Part 19 (2/2)

The four boys now came creeping forth. And when he saw that all of them were fully dressed, Max knew that sleep could hardly have visited the camp during his long absence.

”These are my chums, gentlemen,” remarked Max, as he bent a smiling face on the staring quartette. ”The one on the right is my cousin, Owen Hastings; next to him comes Toby Jucklin; then this boy is Bandy-legs Griffin, who is much better than he looks; and the last of all is Steve Dowdy, or 'Touch-and-go Steve' we call him. And this gentleman is Mr.

Lawrence, while his a.s.sistant is Jenkins.”

”From the penitentiary, of course; I can see the uniform?” remarked Steve.

”Wrong again, old fellow,” laughed Max. ”They happen to be wardens from the State Asylum for the Insane!”

”What?” gasped Steve. ”Ain't they looking for a desperate escaped jail bird?”

”Not at all, but an escaped lunatic; a man who got away some months back, and has kept hidden ever since here on this island, while they've been searching all over for him. And, fellows, you'll be surprised as much as I was when you hear who the poor chap really is we've been feeding with our ham and other grub. Steve, remember what you heard your father say about the man who once started to make his home on Catamount Island; but the flood came and upset his plans?”

”Say, do you mean Wesley Coombs?” demanded Steve, quickly.

”Yes,” replied Max. ”Well, you got things a little mixed there. He lost his wife and baby in the freshet, but he was saved, though his mind was always a blank; and all these years the poor fellow has been shut up in the lunatic asylum. He managed to escape a while ago, and seems to have been drawn back here to the place where he was last happy. And now they've come after him to take him back, for he'd he frozen to death, or starve, if left loose here winter times.”

”But can they get him, d'ye think?” asked Steve.

”Oh, that's dead easy for them,” returned the other, trying to keep from displaying anything like pride in his voice or manner. ”You see I've got him shut up in the old cabin right now. We only came down here to get you fellows, and then these gentlemen want to hike back there to make the capture.”

”Whoop! It takes Max to do big things!” shouted Steve.

”He never bites off more'n he can chaw!” a.s.serted Bandy-legs, appearing to be supremely happy over the improved prospect of things.

”I'm rather inclined to agree with you, boys,” remarked the head warden.

”Max has certainly done himself proud on this special occasion; and we're placed under a heavy debt of grat.i.tude to him. But if you're ready, boys, we might as well make a start. The sooner we have our man in custody, the easier we'll feel. He's given us such a long chase that it'll be good to know we can bring him back to his old quarters, where he seemed fully contented until the chance came to skip. None of 'em can ever let that pa.s.s by, no matter how satisfied they are. It's a part of the disease, the doctors tell us.”

So they started forth, taking both lanterns with them so that they might have plenty of light along the way. Not one of the boys felt the slightest alarm about leaving the camp unprotected now; especially after Max had described how he gave Ted Shafter and his cronies such a good scare.

”We saw the flash, Max,” remarked Owen, ”just when we were thinking of getting under cover, like you suggested. And we heard the yells, too.

All of us thought we recognized the voice of Ted, and we had a pretty good guess coming that you'd given 'em something to remember.”

”Say,” remarked Steve, laughingly, ”when they went shooting past the lower end of the island as fast as they could row, they were chattering like a lot of old crows. We kept as mum as oysters, and let the lot go.

It was a good riddance of bad rubbish anyhow, and we didn't want to hold 'em back for one minute.”

The return journey was easily accomplished, with Max to lead the way, swinging one of the lighted lanterns in his hand.

As they left the sh.o.r.e and headed in toward the place where the old cabin stood, all of them were listening to ascertain whether the inmate were beating against the fast door, and perhaps shrieking as only a madman might.

But all seemed very quiet.

”Chances are he's digging a tunnel under the wall, like you said he might, Max,” suggested Steve.

”Well, he's in there safe and sound, anyhow,” replied Max, in a satisfied tone.

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