The canoe, loaded down as it was, answered to the strokes of the sturdy arms of the boys. It shot forward, breasting the current, and was soon well away from the cliff.
"They'll never catch us now," Frank said. "They'll not think of looking toward the river. We're safe."
And so it would seem, for they heard no sound of pursuit. Afterwards Ned and Frank told their chums that the guards scoured the woods, but did not come upon those in hiding, nor did they find the ladder. It was well that the donkey had been taken back to camp.
Through the storm and the darkness the two boys paddled. It was hard work, but they gritted their teeth and would not give up. The rain had made the river, below the falls, higher, and the current was swift. They carried the boat around the cataract and led Mr. Roscoe through the woods. Frank offered his father food, but the rescued man said he had eaten at the sanitarium a little while before.
"I was afraid you would never find me after they changed my room," he said.
Frank told his father about the man in twenty-seven.
"He was a good friend of mine," Mr. Roscoe said. "A harmless man, though his mind was gone."
They reached the camp about two o'clock in the morning. In a little while Frank had several lanterns lighted and was starting a fire in the portable stove. The donkey was still under the canvas shelter, and Frank, going for some wood, saw the stone still tied to the tail of the beast.
"I guess you'll not bray now," he remarked as he cut the rope. The next instant the animal lifted up its tail and sent forth a loud note. It seemed as though he had been saving it up for many hours. The woods rang with it.
Immediately after it, and before the echoes had ceased reverberating, there came a cry of terror from the tent where Mr. Roscoe was with Bart. Frank recognized his father's voice.
"Save me! Save me!" cried the unfortunate man. "The cannibals are coming! They will kill me! Take me away! Hide me!"
Frank sprang toward the tent. Looking in he saw his father crouched under one of the cots, with Bart standing, badly frightened in a far corner. In the eyes of Mr. Roscoe was the gleam of insanity.
"Father! Father!" cried Frank in great anguish. "Don't you know me? I'm your son! I rescued you from the sanitarium!"
"I have no son! I am all alone in the world! I don't know you!" and the poor man tried to crawl further under the cot.
"Oh, what shall I do?" cried Frank.
Outside the rain came down harder than ever and the wind swayed the frail tent. Once more the donkey brayed.
"There they are! There they are!" cried Mr. Roscoe. "They are going to kill me!"
It was the cry of the beast that had sent his frail mind once more into the channel of insanity.
"Oh, what are we to do?" cried Frank again. "Perhaps he is really insane and I have made a mistake in taking him out of that institution."
"It wasn't your fault," declared Bart "Any one would have done the same. Perhaps it will pass over. He isn't violent."
Though they were much frightened, the two boys tried to coax Mr. Roscoe out from under the cot, but he would not come. At Frank's suggestion, Bart again tied the stone to the donkey's tail, to prevent the braying. Then they sat and waited for daylight and the arrival of their chums. The hours were long and full of terror. They did not know what to do. They could only wait for morning, and when that came they did not know that they would be any better off.
The rain stopped. Then a pale light began to diffuse among the trees. It grew stronger. Mr. Roscoe was quieter now, and came from under the cot. Frank persuaded him to lie down, and in a little while his father was asleep.
An hour later Fenn and Ned came in.
"Did you get here all right?" asked Ned, eagerly, but a sight of Frank's sad face sobered him. The two boys were told what had happened.
"I don't know what to do," Bart admitted as he and his two chums went outside, leaving Frank with his father.
"I've got an idea!" exclaimed Fenn eagerly. "I saw by that paper which Frank dropped, that Dr. Robertson was spending a few days at Forest Villa. That's the next place to Mr. Armstrong's house."
"Who is Dr. Robertson?" asked Ned.
"Why he's a great specialist on diseases of the brain. Why not go to him, and ask him to come and see Frank's father? I'm sure he would if we told him all the facts."
"Say!" cried Bart. "That's a fine idea! Hurry off and see if the doctor will come. If he wants pay we can give it to him."
But Dr. Robertson did not want any fee, when Fenn had breathlessly explained the circumstances to him. He questioned the boy closely, and then, taking his medicine case with him, set out through the woods. He was on his vacation, he explained, but he never missed a chance to study or treat a brain disease, and he was very much interested in Mr. Roscoe's case.
Dr. Robertson sent all the boys out of the tent, and told them to stay away while he examined the patient. How anxiously they waited for the verdict, Frank most of all! Was the case a hopeless one? At last the doctor came out. He was smiling, and the boys took that as a good sign.
"You can come in, boys," he said.
"Is he—can you—will he—" stammered Frank.
"He will get well, if that's what you mean," said Dr. Robertson. "He is much better now. The fact is," he went on, "his fits of insanity were only temporary, and they were caused by a drug, which was administered to him in his food. He ate something at the sanitarium just before you rescued him, and this last time the drug began to work as soon as he heard that donkey bray. The fit has passed now, and if he doesn't get any more of the drugged food he will probably have no more insane spells."
"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Frank, sinking on his knees at the side of the cot on which his father lay.
Mr. Roscoe opened his eyes.
"Frank! My boy!" he murmured. Then he dozed off again.
The doctor stayed at the tent until noon, and left some medicine, saying he would call again in the evening. Soon after the medical man had left Mr. Roscoe awakened. He declared he was much better, and in talking of his case he said he noticed that the strange spells came over him soon after he had eaten something. At other times he was as clear-headed as he had ever been.
In a few days, under the treatment of Dr. Robertson, Mr. Roscoe had fully recovered. It was thought best to keep him at the camp for a few days, as the rest would do him good.
"Then you'll come away with me and we'll make a home for ourselves," said Frank.
"Why not stay with your Uncle Abner?" asked Mr. Roscoe.
Frank told of his suspicions, that his uncle was in the plot with the men who held Mr. Roscoe a prisoner.
"No, you're wrong," said Frank's father. "Your uncle was deceived by the men. I understand it all now. He thought I really was insane, and he was doing what he imagined was right to keep me in the sanitarium. He was trying to hold the property for you. Those men fooled him, but now we will get the best of them."
Mr. Roscoe's theory proved correct, when a little later the boys broke camp and went home. Mr. Dent was much surprised when told the facts in the case, and confirmed what Frank's father had said. The property was gotten away from the men, and the plotters had to flee to escape arrest. Dr. Hardman was among them, and his sanitarium was taken in charge by the authorities, for he had many persons there who were really insane.
"And so that was Frank's secret," remarked Bart, one afternoon as the four chums were talking together over the strange case. "I would never have suspected it."
"I hardly believed it myself, at times," said Frank.
"Well, we had some fun with the donkey, anyhow," put in Ned. "That was about the only comic happening during our camping."
"I guess we've had enough of adventures to last for several vacations," spoke Frank. "I'm willing to settle down to a quiet life."
But a quiet life was not in store for the four boys, and why will be related in another volume, to be called "Fenn Masterson's Discovery." In that tale we shall learn the particulars of an interesting voyage on the Great Lakes, and the particulars of a revelation which came to Stumpy when he least expected it.
"Frank, I suppose you are happy now you have your father with you," said Bart one day.
sunshine!""Well, we all rejoice with you," came from Ned.
"Indeed we do!" added Fenn.
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