by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER XIII THE GREEN ARROW TRAIL
While Johnny was going through his wild adventure, Doris and Dave werenot without their own exciting moments. Of course while the storm lasted,the professor's party remained inside the _Sea Nymph's_ cabin. As soon asit abated they immediately went ashore.
Troubled as they were at thought of Johnny's possible fate, there was forthe moment nothing they could do. The seas were still running high. Daveand the professor went for a tramp in the jungle, while Doris followedthe trail to the Kennedy home.
Mildred appeared greatly worried when told of the journey Johnny andSamatan had undertaken.
"But why did Johnny go?" she asked in surprise.
"Oh," replied Doris, "he had a notion that Samatan was angry aboutsomething. He said we might need the help of Samatan and his men."
"How?" Mildred asked.
"That's it--how?" Doris laughed uneasily. "He thinks there are manyEuropean spies around here!"
"Well--there are!" Mildred nodded her head vigorously.
"You, too?" exclaimed Doris. "But anyhow, Johnny thinks the spies believe_we_ are looking for _them_--and that they'd do something terrible tous."
"I shouldn't wonder," said Mildred.
"How comforting you are!" Doris smiled ruefully. "Just when I want tofeel quiet in my mind! You aren't helping a bit!"
"Well," said Mildred, "how can I? There were those men singing in someforeign tongue. They just vanished! And there's that mysterious, blinkinggreen arrow."
"Two of them," Doris corrected. "One on land and one on sea--like PaulRevere!" she chuckled mischievously.
"But of course," she added more seriously, "there was the man who came onboard our boat, sneaking around, and went into a huddle with the octopus!That would have been funny had it not been so terrible. He had a knifethat Johnny says no native would carry. But I don't see--"
"There are a lot of things we don't see!" Mildred broke in. "Forinstance--who was that whisperer who was always breaking in when Dave andJohnny in the steel ball were being dragged against the rocks?"
"He might have been a thousand miles away. Radio's like that," Dorissaid, doubtfully.
"Yes-and he might not!" Mildred exclaimed. "He appeared to know too muchfor that."
"One more thing," Doris laughed. "Johnny thinks there is a submarine--aforeign one--in these waters!--He thinks we saw it, and that _it_ was thething that dragged the steel ball, that day!"
"I shouldn't wonder a bit," said Mildred.
"Oh, bother your 'shouldn't wonder'!" exclaimed Doris, good naturedly."Come on, let's take a walk. It will be good for our nerves!
"But I'll tell you one thing," she added as they started off. "If Ibelieved _half_ the things you do--I'd be getting out of here!"
"It's not so easy," Mildred replied, soberly. "Grandfather is a dear. Itwould be a shame to leave him alone. Of course he says he's going to sendme back to college in the fall, and I suppose I shall go. College meansso much these days."
"Yes," Doris agreed, "I'm sure it does."
"But he can't do that unless we get our motorboat up from the bottom,"said Mildred. "And even after that--there are the spies."
"Spies! Always spies!" Doris laughed. "Let's forget them!"
"O.K. Let's do," the other girl agreed.
The trail they had chosen led to the beach where the mysterious malechorus had disappeared. Arrived at the beach where the waves were nowracing, they stood for a time in silence. When a piece of driftwood--thebroken side of a native dugout--came floating in, Mildred turned awaywith a shudder, her thoughts on Johnny.
Having wandered into the jungle a short distance she stopped suddenly tostare at the trunk of a tree. There, standing out against the smooth graybark, was a small, green arrow!
"Doris!" she called. "Come here!"
"Green arrow!" Doris exclaimed, reaching Mildred's side. "What do yousuppose it means?" she whispered.
"It's a trail marker!" said Mildred. "There should be others. Come on!"
There were others! Some were quite far up on the trees, while others werelow. They continued the search for ten minutes, steadily finding others.
Doris was frightened and did not wish to go on. At every turn of thetrail she expected to come upon a freshly made clearing, a cluster oftents and a whole army of strange warriors.
But Mildred thought of but one thing.... Perhaps they were on the road toa real discovery.
As they went deeper and deeper into the jungle, the green arrows becamescarcer, and harder to find. The trail grew steeper and narrower. Thornybushes tore at them, and once a great snake crossed their path. Unused toall this, Doris was distinctly uneasy. But Mildred's face fairly shone.
