"Anybody could hear that a mile away, I guess," remarked the one who had sent forth the recall. "I suppose every scout will know what it means and come back?"
"Well, that would be queer if they didn't," declared Elmer. "Here comes a bunch right now, talking and arguing over the mysterious happening. All sorts of ideas will be given, and we ought to try and find out the truth."
"What do you think?" asked Mark, pointedly. "Was it a hobo who had been sleeping here in the old shop? I've heard Jack say his father threatened to burn the shanty down because complaints came in about it being a lodging place for tramps."
"Yes," replied Elmer, who looked serious, "I've heard the same thing. But between you and me, Mark, I've got my suspicions that it couldn't have been just a common hobo."
"What makes you think that?" asked his chum.
"Oh! several things. I don't see why a tramp would go to all the bother to climb up on that old shelf or loft, when he could just as well stay right here on the ground, and make a fire in the regular place, so as to cook his supper. Then no tramp would have lain there all that time without making a sound. Besides, you remember we made up our minds that the boards had been loosened in the back of the shop, so they could be knocked off with a single kick. That would point to strategy—making ready for a sudden get-away."
"Elmer, you're right, I do believe, as you nearly always are," said Mark, as if what his comrade said had sunk with conviction into his mind. "But here come the boys. Let's find out what they think about it."
"Yes," continued the acting scout-master, "perhaps they've sighted the fellow, and can tell us who he was."
But this proved not to be the case. Those who had followed "Lil Artha" through the opening in the rear of the shop declared that the fugitive must have had the wings of the wind, for though they had chased after him, he managed to give them the slip. Possibly the long-legged Arthur might have been more successful, had he been given daylight to enable him to see where he was going; but at the time the bugle sounded the retreat they had not been able to cut down the other's lead.
Nor could they tell what he looked like.