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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59705 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+  THE ISLAND CAMP
+
+
+  BY
+
+  ETHEL TALBOT
+
+
+
+  LONDON
+  THE SHELDON PRESS
+  NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.
+  NEW YORK AND TORONTO : THE MACMILLAN Co.
+
+
+
+
+Printed in Great Britain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+"It'll be an awfully long day," said Robin.
+
+"Yes," said Peter and Jan.
+
+"We'd better _do_ something then," said Robin.
+
+"Yes," said Peter and Jan again.
+
+But it was difficult to know exactly _what_ to do!  For to-day was
+the day on which the Lennox cousins were to arrive--Dick and Donald,
+who had been invited to spend the last weeks of the holidays with the
+Vaughans.  The Vaughans had been looking forward to this day
+immensely, but now it had come at last they felt that they could
+hardly get through the hours before their visitors would actually
+arrive.  There would be "tons of things," as Peter said, "to do
+_then_," but there seemed nothing to do to-day.
+
+"Let's go over to the Island," said Robin at last.
+
+The island lay in the middle of the river that flowed at the bottom
+of the Vaughans' garden; it was only the work of a few minutes to
+pull across to the wooded little place where Brown the gardener had
+his cottage, but where, otherwise, the birds had it pretty much to
+themselves, as Jan said.
+
+For the Vaughans were tremendously hard workers; Robin was entered
+for his first real exam.; Peter and Jan were each head of their forms
+at their respective schools, and "meant to keep head."  Thus the
+Island certainly _was_ left to the birds except in the holidays;
+but--a holiday camp was to be one of the tremendous pleasures ahead
+when the Lennoxes came.
+
+"For they're Scouts, you see, like us, so they're sure to be keen,"
+Robin had said, in appealing to his mother.
+
+"It'll be such awfully good practice," Peter had gone on.
+
+"And, as I'm a Guide----!" Jan had begun.
+
+Mrs. Vaughan had laughed; she was a "jolly good mother for Scouts and
+Guides to have," as the boys and girls declared, because "she never
+fussed."  She trusted them and left them to themselves, so that they
+might learn "self-reliance," as she told them.  After she had
+laughed, however, on this occasion she shook her head.  "I have no
+objection to your camping out for a night or two," she said.  "After
+all, Robin camped with his troop last year, and the holiday won't
+have done much for him if he can't captain the rest of you over on
+the Island, but----"
+
+"Oh, _Mother_!" said Jan, who guessed what was coming.
+
+"Yes, I won't have Jan sleeping out of doors.  Pneumonia two years
+ago, you remember, Jan?  Or perhaps you don't,--you were too small;
+but--I _do_!  No, Jan may choose either to sleep at home and join the
+boys by day, or--" Mrs. Vaughan wrinkled her brow--"perhaps
+Gardener's wife, Mrs. Brown, has a spare room.  Yes, of course she
+has.  Now, Jan, would you feel more on the spot and more of a regular
+camper if I could arrange for you to sleep in the Island Cottage?"
+"Oh, yes."  Jan's eyes sparkled with delight.
+
+"And the Lennox boys are Scouts too, so they'll be willing enough,
+I've no doubt," went on Mrs. Vaughan.  "In fact I mentioned something
+of the plan to your aunt, and she seemed very pleased.  Well, I think
+it can be arranged, but--it would be well to wait for really settled
+weather, wouldn't it?"
+
+"The wind's in a good quarter _now_," Peter had said.
+
+That had been yesterday, and the Lennoxes were coming in a few hours.
+It had been decided, though, that for a day or two the newcomers
+should sleep at the Chase and be introduced to the interests that the
+house and garden afforded.  "You must remember," as Mrs. Vaughan told
+the children, "everything will be new and interesting to them.  It is
+the first time they have been to the Chase, and the house will mean a
+good deal to them as belonging to their mother's family for so many
+generations.  They may not want to camp out just at once, and----"
+
+"It's queer, isn't it?" said Peter to the others as they made their
+way over to the Island, "to think that they've never yet seen the
+house, though Father is their uncle, and everything!"
+
+"That's because they've always lived so far north," said Robin,
+"though it isn't as though the Chase is as it used to be, _then_--in
+the old days I mean.  They'll understand that, though; they must have
+heard----" he sighed.  "It must have been rippingly jolly," he said,
+"to live here in the old days."
+
+"It is--_now_," said Jan loyally; but she and Peter knew what Robin
+meant.  For the Chase had been the home of the Vaughan family for
+generations; it was an old rambling place standing in large grounds,
+but, ever since the children could remember, most of the house had
+been shut up and empty.  Stories of the old days when their father
+and his sister had been young--before the change of fortunes had come
+which had made everything so different--were interesting to hear, if
+a little strange to understand.
+
+"I often wonder," said Jan, when they were making their way across to
+the Island for another look at the camping ground on which they had
+fixed, "exactly what the mystery was."
+
+"I do, too.  But Dad never told us.  When War's over, and he's back,
+perhaps he will.  We'll be older," said Robin.  "It's--a family
+secret, something to do with something that happened.  It killed
+Grandfather, I believe.  He died of a broken heart, or something.
+There was lots of money to pay, too, and--the Chase has been pretty
+nearly all shut up ever since, but----"
+
+"I think it's strange," said Jan, "and _I_ think it'd be better to
+tell us.  We might help, you know.  Oh, of course I know we all work
+frightfully hard at school because we're to bring back the family
+fortunes, but there are things I want to know about.  There's a gap
+in the gallery where a picture's been taken down,--in between the
+portraits of Dad and Aunt Agnes when they were children,--Mother
+wouldn't tell me why.  Not that I'd ask again, but----"
+
+"Perhaps the Lennoxes will know," suggested Peter.
+
+"If they do, I'm not sure that we ought ----" Robin was beginning
+when the sound of a horn was heard.  It was Mrs. Vaughan's signal to
+the children when they were on the Island that they were wanted at
+once at home.  At its sound the three turned their steps back to the
+boat, and in a few minutes Robin and Peter were pulling across.  "Oh,
+my dears," said their Mother, standing on the opposite bank, her face
+quite pale with anxiety, "_such_ an unexpected thing has happened!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+"Whatever is it, mother?" asked Robin anxiously.
+
+For Mrs. Vaughan's face was quite pale with worry as she stood on the
+bank while they rowed towards her.  "Don't pull right in," she said.
+"Though I suppose it doesn't matter out of doors.  It's----  Better
+not, perhaps, under the circumstances.  Stay there--on the water, and
+I'll talk to you from here."
+
+"Why!  What--ever----!"  The eyes of the three grew large and round.
+Then an awful idea struck Peter.  "Mother, you don't mean to say that
+anything's happened.  You talk as though we'd got the Plague!
+Whatever is it?"  He racked his brain to think of some possible
+horror.  "Well, it isn't that the Lennoxes have wired to say that
+they can't come, for, if so----!"
+
+"It's--worse."  Mrs. Vaughan laughed ruefully.  "One of them has
+arrived.  It's--Dick; but--oh, he's _covered_ with spots!  Came out
+in the train, so he says; and, poor boy, he's feeling pretty bad, I
+think.  It's certain to be something infectious, particularly as
+Donald--so Dick says--has been kept at home for a day or two, because
+this morning he woke up with a terrible headache, and wasn't well
+enough to travel."
+
+"Measles!  Well, we've had them!" said
+
+Robin hopefully.
+
+"So have they.  I greatly fear that it's scarlet fever.  The poor boy
+is terribly annoyed with himself for coming, but how could they think
+of such a thing as scarlet fever?  No; I pity his mother--so far
+away--as much as I pity myself.  I've sent for Dr. Greig, and, in the
+meantime, you had better all three stay over on the Island for tea.
+Get Gardener's wife to give you some, and explain to her.  I'm so
+sorry, dears, that all this has just happened when you had planned
+such a happy time."
+
+"Sorry for _us_!  It's _you_--and Dick, of course," said Robin.
+"Cheero, mother; let us help.  Scouts know all about First Aid!"
+
+"So do Guides," added Jan quickly.
