The Banner Boy Scouts Afloat; or, The Secret of Cedar Island

by George A. Warren

The small man on the litter, who looked very white, lifted his head with an effort, and tried to wave his hand.

"Yes, that's who it is; and you're Jack Stormways; aren't you? Oh! I hope that chum of yours can do something to stop this bleeding; I made them carry me down here as a last chance. My man who was sent for a doctor in our aeroplane, has not come back, and we're afraid he had an accident. Can some of you boys help lift me aboard? I'm very weak from loss of blood, and nearly gone."

His voice was as faint as a whisper; and indeed, it was a wonder that he managed to speak at all.

The scouts had quite forgotten everything but that there was some one in trouble. Tender hands immediately were forthcoming to assist in raising litter and man over the side of the boat. Then the three attendants climbed aboard, and strange to say the scouts seemed to have forgotten all their fear of the men they had believed to be lawbreakers. For now they saw that they were an intelligent lot of men, who bore little resemblance to such criminals as they had seemed to be.

Paul had long been interested in surgery. His father was the leading doctor of Stanhope, and had always encouraged this fancy in the boy. It seemed that the professor chanced to remember that he had been told about the ability of Jack Stormways' chum; and when matters began to look desperate, since none of his assistants could seem to stop the flow of blood that followed his accident, as a last resort he had forced them to put him on a litter, and make for the spot where they knew the scouts had their camp, the man in the aeroplane having signaled the fact back to them, just as Paul suspected.

Of course they had not dreamed of such a thing as the lake rising, until they had gone too far to retreat; and then they took desperate chances of finding the boys still there, where they had boats with which they could go to the mainland.

Paul busied himself immediately. It was a pretty bad wound that the little man had received, and his left arm would be practically useless the balance of time; but he cared not for this, if only his life might be spared.

Jack and Jud assisted whenever their services were needed and in the end Paul had not only stopped the flow of blood, but had the injured arm neatly bandaged—as well, the professor weakly declared, as any surgeon could have done.

"And now," said Paul, turning on the big man, who had hovered around anxiously, watching what was being done, as though he thought a great deal of the professor; "in return for what we've done, won't you please tell us who and what you are, and why you're doing all these queer stunts away up here on this lonely island, where nobody can see you? We're all mixed up, and don't know what to think. At first we believed you must be a lot of counterfeiters hiding from the Government agents; but what with these explosions, and such things as aeroplanes, I'm getting it in my head that it means you're trying out some big sensations that are going to be sprung on the Coney Island public next season."

"And that's where you made a pretty clever guess, my boy," said the big man, as he settled down to take it a bit more easily after his recent hard work; "Professor Hackett has invented most of the biggest sensations seen at seaside resorts these last ten years. He expects to excel his record next season, and then retire; and I tell you, now, I began to think he'd retire another way, if he lost much more blood from that wound, which he got by accident this morning."