The Banner Boy Scouts in the Air

CHAPTER VII

Mystery

At the airport the boys had to wait a while until Major McCarthy showed up. When they told him their plans, he approved heartily and assured them that he would try his best to get them a good second hand airplane for the money available. Then he also informed them that he was leaving that same afternoon for New York and expected to be away about a week. The boys would therefore have to wait, until he returned, for their flying instructions.

On their way back to town the boys decided that in the meanwhile they could go camping for a week. Someone mentioned that Bobolink would be unable to come along and that therefore they should postpone their camping trip. Paul then called their attention to the fact that for the next month or so they would be occupied at the airport; in three weeks they had an agreement to play a baseball game against the Ted Slavin team and then a swimming match against the same group. “Sure,” he said, “we won’t have another opportunity to go camping until just before school opens and we plan to do that anyhow.”

Jack suggested, “Let’s put it up to Bobolink and then do whatever he decides.”

They all agreed to the proposal. Bobolink, when he heard of it, urged them to go. And they decided to leave early the following morning.

The air was fresh and clear. The dew was still on the ground. The sun shone brightly. Stanhope was only now awakening out of its slumber and an occasional car or truck that passed seemed to be committing sacrilege against the peace and quiet that hung like a mantle over the town.

Main and Chestnut Streets was the meeting point upon which they had agreed. Paul, Jack and Ken arrived almost simultaneously. They greeted each other with a smile. They inhaled deeply the fresh, invigorating air that set their blood dashing through their veins. William and Wallace arrived next and a minute later followed Nuthin’. They conversed in whispers lest they disturb the hushed, still air that hung everywhere about them. They were aglow with the joy of life. They huddled together, bubbling over with excitement and anticipation.

Bluff, gasping for breath, came running up. All there, Paul, the leader, gave the order to fall in line. Then he called out, “Forward, march!”

They were on their way. They walked in double file; each boy was dressed in his Scout uniform, with a knapsack on his back. As far as the end of the town they marched in formation. Turning into the road leading to Black Mountain, Paul gave the order to break formation. They divided into groups of twos and threes and walked along briskly. Soon they broke into song and during the next hour they sang every song they ever knew.

At about eight-thirty they decided to stop for breakfast. They picked a small clearing about a mile and a half up the slope of the mountain. Under the direction of Paul, enough wood was soon collected to build a fire and Ken, the official chef, set to work. It didn’t take long to prepare the meal and soon they all sat around in a circle and ate heartily, with gusto. After putting out the fire and cleaning up their dishes, they decided to rest there for about half an hour. The boys stretched out on the ground and stared up at the sky. Paul remarked casually, “This is the life, eh fellows?”

Bluff agreed, saying, “N-n-nothing l-l-like it.”

William interrupted, calling out, “Is that so! Just wait until we learn how to fly and have our own ship, then we’ll be able to camp anywhere within a radius of a thousand miles.”

Jack wanted to know, “What’s the matter with camping on Black Mountain?”

“Nothing at all,” answered William. “But just think of it: being able to fly, being able to pilot your own airplane and going anywhere your heart desires; and think of it, you pick out your camping ground as you fly along and looking down from a height of 5000 feet, that tree over there would look like a tiny household plant.”

Paul said, “Yes, there is something staggering about it, a feeling of tremendous power when you’re up in the air.” He sat up and yawned. “However,” he added, “what we have to decide right now is where are we going to camp?”

Ken spoke up, “Let’s return to where we camped last year; it’s as good a spot as you can find anywhere on the mountain.”

Bluff agreed, saying, “That s-suits me.”

Wallace suggested, “Why not go somewhere else this year? I know a swell spot about three miles south east.”

Jack asked, “How about it, Paul, you want to try this new camping site Wallace suggests?”

Paul nodded. “It’s all right with me,” he said.

The boys resumed their hike. It took them about four hours of steady walking with a few short rest periods to reach their goal The clearing was off the beaten track. A hundred feet away was a precipice overhanging the tops of many trees about a hundred feet below. There was a stream of fresh, cool water just behind the clearing.

