Pathfinder

by Douglas, Alan

  "I firmly believe that once we withdraw from this same old shack the woman will steal back of her own free will."

  "To get her precious old comb, mebbe," sneered Red.

  "To recover something which I guess she values above ten thousand combs," and Elmer as he spoke held up the string of beads forming the rosary.

  "In her hurry to get away she must have forgotten all about this. But I warrant you, fellows, she's discovered the loss by now. What follows? She makes up her mind that she's just got to return and find it, if so be we haven't taken it from that nail where it was hanging when we came in."

  "Good! You've got things down just pat, Elmer. And then what?" asked Matty.

  "I expect to hide near by while the rest of you go noisily away. She can't know how many came, and she'll think all have departed. Then, when she comes in I'll make her a prisoner. Perhaps they'll be glad to exchange Nat for their woman. Or else, if we can make her understand that we're only toy soldiers, and mean the men no harm, she will lead us to their hide-out."

  The scouts were listening attentively, as they always did when Elmer was talking. He possessed such a fund of interesting information that they knew full well they could learn many useful things by trying to grasp the ideas he advanced.

  * * *

  CHAPTER X.

  HOW THE TRAP WORKED.

  "There's only one thing about it that I object to on general principles," remarked Mark.

  "What's that?" asked Elmer.

  "You shouldn't think to stay here alone," the other went on. "Perhaps one of the men might return with the woman—if she does come."

  "Yes, that's true; there is a chance," Elmer admitted.

  "Well, you see how you'd be up against it then," Mark went on, earnestly. "A savage Italian woman, who might have a knife along, would be bad enough for one fellow to handle."

  "That's so, Mark."

  "And should there be a dago man along, why, I guess you'd just have to sit sucking your thumb and not making a move," Mark continued.

  "I reckon I would," laughed Elmer. "All of which means that you think I ought to pick out a couple of husky fellows to keep me company."

  "That's what I'd do."

  "And that you wouldn't mind being one of the same guards, eh, Mark?"

  "I'd enjoy it all right, Elmer."

  "Well, I'm thinking that way myself now. You can hold over with me, then. I'll want another fellow, too. Let's see," and he glanced at the eager faces by which he was surrounded: "oh, well, Lil Artha will be the other."

  "Oh, shucks!" grumbled Red, bitterly disappointed, because he dearly loved action.

  "Matty," said the acting scout master.

  "On deck," replied the leader of the Beaver Patrol, saluting.

  "You might try and see how far you've gone in the art of following a trail. I don't believe these rough fellows know the first thing about trying to hide their tracks, so you oughtn't to have a great deal of trouble."

  "Oh, I guess I'd be equal to the job so long as they keep down on the low ground. But if they once start up the side of the hill, where it's all rocky, I reckon my cake will be dough, then, Elmer."

  "Do your best, anyhow, Matty," the scout master went on; "nobody can do more. But to tell you the truth, I believe the first chance lies here."

  "You really think, then, the woman will return?" queried Mark.

  "I am almost dead certain of it," Elmer replied. "I've been among the Italians some in the colony they have on the outskirts of our town. And I've studied them more or less. They seem a queer people to us, but their religion is a big part of their lives—at least that goes with the women part of the settlement."

  "I think you're right, Elmer," remarked George, who had not spoken up to now; "I happen to know a little about the Italians, too, because my father employs a lot of 'em, you see. Wouldn't be surprised one bit if she sneaks back here to recover those beads. They mean a heap to her, fellows."

  Everybody stared to hear George talk like that, for as a rule he was hard to convince; which fact, as has been stated before, had caused him to be known as "Doubting George."

  "Well, let's get busy," suggested Red, who, if he could not hold over to assist Elmer, at least felt that the sooner he and the rest started on the trail the better.

  "That's the stuff," added Toby, also anxious to be doing something, he cared little what.

  "All right," remarked Elmer, "and, as a first move, suppose you fellows begin to back out of here. Keep in a bunch outside. Mark, you and Lil Artha watch for a chance to drop down in the bushes, and lie as quiet as church mice till I give the signal, which will be a whistle. Understand?"

  "Sure," replied Lil Artha, pausing in the doorway to watch Elmer hang up the beads again on the nail where he had found them; "but why ought we be so particular about dropping out of sight, if you don't mind telling us?"

  "Well, it might be the woman has already returned, and is hiding somewhere close by, waiting for the crowd to move."

  "That's so," admitted Lil Artha.

  "And of course if she even suspected that any of us hung out she wouldn't try to enter the shack at all," Elmer pursued.

  "Then we'll have to be mighty careful, Mark, how we do the great vanishing act," the tall scout remarked.

  "Wait till the boys happen to bunch around you, then just drop, and let them go on. But Mark, as you will be the last one out, suppose you close the door after you, just as if the shack were empty."

  "Are you expecting to hide behind that box, Elmer?" demanded his chum, pointing to the affair that had evidently served as a rude table.

  "Just what I am," replied the other, promptly.

  "Oh, I see."

