CHAPTER VIII
PICKING UP CLUES
The leader of the Wolf Patrol laughed when he heard Lil Artha make thisremark.
"Every word that you are saying, Lil Artha, is the truth," heannounced. "I've been watching those ragged edges of bushes myself.You see, the time might come after a while when I'd get mixed on thedirections given by Johnny Spreen. Then I'd want to have some otherscheme so as to find my way."
"But after a bit, Elmer, we'll get to a spot where Johnny changed hiscourse from one day to another, as he went to different traps; how'rewe meaning to regulate our hunt then?" asked Toby.
"We've got to search the best way we can for the missing skiff," Elmerexplained. "If only we can find it hauled up somewhere on the bankwe'll know they went ashore at that point, don't you see?"
"Why, how eathy!" declared Ted, evidently lost in admiration for thesimplicity of the scheme, that could never have occurred to him before.
"Oh! then, if that's the case I reckon we'd better not be making quiteso much racket as we go along," said Mark.
"I was just going to remark about that," the patrol leader added. "Ifall of a sudden we found the boat, and had been talking loud, orlaughing, the chances are the game would give us the slip. So afterthis whoever is doing the pushing try not to splash more than you canhelp; and when you talk do it in whispers."
Perhaps all this mystery added to the pleasure of such a fellow as LilArtha; at least his eyes were sparkling much more than their wont as hecontinued to ply his pole with the air of a Venetian gondolier alongthe Grand Canal.
Once, however, he must have rammed it too hard into the yielding ooze,for when he tried to pull it out there was considerable resistance.Lil Artha managed to stop the moving skiff in time to save himself;even then he might have been pulled overboard only that watchful Mark,anticipating something of the sort, threw his arms around the long legsof the pusher, and held on grimly until the pole could be extricated.
An hour, two of them had slipped by since parting from Johnny Spreen.They were now in the heart of the swamp. All around them lay a solemnsilence broken only by the splash of a bullfrog leaping from a bank,the gurgle of some water snake or the solemn croak of a bittern fishingnear by, followed by the flap of its wings as it flew away, alarmed bytheir approach.
All of the boys were more or less impressed by this strange silence.It seemed as though some heavy weight were pressing down upon them.Toby even whispered to one of his mates that it could hardly be worseif they were passing through a country graveyard at midnight.
At the same time, all of them being bright, wide-awake fellows, therewere plenty of interesting things continually cropping up to arousetheir interest as scouts. Every minute or so someone was callingattention to this or that thing, though never forgetting the need ofcaution.
If at any time a voice was raised more than Elmer deemed wise, a single"hist" from his lips caused the speaker to moderate his tones instantly.
By now they were not so much concerned about where they went as thepossibility of finding the missing skiff. Eager eyes were ever on thealert. A number of times Lil Artha, or it might be Toby or Chatz, felta sudden thrill as some object caught their attention ahead, which atfirst glance seemed to open up great possibilities. Then as they movedcloser and a better chance came to investigate, deep disappointment andchagrin would follow; for after all it turned out to be only the end ofa log, or some such simple thing, and not the stern of the old skiff atall.
Elmer happened to be a little ahead of the other boat at the timeChatz, consulting his nickel watch, found it was just ten o'clock.When he showed this to Toby the latter grinned as though very muchpleased.
"I nominated ten, didn't I, Chatz?" he remarked in a low tone; "whenyou asked me to take a squint up at the sun, and say what the hourmight be?"
"You certainly hit it that time in the bull's-eye, suh," admitted theSouthern lad; "and I confess that I thought it half an hour later. I'mstill some shy, it seems, on telling time by the sun and stars."
A low hiss from Elmer just then, as he wielded the pole, caused the twoscouts to stop talking, and turn their attention to what was going on.The first thing they discovered was that the skiff was now heading forthe near shore. Then looking further the boys could see that evidentlysomeone must have camped there, for to the practiced eye many thingsindicated as much.
When the prow of the flat-bottomed boat ran gently up on the shore, ata low order from the skipper, Ted, who happened to be further up in thebow than any of the others, jumped to the land and began to draw theskiff up.
