CHAPTER VII

WEIRD SOUNDS

The faint shaft of light vanished as Ted made his way along the line of the silent tents and for a moment he almost doubted that he had seen it. His total glimpses had consisted of flashes and nothing more, and the fact spurred him on with greater curiosity. When he had first seen the light he thought it might have been one of the boys or even Buck prowling around, but the way the gleams came and went he began to doubt it seriously. Remembering the man whom he had previously seen, he became cautious as he stepped to the end of Buck’s tent and looked around.

He was not able to see a thing, for the darkness was so dense that it presented to him only a solid wall. His ears were listening keenly but he heard nothing. He supposed he had better look back of the tents, but this thought brought a problem. There was no use in doing that unless he took a lantern with him, and he might alarm the boys if he did so. The question was not an agreeable one.

A low hiss reached his ears, a sound which came from the tent. He thrust his head inside the flap.

“That you, Buck?”

An answering whisper came back to him. “Yes. What are you doing up?”

“I’m just looking around, that is all. Can’t you sleep?”

“I was sleeping until you flashed your light in here! What are you looking for?”

“Come on outside a minute,” directed Ted, still in the same low whisper. Buck made motions which led his chum to think that he was tossing aside his blanket and then he joined him outside of the tent, grunting as his feet touched the cool earth.

“Gosh, this ground is cold! What in the world are you—”

“Buck, did you see a light before?”

“Yes, when you passed by with the lantern.”

“That’s just the point—I didn’t pass by with any lantern! I was awakened by a flash in my eyes and then as I looked out of the tent flap I saw the light dodge down this way. Somebody who doesn’t belong to the camp is prowling!”

Buck was impressed at once. “But we don’t know if everybody is in their tents,” he pointed out.

“They are all in my tent and I suppose they are all in yours, but we don’t know about the others. The worst part of it all is that we can’t go snooping into the tents to see, because if we wake the youngsters up we’ll throw a scare into them. I guess we’ll have to do all the investigating ourselves.”

“I’ve got a flashlight inside and I think I can locate it,” whispered Buck. “Hope I don’t wake anybody up!”

He felt his way into the blackness of the tent and located the flashlight, appearing with it immediately afterward. “All right, let’s go,” he whispered. “I don’t like this barefoot business though.”

“Best we can do. Keep your light shaded away from the tents.”

Buck carefully switched the light on, keeping the glare of it away from the tent, playing the beam on the undergrowth in back of the tent. Nothing out of the ordinary was disclosed to their view and they walked with tense muscles around in the back of the shelters. Here the light was played around the bushes and trees but everything around the camp was normal. In silence they moved away and even went as far as the springs, but their trip was in vain and their only reward wet and cold feet.

“Nothing doing,” shrugged Buck, turning off the light.

“I’m glad that you saw the light, though,” said Ted. “I would have begun to think that I was seeing things. Well, I don’t know what we had better do.”

“The only thing that we can do is to go to bed and sleep as lightly as possible,” returned Buck. “We are on the ends and if anyone comes into the camp we should hear ’em. Funny thing, though, we didn’t hear anything out of that prowler after he put his light out. Confound it, looks like somebody was trying to make this a haunted camp!”

“Well, we won’t let the boys know anything about it. Suppose we get to bed and keep our ears open as much as we can.”

They parted, each to return to his own tent, and in his Ted carefully eased himself into his bed listening intently. There were no sounds abroad, however, and for a long time he managed to keep awake but at last the effort was too much for him and he went to sleep.

Morning came without incident and early the whole camp was astir. The day was a fine and clear one, a little warm but not too much so. Some of the hardier souls went for their initial swim in Bear Creek but to most of the boys the black waters looked too cool. Ted and Buck were among those who went in, and Ted, after probing for depth with a pole, was perfectly satisfied that it was deep enough at one point to dive in. He led the way in a splendid dive.

The water struck a sharp shock through him and by its very coldness he knew that springs surely fed the brook somewhere. But he showed no sign of his shock when he bobbed to the top, shaking his head and clearing his eyes.

“How is it?” Buck cried, from his post on the bank.

“Fine!” replied Ted. “Warm as toast!”

“Doesn’t feel like any toast I ever had to my feet,” Buck replied, poising for his dive. “But I guess it is all right when you get in. Here goes!”

