"Scatter, and hide!"

It was Elmer who shouted this order. He had not heard any sound as of a bullet passing, and did not know but that the shot had been fired simply for the purpose of a warning.

Still, there was no need of their taking chances. And as he gave the command, Elmer was one of the first to seek the shelter of a near-by rock.

Immediately the valiant scouts scurried around, each eagerly desirous of finding some sort of snug retreat.

No further shots came, much to the satisfaction of the boys, and inside of half a minute not a figure was to be seen upon the little plateau.

It chanced that Red had selected the same rock as Elmer picked out, behind which to crouch.

And of course Red could not long remain silent, since his overcharged feelings just had to find a vent.

"Whew, this is what I call warm!" he said, puffing.

"Do you mean the weather, or the fact that we have been under fire?" asked Elmer, who was looking out from his end of the rock, and trying to size the situation up.

"Oh, well, I guess both of 'em would pass muster, all right," Red went on. "You don't think any fellow got hurt, do you, Elmer?"

"Not any. Fact is," continued the scout master, "I've a pretty good hunch the shot was not fired at us, but into the air, warning us to keep off or we might get hurt."

"The ginnies fired it, of course, Elmer?"

"I'm sure of that."

"And we've cornered the bunch at last, hey? You did the trick, Elmer. Trust you for following even half a trail blindfolded. But say, do you know where they're holding the fort?"

"I've got something of an idea," replied Elmer. "If you look up the face of the cliff, Red, you'll notice a bunch of green stuff growing. I think there must be a shelf of rock there, and perhaps a cave back of it."

"But what makes you think that, Elmer?"

"Because I saw the powder smoke puff out from those little bushes when the report sounded," replied Elmer.

"But my stars! that's all of fifty feet up. How d'ye suppose those dagoes could get up there?" continued the one who sought information.

"Oh, that would just as likely as not turn out to be easy enough, once you got started. Perhaps there's some sort of path leading up the face of the cliff, and which we just can't see from here."

"What're we going to do, Elmer?"

"Nothing—just now, anyway."

"Just sit on our haunches, and wait for our birds to drop into our hands, eh?" pursued Red.

"Oh, perhaps we may have to fight for it in the end, but I'm hoping for an easier wind up to the affair," Elmer continued, musingly.

"You think the old woman may help out?"

"I know she will, if George can only succeed in convincing her that we're friends, not enemies."

"Then we're waiting till they arrive?" asked Red.

"I'm going to give the signal for retiring as soon as the boys get their breath back," remarked the scout master.

"Well, they might be in better places, because the sun feels scorching to me right now," grumbled Red.

"Then pick out your new roost, and be ready to migrate as soon as you hear the whistle. Pass the word along, too, Red."

Presently it was understood that when the scout master gave the signal every fellow was expected to crawl or dart away, seeking through one way or another to get out of the fire zone.

"I hope George has succeeded in explaining everything to the woman by now," remarked Red.

"I'm sure he has, and that the whole of them are even now on the way here to wind up this business," Elmer declared most confidently.

When ten minutes had gone by, and he felt sure that all of the scouts knew what they were expected to do, Elmer took out his whistle.

Then the shrill notes sounded, cutting the air as though charged with irresistible force.

Immediately everybody got busy. Khaki-clad figures could be seen darting this way and that, but none of them made any attempt to advance. This sort of move might be expected to anger the Italians, without doing any good, and the scouts had been warned against it.

There came no second discharge of firearms, and from this fact it seemed evident that the unseen enemy understood that there was nothing hostile connected with this action on the part of the scouts.

Again did Red and Elmer find themselves good neighbors as they arrived at a pile of rocks, behind which they sought shelter.

"All safe?" asked the former.

"Yes, as far as I know," came the answer. "Landy fell all over himself, and started to roll downhill, but one of the other fellows pulled him up. He was limping to beat the band, but I hope it's nothing serious."

"No danger," chuckled Red. "Landy is too well padded to suffer much from a fall. Now do we just wait here till the others fetch the lady?"

"That's a part of the contract," said Elmer; "so just make yourself as comfy as you can."

"And watch the big rock there, eh, Elmer?"

"Oh, if you want. We would feel pretty cheap if they took a sly sneak, and left us in the lurch."

Elmer settled down as though he thought there was no use borrowing trouble. And seeing their leader take things in such a matter-of-fact way the balance of the scouts followed suit.

Confidence thus begets confidence in others; and this in itself was one of Elmer's reasons for acting as he did.

The minutes passed.

Several times did impatient Red get up on his knees to take a look down the hill.

"Shucks! but they're a long time coming," he mumbled. "Perhaps, after all, the old woman was too sharp for the bunch—perhaps she's tucked 'em away in the cabin—turning the tables on our four chums—perhaps, now——"

Right there Red stopped in his predictions of evil.

"There they come," said Elmer, quietly.

