Dan Carter and the River Camp Part 28

"You were spying on the house!"

"Spying?" Brad asked innocently. "Why, what is there to see?"

"Nothing. Not a thing," Jabowski retorted, made uncomfortable by the manner in which the boy had turned the accusation. "I just don't like kids swarming over the place. See?"

"Mr. Manheim gave us permission to camp on the island."

"But not to run wild over it. This here place is mine and I don't want snoopers. Now get back to your own end of the island and stay there!"

"Sure, sure," Brad said, signaling the Cubs to make no resistance. "We were leaving anyhow."

"I don't aim to be mean," Jabowski said, mollified by the boy's willingness to obey. "But a guy has to have some privacy. That raft upsetting last night set my nerves on edge. You the boy that dived under it?"

"No, that was Dan Carter."

"Which one is he?" Jabowski's keen gaze swept the group.

"Dan isn't here," Midge informed the caretaker.

"Well, no matter," Jabowski said. "Git along now, and mind what I said.

You keep to your end of the island and there'll be no hard feelings. By the way, when you leaving?"

"For good you mean?" Brad asked. "Why, late this afternoon, I guess."

"Then you won't be camping here another night." Unmistakable relief was stamped on the caretaker's face. "Good-bye, boys."

"Oh, you may see us again," Brad said with mischievous intent. "Oh, say!

Have you run into that tramp who annoyed us the first day we camped here?"

"Tramp? The one who threw the stone?" Jabowski's expression became guarded. "No, I searched the island after Mr. Manheim complained to me.

No one around. If anyone scared you, he's gone now."

"Let's hope so, at least," replied Brad evenly. "Well, so long, Mr.

Jabowski. Sorry to have bothered you."

The Cubs tramped off, and because they knew the caretaker was watching, did not look back until they were a long distance from the old hotel.

Once out of sight and hearing, the boys discussed the important discovery they had made.

"There's no question that it was Jacques we saw at the window," Brad declared. "But what's he doing here? And was it Jabowski who pulled him away from the window, or someone else?"

"He's a prisoner, for sure," Midge insisted. "We know someone spirited him away from the Cave. He's probably been held here ever since."

"Come on, let's find Mr. Hatfield," Brad urged, starting along the trail again.

At the camp a few minutes later, the Cubs were surprised to find the site entirely deserted. Dan was nowhere around. Nor was Mr. Hatfield or Midge's father to be found.

Belatedly, Brad recalled that the Cub leader and Mr. Holloway had expected to make a brief trip that morning to the mainland.

"That's probably where they are," he remarked, his gaze anxiously sweeping the river. "But where's Dan?"

"Maybe he went along," Fred suggested.

"Maybe," Brad agreed doubtfully. "But he couldn't have returned to camp very long ago."

While the other boys aired their bedding and attended to camp tasks, the older boy wandered along the sh.o.r.e.

On the west beach he noticed where a boat had been pulled up on the wet sand. The area was splattered with footprints, both large and small.

"A boat landed after the Cubs went trail hunting," Brad reconstructed the scene. "Dan must have come down here to meet the folks, whoever they were. Maybe he went away with them, or was taken away!"

As far as Brad could see, the river was deserted of small craft. However, the dense bushes lining both sides of the wide stream provided ample protection for any boat which might seek to keep out of view.

Recalling the motorcraft which apparently had been serviced by the island raft, Brad became increasingly uneasy.

"It isn't like Dan to go away without leaving word," he told himself.

"Something's happened to him!"

Just then his roving gaze fastened upon a pile of three stones placed conspicuously on the beach. Plainly they had been left there to attract attention.

Brad kicked aside the stones. Folded beneath the lowermost one was a note from Dan.

"Called to Police Station," it read. "No chance to see Mr. Hatfield. See you soon-I hope."

Brad read the message twice, trying to figure it out.

"Now why would Dan be called to the police station?" he speculated. "It must be something important to bring the cops here after him."

Brad was certain that his chum had committed no crime. But why otherwise would he be sought by police?

"See you soon-I hope," he reread the final words of the note. "That sounds as if he thinks he may run into trouble. I wonder if Jabowski or someone who dislikes having the Cubs on Skeleton Island turned in a false complaint?"

Decidedly worried, the Den Chief pocketed the note and walked slowly back toward camp.

Without a motorboat, he knew he could do nothing until Mr. Hatfield and Midge's father returned from the mainland.

"A nice kettle of fish," he muttered. "Dan at the police station, and Jacques apparently a prisoner in the old hotel. No telling what may happen next! And me with all the responsibility!"

CHAPTER 13 Identifying a Prisoner

After laying the trail for the other Cubs to follow, Dan had spent some minutes watching the old hotel at the far end of the island. He too had observed Jacques standing at the window. Greatly excited by the discovery, he left a note for the Cubs and then hastened back to camp to report.

However, neither Mr. Hatfield nor Midge's father was there, having crossed the river a few minutes earlier.

Dan nervously paced the camp, wondering what he should do. Far across the island, he could hear an occasional shout from the Cubs as they noisily followed the trail he had marked.