+
+"First Aid is not needed for scarlet fever.  None of you have had it,
+you know; and there's your exam. ahead, Robin.  You can't run risks.
+No, I only called you to tell you; for you must keep out of the way
+till the Doctor's told me definitely what it is.  I'll blow the horn
+again as soon as I've news."  Their mother waved her hand and was
+gone.
+
+"Wheww!" said Robin; and they rowed in silence to the other side of
+the water.  In an instant their castle of hopes was in bits, and
+their holiday seemed spoilt.  "If I wasn't a Scout I'd feel inclined
+to--jolly well----!"  Peter vented his feelings in kicking up a huge
+clod of turf as he stepped ashore.
+
+"And if I wasn't a Guide, I'd----" Jan's voice sounded pretty near to
+tears.
+
+"No cousins--or as bad as none; perhaps worse, for Mother'll be
+worked to death," continued Peter; "all our ripping preparations
+spoilt!  No camp----!"
+
+"Steady on!" called Robin; he could have grumbled a bit himself,
+easily enough, but he wasn't going to.  He had been thinking hard
+instead, and he broke out suddenly: "I've got an idea.  No, I won't
+say what it is till I know if it's needed.  Don't give up hopes of
+the camp yet, and let's go meanwhile and ask Brownie about tea."
+
+The gardener's house, to which they turned their steps rather
+dejectedly, was a very old stone cottage, as old as the Chase itself.
+It had been used for generations as the home of one or other of the
+keepers, having been built in a convenient place, so it was said, for
+the operations of possible river-poachers to be watched.  Old Brown
+the gardener, though he had been in the service of the family all his
+life, had only lived in the cottage for about fifteen years.  With
+the fall of the family fortunes the outdoor as well as the indoor
+staff of the Chase had been reduced, and at present he was a regular
+handy-man, the only man, indeed, about the place.  His wife welcomed
+the three comfortably enough; and under the soothing influence of
+Brownie's scones and home-made jam their spirits began to rise.  By
+the time the "third cup" stage was reached they were able at last to
+unburden themselves to their kind-hearted listener.
+
+"We'd expected such _lots_ of fun when the Lennoxes came," said Peter.
+
+"Sure, my dear," said Brownie, nodding commiseratingly.
+
+"They're sure to be jolly, you see, being relations!" said Jan
+ingenuously; "and besides"--heedless of a warning touch from Robin,
+who didn't believe in talking over family matters, she went on
+confidingly--"we somehow hoped they might know what the mystery is.
+You know, Brownie, at least, but I don't suppose you've ever thought
+about it----"
+
+"_Have_ you?" asked Peter suddenly, as the old woman did not answer,
+but rose busily to poke the fire.
+
+"Sure, my dear, and having been in service at the House before ever I
+married Brown----" began the old body a little confusedly.
+
+"I say," Robin broke in, "look here, Jan and Peter.  And, Brownie,
+I'm not sure----"
+
+"There's the horn!" interrupted Peter suddenly.  The clear sound came
+faintly over the water.
+
+"Aye, the horn it is, sure enough," said Brownie in a relieved voice,
+"and hadn't you better be going to see?"
+
+But she spoke to an empty kitchen: the three were gone.  Down to the
+water's side they raced, and were just pushing off when their mother
+began to call to them.  "You needn't come over; I can speak from
+here.  Yes, it _is_ what I feared.  Dr. Greig says there's no mistake
+about it.  And Donald says that there was a case in his form at
+school.  Now, what I'm to do with you I don't know."
+
+"Mother," began Robin, "listen; I know a tremendously good way out of
+the difficulty."
+
+"What is it?" inquired Mrs. Vaughan.
+
+"It's nothing more nor less than the camp!" said Robin; "and, if
+you'll stay there for an instant, I'll row over and tell you what I
+mean."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+"It's like this," said Robin, as he hung over the side of the boat,
+"at first I thought we couldn't do anything, but we _can_.  It's
+stupid to suggest that we should come and nurse Dick, because we'd be
+sure to catch it, and give miles more trouble.  Even if we _don't_
+nurse him, there'll be the chance of infection.  So--suppose we stay
+_here_!"
+
+"My dear boy," began Mrs. Vaughan, "but----"
+
+"Don't 'but,' Mother; _do_ listen.  We were to have a camp, weren't
+we?  Well, let's begin at once.  I suppose Dick and his spots are now
+in the bedroom leading out of Peter's and mine, so it's jolly
+likely----"
+
+"Yes," Mrs. Vaughan nodded her head.  "I put him there before I had
+realised----.  Then, as he _had_ infected the place, I thought he'd
+better stay.  I meant to move him to one of the unoccupied rooms, but
+so far I haven't managed it, and----"
+
+"Well then, think of my idea.  If we move into the house we'll be in
+quarantine when term begins.  No one--not even school--could say
+we've been near infection if we stay here.  There's Brown's house,
+too, if----"
+
+Mrs. Vaughan's face was beginning to clear: "You'd promise not to
+sleep out if it were wet?  I'm sure Brownie would arrange for Jan,
+and anything you might want.  Well, Robin--I'm not so sure that your
+plan _isn't_ a good one after all.  And, if it _does_ work, it will
+be a decided help to me."
+
+"Hurray!" shouted Robin.  "Hurray!" shouted the other two.  This was
+Robin's plan, was it? they thought; well, it was a jolly good one.
+Peter waved an oar in the air.
+
+"Listen though," said their mother anxiously, "for if I _am_ going to
+allow it, I have any amount to say first."
+
+But in half an hour every single thing was arranged.  Jan, despatched
+to fetch Brownie, appeared in due course with the old woman, who
+seemed as "adaptable as a jolly old glove," as Peter said, hugging
+her.  She was delighted to provide the campers with food and anything
+that they might need, and was overjoyed that there was a possibility
+of "Miss Jan" staying at the cottage.  "And in bad weather, the young
+gentlemen too!  Yes, ma'am, to be sure," said Brownie.  "But--" her
+voice sounded a little fearful and dubious as she spoke--"there's
+only the attic, ma'am, with the sloping roof; they wouldn't be fr----"
+
+"Of course not."  Mrs. Vaughan's voice sounded almost impatient; she
+broke off hastily, and Brownie said no more.  "Really, Robin,"
+declared his mother, with a change of tone, "I don't know what I
+should do without you.  It seems a very good plan.  Now, if only the
+weather----"
+
+"Wind's in the right quarter," said Peter, with sparkling eyes.
+
+"And--you'll blow your horn every day after breakfast, Mother,"
+begged Jan, "and come and talk to us, won't you?  We won't come to
+the house at all, but we'll send letters by Brown."
+
+"Very well, good-bye till to-morrow."  Mrs. Vaughan turned, looking
+greatly relieved.
+
+"Good luck to Dick; and take care of yourself, Mother," shouted the
+three as she disappeared, waving her hand at the bend of the path.
+
+"And _now_, what are we to do?" inquired Peter of his older brother.
+
+"I'll jolly well show you _that_, old chap," said Robin.  "We've got
+to pitch a camp, and that pretty quickly too, for arrangements have
+taken time.  It's fortunate that we decided on the site; but we've
+got to make our sleeping-place, you know."
+
+"Better sleep to-night in the large attic, Master Robin, perhaps,"
+suggested Brownie, but she looked relieved at the boys' emphatic
+refusal of her offer.  The attic wanted clearing out; no one had
+slept there since the Browns took possession, and it was a veritable
+ark of lumber.  "And I've Miss Jan's room to get ready," thought the
+old woman.
+
+Jan herself was only too eager to help the boys in their
+preparations; a camper she intended to be from morn till eve; only
+for the nights would she condescend to the shelter of a roof.  Guide
+as she was, too, her services proved invaluable; with the boys she
+collected fuel for the fire as to the manner born; dry bark and chips
+were collected for kindling purposes, and larger pieces of dead wood
+for the blaze later on.  The sun was not strong enough at that time
+in the afternoon for the fire to be lighted by the help of the
+burning-glass that Robin always carried, but a single match sufficed
+in his practised hands; then, when the flame was safely spluttering,
+he left the fire to the tender mercies of his sister, and the two
+boys turned their attention to the preparation of a sleeping-place.
