CHAPTER X
THE SUSPICIOUS ACTIONS OF LANDY
To this very day, it has never been positively known among the scoutsof the Wolf Patrol whether Landy met with an unexpected accident, orallowed himself to be deliberately dragged out of the boat, seized witha sudden overwhelming desire to end his spell of drudgery.
The splash was simply terrific, and Landy vanished completely beneaththe surface of the swamp water, which chanced to be fairly deep at thatplace, as of necessity Landy himself must have known.
"Oh! he's overboard!" exclaimed Toby, in the other boat, perhaps louderthan his orders from the scout master permitted.
"What a nuisance!" grunted Lil Artha, trying to appear unconcerned,though it might have been noticed that he tried the best he could tostop the movement of the skiff by thrusting both hands in the water,and paddling.
Mark did better than that, for he snatched up a thwart that he knew wasloose, and started to use it vigorously so as to check the progress ofthe floating boat.
Meanwhile, of course, Landy came to the surface like a bobbing corkthat had been pulled down by the bite of a fish. He was flounderingaround like a whale, spouting volumes of water that he must haveswallowed in his dive, and apparently doing his level best to stay ontop.
"Hey! ain't you goin' to help a feller?" they managed to make out fromhis almost incoherent splutter.
The other boat had by now pushed up close alongside, and Elmer, leaningover the side, seized the swimmer by the coat collar. Landy at onceallowed himself to apparently collapse. He was content to have someonesupport him; but some of his chums imagined there was a suspicious_manufactured_ look in the expression of terror that had fixed itselfon his face.
With plenty to lend a helping hand the fat scout was soon pushed andhauled on board the skiff from which he had fallen. The treacherouspole was also recovered and given in charge of Lil Artha, for, ofcourse, it could not be expected that a fellow who had just beenrescued from a watery grave would be able to continue that arduous taskof pushing.
Lil Artha frequently looked queerly at the dripping Landy as he usedthe pole. Sometimes he would chuckle softly to himself, and a swiftgrin flash athwart his lean countenance as though a humorous thoughthad struck him; after which the tall scout might be observed to shakehis head as if bothered.
Landy settled down to taking things easy. He wanted them all to knowthat he had had a remarkably close call, and every little while hewould heave a great sigh, to follow it with such words as:
"I'm terrible glad you boys were on deck to save me. My clothes seemedas heavy as lead, and I sure think I'd have gone down three times ifyou hadn't chucked me aboard here. That was a narrow squeak for me. Iguess I went and got too confident, and it made me careless. But holysmoke! how that mud can grip! I just couldn't get the old pole outnohow, and that's a fact. I won't forget what you did for me, fellers,sure I won't. I hope to be able to do the same for every lasting oneof you some day."
"You're too kind, Landy," laughed Toby; "none of us are hankering afteran experience like that. I'll never forget what you looked like,dangling there on that push-pole, and trying to squirm your legs aroundit so as to climb up. Want to know what you made me think of, Landy?"
"Go on and tell me," said the other, with a tremble in his voice, forhe was by this time beginning to feel the effect of his immersion.
"Why, you remember how we used to go frog-hunting in a boat, with athree-foot line at the end of a stout pole, and a small hook baitedwith a piece of red flannel? Well, when we'd see a whopping biggreenback we'd dangle that red stuff close to his nose. It was funnyto see him squat down like a cat does on sighting a sparrow or a robin,and then jump up to grab the flannel."
Toby paused to chuckle afresh, and the object of his attack urged himto continue, although he evidently realized that he was about to beheld up to boyish ridicule.
"First, the frog thinks he wants that queer red bug the worst kind,"Toby went on to say, "but as soon as he feels the hook he changes hismind. Then he starts in to do the greatest acrobatic feats you eversaw, twisting his hind legs up over his head like he wanted to turn asomersault, or else climb up the line. Well, when I saw you danglingon that push-pole, I thought of a fat, greenback frog."
"Huh! guess you'd a tried to climb, too, if you'd been in my place,"grunted the stout scout, drawing his coat a little closer around him,and shivering.
"No, I'd have stuck by the boat, Landy," said Toby, soberly.
