CHAPTER XVII.

LOOKING FOR SIGNS.

"You mean you think you heard some one shouting, do you?" asked Thad, apparently unmoved, though truth to tell he considered this new information of considerable importance.

"That's what I want you to understand, Thad."

"Could you make out what was said?" continued the patrol leader, anxious to get at the kernel of the matter as soon as possible.

"Well, no, I don't believe I did; but it just struck me it was a _yell_, like anybody would let out if something happened to give him a shock. I reckon that's what I'd be apt to do if a rattlesnake jumped at me, and I dodged back."

"Well," continued Thad confidently, "there couldn't be any rattlesnake here on this island, I should think, and even if that was so, snakes never come out so early in the season. But Davy, do you think you could tell which direction the shout seemed to come from?"

"Just where I pointed, over there to the east, which is the side of the island. Now, if there's somebody out here besides us, who could it be?" and Davy asked this question with the confidence the scouts had come to put in their leader, whom they apparently expected to know everything.

"Oh! it might be some fisherman who had a hut here; or even a fugitive from justice, hiding from the officers. You know we've run across things like that. Once we even met up with a crazy man who had broken out of an asylum, and was living like a hermit in the woods. All that will come later on, when we find the proof that you haven't made a mistake."

"But, Thad, I ought to know a shout given by human lungs, hadn't I?" pursued the puzzled Davy.

"We all think that, Davy, but you know for yourself that a loon for instance can laugh so much like a man that you'd be ready to take your affidavit there was a fellow out on the lake trying to make you mad. You think you heard a shout; but it may have been one of a lot of things."

"Of course anybody could be mistaken, Thad," the other went on to say; and it is an accepted fact that when your enemy begins to look over his shoulder he is getting ready to retreat.

"You may have heard what you think, Davy; perhaps a boat was being swept past the island, and someone in it, seeing the smoke of our fire, called out for help; though I should think if that was the case he'd keep the ball rolling. Come, let's take a turn across to the shore, and see if anything is in sight down-river way."

"All right, Thad; count on me to go along. No need of saying anything to the rest, is there?" Davy remarked, with eagerness stamped upon his face.

"Not a bit," replied the other.

When the others saw them moving off, very naturally they felt more or less curiosity to know what was in the wind.

"Hello! there, what's up?" called out Giraffe.

"Oh! we're just going over to take a look around, boys," replied Thad.

"Don't get lost, and give us the bother of hunting you up, whatever you do," they heard Bumpus say; and the audacity of the thing struck Thad as so comical that he could be heard chuckling as he went on.

As there had been no invitation on the part of the patrol leader to the others to come along, they realized that they were not wanted.

"A case of two's company, three a crowd, I reckon, suh!" remarked Bob White, as he tossed a little more wood on the fire, which felt pretty cheerful, since the air was still cool after the storm.

"Who cares?" said Bumpus, stretching himself out again at full length on his comfortable blanket.

Meanwhile Thad and Davy were engaged in making their way through the brush, and heading for the shore on the eastern side of the island that stood in the middle of the flooded Susquehanna.

They found it more difficult work than they had expected. The island could not have been used for any purpose, since under the trees it was a perfect snarl of bushes and creeping vines, some of the latter as thick as one's ankle. Unless the person who was pushing his way through this wilderness of growth kept constantly on the alert he was very apt to catch his foot in a snake-like vine, and measure his full length on the ground.

Davy, indeed, uttered several little ejaculations when his hands came in contact with thorns growing on some of the bushes.

"This isn't what it seemed cracked up to be, eh, Thad?" he muttered. "I guess there's a sample of everything that grows around this region right here on this island, and then some. And seems like I'm finding the same out one after the other. There, that stub of a branch tried to poke my left eye out, and did bring blood on my cheek. I don't see how you manage to get along without any accidents."

"You're not as experienced as I am in passing through places like this, that's all, Davy. You move too quick, and don't use your eyes enough. If you think I can take the cake at it you ought to see an Indian work, and after that you'd say I wasn't in the same class. He'd like as not glide along like a snake; and try as hard as you pleased, you wouldn't hear so much as a twig break under his feet."

"Then I'm pretty sure I'll never make a first-class scout," commented Davy, "for I seem to be too clumsy. There, I thought that stick would bear my weight; but it broke under me with a sharp snap that would have told the enemy somebody was trying to sneak up on the camp. I guess it must run in the blood, Thad, and I haven't got any of it in me. Yet I had an uncle who was said to be one of the greatest big game hunters that ever went out to South Africa after elephants and lions and all such things. They skipped me when it came to inheriting the instincts of a still-hunter."

