Following the lead of the scout master, the little squad of boys slipped around so as to come upon the long cabin from the rear. Everything seemed peaceful. No one was in sight, the men having apparently stepped inside again after Dolph and little Ruth had been fed.
This was as it should be, and Elmer had indeed figured on it when laying his plans. In single file they approached as near as was deemed safe; then, at a signal from the leader, the scouts dropped flat behind some bushes. From this point on, their progress must be much slower, since they would have to do considerable crawling.
Before making a move, however, Elmer gave the signal that was to start the other detachments. This, as agreed on, consisted of the harsh cry of the bluejay, and which in the still air of the woods could be easily heard for a long distance.
After that things were to happen in regulation order. Elmer had calculated just how long it might take his band to obtain entrance to the cabin; also for the other detachment to find a hiding place near by. Red was scheduled to commence operations just half an hour after he heard the bluejay cry three times. And to make sure, he carried the nickel watch of Chatz with him.
"Come on, fellows, and be careful, every one," was the low whisper which Elmer allowed to float back over his shoulder.
Having been over the ground once before, and with his customary sagacity memorized every little point that could be used to advantage, Elmer was not in the least dismayed at certain obstacles that from time to time had to be surmounted.
Ten minutes after the signal had been given he led his line of creeping scouts up to the further end of the long, low cabin. And so far as they knew no hostile eye had taken note of their coming.
The tunnel was close at hand. Its smooth walls told of the many times the animal responsible for its presence had crept in and out. And Elmer noted with considerable satisfaction that his former conception of its capacity had not been amiss. Yes, even the stoutest of the scouts could pass through, with a little assistance.
Even here the shrewdness of the young scout-master showed itself. He had arranged his schedule so that this individual, who chanced to be Landy, always known as a fat youth, though fond of all outdoor sports, should come last. This, it may be noted in passing, was done so that in case he did stick in the tunnel he might not block the passage of others whose presence was vital to the success of the plan.
Elmer never forgot anything he heard or read, and it happened that not so very long before he had been interested in an account of the escape from Libby Prison of a large number of Union prisoners during the dark days of the Civil War, and vividly remembered how there might have been many more follow the same route only that an ambitious fat man closed the passage, since he could neither go on nor return.