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"But it looks as if he came here alone, Elmer, seeing we can find only
one set of footprints," remarked Lil Artha.

"Oh! mercy! I certainly hope now he hasn't done anything _ter_rible to
our chum, Hen Condit," quavered Landy, in a panic.

"There's no reason why we should believe such a thing," announced
Elmer, decidedly; "we've already agreed that he possesses some sort of
strange power over poor Hen, and I suppose the boy is waiting in their
camp away from here, for the man to come back with provisions."

They walked back and the fire was revived, for since no one felt just
like trying to sleep again they concluded to sit up a while and talk it
all over. This attempted visit on the part of the unknown man had
apparently put a new face on the whole matter. It might change their
plans considerably, too, some of the scouts feared.

"I don't see why that should be," Elmer explained. "Of course, after
this we'll have to keep a watch every night, so as to hold him up if he
tries to get away with any of our stuff. It may hurry things along in
the end. If they have little to eat, and the man is really afraid to
go outside of the swamp thinking the police are waiting to arrest him,
he may make up his mind to surrender to us."

"Then you believe he knows why we're here, do you, Elmer?" demanded
Toby.

"It seems possible, although, of course, we have to jump at
conclusions, because we really don't know," came the answer.

"Whew! but this is all a dark mystery," confessed Landy; "and I never
was much account at guessing the answer to riddles. Who is this man;
what is he holding over Hen Condit's head; why should our chum do that
awful thing, and then leave such a silly letter behind to convict
himself? I'm all in a whirl, and if anybody can straighten me out I'd
be a heap obliged."

Apparently, nobody could, at least there was no effort made in that
direction. In fact, to tell the truth, all the boys felt that they
were groping in the gloom, and even their best guesses had only a
slender foundation.

"We've enlisted in the war, though," said Lil Artha, grimly, "and we
won't be kept back by any little thing. If that chap comes snooping
around any more he stands a mighty good chance of getting hurt, that's
all I'm going to say about it."

"And we'll run across Hen, sooner or later, you can put that in your
pipe and smoke it," asserted Toby Jones, firmly.

When they had discussed the subject from every side, without picking up
much additional information worth while, the boys began to feel sleepy
again. So Elmer told them off in watches, two scouts being assigned to
duty at a time. Landy was left out, because he was the odd fellow, and
perhaps for other obvious reasons.

He pretended to be quite indignant over the slight, and vowed that he
would certainly sit up through one of the watches with the pair whose
turn it happened to be. But none of them took his threats seriously,
because they knew full well when Landy Smith once got asleep it
required something like a young earthquake to arouse him. Elmer hardly
anticipated another visit from the mysterious unknown that night. He
fancied the fellow must have imagined Lil Artha really shot point-blank
at him, and that it was only his good luck which enabled him to escape
disaster.

Being too good a scout to take unnecessary chances, and not wishing to
lose the main part of such supplies as they had fetched along for
several days' use, the patrol leader took all due precautions.

The fire was kept up the balance of the night in the bargain, for they
felt as though the illumination helped to guard them. Complete
darkness might have tempted a raiding thief to try again, while he
would be afraid to attempt such a risky move while the flames crackled
and lighted up the immediate surroundings.

After all, nothing happened to disturb them. The sentries stuck
diligently to their duties, and changed at the time appointed. This
had been laid out by Elmer, as the sky had cleared and the stars could
be plainly seen in places. He figured time from the position of
certain bright planets, and their setting would mean the different
changes in guard mount. Scouts who have been in camp have learned
these methods of telling time by the use of the heavenly watch, and few
of them after once mastering the interesting method find a need for
Ingersols.

When daylight sifted in through the treetops overhead, the boys gave
signs of arousing. Landy, of course, was the last to awaken, and he
professed to be quite heart-broken because no one had called him in
time to help stand out that watch. The gleam of humor in his eyes,
however, told Elmer that the fat boy was not quite so much disappointed
as he made out to be. In fact, the patrol leader was beginning to fear
that Landy had latterly shown signs of developing a new trait in his
composition, and started to play the part of a deceiver, in return for
constant badgering on the part of his fun-loving mates.

It was while they were eating breakfast that Elmer propounded a new
scheme, and after placing it before his comrades asked them what their
opinions were.

