Supper was forgotten for the time being, under the influence of this new source of excitement. But then the young campers had taken the edge off their sharp appetites before now, so that it did not matter very much.
Adam was grinning as he found himself the one object upon which all eyes were focused. It would be hard to find the boy who does not enjoy standing in the lime light, even for a little while.
"How about this, Adam," said Elmer, "do you know anything about these two men?"
"So," drawled the German boy, "aber I am nodt sure. Dey looks to pe sooch; put mebbe I haf anudder guess goming, poys."
"Tell us where you think you saw them," the assistant scout master continued.
"At Prady's," answered Adam, promptly.
"Brady's—why, that's where we get our milk," spoke up Landy.
"Sure it is," declared Ty. "That's funny now; I never remember setting eyes on anybody answering that description; and I've been over there twice."
"Yeth," declared Ted, "and I can thay the thame thing."
"You think you can; but you're away off, Ted," grinned Ty, who never grew weary of nagging the other on that lisp, with which he was afflicted.
"When did you see them, Adam?" asked Elmer, paying no attention to any of these side remarks.
"Vy, berhaps you may remember, Elmer, dot dis very evening I vant to go py der voods vonce, und get dot milk. Vat ve haf, it did get sour by der heat, und Ty he say he haf a desire to dake der tramp again nix. So I volunteer py der game. You pet me I nefer dry to gross dot field py der pull. I dake der long vay, und pring der milk safely home. Iss it not so, Ty?"
"Well, we're drinking some of it in our coffee this meal, so that goes without saying," the other replied.
"Tell us about the men—where were they when you saw them, Adam?" Elmer went on.
"Py der parn," returned the German scout.
"Not prowling around like a couple of thieves, Adam?"
"Nodt as I can see."
"Then what were they doing?" the patrol leader asked, impatiently; for it was a most difficult thing to draw the story out of the German, who seemed to want to be "pumped" step by step, as Landy termed it.
"Vorking," came the short reply.
"Oh, then you mean they were apparently in the employ of Mr. Brady?"
"Dot iss so. Dey toss der hay oop to him py der stack, und he stow it avay."
"I believe the farmer is getting in a late crop of clover hay," remarked Elmer.
"Yes," broke in Ty, "and he was telling me this very morning when I got the milk, after my little adventure with that neighbor's bull, how his man had left him in the lurch, and everybody around was so busy he hardly knew just how he could get the big crop of hay that was stacked in the field, ready for the mow."
Elmer nodded his head as though, after gaining this knowledge, it was comparatively easy to put two and two together.
"That settles it," he remarked. "These two hoboes came along, and he offered them such big wages to help him over his trouble, that they just couldn't resist. But I know something about tramps, and the real article wouldn't work at any price."
"Gee! Perhaps they had some other object in taking the place?" Landy suggested.
"Just what I had in mind," Elmer followed. "If they are the rascals who tried to throw that train off the track for some awful reason, they must know that there'll be a hunt through the country for them; and, perhaps, they hope to hide as farm laborers until the thing wears off."
"Then we ought to warn Mr. Brady, hadn't we?" asked Ted.
"Yes, but at the same time we must be careful not to excite the suspicion of those fellows," Elmer replied; and then turning again to Adam, he continued: "Did you have anything to say to either of the men, Adam?"
"Vell," replied the other, slowly and reflectively, "I dink me dot berhaps von off dem might dell me der vay to der milk house, und so I stop me to ask."
"Yes, you asked one of them—which one, Adam?"
"I notice me dot as I gome close dey look at me like I vos a pad egg, und put der heads togedder in a punch. So I yust chuck oudt mine preast und valk right up to der spot, like I vas say: 'Vat's der matter mit you; I am Adam Litzburgh, und I pelong to der scouts; put dot in your pipe und smoke it!'"
"But you didn't say all that; you just asked one of them where the milk house might be; wasn't that it, Adam?" Elmer went on.
"Der short von idt vas; und he turn to der udder und he say it pe all right, nuttings to bother apout from dot Dutch fool. Den, py chinks, he call oudt to der farmer who vas on der top of dot haymow, und ask vere der milk house pe."
"And that was all, was it, Adam?"
"I knows me nuddings else," replied the German boy; "only ven I gomes me along again, der short von vaves his hand to me, und laughs him some py my pack."
Elmer really sighed with relief when he realized that he had actually succeeded in getting the whole story out of the uncommunicative fellow. It was like "drawing teeth," as Landy more than once remarked.
"You've heard the story, fellows," he said, turning to the others; "what had we better do about it? I want everybody to have a voice in this, and majority rules. So don't be bashful, but speak up."
"Well," remarked Landy, slowly. "I suppose we ought to give Mr. Brady a hint of the truth; but, as you say, Elmer, we must be mighty careful how we do it. Those tramps must be a pretty desperate pair, and they'd think nothing of sailing in to clean us out if they suspected we were on to their curves."
"How about you, Ted?" asked Elmer.
