Roy Blakeley's Silver Fox Patrol

  "If it isn't a scout then it must be a soldier," Harry said, "becauseI'm sure about the khaki uniform."

  Skinny kept right close to Harry; I guess he was kind of scared thinkingabout what we were going to find. I couldn't blame him, because it waskind of spooky, seeing those torches moving in the dark.

  CHAPTER XXIV--WE BEHOLD A GHASTLY SIGHT

  Grove said it was pretty risky leaving the auto, with no lights on it upthere in the road, but Harry said it was worse to leave some one dyingmaybe, but more likely dead, between two rocks down there in thatjungle.

  But anyway, this is what we decided to do. Grove said he'd go up with atorch and keep a fire burning near the machine, while the rest of ushunted around below. He went along under the cliff to where it wasn't sohigh and steep, and pretty soon we could see his torch bobbing along theroad high up. Then pretty soon we could see a pretty good blaze up thereand something black near it.

  But down below we just couldn't find those rocks. We each wentseparately (except Skinny who stayed by Harry) but the more we huntedthe more mixed up we got. Oh, boy, but that was some jungle! From up onthe cliff those two rocks had been good and plain, but now that we weredown below, all the rocks looked alike. That's the way it is with rocks;they look different in a bird's-eye view.

  After a while, Pee-wee shouted, "I've got a trail! I've got a trail!Come here, quick!"

  Harry and I were pretty far apart, but we both heard him and followedthe light of his torch until we got to the place where he was standing.Sure enough, there was a trail winding all in and out among the rocks.

  "It's a sure enough trail all right," Harry said; "Pee-wee, you're awinner. I dare say this starts away up there along the road; it willshow us the easiest way back, if it doesn't show us anything else."

  "Will it show us that man that's dead?" little Skinny piped up.

  Harry said, "I dare say, Alf; we'll soon see. If he wasn't thrown offthe cliff he probably came by the trail."

  "When I saw those rocks from above," I put in, "they looked too far outfrom the cliff for anybody to be thrown there, or to fall there."

  Harry said, "Well, I dare say you're right. As long as we thought it wasour young hero that was wedged in there, and as long as we knew that theonly way he could have got there was by falling, it didn't occur to methat it was pretty far out from the cliff."

  "Then there's a mystery!" Pee-wee shouted.

  "Yes?" Harry said. "Break it to us gently."

  The kid said, "Well, if that man wasn't thrown down and didn't falldown, then how did he get down? He couldn't have come across far overtoward the east there, because when I had the fire going, I could see itwas all marshy."

  "Well then, he came down by the trail," Harry said.

  "All right, show me a footprint in this trail," Pee-wee shot right backat him.

  Harry looked and I looked, and even little Skinny got down on his kneesand looked, and there wasn't the sign of a footprint in that trail. Itwas soft there, too, and if there had been any footprints they wouldhave shown good and clear.

  "Maybe he came in an airplane," Skinny piped up.

  "I guess if there was an airplane anywhere around here, we'd have foundit before this," I said.

  Harry said, "Well, I suppose it's possible that somebody picked his waydown the same as Roy did and then maybe stumbled. None of us know wherethose rocks are, but they did look pretty far out from above, and itdoes seem mighty funny that there aren't any footprints in this trail.Anyway, we'll push ahead and see what we see."

  We went along the trail single file, Pee-wee going first, because if anyone can follow a trail, he can. All the while we kept holding ourtorches down, looking for footprints, but there wasn't a sign of any.Then all of a sudden he stopped short, saying kind of scared sort of,"There it is! Look--straight ahead--I can see it."

  About fifty feet ahead of us that trail ran between two big rocks, onlythey were farther apart and looked different than they did from up onthe cliff. And right there in the trail between them lay a man with asoldier's uniform on. He was lying face down, and we knew he must bedead, because his arms were spread out and one of his legs was lying upover a corner of rock, kind of crazy like. No matter how badly injured aman may be, even if he's unconscious, he never lies sprawling like that.There's kind of a way that a dead person lies.