"The question now is," was what he said, seriously, "whether we mean to
keep on poling our skiff along the waterways; or shouldering our packs
take the shore from now on; and as our rule always has been, majority
votes carry the day."

CHAPTER XII

THE VALUE OF SCOUTCRAFT

"But that old skiff suits me all right," objected Landy, who did not
particularly fancy shouldering his pack, to tramp through brush and
over marshy tracts of land, such as must be their portion.

"Why ought we make a change, Elmer?" asked Ted, also unable to grasp
the meaning of this new move.

Not so Lil Artha, who was quick to see things, especially when some
suggestion on the part of the scout-master was concerned.

"Why, what ails you fellows?" he exclaimed, scornfully, as became one
possessed of superior brains; "don't you understand my sighting that
man last night alters the whole business? Now, there's no need of
hunting a needle in a haystack, for we've got a real trail to follow
up."

"That's right, suh, and scouts ought to be able to accomplish the
task," Chatz remarked in his superior way, which, however, everybody
knew was only skin-deep, the result of his Southern birth and training,
for he was a splendid fellow at heart, and well liked.

"What about the skiffs then, if we abandon the same?" asked Toby.

"Oh! we'll mark the place, and Johnny can easily find his property when
we're paying him five dollars for their use," said Lil Artha, lightly.
"And boys, better make a start with those packs right now."

Landy sighed heavily, and seeing there was no escape he started to
carry out the suggestion of the tall scout. His lack of ambition was
so noticeable that Lil Artha could not resist the temptation to take a
shot at him.

"I was just thinking, fellows," he went on, maliciously, "that Landy's
going to play out on us, and give no end of trouble; so we might leave
him here to watch the boats while we're gone."

"What! me stay here, and starve to death?" ejaculated Landy, commencing
to put considerably more vigor into his labor; "I guess not, if I know
myself, and I think I do."

"Oh! for that matter we'd let you have some grub," continued the
generous Lil Artha; "enough for one full meal anyway."

"No thank you, not any in mine. I'm going where the rest do, make up
your mind to that. If the old boats have to be watched stay yourself,
Lil Artha, that's all. You couldn't coax or hire me to remain alone a
single night in this awful swamp, not if you tried till doomsday. I
like company, and if I have to I c'n even put up with you as a steady,
Lil Artha. Now that'll do for you. It isn't to be considered for a
second."

Of course, Lil Artha was only having a little fun, because there was no
thought of leaving anybody behind to stand guard over the two abandoned
skiffs; and least of all would Elmer have dreamed of appointing the fat
and timid scout for such a duty.

When deciding on such a radical change in their plans, Elmer did not
forget that it might also be well for them to conceal the two boats.
Should the man they were hunting chance to come upon the skiffs he
might think it good policy to smash in the planks to such an extent
that they would be useless for further voyaging; and possibly the
scouts would be glad to get out of the swamp by the same means they had
taken when entering.

"First of all, let's hide the boats somewhere," he suggested. "They're
pretty heavy, of course, but seven of us ought to be able to carry
them, one at a time."

"It needn't be for far either," Lil Artha assured them, "because here's
a jimdandy place close by. Everybody on the job, and see what you can
lift."

After all it was nothing to speak of, for the two skiffs were easily
handled, and nicely concealed from view. When the boys had removed all
traces of their passage, anyone might walk by within five feet of the
patch of bushes and never suspect what lay there so neatly hidden.

"There, that job's done," said Elmer; "now finish packing, and we'll be
off."

Landy hurried now. He had a lingering fear that there might be more in
that obscure threat made by Lil Artha of desertion on their part than
appeared on the surface. The more he considered being left alone in
that dreary swamp the faster Landy's fingers flew. He also kept a wary
eye on the tall scout, and had Lil Artha shown any intention of
hurrying off he would have surely found Landy tagging at his heels,
whether he had his pack or not.

Meanwhile, Elmer, having quickly arranged his possessions, because of
long familiarity in the packing line, had gone over once more to the
bush patch where on the preceding night Lil Artha had seen that
suspicious lurker.

Of course, it was Elmer's intention to examine the tracks left by the
mysterious visitor, and see whether it would be possible for them to
pick up the trail.

He was, of course, taking it for granted that the party must have been
the same man they had been hunting ever since reaching the swamp. So
far as Elmer could say, his footprints resembled those they had seen
with Hen's, although there was really nothing remarkable about them to
distinguish the indentations above all others.

