The Outdoor Chums on the Lake: or, Lively Adventures on Wildcat Island

“Say, do you really suppose we could meet with those scamps again?” he said, eagerness showing in his eyes; for Jerry loved excitement, though fond of calling himself a square sportsman, always giving the game every possible chance.

“About one chance in ten; still, it’s there. If they hang around here for any reason, and we’re in the woods, you can see we might run across the couple,” replied the other, quietly.

“Talk to me about your volunteer fire companies, I reckon we’ve got a cinch on the prize for rapid work,” cried Jerry. “Only for you, Frank, that blessed old Eastern Star was sure bound to go up in smoke. The company ought to vote you a medal.”

“And there’s poor Will standing on the deck waiting for us to come in and tell him what all this fuss is about,” remarked Bluff, as they drew near the shore.

“Hello! you runaways, what in the wide world was all that row out there?” demanded the stranded canoeist, as the others glided in close to the little wharf upon which he was sitting with his legs dangling over, and the precious camera gripped tight in his hands.

“All sorts of things happening. The boat was on fire, and Frank here settled that by grabbing up an extinguisher and turning the hose on the flames, while the crew was handling the buckets. The whole thing would have gone up if we hadn’t arrived just in time. Then there was a robbery aboard,” said Bluff, eagerly.

“What! a robbery? Do you really mean it?” gasped Will.

“Certainly. A jewelry salesman had a valuable packet stolen from his stateroom. It is believed that the fire was started just to cover the robbery. While we were talking over matters, trying to get the facts straight, and decided on arresting a couple of hoboes aboard who were suspected of doing the job, they ran away with the double canoe, and escaped into the woods across yonder,” went on Frank.

“Two hoboes! Why, I saw them standing at the side of the steamboat looking down at the canoes. They’ll appear in the picture I took just then, for the smoke was rolling up, and the view was magnificent,” declared Will.

Frank started and looked hastily out upon the lake.

“I’m afraid it would be too far to recognize the features of any one, even if you caught a first-class view,” he remarked.

“Still there’s a little chance. A magnifier or reading-glass might bring it out strong enough. Anyhow, I’m going right home and make the try, fellows. My roll is finished, and I might as well develop it now as later.”

“Bring it around to-night when we meet at my house to talk over our camping trip for the Easter holidays,” said Frank.

“Where do you think we’ll go, boys?” asked Bluff, anxiously.

“For myself I’m in favor of Wildcat Island at the southern end of the lake. Somehow, nobody ever goes there, and we could have a great time, I imagine,” remarked Frank.

“Yes, especially with the wild man that they say has his den somewhere on that same old island,” remarked Bluff, shrugging his shoulders, as if the idea did not strike him favorably.

“Talk about your circus, a wild man appeals to me every time!” said Jerry. “I’m in favor of going there, particularly because it offers a chance for excitement. Suppose we captured this thing and found that it was a big monkey or orang-outang that had escaped from some menagerie long ago, wouldn’t that be something to shout over? Me for Wildcat Island. How about you, Will?”

“To tell the truth I’ve always wanted to get some good views of that lonely place, and I’ll vote in favor of going there,” returned the young photographer.

Bluff turned anxiously toward Frank.

“Are you backing these desperate schemers up in this madness, Frank?” he asked.

“Well, I’d like to explore that place very much. No one has ever done it, so far as I can learn. Some say the island is haunted; others that there are rattlers in plenty there, besides furious wildcats; and then there’s this story told about a wild man who has been seen several times on the shore of the island. Why, yes, I’m in favor of going there to-morrow, when we start out.”

Bluff threw up both hands.

“I give in. Three against one settles the matter for keeps. Wildcat Island it is then for the Easter camp. But I refuse to accept any of the responsibility for whatever may happen,” declared Bluff, firmly.

“Speak to me about a quitter, will you? Listen to him knuckling down before we even make a start. He claims to have bigger lungs than me, does he? I’ll have to admit that he can make a lot more noise when it comes to squealing.”

Bluff Masters turned upon the other indignantly, as he exclaimed:

“Wait and see who turns white first when that wild man bobs up. My lungs are in better shape than yours, and I can prove it any old day. There goes Will off, and I’m for following him. Bring a print of each picture around to-night, old chap.”

