CHAPTER XIII
A CALL FOR HELP
"WHAT'S this mean?" Elmer heard George saying, which proved that theother had also discovered Conrad's presence. "I reckon that must be yourBoy Wonder with the fiddle and the bow, Elmer. Now, whatever brought himaway over here to visit us, do you think? Perhaps his folks don't knowthat scouts are at home in the woods, no matter what sort of gay stormcrops up. Mebbe now they were afraid some of us had suffered. Well, itwas nice of them to send a messenger, anyhow."
But Elmer was disposed to view the matter differently. He could see thatthere was a look of considerable apprehension visible on the peaked faceof Conrad. Elmer scented some kind of trouble at once. The boy hadsought them out, possibly sent with a message by his mother.
Lil Artha had entirely suspended operations with the pelt which he hadbeen engaged in fastening to a crude but effective stretching board,fashioned after the directions he had received from the old scientistand trapper some of the boys had visited a while before.[B]
Lil Artha loved good music, in which he differed from George. Hence hehad felt considerable interest in all Elmer told them about Conrad beingthe direct descendant of the famous violinist, Ovid Anderson, of whom hehad often heard. He was in truth quite eager himself to hear the childplay, though ready to take Elmer's word for it that Conrad was thepossessor of wonderful genius.
As Elmer hastened toward the spot Lil Artha looked around and discoveredhim.
"Hi! here's your young friend come to hunt you up, Elmer!" he calledout. "He is just telling me that his mother sent him. I hope now there'snothing gone wrong over at their place. If we can do anything, of coursewe'd be only too willing."
The boy shot him a look of gratitude at hearing Lil Artha say this. Thenhe turned eagerly toward Elmer.
"Mother sent me over to see you," he went on to say in a voice thatquivered a little despite his manly effort to control his feelings.
"I hope she isn't sick, Conrad?" ventured the scout-master, anxiously.
"No, it's father," the boy said after he had gulped several times. "Yousee, he hasn't come home; and we're so afraid something dreadful hashappened to him."
Elmer looked doubly concerned.
"Do you mean he was away from home during that awful storm last night?"he went on to ask.
The other nodded his head, and then managed to explain further. Even theproximity of Elmer seemed to have already done him much good; for therewas a certain atmosphere connected with the resolute scout-leader thatinspired the utmost confidence.
"He started to go to the lake that is farthest away, for there are twosmall ones, you may not know," Conrad explained. "He had some set linesthere that needed attention, and we wanted the fish for eating, too. Butfather backed out once, for he said he had wrenched his leg and felt alittle lame. But in the end he decided to start, though mother didn'tjust like him to go."
"About what time was that, Conrad?" asked Elmer, in his methodical way,eager to grasp the full details so he could figure out the answer.
"Just about an hour before the storm came along," the boy told him."Father said he believed it would hold off long enough for him to getthere and back, but his leg must have kept him from walking as fast ashe generally does. So the storm broke, and we kept watching through thewindow when we could see anything, for the rain and the flying leaves.But night came, and oh! what a night we had, mother and I. It neverseemed to end. I did fall asleep somehow, but I don't believe she onceshut her eyes--poor mother."
Elmer was fearful of the worst. A sturdy man like Jem Shock, accustomedto buffeting the rough storms to be met with in the woods of a summer,was not likely to stay away from those he loved unless somethingterrible had happened to him. Elmer shivered as he remembered thosedreadful crashes in the depth of the forest, each signaling the collapseof some mighty tree that had breasted the gales of a century, perhaps,only to meet its fate in the end.
"And then your mother thought we might help find your father, did she?"asked the sympathetic Lil Artha; while the others crowded around,listening with white faces to the conversation; for even the twotenderfeet could realize how serious the conditions must prove to be.
"Yes, that is why I am here," said the manly little fellow, whosecorrect manner of speech astonished Lil Artha, himself apt to be more orless "slangy," and even ungrammatical, in his careless boyish way. "Sheknew of no one else close by to turn to; and Elmer was so kind, shesaid. Oh! please come with me, and help find father. We are afraid thathe was caught under one of the falling trees; or he may have tripped inthe darkness, with that lame leg giving way under him, and fallen intosome terrible hole."
Elmer's mind was of course made up on the instant. Indeed, such anappeal never came to a scout camp without being immediately accepted;for every fellow who so proudly wears the khaki has it implanted in hisheart that he must eagerly grasp such golden opportunities to prove hisworth, and be of assistance to those who are in distress.
Elmer knew, too, that he could depend on his comrades to back him up.Lil Artha, of course, must go along, for the tall scout's excellence asa tracker was well known, and this might come in very handy before theirend was accomplished.
