CHAPTER XXV.
THE SCOUT-MASTER'S SCHEME.
Smithy and the Jones boy watched their patrol leader with something morethan ordinary curiosity, as Thad examined the two shining coins. Andwhen the other even tried his teeth on each half dollar in turn, Davygave an exclamation of delight; while the other scout was in a measurefilled with sudden consternation.
For both of them could understand what this meant, and that Thad feltmore or less suspicious regarding the genuineness of the two coins.
"He thinks they might be counterfeits, Smithy," said Davy, in low butthrilling tones. "Now wouldn't that be a great joke if we foundourselves bunking on this old island along with a lot of desperate bogusmoney-makers! Oh! say, things are just turning out tremendous, andthat's a fact. But I don't exactly know, whether there'd be more funstaying here, or taking that little voyage with the log."
"That part of it has already been settled," remarked Thad, with a veinof authority in his voice; for he wanted Davy to understand that as atrue scout, he must always pay respect to the orders of his superior,and never try to evade a duty that had been imposed upon him.
"Oh! all right, Thad;" Davy replied; "I'm willin' enough to try theswim; but say, what if they jump on you fellers while I'm away?"
You would have thought from the patronizing manner of the Jones boy thatupon his presence alone depended the safety of the group of scouts.Thad, however, knew Davy pretty well by this time, and did not take allhe said seriously.
"We'll have to manage to get on, somehow," he said; "and perhaps, afterall, the danger may not be so very great. If there are places for thesetwo men to hide, why, seems to me we ought to be able to keep out oftheir sight some way or another."
Smithy was not saying much, but it might be understood that he was doinga whole lot of thinking. This was certainly a novel experience for him.A short time before, and he had not really known what it was toassociate with any boys save a delicate little cousin away off in acity, and who was very girlish in all his ways. And here he was now, notonly in the company of seven healthy fellows, fond of fun, and alloutdoor sports; but a genuine scout in the Silver Fox Patrol, and facingdanger with a bravery no one had ever dreamed he could display.
That was why Smithy felt pleased, even while he at the same timeexperienced a touch of uneasiness because of the new developments thatwere constantly making their situation look more desperate.
As Thad had discovered, under all that gentle exterior there beat aheart within Smithy that yearned to have its fair share of excitement.Reading Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island might be all very well; butacting a part in a little bit of daring seemed much better.
Thad bent down to assist Davy secure his clothes to the log. The Jonesboy had waded in, and upon examining one side of the old tree trunk asit floated buoyantly on the water, he found that there was just thenicest hiding-place one could wish for in the shape of a cavity wellabove the reach of the water.
"You see, Thad," he explained, "it ain't goin' to be on the side thatthe waves beat against, and so my duds won't be apt to get _very_ wet.The cutest pocket you ever saw; and looks like it might just have beenmade specially for a feller that wanted to take a tour of the lake withhis private yacht Now, do I go, Thad? I'm ready, and only waitin' fororders."
"Then you might as well start, Davy; and if I was you I'd keep out ofsight all I could. If they happened to spy you, and believed you weregoing for help, so that they might be captured before night came, itwould go hard with you perhaps."
"I got your meaning, Thad," Davy replied, without showing the leastconcern, for he was a fearless chap; "which is, that they've got theboat, and could chase after me if they thought I was going to get 'em ina peck of trouble by flitting. Never you fear, I'll keep low down, andout of sight."
He thereupon proved how easy it would be to lie in a position where hecould guide the floating log, and yet be out of sight from the side thatwas toward the island.
"Oh! this is the greatest thing that's come my way for a long time," hesaid, as he walked further away from the shore, the water getting deeperall the time until his body was very nearly all submerged; "and I'm everso much obliged to you for giving me the chance, Thad. Don't bother athing about me. If some big mud-turtle don't grab me by the toe, andpull me down, I'll come out swimmingly, see?"
Thad knew that he could depend on the Jones boy. When a fellow can eventhink to joke like that when facing danger of any sort, he certainlycould not be feeling in a state of panic.
"Now the breeze strikes me, fellows, and I'm off. I'd like to give awhoop, I feel so great; but something tells me that would be wrong. Sojust consider that's what I'm doing inside, anyhow. Good-bye, boys, andI hope you pull through O. K."
Thad did not answer, for the simple reason that the log with its boyishfreight was already so far away that he would have to raise his voice tomake Davy hear; and such a thing would be foolish, when they wanted tokeep as quiet as possible, so as not to attract attention.
