CHAPTER XIV.
THE NEED OF A PATHFINDER.
As Dr. Ted approached he made the scout salute in due regulation style.
"You're wanted above, thir," he said to the acting scout master.
"By that I suppose you mean they've struck a snag?" questioned Elmer.
"The rockth bothered Matty. Tho long ath they left a trail in the earth he could follow it all right. But when it kept on athending it got tougher and tougher. Then he lotht it altogether, and thent me to fetch you along, thir."
"All right, I'll go with you, Number Three. You'll be interested to know that we've got a prisoner here in the old cabin," remarked Elmer.
Ted glanced that way, and caught sight of the face in the window.
"The old Italian woman, eh?" he exclaimed.
"Sure," said Lil Artha, as proudly as though the honors of the capture belonged exclusively to him.
"Then she did come back for her beadth?"
"Yes. Tell you all about it on the way, for we must be moving now, Ted," the scout master remarked.
"All right. I'm with you, Elmer. Come on, then," and, wheeling sharply around, Ted started to retrace his steps.
So Mark and his long-legged comrade were left to guard the prison of the old Italian woman, while the other two scouts climbed the hill.
"No uthe going over the trail we made," remarked Ted. "It wound around and then climbth the hill. We could thee about where the cabin lay, and I made a bee line downhill for the thame."
As they toiled upward Elmer, keeping his promise, related all that had happened in the neighborhood of the hidden shack.
Ted seemed to enjoy the narrative very much indeed. He was particularly pleased with the account of where the old woman in her panic had burst the door open, and upset both Mark and Lil Artha.
"I wondered what happened to our friendth," said Ted. "And if you hadn't been in thuch a big hurry to cut out, I'd have tried fixing both the poor fellowth up. Lil Artha lookth like a pirate chief, and ath for Mark, you'd think hith brains might be breaking out."
Elmer had no trouble at all in following the plain trail left by Ted when he came down from above. His practiced eye could easily see the marks on turf, leaf mold, or even where the other's heels with their steel nails had scraped along a slanting rock.
"Tell me thome more about that, pleath," said Ted, while they were still climbing.
Nothing loath, for he really believed he had solved the secret of the whole business, Elmer gave him the story, from his first faint suspicion upon looking down into the strange-smelling cellar of the mill house, up to his detecting such a strong odor of fish about the Italian woman, and particularly the knife she carried.
"That'th a bully good idea, all right," said Ted, when the story was finished.
"Do you think it sounds fishy?" laughed Elmer.
"Yeth and no," answered the other, immediately. "While it theemth to be a fish yarn, yet it ith all to the good. I really believe you've gone and figured it out, Elmer. And if that ith tho, it ith going to be another big feather in your cap, don't you forget it."
"We ought to be close to where you left the rest of the boys, by now," suggested the scout master, desirous of changing the conversation, for, strange to say, Elmer never liked to hear himself praised.
"I reckon we are," replied Ted. "Suppothe you try your whistle, and give 'em a call."
So the patrol leader's whistle was brought into play again. Hardly had it sounded than there came an answer from a point not far distant.
"There they are!" cried Ted, pointing, "I thee Red waving hith hat to uth right now. We'll join 'em in a jiffy, if the walking ith good."
It proved to be decent enough for the two climbers to reach the spot where Matty and the rest of the troop awaited them.
"I'm all in, Elmer," admitted the leader of the Beaver Patrol, as he threw up both hands in disgust. "Just as I said, it was all hunk till I struck the rocks, and I've been up in the air ever since."
"Yes, Matty has even hinted that he believes those Italians must have had wings somewhere around here, and just flown away," laughed Chatz.
"Well, that wouldn't be so very queer," declared Toby Jones, always thinking of things touching on aviation. "It's a bully good place to make a start, anyway, if a feller only had the wings."
"Yes, and a gay old place to bring up on all the rocks down there. And how about our chum Nat; he never had any longing to soar through the air. But tell us what's doing, Elmer," said Red, impatiently.
"Oh, he's got lots to tell you," declared Ted, with the air of a highly favored one who had been already taken into the great secret.
Of course his words stirred the scouts as nothing else could have done. They crowded around and began to beg for particulars.
"Where's Lil Artha?" one questioned.
"And Mark?" exclaimed another.
"Say, Elmer, did she come back, and step into the nice little trap you were going to get ready?" asked a third scout, with intense interest aroused.
When Elmer nodded his head they broke out into a rousing boyish cheer.
"Tell us all about it, Elmer," was flung at the scout master from all quarters.
As this was Elmer's intention anyway he lost no time in briefly though forcibly describing all that had taken place down below.
"And now I want George to go down with Ted, here," Elmer went on, "and try to engage the woman in conversation. Tell her, if you can, who and what we are, and the reason for our coming here in uniform. Tell her we mean them no harm, but that we want our chum set free. Do you follow me, George?"
"Of course I do," came the ready answer.
"You understand Italian, and talk it some, I've been told?" Elmer went on.
"Oh, yes, I can really converse with some Italian men. Don't know about a woman, though. But I'll do my best to make her see things straight."
"I like to hear you talk that way, George," continued Elmer; "the true scout is always ready to do his best. And I think you're going to make a fine addition to our troop before long."
