CHAPTER XIV
SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE
EVERY step they took now was carrying them on toward the twin lakes thatnestled amidst the woods and valleys, their presence really unsuspectedby the vast majority of people living in towns within thirty miles ofthe place. Elmer himself was wild to try the fishing there, for hefancied that the bass must be enormous fellows, and as gamey as could befound anywhere. Lil Artha, too, would be sure to want to make more thanone trip across country, and spend a few hours casting in the almostvirgin waters in the solitudes where sportsmen had possibly seldominvaded.
Conrad kept up amazingly, but then it was love that gave him additionalstrength, and Elmer knew full well what that could do for any one. Manytimes they heard some slight sound that gave them a start, for theirnerves being on edge they imagined every such noise to be a feeble cryfor help. The snappy bark of a red squirrel as he clung head downward tothe lower trunk of a tree, and watched the intruders of his sacredrealm; the sudden cawing of a startled crow; the rasping cry of abluejay; or it might be the distant screech of an eagle poised abovesome fish-hawk that had darted down and secured its dinner which thebald-headed robber of the air would snatch away from him presently,after a swift pursuit upwards--all these they heard, and many times didone of the greenhorns ask to be told what it meant.
Still nothing was seen or heard to indicate that Jem Shock had beenovertaken by a falling tree while on his way from the first lake. Theydid come across several such overthrown monarchs of the forest that hadfallen close to the trail; and once the way was really blocked by a massof broken limbs, together with the heavy trunk of a tree that had comecrashing down.
Conrad darted hastily forward before Elmer could interfere, and waslooking, oh, so eagerly, and with such an expression of anxiety, for anysign to indicate that the dear one he sought might be lying under thewreckage.
"Father, father!" he called out, with such a plaintive ring to his voicethat Rufus felt something rising in his throat; while Alec McGregormight have been seen to turn his head aside, and then violently blow hisnose, as though he had taken cold.
But there was no response. Elmer and Lil Artha went all around thefallen tree, and even crawled underneath the same to make positive thatJem was not there. Finally even Conrad became assured as to this, for heexpressed an eagerness to once more go on.
So they proceeded. From the lay of the land, and other signs that hisquick eye caught, Elmer guessed that they could not be far away from thefirst lake. Perhaps he was guided somewhat in making this decision bythe sight of that fish-hawk or osprey, which he knew would be apt tohover over a body of water, since it must obtain its whole sustenancefrom the lakes.
"What's that glistening in the sunlight yonder, Elmer?" suddenly askedAlec, who, it seemed, possessed a pair of incredibly keen eyes.
Lil Artha laughed.
"That's one on us, Elmer," he remarked, "when a tenderfoot is the firstto discover the presence of water. I reckon now, Alec, you've got themaking of a pretty good scout in you, if you stick at it; and they dosay the Scotch are the most persevering chaps going. That's the lake,the first one Conrad told us about, I should say."
"Yes, that's the first one," hurriedly admitted the boy, "and we'll soonreach its border. You will say that it's a lovely little sheet of water,too. Father told me he had never set eyes on one that struck him as morebeautiful. And I love to sit and look out over it when the wind dimplesthe surface, or it is so quiet that you can see a picture all along theshore, with the trees reflected in the water like a big looking-glass."
"Then we'll have to call it Mirror Lake," said Lil Artha, struck by thewonderful poetic way in which the small boy described things, which mayin part have come to him through his mother.
"Yes, that is what my mother calls it," Conrad instantly told him; "foronce she crossed over with me to see the water. We shall be there verysoon now, in less than ten minutes I think."
Nothing further occurred to startle them during the balance of the timethat was consumed in covering the ground separating them from the shoreof the lake. When Elmer and his three comrades found themselves staringout upon that wonderfully clear and altogether charming body of water,they felt that words must fail to describe it and do justice. Elmer hadlooked upon a good many pretty lakes, both large and small, but neverone the equal of this.
As for Lil Artha, he knew now what would be occupying considerable ofhis spare time during the balance of their stay in camp. Why, even as helooked he could see big bass "break" here and there, as though theymight be feeding on flies, late though the season was. All the sportingblood Lil Artha possessed was on fire at the sight. He had resolved togive up much of his love for hunting, because of the change that hadtaken place of late in his ideas concerning the cruelty of such sport;but nothing would ever cause him to lose that eager desire to match hiswits and a slender line with a fly attached to the leader against thestrength and cunning of a bronze-backed black bass, and see which couldwin in the struggle for supremacy.
"Oh! listen, please!" exclaimed the boy, anxiously, his very soul in hisvoice.
"That was only a kingfisher calling," said Lil Artha, who knew all aboutsuch things; "see, there he flits across that little bayou, and percheson the limb that overhangs the water. He's after his dinner, I guess,and was calling to his mate. But lead the way, Conrad, and we'll keepalong after you."
They began to follow the uneven indentations of the shore. Elmer knewthat this must be the favorite course taken by the fish poacher whengoing to see what his set lines held. A plain trail it was, and evenRufus or Alec might have followed it most of the way; though at timesthey would have hard work to pick it out, since the heavy rain hadwashed things pretty badly.
But Conrad knew where he was going, and just at which point they were toturn their backs on Mirror Lake, heading for its mate near by.
"We'll like as not run across the intake or outlet of this water," LilArtha told the two new scouts, "because, of course, the lakes areconnected by a little stream. And sure enough, there it is right now."
Both tenderfeet were visibly impressed with this show of knowledge onthe part of the elongated scout. Doubtless they mentally determined thateventually they too would be able to tell just such things by using thepower of deduction that a scout's education puts into his head.
Conrad turned sharply upon arriving at the small stream. Elmer noticedthat it ran _from_ the lake they were just in the act of leaving; andthis fact told him the other must set somewhat lower down, and have anoutlet of its own.