Landy shot him a suspicious glance but did not make a reply. Perhapshe may have been wondering whether any of his mates already suspectedthat his recent narrow escape had not been such an accident as itappeared.
Elmer now took a hand in the discussion.
"Here, let's make less noise, fellows," he remarked. "In theexcitement we've already broken our rule, and if there was anyone nearby they must have known all about us. And we're going ashore justbeyond there."
"So soon in the afternoon, Elmer; what's up?" demanded Chatz, who,having rested since last using the pole, did not understand why theyshould call it a day's work at not much after three o'clock.
"If you look at Landy, you'll understand why," continued the patrolleader.
"Why, he is shivering, sure enough!" exclaimed Chatz; "what ails you,suh? Are you feeling cold on such a warm day as this?"
"What, me cold!" stuttered Landy, trying to put on a brave face, thoughhis lips were turning blue and quivering; "of course I ain't. It mustbe the excitement of the little scare has gripped me, that's all."
But wise Elmer knew very well he was assuming a degree of comfort whichhe did not feel, and he could not stand for it.
"You've got to do one of two things, Landy,", he said, with authority,"either take the push-pole again, and warm your blood up, or else goashore to dry your clothes. Otherwise, we'll have you getting a chill,and then the fat will be in the fire as far as our hunt goes. Whichshall it be?"
"If it's all the same to you, Elmer, and you mean the whole kit to stopoff too, I say let's go ashore," hastily replied Landy.
"Head for that little cove, Lil Artha, and you too, Toby," said Elmer.
"I'd like to lend him something I've got in my pack," remarked LilArtha, apparently taking pity on the shivering one; "only you c'n seewith one eye it wouldn't come within a mile of meeting around hiswaist."
"I've got a sweater he could put on while his clothes are drying,"volunteered Toby Jones; "of course, it isn't his size by a jugfull, butthen you know sweaters stretch. Like as not it'll go around me twicethough, after Landy's worn the same. But he's our chum, and scoutsshould always be ready to make sacrifices for each other."
"That's real good of you, Toby," mumbled Landy, strangely enough unableto meet the honest gaze of the generous donor.
The landing was soon made, and when the dripping Landy got ashore thefirst thing Elmer made him do was to jump around, and thresh his armsback and forth. This, of course, was to induce a circulation of blood,so as to resist the chill following his late immersion.
"Lil Artha, I leave it to you to make the fire," said the patrolleader. "Use dry wood so there'll be little or no smoke; and build itin that low spot over to the right. If we choose to keep it goingto-night, there's only a small chance that anyone will discover thelight in that dip."
Nothing pleased Lil Artha better than to make a camp fire. Besides thegenial glow, which he so dearly loved, being a fire worshipper bynature, it doubtless meant that before a great while they would becooking supper; and as we happen to be aware such a task was neveronerous to the lanky scout, whose appetite seldom failed him.
There were others to help pick up the right kind of wood, for everyscout has to learn such things early in his career in woodcraft. Soona crackling little blaze sprang up, which, being carefully fed,presently amounted to a considerable fire.
"Here you are, Landy," said Elmer, when he could feel the genial heatat a distance of five feet away; "strip off, and hang your duds o
nthese sticks we've planted around the fire. They'll soon begin tosteam, and then dry out."
Elmer even took a hand himself, wringing each article cast off by thebulky Landy before he hung it judiciously before the fire.
Fortunately, the fat scout had made out to carry an extra pair of socksand a suit of clean underwear in his pack, and having donned these,with the help of Toby's expansive sweater, he had to make out. Therewas considerable fun poked at him as he squatted there by the fireattending to his clothes, so as to make sure they did not get scorchedby the heat.
"There's one thing bad about this drying-out process, though," LilArtha was heard saying to Ted, who chanced to be near by; "and that'sthe way clothes shrink after they've been wet."
"Which reminds me," Toby called out, "of that story about the fatbachelor who had washed a suit of his new underwear himself, and hungit on the clothes-line to dry; but the maid came along afterwards andfinding them ready to take in hung up a suit belonging to the kid,about four years of age. When the stout bach stepped out to get hissuit and saw that baby outfit hanging in its place, he rubbed his eyesand was heard to say to himself: 'Great Scott! and the clerk swore theywouldn't shrink a bit!'"
