the +High School, where they had improvised dressing rooms, and then the boys +started for their homes. Frank, Bart, Ned and Stumpy, four chums who were +seldom separated, went down the street together. As they were passing the +drug store they saw two girls going in. + +"There's your sister Alice, Bart," called Ned. + +"Yes, and Jennie Smith is with her," added Bart. "Hi, Stumpy! There's a +chance for you. Jennie looked back as if she wanted you." + +At this the other chums laughed, for Fenn was rather "sweet" on the +girls, and Jennie was an especial favorite with him. But Fenn did not +like to have his failing commented on. + +"You let up!" he called to Bart. "You're so afraid of the girls you +don't dare speak to 'em!" + +"You do enough of that for the four of us put together," joked Ned. "But +come on. Let's hurry, it's almost supper time." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A CONSPIRACY REVEALED + + +By this time the four boys were in front of the drug store, from which +Alice Keene and Jennie Smith came out. + +"What were you doing in there? Having a Dutch treat of soda?" asked Bart +of his sister. + +"I was taking back some court-plaster I had," replied Alice. + +"Court-plaster? For what?" + +"I'll not tell you." + +"I know," answered Bart, for he had a habit of teasing his sister. + +"What for then?" + +"You heard Stumpy had broken his heart over the way Jennie treated him, +and you were going to mend it." + +"Silly! I'll tell you what for, and you can see how far wrong you were. +I bought a lot, thinking some one might get hurt at the ball game. When +I found I didn't need it I took it back and got my money. I hadn't +opened it." + +"Well, if that isn't the limit!" exclaimed Bart. "I s'pose you're sorry +some of us didn't get all cut up and bruised, so you could patch us up." + +"Well, of course I don't want any of you to get hurt, but if you had been +injured it would have been good practice for me," replied Alice. "Come +on, Jennie." + +Alice, who had a desire to become a trained nurse, for which profession +she believed she was fitting herself by reading a book on +"First-Aid-To-The-Injured," walked off with her girl chum, leaving the +boys to stare after the pair. + +"Alice would rather play nurse than eat her meals," commented Bart. "I +wonder why Jennie didn't say something about poetry?" he added, for +Jennie was of rather a romantic disposition, and was very much given to +reciting verses. + +"Probably the presence of Stumpy made her bashful," suggested Ned. "But +I'm going. See you Monday, fellows." + +The four boys resumed their walk toward their homes. With the exception +of Frank Roscoe they all lived near one another. Frank resided about a +mile out of the town, with his uncle, Abner Dent, a wealthy farmer. + +The four boys, because of their close association, were known as the +"Darewell Chums." + +Darewell was located on the Still river, not far from Lake Erie. The +lads had played together ever since they attended primary school, and +their friendship was further cemented when they went to the High School. +Attending which institution our story finds them. + +There was Ned Wilding, whose mother was dead, and their father was +cashier of the Darewell Bank. + +Bart Keene was a stout-hearted youth, more fond of sports than he was of +eating or sleeping, his father used to say. As for Stumpy, he was just +the sort of a lad his name indicated. Happy, healthy, hearty and with a +fund of good nature that nothing could daunt. + +Frank Roscoe was rather different from his chums, but they were very fond +of him. Spite of his occasional fits of strangeness. Frank had lived with +his uncle as long as he could remember. He had never known his father or +mother, and his uncle never spoke of them. In case Frank asked any +question concerning his parents, Mr. Dent would manage to turn the +conversation into some other channel. + +There seemed to be some secret hanging over Frank. What it was he did not +know himself. Nor did his chums. They only knew that, at times, it made +him gloomy and morose, and they never referred to it in Frank's presence, +because they did not want to hurt his feelings. + +Those of you who have read the previous books of this series do not need +to be introduced to Ned and his chums, but for the benefit of the boys +and girls who get this volume first it may be well to tell something of +the two previous ones that they may better understand our story. + +In the first, called "The Heroes of the School," was told how the four +lads succeeded in solving a rather queer mystery. They were going through +the woods one day when they met a man behaving very oddly. From then on +they were mixed up in a series of queer happenings, which only ended in +some events that followed a trip in a captive balloon that broke away and +took them above the clouds. + +In the second volume, "Ned Wilding's Disappearance," there was told of +the things that followed Ned's visit to New York. Ned undertook to put +through a small financial deal on his own account, and the consequences, +which were not his own fault at all. Made him a fugitive from the police, +as he thought. His chums, coming to the city to pay him a visit, could +not find him. Ned was located under peculiar circumstances, through the +aid of a waif whom the boys befriended and saved from freezing to death +in the snow. + +After locating Ned the chums came home, to find they were much in the +public eye. When they left they were under suspicion of having blown up +the school tower with dynamite, but it was discovered that another youth +had done this, and the chums were not only cleared, but the president of +the Board of Education, who had cast suspicion on them, publicly +apologized. + +The chums had resumed their studies at the High School after the tower +had been repaired, and had made good progress through the spring term. It +was now summer, and the long vacation was close at hand. + +Monday morning, following the sensational winning of the game by Ned +Wilding, saw the four chums assembled on the school campus, waiting for +the ringing of the gong that would call all the pupils to their classes. +It was almost time to go in, when Sandy Merton, a former enemy of the +chums, but who had become a friend because of a favor received, +approached Bart. Sandy had left school because of a dispute he and Bart +had had over a ball game, but had returned for the spring term. + +"I've got something to tell you," Sandy said. + +"I'm listening," Bart replied. + +"I can't tell you here," Sandy went on, with a look about him. "I don't +want any of the Upside Down boys to hear." + +"Oh, ho!" said Bart softly. "Something in the wind, eh?" + +"I think there is," Sandy replied. "I'll meet you after school down by +the boathouse." + +"I'll be there," Bart answered. "Don't say anything to any of the +others." + +Sandy promised; and then the gong rang and the boys and girls hurried +into the school. All that morning Bart was wondering what Sandy had to +tell him. That it had to do with the dinner the nine intended to hold was +his belief, but he did not see how the first-year lads had found out +about it so soon. + +"If they're up to any tricks," said Bart softly, "I think we can play two +to their one. Let 'em try; it's all in the game." + +"Let's go for a swim, Bart," proposed Ned, when school had been dismissed +for the day. "Frank and Fenn are going." + +"Where you going?" asked Bart. + +"Up by the Riffles, of course," the "Riffles" being a place in the Still +river where the boys frequently congregated. Near the Riffles, which were +a series of shallow places in the stream, was the swimming hole and a +little further up was a good place to fish. + +"I'll meet you later," Bart replied. + +"What's the matter?" asked Ned, for Bart was usually the first one to +join in sport of this kind. + +"Got a little business to transact. You fellows go ahead, and I'll come +pretty soon." + +Ned had to be content with this. A little later, with Frank and Fenn, he +went to the swimming hole. Bart remained about the school until he saw +Sandy start off, then he followed a short distance behind, heading for +the dock, where the four chums kept a boat they owned. + +"Hello, Sandy!" exclaimed Bart, as he saw the boy on the dock when he +arrived. Bart spoke as though Sandy's presence was accidental, and he did +that for the benefit of any of the members of the Upside Down Club who +might be in the vicinity. + +"Going out rowing?" asked Sandy, and he winked at Bart. + +"Yes," was the answer, as Bart comprehended what Sandy meant. "Want to +go 'long?" + +Sandy nodded, and, with his help, Bart got the boat from the house and +rowed it out into the middle of the river. + +"Now I guess we can talk without being overheard," said Bart, when they +were well out from shore, and rowing up stream. "What's up, Sandy?" + +"The Upside Down boys have a plot on foot to spoil the dinner." + +"What dinner?" asked Bart, wishing to see just how much Sandy knew. + +"Oh, the dinner the baseball nine is going to have. It's all over. Some +one must have talked. I heard of it late Saturday night, but it wasn't +until last night that I heard of the conspiracy." + +"What are they going to do?" asked Bart. + +"That I can't tell," Sandy replied. "You know that, though I'm in the +first-year class, I don't belong to the society. I didn't join. One of +the members thought I was in and before he knew what he was doing he had +blurted out something about their going to take the dinner stuff from +Fenn's barn. Then he found out I wasn't a member, and a lot of 'em got +around me and made all sorts of threats if I told. I wouldn't promise not +to, but I can't find out any more, except that they're going to make a +raid on the place just before it's time for the dinner." + +"How many?" asked Bart. + +"About fifty of 'em." + +"Whew!" exclaimed the captain of the nine. + +"That means trouble!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +NED IS CAPTURED + + +For a few minutes after receiving this information Bart +was busy thinking. Then, turning to Sandy he said "Will you help me row +the boat up to the swimming hole?" + +"Sure. But let me out just before you get there. If any of the Upside +Down boys see me with you they'll suspect I've given the thing away. Are +you going to do anything?" + +"I rather think we will," replied Bart "But I don't know yet what it will +be. Row fast now, Sandy." + +In a little while the boat was near enough to the Riffles so that Bart +could manage it alone for the rest of the distance. Sandy went ashore and +disappeared in the woods that lined the bank while Bart tied the craft to +an overhanging limb and got out. + +He found his three chums were enjoying themselves in the water, splashing +about and ducking one another. There were a number of High School boys +with them, including several of the first-year class, from the ranks of +which the secret society was made up. + +"There's Bart!" cried Fenn. "Come on in!" + +Anxious to tell his chums the news he had heard, but not wanting to +awaken the suspicions of the Upside Down Club members, Bart prepared and +went in swimming. He managed to get close to his three friends in turn, +and quietly told them to go out, dress, and wait for him near the boat, +which he told them was tied close at hand. + +"Go out one at a time," Bart cautioned, "or they may suspect something." + +In a little while the four boys were seated in their boat and were rowing +down stream. + +"Now what's up?" demanded Ned. "I declare you're as mysterious as though +something had happened." + +"Something's going to happen," said Bart. + +"What?" + +"The Upside Downs are going to spoil our dinner--if they can!" + +"How did you hear of it?" + +"Who told you?" + +"What are they going to do?" + +The three chums asked these questions of Bart all at once. + +"What do you think I am, a lightning calculator?" demanded Bart. "One at +a time, please! The line forms on this side." + +Then he proceeded to tell them what Sandy had revealed. + +"Good for Sandy!" exclaimed Ned. "He treated us pretty mean once, but +he's making up for it now." + +"Yes, it was a good stroke of business the day we helped him load the +overturned sleigh," said Fenn, referring to an incident of the previous +winter, as related in "The Darewell Chums in the City." + +"What are you going to do?" asked Frank quietly. + +"I haven't made up my mind," Bart answered. "I thought we'd better tell +the rest of the nine, and then think up some plan to turn the joke on the +Upside Downs." + +"Maybe it would be just as well not to tell the others on the nine," +suggested Frank. + +"Why?" + +"If you do, it will surely come to the ears of the first-year boys that +we are onto their game. Then they may change their idea and be up to +some dodge that we can't fathom. I guess we four can spoil their plans." + +"Well, maybe that would be the best way," admitted Bart. "What do +you propose?" + +"Are there plenty of boards, planks and boxes around your barn, Fenn?" +asked Frank. + +"Lots of 'em." + +"Then we'll set traps for our friends the enemy," said Frank. "They'll +walk right into them." + +Frank explained his plan more in detail as the boys rowed down stream. +His idea was to build a series of traps all about the barn, covering +every approach. The traps would be made of boxes and boards, so arranged +that when a boy walked on them he would tumble off or slip into a box, +and the racket made would apprise those on watch, in the barn, of the +approach of the enemy. Then they could sally out, and, while the Upside +Down boys were in confusion, could easily disperse them. + +"That's fine!" exclaimed Bart. "The very thing! We must get right to work +on it tonight." + +That evening the four chums spent in the barn back of Fenn's house. There +was considerable hammering and pounding and fitting together of planks, +boards and boxes. + +The next afternoon the four boys worked hard perfecting their +arrangements. There were four entrances to the barn, consisting of large +sliding doors in front and rear, and a small door that gave entrance to +the stable proper. The way to each of these was so arranged that any +persons passing along them would have considerable trouble in reaching +the structure. It was impossible to walk along them and not step on a +board, so fixed that it would tumble a box on the head of the enemy, +precipitate the boys into a packing case, or upset a big pile of planks. + +The fourth entrance to the barn was in the basement through an old cow +stable, long unused. The door had not been opened in a number of years, +and the hinges were rusty. + +However, the four chums oiled the door so it would work easily, cleared +away a lot of rubbish and then had a means at hand of getting into the +barn of which they felt sure none of the conspirators knew. That the +Upside Down boys were aware of the other entrances Fenn was sure, as +several of the first-year pupils had been seen about the barn Monday. +They did not, however, the chums thought, know of the traps. + +Meanwhile preparations for the dinner went on. The food was +purchased from a caterer in town, and was to be delivered at the barn +Saturday evening. + +The chums arranged to have it taken in through the large front doors, the +traps leading to them having been temporarily removed. After the victuals +were safely stowed away it was planned to have a guard of boys constantly +on hand inside the barn to protect them. The rumor of the threatened +attack on the spread was known to all the nine now. + +"I rather guess they'll have all the trouble they want before they play +any tricks on us," said Bart, as he surveyed the defenses. + +"Can they break in the doors, in case any of them get past the traps?" +asked Ned. + +"I don't believe so," replied Fenn. "I've put extra hooks and bolts on, +and there are heavy bars to the big front and rear doors." + +Saturday evening the materials for the spread were duly delivered at the +barn. Half a dozen boys volunteered as guards. It was arranged that the +members of the nine and their friends, numbering in all about +twenty-five, should come in through the cow stable door. + +The guards were soon busy arranging the improvised tables, storing the +food away in places where, in case the conspirators did manage to get in, +they would have hard work to find it. Several were engaged in getting +lanterns ready to illuminate the banquet table. + +In fact they were all so much occupied that they did not notice three +boys who had made a long circuit and brought up in the fields back of +the Masterson barn. These three boys approached warily in the dusk of +the evening. + +"Is that the way they're going in?" asked one of the trio, as he saw the +cow stable door. + +"That's the way all but one of 'em is going in," was the answer. "There's +going to be one vacant place at the dinner." + +"Whose?" asked another of the trio, of the one who seemed to be +the leader. + +"Ned Wilding's." + +"Are you sure he will come along alone so we can grab him?" + +"Alone or not we'll get him. In fact we did think one time of making a +rush through the cow stable door, after we found out about their traps at +the other entrances. But that door is so narrow we couldn't get in quick +enough but what they could stand us off. So we decided on this plan. +We'll capture their presiding officer. It'll be like the play of Hamlet +with Hamlet left out." + +"What you going to do with him?" + +"Denny Thorp has that in charge. I think he's going to carry him to some +vacant house." + +"What are we to do?" asked the member of the trio who had first spoken. + +"We're to stay here until the rest of the crowd arrives, and watch what +happens. But the main thing is to capture Ned." + +All unconscious of the change in the conspirators' plans, and +congratulating themselves on the success of their method in guarding +against surprise, the members of the nine and their friends began +assembling one by one in the barn, as it grew dusk. + +Most of them were on hand, and the tables, which were boards placed +across saw-horses, had been spread with the good things to eat. + +"Where's Ned?" asked Bart, as he noticed that the toastmaster was not +yet present. + +"He and Frank are coming together," replied Fenn. "Better take a look +out, fellows, and see if you can spot any of the enemy." + +Several boys mounted to the hay loft and looked out of the small door +formerly used to take fodder into the barn. The watchers reported the +coast clear. + +They came down, and were standing about the table, waiting for Ned and +Frank, who were the only absentees, when a loud cry came from the +direction of the cow stable door. + +"Rescue! Rescue! Darewells to the rescue! They're kidnapping Ned!" + +"That's Frank's voice!" cried Bart. "Come on, fellows! They've played a +trick on us and they've got Ned!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +NED HEARS STRANGE TALK + + +There was a rush for the stairs leading from the barn down into the cow +stable. The nine and their friends fairly jammed the narrow passageway, +so eager were they to get outside. + +"Easy!" shouted Bart. "We'll never get down this way! One at a time!" + +The boys could hear the sounds of a struggle. There were confused cries, +and the shuffling of many feet. + +"Hurry! Hurry!" cried Frank. + +At last Bart, Fenn and a few others managed to reach the outside small +door, and rushed into the disused cowyard. There they saw a confusion of +black forms. There were two knots of struggling boys. + +One knot was grouped about Frank, and the other around Ned. From both +groups came shouts and cries and the sounds of conflict, though it was +all in fun, and there was no evidence of anger. + +"To the rescue!" yelled Bart, making for one crowd. He was followed by +several of his companions and then, others of the nine, and their +friends, sailed in to help Frank, since Bart had tackled Ned's +assailants. + +But with the advent of the boys from the barn there appeared +reinforcements of the enemy. The rescuers were fairly surrounded by a +throng of the Upside Downs, who were shouting and laughing, and fairly +overwhelming the ball players and their companions. + +Suddenly the group surrounding Frank seemed to break apart. The members +of the first year class, who had been pulling and hauling him this way +and that, drew off. At the same time a cry sounded. + +"This way, First Years!" + +Off through the darkness, out of the cow-yard, moved a mass of boys. + +"We've beaten them off!" cried Bart exultantly. + +"Yes but they're taking Ned with them!" shouted Frank. + +Only a few of the members of the nine heard what he said, so great was +the shouting and confusion. Frank tried to make himself understood. He +ran toward Bart, but several of the Upside Down boys got in his way and +prevented him. When at last he was able to make Bart understand what had +happened the group surrounding Ned was out of the yard. + +"We must get them!" yelled Bart as he caught Frank's meaning. "Come +on, fellows!" + +There was a rush for the gate, but when Bart and his friends reached it +they found it was fastened. All the Upside Down boys had disappeared. A +dark mass of them could be seen hurrying across the fields, seeming to +bear some burden in their midst. + +"They've got Ned!" cried Bart. "After them!" + +"Wait!" shouted Fenn. "Maybe it's only a trick to get us away from the +barn, so they can steal the dinner!" + +"That's so!" agreed Bart, much excited. "Are you sure they have +Ned, Frank?" + +"Sure! We both came in together, and they grabbed us. But it was Ned they +wanted, because he was to be toastmaster. They must have gagged him, as I +didn't hear him yell." + +"What had we better do?" asked Bart. + +"Some of us stay here to look after things and the rest try to get Ned," +suggested Fenn. + +"They're five to our one," objected Frank. + +"That's nothing! We've got to get Ned! They'll have the laugh on us if +we don't," said Bart. + +There was a hasty consultation and the dinner party was divided into two +forces. Some were left on guard, while the others set off on a run after +the Upside Down boys. + +But the delay had given the assailants the very chance they needed to get +a good start. When the pursuers set off across the fields the captors of +Ned were out of sight. There was a hasty search for them, but the first +year boys had apparently hidden in some place that defied the efforts of +the ball crowd to locate it. + +"This is a pretty pickle!" exclaimed Bart, as he came to a halt in the +middle of the big field that stretched out behind the Masterson barn. +"They've beaten us all right enough. I wonder where they could have +taken Ned?" + +"I guess it's up to us to find out," replied Fenn. "Come on. We haven't +half looked yet." + +"Maybe that's just what they want us to do," put in Lem Gordon. "They +think we'll let the dinner slide." + +"That's so," agreed Bart. "It's bad enough to have 'em take Ned, but that +shouldn't spoil the dinner completely. Let's go back, eat the grub, and +then continue the hunt for Ned. Besides maybe he'll get away from them. +He will if he has half a chance." + +This plan of proceeding was talked over, and, though they all disliked +the idea of leaving Ned in the hands of the enemy, they felt it would be +the wisest move. + +"Ned would want us to do it, if he were here," said Bart. "Let's go +back." + +So the searching party went back, rather crestfallen, it is true, to +report failure to those left on guard. However, there was no help for it, +and the dinner had to be eaten without the presence of Ned, the +toastmaster. + +"It's a hard pill to swallow, boys," Bart announced, as he was voted +into the position of presiding officer, "but we'll pay 'em back some +day. It has taught us a lesson. I didn't believe that crowd had such a +strong organization. We'll have to form a society ourselves and get even +with 'em." + +"That's what we will!" declared Fenn. + +In the meanwhile Ned was being borne away by his captors. At the first +sign of the attack he had guessed the object of it. He had fought +valiantly against being taken, but was overpowered by the weight of +numbers. He had given an involuntary call for help when first seized, +but, after that, he resolved to fight alone as best he could. That was +why he did not cry out when he felt the boys lift him to their shoulders, +after binding his arms and legs, and carry him away. + +Ned hoped his friends would rescue him, not so much that he minded being +captured, as it was all in fun, but that he did not like the first year +boys to play such a trick on the older pupils. He had an expectation, +when Bart sang out for aid to effect his recapture, that he would be +taken from the hands of the enemy, but when he felt himself being carried +further and further away, he knew the Upside Down boys had triumphed. + +"At any rate," thought Ned, "they didn't get the dinner away from us, +even if they did get me." + +Hurrying onward, his captors carried him for nearly a mile. They then +came to a halt in a dark thoroughfare. As he was being borne onward face +upward, Ned could not tell where he was, nor to what part of the town his +enemies had brought him. + +"What are you fellows going to do?" he asked at length, when they had +remained for several minutes, as if waiting. + +"That's for us to know and you to find out," replied a voice Ned did not +recognize. + +"Here comes--" began another of the first-year lads, when a companion +cautioned him with: + +"No names!" + +"This way!" someone called, and in obedience to the summons, those +carrying Ned turned to the right. They went down a short lane, and, a +moment later, Ned saw a doorway over his head. He was carried into a +building and laid down on a pile of bags in one corner of a room. It was +quite dark. + +The captive heard his enemies running away, and then he knew their trick +was complete. They had carried him away--had kidnapped him in fact--and +taken him to some building where they left him bound and helpless. + +For a few moments Ned did not stir. He was not uncomfortable, as it was a +warm evening, and the pile of bags was soft. The cords hurt his hands +somewhat, and his legs were cramped. By the smell of lime and mortar Ned +could tell he was in some new building, one probably near completion. + +He went over in his mind the location of all the new structures going up +in Darewell. There were several, in different parts of the town, and so +he could not decide where he was. Then, as he listened, he could hear the +sound of running water, and he knew he must be near the river. All at +once the locality became plain to him. He was in a new house, one of +several in a row, on a street leading down to the stream. + +"Now to get loose," said Ned, as he tugged and strained at his bonds. He +felt the cords about his wrists giving somewhat and he redoubled his +efforts. In their haste the boys had not used much skill tying the knots, +and, in about five minutes, Ned was free. He rubbed his arms and legs to +restore the circulation, and started to leave the building. As he did so +he heard someone coming in, and noted the sound of voices. + +"They're coming back!" thought Ned. "I'd better hide until they go. Then +I'll hurry back to the dinner!" + +The footsteps and voices sounded nearer. Some persons came into the +house. They stumbled about in the darkness. Then a voice asked: + +"Are you sure it's safe to talk here?" + +"Those are not high school pupils!" Ned said softly to himself. +"They're men!" + +"It's the safest place in the world," someone replied, in answer to the +first question. "No one here but ourselves. Now then, how far have you +got with the plans?" + +"I had a letter from the lawyers in New York. It seems they have heard +from Wright & Johnson and they're going to fight us. Wright & Johnson +have written to Frank, so I've heard, but he's puzzled over the whole +affair and don't know what to do. Oh, it's safe enough. We've only got +the boy to look after and he will never know how to proceed. Besides, old +Dent, his uncle, has the wool pulled over his own eyes so thick he'll +never make any trouble. I tell you it's safe, and in a few months the +property will be ours." + +"Where is his--" but Ned could not catch the end of the sentence before +the other man replied: + +"Good quiet place. In a sanitarium on--" + +Just then a door shut, and Ned was unable to hear any further talk of the +men, who had so strangely come to the vacant house. He could distinguish +the hum of their voices, but that was all. + +"I wonder what that means?" he asked himself, as he stood there in the +darkness. "It sounds as if there was going to be trouble for Frank." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SUSPICIONS AROUSED + + +The voices of the men had sounded from a front room downstairs. Ned was +in an apartment across the hall from them. They had shut the door leading +from the hall to the room where they were. This gave Ned a chance to come +out of the apartment into which he had been taken and he tiptoed to the +closed door to see if he could hear any more. + +But either the men were conversing in whispers or they had moved back to +some remote corner where their voices could not be heard. + +"I guess I'd better get out of here while I have the chance," Ned +thought, and moving softly he left the building. + +As he hurried along the street toward Fenn's house, determined to join +his friends at the dinner, he could not help thinking of what he had +overheard. It drove all thoughts of his capture from his mind. + +"Wright & Johnson," Ned murmured to himself. "I've heard that name +before, or else I've seen it somewhere. I wonder where. Wright & Johnson? +Did I see their sign when I was in New York, I wonder. No! I have it! It +was the name on the envelope of that letter Frank got the day we were in +swimming. That's it!" + +Ned had struck the right clue. He referred to an occasion, told of in the +first volume of this series, when, as the four chums were in swimming one +day, a special delivery messenger from the post-office had brought Frank +a letter. On reading the epistle Frank had seemed much excited. He had +immediately left his companions and, when they followed him from the +water a little later, they found he had dropped the envelope, Bart had +picked it up, and shown it to his companions. In one corner was the name +of Wright & Johnson, lawyers, of 11 Pine Street, New York. + +The boys had followed Frank back to town, and had seen him come from the +office of Judge Benton, a lawyer, and mail a letter in the post-office. +Bart gave Frank back the envelope, but the latter had told his chums +nothing of his queer letter. Nor did he afterward refer to it, though the +four friends had few secrets from each other. From that time on Frank's +queerness had increased, until, on the return of the chums from New +York, where Ned's disappearance was cleared up, his conduct caused his +friends some anxiety. + +"There must be some secret in Frank's life," thought Ned. "The letter +from Wright & Johnson, his growing queerness, and now the strange talk of +these men, all point to that. I wish I had found out who they were. Maybe +they are going to do Frank some harm!" + +He paused, with half a mind to go back and see if he could learn the +identity of the men. Then he reflected it would not be wise to be caught +by them playing the spy. + +"I'll tell the fellows about it," Ned thought. "Maybe we can find out +what it means. I wonder if I had better tell Frank? I guess I'll not +until I consult Bart and Fenn. Frank didn't tell us about the letter, and +perhaps he would not like it if he found out I had discovered something, +though, to be sure, it's not much." + +Thus pondering over what he had heard, Ned hurried on, and, in a little +while was at the barn, where the feasting was still in progress. The +crowd was making merry in spite of the damper which Ned's capture had +cast on the dinner. At his entrance, however, there burst out a cheer and +cries of welcome. + +"I've been keeping your chair warm for you!" shouted Bart. + +"Come on in! Tell us all about it!" sung out Fenn. + +"Did you fight 'em off?" inquired Lem. + +"Oh, I managed to get away," replied Ned, and he told of being taken to +the vacant house, and of his escape. He said not a word of the two men. + +With their toastmaster thus restored to them, the baseball boys and their +friends went merrily on with the dinner. There was much laughter and +every one seemed talking at once of the fight with the Upside Down boys. + +"We've got to play a trick on them that will make this one fade out of +sight," commented Bart. "We'll fix 'em!" + +"That's what we will!" exclaimed Fenn. "I wish they had tried to take the +dinner and had fallen into our traps." + +"We didn't have much use for 'em, for a fact," put in Lem. "Never mind, +we had some fun out of it, anyhow." + +Ned joined with the others in talking over the episode but he noticed +that Frank was unusually quiet. When he got a chance he slipped around to +where his chum was sitting and asked: + +"Anything the matter, Frank?" + +"No. What makes you ask me that?" + +"Why I thought you looked worried over something." + +"No, I'm all right," replied Frank, with forced heartiness. After that he +tried to join in the talk and fun, but it was too obviously an effort to +deceive Ned. + +"Something's wrong with Frank," Ned decided in his own mind. "We've got +to find out what it is in spite of him, and help him. I must speak to +Bart and Fenn as soon as I have the chance." + +It was not until all the other boys, including Frank, had left the barn +and gone home, late that night, that Ned found the opportunity he wanted. +Then he told his two chums of what he had heard at the new house. + +"What do you make of it?" asked Bart. + +"I'll admit I'm suspicious," said Ned. "It looks as though Frank was +mixed up in something." + +"Do you mean something bad?" asked Bart. + +"No, I don't know's I'd call it that. But something suspicious, anyhow. +You remember that letter from Wright & Johnson?" + +"The one of which we found the envelope?" Bart inquired. + +"That's the one. Well, these men evidently are mixed up in the case. It +seems to concern property. Maybe Frank has some property and will not +give it up." + +"If Frank has any property he has a right to it!" said Fenn with +emphasis. "Frank's done nothing wrong, but he certainly is acting queer." + +"Then I don't know what to make of that reference to a sanitarium. They +shut the door at that point and I couldn't hear any more." + +The three boys discussed the subject from all sides, but could come to no +solution of the mystery. That the men had referred to Frank, Ned was +sure, and his chums partly agreed with him. + +"Of course there are a number of boys named Frank," said Bart. "But when +they spoke of Frank's uncle, Mr. Dent, it must be they meant our Frank." + +"There's another thing," spoke Ned. "They mentioned pulling the wool over +Mr. Dent's eyes. I wonder if we had better warn him." + +"What could we tell him?" asked Fenn. + +"I could tell what I heard," replied Ned. + +"Which wouldn't be enough to do any good, and it might cause a lot of +trouble," said Bart. "I think we'd better let this thing alone. Frank may +tell us something that will give us an opening to talk to him about this +matter, and you can then tell him what you heard the men say." + +"I guess that's the best plan," admitted Ned. + +"Perhaps we could learn something more of the men who were in the house," +suggested Fenn. + +"How?" + +"By going down there and making inquiries. I know those buildings. +There's a watchman hired to stay on guard all night. Perhaps he saw the +men and could tell us who they were." + +"It's a good idea," said Ned. "We'll go down and see him to-morrow night. +That will be Sunday, and there's not likely to be any one around to hear +us question him." + +"We must not take Frank along," remarked Bart. "We'll have to keep this +thing quiet from him, at least until we know more about it." + +"It's the first time we haven't all been in a thing together," commented +Ned. "It seems queer to have something on Frank doesn't know about." + +"We're doing the best we know how," said Bart. "It's for Frank's interest +we're working. I hope it will all come out right." + +Sunday evening the three chums went to the building where Ned had been +taken by the Upside Down boys. Frank had not called on any of his chums +since the dinner the night before. + +The boys found the night watchman, who had just come on duty. Ned knew +him, for the man, James Rafferty, had once been employed as a porter in +the bank of which Ned's father was cashier. + +"Good evening, Mr. Rafferty," said Ned. "It's a fine night." + +"It is that, me lad. An' what brings ye down here?" + +"To see you." + +"Sure, thin, an' ye must have some object. Few indade want's to see ould +Rafferty now. He's gittin' too old fer much use." + +"We wanted to ask if you saw anything of two strange men around these +buildings last night?" + +"Nary a wan did I see, Masther Ned. Sure there was a slatherin' lot of +lads bint on some joke, an' I didn't interfere wid 'em, knowin' they was +up t' no harm. But I saw no men." + +"That blocks this end of the game," said Bart in a low tone, as he and +his chums came away. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +FRANK GETS A LETTER + + +Somewhat disappointed at their failure to get any information from +Rafferty, the three boys returned to Ned's house, where they had met that +Sunday evening. + +"Better let the thing drop until something turns up," suggested Bart. "We +can't do anything, as I see." + +"Only be on the lookout for strangers in town," said Ned. "I want to find +out who those men were." + +"And you'll have quite a job," spoke Bart. "I'm going home. See you at +school to-morrow." + +"There's one point we forgot to look up," Ned remarked. + +"What is it?" inquired Fenn, as he prepared to accompany Bart. + +"Those men spoke about someone being in a sanitarium. Do you know of any +such place around here?" + +"Never has been a sanitarium in this neighborhood," replied Bart. +"There's the hospital, but I don't believe they meant that." + +"I either," responded Ned. "There's some mystery in it all. Perhaps we +can solve it and help Frank." + +Little was talked of at school next morning but the contest between the +ball team members and the Upside Down Club. The story was told over +again, with all sorts of embellishments, and there were any number of +versions; from one that Ned had escaped by leaping from the roof, to +another that his friends had descended on the building and torn it apart +to get him out. + +As a matter of fact the victory of the Upside Down society was only a +partial one, as Ned had been able to go to the dinner before it was more +than half over. The first-year lads had hoped to keep Ned a prisoner +until the affair was at an end, but, it developed, there was a +misunderstanding in the plans of the conspirators, and those boys who +were supposed to be left to guard the prisoner, went away, giving Ned a +chance to escape. But the contest with the older students gave the +first-years chance enough to crow, and they lost no opportunity to do so. + +"What'll we do to pay 'em back?" asked Ned of Bart at the noon recess. +"They're making all sorts of fun of us." + +"Let 'em laugh. Our turn will come sooner or later." + +Frank joined his chums that afternoon, when school had closed for the +day, and all went swimming. There was quite a crowd of pupils at the +river, including a number of the Upside Down boys, and there were several +rather warm discussions among the members of the rival factions. Once or +twice it looked as if there might be fights. Lem Gordon, in particular, +was much incensed at the action of the first-years, and when Richard +Kirk, a member of the Upside Down Club, taunted Lem with belonging to the +side that lost in the Saturday night struggle, Lem advanced toward +Richard and acted as though he was going to strike him. + +"Don't," advised Bart. "That will only make them keep the thing up +longer. We'll fix 'em." + +"We ought to do it pretty soon," growled Lem. "I'm getting tired of being +laughed at. We ought to pay back the ringleaders anyhow. Who were the +fellows that held you, Frank?" + +"It was so dark I couldn't see well." + +"You ought to have recognized some of 'em." + +"I didn't," Frank answered, somewhat shortly, as he began to dress. + +"What makes Frank act so queerly?" inquired Lem of Bart. "Has anything +happened?" + +"Not that I know of," Bart replied carelessly. He did not want other +pupils to think Frank strange, even if the three chums did. When Frank +had finished dressing he started away. + +"Where you going?" Fenn called after him. + +"I've got a little errand to do uptown," was Frank's reply. "I'll see +you later." + +Ned, Bart and Fenn looked at one another, but they said nothing. It was +not like Frank to go off by himself, but they did not comment on it at +the time, as they did not want their companions to take notice. + +A little later the crowd at the swimming place began to disperse. The +three chums walked away together, conversing in low tones of Frank's +action. As they were going through the woods, along a path that led over +the fields to the outskirts of the town, they saw a boy stretched out on +a log. His eyes were closed and he seemed asleep. + +"It's Jim Morton," said Bart. "What's he doing here? I thought he was too +lazy to walk this far," for Jim had the reputation of disliking exertion +of any kind. + +"Hello, Jim!" called Ned. "What you doing here?" + +"Waiting for you," replied Jim. + +"For me?" + +"All three of you. Got a message." + +"What is it? Speak up! Don't be all day about it," exclaimed Bart. + +"Judge Benton gave me a quarter to come out here and see if I could find +any of you chums." + +"What does he want? Whom does he want?" + +"He wants Frank Roscoe," went on Jim, in drawling tones. "Wants to +see him right away. Important business he said. That's all I know. I +was to tell Frank if I saw him, or if not, any of you boys. I've done +my part, and earned the quarter, I guess. Now don't bother me, I'm +going to sleep," and Jim turned over on the log as if that was all +there was to it. + +"But what's it about? Why can't you tell us more?" asked Bart. Jim did +not answer, and a snore seemed to indicate that he was slumbering. + +"If he isn't the limit!" ejaculated Ned. "Come on, fellows. We'll see if +we can find Frank and give him the message." + +"Perhaps he was going to the judge's office," suggested Fenn. + +"Well, we'll tell him what Jim said, anyhow," suggested Bart. "Frank can +do as he likes then." + +They hurried back to town, thinking they might overtake Frank before he +reached Darewell, but he had evidently walked fast for they did not see +him. As they were passing the post-office, Ned looked in, and caught +sight of their chum. + +"There's Frank," he said. Frank had just taken a letter from his uncle's +box. He was reading it when the three chums entered, and he seemed +surprised as they came up to him. + +"Judge Benton wants to see you," spoke Ned. "Jim Morton went out to the +swimming hole with a message, but you'd gone, so we came after you." + +"Thanks," replied Frank, glancing up from his letter. "I was just going +over there." + +He folded the letter to put it back in the envelope, and Ned caught a +glimpse of the name Wright & Johnson, New York, before Frank put the +epistle into his pocket. + +"See you later," called Frank to his chums, as he hurried from the +post-office. + +The three boys stood staring at one another as Frank walked out. It +seemed so strange they could not understand it. Ned spoke of having +noticed the name of the lawyers on the envelope; the same firm that had +written to Frank before. + +"I can't understand it," declared Bart, as he and his chums went out, in +time to see Frank mounting the steps of a building opposite the +post-office, where Judge Benton had his office. + +"I don't know's it's any of our affair," put in Fenn. "Only I'd like to +help Frank if he's in trouble." + +"So would I," spoke Ned. + +"Shall we wait for him?" asked Bart. + +"It's hard to know what to do," declared Ned. "If we go away he may think +we're mad. If we stay he might imagine we're trying to find out what +Judge Benton wanted him for. However, I guess we'd better wait for him a +little while." + +They did not have to wait long. Frank came out, and he seemed more +cheerful than he had been in some time. It appeared as though something, +that had been troubling him, had been settled to his satisfaction. + +"Glad you waited," were Frank's first words as he joined his chums. "I've +got an idea." + +"What is it?" asked Bart. + +"We ought to get right to work and play a trick on the Upside Down boys. +We haven't much time left this term." + +"Good!" exclaimed Fenn. "That's what I say. But what shall we do?" + +"I think I have a plan," said Frank. "You know Judge Benton's son +belongs to that crowd." + +"Does he?" asked Ned, for this was news to himself and his two chums. + +"Yes. I didn't know it until a little while ago. I was talking to the +judge about--er--about some private matters--and he asked me if I was +going to the dance. I asked him what dance, and he said the one the High +School boys were getting up. That was the first I'd heard about it, but I +pretended to know a little bit, and I learned that the Upside Down boys, +of which his son is a member, are planning one for Saturday night in the +hall over the drug store. Young Benton had to ask his father for some +money to help pay expenses, so that's how the judge knew. Now what's the +matter with us getting even with them for what they did to us, by playing +some trick at the dance." + +"Are there going to be girls there?" asked Ned. + +"Of course." + +"Then I think I know something that will break up the dance and not harm +any one either," Ned replied. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +BREAKING UP THE DANCE + + +"What is it?" asked Bart. + +"Let's get away from here, to some place where we can talk it over +quietly," suggested Fenn. "We don't want them to know we're onto +their plans." + +The four chums moved off down the street. Frank seemed to have recovered +his good spirits, and joined in the talk readily enough. They listened to +Ned's suggestion, and the more they talked of it the more enthusiastic +they grew over it. + +"This'll beat their breaking-up of our dinner all to pieces," said Fenn. +"It's all to the merry. They'll wish they'd let us alone." + +"There's one point we almost overlooked," said Frank, just as the chums +were about to disperse. + +"What is it?" asked Fenn. + +"To make the plan work right we've got to get on the floor where the +dance is going on, and I don't believe we can. Those fellows will have +every entrance guarded." + +"Leave that to me," spoke Ned. "I know that old dance hall like a book. +There's an entrance they'll never guard and we can use that." + +For the next few days the four chums were busy at home every spare +moment. Their folks wondered what was in the wind, but the boys kept +their own counsel. + +"Have you got any cheese?" asked Bart of his mother one evening. + +"What for? Are you hungry?" asked Alice, looking up from the +first-aid-to-the-injured book that she was studying. + +"No, but I'm going to feed it to those who are hungry," her +brother replied. + +"Do you want it for some poor persons?" asked Mrs. Keene. "I think, Bart, +I can give them something better than cheese." + +"No; cheese is just what's wanted," Bart answered. "You see it's a +secret." + +"Oh, I guess he's going to have some sort of an initiation in a secret +society!" exclaimed Alice. "Tell me about it, Bart, I'll never breathe a +word of it, really I won't." + +"I'd like to, Sis, but I can't," Bart replied. "It's very secret." + +Bart got the cheese and took it to his room. Alice tried to tease +him into telling her what he wanted of it, but Bart maintained a +provoking silence. + +"All right!" declared Alice. "I'll never tie your hand up again, if +you hurt it with your shotgun," referring to an incident when Bart +had slightly injured several of his fingers by the premature +discharge of his gun. + +"I don't intend to get shot again," Bart made answer. "Really, Alice, I'd +like to tell you about this, but you'll hear about it soon enough." + +"When?" + +"Saturday night, maybe." + +"But I'm going away Saturday night." + +"Where?" + +"To a dance." + +"A dance, eh?" and Bart looked interested. "What dance?" + +"Why one the first-year boys are getting up. I've got an invitation." + +"You don't mean to say you're going to the racket the Upside Down Club is +going to give?" + +"Yes; why not?" + +"Oh, nothing." + +"Yes, there is something. I can tell by the way you act." + +"Well, I didn't think a sister of mine would go to an affair given by +the enemies of the Darewell baseball team." + +"Oh, you're mad just because they played a trick on you about your +dinner. That's nothing. I'm going to the dance just the same. So you'd +better tell me now what you want the cheese for." + +"Oh, if you go to the dance you may hear of it there." + +"Now, Bart, I think you're real mean! Please tell me! How can I hear of +it at the dance?" + +"Run along now, Sis, I'm busy," and Bart, with a provoking smile, shut +the door of his room. Alice waited a minute, and then, hearing her +brother moving about among his possessions, and realizing that it was +useless to tease him further, went downstairs. + +"I don't care," she said to herself. "I'll have a good time at the +dance, anyhow." + +Preparations went on for the little informal affair the boys of the +Upside Down Club were to give. They tried to keep it a secret, but it was +impossible. However, they took precautions to prevent any unbidden ones +gaining access to the hall. The place was kept locked all day, and in the +evenings, while the work of decorating it was under way, there were +enough of the first-year boys on hand to prevent any untoward acts on +the part of their enemies. + +The four chums had taken a few of their closest friends of the nine into +their confidence, but they kept matters so quiet that none of the Upside +Downs suspected that a plot of vengeance was afoot. While the first-year +boys did not ask any of the other male pupils of the school to the dance, +they were not so strict with the girls, and a number from all the classes +of the institution were bidden to the affair. + +"The more the merrier," said Ned, when he heard of this. "It will be the +talk of the town Monday morning." + +"If it works out right," put in Fenn. + +"Oh, it will work out right," Ned said confidently. + +The night of the dance came at last. Alice put on her prettiest dress, +and, as she was leaving she saw her brother, attired in an old suit of +clothes, lounging in his room. + +"I thought you were going to tell me about that secret to-night," she +said. + +"The night isn't over yet," Bart replied. "There's time enough." + +So Alice went to the dance. She found many other girl acquaintances +there, and scores of boy friends among the members of the Upside +Down Club. + +Bart, who had remained in his room all the evening, was started from a +revery about nine o'clock by a whistle out in the street. + +"There are the fellows!" he exclaimed, and, catching up his cap, and +taking a package, from which sounded a mysterious scurrying and +squealing, he went out. + +In front of his house he met Ned, Fenn and Frank. Each one had a bundle +similar to the one Bart carried. + +"Got plenty of 'em?" asked Ned. + +"About two dozen," was the answer. + +"You had better luck than I. I got fifteen." + +"I have twenty and Fenn has ten," put in Frank. + +"That's enough to break up a dozen dances," spoke Ned. "Come on now, +we've got to do a bit of climbing." + +The hall, where the dance was being held, was over the drug store. This +was in the center of a business block, the drug structure being higher +than any of the buildings amid which it stood. The ballroom was on the +top floor. + +"Have you arranged about getting in?" asked Fenn. + +"We can't get in," Ned replied. "They've got every door doubly guarded, +for they suspect we're up to something. In fact we don't want to get in. +I have a better way. Come along." + +Ned led the way, through back streets until he came to a certain +high fence. + +"One of us has got to climb over and open the gate," he said. "After that +the rest is easy." + +Bart, being a good climber, was soon over the obstruction, and admitted +his companions to a yard in the rear of a group of buildings. + +"Where are we?" asked Fenn. + +"We're in back of Williamson's hardware place," replied Ned. "That's +right next to the drug store. We're going to the roof of that, and when +we get there we can go up a short ladder until we get to the roof of the +drug store." + +"How did the ladder get there?" asked Frank. + +"I bribed a telephone lineman, who was stringing some wires on the +buildings yesterday, to leave it there." + +"But what are we going to do when we get on the roof of the drug store?" +asked Fenn. + +"You watch and you'll see," Ned answered. + +By means of an outside stairway, and by climbing up on a rear porch, the +boys reached the roof of the hardware building. Thence it was an easy +task to get on top of the structure in which the dance was being held. +They could hear the music below them, and the sound of merry feet +tripping to the melody of a two-step. + +"There's a scuttle near the center," Ned spoke. "Walk quietly now. It's a +tin roof, and they may hear us, in spite of the music. Go easy!" + +They found the scuttle, and it was unlocked. Ned had seen to that, by +giving a judicious hint to the janitor of the place the day before. The +boys cautiously removed the covering to a hole that led into a sort of +attic or ventilating space. A few minutes later the four chums were in a +dark loft, looking through the grating of a ventilator in the wall right +down on the dancing floor. + +"My, but they're having a good time!" exclaimed Ned in a whisper. "It +seems a pity to spoil it." + +"Pity nothing!" exclaimed Bart. "What did they do to us? Besides, there's +no harm in this. There'll be a little screaming from the girls, but +that's all." + +"Have you got 'em in paper bags?" asked Ned, as he began to open the box +he carried. + +"Sure," replied Bart, and the others answered in the affirmative. + +"When I open the grating just toss the bags out, right in the middle of +the floor," Ned went on. "Do it quick, as I want to close the ventilator +before they see where the things come from." + +An instant later Ned had opened the ventilator grating, which he had +previously loosened. Then, through the air, went sailing four paper bags. +They struck almost in the middle of the ballroom floor and burst. + +Then from the bags there scampered over three score mice, rushing, +running, leaping and darting amid the dancers, with frightened squeaks +and squeals. + +For a moment there was silence, broken only by the noise of the rodents. +Then every girl in the room, and there were forty of them, uttered a +frightened scream and rushed for a place of safety. + +"A mouse! A mouse! Oh, save me!" was the universal cry, and the music +came to a stop in a crash of discord as the dance was most effectually +broken up. