Читать книгу: «The Outdoor Chums on the Lake: or, Lively Adventures on Wildcat Island», страница 9

CHAPTER XXII – HOLDING THE FORT

“Look at them run, Frank! Such a scared crowd of singed cats! Did you ever see such a sight? But where is that old wild man gone?” exclaimed Bluff, who had arisen fearlessly to his feet the better to watch the mad flight of Pet Peters and his cronies through the dense thickets.

“I couldn’t say, Bluff. I was too much taken up with the way some of those boys banged headlong into the trunks of trees to notice anything else. Did you see, Tom?”

“He climbed the same old tree, and popped into that hole like a jack-in-the-box,” declared the one addressed, quickly.

At that Frank laughed again and again, though Bluff looked at him as if hardly understanding what there was about the manner of the wild man’s disappearance to amuse his chum so.

“Jerry!” he called presently.

“Tell me about that, will you?” a familiar voice said, and they saw the object of their solicitude clambering down from a tree not far away from the house.

In another minute the three chums were shaking hands with a vim. It was certainly good to see Jerry again, and Bluff could hardly keep from embracing him.

“Did they treat you mean, old pard?” he asked, looking darkly toward the cabin, as if meditating an immediate assault if Jerry complained.

“Well, it wasn’t a nice experience, I tell you; but on the whole they didn’t kick me more than a dozen times, and I reckon I sassed ’em enough to expect that. Glad to see you again, fellows, I tell you. Who’s this? Hello! what’s Tom Somers doing with chums of mine, I’d like to know?” demanded the escaped captive, curiously.

“He had a fight with the rest, and they left him on the island, tied to a tree?” explained Bluff, eagerly.

“Oh; yes, I see, and you rescued him, so that out of gratitude he joined forces to storm the stronghold of the common enemy. Say, this beats anything we ever met up with. That wild man is sure the greatest thing that ever came over the pike,” and to Bluff’s surprise Jerry also had a fit of laughing.

“You fellows seem to be tickled over something that I don’t just grab. I didn’t think you were the kind to laugh at a poor, silly fool that has escaped from the asylum, and imagines, perhaps, he’s Father Adam in the woods,” he complained.

At which remark the others had another burst of laughter. Frank looked at Jerry, made a gesture with his head, and placed his finger on his lips to indicate silence, upon seeing which, Jerry nodded and grinned.

“Tell us about your experiences, will you?” asked Bluff.

“Only a few words. The rest will have to keep until we’re settled around the fire in camp,” returned Jerry.

“But we have no camp, now,” retorted Bluff.

“What’s happened? Did those criminals burn you out, boys?” asked the other, with clenched hands; for he had a few things he prized among the traps they had carried along with them, and the loss of which would be deeply regretted.

“No, but we decided that while off hunting for you we couldn’t leave Will there alone; so we dug up stakes, piled the ‘duffle’ in the canoes, and he’s off somewhere on the lake waiting a signal to land again,” remarked Frank.

“Great scheme. I can guess in whose brain it originated. But you don’t know how bully it is to see you again, fellows. Hang it, if it doesn’t seem like a month since I saw you last. And as to feed, I’ve just had a few things pushed into my mouth as if I were a bird in a nest. I’m just longing for a decent meal again.”

“What happened while I was examining that Indian mound?” asked Frank.

“I was dozing when something landed like a thousand of brick on my chest. For the life of me I couldn’t say a single word. I guess I must have fainted, though perhaps I ought to be ashamed to admit it. Next thing I knew I was being toted off on the shoulders of the big tramp, a fellow called Biffins, who, I expect must be a yeggman, because he seemed to know all about blowing open safes in country stores, and such things,” went on Jerry.

“Just to think of it, and carrying you on his shoulders like a log!” palpitated Bluff, listening with eagerness to these disclosures.

“They fetched me here to this cabin, and kept me tied up part of the time. That night was a long horror to me. Sometimes they were in with me, and again off somewhere. In the morning I saw that they had made a raise of some provisions, and it was then they fed me like a baby.”

“But you got your hands free after a while, didn’t you?” asked Bluff, too anxious to wait until the other reached this point.

