He felt his way into the blackness of the tent and located the flashlight, appearing with it immediately afterward. “All right, let’s go,” he whispered. “I don’t like this barefoot business though.”
“Best we can do. Keep your light shaded away from the tents.”
Buck carefully switched the light on, keeping the glare of it away from the tent, playing the beam on the undergrowth in back of the tent. Nothing out of the ordinary was disclosed to their view and they walked with tense muscles around in the back of the shelters. Here the light was played around the bushes and trees but everything around the camp was normal. In silence they moved away and even went as far as the springs, but their trip was in vain and their only reward wet and cold feet.
“Nothing doing,” shrugged Buck, turning off the light.
“I’m glad that you saw the light, though,” said Ted. “I would have begun to think that I was seeing things. Well, I don’t know what we had better do.”
“The only thing that we can do is to go to bed and sleep as lightly as possible,” returned Buck. “We are on the ends and if anyone comes into the camp we should hear ’em. Funny thing, though, we didn’t hear anything out of that prowler after he put his light out. Confound it, looks like somebody was trying to make this a haunted camp!”
“Well, we won’t let the boys know anything about it. Suppose we get to bed and keep our ears open as much as we can.”
They parted, each to return to his own tent, and in his Ted carefully eased himself into his bed listening intently. There were no sounds abroad, however, and for a long time he managed to keep awake but at last the effort was too much for him and he went to sleep.
Morning came without incident and early the whole camp was astir. The day was a fine and clear one, a little warm but not too much so. Some of the hardier souls went for their initial swim in Bear Creek but to most of the boys the black waters looked too cool. Ted and Buck were among those who went in, and Ted, after probing for depth with a pole, was perfectly satisfied that it was deep enough at one point to dive in. He led the way in a splendid dive.
The water struck a sharp shock through him and by its very coldness he knew that springs surely fed the brook somewhere. But he showed no sign of his shock when he bobbed to the top, shaking his head and clearing his eyes.