The Strange Cabin on Catamount Island

by Lawrence J. Leslie

  CHAPTER XIV.

  HOW THE SCHEME WORKED.

  "Now it's about time for me to be doing something!"

  That was what Max whispered to himself, after he was sure the unknownparty had taken up his quarters within that queer cabin with the greenroof and lichen-covered walls.

  The very thought of being able to move, and start doing things, seemed arelief. His muscles were so cramped from long sitting in the oneposition that at first he experienced quite severe twinges, when hestarted to leave the hiding place he had been occupying for some hoursat least.

  It took Max but a very short time to creep up to the side of the cabin.He had to be exceedingly careful, to be sure, since he could not tellwhat keen ears the fugitive from justice might possess. And surely anescaped convict would be apt to always be on the alert for soundscalculated to spell danger to him.

  Before reaching the wall, however, Max had made a discovery. As is usualin the case of old log cabins that have stood neglected for many years,subject to storms, and the heat of summer, as well as the wintry blasts,some of the dried mud that had once been plastered between the logs tofill in the "chinks" had become loosened and fallen away.

  Max had noted this fact before when prowling around. Indeed, ereentering the suspected cabin on that very day, he had taken theprecaution to glue an eye to one of these cracks, and endeavor to findout whether it were safe for him to go in.

  And now, through these same chinks there came streams of light, showingthat the occupant possessed a supply of matches at least, and hadlighted something that served him for a candle; possibly a long splinterof lightwood, picked up in the daytime at a point where the lightninghad riven a resinous pine tree, and scattered it over the surroundingground.

  With the intention of seeing what the escaped convict looked like, Maxmade for one of these slender openings that ran the same way as thehorizontal logs. He, of course, picked out the one that seemed to offerhim the best advantages, in that it was a trifle larger than any of therest.

  Avoiding the shaft of light all he could, until ready to thrust his faceup to the logs, and fill in the gap, Max crept along on hands and knees,trailing his gun.

  He could hear slight movements from within, as though the man might bedoing something. Max could give a pretty good guess what that was, if,as he suspected, the bait had been taken from the trap in the camp, andthe convict arrived here with his arms filled with provisions.

  Now Max was close enough to be able to accomplish the end he had inview. The very second he fastened his eye to that slender aperture hefelt a thrill pass over his frame again, similar to that which hadattacked him at the time he faced the crouching wild-cat.

  He saw a man seated tailor fashion, with his legs crossed, on the hardearthen floor of the cabin. He seemed to be tearing at some food withalmost the ferocity of a half-starved dog.

  Max looked in vain for the expected and well-known stripes that woulddistinguish a prison convict. This man did not wear anything of thesort. His garments were of a very ordinary kind, though just nowexceedingly ill kept, from groveling in the dirt, and sleeping night andday without taking them off.

  His hair seemed to be rather long and unkempt, while there was a wildlook in his face; and the way he cast his staring eyes about sent a coldchill into the heart of the watching lad.

  Max realized that after all he and his chums had made a very poor guessof it, when they tried to figure things out. But he also felt a littlesatisfaction when he remembered how he had declared the footprint wasmade by a common shoe, such as inmates in all public institutions wore,as they are made in prisons by those who are serving long sentences.

  This wretched man, then, was no escaped convict; but he was undoubtedlya crazy being, who, having fled from some retreat, thought to eluderecapture by hiding in this lonely place!

  Max hardly knew what to think. The change was so complete that he feltas though he must alter his plans in accordance with the new line-up. Itwould have been all right for the boys to help recapture a desperatecriminal, whose being at large was a constant menace to the peacefulcommunity; but would the same apply when it was a lunatic who kept housein that strange cabin on Catamount Island?

  No matter what he decided, he must make his mind up quickly. The manlooked very dangerous, though Max knew that appearances are verydeceptive when those who are out of their right minds are concerned.Often the very man who seems most harmless is the crafty one ready tocommit a terrible deed; while he who looks to be a veritable terror mayturn out to be a mild fellow, who would not harm an ant.

  Rapidly he ran things over in his mind. Why, evidently anyone devoid ofsense and reason had no right to be at large. While he might manage tolive through the summer, by snaring birds and catching fish, what wouldhappen to the poor fellow when the biting blasts of bitter winter sweptdown from the cold Northland!

  No matter who he was, where he came from, and what his object in hidinghere might be, it were better that his presence be made known to theauthorities. Somewhere or other they must be looking for him, since eventhe helpless inmates of public institutions for the insane are objectsof concern; and one of them at large will create a reign of terror in acommunity, especially among the women.

  "I must do it!" Max was saying to himself, as he continued to watch thewretched man tear away at the food, and act as though he were a wildbeast rather than a human being, once gifted with a mind that couldreason, love, hate, and learn.

  As he had explained to his chums, when they pressed him, ere consentingthat he venture upon this night expedition alone, Max had fixed it sothat when the opportunity arrived he could fasten the door of the cabinsecurely.

  A stout log would do the business. He had examined it, yes, and eventried the effect when he placed it in a leaning position against thedoor, although declining to go inside at the time, as he did not want tobe caught in his own trap.