However, when they came to a place where the trail split into threenarrower ones and, search as they might, they could not find a singlearrow, Mildred, too, was ready to give up.
"Come on," said Doris. "It will soon be dark, and I must get back to theboat. They may want to put out, in search of Johnny and Samatan."
"You're right," said Mildred. "We must be starting back. But--I'm comingback here again!"
"Alone?" Doris stared.
"Perhaps."
The journey back to the Kennedy home was made in silence.
By the time the girls had eaten their evening meal it was completelydark. Wandering down to the beach they listened to the diminishing roarof the sea, and watched its strange blackness against the moon's goldenlight.
"There's a light!" Doris exclaimed.
"Yes, sir! And it blinks!" Mildred became excited.
After watching for a full minute, she suddenly threw her arms around hercompanion to exclaim: "Oh! Doris! That's Johnny! It is--it surely is!Sometimes he blinks his light from the ship that way--one, two,three--one, two, three! Oh, it's wonderful! Aren't you glad?"
"Of course I'm glad," said Doris. "But then--men always do manage to getback one way or another, don't they?"
"Oh! Oh, no!" Mildred caught her words. "They don't--nowhere near'always'."
Just then Dave and the professor came down to the beach.
"We think it's Johnny and Samatan," Doris said quietly.
"Good!" said the professor. "That lifts a load from my shoulders!" Heturned to speak to Mildred, but she had gone.
Ten minutes later, natives caught the dugout and hauled it far up on thesandy beach.
After receiving the congratulations of his shipmates, Johnny beganflashing his light into the surrounding darkness, searching for Mildred.At last the beam came to rest on a charming picture--a girl withreddish-golden hair, wearing a dress of golden material, tied at thewaist with a broad red sash. All this--against the greenish blackness ofa jungle night.
"Why!" Johnny exclaimed, as he caught her hand. "The little beach-comberhas turned into a golden fairy!"
"P--please, Johnny!" Mildred stuttered confusedly, "I--I just wantedto--celebrate your return from the d--dead!"
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Johnny. "I always come back. But it was mighty niceof you, anyhow, and I won't forget!"
* * * * * * * *
He was ready for a good, long sleep. His task of watching was given overfor the night to Samatan's son, who was a member of the native crew. SoJohnny did not return to the boat, but was shown to the guest room of theKennedy cottage where, under a mosquito-bar canopy, with the tropicalmoon shining through the bamboo lattice, he slept the sleep of the just.
By the next afternoon both he and Mildred were ready for furtheradventure. Together, they tramped into the jungle.
"If we find more green arrows," said Mildred, fairly tingling withexcitement, "where do you think the trail will lead us?"
"Hard to tell," said Johnny. "It might take us right to the spot fromwhich the green arrow of light shines out in the night."
"And then?" she whispered.
"No can tell!" laughed Johnny. "We'll answer that when the time comes."
But wou
ld they? And what would the answer be?
After hours of searching they decided that, whatever the answer might be,the finding of it must be postponed for another day. Beyond the spotwhere the trail forked, they could not proceed.
"There's something queer about these signs of the green arrow," saidJohnny, dropping onto a cushion of moss in the shade. "There is somethingwe don't know about it all."
"Yes," replied the girl, "and we're going to find out what it is!"
"But not today," said Johnny. "The shadows already are growing long."
By the time they reached the beach from which the singing band had somysteriously disappeared, the abrupt, tropical darkness had fallen. For amoment they stood looking at the dark, mysterious sea. Suddenly Mildredgripped Johnny's arm and whispered:
"Look! The green arrow!"
True enough. Seeming but a stone's throw from shore, the green arrowappeared to rise from the sea.
"It _must_ be on a submarine!" Mildred whispered.
"Wait! They're signalling." Johnny dragged pencil and paper from hispocket and began scribbling numbers. This continued for two minutes.Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the green arrow vanished.
"Gone!" the girl exclaimed.
"Come on," said Johnny. "I want to see what they were saying."
Leading the way to a dark hollow where their light could not be seen, heasked her to hold the electric torch while he deciphered the message.
"'_We will strike_,'" he read aloud, "'_at the earliest possiblemoment!_'
"That's all." He stood up. "Spies strike in the dark--and withoutwarning. I wonder what we have ahead of us!"