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +FRANK IS WARNED + + +All over the room ran the mice, and all about darted the frightened +girls. The boys were, at first, too surprised to know what to do, but, at +a rallying cry from someone, they started after the mice. However, they +had no weapons to kill the rodents with, and had to be content with +taking kicks at them as they darted past, seeking means of escape. + +"Couldn't have worked better!" exclaimed Bart, as he and his chums +watched the scene from where they were hidden. + +"I hope none of the girls faint," said Fenn. + +"Oh, Stumpy's getting worried about Jennie, I s'pose," remarked Ned. + +"No danger of any of 'em fainting," said Bart. "They're too much afraid a +mouse would bite 'em." + +So it seemed, for the girls contented themselves with screaming and +getting up on whatever offered in the way of chairs or benches. + +Meanwhile the mice, bewildered by the lights, the noise and the strange +place, were running about, squealing as loudly as they could. Every time +one of the frightened creatures came near a girl, or a group of them, the +cries of the damsels drowned the squeaks of the rodents. + +The boys of the Upside Down Club were at their wits' ends, for they could +wage no effectual warfare against the mice. One or two of the committee +of arrangements scurried around until they secured brooms, but by this +time the mice had hidden in corners, whence they scurried out +occasionally, to the great fright of the girls. + +The dance had come to a sudden end, for the girls, even after comparative +quiet was restored, refused to venture on the floor. Even Alice, who was +braver than most girls, stayed in a corner. + +"Who did it?" + +"Where did they come from?" + +"How did it happen?" + +These and many more questions were heard on every side. The paper bags +from which the mice had burst were still in the center of the floor. Some +of the first-year boys picked them up. From them dropped slips of paper +on which were printed: + +_COMPLIMENTS OF THE DAREWELL BASEBALL NINE_. + +"I thought so!" exclaimed Walter Powell, the chairman of the arrangement +committee of the dance. "The Darewell Chums had a hand in this. We must +find 'em, fellows!" + +"Come on!" exclaimed Ned to his companions in the ventilator space. "We'd +better skip. They may find us." + +They went out as they had come in, and soon were on their way home. + +"Talk about getting even," remarked Fenn. "I guess we did it all right!" + +"I caught all the mice in our house," said Ned. "Dad says he wishes I'd +take the job steady, though he didn't know why I was doing it." + +"Alice tried to find out one night what I was going to do with the cheese +I got to bait the trap with," Bart remarked. "I guess she knows now." + +Meanwhile the boys of the Upside Down Club, much chagrined at the +unexpected ending of their entertainment, were trying to induce the girls +to go on dancing. They said all the mice had gone, which was probably +true, but they couldn't get the young ladies to believe it. + +"I'm going home!" declared Jennie Smith, and several other girls decided +to go with her. + +The boys made an ineffectual search for those who had played the trick. +They soon discovered that the bags had been thrown through the +ventilator, but, by the time a committee of investigation had gone to the +loft, the four chums were far away. + +"We'll not say anything about this at school, Monday," Ned remarked +as the chums prepared to separate that night. "Let it come from the +other fellows." + +"Oh, it will be town talk by to-morrow," declared Frank, as he started +off down the road toward his uncle's house. + +Mr. Dent's residence was about a mile outside of Darewell. The road +leading to it was well lighted up to within half a mile of the Dent +place, and then the lamps were few and far apart. Frank hurried on, +thinking of many things besides the trick of the mice, for he had a real +trouble, and one he had not yet shared with his chums. It was bothering +him, and had been for some time. He wished he had someone he could take +into his confidence. + +As he neared his uncle's house he noticed there was a light in the +sitting room. This was unusual, as his uncle and aunt were in the habit +of going to bed early. They left no light for Frank, who had a key to the +front door, and who carried matches to light the lamp always left on a +table for him. + +"I wonder if any one is sick?" the boy thought, as he approached +the house. + +He turned up a side path, as he wanted to get a drink at the well before +going to bed, and the water in the house was not likely to be fresh. As +he advanced cautiously through the darkness he heard voices, coming, +evidently, from the direction of the front porch. Frank halted, and, as +he did so, he heard his uncle's tones. Mr. Dent was saying: + +"Of course it's too bad, but if he's violent, there's only one +thing to do." + +"That's all," the voice of a man replied. "We will have to keep him in +the sanitarium for a while yet. I am just as sorry about it as you are. +But we must not let the boy know. It might have a bad effect on him." + +Frank started. All his troubles seemed to come freshly to his mind. He +knew the man talking to his uncle had something to do with them, and he +resolved to find out more about the matter. He remained silent, hoping to +hear additional talk, but the two had concluded their conversation, and +the stranger could be heard walking down the gravel path toward the front +gate. That was what the light had meant. Mr. Dent had received a visitor, +and Frank determined to find out who it was. + +"Well, I'll see you again when necessary," the stranger called to Mr. +Dent. "Good-night." + +"Good-night," replied Frank's uncle, as he went into the house and +shut the door. + +Frank waited until the stranger was out on the path in front of the +house. Then, keeping as much as possible in the shadows, the boy +followed. He stole along, walking on the sod to deaden his footsteps, and +soon found himself on the main highway. Just ahead of him he could see +the figure of the man. He tried to see if he knew the stranger, but it +was too dark. + +"But I'll find out where you go," Frank declared to himself, "I'll get on +the track of this mystery sooner or later, and I guess I've got a good +start now." + +All unconscious of being followed, the man hurried on. He seemed to know +his way, for, though it was dark, and the path was uneven, he kept on at +a good pace. + +Frank was drawing closer, in the eagerness of his pursuit. He was not as +careful as he had been to walk on the sod, and, after he had gone about +half a mile, the boy suddenly stepped on a loose stone which made him +slip. The sound was heard by the stranger, who was about one hundred feet +in advance, and he turned quickly. + +"Who's there?" he asked sharply. + +Frank did not answer. + +"Who's there?" the man inquired again, and there was menace in his tones. + +Frank crouched down to get in the shadow of a big tree. + +"I know someone is following me," the man went on, in a sharp voice. +"Whoever it is I warn him he had better come no further. If it's money +you're after I'll tell you I am armed, and I'll not hesitate to shoot. If +it's a beggar I have nothing for you. If it is anyone else I warn him I +will stand no trifling. I will say nothing to you, and if you follow me +you do so at your peril. Be warned in time and go back. You must not +meddle in this affair, whoever you are. I shall protect myself if I am +attacked!" + +The voice ceased, and there sounded a click in the darkness, that might +indicate the man had cocked his revolver. Frank did not move. He hardly +breathed. He did not know what to do, for he had not counted on being +discovered. + +"Remember! Follow me at your peril!" the man exclaimed again. Then, +turning quickly he ran ahead in the darkness, and was soon lost to sight. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A STRANGER IN TOWN + + +Dazed by the sudden ending to his chase, Frank remained a while standing +by the tree. He had half a mind to ignore the warning and keep on after +the man, but on second thought felt it would be an unwise thing to do. + +"I must try another plan," the youth said to himself. "I will get at the +bottom of this mystery concerning me. I did not know Uncle Abner was +mixed up in it. I wonder if I had better ask him about it?" + +Frank debated this question in his mind as he went back home. Then he +decided he would say nothing about what he had overheard until there was +a chance of learning more about it. + +"Is that you, Frank?" his uncle asked him, as the boy went into the house +a few minutes later. + +"Yes, uncle." + +"Well, be sure you lock up well. There have been thieves about, I hear, +and we don't want 'em to get in here." + +Frank wondered at his uncle's caution, for Mr. Dent was not +usually nervous. It was also news to Frank to learn that there were +thieves about. + +"Have you seen any?" he asked his uncle. + +"No, but Jim Peterson's hired man was over a while ago, and told me his +dogs had barked at some tramps passing in the road. There are strangers +in the vicinity, I guess." + +Frank wondered if the dogs had barked at the stranger who had been at the +Dent house a little while before, but he said nothing about it, and, soon +went to bed. + +As the chums had anticipated, the breaking-up of the Upside Down Club +dance created more talk among the High School pupils than had anything +else in the line of sports and fun since the institution was built. The +members of the ball team, and their friends, who had been let into the +secret, preserved a discreet silence about the affair, and would answer +no questions. + +Although it was generally believed that the four chums had been the prime +instigators of the affair, they would admit nothing, and many were the +conjectures about the mice. + +As for the girls, after their first fright, they laughed as heartily as +did the boys over the sudden ending of the dance. The only pupils who +seemed angry over the matter were the boys on the dance committee, who +were incensed at the breaking up of the affair. + +"I know those Darewell Chums had the most to do with it," said Denny +Thorp, who was the leader of the crowd that had captured Ned. "I'll get +even with them." + +"It looks to me as though they had gotten even with us," remarked Peter +Enderby, Denny's chum. "They paid us back, good and proper." + +"That's all right. What we did wasn't half as mean as letting those mice +loose and spoiling the dance." + +"Oh, get out!" exclaimed Peter. "It's all in sport. What's the use of +getting mad?" + +But Denny declared he was going to watch his chance to pay the Darewell +Chums back with interest. + +But, though the four friends heard of Denny's threat, they were not +alarmed over it. They felt they could hold their own. From then on, +however, there was open warfare between the Upside Down Club members and +the baseball nine and their friends, and many were the tricks each side +played on the other. + +One afternoon, about a week later, Jim Morton, who was watching a crowd +of boys playing on the school campus, hailed Bart, as the latter, in +chase of the ball, ran toward where Jim was lying stretched under a +shady elm tree. + +"What is it?" asked Bart + +"I've been waiting until someone would knock a fly over in this +direction, so's you come close," Jim went on. "I wanted to speak to you." + +"Speak ahead," Bart went on, as he threw the ball back. + +"Do you want a job as guide?" + +"Guide? What do you mean?" + +"I met a man the other day, stranger in town, I guess, and he asked me if +I'd show him the corduroy road through the woods. I told him I had to go +to school, and he said Saturday would do. But I don't just feel like +taking the job. I've got spring fever I guess. To-morrow's Saturday, and +he expects me to go to the hotel after him, and show him the road. But I +know I'll be tired tomorrow and I thought maybe you'd like the job. He +says he'll give five dollars." + +"Oh, I don't know," Bart replied, somewhat surprised at what Jim told +him. "What sort of a man is he?" + +"He has red hair, that's all I remember. I was sort of sleepy the day he +met me, and I didn't take much notice." + +"How'd he come to ask you?" inquired Bart, wondering why lazy Jim had +ever been requested to do anything. + +"Sandy Merton told the man about me. The man went to Sandy first, said +he heard Sandy knew the woods pretty well. But Sandy works for a +farmer every Saturday, and he couldn't go, so he recommended me. Said +it would be easy work, but I don't fancy tramping through the woods. +Do you want the job?" + +"Sure, I'll take it," Bart replied. "It'll be fun. I wonder if he only +wants one boy?" + +"I guess he doesn't mind. Said I could bring a friend along if I +wanted to. Here, I'll give you his card, and you can inquire for him +at the hotel," and Jim extended a bit of pasteboard on which was +printed the name: + +JACOB HARDMAN. + +"I'll go see him," Bart remarked. "Sure you don't want the job, Jim? +Five dollars is a nice bit of money to pick up for just going to the +corduroy road." + +"I--got--spring--fever," murmured Jim, and Bart saw that the boy's eyes +were closed as though he had gone to sleep. + +"Queer he had energy enough to tell me that much," remarked Bart, as he +moved off. "Just like him, to lie here and wait for a chance ball to +bring me in his direction. Jim certainly is the limit when it comes to +laziness." + +That evening Bart went to see Mr. Hardman at the hotel. He found the +stranger pleasant enough, and, as Jim had said, with a wealth of +thick red hair. + +"You're the third boy that has been engaged for this work," said Mr. +Hardman with a smile, when Bart had explained his errand. "I hope you +will not fail me. You see I am a stranger in this locality, and I'm +thinking of buying land for a house, if I like the place. But I'm fond of +solitude, and I have heard that the woods, through which the corduroy +road runs, are just about what I want. I don't wish to get lost, so I +thought I would hire one of the town boys to show me around. Do you know +your way through the forest?" + +"Quite well," Bart replied. "I have camped there. The road is easy to +find, but it winds in and out, and you might get lost, as there are +several branches to it. What time do you want to start to-morrow?" + +"About nine o'clock. You might bring a couple of friends, if you like. +I'm fond of company. Is it worth while to take lunch?" + +"Well, we could hardly go there and back before dinner." + +"Then we'll take something to eat," Mr. Hardman went on. "Here are two +dollars. Get some sandwiches and things, and we'll have a little picnic +in the woods." + +In spite of the man's apparently hearty manner Bart felt an indescribable +aversion to him. Mr. Hardman was pleasant enough, but he had a habit of +shifting his gaze around as he talked and he did not look one squarely in +the eyes. But Bart gave only a momentary thought to that. He was +wondering whether he had better bring his three chums on the trip. He was +about to ask the man if he would object to a party of four boys, but Mr. +Hardman evidently considered the incident closed, for he bowed to Bart +and opened the door of his room, where the interview had taken place. + +"I'll bring 'em anyhow," Bart decided, as he went downstairs. "He didn't +mention any special number. Besides, I don't know the road any too well, +and the others can help me out." + +Bart told his three chums of the matter that night. Fenn and Ned said +they would go, but Frank declared he had to do some errands for his +uncle and would not be through in time. + +"I may walk out that way and meet you," Frank said. "I expect to be +finished shortly after dinner. Are you just going to the road and back?" + +"I don't know how far he may want to go," Bart answered. "We'll probably +be gone all day." + +"Wish I could go," Frank said, but, as he spoke, his thoughts seemed to +be elsewhere. + +"Frank's getting stranger than ever," remarked Ned, as the former left +Ned's house where the four chums were talking that evening. "I wonder if +he doesn't want to go?" + +"I guess he'd like to, if he could," Bart replied. + +"Do you know anything about this Mr. Hardman?" asked Fenn. + +"Only what I've heard," Bart answered. "He came to the hotel about a week +ago. Seems to have plenty of money. Treated me very nicely, but, somehow +I don't like him, and I can't give any reason for it." + +"Did you get the grub with the money he gave you?" asked Ned. + +"Yes." + +The next morning the three chums went to the hotel. They found Mr. +Hardman waiting for them. + +"On time I see," he remarked, as Bart introduced Ned and Fenn. "It's just +the morning for a nice long tramp. I hope you boys are good walkers." + +"I guess we can keep up with you," Bart replied, and they started off. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +MR. HARDMAN'S QUEER ACT + + +It was about five miles from the hotel to where the corduroy road began +to wend a tortuous way through the big woods back of the town of +Darewell. It was the same road over which the chums had traveled the time +they went camping just before the previous Thanksgiving, during which +excursion they had shot considerable game. + +They walked out through the suburbs of the town, and soon were in the +open country. Then came a stretch of woodland, and, after a mile of this, +the chums turned aside into a denser forest. + +"Here's the corduroy road," said Bart, pointing to where the log +highway began. + +"Ah, indeed," remarked Mr. Hardman. "Quite interesting. Made of little +logs laid side by side. To prevent wagons from sinking down into the mud, +I suppose?" + +"It isn't used much nowadays," volunteered Fenn. "It was built by the +loggers when they were cutting some timber, but that was several +years ago." + +"Where does it lead to?" + +"Right into the middle of the woods, and then it stops," replied Bart, +thinking of the winter day they had last traveled over the road, and +recalling what events had followed the discovery of the Perry family, +suffering in the forest hut. + +"We'll take a walk along it," Mr. Hardman went on. "It seems to be just +the sort of locality I'm looking for. Quite lonesome enough to suit me." + +It was pleasant in the forest that June day. On either side of the road +grew tall ferns and there were many wild flowers. The birds were flitting +through the branches, and, in spite of the rather queer expedition they +were on, the boys enjoyed themselves. As for the man they were guiding, +he was content to walk along, stopping, here and there, to look through +the forest, or gather some flowers. + +"Is there any particular place you want to go to?" asked Bart, when they +had been walking on the road for perhaps half an hour. + +"I thought you said the road did not lead anywhere." + +"Neither it does, but there are paths through the woods branching off +the road, and if you wanted to get to a certain spot I think we could +take you there." + +"No, I only want to see how the road runs. I am not looking for any +particular place. But these paths you speak of, are they easy to find?" + +"Not unless you know the woods pretty well," put in Ned. + +"Ah! Then I suppose a person coming--say from the other side of the +forest--would have difficulty in reaching the road and getting into +Darewell?" + +"It would be quite hard, I imagine," said Bart, "We have never been to +the other edge of the forest. It is about ten miles in extent, and we +have only been about half way through. It is pretty wild, the farther +in you go." + +"So much the better," Mr. Hardman murmured. "Now boys, are you ready for +lunch? I confess the walk has given me an appetite." + +"The same here," admitted Fenn with a laugh. + +They sat down on a grassy bank, and ate the food Bart had purchased. Mr. +Hardman seemed to be thinking of many things, for he hardly spoke during +the impromptu meal, and, when he had eaten a couple of sandwiches he +arose from the bank and wandered off a little way into the woods. When +he came back he addressed Bart: + +"Are you sure no one--er--say a sick person--could get from the other +side of the forest to this road?" + +"Well of course it's possible," admitted Bart, "but I don't believe a +sick person, or a well one, either, could get here without a lot of +trouble. There are no paths to speak of, so I've heard old hunters say." + +"That's good," Mr. Hardman remarked, half to himself. "That's just what I +want. Is this the only road leading into the woods from Darewell?" + +"The only one," replied Bart. + +"Then I guess I've seen enough." + +"Do you think you'll build a house here?" asked Ned. + +"Build a house here? What do you--Of course. Well, I like the place first +rate. I must come again some day. I think we'll go back now. By the way, +I must pay you," and he handed Bart the five-dollar bill. + +"I'm much obliged," Bart said. "I'm afraid it was hardly worth so much. +It was a regular picnic for us." + +"So much the better," replied Mr. Hardman with a smile. "Now we'll go +back." + +They started to retrace their steps along the corduroy road, the boys +wondering somewhat over the whim of Mr. Hardman. He had not acted like a +man who had come to look for a place to erect a dwelling, and, though +they expected some oddity in a man who preferred to live in the solitude +of the forest, they could not account for his questions about whether or +not a person could get from the farther side of the woods to the road. + +For about an hour they tramped back over the way they had come. Mr. +Hardman said little, and walked just ahead of the boys, who conversed +among themselves. Just as they were nearing the end of the road he turned +and asked: + +"You are sure now there is no other way of going through the forest but +this road?" + +"Positive," replied Bart. + +"You couldn't be mistaken?" + +"Well, if there is a road no one in Darewell knows of it," put in Ned. +"We've lived here a good many years, and have often been in these woods, +and we never heard of any other road." + +"That's good," Mr. Hardman responded, and he seemed well satisfied. + +"I wonder if Frank will come to meet us?" asked Bart as Mr. Hardman +resumed his position slightly in advance of the boys. + +"You can't tell much about Frank lately," replied Ned. "I don't know +what to make of him. I wish he'd tell us if he is in trouble, for we +might help him. I know what it is to be worried about something and not +have any one you can talk to. I found that out when I had to disappear in +New York," and he laughed at the recollection, though at the time of his +trouble he felt in a very different frame of mind. + +"Well, we'll just have to let him alone until he's ready to tell us," +said Fenn. "Hello!" he added, a moment later, "someone is coming along +the road." + +The chums stopped, as did Mr. Hardman. The sound of footsteps +could be heard. + +"Who is coming?" asked Mr. Hardman, and the boys thought he seemed +alarmed. + +"I don't know," Bart replied. + +A moment later a figure appeared around a turn in the road. + +"It's Frank!" exclaimed Ned. + +"Who?" asked Mr. Hardman. + +"Frank Roscoe; our chum," Bart said. "He has come to meet us." + +"Frank Roscoe!" exclaimed Mr. Hardman, and the boys could see he was +much excited. + +"Frank Roscoe here! If I had known that!" + +He turned suddenly and hurried past the boys, retracing his way along the +corduroy road into the depths of the forest. + +"I have forgotten some papers!" he exclaimed, not turning his head. "I +must have left them on the bank where we ate lunch. I'll get them. Don't +wait for me. I can find my way back." + +Then he was gone, a curve in the road hiding him from sight. But by this +time Frank had come up to his chums. He saw Mr. Hardman's sudden retreat, +and had caught the words the man called back to the boys. At the sound of +them Frank broke into a run. + +"What's the matter?" cried Bart, surprised at his friend's action. + +"I must catch that man!" exclaimed Frank, as he raced past his chums. + +For a moment the three boys were so surprised they did not know what to +make of it. The queer action of Mr. Hardman, in suddenly fleeing, was +only equaled by Frank's pursuit. + +"Let's go and see what it means," suggested Ned, as he turned to go back +over the road. + +The sun had gone under a cloud and the woods were quite dark, as the +forest was dense at this point. The three chums hurried on in the +semi-twilight. They had not gone far before they met Frank coming back. + +"Did you catch him?" asked Ned. + +"No. He must have turned off into the woods. What is his name? How did +you fellows come to be out with him? What made him run back as soon as +he saw me?" + +"One at a time," suggested Ned. "We can't answer all those questions at +once. What made you run after him?" + +"Because I believe him to be a man who knows something I should know," +Frank replied, for, though he did not tell his chums, he recognized in +Mr. Hardman's voice the tones of the stranger who had been at his uncle's +house one night and who had warned the boy back when Frank had attempted +to follow. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +NEWS FOR FRANK + + +"Do you suppose he turned back because he saw you?" asked Ned. + +"He said he had forgotten some papers," observed Fenn. + +"Yes, and he said he must have left them on the bank where we ate lunch," +responded Bart. "But did either of you observe him have any papers in his +hands? I guess not. He didn't look at a single paper from the time we +started. That was only an excuse." + +"It's a queer mystery," remarked Bart, looking at Frank. "Can we help +solve it?" + +"I'm afraid not," Frank replied with a smile. "But come on, it's +getting late." + +"Perhaps we ought to stay and see if Mr. Hardman will come back," +suggested Fenn. "He may get lost in the woods." + +"I guess not," was Bart's opinion. "I think he knows these woods as well +as we do." + +"Then what was his object in having us show him the road?" + +"Part of the general mystery," said Bart. "It's too deep for me. If Frank +knows it, why perhaps he'll tell." + +"I wish I could," their chum answered, and the boys noticed that he was +quite solemn. "It's something that concerns me personally, and I am not +in a position, yet, to tell any one. I have only suspicions to go on, and +it would not be fair to tell them to any one, until I see how near the +truth I am. I admit I must seem to be acting strangely, but I can't help +it. I wish I had caught that man. I believe he holds the secret I wish to +solve. Where did you meet him?" + +Bart told the circumstances connected with taking Mr. Hardman to the +woods, and of his curious questions. + +"Tell me over again that one he asked about sick persons finding their +way through the woods," Frank asked, and Bart repeated it. Frank seemed +to ponder over it. + +"I think I'll try to see him at the hotel," Frank remarked a little +later. "He may come back tonight. If he does, and I can get any clues to +what I want, I may have something to tell you." + +"I think we can give you a piece of news now," Ned put in. "We have been +keeping it a secret, thinking the time would come when you could make use +of it. Well that time seems to have come now." + +Then he related what had taken place the night he was kidnapped by the +Upside Down Club, and detailed the conversation of the two men in the +vacant house. + +"Are you sure about this?" asked Frank. "Are you sure they spoke about my +uncle, and property and a sanitarium?" + +"Positive," replied Ned. "Why?" + +"It all fits in!" exclaimed Frank. "It bears out my theory. Now, if I +could only find the place, I would have something to work on. Perhaps you +fellows could help me!" + +"We sure will, and you can depend on us!" cried Ned heartily. + +"Thanks," replied Frank simply, but there was much meaning in the little +word. "I may call on you sooner than I thought I could." + +"Can't do it too soon for us," Bart made answer. "We want to get this +thing cleared up. It's worrying you, Frank; isn't it fellows?" + +"Yes, it is," admitted their chum. "It is worrying me and I want the +secret cleared up, but I have to go slow. There are a number of +persons involved, and I have to feel my way. The time may come when +you will think I have done wrong, but when it is all explained you +will say I'm right." + +Frank's talk, his refusal to explain what he meant, and the strange +scene, in which he and Mr. Hardman figured, was a great mystery to the +three chums, but they felt they had no right to press Frank for an +explanation. They could only wait until he told them what it all meant. + +It was now getting dusk, and, deciding it was no use to wait for Mr. +Hardman, the boys hurried back to Darewell. The first thing Frank did was +to call at the hotel to make some inquiries regarding Mr. Hardman. But, +beyond the fact that he was registered there as coming from New York, and +that he seemed to have plenty of money, nothing could be learned. The man +was not in, the clerk said, and was in the habit of going off and staying +a day or two at a time. He had been at the hotel a little over a week, +but seemed to have no acquaintances except Sandy, Jim and the three +chums, if they could be so classed. + +"Any luck?" asked Ned, as Frank stopped at his house that night, on his +way back from the hotel. + +"No, none," was the reply in hopeless tones. "But I'm going there again +to-morrow. He may stay in, because it's Sunday, and I can get a chance +to talk to him." + +"Better not let him know you want to speak to him," suggested Ned. "If +you do he'll make some excuse and slip out." + +"I'll not send up my name when I inquire at the desk," Frank answered. + +But his precautions were useless, for, when he called at the hotel the +next morning, he learned that Mr. Hardman had come in at midnight, had +paid his bill, and departed on the one o'clock train. + +"Did he say where he was going?" asked Frank of the clerk. + +"I don't know. The night man was on, but we don't generally ask our +guests where they are going." + +"I thought he might have left word where he wanted his mail forwarded." + +"That's so, I believe he did," the clerk answered, for he knew Frank +quite well. He looked in the letter rack, and found a slip the night +clerk had left, directing that all mail for Mr. Hardman was to be sent to +the general delivery, Lockport. + +"Lockport," murmured Frank, as he left the hotel. "That is a town close +to the other edge of the woods. I wonder what he can be doing there? Very +well, if he's in Lockport I'll go there, but I'm afraid I'll have +trouble finding him. However, I must try. He's likely to stop at a hotel, +and there can't be more than two or three in Lockport." + +Somewhat discouraged over his failure to find Mr. Hardman, Frank went +back to his uncle's house. All that Sunday he remained indoors, though +his chums called in the afternoon, and wanted him to go for a walk. + +"Don't have any hard feelings," Frank said, when he declined the +invitation. "I'm in no mood for walking or talking. I'll feel better +tomorrow." + +Then he went back to his room, to brood over his secret. He debated with +himself whether or not he ought to tell his uncle what he had seen and +heard, and ask for an explanation of the matter. + +But Mr. Dent was rather a stern man, and, though he was very kind to +Frank, he did not encourage confidences. So, after thinking it all +over, Frank decided he would try, a little longer, to solve the mystery +by his own efforts. He did not want to appeal to his uncle and be met +with a refusal. + +"I tell you what it is," Ned remarked, as the three chums walked away +from Frank's house. "We've got to do something to cheer Frank up." + +"What would you suggest?" asked Fenn. + +"Let's have some sort of fun," replied Ned. "I've got an idea!" +he exclaimed suddenly. "It will be a great joke! We'll play it on +Jim Morton." + +"Jim's too lazy to play jokes on," said Fenn. + +"This is going to be a lazy joke," explained Ned. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE LAZY RACE + + +As they walked along, the three chums perfected their plans for some fun +they hoped would take Frank's mind off his trouble for a while, and, at +the same time, afford amusement for themselves. + +"Besides it will be a sort of lesson for Jim," said Ned. "He's getting +worse and worse. After a bit he'll be too lazy to draw his breath, and +then he'll die and it will be our fault." + +"I don't see how you make that out," declared Bart. + +"Why, it's our duty to prevent him from dying by providing such contests +as this I am about to arrange." + +"Go ahead," put in Fenn. "We're with you." + +The next Monday morning there appeared on the bulletin board in the boys' +court of the high school this notice: + +ATTENTION! + +"Arrangements have been perfected for a grand free-for-all race, for the +championship of the school. The affair will be in the nature of a +handicap, and there will be three prizes, for the first, second and third +winners. Any boy in the school may enter, and there will be no fee +collected. The race will take place Saturday afternoon on the school +campus. The distance and conditions will be made known at the time of the +start. It is hoped that there will be a large number of entries. The more +the merrier." + + * * * * * + +The notice was signed by the school athletic committee, of which Bart was +chairman. At the noon recess Bart was besieged by a crowd of boys asking +all sorts of questions about the contest, from the kind of prizes to be +offered, to the distance to be run. + +"I can't tell you any more than is in the notice," Bart answered. "All +you have to do is to train for the race, and the committee will attend to +the rest." + +With this they had to be content. As Ned had suggested, this did serve to +take Frank's mind off his troubles to a certain extent. He inquired about +the contest, and, when he was sufficiently interested, his three chums +took him to one side and explained that it was gotten up for the benefit +of Jim Morton. + +"Do you think you can get him to enter?" asked Frank. + +"I guess so, if I talk to him right," Ned replied. Then he set to work to +get Jim to become one of the contestants. + +"Why, you know I can't run," Jim complained, when Ned broached the matter +to him. "Besides, I don't believe in races. It takes too much time and +strength. I'll live longer if I don't hurry so much," and Jim, slowed up +in his walk, which was slow enough at best. + +"But this is different," Ned went on. "You know you're giving the school +a bad name by being so lazy." + +"How?" asked Jim, in some surprise. + +"Why, you've been made an honorary member of the athletic committee," Ned +went on. It was a fact, but he had engineered the matter through. "Now +how does it look to see one of our honorary members so lazy he won't even +enter a contest? Besides, I think you could win this race, Jim." + +"Me win? Why, you know I haven't ever run a race." + +"But I think you can win this one," Ned went on, rather mysteriously. +"If you'd only train a little bit I know you could beat lots of the +fellows. Let me enter you as one of the contestants, and some of us +fellows will practice with you nights." + +"All right," Jim assented, rather flattered that the chums would go to +so much trouble on his account. "I'll try, but I know I can't come in +even third." + +"You wait," counseled Ned. + +The news soon spread that Jim had entered as a contestant in the race. +And, what was more surprising, he had begun to train. Few of the High +School boys believed it until they saw Jim speeding around the campus one +evening, with Ned and his chums. Frank entered into the spirit of the +joke, which only the four knew of, and there were impromptu brushes, in +which Jim frequently came in ahead. This, of course, was all arranged to +give the new athlete confidence in himself. As for Jim, he really seemed +to be interested in running. At first he was so stiff, from lack of +practice, that he ran like a lame cow. But in a few days he could pick up +his heels to better advantage. + +"We'll cure him when it comes to the final show-down," declared Ned. +"We'll cure Jim of laziness, and it will be a fine piece of work." + +"Best of all, though," said Bart, "Frank seems to have forgotten his +troubles, and that's why we undertook this." + +"If only he doesn't begin to worry, after the fun, we expect to have +Saturday, is over," put in Ned, a little doubtful of his own experiment. + +There were scores entered in the race, and that insured a good attendance +at the event. In spite of many questions the chums refused to tell any +details of the contest, and it was much of a mystery as ever Saturday +afternoon, when all the boys, and quite a crowd of girls, were gathered +on the campus. Ned got up on a box to make an announcement, and to tell +the conditions of the race. + +"Entries are not limited," he said. "We'll admit boys, girls, dogs, +puppies or any animal that walks, flies or crawls." + +There was laughter at what they all took to be a joke. + +"I mean it," Ned went on. "If any of you have a dog or a goat you want to +see race, put him in. We'll make the conditions and the prizes fit any +person or animal," and there was more laughter. + +"What's the distance?" inquired several of the boys who had donned racing +trunks and spiked shoes. + +"Five times around the campus," Ned answered. "That's about a mile." + +"Where are the prizes?" + +"They will be shown and awarded after the race. Now are you all ready?" + +"Aren't you going to run this off in heats?" asked Lem Gordon. "There are +too many to start at once." + +"No, it's a free-for-all race, but those who have been in previous +contests will have to start off first." + +"Last, you mean, I guess," said Lem. "That's the proper way to handicap." + +"Not for this race," Ned replied. + +"Why not?" + +"Because this is going to be a lazy race." + +"A lazy race!" cried half a score of voices. + +"Yes, a lazy race. The person or animal who comes in last, after making +five circuits, wins." + +"Are there going to be animals in this?" demanded Lem. + +"Of course there are. This is free-for-all. Here is my entry," and Ned, +turning over the box he had been standing on, disclosed a big mud turtle, +that started to crawl away as soon as it got into the light. + +"A mud turtle race!" cried Lem. + +"Certainly! Why not?" demanded Ned, "This turtle has been trained +against Jim Morton, champion lazy racer of the Darewell High School!" he +went on in a loud voice, to make himself heard above the shouts of +laughter. "Now, all ready. Come on, Jim, I believe you can beat the +turtle if you half try!" + +Such a yell as there was at this! The boys and girls realized the joke +that had been played, and even Jim did not hesitate to join in the +merriment, for he appreciated the trick which had been worked on him. + +"One! Two! Three! Go!" cried Ned. "There goes the turtle!" and he pointed +to where the animal was crawling along at a rapid rate. "Hurry up, Jim, +or he'll beat you!" + +"I guess not," Jim replied. "I'm going to take a rest. This training has +tired me out," and he sat down on the grass. + +"Any one want to compete against the turtle?" asked Ned. "Come on now. +Remember, it's free-for-all." + +But no one seemed to care to contest, and, amid yells and laughter at the +manner in which they had been fooled, the boys began arranging impromptu +races among themselves. + +"You worked that pretty slick," Jim said, as the chums approached him. +"You jollied me along in great shape. But I'll have to take lots of rest +now, to make up for it." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +VACATION AT HAND + + +"Well, you found out you could run if you tried," Frank remarked, as he +looked at where Jim was sprawled on the grass. + +"Oh, I knew it all along," Jim replied, "only I didn't want it to get +out, for fear I'd have to enter all the contests. Maybe I'll go in the +next real race," he added. "I've trained enough for three or four +seasons I guess." + +"I'm afraid you're not cured yet," commented Ned with a laugh. "It was +all for your good, Jim." + +"That's all right. I appreciate that, and I'm much obliged to you. Can I +have that turtle?" + +"What for?" + +"Why, I thought maybe I could educate it," and Jim smiled. + +"Go ahead; take it if you want to," Ned replied. "I had trouble enough +catching it in the river." + +Jim carried off the turtle, and the crowd of boys and girls, laughing +and joking about the lazy race, gradually dispersed. + +"Wonder what Jim wanted of the turtle?" asked Fenn, as the four chums +walked along. + +"Give it up," said Ned. "Going to train it to waltz maybe." + +"More like he's going to play some joke on you for what you did," +suggested Frank, who was in better spirits than his friends had observed +him to be for some time. + +And that was exactly what happened. When the chums got to school the next +Monday morning, they were met with queer glances on every side. At last +Ned demanded: + +"What are you fellows grinning at? What's the joke? Tell us and we'll +laugh too." + +"Better go downtown and look in the drug store window," advised +Lem Gordon. + +The chums took the advice that afternoon. They found quite a crowd in +front of the "Emporium," as the drug store was called. Working their way +up to the window the four boys saw a queer sight. + +A big box had been arranged to represent a pond, with rushes and grass +growing around the edges. In the center was a little mound of stones, +that were raised above the surface of the water with which the box +was filled. + +But what attracted more attention, than the accurate representation of a +pond, was a big mud turtle resting on the stones lazily blinking at the +crowds that stared at it, as though pleased with the homage paid. And, on +a card hanging over the turtle, was this inscription: + +"Winner of the Darewell High School annual lazy-race. Trained for the +event by Ned Wilding, Fenn Masterson, Bart Keene and Frank Roscoe." + +"I guess that's one on you," remarked Lem Gordon, as he joined the chums +while they were looking in the window. "Jim got back at you all right." + +"Yes, I guess he did," admitted Ned. + +Nearly everyone in the crowd knew the four chums, and the boys were +subjected to considerable chaffing over the notice about training the +turtle. They took it good-naturedly, and when Jim Morton came strolling +along, a little doubtful as to how the four lads would treat him, because +of the joke he had played, Ned called out: + +"That's a good one, Jim." + +"Much obliged for that turtle," Jim responded. Then, as he walked a +little way down the street with the chums he told them he had sold the +animal to the drug store proprietor for a dollar and had suggested +putting it in the window, to attract attention, and serve as an +advertisement. + +It now lacked but a few weeks to vacation time, and every boy in the +school, including the four chums, was counting the hours until the +classes would close for the summer. + +"We haven't made our vacation plans yet," said Fenn one afternoon, when +the boys were out on the river in their boat. "What are we going to do?" + +"Let's take another boating trip, away up the river," suggested Ned. + +"I was going to propose a walking trip, taking in the whole county and +lasting three weeks," Bart put in. + +"That's too much work," commented Fenn. + +"You're getting so fat you're lazy," remarked Ned. "But I think myself +walking is a little too tiresome." + +"Oh, I only just mentioned it," Bart hurried to add. "I don't insist on +it. Let's hear what Frank has to say." + +"I'm in favor of going camping," was Frank's answer. "I think it would +be fun to go to the farther end of the big woods." + +"Away off there?" asked Ned in some surprise. + +"That's a good distance," commented Bart. + +"And lonesome," added Fenn. + +"But it's just right for camping," Frank went on. "We don't want to put +up our tent in the middle of a village. The wilder place we can find +the better." + +"There's something in that," Bart admitted. "I'd like to camp where we +couldn't hear a railroad whistle or a factory bell. But what's your idea +going so far into the woods, Frank?" + +"Nothing in particular, I only happened to think of it," but Frank's +manner showed that he had some reason for the suggestion, and did not +want to tell his chums. Ned was the only one of the three who noticed +it, however, and he concluded to say nothing, but to keep close watch +over Frank. + +"The far end of the big woods," mused Bart aloud. "That is the place Mr. +Hardman was inquiring about. By the way, Frank, did you ever catch him?" + +"No, he went to Lockport. I wrote to a friend there, as I didn't have +time to go myself, and I got an answer that no one of that name was at +any of the hotels. So I concluded there wasn't much use bothering any +more. But I'll find him some day, and when I do--" Frank paused. His +chums looked at him, wondering at the emphasis he put in his words. "But +let's talk about camping," the boy went on. "What do you say? Shall we go +to the woods?" + +"Suits me," remarked Ned, and the others agreed that it would be as much +fun, for the vacation season, as anything they could propose. + +They were soon busy talking over the details, arranging about the tent +and the cooking utensils, and discussing the best way of transporting +their camp stuff. They made some inquiries the next day and learned that +by going to Lockport they could enter the woods by an old trail, seldom +used, and could travel much more easily than if they worked their way in +by the corduroy road. + +"That's what we'll do," decided Ned. "Then, Frank, maybe you can have a +chance to find your friend, Mr. Hardman." + +"I don't believe I'll look for him," Frank replied. "We'll not have much +time in Lockport anyhow. I have another plan now," but he did not tell +his chums what it was. + +Two weeks later school closed, and the boys completed their preparations +for going camping. They packed up their tent and other stuff and shipped +it to Lockport. They followed it two days later, and one bright morning, +having seen their things loaded upon a wagon, they started off for the +depths of the big woods. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE TELEPHONE WIRE + + +"Well, this is something like camping," observed Bart that evening, when, +having pitched their tent in midst of a particularly lonely bit of the +big woods, they sat down to rest. The selection of the spot had been +Frank's, and, though his chums had wondered somewhat at it, they agreed +with him that it was a good place. + +There was a little stream running through the forest, not far from where +they pitched their tent, and their first attempt was rewarded by a catch +of several fine fish. Fenn, who had been elected cook, soon had them +frying with some bits of bacon, and Bart, leaning back comfortably +against a big tree, made the remark quoted above. + +"Say, are you a visitor, or only a day boarder?" asked Fenn, as he looked +up from his cooking and observed Bart. "There's lots to be done yet. +Lanterns to fill, the cots to get ready, and a trench to dig around the +tent to keep the water away when it rains. You'd better get busy." + +"Just as you say," answered Bart good-naturedly. "I'm willing to do +my share." + +He got a shovel and began digging the trench. Ned was busy with the +lanterns, and seeing that the guy ropes were tight, while Frank looked +after putting the folding cots up, and getting out the blankets. In a +short time the camp was in fair shape, and Fenn announced that supper +was ready. + +In the cool of the evening, after the meal, they sat about the tent, +before the campfire, and felt very well satisfied with the place. + +"To-morrow we'll take our guns and take a tramp through the woods," said +Bart. "I don't s'pose there's anything much to shoot, but we may get a +chance at a hawk or something." + +"Hawks aren't good to eat," remarked Fenn. + +"Who said they were? Just because you're cook you needn't think every +time we take our guns we're going out to stock up the pantry. We'll kill +the hawks and save the farmers' chickens. They'll appreciate that." + +"I don't believe there's a farmer within two miles of here," commented +Ned. "We're quite a way from civilization. It's five miles to Lockport, +the nearest town." + +Tramping through the woods the next day the chums found the forest even +wilder than they had anticipated. There were no trails or paths to be +seen, and it looked as though few, if any persons, ever visited the +vicinity. But the boys liked it all the better on this account. As Bart +had said, there were no sounds of civilization to be heard; no locomotive +whistles or factory bells. + +"I had no idea there was such a wilderness in this part of the country," +remarked Ned, as they walked along, looking in vain for something to +shoot at. "I wonder if we'll come across a lonely cabin, where a hermit +or a wild man lives?" + +"It's lonesome enough for any sort of a hermit," said Fenn, as he paused +and looked about him. The silence of the deep woods was broken only by +the wind moving the branches of the trees, and by the songs of birds. "It +looks like the jumping-off place. I guess--Hello! What's that?" and he +pointed to something up in a tree. + +"A hawk?" questioned Bart, raising his gun. + +"No, it looks like a telephone wire." + +"A telephone wire in these woods?" inquired Ned. + +"That's what it is," Fenn went on, as he stepped back to get a better +view, and caught sight of the two twisted strands of insulated copper. +"There's no mistaking a telephone wire." + +"That's queer," murmured Frank. "I wonder if--" then he paused. "Let's +follow it and see where it leads to," he added, after a moment. + +"What for?" asked Bart. + +"Why, just to find out," Frank answered. "If there's a telephone wire +there may be people near at hand!" + +"I don't know's it makes much difference if there are," was Ned's +comment. "These woods are open to any one who wants to come in, just as +they are to us. Why should we bother to follow a telephone wire?" + +"Oh, I just mentioned it," Frank hastened to add. "I'm not particular." + +The wire was fastened to trees, about twenty feet above the ground, and +ran in a zig-zag direction through the woods. It had evidently been put +up by men not familiar with the telephone business, for no attempt had +been made to go in a straight line, and, in some places the porcelain +insulators were carelessly fastened to the trees. The wire was run +through the branches with little regard for the safety of the conductor, +and the boys noticed several places where better support might have been +had for it, than was taken advantage of by those who put it up. + +The chums tramped for an hour or more, coming across the wire several +times in the course of their wanderings. Frank was generally the first +one to see it, and finally Ned remarked: + +"You must be very much interested in that, Frank."' + +"No, not specially. I'd like to know where it runs to, that's all." + +"You can trace it this afternoon." + +"Maybe I will." + +Ned and Bart decided on a fishing trip that afternoon, and Fenn elected +to stay in camp and fix his gun, which had gotten slightly out of order. + +"What you going to do, Frank?" asked Bart. + +"I think I'll take a nap in the tent." + +Bart and Ned, taking their poles and lines, went up along the stream, to +a deeper part which they had observed in their morning journey. Fenn +brought his gun out in front of the tent and proceeded to take it apart. +As for Frank, he stood about for a while, watching Fenn, and then, +remarking that he thought he would stretch out on one of the cots, went +inside the tent. + +It was nearly two hours before Fenn had his gun fixed to suit him. +Then, oiling and cleaning it, he took some cartridges and set up a mark +to shoot at. + +"Come on out and try your luck!" he called to Frank. + +There was no answer from the tent. + +"Come on out! It's too nice to sleep!" Fenn shouted again. He fired at +the target, and made a bull's-eye, much to his surprise and delight. "I +say, Frank!" he shouted. "Come on, I can beat you all to pieces!" + +He ran to the tent and lifted up the flap. He expected to see Frank +stretched out on one of the cots, but what was his astonishment to learn +that the canvas house was empty. There was no sign of Frank, and none of +the cots showed any signs of having been used since they were made up +that morning. + +"That's queer, I didn't see him come out, and I was in front of the tent +all the while," said Fenn. "He must have slipped past when I was hunting +for that little screw I dropped." + +He felt a vague sense of uneasiness, for, though he tried to make himself +believe that Frank had come out unnoticed by him, he was not as sure of +it as he desired to be. He moved toward the back part of the tent, and +saw something that caused him to utter an exclamation. + +For there, plainly to be seen in the dirt floor of the tent, were marks, +showing where someone had crawled out under the rear wall of canvas. The +sod, which was not yet tramped down, was torn, and one of the tent pegs +had been pulled up by the strain. There was a rear entrance to the tent, +but it was tightly laced shut, and would have taken some time to open. + +"Frank didn't want me to know he was going," said Fenn to himself. "He +wanted to slip away for some reason. Now I wonder what it could have +been? He's been acting very queer lately. I hope--" + +Just then Ned and Bart came through the woods, carrying strings of fish. + +"What's the matter?" asked Bart, as Fenn came to the flap of the tent, +his face plainly showing something had happened. + +"Frank's gone!" + +"What do you mean? Off for a stroll in the woods? Well, that's nothing." + +"No, he crawled out of the back of the tent while I was fixing my gun! He +didn't want me to see him go! Boys, I'm afraid there's something wrong +with Frank!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +SEARCHING FOR FRANK + + +For a few moments the three chums remained staring at each other. The +news of Frank's disappearance came as a shock to Bart and Ned, just as it +had to Fenn. And Fenn's last words set the others to thinking. + +"What do you mean?" asked Ned. + +"I mean that Frank's not himself lately," Fenn went on. "You must have +noticed it as well as I." + +"You're right," came from Bart. "There is something very strange about +Frank, and I can't understand it. The more we talk about it the worse +it seems." + +"Unless--" began Fenn. + +"Unless what?" + +"Boys, I hate to mention it," said Fenn, with a strange air, and he +looked all around as though he feared someone would hear him, "but I'm +afraid Frank's mind is affected!" + +"Do you mean he's crazy?" asked Bart, suddenly. + +"No; not exactly that. But I think he has some secret trouble, and that +he has worried over it so much he isn't quite himself. Don't you remember +how interested he was in the King of Paprica," went on Fenn, referring to +the incidents told of in the first volume of this series. "He thought the +man was crazy, and he said he had been reading up a lot about insanity. I +thought then maybe he had had some trouble in his family, and that might +account for his not wanting us to seek to solve the mystery of the +curious men." + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Ned. "Frank crazy? Why, he's no more crazy +than I am!" + +"I don't say he's crazy," Fenn went on, "but you must admit it looks +queer the way he's been acting lately, and think of his escape through +the rear of the tent. What did he want to run away for?" + +"It certainly is odd," Bart admitted, "but I don't believe Frank's mind +is affected. I think he has some secret which is worrying him, and, in +time, he'll tell us all about it. Until then we can only wait." + +"What had we better do now?" asked Fenn. + +"Do? Why, nothing," answered Bart. + +"When Frank gets ready he'll come back. Until then there's +nothing to do." + +The three chums talked over the matter from various sides. They agreed it +would be better not to say anything to their comrade when he got back, as +it might embarrass him to be questioned. As the afternoon waned away Fenn +prepared to get supper, cooking some of the fish Bart and Ned had caught. + +"Shall we eat, or wait until Frank gets back?" asked Fenn, as he noticed +it was six o'clock. + +"Let's eat," suggested Ned. "He wouldn't want us to wait." + +The meal was not a very pleasant one, for, in spite of the assurances of +Ned and Bart, to the effect that Frank was all right, and would soon +rejoin them, all three felt a vague uneasiness they could not explain. + +"Maybe he has lost his way," remarked Fenn, when it began to get dusk, +and there was no sign of the missing boy. + +"That's so," admitted Bart, more quickly than Fenn had supposed he would. +"We'll take our guns and fire a few shots to give him the right direction +toward camp. Come on." + +Ned and Fenn got their weapons in a hurry. To do something was much +better than to sit still and wait for something to happen. They put +some logs on the campfire, more for cheerfulness than because it was +cool, though it was a bit chilly in the woods after dark. Then they +moved off from the tent, each one in a different direction, and began +firing their guns. They stood, as it were, on the three points of a +triangle, so that if Frank heard the shooting and came toward either +angle he would strike camp. + +But after half an hour of firing, at five-minute intervals, Bart +suggested they wait a bit before shooting any more. It was now +quite dark. + +"If he's within a mile or two he's heard the guns," Bart said, "and +he can find his way here easily enough. If he was so far off he +couldn't hear them, we'd better wait until he wanders nearer before +we fire any more." + +"Do you think he's lost in the woods?" asked Fenn. + +"I don't know what to think, Stumpy," replied Bart, who seemed to have +taken charge of things. "It's rather funny, I must admit." + +They waited about an hour and then began firing again. Between the shots +they listened for a hail, but none came. + +"If he heard us he'd fire an answering shot," remarked Ned, when, for a +time, they had again desisted from their signaling. + +"He couldn't," Fenn answered. "He left his gun in the tent." + +"That's queer," Bart spoke. "If he knew he would be away after dark I'm +sure he'd have taken his gun, though there's nothing worse than skunks in +these woods." + +"We'll fire some more, in about an hour," said Ned. "Then, if he doesn't +come, we'll have to wait until morning and make a search. It's mighty +strange, that's what it is." + +"Probably he'll laugh at us for being worried," suggested Bart, with an +attempt at a laugh that was rather mirthless. "Maybe he's night-fishing, +or something like that." + +"He didn't take any tackle with him," said Fenn. "All his things are in +the tent. He just slipped out without a thing with him except his +pocket knife." + +Bart himself had not believed the suggestion about night-fishing, but he +did not know what other explanation to make of Frank's absence. + +Once more, toward midnight, the boys fired other signaling shots, but +without avail. Then, with hopelessness, and something very much like +fear in their hearts, they went back to the tent. + +"We'll go to sleep, and make a good search in the morning," said Bart. +"Why this is nothing after all. We've been in worse situations than this, +a good deal worse. Look at the time we were hunting for Ned." + +"But I was in a big city and Frank is in the big woods," put in Ned. + +"I don't know but what the woods are safer than the city," observed Fenn. + +The boys did not sleep much. They tried to, but every now and then one of +them would awaken and, sitting up on his cot, would listen intently. He +thought he had heard someone approaching through the bushes, but each +time it was a false alarm. The fire was kept going brightly, in the hope +Frank might happen to see it from a distance. + +Morning came at last, and, with the first pale streaks of dawn filtering +through the trees, the boys were up. They made a hasty breakfast, and +then, taking their guns, and putting up a light lunch, they started off +to search for Frank. + +"Which way had we better go?" asked Fenn. "Shall we try separate ways, or +all keep together?" + +"Better keep together," replied Bart. "We have a compass, and can find +our way back, but if we straggle off alone some of us may get lost, and +none of us knows these woods well enough to chance that." + +"But which way are we to go?" asked Ned. "There's no such thing as +finding Frank's trail in these woods." + +"I have it!" cried Fenn. + +"What do you mean?" + +"The telephone line! You remember how interested Frank was in that! Well, +maybe he's following it up. Let's find that and maybe we'll find Frank!" + +"Go ahead! It's a good suggestion!" exclaimed Bart. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +WHERE FRANK WENT + + +No sooner had Frank entered the tent that afternoon when Fenn started to +fix his gun, than he had slipped out under the rear canvas wall. He +waited a moment after emerging, brushed the dirt from his clothes, and +then started off through the woods. + +"I guess I can get back before they miss me," he said to himself. "I must +see where that line runs. It may be nothing, but I suspect it is one of +the clues I am searching for." + +He went forward at a rapid pace, and, in a little while, came to where +the telephone wire was strung through the woods. Then he came to a halt +and considered. + +"Which way had I better go?" he thought. "Let me see, if I am right in my +theory this line runs to Darewell and from there--That's what I have to +find out. With the Darewell end I'm not concerned at present, but I must +find where the other end is. Darewell is off to the left. To the right +lies the unknown. I must go to the right." + +With that he set off through the woods, following the telephone line. It +was hard work, for the wire led through the thickest part of the forest, +as though those who had strung it wanted to discourage curiosity seekers. +Now it would cross some bog or swamp, and Frank had to make a wide +circuit in order to avoid getting over his knees in water. Again it would +wind in and out among the trees, as if the persons who put it up wanted +to confuse any one who sought to trace where the wire ended. + +But Frank was determined to solve the mystery, and he kept doggedly on. +Several times he slipped and fell, and once he struck a stone that +inflicted quite a cut on his forehead. + +"If Alice Keene was here now," he murmured as he wiped the blood off, +"she would get some of the practice she is so fond of. As it is I've got +to doctor myself." + +He washed the cut in a stream of water, and after resting himself kept +on. Farther and farther he penetrated into the woods. He had a general +idea of the direction in which he was going, and knew he could easily +find his way back again, as he had but to follow the wire until he got +to the point where he could strike back to camp. + +"Maybe, after all my work, I'll find it leads to no place but a house in +the woods where some rich man has come to spend the summer," Frank +thought, but, even while he said this to himself, he did not believe it. +He hoped the wire would lead him to something that would help him solve +the secret that was so puzzling. + +On and on he kept. It began to grow dusk, as the sun sank lower behind +the trees, and the forest was quite dark. He could hardly see the wire +now, and he was a bit worried. If he did not come to the end of it soon +it meant he would have to stay in the forest all night, as he could not +possibly find his way back after dark, for the wire would be invisible. +It was, therefore, with a somewhat anxious heart that Frank watched the +shadows lengthening and saw the wire becoming more and more faint to his +view. Then, when he was about to give up, and look for a place where he +might spend the night, though he doubted if there was one in the woods, +he saw, through the trees, a large building. His heart gave a great +thump, for, as he went on a little further he saw that the telephone wire +ran to this building almost obscured from view. + +"I have found it!" Frank exclaimed, half aloud. "Now to see what it is!" + +He came to the edge of a clearing in which the building stood. He was +about to press on, when he caught sight of a notice painted on a board +and set up just at the beginning of the grounds. It read: + +_CLIFFSIDE SANITARIUM. PRIVATE GROUNDS_. + +"Sanitarium!" exclaimed Frank, as the memory of the conversation of the +two men, of which Ned had told him, came to his mind. "I wonder if this +can be the place. Sanitarium! Probably a place for mildly insane persons. +That would be it. It says 'private grounds' and that likely means no +trespassing; but what am I to do? I've got to stay somewhere to-night, +and I can't possibly get back to camp. I'll make a circuit around the +place and see how it looks." + +Keeping in the shadow of the woods, Frank made a wide circle around the +sanitarium. Then he came to a stop, when he was near the front, for he +had come to the edge of a high cliff, on which the building stood. + +"That's where the name comes in," thought the boy. "It's on the cliff. +Well, I think I'll ask if I can stay all night. I hope they don't take +me for a lunatic, and perhaps some of the doctors or nurses can tell me +what I want to know." + +Frank was about to advance toward the front of the institution, up a path +that led from the edge of the woods where he stood, when he saw a line of +men leave the sanitarium, and start to walk around the paths about the +building. At the first glance Frank knew what they were. + +"They are the patients out for exercise," he decided. "I must get closer. +They're coming this way. I'll hide in the woods," and, getting behind a +big oak, the boy awaited the oncoming of the line of sad-faced men. + +Slowly the patients filed past. They all seemed to be suffering from +some ailment, mental or physical, and all had an unhealthful pallor. +Walking ahead, in the rear, and on both sides, were men dressed in dark +blue uniforms. + +"Attendants," mused Frank, "though none of the patients look as though +they were violent." + +By this time the head of the line had turned and the sad little +procession was moving away from Frank, as he stood behind the tree. The +men in the rear were now passing close to him, and the boy, seeing that +the end of the line was near, prepared to go forward when they all +should have passed. As he was about to step from his place he caught +sight of the face of one of the patients, and, as he did so, he uttered +an involuntary cry. Before he was aware what he was doing, Frank had +stepped from behind the tree. + +Several of the patients saw him, and gazed curiously at the boy. One--the +one at the sight of whom Frank had uttered the exclamation--did not look +up. With his eyes bent on the ground he hurried on, following the man +ahead of him. There was a little confusion, caused by some of the +patients stopping to stare at Frank, and two attendants came up on the +run. One of them saw the boy standing beside the big tree. + +"Go away from here at once!" he commanded. "This is private property, and +you are liable to arrest for trespassing. Don't let me catch you here +again. Go, I say!" + +The man's tone was so menacing, and he spoke with such authority that, +for a moment, Frank was frightened. Then he began to realize that he had +no right where he was. + +With another glance at the patient, whose face had so startled him, Frank +turned and went back into the woods. The march of the unfortunate one was +resumed, and the keepers, seeing there was no further trouble, resumed +their places. The one who had warned Frank remained for a few minutes, +gazing at the spot in the woods where the boy had disappeared. + +"Guess I can't stay there to-night," Frank murmured as he made off +through the fast-darkening forest. "I wonder what I had better do?" + +He paused and, through the trees caught sight of something that gave him +hope. It was a big haystack in a little clearing, some distance from the +sanitarium. + +"There's my hotel for the night," Frank remarked, as he made his way +toward it. In a little while he had burrowed down under the dried grass, +and, trying to forget that he was hungry, he prepared to pass the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +AN UNEXPECTED MEETING + + +The three chums, starting on their search for Frank, soon found the +telephone line. + +"Now we're here, the next question is: Which way are we to go?" asked +Bart. "It's all guess work." + +"Not exactly," spoke Ned, and he used the same reasoning that Frank had, +in deciding to follow the line as it led in the opposite direction from +that of Darewell. "That's probably the way Frank would go," concluded +Ned, pointing to the right, "and that's the way we want to go." + +His companions agreed with him, and off they started. As they advanced +they found the woods growing more dense, and, as had Frank, they had to +make long circuits at times, to avoid bog-holes. They kept on for some +time, but saw no signs of their chum. + +"I wonder where he stayed all night?" asked Fenn. + +"Trust Frank to look out for himself," remarked Bart. "He found a good +warm place, I guess. But I don't see why he is staying away. If he was +caught out after dark, and couldn't find his way back, he could see the +trail by this time. I wonder why we don't meet him?" + +"Maybe he's hurt," suggested Fenn. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Ned. "There's nothing in these woods to hurt a fly. +I don't believe there's even a fox." + +"I didn't mean animals," Fenn went on. + +"What then?" + +"Why he might have fallen, or, he might have met some bad men." + +"Of course he might have taken a tumble and sprained his ankle, or +something like that," Bart said. "But as for men, if there are any in +these woods, which I very much doubt, what reason would they have for +harming Frank?" + +"It might be in connection with that mysterious secret he seems +bothered about." + +"Oh, you're worse than a half-dime novel," cried Ned with a laugh. "Come +on, and stop that dismal croaking." + +Still following the telephone line, the boys went on. Now and then they +stopped to listen for any sounds which might indicate that Frank, or any +other person, was coming through the woods. But the forest was silent, +save for the noise made by the wind and the birds. + +Meanwhile Frank had awakened after a night of fitful slumber under the +hay. His first act was to go to a place where he could observe the +sanitarium. There was no sign of life about it, and the boy, after +watching a few minutes, began to feel faint for lack of food. + +"I'd better go back to camp," he said to himself. "I need some breakfast, +and a good rest. Then I can start out again. But I can't tell the boys +what I have seen. It is not yet time." + +Waiting awhile, to see if he could detect any movement around the +institution, but finding all was silence, Frank started back toward camp, +following the telephone line. + +He walked on for some time, pondering over what he had seen, and vainly +speculating whether or not he was on the right track. + +"I believe I'm on the trail," he said. "I thought he might know me, but, +of course if it's true as it says in the letters, he could not. It might +not have been the right time. I must try again." + +Frank's meditations were interrupted by a noise in the woods just ahead +of him. It sounded like someone coming through the bushes. Then he could +distinguish voices. + +"I wonder if I'd better hide?" he thought. + +Before he could put that plan into execution there came around a turn in +the trail he had made, in following the line, three boys. The next +instant, with glad cries of welcome, the three chums hurried forward to +greet their companion. + +"Where in the world have you been?" + +"What made you give us the slip that way?" + +"Tell us all about it?" + +Fenn, Bart and Ned, in turn, asked those questions. Frank looked from one +to the other. + +"I'm sorry, boys, but I can't tell you," he said. "I wish I could, and +I hope you'll not think it mean of me not to. I may be able to very +soon, and clear up all this mysteriousness, that is worrying me so. +Until then--" + +"Until then I think you'd better have something to eat," suggested Bart, +noting how pale and tired Frank looked. "We brought along something, but +we didn't expect to have the fun of sharing it with you. Sit down here +and fill up. Fenn made the sandwiches so I guess they ought to be good." + +"Yes, and if you'll wait a minute I'll give you a hot drink," +Fenn cried. + +From his pocket he produced a tin flask of cold coffee. He gathered up +some dried sticks, and built a little fire. Then he placed the tin flask +on it, and, in a little while there was a warm beverage ready. Frank +sipped it from the collapsable cup Ned carried, and, after eating some +sandwiches, felt better. + +"Now for camp!" cried Bart, "unless," looking at Frank, "you have some +other plan." + +"No, I'm anxious to get back." + +"Didn't sleep very good in the haystack I guess," commented Ned. + +"Haystack! How did you know?" asked Frank, in excited tones. + +"One look at your clothes, with hay sticking all over them, tells me +that, as a detective would say. Also, your garments are as wrinkled as +though you'd been put through a wringer. Am I right?" + +"Yes, it was a haystack for mine last night," Frank admitted with a +smile. "It was fairly comfortable, though it tickled my ears a bit." + +The boys started back for camp. Though the three were, naturally +enough, very curious as to where Frank had been, and his object in +slipping away, they did not question him. On his part Frank did not +again refer to his night's absence, but, when he reached the tent, he +crawled into his bed and stayed there until late in the afternoon, for +he was very tired. + +"I wish we had our boat here," remarked Ned, as later on the four chums +strolled off in the direction of the little stream. + +"It would be too big for this creek," observed Ned. "If we had a smaller +boat, or a canoe, it would do very well." + +"Let's make one," suggested Fenn. "There's lots of birch bark here and we +can do it in a few days." + +"All right," agreed Bart. "We'll start it in the morning. I never made a +canoe, but we can't do any worse than try, at any rate." + +The boys found it harder work than they had expected, but they had plenty +of time and knew something of boat building, for they had constructed +several small craft. + +They had their knives, and two small hatchets. They used young saplings +for keel and the ribs, and, with patience, they managed to strip off +enough of the birch bark to cover the canoe. + +It took them two days to get all the materials together and then, when +the canoe was roughly shaped, they had to spend much more time on it, +rendering it water-proof by smearing the seams with pitch and gum which +exuded from several trees near at hand. They had used withes of willow to +bind the boat together, and, though it was a very crude looking affair, +the boys thought it would serve for what they wanted. + +They chopped out some rough paddles, and on the fifth day the boat +was ready to try. They put it into the water in the evening, and, to +their delight, it floated on an even keel, and would hold two of them +at a time. + +"We'll take turns making a trip to-morrow," said Bart. "It doesn't leak +hardly any. It wouldn't take a prize, and it's not much on looks, but +it's something to have made a canoe off in the midst of the woods, and +with scarcely any tools." + +His chums agreed with him, and that night they went to bed thinking of +the fun they would have the next day. + +Ned was the first to awake. He got up, in accordance with the rule that +the earliest riser must build the fire. He looked over toward the cots +where his companions slept. As he did so he gave a start. + +"Frank is gone!" he called, and Bart and Fenn awakened. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A CANOE TRIP + + +When the completed canoe had been set into the water that evening, a +daring plan had entered Frank's mind. On his visit to the sanitarium he +had noticed that, at the foot of the cliff, there flowed a stream of +water. He thought it might be the same one that ran past the camp, and he +determined to learn if this was so. + +"If it is, I can make the trip much more quickly than I did before," he +said to himself. "I'll try it when the others are asleep." + +Frank noted that the boat floated well on the water. It was light, and +with one passenger could easily be propelled, so as to make swift time. + +"I'll have the current with me going," the boy thought, as he noted that +the stream ran in a general direction toward the sanitarium. "I'll have +to paddle back against it. Of course maybe this is not the same creek or +river that flows past the cliff, and there may be falls or rapids in it +that I can't take the boat through. But it will do no harm to try." + +He was all impatience for his companions to go to bed. Fortunately for +him they were tired out with the day's labor on the canoe. They prepared +an early supper, and, after talking a while around the campfire, +discussing what they would do, now that they had a boat, the boys went to +their cots. + +Frank's bed was nearest the back wall of the tent, and he was glad of +this, as it would make his exit easier. He thought his chums would never +go to sleep, but at length their heavy and regular breathing told him +they were slumbering. + +Cautiously he gathered his clothes in a bundle and shoved them out under +the tent. He had, unknown to his companions, made up a package of food, +as he did not want to get caught again with nothing to eat. Making no +noise, he crawled under the tent, as he had done before. He looked at his +watch. It was a little after ten o'clock. He hurriedly dressed outside +the tent, and then, securing the paddle, he made his way to where the +canoe floated in the creek. + +It was a bright moonlight night, warm, calm and still. Frank felt just a +little uneasiness as he stepped into the boat and shoved off. It was +rather a queer thing to do, he thought, and he wondered what his chums +would say if they saw him. But, he reflected, it was important to him to +solve the secret which bothered him so greatly. + +Paddling cautiously, Frank sent the frail craft out into the middle of +the stream. There was not much current, but what there was helped him +along. He urged the boat forward more rapidly as he left the camp behind, +and soon he was half a mile on his strange night journey. + +Only for the light draught of the boat Frank would never have been able +to get along. Even drawing but a few inches, the canoe several times +touched sand bars over which it glided. Frank did not know the channel, +and he had to trust to luck. But, as he went on he noticed that the +stream was becoming wider and deeper, and he had no fear but that he +might continue on for many miles. + +"If only it goes in the right direction," he murmured. "It may be an +altogether different creek than this which flows past the cliff. If it is +I've had all my trouble for nothing. I want to get back before the boys +wake up, if I can." + +On and on he went. The moon threw fantastic shadows through the trees to +the surface of the stream. Now the boat would glide along in the +darkness, caused by the overhanging branches, and again it would forge +ahead into a bright patch of silvery light. + +"I wonder if the telephone line is anywhere in this locality," Frank +mused, after he had paddled for an hour or more. "If I could get a +glimpse of that I would be reasonably certain I was going in the right +direction." + +He glanced overhead several times, but could catch no sight of the wire. +Now the boat was going at a more rapid rate as the current was swifter. +The stream twisted and turned, until Frank did not know in which +direction he was going. + +Suddenly, as he was paddling, he heard a sound that made him draw the +blade from the water, and listen intently. It was the noise made by water +dashing on rocks, and it seemed but a short distance ahead. + +"Falls!" exclaimed the boy. "I've got to get out and carry the boat." + +He kept on until, in the moonlight, he could see where there came a break +in the stream as it tumbled over a little cliff. Swinging the nose of the +canoe ashore, Frank grounded the craft and got out. He walked to the edge +of the falls and looked at them. They made a beautiful picture in the +moonlight, but it was a scene the boy found little pleasure in gazing at. +It meant that he would have to carry the boat around them. + +"Well, there's no help for it," he said, with a sigh. "Luckily the canoe +is light." + +Frank picked it up, and put it over his head and shoulders, as the Maine +guides carry their frail craft. The way was rough, and before he was half +way past the falls, Frank began to fear he could not make it. But he kept +on, and half an hour later he floated the canoe into the quiet waters at +the foot of the waterfall. Then he began paddling again. + +It was past midnight when the stream, which had now become a little +river, took a sudden turn. As he rounded it Frank uttered a +half-suppressed exclamation. There ahead of him, perched on the cliff, at +the foot of which the river flowed, was the sanitarium. + +"That's what I wanted to know," he said, as he steered the canoe over +toward the cliff. "I can't do anything to-night, but I might as well go +up and take a look around. It may come in useful later." + +Frank tied the boat in a sheltered spot at the foot of the cliff. Then he +began to look for a path to ascend. Luckily the moon shone brightly on +the face of the rocky incline, and Frank observed a path that seemed to +afford a way up. Cautiously he began ascending. Up and up he went, until +he stood on the top. Before him was a fence, with high iron pickets, put +there evidently for the double purpose of keeping certain persons out, +and certain other persons from falling over the cliff. + +"Too risky to scale that," Frank mused, as he noted the sharp-pointed +palings. "I'll walk along it a bit." + +He started to make a circuit, going along the edge of the cliff, for he +thought there might be a gateway in the fence. As he was moving +cautiously along, looking for an opening, he was startled by a sudden +challenge: + +"Who are you, and what do you want?" + +Frank glanced up, to see a man looking at him. The fellow was attired in +the uniform of an attendant at the sanitarium. + +"What do you want?" the man repeated sharply. + +Several plans flashed through Frank's mind. Should he make inquiries of +the attendant concerning that which he so desired to know? He half +resolved to, and then he realized that the man was but a keeper, and, +probably, could not enlighten him. + +"I'm looking for a friend," Frank said. + +"No one allowed around here," the man went on. "This is private property. +Be off, now, before I set the dogs on you." + +Frank knew he could gain nothing by staying. He had found out what he +wanted to know, namely, that the stream near the camp ran to the +sanitarium. He turned quickly, and made his way to where he had ascended +the cliff. The man was watching him, but, when he saw the boy disappear +he was, apparently, satisfied, and went on walking around his post on the +grounds of the institution. + +Frank reached the canoe, shoved off, and began rapidly paddling back. +With long strokes he sent the frail craft against the current, and, in +about an hour he came to the falls. He carried the craft around them, and +then set out on the last stage of his journey back to where his chums +still slumbered. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +AT THE SANITARIUM + + +Ned's cry of alarm, which had aroused Bart and Fenn, brought his two +companions out of their beds with a rush. They looked over at the cot in +which Frank slept, and saw that it was empty. + +"Frank's gone," Ned repeated. + +"What makes you think so?" asked Bart. + +For answer Ned pointed to the empty bed, and to the stool, on which Frank +usually placed his clothes. The garments were missing. + +"Maybe he got up early for a walk," suggested Fenn. + +"Sure; that's it," chimed in Bart, glad to have an excuse for explaining +Frank's seeming disappearance. + +"He's not in the habit of doing that," Ned remarked. "He's usually the +last one up. I'm going to dress and take a look outside." + +Ned lost little time in putting on his clothes. The other boys followed +his example, and soon the three were outside the tent, standing in the +bright morning sunshine. + +"I wonder how our canoe stood the soaking it got last night?" observed +Fenn, "Let's go to the creek and take a look. Frank may be back by then." + +They went to the shore of the stream, where they had left their boat, +but, to their great astonishment, it was gone. + +"Worse and more of it!" exclaimed Ned. "I guess Frank has gone off in +the boat." + +"No guessing about it," replied Bart. + +"Why not?" + +In answer Bart pointed down the stream. There, paddling along, was Frank +in the canoe. He waved his hands to his chums and they shouted a +greeting to him. + +"There I told you he'd just gone out to get up an appetite for +breakfast," declared Fenn, as the canoe drew nearer. + +Frank was a little uneasy as to how to greet his chums. He did not know +whether or not they were aware that he had been away all night. But, as +he beached the boat, one glance at their tousled hair, and their eyes, +still heavy from sleep, told him he had only recently been missed. He +knew how to act now, and, to further his plans, determined to let his +chums believe he had been gone a short time only. + +"Did you get the worm?" inquired Fenn. + +"What worm?" Frank retorted. + +"The one the early bird always gets." + +"No, someone else was ahead of me," answered Frank, as Fenn's question +confirmed his belief that his companions did not know of his night trip. +"I was just out for a little paddle on the creek." + +"How does she ride?" asked Bart, looking the canoe over. + +"Fine; like a cork." + +"You look as though you were pretty tired," commented Ned, with a curious +look at his chum. + +"I didn't sleep much last night." + +"And I suppose you thought getting up early and paddling would rest you," +Ned went on, but Frank did not answer. + +"Come on, Fenn, hurry up with breakfast!" cried Bart, and soon the aroma +of coffee filled the air. + +Frank went to the tent to make a hasty toilet, while Bart, who was going +fishing that day, followed him. Ned remained near the canoe. A little +bundle in it attracted his attention. He picked it up, and opened it. +Inside were several sandwiches, and Ned knew they had come from the +camp supply. + +"Frank took them with him in the canoe," he half whispered. "He has +been away all night, and he had them in case he couldn't get back. I +wonder where he was? I'll say nothing about this now," and, as he +heard Bart approaching, he tossed the little package of food into the +bushes. Puzzling over what Frank's object could have been, Ned went up +to the tent. + +Breakfast over, the boys took turns trying the canoe. It was a stauncher +craft than the three churns had anticipated, though Frank had good reason +to know the value of the rude canoe. + +"I'm going fishing," declared Bart, as he dug some worms and put them in +a can. "Any one else coming?" + +"I'd like to take a trip in the canoe," said Fenn. + +"That would suit me," put in Ned. "It will only carry two, though. What +are you going to do, Frank?" + +"I think I'll just lie around to-day. I'm a bit tired, and I need a rest. +I didn't get much last night." + +"I'm right," thought Ned. "He was away all night. I wonder when this +mystery will end?" + +Bart started off up stream, while Fenn and Ned, in the canoe, began to +paddle down the creek. As for Frank, he stretched out on his cot, and, +almost before the boys were out of sight, he was asleep. He did not +awaken until dinner time, and then he got the meal. His chums were not +yet back, but they came in a little while, with appetites that made Frank +glad he had provided a bountiful repast. Bart had caught a number of fine +fish, and Ned and Fenn were so enthusiastic over their canoe trip that +they wanted to take another in the afternoon. + +"Give me a show at it," said Bart. "I haven't been in it except the night +we put it into the water. I want some fun. Frank and I will take it this +afternoon." + +"I don't believe I care to," Frank replied. "The truth is," he went on, +"I was going to ask you fellows to loan the boat to me all day to-morrow. +I want to go off by myself. Not that I don't desire your company," he +hastened to add, as he saw his chums looked a little surprised, "but I +have something to do and I've got to do it alone. Please don't ask me +what it is. It's that same thing I'm mixed up in, and I think, if things +turn out right to-morrow, I may be able to tell you something. Besides, +I may need you to help me." + +"We'll be only too glad to!" exclaimed Ned. "For we don't like to see you +so worried, Frank." + +"It's very good of you, I'm sure, to bother with me," Frank went on. "I +hope you can help me, for I'll need it." + +"Well, who's going with me in the canoe?" asked Bart, and, as Fenn did +not care much about making another trip, Ned went, and Frank and +Stumpy remained in camp, the latter busying himself over a wonderful +pudding he set out to make with a combination of eggs, corn starch, +sugar and raisins. + +Frank set off in the canoe early the next morning. He took a lunch with +him, and told his companions he might be away all night. He was going to +try, however, to return by dark. Where he was going he did not say, nor +did his chums ask him. + +"Good luck!" exclaimed Fenn, as Frank began paddling. + +"Thanks," he called back, and his companions waved their hands to him. + +"It's very queer," murmured Ned, as he turned back toward the tent. + +Frank reached the turn of the river, near the cliff, just before noon. +Instead of taking the canoe to the foot of the rock, he hid it in the +bushes near the bend of the stream, and then began tramping through the +woods toward the sanitarium. He ate his lunch in the woods, and then took +up his position near the big tree, whence, on his first visit, he had +watched the sad-faced men. + +He had to wait several hours. At length the little procession appeared, +and Frank's heart beat so loudly he could almost hear it. He stood up and +watched the men. Yes, the one he wanted to see was there. How was he to +communicate with the man? + +Chance, seemingly, gave him the opportunity he desired. There was a +little disturbance at the head of the line. One of the patients insisted +on taking a different path than the one the attendant designated, and +there was a dispute. The guards at the end of the line ran toward the +head, leaving the rear men unattended. + +Frank ran from behind the tree, toward the procession which had halted. +He approached the man, the sight of whom, on the previous occasion, had +caused him such wonder. This man did not look up. + +"I must have a talk with you in private!" + +Frank said, in a low but tense whisper. The man looked quickly at him. +His eyes seemed to see nothing. + +"Who are you? What do you want of me?" he asked in dull tones. "I don't +know you. I know no one in this world." + +"I must speak to you!" cried Frank, as he saw the attendants returning. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE INTERVIEW + + +For a moment the man whom Frank addressed remained staring dully at the +boy. Nearer and nearer came the attendants, for the little excitement at +the head of the line had been quelled. + +"Your voice reminds me of someone," the man went on, "but I don't +know you." + +"I will tell you who I am, if you will tell me where I can see you +alone to-night," Frank whispered, for the other patients were gazing +curiously at him. + +"I can go to the little summer house in the garden at the back," the man +went on, as though it was of no interest to him. "This is my well night. +I will be there at ten o'clock." + +"I will meet you," Frank whispered, and then, seeing an attendant coming +on a run toward him, the boy made a dash for the woods and disappeared. + +"Who was that?" asked the guard, coming up to where Frank had stood +conversing. + +"It was the king of the cannibal islands!" exclaimed one of the other +patients with a silly laugh. "He came to get me to enter into an alliance +with him. I'm Lord Nelson, you know, and he wanted my fleet of ships to +make war on the Queen of Fairy Land. But I refused. I am going to capture +the Pyramids!" and the man began capering about like a child, singing +nursery rhymes. + +"Come, 'Lord Nelson,' you must get in line. This is dress parade," the +attendant said. + +But "Lord Nelson," as the insane man imagined himself to be, was not +going to be coerced so easily. He started to run, and the keeper took +after him. It was several minutes before "Lord Nelson" was caught, and, +by that time, the guard had forgotten about Frank, and made no further +inquiries. The patients resumed their march. + +Frank, hurrying through the woods, felt himself in a tumult of doubts and +fears. He wondered if he had done right, and what would be the outcome of +the interview in the summer house. So much might depend on it, yet so +little might come of it. + +"I am sure I'm right," the boy murmured, as he went to where he had left +his canoe. "If he only will recognize me! Oh! if he only will! But it is +so many years!" + +He reached his boat, and paddled up stream, thinking it best to hide, in +case there might be a search made for him. + +Frank remained in the seclusion of the woods, near the stream until dark. +He still had some lunch left, and he ate that, meanwhile planning what he +would say at the interview with the patient from the sanitarium. + +"I must get him away from here," Frank thought. "Perhaps there may be a +means of curing him, and then he can tell me everything connected with +the secret. Oh! if he only could!" + +How long the hours seemed while he waited! He thought ten o'clock would +never come, but at last, looking at his watch by the light of a match, he +saw it lacked but thirty minutes of that time. "I'll start," he said to +himself. "He may be there a little ahead of me." + +Frank reached the edge of the woods, where they marked the beginning of +the sanitarium grounds. From there he took a cautious look. There seemed +to be no one in sight, and he quickly ran across the open space to the +summer house. This was a vine-covered arbor, situated at the back of the +institution. Inside was a circular bench running all around, and it was a +favorite place of such patients as were well enough to be allowed to roam +about at will. + +Frank looked inside the little house before he entered. There was no one +there, and he sat down on the bench. Then, with eyes and ears on the +alert for the first suspicious sight or sound, he waited. He could hear +the distant tramping of the guards as they paced about the institution. + +"It's just like a prison," the boy thought. "What a horrible place +to stay in!" + +A clock, somewhere in the institution, struck the hour of ten, the sound +being plainly audible through the opened windows. Frank started to his +feet. As he did so he heard someone approaching along the gravel path. +His heart was beating with quick, hard throbs. + +"Is the young man, who wanted to see me, here?" asked a voice. + +"Yes, I am here," replied Frank. + +"What do you want? You are a stranger to me. I do not know what whim made +me agree to meet you here. I am not usually well enough to see visitors. +Indeed I never have any. What do you wish?" + +"I have come to take you away from here!" + +"Take me away from here?" and the patient spoke the words as though they +frightened him. "I can't go. I must stay. Sometimes, when I am feeling +well, as I do now, I might wish that; but those times are rare. Mostly I +am very ill. My head hurts me, and I cannot think. My mind becomes a +blank. Then I am glad I am here, and do not wish to go away. But why +should a stranger take so much interest in me? Why do you want to help me +to escape? I do not know you." + +"I want to help you, because--" began Frank. + +"Hush! Someone is coming!" interrupted the man. "It is against the rules +for the patients to talk to visitors. If you are found here they may +arrest you. One of the guards is coming!" + +"I don't care. I must tell you who I am." + +"Hurry! Hurry away!" exclaimed the man. + +"Not until I tell you what I came here for. I believe you are--" + +"Who's there?" called the angry voice of one of the attendants, as he +caught the sound of the voices in the summer house. + +"You must go," the man pleaded with Frank. "You will only make trouble +for yourself and me." He spoke in a whisper, and the guard who was +running on the gravel path could not hear above the sound of his own +footsteps. + +"Can I see you again?" asked Frank. + +"Yes. Sometime. But go now." + +Frank saw it would be best to leave before the attendant arrived. He +slipped out of the little house on the side that was in the deepest +shadow, and hurried away. A few seconds later the guard entered the +place, and Frank could hear him questioning the patient. + +"Who was here?" + +"The king of fairyland," was the response. "He came to bring me my +golden chariot." + +"Looney again," was the guard's comment which Frank heard. "Come on back +to your room." + +"I must try again," Frank said softly to himself as he hurried across the +open space and into the woods once more. "I am on the right track!" + +The boy made his way to where he had left the canoe. His mind was in a +whirl at the scene he had just taken part in, and his heart, that had +been filled with hope, was a little sad now at his failure. Still he had +not given up. + +"I'll go back to camp," he thought. "Then I can try again. I must have +more time to talk to him, and we must get a chance when there will be +no danger of interruptions. I will come again, but I must think up a +new plan." + +Then, setting the canoe into the water, he began to paddle back. Though +it was approaching midnight he decided he would keep on, and get back to +camp by morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +FRANK LEAVES AGAIN + + +Frank reached camp in time for breakfast. He was weary with his long +night journey, and his chums saw evidences of the strain it had been on +him in his eyes, heavy from need of sleep, and his arms, which trembled +from the long paddling. But they did not question him. + +"Here's some hot coffee!" called Fenn, as his chum drew the boat up +on the bank. + +"Thanks," replied Frank. "I think I'll go to bed if you fellows don't +mind. I'm dead tired." + +"We're going off fishing," said Bart. "You can do as you please, and lie +around all day." + +"We'll have to have some supplies this afternoon," put in Ned. "Camp +stuff is running low. Someone has to go to some farmer's and buy some +butter, eggs and bread." + +"I'll go," volunteered Frank. "I'll take the trip this afternoon." + +"All right," said Ned. "We may not be back until after dinner. We're +going to take some grub with us. Go any time you want to. I guess the +camp will look after itself for a while. We haven't been bothered with +visitors since we came." + +The three chums, having arranged their fishing tackle, started off, while +Frank stretched out on his cot and was soon asleep. + +It was noon when he awakened, and, after getting himself something to +eat, he prepared to go for the supplies. The boys had arranged with a +farmer, who lived about two miles from camp, to provide them with things +to eat. Taking a big basket Frank was soon on the way. + +"Wa'al, ain't you boys give up livin' in th' woods?" greeted Mr. +Armstrong, when Frank had given his order for the camp supplies. + +"No, we're still there. Bears haven't eaten us yet." + +"That's strange, 'cause I seen a big flock of 'em headin' that way only +th' other day. I says to my wife, says I, 'them b'ars is goin' to eat +them boys, sure!'" and he laughed at his joke. + +"Guess they got frightened," suggested Frank. + +"Wa'al, now, mebby they did. How long you goin't' stay?" + +"We haven't set any special time. All summer maybe. Until we get +tired, anyhow." + +"One night would tire me," commented Mr. Armstrong. "I like a roof over +my head, I do. Now you wait a minute an' I'll git th' eggs an' other +things. I keep 'em down cellar where it's cool. There's a paper ye might +like t' look at. It's printed in the village, an' it gives all th' news +from tellin' of how Deacon Jones's cow ate green apples an' died, t' +relatin' th' momentous fact that Silas Landseer has painted his barn red. +Make yourself right t' home an' read all th' news." + +Frank took the paper and sat down in a big rocking chair on the side +porch, while Mr. Armstrong, with the basket, went down in the cellar. The +boy looked over the sheet, which contained news of the doings in the +village and near-by. There were a few advertisements, of horses and cows +for sale, of auctions about to take place, and one or two legal notices. +As Frank's eyes roved over the columns he caught sight of something that +caused him to utter an exclamation. He eagerly scanned a notice, and had +only read half through it when Mr. Armstrong came up from the cellar. + +"There!" exclaimed the farmer. "I reckon you boys ain't goin' t' starve +this week," and he set down the basket, which was quite heavy. "Can you +carry that out t' camp?" + +"I guess so," replied Frank, holding the journal in his hand. "By the +way, do you want this paper? I'd like to take it back with me." + +"Take it an' welcome. Must be kind of lonesome out there in the woods. +I've got a lot of old papers if you want 'em." + +"No, thanks, this one will do," the boy said, folding the sheet and +putting it into his pocket. + +Paying the farmer, Frank took up the basket and started back toward +camp. The victuals were heavy but he did not mind that. He was thinking +of the notice he had seen in the paper. As soon as he was out of sight +of the farmhouse, he sat down beside the trail that led to the tent, and +took the sheet from his pocket. Turning to the page that had so +interested him he read: + +"WANTED: at the Cliffside Sanitarium, a strong, capable young man, to +assist in the general work. One of quiet habits preferred. Apply to Dr. +Jacob Hardman." + +"I wonder if I dare do it," Frank said softly to himself. "It would give +me just the chance I need. I have a good notion to try, at any rate. They +can't any more than say they don't want me. And, if they do take me--" + +He paused to think over the possibilities should he get the position. A +light came into his eyes. He seemed to have forgotten the troubles of the +past few weeks. + +"The worst of it is, though, that I can't tell the boys. They wouldn't +understand. I've got to work alone for a while yet, until I get things +where I want them. I think the best plan will be to slip off, and say +nothing to them at all. Explanations, especially when I can't give all +the facts, will only tangle the thing up worse than it is. No, I've +got to disappear again, and they must think what they will. It's the +only way." + +He picked up the heavy basket and started on again, folding the paper +so that the advertisement was outside. Then he put the journal into +his pocket. + +"I hope I get back before the boys arrive," was his thought as he trudged +on. "I must get away this afternoon, and make application this evening. +The place may already be filled." + +Frank was glad to note, when he got back to camp, that his three chums +were still absent. He placed the basket of food where they could see it, +and then, putting on his best clothes, and making a bundle of some +underwear and other of his possessions he started off through the woods, +following the telephone line. + +"I wish I could take the canoe," he thought, as he saw it drawn up on the +bank. "I would get there more quickly, but I have no way of sending it +back, in case I stay. It wouldn't be fair. No, I'll have to tramp it. +Guess I'll put on a pair of smoked glasses for a disguise. Some of those +attendants may recognize me," and he tried on a pair he had in his +pocket. He decided to use them when he asked for the place. + +He had gone on about a mile when he felt for the paper. It was gone. + +"It doesn't matter though," he told himself. "I know what it says. All +I've got to do is to ask for Dr. Hardman, and tell him I think I'll fill +the bill." + +So he kept on through the woods, his mind filled with thoughts of many +things, chief of which was the hope that he would get the situation, and +be able to put his plan into operation. + +It was well on toward evening when the three chums got back from their +fishing trip, for they had tramped several miles. They had good luck, and +brought back several beauties. + +"Hello, Frank!" called Bart, when they were within hearing distance +of the camp. + +There was no answer. + +"Maybe he's asleep yet," suggested Fenn. + +"Hardly," commented Ned. + +The boys reached the tent. The first thing they saw was the basket of +provender Frank had left. + +"Well, he's been to Armstrong's," remarked Bart. "Hello, Frank! +Where are you?" + +An echo was the only answer. Ned entered the tent. He came out in a +hurry. + +"Frank's run away!" he exclaimed. + +"What makes you think so?" asked Bart, much surprised, while Fenn looked +startled at the news. + +"Because most of his clothes are gone." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Of course. Look!" and he pointed to where they were missing from the +small trunk in which Frank kept them. + +"This is getting serious," declared Bart. "Something is wrong with Frank. +I wonder where he could have gone?" + +"What's that over there?" asked Fenn, pointing to a white object at the +foot of a tree. + +"It's a newspaper," said Ned, picking it up. "And it is turned to display +an advertisement. I wonder if Frank could have gone to answer this?" and +he read the item concerning the sanitarium. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +FRANK IS EMPLOYED + + +It was about seven o'clock that evening when Frank, wearing the smoked +glasses, rang the bell at the front door of the Cliffside Sanitarium. He +had hurried through the woods as fast as he could, munching on the way a +sandwich he had made before leaving camp. + +His ring was answered by a woman with iron-gray hair who inquired what he +wanted. When he said he had come in answer to the advertisement, he was +shown into a little room opening from the main hall, and told to wait +until Dr. Hardman came. + +"Guess the place is still open, or they wouldn't ask me in," +thought Frank. + +He had not been in the little room three minutes before he heard voices +out in the hall. One was that of the woman who had admitted him. At the +sound of the other he started. + +"You'll find him in the small reception room, Dr. Hardman," the +woman had said. + +"Ah, yes, thank you Mrs. Robotham. I'll see him directly. I wish you'd +look after ward six to-night. The regular nurse is away." + +"That's the man who was at my uncle's house!" Frank thought, as he heard +the doctor's voice. "That's the man who threatened me in the dark. I +didn't recognize that name Hardman when I saw the advertisement, but he's +the man the boys took to the woods. What shall I do? I must not tell my +name, that's certain, and yet he may recognize me, from seeing me in the +woods that day. But the glasses might puzzle him. It's a good thing I +thought of them," and he felt to see if they were properly adjusted. He +had no time to speculate further, for Dr. Hardman entered at that moment. + +"So you've come to answer the advertisement," the man spoke in brisk +tones. "Well, you're the first one. Help isn't as plentiful in this +locality as I thought. Now we want a young man to make himself generally +useful, to do as he's told, not to ask too many questions, and above all, +not to talk, outside, of what he sees going on in here. For I may as well +tell you, what you already know, I suppose, as everyone in this +neighborhood does. This is a private lunatic asylum, and a sanitarium for +the treatment of persons suffering from nervous ailments. We have only +one or two violent patients, and they are looked after by special +guards. Most of the men here are only mildly affected. Still, we do not +like those employed here to form outside acquaintances, and if we engaged +you you will have to submit to our rules." + +"I will be willing to do that," Frank said, and he had great hopes of +getting the place. + +"I don't suppose you've had much experience in a place like this," Dr. +Hardman went on. "We don't expect that. All you will have to do is to +obey orders. The pay is ten dollars a week and board. Do you think you'd +like it? You seem like a strong, smart young chap. Are your eyes weak? I +presume they must be or you wouldn't wear smoked glasses. Never mind, +that doesn't make any difference here." + +"I think I would like it very much." Frank was wondering what to say when +the doctor would ask his name. He was glad the physician had not +recognized him. But he was somewhat in the shadow, and Dr. Hardman +appeared to be thinking of almost anything or any one than the boy before +him. Besides, Frank's hair had been cut short recently and that altered +his looks somewhat. + +"Very well, I think I'll give you a trial. We need someone right away. +Can you begin work at once?" Dr. Hardman asked. + +"Yes," replied Frank, much delighted that his plan was working so well. + +"Very good. You can tell me something about yourself to-morrow, and +furnish references I suppose. I see you have brought your valise with +you. Your supply of clothing, I suppose?" + +"Yes, I can stay here to-night." + +"That's good. I'll not need to see much of you, as I am very busy. You'll +be under the direction of Mrs. Robotham, my assistant. By the way, I +presume you have no objection to being designated by a number?" + +"By a number?" inquired Frank, somewhat puzzled. + +"Yes. You see many of our patients have queer notions. Names are strange +things to them. They often bring back painful memories. To avoid that we +are all known by numbers here." + +"I don't mind in the least." In fact Frank was glad. This might be the +means of enabling him to keep his name hidden, and not necessitate him +giving a false one, which he did not like to do, even to gain his ends. + +"Very good, I'm number one, Mrs. Robotham is number two, and so on. +You'll be number thirty-one." + +"All right," Frank answered, and he was relieved when Dr. Hardman turned +away, without seeking to question him further. Clearly the red-haired +physician had not recognized the boy as the one who had followed him that +night in the darkness from Mr. Dent's house, nor the one he had run from +in the woods. + +Mrs. Robotham came in at that juncture and, as he passed her in the +doorway, Dr. Hardman announced that he had engaged the boy. He told his +assistant to instruct Frank where to go and what to do. + +"Come with me and I'll show you your room," said the woman, and Frank +followed, wondering what he was going to do, now that he had the place at +the sanitarium. + +"Have you had supper?" asked Mrs. Robotham. + +"Not very much," was the answer, as Frank thought of the sandwich in +the woods. + +"After you put your things away you can come down to the +dining-room. Most of the nurses and attendants have finished, but +there is plenty left." + +"What are my duties?" asked Frank. + +"I shall put you on corridor work. That is, you will walk up and down the +corridors, and, if you hear any of the patients calling, or note any +unusual noise, you are to ring the bell. I will show you about it." + +After supper, which he ate alone in the big dining-room, Frank was taken +upstairs by Mrs. Robotham, and instructed in his work. The sanitarium was +a large one, and there were a number of corridors, from which opened the +rooms of the patients. + +"We have night and day shifts for this duty," Dr. Hardman's assistant +explained, "but we are a little short-handed now, so you will have to +work harder than usual. I am glad the doctor took you, as I have had to +do some of this corridor work myself, and, with my other duties, it has +made me quite played out. All you have to do is to walk around. I will +give you a pair of felt slippers which you are to wear nights, as they +make no noise. When you hear any unusual commotion in any of the rooms, +go to the end of the corridor and press the push button the number of +times to correspond with the number on the door of the room. Attendants +will answer the bell, and do whatever is necessary. Do you think you +understand it?" + +Frank said he did, and, a little later, with his feet in a pair of soft +slippers, which were rather large for him, he was patroling up and down +the corridors. + +"Well, this is getting into a lunatic asylum in a hurry," he thought as +he walked along. "How strange it turned out! The mere chance of Mr. +Armstrong giving me that paper this afternoon brings me here to-night. I +wonder if I can do what I set out to do? First I must find out which is +his room. That I can't do until I see him again, for if I make inquiries +of any of the attendants they will get suspicious and tell Dr. Hardman, +and then I'll have to leave." + +For an hour or more Frank walked up and down the corridors. He had +three for which he was responsible. It was rather monotonous work, even +though now and then nurses and attendants passed through. He was +beginning to feel sleepy, and decided that a drink of ice water would +rouse him. He walked to the end of the long hall to where the cooler +stood. As he was passing room twenty-seven he heard a great racket +within. It sounded as though the inmate had knocked over the table and +chairs. At the same time, from the apartment, came the sound of a +voice, pitched high in anger. + +"There, knave! I have slain you at last!" was shouted in a man's +voice. "Now, villains, do your worst! Ah! There is yet another +scoundrel to slay!" + +The noise of breaking wood increased, and Frank, in great alarm, ran to +the push button and rang the signal, two strokes followed after a pause +by seven others. + +The noise of attendants, approaching on the run, could be heard. Frank +hurried back to the room whence the noise was still coming. As he passed +the apartment next to it, number twenty-eight, a man's head was thrust +from the opened door. At the sight of it Frank could not repress an +exclamation of astonishment. It was the man he wanted to find; the man +with whom he had talked in the summer house. At the same instant the man +recognized the boy, but, with a motion of his fingers to his lips, to +enjoin silence, he shut the door of his room, and Frank heard the key +turn in the lock. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +PLANNING A RESCUE + + +By this time the attendants were at room twenty-seven. Several of them +entered, and the commotion that had gone on without ceasing since Frank +first heard it, quieted down. As the boy passed the apartment he saw a +little man, standing in a fighting attitude, grasping the leg of a +chair for a weapon, and seemingly bidding defiance to a horde of +imaginary enemies. + +"What is the trouble, your majesty?" he heard one of the attendants ask +the patient. + +"Why, the rebels have risen against their liege lord." + +"We will attend to them," the attendant replied. "Sir Knight," turning +to one of his companions, "order out the guard and take all the rebels +to prison." + +"That's the way to talk," interrupted his majesty with a laugh, not much +in keeping with his assumed dignity. "Put the varlets in prison and I +will have them beheaded to-morrow." + +He was quieter now, and the attendants, pretending to drive before them +a crowd of men who had defied the king, left the room. The head nurse, a +strong man, who seemed to know just how to treat the patient, helped to +set the room in order. + +"Here, your majesty," he said, holding out a glass of liquid, "here is +your favorite beverage; fresh buttermilk." + +"It is very welcome," said the patient readily swallowing the liquid +which looked like anything but the product from the churn. + +"He'll be quiet for the rest of the night," the attendant observed to +Frank, as he left the room, having seen the pretended king get into bed. +"We call his sleeping medicine buttermilk, and he takes it like a baby. +You're a new one, aren't you?" + +"I came this evening." + +"Well, you've seen one of our worst ones. Most of 'em are as quiet as the +man in twenty-eight. He only gets real bad once in a while." + +"Who is he?" asked Frank, impulsively. + +The attendant looked curiously at the boy. + +"Don't you know the rules?" he asked. "That's so, you're a new boy. Well, +it's not allowed to talk about the patients, even among ourselves. No +names are mentioned. In fact, I don't believe any of 'em would know their +names if they heard 'em. This is a queer place. It hasn't been here very +long. It was only built last year, but some of the patients have been +with the doctor a long time. He transferred them from an asylum that he +kept in New York." + +By this time the patient, who imagined himself a king, was sleeping +soundly, if his snores were any evidence. The guard went away with the +other attendants, and Frank was left to patrol the corridors alone. There +was one predominant thought in his mind. He must speak to the man in room +twenty-eight. + +He walked about through the long halls, listening for any further sounds +of disturbance, but the sanitarium was very quiet. Every one but himself +seemed slumbering, though he knew the attendants were ready to rush up at +the sound of the bell. + +"I wonder if he is asleep?" thought Frank, as he passed room +twenty-eight. "I'm going to knock on his door. He recognized me once and +he may again. Then maybe we can have a talk." + +Cautiously he tapped on the portal. There was no answer. He waited, and +knocked again. Then, through the keyhole, a cautious voice asked: + +"Who is there?" + +"It is the boy who spoke to you in the summer house," was Frank's reply. +"Let me in." + +The door was slowly opened and Frank entered the dark apartment. It was +not without a little feeling of apprehension that he went in. He was +alone in the room with a lunatic; a patient who became violent at times, +the attendant had said. Suppose one of those fits should come on when +Frank was with him? The boy did not like to think of this. + +"What do you want?" the man in room twenty-eight asked, before he +closed the door. + +"I want to help you to escape." + +"Hush! Don't let any of them hear you!" And the man, putting his hand +over Frank's mouth, pulled him further inside and closed the door. Then +they talked in whispers. + +It was an hour later when Frank came out. There was a look of hope on his +face as the gleam from an incandescent lamp, far down the corridor, +illuminated his countenance. + +"I'm sure I can manage it," he whispered to the man. "I'll have you out +of here inside of a week, and then we can go away together." + +"You may need help," the sanitarium patient said. "This place is +closely guarded." + +"I can get help," Frank replied, as he thought of his three chums. Then, +with a hearty hand clasp, the man in room twenty-eight bade the boy go. + +Frank resumed his walk up and down the corridors. But now he was wide +awake, for he was planning to escape. Up and down he walked, arranging +the details in his mind. At first it had seemed simple, but now, as he +thought it over, unexpected difficulties arose. + +"But I must do it!" he exclaimed to himself. "To think I have really +found him, and that he is not insane at all. It's all part of a terrible +plot. But I will solve the secret, and then--" + +His thoughts were interrupted by a commotion in room twenty-eight; the +apartment he had just left. + +"They're killing me! They're killing me!" cried a voice in agony. "Don't +let them! Take the cannibals away! I have come here to trade with the +natives peaceably! Don't let them kill me!" + +Sick at heart, and with nameless dread in his bosom, Frank ran to the +bell and gave the signal for help. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +FRANK LOSES HOPE + + +Once more came the attendants, running up the stairs. Frank pointed to +the room he had just left. His face was pale and drawn. + +"You're not used to it yet," said the big guard, who had spoken to him +before, as he passed the boy. "You'll not mind it in a week." + +Then he, and the others, entered the apartment whence the frightened +cries were still coming. Frank could not bear to stay where he could hear +them. He went to the corridor below. In a little while the attendants +came down. + +"He didn't have it bad this time," the big guard said to Frank. "It was a +mild attack. He always imagines he's an explorer in a savage country, and +that the cannibals are going to kill him. Not very pleasant, but it's +nothing to what some of 'em think. You're having quite a night of it. But +never mind, I guess they'll quiet down now." + +Frank was beginning to lose hope. All his plans seemed likely to come +to naught. He was so sure the man in room twenty-eight was sane, yet, +soon after conversing with him, during which time the man had talked +as rationally as could be desired, he had suddenly turned into a +raving maniac. + +"I can't understand it," said Frank. "What shall I do? Oh, if I only had +someone to help and advise me. I can't go to a soul. If the boys--" he +stopped suddenly. "Yes, why not? Why not tell them the whole story? They +could help me! That's what I'll do. I'll make one more attempt by myself, +and then, if it fails, I'll ask them to aid me. I must see him again. +Perhaps this fit was only temporary, and will not come again for a long +time. I must have another talk with him." + +The long night came to an end at last. Frank was relieved by a young man +who told him to go and get breakfast, and then to go to bed. + +"You'll have day work after to-night," he said, and Frank was glad to +hear it. The darkness was made worse by the sudden alarms from the +patients' rooms. + +Frank slept late that day, and went on duty about four o'clock in the +afternoon. That night passed quietly, but he did not dare knock on the +door of room twenty-eight. He was afraid the man might be suffering from +one of his insane attacks. The boy had almost lost heart but he had not +altogether given up. + +Not until the next day did he get a chance to talk with the patient on +whom, for him, so much depended. He found the man anxious and waiting +to see him. + +"Come in, where we can talk quietly," the patient said, and Frank +entered, looking to see that no one observed him, for he was breaking the +rules. He removed the dark glasses when he was in the room, for they hurt +his nose and ears. + +The two had a long talk and planned many things. The boy's courage and +hope came back to him, and he grew so enthusiastic in arranging to help +the patient leave the institution, in order that the mystery might be +cleared up, that he spoke louder than he intended. + +"Quiet!" the man cautioned. "The attendants will hear you, and you will +be dismissed." + +Frank lowered his voice. + +"I will come and see you to-morrow," he said, as he prepared to go. + +At that moment there was the sound of several persons walking in the +corridor. Then could be heard the voice of Dr. Hardman. He was showing a +party of medical men through the place. + +"You will find this up-to-date in every respect," he was saying. "I will +just show you one of the patient's rooms," and he opened the door of the +apartment where Frank was. + +At the sight of the boy the head of the sanitarium looked much surprised. +He knew there had been no excitement, and, in consequence, no excuse for +Frank entering the room. Dr. Hardman glanced sharply at the boy, as +Frank, putting on his glasses, hurried off down the corridor. But the +physician said nothing, because visitors were present. Dr. Hardman went +on explaining the system used at the sanitarium, but Frank, as he +disappeared around a corner, felt that he would be dismissed as soon as +the doctor was at liberty. + +"Well, it's all over now," Frank thought "He recognized me and I've got +to take the bull by the horns. However, I think I have things so +arranged that I can carry out my plans without any trouble. I must get +the boys to help me." + +Fortunately for Frank, the visitors remained a long time. They stayed to +dinner, and Dr. Hardman had to be with them. He had no chance to speak to +Frank, though he sent a message by one of the attendants that the new boy +was to go to the office, and wait there for the physician. + +"If I go it means he'll dismiss me," thought Frank. "I'll keep out of +his sight as long as I can. I must get a chance to enter room +twenty-eight once more, to say that I am going away, but that I will +carry out the plan of rescue. After that I will leave before Dr. Hardman +gets a chance to discharge me, or ask questions." + +But Frank's plans did not work out as he expected they would. He did +manage to get to room twenty-eight again, at a time when that part of the +building was deserted. Most of the patients had gone out for the usual +afternoon exercise, but the one Frank wanted to see, had remained in. + +He knocked at the door. It was opened on a crack, and a man peered out. + +"Go away!" he exclaimed. "I don't know you!" + +"Why! Why!" cried Frank, in great surprise. "Don't you remember. I am--" + +"I know, you are the king of the cannibal islands, and you are trying to +capture me. Go away, I say! I am only a poor explorer, but I will fight +for my liberty!" + +Then the door was slammed shut, and the man in the room began screaming +and calling for help. + +Frank gave way to despair. It was all over now. He had hoped the man +would remain in a sane state long enough to be able to understand that a +change of plan was necessary. Now he could comprehend nothing. + +"I can never rescue him!" Frank exclaimed, as he ran to give the signal +that one of the patients was violent. + +With the attendants came Dr. Hardman. As he caught sight of Frank he +cried excitedly: + +"Where have you been? I have been waiting for you. Come to my office at +once! You have broken the rules! I want an explanation!" + +He turned, evidently expecting Frank to follow, but the boy was going to +do nothing of the sort. He went down the corridor, until he came to where +a flight of stairs led to the exercise yard. Then, running swiftly on his +tip-toes so as to make no noise, he went down them. + +"I'm going to leave," he said to himself. "It's time for action now. I'm +going back to camp!" + +In the meanwhile attendants had gone to the patient in room twenty-eight +and had quieted him. Dr. Hardman reached his office, and waited for Frank +to appear. He thought the boy was following him. When several minutes had +passed and Frank did not come the doctor sent for one of the attendants. + +"Where is that new boy?" he asked. + +"The last I saw of him was when he was going down the side stairs." + +"The side stairs! I told him to come with me. He must have run away. +Quick! Have a search made, and report to me!" As the attendant hurried +away Dr. Hardman exclaimed: + +"I see it all now. Why was I so foolish as to engage him without making +some inquiries or asking his name. I wonder why I didn't recognize him +that night I hired him. As soon as I saw him in the room without the +glasses I knew I had seen his face before. It was in the woods that day. +That boy was Frank Roscoe. I hope they catch him!" + +In a little while the attendant came back to report there was no +trace of Frank. + +"We must give number twenty-eight a new room," said Dr. Hardman. "Change +him to the north wing, and put him on the top floor." + +The attendant left to carry out the instructions, and Dr. Hardman sat +down in his office chair, obviously ill at ease. + +"I should have been more careful," he murmured. "Well, it may not be too +late yet. I will take all precautions." + +Meanwhile Frank was hurrying away from the sanitarium. Having to leave so +suddenly he had no time to go to his room for his belongings, and the +clothes he wore were the only things he brought away with him. However, +he did not mind that, as he was busy planning many things. + +"I can't understand it," he said to himself. "At one time he is as sane +as I am, and again, he is violent. I know they are detaining him here for +a purpose. Perhaps they do something to him to make him insane at times." + +The thought was a new one, and it came to Frank in a flash that perhaps +that was the real explanation. + +"If it is there is hope for him," he said. "Oh, I only wish I had him +away from the horrible place!" + +Then, late that afternoon, he made his way to the town of Lockport, +where, with money he had brought with him from camp, he engaged a room at +a hotel. The next morning he started back to join his friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +FRANK'S SECRET DISCLOSED + + +When Ned had finished reading the advertisement in the newspaper which +Frank dropped that afternoon as he was leaving camp, the three chums +looked at one another, vaguely wondering what it meant. + +"Do you suppose he's gone to get that place?" asked Fenn. + +"I think so," Ned replied. + +"But why would he want to do that?" asked Bart. + +"I have a theory that Frank is much interested in the subject of +insanity," Ned went on. + +"You told us that before," interrupted Fenn. "What about it?" + +"Well, I did think, at one time since all this queer business came up, +that Frank's mind might be affected. Now I think he may be interested in +someone who has gone insane. He certainly has some queer secret, and it's +getting more and more of a trouble to him. Why, this is the third time +he has run away from us!" + +"It's only the second," interposed Bart. + +"It's the third," insisted Ned, and he told of the time he suspected +Frank had taken the canoe and remained away all night. + +"Do you suppose he went to the sanitarium each time?" asked Fenn. + +"I believe so," Ned replied. "That's what makes me think that someone is +there in whom Frank is much interested. Now comes this advertisement. The +paper is only a few days old, as you can see by the date. I believe Frank +has gone to see if he can't get this position. Perhaps he wants to help +someone, and this is the only way he can do it." + +"It looks reasonable," admitted Bart. "What can we do?" + +"I don't see that we can do anything," spoke Ned, "If Frank is there he +certainly will not want us coming around, and, perhaps, give his plans +away. On the other hand we are not sure he is there. We don't even know +where the sanitarium is, but I suppose we could easily find out from Mr. +Armstrong. Frank got the paper there, I guess." + +"Maybe the telephone line runs to the sanitarium," suggested Fenn. + +"That's it! I believe you're right!" exclaimed Ned. "I never thought of +that. Why, it was by following the line that we met Frank before. Let's +follow it again, and perhaps we shall come to the insane asylum." + +"And suppose we do?" asked Bart. + +"Well, we'll know where it is," Ned went on. "That's something. We may +not see Frank, but perhaps we can find out if he is there. It's worth +trying. I can't sit still and do nothing." + +They started to follow the telephone line the next day. They found it did +lead to the sanitarium but not wishing to show themselves near the +building, they did not approach closely. They remained hiding in the +woods, hoping they might catch a glimpse of their chum, but he did not +show himself. + +"I guess the only thing for us to do is to return to camp," suggested +Bart. "We'll have to wait until Frank comes away and tells us what he has +been doing." + +Rather sorrowfully, they went back to camp. The two days that followed +were lonesome ones. None of the three felt like doing anything. They did +not fish, and even the canoe had lost its charm. They sat around under +the trees, and, for the twentieth time, talked over the situation in +regard to their missing comrade. + +"It looks as if the Darewell Chums would number three instead of four, +after this," said Fenn rather mournfully, on the morning of the third day +of Frank's absence. + +"Don't be a calamity howler!" exclaimed Ned. "Frank will come back to us. +The chums can't be separated." + +"I hope that's true," put in Bart, from where he was sitting under a +tree, smoothing one of the canoe paddles. "All our fun will be spoiled if +we have to break up the quartette. + +"Hark! What's that?" asked Fenn, sitting up suddenly. + +They all listened. There was the sound of someone approaching through +the bushes. + +"Cow, I guess," said Bart. + +"It's Frank!" cried Ned, jumping to his feet, and, the next instant Frank +was in the midst of his chums. He looked worn and tired, and his clothes +were covered with mud and water. + +"Where in the world have you been? What has happened to you?" cried Bart. + +"I got in the swamp trying to take a short cut," Frank explained. "I'm +clean beat out. Have you got any coffee?" + +"Make you some in a jiffy," said Fenn, throwing some light wood on the +smouldering fire. + +"I suppose you're surprised to see me?" asked Frank to his companions. + +"There's no use saying we aren't," spoke Ned. + +"And I guess you were surprised to find me gone?" + +"Right again. But we guessed where you were." + +"How?" + +Ned showed the paper with the advertisement in it. + +"I wondered where I had lost that," Frank said. "Well, boys, I'm going to +tell you my secret." + +"Have some coffee before you begin," suggested Fenn, as he handed Frank a +steaming cupful. "It's only warmed up, but it's good." + +The exhausted boy drank it, and ate some bread. Then having changed some +of his muddy clothes for garments loaned him by his chums, Frank began: + +"You guessed rightly, I did go to the sanitarium, and I got the position. +But I don't believe any of you can guess why." + +"Was it to get experience about crazy persons?" asked Ned. + +"I went there to plan to rescue my father," said Frank, quietly. + +The announcement was so startling that the three chums could only look at +one another. Then they glanced back at Frank to see if he was in earnest. +Ned, for a moment, had an idea that his original theory was right, and +that Frank's mind was affected. But one look at the boy showed that, +though he labored under the stress of excitement, he knew what he was +talking about. + +"Your father!" exclaimed Bart. "I thought he was--" + +"You thought he was dead; so did I," Frank broke in. "That is, until +recently. It's a long story, and I haven't got it all straight in my mind +yet. One thing I am sure of is that my father is detained in that asylum +against his will, and I am going to rescue him!" + +"And we'll help you!" exclaimed Ned. + +"That's what we will," chimed in Bart and Fenn. + +"I may need your aid," Frank went on. "Now let me tell you what I know, +and how I found it out. Do you remember that special delivery letter I +got when we were in swimming that day? The one John Newton brought me?" + +The chums had no difficulty in recollecting the scene. They recalled it +perfectly. It was from then that Frank's manner began to change. + +"Well," Frank went on, "that letter gave me the first clue. It was from a +firm of lawyers, Wright & Johnson, of New York. They said they were +trustees for some property that was owned by a man named Roscoe and that +they could not find him or his heirs. They wrote to me, asking if, by any +chance, I might be interested in it. I did not want to say anything to +you boys, for I could not tell how it would turn out. I went to Judge +Benton with the letter, and he wrote me one to send to the lawyers. But I +did not hear from them again for a long time, and I felt that there had +been a mistake made. + +"Later on I got another letter from them. They said they had been +investigating and had learned that James Roscoe, the name of the man who +owned the property, had been heard from, but that he was insane, and was +in the custody of some unscrupulous men, who were not treating him +properly. The law firm said they understood that Mr. Roscoe was not +altogether insane, but that his mind was affected by the treatment he +received at the hands of the men. With proper care he might recover, +they said. + +"At that time I did not know he was my father, or that he was any near +relative of mine. I had always lived with my uncle and I never knew my +father or my mother." + +For a little while Frank's emotion overcame him. Then he resumed: + +"I had some correspondence with Wright & Johnson and they tried to locate +Mr. Roscoe. They found out where he was, but just as they were about to +aid him the asylum was moved away. + +"They tried to get on the track of the man who was in charge of it. Then +they sent me a lot of papers and photographs connected with the case and +I learned that James Roscoe was my father. He was an explorer, and soon +after I was born he went on an expedition. He was captured and held +prisoner by some savage natives for a number of years. Word came that he +had been murdered and the shock of it killed my mother. I was taken to +the home of my uncle, Mr. Dent, where I have lived ever since." + +"But why didn't you go to your uncle and get him to help you?" asked Ned. + +"I didn't think of it until too late," Frank replied. "The day I found +out that James Roscoe was my father I went home to tell my uncle all +about it and to ask his help. When I got there I heard someone talking to +him. I listened and I found out they were conversing about my father. +From what they said I knew he was still in a sanitarium, and when I heard +my uncle agree with the man that he had better stay there I knew my uncle +was in league with the plotters." + +"Are you sure of that?" asked Bart. "Mr. Dent doesn't seem like that kind +of a man." + +"I am sure enough," replied Frank bitterly. "Well, I followed the man +until he heard me after him, and told me to go back. Then I went to +my uncle's house. I said nothing of my suspicions, but I resolved to +find out all I could. Finally I found the man who had been talking to +my uncle." + +"Who was it?" asked Fenn. + +"Hardman, the man you took to the woods. He is Dr. Hardman, in charge of +the sanitarium where my father is held a prisoner." + +"Are you sure of this?" asked Ned. + +"Positive. I have not finished yet. When I saw Dr. Hardman in the woods +that day you were with him, and noted that he ran away from me, I +thought I was on the right track. He recognized me, it seems, and that's +why he ran. Then I made inquiries and I learned there was an asylum, a +new one, somewhere in this direction. Few persons have heard anything +about it, as, though it is a legal institution, the proprietor does not +want too much known about it. + +"When we came camping here I decided to keep on trying to solve the +mystery. I wanted to see my father and have a talk with him. I ran away +from you, as you know, and I saw the patients at the sanitarium taking +exercise. I recognized my father as one, for, though I had never seen him +since I had grown up, I knew it was him from the picture the lawyers +sent. He had not changed much, except that he was older. It appears he +escaped from the cannibals and came to this country. But a fever had +slightly affected his head, and he went to a sanitarium for treatment. +There he got under the control of some evil men, who used him for their +own ends. I do not yet understand it all, save there is some property +involved. But I am going to solve the secret. I know where my father is, +and the rest is comparatively easy." + +Frank told how he had had several interviews with his father, who, after +some difficulty, recognized his son. The two had planned the escape from +the asylum. + +"One thing I can't understand though," Frank went on, "is how he appears +sane at times, and again is like a violent maniac and does not know me. I +am afraid of this. I am sure my father's mind is sound and good, and the +only way I can account for it is that they must do something to him at +times, to make him violent. It is to their interest to make him +altogether insane, so they can control the property." + +"How do you account for those men I heard talking in the building the +time I was captured by the Upside Down Club?" asked Ned. + +"I don't know who they were," Frank admitted, "but I am sure they were in +the plot. They were probably planning some details or they may have been +in Darewell to see my uncle. I believe he's in the plot." + +"There's where I don't agree with you," said Bart. "Mr. Dent may seem to +be playing into the hands of the men, but I think you will find he has +been fooled by them. In fact, they admitted as much, according to what +Ned overheard." + +"I hope so, but I will not trust him until I have my father safe," +Frank went on. + +He then related how Mr. Roscoe had told of his detention in the asylum, +his despair at never seeing his son again, of how he had heard of his +wife's death, and of his desire to escape. + +"And what are you going to do now?" asked Bart, when Frank had finished. + +"I am going to rescue my father!" + +"Then count us in!" exclaimed Ned. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +ARRANGING AN ESCAPE + + +Frank's story was such an interesting one that the three chums felt as +though they never could stop asking questions. They particularly wanted +to know about Mr. Roscoe's detention among the cannibals, but of that +Frank could tell little. + +"We were too busy talking of the present to dip much into the past," he +said. "Besides, I had only a very little time. I was interrupted so +often. I don't know all of the story yet, but I will in time. This Dr. +Hardman is one of the chief conspirators. It's lucky I wore the glasses +so he didn't recognize me at first or I'd never have gotten as far +along as I did. I guess he didn't have a good look at me that day in +the woods." + +"I wonder what his game was, having us take him to the forest?" +asked Bart. + +"Probably he wanted to be sure that none of his patients could +escape from the sanitarium and get to Darewell that way," suggested +Frank. "I believe Dr. Hardman had an idea my father might try to +find me, and wanted to be assured that if he tried it he would get +lost in the forest." + +"I believe you're right," said Bart. + +"Well, you certainly worked this up in great shape," commented Ned. "We +couldn't understand what ailed you. I began to think you were a bit crazy +yourself." + +"I don't blame you," Frank replied with a smile. "I certainly did have a +lot on my mind, and the way I acted must have seemed strange to you boys. +But I'm glad part of it is over. When I have my father with me again I +will be perfectly happy. Just think of it, boys, living all these years, +and never knowing I had a father, and then suddenly to find I've got one! +It's just like a story in a book, isn't it." + +"It beats lot of books!" declared Fenn. "I wonder if those cannibals +tried to eat him?" + +"He doesn't look as though he had been boiled or roasted," Frank +answered, "though he is not a well man, from all the trouble he has had. +But wait until we rescue him!" + +"That's what I was going to ask you. How are you going to do it?" +inquired Ned. + +"I have a plan partly worked out," replied Frank. "He and I talked it +over. I am to get a long ladder and place it at his window the first +dark and rainy night we have. We agreed it would be better to try it +when there was a storm, as, if we make any noise, it will not attract so +much attention." + +"That's a good idea," commented Bart. "Where are you going to get +the ladder?" + +"I guess Mr. Armstrong has one he would let us take." + +"How are you going to get it to the sanitarium? It's a good way off." + +"I thought maybe you'd assist me about that part," spoke Frank. "I've got +to have help." + +"Of course you have," declared Ned. "Now I have an idea. We can take that +ladder to the woods near the sanitarium on the back of a donkey. Mr. +Armstrong has one. It's about the only way we could transport it, as the +trails are too narrow for a wagon. We can fix it on the donkey's back +lengthwise, and he can go through narrow places that way." + +"Then what?" asked Fenn. + +"We'll hide the ladder in the woods, close to the edge of the asylum +grounds, and, the first stormy night that comes we'll go there and rescue +Mr. Roscoe." + +"Do you know where his room is?" asked Bart. + +"Yes, it's number twenty-eight; one of the outside apartments and easy +to reach with a ladder. We agreed on a signal. When I throw three pebbles +at his window, wait a bit and throw two more, he is to raise the sash. +Fortunately there are no bars to his window, as he is not regarded as a +violent patient. The only thing I am afraid of is that he may have one of +his insane spells just as we are about to rescue him. That would raise an +alarm, and the plan might fail." + +"We'll hope for the best," said Bart, cheerfully, "Now let's go all over +the details and arrange our campaign. This is the first time I ever +helped in a raid on a sanitarium." + +"I hope it will be the last," spoke Frank. "It's a sad-enough thing, and +I only wish it was over." + +"Cheer up," counseled Fenn. "You've had it pretty hard, carrying that +secret all alone. Now we're going to help you; aren't we, fellows?" + +"That's what we are!" chorused Bart and Ned, and at that Frank smiled. He +seemed to have lost much of the gloom that had enveloped him for the past +few weeks. + +"Well, let's get to work," suggested Ned. "The sooner this thing is done +the better. The weather has been fine for the past week, and it's liable +now to rain soon. In fact, I think a storm is brewing," and he looked up +through the trees to the sky. + +It was becoming overcast, and the direction of the wind had changed. +Ned's chums agreed with him it would be best to lose no time. + +"Fenn and I will go over to Mr. Armstrong's house this afternoon," said +Bart. "We'll find out about the ladder and the donkey." + +"There's another thing to be thought of," said Ned. "What are you going +to do with your father when you get him, Frank?" + +"I did have an idea I would take him to the hotel in Lockport." + +"I wouldn't do that," said Ned. "That will be the first place they will +look for him. Why not bring him here?" + +"It would be too long a journey through the woods," objected Fenn. +"Especially if he isn't well, and it's raining." + +"I have it!" cried Frank. "The canoe!" + +"The canoe isn't built for land travel," remarked Bart. + +"No, but it can go on the creek and river all the way to the sanitarium," +said Frank. "I know, for I tried it." Then he told his chums of the night +journey he had made. + +"I was right then," commented Ned, and he related how he suspected Frank +had made a journey in the craft. + +"One of us might paddle the canoe to the foot of the cliff," went on +Frank. "I can take my father to it, and put him into the boat." + +"That's a good idea," agreed Bart. "I never thought our canoe would be of +such service." + +"It's a fine craft," Frank said. "It only leaks a little bit." + +"Then you and I will patch it up this afternoon when Bart and Fenn go +after the ladder," said Ned. "We can finish by night, and then, the first +thing in the morning, we'll get the donkey and start through the woods. +We'll have to do that part of it by daylight, as we can't see at night. +But I guess it's safe, as there is no one in the woods." + +Things were very different in the camp than they had been a few hours +previously. Now there was hope and activity, while, before, there had +been gloom and apprehension. + +After dinner Bart and Fenn went to Mr. Armstrong's house, while Ned and +Frank busied themselves over the canoe. They patched it up, strengthened +it in weak places, and made it ready for the journey. It was decided that +Frank had better make the trip in the boat to the foot of the cliff, as +he knew the stream better than the other three. + +"There, I guess that will do," observed Ned, as he daubed a bit of pine +gum on a small crack. "I'll wager it doesn't leak a drop. The paddle is +better than when you first made the trip, Frank." + +"I'm glad of it. It was so rough before it blistered my hands." + +In the meanwhile Bart and Fenn had reached Mr. Armstrong's house. +They found the farmer had a long, light ladder, and was willing to +let them take it. + +"Hope you aren't going t' rob an apple orchard or raid a hen roost," he +said with a laugh. + +"Nothing like that," Bart assured their friend. "Now if you'll lend us +your donkey we'll be much obliged." + +"My donkey! Good land! Are you going t' start a circus and have the +donkey do tricks?" + +"Not exactly," Bart replied, and then, thinking it was only fair to +explain why they wanted the ladder and the animal, the boys told Mr. +Armstrong something of Frank's story. The farmer was in sympathy with +them at once. + +"I wish I could help you," he said eagerly. "Can't I go 'long?" + +"We're much obliged," replied