Tired, footsore, ravenously hungry, they immediately set to and prepared a sumptuous meal of chops and potatoes prepared over an open fire. Later they pitched their tents and settled themselves for a week’s stay. That night, at the camp fire, the boys huddled close around the flaming logs of wood. Jack and Wallace were sitting together, about a yard or so away from the rest of the group. Jack asked his companion, “How did you happen to know of this place?”

Wallace hesitated. Finally he said, “Well, there’s a story behind it, some sort of mystery I never could make head or tail of.”

Jack perked up his ears. “What do you mean?” he inquired in a low tone of voice. “You never told us anything about it.”

The other boys were singing, and the echoes resounded far out across the mountain. The two whispered to each other. Wallace answered, “No, I didn’t, but that’s only because the story doesn’t seem to have any meaning and I didn’t want the fellows to think I was trying to put over a tall one on them.”

Jack became interested. Eagerly he asked, “Do you mind telling me the story?”

Wallace shook his head. “No, I don’t, but I warn you—there’s no sense to it all.”

“Well, let’s hear it anyhow,” said Jack urging his companion on.

Wallace twisted and turned and finally found a comfortable sitting position. He began his story by saying, “This camping ground is about three miles south east of the camping ground we usually go to. If you were particularly attentive, you would have noticed as we came here that this place is off the usual course followed by campers, is a little difficult to find and yet it appears to have been used frequently.”

Jack nodded, glanced at the fire and his companions, permitted his eyes to wander about the general extremities of the camp, then turned to his story teller and said, “Yes, but how did you come upon this camp site? Tell me that.”

Wallace betrayed a bit of uneasiness. He said, “I’m coming to that. Last year, camping up there”—he motioned with his hand—“I decided one morning to take a walk through the woods. There was no path, so I had to fight my way through bushes, shrubbery and all sorts of entanglements, until I came to a spot where the bushes were beaten down, a couple of low branches were broken off—there was every indication that on that spot a struggle had taken place between two or more people. I examined the ground very carefully for torn pieces of clothing and such things, and walking straight ahead I came upon the stream. Following the stream, I came upon this camp site.”

Jack mumbled, “Hm! Nothing mysterious about that.”

Wallace demanded, “What do you mean?”

Jack answered, “What I mean is, that there is no evidence of any mystery or anything. The whole thing seems to fall flat.”

“I told you that before,” said Wallace. “But you haven’t heard all of it. I have told you only the beginning.”

Jack felt foolish for having spoken out of turn instead of listening to the rest of the story. He squirmed in his seat and said, “I’m terribly sorry for interrupting. Go on.”

Wallace had by now become enthusiastic and he leaned closer to his companion. But just then, William called out, “Hey, you two, no secrets. Come on over and join us.”

A few of the other fellows cried, “Yes, come on, join us!”

“If it’s a story you’re telling him, Wallace, tell it to all of us.”

“Don’t be snobs. Join us.”

Jack waved to them and replied, “He’s telling me a ghost story without a ghost and no story to it.”

The boys laughed. The two drew closer together and Wallace continued. “Listen closely,” he said, “can you hear the gurgling sound of the stream?”

Jack listened closely and to his astonishment he couldn’t hear the sound of running water. Yet he was sure that the stream was less than ten feet away from where he sat. He looked in the direction of the stream but he didn’t see it. He turned quickly to his companion and whispered, “I don’t see it. Isn’t it supposed to be right there?”

Wallace grinned. “Correct,” he remarked. “But that’s another thing, one yard away from the stream and you don’t see it any more. Notice how cleverly, yet how naturally it is hidden.”

Jack nodded and looked around in amazement. He crept up on his knees, then stood up and still he couldn’t see the stream. He wanted to walk over there and assure himself that the stream was there but he was afraid of arousing suspicion. He sat down again and Wallace continued. “One more link in the chain,” he said. “About half a mile down this side of the mountain, there is a cave—a natural cave. I came upon it accidentally.”

