CHAPTER XXIII
STILL FLOUNDERING IN THE MIRE
"Whee!"
It was, of course, Bobolink who gave utterance to this characteristicexclamation.
Like most of the others, he had been so stunned by the messageread by Paul, that for the moment he failed to find words toexpress his feelings.
An aeroplane had passed over the camp! And heading south, which wouldtake it toward the quarter where Stanhope lay!
Here they had thought themselves so far removed from civilization thatthe only persons within a range of miles might be set down as a wild manand some lawless counterfeiters, who had chosen this region because ofits inaccessibility.
And now they had learned that one of the latest inventions of the day hadbeen moving above the island, with the pilot actually looking down on thecamp, and so discovering the fact of the Boy Scouts having returned aftertheir banishment from the place.
No wonder they all stared at each other, and that speech was denied themfor a time.
Jack was the first to speak. He had read the message, being nearly asgood a signalman as Paul or Jud.
"Things seem to be picking up at a pretty lively clip for us; eh,fellows?" was the way he put it.
"Picking up?" gasped Bobolink; "Seems to me they're getting to the redhot stage about as fast as they can. An aeroplane! And up here on ourdesert island at that, which folks said was given over to spooks andwild men! That _is_ the limit, sure! Hold me, somebody; I think I'mgoing to faint!"
But as nobody made any movement in that direction, Bobolinkchanged his mind.
"Let's look into this thing a little closer, fellows," said Paul, alwaysprompt to set an investigation going.
"That's what!" echoed Bluff, surprising himself by not stammering aparticle, even though he was still quivering with excitement.
"Jud says an aeroplane passed over the camp; but he didn't tell whetherit rose from the island or not, though the chances are that it did," Paulcontinued.
"Why do you say that as if you felt sure?" demanded Tom Betts.
"Yes," put in Phil, eagerly, "you've got on to something, Paul; give usa chance to grab it, too, please."
"Sure I will," complied the scout master, cheerfully. "And I'm onlysurprised that one of you, always so quick to see such things, hasn'tjumped on to this little game as soon as I have. Look back a short time,and you'll remember how we were scratching our heads over the tracks ofwheels down in that big opening!"
"Wheels!" exclaimed Bobolink, with fresh excitement. "Well, I should sayyes; and looks to me like we had 'em in our heads too, where the brainsought to be. Wheels, yes, and rubber-tired wheels too! Remember how theyseemed to run up and down a regular track, and just went so far, whenthey gave out? Whoop! why, it's as easy as two and two make four. Anybodyought to have guessed that."
"Huh!" remarked Tom Betts, scornfully; "that's what they said, yourecollect, when Columbus discovered America. After you know, everythinglooks easy. In my mind Paul goes up head. He's in a class by himself."
"And that forge might have been used, among other things, for doing allsorts of mending metal pieces connected with an aeroplane," Paul went on,smiling at Tom's tribute of praise.
"Not forgetting these sort of things," Bobolink observed, positively,as he took out a pair of bright new quarters, and jingled themmusically in his hand.
"Well, we haven't had any reason to change our minds about thatthing,--yet," said Paul. "But what strikes me as the queerest of all isthe fact that while we must have been pretty close by when that aeroplanewent up, how was it none of us heard the throbbing of the engine?"
They looked at each other in bewilderment. Paul's query had opened up avast field of conjecture. One and all shook their heads.
"I pass," declared Tom.
"Me too," added Phil.
"Must 'a got some new kind of motor aboard that is silent,"suggested Jack.
"J-j-just a-goin' to s-s-say that, when Jack t-t-took the w-w-words outof m-m-my m-m-mouth," Bluff exploded.
"No trouble doin' that, Bluff," laughed Bobolink. "If that aeroplane didclimb up out of that field, while we pushed through the heavy timber, andnone of us heard a thing, let me tell you, boys, they've got acracker-jack of a motor, that's what!"
"But arrah! would ye be thinkin' that a lot of bog-trottin'counterfeiters'd be havin' a rale aeroplane?" burst out Andy Flinn, whohad up to now been unable to give any expression to his feelings.
"I'd say these fellers must be a pretty tony lot, that's all,"Bobolink declared.
"Whatever do you suppose they use such a machine for?" asked Tom.
Again all eyes were turned upon Paul, as the oracle of the group ofwondering scouts. He shrugged his shoulders, as if he thought he had asmuch right as any of the others to admit that he was puzzled.
"Well, we'd have to make a stab at guessing that," he observed. "Any onething of half a dozen might be the truth. An aeroplane could be used forcarrying the stuff they make up here to a distant market. Then again, itmight be only a sort of plaything, or hobby, of the chief money-maker;something he amuses himself with, to take his mind off business. All menhave hobbies--fishing, hunting, horse racing, golf--why couldn't thischap take to flying for his fun?"
"That sounds good to me," declared Bobolink; "anyhow, we know he must bea kind of high-flier."
"Seems like our mystery bulges bigger than ever," remarked Phil,frowning.
