The New Boys at Oakdale Part 27

"The ground slopes toward the lake," reasoned Shultz. "He'll keep on going that way."

"There may be some logic in that, and there's a bare chance that we may come upon him again. Let's make as little noise as possible. We don't want him to be warned or frightened by hearing us a long distance away."

Down through the black woods they went, Shultz seeking to keep so close to Osgood that he could put out his hand any time and touch him.

Presently through the trees they saw the moonlight silvering the placid water. Reaching the sh.o.r.e, they discovered they were close to Pine Point, which, projecting into the lake, cut it there to its narrowest width. On the opposite sh.o.r.e lay the railroad, over which Shultz had first thought of making his escape from Oakdale.

"It's something like searching for a needle in a haystack," said Ned hopelessly. "There's not one chance in a hundred that we, unaided, can find Hooker in these woods."

But Charley still clung to the tattered skirts of hope. "Let's go out upon the point. From the end of it we can get a look at a long sweep of sh.o.r.e in both directions."

"That will simply make us walk farther, and your ankle must be--"

"Confound my ankle! Don't you worry about that."

"You shouldn't be crippling around on it. It's liable to lay you up for a long time, and every step you take makes it worse."

"What do I care? What do I care how long I'm laid up? That's nothing now. I'm going out on the point."

He would not have gone had Ned refused, but Osgood decided to humor him.

At the outer extremity the point took a curve, so that on one side it sheltered Bear Cove, into which Silver Brook emptied. As they reached that curving outer sh.o.r.e, a small boat-a punt-issued from the cove, pa.s.sed that hook-like nose of land and appeared in the moonlight which bathed the surface of the lake. The occupant of the punt, who was propelling it with a paddle, was Hooker!

"There he is!" shouted Charley.

He turned his face toward them, and they were so near that they almost fancied they could see the wild expression in his eyes. They called to him again and again, begging him to come back and seeking to give him every a.s.surance of their friendly intentions. He did not answer; changing the course of the boat somewhat, he drove it with powerful strokes toward a small island which lay off the mouth of the cove.

"It's no use," muttered Osgood; "he'll give up only when he's caught, and then he'll probably make a fight of it."

"But how are we going to catch him?"

"I wish I knew. If we had another boat--"

"I know where there's a raft," exclaimed Shultz. "We might follow him with that."

"We never could overtake him on a raft."

"But he's going on to Ba.s.s Island. If he doesn't see us coming, we might catch him there."

Ned was extremely doubtful, but the insistence and eagerness of Charley finally led him to agree to look for the raft. Fully half an hour pa.s.sed before they found it lying partly on the sh.o.r.e of the cove not far from the mouth of Silver Brook. It was a rather long, narrow affair, built of small logs fastened together by cross-pieces. When it was launched they tested its buoying capacity and found it would barely support them both.

Nevertheless, with pieces of board for paddles, they pushed off upon it and made their way slowly toward the mouth of the cove. Both knelt as they wielded the board paddles, and their knees were soon wet with the water which occasionally washed across the almost submerged logs.

Although they could not see the punt on the sh.o.r.e of the island, they felt certain Hooker had landed there, and, hoping he would not discover their approach, they exerted their strength in the effort to reach the place as soon as possible.

The island was not more than thirty yards distant when they again saw the punt, headed this time for the farther sh.o.r.e of the lake. It seemed that Hooker must have been watching, and, with almost tantalizing cunning, he had waited until they were near before he put out from the opposite side of the island.

"Let's not give up," pleaded Shultz. "Let's follow him."

Although the pursuit seemed discouragingly hopeless, they were now nearly half-way across the narrow part of the lake, and Osgood did not insist on turning back.

The punt was slow enough, but it moved faster than the raft, even though the latter was propelled by two persons instead of one, and gradually it drew farther and farther away. With their eyes on Hooker, they watched him reach the sh.o.r.e, leap out, abandon the punt and run toward the railroad. Still watching, they saw him, later, making his way down the track toward Oakdale station.

As soon as the raft touched the low, flat sh.o.r.e, they left it to float whither it might and followed Roy.

"I'm glad he went toward town," said Osgood, as they reached the railroad.

Shultz's ankle seemed to have grown much worse while he was on the raft, and it was in great pain and with the utmost difficulty that he crippled along over the ties. At times he caught his breath with a hissing sound or groaned aloud as the swollen limb gave him an extra sharp twinge.

"It's no use for me to follow Roy any farther," he finally admitted.

"I'll be lucky if this old prop doesn't give out completely before I get to the village."

"If it does," promised Ned, "I'll get you there. Leave it to me. I'm ready to pack you on my back any time."

Presently they approached the old lime quarries, which had been practically abandoned until Lemuel Hayden came to Oakdale, bought them, opened up new and unsuspected deposits, and revived the industry of lime burning. They could see the deserted workings, a tremendous black hole in the ground some thirty or forty rods away, when from beneath the shadowy bank of the graded roadbed, Hooker, who may have been resting there, sprang forth. Shultz saw his first movement, and shouted to Osgood:

"There he is, Ned! Catch him-you can catch him now!"

Ned did not need to be urged; he was off like a shot. Shultz followed, setting his teeth and trying to forget his injured ankle. Down the bank he leaped, mainly upon one foot, and on he ran, limping across the rough and stony field. He could see Osgood straining every nerve to overtake Hooker, who was running straight toward the old quarry.

"He's got him! Ned's got him!" panted Shultz. "The quarry will stop him!

He can't get away!"

But, as they drew near that mammoth hole in the ground, a different thought leaped into Osgood's mind. Hooker seemed to be fleeing blindly and totally heedless of anything. What if, in his distraught state of mind, he should not realize the danger that lay in his path? What if he should not see the quarry until it was too late to stop?

Horrified, Ned shouted a warning; and at that shout Hooker, still running, turned his head to look back.

Shultz, seeing all this, gulped to keep his heart from choking him. Sick and weak with apprehension, he stopped, his arms outflung, his hands wide open, his fingers spread apart.

Over the brink and into the quarry plunged Hooker. As he fell, a wild and terrible scream rose from his lips. Shultz clapped his hands to his ears to shut out that dreadful cry.

"Oh! oh!" he groaned. "It's all over now! That's the end! He's dead!"

CHAPTER XXVI

THE CONFESSION.

Distracted, scarcely realizing what he did, with that terrible cry from Hooker's lips still ringing in his ears, Charley Shultz turned from the old quarry and limped away as fast as he could go. In his mind he carried a dreadful picture of Roy Hooker, lying bleeding, battered and dead at the bottom of that great excavation, and for the time being Osgood was wholly forgotten.

On his hands and knees, Charley crawled up the railroad embankment. One of his hands happening to touch a stout, crooked stick, about a yard in length, he grasped and retained it instinctively. When the track was reached, the stick served him for a cane as he hobbled away.

"It's awful-awful!" his dry, bloodless lips kept repeating. "And I'm to blame for it all! I'm the only one who is really to blame. I thought some of the rest should help shoulder the load, but I was wrong. It's up to me; I can see that plainly enough at last. If I'd only seen it in the first place, perhaps-perhaps this terrible thing might not have happened."

After a time he remembered Osgood, and halted, looking back toward the quarry.

"Why doesn't he come? Why is he staying there? He can't do anything now.