CHAPTER XV
LEFT IN THE LURCH
"You don't say so, Ted?" sang out Paul.
He knew that he was facing trouble, and that in an instant as it were,the conditions had entirely changed. From being the pursuer he now foundhimself with the shoe on the other foot. All the same, Paul was not atall daunted. He had encountered these fellows too many times in the pastto fear them now.
It was a question whether Monkey had intentionally led him into a settrap, or his coming upon the balance of the crowd might be looked on asan accident. Paul, remembering how the other had called out, under theimpression that the one chasing after him might be his chief, had hisown opinion.
But this was no time for thinking it over. He could hear sounds asthough several fellows were pushing forward, spreading out as if to tryand surround him. Plainly then, he had better be moving, unless he caredto let the Slavin crowd get hold of him.
Paul sprang away. He knew about how the ground lay. Catch as bright achap as this young scout rushing wildly through the open woods withoutgetting some idea as to the direction in which he was heading. He turnedback over the course he had so lately covered.
"He's gone, Ted!" whooped a voice; but it was not that of MonkeyEggleston; for that worthy was hardly in possession of enough breath tomore than whisper.
"After him then, every feller! We oughter get him after such a bullychance. Go it for all you're worth, d'ye hear, Scissors, Bud, and Pete!"
But as for himself, Ted did not do much running. What was the use, whenhe had followers able and willing to obey the crook of his littlefinger? Besides, Ted knew what it meant to bang up against a tree in thedark, and knock the skin off one's nose. As long as the sound of pursuitcould be plainly heard he continued to bellow out his orders, as thoughhoping to spur his followers on to success.
Paul had little fear. Once again his keen sight was apt to play him agood turn; for he could avoid contact with obstacles that caught theothers napping. He even laughed more than once when he heard a crash,and accompanying groans, from some point in his rear.
"Good boy!" Paul said to himself, when the voice of Scissors was heard,lamenting the fact that a young chestnut seemed to have a hardersurface than his forehead boasted; "just keep on some more, and you'llbe the worst banged-up bunch Stanhope ever knew," and he could not keepfrom chuckling again as in his imagination he saw the sorry picture ofthe three pursuers when they returned to hand in their report, with alist of their bruises.
Evidently the hot pursuit must have come to an end with that lastcollision on the part of Scissors. Paul, listening, could hear voices,as though the boys were condoling with one another; but there was nolonger the sound of footsteps.
After that there was no need of haste, and having figured out just wherehe was, Paul presently found the road. Of course all he had to do nowwas to walk along this, and in another minute he caught sight of abright light ahead.
He knew the boys must have started the several fires that had been laidfor an emergency. They were doubtless more or less worried about hiscontinued absence; but did not know which way to start the search.
So Paul, to relieve their anxiety, sent out a call that would reachtheir ears and tell them that he was coming. And presently he walked upto the fire, where he was immediately surrounded by the excited scouts,all clamoring to know what he had discovered.
"First tell me what Monkey Eggleston threw into the fire, that made sucha flash," Paul insisted, turning to Wallace.
The other held something up. It seemed to be a tin box, with a stringattached.
"What's all this?" asked Paul, and then, as he took it in his hands, hegave a cry of astonishment, adding: "why, I declare, if it doesn't looka little like one of those bombs you read about. And this is supposed tobe the fuse, isn't it? Well, those fellows are getting along prettyswiftly when they try to blow up our supplies."
Of course the "bomb" was not such a dreadful affair. True enough, thetin box contained quite a quantity of powder, but it was a question asto whether the explosion would have done very much damage, even had itoccurred.
No doubt it might have scattered things somewhat, and possibly a firewould have resulted, unless prompt measures were taken to stamp thesparks underfoot. What astonished the young scout leader, however, wasthe strange method of introducing the fake bomb among the supplies, andleading the end of the slow match to the smouldering fire.
"What won't they try next?" said Jack, looking serious, as he took thecontrivance once more in his hands.
"Goodness knows," remarked Wallace; "but tell us about your adventure,Paul. We heard an awful shouting in the woods over yonder, and some ofthe boys wanted to start out hunting for you, but the racket stoppedjust then. Besides, Jack said that he believed you were getting the bestof it."
