CHAPTER XV
ORDERED OFF
It was about four o'clock in the afternoon of this, the first day oftheir intended stay on Cedar Island, when Paul and his three comradescame running around the bend of the shore above the camp, and saw some ofthe scouts beckoning wildly to them.
"They've gone and grabbed him, sure as shooting!" gasped Bobolink,exultantly.
But Jack and Paul noted that while there teemed to be a cluster of theboys no strange form could be seen among them. In fact, they appeared tobe greatly excited over something Jud Elderkin was holding.
And in this manner then did the quartette reach the camp.
"Where is he; got him tied up good and hard?" demanded Bobolink, speakingwith difficulty, from lack of breath.
Nobody paid the slightest attention to what he was saying; and soBobolink, happening to notice that it was Curly Baxter who had beentaking liberties with his precious bugle, quietly possessed himself ofit, and examined it carefully, to make sure that it had not been dented.
"Take a look at this, Paul," said Jud, as he held out the flutteringpiece of paper that had evidently caused all the excitement.
Written upon this the scout master saw only a few words, but theypossessed considerable significance, when viewed in the light of thestrange happenings of the recent past.
"_Leave this island at once_!"
Just five words in all. Whoever wrote that order must be a man who didnot believe in wasting anything. There was no penalty attached, and theywere at liberty to believe anything they chose; just the plain command toget out, and somehow it seemed more impressive because of its brevity.
Paul looked at Jack, and then around at the anxious faces of the otherscouts. He saw only blank ignorance there. Nobody could imagine what thisstrange order meant. The island might have an owner, but at the best itwas only a worthless bit of property, and their camping on its shore fora week could not be considered in the light of trespass.
"Where did you get this, Jud?" asked the scout master.
"Why, Old Dan Tucker brought it to me," replied the leader of the GrayFox Patrol, promptly.
"And where did _you_ find it, Dan?" continued Paul, turning on the scoutin question, who seemed only too willing to tell all he knew--which, itturned out, was precious little at best.
"Why, you see, I had a dispute with Nuthin about the number of hamsfetched on the trip. He vowed there was two, and I said three, countin'the one we'd cut into last night. So to prove it, I just happened to stepinto the tent where we've got some of the grub piled up. It was three,all right, just as I said. But I found this paper pinned to one of thewhole hams, which, you know, are sewed up in covers right from thepackers. I couldn't make out what it meant. First I thought Nuthin wasplayin' a joke on me; but he denied it. So I took the paper to Jud,seein' that you were away, Paul."
"It was pinned to one of the hams, was it?" asked the scoutmaster, frowning.
"Sure, and the pin's still stickin' in it," answered Dan, positively.
Paul looked around.
"I want to settle one thing right at the start, before we bother any moreabout this matter," he remarked. "Did any one of you write this, or haveyou ever seen it before Dan brought it to Jud?"
"He showed it to me," exclaimed Nuthin; "but it was the first time Iever glimpsed that paper or writin', Paul, I give you my word."
"If anybody else has seen it before, I want him to hold up his hand,"continued the scout master, knowing how prone boys are to play pranks.
The boys glanced at each other; but not a single hand went up.
"Well, that settles one thing, then," declared Paul. "This note camefrom some one not belonging to our camp. He must have crawled into thetent from the rear, taking advantage of our being busy. Yes, there's abunch of scrub close enough to give him more or less shelter, if hecrawled on all fours. Let's see if one or two of the tent pins haven'tbeen drawn up."
Followed by the rest, Paul strode over to the tent where a quantity ofthe provisions were kept. Entering this, he quickly saw that it wasexactly as he had suggested. Three of the tent pins, which the boys hadpounded down with the camp axe, had been pulled up, and this slackallowed the intruder to crawl under the now loose canvas.
"I can see the place he shuffled along, and where his toes dug into theearth," declared Jack, as he bent over.
"We'll try and follow it up presently, and see where he got on his feetto move off," Paul remarked. "I'd like to find out whether his shoesmake a mark anything like some of those we were looking at up theshore, Jack."
"Whew!" exclaimed Bobolink, who was again deeply interested in what wasgoing on, since he had found his precious bugle unharmed.