Elmer knew that they took certain chances in figuring this way. After
all this man may have been the farmer who had a stock farm. Some of
his cattle breaking bounds would likely enough wander into the swamp,
and in looking for the strays perhaps he had discovered the smouldering
fire.

As tramps, and possibly bad men as well, sometimes hid in the depths of
swamps, the cautious cattle-raiser may have been crawling up to find
out the truth when that sudden shot frightened him, so that he had run
wildly away.

Well, no matter which of these two solutions to the mystery proved to
be the correct one, Elmer meant to try and come upon the party whose
trail now lay before him. He still favored the original idea, and, in
fact, never bothered mentioning the other speculation to his comrades.

All of them being ready they set out. Elmer and Lil Artha led the van,
for they were recognized as the best equipped scouts in the Wolf Patrol
when it came to a question of trailing. What Lil Artha lacked in
actual experience, he partly made up for in his pertinacity, as well as
his constant practice along these lines.

It soon became evident to them that the fugitive had not thought it
worth while to try and hide his trail at the time he fled from the
camp. That sudden shot must have given him a nervous shock, so that
all he cared about just then was to put as much distance between
himself and those seven khaki-clad boys as possible. The fact that
they carried weapons and would not hesitate to use their firearms must
have convinced him it was a risky thing to hang around that region any
longer.

For half an hour the boys moved on. Sometimes it was at a fair walk,
and then again when the trail grew fainter so that those at the head of
the column were compelled to exercise all of their knowledge in order
to make sure progress, things slackened more or less.

The boys had been warned not to make any unnecessary noise. Talking
save in the lowest of whispers was strictly tabooed, and even at that
Elmer did not encourage any conversation. They also had to take care
of their feet, and not press their weight upon some stick that would
break with a loud snap. Even such small things have spoiled well-laid
plans before now, and trackers, whether of wild beasts of human
fugitives, cannot be too careful.

If Landy puffed a little the other made no objection, since he took
care to do it half under his breath. It was not such very easy work,
though as scouts most of them enjoyed every minute of the time, being
constantly thrilled with the expectation of suddenly coming upon a camp
where those they sought might be found, and taken by surprise.

Lil Artha even had it all arranged in his mind just how he meant to
threaten that man with his gun, warning him savagely that it would be
as much as his skin was worth to attempt to flee.

It was in this humor that they came to a log that lay across their
path. Here the trail ended, but, of course, such clever fellows as
Elmer and Lil Artha would understand a little trick like that. The
stumbling man had naturally taken to the log, passed well along to the
other end, and then jumped off.

"You take that side and I'll cover this one," said Elmer, without the
least hesitation; "ten to one we'll get him again."

They did, for Lil Artha quickly found the tracks once more. The
incident, however, told them that the man had begun to fear he would be
followed when morning came, since this was his first effort to baffle
pursuit.

"I'm sorry that happened," said Elmer, softly, to his working partner;
"because it's going to make our task all the harder you see."

"Do you mean because he's begun to be afraid he'll be followed?" asked
the other.

"That's just it," continued the patrol leader; "if that idea gets a
firm hold of him he's bound to do everything he knows how so as to
leave us in the lurch. In the end he might even decide to quit the
swamp, and take his chances of getting away outside."

"Well, we don't quit at that, do we?" asked Lil Artha, with a gritting
of his teeth that told of grim determination.

Elmer looked at him and smiled.

"We'd be a nice lot of scouts, wouldn't we," he said, sarcastically,
"if we were ready to throw up the sponge at the first sign of trouble?
No, we've started on this trail, and we'll run it down if it keeps us
busy the rest of our vacation."

"In the immortal words of General Grant while flanking Lee and driving
him back toward Richmond," continued the other, "'we'll fight it out on
this line if it takes all summer!' I'm glad to hear you say that,
Elmer. But here we are up against it again, seems like."

This time the fleeing man had reached a certain point, for his tracks
could be plainly seen, but the trail abruptly ended.

"It's an easy guess," said Elmer, after a brief examination. "You can
see that he stood up on his toes here, for the indentation is heavier
forward. Then, besides, look at this bark lying fresh on the ground,
only a few small pieces, but scraped from the tree above us."