“To be sure, and commenced that tunnel. You see, the hole in the wall was too small to crawl through, and they were in the other room where the door lay. When I caught hold of a hand I seemed to guess instantly that it must belong to one of you fellows, and then the signal squeeze told me so. Biffins caught me just then, and threw me aside. They filled up the hole and drove some stakes down alongside so I couldn’t tunnel any more. After that I thought of the old roof, for it was full of holes. So I climbed up and got out that way.”

Jerry showed by his actions that he did not wish to talk any longer on the score of his adventures. He kept looking toward the cabin suggestively.

“What do we do now, fellows? Want to trek back to the shore and leave these two in peace?” he asked.

“Not for me,” answered Bluff, readily enough; “I say that after the way they held you a prisoner it’s our duty to turn the tables on the rascals. We’ve got ’em in a hole, and all we have to do is to wait until Mr. Dodd comes.”

Jerry glanced inquiringly toward Frank.

“Yes, we heard whistles a bit ago, and imagine the posse must have landed. If we could only communicate with them in some way now, and get them to come here, we might hold the fort meanwhile.”

Frank looked at Tom Somers as he spoke. The other could not mistake his meaning.

“Oh! I’ll go, all right, if so be you write a little note to the sheriff. Him an’ me ain’t on the best terms, I reckon,” grinned that worthy.

“Done. Got a pencil with you, Bluff – mine seems to have disappeared.”

The pencil being forthcoming, Frank dashed off a few lines to Mr. Dodd, and signed his name.

“Sure you can get to the beach, Tom?” he asked.

“Easy as fallin’ off a log. I’m off, then, fellers.”

Saying which, Tom entered the bush, and disappeared from view.

“Now, what is the programme?” asked Bluff.

“Wasn’t that a boat whistle again? It seemed to come from another quarter, too?” remarked Frank.

“I heard it, all right. Perhaps the tug is circling the island so as to make sure the thieves get no chance to make off,” suggested Jerry.

“You’re right, that is just what their programme must be. Meanwhile they’ve landed the posse to search the whole place over. I hope Tom meets up with them in good time,” continued Frank, earnestly.

“There’s somebody shouting in the woods,” remarked Bluff.

“Oh! that’s the Peters tribe trying to get together again. Reminds me of a covey of quail that has been flushed and scattered, calling to each other from the brush,” laughed Frank.

“Will they come back here again?” Bluff continued.

The others exchanged looks, and chuckles followed.

“Talk to me about your sprinters, I don’t think you could hire any one of those same chaps to come within fifty yards of this place after the scare they got!” exclaimed Jerry.

“And the dose of hot water in the bargain. My! but they must feel sore! I saw several bang headlong into trees as they galloped away. There will be some lumps as big as goose-eggs among that crowd to-night. And, after all, they don’t get even a look-in on that prize money,” chuckled Bluff.

“I’ve got a proposition, fellows. If the reward should happen to come our way I move we turn it over to Tom Somers. His family is poor, and perhaps this may be the turning point in Tom’s life, who knows?” said Frank.

“Hear! hear! Them’s my sentiments!” cried the impulsive Bluff.

“Ditto,” echoed Jerry; for since they all belonged to families of wealth the promise of a reward held no attraction for Frank and his chums.

“But perhaps if we simply hold these chaps where they are the sheriff may claim he did the bagging of the game; how about that?” asked Bluff.

“You mean we ought to try and make them surrender to us?”

“If it could be done. I’ve got an idea in my head. You’ll say it isn’t original, and perhaps the trick they were going to play may have had something to do with it. But suppose they made a sneak while we talked here and left us to hold the bag?”

“No danger of that, Bluff, while we keep a watch on the door. Presently we can circle around the old rookery and make sure that they don’t take up your plan of tunneling out. Jerry, I’m going to keep an eye on this tree with the hole in it. If our friend, the wild man, ventures forth, it shall be my pleasant task to hold him up. What do you say?”

Bluff looked at Frank as he made this remark, with uneasiness in his eyes.

“Seems to me you ain’t afraid of anything, Frank. That crazy man gets on my nerves, and I don’t think I could stand for a tussle with him at close quarters. Better be careful how you let him get hold of you. They say these lunatics are just as strong as grizzly bears, and this one must be, to see the way he swung about in that tree like a big ape. Ugh! Excuse me!”

