CHAPTER VII.
A JOB FOR THE BOY SCOUTS TO DO
"What makes you so sure about that, Elmer?" asked Ty Collins, after the scouts had expressed their wonder that the leader should be able to speak so positively when as yet he had not even looked at the tell-tale cap.
"Listen, fellows," began Elmer; "all of you older scouts know that one of the things impressed upon a new beginner is the power of observation. Members of the organization are given tests at memorizing things they see in a store window, after looking in for just three minutes, and then writing out a list afterward. In that way they find it second nature to note everything they see, so that if asked about it afterward they are able to give a pretty good description even of little details. I'm saying this more for the benefit of the new members than anything else, you understand?"
"Sure we do, Elmer; go right along, please," remarked Ty.
"All right," continued the leader, impressively; "but it seems that every one of the scouts doesn't happen to apply those principles of observation and memory as much as he might. Now, to make my point plain, there were two of you with me to-day when we came on the Kent house, where we found things upset by the storm. And I suppose both of those scouts had just as many chances to look Matt Tubbs over as I did; yet it seems that neither Larry nor Jasper noticed that he wore a pair of worn tan shoes, had on brown trousers that had been patched in the seat; sported a new flannel shirt made of some rather flashy material that carried a good deal of red in it; wore a sporty tie of the same color; and had a gray cap on his head, with a little red button just over the peak!"
Exclamations of surprise broke out all around the speaker.
"Say, do you mean to tell us you noticed all those details, and right while we were all excited over the injuries of the farmer?" gasped Larry.
"I always said there was only one Elmer Chenowith," murmured Jasper, throwing up both hands, as though convinced.
"Why, there was nothing queer about that," laughed the acting scout-master. "As I told you just now, it grows to be second nature, after you've practiced the thing for a while. But did I prove my point, fellows?"
"You certainly did!" declared Jack Armitage.
"And do any of you still have any doubt about who it was hiding away on that rotten old shelf up there, and listening to all we did?" continued Elmer.
"I don't think you'd find any scout here willing to say a contrary word, after the way you clinched things," remarked Matty Eggleston.
"And you believe that was our old enemy, Matt Tubbs?" Elmer went on.
"No other fellow could have made so quick a get-away," remarked Red Huggins, as he shook his fiery head in a convincing way. "Mebbe I haven't seen him spin down from first base many a time, and get there at second long ahead of the ball. He can run some, that Matt Tubbs can. Even Lil Artha will admit that."
"But whatever made him hide here?" queried Chatz Maxfield.
"Why, that's as plain as the nose on your face, Chatz," broke out Larry.
"I'd thank you, suh, to make no personal allusions to my features," the hot-tempered Southern lad broke in.
"Oh! I didn't mean anything by that," laughed Larry. "But what else would tempt Matt Tubbs to hide in here, except that he was aching to watch our meeting, and find out how we did things. He reckoned we wouldn't be so obliging as to ask him to be present, and as he's starting a troop over in Fairfield, he wants to know how to run things, so he can have the track greased."
"Well, he heard some straight-out talk, then, that ought to do him a heap of good," remarked Matty.
"Aw! nothing would ever do that chump good; he's a bad egg all over. Like as not he was just itching to do something to give us a big scare. Say, perhaps he smashed that loft down on purpose to frighten us!"
It was Tom Cropsey who offered this rather startling suggestion; but the balance of the scouts were disposed to make light of his idea.
"I don't think," jeered Red. "Matt Tubbs is tricky and bold, but no one ever called him a fool, and that's what he would be if he broke that loft down on purpose, and took that tumble. Why, he might have broken his neck!"
"Never!" exclaimed Toby. "When a feller is born to be hung he could drop from the top of the highest tree, and never feaze his neck."
