Boy Scouts on the Great Divide Part 8

"Of the four parties representing four diverse interests," Will said, at the conclusion of the meal, "two have been represented here tonight.

Before morning we may receive a call from the cowboys and the escaped convict. The visits might not be very agreeable ones but, still, they would complete the roll-call."

"You remember that trip to the Florida Everglades, don't you?" asked Tommy, with a most satisfying yawn. "Well, if you haven't forgotten all about it, you'll remember that we didn't have any sleep there for a couple of nights, and that I actually began to grow thin because of being kept awake so much."

"It was your own fault," insisted Sandy.

"That may be," replied Tommy, "but, all the same, I'm not going to let anything like that happen on this trip. I'm going to bed right now, and there's nothing on the face of the earth that can get me out of bed again until morning."

"That's me, too!" declared Sandy.

The boys entered the tent recently vacated, drew down the flap and were soon in bed, and asleep. Will and George, sitting by the fire, discussing the unusual combination of circ.u.mstances, heard a succession of sounds which any member of the Beaver patrol, Boy Scouts of America, would have recognized instantly.

It was the beaver call which consists in slapping the open palms together violently in imitation of the play of the flat tail of the beaver upon the surface of the water.

"Slap, slap, slap!" came the challenge from the darkness.

"That's a Beaver!" exclaimed George.

"Slap, slap, slap!" went the reply from Will's open palms.

"Why doesn't he come in?" asked George in a moment.

"I guess I'll have to go and find out!" declared Will. "This, you see,"

he added with a smile, "is the third interest to be represented here tonight. There is no doubt but that we'll hear from the cowboys before morning. It never rains but it pours."

"Slap, slap, slap!" came the call from the darkness again.

Will gave a low whistle in recognition of the signal and stepped forward. An answering whistle directed his steps, and presently he saw the light of the fire shining on the pale face of the lad who had stolen the badge of office from the detective.

"Why didn't you come on in?" asked Will.

"Why," was the reply, "I wasn't afraid of you boys, but I didn't know who might be watching the camp. I've been loitering around here most of the time since dark and just got the courage to call you out. Some one chased me away once."

"Are you hungry?" asked Will. "If you are, now's the time to say so.

Last call for dinner in the dining car!"

"Yes, I'm hungry," was the reply, "but I haven't got time to wait for supper. If you'll s.n.a.t.c.h a loaf of bread and can of something and come along with me, you'll do the greatest favor one Boy Scout ever did for another. You'll come, won't you?"

"Sure I will," was the reply, "and I'll bring something more than a loaf of bread and a can of something," he went on.

"You can't carry much," replied Chester, "for we've got a rocky road to climb, and we'll have to go fast, too!"

"You haven't told me what the trouble is, yet!"

"It's father!" the boy answered hesitatingly. "I suppose you know now that I didn't tell you the truth when I was at your camp. I saw John Johnson there after I stole that b.u.m detective's badge and ran away, and I suppose he told you all about me."

"Yes, he did," replied Will, rejoicing inwardly that the very thing they had been wishing for had taken place.

All he had to do now was to win the confidence of the boy, find his way to the father, and so clear up the mystery of the Fremont case.

"Yes," Will went on, "he told me all about you and all about your father, and I've been wondering ever since how you, a Boy Scout, could find the nerve to make up such a mess of lies as you told to me."

"I wanted to find out what you were here for, and who you were, and get something to eat," replied the boy, "and so I told you the first thing that came into my head. And now," he continued, "I'm going to tell you something that I wish might be cla.s.sed as a fairy tale later on."

"Go ahead," answered Will. "Two days ago I had no idea that I'd ever become mixed up in the Fremont case, but I'll tell you right now that I'm becoming interested in it."

"A few days ago," the boy began, "father fell from a ledge of rock near our hiding place and injured his head. I have taken as good care of him as I could, but it was impossible for me to remain with him all the time, because I had to fish and hunt and provide food for both of us."

"You're welcome to any provisions we have," said Will, feeling genuine sympathy for the boy.

"That isn't the point now," Chester went on.

"While I was in your camp last night waiting, for the chance to steal provisions to take back to father, he left the hiding place. I know he's out of his head, and so I believe him to be wandering about the hills in a demented condition. There's no knowing what will happen to him if he is not found and placed in hiding again. I want you to go and help me find him. The detectives who came in last night, or some time yesterday, are here to take him back to prison, and they're likely to get him at any minute if he continues to wander about while insane from the recent injury to his head. There's no one to help me but you. Will you go?"

Here was the very chance the Boy Scouts had been waiting for.

CHAPTER VII

ARRESTED AS SPIES

"Of course, we'll go with you!" replied Will, in answer to the boy's anxious question. "Do you think anything can be done tonight?"

"I think we ought to begin the search tonight," replied Chester. "One of father's hobbies is the campfire. It is my idea that if he has matches he will build himself a rousing fire, if he comes to dry wood. If he doesn't do this, he's likely to make his way to the first campfire he sees. I was in hopes that he'd come here."

Will called his chums into the tent for a general discussion of the matter, Chester remaining just outside the fire line. The boy seemed to have a mortal fear of being watched and followed.

Before entering fully into the conference, Will carried a liberal supper out to the hungry boy. Chester said that he had eaten very little since disposing of the provisions taken from the camp. Owing to the sudden disappearance of his father, he had not had time to hunt and fish. Will thought he had never seen a boy eat so industriously.

"Why don't he come into the tent," queried Tommy, as Will returned.

"He's afraid some one's watching the camp," was the reply.

"What if there is some one watching the camp," Tommy insisted, "they'll see something's going on and follow us when we go away with Chester. So he might just as well come on in!"

"Watch us when we go away?" repeated George. "Who do you think is going away with the boy in search of his father?"

"I'm going, for one!" declared Tommy.

"Not so you could notice it!" Will cut in. "You and Sandy have been doing all the scouting tonight, and now George and I will take a turn at it!"

Tommy winked slyly at Sandy but said nothing.

Will, however, caught the look which pa.s.sed between the two boys, and declared that he meant to tie them both up before he left the camp.