Afloat on the Flood | Page 8

fastened to
his pack, which the others just knew would be frequently tripping him
up, and making all sorts of noises when they wanted to steal silently
along.
Just what they meant to fry in that pan no one fully knew; but they
were strong in "hopes," and believed that things would turn up to
satisfy their hunger when the sensation became too acute.

The team had been hired at the town livery stable, and they had been on
the road now since early in the morning, for it was a long way up to
Lake Solitude.
As this region had been the scene of some of the earliest camps of the
Hickory Ridge scouts, of course, the conversation covered many
memories connected with those experiences.
The horses had shown signs of playing out some miles back; but Lil
Artha proved himself to be an artful as well as clever driver. He
managed to coax them along, and there was little doubt now that they
would reach their intended destination inside of a short time.
This was a farmer's place that lay adjacent to the swamp at the head of
the solitary lake. Here they would arrange to leave their team while
searching the dark recesses of the swamp. As all of them had had
considerable experience in such unsavory places they believed they
knew fairly well how to go about the hunt.
"Well, we ought to fetch that old farm mighty soon now, I should think,
Elmer," remarked the driver, as he flecked the back of the off-horse to
disturb a big green fly that was trying to stab the sweat-covered animal
in a tender spot.
"From what I've been able to find out, and what I know in the bargain
from my own experience up here," the patrol leader explained, "the
head of the lake lies just beyond that patch of willow trees, and we'll
see the farmhouse as soon as we make the next turn. Easy there, Art,
you came near dumping us then."
"The pesky old road is so narrow it's hard to keep going straight,"
complained the other, in disgust; for one wheel had, indeed, slipped
over the edge, and their escape from a bad spill had been what Lil
Artha himself would have called a "close shave."
"I reckon suh, Sassafras Swamp must lie over in that direction then?"
remarked Chatz, pointing as he spoke.

"Just what it does," replied Elmer.
"It looks particularly gloomy, I should say," remarked Toby.
"Swamps always do, you must know," Elmer told him; "some of them
are always half dark even in the middle of the day. That's because of
the jumble of vines that hang from tree to tree, and the canopy of
branches overhead. Why, down South, as Chatz here can tell you,
where Spanish moss covers the trees, it's almost dark in some swamps."
"But, Elmer, there's one thing I just don't understand," suggested
Landy.
"Out with it then; and if I can explain I'll be only too willing," he was
told.
"Supposing now for the sake of argument that stranger was a bad man
who had escaped from a sheriff somewhere, when being taken to the
penitentiary; and that he managed to get a strangle hold on our chum,
Hen Condit, so that the other just had to do whatever he was told--get
all that, do you? Well, if they skipped out of Hickory Ridge night
before last, how under the sun could they get away up here in a day or
so?"
"Yes, it's something like thirty miles, I should say, Elmer, and it takes
that boy Johnny a day and a night to get to our place with his load, all
down-grade, too. You remember that Hen Condit never was anything to
brag of in the line of a long-distance walker."
"He may have made up his mind that he had to do some tall sprinting,"
said the other, "when he realized what a hornets' nest he'd stirred up
back there."
"Yeth," remarked Ted Burgoyne who had been listening to all this talk
with certain ideas of his own, "and lots of times it ithn't tho very hard to
get a lift on the road. Wagons and autoth happen along, you know, and
the farmers around here are thoft things, you thee."

"I was just going to say that same thing, Ted," Elmer remarked, "when
you took the very words out of my mouth. Yes, they may have had a
lift; or else Hen had to stretch himself to do the tallest walking of his
career. All of which is based on the supposition that they did come
away up here, and are hiding right now somewhere about Sassafras
Swamp."
"You're figuring on what Johnny said, eh, Elmer?" asked Mark.
"I'm figuring on a whole