+
+"It's miles too late to get through with a real hut," said Robin.
+"We're likely to be on this Island for a while, and we might spend
+some of our time in building a real good one.  What do you say to
+working up for our Pioneer Badge while we're here, Peter?  Good idea,
+don't you think?"
+
+Peter nodded; he was rather unusually silent, and was evidently
+thinking something out.
+
+"For to-night we'd better see about a temporary shelter"--Robin was
+busily engaged in pulling armfuls of bracken as he spoke; "there's a
+likely tree-trunk over there, and we might lay one of our staves
+against that fork that comes some way up the trunk.  We'll need a
+jolly lot of bracken to thatch it across, so you and Jan had better
+both come along here and pull some.  It'll be better than sleeping in
+the attic to spend the night under the stars."
+
+Peter nodded again; then he spoke.  "About that attic, Robin," he
+said, "didn't you twig from the way Brownie spoke, that there is
+something mysterious about the place?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+"I never knew such a chap as you for getting ideas into your head,"
+said Robin.  "Mysterious!  Why?  you've got mysteries on the brain,
+it seems to me!"
+
+"Be prepared!" quoted Peter with twinkling eyes.
+
+"Oh, all serene; but 'be prepared' for to-night too, if you've no
+objection," the old campaigner spoke dryly.  "You don't exactly want
+to get a chill before morning, do you, and be compelled to sleep at
+the Cottage till the end of the camp?"
+
+This idea struck Peter as sound; he fell to, therefore, with a will.
+Jan came along, too, having first set one of the boys' dixies on the
+now blazing camp-fire.  "Suppose you'll want your supper after this,
+won't you?" she asked.
+
+"Rather, I should say so," but the two boys were too busy to talk
+much.  Already the night shelter was beginning to look quite
+professional.  One of the scout-staves was laid against and bound to
+the trunk of a straight young tree; the framework thus formed was
+thatched very closely with leafy boughs and bracken, and the whole
+bivouac was complete.
+
+"It's simply perfect," remarked Jan, surveying the results of their
+labours with glowing eyes.
+
+"And perfectly simple," added Peter; but Robin, as Captain of the
+campers, was anxious to set them both to work again as soon as
+possible.
+
+"We've got the temporary shelter pitched all right," he said, "with
+its back away from the wind; but we'll want a trench dug all round
+it.  Suppose there's heavy rain in the night, and we get flooded out!
+Not that I think there will be, but we'll be prepared."
+
+"Now I see why you would have the camp on a slope, old chap," said
+Peter, coming up.  "The trench will carry the water straight down to
+the river.  Jolly neat idea."
+
+The digging of the small ditch took the rest of the boys' energies;
+about three inches deep they made it.  Meanwhile Jan installed
+herself as camp-cook, and began preparations for the first meal of
+all.  After a flying visit to Island Cottage she returned with a
+saucepan, a jug of milk, and a loaf of bread, as well as three
+new-laid eggs.  The milk was boiled in the saucepan, and the eggs
+were cooked in the dixie of hot water.  Jan was trying her best to
+make three slices of rather smoky toast, and burning her cheeks badly
+in the endeavour, when the boys--their labours over for a
+time--approached the camp-fire.
+
+Suppers are nearly always welcome; but this particular supper was
+voted the rippingest on record.  And, afterwards, as the day slowly
+faded to dusk, the three sat in the firelight saying very little but
+enjoying, every one of them, the magic of the late summer evening in
+their own particular way.  The spell was broken at last by a little
+shiver from Jan, and Robin jumped up.  "Here, it's time we fetched a
+rug or two, Peter, from the Cottage.  And, Jan, Brownie will have
+your room ready by this time.  We will take you home, and then we'll
+turn in ourselves."
+
+Mrs. Brown was on the look-out for the three.  "I've got Miss Jan's
+room ready," she announced, "but I suppose you young gentlemen are
+sleeping out?  What with the lumber in that attic, my dears, I've
+not----!"
+
+"It's all right, Brownie, we've just come for blankets," the boys
+assured her.  "We'll help to turn out the attic ourselves on the
+first wet day.  Don't worry about that, and thank you for the milk
+and eggs and things; they made a ripping supper, and they'll make a
+ripping breakfast too.  But from then we'll be self-supporting.  We
+can row over to the other side of the river for what things we need,
+and we'll be about, you know, if you want any odd jobs done."  The
+boys, armed with a rug apiece, shouted a cheery good-night and were
+off again campwards, while Jan followed her hostess into the bedroom
+that had been prepared for her.
+
+She went to the window when she was ready for bed and looked out; at
+first it seemed quite dark outside, but the moon was shining on the
+river between the Island and the Chase garden, and a bridge of
+moonlight seemed to span the water.  Suddenly another light appeared
+too, a steady light from one of the windows of the Chase.  "It's
+Mother, I expect," thought Jan sleepily.  "She's lighted it for us to
+see.  I wonder if the boys see it too.  And I wonder if Mother----"
+she jumped into bed and curled herself up in the big old-fashioned
+feather mattress, and was asleep in a twinkling.
+
+The boys were fast asleep already too.  It hadn't taken long to cover
+the fire with ashes, and to collect a few logs in case a midnight
+stoking was required.  Then they rolled themselves in their rugs and
+turned over, their feet towards the fire.  Hours and hours seemed to
+have passed when Robin was suddenly awakened.  "I say, old chap,"
+said Peter's voice.
+
+"What's wrong?" asked Robin sleepily; it was quite dark--for the moon
+had set early--perhaps the darkest part of the summer night.
+
+"Don't you hear rather a peculiar noise?" inquired Peter.
+
+"No!  What sort?" Robin raised himself on his elbow to listen.
+
+"A sort of thumping."  Peter sat up too.  "No, it's gone again.  But
+it was quite loud--it woke me, and I thought----"
+
+"You've been dreaming, old chap," said Robin sleepily; "it's nothing
+at all."  He closed his eyes as he spoke and drew a deep breath, and
+after a minute or two his younger brother followed his example.
+"Suppose it _must_ have been a dream," he muttered as he drifted off,
+"but----"  There was a snore--Peter, too, was fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Both boys seemed to waken at the same instant next morning.  The
+birds were singing all round them; the light was dancing on the
+river; the Chase stood out before them framed in a cloudless blue
+sky, and the camp-fire was practically out!
+
+But a little energy soon put that right.  A few red-hot cinders still
+remained, and last night's heap of dead wood served as morning fuel.
+Very soon the fire was crackling away merrily enough.  "Isn't this A1
+and O.K.?" shouted Peter, splashing in the river.  "Hurray and
+Hurroosh!  Oh, isn't a night-camp grand?  I could eat my breakfast,
+though, at any minute you like to name."
+
+"We'll have to catch and cook it first," said his brother.  But when,
+after a ten minutes' swim, the boys returned to the camp-fire it was
+to find Jan, the good fairy, in charge.  "Breakfast at the Cottage
+for _me_!" she repeated indignantly; "what an idea!  I'm camping out
+as much as you are!  I'm cook, too, aren't I?  No,--if you'll only
+just go off for five minutes and fetch fuel or something, I'll have
+hot tea ready by then."
+
+In five minutes she was as good as her word; a dixie full of hot tea
+for each awaited them, and the remains of the loaf and the butter.
+"There's not very much," Jan announced to the approaching pair, "but
+I thought we wanted to be self-supporting now we've begun, so I just
+brought a few tea-leaves along, and----"
+
+"Right you are.  So we will be"--the boys produced a pretty good
+cupful of wild raspberries.  "If we can't make a good breakfast on
+these----!" they said.  And the meal in the open air, of bread and
+butter and wild fruit, was not to be despised.  Hardly was it over
+when the horn sounded on the other side of the water.  "There's
+Mother.  We'll tidy up the camp and make up to-day's arrangements
+when we've heard what she has to say," said Robin as they raced off.
+
+The morning bulletin was good.  Dick's attack was evidently
+slight--he had had a good night; and it seemed a very mild sort of
+scarlet fever, so the children's mother informed them.  "He doesn't
+seem to have caught cold on the journey, for which I am thankful; but
+the queer thing is that Donald _hasn't_ got it, evidently, after all.
