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CHAPTER XIV
PECULIAR OPERATIONS

For a few seconds the boys were too surprised to make any answer. They saw that Sandy was standing in front of a tent, partly hidden by the woods.

“What are you talking about?” demanded Bart. “Are you playing soldier, Sandy?”

“You’ll see what I’m playing fast enough,” spoke the former member of the baseball nine. “I tell you not to come across here.”

“Why not?” asked Fenn.

“Because I say so.”

“That’s no reason.”

“I’ll make it one. Don’t you fellows get fresh with me. You think because you can run the high school, and the nine, you can boss me but I’ll show you that you can’t.”

“No one wants to boss you,” spoke Ned. “You’re making a big fool of yourself, Sandy.”

“I am, eh? Well, that’s my affair. I tell you to keep away from here.”

“But why?” insisted Bart. “This – well, of course it isn’t public property, though no one has ever been stopped from coming here after flowers.”

“Some one’s going to be stopped now,” and Sandy grinned as he looked at his rifle, and then back at his tent.

“We’ve got as much right here as you have,” went on Ned.

“No, you haven’t.”

“I say we have. Mr. Bender’s no relation of yours.”

“I didn’t say he was.”

“But you act so,” said Bart, “standing guard on his property.”

“I may be standing guard, but I’m not working for Mr. Bender,” Sandy answered. “I tell you that you can’t go past, and you’d better not try it. I’ve got a right for what I say, and you’ll find out if you try to cross.”

“Do you mean to say you’d shoot us?” asked Frank suddenly.

“Well – er – I – You haven’t any right here and I order you off!” exclaimed Sandy, getting rather tangled up.

“You can’t order me off!” exclaimed Frank. “I’m going to cross this clearing. If you point that gun at me, Sandy Merton, I’ll lick you so hard you can’t stand up for a week,” and he started forward.

“Don’t get rash,” counseled Bart in a low voice. “No use looking for trouble. We’ll let the mean little cub alone. I guess there are flowers somewhere else.”

“But he hasn’t any right to make us keep off,” complained Frank. “I s’pose he’s got permission from Bender to camp here and he thinks he owns the place. I’ll show him he doesn’t. I’ll whip him!”

Frank again started forward, but Ned took hold of his arm.

“Don’t do it,” he urged. “Sandy might not mean to, but the gun might go off by accident, and it isn’t worth the trouble. I guess we – ”

Ned’s remarks were interrupted by the sight of a man, who suddenly appeared from the bushes back of Sandy and stood beside the boy. His first move was to grab the gun away from the youth and then he called out:

“I’m sorry to have to ask you young gentlemen to withdraw, but this is private property and you are trespassing. Will you kindly go?”

“There never was any rule against going through here before,” said Bart in respectful tones.

“That may be,” the man answered, “but it is different now. I am acting for Mr. Bender.”

“Of course we haven’t any right here,” observed Frank, “and we’ll go if you say we must. But it made us mad to have that little sneak Sandy order us off.”

“I’m not a sneak, and I’ll punch your face for saying so!” cried Sandy.

“Come on over, you’ll have all the chance you want,” fired back Frank.

“That will do,” said the man coolly. “Perhaps Sandy was a little hasty, but what he said was true. He has been hired to watch this property, but I don’t believe he needs a gun. I did not tell him to use one.”

“I had to protect myself,” whined Sandy.

“Ho! Don’t worry! You’re too mean for us to bother with!” exclaimed Ned. “We’ll go,” he added.

“I wish you would,” the man replied, civilly enough. “I have no objection to your walking all around within a mile of here, but within that space the land is prescribed,” and he smiled in no unfriendly fashion. “I will bid you good day. Sandy, I guess you can come with me; they will go,” and the man moved back into the woods whence he had come, carrying Sandy’s rifle, and followed by that youth, who paused to shake his fist at the chums.

“Well, did you ever hear the beat of that?” asked Ned, as he and the others turned around and walked back. “So this is where Sandy is camping. I wonder what it all means?”

“It means there is something queer going on, and I’m going to see what it is,” declared Bart. “Come on, I’ll show them a trick.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Ned.

“We’ll go up on top of the hill. I know a place where we can look right down into this clearing and all around it. It’s from a tall tree I climbed once when I was after bird’s eggs.”

“But we can’t see so far,” objected Frank.

“I’ve got something that we can take a peep with,” replied Bart, and he pulled out a small telescope. “I saw that advertised in a magazine and I sent for it,” he explained. “It came this noon when I was home to dinner, and I forgot to show it to you. You can see five miles off quite plainly through it.”