There was a bank several feet high just beyond, but Ted waited untilthe others had also disembarked before attempting to ascend this. Bynow the other boat had also reached shore, with its crew tumbling out,though avoiding any sign of confusion, for they were pretty welldrilled in the elements of obedience to orders, as all true scoutsshould be.
No sooner had the boys gained the higher ground than they readilydiscovered that it had been the site of a camp at some time in the notfar-distant past.
A number of things told them this, chief of which might be mentionedthe little pile of dead ashes that lay in plain sight. They could evensee the sticks that the unknown party had used when cooking some sortof meat close to the red coals.
All of them gathered around. Elmer gravely examined the ashes, whilethe others eagerly waited to hear his decision.
"Quite some time old," said the leader at last, having figured out thesolution by means of certain rules well known to those who have madewoodcraft a study. "At least a couple of rains have passed over sincethis fire was left. There are no footprints that I can see. That alsogoes to show it was some time ago; but I think it was only one personwho camped here."
He pointed as he spoke to where soft hemlock browse had been gatheredas if for the purpose of forming a couch; and there being but a singlebed even Landy could guess Elmer was correct when he said one party hadmade the temporary camp.
"Then it must have been the unknown man," said Lil Artha, "and our chumHen wasn't along at the time."
They moved around as if looking for further signs, because scouts arealways keen to find tell-tale marks that will add to the size of theedifice they are building up, founded partly on conjecture and also on"give-away" facts.
Lil Artha it was who emitted a low whistle, and the others glancing up,well knowing that he must have made some sort of important discovery,saw him waving one of his hands to them--he held the Marlindouble-barrel with the other, of course.
"See that?" he told them when they reached his side amidst the bushesadjacent to the little opening where the long-cold fire ashes lay.
"Feathers, for a cookey!" exclaimed Toby, "and a heap of the same, too."
"Now we know what he cooked on the ends of those sticks!" observed Mark.
"Yeth, and now we know where one of Farmer Trotter's henth went to,"added Ted.
"This is more than Johnny ever ran across," remarked Lil Artha,"because he only guessed the chicken thief was hiding in the swamp, forhe'd seen tracks. Hold on, he did say there was ashes, too, at theplace he picked up that filed half-circle of steel, but it must havebeen in a different place from this."
"Well, it's only a little incident after all," said Elmer, "and doesn'ttell us much that we didn't know before."
"Only that we're on the track of those lost chickens, you know,"chuckled the tall scout. "But see here, Elmer, if they made a fizzleof their raid last night, how d'ye suppose they're going to keep fromstarving to death in here?"
"Ask me something easy, please," retorted the other; "though if I wasin their place I think I could manage to keep alive. There are lots ofways for doing that, if you only stop to think."
"Sure there are," spoke up Toby, eager to show that he had learned hislesson fairly well, even though not claiming to be as expert at somethings as were Elmer and Lil Artha. "Now, with some cord and a bait Ireckon rabbits could be trapped or snared. Then gray squirrels
areplenty in here, if only you found a nest of the same in a hollow tree."
"And," added Landy with a yearning vein in his voice, "haven't we seenwhopping big green-back bullfrogs aplenty? If there's one dish I'mfond of more than any other, that's fried frogs' legs. Yum! yum, don'tI wish we could spare the time to knock over a dozen of those bullies."
"Not while we're on such a duty as we started out to fulfill, Landy,"Elmer advised the fat scout.
"Then there are fish in these waters, too, fat sunfish as big as any Iever set eyes on," continued Toby; "and when you're hungry they tasteprime, though I hate the bones, and came near choking to death once ona sunny. Worse than pickerel, according to my mind, and that's sayinga lot. Oh! I guess a smart fellow with matches to make fires, couldmanage to keep the wolf from his door in here all right."
"But all men are not up to one-tenth of the resources known to BoyScouts," ventured Elmer, "which is why they generally have to rely onstaving off hunger by raiding the chicken roosts of poor farmers.That'll be enough for this time. Suppose we get aboard again, andcontinue our exploration of Sassafras Swamp."
"It's a sure-enough big patch of mud and water and brush and mystery,"admitted Mark, as they began to climb into the boats again as before.