  And with one last look around, Mark advanced toward the exit, beyond which the scouts could be seen talking and gesturing as Matty looked for the trail left when the Italians fled in such haste.

  Evidently it was Mark's idea to take a good mental impression of the interior of the shack away with him. This would prove useful in case there arose a sudden necessity for his presence, and that of Lil Artha, on the scene of action.

  When the last of his companions had gone, and the rough door of the shack was swung shut, Elmer hastened to softly move the big box a little, so that it might suit his purpose better.

  He did not imagine that this would appear suspicious in the eyes of the woman, should she return for her rosary, because it was to be expected that in a search of the cabin such changes were apt to take place.

  He could still hear the chatter of many voices outside, but they were growing fainter. Evidently Matty must have found the trail he wanted, showing where the four Italians, together with their prisoner, had left the concealed shack.

  So, knowing the value of time in an affair like this, Elmer hastened to crawl behind the big box.

  Anyone entering the room could not see him, nor would his crouching form be visible from the hole in the shack wall, intended as a window.

  At the same time Elmer had so contrived things that, by making use of an old bunch of straw which he allowed to hang over the edge of the table, he was easily able to keep watch upon both openings, the window and the door.

  Then he waited patiently for something to happen.

  Some minutes passed.

  Outside all seemed as quiet as a Sunday in Hickory Ridge.

  The sound of boyish voices had utterly died away, proving that Matty must be showing considerable skill in leading his detachment along a trail.

  Indeed, once the presence of human beings no longer acted as a disturbing element, a little frisky red squirrel hopped up in the open window and peeped within the shack.

  Perhaps the little chap was more or less at home there. At any rate Elmer was pleased to see him sit up on his haunches and begin to gnaw at a stray nut he had evidently discovered.

  To his mind the red squirrel was apt to serve in place of a vidette. Should anyone approach the shack now the little nut-cracker would give warning by frisking away in sud
den alarm.

  So the wide-awake scout finds opportunities to make use of the most ordinary and commonplace things to be met with in the woods.

  Everything may have a meaning, if only the scout possesses the key of knowledge so necessary for the unlocking of the door.

  Not moving a finger Elmer simply awaited the turn of events.

  And not once did he doubt the outcome, so positive was he that his reasoning must be correct.

  If the woman returned alone, he believed they ought to easily take her prisoner; but, on the other hand, should one or more of the men accompany her, he must expect the conditions to be changed, and alter his own plans in consequence.

  Two minutes must have gone by now.

  Elmer was not simply guessing this, or, as Lil Artha would say, "making a blind stab at it." He knew because, as he crouched there watching, he was continually marking the flight of time by counting to himself.

  In imagination his gaze followed the swinging pendulum of the big grandfather clock that stood in the hall of his home.

  "Tick, tick, tick!" he could see it go back and forth, each movement marking the passing of another second of precious time.

  Ah! the squirrel had ceased to work at his nut now. He even gave signs of sudden alarm, as though his keen little ratlike ears had caught a foreign sound indicating the coming of a human being.

  And yet Elmer knew positively that he himself had not moved in the slightest degree, so that the squirrel's panic could not be laid at his door.

  "I guess something's going to happen," he thought, "unless either Mark or Lil Artha showed themselves recklessly; and I don't believe they'd do it."

  He continued to watch his four-footed little sentinel perched up there in the apology for a window.

  Even as he looked the timid squirrel vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

  Elmer only silently chuckled, quite satisfied with the way things were working.

  And he somehow still continued to keep his eyes glued on that hole in the wall, as though laboring under the impression that when the Italian woman did come she would first of all appear in that particular quarter.

  And he was right.

  Even as he looked he discovered a suspicious movement in the gap. This was brought about by the uplifting of a human hand, upon the fingers of which he could count at least five broad rings without settings.

  Perhaps the owner of that hand was on her knees, and in this manner sought to rise up.

  Elmer, still looking, saw a head presently fill part of the crude window.

  It was a woman who stared in, there could be no questioning that fact. And so far as he could tell she seemed to be alone, for he neither saw nor heard any sign of a second party.

  Once he knew her burning gaze was fastened upon the bunch of straw which he had arranged so as to serve as a veil, back of which he might continue to watch what was taking place.

  Elmer fairly held his breath, fearing that she might have discovered the lurker, or at least entertained suspicions regarding his presence there.

  But not so.

  Her eyes, having swept back and forth until they had fairly covered the whole interior of the dimly lighted shack, seemed to be attracted toward one particular spot.

  This was where the string of beads hung from the nail driven into a log.

  It was the lodestone which had served to draw this woman once more into the danger zone.

  And from that instant, if Elmer had allowed the slightest doubt to creep into his mind before, it no longer found lodgment there.

  The woman was bound to enter in order to obtain possession of that precious string of beads.

  Once she thrust her head and shoulders through the opening and attempted to clutch the rosary, but the effort was useless.

  "Now she is coming!"

  Elmer whispered this to himself as he saw that the woman no longer occupied the opening—she had undoubtedly started for the door.

  Yes, now he could see the closed door begin to quiver, as though eager hands had started to open it.