“Did you go inside?” queried Jack eagerly.

“I only took a peek inside. Then I heard a noise or at least I thought I heard a noise and I jumped away, thinking that I would hide behind some shrubbery or something. But I never saw it again because I couldn’t find it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just what I said. I looked for it, I retraced my steps as carefully as I knew how, but no cave.”

Both boys remained silent for a while. Jack seemed to be lost in thought. Finally he asked, “Is that the whole story?”

Wallace nodded. “Yes.”

Jack shook his head. “Doesn’t seem to make sense.”

“That’s what I told you before,” insisted his companion.

CHAPTER VIII

The Mystery Becomes Complicated

Jack and Wallace joined the other boys in their singing. Later there circulated around the camp fire a series of humorous anecdotes followed by tall stories, each boy trying to improve upon the previous tale. Nuthin’ was doing his best to hold the attention of his listeners (and he was succeeding fairly well) with a ghost story which he had read in a magazine, but was relating as a personal incident. Suddenly Paul, possessing the sharpest ear among the group, wheeled around and listened carefully. The noise that he thought he heard stopped. Dropping on his stomach, he put his ear to the ground. A couple of minutes later, they could all hear various small noises, that sounded like the breaking of twigs or rolling stones set loose. Somebody was coming. Silent, awaiting the arrival of whoever it was, they sat hushed around the fire and stared expectantly at the probable spot where he would emerge. Tense, eager, every moment was an hour and the five or six minutes they waited seemed like an age. Finally a short, husky man, with a brutal face, emerged out of the woods and stepped into the light. He glanced from one boy to another. His facial features were distorted by his smile. At last he spoke. “Hello, fellows,” he said, his voice a bit raucous and loud. “Did I scare you?”

Paul stood up. “Why, no,” he answered calmly, “not at all. Won’t you join us?”

The man laughed with a gurgle in his throat. “Sure,” he answered, “but only for a couple of minutes. I have a shack a couple of miles yonder,” and he pointed in the general westerly direction. He joined the circle of boys around the fire. “What are you fellows doing here?” he asked.

Paul answered for all of them. “We’re seven Boy Scouts,” he said, “and we’re camping here for a week.”

“A week!” he exclaimed. He mused and stroked his chin. “Where are you boys from?” he inquired further.

“Stanhope,” he was told.

“Stanhope! I go down there about once every two weeks for supplies. But why do you boys camp here? I can tell you of a far better place to camp.”

“Where?” one of the boys asked him.

“About three miles northwest of here,” he answered.

They all guessed at once that he was referring to their old camping site. A couple of the boys were on the verge of telling him that they knew all about the place. But Jack spoke up first and asked, “What sort of a place is it?”

“Oh, it’s a very good camp site,” he answered. “There is a large clearing where you can play ball or any other game, and a large stream where you can go fishing and swimming.” he paused, glanced from one boy to another, then added, “Oh, it’s a far better camping site than this.”

“Where did you say this place was, sir?” asked Paul, affecting ignorance.

“Almost directly northwest of here,” the man replied with what seemed undue eagerness. “You can’t miss it.”

All the boys nodded in unison, as though they understood perfectly the directions he was giving them. In silence they wondered why the man was so anxious to have them move from their present camping ground. He tried hard not to betray his eagerness and anxiety, but he was a very poor actor. Jack inquired, “Is there anything wrong with this camping ground?”

The man scratched his head. “Well,” he answered, “not very much but it isn’t anywhere near as good as the one I’m telling you about. You really ought to go over there and see it.”

Wallace spoke up, saying, “I’m sure the gentleman has the best of intentions and if he says that the camping ground he’s telling us about is superior to this one, it must be so. In that case, it would be a shame not to take advantage of the information. The first thing tomorrow morning I’m going over there and take a look. If it is all the gentleman says it is, we’re going to move.”

The man grinned, the curl of his lips betraying, his deep self-satisfaction. “That boy is a smart one,” he cried. “He’s got the right idea.” He jumped to his feet. “Well, I’ll be going,” he announced. “So long, fellows.”

