"Nix on the clue!" argued Tommy. "The gink who b.u.mped our friend on the cupola came after the paper. He got the paper and ducked, and that"s all there is to it! If there were any secret communications concerning our mission in the paper, the robber got them!"
"And where does that leave us?" asked Sandy.
"Up in the air!" grumbled Tommy.
"So far as I can see," Will stated, "you boys have the situation sized up correctly! The boy was sent here to convey certain information to me.
He made his way to the cabin before being attacked. Then he was struck down and the important paper abstracted from the envelope."
"I"ve got an idea!" cried Tommy springing to his feet and walking up and down the cabin floor. "I"ve got a bully idea!"
"Pa.s.s it around," advised Sandy.
"This lad wasn"t followed in at all!" Tommy went on. "The man who attacked him and stole the paper was waiting for him at this cabin! The lad was mistaken for the boy whose name appears on the envelope, and so he got what was meant for some one else!"
"But look here," George argued, "if the a.s.sa.s.sin was waiting here for the boy to come, why didn"t he jump us as soon as we made our appearance?"
"That"s another question I can"t answer," Tommy admitted. "I might say that the man reached the cabin and found this boy sitting here alone, but that would be only guess work."
Will arose and walked over to the bunk where the wounded boy lay.
"Half a dozen words from his lips would settle the whole question," he said, "but it appears to me that it will be a long time before he will be able to speak a word. All our Boy Scout learning in the matter of wounds is ineffective here!"
"There"s one thing clear to me," George argued, "and that is that some one in this wild region now knows more about our mission here than we do ourselves. Of course, Will may know quite a lot regarding it," he added, with a wink, "but, if he does, he hasn"t yet confided the story to us."
"That"s a hint that you get busy and tell us what we"re here for,"
suggested Tommy with another wink.
"I"ll tell you what I know about the matter," Will answered, "but in the face of the fact that a more recent reading of the case is known to exist, the chances are that any explanations I may make may prove to be worthless."
"Can you answer a straight question?" asked Tommy.
"I think so," answered Will.
"Will you answer a straight question?" persisted the boy.
"Certainly!"
"Then answer it. What are we here for?"
"We are here," replied Will, "to secure the print of a thumb!"
"Has the shock of this incident turned your head?" asked Tommy.
"I answered the question correctly!" replied Will. "We came all the way from Chicago to find the print of a man"s right thumb!"
"Where do you expect to find it?" demanded Sandy.
"Somewhere among the mountains and glaciers," smiled Will.
"I can get all the thumb prints I want on South Clark street!" declared Tommy. "Of course, it"s fun to come out here, under any pretext whatever, but I think Mr. Horton might have given us a more sensible errand than that. This is worse than the trip to the coal mine!"
"Now tell us the excuse Mr. Horton gave for wanting this print of a man"s right thumb," smiled Sandy.
Will arose and went to the door. The sun was lifting through a narrow pa.s.s in the mountains, and the creatures of the thickets and the air were astir. A flock of water fowl was winging swiftly to the north, and what seemed to be the keen eyes of a wolf looked out from the shelter of the undergrowth. The air was clear and invigorating.
"Why don"t you answer my question?" asked Sandy.
"Did you hear footsteps outside?" asked Will.
Sandy shook his head, but the two boys, after drawing on their head-nets, stepped out into the glorious morning.
"There is no reason," Will decided, "why the person who attacked the boy and stole the paper should find it necessary to leave this section without trying to find out something more. I have an idea that whoever injured the lad is still in this vicinity--that he will remain in this vicinity as long as there is a prospect of his securing additional information."
"The mosquitos will eat him up if he remains around here without proper shelter!" Sandy suggested.
"That is one way of fighting off mosquitos," Will said, catching the boy by the arm and pointing off to the east, where a faint line of smoke was making its way through the still air.
"There"s some kind of a camp there, all right!" exclaimed Sandy.
Tommy and George now came out of the cabin and the four boys stood for some moments watching the column of smoke which seemed to grow more dense every moment. While they looked, a second column appeared beside the first.
"If we were in a Boy Scout country," Tommy exclaimed, "I should say that was an Indian signal for help."
"In a Boy Scout country!" repeated Sandy. "If this isn"t a Boy Scout country, what is it? Every inhabitant, so far as we know, belongs to the order!"
"Well, there"s a Boy Scout call for a.s.sistance," urged Tommy, excitedly, "and I think we"d better get a move on and see what it means!"
CHAPTER III
A MESSAGE IN CODE
"We mustn"t all go," Will said, as his companions started on a run in the direction of the smoke signals.
"I should say not!" exclaimed Sandy. "If we should all go away at one time we might find another wounded boy in the cabin on our return!"
"Suppose you keep watch, then," Tommy suggested.
"All right," Sandy agreed. "I"ll stay if you"ll stay with me."
Tommy grumbled a little at the idea of missing a little possible excitement, but the two lads entered the cabin and closed the door while Will and George started away toward the signals.
The moraine over which they pa.s.sed was something like a floor of loose rocks of different sizes, with mats of mosses, lichens, sedges, and dwarf shrubs scattered here and there, so the traveling was by no means easy. Now and then the boys came to a place where the rocks were entirely bare, and here their progress was more rapid.
The columns of smoke grew more distinct as they advanced, and, after traveling a mile or more, they came to a position from which a figure could be seen moving back and forth between the two fires.