Jack Ranger's Gun Club: or, From Schoolroom to Camp and Trail

“Catch him!” shouted the man who had directed that the boys be made prisoners. “He’s locoed – crazy!”

“Andy will look after him! He’s running right into his arms,” said some one, and sure enough, the man did catch Will in his arms. The next moment the two disappeared inside the big shed.

Jack and his chums looked at one another.

“He must have gone suddenly out of his head,” said Jack. “That blow he got when he landed in the snow bank has crazed him.”

CHAPTER XXXIII

HELD CAPTIVES

“Now then, you chaps; are you going to come along quietly, or will we have to use force?” demanded the man who had hold of Jack.

“It depends on what you’re going to do with us,” replied the captain of the gun club.

“Well, I don’t know what we are going to do with you,” answered the man. “It will depend on what Andy says.”

“Who’s Andy?”

“That man who just captured your friend – the lad that tried to get away.”

“Look here!” burst out Nat. “If you hurt Will, or any of us, we’ll have you arrested. Hoptoads and hornets! but you haven’t any right to treat us this way.”

“Say, sonny, don’t use such big words, or you might break an arm or leg,” spoke the man sarcastically. “I’ve told you once that you hadn’t any right to come here, but now that you’re here, you’ll have to put up with the consequences. You’ll have to stay here, until Andy decides what to do with you.”

“Well, you’d better go ask him to decide at once,” suggested Sam. “We’ve got a long way to go back to camp, and we want to start.”

“Now just take your time,” advised the man. “You’re not running this.”

He took off his cap, and scratched his head in perplexity. He had a shock of thick, red hair, and for want of a better name, since he had not announced it, the lads dubbed him Sandy.

“Was that Andy, as you call him, who went in the big shed with Will?” asked Jack.

“That’s him. He’ll have to decide what to do with you, for I’m blessed if I know. He’s the boss.”

“Then go ask him,” demanded Jack, backing up Sam’s suggestion.

“I can’t,” was the reply.

“Why not?”

“Because Andy has given orders that no one but himself is allowed inside that shed, except on certain occasions.”

“Is he afraid the big bird will get away?” asked Nat.

“What big bird?” inquired Sandy quickly. He took a tighter grip of Jack’s arm, and the other men in the group, each of whom held one of the young captives, seemed waiting for Nat’s reply.

“Oh, we know you’ve got some kind of a monster bird in that shed,” went on Nat. “We heard it flying over our camp, and we came out here to see it.”

“Is that all you came for?” asked Sandy.

“That’s all,” put in Jack. “We wanted to solve the mystery of the strange noises, and the queer marks in the snow.”

“What queer marks in the snow?”

Jack told Sandy what he and his chums had seen, relating in detail how they had tried, on several occasions, to penetrate to the camp, and how, at length, they had made the trip on the sled.

“Now why don’t you go tell Andy, who seems to be the head of this crowd, what I say, and ask him to let us go?” went on Jack. “We meant no harm, but we’d like to see the bird.”

“So you think it’s a bird; eh?”

“Yes, or perhaps some prehistoric monster.”

Sandy laughed.

“You’re right in thinking Andy is the head of this camp,” he said. “We’re all working for him, but, as I said, he won’t let one of us go inside that shed without his orders. Since your friend went in there he’ll have to stay until Andy brings him out. Then you can make your own plea. Until then I’m going – ”

“If you’re going to hold us prisoners, you’d better think twice about it,” went on Jack. “My father has friends out West here, and I shall telegraph him of this outrage as soon as I get away.”

“Now go easy,” advised the red-haired man. “I’m not going to harm any of you, but I’m not going to let you get away until Andy has seen you. You’ll have to stay here, but we’ll make you as comfortable as possible. I guess you can stay in one of the cabins. There are some of them empty, as a number of the men have left.”

“Then we’re captives?” asked Jack.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it that,” spoke Sandy with a grin. “Just consider yourselves our guests. We’ll treat you well, and give you plenty of grub, such as it is.”

“We have some of our own,” Bony said.

“You haven’t any right to detain us,” declared Sam.

“We won’t discuss that again,” said Sandy. “Now be reasonable. S’pose I did let you go. You couldn’t get back to your camp to-night, over the mountain, and without horses. You’d have to camp in the open. Isn’t it better to stay in one of our cabins, where it’s nice and warm? Besides, it looks like a storm.”

Jack could not but admit that this reasoning was good. They had not counted on getting back, after their trip on the sled, but it was obvious that they could not coast back to camp, and if they had started to return, they would have had to pass the night in an open camp, no very pleasant prospect.

“Well,” said Jack at length, “I guess we’ll have to stay. But I don’t like the idea of being considered prisoners.”

“Well, don’t think of it then,” advised Sandy with another grin. “Now, you’re free. I let you go. Where will you head for?”

He released Jack’s arm, and motioned for his companions to do likewise for the other lads.

Jack looked about him. Clearly there was no place to escape to. Besides, it would never do to go off and leave Will in the hands of the enemy. There was nothing to do but to stay.

“Now, then,” went on Sandy, “you can go to that cabin over there,” and he pointed to a large one. “You’ll find some bunks there, a good fireplace, and some grub. Or you can use your own provisions, just as you like. All I ask is that you give me your word of honor that you’ll not leave without telling me first. It may be that Andy won’t want you detained at all, but I’m taking no chances. Will you promise?”

“Will any harm come to Will?” asked Jack.

“You mean the lad who ran into the shed? I can’t say. I know Andy will be very much put out at his going there, but I don’t believe he’ll harm him. Now, will you give me your parole, or will I have to lock you up?”

Jack hesitated a moment.