“So long.”

He went in the direction he came from. The boys held their breath and silently waited for fully five minutes, until the man’s footsteps could no longer be heard. Ken exploded. “Can you imagine that?” he cried. “He said he was going the other way and he walked back in the direction he came from.”

Paul held up his hand and motioned for order. “Hush, fellows,” he said. “We can discuss this quietly. Trees and bushes have ears, you know.”

They huddled closely together and whispered among themselves. Nuthin’ voiced the thought that disturbed them all. “I wonder why he objects to our camping here?” he asked.

William answered, “That’s something we all would like to know.”

Bluff stuttered, “S-s-something m-must be up.”

With a wave of his hand, William dismissed Bluff’s remark. “Anybody can guess that,” he said. “But what is it about, that’s what we want to know.” He turned to the other boys. “I’m stumped, I admit it,” he told them. “Can anybody guess?”

By the blank look on their faces he could tell that all his companions were just as much in the dark as he was. Jack whispered to Wallace, “You think this has something to do with the story you told me?”

Wallace shrugged his shoulders. “I’m at a loss. I can’t imagine.”

Paul addressed them. “Fellows,” he said. “There is something up, that we can all tell. There must be a reason why he wants us to move camp. But what the reason is and what it’s all about, we can’t find out tonight. There’s nothing we can do tonight anymore except go to sleep. In the morning we will consider the whole thing and see what we can do.”

The boys were nonplussed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Paul. They were loathe, however, to turn in just then. The incident had the effect of keeping them wide awake and of arousing in them the curiosity to know what it was all about. But it was evident that there was nothing they could do that evening. So in spite of their inclinations they all decided to go to sleep. But just then Bluff spoke up and inspired a new argument. “D-d-don’t you think that w-w-we ought t-t-take turns k-k-keeping guard?” he asked.

“Keep guard!” exclaimed Nuthin’, “What are you talking about?”

William jumped to Bluff’s defense. “Sure,” he cried, “he’s got the right idea. We ought to keep guard all night and watch out against any one creeping up on us while we’re asleep.”

At other times the boys would have laughed at the suggestion. But their thoughts were such that the idea appealed to them and seemed reasonable.

Paul objected. “Don’t be foolish,” he said. “Who’ll creep up on us? Who’ll want to harm us?”

William retorted hotly. “How should I know? But you were a witness to what happened tonight. You’ll admit that the stranger was eager to have us move camp. There must be a reason for it. And—”

“Yes,” interjected Wallace, “but does that imply that he wants to harm us or attack us? I think you’re permitting your imagination to run away with you—like that time with the ghost.”

That remark broke the ice and the boys laughed heartily, recalling the ghost incident. The boys then dismissed all thoughts of danger and decided to retire. It had been a big day for them and they were very tired. They slept soundly all through the night without awakening or being disturbed.

In the morning before breakfast, Jack took Paul aside and the two carried on a hurried, whispered conversation. They then called over Wallace and the three withdrew for a serious conference. After Wallace had told his story, Paul asked, “Well, what’s your opinion of the whole thing?”

Wallace said, “It’s my impression that there is some connection between the incidents, but what it is I don’t know.”

Jack nodded. “I’m somewhat of the same opinion,” he commented.

“Let’s not try to solve the puzzle now,” remarked Paul. “Are you two agreed that we ought to move camp?”

A decisive yes was Jack’s answer and Wallace approved, saying, “Same here.”

“In that case we’ll have to convince the other fellows that we should move,” said Paul.

“Do you think we ought to tell them the rest of the story?” inquired Wallace of his two friends.

Jack shook his head. “I don’t think it will help any or serve any good purpose,” he asserted. “It will only excite them.”

“Yes,” added Paul. “It’s a shame we have to keep it a secret from them, but I think we’re justified. My opinion is that we should convince them somehow that we ought to move. In the meanwhile, just as soon as you two can get away, you’ll slip out quietly and explore the woods for a couple of mil