CHAPTER XXII.
THE PATCHED SHOE AGAIN.
Those on the shore, after the bugle's sad refrain had been silenced,gave the departing adventurers a last cheer, and a wave of theircampaign hats. Over the water sounds carry unusually clear; and Thad andhis mates smiled when they distinctly heard Step-hen bawling from theinterior of the tent where he had his sleeping quarters:
"Hey, you fellers, which one of you hid my coat? None of your tricksnow; don't I know that I hung it up all right last night, when I came tobed; and blessed if I can find it now? Funny how it's always _my_ thingsthat go wandering around loose. Own up now; and whoever hid it just comeright in here, and show me where it is!"
"The same careless Step-hen," remarked Thad; "always leaving his thingsaround loose, and then ready to accuse some one else of hiding them. Tohear him talk you'd believe in the bad fairies, and that they just tooktheir spite out mixing his clothes and things up, while he slept. Iwonder if he can ever be cured of that trick. He'll never pass for amerit badge till he does, that's sure. Neatness in a scout is one of thefirst things to be won."
Davy was handling the paddle. While he did not show the proficiency thatthe Maine boy, Allan Hollister, could boast, or Bob White, who lovedeverything pertaining to the water, still Davy did manage to keep theprow of the canoe in a fairly straight line for the island, as he dippedfirst on one side and then on the other.
Thinking the chance to show Davy a few points in the art of paddlingought not be lost, the scout master took the spruce blade, which was ahome-made one, from his hands. By turning the canoe around, and usingthe stern as the bow, he was able to illustrate his meaning easilyenough.
"Now, it is not necessary to change from one side to the other as oftenas you do, Davy, when you have a breeze blowing like it is now, andyou're heading across it. By holding the blade in the water this wayafter a stroke, it serves in place of a rudder and checks the turning ofthe canoe under the influence of the push. And another thing, you reachtoo far out. That helps to whirl the boat around in a part circle. Dipdeeply, but as close to the side of the canoe as you can."
Davy was a ready observer, and not above picking up points from one whoknew more than he did.
And presently, profiting from these plain hints, he was able to makeeasier progress.
"Why," continued Thad, "Allan tells me that among the expert canoemen upin his State of Maine lots of them wouldn't be guilty of lifting thepaddle out of the water at all, and make swift work of it too. You see,in creeping up on a deer that is feeding on the lily pads in the shallowwater near the shore, just around a point perhaps, the water drippingfrom the paddle when it was raised; or even the gurgle as it came out,would give warning of danger; and about the only thing they'd know aboutthat deer would be its whistle as it leaped into the brush. So theyalways practice silence in paddling, till it gets to be second nature,Allan tells me."
"Say, I certainly do hope we get a chance to see that same thing forourselves," remarked Davy; "I've heard and read a heap about Maine, andalways wanted to get there. Since Allan's been talking about his life inthe pine woods that feeling's just grown till I dream of it nights, andimagine myself up there."
"And I'd like to go along too, if my mother could be persuaded to letme," was what Smithy said, a little doubtfully; for he had been so long"tied to his mother's apron-strings," as the other boys called it, thathe could not believe she might overcome her fears for his safety enoughto let him go far away.
Nevertheless, Smithy had now had one full breath of what it meant to bea boy with red blood in his veins; and he was inwardly determined thatnever again could he be kept in bonds, while the smiling open airbeckoned, and these splendid chums wanted his company.
All this while good progress had been made, and they were now drawingclose in to the island. It lay there, looking calm and peaceful in themorning sunlight. A few birds flew up from along the shore, some of them"teeter" snipe that had been feeding. Davy even pointed with his paddleto a big gray squirrel that ran along a log in plain view, and sat up onhis haunches as if to curiously observe these approaching human beingswho intended to invade his haunts.
"What's that bird out yonder on the water?" asked Smithy, just thenpointing beyond a spur of the island.
"That's a loon," remarked Thad. "Allan heard him drop in here lastnight; and both of us happened to be awake when he gave one of hiscries. You'll be apt to hear him some time or other; and if you thinkit's a crazy man laughing, why just remember they named that birdrightly when they called him a loon."
"I don't see anything moving on shore; anyhow there's no man in sight,"Davy remarked a minute later, as they drew in still closer.
"Oh! I didn't expect to see a crowd waiting to receive us," laughedThad. "We may have all our trouble for our pains; but I just couldn'trest till I got one more squint at that imprint of a shoe on theisland."
"Oh! yes, I remember that Bob White was telling me about you being takenup with that track," Davy went on; "but he didn't say just why. Perhapsyou'll show me, now that I'm along on the trip?"
