CHAPTER XVII

A GUEST AT THE CAMPFIRE

“Why, I guess I’m all dry again,” Amos later on remarked with a degree of satisfaction in his words. “That heat certainly works fine. After all, it wasn’t such a terribly hard experience.”

Amos was like most other people who are prone to forget how they have suffered, once the sun of prosperity shines again; but then it is fortunate boys are so constituted that they can “put their troubles in their old kit-bag,” and be merry once more.

“Of course,” observed Wee Willie, “we can’t do a thing now till morning; even then our only job will be to keep on the move, and letting out an occasional whoop in hopes of reaching Perk. I’d sure give something to know what that same Perk is doing right now.”

“Elmer, what’s that moving out there?” gasped Amos, as though something suddenly ice-cold gripped his heart.

“Why, it seems to be a _man_, and he’s heading this way, too!” exclaimed the tall chum. “Say, wouldn’t it be a queer stunt now if this happened to be our—well, the party we scared out of the cabin at the Bend?”

Amos uttered a plaintive little cry, but hastily followed it by saying:

“No, it can’t be, because you see he doesn’t limp at all!”

The man continued to come straight toward them, though Elmer rather suspected that he was eyeing them closely as he advanced, possibly wondering who and what they were. At least he was no tramp, his appearance indicating more or less refinement; though to be sure he was fairly dripping just then, as though he had borne the full force of the downpour.

“Good evening, boys!” he called out as he drew near. “That fire certainly looks tempting; and if you’ve no objections I’d like to warm up a bit. Beastly storm, wasn’t it? I seem to be pretty damp; but it doesn’t matter; nothing really does when you make your mind up not to worry.”

He held his hands out to the blaze as he finished. Elmer stared at him in a puzzled way. To meet such a light-hearted man after the passage of so dreadful a storm, and away up there in the woods, too, was rather bewildering.

“I suppose you’re all wondering who your unexpected guest will turn out to be, boys,” suddenly said the man, turning and surveying them keenly. “Allow me to introduce myself then as Doctor Frank Hitchens, connected with the State Institute for the Insane. I lost my connection with a party out searching this region for a clever inmate who managed to break away recently. At first I imagined you were my companions in the hunt; but as I drew closer I realized my mistake.”

“Oh! is that so, sir?” exclaimed Wee Willie, impulsively. “Why, we happened to meet your two friends recently. They came knocking at the door of our cabin, and at first thought they’d cornered their man. When they found we were only a party of boys from Chester, camping out, they asked a lot of questions; but we couldn’t give them any clue, of course. So you’re the doctor from the Asylum, are you, sir? If you come over on this side of the fire you can dry off without so much of the smoke striking you.”

“Thank you, son, I’ll do so,” the newcomer replied, suiting action to word.

He seemed to like to talk, as though the sound of his voice might be pleasant to his own ears. Elmer held back and listened, hoping to grasp the situation better by observing the expressions that flitted in succession across the face of Dr. Hitchens.

In the first place, he concluded that the other must be unusually smart, for he seemed to be well posted on every kind of subject. As he spoke, Elmer saw frowns, and then shrewd looks flit across his face; from which he also concluded that the medical man must be the possessor of something of a temper; he really looked like one whom it would be unwise to irritate.

Wee Willie apparently was quite taken with the doctor. He asked various questions, and supplied all the information he had at his command, when the other wished to know this or that.

“Didn’t Collins or Andrews chance to mention my name to you, when they made their call last night; or happen to say they had missed connections with Dr. Frank Hitchens?” he finally inquired, cunningly, Elmer thought.

Wee Willie shook his head in the negative.

“Why, no, sir, not a word did those guards say about having any one else along,” he hastened to explain. “They had a dog with them, a sort of hound, I reckon, because he had long ears, and bayed like one; but somehow they didn’t seem to get a whiff of the scent of the escaped lunatic.”

Wee Willie was wise enough not to say anything concerning the fact that they had frightened some one away from the cabin on first arriving. Since they were now of the opinion that party had been Mr. Codling, Amos’s long-missing parent, it was only fair to that comrade nothing be said about his presence near by.

“By the way,” continued the doctor, with glittering eyes, “did the guards happen to mention the name of the—er, runaway?” and Elmer thought he caught a slight chuckle when that last word was forcibly pronounced.

“Why, yes, they told us his name was, let me see, Felix Something or other—oh! yes, Felix Gould; and that he was a mighty clever chap—used to be an actor in his palmy days, too, and just wonderfully smart.”

“He is all of that,” commented the other, with a faint smile on his face. “In fact, I don’t believe I ever ran across a more engaging chap in all my wide experience than this same Felix Gould. The world had not treated his genius right, which was the main cause for all his mental troubles. But then they say everything comes to him who waits; and there are times when even walls do not a prison make. Life still has compensations for all the ills flesh is heir to.”

His manner was really quite dramatic when saying this, Elmer noticed. As for Wee Willie, somehow he seemed to have fallen under the spell of the other’s masterful manner, for he sat there, and listened as though entranced, hardly able to take his eyes off the doctor’s mobile face.

And then with the abruptness shown by a bolt of lightning coming from what had been considered a clear sky, a thought suddenly sped through Elmer’s brain. It dazzled him, too, at first by its brilliance, yes, and thrilled him at the same time on account of the element of danger that accompanied the revelation.

Once this idea seized hold of him, Elmer watched the face of Dr. Hitchens more closely than ever. He was trying to read the secret of those rapidly working features, those glittering eyes, and the strange smile that every now and then crept into view, as though the physician might be taking infinite satisfaction in having found such a ready convert to his views in Wee Willie, whom he had apparently well-nigh hypnotized.

Amos chancing to turn his gaze toward Elmer saw the other make a quick little movement with his head. It said “come here” as plainly as words could have done, an invitation Amos hastened to accept.

At the same time somehow or other he displayed considerable caution concerning his movements, though unaware just why he should do so. A minute afterwards and he dropped down alongside the other chum, who was so far as appearances went only interested in brushing off the lower extremities of his wrinkled trousers.

“What do you think of him, Elmer; a queer sort of a chap, that doctor is, it strikes me?” remarked Amos, in what he meant to be a low voice.

“Be careful how you speak, Amos,” came in guarded tones. “I’ve been sizing him up and I don’t like his looks. In fact, I think he is no other than Felix Gould himself!”

“Oh! my stars! the escaped actor lunatic!” whispered Amos, plainly aghast at hearing this startling announcement.