"It does, for a fact," admitted Tom; "instead of finding out things,we're getting deeper in the mud all the time."
"Oh! I don't know," Paul said, musingly; and although the rest instantlyturned upon him, fully expecting that the scout master would have somesort of communication to make, he did not think it worth while, at thattime, to explain what he meant.
"Say, I wonder, now, if we could see anything of those fellows from uphere?" remarked Bobolink, suddenly.
"That's so," echoed Phil, perceiving what the other intended to convey;"we can see the whole of the island now; and if they're camped somewhereon the north end, perhaps we might get a glimpse of canvas."
"What makes you think these men have their headquarters on the north end,rather than anywhere else?" asked Paul, quickly.
"Why, when we got up here, I noticed that smoke was climbing up overthere; and smoke means a fire; which also tells that some person must bearound to look after it," replied Phil, promptly.
"Pretty good reasoning," said Paul, nodding his head toward Phil; for ifanything gave him pleasure as scout master of the troop, it was to see aboy using his head.
All now looked over the crown of the hill, toward the upper end of theisland. The first thing they saw, of course, was the thin column ofsmoke which Phil had mentioned. Then Bobolink burst out with:
"And you were right, Paul, when you said that the chances were the islandwas close to the north side of the lake, so animals could swim across.Why, only a narrow streak of water separates 'em there, sure enough."
"Oh! that was only a guess on my part," Paul confessed. "I saw about howfar away the mainland trended up there, and supposed that our island mustrun near it in places. I'm pleased to see that I hit the mark, for onceat least, in this mixed-up mess."
Paul was evidently more or less provoked because he had been unable tounderstand many of the strange things that had happened since theirarrival on Cedar Island. And the others knew that he was taking himselfto task because of his dullness; but what of them, if the scout masterneeded to be wakened up--where did they come in?
"I can't be sure about it," observed Phil, who had been looking intentlyat one particular spot; "but it seems as if I could make out the roof ofa shed of some kind, over yonder, close to where the smoke rises."
This set them all to looking again. Andy, who had very good eyes,declared he could make it out, and that it was a roof of some kind; oneor two of the others, after their attention had been called to the spot,also admitted that it did look a little that way, though they could notsay for a certainty.
; "Anyhow, I reckon that's where these men live," Paul declared; "and nowthe question is, are we going to turn back here; or keep right onexploring this queer old Cedar Island?"
Bobolink, who was busy cutting his initials in the bark of the big cedarthat topped the squatty hill, spoke first of all; for being an impetuousfellow, he seldom thought twice before airing his opinions.
"Me to push right on," he said. "What difference does it make to us thatsome other fellows chance to be camping on the same island? It's free toall. We aren't going to bother them one whit, if only they leave usalone. But they began wrong, you see, when they told us to get off theearth. That riled me. I never did like to be sat on by anybody. It justseems like something inside gets to workin' overtime, and all my badnessbegins to rise up, like mom's yeast in a batch of dough. Count my vote togo on ahead, Paul."
"Well, who's next?" asked the scout master "and remember, that whenit comes to a matter like this, I always try and do what themajority wants."
"I'm willing to do what the rest say," came from Jack.
"Go right on, and make a clean job of it," said Tom Betts, grimly.
"S-s-same here!" jerked out Bluff.
"That spakes my mind to a dot, so it do," Andy followed.
Paul threw up his hand.
"Enough said; that makes four in favor already, and settles the matter. Iwon't tell you which way I would have voted, because the thing's beentaken from my hands. And besides, I would only have considered yourwelfare in making my decision, and not my own desire."
"Which manes he would have said yis for himsilf, and no for the rist ofus," declared the Irish boy, exultantly; "so it's glad I am we've made upour minds to go on. Whin do we shtart, Paul, darlint?"
"Right away," replied the one addressed. "There's no use staying anylonger up here, unless you think I'd better get Jud again, and wigwag himall that we've learned up to now."
"It'll keep," said Phil, hastily, for he wanted to see the faces of thoseother scouts when the several astonishing pieces of news were told;especially about the finding of the real wild man asleep, the discoveryof the field forge in the open glade and the picking up of the two silverquarters, which last he felt sure would give them all a surprise.
"A11 right!" the scout master announced, "I think pretty much the sameway; and besides, it would take a long while sending all that news.But perhaps I ought to let the boys know we're going on further; andthat they needn't expect us much before the middle of the afternoon.That'll give us plenty of time to roam around, and perhaps come backanother way."
So he started once more to catch the attention of Jud, perched high up inthat tree above the sink near the lower end of the island, where he couldhave an uninterrupted view of the cedar on the top of the hill.
Then there was a fluttering of the signal flag and briefly the scoutmaster informed the other as to what their intentions were.
"That job's done," Paul remarked, presently, when Jud replied with agesture that implied his understanding the message; "and now to movedown-hill again. We're taking some big chances in what we're expecting todo, fellows, and I only hope it won't prove a mistake. Come along!"