"Let's look at that paper again," resumed Paul. "The writing was donewith a fountain pen, I should say. That seems to tell that the owner wasno common hobo. And the writing is as clear as the print in our copybooksat school. The man who did that was a penman, believe me. 'Leave thisisland at once!' Just like that, short and crisp. Not a threat about whatwill happen if we don't, you see; we're expected to just imagine allsorts of terrible things, unless we skip out right away. One thing sure,Jud, your wild man never wrote that note, or even pinned it on our ham,because the crawler wore shoes."
"That's right," muttered Jud, his face betraying the admiration he feltfor the scout master who knew so well how to patch things together, sothat they seemed to be almost as plain as print.
"Now, the rest of you just stay around while I take Jack and Bobolinkwith me along this trail. We want to settle one thing, and that'll comewhen we hit the place where this party got up on his feet to move off."
So saying, Paul himself got down and deliberately crawled under thecanvas the same way the trespasser had. Jack and Bobolink hastened tofollow his example, only too well pleased to be selected to accompanythe leader.
It was no great task to follow the marks made by the crawling man. Histoes had dug into the soil, going and coming, for apparently he had usedthe same trail both ways.
"Here we are, boys; now, take a look!" said Paul, presently.
They were by this time in the midst of the timber with which this end ofthe island was covered. Glimpses of the tents could be seen between thetrees; but any intruder might feel himself reasonably justified in risingto his full height when he had made a point so well screened frominquisitive eyes.
This man had done so, at any rate. The plain print of his shoes wasvisible in a number of places. Both Jack and Bobolink gave utterance toexclamations as soon as they saw these.
"One of the four, that's dead sure!" the former declared, positively.
"I'll be badgered if it ain't!" muttered Bobolink, staring at the tracks.
"So you see, we've settled one thing right at the start," said Paul.
"That's what we have," observed Bobolink. "It's those fellows who carriedthe heavy load from the rowboat, after landin' on the island, after therain storm, that want our room more'n our company. The nerve of thatbunch to tell us to clear out, when chances are we've got just as muchright here as they have--p'raps a heap sight more."
"That doesn't sound much like you wanted to make a change of base,Bobolink?" remarked Paul, smiling.
"No more do I," quickly replied the other. "I'm not used to bein' orderedaround as if I was a slave. What if there are four of them, aren'teighteen husky scouts equal to such a crowd? No, siree, if you left it tome, I'd say stick it out till the last horn blows. Give 'em the defiright from the shoulder. Tell 'em to go hang, for all we care. We c'ntake care of ourselves, mebbe; and mind our own business in the bargain."
"But it's something else that makes you want to stay?" Paul suggested.
"How well you know my cut, Paul," declared the other. "You reckon I nevercan stand a mystery. It gets on my nerves, keeps me awake nights, andplays hob with my think-box all the time. Now, there was those boxes--butI guess I'll try and forget all about that matter now, because we've gota sure enough puzzle to solve right on our hands. Who are these four m
en;what are they hiding on Cedar Island for; why should they want to chaseus away if they weren't afraid we'd find out _somethin_' they're a-doin'here, that ain't just accordin' to the law?"
"You've got it pretty straight, Bobolink," admitted Paul. "But sincewe've learned all we wanted to find out, suppose we go back to the restof the boys. We must talk this thing over, and decide what's to be done."
"Do you mean about skipping out, Paul?" Bobolink exclaimed. "Oh! I hopenow, you won't do anything like that. I'd feel dreadfully mean to sneakaway. Always did hate to see a cur dog do that, with his tail betweenhis legs."
"Still, it might seem best to leave here by dark," said Paul.
Something in his manner gave Jack a clue as to the meaning back of thesewords. He knew the scout master better than did any other fellow in thetroop, and was accustomed to reading his motives in his look or manner.
"I take it that means we might _pretend_ to clear out, and come backunder cover of the night, to make another camp; eh, Paul?" Jack nowremarked, insinuatingly.
"That was what I had in mind," admitted the other; "but of course it'llbe up to the boys to settle such a question. I believe in every fellowhaving a voice in things that have to do with the general business ofthe camp. But majority rules when once the vote is taken--stay, or gofor good."
"Glad to hear you say so," ventured Bobolink. "Because here's three votesthat will be cast for sticking it out; and if I know anything about Judand Nuthin and Bluff, together with several more, the majority will wantto stick. But I mean to give them a hint that we think that way. Severalweak-kneed brothers are always ready to vote the way the leaders do. Whenthe scout master takes snuff they start to sneezing right away."