“That’s all to the good!” exclaimed Stumpy.

“What beats me,” put in Frank, “is how that man came to hire Sandy, and why they’re so afraid of being seen, or of having any one on that particular land?”

“Maybe we’ll find out pretty soon,” spoke Bart.

“I thought Lem said it was a man with a black moustache who was talking to Sandy that day,” said Frank. “This fellow has a light beard.”

“Might be another man, or this one might be disguised,” spoke Fenn.

“It’s getting just like a story in a book,” remarked Ned. “All it needs is the King of Paprica now to complete it.”

“Perhaps they’re all in this game,” suggested Bart.

“The plot thickens, as they say on the stage,” remarked Frank. “Come on, we’ll have to make better time than this. Wonder if Miss Mapes will get her wild flowers?”

“There are plenty on top of the hill,” observed Fenn. “It’s a hard climb, that’s all.”

“There’s some sort of a path around here,” Bart said. “It leads to the top, and was used by some lumbermen. I used to take it. Seems to me – yes, here it is,” he added as he burst through a particularly thick patch of brush, and came out on a rude wagon trail. “Now it will be easier going.”

It took about an hour to reach the top of the hill, and they were so tired they sat down for a moment to rest. They could get a good view of the surrounding country from their vantage point, and, for a while, tried the telescope in various directions. As Bart had said, it was a good instrument and showed things very clearly.

“Now for a look at our friend Sandy’s camp,” observed Bart as he went to the tree from which he had said he could look down into the clearing. It was his privilege to take the first peep, and when he had climbed half way up and adjusted the glass he focussed it on the place from which the boys had recently been ordered away.

For a few seconds Bart remained motionless, gazing at something below him. His companions waited anxiously for some report.

“See anything?” asked Frank.

“No, don’t appear to be anyone – hold on though! Yes, there is. I see three men.”

“What are they doing?”

“They seem to be walking about.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, that’s all – No, by Jimminy! It can’t be possible! They’re playing leap-frog!”

“Playing leap-frog!” exclaimed Ned.

“Yes! Jumping about like boys! Here, you come up and take a look, Frank! You’ve got the best eyesight of any of us.”

Bart descended and Frank took his place. He gazed through the telescope for several seconds.

“The men are certainly jumping about,” he said, “but they’re not playing leap-frog.”

“What are they doing?” asked Bart.

“They’re hurrying from one place to another, looking at something through big magnifying glasses, just like that man in the boat. That’s who they are. I can see the King of Paprica!”

“Let me have a look!” cried Ned.

“Is Sandy there?” asked Bart.

“I don’t see him. Yes, there he is. He’s helping them, from the look of things!”

In turn Ned and Fenn were allowed to gaze through the telescope. They confirmed what Frank had said, that the men were certainly at some peculiar operations.

“There are some more tents back of Sandy’s,” said Stumpy. “And I can see a log hut, too. There’s something red over the door!”

CHAPTER XV
NED STOPS A PANIC

“Can you read it?” asked Ned.

“It begins with a ‘K.’ ‘King of Paprica,’ that’s what it is. I can see it plainly, now that the sun is out from behind the cloud.”

“This is where they moved the hut to,” Ned went on. “Well, this thing is getting more and more mysterious.”

Bart again ascended the tree and took a long observation. He reported that the men seemed to be measuring the land with long chains, while one was using an instrument such as surveyors carry.

“Maybe they’re planning to put a new trolley line through,” suggested Fenn.

“That’s so,” agreed Bart. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Probably don’t want folks to know which way it’s going, as if they did, they might put up the price of land.”

“But that doesn’t explain the queer actions of the crazy men,” objected Ned. “I bet there’s something more than that in all this.”

“Well, I don’t see as we can do anything,” spoke Frank cautiously. “We haven’t any right to go on private land. Guess we’ll have to let it drop.”

“Wonder how they came to hire Sandy?” said Bart.

“Probably they knew he was so unpopular he wouldn’t say much to the other fellows,” explained Ned.

“Anyhow we’ve seen what we wanted to, though we can’t make head or tail of it,” came from Fenn. “Let’s go on after the flowers.”

“The men are going away now,” Bart reported. “They’ve gone back in the woods, and Sandy is there on guard again. He needn’t worry, we’ll not bother him.”

The boys remained on top of the hill some little while longer and then, finding a place where there were a number of beautiful wild flowers, gathered large bunches, wrapping the stems about with leaves, wet in a spring, to keep the flowers fresh.