"Oh, count me in the thame lay," replied the one addressed. "Nobody knowth when they're entertaining angelth unawareth, like the good book thayth; or bad men either. The farmerth want help tho bad at timeth that they don't athk too many quethtionth when they get a thanthe to employ a huthky man. We'll drop around there in the morning thome time, when they're out in the haying field, and give the women folkth a little hint that they'd better get rid of the new handth."
"Ty?"
"Them's my sentiments. No special need of any hurry, I guess," replied Ty, who was really feeling the effect of his unusual exercise of that morning when the unfriendly bull gave him such a lively chase, and who wanted to keep quiet in camp.
"George?"
"Wow! You just couldn't get me to stir away from here to-night unless you tied a pair of mules to me and started them going," replied the newcomer, as he slyly helped himself to more fish.
"And Adam?"
"I dinks me as how it pe werry comfortaples here," grinned the German, duplicating the act of George, as though he feared lest he might not get his full share of the supper.
"Hey, let me in on that, will you, fellers?" cried Landy, spearing another portion from the rapidly vanishing pile. "And if you want to know my sentiments, Elmer, just put them down as 'he also ran.' Because I'm willing to do whatever the rest of you say."
Elmer himself looked a trifle disappointed. He had been thinking that perhaps they ought to warn Mr. Brady that night; for it could not be a very safe thing to have two such desperate men in his employ longer than was absolutely necessary.
Still, he had said that he would be bound by what the majority of his chums decided was best; and he could not change his ideas.
After all, the chances seemed to be that if the two new farm hands were actually Shorty and Lanky Jim, their sole object in taking service with Mr. Brady must be to lie low until the excitement died away. Consequently, they would be very careful not to do anything that would turn attention upon them; and in that case a little delay could not matter.
"All right, then," said Elmer; "it's settled that after breakfast to-morrow we'll make up a party to go after milk and find a chance to warn the Brady people. Of course the women folks will be scared nearly to death; but they'll find some way of sending word to town in these days of telephones. And then the officers will come out to arrest the fellows. Pass my dish, please, Landy, and get a small help of the fish. I'm mighty fond of it in camp, and never care for a bite at home. And this is as good as they make fried fish, thanks to Ty's way of cooking."
The balance of the supper was eaten amid a lively lot of talk. Of course much of this concerned the events of the day; the adventure with the bull; the trick Ty attempted to play on Adam, with disastrous results to himself; and last, but not least, the coming of Doubting George with such exciting news.
When, finally, they went to bed it was with all these things fastened upon their minds; so that Elmer expected that more than one among them would be apt to "see things" in the dark that night.
The fire which, after supper, had been built larger, so that it lent a cheerful glow to the scene, was allowed to die down. Really the weather was still so sultry that it took away some of the pleasure of sitting around a blaze; which is always appreciated most when there is a tang of frost in the night air; but, then, these boys were up here for fun and did not mean to be cheated out of anything they considered their due by such a thing as hot air.
One by one they crawled under the canvas and subsided.
The coming of George promised to add to the discomfort of a crowded tent; and secretly Elmer had decided that he would not occupy his quarters of the preceding nights. It would not be a new thing at all for him to sleep out under the stars with a blanket for a covering; and, indeed, he believed he would enjoy the experience, as it must revive recollections of the past when he was accompanying the cowboys on a round-up far away from the home ranch; or else off with a comrade on a hunt in the big Rocky Mountains of Canada.
Only one more day remained, and then the wagon would come for the tent and other things that had to be transported by team. After that they could look forward to a few days of restlessness; when school duties would begin once more.
Elmer noticed that there was little talking indulged in that night. They seemed too tired all around for any "funny business," such as often marked the period when the lively boys started to go to bed.
When all seemed quiet within the tent, Elmer stepped over to where he had slyly hidden his blanket some little time before. He had already picked out the spot in which he intended passing the night. It was under a tree, where he could look up through the leafy branches, and get glimpses of the star-decked heavens. The soft, caressing touch of the night wind would lull him to sleep, he felt sure; and on the whole Elmer infinitely preferred such an experience to being crammed up against five others, in one small tent.
So he fixed himself, and lay down. By turning his head he could see the flickering fire, and imagine it surrounded by some of those good fellows whom he had known long ago, daring riders of bucking bronchos, and expert wielders of the flying rope.
Then Elmer dropped off into a sound sleep. The last thing he remembered was hearing some one snoring in the tent; he never knew just who the guilty party might be, although his suspicions pointed to George; since they had not been afflicted up to his coming. And the sounds seemed uncertain too, just as though they were inclined to express a lingering doubt.
From this state of peace and calm the campers were suddenly aroused by a most piercing scream, that rang through the woods on the borders of the river.
Instantly a scene of wild confusion resulted. Out from the narrow exit of the tent came a struggling mass of boys in pajamas, grabbing hold of each other in their excitement.
And one lone figure might have been seen crawling under the back canvas, in much the same fashion as Elmer had done at the time he started on that hunt for the unknown party who was throwing the stones with a plunk into the river.
Elmer was on his feet instantly, and could, perhaps, be said to be the only one in the lot who had control of his senses in this emergency.
