FIGURING IT OUT.
"That's what he said to you, did he, Davy?" asked the scout-master; and perhaps unconsciously his voice was lowered a little when he spoke, as though he felt that peril lurked close by.
"Yes, when we were sitting close together by the fire, and he was drinkin' his cup of coffee," the other replied, also in hushed tones; while Smithy hovered as near as he could get to them, his face filled with apprehension.
"And he told you he wanted to meet up with the man who had a patch on the sole of his shoe, did he?" Thad continued, thoughtfully.
"Just what he did," Davy answered, cheerfully. "I remember thinkin' that it was a mighty funny way to describe a feller, by telling how one of his shoes had been mended in that way. But, Thad, you know Bob didn't finish tellin' me about this track over here on the old island. If he had, I'd sure remembered; and then I c'd have spoken about it to you."
"I'm sorry now it didn't happen that way," remarked the scout-master, "it might have made some difference in my plans, you see, boys."
"You mean you wouldn't a come here, is that it?" demanded Davy; "then I'm glad you didn't know about it; because this just suits me. Whew! don't it make a feller have just the nicest cold creepy feelin' run up and down his back, though? I wouldn't have lost the chance for anything."
Thad was compelled to smile at the odd way the other had of expressing his pleasure in the thrill that passed over him, as he contemplated the possibility of meeting with new adventures.
"Oh! no, I didn't mean that," he replied; "but I'd have asked you a lot of questions before coming, and perhaps we'd have been better posted. Then again, I might have brought a couple more scouts along, so we could feel stronger, in case—" and he suddenly paused, with his head cocked on one side as though listening.
"In case, what?" pursued Davy, who wanted to know everything.
"I thought I heard a voice somewhere, but it might have been a bird in the bushes," Thad continued, in a relieved tone. "Why, I was only going to say in case we had any trouble with these men. But they may not be here at all now. I've got an idea they own another boat, in which they could have slipped away last night while it was so dark."
"Then what's the use of our hunting all over the place as we're doing?" asked Davy, fanning himself with his hat; for the day was turning out warm, and it began to seem like tiresome work, and all for nothing, too.
"In the first place," went on Thad, with that steady glow in his gray eyes that bespoke determination; "I want to see if there really is a hidden shack or a cave here, where they could be hiding out. Then I'd like to learn if they're poachers, snaring the wild game, or the bass up here, and getting it to market on the sly; or some tramps who have been breaking into a store or a bank and are hiding from the constables."
"A bully good place to hide, all right," remarked Davy, as he glanced around at the wild character of their surroundings, and heaved another sigh in contemplation of further scrambling over those sharp-pointed rocks.
"But Thad," put in Smithy, who had been listening all this time without saying a single word, "have you changed your mind about what these strange men may be, since you heard what Davy said about that man at our camp-fire?"
"Well, yes, I am beginning to, right fast," answered the other, frankly.
"You don't think he was as bad as they are, and meant to join them, do you?" continued Smithy, taking an unexpected interest in the matter; for he had observed the party in question closely, as Thad knew, and formed rather a good opinion of him, somehow.
"No, I don't," replied the scout-master, decisively. "If you asked me point-blank what my opinion was, I'd say that he might be a game warden playing a part, or else an officer of the law, looking for yeggmen who have done something that they knew would send them to prison if caught!"
"Whew! just keep right along talking that way, Thad," muttered Davy. "It sure does give me the nicest feeling ever to hear you. Yeggmen now is it, and not just poor game poachers? That's going some, I take it. Say, perhaps they've been and broke into a rich man's place over in Faversham. I happen to know that quite a few city people own cottages there for summer use."
"Have you ever been in Faversham, Davy?" asked Thad, suddenly.
"Well, no, I must say I haven't; but I've heard some about it from a boy who visited Sim Eckles, and who used to live there. It's a big place, Thad."
"Oh! size has nothing to do with this matter," remarked the other. "I was just wondering whether you might not have heard that name before."
"You mean Malcolm Hotchkiss, don't you?" asked the other, eagerly.
"Yes, the name he mentioned to you, when he spoke about the marked shoe?" the patrol leader went on to say.
"Hold on!" Davy exclaimed, hoarsely; "now, that's queer; I never once bothered my head to think about it till you asked. Sure I've heard the name before. The boy over at Sim Eckles' mentioned it more'n once."
