Fred Fenton on the Crew Part 4

"Is there more'n one feller in all Riverport that would get down low enough to be back of a job like that?" asked Colon.

"Mebbe we don't know who you mean, but we think we do," sang out Sid Wells; who had always been at loggersheads with Buck Lemington, from the time they were, as Sid used to say, "knee high to gra.s.shoppers."

"How about it now, Corney; is he there yet? Perhaps it was only a stump you set eyes on," called another from the opposite side of the circle.

"Do stumps move, and duck their heads up and down?" asked Corney, indignantly; "well, that's what this one is doing right now. Don't you see him too, Brad?"

"I sure see something in that shadow, and it keeps right on moving,"

the one addressed replied, positively. "Hey Colon, suppose, now, you run back to the fire and fetch us one of the blazing sticks you'll find handy? We'll give this thief in the night a little illumination. He thinks he can hide, does he; well, it's up to us to show him. Close up, boys, and don't you let him have a chance to sneak it."

"He's our prisoner, all right, Brad; just you count on that," remarked Corney, jubilantly. "Say, what we'll do to him will be aplenty. There, didn't you see the way he yanked his head up that time? Reckon he's beginning to get scared right now; and can you blame him."

"With all this crowd around," ventured Brad; "every fellow willing to give him a punch to pay him up for what he tried to do to our boat--well, I should guess not! Hurry along, Colon; that's the kind of torch for you; just look at her blaze, will you?"

The long-legged boy came hurrying up, holding the burning stick in his hand. And as he advanced closer to the spot where the suspected spy was believed to be, the circle gradually narrowed, as the eager boys began to push in.

"Wow! what do you think of that, now?" burst from Corney, as the light gave a sudden flash, and plainly revealed the spot that had up to now been in the shadows.

"It's an old red cow, and she's getting her dander up too, fellows, because of all this noise, and the torch there! Look out if she charges you; and run like everything! There she comes, fellows, like a tornado!

Run, boys! Scatter, to beat the band!"

It was Brad who gave this advice. He himself did not hesitate to take it literally, for when the alarmed cow actually lowered her head, whipped her tail around several times, and then made a lunge toward the spot where Brad happened to be stationed, he whirled on his heels, and fairly flew to place a tree between himself and the frightened animal.

Then there was a wild scene, every fellow being for himself. Colon flung his blazing torch at the advancing beast, and with such good aim that it actually came in contact with the cow's flank. Perhaps it stung, or at any rate gave the beast a new spasm of fear, for there immediately followed a fierce bellow, and the lunges grew more violent.

With flying tail and lowered horns the cow went charging past the scattering boys. Luckily none of them was in her way, or they might have been flung high in the air; since the most expert athlete among them knew nothing about bull fighting.

"She's going to charge our tents!" shrieked Corney, who was part way up a tree, so rapid had been his action after being warned by Brad of the danger.

"Head her off, somebody!" whooped Colon, who, however, showed not the least intention of doing anything in that line himself; for he had found a convenient tree, that would afford plenty of shelter if necessary, against the charge of half a dozen frightened cows.

If the animal headed directly toward the camp it was because she had been so bewildered by the various shouts of the boys that she hardly knew which way to turn, in order to escape from what she doubtless considered an attack.

There came a crash.

"There goes one of the tents!" cried Colon; "that's because n.o.body would do what I said, and head her off. Lots of you were closer than I was. Anyhow, she's gone gallopin' away. Let's see what damage she did!"

Another torch was pulled from the fire; indeed, now that Colon had shown the way, several of the others made haste to secure flaming brands.

"Take care, there, and don't set anything afire!" warned Brad, seeing that a few were inclined to be reckless; "there's quite a lot of dead stuff around here, left over from last Fall. Look out how you handle that torch boys!"

A hasty investigation disclosed the pleasing fact that no harm had come to the racing sh.e.l.l through the wandering about of the grazing cow.

Then the campers set to work to get up the tent that had been knocked over.

Of course the excitement died down presently, since there had been no particular damage done, and the boat was uninjured. The boys sat around for an hour or two, talking. Then some of them began to yawn, and to examine the places inside the three tents where they had stowed their blankets, carried along because the summer nights were apt to get cool toward morning.

