CHAPTER IV
READING A "SIGN" BY TORCHLIGHT
Of course it gave the leader of the Wolf patrol a thrill when heheard this low warning from Ralph. You never would have known it,though, from any uneasy movement on his part.
He knew that the boy who had spent so much of his time in the woods,trapping the cunning little furry inhabitants in seasons gone by,would not alarm him needlessly. And so, watching his chance, Hughmanaged to shoot a glance toward the opening without betraying thefact that he was particularly interested in that quarter.
As he did so, he was just in time to see a face vanish from view.In fact, he barely caught a fleeting glimpse of it, and yet Hugh feltperfectly sure that he had not alarmed the watcher in any way.
The cause of the unknown party's sudden withdrawal was speedily madeplain. Bud seemed to be gasping, and immediately whispered hoarsely:
"Great guns! did you see that, fellows? As sure as my name's BudMorgan there was a man peeking in at the window there! Honest Injun,there was!"
Undoubtedly the unknown visitor must have discovered Bud staringstraight at him, and thought it high time to disappear.
"Yes, we both saw him, Bud," said Hugh, rather disappointed that, afterall, the fellow had been chased away before they could find out hisidentity or what he wanted, prowling around in such a suspicious way.
"Who in the dickens was it?" exclaimed Bud, evidently growing angrynow that his astonishment had worn away. "The nerve of him, pokinghis nose in where it isn't wanted! Why don't we get a move on andchase after him? Ralph, remember that you've got your scatter-gunhandy. Don't forget to take that, will you?"
"Did you recognize that face, Ralph?" asked the practical scout leader,turning to the young trapper of the past.
"I think---yes, I'm nearly dead sure it was one of the two men I sawacting in such a suspicious way this afternoon," came the answer.
"Which one, would you say?" continued Hugh.
"The taller one," came from Ralph without hesitation. "I think yousaid he looked a little like the German type, wasn't that about it,Ralph?"
"Yes, that was what I believed at the time I saw him," replied theother.
He had already stepped over and picked up his gun. There was agleam in his eyes that told of a spirit aroused. Ralph had becomea scout and was to the best of his ability trying to live up to theduties of one belonging to the organization; but of course there weretimes when the old spirit would come to the surface. The presentoccasion was one of these moments.
"Let's go outside and look around," Hugh suggested.
"Bully idea!" muttered the impatient Bud; and having no gun to grasp,he made a lunge for the stout stick which Ralph had been using as asort of poker when the fire needed attention.
Hugh did something still more practical. He stooped down and calmlyselected a certain blazing brand from the fire. This was of such anature that when properly handled it could be made to serve as apretty fair torch.
When Bud saw what the patrol leader was doing, he grunted andnodded his head as though comprehending things. Bud always could"see through a mill-stone that had a hole in it," as he was accustomedto say; in so many words, he was quick to grasp things after somesmarter fellow had blazed the way. A "hint was as good as a nod"to Bud.
"Fine thing, Hugh!" he commented admiringly. He realized how valuablesuch a light might prove under the circumstances.
Ralph removed the piece of board that served to hold the door shut,and boldly led the way outside. The others pressed closely at hisheels, Hugh holding the spluttering torch above his head and Budgripping his club with the full intention of using it should theoccasion warrant such action.
All was dark and still without. The night wind moaned in the branchesof the trees where the leaves had fallen, or rustled the brown foliageof the oaks; but they could see no hostile form.
"Oh! he skipped out, all right, sure he did!" declared Bud, withsomething like a sneer in his voice. "He knew I had glimpsed him,and he didn't have the nerve to hold over and meet us face to face.Wonder if it would make him run any faster if you banged away acouple of times with your gun, Ralph?"
The idea did not seem to appeal to Ralph, however, for he made notthe slightest effort to act upon it. Standing there, he stared aroundat the gloomy woods and waited to see what Hugh would so.
The latter had also taken a fair survey of the singular picture asseen by the weird light of the torch. Presently he stepped forwardand turned the corner of the shack. Ralph followed him closely,while Bud, still holding his cudgel in an aggressive manner, postedhimself at the corner, where he could not only watch what the otherfellows did but at the same time keep an eye on the door. He didnot mean to leave the way open for anybody to sneak into the shackwhile their attention was directed elsewhere,---not if he knew hisduty, and he believed he did.
Now Hugh, being an experienced scout, first of all thought to makesure that they had really been spied upon. This he knew could bereadily ascertained by examining the ground under the opening calleda window. Men can hardly stand on ordinary soil without leavingsome sort of impression there. And those boys who have spent manya vacation in the woods, studying Indian tactics as applied to thelife of a scout, know how to read such signs almost as easily asthey might the printed page of a book.
Bending down therefore at the suspected spot, Hugh quickly pointed outthe imprint of feet to Ralph.
"That proves it!" exclaimed the other as he flung a hasty glance overhis shoulder, apparently half suspecting that the object of theirconversation might suddenly burst upon his vision.
