CHAPTER VII.
THE LOST SKY TRAVELER
Half a dozen boys started to cry out at once, as they stared at the great bulky object that was apparently settling down, after passing around a spur of the mountain above.
"She's coming right at us, fellows!" shouted one.
"Ain't that a pilot hanging to the old basket?" demanded a second.
"Nixy it ain't, Jasper. Go get your glasses, so you can see better. That basket is plumb empty, and that's a fact. The bally old balloon's deserted, boys!" Lil Artha declared, and as he was known to have particularly trustworthy vision, the balance of the group accepted his word as the right thing.
Apparently the balloon had been steadily losing gas of late, for the enormous bag had a collapsed look. It seemed to have gotten into some circular current of air, once beyond the mountain, for it kept moving around in spirals, all the time dropping slowly but positively. So that unless a new breeze caught it, the chance seemed to be that it would actually alight on the shore of the lake, close to the camp.
"Get ready to man the boats if it falls in the lake, boys!" called Mr. Garrabrant, who recognized the fact that such a balloon must be worth considerable to his little troop in the way of salvage, and was determined to do what he could to save it from sinking out of sight.
But in the end it managed to drop on the pebbly beach. The very first to touch the collapsed gas bag was the exuberant Toby Jones, wild with delight over this remarkable happening that had come to him.
"I claim it by right of discovery, and the first to lay a hand on the balloon!" he shouted, as he fondly ran his fingers along the strong material of which the air vessel was constructed.
"Where on earth could it have come from?" more than one of the boys asked, as they surveyed the immense girth of silken cloth with wondering eyes.
"There's a circus over at Warrendale," announced Ted. "Perhaps she broke away from there in a wind storm, or else bucked the aviators out. Whew! think of tumbling down hundreds of feet! Guess I couldn't 'a' been of much use around there, if that's what happened to the air navigators; the more the pity," and Ted actually looked discontented, as though another golden opportunity had slipped past him.
"Sounds like a good guess, Ted," remarked Elmer; "but there happen to be several things to knock it silly."
"As what?" demanded the boy with the long legs, who always wanted to be shown.
"For instance, you know where Warrendale lies, off to the east from here," the scout leader explained, in the most accommodating way possible, "while this thing must have come from the west! You saw it sail over the mountain up there, and we've been having constant west winds for several days now. Isn't that so, Mr. Garrabrant?"
"Every word of it, Elmer," replied the gentleman, who was never happier than when listening to this wide-awake scout substantiating his claim.
"And besides, here's a name sewed to the balloon —Republic! Seems to me, sir, I've seen that name before. Unless I'm away off it was one of the big gas bags entered for that long-distance endurance race, which was to come off away out in St. Louis, or somewhere along the Mississippi River."
"Oh! my, just to think of it, fellows!" gasped Toby, his face fairly aglow with overwhelming delight, while he continued to fondle the material of which the collapsible balloon was constructed, as though he might be almost worshiping the same.
"Why, that's hundreds and hundreds of miles away!" declared another incredulous one.
"Don't seem possible, does it, that a balloon could sail that far?" a third had the temerity to remark, when Toby turned upon him instantly, saying:
"Say, you don't read the papers, do you? If you did you'd know that in a drifting race a balloon went all the way without touching ground from St. Louis up into New England, while another passed over into Canada away up above Quebec, and won the race. Others fell near Baltimore, and such places. There can't be any doubt about it, boys, this wanderer has drifted all the way from the old Mississippi. But whatever could have become of her crew?"
The thought saddened them for the time being, but it was difficult for Toby to subdue the excitement under which he was laboring.
"Oh! if I only knew how to manufacture gas so as to fill her up again, mebbe I wouldn't like to take a spin, and surprise the Hickory Ridge people, though! Think how my dad's eyes would bulge out, fellows, when I landed right in his dooryard, and asked how ma was? Ted, you know lots of things – can't you tell me how to make hot air?"
Ted did not answer, only grinned and looked toward Lil Artha so very suggestively that the rest burst out into a howl, for the long-legged boy was known to be something of an orator, who could speak for half an hour if warmed up to his subject.