One by one they crept off, until by degrees the ranks were thinned down to just three--Brad, Bristles and Fred. Even the captain of the club finally declared he was done up with the exercise of the day, and might as well "hunt up the soft side of a board," as he chose to remark; though a soft blanket, doubled on the ground, was really the kind of bed awaiting him.

Fred had a reason for waiting up. He had received a signal from Bristles that the other wanted to speak with him in private; and remembering that he had been made a sort of confident before by the boy who was in trouble. Fred, though feeling very sleepy himself, sat it out.

Bristles waited a few minutes after Brad had crawled into the nearest tent. Apparently he did not want the others to overhear anything he said to our hero. This caution on his part told the other that Bristles must have more reason for feeling gloomy; though he had somehow kept from saying anything all day.

Presently Fred saw him get up, and start around the now smouldering camp fire, as if to join him; so he made a place on his blanket, which he had brought out some time before, to sit upon.

"Did you want to see me about anything, Bristles?" Fred asked, as the other dropped down close beside him.

"Yes, Fred," began the other, in a low voice; "you were so good to stand up for me when I told you about those pesky opals, that I just thought after all I'd let you know about some more that's happened."

Fred started, and looked uneasily at the other's long face.

"Does that mean, Bristles, your aunt has been missing more of her precious stones?" he asked.

Bristles nodded his head in a forlorn fashion.

"Two of 'em gone this time, Fred, and I guess I'm the unluckiest feller ever, because they disappeared yesterday afternoon; and mom sent me over with a message to Aunt Alicia about four o'clock."

CHAPTER VI

A SUDDEN AWAKENING

"Well, that's a funny thing, Bristles," Fred remarked, as he allowed the full force of the other's story to sink into his mind.

"Not so very funny for me, let me tell you, Fred," muttered Bristles.

"Why, of course I didn't mean it that way, you know, old fellow," Fred hastened to say; "I meant that it was queer. Three times now you've just happened to drop in to see your aunt, and every time one or more of her precious stones have disappeared, as if they went up in smoke?"

"Say, perhaps they did!" the other went on, moodily. "Always smells smoky to me in that house. Then again do you know, Fred, when I see that old black crow perched on the back of aunty's chair, it somehow makes me think of haunted houses, it's so spooky."

"Now what do you want me to believe--that the old colored woman sits on the back of your aunt's chair, and smokes her pipe?" Fred asked, chuckling a little.

"Oh! shucks! perhaps I am twisted up somehow in trying to tell you what happened; but then," and Bristles' voice sank into a half whine, "I just guess any feller would be rattled, if he'd bothered his head as much as I have the last few days. I meant the old tame crow Aunty's got, that talks sometimes to beat the band. Now do you know, Fred?"

"Sure I do," replied the other, promptly; "I've never forgotten how Black Joe looked, blinking his eyes at us when we stood there talking to your aunt. But you're wrong in one thing, Bristles; it isn't just a plain, everyday crow at all. She said it was a raven, one of the wise old kind you read about; and that she brought it across the water.

They're more cunning than our crows; and goodness knows I've always found _them_ smart enough, when you had a gun."

"Oh! well, crow or raven, what does it matter to me?" grumbled Bristles. "But as I was saying, Fred, my mom sent me over in the afternoon. I didn't want to go; not much! That house gives me the creeps; and aunty has such sharp, piercing eyes. But there wasn't any getting out of it, so I went. But let me tell you, I was determined to toe the mark, and not even give a think to the measly opals that once I was silly enough to admire."

"Well?" said Fred, encouragingly, as the other paused for reflection.

"I gave my little message, and came away as quick as I could," Bristles presently went on, with a big sigh. "All the rest of the afternoon I was patting myself on the back, Fred, and saying the old lady would have a chance to change her mind about little Andrew. But it didn't wash, Fred, not a bit of it."

"You said, I believe, that two more of the opals had vanished; when did you hear about that?" asked Fred, to hurry his chum along.

"Why, after I came in just before supper time, feeling better than for several days. I saw with one eye that mom was bothered again over something, and I understood what it was when she handed me a little note she'd got late that afternoon from Aunt Alicia."