“Whoever it is coming,” remarked Hugh, uneasily, “we’ll soon know the worst, for I can see them through the bushes there.  They know we’re here in the bargain, because they’re making straight for this place.”

The scout master had hardly finished saying this when two men dressed in gray uniforms and carrying guns suddenly stepped out of the bushes, one calling aloud: 

“Hold up your hands there, every one of you, and don’t try to run, or it will be the worse for you.  We’ve tracked you up here, and you’re under arrest.  Steady now!”

CHAPTER VI

GUESTS AT THE CAMP FIRE

“Do what he says, fellows!” urged Hugh, sensibly, at the same time elevating both hands above his head, in which ludicrous feat he was speedily imitated by his four chums.

The two armed men continued to advance cautiously toward the scouts.  At the same time it could be seen that they appeared more or less surprised on account of discovering that it was a parcel of fairly well grown boys whom they were making prisoners.

“Is this a joke?” asked Alec Sands, with a tinge of a sneer in his voice.  “If so I want to say it’s in pretty bad taste, don’t you know.”

“You’ll find it a serious kind of a joke, young fellow,” snarled one of the two men in uniform, who seemed to be huffed over something, perhaps the scratches he had received in plenty where the brambles had scraped his face.

“Perhaps you’ll be kind enough to explain what we’re being held up this way for?” asked Hugh, as pleasantly as he could, for he realized that these men must represent some sort of authority, and in all probability were laboring under a misapprehension.

“Who are you all, anyway?” demanded the taller of the two men, and Hugh saw that he had better address himself to this person, since he seemed to be the more even-tempered of the pair.

“Our suits ought to tell you that,” Alec managed to snap out, not fancying the idea of being forced to keep his hands elevated in such a fashion, just as though he might be a miserable criminal trying to escape from the penitentiary.

“We are Boy Scouts,” said Hugh, hastily, seeing the men frown at Alec’s impatient remark.  “We belong in Oakvale, and have come up here to spend a couple of days camping out.  Besides that one of us has been commissioned to take some pictures of an old deserted mansion not far away from here, which his aunt in the city is expecting to buy, if his report turns out favorable.  That’s the whole story, I give you my word of honor, sir.”

The tall man looked straight into Hugh’s face.  What he saw there seemed to impress him very favorably, for the expression of distrust quickly faded from his own countenance, and a friendly smile began to take its place.

“I reckon we’ve been and made a mistake this time, Pete,” he said, turning to his companion.  “These young chaps don’t look like they’d have a hand in trying to get a crazy man free, after the law had shut him up in an asylum!”