CHAPTER XXV.

FORCED TO TELL.

"Where's your partner?" asked Thad, turning suddenly on the prisoner.

The tramp tried to look at him as if in surprise. Undoubtedly he was hugging the one hope to his heart that as long as his companion remained foot-free there might be a chance for his release. That idea of self-interest was undoubtedly the only thing that would account for his desire to remain mute.

"My partner?" he went on to say, as though not understanding what was meant.

"Yes, the man who was with you, Wandering George, the fellow who wore the blue army overcoat that was given to him by a lady in Cranford a few days ago?"

"Oh! you mean him, does you?" the hobo replied, with a knowing nod; "that guy gimme the slip yesterday, and never divvied with me either. I'd like right well to set eyes on George myself, and that's no lie. I got a bone tuh pick with him."

"You're telling what isn't true, now," said Thad severely. "We happen to know that you two came here in the hold of the shanty boat we were on. Last night George crept into our camp, and got away with nearly all our food stuff. There's a piece of the bacon right now, Giraffe, which ought to please you some. What have you got to say about that, Mr. Tramp?"

"It was me sneaked your camp, kid; I was nigh starved out, and nawthin' couldn't keep me from takin' chances," the other boldly replied.

"Tell that to the marines!" Giraffe blurted out. "Thad, you don't believe him, do you? We know better than that, don't we?"

"The man who crept into our camp had a rag tied around his right foot to keep the torn sole of his shoe on," Thad went on to say positively, as though clinching matters beyond all question; "and we can see that both your shoes are fairly decent, so it couldn't have been you. Besides, there were two pairs of tracks making the trail. You waited for him back of the bushes, and both went off together. Now, you see how foolish it is trying to yarn out of it. Where is George?"

The man looked into that flushed but determined face. He saw something in those steady eyes that convinced him the leader of these boys in khaki was not the one to be further trifled with.

So he gave a nervous little laugh.

"Well, you sure got me twisted up, and kinked tuh beat the band, kid," he said. "I got a pal, jest as you sez, an' his handle is George. But jest where he might be at this minit is more'n I c'n say."

"But he's on the island, isn't he?" demanded Step Hen.

"He shore is, 'less he's took a crazy notion to try an' swim over tuh the shore, which wouldn't be like cautious George a bit."

"He was here with you, how long ago?" asked Allan; "you must have cooked breakfast this morning with that fire, and he sat right here, where I can see the mark of his broken shoe. Where did he go, and when?"

"That's what we want to know!" added Giraffe sternly.

The tramp saw that he was cornered. One by one his defenses had been beaten down. These energetic boys would not stand for any further holding back on his part; and unless he wished to invite rough treatment it was now up to him to tell all he knew.

"Well, George was sittin' there, as you sez, younker, an' he takes a sudden notion that he wants tuh find out what the rest o' the folks of this island 'spected to do so's tuh get away. That bein' the case, he sez to me, sez he: 'I reckons I'll stroll up a ways, and take a look around. If there's anything doin' in the boat line we might want tuh cop it, and clear out.' And so he goes off, an' I ain't seen the first sign o' George since then."

"How long ago might that have been?" asked Thad.

"I been asleep nearly all the time since, so how could I tell?" came the reply.

"By looking at the sun," the patrol leader told him; "you know how high it was when George went away. And hoboes never have any need of a watch."

"'Cept to hock, and get cash on the same, kid," the man remarked, with a grin, at the same time casting a quick glance upward; "well, I reckon it might 'a' been all o' an hour back when George, he passed away."

The boys looked at each other in some perplexity. Since they had certainly covered the whole island, they could not understand how it came they had missed the other tramp. He was a big fellow, and could not have hidden in any hole among the rocks that they had noticed. The mystery bothered them, from Thad down to Step Hen and Davy.

"What if he did take a notion to try and swim for it?" suggested the latter, as Giraffe was scratching his head, and looking in a helpless fashion at Thad.

"Not one chance in a thousand that way," replied the patrol leader; "I call myself a fairly good swimmer, but I'd hate to take the chances of that current, and the rocks under the surface. No, he must be on the island still."

"But whereabouts, Thad; didn't we cover the ground, every foot of it, while we came down here?" pleaded Step Hen.

"I wonder, now?" Thad was saying half aloud, as though a sudden inspiration had broken in upon him.

"What is it, Thad?" begged Giraffe; "sounds like you've got an idea, all right. Let's hear it, won't you?"

"There's only one way we could have missed him," replied the other; "and that would mean he hid in a tree."

There arose a series of exclamations from the other scouts.

"Well, what d'ye think of that, now?" cried Giraffe, apparently taken aback by the suggestion; "we kept our noses turned to the ground so much none of us ever bothered looking up, did we?"

