The Boy Scouts of the Flying Squadron | Page 9

see the bully red blanket that's
hugged me tight on many a cold night when I was tending my line of
traps. I feel that it is like an old friend when I get it tucked around me,
and you'd think I was an Esquimo lying there, or one of those mummies
they get out of Mexican catacombs."
"That's all right," Hugh declared; "I thought you were too sensible to
come up here and spend a night at this time of year without something
to keep you from freezing. Why, even on a summer night that starts in
hot, it's apt to feel chilly along about three in the morning. I've seen the
time when I'd have given a heap to have my blanket along; and the only
thing I could do was to get up and start the fire booming again."
The three boys started to pick out the best spots for making their beds,

each one being governed by some idea of his own. It was lucky they
did not all think alike, or they must have drawn straws for first choice.
Hugh was carefully laying his blanket down so that he could crawl into
it as if it were a bag, after he had taken his shoes and some of his outer
clothing off, when he felt a gentle tug at his sleeve.
"Hugh!" said a soft voice in a whisper.
"What is it, Ralph?" questioned the other, going right along with what
he was doing in order not to show that there was anything amiss.
"Don't act as if I was saying anything out of the common, Hugh," said
the other; "but first chance you get, peep out of the tail of your eye at
the broken window, and you'll find that we're being watched!"
CHAPTER IV
READING A "SIGN" BY TORCHLIGHT
Of course it gave the leader of the Wolf patrol a thrill when he heard
this low warning from Ralph. You never would have known it, though,
from any uneasy movement on his part.
He knew that the boy who had spent so much of his time in the woods,
trapping the cunning little furry inhabitants in seasons gone by, would
not alarm him needlessly. And so, watching his chance, Hugh managed
to shoot a glance toward the opening without betraying the fact that he
was particularly interested in that quarter.
As he did so, he was just in time to see a face vanish from view. In fact,
he barely caught a fleeting glimpse of it, and yet Hugh felt perfectly
sure that he had not alarmed the watcher in any way.
The cause of the unknown party's sudden withdrawal was speedily
made plain. Bud seemed to be gasping, and immediately whispered
hoarsely:

"Great guns! did you see that, fellows? As sure as my name's Bud
Morgan there was a man peeking in at the window there! Honest Injun,
there was!"
Undoubtedly the unknown visitor must have discovered Bud staring
straight at him, and thought it high time to disappear.
"Yes, we both saw him, Bud," said Hugh, rather disappointed that, after
all, the fellow had been chased away before they could find out his
identity or what he wanted, prowling around in such a suspicious way.
"Who in the dickens was it?" exclaimed Bud, evidently growing angry
now that his astonishment had worn away. "The nerve of him, poking
his nose in where it isn't wanted! Why don't we get a move on and
chase after him? Ralph, remember that you've got your scatter-gun
handy. Don't forget to take that, will you?"
"Did you recognize that face, Ralph?" asked the practical scout leader,
turning to the young trapper of the past.
"I think---yes, I'm nearly dead sure it was one of the two men I saw
acting in such a suspicious way this afternoon," came the answer.
"Which one, would you say?" continued Hugh.
"The taller one," came from Ralph without hesitation. "I think you said
he looked a little like the German type, wasn't that about it, Ralph?"
"Yes, that was what I believed at the time I saw him," replied the other.
He had already stepped over and picked up his gun. There was a gleam
in his eyes that told of a spirit aroused. Ralph had become a scout and
was to the best of his ability trying to live up to the duties of one
belonging to the organization; but of course there were times when the
old spirit would come to the surface. The present occasion was one of
these moments.
"Let's go outside and look around," Hugh suggested.

"Bully idea!" muttered the impatient Bud; and having no gun to grasp,
he made a lunge for the stout stick which Ralph had been using as a
sort of poker when