"Toby knows, fellows," sang out Red. "Believe him, he's a living example of the truth of that old saying. You remember, some of you, how he fell off the roof of the church that night, a year ago, when we were trying to get in the belfry to ring the bell? Some fellows would have had half a dozen of their slats caved in, even if they saved their neck. What happened to Toby? Why, he dropped into that big bunch of cedars and only had a few scratches to show for it. Yes, stake your faith on Toby; he knows what he's talking about."
Of course shouts told that the boys appreciated getting this one on Toby, who contented himself with shaking his fist at Red, and grinning.
"But perhaps we don't all believe the same way," Elmer remarked, after the clamor had died away, and all eyes were turned again on him.
"Tell us what you think, Elmer?" asked several.
"Let us take it for granted then," said the scout-master, "that the spy was Matt, and that he deliberately hid in the old shop for the purpose of watching what we did; how do we know that he had any real mean object in view? At the best it has been only guess work, founded on his bad reputation."
"That counts for a heap, I've found, to my cost," declared Red, who for years had been unusually fond of practical jokes and pranks, and several times floundered in hot water because of this failing.
"Well, all I can say is this," Elmer continued; "if Matt Tubbs, or any other of the Fairfield boys, took the trouble to walk all the way over from his home this evening, four miles and more, just to get a chance to hide here, and see what we did, he must be head over ears in earnest in what he's got afoot. And, fellows, we happen to know that means the new troop Fairfield is trying to organize."
Some nodded, as if he had carried them with him; a few shook their heads, meaning to imply that their distrust of the bully of Fairfield was so deep-seated that they would have to be given stronger evidence than this if they were expected to come around to Elmer's way of thinking.
"Well," the leader went on, "we may never know the facts, but this I say, that if Matt Tubbs is trying to make a start along the right lines, we ought to do anything in our power to help him. And if the chance opens, I promise you I'm going to do that same thing, and not throw sticks in his way."
"Hear! hear! that's the kind of talk that tells, Elmer!" cried Mark.
Elmer had managed to secure possession of the cap that had been found. He showed no manifestation of giving it back again, and from the way he presently thrust the thing in one of the pockets of his khaki coat, it was evident that he had use for it.
None of the boys who noted this act thought it strange. Elmer frequently did things that might not seem clear to them on the surface, but they knew him well enough by this time to feel confident that there was a motive worth while back of the act, and which in good time would be made plain.
The meeting soon broke up, the scouts heading toward the town of Hickory Ridge, in regular formation of twos, with Elmer and his closest chum, Mark, heading the line.
By degrees their number lessened as a boy would drop out here, and another there, when the nearest point to their several homes was reached.
"We had a fine meeting, eh, Mark?" said Elmer, as the two stood for a few minutes on a corner ere separating.
"A dandy meeting," was the reply, given enthusiastically, and with boyish vim.
"The addition of the four new recruits," Elmer went on, "fills out our two patrols to their limit, and now we can begin to drum up new names for the Eagle. By Fall we ought to have six more good fellows come around, and finish that patrol."
"Mr. Garrabrant will be pleased when he comes back and learns what we've done," Mark chuckled, as if he himself were greatly overjoyed.
"That's so, because he's got the good of the troop at heart," said the leader of the Wolf Patrol, earnestly. "We're lucky to have such a wide-awake scout-master as Mr. Garrabrant. A whole lot depends on what kind of a man is in charge of the troop. They say, you know, Mark, 'as the twig's inclined the tree is bent'; and in most cases you can judge the kind of troop by the caliber of the scout-master. If he's weak there can be no order kept up. If he's too severe the boys will rebel. I reckon it takes a mighty smart man to handle twenty or thirty lively boys, and get out the best they have in them."
"I've often thought of that, Elmer. I like to study people, you remember. And I think all of our boys like Mr. Garrabrant the best kind. Going to bed now? Well, good night. See you to-morrow, if we get together, a dozen of us, for that little hike."
And separating, the two chums headed for their several homes.