"But, Thad, the leaves ain't on the trees yet, so how could he hide from us? Do you mean he got behind a big limb, and lay there like a squirrel?" Davy demanded.

"You forget there are some hemlocks on the island, and every one of us knows how easy it would be for a fellow to hide in their bushy tops any time of year," Thad told him.

"What's the answer?" snapped Giraffe, always wanting action, and then more action.

"We've got to go back again, and find him, that's all," said Thad, with a look of grim determination on his face.

"How about this fellow?" remarked Allan. "Do we want to trot him along with us?" and he jerked his thumb at the prisoner as he said this.

Thad considered for a short time.

"That would be poor business, I'm thinking," he concluded. "We'd better leave him here until we want him again."

"I've got more strong cord," Giraffe suggested; "and we could tie him to a tree, like the Injuns used to do with their captives."

"Oh! there ain't any need tuh do that, boys," argued the hobo, who apparently did not fancy such an arrangement. "I'll set right here, and never move while you're gone, sure I will."

"We'll make certain that you stay where we leave you," Thad told him.

Giraffe only waited for the word, and immediately backed the tramp to a tree that seemed suited for the purpose. Then he wound the cord around as many times as it would go, and tied it in hard knots. As the hobo still had his hands fastened behind him, and could not begin to get at the knots with his teeth, it looked as though he would have to stay there until the scouts were pleased to release him.

"Now what, Thad?" asked the energetic Giraffe, picking up his gun again.

"Go back the same way we came," the other replied.

"Covering the ground, you mean, only this time we'll look into every tree in the bargain; that's the programme, is it, Thad?" asked Step Hen.

"Yes."

Again the boys began to spread out, and in this manner was the captured tramp left behind. He realized that it was useless trying to influence them to change their minds, and so resigned himself to his fate.

Giraffe had secured the remains of the strip of bacon, and was dangling this from his left hand as he went along. Apparently he did not mean to take any chances of it getting away from him again; and of course Bob White noted his action with a nod of appreciation.

It was slow work now, because they had to investigate each likely tree that was approached. Some of these were of a type calculated to afford a refuge for anyone who wished to hide. Several times one of the boys, usually the spry Davy, was sent aloft to make sure the object of their search was not hiding there.

Thad began to wonder if anything could have happened at their camp. He remembered that they had left the two weakest scouts on guard, and this worried him.

Often as he pushed on, Thad had strained his hearing, dreading at the same time lest he catch sounds of serious import. But beyond the chatter of the crows that flew scolding ahead of them, and the scream of an early red-headed woodpecker tapping at a rotten tree trunk, there was no sound, unless he took into consideration the fretting of the water sweeping past outlying spurs of the island shore.

They had passed nearly halfway when Giraffe beckoned to the leader, without saying a single word, upon which Thad of course hastened toward him.

When the lanky scout pointed to the ground, Thad immediately turned his eyes in that quarter. He was not very much surprised at discovering the plain imprint of a shoe there in the soil.

"George made it," said Giraffe solemnly, "because there's that old rag tied about his foot, as we've always found it. And, Thad, of course you notice that he was heading up country when he passed by here?"

"Yes, that's certainly a fact, Giraffe."

"Showing he came down out of his tree, and went on after we passed him. Davy was right when he said he believed he could see signs in that last hemlock as if some one had broken the bark with his heels. It was Wandering George, all right; and this time we've got him ahead of us. We'll not let him give us the slip again; and it'll be something of a joke to get a tramp at each end of the island. But what are you thinking about, Thad, to look so serious?"

"I was wondering whether anything could have happened to our two chums, Giraffe."

"Oh! you must mean Bumpus and Smithy!" ejaculated the lanky scout, with a quick intake of his breath, as though a thrill had passed over him at the same time; "but, Thad, they had a gun, you remember; and if they kept on the watch, as you told 'em, what could happen to hurt the boys?"

"I don't know, only it bothers me," replied the other; "and if we can hurry on any faster now I'd like to do it."

The word was passed along the line, and after that they tried to increase their speed, though trying not to neglect their work, if it could be avoided.

As they drew closer to the region where the camp had been made, Thad was conscious of feeling a strange sensation in the region of his heart, which he could not wholly understand.

Giraffe made out to wander close to him on occasion, and was at this time saying with more or less confidence:

"Only a few minutes more, Thad, and we ought to raise the camp. Sure we'll find everything lovely, and the goose hanging high. George would know better than to bother two fellows, and one of the same handling a gun in the bargain. Course he sheered off, and gave them a wide berth when he saw that, Thad. It's going to come out all right, I tell you!"

Nevertheless the patrol leader felt very anxious as they drew near the camp, and he tried to prepare himself for the worst.