"None for sale!" remarked that individual, promptly, whereat Toby pretended to be grievously disappointed, for he gave the tall boy a look of scorn, saying:
"There he goes again, fellows; declining to make a martyr of himself for the sake of science. Why, I even heard Dr. Ted offering to sew on his finger again so neat that no one could tell where it had been separated, and would you believe it, Lil Artha was mean enough to abjectly decline? But I'm going to think over it, and if I can only fill this big bag with gas I'll leave camp on a little foraging expedition, to bring back more grub. For Ginger is eating us out of house and home, ain't he, Mr. Garrabrant?"
So they laughed and joked as they continued to gather around the balloon that had seemingly dropped from the skies. Elmer alone was thoughtful. He could not but wonder what the story connected with the Republic might be. Had the brave pilot and his assistant been thrown out in some storm which they were endeavoring to ride out? If that proved true, then the history of the fallen balloon must be a tragic one.
Under the direction of the scout master they dragged the tremendous bag, now emptied of its gaseous contents, and piled it up close to the camp. When the time came for the return trip possibly they might find some means for transporting the balloon to the home town, and when the fact of its discovery was published in the great New York dailies, the name of Hickory Ridge would become famous.
This new event afforded plenty of topics for conversation. As usual the boys argued the matter pro and con. They even took sides, and debated with considerable heat the various phases of the happening.
Some of them got out paper and pencil to figure just how many hours it might take a balloon to come all the way from St. Louis for instance, granting that a westerly breeze prevailed. All sorts of ideas prevailed as to the number of miles an hour the wind had blown, ranging from five to fifty.
In the end, after all theories had been ventilated, the boys were no nearer a solution of the mystery than before, only it seemed now to be the consensus of opinion that the Republic must have been entered in some race, and possibly away out on the bank of the mighty river that divides our republic almost in half.
"About time some of our strollers turned up, I should think," remarked Mr. Garrabrant, as he and Elmer sat in front of the tents, listening to the jabbering of the disputants, though all the argument was carried on in good temper.
"Speak of an angel, and you hear its wings," laughed the scout leader, as a shrill halloo came from the woods close by.
Two of the boys who had gone forth to observe such things as they came across, presently appeared in camp. They looked tired and hungry, and began to sniff the appetizing odors that were beginning to permeate the camp, for several messes of beans were cooking, and Ginger was employed in preparing a heap of big onions for a grand fry that would just about fill the bill, most of the boys thought.
But while the incidents accompanying their long walk and climb were still fresh in their memories they were made to sit down alone, and write a list of those things they could recall, and which had impressed them most of all.
Presently two more weary pilgrims came in sight, limping along, and only too glad to get back safe and sound. Ted kept an eager watch and tally as they made their appearance. His face was seen to drop several degrees when, in answer to the solicitous inquiries of the scout master, they reported no accidents, and all sound.
"There goeth another golden opportunity!" Ted exclaimed, shaking his head in real or assumed disgust. "I never thaw thuch ungrateful fellers in all my life. Why, it begins to look like nobody would even get a finger thcratched. I expect after all I'll just have to get Tom Cropthey to let me pull that tooth of hith that aches like thixty. I hate to come down to it, but thomething's got to be done to thave the country!"
"It don't hurt now, I tell you," remonstrated Tom. "You needn't go to coaxin' me any more, because I tell you right off that I ain't meanin' to have it out when it acts decent like. Wait till she gets me goin' again, anyhow. And that's straight off the reel, take it or leave it."
The second couple were likewise settled off, each fellow by himself, and the balance of the troop ordered not to disturb the train of their thoughts until both had jotted down the smallest item that they had noticed. In the end the papers would be read aloud, and many interesting things be disclosed, showing what a fund of knowledge there lies all around one at any time, if only he chooses to take notice of the same.
"That leaves only Red and Larry to be heard from," remarked Mr. Garrabrant, who believed he had great reason to congratulate himself, as well as his boys, on the fact that thus far so little had happened to cause trouble, no matter how much the ambitious, and only too willing, doctor-surgeon might bewail his hard luck.
"They ought to be coming soon, sir, because it won't be long before dusk now. And I don't think either of those boys would care to be lost up here after nightfall," Elmer observed, listening as though he fancied he had caught some suggestive sound up the steep slope, that might betray the coming of the last pair.
