The New Boys at Oakdale Part 22

"No, but it may help us after he's found."

"I don't think so; it's tut-too late."

"Why too late?" persisted Chipper.

"Because everybub-bub-body would know we were just scared into it, that's all. It wouldn't help us a bit, Chip-not a bit, to tell it now.

If Piper thought it would do any good you bub-bet your life he'd have told already."

"Perhaps you're right," sighed Cooper; "but it's an awful load on my conscience, and I'd like to get it off my system."

"Come on," Piper called back in a low tone. "We're all right. This is the way."

They went forward again, turning presently to the left and descending to the lower ground at the border of the broad marsh. The trees became more scattering and the thickets grew thinner. Before long they saw the marsh, spreading out before them, silent and strange and uninviting in the moonlight which flooded its expanse of pools and reeds and brushwood, amid which a few scraggy dead trees rose here and there. In the midst of the expanse was a bit of higher ground, covered by a growth of small, dark, evergreen trees. This was the "island" on which stood the old camp where Piper hoped to find Roy Hooker. From knoll to knoll, in a zigzag course, led the path, the pools and marshy places bridged by felled trees and brushwood.

"I'm afraid you won't find him there, Piper," said Nelson.

Cooper, hearing the words, muttered for Springer's ear:

"I'm afraid we will."

Despite their caution in proceeding, at one point, Grant, breaking through the brushwood bridge with a cracking sound, plunged one leg to the thigh between the two lengthwise supports and drew it forth soaking wet.

"This yere trail," said the Texan, "is sure some unreliable and treacherous."

Those who reached the island first waited for the others to come up.

They stood there whispering and listening, but hearing no sounds to a.s.sure them that the one they sought was near.

"As he's deranged," said Piper, "we want to take care not to frighten him more than possible, for it's likely he'll be scared and run when he sees us."

"He can't run fur," declared Crane, "without plungin' head over heels right into the swamp."

"And that's what we don't want him to do; it might be his finish. We must prevent him from running away when we find him."

"When we find him," muttered Nelson. "But something tells me we won't find him here."

Slowly they pushed forward toward the center of the island. In a few moments they came to a small opening and paused again, before them the old camp huddling in the shadows of a thick grove which rose close beside it. The place was dolefully silent and forbidding at that hour. A breath of wind, sweeping across the island, set up a sudden rustling, which was accompanied by a sound that put their nerves on edge.

That sound was like a low, harsh moan or groan, and it seemed to come from the sagging, deserted camp before them. Some shrank back shivering, while others appeared eager to rush forward.

"He's there!" breathed Nelson. "That must be he!"

Springer stooped and placed his lips close to Cooper's ear:

"Sus-sus-sounded to me like sus-sus-some one dying," he chattered.

"Let the others go ahead," gasped Cooper. "I don't want to find him first. I don't want to see him. I'd like to get away this minute."

With his arm outstretched and the palm of his hand turned backward to restrain his companions, Billy Piper advanced swiftly on his toes.

Within a few feet of the shanty structure, he saw that the door was standing open. At that moment another gust of wind rustled through the trees, and immediately the harsh moaning sound was repeated.

"It's the door," declared Billy, enlightened. "The wind moves it and makes the old hinges creak."

"My Jinks!" mumbled Crane, in great relief. "I thought it must be him sure; I thought it was Roy. Mercy! I'm all ashake."

Stepping boldly to the black doorway, Piper struck a match, but a gust of wind extinguished it. Immediately he lighted a second match, shielding the tiny blaze with his cupped hands. Close behind him crowded the others, seeking to look over his shoulders into the camp when the blaze should be sufficient to reveal the interior of the place.

Having protected the match until it burned brightly, Billy held it out before him and slightly above his head, shifting his curved hands until they served as a reflector for the tiny flaring light.

The shanty contained only one room, which seemed to be quite empty and deserted, save for an old broken table and a few crude pieces of furniture. There were shadows in the corners, but none of these seemed sufficient to hide a human being.

The flame scorched Billy's fingers, and he dropped the match, which, a bent and glowing coal, floated zigzagging and spiraling downward, burst into bits as it struck, and died out.

Some one behind Piper drew a long breath. "I don't reckon he's here, after all," said the voice of Grant.

"There's something white lying on the floor," declared Billy, with suppressed excitement. "I saw it just as I dropped the match."

Lighting another, he stepped forward and picked the thing up. It was a damp cloth, and with it in his hand he retreated into the moonlight outside.

"What is it? What is it?" questioned the boys, pressing around him.

Billy held it up. "Looks to me like a wet towel that had been wound round something and fastened into place with safety pins," he said.

"That's what it is, too. Fellows, Hooker may not be here now, but he has been here-he certainly has. This proves it."

"How do you make that out?" asked Osgood, doing his best to appear as calm as would seem consistent.

"This towel proves it," reiterated Piper. "It couldn't come here without being brought, could it?"

"No; but I don't see--"

"It's wet. It's the very towel that was used to hold the ice compress on Roy's head."

"If that's right," said Nelson swiftly, "he must be near. Perhaps he's hiding close by in the bushes. We must search every foot of this island."

"Every inch of it," agreed Piper, "and we want to be about it right away. Let's fall back to the place where we came on, and begin there. We must spread out and then advance together. There must be some system about it."

Following his directions, they began the search on the island. It was dark, pokey work in the midst of the thicker growths, but, nevertheless, they did it with an amount of thoroughness that made it seem impossible for them to overlook a person seeking to hide on that small patch of dry land. Yet, when they had covered it all and reached the western side beyond which the swamp lay impa.s.sable for a person afoot, they had found no additional token of Hooker.

"Too bad," said Nelson, discouraged. "He isn't here. He can't be here."

"It doesn't seem possible," admitted Piper, "yet this towel is sure evidence that he has been here."

"He must have gone away before we came," was Osgood's opinion. "I don't believe he could have dodged us after we got on to the island."

Almost with one accord, they turned to Piper.

"What be we goin' to do next, Billy?" asked Crane.

"Let's take one more look into that old camp," suggested the leader, who, although he did not admit it, was almost at his wit's end. "I know where there's an old pitch-pine log, and we ought to get a piece of that to serve as a torch."