  Elmer held his breath with eagerness, and all the while watched the door.

  Between his strong teeth the scout master held a little German silver whistle, such as patrol leaders usually carry for signaling purposes.

  This he expected to sound when the time was ripe, and he had every reason to believe that his two comrades would rush into the shack the very instant they heard the call.

  Now the door was surely opening wider. Even in her hurry the Italian woman did not forget the need of due caution when all these enemies seemed to be hanging around.

  Her experiences across the ocean may have made her exceedingly ill disposed to trust anything that wore a uniform.

  Yes, the door had given way by now to admit a moving figure, and then it was drawn shut again.

  Elmer smiled to see how closely his guess had come to the actual truth. The Italian woman was not only squatty, and "broad of beam," as Lil Artha would have put it, but, as Elmer had said, might be close on sixty years of age, for she had many wrinkles, and her hair was certainly gray.

  She left the door unfastened behind her. Elmer chuckled to himself under his breath, for he saw that in doing this the woman had not only left a way of speedy escape open for herself in case of necessity, but also a free passage for the scouts when the signal whistle blew.

  * * *

  CHAPTER XI.

  RUN DOWN.

  Straight across the floor of the shack glided the woman.

  She was making a bee line for the string of beads with the little silver cross at the double end.

  And the hidden scout could hear the low words of musical Italian flowing from her lips when she reached out an eager hand to seize upon the sacred article.

  Now was his time.

  The critical moment had arrived when he must proceed to spring his trap.

  As silently as he could, then, Elmer arose to his feet. He was behind the woman and could never bring himself to believe that he had made even the slightest sound when rising.

  Then the only explanation left was that the woman happened to be in front of the broken looking glass at the moment, bent on fastening the beads about her thick neck. And if so, she must have discovered him as he arose from behind the big box.

  At any rate she uttered a cry that to his mind was not unlike the snarl of a wild beast. He saw the almost savage look that came over her swarthy face, and knew that after all, such a woman was fully as much to be feared as the stoutest ladrone.

  And so Elmer did not think it was unworthy of a true scout to send out the call for help.

  The woman might be disposed to defy just one half-grown lad, whereas if she believed herself to be up against the whole troop she would submit with the best grace she could command.

  And so he blew a shrill blast that must bring both Mark and Lil Artha dashing to the spot.

  The effect upon the woman was rather surprising.

  Perhaps Elmer might have expected seeing her cower down, seized with a sudden overwhelming fear, but nothing of the kind occurred.

  To his surprise she snatched out a wicked-looking knife from the bosom of her dress. It looked to Elmer like a broken kitchen knife that had been ground down to a point. With such a blade he remembered seeing the Italian women from the settlement just outside Hickory Ridge wandering around in the early spring, digging dandelion plants for "greens."

  He could hear the rush of approaching footsteps even as the woman sprang for the door with a wild look on her face.

  The other two scouts had of course caught his shrill signal, and were hastening to join their leader.

  Undoubtedly both Mark and Lil Artha must have seen the woman, if not while she was looking in at the window, then when she turned the corner of the hidden shack to enter by the door.

  And hence they would surely understand that there was no man opposed to their combined force.

  The fact of the woman being armed with so terrible a weapo
n as a knife, and that look of grim determination on her dark face, alarmed Elmer.

  What if she attacked the two scouts—what if in her sudden panic she wounded either of his chums? There could be no telling what a fear-crazed, ignorant woman, strong as an ox, and almost as irresponsible, might do in an emergency like this.

  Of course he would have only been too well pleased could he have shown the woman that it was all a mistake, and that they meant her no ill.

  But with her brandishing that wicked-looking knife and leaping for the door, there was certainly no opportunity for argument.

  Elmer sprang forward.

  His main idea was to try and knock that blade from her grasp by striking sharply on her arm or her knuckles.

  At the same time he thought to warn the other scouts, so that they might take due precautions when suddenly brought face to face with the Italian woman who was running amuck.

  Perhaps when they heard him shout they would just naturally believe he was being hard pressed. And in that case, instead of deterring them, his cries would only further spur the others on.

  Nevertheless Elmer lifted his voice in warning:

  "Look out, boys! She's got a knife, and is coming out at you! Take care there!"

  Just then something happened.

  The woman had not turned her head as Elmer thus gave tongue, as might a hound on the warm trail of the fox.

  She kept straight on. The door was before her, and while she had drawn it shut after entering, it has been mentioned before that she made no attempt to fasten the same.

  So now, when she hurled her whole weight against the barrier it flew outward with a jump.

  As luck would have it, the two scouts had managed to reach the door at exactly the same time. And that second chanced to be the identical one when the frightened foreigner crashed into the door.

  There could only be one result, and that filled with bitterness and woe to both Lil Artha and Mark. As the uncouth door was thrown suddenly outward, as if forced by a battering ram from within, it struck the scouts a tremendous blow.

  They crumpled up and went over. A couple of ten-pins struck by a swiftly hurled ball could hardly have collapsed more ingloriously than did Lil Artha and his mate.