On the following day Elmer, upon arriving at a place of meeting in the morning, somewhere in the neighborhood of nine o'clock, found a group of his fellow scouts anxiously awaiting his coming. Most of them had come direct from home, and each carried the staff that was supposed to be of more or less help to the owner while on the road. This was just six feet in length, stout, and in some instances made of bamboo, and in others of clear ash; marked off in feet and inches so that it could be used also for measuring distances, being two meters in length, and with a grip for the hand midway between the ends.
"Just ten here," remarked Elmer, after he had counted the khaki-clad boys. "All who volunteered for the hike but one, and he, Red Huggins, usually as prompt a fellow as there is in the troop, but behind time for once."
"Going to wait for him?" demanded one of the others, impatient to be off.
"We'll give him the usual ten minutes allowance," replied Elmer. "If he doesn't show up then, I suppose we'll have to go without him."
He had noted one thing, and this was that neither of his comrades of the preceding day had shown up. But then Elmer had not expected they would. Practice had made him almost immune to fatigue, after a ten mile walk, but the same could not be said of Larry, and especially in the case of little Jasper Merriweather.
On the whole, considering what excitement the boys had endured on the previous day, Elmer thought they had done very well. They must be feeling more or less stiff this morning, and would need a lay-off. Besides, they had not promised to get around to start on this walk.
Impatient Chatz took out a nickel watch, and began to keep tabs on the passing of those ten minutes. The rest chattered like magpies, and seemed to be pleased at the idea of having a few hours with Elmer abroad. For the young leader knew so many of the secrets of the great out-doors, and was so ready to impart information to his chums, that it was really a treat to be with him.
"Five minutes gone, and no sign of him yet, suh!" announced the timekeeper, after a short interval, during which all eyes were turned down the road, to the corner around which it was expected the absent member would come, should he show up at all.
"Oh! well, there are enough of us without Red; though he's always good company on a hike," remarked Lil Artha, who had really given up an anticipated trip in an automobile over fifty miles of territory, just to accompany Elmer in his hike, so great a fascination did the new life have for the tall boy.
"I thought I thaw him right then, fellows!" exclaimed Dr. Ted, pointing to a place where there was a gap in the trees and fences.
Elmer nodded encouragingly.
"Good for you, Ted," he said. "I was wondering whether anybody would notice that the road could be seen through that little opening, and anyone coming discovered some time before he reached the corner. That was Red, I do believe; for I had a glimpse of him as he passed."
Ted Burgoyne looked satisfied. In fact, the boys had reached a point by now when words of praise from the assistant scout-master meant a whole lot to them, for it always signified that something worth while had been done.
Nothing more was said about it, but there was a heap of thinking done; and no doubt every fellow present was making up his mind to be more vigilant, so that he might be the next to deserve favorable notice from the leader.
"You were right, Ted, for there he comes now," remarked Toby, as a figure came around the corner.
It was Red Huggins, sure enough; and he seemed to be hurrying.
"Knows he's late, and expects to be hauled over the coals," chuckled Ty Collins.
Elmer said nothing. But he was watching the coming of the late scout with an expression of rising curiosity on his face. Truth to tell, he noted something that none of the others had. Red Huggins looked more than "peeved" because he was arriving late at the meeting-place, when a scout is supposed to be always punctual to the minute. He was worried, worked up over something or other!
"Hurry up here, old molasses in Winter!" called Lil Artha. "Why, we were just going to leave you in the lurch. What sort of an excuse can you give for holding eleven comrades nearly ten minutes each? That means more'n an hour wasted. It's a crying shame, that's what!"
Red had by now reached them. He was panting a little, as though he might have run some distance, in order to make up for lost time.
"Wasn't altogether my fault, fellows," he started to explain.
"Oh! come now, no excuses are going to pass here!" broke in Toby.
"Give him a chance to say what he wants to, boys," remarked Elmer; and the late comer darted him a look of thanks.
