CHAPTER XXIV
LOYAL SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE
This assertion on the part of their leader was so tremendous that foralmost a dozen seconds the boys could not utter a single word; but juststood there, and gazed at Thad, speechless.
But it is a very difficult thing to muzzle some lads for any length oftime; and Giraffe presently burst out with:
"Jumped on poor Bumpus right here, did they, Thad? And p'raps poundedhim into a condition where he just couldn't give the alarm, no matterhow hard he tried? Oh! mebbe I don't wish I could have been there totouch up the scoundrels with this fine hatchet? What I'd a done to 'emwould have been a caution, let me warn you! But how do you tell allthis from the signs, Thad? We're only a bunch of next door totenderfeet scouts when it comes to reading trail talk; but we knowenough to understand when she's explained to us. Please open up, andtell us now."
"And then we must decide what we'll do, so as to rescue our chum," saidStep Hen angrily; "because scouts always stand by each other, you know,through thick and thin; and Bumpus is the best fellow agoing, you bearme saying that?"
"Well, it's this way," said the scout-master, always ready to oblige hismates whenever he could do so; "you can see that some sort of a scufflehas taken place where we're standing right now. Other feet than thoseof Bumpus are marked; and then they all start away from here, heading inthat direction. But although Bumpus walked to this spot there's never asign of his footprints, which I know so well leading off from here."
"What's the answer to that?" asked Davy.
"Why," broke in Giraffe, quickly, "that's as plain as the nose on yourface, Davy. Our chum was carried away! Either he couldn't walk becausehe'd been tapped on the head, and was senseless; or else they had gothim tied up that quick."
"Is that so, Thad?" demanded Step Hem
"Giraffe has got the answer all right," came the reply. "I can seewhere these fellows must have been hiding, and let Bumpus pass them by.Then one dropped down on top of him, so that he couldn't so much as drawin his breath before they had him. This is what I was thinking aboutwhen I said we shouldn't be caught off our guard; and that we'd befoolish if we separated at all, for they could pick us off one by one,where they'd be afraid to tackle the whole bunch. It came quicker thanI thought it would, though."
"Well, we ain't going to stand for this, I hope?" remarked Giraffe.
"We'd be a fine lot of scouts, wouldn't we," broke in Davy, indignantly,"if we were ready to desert our chum when he was in hard luck? Anybodythat knows what the boys of the Silver Fox Patrol of Cranford Troop arewould make certain that could never go down with them. Sure we ain'tameaning to keep on hiding our light under a bushel, and sneaking off,while Bumpus, good old Bumpus, is in the hands of the enemy, and p'rapswith a splitting headache in the bargain."
"Headache!" echoed Step Hen; "just wait till we get our chance, and ifthey ain't the fashion among these here poachers, then I don't knowbeans, and I think I do. Wow! you hear me talking, fellows!" and hecaused his club to fairly whistle through the air, as though gettinginto the swing, so that he would know just how to go about laying outone of the law-breakers when they finally rounded them up.
"Hope we ain't meaning to waste any more time around here than'snecessary, Mr. Scout-master?" Giraffe observed, grimly, running hisfinger suggestively along the edge of the camp hatchet, which they keptin pretty good condition, so that it would really cut quite well.
"We're off right away," said the other.
"And Thad," observed Allan, speaking for the first time, because he wasusually a boy of few words, and one who left it to some of the others todo pretty much all the talking, "the new trail, where we fail to findany mark of Bumpus' shoes leads this way, which I take it is toward thatshack you said you'd seen last night when you took that little scout onthe sly?"
"It sure does, Allan," came the reply.
"Well, then, we must expect that was where they carried our chum; and sowe'll make for the cabin now," Allan continued.
"We'll see it soon enough," Thad told them, "because it's only a littleways from where they have their powerboat hidden. Move along as stillas you can, boys; and no more talking now--except in whispers."
Every scout must have felt his heart beating like a trip-hammer as theforward progress was continued. The very atmosphere around them seemedto be charged with electricity; at least one would imagine so to see theway they looked suddenly from right to left with quick movements, asthey went stooping along.
It was only a space of sixty seconds or so when Thad came to a stop.They knew from this that the cabin spoken of must already have beensighted; and this proved to be the case, as was made apparent when theycame to examine the territory just ahead.
Among the rocks and undergrowth it could hardly be seen; indeed, if theyhad not known of its presence there, possibly none of them would havethought a cabin was so near by.
They stared hard at it, but failed to see the first sign of any livingbeing in the neighborhood.