+His headache was a bilious attack.  Your aunt writes that he will
+travel to-morrow.  I shall have to wire to put him off, of course,
+but it's just possible that he may escape altogether."
+
+"I say, if he _does_, what a time he'll have!  No Dick; no us; no
+holiday; no nothing!" said Peter commiseratingly.  "Poor chap, he's
+worse off than us."
+
+"Yes, indeed," Mrs. Vaughan smiled.  "In fact you three look as
+though you were enjoying yourselves.  How is the camp prospering,
+Robin, and how did you all sleep?"
+
+"Jolly well."  They were unanimous.  "I saw your light, Mother,"
+added Jan, "in the window."
+
+"My _light_, dear!"  Mrs. Vaughan looked surprised; "my room looks
+out on the other side.  I put out no lamp," she added when Jan had
+told her story; "you must have been mistaken."
+
+"Quite mysterious," said Peter teasingly.
+
+"Something _else_ happened that seemed a bit mysterious at the time,
+didn't it, old chap?" said Robin, paying off Jan's score.  "What
+about the noise at midnight?"
+
+"Why, I'd forgotten all about it.  So there was!"  Peter broke into
+his story, and the experience lost nothing in the telling: "Bang,
+bang!  Thump, thump!  Ting, ting! it went," quoth he, "right through
+my head."
+
+His mother laughed.  "The effect of the late supper, my dear;
+probably both mysteries come from the same cause.  Well, I must go.
+Robin, remember you're in charge."
+
+"All right, Mother, but everything's going spiffingly, really," her
+eldest son assured her.
+
+The day was a busy one.  First of all, the camp had to be cleared as
+the Captain commanded.  Then came the making of the day's
+arrangements, and the procuring of supplies.  Potatoes could be
+bought from a neighbouring farm; eggs also; butter and bread and tea
+from the village shop over the river.  Jan was anxious to try her
+hand at a stew, and the meat for this had to be procured.  Mrs.
+Brown's chores had to be put in hand too; old Brown was away early
+and the boys were anxious, as Scouts, to do as many good turns as
+they could for the kind old dame in return for her good services to
+them.  Her wood was collected, and her kindling was chopped; her
+stores were brought in from the neighbouring shop; half-an-hour's
+work was put in on mending up the fence of her little garden.  "And
+we'll have a go at earthing up your potatoes, Brownie, while we're on
+the Island," said Robin.
+
+After dinner and a rest the making of the "regular" hut began; the
+bivouac was only to be used until better accommodation was ready.  A
+solid piece of work the making of the "Pioneer Hut"--as the boys
+called it--promised to be.  First of all, a framework of tough ash
+branches, each one carefully chosen, would be needed; the ends of
+each must be pointed and fixed into holes in the ground, dug opposite
+to each other in two parallel lines, so that the whole framework,
+when completed, would look like a line of steady deeply-driven
+half-hoops of ash.  A very strong branch had to be lashed to the top
+of the half-hoops to hold the whole together, and this must all be
+tested and tried before the thatching was even begun.
+
+"The whole thing will take some days at least," Robin remarked to his
+fellow-campers as they sat round their fire.
+
+"And when that's done, what'll we do next, I wonder?" remarked Peter.
+
+But a great many things were going to be done that no one among the
+campers had any expectation of whatever!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The hut was not finished for a week, and for seven whole days and
+nights there was not a drop of rain.  Then, when at last the pioneer
+hut stood complete, taut and steady, thickly thatched and masterly in
+workmanship from framework to roof, the rain began.
+
+Just a drop at first, but the Scouts had been expecting it; the wind
+had shifted, and there was likelihood of a steady downpour for some
+time, as their weather-eyes told them.  "It's really rather a chouse,
+though, just when the hut's ready, isn't it?" grumbled Peter, who
+hated to tear himself away from his newly completed handiwork.
+
+"The weather'll test it, anyway," remarked Robin, gazing at the
+little erection with critical eyes.  "Now we shall know if the trench
+is really deep enough to carry away the water without soaking the
+place through, and whether that way of thatching really answers well,
+starting to thatch from the bottom and working up, so that the rain
+may drain off the side of the hut instead of drenching through."
+
+"Well, that's one way of looking at it, I suppose," said Peter more
+resignedly.
+
+"And I'll tell you what I think," said Jan, "I think it's a very good
+thing that the rain's begun early, if it had got to come.  Brownie's
+got that lumber-room crammed with stuff, and a lot of hard work's got
+to be done by somebody or other before you boys can sleep there.  And
+you'll have to, to-night, just look at the sky.  Suppose we heap up
+the dixies and everything into the new hut, and go straight to the
+Cottage and turn to."
+
+In a very few minutes they had started acting on her suggestions.
+The rain was coming down now in large steady drops, and there was
+certainly every likelihood of a drenching night.  The boys were not
+afraid of rain; they would have preferred to test the new hut's
+weather-proof properties by sleeping there through any weather, but
+they had given their word, and that was the end of the matter.  The
+dixies were put away safely into the little hut, and the three set
+off in fairly good spirits for Island Cottage.  After all, they had
+had a week's camping out already, and probably there were many more
+days and nights of it ahead for them; they would take one night's
+rest under a roof with as good a grace as they knew how.
+
+But an afternoon's good hard work lay between them and any
+possibility of a good night.  The upstairs attic was a perfect chaos
+of muddled lumber; "and has been, my dears, since we came here," said
+Brownie, "fifteen years ago, as I remember well."
+
+"Who lived here before you, Brownie?" asked Robin.  "It was a year
+before I was born, you see, so I don't remember."
+
+"Sure, my dear, don't I remember that.  'Twas--well, 'twas young
+Hooker, gamekeeper he was, in your grandfather's days, but youngish
+for the job.  I can see him now, a fine upstanding chap he was."  The
+old dame heaved a sigh.
+
+"Young, was he?  Why did he leave then?  Where is he now?" inquired
+Peter standing still for a minute with an armful of boxes.
+
+"Sure, I can't tell you.  'Twas dismissed that he was.  Into disgrace
+he fell, at the time of all the trouble," said Brownie.  "Same age as
+Master----" she bustled away, muttering to herself.
+
+"Same age as _who_, Brownie?" inquired quick-eared Jan, who, armed
+with a duster and a mop, looked quite as busy as she really was.
+
+But the old woman did not appear to hear the question; she made for
+the door.  "You'll be wanting your teas after all the help that
+you're giving, my dears, and the kettle's not on," she announced, and
+disappeared down the creaking stair.
+
+"There's certainly a mystery.  A--choo!"  Peter's voice began on an
+impressive note and finished up with a sneeze.  "Begorra, what dust,
+Robin!  What d'you think it means?"
+
+"I--don't--know."  Robin's voice sounded abstracted; he was gazing at
+a photograph that he held in his hand--an old, old faded snapshot of
+a young man fishing.  "I--picked this up when a lot of rubbish fell
+down," he said; "but--who is it?  It's taken on the Island by the
+river, and--it's like Dad.  But--it's not the same smile.  Much
+younger too, of course, but--whoever can it be?"
+
+"A relation, anyway," said Jan, peering over his shoulder.
+
+"I'll ask Brownie," said Peter, and, suiting the action, to the word,
+he seized the little portrait and made his way downstairs.  "I say,
+who's this?" he inquired; "this man--is it an old picture of Dad,
+Brownie, d'you know?  Because, well, it can't be, and yet----"  He
+stopped and stared.  "It's only a snapshot, Brownie; it's not a
+ghost," he continued, "nor a bomb, you know.  Who is it?--that's all
+I was asking."
+
+"Aye, my dear, I hear right well what you're asking," said the old
+woman; "I see right well too that it's but a photograph, as you say.
+He and Hooker was always together; 'twas one of Hooker's taking, I
+make no doubt, seeing as it's upstairs still.  Like David and
+Jonathan, so I've heard folks say, and----"
+
+"But--who is it?" inquired Peter, with wonder in his eyes.