CHAPTER IX.
"Oh! what is it?" cried Landy, who was actually trembling all over as he stood there in the night air, which had grown a trifle cooler during the hours they had been asleep.
"What's Elmer going to do?" exclaimed George, as he saw the patrol leader spring suddenly forward, and bend down.
"He'th got thomebody!" yelled Ted. "Perhapth it'th jutht one of the trampth come over here to rob the camp!"
"Aber I dinks me he iss yust getting some off der vood to puts on der fire," remarked Adam, who, strange to say, in all the excitement, seemed to keep fairly calm.
It turned out to be exactly the case; for immediately Elmer threw something on the smouldering fire, which started up a cheery blaze. When this came about it was wonderful how much better all of them felt. A crackling fire can do more to dispel thoughts of ghosts, and all such silly things, than any other agency.
"But Ted," said George, "I don't think you could have guessed right, because you see there ain't any sign of a tramp here."
"Sounded to me," ventured Landy, "like it was out there on the river. Say, p'raps it might have been some poor duck just going down for the last time!"
"Shucks!" grunted that unbeliever, George; "he'd never be able to let out such a whang-doodle yell in that case. I ought to know, because I've near drowned myself twice, and all I could do was just to gurgle and kick and grab."
"How about that loon Elmer wath telling uth about?" suggested Ted, softly. "From all he thaid I reckon it'd let out jutht thuch a noithe ath that."
"Elmer, you heard it, didn't you?" demanded Landy.
"I sure did," came the reply.
"Wath it a loon, then?" went on Ted.
"Not the kind you mean, boys; I give you that straight," replied the other.
"But it came from out there on the river, didn't it?" persisted Landy, who seemed to have that notion imbedded in his brain pretty strongly.
Elmer shook his head in the negative.
"Then where did it come from?" asked Landy.
"I didn't tell you, boys," went on the patrol leader; "but knowing that six in the tent would make it stuffy, I planned to sleep out here under the stars, just as I've done many a night, you know. And so I was in a pretty good position to hear where that whoop came from."
"Tell us, Elmer, tell us right away," demanded Landy, impatiently.
"The tent!" said Elmer, without hesitation.
The boys stared at each other.
"Say, he means that one of us let that yell out," remarked Landy.
"I know I didn't!" declared George.
"Not guilty!" chirped Ted immediately, holding up his right hand as he spoke.
"Noddings doing, poys, mit me," Adam ventured to say, positively.
"How about Ty?" asked Elmer, chuckling.
"Where is he?" demanded Landy.
And thus, all at once, they awakened to the fact that one of their number was absent, though no one save Elmer had noticed this before.
Landy rushed to the tent and looked in. The fire was by this time giving out enough light to make it possible to see the entire interior.
Landy crawled inside, and almost immediately came forth again.
"Say, he ain't there! Ty's disappeared, fellows! Mebbe he's been taken with a fit, and jumped into the river!" he cried, in tones that were filled with horror.
"Elmer, what have you got to thay about that?" demanded Ted, who had noticed the significant fact that the patrol leader did not seem to share the alarm of the rest; indeed, he even smiled as though amused.
"Watch me," said Elmer.
He strode back of the tent, while the other boys waited with wondering eyes. In a minute Elmer reappeared, nor was he alone. He had hold of a shrinking figure, also clad in pajamas, and these of so violent a color that they instantly recognized them as belonging to the boy who had clung so long to that red sweater.
Yes, it was surely Ty, and he did not seem to be suffering to any great extent. There was evidence of a grin hovering around the corners of his mouth. Evidently Ty was the one who had crawled hastily under the canvas of the tent after that fearful yell had awakened the entire party. "The wicked flee when no man pursueth," and Ty knew that he was probably in for a good raking, after giving his mates so great a scare.
"Hey, he's got him!" declared Landy. "Elmer knew where to find him. See here, did you let off that awful whoop, Ty Collins?"
"I s'pose I did," replied the culprit, meekly. "I was dreaming about that old bull, you see. Thought I was sitting up there between his horns, and he was just gallivanting around the whole country with me, jumpin' fences and all that. Then we came to a barn, oh, as high as the church steeple at Hickory Ridge; and as sure as you live if that critter didn't make straight for the same. I felt him rising in the air like a balloon, and then I think I must have let out a squawk, fellers."
"Listen to him, would you!" cried Landy; "he calls that a squawk! Why, it sounded like a whistle for down-brakes on the track; or else a feller falling over a precipice ten thousand feet deep! And he's got the nerve to say it was only a little squawk, just like a chicken would give!"
"Well, if you'd been dreaming like I was, you'd holler too," argued Ty. "Say, I reckon I scared myself pretty bad too, for I crawled out of the back of the tent in a big hurry, and tried to hide in the bushes. Then I heard you talkin' and it struck me what I'd done. Didn't feel much like walkin' in after that; but Elmer, he came and convinced me."
"No great harm done, boys," said Elmer. "And as Ty didn't mean to frighten anybody, we'll have to let him off this time."
