“Here—help yourself. Don’t eat it too fast, though, or it may make you sick.”
With shaking fingers, their starving captive seized the proffered food, and wolfed it ravenously.
“Feel better?”
“I—I—— You boys are all right. Guess it’s no use. But—how did you find me?”
“We’re from Camp Lenape, across the lake. We’ve seen you before,” answered Jake; “once when I ran into you the time that crazy Sherlock Jones shot off his flashlight powder down by Tent Fifteen——”
The man nodded. “I got some food over there. I remember. I tried to find some clothes in a tent, but a big light went off, and——”
“—And you tangled up with me in the woods,” finished the boy. “Guess we were both pretty scared. Then, last night, Jerry here spotted you, coming down from the kitchen——”
“You know who I am?”
“Sure,” said Jerry. “You’re Burk. But say, you don’t look much like a thief and a jailbird. What did you do it for? I mean, how did you get in trouble in the first place?”
A smouldering fury came into Burk’s eyes. “I didn’t do it!” he cried. “Do you hear me? I’m not guilty! And for more than a year I’ve been penned up in that place—like an animal—an innocent man!” His voice had risen to a high scream which echoed through the dripping darkness of the forest.