CHAPTER XI.
THE HOWL OF THE WOLF SIGNAL
"Well, I like that, now!" burst out Toby. "He thinks we've run all the way from good old Hickory Ridge, thirty-five miles away and more, just to hand him a string."
"And me taking all the dreadful chances of breaking my neck with this cranky machine that's got into its second childhood!" echoed Nat, indignantly.
Elmer paid no attention to these side remarks. He could easily understand just how Lil Artha looked at things. Not having the slightest suspicion concerning any crooked work in connection with the great hike, he could not comprehend what was meant by "kidnaping" him.
"Just what we're here for, old fellow," he remarked. "In the first place, perhaps you know it, and again you may not; but Mr. Garrabrant sent these two good scouts over to Fairfield on their motorcycles to take notes of the start made by the three fellows who meant to compete with us in this event."
"Yes, I knew about that," muttered Lil Artha.
"All right," Elmer continued. "They performed their duties, and then, according to orders, hung around to find out whether there might be any talk about some of those famous tricks that used to be played when Matt Tubbs was running things with a high hand over there."
"But hasn't Matt turned over a new leaf; did Mr. Garrabrant expect that it was all a make believe with him?" asked the other, quickly.
"No," said the scout leader; "so far as we can tell, Matt is in dead earnest about doing the right thing from now on. I reckon he'd be as mad as hops if he heard what some of his old mates have arranged."
"Well, hurry on and tell me, please, Elmer; I'm as curious as any old woman you ever ran across," and Lil Artha laughed as he said this.
"Late in the afternoon they happened to overhear a talk between two Fairfield boys, and then and there learned about the scheme. It seems that four fellows in a car had already been gone an hour. They were to run up to the head of the line, and find out just how things lay. If a Fairfield competitor was running in the lead, of course nothing would happen; but in case it proved to be a Hickory Ridge scout they had their orders."
"But see here, Elmer, wouldn't that knock them out of the organization. The rules of the scouts wouldn't stand for such an outrage," protested Lil Artha.
"Hold on, Lil Artha," interrupted Elmer. "You don't seem to get on to the real facts. Nobody said a word about any scouts being connected with this thing."
"Outsiders, then, you mean, Elmer?"
"Yes, some of the crowd that used to run with Matt Tubbs when he was the terror of the county. You know they broke with him at the time he saw a great light. Some of the best in the bunch followed him into the Fairfield troop. Others laughed at the idea of turning over a new leaf. And they say there's a new bully cropped up in Fairfield, a fellow who used to sneeze in the old days every time Matt took snuff."
"Yes," said Lil Artha, "I know – Eddie Johnston; and a bad egg he is, too."
"Well," went on Elmer; "he's engineering this deal. The idea is that these four fellows will try to coax you to enter their ear for a lift, promising that nobody will ever hear about it, you see."
"But they ought to know I'd laugh at 'em. I'm good for the rest of the hike, and could put on fresh speed if I sighted any feller coming along to bother me," the tall scout declared.
"Well, in that case they had orders to jump you, get you in the car by force, and carry you off, to drop you ten miles away, perhaps at Little Falls. In that way, you see, Lil Artha, you would be eliminated from the game, because you had entered a vehicle, which is against the rules. And the second one in the race would win. That must be Felix Wagner."
"Does he know about this?" demanded the excited scout, frowning.
"Of course," answered Elmer, "we don't feel sure about it; but the chances are he doesn't. No fellow who has his heart in the true principles the scout movement stands for, could take a hand in such a nasty game. And I'm hoping that if Felix learned what has been done he'd be the very first to declare that he wouldn't accept a tainted title!"
"Good for you, Elmer! I don't know Felix very well myself, but I want to think of him in that way, because he's a fellow scout. But look here. I guess I saw the bunch you speak of pass me by only a little while back."
"Yes, I knew they had gone on ahead, because I saw that in several places your footprint was plainly marked in the tread of the auto tire in the mud," said the scout leader, quietly.
"Well, I declare now, if you don't beat anything in finding out them tricks!" remarked Lil Artha, who frequently forgot there was such a thing as grammar in the wide world. "Nobody else'd think of that way. The rest of us have got heaps to learn. But I only saw two fellers in the car, Elmer."