"Do you know why I said that?" interrupted Jack; "well, you see, I knewit was those fellows doing the hollering, and they sounded as if theywere mad; so I made up my mind they wouldn't yelp _that_ way if they hadtheir hands on Paul."
"Which was clever reasoning, Jack," declared his chum, instantly. "Youhad your wits about you that time. I'm glad the whole camp didn't taketo rushing through the woods, chasing a jack-o'-lantern. What a jollytime we'd have had rounding up the bunch again. Now, sit down, and I'lltell you just what happened."
It was laughable to see how the eyes of some of the scouts seemed toalmost stick out of their heads when they listened to how Paul firstdiscovered the moving object up in the big oak. They turned their heads,and looked up eagerly, as though half expecting to see anothermonkey-like form hanging from a limb.
So the story was soon told. Many were the exclamations of wonder afterthe end had been reached. A multitude of questions poured in on Paul;but he shook his head, saying:
"Keep those for to-morrow, fellows. What we want now is to repair ourfences, and get some sleep. But you can see how important it is thatevery scout placed on guard keep his eyes and ears open, ready to givewarning in case the enemy try their tricks on us."
He did not reproach the two boys who had been on duty at the time he andWallace held forth, though strongly suspecting that they must have beenasleep. But what he said caused more than one cheek to flush; anddoubtless a number of lads inwardly resolved that from henceforth theywould never, never allow themselves to slacken their vigilance when onpost.
Nothing more was heard from the Slavin crowd on that night. Paul couldeasily guess why; for in imagination he saw the faces of MonkeyEggleston, Scissors, Bud and possibly several others, decorated withstrips of court plaster, intended to hide the results of theirtree-hugging adventures.
He only hoped that the lesson would be taken to heart, and cause thosetrouble-makers to avoid the camps of the scouts in the future; butknowing the nature of both Ted and Ward, he did not have muchexpectation that way.
Bobolink had them all up at dawn with the reveille call upon his belovedbugle. This never left his side, and some of the boys jokingly declaredthat he cuddled it in his arms while he slept, for fear lest someprank-loving scout hide it away, just to tease him.
The cooks got busy, and presently there was a delicious odor of coffeearound that region, together with that of frying bacon.
William was master of ceremonies when it came time to start operationslooking to a supply of flapjacks. He had willing imitators in the cooksof the other two patrols; and while they may not have met with the sameglorious success that attended his own efforts, the results were sopleasing to the still hungry scouts that every scrap of batter preparedwas used up. Even then there were lamentations because of a shortage inthe supply of pancakes.
There was no hurry to get off. Paul was too wise a commander to spoilthe pleasure of his comrades by unseemly haste, with so much time beforethem.
About nine o'clock the command started forth, with Bluff's drum beatingtime, and the inspiring notes of the bugle lending vigor to their eagerfeet. By noon some of those who had seemed most chipper at the beginningof the day's tramp were lim
ping more or less, though still full of grit,and a determination not to lag behind.
The country was getting very wild now. Occasionally they began to haveglimpses of the upper Bushkill, when the forest opened more or less.Later on the road was likely to skirt the river, they understood, whenconditions would be prime for possibly a swim, or some fishing, whichlatter, they imagined must be good so far away from town.
They were still taking it easy after eating a lunch that possiblycleaned up every scrap of the goodies prepared by fond mothers andsisters; when Paul, who was sitting talking to Jack, noticed a vehiclecoming swiftly along the road.
Whoever occupied the rig seemed to be in somewhat of a hurry, for he wasevery now and then whipping the horse, which showed signs of fatigue, asthough it had come quite some ways.
As the man drove past he raised his head to look with a frown in thedirection of the scout encampment. Paul did not like his appearance atall. Indeed, he was of the opinion that the man might even have stolenthe rig somewhere; for he acted as though anxious to get away.
But his bewilderment increased when he saw Joe Clausin suddenly jump tohis feet and stare after the departing stranger, his face turning verywhite.
"Oh! it's him, it's him!" Paul plainly heard him exclaim.