Woodcraft: or, How a Patrol Leader Made Good

Elmer said nothing. But he was watching the coming of the late scout with an expression of rising curiosity on his face. Truth to tell, he noted something that none of the others had. Red Huggins looked more than "peeved" because he was arriving late at the meeting-place, when a scout is supposed to be always punctual to the minute. He was worried, worked up over something or other!

"Hurry up here, old molasses in Winter!" called Lil Artha. "Why, we were just going to leave you in the lurch. What sort of an excuse can you give for holding eleven comrades nearly ten minutes each? That means more'n an hour wasted. It's a crying shame, that's what!"

Red had by now reached them. He was panting a little, as though he might have run some distance, in order to make up for lost time.

"Wasn't altogether my fault, fellows," he started to explain.

"Oh! come now, no excuses are going to pass here!" broke in Toby.

"Give him a chance to say what he wants to, boys," remarked Elmer; and the late comer darted him a look of thanks.

"I was just going to start out," Red began, "when father came home. He had been out trying a new horse he bought; and at first I thought he might have had a runaway, he looked that excited. But one of our neighbors came hurrying in, saying he had just heard the news over the telephone, and asking father what it meant."

"News! What's that? Something happened since we left home?" and the scouts began to look at each other, while several grew a little white.

"Yes," Red went on, rapidly; "it happened that my father was one of those who brought the news to town. I got so stuck on what they were saying that I clean forgot everything else; and that made me late. Then father saw me in my scout uniform, and he said he wondered if Elmer Chenowith, who was so smart about following a trail, could lend a hand – that it seemed a job for the scouts, if ever there was one!"

"Oh! speak out, and tell us what's happened!" cried Toby, catching hold of Red by his sleeve and shaking him a little.

"Well, you know Mrs. Gruber, the woman who lives in that little house half a mile or so up the Jericho Road – she's got just one child, a little girl, with the sunniest smile and the prettiest golden hair you ever saw. Well, seems like she separated from her husband, Dolph Gruber, because of his bad habits. Father says Dolph came home last night, made no end of a row, struck his wife, and went away with little Ruth, saying her mother would never see her again. And that's what he meant, fellows, when he said it was a job for the scouts. Elmer, do you dare tackle it, and try to get back that little girl again for her nearly crazy mother?"

CHAPTER VIII.

FOLLOWING A TRAIL

A dead silence followed these startling words of Red Huggins.

The party of scouts looked at one another, as though their very breath might have been taken away by the stunning news brought by the late comer.

Elmer was the first one to recover his wits; perhaps because his nature proved to be a bit stronger than any of the others; and then again it may have been through the fact that he had had much more experience in grappling with just such situations as the present.

"That father of yours was quite right, Red," he said. "The chances are this is a job just suited to the scouts. For what is the use of learning all those things about tracking through the woods, if you can't make use of them when an occasion comes along."

"Do we go, Elmer?" demanded Lil Artha, eagerly, his face lighting up.

"Say yes, Elmer!" cried the impulsive Red. "Oh! father declares that poor woman is nearly out of her mind with fear of what her bad husband may do with the little girl. You know it isn't his child at all, really; he is her second husband. Her name used to be Tubbs."

"What? I didn't know that before!" exclaimed Elmer, staring at the speaker.

"But that won't make any difference, will it, because she happens to be some relation to Matt?" asked Toby. "I know the girl, Ruth; and as Red says, she's a little fairy, an angel. Let's go, fellows!"

"Of course we'll go, and try to do the best we can to get back the child," Elmer remarked, as he shut his teeth hard. "I've heard a good deal about this Dolph Gruber; and every one says he's a hard nut. But there are a dozen of us, fellows, and I reckon we ought to be a match for one coward. I call him that because none but a miserable drunkard and a coward would act as he has done, striking his wife, and carrying off her child, with such a horrible threat."

"Then let's be off right away," said Red, in his impatient way.

"Fall in, and we'll go on the double-quick, up the Jericho Road," called Elmer.

Mark was along, bugle and all, even though this hike which they had planned was not looked upon as a troop affair, and no one was under any compulsion to enter for the long walk.

Circumstances entirely unexpected had suddenly caused an entire change in their program; but accustomed to meeting emergencies as they arose, Elmer was just as ready to take up the new scheme.

No doubt he was more or less thrilled with pleasure to think that Mr. Huggins, who was quite an important man in the affairs of Hickory Ridge, should consider him able to grapple with this situation.

Others might start to scouring the surrounding country, in hopes of cutting the scoundrel off, and effecting his arrest. But if Dolph Gruber were as keen-witted as he was given credit for being, he would likely avoid beaten paths, and keep to the timber, thus preventing these searchers from getting in touch with him.