Bluff shuddered as he spoke, and consequently did not see the look that passed between his two chums, and which was more of amusement than concern.

CHAPTER XXIII – THE WHITE FLAG

“What time of day is it?” asked Jerry presently.

He had evidently lost all track of time while a prisoner in the cabin.

“Just ten o’clock,” replied Frank. “What’s become of your watch, pard?”

“Decorating the vest of Waddy, just now, though I have hopes of wearing it again after he’s tired of it,” grinned Jerry.

“Hope we get fixed up again before night. I’m thinking all the while of a bully camp dinner. Say, wasn’t this the day the girls promised to come over and bring us some home grub?” asked Bluff suddenly.

“Just as you say, and they’ll be along this afternoon on schedule time. Too bad if they have that long row for nothing. I expected to have dinner waiting for them when they got here, and then we could take them home in the canoes. This rumpus has upset all our plans,” remarked Frank dismally; for secretly, Violet Milton had promised to cook a dish that was an especial favorite of his and bring it over, to prove her accomplishments in the culinary line.

“Oh, I hope it may all turn out right yet. Now, that reminds me of my plan. If we could only force these two rascals to surrender it would shorten our stay out in the bush, and we could make for the beach, call Will ashore, and have our tents up again in a jiffy.”

“Talk to me about your persistent youngsters, ain’t he all to the good, though? What is this jim-dandy plan of yours, Bluff? Suppose you give us a look-in, so we can cheer you on, or condemn it as altogether too ridiculous?” suggested Jerry.

“Smoke!”

“You mean, make it so uncomfortable for the hoboes that they’ll be glad to come out and hold up their little hands for us – is that the programme?”

“Well, don’t you think it would work, Jerry?” demanded the originator.

“Who’s going to do the smoking act? Tell me that.”

“That’s easy. Count on me, if you don’t mind holding my gun while I chase around and gather some stuff that will smolder and not blaze up. Some green weeds make a bitter smoke that smarts the eyes dreadfully. I’ll try that on. Those tramps may be able to stand for a good deal, but if they stay in that place long they’ll feel like a couple of smoked hams,” declared the energetic Bluff.

“Oh, so far as that goes, I’m only too willing to grab a good old gun again. I reckon you let Will have mine,” observed Jerry as he relieved the other of the repeating shotgun.

“And you won’t feel disgraced because it happens to be one of those pump-guns?” Bluff took occasion to remark, maliciously.

“Circumstances alter cases. This is one. I’ve no doubt that a gun like this can be very useful at times. Anyhow, I’m open to a trial. Just let those hoboes show up and try to attack us, and if I don’t fill their miserable bodies full of bird shot, then it’s twenty-three for mine. Now, watch him begin his new job, Frank.”

“You saw what happened to those other boys when they started to rush the door with that log battering-ram, didn’t you, Bluff? Perhaps they’ve got more hot water handy. Look out for it, my son,” warned Frank.

“Oh, I’m onto that racket. I can dodge any Niagara that comes. Besides, I don’t mean to give ’em more of a chance at me than I can help. One of you keep watch on the door, and if they start to open just bang away in the air to tell that we mean business. Here goes, boys.”

So Bluff commenced moving hither and thither under the trees, searching for just the kind of wood he wanted. It was his intention to start his fire alongside the tree that grew nearest to the cabin wall. Then, after he had it smoking at a furious rate he could push the whole mass under the structure with a long stick.

For some time he worked. Not a sound or a sign of life came from the cabin. If Waddy Walsh and his pal, Biffins, were still inside, they knew how to keep quiet.

By this time our friends had become convinced that the hobo couple could not be in possession of any kind of firearm, for they would surely have made some use of the same at the time Pet Peters and his crowd pushed them so warmly.

Feeling sure of this, Bluff worked openly, only keeping behind the trees whenever he approached close to the hut, for fear lest a sudden shower of scalding fluid should greet him.