"Oh, well, perhaps the others were hiding low down for a purpose," returned the one who observed things closely and figured out results. "If they all showed themselves you would be apt to know them later when they started in with their rough-house business."
"Then what d'ye think they mean to do?" asked the tall scout, anxiously; at the same time Toby and Nat noticed that his hands were doubling up into fists, as if the old spirit of self-defense had begun to run riot within him.
"They've gone down the road a few miles to some place that looks good to them. Then, I reckon, the bunch will pile out and hide till you come along. And while they're about it, they may disguise their faces in some way with handkerchiefs. When fellows are in for something that won't bear the light of day, they nearly always do that, don't you know, Lil Artha?"
"Sure I do," nodded the tall scout, promptly. "More'n a few times I've done the same myself, and so has Toby here. But all the same it's a mean dodge to try and cheat me out of my honest dues. What're we goin' to do about it, Elmer?"
"It stands to reason that we don't mean to let the game go through," replied the one addressed, frowning. "I'm as much opposed to violence as any fellow could be; but there may come times when even the scout is justified in using his fists. Mr. Garrabrant says so; and if he was here, even if he is a man of peace, he'd say the same."
"That's right Elmer; I've heard him say that myself, and he'd laugh right out when he declared that he was a man of peace, and that he was bound to have peace even if he had to fight to get it," chuckled Toby.
"All right," snapped Elmer. "We must remember that we're up against a condition that can only be met by standing up for our rights. If those four rascals from Fairfield tried to push Lil Artha into their car against his will, he'd be justified in kicking and striking out in defense of his liberty, wouldn't he, scout law or not? And on the same ground, we, as his comrades, have the right to defend him."
"And by ginger we will!" burst out Toby, triumphantly.
"Make your mind easy on that, Lil Artha," declared Nat; "we haven't run all the way from Hickory Ridge to see our chum badly treated without putting in a few good licks for him. Gee, it will seem like old times! My style is getting rusty, and will need some sandpapering, I guess."
"Of course, talk won't amount to a row of pins," said Elmer.
"Not with that kind of skunks it won't," observed Lil Artha.
"As Mr. Garrabrant isn't here, and I stand in his place, I'll have to try and do what I think he'd commend," Elmer went on.
"About that peace racket, even if you have to fight to get it, eh?" laughed Nat.
"Wait and see," replied the scout leader, nodding his head, and giving the other a significant, look that made Nat's heart glad; for, like Red Huggins, Nat had always had something of a reputation as a fighter, and found it most difficult to repress this pugnacious spirit after he joined the scouts.
"Lay out the programme, Elmer, won't you, please?" begged Lil Artha.
"Yes, tell us just what each fellow must do," added Toby.
"Well, I've been thinking it over as we came along," remarked the one to whom these appeals were addressed; "and this is the plan I settled on as promising the best results. In the first place, as these chaps want darkness before they show their hand, so that Lil Artha won't be apt to recognize them, the chances are they've gone several miles farther on before running the car in among the trees at a likely spot. Do you agree on that, boys?"
"Sounds good to me, Elmer; please go on and roll your hoop," said Nat.
"Beats all how you can hit things so close," remarked Toby; "because, now that you've mentioned it, I c'n see how they'd be apt to do just that very thing."
"I'm agreein' with the rest, so keep moving, Elmer," Lil Artha observed, deeply interested in the results, as he had a right to be.
"Well, then, suppose now we ride on behind Lil Artha for another mile. Then he can hold up when I give a little whistle, or he hears the faint howl of a wolf in the distance. The three of us will then proceed to hide our motorcycles somewhere in the woods, marking the place at the roadside so we can find 'em again easy later on to-night. After that we'll haul upon our chum, and keep a little distance behind him as he tramps on toward Little Falls."
"Bully idea!" declared the object of all this attention, shaking the hand of the one who had suggested it. "And a feller don't have to have more'n two eyes, with a mite of common sense back of 'em, to know what's goin' to happen when the Fairfield bullies jump out on me."
"Whack! whack! that's two down; one with the right, and t'other with the left duke, leaving only two for you three boys," declared Nat, making a violent lunge in either direction, as though getting in trim after these months of idleness, when following the mild paths of peace.
