Harmon cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted as loud as he could. The echo came back across the lake, but nothing else. Then Stony tried it. It was easy to see Harmon was getting madder and madder, and soon they were both hollering at the top of their lungs.
Finally, two figures appeared on the near side of the island, waving their arms. Harmon swung his arm in a wide arc toward the lakeshore, and pumped his right arm up and down. But the two figures on the island just shook their heads and waved back.
"What are those ninnies doing, waving their arms like that?"
"I think they're trying to tell you something," said Stony.
"Brilliant, Martin, brilliant!" said Harmon. "Now, hand me your shirt."
With Stony's shirt, Harmon started making wig-wag signals toward the island. Soon the shirts of Buzzy McCauliffe and Joe Turner were sending signals in reply.
"They say they don't have a boat, and they want us to come get them," Harmon snorted.
"What happened to the boat?" Stony asked.
"I don't know, knucklehead. When we get 'em in here we'll find out."
"Great," said Stony. "I'll just take my shoes off, so they don't get wet, and walk over there."
"Look! We gotta find out what's going on," said Harmon, "and we gotta get those guys off that island. Now use your noodle!"
"What about that old tree trunk over there? We could push that into the water and paddle out to the island with it."
"Good idea!" said Harmon. "I'll help you push it in."
"Thanks a whole bunch!" said Stony.
The two of them grunted and struggled with the tree trunk while Homer and I sat in our hiding place in the bushes and tried to keep from laughing out loud. When they finally had it in the water, Stony stripped down to his shorts and waded out to the log.
"Come on! Get your duds off," he said. "You're the one that's in a hurry!"
"Look, lunkhead, somebody's got to stay here and guard your clothes. Now, get going! We don't have much time."
Stony splashed into the water, grabbed one end of the log, and started kicking furiously. The huge log inched forward slowly, and Stony steered it toward the island. It took him better than fifteen minutes to reach the island, and about the same time to get back with Buzzy and Joe kicking along with him, their clothes piled on top of the log. Harmon had been stomping up and down the shore, gnawing his knuckles and looking at his watch every two minutes.
"Okay! What have you meatheads been up to?" he demanded, before they were even out of the water.
Buzzy tried to explain how Freddy and Dinky had commandeered their boat and made off with it. He and Joe were jumping up and down, trying to dry off enough to get back into their clothes.
"This is a fine mess you've gotten us into!" Harmon moaned. "I shoulda known better than to let two punkinheads like you handle it. Imagine letting two punk kids like that take your boat away from you."
"It wasn't them two kids, it was that big dog," Joe Turner argued. "He's a real monster. Look! He took half my shirt off!"
"Ouch!!" cried Buzzy McCauliffe, jumping three feet in the air and clapping one hand to the seat of his pants. "Something bit me!"
"Sure it did!" said Harmon, backing away from him. "Your pants are swarmin' with big red ants. That log you put 'em on is lousy with 'em."
"Them's fire ants!" said Joe Turner. "Ouch! I got 'em too!"
"So that's it!" cried Stony Martin. "The water brought them swarmin' outta that log, and you saw 'em. That's why you didn't want to help me push that log out to the island."
"Shut up!" said Harmon. "Somebody's gotta use his brains around here. Now, let's get back to the clubhouse. We gotta find out what happened to those two kids."
I reported in to Henry on the radio while Harmon and his gang scrambled up the hill to the place where they had left their bicycles. Buzzy McCauliffe and Joe Turner, well in the lead, looked like two whirling dervishes on hot coals.
"Okay!" said Henry. "Freddy and Dinky are watching their clubhouse from Blaisdell's barn. Follow after Harmon until you're sure that's where they're going, and let me know. After that you can get down to the freight yards. We may need your help. But stay out of sight, unless I call you."
"Wilco! This is Rodger the Lodger signing off!" I said, and Homer and I took off up the hill to follow Harmon.
When Harmon and his entourage pedaled up Egan's Alley a little later, Freddy and Dinky were peeking out through the dust-covered windows of Blaisdell's barn, a little way down the alley from Stony Martin's garage where they have their clubhouse. Harmon was just getting off his bicycle when Dinky quietly opened the door of the barn about a foot, and whispered in Kaiser Bill's ear.
