CHAPTER XXI
YOUNG WOODSMEN ON THE TRAIL
It was a happy lot of boys that gathered in the camp of the PonyRider Boys that night. They sat down to a full meal once more, andStacy Brown's "weak heart" was forgotten in the general good cheer.
After supper the question of their future movements came up fordiscussion. Cale decided that if the others were agreeable, the mainparty had better move on to the woods, leaving someone there to bringthe money when the remittance should have arrived from home.
Professor Zepplin suggested that Charlie John might stay in town towait for the money, but Cale did not like the idea. He asked Tad howhe would like the job.
"Fine," glowed the freckle-faced boy.
"But how could he find us?" protested Professor Zepplin.
"The same as any good woodsman would. Follow the trail."
"I'll stay with him. If he can't find the trail, I can," spoke upChunky.
"I pity Tad if you remain with him," answered Rector.
"I will blaze the trail so they can't miss it, Professor. We shallhave three or four days for exploration before Butler and Brown getin, then we will move on. By the way, Master Tad, when you get yourmoney you might drop into the bank and take up that note if you wish.If it is going to make you short, of course the note may stand untilI get back."
"Take it up, by all means," ordered the Professor. "The favor hasbeen a big one to us. We shall never forget it."
"Then you are going to take a new trail from here?" asked Tad.
"Yes. We will follow the trail you took in coming in here for, sayfive miles, after which we shall branch off. You will find theturning-off place clearly marked."
"Oh, I will see that he doesn't get lost," declared Chunky. "Youleave it all to me."
"Yes, if you are looking for trouble, leave it to Chunky," retortedNed.
The plans were laid in detail that night. At daybreak on thefollowing morning Tad Butler and Stacy Brown saw their companionsriding away. The two boys watched them until the party haddisappeared, all waving their hats at the lads who had been leftbehind.
"Now, Chunky, you are in my charge. If you don't behave yourself, Ishall be under the painful necessity of giving you a thrashing."
"You bet it will be painful for you if you try it," retorted the fatboy.
"I certainly shall try it if you give me cause. See if you can't actlike other folks."
"I don't want to be like other folks. I'm satisfied to be StacyBrown."
"I reckon you will be that as long as you live. And there's onlyone Stacy," answered Tad laughingly. "But remember, you are not infavor with Squire Halliday," warned the boy.
It was four days after the departure of their companions when theremittance came, Banker Perkins having wired to a bank in Bangor tohasten funds to the boys at Matungamook, thus saving at least twodays for them. Tad cashed the draft at the bank and took up CaleVaughn's note as arranged, after which the boys packed their kits andset out for the trail into the wilderness.
Neither boy was at all apprehensive about his ability to find theway. Tad knew that he should find the trail plainly marked, and hedid. Along about noon they found the point where the two trailsdiverged and halted there for a bit to eat, and to give their poniesa rest.
The journey to the place where the others were to camp was fullythirty miles farther in. It was a long jaunt for two boys, butVaughn had perfect confidence in Tad's ability to follow the trail.
After resting for an hour the boys continued until night. They madecamp before dark, building a fire and constructing a small lean-to,not having their tents with them. They were as handy at taking careof themselves as if they had been in the woods all of their lives.Stacy Brown appeared to have turned over a new leaf. He worked likea good fellow. There was now no toil about the camp too hard for thefat boy.
They lay down to sleep early in the evening after piling plenty ofwood on the fire, and slept soundly until daybreak. A quickbreakfast and they were off.
"There is the trail," said Stacy, pointing a blaze on a big spruce.
Tad glanced about him inquiringly before starting. He saw that theblazed trail took a bend at that point, branching off to the right alittle. This did not arouse any suspicion in his mind, for he didnot know the route taken by Cale Vaughn, depending wholly on theblazes and other trail marks.
All that day they continued on their journey. Tad decided that theyshould reach the camp early on the following forenoon.
Instead of reaching the camp in the morning, the following nightfound them still following the trail. Tad was somewhat troubled whenthey made camp that night. Still, the camp might be much fartherfrom town than Cale had thought. The boys consulted and decided togo on.
That night they found a campfire, or rather the remains of one. Thefire was two or three days old and the small greens were trampleddown about the place as if quite a party had camped there. Thisencouraged the boys, and next morning they went on with renewedcourage. They kept on going until the morning of the fourth day whenthe trail brought up abruptly at the side of a small lake. There itended.
"Well, we seem to be in something of a quandary, Chunky," said Tad.
"It looks that way. What are you going to do?"
"Follow the shore of the lake around until I find the trail again,"answered Butler confidently. "They must have landed somewhere. Itlooks to me as if they had swum their horses over, though I don't seeany hoof-marks on the shore. That is what puzzles me."
"Giddap," said Stacy in answer. The boys started to encircle thelake. In order to do so, they were obliged to work back into theforest some distance at one point, traveling more than a mile in whatthey supposed was a direction parallel to the lake.
At last they came out on the shore again, and Tad gazed in amazement.
"Stacy," he said, "do you see anything peculiar about this body ofwater?"
"Well," answered the fat boy wisely, "it appears to have shrunk somesince we saw it last."
"That is what I think. There is something peculiar about it. Itdoesn't look to me like the same body of water."
"Oh, yes it is. It's the same old pond."
"Then we will complete our circuit of it if we can. Wouldn't it befunny if we got lost?"
"Not to me, it wouldn't. I can get along without that."
The boys had got around to the opposite side of the lake when Tadcried out joyously.
"There's a blaze," pointing to a tree from which the bark had beencut.
"I see it," answered Stacy. "They think they are playing a mightysmart trick on us, don't they?"
"It looks that way."
"We're lost!"]
With light hearts the boys started on the new trail. It proved aneasy one to follow, though they had begun to wonder if they ever weregoing to reach their destination. By the sun Butler kept the generaldirection in which they were traveling pretty well in mind. He didnot think for a moment that he was on the wrong trail.
As a matter of fact another party had, in the meantime, followed thetrail from the village, taking Cale's blazes to the point where theyeventually turned off. It was this branch made by the strange partythat Tad and Stacy had followed to the first lake. They were many,many miles from the camp of their fellows. What was still worse,they were now on yet another trail, a trail all of a year old. Aftera time that trail, too, ended abruptly. In trying to pick it up, orits continuation, the boys lost it altogether, nor did they find itagain. Tad called a halt and getting from his pony sat down on alog.
"Are we lost?" asked Chunky solemnly.
"We are," answered Tad with equal solemnity.