+
+"Ah, my dear, sure and don't be asking me!" sobbed the old woman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+In spite of all the mysteries, however, and there certainly seemed to
+be a good many, the boys slept like tops in their attic-room that
+night.  Perhaps it was as well "for their brains' sake," as Peter
+remarked, for they woke next morning to yet another mysterious affair.
+
+This time Jan had a story to tell, a story of _noise_.  "A most
+peculiar noise, from the wall I think it was, or from the floor,
+Brownie, but I couldn't make out," she announced at breakfast-time.
+"Were you walking about in the night?"
+
+"No, indeed, my dear," said the old woman.
+
+"And you needn't ask _us_, for we didn't move all night," Peter
+assured her.  "After all, there's something to be said for a jolly
+comfortable feather-bed after a week's outside camping.  Though, of
+course, I'd rather sleep out of doors _any_ day (or night, of course,
+I mean) than in a house."
+
+"Well, I don't know what _my_ noise was then," said Jan; "I was
+hoping it was one of you.  I am sure I was awake a whole hour
+listening to it and wondering.  Like a banging and a tinging it
+sounded."
+
+"Ting! ting! d'you mean?  Why! perhaps it's like _my_ noise," broke
+in Peter again, staring, "like the noise I heard when we were
+sleeping in camp."
+
+"Brownie, do _you_ know what it was?" persisted Jan.  "Have you ever
+heard it before?"
+
+"A noise, my dear, there once was, that some said----" the old woman
+checked herself.  "_Never_, Miss Jan, have I heard such a sound as
+you name.  _Mice_ now, dearie, they make queer sounds," she added
+earnestly.
+
+"But mice don't bang or ting," Jan remarked to Peter as they made
+their way again towards the camp.  Somehow the three didn't feel
+satisfied about the matter.  Robin certainly said little enough, but
+he "probably thought the more," as the others remarked.  "We'd come
+down to your room and listen if it wasn't so rippingly fine,"
+remarked Peter, "but the wind's veered right round and jolly
+weather's going to set in, though one doesn't know how long it will
+last with the suddenness of it.  So it'd be downright silly to sleep
+indoors again, wouldn't it, unless you're really funkish, of course,"
+he added considerately, "if you are----!"
+
+"Of course I'm not," said Jan bravely.  After all, the fright of the
+night before had quite vanished with the morning light.  She began to
+think that perhaps she had imagined the whole thing.  "You see, after
+Brownie being so mysterious," she said, "and--well, everything,--I
+think perhaps I was just a bit silly."
+
+"Righto!  I expect it was that," said Peter in brotherly tones as all
+three made their way down to the pioneer hut.
+
+The sound of Mrs. Vaughan's horn called them, however, before they
+could set to any kind of work.  Every morning during the ten days'
+camp she had come to speak to them, and every day the bulletin had
+been a satisfactory one.  Dick's scarlatina case seemed certainly to
+have been a very slight one, and nursing had not been arduous.
+To-day, as they rowed across, Mrs. Vaughan was looking extra cheerful
+and pleased.
+
+"Yes, Dick's still progressing," she said; "he's really tired of
+being in bed, and he'll be up as soon as the rash has disappeared.
+Peeling will come next, I suppose.  I've a piece of news for you
+to-day, however, which I had better give at once.  Can you guess?"
+
+"Anything about Dad?" asked Peter.
+
+"No, it's Donald.  He's out of quarantine now; it's ten days since he
+saw Dick, you see, and he's evidently not going to catch scarlet
+fever.  So I thought of a plan which will, I hope, give pleasure to
+you all.  I wrote to your aunt and told her what you three were
+doing, and suggested that Donald should join you on the Island.  He's
+coming down to-morrow; I heard to-day.  What do you think of that?"
+
+"Mother, it's perfectly ripping.  What a splendiferous idea!  And--we
+never thought of it!"  There was no doubt about the satisfaction of
+the three.
+
+"Well, it's really a little hard on all of you, Donald as well, to
+have your holiday changed by the scarlet-fever business, so," Mrs.
+Vaughan smiled.  "I'm glad you all approve.  I spoke to Brown, and he
+was sure Brownie would welcome another.  If seems that you're all
+more of helps than hindrances, he says, to his wife, and I'm glad to
+hear it.  So another Scout will be no trouble to the old folk, I
+hope.  The attic where you boys sleep is so big that another
+trundle-bed can be rigged up there, _if_ there's a wet night again."
+
+"_If!_  But I hope there won't be," said Peter, as they made their
+way back to camp.  "I say--ripping, isn't it?  We don't know him,
+but----"
+
+"Well, we know that he's a Scout," said Robin.
+
+"So he's sure to be thoroughly decent," said Jan, who adopted her
+brother's expressions when in need of extra words.
+
+And certainly Donald proved in the opinion of the three to be indeed
+"thoroughly decent" when, next afternoon, he arrived; a "jolly
+all-round man and a good Scout" the boys voted him, and Jan was quite
+as satisfied.  Within an hour of his arrival he had been introduced
+into all the plans of the campers, and the four were seated round the
+fire roasting potatoes for supper as though they had been boon
+companions for years.  "And you've the Pioneer Badge already?"
+exclaimed Robin, "as well as the ones we've got.  And,--what's
+this?--Oh! the Signaller's Badge"; the boys were examining the
+proficiency badges that Donald wore on his right arm.
+
+"Well, Dick's a better signaller than I am," said Donald; "I wish he
+was here.  He's jolly good and quick at flag-wagging; you should see
+him at it, and----"
+
+"You're both frightfully clever, I expect," said Peter.  "Oh, I say,
+being cousins, you know, and all that, d'you think, Robin, that we
+could ask him about the mysteries?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+"Mysteries!"  Donald pricked up his ears.  "Oh, I say, I'd like to
+hear them," and before Robin could exactly make up his mind on the
+matter, the subject was well under way.  "There's--well there's a
+whole heap of mysteries," said Peter eagerly, "little ones and a big
+one.  Brownie's in some of them, at least she certainly knows
+something about _one_, and I've an idea that she knows more than
+she'll own about your _noise_, Jan, if you ask me.  And then there's
+my _noise_, and I----"
+
+"What on earth!" gasped their bewildered cousin, who felt almost
+suffocated with mysterious affairs already.
+
+"It does seem a bit muddly, I own," Peter grinned, "but we're
+properly muddled with them all, I can't tell you.  First night we
+slept out Jan saw a light shining from the Chase windows; thought it
+was mother, and next morning thanked her politely for her beacon,
+only to hear that Mother had never thought of such a thing.  Of
+course there might easily be an explanation of a _light_, but----"
+
+"But," interrupted Jan, eager to have something to say in the matter,
+"I've never seen it again, for I've looked.  I wondered why; and
+besides, I believe it shone from one of the windows of the empty
+wing."
+
+"Some servant looking round last thing?" suggested Donald.
+
+"We've only two, and that's why the house is all shut up.  They sleep
+at the back on the other side.  Nobody goes round at night, but there
+might easily be an explanation of the light, I quite think--only, it
+certainly was there.  Go on about your noise, Peter."
+
+"My noise happened at midnight or thereabout," said Peter, "I heard
+it hammering and tinging away.  Thump! thump!  Bang! bang! as I'm
+always telling everybody.  Then it was gone.  And Robin doesn't
+believe a word of it."
+
+"I don't say that," remarked his elder brother suddenly.
+
+"_What?_" Peter turned like a dart, "you're coming round, are you?
+How's that?  You were so positive at first.  Perhaps it's because Jan
+heard a noise last night?"
+
+"If you want to know the reason"--Robin stared into the fire,--"well,
+I happened to have heard it myself.  Not the night that you did,
+Peter, but the next.  You were asleep, and I lay and listened: it was
+a thumping and a banging and a tinging, as you say, and----"
+
+"Why in all the world didn't you tell us then?" demanded his younger
+brother.
+
+"I wanted to think," said Robin, "and--well I didn't hear it again.
+But, of course, Jan did, last night."
+
+"Was _she_ sleeping out, then?" inquired their cousin, wrinkling his
+brows in thought.  "I imagined that you said it was wet."