Frank and Jerry had separated, each watching a side of the cabin. Frank also kept close to the tree which had sheltered the singular being whose coming on the scene had completed the fright of Pet Peters and his cronies. From the way he cast frequent looks up at that yawning cavity it would seem as though he half anticipated a reappearance of the remarkable creature that had vanished inside the tree.

Finally Bluff seemed to have arranged the little pile of material to suit.

“Here she goes, fellows! Look out, now! There may be something doing. Hold ’em up if they rush me!” he called, as he applied a match.

The stuff burned briskly at first. When he had allowed it to gain what headway he deemed sufficient, Bluff began to cover the fire with the green weeds brought for the purpose.

“Wow!” shouted Jerry, as a wavering breeze carried some of the dense smoke over to his station. “That’s the limit! Ought to be a State’s prison offense for any one to make such a smudge as that. You’ll suffocate the poor guys – that’s what!”

But Bluff only grinned, and labored on. He had a long pole in his hands, with which he was shoving the smoldering mass over so that it would pass under a certain part of the cabin. Here there was a friendly opening ready to receive it.

Bang! went a gun.

The cabin door, which had started to open, was hastily shut, although, of course, Jerry had fired above the roof.

“How does it work?” shouted Bluff, thinking more of his gun in the hands of the one who had always detested it than his own danger from hot water.

“Great!” answered Jerry as he let another shot loose, having, as he thought, detected a movement of the door again.

Thinking they had drawn his fangs, those in the cabin now really opened the door, to get a chance to deluge Bluff, when, to their amazement and alarm, Jerry turned loose a third shot. The door shut, this time to open no more for that purpose.

“Now what do you say?” roared Bluff. “What could you have done with one of your old measly two-shot guns, eh? Tell me that.”

“I take back all I ever said against the bully thing. Three more shots waiting for you, Mister Hobo. Just show your nose, and see!” exclaimed the marksman.

“Mark the window, Bluff!” called Frank just then.

Thus warned in time, Bluff was able to scurry around the protecting trunk of the tree as an arm was projected from the small opening, and, as before, a pan of steaming water dashed all around him.

“Tell me about that, will you?” jeered Jerry, who guessed what had happened, though it took place on the other side of the cabin.

Bluff started pushing his mass of smoking weeds forward again.

“Never touched me!” he shouted in his excitement.

By this time the rank smoke had begun to ooze up through the floor of the old cabin. Doubtless there were plenty of gaping cracks between the puncheon boards to allow of a draught. Just how long the inmates could stand this sickening cloud was a question.

“Say! ain’t this the real thing? Perhaps the sheriff would like to take a few lessons from our chum Bluff on how to smoke hams. Listen, will you! The poor guys are sneezing to beat the band. Keep up the good work, pard, and you’ll force their hand. Get ready to cover ’em, Frank. I reckon something’s bound to happen soon.”

“Hey, you Waddy! Show up with the white flag, and we quit!” called Bluff from behind his refuge.

He was rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke, for while he had claimed to have escaped entirely, some of the splashing water had dropped on his skin and left an impression in the shape of a red mark.

“A white flag – that’s the game! Might as well do it right while we’re at it, boys. Come out, Waddy! We want you, and we mean to get you! Three more charges in this elegant pump-gun, and all for you. Do you surrender?” shouted Jerry.

It was happiness to Bluff to hear this scoffing sportsman chum of his thus praise the hitherto detested repeating gun, and he danced around almost recklessly, such was his delight.

But no more charges of scalding water belched out of that small window. Perhaps the two unfortunates within had all they could attend to trying to breathe in that sickening, smoke-laden atmosphere.

“Keep up the good work, Bluff. It’s immense,” encouraged Frank, who really believed that, after all, the other had hit upon a clever way to force a surrender on the part of the defiant hoboes.

Suddenly the energetic fireman gave a loud cheer.

“They shove out the white flag! They surrender! What d’ye think of my plan, now, fellows? There’s Waddy waving it out of the window! Don’t shoot the poor duck – he’s pretty near all in, and blind with the smoke!” he whooped.

It was so.

Perhaps the article that the boy tramp was waving wildly out of the small opening may have hardly deserved the name of white flag, but his intentions could not be doubted.

Smoke had won against stubborn grit, and the hoboes were ready to throw up their hands!

