"You want to look everywhere, feller citizens," the officer was saying; "look into sheds and barns and under fences, and every old nook and corner where the boy may be hidin'. He's plumb loony, ye know, and he's li'ble to crawl into any old place. Mebbe he'll be scat of ye and want to fight when ye do find him, so handle him gentle."

At this juncture two men came panting down Main Street. "We know where he is!" shouted one. "We've seen him!"

"Yep, we've seen him," gulped the other. "We almost ketched him, but he got away from us somehow."

"Where is he? Where is he?" cried twenty voices.

"We was goin' up the street, lookin' for him, and we'd almost got to the Widder Chester's, when we see somebody scoot across the road, jump the fence and put off inter the field above Cedar Street. When we hollered for him to stop he run faster."

"And he could run some," gasped the smaller man. "We chased him into a strip of trees and bushes, and he must be hid there right now, for we couldn't find him."

"Come on," commanded William Pickle, taking the lead-"come on, everybody. Show us the way, Turner and Crabtree."

Forgetting the original plan of search, the crowd poured up the main street, straggling out into a long, irregular body. Osgood, keeping close to the leaders, felt some one press against him, and recognized Billy Piper.

"This is bad business," said Piper in a low tone.

"You're right," agreed Ned instantly. "No one can feel any worse about it than I do."

"But feeling bad," retorted Billy grimly, "doesn't make amends; it's got to be something more than that."

As the searchers turned from the road near Mrs. Chester's house, climbed the fence and streamed across the field, Ned began to understand that the shouting, which had seemed to break in upon his troubled dreams, had been real. And with this conviction came the thought that in his delirium Hooker had sought to return to the place where he had been injured. It was a disagreeable thought, which Osgood tried to put aside.

The rising moon, breaking now and then through ragged clouds, promised aid to the searchers. Directed by Pickle, they spread out and practically surrounded the long, narrow strip of trees and bushes. This done, a body of men entered the growth and worked their way through it, leaving scarcely a yard of ground uninspected. But when they had pa.s.sed over it all in this thorough manner, it became known that not one of them had found the slightest trace of the missing lad.

"He must have hid till Turner and Crabtree left," said the deputy sheriff. "As soon as they were gone, he prob'ly hit out for somewhere's else."

"Too bad one of 'em didn't have sense enough to stay and watch while t'other one went for help," said Abel Hubbard, the constable.

The posse gathered in a group, seeking further instructions from their leaders.

"Don't believe they'll ever find him this way," said Billy Piper.

"They're not going about it with any sort of method."

"Yeou're so all-fired clever at sech things," said Sile Crane, "why don't yeou suggest a plan?"

"They wouldn't listen to me if I proposed anything."

"If you have a plan, Piper," said Nelson, joining the little cl.u.s.ter of boys that surrounded Billy, "just tell us what it is. If it sounds reasonable, we'll carry it out."

"Let me think a moment-let me think," said Piper, tapping his knuckles against his forehead. "The report is that Roy was talking some along about nightfall, though his words were jumbled, without much sense in them. He kept repeating certain things, such as 'poker,' 'five aces,'

and 'cabin.'"

"You know what Professor Richardson said," put in Rodney Grant. "It's thought that Roy was playing cards for money when he was hurt."

"If so," said Billy, "that would explain the words 'poker' and 'five aces'; but why did he keep talking about a cabin? Ha! I have it. I happen to know that once on a time a certain little bunch of fellows went over to the old camp in Silver Brook Swamp to play poker, and Hook was one of the crowd. Cabin-that's what he meant; he had something in his muddled mind about that old camp in the swamp. Come on, fellows, perhaps we'll find him there."

"You've always been so lucky in your guesses," said Nelson, "that there's a chance you may be right this time. If you should happen to be, your reputation as a great detective will be established on a firm--"

"I don't want any such reputation!" snapped Billy shortly. "I think I told you so once before, Jack."

"Geewhilikens!" exclaimed Crane, astonished. "What's happened to yeou naow? Yeou've alwus been red-hot to play the detective, and some folks have begun to say that yeou're purty clever at it."

"I haven't time to explain my reasons for cutting that tommyrot out,"

retorted Piper. "Let's get a move on."

There were eight boys in the party that set out for Silver Brook Swamp, led by Piper. Striking across the fields, they pa.s.sed to the south of Turkey Hill and reached the Barville road. The clouds were dispersing and the moon was shining clear and bright when they drew near Silver Brook and came to the old path that led into the swamp.

Phil Springer and Chipper Cooper were disposed to lag behind somewhat, although something seemed to draw them on after the others.

"I've been expecting Piper to blow the whole thing any minute," said Cooper, speaking to Phil in a low tone.

"Wonder why he hasn't?" speculated Springer. "He sus-swore to us that he would if Shultz or Osgood didn't own up pup-pretty quick."

"Guess he's waiting for what he'd call the psychological moment. You know Pipe's always great for dramatic effects."

"There can be only one outcome to this thing now. We're all in the sus-sus-soup."

"Billy says it's our duty to think of Roy, not ourselves."

"I've been th-thinking of him too much. It's made me sick. I'm thinking of him now, and what we're liable to fuf-find in this old swamp if Pipe's guess is right about the way he went. Being crazy enough to jump out of bub-bed and run off half-dressed, anything may huh-happen to him."

"That's right," agreed Chipper dolefully. "I wonder where Charley Shultz is? Didn't see anything of him with the crowd."

"Yah!" growled Springer. "He hasn't got any fuf-feelings. I'll bet he's in bed, sleeping like a log, this very minute. Probably not even the ringing of the bells woke him up."

"He must have a heart of stone," said Cooper.

Had they known all that had happened to Shultz in the last two hours, could they have seen him in his present painful and wretched condition, their judgment of him might not have been so harsh.

CHAPTER XXI

THE CAMP ON THE ISLAND.

Under the western shoulder of Turkey Hill the shadows were deep and heavy, and, the path being dim and faint from rare use, it was necessary for the party to proceed slowly. They did not talk much, and when they did speak their words were uttered in low and guarded tones.

Several times, Piper, in the lead, paused to make sure they had not wandered from the right course. The others seemed to rely almost wholly upon Billy, and no one thought of superseding him in the leadership.

During one of these pauses, Cooper, who had halted with Springer a short distance behind the others, pulled at Phil's sleeve and whispered in his ear:

"Say, old man, don't you think it's about time we told all we know about this business?"

Springer gave his body a queer sort of a shake.

"What gug-good will that do?" he whispered back. "It won't help fuf-find Hooker."