The Banner Boy Scouts Afloat Part 16

CHAPTER XV

ORDERED OFF

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon of this, the first day of their intended stay on Cedar Island, when Paul and his three comrades came running around the bend of the sh.o.r.e above the camp, and saw some of the scouts beckoning wildly to them.

"They've gone and grabbed him, sure as shooting!" gasped Bobolink, exultantly.

But Jack and Paul noted that while there teemed to be a cl.u.s.ter of the boys no strange form could be seen among them. In fact, they appeared to be greatly excited over something Jud Elderkin was holding.

And in this manner then did the quartette reach the camp.

"Where is he; got him tied up good and hard?" demanded Bobolink, speaking with difficulty, from lack of breath.

n.o.body paid the slightest attention to what he was saying; and so Bobolink, happening to notice that it was Curly Baxter who had been taking liberties with his precious bugle, quietly possessed himself of it, and examined it carefully, to make sure that it had not been dented.

"Take a look at this, Paul," said Jud, as he held out the fluttering piece of paper that had evidently caused all the excitement.

Written upon this the scout master saw only a few words, but they possessed considerable significance, when viewed in the light of the strange happenings of the recent past.

"_Leave this island at once_!"

Just five words in all. Whoever wrote that order must be a man who did not believe in wasting anything. There was no penalty attached, and they were at liberty to believe anything they chose; just the plain command to get out, and somehow it seemed more impressive because of its brevity.

Paul looked at Jack, and then around at the anxious faces of the other scouts. He saw only blank ignorance there. n.o.body could imagine what this strange order meant. The island might have an owner, but at the best it was only a worthless bit of property, and their camping on its sh.o.r.e for a week could not be considered in the light of trespa.s.s.

"Where did you get this, Jud?" asked the scout master.

"Why, Old Dan Tucker brought it to me," replied the leader of the Gray Fox Patrol, promptly.

"And where did _you_ find it, Dan?" continued Paul, turning on the scout in question, who seemed only too willing to tell all he knew--which, it turned out, was precious little at best.

"Why, you see, I had a dispute with Nuthin about the number of hams fetched on the trip. He vowed there was two, and I said three, countin'

the one we'd cut into last night. So to prove it, I just happened to step into the tent where we've got some of the grub piled up. It was three, all right, just as I said. But I found this paper pinned to one of the whole hams, which, you know, are sewed up in covers right from the packers. I couldn't make out what it meant. First I thought Nuthin was playin' a joke on me; but he denied it. So I took the paper to Jud, seein' that you were away, Paul."

"It was pinned to one of the hams, was it?" asked the scout master, frowning.

"Sure, and the pin's still stickin' in it," answered Dan, positively.

Paul looked around.

"I want to settle one thing right at the start, before we bother any more about this matter," he remarked. "Did any one of you write this, or have you ever seen it before Dan brought it to Jud?"

"He showed it to me," exclaimed Nuthin; "but it was the first time I ever glimpsed that paper or writin', Paul, I give you my word."

"If anybody else has seen it before, I want him to hold up his hand,"

continued the scout master, knowing how p.r.o.ne boys are to play pranks.

The boys glanced at each other; but not a single hand went up.

"Well, that settles one thing, then," declared Paul. "This note came from some one not belonging to our camp. He must have crawled into the tent from the rear, taking advantage of our being busy. Yes, there's a bunch of scrub close enough to give him more or less shelter, if he crawled on all fours. Let's see if one or two of the tent pins haven't been drawn up."

Followed by the rest, Paul strode over to the tent where a quant.i.ty of the provisions were kept. Entering this, he quickly saw that it was exactly as he had suggested. Three of the tent pins, which the boys had pounded down with the camp axe, had been pulled up, and this slack allowed the intruder to crawl under the now loose canvas.

"I can see the place he shuffled along, and where his toes dug into the earth," declared Jack, as he bent over.

"We'll try and follow it up presently, and see where he got on his feet to move off," Paul remarked. "I'd like to find out whether his shoes make a mark anything like some of those we were looking at up the sh.o.r.e, Jack."

"Whew!" exclaimed Bobolink, who was again deeply interested in what was going on, since he had found his precious bugle unharmed.

"Let's look at that paper again," resumed Paul. "The writing was done with a fountain pen, I should say. That seems to tell that the owner was no common hobo. And the writing is as clear as the print in our copybooks at school. The man who did that was a penman, believe me. 'Leave this island at once!' Just like that, short and crisp. Not a threat about what will happen if we don't, you see; we're expected to just imagine all sorts of terrible things, unless we skip out right away. One thing sure, Jud, your wild man never wrote that note, or even pinned it on our ham, because the crawler wore shoes."

"That's right," muttered Jud, his face betraying the admiration he felt for the scout master who knew so well how to patch things together, so that they seemed to be almost as plain as print.

"Now, the rest of you just stay around while I take Jack and Bobolink with me along this trail. We want to settle one thing, and that'll come when we hit the place where this party got up on his feet to move off."

So saying, Paul himself got down and deliberately crawled under the canvas the same way the trespa.s.ser had. Jack and Bobolink hastened to follow his example, only too well pleased to be selected to accompany the leader.

It was no great task to follow the marks made by the crawling man. His toes had dug into the soil, going and coming, for apparently he had used the same trail both ways.

"Here we are, boys; now, take a look!" said Paul, presently.

They were by this time in the midst of the timber with which this end of the island was covered. Glimpses of the tents could be seen between the trees; but any intruder might feel himself reasonably justified in rising to his full height when he had made a point so well screened from inquisitive eyes.

This man had done so, at any rate. The plain print of his shoes was visible in a number of places. Both Jack and Bobolink gave utterance to exclamations as soon as they saw these.

"One of the four, that's dead sure!" the former declared, positively.

"I'll be badgered if it ain't!" muttered Bobolink, staring at the tracks.

"So you see, we've settled one thing right at the start," said Paul.

"That's what we have," observed Bobolink. "It's those fellows who carried the heavy load from the rowboat, after landin' on the island, after the rain storm, that want our room more'n our company. The nerve of that bunch to tell us to clear out, when chances are we've got just as much right here as they have--p'raps a heap sight more."

"That doesn't sound much like you wanted to make a change of base, Bobolink?" remarked Paul, smiling.

"No more do I," quickly replied the other. "I'm not used to bein' ordered around as if I was a slave. What if there are four of them, aren't eighteen husky scouts equal to such a crowd? No, siree, if you left it to me, I'd say stick it out till the last horn blows. Give 'em the defi right from the shoulder. Tell 'em to go hang, for all we care. We c'n take care of ourselves, mebbe; and mind our own business in the bargain."

"But it's something else that makes you want to stay?" Paul suggested.

"How well you know my cut, Paul," declared the other. "You reckon I never can stand a mystery. It gets on my nerves, keeps me awake nights, and plays hob with my think-box all the time. Now, there was those boxes--but I guess I'll try and forget all about that matter now, because we've got a sure enough puzzle to solve right on our hands. Who are these four men; what are they hiding on Cedar Island for; why should they want to chase us away if they weren't afraid we'd find out _somethin_' they're a-doin'

here, that ain't just accordin' to the law?"

"You've got it pretty straight, Bobolink," admitted Paul. "But since we've learned all we wanted to find out, suppose we go back to the rest of the boys. We must talk this thing over, and decide what's to be done."