They went through the woods so as to skirt the edge of the clearing but not near enough to it to be seen by Sandy, as they did not wish to get into a quarrel with the youth.

“Let’s make some inquiries when we get back to town,” suggested Bart, “and see if anyone has heard of a trolley line being extended, or of any surveyors at work.”

“Whom can we ask?” inquired Ned.

“You ask Judge Benton, Frank,” said Bart. “You know him, don’t you?”

“Yes,” was the answer, and Frank looked at Bart sharply, as if to see whether the suggestion was made with any particular motive. In fact Bart had mentioned the lawyer’s name to see if Frank would volunteer anything about his visit to the judge’s office that day. But Frank said nothing.

Rowing back was easy work, with the stream’s current to help the boat along, and, early that afternoon, the boys tied up at the dock.

They took the flowers to the church, in the lecture room of which the entertainment was to be held. Miss Mapes met the boys there.

“This is very kind of you,” she said, as she took the blossoms. “They will make the place look beautifully. I hope you didn’t have much trouble.”

“Not a bit,” Frank assured her.

“I’m sure you ought to be rewarded in some way,” the teacher went on.

“We didn’t do it for pay,” said Fenn.

“Of course, I know that,” responded Miss Mapes, “but I would like to show you how much I appreciate it. Won’t you come to the entertainment to-night?” and she held out some tickets.

The boys’ faces showed how glad they would be to come. There was to be music, singing and tableaux, and, while the lads had money enough to buy tickets, they were glad as are most persons to get complimentary ones.

“Are you sure you can spare them?” asked Bart.

“Why I am only too glad to give them to you,” Miss Mapes said. “I’m sure you boys deserve them if any one does. All the members of the arrangement committee get free tickets, and I appoint you special members of the flower committee,” she ended, with a laugh.

The entertainment was much enjoyed. There was good music and a number of popular songs were rendered. The affair was to close with a series of tableaux in which several young persons were to pose as famous characters. Considerable time and work had been put into this feature and everyone was anxious to see it.

Lincoln delivering one of his speeches, Washington reading his farewell address, and Pocahontas saving the life of Captain John Smith, were given with much success. The last one was to be a patriotic group, called the “Spirit of ’76,” which is often shown in pictures, the three figures, an old man and two younger ones, playing martial music on drum and fife while all about them rolls the smoke of battle.

To give the proper effect it was planned to burn a quantity of red fire back of the group to represent the mist of smoke caused by the guns, while the explosion of cannon was to be simulated.

As the curtain went up on the group there was a burst of applause when the tableaux came into view, for it was a surprise, and not down on the program. The red fire was touched off and a great cloud of smoke, made lurid by the chemicals, rolled out. Then the curtain stopped, with but half the figures in view.

“Higher! Higher!” called some one in the wings of the improvised stage. “Higher!”

The voice was loud enough to be heard out in the audience, but was intended to be audible only to the person in charge of pulling up the curtain.

It was an unfortunate thing that “Higher” sounded so much like “Fire!” In fact that is what a number of persons thought the cry was, and, taking it with the smoke, which few knew was a part of the picture, they believed some accident had happened.

“Higher! Higher!” called the stage manager again, not seeing the alarmed look on the faces of the audience. He wanted the curtain to go up, but it was caught on something.

Then the panic-wave, which is always ready to sweep over a big gathering at the slightest provocation, started. A few women screamed. Some girls started to leave their seats and a number of boys made ready to follow.

“It’s a fire!” yelled some thoughtless one.

That was enough. In an instant the entire audience had arisen and was about to make a maddened rush for the exits, of which there were none too many.

The four chums, with their girl friends, were seated in the first row. They were near enough to know what the matter was and to see there was no danger. Others near them could also see, but the vast majority was in ignorance.

“If they rush for the doors a lot will be killed!” cried Bart.

“Sit down! Sit down!” yelled Frank, and Fenn joined with him in trying to calm those around him. Several girls near them had fainted.

“There’s going to be trouble!” said Ned in a low tone to Fenn. “What can we do?”

“Tell the band to play!” cried Fenn.

Ned turned to where the orchestra had been seated, but the players had fled. The audience was rushing madly for the doors. They were crushing in a terror-stricken mass around the exits. Ned saw his opportunity and acted.

Grasping a cornet from the chair where the player had dropped it he began to blow. He had learned how to give the army bugle calls while in camp one year, and the memory came back to him. An instant later the sweet notes of “Taps,” or “Lights out,” sounded above the terrible noise of the frenzied throng. The audience halted in its mad rush.