"Who is he, then, Davy?"
"Why, Malcolm Hotchkiss, he's just the Chief of Police over at Faversham, that's what, Thad," replied the other scout, almost breathless in his renewed excitement.
"Oh; is that so?" remarked Thad. "Well, how does it strike you now, Davy?"
"Looks bad for these here men, that's what," came the reply.
"You mean they must be worse than game poachers; is that it?" continued Thad.
"I just reckon they are, Thad. Game wardens are hired by the State; and seems to me it don't interest the common police if a man chooses to take a few deer out of season, or net black bass against the law."
"Sounds like good logic, Davy," Thad continued; "and anybody could see that you're all fixed to follow in the footsteps of your father, when you get through law school. That settles it, in my mind. After this I don't expect to run across any nets in the lake, or snares for partridges in the woods around here."
"You mean there might be something stronger than that to be found, if only we could run up against the place they use for a hideout; is that it, Thad?"
"I certainly do; but I wish you could tell me one thing," the other remarked.
"Try me and see," grinned Davy. "I'm loaded with information, like a gun is, to the muzzle; and all you have to do is to pull the trigger."
"Try and remember if that boy said anything about this Malcolm Hotchkiss that would describe him—was he tall or short; did he wear a beard or had he a smooth face; were his eyes blue or black?"
Davy screwed up his eyebrows as though he might be cudgeling his brain to remember. Then he grinned again, showing that the result had at least been satisfactory from his point of view.
"I caught on to it, Thad," he declared with the air of a victor.
"Well, what do you think about it now, Davy?"
"Not the same man. You remember our visitor was a tall feller, don't you? Well, I heard that boy say how they played a trick on Malcolm, and they was only able to do it because he happened to be a small man, with white hands, and looked kinder like a woman dressed up in police uniform. But then he's smart as chain lightnin', he said at the same time."
"Well, that proves one thing. Our visitor couldn't have been the Faversham Head of Police. Perhaps they're in the game together, and he wanted you to send word that way, knowing that Hotchkiss would be able to reach him," Thad concluded.
"Looks like you'd got it all figgered out right, Thad," admitted Davy, in open admiration for the genius of his chum. "And if that's the truth, I reckon it must be a pretty big game that has made this here feller take all the trouble to hire that bear man to go 'round the country with him, just so he could ask questions, and nobody think he was anything but a common tramp."
"I don't just understand what sort of officer would be doing that," Thad candidly admitted. "Now, if these men were what Bob White tells us they have down in his country, moonshiners, I could understand it. But we've rested enough now; let's go on to the boat. Perhaps after all, we might decide to leave the island to look after itself from now on."
"I'd sure be sorry to hear you say that, Thad," remarked Davy, his face showing keen disappointment.
"After all, it's really none of our business," continued Thad; "and now that you know the man he is looking for everywhere is somewhere around here, perhaps it'd be best for you to start over to some place where they have a telephone, and call up Mr. Malcolm Hotchkiss at Faversham."
"Huh! reckon I c'd surprise him a little now," chuckled Davy, falling in behind the leader, as they continued on down toward the spot where the boat had been left some time before.
"We've done all that could be expected of a patrol of Boy Scouts, under the circumstances," said Thad firmly; "and the rest had better be left to men who are used to such things. Listen to that wind blow, boys? I hope a storm doesn't come up before we get back to camp again. Careful, Davy, don't be in such a hurry; we're nearly at the beach, and our boat."
"That's just it," remarked the Jones boy; "I had a look in at that same beach under the branches of the trees, Thad; and believe me, I didn't see a sign of any boat!"
"What's that?" demanded the scout-master, quickly, a sense of gathering clouds beginning to oppress him; for it would indeed be a serious matter if they were actually taken prisoners by these unknown parties of the island, whom they now believed to be worse even than game poachers.
"Look for yourself, Thad; for here you can see the beach end to end," Davy went on; and the others stared as though hardly able to believe their eyes; for it was just as Davy said; there was the little sandy stretch, without a doubt, where they had left their canoe; but from end to end it was vacant!
Again had the boat vanished while they were away; and this time it was utterly impossible that it could have gone without the agency of human hands, for they had pulled it high up out of the water!