"Yes, that"s so, over that way," pointing as he spoke.
Jack turned to his chums.
"It"s up to us, boys," he said soberly. "Clarence has never been one of us; but he belongs to our school. We"d never forgive ourselves if we went back to the Soo tomorrow, and left him in the hands of these scoundrels. Do you agree with me?"
"That"s right, Jack!" sang out George.
"Sure we would be cold-blooded to think of it," Josh declared.
"Them"s my sentiments," Herb spoke up; and both Nick and Jimmie nodded their heads violently, to prove that they were in no way behind their comrades in wishing to do a good deed toward one who had long been an open enemy.
"Then let"s consider what way we ought to go about it," Jack proceeded, with an air of business. "It"s out of the question for us to try and go back the way Joe came. We couldn"t make it under hours; and from his looks none of us are hankering after the experience. But there is a way to get there quickly."
"The boats?" George put in.
"One boat ought to carry all who will go, and let that be the _Comfort_, with five of us on board, taking the two guns to make a good show," Jack proceeded.
Nick immediately set up a whine.
"I guess I have feelings," he declared. "Don"t I know you"re just going to shut me out of this rescue game? I"m ready to do my part as well as the next one, ain"t I? What you want to leave me behind for?"
"You"ve got to obey orders, Buster," said George.
"And besides, with so many aboard, the bully old _Comfort_ might founder," Josh thought it necessary to remark.
"Besides, you are going to have your share of the work, and along a line you always like," Jack went on; "for while we"re gone, it shall be your duty to make a new brew of coffee, fill Joe here cram up with all he can eat, and have something ready for Clarence when we bring him back. So you see, Buster, your duty is as important as any of ours. Every one in their particular line. You can"t fight as well as Jimmie here; but you do know how to provide against starvation."
Nick smiled broadly again, entirely appeased.
"Count on me, Commodore," he said, briskly. "Where"s that coffeepot right now? I"ll do my duty to the letter. Why, it"s a pleasure to look after the wants of a hungry fellow. It gives me something of an appet.i.te just to think of the work I"ve got cut out for me."
Jack put Nick and Joe out of his mind, after trying to get a little information from the latter, with regard to the character of the place where the _Flash_ had been wrecked, and the two hard looking customers were supposed to be still stopping.
They went aboard the _Comfort_. Jack himself decided to run the boat, with the a.s.sistance of Herb and George. Above all things, silence was of more value to them just then than speed, if they hoped to steal up on the captors of Clarence without being detected.
"Good luck!" called Nick, as the broad beamed motor boat started quietly away.
CHAPTER XXIII
HOMEWARD BOUND
"Look! isn"t that a fire over there?" asked sharp-eyed George, as he gripped Jack"s arm suddenly.
They had been moving cautiously along for the better part of an hour, striving in every way possible to avoid any drumming sound, such as nearly always betrays the presence of a motor boat near by.
And in all that time they may have only covered some four miles, or possibly five; for no effort was made to drive the _Comfort_ at even half speed.
"Looks like it," Jack replied, after a quick survey. "But how is it we didn"t glimpse it before?"
"I think a point of rocks must stick out between, and we"ve just opened the pocket," George replied, in a whisper.
Of course Jack had immediately shut off the power, so that old reliable _Comfort_ stopped her forward movement, lying there on the dark waters like a log; for not a light of any description did they carry aboard.
"Do we go ash.o.r.e now?" asked Josh, softly; for all of them had been warned not to speak above a whisper from the time they started forth on their errand of mercy.
"Yes," Jack replied. "That"s one reason we"ve been keeping so close in.
I"ll drop into the d.i.n.ky, and use the paddle. Foot by foot I can pull the motor boat to sh.o.r.e, and then we"ll land."
"How lucky there"s not a breath of wind," Herb remarked, as he helped Jack draw the small tender alongside, and then crawl over the side.
Presently Jack was working away, having attached the painter of the boat to a cleat at the bow of the _Comfort_. His method of using the paddle insured utter silence. Had it been an expert hunter, moving up on a deer that was feeding on the lily pads along the border of a Canada stream, he could hardly have manipulated that little spruce blade with more care.
And so, foot by foot, the motor boat was coaxed in nearer the rock-bound sh.o.r.e. When Jack had finally succeeded in accomplishing his end he next sought some place where those still aboard could disembark, and the _Comfort_ be tied up while they went about the business that had brought them there.
"Now, what next?" asked Herb, when the entire five had reached land, and the boat was amply secured to a split rock, with little danger of any injury resulting, because there was no wind and hence no movement to the water.
"We"ve got to advance," Jack replied. "So as to get around that point; when we"ll see the camp Joe told us about. Those fellows have got a big rowboat, he said, but hate to work the oars. He said they first talked of making the boys do the rowing; and then that scheme for getting more money came up. Are you ready for the job?"
"I am that," said Jimmie, promptly, flourishing a club that looked like a baseball bat; and which would be apt to prove a formidable weapon in hands that were as clever as those of the stout Irish lad.
"Count me in," remarked Herb, who was carrying a hatchet; having nothing else to serve him as a threatening weapon that might strike terror to the hearts of the enemy.
"And I"m only too anxious to look in on "em. Let me eat "em up!" Josh growled, flourishing the camp bread knife in a most dreadful fashion.
George had his rifle, and of course Jack carried the repeating Marlin shotgun which had proven its value on many another occasion.
"Then come on, and be mighty careful, everybody," Jack cautioned, as he led off.
They remembered what Joe had said about the "rough sledding" he had found in his endeavor to keep close to the water"s edge, so that he might not get lost. And every one of the five were willing to admit that Joe spoke the truth when he told this; for they made the slowest kind of progress.
Still, every yard pa.s.sed over took them so much closer to the goal. And so long as they did not tumble and make a noise that would warn the enemy, it mattered little or nothing about the time they took in covering the ground.
After a long time spent in this sort of crawling business Jack believed he could see what seemed to be a fire flickering among the stunted trees.
Calling the attention of the others to this, he changed his course a bit, in order to find an easier route, and perhaps come upon the camp from behind.
For tenderfeet the five boys seemed to be making a pretty clever advance. They could now see a man stretched at full length near the fire, as if sleeping; though now and then a puff of smoke told that he was only taking it easy, and indulging in his pipe.
A little farther and they glimpsed the second fellow. He towered up like a house, being all of six foot-three, and bulky in proportion. But then, as Jack well knew, a man is only a man, no matter what his size, when he is looking into the muzzle of a rifle and modern repeating shotgun.
And even this giant might well quail when brought to book.
The boys were now creeping through the bushes, and getting very close in. All the while Jack was eagerly trying to see what had become of Clarence. At first he could discover nothing of the other; and became chilled with a deadly fear that these cowards might have gone to extremes; though he could hardly bring himself to really believe it.
George was the first to find out what had been done with the prisoner.