"Yes, if he'll promise not to repeat the dose, we might," grumbled Landy.
"Don't believe him, if he does, because he won't keep his word," declared Doubting George.
"Well, what sort of remedy would you suggest?" asked Ty, indignantly.
"Gag him; that's the only way," returned George; "and even then I think he'd find a loophole to let out another howl. Ty always could whoop it up better than any other fellow at school. That's why they made him the cheer captain when he couldn't get in the football game on account of a sprain."
"You just try it," muttered Ty. "I've got troubles enough, and a plenty; but a gag is going it a little too strong. Elmer says it's all right, and that anybody is liable to have bad dreams. Think of what I went through with, when that bull chased after me! Forget it, fellers, and let's go back to our blankets."
"Yes, get along there, the whole bunch of you," laughed Elmer, pretending to "shoo" them as he might a flock of little chickens. "It's getting cool out here, and we've got a few more hours for sleep. So long!"
So the five crept inside the tent again, and for some little while the murmur of voices told that they did not find it so easy to drop off into sleep as on the earlier occasion.
But finally all became silent. The episode was closed; and once more sleep dominated the camp by the Sweetwater.
There was no further alarm that night. Perhaps Ty took warning from the awful proposition made by George, and found some way of restraining his inclination to dream; but no one ever knew how he did it.
When early morning came, with the cheep of birds in the thickets, Elmer was the first one to be stirring. He kindled the fire afresh, and tidied up around the camp a bit, after the manner that was so much to his liking.
Then he went down to the river and plunged in.
It was now broad daylight; indeed, the sun was peeping up beyond the low hills far away to the east. The sound of splashing must have reached the ears of Landy as he awakened, for presently he came crawling forth.
"Hi, get up there, you sleepy-heads!" he shouted, stooping to thrust his head into the tent. "Here's Elmer occupying the whole river, and there won't be any of it left if you don't hurry!"
That brought the balance out in a hurry, and soon the six were sporting gayly in the water. Adam had to do the high dive, with all its attendant "frills," as Landy called them, in the way of double somersaults, backward and forward, in order to convince the newcomer of his accomplishments. For, of course, Doubting George refused to believe until he had been shown; and even then declared that there must be some sort of trick about it, because it stood to reason that a greenhorn could not excel in anything.
Adam, however, was too good-natured to take offense. As long as they remained in the water he was kept busy showing the many tricks he knew. Tenderfoot though he might be in most things connected with boy life in America, Adam certainly stood in a class by himself when it came to aquatic events.
Then came the pleasing job of getting breakfast. Ty, assisted by George, consented to look after that part of the business. Since George would only have one whole day in camp, with two nights thrown in, he purposed getting all he could out of it, and had laid out a list of things he wished to try before sundown, consisting of fishing, taking a few pictures with a little camera he had fetched along, and roaming the neighboring country, looking for promising nut trees for the October gathering, because George was very fond of hickory nuts, chestnuts and walnuts, in season and out.
"Just as like as not there won't be a fish willing to nibble at my bait," he grumbled, after his customary fashion; "and I'd like to wager that this year is a bad one for nuts."
"Oh, let up on that cranky way of looking at things," said Ty. "Perhaps something's the matter with your new camera too, George!"
"Well, you never know," replied the other, sighing. "It looks all right; but the proof of the pudding lies in the eating; and I'm sorter expecting the thing to turn out a fizzle. Cheap things never do amount to much, you know."
"But that was a present on your birthday!" ejaculated Ty.
"Sure it was; but all the same it's not one of the best; and I'm always suspicious of these things that don't cost top-notch prices," George continued.
"I'd just like to know what you ain't suspicious of," snapped Ty. "Here, don't you go smelling at my flapjacks like you thought there was a bad egg in 'em. Every egg we get is fresh from the coop that day, and marked gilt edge. Before I'd have a way like yours, George, I'd, well, I believe I'd jump in the river."
"I don't believe you would," grinned George, once again true to his reputation as a skeptic.
"What's Elmer going to say?" remarked Ty, he noticed the patrol leader coming hastily into camp, with a queer look on his face.
"Get ready!" Elmer said, mysteriously.
Ty, Ted, George and Landy looked up at this.
"Get ready for what!" demanded the fat boy, attempting to gain his feet in haste, but having to clutch hold of Ted in order to assist himself.
"To vacate the camp," replied the other.
"But, Elmer, explain, won't you?" asked Ted.
"Yes, tell us why we must get out," echoed George, and adding: "I don't believe he means anything at all, that's what; he's just fooling us, fellows."
"Wait and see," Elmer continued, gravely nodding his head, although his eyes were sparkling with humor. "It's coming, and I tell you that after it arrives there won't be any room here for you fellows. It will occupy the whole place!"
"But, Elmer, what is it that's coming?" asked Landy, visions of the two desperate hoboes filling his mind.
Elmer, in reply, commenced to raise his head, and make a face as he sniffed the air.
"Just try that and see," he remarked, simply.
