CHAPTER IV
A QUEER SIGHT
Sammy's two chums looked strangely at him. He returned their gaze steadily.
"Well," he said, defiantly, "it's true! What makes you look at me that way?"
"Ha! Ha!" laughed Frank. "He's the same old Sammy, isn't he, Bob?"
"That's what he is! Always thinking he's going to find a treasure, and if he can't do that he trots out an old hermit. Go on, Sammy, can't you scare up a ghost while you're at it? The ghost of Pine Island! Go ahead, make up something about that."
Sammy Brown turned squarely about, and walked away from his chums without saying a word.
For a moment Frank and Bob looked after him, and then they looked at one another.
"There he goes," exclaimed Frank.
"And I guess he's mad, too," added Bob.
"But I didn't mean anything."
"Neither did I!"
"Let's call him back."
"Let's go after him!"
Thus Bob and Frank spoke, one after the other. Then Bob cried:
"I say, Sammy! Come on back! Wait a minute. We didn't mean anything."
But Sammy kept on his way, never turning his head to look back. On he plodded through the snow that was still falling.
"He's real mad this time," said Bob.
"Yes, I guess we'll have to apologize, same as Jed Burr did," agreed Frank. "Come on!"
Together they raced after Sammy, and, catching up to him, they grasped him by either arm. They spoke quickly and eagerly by turns.
"We didn't mean anything."
"We were only fooling."
"Maybe there is a hermit on Pine Island after all."
"We—we apologize!" burst out Frank.
He said it in such a comical manner that Sammy, hurt as his feelings had been, could not stand out against his chums any longer. A smile came over his face, and then Bob and Frank laughed too.
"All right, Sammy," declared Frank. "We believe you. Tell us about the hermit. Maybe we can go up there and see him."
"And about the ghost, too," added Bob.
"There isn't any ghost that I know of," cried Sammy, quickly, "and I didn't mention any."
"Bob means the hermit," said Frank quickly, winking at his chum to show that he must not speak of that subject again. "Tell us about the hermit, Sammy."
"Well, I'll tell you all I heard," went on the lad who so loved to dig after mysteries. "It was Benny Lane, the cripple boy, who told me. I was walking along with him one day, about a week ago, and we saw old Silas Dolby, the miser, just ahead of us. I just happened to say that Mr. Dolby lived like a hermit, and Benny said that it was so, for his uncle had once seen a hermit."
"And of course that set you going right off," spoke Bob.
"Yes, it did," answered Sammy. "I asked Benny where his uncle had seen the hermit, and Ben said it was on Pine Island. That was the first I ever heard of one of those men being there, so I asked all I could about it.
"Benny didn't know much, but he said his uncle had been out fishing one day, and stopped off at Pine Island to eat his lunch. He was almost through, when an old man, all stooped over, and with a long white beard, came out of the bushes, shook a stick at Benny's uncle and told him to get off that part of the island, as he owned it."
"Did he go?" asked Frank.
"Yes," went on Sammy, "for the hermit acted dangerous. Ben's uncle thought maybe he might be an escaped lunatic. So he got into his boat, the hermit watching him all the while, and rowed away."
"And what became of the hermit?" asked Frank, always eager for details.
"He disappeared into the bushes again," said Sammy. "I didn't tell you fellows anything about this, for I knew you'd laugh. Then, when Mrs. Blake just now told us about her brother living on Pine Island, and when she said we might go to see him, I thought I'd tell you about the hermit. But you didn't believe me."
"Oh, but we do now!" said Frank, quickly.
"And is he hunting after a buried treasure?" asked Bob. He began to think there might be more, after all, to Sammy's story than he had at first thought.
"I don't know, for sure, anything about a treasure there," said Sammy, remembering how he had once started on a treasure hunt, which had ended in the finding of only a pocketbook with memorandum papers in it. And this belonged to Miser Dolby. But there was something else of value in the wallet, so, after all, Sammy's hunt amounted to something.
"Well, we might go up to the island, and see the wild hermit, anyhow," suggested Frank. "That would give us something to do when we get a day or so of vacation."
"The only trouble is that the lake will soon be frozen over," put in Bob.
"We could skate over," suggested Sammy.
"That's right, we could!" cried Frank. "We'll do it!"
"What do you s'pose the hermit lives on the island for?" asked Bob. "And why didn't we see him when we were wrecked there?"
"I don't know," replied Sammy. "Maybe he likes to be lonesome, or else maybe no one wants him to live near them. He may be sort of wild."
"I should think he was, if he drove Benny's uncle away," came from Frank. "We'll have to be careful if we meet him."
"That's right," agreed Sammy Brown.
The boys kept on toward their homes, meeting with many of their friends on the way. There were several snowballs thrown, all in good fun, and some of the boys proposed to make a snow fort, and have a regular snowball fight.