  Pee-wee just stopped short in the trail and we all stopped behind him. Iguess for just about a second, none of us wanted to go nearer. The waythat man's leg was lying made me feel creepy. Harry said that was theway men lay on the battle field before the nurses took them--allsprawling, sort of.

  Pretty soon Pee-wee moved a little nearer and held his torch toward therocks.

  "Funny there isn't any blood there," Harry said.

  "Maybe the rain washed it away," I told him.

  "Go ahead, Pee-wee," he said; "move along."

  CHAPTER XXV--WE ADD ONE MORE TO OUR PARTY

  But for just about a couple of seconds, Pee-wee didn't budge. Gee, Icouldn't blame him.

  "Look at Grove's light up there," I said.

  Away up on the road we could see the fire good and plain, and evensomething dark moving near it.

  "Shall I call to him?" I asked.

  "No, don't," Harry said. I guess it was just because he didn't exactlywant us to be shouting with that thing lying so near us. Anyway, we kindof spoke in whispers--I don't know why.

  I said, "Well, you can see for yourself now that no one could fall asfar out from the cliff as this. Grove's fire is right near the edge,isn't it? Look where that fire is and look where we are."

  "It's blamed funny there aren't any footprints," Harry said; "he's rightin the trail."

  "It's a mystery like I told you," Pee-wee whispered. As we moved nearerI could see how Skinny was clinging tight to Harry.

  When we got near the rocks, Pee-wee seemed to get his nerve back--mostalways that's the way it is with scouts. Anyway, he has plentynow--that's one thing.

  He was quite a little distance ahead of us and I saw him lean down andhold his torch over that body. Then, all of a sudden, he set up a shoutthat took me off my feet.

  "_I've solved the mystery! I've solved the mystery!_" he yelled.

  Harry said, "Shh, speak easy. Isn't he dead?"

  "He--he--isn't even _alive_--I mean he wasn't!" our young hero shouted."Look at him! Feel of him! The mystery is solved!"

  It was solved, all right. Pee-wee grabbed hold of one of those sprawlinglegs and hauled that body out from between the rocks. The way he handledit, I'd say it weighed about five or six pounds. It was just a ragdummy.

  We stuck our torches into the earth and sat down on one of those bigrocks and had a good laugh.

  "You thought it was _me_," our young hero shouted; "you thought it was_me_----"

  "You mean _I_, not _me_," Harry told him; "we realize now ourmistake--that we should ever have mistaken one with a tongue like yoursfor a dummy. The plot certainly grows thicker; I never expected to finda rag soldier."

  "Anyway, we've had a good time," Pee-wee said.

  "Rag-time, I should say," Harry said; "but what is the meaning of thisdark and dismal mystery? Why this rag-time dough-boy?"

  "Search _me_," I said, "it has _me_ guessing."

  "That shows how much you all know," Pee-wee yelled; "that shows how muchwhat-d'ye-call-it you have--deduction. This is where those movie men weremaking their play and that rag dummy got hurled off the cliff in ajealous rage, just the same the school teacher in _The Cowboy'sRevenge_!"

  "A jealous rage, hey?" Harry said.

  "Sure," the kid said; "wasn't one of those movie men in Utica dressedlike a soldier? That was the one that was supposed to be thrown off thecliff; that one is this one--see?"

  Harry just sat there, whistling. Then he said, "I guess you're right,kid. They chucked him out too far. It was easy, because he didn't weighanything. This is the climax of a terrible tragedy."

  "I--I bet it's a dandy play," Pee-wee said; "I'm going to see it
when itcomes out."

  "Too bad it can't end with a picture of boy scouts on the trail of a ragdummy. The play might be called _The Ragtime Scouts_," Harry said.

  I said, "Yes, and who was the first one to say that was Pee-wee."

  "Guilty," Harry said; "but yet I was right; I said there was no life inthat figure, and there isn't. Shall we take our friend along with us? Itseems kind of cruel to leave him here at the mercy of wind and storm."

  "Sure, take him," I said; "we'll put him in the Raven Patrol; they're alot of dead ones."