Upon that the whole lot started to drawing in their breath. Immediately various exclamations told that they had "caught on," as Landy expressed it.
"Oh, murder! What sort of an odor is that!" ejaculated George.
"I know!" cried Landy, who had started to clutch his nose between thumb and fingers; "it's a skunk, that's what it is. Wow! It's getting worse all the time, too!"
CHAPTER X.
The utmost consternation seized upon the campers.
"Oh! what's bringing all that smell along here?" George cried; for this was his first experience with such a thing, though he had heard lots about other adventures the scouts had had in that line.
"It's Adam; he's got a monopoly of the scent!" laughed Elmer. "And he's on his way to the camp right now. I saw him coming, and got a whiff; then I hurried on to warn you, because I didn't want you to be caught unprepared. There's one good thing about it, though, fellows."
"Good thing?" ejaculated Ted, who had snatched out his handkerchief and was trying to keep from inhaling more air than was absolutely necessary.
"Why, yes," Elmer went on, "for once George here doesn't doubt but that he gets it. You don't hear him asking questions now. He knows it's here with us. He's getting his dose, all right, ain't you, George?"
"Look, there he comes!" gasped Landy, pointing to a moving figure that was pawing a way through the neighboring thicket.
"Ach! vat iss de matter mit me? I feels like I vas goin' to faint!" exclaimed a complaining voice.
"For goodness' sake do it out there, then!" screamed Landy. "Don't you dare come into camp with that terrible smell hanging to you. Sit down where you are, and listen to what we've got to say. Oh, gracious, I can't get my breath! Elmer, you tell him!"
"Py chimineddy, dis makes me some drouples! It peats all der limpurger cheese I ever saw. Vat vos idt, Elmer? I am nodt choking, tell me vot I dood," Adam asked, with a beseeching air, for he was almost overcome by the fumes.
"Well, if you ain't choking, we are; so you stay there," George remarked.
"How did it happen, Adam?" asked Elmer, trying to stop laughing, for he knew that after all this was apt to be a serious piece of business for the other.
But the German boy only shook his head and coughed, as he tried to get his breath.
"Idt iss some foolishness py me; but, poys, I don't know vot it iss already yet. I vos vandering apout der voods, enchoying mineself, ven I see der prettiest little squirrel dot ever vos, mit a nice white stripe, und a pushy tail. I dinks dot he look like he vill pe friends mit me, und so I yust hold out mine hand und call him; put pefore I could take hold mit him, I dink I step on von of dem musherooms mit der awful smell. Ach! it vos so pad I haf to get oudt right avay, und come pack to der gamp. I'm von sick Dutchman, poys, pelieve me. I dink me I must pe going to die right avay qvick."
"I should think you had died a week ago," cried George.
"He thought the skunk was a pretty squirrel," said Ty; "and he was going to make a pet of it, think of that, fellows!"
They laughed and coughed by turns. One minute the comical side of the event appealed to them, as they saw poor Adam standing there looking so forlorn; then as if by magic their humor turned, and they began to wonder what in the wide world could be done.
"We just can't stand this much longer, Elmer," said Landy. "Make him go away off in the woods and bury himself."
"Well, one thing's sure," remarked the patrol leader. "He's got to get rid of every stitch he has on him. We'll have to rig him out the best we can afterwards."
Adam set up a howl upon hearing this.
"I pelieve it might wash oudt in der river!" he declared.
"Not in a thousand years," Landy made answer. "The only chance for you is to go off and bury your clothes—everything you've got on. Then get in the water, and try to get rid of the smell from your hair. Lucky thing it's cut short. Oh, ain't this the meanest luck, though?"
"It might be worse if the whole lot of us had been there and got our share," remarked Elmer, who could always see things on the bright side, in which he was the exact reverse of Doubting George.
"Dell me vat I must do, Elmer. I promise to carry oudt de plans. Somedings must pe done right qvick, or I shall pe smothered. It is pad; but I am von scout, und can take der hard knocks mit der good."
"That's the kind of talk, Adam," Elmer hastened to say. "You're all right, even if you do seem unpleasant company just now. Listen to me. Go back into the woods a piece. Then strip off every rag and hide them in some hollow log. I'll follow you when you go to the river, and fetch along what stuff we find we can spare. All told I reckon there'll be a shirt, trousers and shoes for you; and that's all you need this hot weather. Please make a start, for we've got to the end of our endurance. Turn around; now you're off!"
When the unfortunate German lad had vanished, the trouble was far from being at an end. He left a decided legacy behind him, and Landy was loud in his wails.
"How ever can we stand it, Elmer?" he asked. "All the rest of the time we stay in camp do we just have to endure that rank odor?"
"'What can't be cured must be endured,' you remember we used to write in our copybooks at school, Landy," replied the patrol leader. "Nothing like getting used to things, you know. It isn't pleasant, of course; but there might be worse happen to us. Suppose now our new recruit had run across a rattlesnake instead of a polecat! But get a hustle on you, fellows, and see if we can rig Adam out somehow. I've got an extra shirt he's welcome to."