All these things were interesting enough to fellows who had made a habitof observing whatever took place around them; nevertheless, Elmer wishedthe main object of their coming might be attained without much furtherloss of time. He was himself beginning to grow exceedingly nervous fromthe long-continued strain; and could understand just how poor Conradmust feel.
Lil Artha was more and more amazed to learn what a wild bit of scenerylay within thirty miles of the home town. He never would have believedit possible, had he been told about it by any one; but seeing is aconvincing way of settling things, and Lil Artha certainly knew he coulddepend on his own eyes.
Through small openings among the trees they quickly caught glimpses ofthe other sheet of water. The second lake was about the same in size asthe first, but lacked of the wonderfully rugged surroundings that madethe other so beautiful. Still, had they not set eyes on Mirror Lake, theboys would have quickly called this one a spot well worth a long trampjust to see, not to mention its potentialities along the line offishing.
Once again they had come across a fallen tree that lay close to thetrail, even bridging the little stream with its trunk, and forming apicture that Elmer immediately resolved to take with his snapshot camerabefore leaving the region.
"Looks to me," remarked Rufus shrewdly, "as if the old storm must havehit this particular section a whole lot more violently than any placewe've struck so far. Right from where we stand I can see three, yes,four trees
that have been uprooted, and tumbled over, all lying in thesame direction, too, which is odd, I should think."
"Oh! that's a common occurrence," said Lil Artha, "I've seen hundreds offallen trees in a place where a hurricane passed through the timber, andthey lay like a sheaf of matches, all in the same identical direction.You see, the same wind took them down, as it did here. But so far as Ican notice, there's no sign of anybody under this tree; how about it,Elmer?"
"No, he wasn't here when this fellow crashed down," admitted the other,in a satisfied tone. "He had either passed farther along, or else hadnot reached this place."
"Then let's go on farther," pleaded Conrad.
Lil Artha knew that their chances of finding Jem were gradually gettingless and less, as they covered more of the ground he must have passedover. He wondered what they should do if after all their efforts theycould manage to obtain no trace of the missing man. Perhaps it would begood policy to head for the cabin, in the hope that since Conrad hadleft, his father might have managed to make his way home, andconsequently they would find him there, too weak and exhausted to startout again.
"We must go around the lake, to make sure," the boy was saying in astrained tone that cut Elmer to the heart, because he could understandhow Conrad must be beginning to fear that his father was dead, since hedid not answer any of his cries.
As they began to circle the new sheet of water, Conrad again lifted hischildish treble and kept calling that one word: "father!" He seemed tohave faith to believe that if only he could reach the ears of Jem Shock,an answer of some kind would be immediately forthcoming.
Again his appeals were mocked by some of the startled birds,unaccustomed to having their solitary haunts invaded by two-leggedcreatures that gave forth such doleful sounds. Step by step the littleparty persevered along their course, following the shore of the secondlake. It was harder going than before, because of the density of thegrowth surrounding this body of water; but Conrad kept along, always onthe lookout for signs or sounds that would assure him success was nearat hand.
After all, it was Lil Artha who gave the word, and he thrilled them whenhe went on to say:
"I think I heard a voice just then, fellows, and it seemed to come fromover on the other side of that little bayou just ahead of us. Get a goodgrip on yourself, Conrad, because mebbe we're going to find him rightaway."
The boy was really beyond the power of making any verbal reply, but thelook he threw Lil Artha, because of those cheering words, was full ofgratitude. To gain the other side of the indentation, they must goaround for quite some distance. Conrad, too, had by now managed toremember something; and finding his voice he weakly remarked:
"Oh, yes! I know now where we are. Father told me he always had the bestluck with a line set from that point over there. The fish seem to belarger than anywhere else about the lake, too. Oh! and I can see thatthere is another big tree down, right in sight!"
Elmer knew that this was so, for he himself had already made the samesignificant discovery. He raised his voice and gave a lusty shout.
"Jem--Jem Shock, are you there?" was what he called.
Then they all listened eagerly. A woodpecker tapped noisily on a deadstump; but even the breeze seemed to temporarily stop rustling throughthe tops of the tall trees, as though sympathizing with their anxiety,and bent on giving all possible chances for their hearing any reply tothis hail.
"There, somebody answered you, Elmer," snapped Rufus, delightedly.
"We've found him," said Elmer, gravely. "Be brave now, my boy," as helaid a hand affectionately on the shoulders of poor trembling Conrad."For one thing, he's alive, and that's enough to be thankful for."
"Yes, oh! yes, I _am_ thankful!" cried the boy, "but please hurry,Elmer. Oh! what he must have suffered; but he _did_ answer you, didn'the, and so he must be alive! Poor father. We're coming!" he tried tocall aloud, though the effort only resulted in a screech; "I'm here,father, your own Conrad! Mother sent me to find you. Just be patient,and we'll soon reach you. Oh! if only I had wings how glad I would be!"
Elmer and Lil Artha led the way. They quickly started around the tongueof marshy land bordering the little bay, for the ground was low there;and doubtless the natural outlet of the twin lakes would be discoveredsomewhere in that section, the scouts concluded.
Now they were advancing upon the fallen tree. They could see it was abig one, and that it reached almost to the water's edge as it lay there,a derelict of the recent storm.
Every eye was keenly on the alert to discover a first sign of theunfortunate poacher who had been caught, not by the stern hand of thelaw, but through a freak of the storm, and pinned to the ground, so thathe was utterly helpless to free himself from the toils.
Then Conrad gave a sudden shriek.
"I see him!" was the burden of his shrill cry. "Oh! there, he moved andtried to wave his hand at me! Elmer, did you see him do that? He'sreally alive, and that is enough for me!"