“Sure. And let’s hope they turn out decent,” answered the other, waving a hand as he moved away in the direction of town, leaving it to Frank to paddle the big canoe to the landing where they kept the cedar craft when not in the boathouse of the club.

Frank was a busy fellow during the remainder of the day. He had the job of laying in the stores that were to see them through a whole week in camp; and when four boys get out in the open for that length of time it is simply astonishing what an amount of food they can dispose of.

But Frank had spent many a night under canvas and bark covers in Maine, and, in fact, there was little about camping he did not know. At the same time he always made it a point to ask questions whenever he ran across any one who had also been through the mill; for in this way even veterans may learn new wrinkles by exchanging ideas.

About eight o’clock, Jerry and Will came in together, as they lived close to one another. Bluff was not a minute behind them, anxious for a view of the pictures that had been taken that day.

“Say, how did they turn out?” he demanded, as soon as he entered the room where Will was opening an envelope, and Frank handling a large reading-glass.

“Just bully, that’s what. Never got better results. The water was in a beautiful ripple, you see, and that always adds to a picture. Here, take a look, fellows,” with which remark Will scattered a lot of prints on the table.

He had certainly become quite a clever hand at both developing his films and printing his pictures, for the results were as clear as a bell.

“They do look fine,” commented Frank, as he commenced to shuffle them over; “and the smoke is pouring out of that old steamboat at a great rate. I’m looking for the one you spoke about, where those hoboes are standing in the sunlight on the edge of the burning boat. Here it is. Jerry, you would be apt to know better than I could if either of these fellows has a familiar face. Take a look.”

“If he don’t, perhaps I may. I’ve lived around here three days longer than he ever did,” grumbled Bluff.

Jerry bent down closer and continued to stare through the reading-glass.

“Talk to me about your luck, boys, this beats the band!” he exclaimed.

“Do you recognize one of them, then?” asked Frank, eagerly.

“Sure I do, and I’m surprised Captain Amos didn’t. The dumpy one is Waddy Walsh, the bad egg, who was sent to the reform school three years ago. He must have escaped somehow, and joined the army of tramps on the road,” declared Jerry, positively.

CHAPTER IV – THE PADDLE TO WILDCAT ISLAND

“Waddy Walsh!” exclaimed Bluff, showing sudden interest. “Let me look, Jerry!”

“Will you give an honest opinion, regardless of any bias, one way or the other?” demanded the other, whose father was a leading lawyer in Centerville.

“Of course I will. What do you take me for, anyway?” replied Bluff, aggrieved.

“Then look, and tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” and Jerry handed him the reading-glass.

“Well, what’s the verdict?” asked Frank, after Bluff had studied the picture for a full minute.

“I won’t be as positive as our friend here, but I’m inclined to think that it may be Waddy, all right; anyhow, he’s about his size, and there’s something in his way of standing that reminds me of the fellow,” announced Bluff.

“Talk to me about your hedging, what d’ye think of that? Of course it’s Waddy, as big as life, grown somewhat, and with torn clothes and dirty face; but I’d know his attitude among a dozen. Consider that point settled, Frank.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter much to us at all. If the sheriff, Mr. Dodd, manages to catch up with the runaways, Mr. Waddy will have a chance to go back to where he came from – the reform school. Now, let’s drop those two, and talk over our proposed visit to Wildcat Island,” remarked Frank.

“Have you got all the supplies?” asked Will.

“Here’s the list. Look it over, and if anybody wants to suggest other things all they have to do is to put them down. We’re willing to lug stuff there to the limit of our canoes,” answered Frank.

When they had made all arrangements the meeting was adjourned to the time when they expected to start from the boathouse just after noon on the following day.

“How about the weather – do we go, regardless?” asked Will, again.

“True canoeists laugh at the weather. Come rain, come storm, they buck up against whatever the day brings forth. At one, then, every fellow be on hand. I’ll have the supplies there before that. I’ve got a surprise in store for you boys, too,” remarked Frank.

“Tell me about that, will you; he’s going to let us lie awake all night trying to guess the great conundrum. Say, it hasn’t anything to do with the girls coming over some day to take dinner with us, has it?” asked Jerry.