"And there's that pair of trousers I brought along," said Landy; "he can get into them all right. But I'll say good-by when I hand 'em over; for I just know the perfume will stick always; and I never could stand it, never."
Some one else came forward with shoes, and in this fashion the wretched victim of confiding innocence and curiosity was supplied with an outfit calculated to carry him through.
Taking these things with him, Elmer started forth along the trail of Adam.
"Just follow your nose, and you'll find him!" sang out Landy.
"And look out you don't repeat his sad experience, Elmer," laughed Ty.
The woods seemed to be pretty strong with the powerful odor, as Elmer walked on. He was a fair hand at following a trail, and the German lad had certainly not made any effort to conceal his footprints.
Presently Elmer found where Adam had stuffed his garments into a hollow log, just as he had been told; but as he was no longer in sight, the scout patrol leader took it for granted that he had turned to head for the river again, in order to plunge in.
Accordingly Elmer also turned and walked that way, believing that he would strike the stream a little distance below the camp.
"Goodness! I hope, now, Adam doesn't lose himself in the woods!" he exclaimed, as a sudden startling thought flashed into his mind. "Wouldn't that just be the limit, though, and with not a bit of clothes along!"
But a minute later he caught sight of the other stalking along ahead. The river could also be seen in glimpses between the trees, showing that after all Adam had chosen the right course.
"Well, what ails him now?" Elmer asked himself, for as he looked he suddenly saw the German boy bound up into the air, and start to threshing about with his hands in the wildest kind of way.
Then he started to run madly along, letting out a series of shouts, and finally taking a header from the bank into the river.
Something came buzzing about Elmer's head.
"Hornets!" he exclaimed, making a stroke at the insistent insect that was trying to reach his face, until by a fortunate blow he sent it down.
Then he started off, making a wide detour so as to avoid the spot where the unlucky Adam must have run foul of the nest.
When he finally drew up at the river bank and peeped over, he saw Adam with everything but the upper part of his head submerged. He seemed to be looking for a new assortment of enemies hovering over him. His introduction to the mysteries of the great American woods bade fair to make a great impression on Adam. Indeed, when finally Elmer induced him to come forth, he discovered that there were three distinct impressions, and each of them as large as a hickory nut, one being behind the ear, another on his right arm, and a third on the calf of his leg, where the angry little hornets had left their mark.
No doubt the new recruit thought he was having a pretty rough time of it all told. But he had a genial nature, and could take things as they came; so that presently he was able to laugh at his misfortunes.
When he was dressed in the borrowed clothes Adam looked a "sight," as Landy declared after he saw him coming to the camp. Of course there must hover around him more or less of the strong odor; but Elmer told the others they must make up their minds to get used to that, as it could not be remedied.
Breakfast had been ready for some little time when the pair reached the camp; and all of them were able to do justice to the meal. Even Adam seemed to have retained his appetite.
"But it's the only thing he did save," chuckled Landy.
When the meal was over, Elmer reminded them of the arrangement they had made on the previous evening.
"Who goes along with me to Brady's?" he asked, getting up.
"Don't you think we'd all better paddle along?" remarked Landy; "because, you see, those fellows are tough characters; and it might be they'd set on our crowd, if they suspected we'd come to tell on 'em."
"Count me out," said George. "You know I got a stone bruise yesterday when on the way here, and I want to let it heal up, so's to be able to toddle back home when we break camp to-morrow."
"Oh, rats! The chances are you don't think there's anything worth while in going over there," declared Ty. "And I meant to show you just where I had all that fun with the old bull, too."
"Fun!" shrieked Landy. "Hear that, will you, boys? He calls that business just fun. But it looked another way, then, you understand, George. Why, Ty's face was as white as paper when he thought that old bundle of beef was going to hook him higher than a kite!"
But Ty declined to argue the matter with him.
"And I think Adam had better thtay at home, don't you, Elmer?" remarked Ted.
"Why, he's that strong he could tackle the hobo crowd alone and single-handed," observed Ty.
"I'm afraid he'd turn all the milk in the dairy," chuckled Landy.
So it was presently decided that two of the scouts were to remain behind to take charge of the camp. The others, four in number, would trail along toward the Brady farm; and if the opportunity presented itself, let the farmer's women folks know the character of the new hands.
The last that Elmer and his comrades saw of those who were to remain behind, George seemed to be endeavoring to coax Adam to try his luck again on the river, for he was holding out the rod of the German.
"He just wants to get him away for a while," laughed Ty.
"It looks like George had run up against something at last that won't stand for any doubts," declared Landy, who had long suffered from this peculiar malady on the part of his cousin.
"If it can't be seen, it makes itself felt in another way," remarked Elmer, who was in the lead of the file that headed through the woods, Ted swinging the tin milk bucket.
Reaching the field where Ty had had so much "fun" with the ugly bull, they failed to see anything of the animal.
"Afraid to come out again, you see, boys," said Ty, pretending to puff out with valor. "I guess the farmer who owns him will keep him shut up till we leave the neighborhood. He'd better, for I was just hatching up some game that would discourage the old fellow from tackling every one that walked through his pasture."