"But I hope _my_ clothes won't shrivel up so I can't get in the same,"Landy observed, anxiously. "A nice figure I'd cut going around day andnight like this. And let me tell you the skeeters would fairly eat mealive. As it is, I'm cracking at them all the time right now."
Frequent examinations, however reassured him. His clothes were dryingnicely, and did not seem to be losing any of their former generousproportions. So in time Landy might hope to be garbed in his properattire as became a scout, and not an Arab or a "side show freak," suchas Toby persisted in dubbing him.
Supper was later on taken in hand. There was no lack of recruits whenit came to doing the cooking; in fact, Elmer found that he had sixenthusiastic would-be _chefs_ to choose from, even Landy expressing awillingness to serve, as he had to hover near the blaze more or lessanyway, and might as well be busy.
Afterwards the fire was allowed to go down, though Elmer did not feelthat it was positively necessary for them to let it die out entirely.If it was bound to betray them doubtless the mischief had already beendone; and having to shoulder the blame, they might as well have thegame.
It was a great delight to them all to squat there around the fire andtalk in low tones. There were no boisterous language or actionstolerated. Elmer gave them to understand that they were now out onserious business, and all such conduct must be left to another time.
Still, they found plenty to talk about, most of it connected with thestrange happening at Hickory Ridge, in which their unfortunate comrade,Hen Condit, bore such a prominent part.
"I wonder now," Toby was saying at one time, "whether the Chief ofPolice got a clue like we did that'd fetch him up in this region of thecountry with a posse, meaning to try to round up this escaped rascal?"
There was a variety of opinions concerning this point, some believingone way and the rest having contrary views.
"It would be too bad, now," said Ted, "if they managed to haul both ofthem up before we could get Hen in hand, and hear hith thory of whathappened."
"That's a fact," added Lil Artha. "We know the Chief, and that he'dtake Hen back to town just like he was a real criminal. No matter whatexcuse the boy'd try to give, the Chief wouldn't listen, leaving allthat for the Justice of the Peace before whom he'd take his prisoners.Boys, we've just got to find Hen first; that's all there is to it."
That seemed to be the consensus of opinion among them. By degrees theyhad come to believe that Hen Condit must be under a spell, to haveacted as he did. Nothing else would explain the mystery, for Hen hadalways been reckoned a mild, inoffensive sort of fellow, one of thelast boys in Hickory Ridge to do anything so terrible as commit arobbery.
"That's just what it is!" declared Toby, as they again talked it allover in hopes of getting a better conception of the truth, "the manwho's got Hen must be one of those terrible hypnotists you read about.I saw one down in the city last summer at a show, and he made fellowsdo the most ridiculous things anybody ever heard tell of."
"Such as what?" asked Lil Artha, looking as though he might beskeptical.
"Why, one boy thought he was a goat, and ran all around on his handsand feet, hunting for tin cans and old shoes to eat. Another believedhe was a dog baying at the full moon, and I nearly took a fit listeningto him whoop. Then there was a third fellow who believed he was madeof iron, so he stretched himself from one chair to another, and threemen stood right in his middle; and he didn't break, either. Say, itwas the greatest sight you ever saw."
"Fakes, all rank fakes!" snorted Lil Artha; "every one of those boyswas a confederate of the impostor. You notice they never come to smallplaces where everybody knows everybody else, but show in cities, wherea new audience comes each night. I'd like to see a circus like that,just to laugh; but you couldn't get me to believe in hypnotism worth acent."
"Well, then," demanded Toby, "what do you think this man's got on Henthat he's made him do whatever he wanted, tell us that, if you can?"
"I don't know," replied Lil Artha, promptly.
"See?" cried Toby, exultantly, "he backs down right away."
"There are a lot of things I don't know," added the tall scout; "butit's my opinion that Hen's being held to that man through some kind offear. P'raps he's been made to believe he did something _terrible_,and his only hope is to skip out before the police get him. But let'swait till we find him, and then we'll know it all."
"A sensible conclusion," remarked Elmer, who had listened to all thetalk with considerable interest; "and as the hour is getting latesuppose we begin to settle how we're going to sleep through our firstnight in Sassafras Swamp."
Afloat; or, Adventures on Watery Trails Page 10