"Yes, it's easy to see he was standing here after creeping on hishands and knees," Hugh remarked, still studying the marks. "Andhe's wearing a pretty fine pair of modern shoes into the bargain;which shows that the men you saw were _not_ tramps. At the sametime, Ralph, I can't believe they were timber-cruisers, either,looking for new belts of forest that could be bought up. WheneverI've seen one of those men, he wore laced hunting shoes that camehalf way to the knee, so as to protect his legs against snake-bitesand thorns while pushing through the scrub. No, this man has rathera dainty foot, and it strikes me as mighty queer he should bewandering around here."
"What are we going to do next?" asked Ralph, looking as though hestood ready to carry out any suggestion Hugh might make, even tochasing around and trying to follow the trail of the fleeing spy.
"Nothing, that I can see," answered Hugh; "and so let's go in again.We can talk it over better there than out here, you know."
Two minutes later and they were once more indoors. Seated beforethe fire, they canvassed the matter thoroughly. From every anglethey tried to penetrate the mystery, but it seemed to baffle them.
"I had an experience once that makes me sort of think they may bekeepers from some asylum looking for an escaped lunatic," Hughfinally remarked; "though if that were the case, they'd be apt towear some sort of gray uniform, and you didn't say anything aboutthat, Ralph."
"Yes," added the other, quickly, "but if that's what they were, whyshould they act so queer? Wouldn't two such men want to scrape anacquaintance with us scouts, so as to get a few pointers? I don'tthink that covers the bill, Hugh."
"And I didn't, either, when I spoke of it," the patrol leader said,as he smiled and nodded his head. "But perhaps Bud may set us right.I can see from the look on his face that he has a brilliant idea."
"Oh, shucks! I don't know how brilliant it is," the party mentionedhastened to remark, "but you're welcome to my thought. Suppose therehappened to be some desperate men hiding up here in these woods, saycounterfeiters, for instance? I've heard that such fellows alwaystry to pick a lonely place to do their work in. Well, the Governmentalways sends out smart men belonging to the Secret Service to roundthese chaps up. I was speculating on whether those two strangersRalph saw mightn't be detectives. I reckon they looked as if theywanted to detect, all right; and let me tell you, p'raps we'reunder the ban of suspicion right now."
br /> Bud ended his remarks in a rather awed voice, but neither of the othersseemed to be at all worried. Indeed, Hugh chuckled as though amused.
"It may be that you've guessed the right answer, Bud," he said, "butall the same I don't believe it. There's something deeper aboutthose men than that. And unless I miss my guess, we'll find in theend, if we learn anything at all, that they've got some sort ofconnection with that queer flash and crash that gave us such a scareearlier in the night."
Bud stared at Hugh on hearing this.
"Whee! do you really think so, Hugh?" he muttered, as though tryingto grasp what all this might stand for, and yet hardly able tocomprehend its full significance.
After all their talk, however, they were really no nearer a solutionof the matter in the end than when they started to discuss it. Hughsaid they would have to wait and see what turned up next, beforesettling on any one explanation and both the other scouts agreedwith him.
So they finally prepared to lie down and get what sleep was possible,which under the conditions could hardly be expected to amount to agreat deal.
Their blankets were folded in such fashion as to give them the bestresults. This wrinkle they had learned in the field of practicalexperience, than which there is no better guide. Theory is all verywell, but the book-taught scout has a great many ideas to changewhen he gets out into the open, with the stars shining down on himfrom the blue vault of heaven and the voices of Nature surroundinghim on every side, instead of the bare ceiling and walls of hisbedroom at home.
That night certainly dragged along fearfully. Every now and then oneof the boys would turn over and grunt, or else raise his head to lookaround him at the flickering light of the fire on the walls of thelonely woods' shack.
As many as six times did Hugh crawl out from the warm folds of hisblanket to replenish the fire, for the night air was chill; and afterone has slept, his body is apt to feel cold, as the heart beatsless rapidly, and the blood circulates with more difficulty.
But thank goodness, these things must all have an end, and Bud heaveda sigh of profound thanksgiving when finally he saw signs of dawnappear through the open window.
"Day's coming on, and we're all on deck with nothing gone wrong!" heobserved loud enough for the others to hear him. This chanced to beone of Bud's ways of informing his chums that he thought it hightime they turned out for "reveille."
As there was no use in trying to sleep any longer with the anxious Budon deck, since this was to be looked upon as his particular day, Hughand Ralph followed the other's example, and were soon hustling out towash in water that nearly froze their fingers it was so cold.
The sun was nearing the horizon, and from all indications it promisedto be just such a day as the one before had proved; which factdelighted Bud immensely.
"Because," he explained after giving an exhibition of a Highland Flingto allow some of his pent-up enthusiasm to escape, "this is the daya Morgan is going to win fame or else make the grandest foozle youever saw."