CHAPTER XXIV – A NEW ALARM

“Do you give up, Waddy?” demanded Frank, menacingly holding his gun leveled.

“Oh, we’ll hands up, all right. Both of us are on the blink with the smoke, and nigh blind. Call it off, fellers,” whined the owner of the dirty face in the opening, while he coughed several times to emphasize his words.

“All right, then. Now, tell Biffins that we want him out first, and if he tries to run, it’s a charge of bird shot for him in the rear. Get that?”

“Sure. No danger of us doin’ anythin’. We’re so near blind we couldn’t run if we wanted to.”

The head vanished. Ten seconds later the door was thrown open and a big man staggered into sight, reeling as if he were intoxicated. The two fugitives had stubbornly stuck to the cabin through all, until nearly dead for fresh air.

As he came, the man held both arms aloft. Apparently he knew what was wanted, and did not mean to encourage these young hunters to try a shot at his person.

“Lie down on the ground, on your face!” shouted Frank. “Now keep your hands stretched out that way. Don’t dare move, or it will be bad for you, Biffins. Now, Waddy, your turn!” called Frank again.

A second figure came into view, groping, as if utterly blind. He, too, was compelled to drop on the cool earth, where he could gulp in great breaths of the fresh air, of which they were in such dire need.

From three directions the boys approached.

“Hurrah! We bagged ’em!” shouted Bluff.

Frank said nothing. It was not in his nature to exult over a fallen foe, though he did not blame the more impulsive Bluff for his evident delight.

From one of his pockets he produced some stout cord. He certainly had never dreamed what a singular use he would find for this when placing it there.

“Watch them both, Jerry. Now, Biffins, put your hands behind you, crossed. I’m going to tie them so. It’s no use thinking of doing anything. You couldn’t escape, even if you got away from us, for the sheriff has this island surrounded, and he is on the way here, right now, with his posse. Perhaps you might be shot down in the woods. There, you won’t break that, I reckon, in a hurry.”

He turned his attention to the second rascal. Waddy Walsh had reached a point in his reckless career where he did not care much what happened to him. Having in a measure recovered from the suffocating fumes of the smoking weeds, he even twisted his head half way around to jeer at Jerry.

“Helpin’ to arrest your old pard, hey, Jerry? That’s kind of you, now. I’ll be likely to remember it, old feller, when I get out again,” he said.

“I reckon you won’t have a chance to get out in a hurry, Waddy. I’m ashamed to admit that I did once go out with you, till you took to stealing, and I had to cut you off my visiting list. Hear that shooting, boys? The sheriff’s posse must be in the woods nearby, right now, and coming this way. I reckon Tom found ’em, all right.”

“Well, let ’em come. We’re ready to hand the prisoners over to the lawful officers. Say, but this has been a fierce time all around. We never thought, when we started out to camp on Wildcat Island, that we’d pass through such a string of adventures. Where are you going, Frank?” said Bluff, as the other started to enter the cabin, the smoke having settled somewhat, after the smoldering weeds were dragged away from under the wall.

“Just to look around a little, that’s all. Please stay with Jerry,” came the answer, as Frank vanished within.

Presently he came out again. He had a bundle under his arm, wrapped in a newspaper, and of which he seemed especially careful. Jerry looked at him, and received a nod in return, which he seemed to understand full well, for he asked no questions.

“Here’s the packet Mr. Pemberton lost, and I suppose the valuables are all safe inside, eh, Waddy?” he said, holding up something small he carried.

“Never touched a thing in it. Them other pieces of silver we swiped out of the farmhouse, and anything else you find come from that storage house over in Newtonport. We was after something big there, but missed it,” admitted the boy from the reform school, with unblushing effrontery.

Loud calls were now heard close by. Bluff lifted his tuneful voice and shouted:

“This way, Mr. Dodd. Everything lovely, and the goose hangs high. We’ve got ’em safe and sound. Here’s your men, sir. Step right up and put the irons on ’em!”

Biffins had not said a word up to now. The smoke had taken all desire to talk away from him; but he proved that he could swear like a pirate. No doubt what galled him most of all was the fact that his capture had been brought about through the instrumentality of a parcel of boys.

