Pathfinder; or, The Missing Tenderfoot

"Elmer tries to tell us he is pursuing the two who headed northwest." PATHFINDER OR The Missing Tenderfoot BY Captain ALAN DOUGLAS SCOUT MASTER THE NEW YORK BOOK COMPANY NEW YORK Copyright, 1913, by THE NEW YORK BOOK COMPANY CONTENTS I. —The Birch-bark Message 17 II. —At the Haunted Mill 25 III. —The Strange Disappearance of Nat 34 IV. —The Search for a Clew 42 V. —The Trail Grows Warmer 50 VI. —Hunting for the Missing Scout 58 VII. —The Ambition of Landy 67 VIII. —Reading the Signs 75 IX. —Setting the Trap 84 X. —How the Trap Worked 93 XI. —Run Down 101 XII. —The Language of Signs 110 XIII. —The Call of the Wolf 119 XIV. —The Need of a Pathfinder 127 XV. —Rescued—Conclusion 136 PATHFINDER OR The Missing Tenderfoot THE HICKORY RIDGE BOY SCOUTS PATHFINDER; OR, THE MISSING TENDERFOOT. THE BIRCH-BARK MESSAGE. "Hold on, boys; here's a stick standing upright in the trail. And look, fellows, there's a piece of nice new birch bark held fast in the cloven end, that grips it like the jaws of a vise." "Say, it's a message, all right." "And from our crack-a-jack pathfinder, Elmer Chenowith, too, I warrant you." "What do you say, Matty? Is Red Huggins right?" Seven boys had come to a halt in the heart of the big woods. They were a rather husky-looking set, all told, and evidently bent on getting all the benefit possible from being outdoors through the last few weeks of vacation time. The one appealed to, Matty Eggleston by name, was something of a leader among the Hickory Ridge Troop of Boy Scouts. In fact, he was at the head of the Beaver Patrol, and studying constantly in order to attain the rank of a first-class scout. There are so very many things a boy must know in order to reach this ambition that comparatively few scouts ever attain it. But by concentrating all his energies upon one particular study he may earn a merit badge, which it will make him proud to wear. Matty took the piece of bark from the cloven stick. The other six boys clustered eagerly around, anxious to see what sort of message it could be that the assistant scout master had left in the trail. They were out to try a new experience, and one that appealed to every boy in the bunch. A party of…