CHAPTER VIII.
AN UNWELCOME DISCOVERY.
"Bully, they're still there, just like we left them!" shouted Steve; andfrom the manner in which he said this, it was evident that he had sharedin some of the fears which beset his companions.
In fact, all of the boys experienced a singular relief when theydiscovered that the canoes still lay there on the beach.
"Seems to be all hunky dory," Bandy-legs was heard to remark, as he camepuffing along in the rear, determined to keep up with the procession;"if only now them tricky fellers ain't gone and bored more auger holesin my little cedar dinky! You never can tell. 'Pearances are oftendeceitful, remember, we used to write in our copybooks at school? Well,they are, sometimes. I know it, because I never 'spected to have theriver come in on me; and it did, you just bet it did!"
But while Bandy-legs was amusing himself by this manner of talk, no onewas apparently paying the least attention to him. They had hurriedalong, eager to get to the camp, and verify their first impression, tothe effect that all was well.
So far as they could see, as they drew near, things were just as theyhad left them something like an hour and a half previously. The twotents stood there, with the little burgees flapping idly in the morningbreeze. Possibly a wandering 'coon or a curious fox may have dropped into investigate conditions; but the food had all been placed far abovethe reach of such hungry creatures, so no one need feel the least bit ofalarm.
It was Max who made the first discovery that set them to quivering againwith a new apprehension.
"Look at the flap of the tent here!" he exclaimed. "I'm dead sure Ifastened it tight behind me; and I was the last one in there. It'shanging loose, right now!"
"Wow, so's ours!" whooped Steve, furiously.
The boys plunged into the tents, anxious once more concerning the stateof affairs; and immediately a chorus of indignant outcries told thatthey found things otherwise than satisfactory.
"Somebody's been rooting around in here!" called out Steve, from thedepths of the second tent.
"And mauled all our duds, too! Look at the stuff scattered around, wouldyou?" Bandy-legs was heard to howl.
"Looks like the thief wanted to find something or other, and must havebeen frightened off by hearing us coming," Owen declared, also a bitangrily.
As yet there had come no loud outcries from the other tent; but that wasnot because those who had rushed inside found things just to theirsatisfaction. Max was always a fellow of few words; and as for Toby, henever could express himself intelligently when tremendously excited. Hejust stood there, with his lower jaw moving up and down, yet no soundfollowing the action.
There was good reason for this feeling of dismay on the part of the pairoccupying the smaller tent, where most of the provisions were kept. Forthey had discovered, as soon as they entered, that everything was thrownabout, helter-skelter. Indeed, it looked as though the unknown thiefmust have been gathering together pretty much all their supplies in theshape of foodstuff, with the evident intention of carrying the same off;when, alarmed by their coming, he had grabbed up a strip of breakfastbacon, the last loaf of bread, and possibly a can of baked beans, withwhich he had hastily decamped.
Max, after the first flush of his indignation had passed away, wasrather amused than otherwise by the affair. The loss had not been sovery great after all, since no damage had been done to the preciouscanoes. And if it came to the worst, one of the campers could easily bedispatched to the home town to buy more provisions, since they hadplenty of money still in the treasury, thanks to those wonderful littlepearls, taken from the waters of this same Big Sunflower River.
As usual with him, Max began to cast around in order to find some clewto the identity of the thief. Of course the other three had by this timehurried into the smaller tent to ascertain what the extent of thedamages might be. And loud were the wailings of Bandy-legs when he heardthat among the missing things was the splendid strip of bacon, on whichhe had cast many an envious eye, as he contemplated future enjoyment,with slices of the same sizzling in a hot frying pan, and sending offthe odors that made him positively ravenous with hunger.
"Oh, but wasn't it good we came back just in time!" he exclaimed, as helooked around at the untidy interior of the tent, with a pile ofprovisions lying in the open center, where the eager intruder had thrownthem. "He meant to just clean us out, that's what he did. I bet thatHerb Benson had something to do with this mean old raid. He wanted toscare us off the island, or starve us out!"
If Max thought along these same lines he had not as yet mentioned thefact; but he did look queerly at Bandy-legs when he said this lastsentence, as though the possibility of such a thing appealed to him.
"Was there only one feller here, or a crowd?" demanded Steve, as he eyedthe pile of canned goods, that ham that was only partly cut, and anumber of packages containing prunes, sugar, flour and such things, manyof them as yet not even opened.
"Looks like there was half a dozen; or else the feller, if there wasonly one, had an appetite that would beat Bandy-legs here all holler,"declared Steve, who was really more enraged than any of the others.
All of them looked to Max to decide this question, satisfied that if thetruth could be learned at all, he would unearth it.
"I think there was only a single thief here," he presently said. "AndI'll tell you why I hit on that. He certainly carried off a few things,just as much as he could grab up in a big hurry when he heard us. Now,his first intention was to scoop in the whole business; you can see howhe piled the stuff up here, meaning to get it all. And if there had beentwo, three, or more, they'd have made a bigger hole in our grubdepartment than happened."
"That sounds good to me, Max," remarked Owen, nodding his headattentively.
Toby was here heard to make a jumble of sounds, being still too excitedto get his vocal cords in decent working order. He kept pointing at anail that had been driven into the tent pole.
Now, strange to say, Steve was really the quickest to understand whatthe stammering boy meant, when he became twisted up in this way.
"He says his sweater is gone, the dark-blue one that his guardian, Mr.Jackson, gave him just a week ago on his birthday. And he left ithanging there on that old nail," was Steve's explanation of the strangejumble of sounds Toby was giving forth.
