CHAPTER 12 Following the Trail
Excitement swept the camp the next morning when Mr. Hatfield told theCubs they were to play the trail game Dan had proposed.
Taking the boys partially into his confidence, the Cub leader explainedthat he wished to obtain as much information as possible about Jabowskior any other occupants of the island.
"What sort of information?" Mack asked, puzzled.
"It's a request that can't be explained," Mr. Hatfield replied. "Justkeep your eyes open. If you notice anything unusual report it after thehunt is over. Dan will lay the trail."
"I'll need twenty minutes start of the gang," Dan announced, alreadymaking his plans.
Mr. Hatfield told the Cubs that he might be absent from camp upon theirreturn. He had arranged for a yacht club boat to pick him up, as hewished to visit Tim Tyler to make certain the boy had suffered no illeffects from his previous night's ducking.
"I shan't be gone long," he told the Cubs. "During my absence, Brad willbe in charge."
"And that means you all must do just as I say," Brad instructed theyounger boys. "I'll lead the clue hunt, and I want you to stick close tome. No stragglers!"
The Cubs allowed Dan a full twenty minutes start and then set out inpursuit.
Midge found the first clue, a bit of bush broken off and weighted downwith stones.
Farther on, Red spied a forked stick which pointed the direction. Thetrail avoided the marsh, skirting the shore much of the way. Finally itwound through a brushy hollow and came out within view of the old hotelwhere Jabowski lived.
"What's the idea of all this?" Red demanded, sinking down on a rock torest. "Dan brought us to this old hotel on purpose, didn't he?"
"That's right," Brad agreed. "And here's a note from him." His keen eyeshad sighted a slip of paper speared on a nearby tree branch.
Obtaining it, he read aloud: "Watch the windows of the hotel."
"The windows?" Red repeated. "What does he mean by that?"
"Don't know," Brad shrugged. "Just keep your eyes peeled for anythingunusual."
"Such as what?" Midge demanded.
"I can't tell you that. I don't know myself. If you see Jabowski oranyone around, keep tab on 'em. Pick up any information you can, nomatter how trivial it may seem."
"But why are we doing this?" Mack complained. "I don't get it."
"Mr. Hatfield will explain later."
"You and Dan seem to be on the inside," Chips grumbled.
"If you don't want to play the game, you can trot back to camp. And thatgoes for all of you!"
"Oh, don't get tough," Chips retorted. "We're willing to spy out theenemy camp, but it would be more to the point if you'd do a littleexplaining."
"All in good time, all in good time," Brad rejoined, restored to goodhumor.
Following the trail Dan had marked, the Cubs slowly circled the hotelbuilding.
"I don't believe Jabowski lives there," Midge declared. "The place isdeserted."
"No, it isn't," corrected Red. "I see smoke coming from the chimney atthe rear."
Brad praised the boy for his observation and urged the others to be onthe lookout for other signs.
A little farther on, the Den Chief paused to study the grimy windows ofthe ancient building.
"Jabowski doesn't hurt himself keeping the place clean or tidy," heremarked. "Look at those windows! And the weeds in the yard!"
"And the shutters," contributed Fred. "They're banging around at everyangle."
Brad suddenly froze into alert attention. His gaze had focused hard uponone of the upstairs hotel windows. The glare of the sun was upon it, andfor a moment the others could not see what had attracted his interest.
"Fellows, there's someone standing at the window!" he exclaimed. "NotJabowski either!"
"It looks like a boy," Chips declared, shifting his position so that thereflected sunlight would not blind him.
Huddled together, the Cubs all fastened their gaze upon the window.Plainly they could see a youth standing there, his face pressed closeagainst the dirty pane.
"_Jeepers!_" Chips whispered in stunned recognition. "_It's Jacques!_"
Almost at the same instant, Brad and the other Cubs had made a similarobservation. The boy who stood at the window was the same one who hadvanished from the Cave only a few days earlier.
As the boys watched, a hand appeared from nowhere to jerk Jacques backfrom the window. They waited several minutes, but the boy did notreappear.
"You know what I think!" Midge cried, recovering from stunned surprise."Jacques is being held a prisoner in there!"
"Either Jabowski or someone else saw him trying to signal us, and pulledhim back out of sight!" Fred added excitedly. "I say we ought to break inand rescue him!"
"Not so fast," Brad cautioned as the other Cubs were ready to back up theproposal. "Our orders were to report back to camp. Remember?"
"But this is an emergency," Chips argued. "If Jacques is being held aprisoner, we ought to get him out!"
"And maybe get ourselves into a peck of trouble. Nope! Dan must have seenthat boy too or he wouldn't have left the note. We're hiking back tocamp. It's up to Mr. Hatfield to decide what to do."
Turning deaf ears upon all protests, Brad led the Cubs back the way theyhad come. Suddenly, a figure loomed up ahead of the boys. It was Jabowskiwho confronted them. From where he had come or how long he had beensecreted in the bushes, they could not guess.
