The Outdoor Girls in Florida Part 27

The Loon did not answer for a minute. He looked to where Betty pointed, saw the packet of food and went toward it eagerly. Then he brought it to the moored boat.

"I am hungry," he said simply.

"Then eat first, and talk later," urged Mollie. "I know what it is to be hungry."

"I'll admit I'm hungry now," said Grace. "We left enough food so we could have some, I think."

"Hus.h.!.+ we had a good lunch," said Betty, "and there is no telling what will happen before morning. Grace, you and Amy might make some hot chocolate."

"Will you tell us your name now, or are you still afraid?" asked Betty of the youth, who was eating ravenously. "The men called you--The Loon--I believe it was."

"Yes, Miss, that's my name. You see I'm not quite right in the head. I got hurt when I was a baby. I'm harmless, but I can't do much work--I'm not strong. My name is Harry Jackson."

"And have you no home--no friends?"

"Not as I knows on, Miss, no. I had an uncle once, but he died. I live around the camps--sometimes the men is good to me, and sometimes not."

He ate quickly, but daintily, and was not all uncouth. From time to time he glanced about like some frightened animal.

"They calls me The Loon," he went on. "But I know some things. I know more than they want me to."

"Do you think you could pilot this boat to Mr. Stonington's place?"

asked Mollie with much anxiety.

"Yes, Miss, I could. I know my way all around these waters. I can take you there. But we ought to help him--help Tom and the other one. I promised I'd come for you."

"Then tell us where Tom is--who has him--how did he come to send you for us--who is 'the other one'?"

Betty questioned thus rapidly. The Loon pa.s.sed his hand over his forehead as though to brush away the cobwebs from his poor brain. Then he said:

"The same men caught him, Miss."

"What same men?"

"The ones who were after me. There's a camp back there in the woods, and they have him, and the other one, too. I started for help for him long ago, but they got after me and took me back. Then they brought Tom in this afternoon. He saw me and told me to come for you. They didn't see him tell me. We've got to go to the rescue."

"I should say we had!" exclaimed Betty. "This is all very mysterious, Harry." She could not bear to call him The Loon. "Can you tell us any more about all this? Why did Tom go away?"

"That's it!" cried the queer youth. "That's what I've been trying to remember. He told me to be sure and tell you that he didn't run away. He saw you getting flowers, he said, and he went off in the woods a way to look for some rare kind for you. He didn't mean to go so far. Then the men caught him, and took him away before he could warn you. That's what he wanted me to be sure and tell you. Now I've remembered," and he seemed quite pleased in his own peculiar way.

"But who is this other one you started to help?" asked Grace, a strange eagerness creeping into her voice.

"Wait, please, wait," begged The Loon, again pa.s.sing his hand over his brow. "I can't think very fast. I know the bad men in the lumber camp had Tom, and the other one--I don't know his name. But maybe we can rescue them both. If you'll come----"

He sprang from the boat to the tree branch and thence ash.o.r.e. Then he stood waiting in the glare of the boat's lights.

"Wait," said Betty gently. "We must go for help, first. Come, Harry, get aboard and take us to the orange grove. Then we will get Mr. Hammond and some men to come to the rescue."

CHAPTER XXII

THE EVERGLADE CAMP

The Loon stood irresolute for a few seconds. He seemed to want to rush off into the dark woods again, and evidently expected the girls to follow him. But, though they were very anxious to effect the rescue of their friend Tom, and the other unknown, held in some distant camp, Betty and her chums would take no risks.

"Come!" called the Little Captain to the simple-minded lad, "we will go for help, and soon be back here--if you can guide us."

"Oh, yes, I know the way all over these parts--even in the Everglades."

"Are there Everglades here?" asked Mollie, who had heard much of those strange, floating forests.

"A small patch," answered The Loon, "but not much like the real Everglades. It is a big swampy tract, and the camp is in there."

"A turpentine camp?" asked Grace, filled with sudden hope.

"No, the bosses are getting out a certain kind of wood. Oh! but it is hard work. The wood is partly under water, and the bugs and mosquitoes and alligators are terrible. I ran away, for I couldn't stand it."

"Poor fellow," murmured Amy. "Oh, to think of Tom Osborne and some other young fellow being there."

"Just like my poor brother Will," agreed Grace. "Oh, I wonder if he could be the 'other one' he refers to! Listen," she went on to the simple youth eagerly, "I am going to describe a young man to you. I want you to tell me if he is like the one you once tried to rescue--the time you saved our boat," and she gave a close description of her brother.

"Is the 'other one' like that?" she asked breathlessly.

The Loon shook his head.

"No," he said slowly, "not at all like that. He is very thin, this one, and he is lame."

"Oh dear!" half sobbed Grace. "I was beginning to have such hope!"

"Never mind," consoled Betty. "We will find your brother yet. Come now, we are losing time. Come, Harry," she said gently.

"And the other one, too?" he asked eagerly. "I promised I would help him, and took his money; but I lost it."

"Yes, we will rescue him, too," said Betty. "Come now."

The Loon was satisfied that his friend would be helped, so he sprang into the boat. Betty started the engine and then, with the powerful gas headlight aglow, she turned the wheel over to The Loon.

However simple-minded the poor youth might be, however undecided and timid in the forest, he seemed to be a new person on the water. There was a self-reliance about him, a poise and a certain ability that he seemed to have acquired suddenly. Without a trace of hesitation he guided the boat through the winding course of the creek that flowed into the main stream.

Coming to the turn he took an entirely different direction from that followed by the girls.

"That's where we made our mistake!" exclaimed Mollie.

The Loon did not respond--he was too busy peering ahead at the dark water, which was illuminated only for a comparatively short distance by the searchlight.