Toby laughed.
"Say, what d'ye suppose we'll be doing all that while?" he demanded. "Don't be so greedy, Nathan. It's one apiece all around. Nothin' could be fairer than that, and I put it up to Elmer here. Who wants to get cheated out of his share, tell me that!"
"I reckon that ought to be understood in the beginning," remarked Elmer, dryly. "Get this notion out of your heads, fellows. All we want is to protect Lil Artha. If talking would do it I'd say leave it to me entirely; but we all know it needs something stronger. So let each fellow try to capture one of the bunch in ambush and hold him. Perhaps they'll skedaddle as soon as they see us coming, and the job will be done without one blow."
"But if they do resist when we're trying to defend our chum, what then?" asked Nat, with the most agonizing appeal in his voice, as though he saw his dearest hopes fading, fading gradually away.
"Oh, that goes without saying," chuckled Elmer. "I don't think there's any real need of my giving you fellows orders along that line, because you know what the only remedy is. Only, please don't forget for one minute that you are scouts, and as such should hold your hand the instant the white flag goes up."
"Sure we will, Elmer, if we see it!" chuckled Nat. "You make me happy again. Gee! I was afraid you might say that under no circumstances was a poor fellow allowed to defend himself – that, like a lot of old women, all we could do was to grab an enemy and hold on, no matter how he scratched and bit and gouged. It's all right. We've got our orders, fellows. Nuff said."
All this time they had been walking at a rather stiff pace along the road that led in the direction of Little Falls, distant something like nine miles. When Lil Artha had said that he believed he was in possession of his second wind, he evidently knew what he was talking about. At least the others were hard pushed to keep up with the long-legged contestant, hampered as they were by their heavy machines, which had to be trundled along with considerable effort.
"Fall back and mount, fellows," said Elmer; "and you, Lil Artha, keep listening for the signal to wait for us. Only a mile do we dare keep going; to get closer to the place of ambush might betray us, as they would hear the explosions from one of these machines, the muffler of which never works decently. Get that?"
"It's as plain as the nose on my face, and nobody can miss that," replied the other, as he started off along the road.
Elmer cautioned his comrades to make as little racket as possible, and presently they followed on their motorcycles.
About ten minutes later a low, weird sound floated through the air. To most persons it would have meant that some farmer's watchdog was uneasy, and baying at the stars; but Lil Artha knew better.
It was intended for the howl of the wolf, the sign of his patrol!
CHAPTER XII.
THE AMBUSH
"I see him, Elmer," whispered Toby.
"Couldn't be anybody else," chuckled Nat, "because Lil Artha is as tall as a house, you know."
The contestant representing the Hickory Ridge scouts was standing there in the middle of the road, waiting for them to come up.
"Is it time, Elmer?" he asked, anxiously, as the other three joined him.
The gloaming was about them; indeed, since the heavens were beginning to be overshadowed by clouds, the dusk had already commenced to settle, earlier than usual in the end of August.
It had been a pretty fair day, but there was no telling what the night might bring forth; and Lil Artha, wisely looking ahead to a possible thunder-storm about midnight, was determined to complete his long hike as early as possible.
"Yes," replied the leader of the Wolf Patrol, quietly. "We're going to hide our machines somewhere about here, where we can find them when we need them a little later."
"And you want me to hold up till you're ready?" asked Lil Artha.
"That's the programme," came the reply. "You see, we expect that the four hold-up fellows must be hidden only a little farther along; and we want to have our part of the game fixed. Just sit down here, Lil Artha, and we'll be back again in a jiffy."
"Well, if it's all the same to you, Elmer, I think I'll keep on standing," replied the tall boy, with a chuckle.
"Oh, all right," replied Elmer; "you're the doctor, and ought to know what's best for your own case. Just wait for us here. Come along, fellows, and bring your motorcycles with you."
Of course there was no mystery about the refusal of Lil Artha to sit down. He knew from past experiences how difficult it is to get in working order again at such a stage in a long hike should he give way to the temptation and drop upon the ground. It was better to keep moving, and not allow any of his muscles to get stiffened.