The next day, after school, the fort was built in a vacant lot. Then the boys divided into sides, one party getting inside the fort, and the other, outside, trying to capture it.
The three chums decided it would be more fun to storm the fort, so they joined the outside forces. The battle lasted for some time, and many snowballs were thrown back and forth.
"Come on, now! Charge on the enemy!" cried Frank, when he thought he saw a good chance to take the fort.
He led the charge, and with such good effect that the fort was captured, and he and his chums left in possession. Then 
The battle lasted for some time.
the battle turned about, and the snowball fight began all over again.
Several days of winter fun passed. The boys and girls went coasting before and after school, made snow-men and rolled large snowballs. The weather was pleasant, and just warm enough so that the snow would pack well.
One day Mrs. Blake called on Mrs. Brown, to thank her for the way in which Sammy and his chums had helped her.
"Your son and his chums are very bright and good boys," said Mrs. Blake, who had gotten over her fall in the snow. "I have written to my brother, Peter Jessup, about them, and he says anytime they want to visit his end of Pine Island he'll be glad to look after them."
"That is very kind of him," said Mrs. Brown, "but Sammy and his two friends go off now on more strange trips than I think is good for them."
"Oh, pshaw!" exclaimed Mrs. Blake. "Boys will be boys! Let 'em roam, I say, as long as you know where they are, and that they are safe."
"Well, I guess if they get the chance they'll go," laughed Mrs. Brown. "They generally get what they're after. I'll tell them of your kindness."
When Sammy and his chums heard of what Mrs. Blake had said, and of the invitation of Mr. Jessup, the hunter, they grew excited at once, and wanted to start for Pine Island the next day.
But there was school to be thought of, and they, as well as the other pupils, had missed considerable on account of the delay caused by the fire.
"Besides, it's Winter now—not Summer," said Mrs. Brown. "It would not do to go to the island in Winter."
"Oh, yes, it would," cried Sammy. "We could dress warm."
"Besides," said Frank, "Mr. Jessup had a warm cabin."
"Well, you'd better wait," suggested Sammy's mother, and they had to do so.
But, about a week after this, there came a cold spell of weather and the lake was frozen over. When Frank awoke one morning he looked out of his window, and saw a sheet of ice on Rainbow.
"Oh, fine!" he cried. "Now for some skating!"
He took his skates to school with him that morning, as did Sammy and Bob, and during the noon recess the chums, and several of their friends, tried the ice. It was smooth, and thick enough to be safe.
"Let's skate over to Pine Island after school is out!" proposed Sammy.
"I'm with you!" cried Bob.
"And I'll go too," added Frank. "Maybe we'll see the hermit."
They said nothing to their companions about their plans, but when school was dismissed that afternoon they put on their skates and started across the frozen lake. They felt sure they could reach the island and get back home before dark, and each had received permission to go skating after school, though the island was not mentioned.
It was glorious fun on the ice. For some time the three chums found themselves in the midst of their skating companions, but they soon left them behind, and, a little later, were nearing Pine Island.
"Make for the upper end," advised Sammy. "That's where the hermit will be, if he's anywhere."
But though they had had good luck up to this time, bad luck now set in. First the skate of one of the boys would become loose, and he would have to stop and tighten it. Then the same thing would happen to another. So they were delayed, and it was almost dusk when they came opposite the far end of the island. This was a place they had seldom, if ever, visited.
"Well, here we are at last," said Sammy. "I'm going to take off my skates and go ashore a while. My feet ache."
"We really ought to go back," said Frank, slowly. "It's getting dark, and if we're as long going home as we were coming it will be after six when we get in. The folks will worry."
"Oh, well, we won't stay but a minute—just to rest," said Bob. "I'm all out of wind."
"Well, all right," agreed Frank.
So they took off their skates and walked on the island. It was covered with snow, and curiously still and silent.
"I wonder where Mr. Jessup has his cabin?" spoke Sammy.
"Probably well inland," said Frank.
"Hark!" cautioned Bob.
There sounded a rustling in the bushes just ahead of the boys, near a clump of trees. Something moved.
"Maybe it's a bear!" exclaimed Sammy.
"Huh! Like the one you thought you saw before, only it was a dog!" laughed Bob.
"Forget it!" grunted Sammy. He did not like to be reminded of that.
"Look!" suddenly exclaimed Frank. With trembling finger he pointed straight ahead. It seemed as if a snowbank was moving. And then the boys saw a queer sight.
A shaggy head of white hair, and a long white beard rose up almost in front of them. The hair and beard framed a scowling face, that glared directly at the three boys.
"Quick! Run!" cried Sammy. "It's the wild hermit of Pine Island!"