Chapter XI: An Angry Hermit

“Something new on the programme,” commented Tom in low voice.

“Do you think they heard us?” asked Dick.

“No, they couldn’t. And they don’t see us. They’re looking the other way,” said Jack.

“But there’s something doing,” declared Bert. “I wonder what it is?”

They had their answer a moment later, when there came into view around the bend in the path Sam Heller and Nick Johnson.

“Well, I’ll be jiggered!” gasped Tom. “We meet them at every turn.”

“I wonder how they got here so soon after we met them?” asked Bert. “It’s quite a distance to walk.”

“Maybe they took a short cut,” suggested Jack.

“Hush! Look what’s going on now,” advised Tom.

As they glanced toward where the professor and the hermit had held a conference, they saw the old man transported into one of his fits of rage.

He stamped about, and shook his fist at Sam and Nick, occasionally changing by making threatening gestures at Mr. Skeel.

“Say, he’s the limit!” murmured Dick.

“Listen,” cautioned Tom. “He’s saying something.”

“Leave here! Leave here at once!” commanded old Wallace, almost hitting the two lads as he shook his fists at them. “How dare you come on my property? You are after the treasure; are you? Well, you shall never find it! I will locate it! I will make the old mill give up its secret! Be off!”

“Wait, wait,” said Mr. Skeel in a calm voice, laying his hand on the hermit’s arm.

“Ha! You too are in a plot against me, I believe!” cried the angry hermit. “I am sorry I ever had anything to do with you. Go away!” and he took hold of the professor, and began shoving him away down the path.

“One minute,” said Mr. Skeel in soothing tones, much different from the harsh ones he had almost constantly used in his classes at Elmwood Hall. “What is it you object to?”

“These lads--what are they doing here? Are they spying on me?” and the aged man pointed at Nick and Sam.

“They are my assistants,” said the professor soothingly, and, though he spoke in a low tone, Tom and his chums could hear him. “Without their aid I can not help you,” Mr. Skeel went on, and when the hermit’s back was turned toward him our hidden friends distinctly saw the professor make a signal of caution and of acquiescence toward the two lads, who craftily nodded their understanding.

“Your assistants?” asked the hermit.

“Yes. If you want me to help you I must have them to help me. I would have told you about them, but I did not get the chance until they came so unexpectedly. Had they known that you objected to their presence they would have remained away. But I assure you that you can trust them.”

“Well,” said the hermit, bitterly, “since I have told you part of my secret, and trusted you with it, I suppose your assistants must be in on it. But no more! No more!” and he shook his fist toward the clouds, and glanced around as though he feared more intruders. “There were some other boys around the other day,” the aged man went on, “and if I find them sneaking about my mill it will be the worse for them.”

“Say, we did get away just in time,” whispered Jack.

“That’s right,” agreed Dick.

“But what in the world does Skeel mean by saying he is going to help Wallace, and that Sam and Nick are his assistants, I wonder?” asked Bert.

“That’s easy to guess,” answered Tom. “Skeel, somehow or other, has heard about the treasure. Now he’s trying to soft-soap the hermit into letting him have a hunt for it. Probably he’s promised to turn most of it over to the old man.”

“I think I see him doing it, if he finds it,” commented Bert.

“And Skeel has the nerve to say that Sam and Nick are his helpers,” said Jack. “Hot helpers they are!”

“Oh, that was just a bit of jollying, thought up on the spur of the moment,” declared Tom. “He didn’t figure on Sam and Nick following him, and he had to concoct some story to account for their presence. Though I don’t doubt but what Skeel, and those two cronies, are in thick about some scheme.”

“Searching for the treasure?” asked Dick.

“I believe so. Well, they’ve got one advantage of us, but maybe we can get ahead of them yet,” spoke Tom. “If only we can get a chance to do some exploring we’ll do it. But we can’t do anything more now.”

“No, let’s go down to the boat and eat,” suggested Jack. “I’m still hungry.”

“Wait a minute,” advised Tom. “I think they’re going to move on, and we don’t want to run into them.”

As they watched they saw Sam and Nick turn and retrace their steps back along the path. They had held a little conversation with Mr. Skeel, to one side, so that the hermit had not heard, though he eyed them suspiciously. Then Mr. Skeel and the old man resumed their talk.

“Lucky that Sam and Nick didn’t come this way,” said Tom, as he helped Jack to stand up. “Now don’t make any more noise than you can help, or they may hear us.”

“They’ll hear the boat when it starts,” said Dick.

“I’ll drift down the river a bit before I crank up,” spoke Tom. “Come on, everybody.”

They started down the bank, toward their boat, having come to a halt a little distance from it. Suddenly Dick, who was in the rear, uttered an exclamation.

“What is it?” called Tom sharply.

“They’re going away--Skeel and the hermit, and one of them has dropped a piece of paper on the path.”

“A piece of paper!” exclaimed Tom. “We must have that! Here, wait a minute! If they don’t miss it, and come back for it, I’ll get it.”

He crawled cautiously back to his former post of observation behind the screen of bushes.