"I wonder did any of the others happen to see them?" said the scout master. "Here comes the first couple, having finished their task. This way, boys, please; I want to ask if either of you in the course of your wanderings happened to run across Oscar Huggins and Larry Billings? They are the only missing scouts, and as the hour is growing late, I would like to get a point as to where they may be."
Neither of the returned ones, however, could give him the least information, nor was he able to succeed any better when he asked the other couple. Apparently the absent pair must have taken a course entirely different from any of their comrades.
The twilight now began to gather under the shelter of the high mountain, and Mr. Garrabrant looked a bit worried. If the boys had been unfortunate enough as to lose themselves, he knew that they had taken plenty of matches along, and moreover they had been instructed in various devices whereby they might communicate with their comrades, by waving a burning torch, for instance, from some high elevation, certain movements standing for letters in the Morse code, as used by the Signal Corps of the army.
"I think I hear voices up yonder, sir," remarked Elmer, coming up behind the scout master, who was watching the finishing preparations for supper that were going on at the several fires.
"Yes, I thought so myself, and what you say, Elmer, makes me more positive," Mr. Garrabrant observed, a smile taking the place of the grave look on his handsome face. "Yes, there they come yonder, looking as tired as the others. And it may be that I deceive myself, but it strikes me both lads seem to be greatly excited over something or other. I sincerely hope nothing has happened to injure them. I notice no limp in their gait, and each seems to have the full use of both arms. What can have happened to them now?"
"At any rate we'll soon know, sir, for here they are," said Elmer, encouragingly, as Red and Larry limped up to the camp, and with sundry grunts sank upon a log as if to signify how utterly exhausted they might be.
"But tired or not, sir, we're just ready to go out again with you, after we've had some supper," declared Red, to the utter wonderment of the clustering scouts.
"Then I was right in my surmise, and you have run across something out of the common, boys?" remarked Mr. Garrabrant.
"Yes, sir," Red promptly replied, "we certainly have; and many times we felt mad to think we came away to get help instead of staying there, and trying ourselves to investigate, so as to find out what the groans meant we heard coming from that lonely hut!"
CHAPTER VIII.
A BLAZED TRAIL
There was a chorus of exclamations from the gathered scouts, when they heard Red express himself in this startling way. Eyes grew round with wonder, and more than one lad almost held his breath, as he waited to catch further particulars of the strange happening that had befallen their two chums during their tramp.
"Where was this at, Oscar?" asked the scout master, quickly, alive to the importance of ascertaining all there was to be made known.
"I think it must have been all of a mile and a half from here, sir," returned Red, who seldom heard his real name mentioned save in school or at home.
"And the way is mighty rough, too, sir," Larry put in, rubbing his chin as if it might pain him somewhat, which action caused Ted to grin, and nod his head.
"Thee you later, Larry," he muttered. "I bet you now, I don't let thith chance get away from me. That boy'th badly hurt, and just won't acknowledge it, but wait till Dr. Ted geth hold of him, that'th what."
"Do you think you can lead us back there, in case we make up our minds to go to-night after supper?" Mr. Garrabrant continued.
"Easy, sir," came the answer, in confident tones. "You see, we made it a point to mark the trail as we came along, by cutting the trunks of trees, and breaking branches so as to catch the eye. Elmer was telling us lately how he did once when lost in the timber in Canada, the 'bush' he called it, and we remembered."
"That's just fine, Oscar," commented the scout master, as though pleased at so great a show of forethought in two of his charges. "It shows what this business is already doing for all of you – teaching you to use your heads at any and all times. That was well done, and I imagine we'll have little or no difficulty in tracing your progress back, even if you are too tired to accompany us, for we will have Elmer along."
"Oh! but I'm bound to go, if I have to drag my game leg behind me," asserted Red. "You see, both of us feel sore over coming away without trying longer to find out what it was groaning so in that cabin, and we want to make good."
"Does it hurt you very much, Red?" asked the solicitous Ted, coming up with a face that seemed marked with feeling.
"Sure it does, Ted," replied the other, promptly, "and I'm going to ask you to rub some liniment on right away. Reckon I just sprained it a little, slipping down the side of the mountain."