One hasty look satisfied Red that his comrade spoke only the truth. Moving figures caught his eye just a little way down the slope.

These presently developed into four boys, three of whom were clad in khaki. The other, who was, of course, George, the interpreter, kept close at the side of the Italian woman.

Now and then she seemed to address some remark to George, which he doubtless answered to the best of his ability. When his vocabulary proved unequal to the task he would finish with a series of gestures and shrugs as he had seen chattering Italians do.

And presently they reached the spot where the balance of the scouts held forth.

The woman surveyed them as she came up, but Elmer noticed that she did not seem afraid now.

"I guess you've done the business, George," he remarked to the new recruit.

"Well," replied the other, with a broad grin, "that's what I think myself, Elmer."

"She understands now who we are, and that we haven't any intention of doing her men any harm—you explained all that?"

"Sure. And you can see now that instead of looking scared, she's ready to grin if you give her any encouragement," replied George.

"And she knows that we want her to go out with us and have a talk with her old man, telling him what a fool he's been making of himself. She understands all that, does she?"

"Like a book, and is ready to do the trick. We'll have our Nat back in short order, now," George continued, looking proud and happy because he had been able to prove of such valuable assistance to his fellow scouts, even before he got his uniform.

"All right, then. The sooner we start the ball rolling the better. Come along, George."

Presently the two of them were escorting the Italian woman toward the foot of the cliff.

When two thirds of the way there an angry, excitable voice stopped them. On looking up they could see several heads topping the sparse vegetation that undoubtedly grew along a ledge.

"Now, tell her to talk, George!" said Elmer.

There was hardly any need, for the woman had broken loose on her own account. And such chattering as followed—Lil Artha afterward declared it reminded him of a monkey cage when one of the inmates had taken more than his share of the dinner provided.

But the woman did most of the talking. She also scolded, stamped her foot, and even shook her fist up at those above.

Evidently her arguments must have had a convincing ring about them, for suddenly she turned to George and smiled amiably as she said something, and made a suggestive movement of both shoulders.

"It's all right, Elmer," declared George.

"Are they going to do what we want?" asked the scout master, greatly pleased.

"Sure. And I reckon there he comes now. One of the men seems to be helping Nat down the path that runs along the face of the rock. Bully! We win out!"

A loud cheer from the scouts told how they were enjoying the situation.

Nat Scott waved his hand to them in greeting, for, having lost his hat at the shack, he was bareheaded.

The Italian was still a little suspicious, for he would come only two thirds of the way down. But Nat easily made the balance, and was soon shaking hands with everyone of his mates, just as though he had been separated from them for a week.

Leaving the woman to rejoin her people the scouts made their way down the side of the mountain until they reached the mill pond.

Nat's story was brief, and just about what Elmer had guessed. In prowling around he had unexpectedly come upon the three men.

They had seized upon him and threatened him with their knives if he so much as gave a yell. He had been kept for a short time in the shack. Then Landy's prowling around seemed to fill the Italians with a new alarm, and the three men, together with the woman, had hastily fled.

On the way up the mountain the woman had discovered the loss of something, and gone back.

Then the men forced him to hurry along, and finally landed him on that secret ledge where he believed there was some sort of cave.

That was all Nat knew, and the whole thing smacked strongly of mystery until he heard what Elmer's theory was.

"Anyhow," Nat said, with considerable satisfaction in his voice and manner, "they didn't scare me one little bit. And besides, Elmer, in lots of places I went and made plain marks that I just knew you could read any old time."

"That stamps you a true-blue scout, Nat," declared Elmer, "and I think the troop has reason to be proud of you."

"Three cheers for Comrade Nat Scott," suggested impulsive Red; and they were given with such a vim that many of the big bullfrogs along the farther bank jumped into the mill pond in great alarm.

As their main object had been carried out while on the way to the haunted mill, and there was no further reason for lingering after they had eaten the "snack" carried along for this purpose, the Hickory Ridge troop of scouts took up the homeward march.

After talking it all over among themselves it was decided that their duty compelled them to give the game and fish warden a hint as to what was probably going on up at Munsey's mill.

He went there with a deputy two days later, but the Italians had taken warning and fled. However, the warden found and destroyed several nets with which the fish poachers had been illegally gathering the finny prizes in the long-deserted pond.

There was one disappointed scout in the troop however, and this was Chatz Maxfield.

He always would feel as though he had missed the opportunity of his life in spending some time at a haunted mill which was supposed to support a good lively ghost, and never once chancing to come upon the hobgoblin.

However, Chatz would continue to live in hope.

At any rate, everyone was positive that he had learned a host of valuable things calculated to make him take higher rank as a woodsman, and a true scout. And no doubt in the annals of the Hickory Ridge Boy Scouts that little hike to Munsey's mill would always be read and re-read with the keenest interest, and take rank with the greatest of their achievements.

THE END.