CHAPTER XVII
JOE DECLINES TO TELL
"Joe, I'd like to have you step over here a minute!"
Supper had been eaten amid the best of feeling. The assembled scoutsforgot for the time being all their troubles. Lame feet failed to ache,and tired knees had all the buoyancy of youth again.
The mysterious mountain towered above them, seeming to invite a furtherand closer acquaintance. Beside the camp ran the brawling stream, andthe noise of its rushing water would either lull the tired lads tosleep, or else keep them from doing so. Trees overhung the numeroustents; and on the whole the camp was a pretty sight, as many a laddeclared in his log of the trip.
When Joe heard Paul say the few words that begin this chapter he gave asudden start, and looked up quickly. But the patrol leader and actingscoutmaster had already turned away, and was walking beyond the confinesof the camp.
After hesitating a moment Joe scrambled to his feet, and followed hischief. He acted as though he more than half suspected just what it wasPaul wanted to say to him; for several times Joe gritted his teeth, andshook his head in a way he had; for he was known to be very stubbornsometimes.
He found Paul on the bank of the Bushkill. He had seated himself on aconvenient rock, and was waiting. The moon drifted in through openingsamong the trees, and falling on the water made it look like silver; withfrosting here and there, where the foam splashed up around the rockslying in the bed of the stream.
"What d'ye want, Paul?" asked Joe, as he came up.
The noise of the moving water was such that he had to elevate his voicemore than a little in order to be heard distinctly.
"Sit down here, Joe, please," remarked Paul, pleasantly. "I wanted tohave a little talk with you on the side, where none of the boys couldhear, that's all."
"About what?" asked the other, weakly.
"Well, perhaps it's none of my business; but since I chanced to be oneof those with you the night we found your father, and heard about hislosing that little tin box with those valuable papers, I thought perhapsyou might be willing to take me into your confidence, Joe. I want tohelp you all I can. You believe that, don't you?"
Joe moved uneasily. He had accepted the invitation to sit down, but hismanner was not at all confidential.
"Why, of course I do, Paul," Joe presently observed, slowly, "I knowyou're always ready to help any fellow who gets in trouble. There ain'ta better friend in the whole troop than you are to everybody. But what'sgot you now? Have I been a doin' anything I hadn't ought to?"
"You know it isn't that, Joe. I wanted to speak to you about that tinbox your father said was taken from him that night."
"Oh, was that it?" remarked Joe, faintly, and catching his breath.
"You believe that I'd like to help get it back for him, don't you?"demanded the young patrol leader.
"I remember hearing you say you'd be glad to have a hand in recoverin'it; and I guess you meant it every time, Paul," came the reply.
"Well," Paul continued, "perhaps the chance may come to me up here onRattlesnake Mountain, Joe. It would be queer now, wouldn't it, if, incoming up to this country we just happened to land on the chap who wasin your father's store that night, and put out the lamp after he hadpicked up that little old tin box, eh?"
Joe seemed to have some difficulty in answering. He appeared to beswallowing a lump in his throat as though it threatened to choke him.
"Why, yes," he presently managed to mutter, "that would be funny now,for a fact. My dad'd like mighty well to get that stuff back, Paul, surehe would."
"Perhaps then you wouldn't mind telling me who that man was, Joe,"remarked Paul, quietly.
"What man?" queried Joe, though his voice betrayed the fact that he knewonly too well what his friend was driving at.
"I chanced to see you when that party drove past our noon camp," saidPaul, softly. "You recognized him, Joe, I am sure you did; and youshowed every sign of being both startled and alarmed."
"Huh! well," Joe stammered, "you see it did give me a sorter start,because he looked like somebody I knew was at the other side of theworld right then. I reckon you'd feel upset like, Paul, if you thoughtyou saw a ghost."
"Perhaps I would," replied the patrol leader, quickly; "but youimmediately knew that it wasn't a ghost. Still, it has been botheringyou all the afternoon, Joe."
"Say, what makes you think that?"
"I've watched you when you didn't think anybody was looking," Paul wenton. "I've seen you shake your head and talk to yourself as if you mightbe trying to believe something your common sense told you couldn't beso. How about it, Joe?"
"Oh! I'm willing to admit I've been mixed up about that thing, and badtoo," confessed Joe, as if brought to bay; "but I ain't goin' to sayanything about it, not just yet anyhow. I must see dad first, and gethis opinion."