"Good for you, Red!" ejaculated the pleased amateur surgeon, as he clasped the other by the arm. "Come right along with me, and I'll fix you up in a jiffy. Only too glad to be of thervice. And Red, you're the only gentleman – " he suddenly paused, gave one smiling look around at the frowning faces of his mates, and then completed his sentence: "who hath applied to me for treatment. I'll never forget this kindneth, never!"
"Hold on!" remarked the scout master. "We must know a little more about this matter before you drag your patient away; though of course we expect him to survive the treatment. Tell us about the lone cabin, Oscar. How did you happen on it?"
"We had turned," Red started to say, "and were heading toward home, when all of a sudden I thought I heard a plain human groan. Larry said he had caught some sort of sound, too. So we began to advance in that direction, going slow-like, because you see we didn't know what sort of trickery we might be up against. Then we caught sight of a cabin that was half hidden among the trees and bushes."
"Ugh!" Larry broke in with, "it just gave us both the creeps, sir, to see how awful lonely the old place looked, run down and neglected like. If Chatz had been along, he'd sure have believed his pet ghost lived there."
"But surely two sensible chaps like you and Oscar wouldn't think of such a thing as that?" remarked Mr. Garrabrant.
"Oh! no, sir," replied Red, after shooting a swift look toward his comrade in misery. "But you see, the groans kept on acomin' out of that window, and we could hear voices too. We didn't hardly now what to do, go on and knock at the door, or hurry back here to report. Larry, he gave me a cold chill, I admit sir, when he just accidentally said that it might be a ease of smallpox in that hut – you know there were some cases this last spring to the north of the Ridge."
"And after talking it over, you decided that the wisest thing to be done was to make your way to camp, and throw the responsibility on my shoulders?" said the scout master. "Well, perhaps it was far better you did this than take chances. I have no doubt but what you might have adopted a different course if you had not had help near by."
"Yes, sir, that's just what I said to Larry – that you'd know best what ought to be done; but that if we were all alone in the region, we'd just have to go up to the door and knock."
"And so you set out to reach camp as fast as you could?" continued Mr. Garrabrant.
"That's what we did sir, and in such a hurry that several times we slipped and barked our shins, while I got a jar when I tumbled."
"Oh! I'll fix that all right, in three thhakes of a lam'th tail, if you'll only come over to my tent," said Ted, tugging at the arm of each returned wanderer.
And unable to resist his urgent plea, they allowed him to lead them away. Later on when they once more appeared, as supper was announced by the assembly call, the pair of wounded scouts admitted that Dr. Ted had indeed done wonders, inasmuch that their pains had miraculously vanished, and they felt able to undertake the rough journey again – after they had broken their fast.
There was much speculation during the meal as to whom Mr. Garrabrant would select to accompany him on his trip. Of course Elmer was a foregone conclusion, as his natural ability along the line of following a blazed trail might come in pat.
But the scout master settled all doubts by announcing toward the close of the meal that he wished Red, Elmer, Arthur, Dr. Ted (in case his services were needed), Jack Armitage and Ty Collins to accompany him.
No one murmured, for they knew it would do no good. Larry started to ask why he had been left out; but Mr. Garrabrant had noted his pallor, and understood that he did not possess the sturdy physique his comrade of the tramp boasted, and on that account had better remain in camp.
Another thing some of the observing lads noticed, and this was the fact that as a rule those selected, outside of Dr. Ted, were the strongest in the troop. Perhaps, then, Mr. Garrabrant might anticipate trouble of some sort, and wished to have a healthy band of scouts at his back, especially since none of them carried arms of any kind – though the scout master really did have a revolver secreted in his bag, which, unseen by any of the boys, he now made sure to hide on his person.
There could be no telling what they might find themselves up against. Rumor had it that certain hard characters at one time made their headquarters somewhere up in the woods around the lakes, and who could say that the lone cabin might not prove to be a nest of yeggmen or hoboes?
"How does your thprain feel; think you can thtand it?" asked Ted of Red, as they got up from around the fire and prepared to sally forth on their mission of mercy.