"I was just going to start out," Red began, "when father came home. He had been out trying a new horse he bought; and at first I thought he might have had a runaway, he looked that excited. But one of our neighbors came hurrying in, saying he had just heard the news over the telephone, and asking father what it meant."
"News! What's that? Something happened since we left home?" and the scouts began to look at each other, while several grew a little white.
"Yes," Red went on, rapidly; "it happened that my father was one of those who brought the news to town. I got so stuck on what they were saying that I clean forgot everything else; and that made me late. Then father saw me in my scout uniform, and he said he wondered if Elmer Chenowith, who was so smart about following a trail, could lend a hand – that it seemed a job for the scouts, if ever there was one!"
"Oh! speak out, and tell us what's happened!" cried Toby, catching hold of Red by his sleeve and shaking him a little.
"Well, you know Mrs. Gruber, the woman who lives in that little house half a mile or so up the Jericho Road – she's got just one child, a little girl, with the sunniest smile and the prettiest golden hair you ever saw. Well, seems like she separated from her husband, Dolph Gruber, because of his bad habits. Father says Dolph came home last night, made no end of a row, struck his wife, and went away with little Ruth, saying her mother would never see her again. And that's what he meant, fellows, when he said it was a job for the scouts. Elmer, do you dare tackle it, and try to get back that little girl again for her nearly crazy mother?"
CHAPTER VIII.
FOLLOWING A TRAIL
A dead silence followed these startling words of Red Huggins.
The party of scouts looked at one another, as though their very breath might have been taken away by the stunning news brought by the late comer.
Elmer was the first one to recover his wits; perhaps because his nature proved to be a bit stronger than any of the others; and then again it may have been through the fact that he had had much more experience in grappling with just such situations as the present.
"That father of yours was quite right, Red," he said. "The chances are this is a job just suited to the scouts. For what is the use of learning all those things about tracking through the woods, if you can't make use of them when an occasion comes along."
"Do we go, Elmer?" demanded Lil Artha, eagerly, his face lighting up.
"Say yes, Elmer!" cried the impulsive Red. "Oh! father declares that poor woman is nearly out of her mind with fear of what her bad husband may do with the little girl. You know it isn't his child at all, really; he is her second husband. Her name used to be Tubbs."
"What? I didn't know that before!" exclaimed Elmer, staring at the speaker.
"But that won't make any difference, will it, because she happens to be some relation to Matt?" asked Toby. "I know the girl, Ruth; and as Red says, she's a little fairy, an angel. Let's go, fellows!"
"Of course we'll go, and try to do the best we can to get back the child," Elmer remarked, as he shut his teeth hard. "I've heard a good deal about this Dolph Gruber; and every one says he's a hard nut. But there are a dozen of us, fellows, and I reckon we ought to be a match for one coward. I call him that because none but a miserable drunkard and a coward would act as he has done, striking his wife, and carrying off her child, with such a horrible threat."
"Then let's be off right away," said Red, in his impatient way.
"Fall in, and we'll go on the double-quick, up the Jericho Road," called Elmer.
Mark was along, bugle and all, even though this hike which they had planned was not looked upon as a troop affair, and no one was under any compulsion to enter for the long walk.
Circumstances entirely unexpected had suddenly caused an entire change in their program; but accustomed to meeting emergencies as they arose, Elmer was just as ready to take up the new scheme.
No doubt he was more or less thrilled with pleasure to think that Mr. Huggins, who was quite an important man in the affairs of Hickory Ridge, should consider him able to grapple with this situation.
Others might start to scouring the surrounding country, in hopes of cutting the scoundrel off, and effecting his arrest. But if Dolph Gruber were as keen-witted as he was given credit for being, he would likely avoid beaten paths, and keep to the timber, thus preventing these searchers from getting in touch with him.
Of course Elmer could hardly believe the man was bad enough to think of really injuring little Ruth. He probably meant to punish his wife for refusing to longer hand over to him some of the money she received from relatives, by carrying her child away, and keeping the little girl concealed, until the mother promised to come to terms, and pay a ransom.