  Harry slung Mr. Ragtime (that's what we called him) over his shoulderand we started back along the trail. On account of being wet, that dummywas heavier and it hung limp and looked even more like a real soldierthan it did before, I guess. It seemed awful funny for Harry to bemarching along ahead of us with that thing over his shoulder.

  That trail ran along close under the cliff and showed us an easy way up.Pretty soon we hit into the road and passed the place where we hadsupposed Pee-wee had fallen, and then came to the auto. Grove had thefire burning on the edge of the road right near the car, and he wassitting there keeping warm when we came along.

  Harry said, "We've brought with us one of the most famous movie stars,the Hon. Ragtime Sandbanks; allow us to introduce him. He's full ofstuff that isn't worth anything, like most movie plays. Just the kind ofhero that you kids are fond of clapping your hands at. If they'd onlytake a few more of those celebrated movie stars and chuck them off acliff, it would be a good thing. Well, Grove, old boy, you been lonesomewaiting? Here old Ragtime, dry your clothes out if you want to ride withus."

  "How are we going to ride without any juice?[1]" Grove wanted to know.

  "We're not," Harry said; "who wants to volunteer to go to Lurin? That'sthe nearest town, I think. Take the old battery in and see if you canget another one. I don't see there's anything else we can do."

  -----

  [1] Electricity.

  CHAPTER XXVI--WE ARE PURSUED

  Grove and I hiked along to Lurin. It was pretty dark and we had to bemighty careful for about half a mile, because the road ran right closeto the cliff, but when we once got over the top of that hill, the goingwas easy.

  We found a service station there and left our battery and got anotherone. By the time we got back and Harry got everything connected up allright, it was daylight.

  He had to run that machine mighty careful for a ways, because we werepretty close to the edge. We could look down and see that place belowgood and plain in the daylight. We could see the trail, too, and justhow everything was, and it seemed funny that any of us could ever havegot lost down there. That shows the difference between day and night.But anyway, I like night better on account of camp-fire. Only I don'tlike home work. I like the middle of the night best of all, but I likethe two ends of it, too. I like one end on account of breakfast, and theother on account of supper. The reason I like the middle of the day ison account of lunch. June is my favorite month, because that's when mybirthday is, and one thing, I'm glad there's a week between Christmasand New Year's, because on account of holidays. I wish there was a weekbetween Thanksgiving, but anyway, that hasn't got anything to do withthat automobile trip. I just thought I'd tell you.

  It was dandy to see the sun coming up that morning--that's one thing Ilike about the sun. But, oh, boy, weren't we hungry! Grove and I sat onthe back seat with Ragtime Sandbanks (that's the name we gave him)sitting up between us. He was all nice and dry by that time. He lookedas if he didn't have any sense. Harry says that's the way it is withmovie stars. Cracky, that fellow's all the time knocking the movies. Iguess he does it just to get Pee-wee started.

  Let's see, where was I? Oh, yes, now comes a peachy adventure. Rememberhow I told you that Grove and I had Ragtime Sandbanks sitting up betweenus? Well, pretty soon, after we had got down to level country and weremaking the speedometer earn its board, I happened to look around and,_good night_, there was an automobile coming along lickety-split, abouta quarter of a mile behind us.

  "They're breaking the speed laws," I said.

  "Believe me, they're smashing them all to pieces," Grove put in.

  Harry didn't bother about them, just kept her rolling along at abouttwenty per, when all of a sudden we heard the people in that carshouting at us to stop.

  "You don't suppose it can be Brent Gaylong and his patrol, do you?" Iasked.

  Harry said, "No, they're waiting for us up in the woods by this time."

  "It's a flivver," Grove said.

  "Some nerve; a flivver calling to a Cadillac to stop," I said.

  "Are we going to get arrested now?" Skinny sung out in that funny highvoice. Gee whiz, you could hardly blame him, after all the crazy thingsthat had happened.

  Harry said, "Maybe, but I couldn't promise you. Perhaps so, if you'regood."

  We just kept running along about the same as before; Harry wouldn'tbother to stop and he wouldn't bother to go faster. And all the whilethat other machine came zig-zagging and rattling along pell-mell, withthe men in it shouting for us to stop.