Bart, "but I guess we can do better alone. +We're thankful for the ladder and the donkey." + +"Maybe you'll be sorry you took the beast," Mr. Armstrong added. "He's +tricky, but he can't do much with the ladder on his back. It's a great +idea. Now if you want any more help let me know." + +The boys promised that they would, and, bidding the farmer good-day they +started off. The ladder was fastened to the donkey's back lengthwise, and +rested on a pile of bagging so that it would not injure the animal. The +front end stuck well up into the air, while the rear nearly dragged on +the ground. + +The path from the farmhouse to the camp was a fairly good one, and the +boys had no difficulty in leading the donkey along. The beast went +quietly enough, and Fenn remarked: + +"I guess Mr. Armstrong didn't know how to treat this donkey. He's as +gentle as a lamb." + +"You're not out of the woods yet," observed Bart, which was true in a +double sense. + +However, they reached the camp without a mishap, and found Ned and Frank +waiting for them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE RUNAWAY DONKEY + + +That night the boys talked over all their plans. They agreed that if the +next night was a stormy one they would try to rescue Mr. Roscoe. The +donkey was tethered outside the tent, and seemed satisfied with his +surroundings. The boys patted him and fed him on all sorts of dainties, +from sugar to pancakes made from quick-raising flour. + +"Might as well keep on the good side of him," observed Fenn. "He's got +quite a trip ahead of him." + +They decided to start off early in the morning and take the ladder to the +edge of the sanitarium grounds, hiding it in the woods. + +It began to rain that night. There was a regual downpour, so hard that it +awakened the boys by pelting on the canvas roof over their heads. + +"This is a storm, and no mistake!" exclaimed Fenn, sitting up in his cot. +"If it keeps up tomorrow night we could rescue every inmate in the +sanitarium." + +Suddenly, above the sound of the rain, there came a startling noise. It +was like the mingled roar of a lion and the snarl of a tiger. + +"What's that?" cried Ned. + +"It's the donkey braying!" replied Fenn, and, a moment later, when the +sound was repeated, his companions knew Fenn was right. + +"He doesn't like being out in the rain," Fenn went on. "I'm going to put +him under the wood-tent." + +This was a piece of canvas stretched between two trees and served to keep +the camp wood, and some other effects, dry. Fenn put on his raincoat, +slipped a pair of rubber boots on and went outside. He carried a lantern, +and as soon as he emerged from the tent the donkey set up a bray that was +twice as loud as the others had been. + +"He's glad to see me," called Fenn, and he led the beast under the +shelter. It seemed that this was what the donkey wanted, for he became +quiet after that, and the boys went to sleep in spite of the noise the +rain made. + +It had not cleared when morning came, but they did not mind that. They +all had raincoats, for Frank had not taken his to the sanitarium, and, +with rubber boots, were ready to brave the elements. + +Once more the ladder was fastened to the donkey's back and the boys +started off. They closed the tent to keep the rain out, and put the canoe +where it would be safe. They took a lunch along, for they felt they might +have to undertake a longer journey than the boys had made in going to the +asylum, as the animal could not follow over some of the places where the +lads had tramped. + +They followed, in a general direction, the telephone line. Frank told +them he had learned this connected with the central exchange in Darewell, +and had only been in use a short time. It had been strung by some of the +asylum attendants and was a private wire. + +For a while the boys trudged on through the rain, picking out the easiest +paths for the donkey, which Bart was leading. Fenn walked ahead to see +that there were no vines or trees that might catch the ladder, while +Frank and Ned brought up in back to see that the rear end was kept clear. +Occasionally they assisted in swinging the ladder around a short turn. + +"This is easier than I thought it was going to be," remarked Bart. "We +haven't had a bit of trouble yet." + +"You're not out of the woods," called Fenn, repeating Bart's words of the +day before. + +They had reached a little clearing in the forest, and, as there was a +good trail, the donkey increased his speed. Suddenly there came a smart +shower, and the little deluge must have frightened the beast. For, as +soon as the drops began to patter down on his back harder than usual, the +donkey lifted up its heels, kicked the rear end of the ladder to one +side, and began to run, braying loudly. + +"After him!" cried Bart. "He'll smash the ladder!" + +The boys started off after the animal but they were at considerable +disadvantage. Bart had let go of the strap by which he was leading the +donkey, and Fenn, who was also in front, had jumped to one side as he +heard the beast break into a run. So the steed passed both of them. As +for Frank and Ned, in the rear, they could not get ahead of the donkey +because of the long ladder sticking out behind and swaying to and fro. By +this time the animal was some distance in advance, running along one of +the wider trails that led through the wood. + +"We must catch him!" cried Frank. "He'll smash the ladder and we'll be in +a fix then!" + +The donkey seemed to be enjoying the sport. Faster and faster he ran, +braying at the top of his voice. The ladder knocked against the tree +trunks, sometimes throwing the animal to one side but this did not +stop him. + +"Cut ahead through the woods and try to catch him!" cried Ned to Bart, +who was a little in advance. + +Bart did so. He saw, through the trees, where the trail turned, and +gliding between the bushes, he reached the path ahead of the donkey that +was coming down it full speed. Bart braced his feet apart and stood ready +to grab the beast. + +But he reckoned without the ladder, which had become loose from the +fastenings and was now resting evenly on the donkey's back, sticking +straight out ahead like a long spear. It was this double-pointed lance +that was aimed at Bart, and the donkey's head was fifteen feet back of +it. Bart saw that he could not grasp the bridle. + +Right at him came the donkey, braying as though in glee at the trick he +had played. To avoid being impaled on the ladder ends Bart had to jump to +one side. Standing in the bushes that were along the trail, he reached +forward and tried to grasp the swaying halter rope that was fastened to +the donkey's head. But the beast avoided him and ran on. + +"Grab the end of the ladder and hold him!" shouted Bart to Ned, who was +still in the rear. + +Ned and Frank both tried. They managed to catch hold of the swaying end +nearest them, but the donkey had more strength than they supposed. They +were dragged along through the mud, and water, and then, as the animal +turned suddenly, they were flung to one side. + +"There he goes," exclaimed Ned ruefully as the animal disappeared around +the bend. Bart and Fenn took after him. + +"Come on; we've got to catch him!" cried Frank, and he and Ned set off +after their companions. + +All at once there arose a shouting from the boys in the lead. Then +sounded a crash in the bushes. It was followed by a series of discordant +brays from the donkey. + +"Something has happened!" cried Frank. "Hurry up!" + +Something had happened, sure enough. The donkey had caught himself. For, +in trying to pass between two saplings, the ladder had slewed cross-ways +and had brought the beast up with a round turn. Surprised and, perhaps +somewhat indignant at the sudden stopping of his run, the donkey +struggled on. The ladder slipped up the small trunks of the saplings and +they began to bend. + +"He'll break 'em off and escape again!" cried Ned. "Grab him Bart!" + +Further and further over bent the two saplings. The ladder was sliding up +them. Then the donkey slipped. He lost his foot-hold in the mud and the +next instant a curious thing happened. + +The saplings, being no longer strained forward by the animal, sprang +upward. The ladder began to slip back. It went until it caught on some +branches of either small tree and there it stayed. But the donkey was +fairly lifted from his feet, for the ladder was still fastened to his +back, and there he hung, his hoofs threshing about and his brays coming +quickly in indignant protest at the treatment accorded him. + +"That settles Mr. Donkey!" cried Bart, as, laughing loudly, he grabbed +the halter rope. The other boys came up, filled with merriment over the +plight of the beast that had thus trapped himself. They cut the branches +that held the ladder and the donkey came back to earth. He did not try to +run away, and seemed so much ashamed of what had happened that he stopped +braying. Then, the ladder having been fastened in the proper position, +the boys took up their journey. The rain was falling steadily. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE RESCUE + + +Without further mishap they went on through the woods and reached the +edge of the asylum grounds. There seemed to be no one moving about the +place, not even a uniformed attendant. Frank looked at the institution +where his father was a prisoner and thought of how much he must have +suffered there. + +"Here's a good place for the ladder," said Bart, pointing to a little +ditch through which ran a small stream of water. "No one would ever think +of looking there for it." + +"If only the donkey doesn't bray now, and give the alarm," said Fenn. + +"I know how to prevent him," remarked Ned. + +"How?" + +"Fasten his tail down." + +The other boys laughed at Ned, but he got a piece of rope used to tie the +ladder on the donkey's back, and attached it to the beast's tail. Then he +put a stone on the rope. Whether this caused it or not the boys could +not tell, but the donkey did not bray after that. + +"I think we'd better make a little change in our plans," suggested Frank. +"We were going to stay here until night, at least you three were. Now I +think we had all better go back to camp and take the donkey with us. We +have time enough, and it will be tiresome waiting here until dark. I've +got to go back to get the canoe. You had better come along. We'll have +something to eat and we can leave the donkey at the tent. + +"When we have rescued my father you boys can wait until it's light enough +to follow the telephone line back to camp. In the meanwhile I'll go on +with him in the canoe." + +"What about the ladder?" asked Ned. + +"We'll hide it in the woods," said Frank. "We'll not try to take it back +to Mr. Armstrong, but I'll pay him for it. I think it would be too risky +to come back for it. If we get my father away from there they'll be sure +to be on the lookout for hours afterward, and we can't always depend on +the donkey not braying. Besides, it's a lot of work and risk, and it's +better to pay for the ladder and leave it here. It's worth it to me." + +The other boys thought this plan a good one. Accordingly, after the +ladder had been put in the ditch, the boys started back for camp, taking +the donkey with them. The animal seemed to have lost all desire to play +any tricks. + +The rain had stopped when the chums got back to their tent, and they made +a fire to dry themselves out a bit. The donkey was tethered so he could +go under the shelter canvas in case of more showers, that still +threatened, and the boys, after getting themselves something to eat, and +feeding the animal, prepared to start again for the sanitarium. + +Frank got into the canoe, and, with a wave of his hand paddled off, +calling to his chums that he would meet them about dusk at the ditch +where the ladder was hidden. + +It was now well on into the afternoon. The three chums, discussing the +probable outcome of the affair, walked on through the woods. They carried +light lunches with them, and some flasks of cold coffee, for they would +not be back at camp again until time for a late breakfast. Frank also +took some food with him in the boat. + +The three boys found Frank waiting for them at the ditch, at which they +arrived at dark. It was raining again, harder than before, but they +managed to find a clump of trees with thick leaves that served as a +partial shelter. + +"Did you have any trouble getting here with the boat?" asked Ned of +Frank. + +"None at all. I came faster than I ever had before, as the water was +high from the rain. The current is swift, and that will make it hard +going back." + +"Maybe one of us could go with you," suggested Bart. "The canoe will hold +three on a pinch." + +"I think it would be a good plan," Frank replied. + +"Then I'll go," Bart went on. The other boys did not dispute his right, +as he was the best paddler. + +It seemed that the time would never come for the attempt to be made. In +the darkness and rain the boys waited, for Frank had said it would not be +safe to try until ten o'clock. At that hour the night watch went on, and +the sanitarium was more quiet. + +"Let's get the ladder out and lay it along the edge of the grass plot," +suggested Ned. "No one can see us, and it will be something to do." + +They followed this advice, and the ladder was placed in readiness at the +edge of the asylum grounds. Once more they resumed their waiting. How the +rain pelted down! The wind too, had increased, and it blew through the +trees with a mournful sound. It was dark and chilly in the woods, and, in +spite of their raincoats, the boys were anything but comfortable. It +seemed as though ten o'clock would never come. + +Frank had a small pocket electric light with him, run by a dry battery, +and, by pressing a button, a faint glow could be had. By means of this +the boys frequently glanced at their watches. + +"I'm not going to look again until I think it's ten o'clock," declared +Frank. But he could not resist, and, after waiting what seemed like an +hour he glanced at the time-piece again. It was half-past nine. + +"Half an hour more," he announced. "That will be the longest of all." + +It was, but ten o'clock came at last. Cautiously the boys stole from +their hiding places. They picked up the ladder and looked toward the +asylum building. It was dark, save where a faint light showed through one +window, and Frank knew this was in a corridor. + +"Do you know which is the window of his room?" asked Ned. + +"Yes," replied Frank. "It's the third one from the right hand end of the +building, in the second story. The ladder will more than reach, as the +windows are low ones." + +Foot by foot they advanced, listening every little while, to find out +if their approach was noticed. But there was only the wind and rain +to be heard. + +"Here we are," whispered Frank, as they came to a halt beneath the window +of room twenty-eight. "Now help me raise the ladder." + +Four pair of sturdy young arms soon accomplished this, though it was hard +work. While the three boys steadied the ladder at the bottom, Frank went +up it. He held some pebbles in his hand and, when he could safely throw +them at the glass he did so, making the signal agreed upon with his +father. The little stones made more noise than he supposed they would, +but he hoped no one but Mr. Roscoe would hear them. Frank, standing on +the ladder under the window waited anxiously. + +Suddenly the window sash, to the left of the one where he thought his +father was, went up softly. A head was thrust out. + +"I wonder if I have made a mistake," Frank thought. The next instant he +heard a voice calling to him. + +"They have taken the king of the cannibal islands away!" + +Frank recognized the voice as that of the insane man who had caused a +disturbance the first night he was on duty. + +"Where have they taken him?" asked Frank, and he hoped the man could +answer rationally. + +"They have taken him away," the man went on. "I know! I'm crazy but I +know. The cannibals have taken the king away. Ha! Ha! A good joke!" + +He was speaking and laughing in low tones. + +"I have come to rescue him. He is my father! Can't you tell me where he +is?" pleaded Frank. + +"Good boy! Rescue father," whispered the lunatic. "I know. My head is a +barrel, and if I came down the ladder I would fall. I don't want to be +rescued. I own this place. But number twenty-eight. Yes, he ought to +go. He's all right. They give him bad stuff to eat. I'm a barrel, but I +own this place. It's barreled up inside of me. This side up with care! +C. O. D. you know. Pay all charges. Ha! Ha! Good joke! They took the +king away." + +"But where?" persisted Frank. Was his plan to fail? Had the asylum +authorities found out about it and removed his father? + +"What's the matter?" called Bart from below. + +"Think!" whispered Frank to the lunatic. "Tell me where he is! I want to +take him away!" + +"That's right! Take him away. This is no place for him. This is a place +for barrels. Listen," and the man leaned far out of the window. "He's on +the north side, in a room just like the one he was in, only on the top +floor. I know! They tried to fool me but I hid in a barrel and I found +out. It was a barrel with the hoops off, and I saw them take the king of +the cannibal islands away. It's a great joke! I'm a barrel!" + +"Is it on the other side?" asked Frank, wanting to be sure. + +But the lunatic had shut his window. It was all black and dark again, and +the rain and the wind seemed a fitting accompaniment for the sorrow that +was in Frank's heart. He came down the ladder. + +"What's the matter?" asked his chums, and he told them. + +"Let's try the other side. Try the third window from the end, on the top +floor," suggested Ned. "It can't do any harm. Maybe the crazy man spoke +the truth. Sometimes they do." + +"It's worth trying, anyhow," said Bart, and, though Frank did not have +much hope, he agreed with his chums. + +The ladder was carried around the building. As the boys looked up they +saw all the windows were in darkness save one. That one was in the top +row, and was the third from the end. + +"It's against the rules for any of the patients to have a light in their +rooms after nine o'clock," remarked Frank. "I wonder what that means?" + +"Perhaps your father placed it there for a signal," suggested Fenn. + +"I'm going to see!" exclaimed Frank. + +Silently the boys raised the ladder to the casement. It was a little too +short, but a person stepping from the window and hanging on the sill with +both hands could just reach the topmost rung. Frank went up. He threw the +signal stones at the glass. They rattled like hail. The next instant the +sash went up. A head was stuck out. + +"Is that you, Frank?" a voice whispered. + +"Yes, father! Can you come down?" + +"Right away. Is everything safe?" + +"Everything. Be careful, you will have to make a long step." + +"I can do it. I have done more difficult things than this on my travels." + +Frank's heart beat high with hope, for he knew from the sound of his +father's voice that the prisoner was sane. + +Cautiously Mr. Roscoe crawled from the window. He hung by his hands until +his feet touched the top rung of the ladder. Then, with Frank preceding +him, he went down and was soon on the ground. + +"These are my chums, father," said Frank. + +"I can't tell how I thank you for getting me from that terrible place," +said Mr. Roscoe. "But we must hurry away. The guard will make his rounds +soon, and if he sees my room empty the alarm will be given." + +"Come, boys," exclaimed Bart. "Hide the ladder." + +They carried it through the rain back to the ditch and placed it away. +Then Frank and Bart led Mr. Roscoe through the woods to the foot of +the cliff where the boat was fastened. Ned and Fenn took their +positions under the tree-shelter to wait for morning, when they could +start back for camp. + +"All aboard!" called Frank, as he helped Mr. Roscoe into the canoe. + +At that instant the bell of the institution began to ring. + +"What's that?" cried Frank. + +"The alarm!" exclaimed Mr. Roscoe. "They have discovered my escape." + +"Paddle! Paddle!" cried Frank, dipping his blade into the water. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE CURE--CONCLUSION + + +The canoe, loaded down as it was, answered to the strokes of the sturdy +arms of the boys. It shot forward, breasting the current, and was soon +well away from the cliff. + +"They'll never catch us now," Frank said. "They'll not think of looking +toward the river. We're safe." + +And so it would seem, for they heard no sound of pursuit. Afterwards Ned +and Frank told their chums that the guards scoured the woods, but did not +come upon those in hiding, nor did they find the ladder. It was well that +the donkey had been taken back to camp. + +Through the storm and the darkness the two boys paddled. It was hard +work, but they gritted their teeth and would not give up. The rain had +made the river, below the falls, higher, and the current was swift. They +carried the boat around the cataract and led Mr. Roscoe through the +woods. Frank offered his father food, but the rescued man said he had +eaten at the sanitarium a little while before. + +"I was afraid you would never find me after they changed my room," he +said. + +Frank told his father about the man in twenty-seven. + +"He was a good friend of mine," Mr. Roscoe said. "A harmless man, though +his mind was gone." + +They reached the camp about two o'clock in the morning. In a little while +Frank had several lanterns lighted and was starting a fire in the +portable stove. The donkey was still under the canvas shelter, and Frank, +going for some wood, saw the stone still tied to the tail of the beast. + +"I guess you'll not bray now," he remarked as he cut the rope. The next +instant the animal lifted up its tail and sent forth a loud note. It +seemed as though he had been saving it up for many hours. The woods +rang with it. + +Immediately after it, and before the echoes had ceased reverberating, +there came a cry of terror from the tent where Mr. Roscoe was with Bart. +Frank recognized his father's voice. + +"Save me! Save me!" cried the unfortunate man. "The cannibals are coming! +They will kill me! Take me away! Hide me!" + +Frank sprang toward the tent. Looking in he saw his father crouched +under one of the cots, with Bart standing, badly frightened in a far +corner. In the eyes of Mr. Roscoe was the gleam of insanity. + +"Father! Father!" cried Frank in great anguish. "Don't you know me? I'm +your son! I rescued you from the sanitarium!" + +"I have no son! I am all alone in the world! I don't know you!" and the +poor man tried to crawl further under the cot. + +"Oh, what shall I do?" cried Frank. + +Outside the rain came down harder than ever and the wind swayed the frail +tent. Once more the donkey brayed. + +"There they are! There they are!" cried Mr. Roscoe. "They are going +to kill me!" + +It was the cry of the beast that had sent his frail mind once more into +the channel of insanity. + +"Oh, what are we to do?" cried Frank again. "Perhaps he is really insane +and I have made a mistake in taking him out of that institution." + +"It wasn't your fault," declared Bart "Any one would have done the same. +Perhaps it will pass over. He isn't violent." + +Though they were much frightened, the two boys tried to coax Mr. Roscoe +out from under the cot, but he would not come. At Frank's suggestion, +Bart again tied the stone to the donkey's tail, to prevent the braying. +Then they sat and waited for daylight and the arrival of their chums. The +hours were long and full of terror. They did not know what to do. They +could only wait for morning, and when that came they did not know that +they would be any better off. + +The rain stopped. Then a pale light began to diffuse among the trees. +It grew stronger. Mr. Roscoe was quieter now, and came from under the +cot. Frank persuaded him to lie down, and in a little while his father +was asleep. + +An hour later Fenn and Ned came in. + +"Did you get here all right?" asked Ned, eagerly, but a sight of Frank's +sad face sobered him. The two boys were told what had happened. + +"I don't know what to do," Bart admitted as he and his two chums went +outside, leaving Frank with his father. + +"I've got an idea!" exclaimed Fenn eagerly. "I saw by that paper which +Frank dropped, that Dr. Robertson was spending a few days at Forest +Villa. That's the next place to Mr. Armstrong's house." + +"Who is Dr. Robertson?" asked Ned. + +"Why he's a great specialist on diseases of the brain. Why not go to +him, and ask him to come and see Frank's father? I'm sure he would if we +told him all the facts." + +"Say!" cried Bart. "That's a fine idea! Hurry off and see if the doctor +will come. If he wants pay we can give it to him." + +But Dr. Robertson did not want any fee, when Fenn had breathlessly +explained the circumstances to him. He questioned the boy closely, and +then, taking his medicine case with him, set out through the woods. He +was on his vacation, he explained, but he never missed a chance to study +or treat a brain disease, and he was very much interested in Mr. +Roscoe's case. + +Dr. Robertson sent all the boys out of the tent, and told them to stay +away while he examined the patient. How anxiously they waited for the +verdict, Frank most of all! Was the case a hopeless one? At last the +doctor came out. He was smiling, and the boys took that as a good sign. + +"You can come in, boys," he said. + +"Is he--can you--will he--" stammered Frank. + +"He will get well, if that's what you mean," said Dr. Robertson. "He is +much better now. The fact is," he went on, "his fits of insanity were +only temporary, and they were caused by a drug, which was administered +to him in his food. He ate something at the sanitarium just before you +rescued him, and this last time the drug began to work as soon as he +heard that donkey bray. The fit has passed now, and if he doesn't get any +more of the drugged food he will probably have no more insane spells." + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Frank, sinking on his knees at the side of the +cot on which his father lay. + +Mr. Roscoe opened his eyes. + +"Frank! My boy!" he murmured. Then he dozed off again. + +The doctor stayed at the tent until noon, and left some medicine, saying +he would call again in the evening. Soon after the medical man had left +Mr. Roscoe awakened. He declared he was much better, and in talking of +his case he said he noticed that the strange spells came over him soon +after he had eaten something. At other times he was as clear-headed as he +had ever been. + +In a few days, under the treatment of Dr. Robertson, Mr. Roscoe had fully +recovered. It was thought best to keep him at the camp for a few days, as +the rest would do him good. + +"Then you'll come away with me and we'll make a home for ourselves," +said Frank. + +"Why not stay with your Uncle Abner?" asked Mr. Roscoe. + +Frank told of his suspicions, that his uncle was in the plot with the men +who held Mr. Roscoe a prisoner. + +"No, you're wrong," said Frank's father. "Your uncle was deceived by the +men. I understand it all now. He thought I really was insane, and he was +doing what he imagined was right to keep me in the sanitarium. He was +trying to hold the property for you. Those men fooled him, but now we +will get the best of them." + +Mr. Roscoe's theory proved correct, when a little later the boys broke +camp and went home. Mr. Dent was much surprised when told the facts in +the case, and confirmed what Frank's father had said. The property was +gotten away from the men, and the plotters had to flee to escape arrest. +Dr. Hardman was among them, and his sanitarium was taken in charge by the +authorities, for he had many persons there who were really insane. + +"And so that was Frank's secret," remarked Bart, one afternoon as the +four chums were talking together over the strange case. "I would never +have suspected it." + +"I hardly believed it myself, at times," said Frank. + +"Well, we had some fun with the donkey, anyhow," put in Ned. "That was +about the only comic happening during our camping." + +"I guess we've had enough of adventures to last for several vacations," +spoke Frank. "I'm willing to settle down to a quiet life." + +But a quiet life was not in store for the four boys, and why will be +related in another volume, to be called "Fenn Masterson's Discovery." In +that tale we shall learn the particulars of an interesting voyage on the +Great Lakes, and the particulars of a revelation which came to Stumpy +when he least expected it. + +"Frank, I suppose you are happy now you have your father with you," said +Bart one day. + +"Happy?" repeated Frank, with a little lump in his throat. "I am more +than happy. Why, I feel as if the whole world was nothing but pure +sunshine!" + +"Well, we all rejoice with you," came from Ned. + +"Indeed we do!" added Fenn. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Frank Roscoe's Secret, by Allen Chapman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANK ROSCOE'S SECRET *** + +***** This file should be named 9854.txt or 9854.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/8/5/9854/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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