But at the same time his act was that of a fiend; and Elmer's boyish heart was filled with indignation as he in imagination could see the poor mother weeping because her little one was gone, leaving her to fear all sorts of terrible things.
Yes, this was surely a case for the scouts. If ever their knowledge of woodcraft promised to be of value it must be now. Dolph could not go very far without leaving some sort of a trail behind him. And as he was apt to shun the roads and beaten paths through the woods, they could the easier follow him. Half a mile is a very short distance when boys are in a hurry.
"There's the house right now!" called out one sharp-eyed scout, suddenly.
"Yes, and there's a crowd of people around, too!" declared another. "Must have got the news around mighty quick. Say, there comes a wagon racing along from over Fairfield way; and I just bet you it's got Matt and his dad in it, too."
"Just what it has, fellows," declared Ty. "Looks like we were just bound to run across that Matt everywhere we went, don't it? And here comes a car from Hickory Ridge, with a lot of people in it. Looky there, some of 'em are the officers. Yep, here they come right after us. Make way, fellows, if you don't want to get run over!"
A few minutes later, and they brought up at the cottage which had so suddenly become such a center of interest. The phone had been used from Hickory Ridge to inform Mr. Tubbs, who was a big contractor in Fairfield. Others had come from various neighboring homes, for it is amazing how such news flies on the wings of the wind.
The boys moved around among the people for a short time. Elmer made his way inside the cottage, to where he could hear the bereaved mother crying, and between sobs trying the best she could to tell just how it had happened.
"If we only knew which way Dolph went, we might manage to head him off," declared the police head, after a while.
"Oh! if you only could, how happy I would be!" Mrs. Gruber cried, stopping her crying to wring her hands entreatingly. "He is a bad man when he drinks; and he was in a terrible temper because I said I couldn't get him any more money – that my folks wouldn't allow me to turn over another cent to him. Please start right away; and if you bring back my Ruth unharmed I will pray for you every night of my whole life!"
"But how are we to know which way he went?" questioned the officer. "You say he struck you, ma'am, and that you fell down almost insensible. But can you not give us some sort of clue as to which direction he took?"
"Yes, sir, I can," came the eager reply. "Please come outside with me. You see, I seemed to recover after a little, and being almost crazy to know what he had done with my darling Ruth, I managed to crawl out of the door here, though I was so dizzy I could hardly keep from falling. Then I saw him carrying my child in his arms, and just disappearing in the woods over there, close to where you see that dark hemlock, under which," with another choking sob, "she used to play so often."
"Sure of that, are you, ma'am?" asked the man in uniform, quickly.
"Yes, yes, I assure you it is the exact truth, sir. Under that hemlock I saw them disappear," the distracted mother cried.
"I understand what he had in his mind," broke in a man. "That's a short cut to the other road that leads over to Cramertown. Dolph used to live there once. So of course he's heading that way."
To be sure it seemed most reasonable, and not one of the men appeared to doubt the accuracy of the guess in the least. But Elmer was not so sure. He knew that when a man becomes by some act of his own a fugitive from the law, he changes his ways. Cramertown, then, would be one of the last places to which Dolph Gruber would think of fleeing, because he was well known there.
"Then, seems like the best thing we could do, gents," declared the officer, with a show of cunning in his manner, "would be to jump aboard the car again, and make around the road for Cramertown. If he ain't there yet, perhaps he'll be along before a great while; and we can lay a trap for Dolph. Jump aboard, those that are going. Cramertown it is, boys. And we'll bring back the little gal, sure as you're born."
The car was speedily filled with eager hunters, and went spinning down the road headed for the forks some two miles away, where they could change their course, and reach the object of their ambition.
Some of the scouts had looked as though they wanted to accompany the party in the car, but Elmer made no movement in that quarter, and so of course the others would not think of taking matters in their own hands. Besides, they were anxious to see what their leader meant to do.
