Boy Scouts Along the Susquehanna; or, The Silver Fox Patrol Caught in a Flood

by Herbert Carter

  CHAPTER XIX. THE TRAIL OF THE MARAUDER.

  When they heard the dreadful news the rest of the scouts looked almostfrightened. It was bad enough to know that some evil intentioned man wason the island with them; but that he should have actually crept intotheir camp while they slept, and very nearly made a clean sweep of theiralready limited stock of provisions, seemed close to a tragedy. When youthreaten to cut off their food supply it is hitting boys in their weakestplace.

  There was an immediate start for the spot where they had placed theirhaversacks and the food on the preceding night. Thad, however, held themback.

  "Don't all rush so," he told them. "We want to look around, and see if wecan find out anything. If everybody tramples the ground it'll be littleuse trying. Let Allan and Giraffe help me look first. We'll reportanything we find."

  The advice sounded reasonable to the rest; so despite their eagerness totake a hand in the game they held back while the three scouts proceededto examine the ground.

  It was not long before Allan made a discovery.

  "I think here's where he crawled along," he told Thad, who was close by;"you can see that something's dragged here, which must have been hisknees. Yes, and there's where the toe of his shoe made a dent in thesoil, with another and still another further on. And now he lay flat onhis stomach. Perhaps one of us happened to move just then, and he wasafraid of being seen."

  "You're right, Allan," remarked Thad, after taking a good look; "and tothink it possible he was crouching here in the shadows when I got up andthrew some wood on the fire. If I knew that I'd feel pretty sore."

  "Well, he went on again pretty soon, didn't he?" observed Giraffe, whowas hovering close by, and keeping close watch on everything that wasdone.

  "Yes, that's what he did," resumed Allan, also starting on once more,following the tracks that looked so strange they would have sorelypuzzled members of the patrol like Smithy and Bumpus, who were not notedas trackers; "and headed direct for the place where we stacked our thingsup."

  "It was a lucky thing none of us happened to leave our guns here with allthe rest of the duffel," observed Giraffe exultantly, as though it gavehim considerable satisfaction to find that he had not been quite asfoolish as might have happened.

  "He finally got to our stuff," Allan went on, "and rising to his kneesstarted to pick out what he wanted. I guess he must have been prettyhungry, because grub was what he seemed to be after. Not one of ourhaversacks is gone, you can see. He took that piece of bacon we fetchedfrom the boat, the packages of crackers, and--yes, the cheese is lost inaddition, also a can of corn and the coffee. Fact is, it looks as if wedidn't have much left, outside this package of hominy, and the little tinbox of tea you fetched along, Thad!"

  Giraffe gave vent to a hollow groan.

  "It's just dreadful, that's what!" he said, with a gulp, as thoughreceiving the sad news that he had lost his best friend; "just think ofgrits and tea for our breakfast, and not another thing! The worst is yetto come, though, for we won't get _anything_ for dinner, you know! Why,I'll be all skin and bone if things keep on going from bad to worse likethat."

  "Bob White won't think it's so tough, if he can have his grits," remarkedAllan; "but breakfast to a New England boy stands for ham and eggs,flapjacks with maple syrup, and always coffee and cold pie."

  "Stop stretching out the agony, can't you?" said Giraffe, holding bothhands to his ears as though trying to shut out the mention of suchdelightful dishes; "it's cruelty to animals to talk that way, Allan. But,Thad, what are we going to do about this same thing? Can't we take up thetrail, and try to get our stuff back? After all, this old island is onlyof a certain size, and with eight of us in line we ought to comb it fromtop to bottom. I feel like Sheridan did when he met the Union troopsrunning away in a panic from Cedar Creek, and yelled out: 'Turn the otherway, boys, turn the other way! We'll lick 'em out of their boots yet!We've just got to get those camps back!' You see he was thinking of allthe good stuff they'd lost with the camps. So are we."

  "Allan, suppose we look to see which way he went off, because it couldn'thave been along the same line as his advance?" suggested the scoutmaster.

  He knew considerable about these things himself, but trusted to Allan tolearn facts that might even have eluded his observation. Allan had beenin Maine and the Adirondacks a portion of his life, and picked up manyclever ways from association with the guides that made him invaluablewhen it came to a question of woodcraft.

  "That's a good idea, Thad," was what the other said in reply; and alreadyhis sharp eyes had begun to look for signs.

  These were easily found, for the unseen thief had crawled away in thesame fashion as he made his advance, though a bit more clumsily, whichwas doubtless owing to the fact of his being more heavily laden at thetime.

  Step Hen, Bob White and the other three were of course watching the everymovement of the experienced trackers with great interest. They took somelittle satisfaction in trying to guess just what each movement signified.Bumpus and Smithy of course would never have been able to figure thesethings out, but the other three had more practical knowledge and couldhit closer to the mark.

  "There," Step Hen was saying eagerly; "they're taking stock of what'sbeen hooked, and my stars! just look at the way Giraffe throws his handsup, will you? If that doesn't tell the story, then I'm away off in myguess. I just wager we've been cleaned out for keeps, and our littletummies will call in vain for their accustomed rations. I wonder how itfeels to starve to death!"