+
+"No, she never does.  It's against orders.  And that makes the whole
+thing queerer.  _Our_ noise was heard when we were camping, and
+didn't sound far off.  It seemed to me to come through the ground,
+but, perhaps, that would be vibration, for a noise carries a long way
+if one puts one ear to the ground to listen," added Peter wisely.
+"_Jan's_ noise, you know, was by her bed in the Cottage."
+
+"I _never_ said so," remarked Jan eagerly; "from the wall or the
+floor, or both, I couldn't tell which--_that's_ what I said!"
+
+"Noises are queer things sometimes," was all the remark that Donald
+had to contribute apparently, a rather disappointing fact from the
+point of view of the three cousins, who had hoped for help from this
+distinguished Scout.  "But, what other mysteries are there?  They're
+most frightfully interesting, you know."
+
+"Yes, aren't they?  Well, there's Brownie's queer way of going on.
+First asking Mother if we'd be 'fr----'; the word was stuck in her
+throat by Mother's look, as I twigged, but she meant
+'frightened'--frightened to sleep in the attic!  Robin and me, you
+know, and we're _Scouts_.  Why, for a minute I thought the place was
+haunted, and I felt inclined to give up the camp even, just to have a
+go at hunting the spooks, but Scouts don't believe in ghosts; and it
+wasn't that, it was something else!"
+
+"What?" inquired his cousin with interest.
+
+"Well, that's what we want to find out.  The attic-place hadn't been
+swept out for years, and it's crammed with lumber, old bits of
+machinery and what not.  There's some mystery about the former tenant
+of the Cottage, I'm almost sure; gamekeeper to Grandfather he was,
+you know.  Dismissed, too, and gone somewhere that Brownie knows well
+enough, only she won't tell.  Also, who's _this_?"  Peter suddenly
+produced something out of his pocket and handed it across.
+
+"I say, Peter, I didn't think you'd hung on to that," interrupted
+Robin, "it's not yours.  Besides, I don't know if----"
+
+"It's not _anybody's_ except _Hooker's_!  And I'll give it to him
+smart enough when I find him," answered his younger brother.
+"Brownie didn't ask for it, and it's not hers anyway, any more than
+it's mine.  And, after all, Donald's a relation; he's not a stranger,
+is he? although we've never seen him before to-day; and----" he broke
+off as Donald turned.
+
+"There's no mystery exactly about this, as far as _I_ can see," he
+said; "I've seen the picture before."
+
+"What! who is it then?" inquired the three.
+
+"Uncle Derrick--he's yours as well as ours, he's uncle to all of us,
+of course.  Your father's brother, and my mother's brother"--there
+was rather a strange sound in Donald's voice.
+
+"But we've never heard about him, never in all our lives," moaned
+Peter, "and he looks so jolly sporting.  Is he dead?"
+
+"No," Donald was beginning awkwardly, when Robin interrupted with
+authority.  "Look here, Peter, you're to stow it.  We'll ask Mother
+to-morrow, and if she's willing we'll go on.  I'm Captain of this
+camp, and you're to obey orders, d'you understand?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+"I say, Mother, don't hurry off, wait a jiff, won't you?"
+
+The morning "confab" was over; the boat was pulled up close to the
+bank, and Mrs. Vaughan stood at the river-side; she was just turning
+to go back to the Chase when Robin's voice detained her.  "What is
+it?" she asked, "Anything wrong?  Are you sick of camping?
+
+"Rather not.  It's something jolly different.  It's----"  Robin
+hesitated.  "We're gradually finding out something," he said, "and we
+want to go on.  It's about----  Mother, have we got an Uncle Derrick?
+For, if so, is there anything mysterious about him?"
+
+There was a minute's pause, then Mrs. Vaughan looked straight at the
+boys.  "Who told you about him?" she asked slowly.
+
+"I'm afraid it was me.  I didn't----" began Donald.
+
+"Mother, don't listen to him, it wasn't him," burst in Peter; "at
+least, just at the end, he told us that was who the photograph was
+of.  But we've suspected something all along.  Brownie's knowing
+something, and trying so hard not to let us twig, _that's_ what has
+given it away.  Then up in the attic there's Hooker's things!"
+
+"Hooker?" Mrs. Vaughan started, "what have you found out about him?"
+
+"Only that if there _is_ an Uncle Derrick, he was Uncle Derrick's
+friend; that he was keeper in Grandfather's time, and that he was
+dismissed.  And--Brownie won't tell us where he is," Robin spoke
+slowly.
+
+"Also that he was a jolly sporting sort, the room's got ripping
+little engines and machinery sort of things about; he ought to have
+been a Scout.  And that he could take jolly snapshots when you come
+to think that this has been lying round for fifteen years; and----"
+Peter stopped and held out the picture.  "We found this, Mother," he
+said.
+
+"Yes . . . it's poor Uncle Derrick," said Mrs. Vaughan; she looked
+sadly at the picture for a minute, then she turned to the group.
+"Your father and I did not tell you," she said, "we wanted to keep
+sad things from you as long as we could.  But perhaps we were not
+wise; Donald and Dick have evidently been told more than you know.
+Brown and his wife, too, know all the sad story, but--oh, I cannot
+tell you now, this is neither the time nor the place.  Donald may
+tell you what his mother has told him; and you may ask Brownie.  For
+every one loved your Uncle Derrick, and you will hear the story just
+as lovingly told by the old servants as I can tell it to you myself."
+Mrs. Vaughan turned, and still holding the little picture, she walked
+towards the Chase without turning, while the boat was rowed silently
+back to the other side of the water.
+
+It was not until after tea that old Brownie's story was told; all day
+the campers had half dreaded and half longed to hear the tale, for
+Donald knew little more than he had told them already, that there had
+been an Uncle Derrick, that there _was_ an Uncle Derrick.  Beyond
+that, the story was a mystery to him and Dick, as well as to the
+Vaughans.  "Mother said we should know more some day," he told his
+cousins, "but I've never liked to ask."
+
+"Oh, my dears," said old Brownie when they gave her the message,
+"tell you?  Oh, my dears.  But happen it's better not to keep the sad
+things hid, for they cut so deep, so deep!  Your Uncle Derrick, my
+dears,--oh! he was the gayest, most open-handed that the sun shone
+on, handsome, kind and good to rich and poor.  Aye, and true," the
+old woman nodded her head, "aye and _true_!
+
+"Him and Hooker was the same age; friends they'd been, though Hooker
+was but a village lad, from babyhood as you might say.  But Master
+Derrick was like that.  Together always, like David and Jonathan,
+both with the same passion, as boys, for fitting together bits of
+machinery, engines and such like, and all so clever.  Your
+grandfather was proud of him, aye, and so were we all, servants too,
+but your grandfather was fonder of him, aye, perhaps than of either
+of the other two; pardon me, my dears, them being own father and
+mother to some of you.  But so life is, sometimes.  Master Derrick
+was like a Benjamin, so he was, to the Squire, coming late in life to
+him and all; he'd do anything for Master Derrick, would Squire.  Gave
+the keeper's house to young Hooker, did he, young as Hooker was for
+to be keeper, just to please Master Derrick.
+
+"And there the pair used to spend hours of their time.  When Master
+Derrick was a wee chap, 'twas always Hooker he followed; home from
+boarding-school, the same; he didn't forget old friends, and on
+they'd go with their inventions as they called them.  Home from
+college, 'time Hooker had the cottage--then there they'd be down at
+the keeper's house, _this_ house, here, my dears, and--that's how the
+bad end came!"
+
+"_What!_" whispered Jan with white lips.
+
+"Strange things were being said," went on the old woman, "and at that
+time strange false money was being passed in the county.  Coiners
+were somewhere, and the evil couldn't be traced.  Then scandal began
+to be afloat, though we heard naught of it till after; 'twas started,
+some said, by Mitchell, head keeper he'd been, and dismissed when
+Hooker took the job, and a grudge he'd always borne the lad.  Folk
+spoke of the dear lads' inventions, and--well, my dears, to cut a
+long story short, the police from headquarters came down unexpected
+on this very cottage one night.  Found what they called, I mind me,
+'coiners' plant' in the wee room where Miss Jan sleeps, and in the
+attic-room above, where to this day I'm feared to heart of stopping
+long, 'twas there that they arrested the two."