"Perhaps he's loose, and carrying on somewhere else," remarked Elmer, as he lifted his head in an attitude of listening.
"Say, that is somebody shouting, as sure as you live!" cried Landy.
"And hollering to beat the band, too!" echoed Ty.
The whole four of them stood still, the better to listen. There could be no longer the least doubt about the matter; for other voices joined in with the one they had heard at first.
"It's women yelling, too," said Landy. "Whatever can be the matter? Elmer, do you think it's that bull broke loose?"
"More'n likely the hoboes are at the bottom of the row!" declared Ty.
"Come on with me, fellows, and we'll soon know!" called Elmer, as he immediately started off on a full run.
CHAPTER XI.
A bell began to ring wildly near by.
"That's over to the place where the bull belongs; sure the row ain't there, Elmer?" asked Ty, as he hurried on the heels of the leader.
Elmer paused to listen again.
"No," he said, positively, "most all the racket is over yonder in the direction of the Brady house. You can hear the women screaming, too. Come along again, boys! They've heard the racket over here, and that bell's to call the men in from the fields."
"Sounds just for all the world like what I've read about an Injun attack in the good old pioneer days," declared the panting Landy, who had to exert himself more than any of the others in order to keep up with the procession.
"Theemth like I thmell thmoke!" remarked Ted.
"I reckon you do, because I've been getting it for the last half minute," Elmer threw over his shoulder as he ran on.
"That means a fire!" cried Ty.
"It generally does," Elmer added, dryly.
"What if the Brady house is going up in flames?" ejaculated Ty, again.
"It would be a bad job," remarked Elmer; "but not quite as hard on them as if it happened in the dead of winter, with the thermometer down to zero."
"But it's always a hard job fighting fire in such steaming hot weather as this September spell!" Landy observed, as he dug for his handkerchief, so as to wipe his red face, which was beginning to reek with perspiration.
"There, I saw smoke over the trees; it's a house afire, as sure as anything, boys, and the Brady one at that!" declared Ty.
None of them doubted it now, since all the indications seemed to point that way. They kept up their forward rush, hoping to at least be able to lend a helping hand in the way of getting some of the furniture out; because that is generally all that can be done at a country blaze, when there are no fire engines to respond to the call for aid.
They were rapidly overtaking several persons who seemed to be hurrying in the same direction they themselves were bound. Two of these were women, and the other a very old man, whom the excitement had stirred into unwonted action.
"What is it?" asked Elmer, as he was passing the three.
"The Brady house must be afire!" answered a young woman, who seemed to have her wits fairly well in hand.
None of the boys stopped, though Landy's tongue was almost hanging from his mouth because of the exertion on such a hot morning. They continued to bound along steadily, and expected to come in sight of the burning house at any moment now.
As they burst out from the cover it stood before them. Smoke was coming from windows and doors in heavy volumes; and evidently the fire must have managed to get considerable headway before being discovered.
A number of women were running excitedly up and down doing nothing to aid in saving property, or subduing the flames. Several men were present, and seemed to be wholly engaged in carrying out some of the furniture belonging to the parlor. A small cabinet organ had been rolled over on the grass, and then they added heaps of books to the wreckage.
"Why don't they try and save the house, Elmer?" asked Ty, as they saw what was going on.
"I don't know, unless it's because they have no leader, and nobody is able to tell what to do," replied the other.
Elmer was taking the scene in with eyes that nothing escaped. Even while he was running forward toward the fire he saw that there was a fair-sized stream close to the barns. His attention was directed to it chiefly because of a flock of big white Pekin ducks that were flapping their wings, and adding their loud quacks to the general excitement.
"If we only could find plenty of buckets, something might be done!" he called back over his shoulder, never stopping an instant in making for the building that was threatened with destruction.
"I see three right now by that pump!" cried Ty.
"Plenty more in the barn, Elmer!" added Ted, who saw what the other had in his mind, and thought it worth trying.
"There's a lot of tin milk buckets hanging on that fence!" called Landy.
"Go for 'em, fellows!" ordered the patrol leader. "Gather all you can find, and begin to fill 'em at the brook. I'll see if these ladies won't stand in line, and pass them along."
"Hurrah for the Hickory Ridge Fire Brigade!" shouted Landy, fully filled with the novel idea.
Each of them made a bee-line for the buckets in sight, and, gathering up all they could lay hands on, immediately started for the water, where a great dipping began, to the intense amazement and consternation of the ducks, which could not understand why these strangers should try to empty their favorite little stream without asking their permission.
Meanwhile Elmer must have managed to explain after a fashion what he purposed doing. He had already coaxed two of the women to stand ready to take the buckets as they came along, and these were shouting to the others.
"More buckets! Try in the barns for some!" called Elmer, as, seizing one of the first that arrived, he rushed up to where a tongue of fire had suddenly darted out of a window, like a snake that was striking, and sent the contents of his receptacle through into the room.
