CHAPTER XVIII
WHAT THAD FOUND OUT
"That sounds good to me, Thad," remarked Allan.
"Hold on before you say that," the other went on to say, significantly.
"What about it?" demanded Allan.
"Because we don't know who they may be, if there are men out here,"answered the cautious scout-master.
The other gave a low whistle that stood for surprise.
"I see now, what you mean," he observed; "but what makes you think thereare others here, when they never lifted a hand to help us, and haven'tas much as dropped in to sit at our fire?"
"Well, perhaps they don't want to see us," Thad told him.
"Oh! yes, we were talking about smugglers, and then we ran across thatMr. Stebbins who knew all about us, and he was one of a party looking upthe slick men who fetch things over from Canada to escape the heavyduties. But Thad do you, really believe there could be a bunch of thatstripe hiding out on Sturgeon Island?"
"I don't know anything yet, Allan, except that I've reason to know we'renot alone out here, that's all."
"Well, what did you see, or hear?" asked the other.
"This is what happened," Thad went on to say, in a low tone, though thestorm was still making such a racket that he had to put his mouth closeto Allan's ear in order to allow him to catch what he said. "While therest kept up their talking I came out here to see how things looked, andmake up my mind whether we were going to have any wet with this gale ornot."
"Yes, and it don't look like it now, Thad, because it's gone so far;reckon it must be what they call a dry storm; but go on and tell me therest."
"Well, I was standing about here, in the dense shadow, you see,thinking, when all at once I discovered that there was something movingbetween me and the fire!"
"Whew!" murmured Allan, deeply impressed.
"Of course, at first I thought it might be only a fox, or something likethat, curious enough to want to creep up, and learn what sort ofintruders had landed on Sturgeon Island; I could see that the busheswere moving softly, and that soon the thing, whatever it was, would comein sight of where stood here."
"And it did?" Allan demanded.
"That's right," replied the other, softly; "and it turned out to be aman's head!"
At that the other scout again gave one of his low whistles, to show thathe was listening, and duly impressed by the startling informationconveyed.
"Of course," continued Thad, "I couldn't make out what he was like, verywell, because his face was turned away from me; but as near as I can sayhe was a big man, a rough looking chap, and ugly in the bargain. Morethan that, he struck me like he might be a half-breed, or else anItalian, for his skin was very dark."
"Well, what did he do?" inquired the other.
"Just lay there watching the rest of you for several minutes, Allan. Icould see him elevate his head at times, and then duck like a flash whenhe thought some one might be looking his way; which showed prettyplainly that he didn't want to be seen, and that he didn't mean to stepforward and join the crowd."
"Then he went away, did he?" continued the other.
"Yes, backed off, and I lost track of him among the rocks and thebushes," Thad went on to say, impressively. "It struck me as a queerproceeding, and I didn't lose much time in getting you out here, so Icould talk it over."
"Perhaps there's only one, all told, and he might be some fellow who'sescaped from prison, and is in hiding away off here, where he thinks noone will ever take the trouble to look for him," Allan suggested.
The scout-master shook his head.
"I can't say just what he is, or whether there's a dozen here," heobserved; "but I do know that all his actions were suspicious, for nohonest fisherman would do what he did."
"We'll have to be on our guard, then, Thad?"
"That goes without saying, until we know more about who our neighborsare," the scout-master replied.
"It sort of complicates the situation some, too, don't it?" Allan asked.
"Yes, and perhaps we'd better not say anything to the rest until welearn something more about this thing," Thad told him.
"How are you going to do that, when this man seems disposed to give usthe cold-shoulder?" inquired the other.
"I had about made up my mind to go off for a little stroll, and see whatI could run across near by," the scout-master continued. "This islandisn't so very large but I could find my way around; and while that stormis howling I'm not anxious to cross over to the other side. This is thesheltered part, and like as not these people, whoever they turn out tobe, will have taken up their camp somewhere about here. But I wanted towarn you so you might make sure none of the other fellows wandered off."
"I'll see to it, though I don't think they're apt to do anything of thatsort, as they're a tired bunch right now," Allan assured him.
"And while you're about it," continued the other, impressively, "you'dbetter keep your hand on that shotgun of ours all the while, until yousee me beckon to you again."
"That sounds like you expected we'd be up against it good and hardbefore this game came to an end," remarked Allan.