+
+"Oh!"  Peter's face went quite white.  "Uncle Derrick!  Was it?"
+
+"No!" the old woman's voice was firm, "neither of the dear lads was
+in it.  Some spoke of Master Derrick's debts, and, well, some he may
+have had, open-handed as he was; but we know, as had served Squire
+from youth, and watched Master Derrick grow up.  It was imprisonment
+that they got--seven years."
+
+"Where are they now?  It's fifteen years ago," Robin's voice sounded
+strange, even to himself.
+
+"Ah, my dears," Brownie dropped a slow, difficult tear, "that's the
+saddest part of it all."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+"Never a trace of them has there been since they were released from
+prison, never a trace.  Out of the country they both went, so we
+think, and that's as far as we know.  It was the death-blow to
+Squire, it was; but he died trusting in Master Derrick.  Left him all
+his money too, did Squire; 'as a proof,' so Squire said.  Yes, the
+Chase went to your father, the Major, Master Robin, him being eldest
+son, my dear, but the money's waiting for Master Derrick when he
+comes home."
+
+The old woman's voice ceased, and there was silence.  In the little
+room dusk had fallen while she had been speaking, for her story had
+been a long one.  The firelight lit up the white faces of the four
+listeners, but none of them spoke: even Peter for once had nothing to
+say.  Jan slipped her hand into Robin's, and he held it fast.  "Poor
+Uncle Derrick!" said the little girl in a quivering voice, after a
+few minutes had passed.
+
+"And sure, why _poor_?"  Brownie's voice was husky but it was firm
+still.  "'Twas naught of wrong that he did; nor Hooker, neither, for
+we _know_.  They'll be coming back, an' wrongful punishment cannot
+smirch the innocent, my dears.  Please God, I shall see them, too;
+please God they'll come in my time; but that they will come back, I
+_know_."  There was silence again for a minute or two, and then the
+spell that seemed laid on the little group by the telling of the old
+woman's story was suddenly broken by a sound outside.  Old Brown
+clamped noisily into the kitchen, kicking the earth from his boots on
+the step outside.  "I've been down to th' hut, wife," said he, "but
+the young folks hain't thereabouts.  Happen ye know where they'll be?"
+
+"We're here!"  The four came out of the shadows, feeling glad in a
+way of the interruption, for the story was too dreadfully sad to them
+to be thought of too long.  "D'you want us, Brown?" asked Robin.
+
+"Aye, sir, 'tis a message.  There's a telegraft come this night.
+Your mother, sir, would have spoke to you herself, she bid me say,
+but she's right-down busy.  The Major's expecting leave, and----"
+
+"Dad!"  Three voices were raised in excited chorus.
+
+"Aye, my dears, 'tis good news, that's certain.  He's hoping to be
+home come Saturday.  Your mother, sir, she was fair set about at
+first on account of the scarlet fever, but she's talked it over with
+the Doctor.  They've arranged to move the young gentleman into the
+old wing.  'We'll disinfect the rest of the house for three whole
+days,' so madam said, and Doctor, he agreed; 'and then 'twill be
+right enow,' said madam, 'what wi' sulphur-burning, and such like.'
+Aye, they've fires lighted, and 'tis all under way, and they're
+moving Master Dick this night."  The old man hobbled to his favourite
+chair.
+
+"Hurrah, but it's late!"  Robin got up and shook himself.  "We must
+go back to camp and see that the fire hasn't burned too low.  We'll
+soon boil up a dixie and get some supper ready.  Coming?" he called
+to the others.
+
+But as the four made their way across the Island to the camp in the
+dusk they spoke not at all.  Brownie's story had made such a deep
+impression on every one of them that they hardly knew how to mention
+it even to each other.  Even after Jan had been escorted home, and
+supper was over, and the boys lay stretched in the blue-darkness of
+the summer night, the topic upper-most in their minds was not touched
+upon between them.
+
+"Jolly ripping that Dad's coming home, anyway," said Peter at last.
+
+"Rather," said Robin.  Then a silence fell.  The three boys lay under
+the stars and thought before finally they fell asleep; each one was
+thinking too of the same thing, of Uncle Derrick's story.
+
+"I saw my light again last night," announced Jan next morning as she
+fried up the remains of some cold potatoes for a breakfast dish,
+wielding the frying-pan with dexterous hand.
+
+"You _did_?"  All the boys were eagerly listening.
+
+"In exactly the same place, but a brighter light this time; and it
+lasted longer, too.  It didn't come and go like before; it stayed
+alight till ten o'clock, and then went out, for I timed it by my
+watch."
+
+"Show us whereabouts," suggested Peter.
+
+"I can, for I looked particularly.  It was a pretty dark night, but
+the moon came out from behind a cloud once, and I could make out the
+outline of the Chase.  The light was from the last window of the east
+wing.  I'm going when breakfast's done, to look at the place again."
+
+But when at last breakfast _was_ over the results of the
+investigation seemed to be rather disappointing, considered in the
+light of a possible mystery.  The window in question looked over the
+river, and could plainly be seen from the Island.  A white curtain
+stretched across the panes, and a fern plant stood on a table in the
+window.  "I don't think there's much reason why there shouldn't be a
+light from _that_ room _every_ night of the year without causing
+mysteries," announced Donald.  "It's plainly a bedroom, or something!"
+
+But the three Vaughans were staring open-mouthed.  "It's--why it must
+be the room they've moved Dick into!" remarked Peter at last.  "It
+looks as though it's come alive in the night, doesn't it?  It gave me
+quite a shock; _that's_ why you saw the light last night, Jan--no
+mystery at all!"
+
+"But," Jan was persistent, "even if that _does_ explain last night's
+light--and I suppose it does,--well, it _doesn't_ explain one _bit_
+the light that I saw on the first night of the camp!"
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The three days before Major Vaughan's return promised to pass on
+leaden wings, but in reality they flew merrily enough.  Not only was
+there a general furbishing-up of the camp to be seen to, for "Dad,"
+as the boys said, "was sure to be as jolly keen on it as they were,"
+but a new and unexpected occupation suddenly presented itself to the
+company.
+
+Hitherto Dick had been considered in the light of an un-get-at-able
+invalid, who could be written to, and to whom messages might be sent
+through Mrs. Vaughan, but who was, otherwise, as inaccessible as
+though he had been still at his home in the far north.  Now, however,
+with the removal of the convalescent to the "river-room" in the east
+wing, things changed.  From breakfast till bedtime the now recovering
+invalid stood glued to his bedroom window watching with interested
+eyes practically everything that the campers were doing.  The Cottage
+was in full view of his window, so was the camp fire.  "It seems
+strange, doesn't it?" said Peter, "that there's Dick looking on, and
+here are we, feeling awfully chummy with him, and all that, but we've
+never spoken to him in our lives!"
+
+"Good idea!" shouted Donald; into the hut he raced, appearing
+presently with a flag with which he began signalling to his brother.
+The latter seemed to twig the idea instantly; he disappeared from the
+window, and appeared again, bearing what was certainly nothing more
+or less than a bath-towel; vigorous flag-wagging ensued between the
+brothers for a few minutes, while the Vaughans looked interestedly on.
+
+"I say," said Robin, "you can do Morse like lightning.  I could
+hardly follow half of it.  No wonder you've got your Signalling
+Badges!  What were you saying?"
+
+"I asked him how he found himself this morning, and he says that he
+feels topping, and never better, and wishes the peeling were over,
+and would give a jolly lot to be camping with the rest of us,"
+explained Donald.
+
+"Let me have a try," begged Peter; but his skill in signalling was
+slight; and Robin, who tried next, had had little experience.  Donald
+tried again.  "I say, he says," he interpreted after a vigorous few
+minutes, "that you two need practice, and he says why don't you let
+him practice with you while he's shut up there with nothing to do.