"Sure thing, Elmer!" declared Lil Artha, while the others stood and
watched the actions of their comrades with the utmost curiosity, "he
just grabbed hold of that lowermost limb, gave his feet a fling against
the trunk of the tree, and hoisted himself up yonder."

"Then perhaps he's somewhere up there still," suggested Landy.

"I don't think so," continued Elmer; "but we'll send up an expedition
to find out after we make sure that all avenues of escape are closed.
My own opinion is that he passed out along some other low-hanging limb,
and dropped to the ground again, perhaps thirty feet away from here."

"Let's look and see!" cried Toby, eagerly.

"Be careful," warned Lil Artha, hurriedly; "for unless you step mighty
fine you may cover up the prints of his shoes where he dropped down."

Elmer had already decided just about where he would have descended from
the tree had he been in the place of the fugitive. Lil Artha, too,
seemed to have settled on the same spot for he was just at the heels of
the leader.

Instead of looking down, Elmer kept glancing up. It might be he was
mentally following the straddling figure along that great limb.
Presently he abruptly stopped.

"I can see signs that tell me he came this far, but they end up there,"
he told his companion. "Yes, and here you see fresh leaves on the
ground. Look sharp, Lil Artha, and it may be your eyes will light on
the fresh trail."

Hardly had Elmer spoken when a low but eager cry told that success had
been achieved. Lil Artha pointed to the mark of feet close beside
them. Undoubtedly, the fugitive had dropped once more to the ground.

"Say, let me tell you he's a slick article, that chap," said Toby,
after they had once more made a fresh start. "I wouldn't be surprised
to learn he'd been out on the plains in his day, he seems to know so
much about Indian ways and all that."

"But he's met his match in our scout-master, for a fact," blustered
Landy, full of genuine admiration for the commander who had many a time
led the Wolf Patrol boys to victory over stupendous obstacles.

"Silence everybody now," came from Elmer, though naturally it must have
given him a warm feeling in the region of his heart to know that these
good chums felt so kindly toward him and were not backward in
expressing their sentiments.

So they continued on for another stretch. The fugitive must have come
to believe that by this time he would have thrown any possible tracker
off the scent; at any rate, he tried no new game looking to baffling
pursuit.

Gliding along like shadows the seven scouts made fair progress. Elmer
was of the opinion that at any minute now they might come upon the spot
where the unknown had his hide-out. He had communicated his plans to
the others before this, and they all knew the parts they would be
expected to play should it come to a hold-up.

Covered by the guns that he and Lil Artha carried, it was doubtful
whether the man would dare take chances and try to flee. If he did and
left Hen behind him, the first thing for them to do would be to secure
the boy, even if he evinced a desperate desire to avoid them.

Somehow, Elmer himself believed they would find what they were seeking
in the unusually large patch of brush that now lay ahead of them. He
caught glimpses of the water just beyond, which proved that an arm of
the swamp extended in this direction.

Pushing steadily on as noiselessly as possible, they were presently
able to part the bushes and discover a dead fire in plain sight. The
boat lay on the shore, with one plank smashed in, doubtless the result
of an accident that had wrecked the hopes of the two fugitives.

Eagerly they surveyed the prospect, and then Lil Artha gave a grunt of
disgust.

"Skipped out, that's a measly shame!" he exclaimed, wrathfully.

"But what's that white thing stuck in the crotch of the wand yonder?"
demanded Toby; "looks to me like it might be some sort of communication
from our poor pard Hen Condit; because that's an old scout and Indian
way of leaving word, you know."

Elmer was already hurrying forward to possess himself of the message.
The others watched him take it from the crotch of the stick and open
the soiled paper on which there seemed to be more or less crooked
writing in pencil. Then the patrol leader turned to his comrades, a
look of satisfaction on his face.

CHAPTER XIII

HEN CONDIT'S STRANGE MESSAGE

"Is it from Hen?" asked two or three at once, that being the all
important fact stamped upon their minds.

At the same time they realized just as well as anything it must be so,
else Elmer would not be smiling and frowning as he deciphered the
meaning of the scrawl. As all the boys knew, Hen Condit was one of the
poorest writers in the Hickory Ridge High School. It may be remembered
that in speaking of his other note some of them brought this fact
forward, stating that a teacher had once declared the boy well named,
since his efforts looked like "hen-tracks" on paper.