“Oh! say, that would be immense, only too good to be true,” cried Bluff, who, be it known, was rather inclined to be sweet on Frank’s only sister, Nellie.

“They’ve promised to come, all right; but this has nothing to do with that. You just wait and see, that’s all I’ll say. Now come into the front room, fellows. Nellie has had several friends over, and we’re going to make a delightful evening of it.”

Frank would not listen to any protest, but ushered his three chums into the parlor where they found four lively girls enjoying themselves with music, and waiting for the meeting of the club to come to an end.

For the next hour they romped as only a lot of young people may, for whom the morrow has no terrors. Will’s twin sister, Violet, was, of course, there, as were Mame Crosby and Susie Prescott, the former of whom was never so happy as when teasing Jerry, and getting him to “spout” after the fashion of his learned father when pleading for a prisoner before the bar.

It was about half-past ten that they separated, after enjoying some simple refreshments in the way of cake and lemonade.

The boys saw the girls home, Will taking his sister; while Bluff, secretly informing Nellie Langdon that he only did it out of pure courtesy, saw that Susie was properly escorted through the quiet streets of Centerville, and reached her father’s house in safety.

When Frank reached the boathouse, just at half-past twelve on the following day, he found all of his companions there ahead of him.

“You slow coach, think we’ve got the whole afternoon to get started?” demanded Bluff, who was bustling around as usual, yet accomplishing very little.

“Well, if you examine closer you’ll find that I’ve been here most of the morning, and packed the things in several bundles. These go in the big canoe; those yonder you must stow away, Bluff, while Jerry will take care of the rest,” replied Frank, paying little attention to the way in which he was addressed, because he knew it was mere talk, and no slur intended.

“Sure you didn’t miss anything?” asked Jerry, smiling grimly; for he pretended to scorn this wholesale carrying of stuff into the woods, and always declared he could exist happily with a blanket, a coffee-pot, a frying-pan, some salt and pepper, coffee and ship biscuit, depending on rod and gun to supply all else.

Nevertheless, when the “duffle” was lugged into the woods he considered it a sacred duty to do his utmost to lessen the supplies, possibly for fear they would have to “tote” them out again, as Bluff used to sarcastically remark.

“Not that I know of. If you are afraid, why we might go over the list again, and see what else we can use,” said Frank, with a wink toward Will.

“I beg of you don’t. My poor canoe would sink of fright or freight. Besides, I want you to notice that it’s kind of rough out on the lake, and as it stands we’re taking big chances of being swamped. Come on, fellows, load your cargo!” called Jerry.

“What’s this funny bundle in our boat?” demanded Will, suddenly.

“Ask no questions and I’ll give you no yarns. Just possess your souls in patience, and you’ll see after a while,” came Frank’s answer, as he went on loading systematically, taking heed of the fact that they would need to buck up against some rather heavy seas from the south while on the way, and that everything must be protected from the wet by covers.

“I bet it’s a new patent stove he’s got along,” suggested Will.

“Oh! that’s in my boat already. It burns kerosene, and makes a blue gas. Frank says it’s the boss in rainy weather, with those aluminum camp kettles for cooking. I reckon it must be a box of cake and pies the girls have supplied,” ventured Bluff.

“You’re away off, for they’re going to bring those things when they come. Besides, this isn’t in the shape of a box at all,” laughed Frank.

“That’s a fact, and it looks more like a spare blanket or two,” came from Jerry.

“Well, give it up, boys. I don’t believe you’d guess in a month of Sundays. Now, are you all ready?” queried the leader of the club, as he took up his paddle and prepared to look after the port side while Will worked the starboard.

Frank, being the more experienced of the twain, had the stern seat, as that is usually considered the post of greater responsibility in clearing rocks while running rapids, and generally guiding the craft.

“Say when!” called Jerry.

“The Red Rover is ready to meet the storm!” announced Bluff, whose little craft had a narrow band of red around its gunwale.

“Go!”

The four paddles dipped deeply into the water, and simultaneously the little canoes started into the teeth of the wind. There were a few shouts from the shore, and considerable waving of snowy ’kerchiefs from a group of girls standing before Frank’s house, which latter brought a series of salutes from the paddlers until the commodore of the flotilla sternly warned them that unless they paid more attention to what they were doing an upset would mark the beginning of their Spring outing.

