CHAPTER XXXII

INTO A STRANGE CAMP

It seemed that this was the only thing to do. To remain on the sled, as it plunged into the black water, might mean that they would be drawn down into the depths, never to come up. So the lads prepared to leap from the swiftly-moving sled.

Yet they would not jump without their guns, and they hesitated a moment while they secured them. Then they moved to the edge of the bob.

But to leap from it, while it was traveling almost with the speed of a railroad train, meant no little risk. No wonder they hesitated, especially as there was no place to land but on the hard, frozen surface of the snow, down which they were sliding.

Still, it was a choice of two desperate expedients, and, as they supposed, they were choosing the lesser evil.

"Here we go!" cried Nat, as he crouched for a spring.

"No! Wait! Wait!" almost screamed Jack. "That's not water! It's ice! It's ice! We're all right! Stay on!"

He had called only just in time, for, as the sled came nearer to the black patch, he had seen, from the glint of light upon its surface, that it was hard, black, thick ice.

A moment later the sled, striking a little hollow place bounded into the air. It came down with a thump, and in another second was skimming over the frozen surface of a little pond. Straight across it flew, into a snow bank on the other side, where it came to an abrupt stop.

So sudden, in fact, was the halting, that Will, who was near the front end, was shot from the bob, and came down in the bank of snow, head first.

"Pull him out!" cried Jack, as he leaped off.

"Maybe he's hurt."

The others hastened to the aid of their chum, and he was soon hauled out. He seemed dazed, and there was blood coming from a cut on his head.

"Hurt much?" asked Jack anxiously.

"No--not much--hit my head on a stone under that pile of snow, I guess. But where are we?"

"Where we started for, I think," replied Jack. "My, but that was a trip!"

"Petrified pole-cats! I should say so!" ejaculated Nat. "I thought we were goners!"

"Same here," remarked Sam. "But we don't seem to have arrived at any place."

"We're at the foot of the hill," spoke Bony. "That's something," and he tried to crack his knuckle joints, forgetting that he had thick mittens on.

"Let's see what's beyond those trees," proposed Jack, after they had rested, and he pointed to some dark pines that fringed one shore of the pond. "Bring your guns, fellows, and come on."

"What about the grub?" asked Nat.

"Leave it on the sled," replied Jack. "We'll probably come back here."

He led the way to the trees, and passed beyond the natural screen they formed, followed by his chums. No sooner had he penetrated the thick branches, than he uttered a cry of surprise. And well he might.

For in front of the young hunters was a strange camp, a large one, consisting of a big shed-like structure, with several small log cabins grouped around it. And the place smelled of gasolene, while from one of the cabins came a noise of machinery in operation.

"Boys!" exclaimed Jack, "we've found the place."

"Yes, and there doesn't seem to be anybody here to stop us," remarked Nat.

They stood for a few moments on the edge of the camp, the secret of which they had tried to solve several times before.

"Come on," said Jack. "Might as well take it all in."

As he spoke the doors of the big shed swung slowly open. The boys saw a man pushing the portals, but something else they saw attracted their attention, and held them spellbound.

For the "something" was a great bird-like creature in the shed, a creature with an immense spread of wings, and from the big structure there came a peculiar throbbing noise, such as that they had heard in the air over their camp several nights.

"There it is!" exclaimed Nat. "There's the monster that's been flying in the air over our heads! They've got it captive, and they're trying to tame it!"

The doors opened wider, the man pushing them with his back to the boys, so that at first he did not see them.

"Wow! Aunt Jerusha's Johnnie cake!" exclaimed Nat. "See that bird."

Inside the shed the great creature appeared to be fluttering its wings.

The boys were peering forward eagerly. Suddenly there sounded a shout, and from one of the cabins a figure ran.

"Jerry Chowden!" cried Jack.

Jerry had seen the boys. Pointing one hand at them, he yelled something to the man opening the shed doors. In an instant the man turned, went back into the shed, and the doors swung shut. Then, from other cabins came several men, running toward Jack and his chums. Jerry joined them.

"We're in for it, now," remarked Nat.

"Keep cool," advised Jack. "They can't hurt us."

"That's them! They're the same fellows!" exclaimed Jerry, as he ran up.

"Glad to see that you recognize us," remarked Jack calmly. "I was afraid you'd forgotten us, Jerry."

"Hu! Think you're smart, don't you?" sneered the former bully of Washington Hall.

"None of this chinning!" exclaimed one of the men sullenly. "How did you chaps get here, this time?"

"Slid," replied Jack laconically.

"Don't get fresh. It might not be healthy."

"That's a fact," went on Jack. "We slid down the side of the mountain on a sled, and landed on your little lake back of the trees."

"You never did it!" exclaimed the man incredulously.

"Well," said Jack slowly, "if you don't believe it you can go back there and look at the lake."

"Yes," added Nat, "and if that doesn't convince you, you can go look at the mountain, and see the sled."

The man turned, and spoke a few words in a low voice to one of his companions. The latter set off toward the fringe of trees.

"Now, what did you chaps come here for?" went on the spokesman.

"To see your big bird fly," replied Jack.

The man started.

"We haven't any big bird," he said.

"Looks mighty like one, in that shed," went on Jack.

The man scowled. Then he resumed.

"Weren't you warned to keep away from here before? Weren't you told that your horses would be shot if you came?"

"Yes," answered Jack, smiling a bit, "but you see we haven't any horses with us now."

"Hu! That's a mighty poor joke," sneered the man.

"I don't think much of it myself, but it was the best I could make under the circumstances."

Jack was as cool as a cucumber, while the man was visibly losing his temper.

"Lock 'em up!" burst out Jerry Chowden. "That Ranger fellow and Nat Anderson are always making trouble."

"Say, when I want your advice I'll ask for it," said the man curtly. Just then the individual he had sent off to report about the sled came back.

"It's there," he said.

"Hum!" murmured the other. Then, turning to the group of men about him he said: "Better take 'em, and put 'em in one of the vacant cabins for the time being. Then I'll decide what to do with them."

"You haven't any right to touch us, or detain us!" exclaimed Jack.

"We haven't, eh? Well we're going to take the right, just the same. You put your head in the lion's mouth, and now you are going to be lucky if he doesn't bite it off. Lock 'em up, men."

Several of the roughly-dressed men advanced toward the group of boys. Jack's chums looked to him for advice. He had gotten them into the difficulty, and it was up to him to get them out.

"See here!" exclaimed our hero boldly. "Don't you lay hands on us. We are camping on this mountain, and I happen to know that it's government land, and that any one has a right to travel all around it. We have just as much right here as you have, and if you annoy us I'll appeal to the law."

"There ain't no law out here, sonny," said one man. "You are suspicious characters, anyhow. Better not make a fuss now. We're too many for you. Next time mind your own affairs and you'll not get into trouble."

The men had seized Nat, Bony, Sam and were advancing toward Will and Jack, who stood a little to one side of their chums.

One man laid hold of Jack, and our hero tried to wrench himself free. But the man was too strong for him.

Suddenly Will looked across the camp. He saw the man again coming from the big shed. For a moment it seemed as if the lad had seen a ghost, his eyes stared so. Then, with a cry he sprang forward, and ran toward the person near the big shed.

"Catch him!" shouted the man who had directed that the boys be made prisoners. "He's locoed--crazy!"

"Andy will look after him! He's running right into his arms," said some one, and sure enough, the man did catch Will in his arms. The next moment the two disappeared inside the big shed.

Jack and his chums looked at one another.

"He must have gone suddenly out of his head," said Jack. "That blow he got when he landed in the snow bank has crazed him."