+You'd probably soon pass your tests if you did.  Minimum is 24
+letters per minute for Morse, you know, and 36 for Semaphore.  He
+knows both, and he'd coach you from his side, and I'd coach you here."
+
+"Rather!" the three Vaughans were unanimous.  "There's a Signaller's
+Badge for Guides, too!" said Jan.  "I say, what fun!"
+
+By the time that dusk fell on the evening of the first day, hiding
+the east wing signaller from his pupils, the latter had certainly
+gained ground after a hard day's work.  Next morning, before
+breakfast, Peter, after flying out with his flag to bid Dick
+good-morning, returned to the rest of his camping companions with
+rather a queer look on his face.  "Come on, Donald," he said, "you're
+wanted.  I can't exactly twig what Dick's saying, he's so jolly quick
+about it.  But it's something about 'noises,' I'm pretty sure; and I
+_think_ he says that he's heard queer noises in the night!"
+
+"He does," announced Donald, after conversing with his brother.
+"It's strange isn't it? but he says he's been kept awake by them.  He
+says that he wants to know if the east wing supposed to be haunted!"
+
+"Ask what kind of a noise?" suggested Jan.
+
+"He says 'thumps and bangs,'" reported Donald.
+
+"WELL!!!!" chorused the others in amazement.
+
+"My light on the first night," added Jan suddenly; "it shone from
+there.  _Now_, who says that it wasn't mysterious?"
+
+There was little chance of signalling practice for the rest of that
+day, for rain came down in buckets as soon as breakfast was over and
+the mist quite blotted out the Chase from the Islanders.  Night must
+be spent at Island Cottage, there was no doubt about that.  "And I do
+hope it'll be fine to-morrow," said Peter, as the three boys
+undressed that night in the big attic upstairs.  "Dad's to get here
+early in the morning, and it would be such a----"
+
+Tap! tap! came at their door, and Jan's face appeared; her eyes were
+bright and her teeth were chattering.  "Oh, I'm so glad that you're
+sleeping here to-night," she said, "because--"
+
+"What's up?" inquired the boys.
+
+"It's--my room; the noise again; only it's louder: thumps this time,
+and loud bangs, and--near.  On the wall, I think, or behind the wall,
+and from near to the floor.  Some one's knocking, I'm certain, and I
+think I heard a voice!"
+
+It didn't take an instant for the boys to slip on their coats.  In
+another they were on the stairs on their way to Jan's room.  There
+was silence for a minute or two after they entered; then the rapping
+began again.  From the wall near the fireplace it seemed to come.
+Then there was the sound of a voice, "Let me out;" the words were
+faint, but perfectly plain.
+
+"Yes, we will.  Don't lose heart," Robin's tones sounded clear in the
+little room.  He dropped on his knees beside the wall: "Tell us what
+to do, and we can help you."
+
+There was a pause, and then the voice very faintly came again: "Make
+haste, or--pull out the mantel-shelf; that's the way.  Keep it
+straight as you pull, and--pull hard; I will push from here, but I
+have not much strength left!"  Then followed a moment of tense
+suspense, while the boys followed the directions; then came a
+grinding noise, and a long creaking movement of the front of the
+fireplace; then came a cry from Jan.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+"My dears," said Mrs. Vaughan; she had just left Island Cottage and
+she was seated outside the pioneer hut beside the camp-fire with the
+four beside her.  "Yes, there has been a thorough disinfection, and
+Dr. Greig says it is quite safe for me to see you out of doors.  Tell
+me about it.  And Jan, how pale you look."
+
+"It was--last night, seeing the old man, he looked so ill, so
+dreadful when he came through the door."  Jan's voice trembled.
+
+"It was only just in time, you see, Mother," Robin spoke; "in five
+more minutes he wouldn't have had the strength even to call or rap
+again.  He was in dreadful pain, it was his heart."
+
+"Yes, dear, Dr. Greig has told me; he is there still, and I have just
+seen him."  Mrs. Vaughan spoke slowly.
+
+"How he came there we don't know a bit,--how he knew of the secret
+door; for it must be one, and it must lead somewhere.  He--well he
+asked for _Dad_, said that he was dying and that he had a confession
+to make, and," Peter stopped for a minute, "then Robin went off for
+Dr. Greig."
+
+"That was right."  Mrs. Vaughan looked up.  "You ask me who he is,
+and about his confession.  It is a long story, some of which you have
+heard before from Brownie, but you must know it.  Does it make things
+any plainer to you if I tell you that the old man who is dying at the
+Cottage is called Mitchell?"
+
+"Mitchell!" The boys looked at each other.  "We've heard the
+name--didn't Brownie--?"
+
+"It's the name of the gamekeeper before Hooker," exclaimed Jan
+suddenly.
+
+"Yes.  Mitchell, long ago, was your grandfather's head keeper; he was
+unsatisfactory, and so was dismissed.  Hooker was given his situation
+and his cottage by Uncle Derrick's request, and for that reason
+Mitchell bore a grudge against the two--not only on account of his
+dismissal, but the Cottage had become necessary to him owing to some
+underhand work that he had been carrying on there for some time.  For
+a year at least before his dismissal he had been making false money,
+which had been circulated through the county; he had discovered a
+secret smugglers' passage leading from the east wing, under the
+Island, to the other side of the river, which opened also into one of
+the rooms in his cottage, and in this secret place his coining was
+carried on.
+
+"Even after Hooker came into possession of the Cottage, Mitchell
+still carried on this work; he felt secure in his underground
+shelter; and it was not until the false money had been detected and
+inquiries began to be put on foot that he feared arrest.  _Then_ he
+paid back the grudge that he had nursed for months against Uncle
+Derrick and young Hooker; he managed to enter by night, unseen,
+through the secret entrance into the Cottage; there he left some part
+of his coining plant, which would be indisputable evidence against
+the person in whose possession it might be found.  He wrote an
+anonymous letter to the Police Headquarters suggesting that they
+should search Hooker's cottage, and the deed was done.  Brownie has
+told you how Uncle Derrick and Hooker were arrested, and----"  Mrs.
+Vaughan stopped.
+
+"But how do you know this?" Robin asked hoarsely.
+
+"Mitchell has confessed to Dr. Greig in the presence of old Brown.  I
+have read the confession which was made last night.  Fifteen years
+have passed since his first attempts at coining, and it seems that he
+thought he would attempt the same thing again.  For some weeks now,
+so he says, he has worked in the underground passage.  Last night he
+was suddenly seized with a dreadful heart attack--for years he has
+been the victim of heart disease--and, not having strength to get
+through the passage to the other side of the river, he tried to make
+his way through into the Cottage for help, as he knew it was his last
+chance.  He is dying and he has confessed; God will be merciful to
+him, and will help us to think mercifully of him too."
+
+"Oh, Mother, and poor Uncle Derrick."  Jan's voice shook.
+
+"Listen," Mrs. Vaughan spoke again, "I have other news for you.  Last
+night a letter came from Father; he has delayed his coming for a few
+hours so that I might read his letter first.  He is not coming alone,
+children, he is bringing with him a friend--an officer of the
+Australian contingent, who has won the V.C. under circumstances of
+extraordinary bravery.  This officer, it was, who at the risk of his
+life stayed beside his wounded orderly, whom he would not leave
+though enemy fire was raining around them for a day and a night.  His
+right arm is gone"--Mrs. Vaughan's voice shook--"but his orderly's
+life was saved."
+
+"Mother," Jan spoke breathlessly, "Uncle Derrick is the Australian
+officer, he--_is_."
+
+"And Hooker's the orderly," said Peter very gruffly.
+
+"Look," broke in Robin suddenly; and on the other side of the river a
+little group of three was seen to be approaching the boat that would
+take them over to the Island.  Major Vaughan was there; with him a
+tall, one-armed officer, and, behind them a little, came the form of
+another soldier.  "Oh, Mother," said Peter, "Oh!"
+
+But no one else could say a word; for it was all too wonderful ...
+Uncle Derrick had come home.
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+  Printed by C. TINLING & Co., Ltd.,
+  53, Victoria Street, Liverpool,
+  and at London and Prescot.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Island Camp, by Ethel Talbot
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59705 ***