"Sure I will; and tell you a few things I got from him," thescout-master went on to say, as they pushed in toward the little beachwhere the landing had been made on the first occasion of their visitingthe lake island.
"Bob must have been through some stuff in his old home," remarked Davy,enviously; "from the few little things he's said. Things _happen_ therein the Blue Ridge mountains, down in the Old Tar Heel state. Up hereit's as dead as a door nail; nothin' goin' on atall to make a fellerkeep awake. Don't I just hope you get that deal through, Thad, and takethe whole patrol along, to pay a visit to Bob's home country. I justknow we'd have a scrumptuous time of it. Imagine me up in the realmountains, when I've never even seen a hill bigger than Scrub-oakmountain, which I could nearly throw a stone over!"
Then the prow of the canoe ran aground in a few inches of water. Thadsprang ashore, and holding the painter, drew the boat in closer.Relieved of his weight in the bow its keel grated on the dry sand, andthe other two were able to step out easily enough.
They drew the boat up good and far on the beach.
"The wind's liable to get even stronger than it is," remarked Thad, "andwe don't want a second experience of having the canoe blown out on thelake."
"I should say not," observed Smithy, uneasily; for he had only recentlylearned how to swim, and the shore seemed a tremendous distance away,with the flag of the camp floating in the morning breeze, and the tentsshowing plainly against the green background.
"Now, this time I'm going to comb the whole island over, and see what'shere," announced Thad, resolutely. "You see, we can make a start, andkeep close to this shore until we strike the other end. Then changingour base, we'll come back this way, keeping just so far away from ourfirst trail. After that, it's back again; and in that way we ought tosee all there is."
"Going to be pretty tough climbing, I reckon?" remarked Davy, surveyingthe piled-up rocks, of which the island seemed to consist mainly, withthe trees growing from crevices, and in every odd place, so that theyformed a dense canopy indeed.
"That'll make it more interesting, perhaps," said Smithy; and Thadnodded his head encouragingly; for he liked to see evidences in thespoiled boy tending to show what his real nature must be, back of thepolish his fond mother and maiden aunts had succeeded in putting uponhis actions in the past.
They reached the other end of the island and began to make the returntrip. As Davy Jones had said, it was strenuous work at times, since therocks were piled up in a way to suggest that some convulsion of naturehad heaved this island up from the bottom of the lake.
"Just see the black holes, would you?" Davy declared, again and again."Why, lots of 'em'd make the finest kind of fox dens; and I reckon awolf wouldn't want a better hiding-place than that big one over there.Say, Thad, I c'd crawl in easy, myself, and I'd like to do it for acooky now, if you said the word."
"Not just yet, Davy," remarked the scout leader; who began to wonde
rhimself if the men of the island might not be hiding right then in oneof the cavities Davy pointed out. "We want to see what the place islike, you know. Come along, and in a jiffy we'll be at the end where ourboat lies."
"But what are you keeping on looking so close at the ground, whenever westrike any soil at all, Thad?" the Jones boy continued. "S'pose now, youthink you might run on that footprint Bob was speakin' about, say?"
"Just what was in my mind, Davy," replied the other, always willing togive information to those with him. "I wanted you to see what it lookedlike, so you and Smithy here could be keeping on the watch. If we foundthat it made a regular trail, and led to one of these same black holes,we'd know more than we do right now. There, I saw a track, but it wasn'ta clear one. Hold on, and let's see what this patch of open ground willshow up."
"This just suits me to a dot," remarked Davy. "Feels quivery-like, youknow, just like something queer was agoin' to happen right soon. Wonderif there's any wildcats loose over here. I'd like to get a whack at onewith this club; wouldn't I belt him a good crack between the eyes.Hello! found what you wanted, Thad?"
The scout-master had come to a sudden stop, and was down on his knees,examining something on the ground. He beckoned the others to drop besidehim, and both boys did so eagerly.
As Davy Jones saw the imprint of the shoe that had a patch on it, hegave a low exclamation, and his eyes sought those of Thad.
"Well, what d'ye think of that, now, Thad?" he muttered; "the samepatched shoe that feller with the bear man was tellin' me about. Say,listen, he said that he was lookin' for a man with a shoe just likethat! Yes, siree, he described it to a hair, and asked me if ever I sawa footprint like that to send word to Malcolm Hotchkiss up atFaversham!"
Thad felt a thrill at these words, for he realized that they meant theremust be some connection between the supposed hobo who accompanied theowner of the dancing bear, and the two men who were hiding on theisland!
The Boy Scouts' First Camp Fire; or, Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol Page 22