After that they kept their eyes straight ahead. And, indeed, there was really need for all attention, since the waves were running quite high for such small vessels to meet. Still, a canoe, if properly handled, can live in a sea that will sink a much larger boat; since the tiny cedar craft mounts to the crests of the waves with the buoyancy of a cork.

They paddled strenuously for an hour toward the south, and by that time were beginning to feel their muscles growing somewhat sore. The season was young, and they had not as yet become wholly accustomed to hard manual labor, though all of them used the school gymnasium through the winter months in the endeavor to keep in condition.

“Talk about your combers, these are the real thing,” grunted Jerry, as he shot up on the crest of a wave, from which exalted position he had a fleeting view of the island dead ahead; and was then swept down into what seemed to be a valley.

The fact that each boat was so heavily laden added to the danger of their swamping if once they turned sideways to the seas, or broached to; but the boys were conscious of this ever-impending peril, and fought tooth and nail to prevent it.

Wildcat Island was quite a large piece of ground, standing in the lake at some little distance from either shore, but much nearer the western one, that upon which the town of Newtonport was situated, with its distant range of hills, called the Sunset Mountains by the natives.

This island lay not far from the foot of the lake, while another, going by the name of Snake Island, was situated close to the lumber camp at the head of the body of water, which was some ten miles long by between one and two wide.

With a strong south wind blowing, a heavy sea could be kicked up, though naturally this would be found much worse the farther up the lake one went.

“Ten minutes more will see us there, boys!” shouted Frank.

He feared that one of the other paddlers might be getting pretty near his last effort, and wished to encourage the balance of his chums to renewed efforts.

“We’re all right; don’t worry about us,” called back Bluff, who happened to be a little bit ahead.

He had hardly spoken than he came close to the verge of disaster. To make his voice carry the better, Bluff had half turned his head, and in doing this lost his advantage just a trifle. So it came that the next sea struck the Red Rover on the forward port side, instead of head on. This caused the frail canoe to sheer out of her course, amid frantic efforts of her wearied skipper to regain a straightaway heading; and only for the fact that a second sea did not follow closely on the heels of the first, he might have met with an upset.

Presently they ran into the lee of the island, where the water was smoother.

This revived the flagging energies of Bluff and Jerry, always rivaling each other in whatever they attempted; so they set up a little race for the shore.

“Who won, Frank?” demanded Bluff between gasps, as all of them landed.

“Well,” remarked the other, with a sly wink at Will, which at the time the latter did not fully understand, though its import was made plain later, “I’d declare it a dead heat! You two fellows are so evenly matched it’s hard to decide which is the better.”

“All but our lung capacity; there I’ve got him beaten every time,” insisted Bluff.

“You have, eh? Wait until the opportunity comes, and you’ll just see how easy I put you on the mat. Ashore it is, my hearties! We’re castaway sailors for a week!” exclaimed Jerry, suiting the action to the word, and dragging his canoe up on the little shelving beach, beyond which lay the bristling thickets, hiding all the mysteries of Wildcat Island.

“Monarch of all we survey. Here we hide from the world, and forget dull care,” sang Will, prancing about to ease up his strained muscles.

“Here, lend a helping hand, you shirk!” called Frank, who was dragging the big canoe ashore alone.

Suddenly there was a shriek from Will that made the others spring up. Frank’s hand involuntarily reached out for the double-barreled shotgun that lay in its waterproof case on top of the stuff in his canoe.

“Look! look! the wild man!” shouted Jerry.

They all saw a hideous face framed among the branches and twigs of the thicket close by. One second only was it in view, hardly long enough for them to make out that it was human rather than that of an immense ape. Then the ugly face vanished from their sight, leaving the four canoeists gaping at each other as though unable to positively decide whether they had really seen the mysterious wild man of the island, or something which their imaginations had conjured up instead.

CHAPTER V – A STRANGE HAPPENING

“Did you see him, boys?” exclaimed Will, who was shivering as if he had just run across a ghost.

“Why, to be sure,” replied Frank, laughing a little forcedly; for the sight of that hideous face had given him a shock.