Following Elmer, the others pushed into the woods on the right, where the scout leader seemed to think the conditions looked best for the hiding of the three machines.
It was not a hard task to secrete them in the bushes.
"Hope it don't rain before we come back again," remarked Toby, as he came out from the thicket where he had placed his motorcycle as carefully as though it were a brand-new one; for on account of its recent fairly decent performances the boy began to feel a return of his former affection for the wheel.
"We'll have to take the chances on that," replied Elmer. "These clouds may not stand for anything, after all."
"Often tries a big bluff like that," remarked Nat; "so we ain't going to worry about it. Besides, if the little circus is soon over, we can come here to get the bunch before long."
"Back to the road then, fellows," Toby observed, leading off with confidence.
A minute later Nat broke out again:
"Say, what d'ye know about this?" he remarked. "Don't seem a bit familiar to me along here. What're you laughing at, Elmer? Has Toby led us the wrong way?"
"Rats!" exclaimed that worthy, bristling up in indignation. "Don't you suppose I know what I'm about? Of course this is the right way to the road, ain't it, Elmer?"
"You might get there, if you kept on long enough!" admitted the other.
"But how far would we have to go?" demanded the incredulous Nat.
"Oh, about twenty-five thousand miles, more or less," chuckled Elmer.
"Gee, he's turned right around and is heading away from the road, that's what," declared Nat, laughing softly. "A nice guide you'd be, Toby, old chum. Think of us floundering deeper and deeper into these blessed old woods, when every minute is worth a heap to us right now!"
"But what did you let me do it for, Elmer?" complained the culprit.
"Well, you started off as if you wanted to show us what you know about woodcraft; and I thought the chance to open your eyes a little too good to be lost," Elmer replied.
"But we've wasted time by it," declared Toby, feeling disheartened.
"Only a minute or two, and that doesn't count much beside the lesson it may be to a couple of scouts I know," said Elmer.
"Tell us just how you know which way the road lies," said Nat.
"Oh, that is as easy as falling off a log," came the crushing reply. "I just kept my eyes about me when we were coming in, and noted that we were moving due east at the time, with the breeze exactly on our right, and you remember it was coming out of the south a bit ago. If it had been daylight I'd have known the points of the compass from the direction of the sun; or, that failing, by the moss that nearly always grows on the north side of the trunks of forest trees. There are many ways for a wide-awake boy to find out these things; but only when he keeps his wits about him all the time, and his eyes and ears open."
"I guess you're right, Elmer," grunted Toby. "Time I woke up and began to do some tall thinking, if ever I'm going to get out of the greenhorn class."
While the three were talking after this fashion, in low, cautious tones, Elmer had been leading the way in a confident fashion through the gloomy woods.
Both the others were now more than a little curious to ascertain just how near the point where they had left Lil Artha their guide would fetch up. So far as they themselves were concerned it was by this time all a confused jumble. If asked to point out the proper direction neither could have done better than shut his eyes and thrust out a hand at random; for they were very much turned around, now that the clouds had rendered it impossible for them to even decide which direction was west.
"Well, I declare!" ejaculated Toby, presently, "here's the bally old road, as sure as you're born, Nat!"
"Elmer!" said a low voice, as some object moved near by.
"And better still, here's Lil Artha!" declared Nat, lost in wonder as to how Elmer could have done such a remarkable stunt, and with hardly an effort, too.
"Sure," came in the same low tone. "Where else should he be but here just where you left him? But say, Elmer, you were gone a long time."
"Not a bit over five or six minutes," replied the leader, immediately; "and even then, we've had quite a lesson in woodcraft. Besides, Felix is half an hour behind, and there's little danger of his catching up, yet awhile."
"Do we start on again now?" asked Nat, who was opening and shutting his hands nervously in a way that might have excited the scout leader's suspicions had he been able to notice the movement.
"Yes, we're going to set the stage now for the last little scene in this act of the drama entitled the Great Hike Conspiracy," chuckled Elmer.
"That sounds good to me," murmured Nat.
"Go on, Elmer, and tell us just what you want us all to do," urged Lil Artha.
"First of all, you are to start on again, just as before, Lil Artha."
