CHAPTER XIII. THE MARKED SHOE AGAIN.
"He's got 'em again, boys!" exclaimed Giraffe, in utter disgust. "Youknow, time was when our friend Bumpus was always seein' things? He usedto get us up in the middle of the night huntin' around for all sorts ofcrazy wild beasts; and then, after we'd been nearly frozen, he'd yawn,say he guessed he must a been dreamin' again, and turn over to go tosleep. Now he's beginnin' to see things with his eyes open."
Everybody looked severely at Bumpus. Thad knew the ways of the fat boy aswell as any one could. And he understood that the other could not keep astraight face when attempting anything like a practical joke. A whimsicallittle grin would always betray Bumpus to shrewd and searching eyes.
But just then he had a solemn look. Bumpus even seemed to be aggrievedthat his word should be so lightly taken.
"But I ain't foolin', I tell you," he persisted. "I really and truly didsee somethin' that _looked_ like a man's face, peek in at that window!"
"Oh! hear him beginning to hedge, would you?" cried Davy, fiercely."First it was a man, and a white man too. Now he says it just looked likea man. Pretty soon he'll up and admit that he _thought_ he saw somethingmoving out there; and when we rush out to hunt around, I guess we'll findonly the limb of a tree that waves in the night wind. Oh! you Bumpus, weknow you, all right!"
"Oh! very well, if you don't believe me when I say so, and hold up myhand this way, why, I haven't got another thing to say," grumbled the fatboy. "But if I didn't see a face there, why, I'll, yes, I'll eat my hat."
"After all," remarked Thad, whom the guides had been watching, to taketheir cue from his actions, "it ought to be easy to prove Bumpus'statement one way or the other."
"How's that, Thad?" asked Step Hen.
"Why, all we have to do is to ask Sebattis here, or Eli, or Jim, to stepoutside and look for tracks!" remarked the patrol leader.
"Well what do you think of that for a bright lot of scouts?" laughedGiraffe. "That's what we ought to have thought of the first thing. Andthe sooner they get busy, the quicker we'll know whether Bumpus sawanything, or just thought he did."
Thad turned on the guides, and smiling, nodded his head. With thatsignal, which they easily understood, both Eli and the Indian darted overto the fire; while the boys watched them curiously.
"Oh! it's torches they're after!" exclaimed Bumpus, seeing the guidespicking out blazing brands that, to their practiced eyes, offered all theadvantages which a lantern might supply.
Doubtless one of the three men would have hastened to the door and pushedout to investigate, as soon as Bumpus raised his racket; only, hearingGiraffe making fun of the fat boy, they suspected it was only a prank hemight be playing; and none of them wished to be caught as the victim of apractical joke.
The door was somewhat difficult to open, but stout Jim threw his weightupon it, and had a passage for his fellow guides when they were ready tostep out.
Of course every one of the scouts hustled after, even Bumpus, which factseemed to speak well for his sincerity. Thad himself secretly believedthat there might be something in what Bumpus had said; and he preparedhimself to hear such an announcement from one of the two who wereintending to look for signs.
The very first thing both Sebattis and Eli did, after emerging from thehut, was to swing their torches violently around their heads. These madea hissing sound and the strange action quite aroused the curiosity ofsome of the scouts.
"Whatever are they doing that for?" asked Step Hen.
"Looks like they might be signallin' to somebody, and sayin' 'it's alloff,'" Davy remarked.
But somehow Giraffe, knowing all about fires, and what uses they could beput to, laughed at their dense ignorance.
"Why, don't you see," he declared with an air of superior wisdom, "whenthey whirl 'em around swiftly that way, it starts the flame to burningmore fiercely, and so they get better light. See, what did I tell you?Ain't they burnin' to beat the band now? Talk about your electric torch,bah! it ain't in the same class with a good live firebrand."
Both the Penobscot Indian and the old Maine guide had pushed close upunder the window by this time. It was seen that they carefully watchedwhere they were stepping, as though not wanting to interfere with anytracks that might happen to lie there.
Bumpus in particular watched their every move as though fascinated. Hisveracity had been attacked by his fellow scouts, and he was waiting tosee them "eat humble pie" pretty soon; for a face could not appear at thelittle dusty window without having connection with a human body; and thatin turn could not get there save through the aid of a pair of legs; whichwould be connected with feet that must leave some sort of trail.
No doubt that was the way Bumpus was figuring it out, as he stood backwith the others, and watched.