"If you hadn't reminded me of it just then, I'd sure never have thought I had a game leg," remarked the other. "You're all to the good when it comes to doctoring a fellow, Ted; if only you wouldn't talk so much about sawing off legs and all such awful things."
"Well, I'll be along in ease you feel it again, and I'll make thure to carry a tin of that magic liniment," remarked the ambitious surgeon, as he reentered the tent, to make up a little package of things he thought might come in handy in case they found some one sick in the hut.
Meanwhile, acting on the suggestion of Elmer, the other boys selected such stout canes and cudgels as lay around camp.
"Be prepared!" grinned Lil Artha, as he swung a particularly dangerous looking club around his head until it fairly whistled through the air. "That's the motto of the Boy Scouts, and I reckon it applies in a case of this kind, just as much as when stopping a runaway horse. I'm prepared to give a good account of myself, that's dead certain."
Mr. Garrabrant had fetched out a couple of lanterns, making sure that the oil receptacles were well filled, so that they would last through the journey, going and returning.
"Now we're off, boys," he remarked, with a pleasant smile. "The rest of you stay here and look close after the camp. I've appointed Mark Cummings to serve in my place while I'm gone, and shall expect every scout to pay him just as much respect as though I were present. Lead off, Oscar, we're with you."
Red took up his place at the head of the little bunch. He carried one of the lanterns with which he cast sufficient light ahead to see where he was going.
"First to take you to the seven sentry chestnuts," he said. "We named 'em that, of course, when we came on 'em. The blazed trail commences right there, sir. We didn't think it worth while to do any more slicing of bark after that, because we knew we could easy enough find our way back to that place."
And he did lead the party to the seven chestnuts, with only one or two periods of hesitation, during which he had to puzzle things out.
"There's the first blaze on that oak yonder," he remarked, pointing as he spoke. "We tried to make the marks close enough so as to show by lantern light, because we both had an idea you'd want to come on before morning, sir."
Elmer was at the side of the leader by this time, prepared to lend his experience in case the other ran up against a snag. He took especial note of the general direction in which the numerous blazes seemed to run. And when presently Red confessed that he was "stumped" if he could see where the next mark ought to be, Elmer had them hold up while he walked forward in the quarter where, on general principles, he imagined the blaze should be. And in another minute his soft "cooee" told his comrades that he had, sure enough, found the missing mark.
Many times did Red have to fall back on Elmer to help him out. His blazes had apparently been further apart than he had realized at the time he made them. But the boy who had lived in Canada, and experienced all sorts of frontier life, knew just how to go about making the needed discovery; and in every instance success rewarded his efforts.
"We're getting close to the place now," Red finally announced, as he limped along, refusing to allow Ted the privilege of rubbing his strained leg again, because he did not want to waste the time.
"Then you recognize some of the landmarks?" suggested Mr. Garrabrant.
"Yes, sir, I do that," came the confident reply. "In another five minutes I think we'll be able to see something of that queer cabin that is half hidden in the dense undergrowth."
"Perhaps less than five minutes," remarked Elmer, quietly. "Look yonder, sir, and you'll just catch a glimpse of what seems to be a tiny speck of light. I think that must spring from the window of the hut Red speaks of."
"You are right again, Elmer, as always," replied the scout master, drawing in a long breath. "Now, forward, slowly, boys. Let no one stumble, if it can possibly be avoided; for we do not know what we may be up against. But if there is anyone suffering in that cabin, it is our duty to investigate, no matter what the danger. Elmer, lead the way with me, please."
Cautiously they crept forward, foot by foot. Doubtless many a heart beat faster than ordinary, because there was a certain air of mystery hovering over the whole affair, and they could imagine a dozen separate strange sights that might meet their vision once they peeped into the little window of that isolated cabin.
But no one would ever confess that such a thing as fear tugged at the strings of his heart. Already the discipline they had been under since joining the scout movement was bearing fruit; timidity was put aside with a stern hand, and keeping in a bunch they advanced until presently those in the lead were able to rise up from hands and knees, glueing their eager eyes upon the little opening through which came the light that had guided them to the spot.
And right then and there they heard a groan, so full of suffering and misery that it went straight to the heart of every boy who had been drafted by the scout master to accompany him on this strange night errand.