"Thanks," he called back, and his companions waved their hands to him.
"It"s very queer," murmured Ned, as he turned back toward the tent.
Frank reached the turn of the river, near the cliff, just before noon.
Instead of taking the canoe to the foot of the rock, he hid it in the bushes near the bend of the stream, and then began tramping through the woods toward the sanitarium. He ate his lunch in the woods, and then took up his position near the big tree, whence, on his first visit, he had watched the sad-faced men.
He had to wait several hours. At length the little procession appeared, and Frank"s heart beat so loudly he could almost hear it. He stood up and watched the men. Yes, the one he wanted to see was there. How was he to communicate with the man?
Chance, seemingly, gave him the opportunity he desired. There was a little disturbance at the head of the line. One of the patients insisted on taking a different path than the one the attendant designated, and there was a dispute. The guards at the end of the line ran toward the head, leaving the rear men unattended.
Frank ran from behind the tree, toward the procession which had halted.
He approached the man, the sight of whom, on the previous occasion, had caused him such wonder. This man did not look up.
"I must have a talk with you in private!"
Frank said, in a low but tense whisper. The man looked quickly at him.
His eyes seemed to see nothing.
"Who are you? What do you want of me?" he asked in dull tones. "I don"t know you. I know no one in this world."
"I must speak to you!" cried Frank, as he saw the attendants returning.
CHAPTER XX
THE INTERVIEW
For a moment the man whom Frank addressed remained staring dully at the boy. Nearer and nearer came the attendants, for the little excitement at the head of the line had been quelled.
"Your voice reminds me of someone," the man went on, "but I don"t know you."
"I will tell you who I am, if you will tell me where I can see you alone to-night," Frank whispered, for the other patients were gazing curiously at him.
"I can go to the little summer house in the garden at the back," the man went on, as though it was of no interest to him. "This is my well night.
I will be there at ten o"clock."
"I will meet you," Frank whispered, and then, seeing an attendant coming on a run toward him, the boy made a dash for the woods and disappeared.
"Who was that?" asked the guard, coming up to where Frank had stood conversing.
"It was the king of the cannibal islands!" exclaimed one of the other patients with a silly laugh. "He came to get me to enter into an alliance with him. I"m Lord Nelson, you know, and he wanted my fleet of ships to make war on the Queen of Fairy Land. But I refused. I am going to capture the Pyramids!" and the man began capering about like a child, singing nursery rhymes.
"Come, "Lord Nelson," you must get in line. This is dress parade," the attendant said.
But "Lord Nelson," as the insane man imagined himself to be, was not going to be coerced so easily. He started to run, and the keeper took after him. It was several minutes before "Lord Nelson" was caught, and, by that time, the guard had forgotten about Frank, and made no further inquiries. The patients resumed their march.
Frank, hurrying through the woods, felt himself in a tumult of doubts and fears. He wondered if he had done right, and what would be the outcome of the interview in the summer house. So much might depend on it, yet so little might come of it.
"I am sure I"m right," the boy murmured, as he went to where he had left his canoe. "If he only will recognize me! Oh! if he only will! But it is so many years!"
He reached his boat, and paddled up stream, thinking it best to hide, in case there might be a search made for him.
Frank remained in the seclusion of the woods, near the stream until dark.
He still had some lunch left, and he ate that, meanwhile planning what he would say at the interview with the patient from the sanitarium.
"I must get him away from here," Frank thought. "Perhaps there may be a means of curing him, and then he can tell me everything connected with the secret. Oh! if he only could!"
How long the hours seemed while he waited! He thought ten o"clock would never come, but at last, looking at his watch by the light of a match, he saw it lacked but thirty minutes of that time. "I"ll start," he said to himself. "He may be there a little ahead of me."
Frank reached the edge of the woods, where they marked the beginning of the sanitarium grounds. From there he took a cautious look. There seemed to be no one in sight, and he quickly ran across the open s.p.a.ce to the summer house. This was a vine-covered arbor, situated at the back of the inst.i.tution. Inside was a circular bench running all around, and it was a favorite place of such patients as were well enough to be allowed to roam about at will.
Frank looked inside the little house before he entered. There was no one there, and he sat down on the bench. Then, with eyes and ears on the alert for the first suspicious sight or sound, he waited. He could hear the distant tramping of the guards as they paced about the inst.i.tution.
"It"s just like a prison," the boy thought. "What a horrible place to stay in!"
A clock, somewhere in the inst.i.tution, struck the hour of ten, the sound being plainly audible through the opened windows. Frank started to his feet. As he did so he heard someone approaching along the gravel path.
His heart was beating with quick, hard throbs.
"Is the young man, who wanted to see me, here?" asked a voice.
"Yes, I am here," replied Frank.
"What do you want? You are a stranger to me. I do not know what whim made me agree to meet you here. I am not usually well enough to see visitors.
Indeed I never have any. What do you wish?"
"I have come to take you away from here!"
"Take me away from here?" and the patient spoke the words as though they frightened him. "I can"t go. I must stay. Sometimes, when I am feeling well, as I do now, I might wish that; but those times are rare. Mostly I am very ill. My head hurts me, and I cannot think. My mind becomes a blank. Then I am glad I am here, and do not wish to go away. But why should a stranger take so much interest in me? Why do you want to help me to escape? I do not know you."
"I want to help you, because--" began Frank.
"Hush! Someone is coming!" interrupted the man. "It is against the rules for the patients to talk to visitors. If you are found here they may arrest you. One of the guards is coming!"
"I don"t care. I must tell you who I am."
"Hurry! Hurry away!" exclaimed the man.
"Not until I tell you what I came here for. I believe you are--"
"Who"s there?" called the angry voice of one of the attendants, as he caught the sound of the voices in the summer house.
"You must go," the man pleaded with Frank. "You will only make trouble for yourself and me." He spoke in a whisper, and the guard who was running on the gravel path could not hear above the sound of his own footsteps.
"Can I see you again?" asked Frank.