"Well, I don't want to force you, Joe, against your will. If you thinkit best to keep your little secret, do it; but perhaps later on you maybe changing your mind. If we just happened to meet up with thatgentleman while we knocked around old Rattlesnake Mountain, perhapsyou'd be glad to get back that tin box again."
"Sure I would, Paul. Please don't think I'm not wantin' to trust you,because I hold back. I want to think it all over by myself to-night.Perhaps in the mornin' I might tell you about it."
"Then I won't say anything more now, Joe. Only believe that I'm ready todo everything I can to help you. That man came all the way up here."
"How d'ye know that?"
"Why, even a tenderfoot could tell that much," observed the patrolleader, calmly; "his horse left marks all the way. If you went out onthe road now, and lit a match, you'd see the print of shod hoofs, andthe lines made by the wheels. So you see, Joe, it wouldn't be sostrange if we _did_ happen to run across him some fine day."
"Oh! I wonder what I ought to do? What would dad say if he knew?" andmuttering half to himself in this way, Joe wandered back to his seatbeside the big fire that was making all outdoors look bright with colorand warmth.
Paul was more mystified than ever. Who could that man be, and why shouldpoor Joe feel so badly over having set eyes on him? If he were anordinary person, and suspicion pointed his way, one would think that theson of the feed-man would welcome his detention, which might result inthe finding of the stolen property.
But on the contrary Joe seemed to be dreadfully alarmed over something.
"Oh! well," Paul finally said to himself as he left the rock and turnedto go back to the camp; "it may be a family secret of some sort, and Ihave no business to be poking into it. I'll just keep my hands off, andwait for Joe to speak, if he cares to. Besides, I've got plenty of otherthings to keep me hustling."
He happened to glance up at the frowning mountain while walking awayfrom the river bank. Suddenly there flashed a little light away upyonder. Once, twice it seemed to flash up, and then was gone.
"Now, I wonder what that could be?" said a voice close beside him.
"Why, hello, Wallace, is that you?" laughed Paul; "and I guess you musthave made the same discovery I did?"
"Meaning that queer little light up there, eh, Paul?" remarked theother, who had been walking about uneasily, and just chanced to faceupward at the time the double flash came.
"Yes. I wonder what it was," Paul went on, thoughtfully. "I happen toknow that Ted and his bunch are ahead of us somewhere, and that mighthave been a signal to fellows who were left down here to do something toupset our camp."
"Now, do you know, Paul," Wallace went on; "I hadn't thought of that.I'll tell you what it looked like to me--some man lighting his pipe. Yousaw the light go up and down; that was when he puffed. But it was toofar away to see any face."
Paul, remembering the man who had gone up the side of the mountain withthat rig, wondered very much whether Wallace could be right, and if theunknown was even then looking down upon them from that height.
This made him turn his thoughts back to the noon camp, and try toremember whether the man in the buggy had shown that h
e recognized Joeat the time the boy so suddenly sprang to his feet with a cry.
At any rate the unknown had whipped up his horse, and seemed in a greathurry to depart from the spot.
That night the Banner Boy Scouts were just as merry as before. A banjohad been brought along, and to the plunkety-plunk of its tuneful musicthey sang every popular song known among Stanhope's rising generation.
"I just don't exactly like the looks of the sky," remarked Wallace, asthe time for sounding taps drew near.
He had found Paul examining the ropes of the various tents as thoughcurious to see how well they had been secured.
"That's why I'm overhauling these tent pins and ropes," laughed theother, as he rose up. "The clouds have rolled up, and it feels as if wemight have a bit of a Summer storm. Perhaps it would be a good thing forthe boys to have an experience like that, if only our supplies can bekept dry."
When they finally retired, the sky seemed to have cleared again. Paulset his guards and took his place in his tent, for his turn would notcome until later.
He was tired and soon fell into a heavy sleep. Jack was on duty, andcould be depended on to keep a good watch.
Paul was aroused from slumber by loud cries. Sitting hurriedly up hefound the tent wabbling to and fro in a violent manner, while the airseemed full of the most alarming sounds. He crawled out without wastinga minute, and shouted aloud to make the balance of the boys get busybefore everything was swept away by the violence of the gale.