Then it would be of more or less benefit to the tenderfeet to have ashare in his rescue work; Elmer hailed the opportunity to increase theirfund of woodcraft knowledge with eagerness. They could pick up morevaluable points through practical experience than by means of any booksor technical advice.
As for George, he must stay by the camp. Elmer remembered just then thatGeorge had been limping, more or less, and complained of having stubbedhis toe since breakfast. Then it would be best for him not to walk sofar, or he might be lamed for the balance of their stay in camp.
The scout-master quickly explained his plan of campaign. George, ofcourse, frowned at first, and took on the look of a martyr; but thenthat was his customary way, and Elmer paid very little attention to itexcept to say that "a stitch in time saves nine"; and that George mightthank his lucky stars he did not _have_ to go along, but could resthimself, and let that injured foot have a chance to get well again.
Conrad was wild for them to get started, and so Elmer lost as littletime as possible. Before he went, however, he made sure to carry alongwith him several things he thought might be needed in case they foundJem with a broken leg--he only hoped it would be no worse than that, formany a man had had his back broken by the fall of a tree.
"Lil Artha, be sure not to forget the camp ax," he called out.
Of course that excited the curiosity of the two greenhorns, and seeingthe look of bewilderment which they exchanged, Elmer took occasion toexplain just a little.
"If Jem has been badly hurt in any way, and lies several miles away fromhome," Elmer told them, "we would want to make some sort of stretcher soas to carry him back to his cabin. A hatchet or an ax is indispensableunder such conditions; and you may have a chance to see just how it'sdone."
George saw them go away with a wry face, for he did not like to becheated out of any pleasure; still, when he stepped around and found howhis foot hurt if he made any unusual exertion, he must have realized onsecond thoughts that Elmer knew best.
Elmer had an idea at first of getting Conrad to head toward home, whenthey were well upon the trail leading toward the lake, and which the boyhad said he could show them. Upon suggesting such a thing, however, heimmediately met with a prompt refusal.
"No, mother told me to take you to the second lake, and I shall," Conradsaid firmly. "Oh! I can stand much more than you would believe; I amstronger than I look. And I have been over the trail with father, manytimes. What does a few miles matter when father may be lying there, andsuffering terribly? Besides, mother depends on me to take you there.What if you went alone and could not find it, for, you see, it is hiddenin the woods, and not at all easy to see if you haven't been over thetrail before. He might lie there for hours if that happened. So I mustgo."
Of course that settled it. Elmer could not have the heart to deny
thelad the privilege he demanded. Besides, he knew that on the whole itwould be much better for them to have some one along who was acquaintedwith the lay of the land. They might go astray, experienced though twoof them were in the secrets of woodcraft; for confusing trails mightdeceive them, especially after the storm had washed away Jem's latefootprints.
And so they hurried along. Little Conrad walked as though eager to evenrun; and more than once Elmer had to restrain the anxious lad. He sawthat Conrad was worked up to a feverish pitch that was not good for him;and accordingly Elmer made it his business to try and reassure thelittle fellow.
"Depend on it we'll find your father, Conrad," he went on to say in thatsteady tone of his that carried weight, and could soothe even the mosttroubled breast like "balm of Gilead," as Lil Artha slily told Rufus,trotting along at his side. "And the chances are a broken leg will bethe extent of his injuries. Why, he may not even be so badly off asthat, you know. Perhaps he was called on to help some other unfortunatefamily in that storm, and has been held up on that account."
But Conrad sadly shook his wise little head. He knew Elmer only meant toencourage him; and that even he could have little hope such a strangething had happened.
"Oh! I'd like to believe that, Elmer," he said, with half a sob, "butthere is no other family near enough for such a thing to happen. But I'mstill hoping for the best. Mother told me to keep thinking that way. Shewill not believe he could be taken away from us while we need him somuch. Yes, we must find him, poor, poor father!"
All this while they were heading in a certain direction that Elmer knewwould, in due time, unless they changed their course, take them to thecabin in the clearing, where he had met Conrad's father and mother.
Just as he expected, however, eventually the boy brought them to a halt.
"See," he called out, as he pointed ahead, "there is where the traillies. One way is home, the other the first lake, with the second onefarther away. Now we must keep right on, and listen as we go. I shallcall out, too, ever so often, for if he hears my voice and can answer hewill let us know where he lies."
As they started to follow what was a plain trail, every one had hissenses on the alert, expecting to make some sort of discovery sooner orlater. Rufus and the other tenderfoot scout were very much excited. Itwas their first experience on missionary work, and it gripped theirhearts with an intensity they may never have felt before.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote B: See "The Hickory Ridge Boy Scouts Storm-Bound."]