The crashing of the undergrowth became plainer. Then a party of men could be seen hurrying forward as fast as the tangled thickets would allow.

Mr. Dodd, the sheriff, was at their head. As he saw the two tramp thieves lying on the ground, helpless, he gave a roar. Rushing up to the boys, he shook the hand of each one in turn.

“Bully work, boys! I’m proud to know you, proud to say you live in the same town as I do! Hello, Biffins! So it’s you, eh? Well, this time we’ve got you dead to rights, and you don’t get off. And here’s Waddy Walsh, broke loose from the school he was sent to to learn to become a decent man. Back you go, my fine lad, this time to stay.”

So he rattled on, as he proceeded to clap a pair of neat steel bracelets on the wrists of each of the prisoners.

After that he went into the cabin and thoroughly searched it.

“I reckon we’ve got all the plunder they had, and now it might be a good thing if we burned this old rat trap of a nest to the ground. It’s got a bad name, and if tramp thieves have taken to lodging here, the sooner it goes, the better.”

Under the orders of the sheriff, some of the posse started things moving. In a short time the old cabin was a mass of flames. They made sure that the fire could not extend to the surrounding forest, which was just beginning to be covered with an early crop of new leaves. Then the whole company started through the thickets, headed for the shore.

“Hang the luck! We forget one thing, after all!” said Bluff suddenly.

He had been so busy getting several pictures of the burning cabin that for the time being all other things had escaped him.

“What was that?” asked Frank, winking at Jerry knowingly.

“The wild man! We forgot to get him out of that hollow tree!” exclaimed Bluff.

“Well, it’s too late now. For one, I object to walking back there. Besides, we must hustle in order to make camp again against the coming of the girls,” observed Frank seriously.

“But ain’t we ever going to know what the mystery of that queer creature must be? Perhaps we’d better write to that keeper we met before, Mr. Smithson, and let him know. Then if he’s shy a member of his happy family of lunatics, he’ll know where to hunt for him,” Bluff went on innocently.

“A bully good idea, and you can do the writing when we get home, if you feel that way,” said Frank, with a face that was as sober as that of a judge, while Jerry had to turn his head away to keep from laughing outright.

“But about the girls, fellows! Do you know they may not come, after all. Perhaps the folks have heard about the lively times down here on Wildcat Island, and put a veto on the outing. Then, again, you can hear the wind in the tops of these tall trees, so there must be whitecaps on the lake. It would be risky for a lot of girls to embark on so long a trip,” observed Jerry.

“Well, boys, we’re going to turn aside here, and make for a point where the tug is to meet us. I want to thank you again. Don’t forget there’s a nice little hundred waiting for you when you want to claim it,” said Mr. Dodd, after a bit.

“We’ve decided that you are to turn that reward over to Tom Somers here. He was a great help to us, and we’d like his family to get the hundred, Mr. Dodd,” said Frank.

Tom started to say something, then broke down, and could only look at each of the three boys with his heart in his eyes.

“Now for the place again. It’s tenting once more on the old campground for us, fellows. I hope Will has had the sense to cross over after he saw the tug come, and the posse come ashore,” remarked Frank.

They pushed through the dense growth stubbornly, and in the course of time realized that they were drawing near the open.

“One more rush, and we can pass around that big bluff and see our place. There’s the lake, and whitecaps, too. Too bad the girls can’t be with us. What a yarn we’d have to tell ’em, eh, fellows?” said Frank, laughing.

“Thunder!” exclaimed Bluff just then.

“What’s happened to you, old sport?” asked Jerry.

“Look here, through this opening! Ain’t that the boat with the girls, out there in that jumping sea? And side on, part of the time. Something’s happened to ’em, that’s what, as sure as you’re born!” ejaculated Bluff.

The others looked, and also uttered exclamations of dismay, while Frank called out:

“They seem to have only one oar, and Nellie’s trying to steer with that. Much she knows about sculling! Oh! They were nearly over that time! My heart’s in my mouth. Run for the shore, boys! If only Will has come in with our canoes!”

And plunging like mad through the remaining brush, the three lads broke out upon the little beach, just where they had first landed when coming to Wildcat Island to camp.