Of course Elmer could hardly believe the man was bad enough to think of really injuring little Ruth. He probably meant to punish his wife for refusing to longer hand over to him some of the money she received from relatives, by carrying her child away, and keeping the little girl concealed, until the mother promised to come to terms, and pay a ransom.

But at the same time his act was that of a fiend; and Elmer's boyish heart was filled with indignation as he in imagination could see the poor mother weeping because her little one was gone, leaving her to fear all sorts of terrible things.

Yes, this was surely a case for the scouts. If ever their knowledge of woodcraft promised to be of value it must be now. Dolph could not go very far without leaving some sort of a trail behind him. And as he was apt to shun the roads and beaten paths through the woods, they could the easier follow him. Half a mile is a very short distance when boys are in a hurry.

"There's the house right now!" called out one sharp-eyed scout, suddenly.

"Yes, and there's a crowd of people around, too!" declared another. "Must have got the news around mighty quick. Say, there comes a wagon racing along from over Fairfield way; and I just bet you it's got Matt and his dad in it, too."

"Just what it has, fellows," declared Ty. "Looks like we were just bound to run across that Matt everywhere we went, don't it? And here comes a car from Hickory Ridge, with a lot of people in it. Looky there, some of 'em are the officers. Yep, here they come right after us. Make way, fellows, if you don't want to get run over!"

A few minutes later, and they brought up at the cottage which had so suddenly become such a center of interest. The phone had been used from Hickory Ridge to inform Mr. Tubbs, who was a big contractor in Fairfield. Others had come from various neighboring homes, for it is amazing how such news flies on the wings of the wind.

The boys moved around among the people for a short time. Elmer made his way inside the cottage, to where he could hear the bereaved mother crying, and between sobs trying the best she could to tell just how it had happened.

"If we only knew which way Dolph went, we might manage to head him off," declared the police head, after a while.

"Oh! if you only could, how happy I would be!" Mrs. Gruber cried, stopping her crying to wring her hands entreatingly. "He is a bad man when he drinks; and he was in a terrible temper because I said I couldn't get him any more money – that my folks wouldn't allow me to turn over another cent to him. Please start right away; and if you bring back my Ruth unharmed I will pray for you every night of my whole life!"

"But how are we to know which way he went?" questioned the officer. "You say he struck you, ma'am, and that you fell down almost insensible. But can you not give us some sort of clue as to which direction he took?"

"Yes, sir, I can," came the eager reply. "Please come outside with me. You see, I seemed to recover after a little, and being almost crazy to know what he had done with my darling Ruth, I managed to crawl out of the door here, though I was so dizzy I could hardly keep from falling. Then I saw him carrying my child in his arms, and just disappearing in the woods over there, close to where you see that dark hemlock, under which," with another choking sob, "she used to play so often."

"Sure of that, are you, ma'am?" asked the man in uniform, quickly.

"Yes, yes, I assure you it is the exact truth, sir. Under that hemlock I saw them disappear," the distracted mother cried.

"I understand what he had in his mind," broke in a man. "That's a short cut to the other road that leads over to Cramertown. Dolph used to live there once. So of course he's heading that way."

To be sure it seemed most reasonable, and not one of the men appeared to doubt the accuracy of the guess in the least. But Elmer was not so sure. He knew that when a man becomes by some act of his own a fugitive from the law, he changes his ways. Cramertown, then, would be one of the last places to which Dolph Gruber would think of fleeing, because he was well known there.

"Then, seems like the best thing we could do, gents," declared the officer, with a show of cunning in his manner, "would be to jump aboard the car again, and make around the road for Cramertown. If he ain't there yet, perhaps he'll be along before a great while; and we can lay a trap for Dolph. Jump aboard, those that are going. Cramertown it is, boys. And we'll bring back the little gal, sure as you're born."

The car was speedily filled with eager hunters, and went spinning down the road headed for the forks some two miles away, where they could change their course, and reach the object of their ambition.

Some of the scouts had looked as though they wanted to accompany the party in the car, but Elmer made no movement in that quarter, and so of course the others would not think of taking matters in their own hands. Besides, they were anxious to see what their leader meant to do.

Waiting until the car and its load had vanished in a cloud of dust, Elmer made a swift movement with his arm to his followers. Then the entire dozen hurried off, heading exactly toward the hemlock which Mrs. Gruber had twice stated was the point where she had had the last glimpse of the kidnaper.

"Now we'll see whether scout tactics are worth anything," observed Lil Artha, to Landy Smith and Phil Dale, the two new members who had come along to begin their experiences as scouts; although neither of them was in the regulation uniform as yet, because the tailor, Jasper's father, had not been able to commence their suits of khaki.

Of course these two boys were watching everything that occurred, with eyes round with wonder. They were of the observing kind, and would doubtless quickly grasp the fact that a scout must keep eyes and ears on the alert, if he hoped to accomplish anything.