  It had worked splendidly, too; and once it was fixed as he meant to haveit, the lad felt positive that no single man, however powerful he mightbe, confined within the shack, could dislodge that barrier.

  It would take him only a little time, a minute or two at the most, tolift that log, and place it just where he wanted to have it. And Max wasagain pleased because he had gone through all the operation when therein daylight, since it made things so much easier now.

  So he quitted his post at the open chink, where the light filteredthrough, and which had served his purpose so well in the line ofobservation.

  It was to be hoped, in carrying out the balance of his scheme, he wouldnot make any sound that, reaching the ears of that wild-looking inmateof the cabin, would bring him flying through the doorway. Max had notthe slightest desire to come into close connection with the mysteriousunknown crazy man. And his motives in attempting the capture of theother were purely along the line of kindness. If a man is unable to lookafter himself, then it stands to reason that he ought to have attentionfrom those whom the state appoints as his guardians.

  The log was where he had left it. Max knew this, for he had made it apoint to feel for it at the time he crept close to the cabin, andlistened for sounds of any sleeper being within.

  He had to lay his gun aside, if he wished to work out his plan, for hemust use both arms, and every pound of muscle he could summon to thefore, such was the heaviness of the log.

  It was a minute of considerable suspense while Max was carrying that logforward.

  He reached the door, and nothing had happened, thank goodness. And itwas with a grateful heart that the boy presently carefully planted thelog in the position he had fixed upon as being best.

  Now one end rested against the door, which opened outwardly by goodluck; while the other dug into the ground, and was held by the end of ahuge rock that cropped up close to the surface just in that convenientspot.

  Max drew the first decent breath he had had since starting to carry outhis daring project. He believed that he had the trap so arranged nowthat escape from it was well-nigh impossi
ble; and yet almost immediatelyhis heart seemed to jump in his throat with sudden apprehension.

  Perhaps in dropping the log into place he may have made some littlesound that reached the ears of the crazy man within the cabin. Max hearda shuffling of feet. Then the door was shaken, at first gently, and thenwith more and more violence, until the very walls of the cabin seemed toquiver under the force employed.

  Although he had been so very confident before, Max now experienced a newfeeling of acute alarm. What if the imprisoned man succeeded in breakingout of his place of confinement, would he not be raging mad in everysense of the word, and in a humor to attack the camp of the boy chums?

  Max had started to grope for his gun, but as this fear sprang into beingagain, instead of doing that he stumbled over to where he knew of asecond log lying on the ground; perhaps where poor Wesley Coombs hadleft it in that long ago time, when he started to make a home in thiswild land.

  Frantically Max tugged at this larger log. Under ordinary circumstanceshe might not have been able to have more than moved the heavy treetrunk; but keyed up to a pitch of desperation by the conditions thatconfronted him, he bent himself to the task with a strength equal tothat of almost any man.

  Rolling the log along until he had brought it to just the proper pointwhere it could be best used, Max exerted himself once more, and to somepurpose. Afterwards he wondered himself how he had ever accomplishedsuch a feat, because it did look far beyond the power of a half-grownlad. But necessity compels all of us to do things that, in our calmermoments, we would call preposterous, and out of reason.

  All Max knew was that the log went up against the door, that wasquivering under the attacks of the crazy man within.

  He drew a sigh of relief when assured of this fact. Panting for breathhe stood there and listened. The walls and roof he knew were absolutelysound, which had seemed wonderful enough, considering all the years thatthe cabin had stood here unoccupied.

  It would take any man hours to dig under those logs, and burrow out,especially if he had no hatchet or knife to assist in the labor, as Maxbelieved was the case now. And long before that happened he could havehis four chums on the spot, ready to lend the assistance of their strongyoung arms in securing the escaping prisoner.

  What they should do about it, Max as yet hardly knew. This was a matterin which he felt he would like to have the advice of grave andthoughtful Owen. Four of them might keep guard over the raging madman,trying to appease him by thrusting bits of tempting food through thecracks; while the fifth fellow sped down the river in one of the canoesto bring help from Carson.

  And right then and there Max was boy enough to feel that it would besomething of a feather in their caps if, in addition to camping a wholeweek on Catamount Island, they could lay the ghost that had frightenedHerb and his friends at the time they tried to spend a single night inthe strange cabin.

  But he must not waste any more time here. Minutes were worth something,with the trap sprung, and a desperate lunatic caught.

  He must hasten back to the camp, tell his chums all that had happened,and after arming them as best could be done, they must hurry to thecabin. Max had decided that Owen ought to be the one to spin down theBig Sunflower as soon as the first peep of daylight appeared in theeast. He would not dare allow him to attempt the voyage in the densedarkness, for fear of a spill, and possible peril; since there were manycross currents, and rocks that would sink a frail canoe if struck atfull speed.

  Now the man seemed to have become quiet again. Max hoped that he hadrealized the foolishness of trying to break through the door, and thatthe lure of the stolen food had drawn him back to his feast. Helistened, and could catch just the faintest of sounds, which it wasimpossible to analyze. But above all else the anxious boy hoped that hiscaptive might not think about burrowing under the log wall, at least notfor some time yet.

  And so, having finally located his gun again, Max turned away from thecabin, meaning to retrace his course along the shore to the camp wherehis chums would be found.