Chapter XVII: Deeper Into the Jungle

"Why, it's a boy!" exclaimed the horrified Bluff, as he stared at the object from which the sounds proceeded.

"And tied to a tree, too! You know him, Bluff; look again!" remarked Frank.

"Say, it's sure Tom Somers, one of Pet Peters' crowd. What under the sun does it mean, Frank?" exclaimed the other, startled and mystified.

"Just what I said. They must have had a monkey-and-parrot time among themselves, and the Tom Somers' section got the worst of it. You see the result--they've gone off and left this fellow fastened here as a punishment for his rebellion."

"But--this ain't out West, or in the Cannibal Islands. Wake me up and tell me if I'm seeing things. What! do you mean to say those savages would leave Tom here to starve to death?" gasped Bluff.

"Oh! no, some of them would come back by to-night or to-morrow to let him off. I imagine this is only some of Pet's miserable work. He's a cruel monster. I thought Andy Lasher bad enough, but it turned out that he had a speck of good in him, and Jerry touched it when he saved his life that stormy night. But Pet is mean and revengeful, a sneak, and a coward at heart."

"There. I believe he has just discovered us," said Bluff.

The boy who was fastened to the tree gave a groan, and then called out:

"Say, fellers, you wouldn't go and leave me here like this would you? Set me free anyway, and I kin shift for myself somehow; but it's tough to be tied up like a dog, an' all because I knocked Pet down when he called me a name I won't take off any man or boy. Jest slice a knife over these ropes, won't you, please?"

He did not whine, but asked the favor in a fairly decent way.

"Of course we will, Tom Somers. You've always been an enemy of mine, but that's no reason we should leave you like this. There you are!"

Frank purposely allowed his chum to do the cutting. He knew that there had in the past been more or less bad blood between these two lads, and he had in mind a possible repetition of the singular friendship that had sprung up between Jerry and Andy Lasher after the time when the former saved the life of the town bully.

"That's 'white' of you, Bluff, and I ain't the feller to forget it, neither," was what the late prisoner said as his bonds fell away.

"You look bruised more or less, so I take it there must have been quite a fight here before they went away?" remarked Frank, questioningly.

The other grinned, though the effort must have pained him not a little, on account of the many scratches and gouges on his face.

"Did they? Well, I should smile, pardner. I only had one husky chap to stand by me, against five; but we pretty nigh cinched things. Pet Peters said he'd get even with me by leavin' me here a spell, to tempt that wild man. But I had hopes some of you fellers might top the rise and give me a helpin' hand."

"Oh! I remember now, you're the chap who was out West for a year herding cattle. I notice it in your speech," said Frank, smiling.

"It gets in the blood, when you mingle some with them gents. I try to break off when the fellers kid me, but it crops out when I ain't thinkin'. But say, it was 'white' of you to do this, an' I ain't got any call to ask favors of your crowd either."

A sudden thought struck Frank.

"See here, you say you're grateful; will you prove it?" he asked.

Tom Somers thrust out his chest as he immediately replied:

"I'm a maverick if I don't; try me!"

"Then listen. You heard me say that our chum Jerry had strangely vanished yesterday while we were in the woods. I have good reason to believe those two hoboes laid hold of him, for some reason or other," Frank started.

"Ransom--the old, old game, perhaps?" suggested the other, quickly.

"Well, I hardly think it is quite so bad as that; but they wanted to hold him as a sort of hostage, perhaps, threatening us if we didn't get off this island. No matter what their reason, they've got our chum, and now we mean to try and release him. That's why we're here."

"And you want me to help? 'Course I will, and only too glad to have the chance. If it's a trail to foller, why I picked up lots of points out there on the Texas plains, and just you set me on the track," said Tom, pulling on a tattered coat that had been taken from him ere he was fastened to the tree.

"Then let's begin right here and see if there is any trail where your grub basket went off last night!" remarked Frank.

At that Tom started and turned a little pale.

"You said the hoboes, pard, and not that man-monkey," he stammered.

Plainly he had conceived a great fear regarding the mysterious object that had appeared in the camp, and vanished with their provisions.

Frank laughed.