"Any signs of 'em, Thad?" whispered Giraffe, who was close at the heelsof the scout-master; so close indeed, that Thad had more than oncewondered whether the tall and nervous scout were still waving thatup-to-date tomahawk, and if he the leader, might be so unlucky as to getin the way of the dangerous weapon.
"Nothing that I can see," Thad answered, softly.
"But you think they're in that place, don't you?" Giraffe continued toask.
"Like as not they are," the scout-master replied.
All of them were staring hard at what they now saw. Having continued toadvance a little farther they made out what seemed to be a lot ofbarrels; and some of them must have contained ice, to judge from thestraw scattered about. Well, ice was needed in order to properly packfish for the market; and if the poachers had ever had a supply on theisland, secured during the winter time, it must have been exhaustedbefore now, because the season was late.
Yes, and what was more to the point, as the breeze happened to waft anodor to their noses all of the scouts detected the strong andunmistakable smell of fish, which must always be associated with everyfishing camp.
"Are we agoing to walk straight up to that door, and knock it in?" askedGiraffe, after they had stood there for a couple of anxious minutes,staring hard at the lone shack, as though trying to peer through the logwalls, and see what lay within.
"That might be hardly the thing for scouts to do," Thad told him. "Theyare taught to be cautious as well as brave. If those men happen to behiding inside there, wouldn't they have a fine chance to riddle us if wewalked right up as big, as camels? No, we've got to show a littlestrategy in this thing, eh, Allan?"
"Just what we have, Mr. Scout-master."
"So let's begin by circling around, and coming up on the shack from theother side," Thad said this he started off, with the others skulkingalong behind, about like a comet is followed by its tail.
They kept a bright lookout all the while, not meaning to let thepoachers get the better of them by creeping away from the shack whilethe boys in khaki were carrying out this evolution. Nothing however wasseen. If the men were still in there they kept very quiet, everybodythought; and somehow this worried more than one of the scouts.
Giraffe could not see what all this creeping around was intended for,anyhow; he would have been in favor of separating, and rushing towardthe cabin from as many points of the compass as there were scouts. Thatsort of plan at least had the benefit of speed; for they would either beat the door inside of ten seconds, or have been staggered with a volleyfrom within.
But it would not be for much longer, because even now they had made suchgood progress that a few minutes more must put them through.
It seemed an age to Giraffe since they had started to creep to the otherside of the shack; when he saw by the actions of their leader that Thadwas now ready to order the real advance.
There did not appear to be any sign of a window on this side of the rudebuilding, so that the chances were no o
ne inside could watch theircoming; which Giraffe well knew had been the principal reason why Thadhad chosen to make this rear approach.
"Now listen, all of you," whispered the leader, in thrilling tones; "I'mgoing to call out to Bumpus, and perhaps we'll get a clue regardingwhat's happened to him."
Raising his voice, he called out the name of the fat scout twice insuccession, being very particular to speak it distinctly, so that anyone within would have to be absolutely deaf not to hear it.
There was no reply, that is, nothing in the way of an answering voice;but all of them caught a peculiar sound that kept up intermittently foralmost a full minute.
"Now, what sort of a queer rumpus would you call that?" asked Step Hen.
"Made me think of somebody kicking his heels into the floor, or somesuch stunt as that," Giraffe declared; while Davy nodded his head, asthough there was no need for him to say anything when another voiced hissentiments so exactly.
"Thad, are we going to stand this any longer?" Allan demanded,
"No, we must see what's inside that place; so come along, boys, andwe'll break in the door!" with which words the scout-master ran quicklyforward, the others almost outstripping him, so great was theireagerness to be "in the swim," no matter what happened.
The door seemed to be fastened in some way; though there was nothing inthe way of a pistol shot or even a gruff voice warning them off.
Thad tried in vain to find the fastening.
"Pick up that log, and use it as a battering ram!" he ordered; and theother four scouts hastened to do so, while the patrol leader stood readywith his gun, not knowing how soon he might have need of it for defense.
As the log came crashing against the door it flew wide open, provingthat it had never been really intended as a means for keeping enemiesout. Dropping the log, and at once snatching up their weapons, thescouts rushed to the open doorway, to stare into the cabin. What theysaw amazed, and yet delighted them. There was not an enemy in sight;but some object moved upon the hard puncheon floor; and looking closerthey discovered that it was no other than Bumpus, bound hand and foot,gagged, and with his face as red as a boiled lobster, redder by far thanhis fiery hair.