"Yes, I get that all right," replied the tall lad.
"And the rest of us will shadow you," Elmer continued.
"I don't quite understand what you mean, Elmer; will you keep a certain distance behind me all the time?" Lil Artha asked.
"You can make up your mind that we'll be close enough every minute to hear you whistle steadily as you trudge along," came the reassuring reply.
"And that means you'll get on to what they say to me when they show their hand: eh, Elmer?"
"Just what it does, Lil Artha," the leader answered.
"Fact is, I want to hear that little dialogue or conversation the worst way. Because, you see, we may have to repeat this story a few times later on, and we'd like to be able to have it all down pat."
"Well, what happens then after they show their teeth?" questioned the tall boy.
"You make up your mind which one of the lot you like best, and hang on to him with tooth and nail, as if you thought he was your long-lost brother. Get that, Lil Artha?" Elmer continued.
"I understand," came the reply. "You want me to count for one hold-up, so as to leave the other three to you fellows?"
"Well, you wouldn't be greedy, would you, and cheat us out of all the fun, after we've come all this long way, and risked breaking out necks time and time again?" remarked Nat, reproachfully.
"He understands, Nat," remarked Elmer, pouring oil on the troubled waters as he frequently did when little frictions arose in the khaki troop. "And there's no need of wasting any more time. Be off, Lil Artha, and success to you."
"Same here, fellows," came the merry reply; "and more power to your elbow, Nat"; from which last remark it was very evident that Lil Artha knew full well the impulsive character of the Scott boy, and how his desire to engage in "scraps" had not as yet been wholly tamed down by his becoming a scout in good standing.
Nat's father was the principal of the public schools in Hickory Ridge; and from the time that Nat started to attend he had possibly given the professor as much trouble as any lad in the whole town. Not that Nat was naturally bad, but his quick temper, and readiness to use his fists to settle argument, had drawn him into innumerable scrapes.
Accordingly, Lil Artha once more started along the darkening road, swinging out with those long strides which his length made possible.
Elmer calculated to a nicety just how far they ought to allow their chum to get before starting to follow. It was important that they should be concealed from the eyes of the four in ambush; and yet, on the other hand, he did not want to drop back to such a distance that they might be cheated out of hearing what happened when the surprise came.
In order to maintain a certain distance in the rear he had instructed the one ahead to keep up a steady whistle. Lil Artha was known to be a whistler, and often amused his chums by his accomplishment in this line. It was a gift, such as an occasional boy finds himself in possession of. And more than once had Elmer told his friend that he would make a good woodsman if only he turned his talent toward imitating the various clear sweet notes of wild birds.
They could hear him easily now, and Elmer fixed the sound in his mind. As he had cautioned Lil Artha to keep up a steady flow, it would become apparent that they were either diminishing the distance or adding to it, if that whistle became louder or softer in volume.
Five minutes passed.
Elmer caught a big sigh close beside him, which he knew must proceed from the impetuous Nat. Doubtless every sixty seconds that dragged by seemed like an age to the Scott boy; who fancied that after all their trouble perhaps they were going to be cheated out of their fun, and that the plotters had weakened at the last round.
Not so Elmer, who estimated things at their true value, and not by the rapid pulsations of an excited heart.
"Cheer up, Nat," he whispered in the ear of the other; "it's going to come pretty soon now."
"Oh, I hope so!" sighed the one who loved action above all things.
"He's stopped whistling, Elmer!" whispered Toby, excitedly.
"No, there he starts again," replied the leader, who in truth suspected what the little break in Lil Artha's melody might signify.
Possibly he had caught some suspicious rustling sound, and unconsciously held his breath for just five seconds in order to listen better.
Was it a false alarm, or would the music begin immediately? Warned by this suggestive hint, Elmer waited, fully expecting to hear a loud voice suddenly break forth from some point ahead. Since this was not "Out West" where lawless desperadoes held sway, it would hardly come in a hoarse demand to "throw up your hands," but in some milder fashion.
And presently Elmer realized that his guess had hit the mark. The whistle suddenly ceased. Then they heard a voice call out in the most familiar way possible:
"Hello, there, Lil Artha! Hold up a bit, won't you?"