  Pretty soon, good night, there was a shot!

  "Huh," Harry said, all the while stopping the machine; "looks likebusiness; I guess we're pinched."

  "That shot went over our heads," I said, "they didn't mean to hit us."

  Harry said, "No, but they meant to scare us and make us stop; I wonderwhat we're up against now."

  All of a sudden a thought popped into my head. "Hurry up," I said toGrove; "let's throw Ragtime Sandbanks out and they'll think they killedhim. Throw him out so he'll go down that bank beside the road--quick!"

  In about a jiffy out went our old college chum, Ragtime Sandbankssprawling kerflop on the edge of the road and kerplunk down into theditch where there was water running.

  "So long, old pal!" I shouted after him; "you died in a good cause."

  "Victim of an assassin," Pee-wee said.

  "He landed in the water," Grove said.

  "How can you _land_ in _water_?" Pee-wee wanted to know, all the whilecraning his neck out of the car. "He sank," he shouted; "I don't seehim."

  "End of _The Cowboy's Revenge_," Harry said; "what do you suppose willbe the next act in this interesting comedy?"

  "I think we're pinched," I said.

  "What did we do?" Grove wanted to know.

  "Who committed this murder? It wasn't any of us," I said.

  Harry just sat there with his arms on the wheel, looking around andwaiting for that car to catch up with us, and laughing.

  "I wish Brent was here," he said; "I think we're going to have some fun.This is right in his line."

  CHAPTER XXVII--WE ARE CAUGHT

  There were three men in that car and as soon as they caught up with us,I knew they were sheriffs or detectives or something like that, onaccount of their being big and kind of bossy looking.

  They got out and came up to our car and one of them said, very loud andgruff, "What are you doing with that car?"

  "Why, we're just sitting in it laughing," Harry said. "Here's another;why is a Ford like a poisonous snake? Give it up? Because it has arattle. Let's tell some more."

  "Who was that you throwed out of this car?" the man shouted right inHarry's face. All the while the other two men were down in the ditchlooking for the dummy. I guess it must have gone down in the water,anyway, they couldn't find it.

  Harry said, "Oh, that was really your fault; should be more careful whenyou shoot at random. That was a very famous personage--Mr. R. T.Sandbanks."

  Gee, I could hardly keep a straight face. The men just stood therestaring, and Harry just sat there with his arms folded on the steeringwheel, smiling just as nice as could be. Poor little Skinny was clingingto his arm. Pee-wee and Grove and I sat on the back seat trying not tolaugh. Those men looked at us as if they thought it was funny for boyscouts to be there, but we should worry about them. Our consciences wereclear, only we were hungry.

  "Look here, you," the big man said to Harry; "you got to explain yourmo
vements--and your actions."

  "Our actions can't be explained," Harry said; "we're all crazy. Butanything we can do to accommodate you----"

  All the while the other two men were poking around in the creek withsticks. The big man shook his finger right in Harry's face and said,"You're the feller that was in Wade's Hotel in Utica with a car with aNew York license. You were seen there. You had some stolen property inthat car. You've changed your license plate since then. Been in CrystalFalls ain't you? Get out of there, you kids, and let me look under thatseat. What are you doing with a crowd of young boys in this car,anyway?"

  Harry said, "My goodness, what a lot of questions! You're a regularquestionnaire, aren't you? Get up, boys."

  We got up and he dug around under the back seat, but didn't findanything. Then he dug in the side pockets and, good night, there wereour "papers" as Pee-wee called them.

  He said, "What's all this, eh?"

  Harry said, "Those? Oh, those are just some papers. One of them is aletter, and let's see, those two are newspaper articles and the other isa description of a tree. Do you like trees? We're crazy about trees."

  Oh, boy, you should have seen that man. He read those papers over andscowled. "Train robbed, huh?" he said. "Shootin' goin' on, huh? Now, whoare you, anyway, and who did you throw out of this car, and where didyou get this car, and where did you get this here license plate thatyou're using?"