By degrees they forced their way through all these obstacles, and Davy seemed to improve as he went along, as Thad took occasion to tell him.

"Anyhow, it'll be easy enough going back again!" Davy declared, "because we've left a fair trail behind us. I wouldn't be surprised now if some of the other fellows take advantage of that to cross over here, so's to get a squint of the river." "Well, here we are, and it looks as if we might get a fairly decent look down stream, Davy."

"Yes, there's a little point sticking out here, thank goodness. Look at all the water going past, would you, Thad? This is a great flood, all right; and I hope it goes down a lot before we try to cross over to the mainland, to-morrow, or the day after. Do you think it's come to a stand yet?"

"I guess you'll find it that way," returned the other; "and while we're here I mean to make a mark, so as to tell just before dark what's happening. But Davy, can you see anything like a boat down below?"

Davy shook his head, for he had been earnestly gazing in that direction.

"Not a single sign, Thad!" he declared, in a disappointed tone. "And as a boat couldn't have passed from sight in this short time, why, that proves there wasn't such a thing at all."

"Looks that way," assented the patrol leader confidently.

"And," continued Davy, "that if I did really hear a shout, which of course hasn't yet been proved for certain, then there's somebody on this island besides our crowd!"

"We'll have to let it go at that," Thad told him. They looked about for a short time, and Thad arranged a stick at the edge of the river, that stood where the current would not displace it. By means of this he could tell whether the water rose or fell, since he had cut a groove in it to mark the present height of the flood.

"There, that ought to do the business for us," Thad remarked, after he had finished his little job.

"Do we go back to the camp now?" Davy wanted to know, as though a little fearful that the other might propose a trip around the island, which, on account of the dense thickets of brush, he would not altogether fancy, though not the kind of a scout to easily back down.

"I reckon we might as well," the patrol leader told him; and with this encouragement Davy immediately started off.

Thad used his eyes as he went, but could not say that he had managed to make any discovery that would throw the least light on the mystery of that strange noise his companion claimed to have heard.

Of course, when they joined the others, everybody was curious to know what their little jaunt meant; so they had to tell all about it.

"None of us heard a single thing," remarked Giraffe sturdily, as though that fact ought to settle it, and that Davy must have allowed his imagination to work overtime.

"I should think you couldn't, what with all the row you kept up," Davy answered back sturdily. "All I want to say is this, that I heard something like a shout; and I'll keep on saying that forever, no matter how you laugh, and make fun."

Of course they talked it over, and viewed the happening from all sides. Every fellow had some sort of explanation to make to cover the ground. A few of these followed the same track Thad had hewn when stating his ideas to Davy; and yet after exhausting the subject the boys were no nearer a solution of the mystery than when they started.

Later on, just as Davy had suggested might be the case, several of them made up their minds they would like to take a look at the river, for Bumpus and Smithy started forth.

"Just follow our trail!" sang out Davy after the pair, "and you won't have any trouble. But keep your eyes peeled every minute of the time if you don't want to get in trouble."

"What from?" demanded Bumpus, halting in his departure.

"Oh! all sorts of snares, in the shape of concealed vines that grab you by the ankles and throw you down; or branches that smack you square in the face, and nearly blind you. If you get in any hole and want help, just sing out, fellows."

"Thanks, we will!" replied Bumpus scornfully, as though he did not anticipate such a thing happening; if Davy considered that he and Smithy were still greenhorns and must be treated as babes in the woods, he was very much mistaken, that was all.

As Giraffe liked to say, "you never can tell," and stranger things than that can come about when boys are loose in the wilderness.

Those left by the fire continued to sprawl around in favorite attitudes, and take their ease. The day had another hour or so left, and there was Giraffe overhauling the food supply, evidently making out the menu which he meant to serve up for the evening meal--trust Giraffe for taking care of such things.

The sun was shining cheerily now, and that at least was some comfort to these castaway scouts. They expected that with the coming of another day they would be able to start a scheme looking to making a move to get away; and that thought gave them encouragement.

It was at this moment there rang out a sudden cry that caused everyone to spring up and look startled.

"It sounded like Smithy's voice!" exclaimed Thad, as he gained his feet.

"Yes, that's what it did!" echoed Giraffe; "something must have happened after all! Mebbe they've gone and met up with trouble! Mebbe there _are_ some people on this island that don't like us being here! Thad, what shall we do?"

Quick and energetic came the patrol leader's order.

"Step Hen, stay here to guard the camp; the rest of you follow me!"

Without wasting another second the five boys rushed away toward the spot where again and again they could hear Smithy's shrill voice calling for help!