“Then it was so, after all. I began to believe I was just imagining things. Oh! what a magnificent opportunity I missed. How can I ever forgive myself?” groaned Will, showing signs of disgust.

“Opportunity for what – capturing the terrible wild man?” cried Bluff, aghast at what seemed the audacity of his ordinarily peaceable chum.

“Certainly not. But if I had only been ready I could have taken his picture to show the folks at home. My stars! what a great feat that would have been,” sighed the disappointed photographer, shaking his head.

“Tell me about that, will you? There was my uncle laughing at me when I mentioned about this same wild man of the island. He declared it was only some innocent animal, or else an old woman’s tale. But every one of us saw him, and we’ve not been ashore five minutes, either,” declared Jerry.

“I foresee some stirring times for us here, what with the snakes, if they are to be found, the ferocious wildcats they tell about, and now this mysterious wild man,” remarked Frank, soberly, as he began to take the bundles out of his canoe and place them high and dry up on the shore.

“Are we going to stay?” asked Bluff.

“Why, to be sure we are. Talk to me about your brave men, I like to hear a fellow speak about being scared away by the first sight of some poor, harmless chap. Perhaps it’s another of Mr. Smithson’s crazy people, escaped from the asylum over at Merrick, and hiding out here.”

On their camping-out trip of the preceding autumn they had met with a remarkable personage who persisted in declaring that he was the famous Prince Bismarck, and who eventually turned out to be an escaped inmate of the asylum at Merrick, some miles away.

A keeper named Smithson had engaged them to help him capture the demented one, and this was what Jerry was referring to when he spoke.

“I wouldn’t wonder but what that may be true,” remarked Frank, seriously; “but no matter, we are not the kind to run at a shadow. We laid out this trip to spend our Easter holidays on Wildcat Island, and it’s got to be something pretty threatening that will frighten us off.”

“Hear! hear!” exclaimed Jerry.

“That’s the stuff!” declared Bluff, thinking that he could not afford to let his rival take all the credit for valor.

“But I’ll never get another opportunity to take his picture,” complained Will.

“How do you know? Man alive, there may be no end of stirring times coming, with that same old hermit figuring in the circus. Perhaps the scent of our coffee and bacon will bring him back into touch with civilization; why, he may even walk into our camp, and try to make friends, when he gets a whiff of onions frying,” and Frank slapped his chum on the back as he spoke along this line.

“Oh! well, if you think that way I’ll keep up my hopes. And you just remember that if I seem to be hugging this little snapshot contrivance closer than usual, why, I’m only keeping in readiness for instantaneous work. A fellow has to be pretty quick on the trigger to get a picture of a wild man, you know.”

They soon had the boats unloaded.

“Pull them out, fellows. I’ve brought along the chains and padlocks belonging to each boat. Having a canoe stolen isn’t such fun, even on a ten-mile lake like Camalot,” ventured Frank, as he produced the articles in question, and proceeded to fasten the canoes together, at the same time making sure they were chained to the sturdy root of a nearby tree.

“He thinks of everything,” admitted Will, in admiration.

“Don’t you believe it for one second. I forget many things; but as they said a wild man inhabited this bit of island, I wanted to make sure he did not run off with any of our boats, and perhaps our supplies.”

“All the same, it took your long head to think of such a thing, old chap. Now, I defy any one to hook our boats. Besides, we don’t mean to ever leave the camp unguarded; and I guess you expect to put up the tents close by here?” said Jerry.

“It looks good to me,” replied Frank, casting another glance at the little open spot close to the beach, which seemed an ideal place for a canoeist’s camp, having a splendid view of the lake, stretching almost ten miles away to the north.

The four were soon as busy as beavers.

They already knew how to erect the tents, which had a fly that could be lowered in front in severe weather, and a ground cloth of waterproof material, quite an addition to the comfort of the interior.

Jerry worked just as hard as the rest, although every now and then pretending to laugh at all this fuss, when a humble shack of branches ought to serve any fellow who called himself a true sportsman.

By the time the fireplace had been built of stones, over which several stout steel bars rested, upon which the cooking utensils would set, the Spring afternoon was drawing to a close.