Eli evidently realized that though he might be an experienced hand at allsuch things as finding tracks and following them, under difficulties thatmight daunt many men, he could hardly expect to place himself in the sameclass with a genuine son of the forest.
Therefore, Thad noticed that the old Maine guide seemed to purposelyallow Sebattis to have the leading chance. He might know more than theIndian on many subjects, but was ready to "play second fiddle" as Giraffeexpressed it, when there was a trail to discover, or read.
Hardly had the red guide reached the side of the cabin near the window,than he made a slight motion with his hand. Eli had evidently beenwaiting for some such signal as this. He quickly moved over to where theother bent down; and the two of them seemed to be looking closely atsomething.
A minute later they moved forward, a step at a time, and evidentlyfollowing some tracks that were plainly marked upon the ground.
"Huh!" chuckled Bumpus; only that and nothing more; but the one wordcontained a world of meaning, and must have given him great satisfaction.
Perhaps, had he happened to be next to Giraffe, instead of Thad, he mighthave given the long-legged scout a sly dig in the ribs, and in this waylet him understand that he believed his vindication in a fair way ofbeing made complete.
"They've got something, that's sure," declared Davy Jones.
"And now they're right under the window, too." added Step Hen. "GuessBumpus wasn't dreamin' after all. He saw a face, all right. Look at 'emmovin' off now. Say, Thad, you don't think they're goin' to try andfollow the owner of that face up till they get him, do you?"
"Well, hardly," returned the patrol leader. "I suppose they just want tomake sure he did skip out, after he saw Bumpus had discovered him. Andthat looks like the fellow hardly cared to join our family circle."
"But who under the sun could he be, Thad?" asked Step Hen. "If there'smore or less game around these diggings p'raps some trapper's made up hismind to stay up here all winter, and take pelts. When he saw our crowd,he was that disgusted he just pulled up stakes, and lit out for all hewas worth."
"I think you're away off there, Step Hen," declared Giraffe. "Now, if Iwas asked my opinion, which nobody seems to care shucks for, I'd say thatfeller might be one of the two guides Mr. James W. Carson took into thewoods with him. You see, I reckon there's a heap of jealousy between allthese same guides; and it galled him to know that after they'd gone andfetched the gentleman away up here, promisin' that he'd have all the biggame huntin' he wanted, without being bothered by any other party, theyhad to run smack up against a pack of Boy Scouts, out on a trip. That'swhy he scooted the way he did, I say."
Giraffe looked toward Thad, as though wishing he would speak up, andeither substantiate his opinion, or else advance a new one. But thepatrol leader was closely watching the guides, and made no remark.
Sebattis and Eli had not gone far away. They seemed to be satisfied withfollowing the trail just a little distance; and then turning, came back.Arriving under the window again they beckoned the others to approach.
"Don't walk over this patch right hyar, boys," warned the old guide,pointing down close to his feet; and from this they understood that the
marks lay there.
"It's thar, all right, Thad," remarked Eli, with a grin. "Seems like theboy, he was right arter all, an' sum critter was a peekin' in at us."
Both Thad and Allan of course looked down at the ground. The guides heldtheir blazing pine-knots closer, so that they could see better.
The impression of human foot could not be easily mistaken for the trackof any sort of wild beast. Even the most ignorant tenderfoot scout thatever joined a troop must have known that fact at a glance.
But the patrol leader and the Maine boy seemed to discover somethingabout the imprint of a shoe that caused them to stare. The balance of thescouts realized that something was about to happen beyond the ordinary:for they pushed in closer, and waited for either of the two experts toadvance an opinion.
Allan looked at Thad, and the other returned his glance with a nod.
"Seen that track before, eh, Allan?" Thad remarked.
"I sure have, for a fact," replied the Maine lad, positively.
"Remember how you found a footprint at that other camp of ours, beforethe sheriff came along; it had a patch across the sole, and so has thisone. So it stands to reason that the same fellow made both prints. Anddidn't Sheriff Green tell us the leader of those hobo burglars wore ashoe that had just this same criss-cross patch on the sole? That lookslike we might be somewhere close to that bunch of rascals right now; andthat the sheriff must have gone off on the wrong scent."
The other scouts listened to all this with wide-open eyes, andexpressions of both amazement and eagerness; but it was Giraffe whovoiced their feelings when he exclaimed, drawing in a long breath:
"Wow! and again I say, wow!"