"Go get your bone, Kaiser! Get your bone!" and he slapped him smartly on the hindquarters.
Kaiser Bill shot through the door and darted up the alley so fast that Joe Turner had to turn the handlebars of his bicycle hard-over to get out of his way, and he ended up sprawled in the dust of the alley.
"That's him! That's him!" he shouted as he went down.
"Yeah!" cried Buzzy McCauliffe, pointing at the cloud of dust just rounding the corner. "That's the dog that was on the island. Follow him! Follow him! I betcha he knows where Fat Freddy and his friend are."
"Where'd he come from?"
"I dunno. He just came runnin' up the alley," Joe sputtered. "But he was with Fatty and Skinny on that island, and I bet he's chasin' after them right now. Go get him!"
"Okay! Okay!" Harmon blurted. "You two muttonheads stay here with Speedie. Stony and I will take care of this." And Harmon was back on his bicycle and chewing gravel in no time, with Stony pedaling after him.
They didn't know where they were going, but Kaiser Bill did. When they caught sight of him after they had turned the corner, he was heading straight down Railroad Avenue toward the freight yards. It was downhill all the way, and they managed to gain on him some, until they got to the freight yards, where Railroad Avenue comes to a dead end. Kaiser Bill took the fence in one bound without breaking stride, and Harmon and Stony dumped their bicycles there and clambered over the fence after him. They had quite a job keeping him in sight, because Kaiser Bill didn't bother running around the ends of the strings of freight cars that were parked in the yards. He knew where his soupbone was hidden and he meant to get it. He darted under car after car, picking his way through the maze of sidings with his nose. Harmon and Stony scrambled after him, knocking their heads on tie rods and barking their shins on the steel rails.
Finally Kaiser Bill dashed across an open stretch between tracks and leaped through the open door of an empty red boxcar. Harmon and Stony came puffing along about twenty seconds later and climbed in after him. They were no sooner inside than Jeff Crocker and Mortimer Dalrymple popped out from behind the door of the next boxcar. Jeff put his fingers to his lips and cut loose with a sharp, piercing whistle. Kaiser Bill appeared at the door of the red boxcar with Mrs. Crocker's soupbone held firmly in his jaws. Jeff clapped his hands and Kaiser Bill jumped to the ground. Jeff slammed the door of the boxcar shut, and Mortimer jumped up and shot the locking pin home. Then they cleared out of there, with Kaiser Bill trotting along behind them, drooling all over the soupbone.
I felt a little sorry for Harmon and Stony, trapped in that boxcar. But I guess they got no more than they deserved. And they weren't quite alone. When they felt the first grinding jerk of the boxcar, as the freight train pulled out of the yards about half an hour later, they heard the voice of Henry Mulligan brought to them through the courtesy of Jeff and Mortimer, who had taped a handset to the roof of the car.
"This is Captain Mulligan," said Henry, as the rest of us rolled on the floor of Jeff's barn with our stomach muscles aching from laughter. "We welcome you aboard, and hope that your trip will be comfortable. We will be flying at an altitude of approximately five hundred and forty feet above sea level, and at a speed of about 18 knots. We have a tail wind of about three knots, but we don't expect that will help much. Our next
stop will be Cobb's Junction, and we expect to let down there in about three hours. Have a pleasant trip. Thank you."
I could just see Harmon and Stony kicking the sides of the boxcar and shaking their fists at the handset taped to the roof. I imagine one of them probably jumped and grabbed it, and smashed it against the wall before Henry even got finished. But we didn't care. Dinky was lying on the clubhouse floor with his head propped up on Kaiser Bill's broad back, with a contented smile on his face. Kaiser Bill was gnawing on his soupbone, and every time Freddy cast an envious glance toward it, Kaiser would growl at him.
Harmon and Stony had to call their folks from Cobb's Junction, and they didn't get home until midnight. But they didn't dare tell anyone the true story of how they happened to get there.
Anyway, nobody ever tried to kidnap a member of the Mad Scientists' Club again.
New Adventures of the Mad Scientists' Club Page 14