Waiting until the car and its load had vanished in a cloud of dust, Elmer made a swift movement with his arm to his followers. Then the entire dozen hurried off, heading exactly toward the hemlock which Mrs. Gruber had twice stated was the point where she had had the last glimpse of the kidnaper.
"Now we'll see whether scout tactics are worth anything," observed Lil Artha, to Landy Smith and Phil Dale, the two new members who had come along to begin their experiences as scouts; although neither of them was in the regulation uniform as yet, because the tailor, Jasper's father, had not been able to commence their suits of khaki.
Of course these two boys were watching everything that occurred, with eyes round with wonder. They were of the observing kind, and would doubtless quickly grasp the fact that a scout must keep eyes and ears on the alert, if he hoped to accomplish anything.
"Well, here's the hemlock, all right," observed Toby, "and now, fellows, stand back till Elmer has a chance to look over the ground. So many feet might tramp out the trail Dolph must have left."
They watched Elmer as he bent over. He moved this way and that, as his eyes scanned the ground in the most likely places. Twice he seemed to turn over some twigs, or fallen foliage that had turned brown.
"He sees it!" exclaimed Lil Artha; and Matt echoed the words, for he, too, had noticed that Elmer was now actually moving on.
"Want us to tag along after you, Elmer?" called Mark, eagerly.
By a movement of his arm the leader announced that he did.
"Go slow now, fellows," warned Mark. "Don't anybody overrun him, and cut across the trail. Leave it to Elmer just now. If he wants us to help him he'll sing out all in good time."
"That goes, Mark," echoed Red; and in this way then the dozen scouts began to move along through the woods, losing sight of the road, and the cottage where the mourning mother continued to weep and pray.
Presently they saw that Elmer had changed his course. He was no longer heading directly into the west as at first, but had sheered more into the northwest.
"Begins to look like Elmer was right, and the police head wrong," remarked Matty.
"In what way?" asked Landy Smith, filled with curiosity as to what it meant.
"Why," Matt went on, "you remember that the man said he believed Dolph was heading for the road that would take him to Cramertown. Now, Elmer, he believed just the opposite, and that pretty soon Dolph would turn off to go deeper into the timber. And that's just what he seems to be doing, the slick skunk."
"Say, this thing keeps growing more exciting, the further you dip into it," declared Landy. "Already I'm dead sure I'm going to get heaps of fun out of the scout business. And after a while, perhaps we'll even run this fellow Dolph down."
"Sure thing," asserted Toby, confidently. "Just stake your faith on Elmer to do the little job. Yes, sir, we expect that to happen, sooner or later."
"And when you do, there's going to be some sort of a mix-up," continued Landy.
"Wouldn't be surprised," replied Toby, glancing at the new member queerly, for he saw Landy was excited.
"Hark to me, Toby," said the other, almost in a whisper; "if that thing does come around, perhaps you'll all be glad I brought this little machine along," and he exhibited a revolver to the astonished gaze of the other.
"Hold on here," said Toby. "You ought to know that it's against the rules of the scouts, and our troop in particular, to carry a pistol. Nobody but the scout-master has that privilege. And to save you from trouble you'd better tell Elmer right off."
Others of the boys had seen what Landy held, and of course their exclamations reached the ears of the leader, who turned back.
"Against the rules, Landy," he said, smiling; "but since you're a new member, I won't throw it away. Here, let me empty out all the cartridges. You haven't any more with you, I suppose? Well, an empty revolver can't do any great harm. But be sure not to bring it again."
"But it might have come in handy right now, in case Dolph Gruber turned out to be ugly," protested Landy, regretfully replacing the shiny thing in his pocket, with a shame-faced air.
"Oh! well," said Elmer, as he started off again on the trail, "if twelve husky scouts can't manage one man, they'd better call themselves squaws, and put on skirts; that's all. Come on, fellows!"