"And from what Johnny told me we haven't seen as much as a tenth of theplace yet," Elmer assured them; whereat there were all sorts ofincredulous looks to the right and to the left, as though the magnitudeof their task might by this time be making a stronger impression on theboys' minds.
A change was made in pushers as they started off once more. It turnedout to be no child's play handling that long, heavy pole which had afaculty for clinging to the ooze below the surface of the water, andnecessitating more or less exertion in order to drag it loose each timeit was used.
Landy had not taken his turn as yet. It really looked as though LilArtha was a little afraid of the fat scout, for he and Mark hadalternated in doing the work. Landy was not complaining at all.Indeed, Lil Artha felt sure he could see a satisfied grin upon therubicund face of the happy-go-lucky, fat scout from time to time as heheard the one at the pole puffing with the exertion.
Perhaps in the end it would prove to be a case of the "last straw onthe camel's back," and Lil Artha, casting discretion to the winds,would feel impelled to thrust the push-pole into the inexperiencedhands of Landy Smith. He was evidently putting off the evil hour aslong as he could, fearful of consequences.
So noon came and found them well into the depths of Sassafras Swamp.
They went ashore to eat their lunch, Lil Artha begging that they have asmall fire and make a pot of coffee.
"I c'n pick up aplenty of real dry wood, you know, Elmer," he went onto say in his wheedling way, "so that there ain't going to be hardly awhiff of smoke that anybody could see with a field glass. And say,when you're all tuckered out with pushing a boat through the grass andlily-pads, nothing makes you feel so fine as a brimming cup of coffee.So please say yes, Mister Scout Master!"
Of course, Elmer could not resist such a piteous plea as that.
"You could wring tears from a stone, Lil Artha," he told the other,laughingly, "when you put on a face like that. I reckon we might havea small cooking fire and a pot of coffee. None of us would object toit, and sandwiches are dry eating all by themselves, even when you'rehungry. So go ahead; but no chopping, mind; break all the small stuffyou gather over your knee."
Landy eagerly assisted, though Lil Artha kept a watchful eye on what hegathered lest he mix in green stuff that would make a black smoke whenit burned. Another scout managed to find a stick with a crotch thatwould hold the coffee-pot over the blaze until it had boiled.
The scouts were not in the habit of putting up with such apologies forcomfort as these; as a rule, when they camped out they had tents,blankets, and a little spider contraption that folded up in smallcompass, and which served as a gridiron stove, being placed over thered coals, with cooking utensils resting on the bars.
The coffee was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, and a vote of thankstaken for Lil Artha, who had first suggested making it. Resting for ashort time afterwards, the boys felt refreshed when once more the taskwas taken up.
Lil Artha looked at Landy tumbling contentedly into the middle of theold skiff, and seemed on the point of saying something; then he shookhis head and picked up the push-pole himself.
"Not yet, but soon it's just got to be; only I hope he won't upset usall," Mark heard the tall scout mutter to himself, nor did he need afurther hint to know what was passing through Lil Artha's mind; Landywas not going to evade his share of the arduous labor forever.
It, doubtless, took considerable thinking and planning on the part ofElmer to make sure they did not "repeat." So far, none of the boyscould say as they moved along that they had ever before seen thestretch of water and scrubby shore, covered with trees and vines.
This spoke volumes for the smartness of the young patrol leader, thoughsomehow his chums did not seem to consider it such a wonderful feat forElmer. That is the penalty for being successful; others expect greatthings from such a comrade, so that he is constantly put to his bestefforts to satisfy them.
It must have been quite some time, perhaps as much as two hours afterthey had stopped to eat their lunch when without warning the swampexplorers met with a surprise that gave them a new thrill.
At the time, Lil Artha happened to have passed a little in the lead,though he would soon be dropping back again, especially when there camea chance to make a mistake in direction, for he wanted Elmer to decidesuch puzzles.
The tall scout must have forgotten his warning from Elmer, for he criedout:
"Hey! everybody look what we're up against! A bear, Elmer, that's whatit is!"
Afloat; or, Adventures on Watery Trails Page 8