"It's lucky that I'm able to read any sort of old writing," remarked
Elmer, not without a touch of boyish pride; "it's a gift with me, and
Hen sometimes came to ask me to tell him what he'd set down, for after
it got cold he couldn't well make it out himself."

"Then you've sensed the meaning of his present communication, have you,
Elmer?" questioned Mark, a little bit given to stilted language.

"I can read it all right," was the reply he received, "but
understanding the gist of it is another thing. The sentences seem
disconnected, and some of them are queer. When Hen wrote this he must
either have been half out of his mind, or else he was in great fear of
something, or _somebody_!"

Of course, when the scout-master said this, it produced something of a
sensation among the other six fellows. They exchanged grave looks,
while Lil Artha was seen to shake his head, and give that gun of his a
little tilt upwards, as though he now believed more than ever the time
was near at hand when he would be compelled to make some sort of use of
the same, in order to save the kidnapped chum.

"Please read it out to us, Elmer!" begged Landy.

"Yeth, we're wondering what it can all be about," added Ted Burgoyne.

"Then listen, and please don't interrupt me until I finish," said
Elmer. "This is what Hen's written with a lead pencil on this sheet of
paper, which I think he must have torn from a little memorandum book I
happen to know he always carries about in his pocket."

He held the crumpled paper closer to his eyes, for in places the
writing was rather faint, and in two particular spots Elmer had to
guess at a word, for evidently a drop of something, perhaps a salty
tear, had fallen on the paper, blurring the work of the lead pencil
stub.

"Boys, perhaps you'll get this--he says he counted seven and everyone
wore a khaki uniform--he thinks you must be the militia--course I know
better--but it's no use, you just can't help me--I'm a goner, and the
most miserable boy on earth--but I say on the honor of a scout I never
meant to do it--I've just got to disappear--maybe I'll let you hear
from me if ever I get Out West where they can't find me. Oh! what hard
luck, but I have to do whatever he says, no matter what I want. I'm
meaning to leave this behind in the scout way, and don't I hope you'll
find it. There, he's calling to me to hurry, for we're going to quit
this hide-out and try to escape. I'm awful hungry, too. Better leave
me to my fate unless you can find a way to seal his lips. That's all.
Hen."

"Great Caesar!" exclaimed Lil Artha, who had hung on every word spoken
by Elmer. "That proves one of two things. Either our poor pard is
looney, or else he's got in the power of a rascal who controls his
mind. I always knew Hen was weak in the upper story just a teenty
mite. Poor old chap, we've got to find him if it takes us till
Christmas. You hear me talking now!"

"Yeth, and we all thay the thame!" burst from Ted, as he doubled his
none too expansive fists, and looked as savage as he could.

Indeed, a hasty glance around just then would have told any observer
that this strange message, filled with despair and yearning, left by
Hen Condit in the crotch of a stick thrust into the ground, had renewed
their former resolution not to give over the search until they had
either found the missing chum or exhausted every known device looking
to success.

"If you asked me," said Elmer, "I'd say the answer to the riddle lay
between the two things you mention, Lil Artha. Hen is crazed almost,
but it is with fear. He finds himself in the power of a brute who is
using him for his own purposes. How it's been done, of course, we can
only guess, but the boy believes he has been forced to rob his
guardian, and that a posse is searching right now for him, with the
intention of putting him in jail. That explains his panic."

"And say, he tells us right at the end of his note that he's some
hungry," Lil Artha went on to remark; "and, according to my notion,
that condition is next door to being insane. Why, mebbe the poor
fellow hasn't had a solitary bite for a whole day or even two of 'em.
I pity him from the bottom of my heart."

"Notice what he incidentally says near the end," added Elmer. "'Better
leave me to my fate unless you can find a way to seal his lips.' That
seems to strengthen our theory, doesn't it?"

"All this mention of 'he' must stand for the unknown man who has got
Hen, of course?" ventured Mark.

"Couldn't be anybody else," the patrol leader made answer; "in fact,
Hen just now doesn't seem able to even think of any other person."

"The fellow is no common rascal, let me tell you, suh," Chatz declared.
"He must have been some sort of professor along the lines of magic,
perhaps a hypnotist who performed wonders on the stage before crowds,
and then dabbled in things that the law sat down on, which landed him
in the penitentiary finally."

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