  "Oh! quit talking that way, Step Hen," wailed Bumpus; "we ain't going towaste away like all that. Give Thad a chance to think up how to win out.Besides, didn't you hear Giraffe say there was lots of fat game on thisisland; yes, and fish in the river to boot. I'm not going to give up soeasy; there's always _something_ to fall back on, if it gets to theworst."

  "Yes," added Step Hen maliciously, "that's what shipwrecked sailors haveto do when they cast lots; and I'm glad now I wasn't built like aroly-poly pudding. It's too tempting when hard times come along."

  Bumpus, of course, understood that his chum was only joking, butnevertheless he drew a long breath, and remained very quiet for quitesome time after that, as though busied with uneasy thoughts.

  "Now they're starting off again," remarked Davy, "and I guess it's tofollow the trail of the thief away. I wonder if we could track him towhere he hangs out, so as to make him hand over our property."

  "I allow, suh," Bob White broke in with, "that by the time we did thatsame there would be mighty little of our food left. He must have beenpretty hungry to take the chances he did when he crawled into our camp,and with all these guns around in plain sight."

  "Let's keep along after the boys," suggested Step Hen, "and see what theyrun up against."

  The idea appealed to his companions, for they all started off, thoughmaintaining the same relative distance from Thad and his backers, so asnot to interfere with the work. Step Hen took occasion to bend down whenhe came upon a spot where the imprint of the unknown man's knee could beseen, and looked at it intently, though finally giving it up as a taskbeyond his ability.

  "Knees all make the same kind of dragging mark to me," he told theothers, who had waited to hear his report, "and I can't tell one fromanother. If it was Bumpus here, now, who had done this trick in hissleep, I wouldn't be able to say for sure, though like as not he'd beardeeper'n this mark shows."

  "Well, since Bumpus wasn't outside of his blanket once all night long,you can't saddle this job on his poor shoulders. He's got enough to carryas it is, see?" and the stout boy put all the emphasis possible on thatlast word, as though he meant to make it decisive.

  "They seem to be getting close to the bushes now," Bob White observed.

  "And once he got in there mebbe the thief would rise to his feet to walkaway," added Step Hen. "If Thad beckons you'll know he's settled it inhis mind to follow the trail, and wants all of us who own guns to rallyaround him."


  "How about the rest; what will they be doing?" asked Smithy.

  "Tending camp, of course," replied the other. "Think now we know we'vegot a thief for a neighbor we want him to steal our blankets next? A nicepickle we'd be in without some way to keep warm nights. Remember, if youare left on guard, to defend the blankets with your very lives, both ofyou!"

  This sort of lurid talk of course thrilled Bumpus very much, for he had ahabit of taking what the others said literally, and could not see thevein of humor apt to lie back of bombastic vaporings. He was rubbing hisfat hands one over the other in a nervous way, and alternately watchingwhat Step Hen did, and then how the others were coming on.

  They could see that Thad and his two fellow scouts were just back of thefirst fringe of bushes. They had possibly made some sort of discovery,because all of them seemed to be down on hands and knees, with theirfaces close to the earth, and apparently examining certain impressions.

  "I wonder what's up now?" ventured Davy.

  "They've run on something that's staggered the bunch, you can see easilyenough," Step Hen went on to say excitedly; "and I'm trying to make up mymind whether after all it _was_ a man crawling along that made thosequeer marks. P'raps, now, some sort of big wild animal might have doneit. We haven't seen a single footprint, you remember, to tell the story.I wish I knew what they've run across. Why don't they call us over, andlet us in? It isn't just fair to keep us worrying like we are."

  Just as though Thad might have heard this complaint on the part of StepHen, he turned toward them, and raising his hand beckoned.

  "There, boys, he wants us to come over!" exclaimed Davy, exultantly; "Ithought it'd strike us pretty quick; Thad isn't the kind to forget hismates. And we'll soon be put wise to the facts."

  They hurried to join the other three, who still stood at the same place,ever and anon looking seriously down at the ground, as though hardly ableto believe the evidence of their eyes.

  When Step Hen came running with the other four tagging at his heels, Thadheld up his hand.

  "Hold on right there, boys!" he remarked; "we don't want you to cut inand rub it all away before you've had a chance to look for yourselves."

  Of course this caused them to turn their attention to the ground, and itwas easy to see that the crawling thief had here risen to his fullheight, though possibly bending over more or less as he continued hisretreat.

  "Then it was a man, after all!" was what Bumpus said; and there was apositive air of relief about his voice, as though he had taken Step Hen'shint seriously, and even fancied a terrible wild beast might be hoveringnear them.

  "Yes, but look closer, and see if you can recognize anything familiarabout the marks?" advised Thad.

  Accordingly, all of them leaned over and looked.

  It was Step Hen who gave the first startled cry.

  "Oh! Thad, what does this mean?" he burst out with; "it's the same brokenshoe, bound together with an old rag, that we saw when we looked for themarks of Wandering George, in the mud of the road; but how in the wideworld could he get over here?"