171
XIX. Looking for the Runaways 181
XX. The Wild Man Again 190
XXI. Something of a Clew 200
XXII. After the Runaways 210
XXIII. At the Camp 220
XXIV. Out in the Storm 230
XXV. Perils of the Flood 239
XXVI. Back to the School 249
XXVII. The Trail Through the Woods 259
XXVIII. The Capture of the Wild Man 268
XXIX. A Bit of Evidence 278
XXX. The Exposure--Good-By to Oak Hall 287

DAVE PORTER AND THE RUNAWAYS

CHAPTER I

DAVE AND HIS CHUMS

"I say, Dave, here's an odd piece of news."

"An odd piece of news, Roger? What about?"

"A wild man in the woods back of Oak Hall," answered Roger Morr, who
held a letter in his hand. "Queerest thing you ever heard of."

"I should say it was, if it's about a wild man," returned Dave Porter.
"Who sent that letter?"

"Shadow Hamilton."

"Maybe it's another one of Shadow's innumerable yarns," suggested
Dave, with a faint smile. "If he can't tell them by word of mouth, he
writes them down."

"What has Shadow got to say about the wild man?" asked Phil Lawrence,
looking up from the suit-case he was packing. "Has he been trying to
clean out Oak Hall, or anything like that?"

"No, not exactly," returned Roger, turning back to the letter, which
he had not yet finished. "He keeps in the woods, so Shadow says, and
scares everybody who comes that way."

"How does he scare them?" asked Dave, pausing in the act of stowing a
suit of clothing in a trunk.

"Shadow writes that he and Lazy were out walking one day and the wild
man came after them with a big club. He wears long hair and a long
beard, and his clothes are in tatters."

"What did they do?" questioned Phil.

"They ran back towards the school. The wild man followed 'em as far as
the bridge over the brook, and then jumped into the bushes and
disappeared."

"Humph!" muttered Phil. "Is that all?"

"Oh, no! The day before that, Chip Macklin and two other of the
smaller boys went out, along the river, and the wild man came after
them and shove