Standing there, they watched the strange argosy floating away on thedancing waves. Davy was urging it from the shore of the island as wellas he could by swimming, and without showing any part of his person.
"He's going to make that point, all right," said Thad, knowing that theJones boy's one fear had been lest he ground on the bar that put outthere, and be compelled to show himself in order to push off again.
"But you said it would be hours before he could even get to camp, didn'tyou, Thad?" asked Smithy.
"The way he's drifting now, he'll surely be at the end of the lake inhalf an hour; and given four times as much to make his way round all thecoves, would bring him to camp about noon, I reckon. Then, if Giraffestarts out at once, and has fair luck traveling he ought to get toRockford in two hours, running part of the way, once he strikes theroad."
"That would mean two in the afternoon, then, Thad?"
"About that, if all goes well," the other continued, as though mappingout the programme, step by step. "Then give him a quarter of an hour totell Mr. Hotchkiss the story over the wire; and after that theFaversham officers would have to come on here. But perhaps they mightget a car to bring them along the road. It's not a first class autoroad, but could be navigated I guess. Say by four o'clock they could beat our camp, Smithy."
The other sighed.
"That means something more than six hours for us to play hide and seekhere on the island, doesn't it?" he remarked; but Thad saw with reliefthat Smithy was certainly showing less signs of alarm than he hadexpected, under the best conditions.
"Well, if you were only as good a swimmer as you hope to be one of thesedays, Smithy," he remarked, pleasantly, "we might try for the shore. Butas it is, we've got to make the best of a bad bargain, and wait. You'vegot good sight, so suppose we try and see if we can tell what the boysare doing in camp. Two pair of eyes ought to be better than one anyday."
"But honest now, I don't seem to see a blessed fellow there," declaredSmithy, which was just what Thad had himself found out. "I can see thefire burning lazily, and the flag whipping in that splendid breeze; butas far as I can make out the whole pack have deserted, and gonesomewhere. Perhaps they're fishing."
"You could see them on the bank, if that were so, Smithy," remarkedThad. "Try again with another guess; and this time think well beforeyou answer."
"Well," remarked the new tenderfoot scout presently, after he had stoodthere, conjuring up his thoughts; "I remember that you told themsomething before we set sail on our trip."
"Just what I did, and tell me if you can remember the nature of the taskthey were to handle during our absence?" the scout-master continued.
"Allan was going to show them some more interesting things aboutfollowing a trail," Smithy immediately replied; "how to tell what sortof little animal like a fox, a woodchuck, a mink, a muskrat or an otterhad made the marks; what it was trying to do; and how it was captured bythe men who make a business of collecting skins, or as they call them,pelts."
; "Just so," Thad observed, "only it was to be this afternoon Allan meantto show them all that. If you think again, now, Smithy, I'm sure you'llrecollect there was another piece of scout business, and a veryimportant one too, that they were to practice this morning."
"Yes, I remember it all now--wigwagging it was," the tenderfoot went onto say with eagerness, and not a little satisfaction, because he hadrecalled everything that Thad wanted him to. "Allan was to go up to thetop of that little bare hill back of the camp, and two of the otherfellows were to hike over to another about a mile or so away. Then theywould exchange sentences by means of the signal flag, waved up and downand every which way, according to the alphabet used in the U. S. SignalCorps. And to-night the result was to be given to you to correct."
"I see your memory is in good working order, Smithy, for that is exactlywhat sort of a task I set the boys we left behind. And now, I've justthought up a dandy scheme that if it can only be carried out, may gainus just about two hours over Davy's best time, in letting our chums knowwhat a hole we're in."
Smithy looked interested. Indeed, whatever Thad did always excited hisenthusiasm; for he believed the young scout-master to be the smartestboy he had ever heard of in all his life.
"It's something to do with this same wigwagging, Thad, I'm sure ofthat?" he remarked, drawing a big breath in his new excitement.
"Well, there's no use wasting any more time in beating around the bush,so I'll tell you right now what the idea is," Thad continued, smiling atthe eagerness of his comrade. "Suppose I could climb to the top of sometree, and attract the attention of Allan, as he stood on that bald hill,which is in plain sight from here; don't you understand that by makinguse of my handkerchief, and the code, I might be able to tell him what'shappened, and get him to send Giraffe to Rockford so as to call theFaversham Chief over the 'phone?"
Smith's face was wreathed in a smile of mingled admiration and delightas he caught the full meaning of the bright thought that had come to themind of his companion, the scout-master.