"Oh! not necessarily," replied his chum. "It's only following out ourmotto, 'be prepared.' You know there are a whole lot of sayings alongthat line, such as 'fore-warned is fore-armed,' and as the old pilgrimfathers used to say: 'trust in the Lord; but, keep your powder dry!' Wewant to keep our ammunition ready. But while you go back to the rest ofthe boys I'll take a sneak."
"Don't think you'd better take that gun along with you, Thad?"
"Not at all," was the quick reply. "I'll depend on the darkness, andthe noise of the storm, to keep from being seen or heard. But I'm benton trying to find out whether there's any sort of shack or cabin builthere on Sturgeon Island.
"Well, take good care of yourself," warned Allan, a little uneasily; forit was almost on his lips to ask why he might not be permitted to keepthe scout-master company, for he did hate so much to see Thad pull outalone.
He insisted on gravely shaking hands before he would leave his partner,to return to the camp under the rocky shelf. They had been so muchtogether of recent years that these two boys were exceedingly fond ofeach other, more so than brothers could ever have been; which was onereason why Allan disliked seeing the other moving away into thedarkness, and taking voluntarily upon himself the dangers such a scoutinvolved.
Obeying orders he himself made his way back to where the other sat.Giraffe was holding out, and explaining something that he had advanced;but evidently he must have noticed the absence of the others, for hesoon asked:
"What's the good word, Allan; because I reckon you and our scout-masterhave been taking a squint at the weather? I was just telling the resthere that we won't get any wet with this blow, because all the signspoint that way, and as I said before. I'm getting to be an authority onweather now-a-days.
"That was about what we thought," Allan told him.
"You mean that Thad is with me in my assertion, do you?" demandedGiraffe; and when the other had nodded in the affirmative the tall scoutturned to Davy, Bumpus and Step Hen triumphantly, to add: "There, didn'tI tell you I could hit these weather changes on the handle every time.When I warn you next time there's going to be a storm, better hurry toget in out of the wet."
"I think it's a great pity you waste your precious time bothering aboutwhat the weather is agoing to be, when we can't help it; and you mightbe racking that really stupendous brain of yours adoing other thingsworth while," Bumpus went on to remark.
"Huh! as what?" Giraffe wanted to know.
"Well, famines in the eating line, for one thing," spoke up the fatscout, instantly. "S'pose now you'd told us we was going to run upagainst hard times, in the way of a scarcity of grub two days back,couldn't we just as well have dropped in to some town along the shore,and stacked up with heaps and heaps of good things? Seems to me,Giraffe, you've gone and wasted your talent on the wrong thing. Whatgood is it ever agoing to do you, to pretend t
o tell what sort ofweather we'll get next week, when it's only a guess after all? Bettermake a change, and predict famines and such things, so we can take thealarm, and buy out some country grocery."
Giraffe had not one word to say in reply. He must have recognized theforce of Bumpus' philosophy, and wished in his heart he had been giftedwith the spirit of prophecy, so that he might have given warning in duetime as to the need of replenishing their stock of provisions.
The conversation ran on, other subjects being taken up. Giraffe wantedto know what kept Thad away so long, and was told that the scout-masterhad concluded to take a little look around.
At that the other suggested that perhaps he too might stretch his legs;whereupon Allan informed him that he was under orders to keep them allclose to the ledge under which they had found shelter; and that Thad hadtold him no one must be allowed to stray away a single yard.
After that the boys did not talk quite so volubly; possibly somesuspicion may have entered their minds that perhaps things were notquite so peaceful as they appeared on the surface; and that Thad mightknow of some reason for expecting a new batch of troubles to descendupon them.
Allan kept sitting there, gun in hand. He was waiting to receive somesort of sign from Thad, to tell him his presence was desired once againout there beside the tree where they had previously conferred.
It seemed a very long time before he caught a movement there, and thensaw the hand of the scout-master beckoning to him.
"Stay here, as Thad wants to talk with me," he told the rest, afterwhich he strode forth to join the other.
"Well, did you find out anything?" he asked, the first thing.
"Only this," replied Thad, solemnly, "the island is occupied by a partyof several rough men, who have a boat in a sheltered cove over there,and a cabin half hidden among the rocks and brushwood; but the mysteryof it all is, what they may be doing here, and why they look on us asenemies!"