The caretaker's voice was hard and unfriendly as he demanded:
"What d'you think you're doing here?"
"Why, we're playing 'follow the trail'," Brad said as the other Cubs weretoo abashed to reply.
"You were spying on the house!"
"Spying?" Brad asked innocently. "Why, what is there to see?"
"Nothing. Not a thing," Jabowski retorted, made uncomfortable by themanner in which the boy had turned the accusation. "I just don't likekids swarming over the place. See?"
"Mr. Manheim gave us permission to camp on the island."
"But not to run wild over it. This here place is mine and I don't wantsnoopers. Now get back to your own end of the island and stay there!"
"Sure, sure," Brad said, signaling the Cubs to make no resistance. "Wewere leaving anyhow."
"I don't aim to be mean," Jabowski said, mollified by the boy'swillingness to obey. "But a guy has to have some privacy. That raftupsetting last night set my nerves on edge. You the boy that dived underit?"
"No, that was Dan Carter."
"Which one is he?" Jabowski's keen gaze swept the group.
"Dan isn't here," Midge informed the caretaker.
"Well, no matter," Jabowski said. "Git along now, and mind what I said.You keep to your end of the island and there'll be no hard feelings. Bythe way, when you leaving?"
"For good you mean?" Brad asked. "Why, late this afternoon, I guess."
"Then you won't be camping here another night." Unmistakable relief wasstamped on the caretaker's face. "Good-bye, boys."
"Oh, you may see us again," Brad said with mischievous intent. "Oh, say!Have you run into that tramp who annoyed us the first day we campedhere?"
"Tramp? The one who threw the stone?" Jabowski's expression becameguarded. "No, I searched the island after Mr. Manheim complained to me.No one around. If anyone scared you, he's gone now."
"Let's hope so, at least," replied Brad evenly. "Well, so long, Mr.Jabowski. Sorry to have bothered you."
The Cubs tramped off, and because they knew the caretaker was watching,did not look back until they were a long distance from the old hotel.
Once out of sight and hearing, the boys discussed the important discoverythey had made.
"There's no question that it was Jacques we saw at the window," Braddeclared. "But what's he doing here? And was it Jabowski who pulled himaway from the window, or someone else?"
"He's a prisoner, for sure," Midge insisted. "We know someone spiritedhim away from the
Cave. He's probably been held here ever since."
"Come on, let's find Mr. Hatfield," Brad urged, starting along the trailagain.
At the camp a few minutes later, the Cubs were surprised to find the siteentirely deserted. Dan was nowhere around. Nor was Mr. Hatfield orMidge's father to be found.
Belatedly, Brad recalled that the Cub leader and Mr. Holloway hadexpected to make a brief trip that morning to the mainland.
"That's probably where they are," he remarked, his gaze anxiouslysweeping the river. "But where's Dan?"
"Maybe he went along," Fred suggested.
"Maybe," Brad agreed doubtfully. "But he couldn't have returned to campvery long ago."
While the other boys aired their bedding and attended to camp tasks, theolder boy wandered along the shore.
On the west beach he noticed where a boat had been pulled up on the wetsand. The area was splattered with footprints, both large and small.
"A boat landed after the Cubs went trail hunting," Brad reconstructed thescene. "Dan must have come down here to meet the folks, whoever theywere. Maybe he went away with them, or was taken away!"
As far as Brad could see, the river was deserted of small craft. However,the dense bushes lining both sides of the wide stream provided ampleprotection for any boat which might seek to keep out of view.
Recalling the motorcraft which apparently had been serviced by the islandraft, Brad became increasingly uneasy.
"It isn't like Dan to go away without leaving word," he told himself."Something's happened to him!"
Just then his roving gaze fastened upon a pile of three stones placedconspicuously on the beach. Plainly they had been left there to attractattention.
Brad kicked aside the stones. Folded beneath the lowermost one was a notefrom Dan.
"Called to Police Station," it read. "No chance to see Mr. Hatfield. Seeyou soon--I hope."
Brad read the message twice, trying to figure it out.
"Now why would Dan be called to the police station?" he speculated. "Itmust be something important to bring the cops here after him."
Brad was certain that his chum had committed no crime. But why otherwisewould he be sought by police?
"See you soon--I hope," he reread the final words of the note. "Thatsounds as if he thinks he may run into trouble. I wonder if Jabowski orsomeone who dislikes having the Cubs on Skeleton Island turned in a falsecomplaint?"
Decidedly worried, the Den Chief pocketed the note and walked slowly backtoward camp.
Without a motorboat, he knew he could do nothing until Mr. Hatfield andMidge's father returned from the mainland.
"A nice kettle of fish," he muttered. "Dan at the police station, andJacques apparently a prisoner in the old hotel. No telling what mayhappen next! And me with all the responsibility!"