"Make your mind easy, I'm not intending to follow him. We expect to go to the place where my pard vanished yesterday, and take up the trail there. I followed it a while, but night was coming on and I lost it. You may do better, Tom," he said.

"But you mentioned that hairy monster, didn't you?" queried the other, uneasily.

"I only want to examine the track he left, so as to settle in my mind whether it was really a crazy human being or a big ape. Come over here and let's see."

"Huh! none of our fellers ever thought of lookin' around. A snake-whip couldn't a-coaxed 'em over this way. Like as not they expected the varmint was lyin' in the bushes, waitin' to jump out again. But I don't pull leather when I give my word."

He threw himself prostrate on the ground. In less than three minutes an exclamation announced that he had found what he sought. Frank dropped beside him.

"There she is, and a jim-dandy of a track, too, plain as the hoof marks of a cayuse around a snubbing post!" he exclaimed, pointing.

"Just as I thought, a man's shoe, and an unusually big one. That settles one thing in my mind. It is no escaped ape that runs wild on this island. It may be a lunatic that has got away from the asylum over at Merrick, or----"

Frank did not finish his sentence, but nodded his head as though the thought that had flashed into his mind pleased him.

"That all here?" asked the other, a little nervously, although apparently relieved to learn that it was not a wild animal he had seen on the preceding night.

"Yes, I'm entirely satisfied. Now let us find the place where those Indian mounds are, and we can get on the trail without delay," answered Frank, leading the way.

It took him fully an hour to accomplish this. First they had to return to the spot at the foot of the bluff where the canoeists' camp had lately stood. Here his own trail was taken up, and Tom Somers proved to the satisfaction of the others that he did know considerable about following tracks through thickets and woods, for he led them unerringly until finally Frank saw the two mounds.

"There they are," he said, in a low voice.

Bluff pushed his gun forward menacingly.

"Where?" he demanded in a hoarse whisper.

"Oh! I mean the two Indian mounds, not the hoboes. Come over here and see the trail made as they went away," replied his chum, quickly.

When the boy who had spent a year on a Texas ranch punching cattle saw the marks, he announced it as his opinion that they had been made by two parties besides Jerry.

"I reckon your chum was snoozing some when they jumped his claim. He kicked and put up a right husky fight, but they was too much for him, and choked him off. I reckon one of them must a-been a boy, and the other a big man, judgin' from the marks. Then, when they had reduced him to quiet they just snaked him off."

"That's what I thought--the big brute carried Jerry on his back, for there are no signs of my chum's footprints around. Now, let's start off. I'm anxious to know the worst, no matter what it is!" cried Frank.

Bluff brought up the rear. It was anything but light under the dense growth of trees and clinging vines. At times the tracker had to get down close to the ground in order to see what he wanted.

Bluff had slung his gun over his shoulder by the strap, and was holding Will's camera in his hands, wondering if he had not been foolish to bring such a silly thing along with him on so serious an errand.

The deeper they penetrated into the interior of the island the denser the undergrowth seemed to become, until at times it was only with the utmost difficulty they pushed their way through. Others having gone ahead of them made it a trifle easier, perhaps; at least Tom Somers said so in a whisper.

"Perhaps we're gettin' clost to the place, now, pardners; so we'd better take our time an' not hustle too much. Don't speak above a whisper, either," he said, as he parted the bushes in front.

Even as he did so Frank heard him utter a low exclamation, not of fear so much as of disgust. One look told the other what it meant, and he, too, feared that their plans would all be disarranged through an accidental meeting with a resident of the jungle, who seemed disposed to dispute their further progress.

There was the biggest wildcat Bluff had ever seen in all his life squatted on the low limb of a tree, growling angrily, and with it claws digging into the bark after the manner of a cat that is getting ready to jump, and will not be stopped!

True, Frank could easily have raised his gun and shot the ferocious creature dead in its tracks; but such an explosion must warn the enemy of their presence in the vicinity, and effectually prevent any surprise.

It looked like a serious problem, and yet it must be solved immediately unless they wanted to experience an encounter at close quarters with that fury.

"Hold up! give me a chance. Duck your heads, fellows; I'm going to flashlight the critter!" exclaimed Bluff. And even as he spoke, there was a sudden startling illumination that lit up the immediate vicinity like day.