CHAPTER XVI
A RIVER TRIP

Standing up on his seat Ned continued to blow the notes. Clear and true they rang out. Twice he gave the call, but before he had begun the second round the audience had calmed down. Ned had saved the day; the panic was practically over.

Here and there a frightened woman, a hysterical girl, or a timid man made a movement toward getting out, but the majority had come to a halt and turned to look at the young bugler.

By this time those in charge of the entertainment were on the stage calling reassuringly to the people. The red fire died out and the smoke drifted away.

“Take your seats,” said the manager, and nearly every one did so.

“There was an unfortunate mistake,” the manager went on. “Luckily no one was hurt. I regret very much that it has happened. I think it will be best to close the entertainment. It was almost over when the panic started.”

“I want to add but that for the presence of mind of this young man,” and he looked at Ned, who tried to hide down in his seat, “there might have been a terrible calamity. By his quickness he prevented the panic from continuing. He deserves the thanks of every one here.”

“And he’ll get ’em, too,” called someone. “Three cheers for Ned Wilding!”

They were given with a fervor that made the chandeliers rattle.

“Good for you, old chap!” exclaimed Bart, clapping Ned on the back, while the other chums began shaking his hands. Ned was blushing like a girl, and was soon the center of an admiring throng. He tried to get away but they would not let him. Every one wanted to shake hands with him.

The audience was now laughing and talking where, but a few minutes before, it had been a maddened, unreasoning throng; and shortly began dispersing, and soon there remained only a few, including those in charge of the entertainment. Miss Mapes was among them.

“I’m sure it was the luckiest thing in the world that you boys came,” she said to the chums. “What would have happened if Ned hadn’t played that cornet?”

“Oh, anyone could have done that,” said Ned, who was wishing he could get away from the praise.

“Of course they could, if they had thought of it, but you were the only one who did.”

“I guess some of the other boys would, if I had given them the chance,” replied the hero of the occasion. “I happened to be nearest the instrument, that’s all.”

“Well, it’s a great deal,” responded the teacher. “I’ll send you boys tickets to every entertainment we have.”

“That will be fine,” put in Fenn with a laugh.

“I vote we go home,” said Bart. “Don’t seem to be any more panics to put down.”

The four chums, and the girls, left, each one trying to outdo the other in telling of what they thought and what they saw during the excitement. It was as near a tragedy as had ever happened in the town, and the next day’s paper devoted the whole front page to it, including a vivid description of what Ned had done.

“I’m going to leave town,” declared Ned the next afternoon, as he met his chums.

“What’s the matter?” asked Frank.

“Why everyone I meet on the street stops me and asks me all about it. I’m tired of telling of it and hearing about it.”

“You’re not used to being a hero,” said Bart. “Wait until some society sends you a medal and you’ll be so proud you won’t speak to any of us.”

“Speaking of leaving town makes me think it would be a good plan,” put in Fenn.

“What! Have you been robbing a bank or doing something else, that you want to skip out?” asked Bart.

“No, but we haven’t had any real sport since school closed, and it’s about time we did. I was going to propose taking a trip up the river say for about twenty miles, and camping out for a week. That would be fun.”

“You’re right!” exclaimed Ned. “I’ll go with you for one.”

“Count me in,” said Bart, and Frank added that he wasn’t going to be left behind.

“This is my plan,” went on Fenn. “We can take a small shelter tent, some blankets and a camp cook stove. The boat is big enough to carry all that, besides us, and some things to eat. The weather is fine now, and just right for sleeping out of doors. We can row along slowly, stopping where ever we want to, and tying up along shore for the night. What do you say?”

“Couldn’t be better,” declared Ned. “When can we start?”

“To-morrow if you want to, as far as I’m concerned,” put in Bart.

“It will take a couple of days to get ready,” observed Fenn. “Suppose we say Thursday?”

This was agreed upon, and the boys separated to make arrangements for the trip. They owned, jointly, a small tent that could be used for shelter at night, and a small portable stove which they had utilized on previous camping trips.

Thursday morning saw the boat loaded until there was hardly room for the boys. The craft was heavy but they did not mind that, and there was no grumbling when it fell to the lot of Frank and Ned to do the rowing for the first stage.

“We’ll stop at Riverton on our way up and hire a canoe,” said Bart. “A fellow there has a dock and keeps good boats. We’ll want to do a little paddling about and we can’t, very well, if we have all our camp stuff in this heavy craft. We can tow the canoe behind us, and use it while we’re in camp.”

The others agreed that this would be a good plan, and Bart, having taken a final look over the boat to see that everything was in ship-shape, gave the order to start.