He flashed downward in a fine dive and when he appeared on the surface of the water he looked at the grinning Ted. “Wow! what nice cold water!” he shouted. “This may be Bear Creek, and I’ll say it is a bear! Warm as toast, eh?”

After the invigorating swim they dressed and the task of preparing breakfast was undertaken. The effects of the camping trip were beginning to tell, for all the boys had developed hearty appetites and looked in a fair way to sinking the provision pile alarmingly.

Ted and Buck managed to take a quick look back of the tents but there was no trace of the night visitor. They were inclined to think that it was merely some neighboring farmer, though they confessed that his zeal must have been great to have brought him in curiosity to that spot at such a time.

“Anyhow, nobody knows about it,” Buck said, but he was mistaken. Plum spoke up as they were eating breakfast.

“Who was going around with a lantern last night?” he asked. There was a general stir of interest.

“Who says anybody was?” Buck asked, coolly.

“I saw it,” was the confident assertion. “I slept in your tent and you went out and talked to Ted, only I couldn’t make out what you said. Then you two went for a walk around the tents.”

“You didn’t do much sleeping, did you?” inquired Buck.

“No. But how about the light? Was somebody walking around the camp last night?”

Ted and Buck exchanged glances. They were annoyed that Plum had brought up the subject but they saw that he was not to be denied. Ted took it upon himself to answer.

“We think somebody did pass the tents,” he was forced to admit. “Perhaps it was some farmer who took a shortcut or something, because we didn’t find him. That is all there was to it.”

But Plum had ideas of his own. “But you two were worried, weren’t you?” he pressed. “I heard you talking and then Buck got his flashlight and you went exploring. How about it?”

“Do we look very much worried over anything?” Buck grinned, secretly angry with the insistent one.

“You were last night,” said Plum doggedly.

They turned the conversation and the meal was soon over, but the boys talked of the unknown prowler more than Ted and Buck cared to have them talk. There was one good remedy for their fears, however, and that was tried. Hard work soon made them forget about the previous night. Squads were told off and the labors of the day were begun. A group spent a few hours cutting and piling fire wood and others washed the dishes. One group under Buck went to work in deadly earnest on the tents. The bedding was all strung on lines to air and the boys were taught that cleanliness is as important in camping life as in private life. The beds were all more carefully remade and then ditches were dug around the tents so that the water from a rain storm would run away from the tents and not come in over the canvas floors. All these tasks took up most of the day and late in the afternoon all of them went swimming.

The two leaders found that few of the boys could swim well and some could not swim a stroke, so they organized a swimming class at once and the next two hours were spent in giving instructions. Some of the boys were timid and clearly afraid of the cold water, but Buck and Ted patiently taught them, stressing the value of a thorough knowledge of swimming. The small boy was very much afraid and shivered pronouncedly, but he kept his lips tightly closed and made a valiant effort at it.

In this way another day wore to its close and while they were eating supper the darkness folded down over the camp. But by this time they had become used to the “feel” of camp life and the location became somewhat familiar to them. Now that the hardest part of pitching the camp was attended to they began to plan more than one tramp through the mountains which encircled them.

When the dishes were piled away they sat around the fire, enchanted by the red magic which emanates from glowing embers and the darkness closed in more tightly. There were no stars on this night and there was even a little oppressiveness in the air, as though it was charged with something not altogether pleasant. Not wishing the boys to dwell on subjects which would worry them Ted and Buck kept the conversation going rapidly and they talked of football and baseball, camping and canoeing.

But Plum was the trouble maker. His mind reverted to things which the leaders wished to avoid. His eyes roved around the dark camp.

“This camp could easily be haunted,” he remarked, patting an instant stop to the cheerful conversation.

“Who believes in ghosts anyway?” snorted Drummer.

“Nobody with any sense,” retorted Plum. “But just think of this place in the old days, when the Black Riders were meeting here to plan out raids on the British. There must be something scary about a place like this.”

“Never mind any such talk about foolish things, Plum,” called Ted, sharply. “This is a fine place and everything around is as it should be.”

Hard on the heels of this statement there came a sound which made the faces of the boys, old and young, blanch with fear. A wild, dismal howl rose on the air, seemingly overhead, and echoed in a sobbing wail as it was tossed to the mountains. The silence which succeeded was almost as bad as the shuddering shriek.