"And for that very reason, Bobolink, I don't want you to say a word inadvance to any of the fellows. When we have a vote, it should be the freeopinion of every scout, without his being influenced by another. But whatdo you think of the idea, Jack?"
"I think it's just great," answered his chum. "And by the way, if weshould conclude to come back to the island again in the night, I know thefinest kind of a place where we could hide the motorboats."
"Where is that?" asked the scout master, quickly.
"You haven't been around on the side of the island where the shore curvesinto a little bay, like. The trees grow so close that their branchesoverhang the water. If the boats were left in there, and some green stuffdrawn around them, I don't believe they'd ever be noticed, unless someone was hunting every foot of the island over for them."
"Yes, I think I know where you mean," said Paul. "I wasn't down by thelittle inlet you speak of; but back on the shore there's a dandy placeamong the rocks and trees, where we could pitch a new camp, and keeppretty well hidden, unless we happened to make a lot of noise, whichwe won't do if we can help it But everything depends on how the boyslook at it."
"Anyhow," said Bobolink, resolutely; "I feel that we ought to put it upto them that way; tell 'em how easy it will be to screen the boats, andhave a hidden camp. You'll let me tell about that, Paul, I hope, even ifI mustn't say you mean to vote to come back?"
"I suppose that would be fair enough, because we ought to hold up ourside of the question," the scout master replied, as they drew near theplace where the three tents stood, and several groups of chatteringscouts could be seen, doubtless earnestly discussing this mysteriousthing that had come about; for, of course, Tom Betts had already told allabout the suspicious tracks of the four men who had carried a heavyburden into the brush.
They looked eagerly toward the advancing three, as though expecting thatPaul would now take them fully into his confidence.
This he proceeded to do without further delay; and it was worth whileobserving the various shades of emotion that flitted across the faces ofthe listeners while the scout master was talking. Some seemed alarmed,others disposed to be provoked, while not a few, Bobolink noted withsecret glee, allowed a frown to mark their foreheads, as though they weregrowing angry at being so summarily ordered off the island by theseunknown men, who did not even have the decency to present their commandof dismissal in person.
He knew these fellows could be counted on to vote the right way when thequestion came up as to what they should do.
When the entire thing had been explained, so that they all understood it,Paul asked for a vote as to whether they clear out altogether, or appearto do so, only to come back again.
And, just as the sanguine Bobolink had expected, it resulted in thirteendeclaring it to be their idea that they should come back, and try to findout what all these queer goings-on meant. When the result of the vote wasmade known, even the five who had voted to go moved that it be madeunanimous.
Perhaps they came to the conclusion that since a return was decided on itwould be safer to be with the rest on the haunted island, than off bythemselves in a lone tent on the distant shore, where no assistance couldreach them.
"Well, we'd better have an early supper, then, and get away; or since itis getting dark now, perhaps we'll have to put off the eating part untillater," Paul suggested.
"Any old time will do for that," declared Bobolink, carelessly, whereuponOld Dan Tucker gave him a look of dismay, and sadly shook his head, asthough he did not indorse such a foolish theory at all.
So, when the others were carrying things to the boats, and showingconsiderable nervousness while doing it, Old Dan managed to fill hispockets with crackers, which he hoped might stave off starvation for alittle while at least.
Acting on the suggestion of Jack, the scouts gave all sorts ofexhibitions of alarm as they busied themselves taking down the tents, andloading their traps aboard the two motorboats. Every now and then one ofthem would point somewhere up or down the shore, as though he thought hesaw signs of the enemy coming, whereupon a knot of the boys would gather,and stare, and then scatter, to work more feverishly than ever.
They really enjoyed acting the part, too. It seemed to appeal to theirfondness for a joke. And the best of it was, they always fancied thatsomewhere or other at least one pair of hostile eyes must be observingthese signs of panic with satisfaction.
Just as darkness began to creep over water and island, clouds shuttingout the moonlight again, all was pronounced ready. And then the cheery"chug" of the motors sounded, for the boys purposely made all the noisethey could, under the impression that it might seem to add to theappearance of a hasty flight.
In this manner did the troop of scouts break camp before they had been onCedar Island more than twenty-four hours; and, so far as appearanceswent, deserted the place of the evil name for good and all.