"After I've told her, what then?" asked George, who looked pleased at hearing these words of praise from one he respected as highly as he did Elmer.
"Why, you must bring her along, and rejoin us. Lil Artha and Mark will accompany you, because all ought to be in at the finish. You understand, don't you, George?"
"I sure do. Come on, Ted, show me the way down to the old shack. As we go along I'll be brushing up my Italian words so as to spring 'em on the old lady. This way, Ted."
"And while you're jabbering with the woman, why, perhaps now I might be amuthing mythelf doctoring the noble woundth of our two chumth," declared the fellow who was never so happy as when engaged in the work of a doctor.
Why, some of the boys often called Ted "Sawbones," because he gave himself over, heart and soul, to his one great hobby.
So the two of them vanished down the side of the hill. As their voices died away among the thickets Elmer turned his attention to the task of finding and following the trail of the Italians.
"Show me where you saw it last, Matty," he said.
"Here you are, then," came the reply; "that footprint is as plain as anything."
"So it is," remarked Elmer, after studying the mark briefly. "Our chum made that, I'm positive."
"Then he must have done it on purpose," said Matty, "because I've noticed that one footprint right along."
Elmer smiled.
"Good for Nat," he remarked. "If he don't dare use his voice and call out to us, he's doing everything in his power to show us the trail. That's what he's learned of scouting tactics. I'm glad he remembered. It shows how much a fellow can learn."
"That's right," remarked Matty; "I see it all plain enough right now; but d'ye know the suspicion never did break in on me that these tracks had been made purposely, and by Nat? Why, I just had an idea one of the bunch was a little careless, that's all."
"Well, you'll know better after this, Matty. But stand back, and let's see what luck I'll have, if so be you fellows haven't killed the trail by running around."
They watched his actions eagerly, each fellow bent on learning all he could of the science that was already proving to be so interesting.
First of all Elmer took a comprehensive survey of the ground above; for everyone understood that those they were tracking must be aiming to reach some cave or crevice farther up the slope.
Then, having settled in his mind about where the fugitives might be aiming for, the scout master began to look for marks on the rocks.
For a little while he found it very hard work, indeed, but after reaching the limits of the search maintained by Matty and those with him, the task became considerably easier.
And mindful of his position as acting scout master to the troop during the temporary absence of Mr. Garrabrant, Elmer made it a point to explain more or less as he went along.
"See, here is where one of the men slipped on this rock, and left a new scratch. And this shows where another broke a twig off this branch in passing. You can see it has been freshly done, because the green leaves do not show much sign of wilting."
In this fashion, then, he not only intensely interested his followers, but continued to make progress all the while.
Most of the boys were eager to get points on such an engaging subject as trail finding. These hung upon his every word, examined the marks to which Elmer drew their attention, commented upon the same among themselves, and several even went so far as to take out memorandum books in which they hastily scribbled such notes as would enable them to remember.
All the while they were climbing higher, and by degrees found themselves in a wilder section than any of them had dreamed existed so near their home town of Hickory Ridge.
"Looks like there might be a few caves around such a place as this," remarked Red, as he wiped his face with the red bandana handkerchief which he had hung cowboy fashion around his neck, with the knot at the back.
"Oh, that's a dead-sure thing," replied Ty, who happened to be close at his elbow at the time. "Fact is, I've seen several myself. Anyhow, they were dark, ugly looking holes between big rocks, and if this was a game country I'd say they might be bear dens or the homes of wolves."
All this sort of talk tended to key the anticipations of the boys up to a point where they were expecting almost anything to happen.
Elmer paid no attention to side issues. There might be a dozen likely looking hiding places along the route, but they did not interest him an iota so long as that faintly marked trail continued.
He had about all he cared to do, moving from one spot where a stone had been freshly dislodged to another point at which the moss and lichen had been torn from a sloping rock by a foot that accidentally or purposely slipped.
There were possibly some little indications, which to his mind told that they might now be drawing near the place where the panic-stricken Italians were hiding. If so, Elmer did not confide this to his companions, perhaps because he might not himself be so very sure, but more probably on account of not wishing to waste more or less precious time in explaining on what vague grounds he founded his theory.
The trees still grew around them, springing out of spaces between the rocks. They were more stunted than those in the great forest that covered the richer bottom lands, but as a rule they served as a canopy overhead, and only occasional glimpses could be obtained of the country beyond.
By this time some of the scouts had begun to feel the effect of the climb, for there is nothing more fatiguing than ascending a steep hill.
Still they proved their grit by keeping on, as if determined to stick it out.
Even fat Landy Smith, while actually panting for breath, and mopping his forehead with a damp handkerchief, stubbornly declined to own himself in the "has been" class, as Red called it.
They were moving along what seemed to be a little plateau, at the end of which arose a cliff seamed with numerous cracks and scars.
Elmer had smiled when he cast a glance toward the rocky wall, just as if he could scent the end of the trail close at hand.
But he was already halfway across the level territory, with the scouts scattered back of him, when without the least warning there suddenly sounded a shot that seemed to come from somewhere ahead; and the report gave each scout a strange chill in the region of his heart.