"And that's true every word of it," put in Max at that moment; "for justas I turned to quit this tent, as we were going off, that same sweaterfell down off the nail. I stopped long enough to hang it up again. So ifit's gone, the thief took a notion he could make good use of it."
Toby remained silent with indignation for a long time; and in his casethis was not a mere figure of speech either, but a grim reality, for hewas tongue-tied.
"Let Max hunt around, and see if there are any tracks," said Owen.
"That's the ticket!" added Bandy-legs; and both the others nodded theirheads in immediate approval of the scheme.
Whenever it came down to a showing of woods lore, Max was the one alwaysdesignated to handle the matter. His chums believed him capable ofdiscovering almost anything going, if only a few faint tracks had beenleft behind.
Nothing loth, Max started in to look; but he knew in the beginning thatthe task would be a difficult one, and the results not at all equal tothe exertion put forth.
Still he did find several places where a footprint, not at all like anymade by their own shoes, seemed to tell where the intruder had stepped,in making his rapid rounds of the camp.
"There was only one thief, boys," he announced, after he had lookedcarefully.
"Man or boy, do you think, Max?" asked Owen.
"A man; and I should say a pretty hefty one, too," replied the other,with conviction in his voice.
"Why, how c'n you tell that, Max, without ever once gettin' sight of thefeller?" demanded the astonished Bandy-legs.
"Oh, shucks, how dense some people are!" put in Steve, scornfully. "Why,stands to reason, don't it, that a big man'd wear shoes ever so muchlonger than a lit
tle man, or a kid? Well, look at that print Max ispointing to right now! Don't think any Shafter, Toots or Beggs madethat, do you?"
"Gosh!" exclaimed Bandy-legs, staring; "he must 'a' been a giant, sure.I never did see a bigger shoe print, honest now. And, boys, it ain't thenicest thing going to know that monster is right here, marooned on thisisland with us."
"Now what makes you say that, Bandy-legs?" demanded Steve. "How d'yeknow but what he come across from the mainland?"
"Why," the other hastened to say, as though proud of having his opinionasked, "he'd have to swim, then, because Max here said there wasn't asign of a boat landin' anywhere along the shore. Fact is, the island isso rough that boats would find it pretty hard to land anywhere, but onthis little beach right at the foot, and made just for such a thing. Andthen again, Steve, don't you forget about that queer old cabin, now. Helives there, sure as you're born!"
"Whew, six more nights!"
That was Toby Jucklin finally getting his breath; and as there was notelling when he would talk steadily, or stammer, none of his campmatesthought it at all strange to hear him say these words calmly and evenly.Toby had been wrestling with those miserable vocal cords of his for solong a time that he now had them under control for a short period atleast.
"Can we stand it, fellows?" asked Owen, more to find out how the othersfelt than because his faith was becoming wobbly.
"Sixty, if you said the word!" declared the impulsive Steve, grimly;"why, after accepting that dare, a dozen critters like this one wehaven't ever seen yet couldn't frighten _me_ away from Catamount Island;no siree, bob!"
Max looked admiringly, also affectionately at the speaker. If there wasone trait he liked about Steve, it was his indomitable pluck. The boywas absolutely afraid of nothing that walked, flew, or crawled. He wasas bold as a lion, but very indiscreet. He often reminded Max of a smallterrier attacking a big St. Bernard, and snapping viciously all thewhile. Yes, Steve was a bundle of nerves, and not to be daunted.
"I honestly believe you would stick it out if it took all summer,Steve," he remarked, laying a hand on the other's arm.
"Excuse me, then," declared Bandy-legs. "This thing wears on my nerveslike everything. I'll soon be skin and bones if it keeps up. Somebodytell me what that big thief wanted with me last night, when he grabbedmy leg, and started to haul me out of the tent? That's what bothers me.He seems to've got a spite against me in particular. I bet you he's gothis wicked eye on me, right at this blessed minute."
"Oh, p'r'aps he thought it was a ham he grabbed hold of," remarkedSteve, flippantly, as he pointed to Bandy-legs' rather plump lowerlimbs, of which he was rather vain, in spite of their shortness.
But for once Bandy-legs did not laugh at a joke that was on himself. Thematter appeared too serious for trifling. How could he ever go to sleeppeacefully when expecting to be aroused suddenly by a terrible tug, andfeel himself being dragged along the ground, just as though seized by astriped tiger of the East Indian jungle?
"I see there's only one way to be on the safe side," he was mutteringdisconsolately; "I've just got to come to tying myself to the tent poleevery night Then if he drags me off, down comes the old tent; and Iguess the rest of you'll sit up and take notice at that."
"You might shin out for home, Bandy-legs?" suggested Steve, just to testthe sticking quality of the other.
"But I won't, all the same," flashed Bandy-legs, with a determined shakeof his head. "If the rest of yer c'n stand havin' that sort of businessgoin' on, reckon I ought to hold out. But I wish now I'd brought a gunalong. Then mebbe he'd let me alone, or take a feller of his size."
"Come along, boys, let's get things in shipshape again, and see justwhat's gone!" called out Max, who believed in looking things squarely inthe face, and then making the best out of a bad bargain.
So the campers started with a vim to put things as they were before thevisit of the unknown forager, who seemed destined to occupy CatamountIsland with them during the balance of their stay.
The Strange Cabin on Catamount Island Page 8