Now something a little more like sense seemed to seize upon those present. All they needed was a leader, some one capable of giving orders; and it would be surprising how much could be accomplished.
The men stopped trying to save the furniture. If the building could be kept from burning to the ground the things it contained might have a chance of being spared. They rushed away to the barn, as though knowing where horse buckets were to be found; and Elmer knew that he had found several willing allies in his battle with the flames.
He saw that these men were the farmer himself, and his son, almost a man in size. The two farm hands were not to be seen; and this fact gave Elmer a strong idea that in truth they might have been responsible for the fire itself. Sometimes when a robbery has been committed the thieves will try to cover all traces of their work by burning the building.
By the time those other women had arrived he believed he would have enough on the ground to form a living chain between the brook and the house, so that the full buckets could be passed swiftly along from hand to hand, and the empties returned after the same fashion for a fresh start.
Inside of five minutes after the Boy Scouts arrived on the spot it was a lively scene that was taking place. The smoke continued to pour out of the windows; but whenever a bit of flame showed itself, Elmer or Ty was ready to dash a bucket of water on the same.
"Keep up the good work, fellows!" shouted Landy, who was filling the buckets at the time. "She ain't gaining much, now; and every one that comes just adds to the fire brigade, so's to send the buckets along faster. I'm coming over to help fight soon as that farmer's boy gets here!"
"Say, if only we had all our troop here, Elmer, wouldn't we make short work of it, though?" asked Ty, who was beginning to turn many shades darker because of the smoke that swept past him every little while.
"We'll do it as we are!" answered the patrol leader, firmly; for he believed that they must soon begin to get the mastery over the hungry flames.
Then Landy came staggering along, bearing with him a huge bucket, which he expected to dash personally on some place where it would do the most good. The farmer's boy had arrived to take his place at the brook, which set him free for sterner duties.
"Go for it, fellers!" he gasped; and then as a wicked looking finger of fire darted out toward him he emptied the contents of his pail in that direction. "Plenty more where that came from. The crick'll hold out all right, if only we can get it up here fast enough. That's the way, Ty, soak it to the measly old thing. We're going to win out yet, see!"
It was the right sort, of spirit to show at any rate; and afterwards his chums had only words of praise for Landy's conduct.
"If we c'n only hold out long enough, we're just bound to knock this old fire into a cocked hat!" Ty managed to cry out, as he seized another bucket, and turned to look for a chance to use it.
Just then he noticed a small girl standing near by, sobbing as if her heart would break. She seemed to be looking up toward the second story windows of the house that was on fire, as though there might be something that she longed to save up there.
Ty was immediately thrilled with the thought that it might be a human being. Nobody had as yet said anything about a missing person, whether a child, a very old man, or a woman; but this might come from the fact that such tremendous excitement held everybody in its grip.
Ty had read about daring feats which lads no older than himself had performed at such critical times. Perhaps within his soul there burned a desire to outshine these heroes of fact and fiction; and do something to make the name of Tyrus Collins go ringing down the ages, on the annals of heroes who have risked their lives in order to save others.
At any rate, as soon as he had emptied the bucket he was holding, he passed it along to the nearest woman, and then whirled upon the little girl.
"What's the matter with you?" he asked.
She turned to him eagerly.
"Oh, he'll be burned, my little baby, Bennie!" she wailed, wringing her hands as if in the greatest woe.
Ty was thrilled by the words. Here then was the golden opportunity he had long sought. A baby, she had said, forgotten in the mad rush and excitement. And to him had come the chance to show of what metal scouts were made.
"Where is he—show me the window of the room!" he demanded in such a stern tone that the child shrank back; but she managed to point upward and say:
"That window—it's the little room over the front hall! Oh, if you could only bring him out, mister; everybody's too busy to remember poor little Bennie!"
That finished Ty. He heard the call to duty and was off. Still, he kept his wits about him fairly well, and did not plunge recklessly into the building.
His first act was to take another look upward, so that he might locate the window she had mentioned, and remember which it was when groping about the interior. Elmer was close by; but although he turned toward the patrol leader at first, Ty changed his mind, fearing that he might be interfered with in his bold designs.
No, if a rescue must be made, he would go it alone; and hence all the glory that was coming would be his.
"Here, take that full bucket and follow me, Ty!" called Elmer, who saw a chance to deluge a threatened point in such a way that the fire would be fully beaten back in that quarter.
He supposed the other was carrying out his suggestion, and did not know any different until on turning he found himself face to face with Landy, who had quickly taken the place of the one called upon.
"Where's Ty?" asked Elmer, as upon looking around he failed to discover the figure of his late assistant.
"He's gone in!" declared Landy, seeming to be a little appalled by something he had witnessed.
"Gone in where?" continued the other, hardly understanding what was meant.
"He rushed right into the house like he'd lost his senses, Elmer; whatever do you think made him act like that?" Landy replied.
The patrol leader looked aghast.
"I'm sure I don't know," he replied, "unless he heard that some one was in there, and might be smothered or burned. But it was a nervy thing for Ty to do. I only hope he comes out again all right!"