CHAPTER XX
A MYSTERIOUS PROCEEDING
Tad had already started back along the ledge which opened into thegulch just before they reached the gap mentioned in the precedingchapter. A short distance to the rear the rocks sloped down into thegulch with a gradual fall. It was down this rugged place that Tadbegan to climb, followed closely by Ned Rector.
[ILLUSTRATION: Tad Was Followed Closely by Ned Rector.]
The boys were too busy with their climb to do much talking on the waydown, and had they not been thoroughly seasoned they would have beenobliged to stop for breath more than once, even if the way was downhill.
"Whew! That was some climb, wasn't it?" exclaimed Rector whenfinally they reached the bottom.
Tad ran forward. Some ten rods up the gulch he halted, pointing to acrushed heap on the ground.
"There's the poor collie, Ned."
"The fiends! They threw him over, didn't they?"
Tad nodded, thoughtfully.
The two boys found that the dog bore a severe wound on its head,where Tad believed it had been struck with a heavy club or the buttof a gun. There was no way of determining this to a certainty. ButTad pointed out something to his companion in support of his theorywhich again proved that the Pony Rider Boy possessed a keen mind forreasoning out things.
"You will remember that the dog was running south when he was struckon the rock where we found the blood?"
Ned agreed with a nod.
"And that I said the man struck the dog from behind the rock on theleft-hand side of the trail?"
"Yes."
"If you will examine the collie's head you will see that the woundextends from the top down the left side of the head, indicating thatthe person who dispatched him was also on that side. Doesn't thatprove it?"
Rector gasped.
"Say, Tad, I'll run in a minute if you don't quit. You give me thecreeps up and down my back. You're spooky. I'm glad Chunky isn'there. He'd have run long ago. What shall we do, leave the doghere?"
"Why, yes, I don't think it will be worth while to carry him back tocamp," decided Tad.
"Then we'll give the faithful old fellow a decent burial and heapsome rocks over him so the animals don't get at him. If Mr. Dunkanwants him we can tell him where to find the collie."
The boys, choosing a hollow in the ground for the burial, heapeddirt, stones and rubbish over the dead dog. Having completed this,Tad started for the long climb back.
The climb was somewhat different from the downward journey. It wasgrilling work going up that mountainside, and there were black andblue marks on the bodies of both boys when they reached the top.Ned's hands were skinned in spots and his temper had sufferedproportionately.
"Never again!" he exclaimed with a resentful look at Tad. "I mighthave known better than to follow you."
"You ought to feel complimented that I asked you to accompany me."
"Ha, ha! as Chunky would say. What an excellent opinion we have ofourselves, eh?"
"You know better than that, Ned Rector. You know I'm not the leastlittle bit conceited. I never could see any reason why a human beingshould feel that he was any better or any smarter than any otheraverage person. Take my word for it, the conceited fellow gets hisbumps sooner or later."
"Like Chunky, for instance?" suggested Ned.
"No, I don't mean that kind. Chunky doesn't mean half of what hesays. He likes to make conversation and make fun, but he's a goodfellow and smarter than most people give him credit for being."
"I know that. I'd eat my hat for the fat little rascal, but I've gotto have my fun with him. Now what?"
"Maybe some more climbing. Use your eyes again. We are following atrail now."
So far as either lad could observe there was no real trail to follow.It was rock, rock everywhere they went. All the time they weregetting farther and farther away from the camp.
After an hour of toil over the rocky trail they came out into abrush-covered plateau. Tad now got to work in earnest. It was but afew moments later when he announced that he had found a trail, butwhether this was the particular trail for which they were in searchhe did not know. It was a trail and he proposed to follow it outuntil either it led them to something definite or came to a blindending.
The trail proved to be more fruitful than the boys had hoped. Halfto three-quarters of a mile farther on they were startled by thereport of a gun.
"Someone firing a shotgun," said Tad.
"Yes, it does sound that way," answered Ned.
"We will head for it. Funny thing to be using up here. These peopleordinarily use rifles. Where did you think the sound came from?"
"Over there." Ned pointed off to the right.
"I shouldn't be surprised if it were in the gulch we have just left."
"Farther to the west then."
The boys started to hunt out the man with the gun. They moved alongwith extreme caution now, not wishing to receive a charge ofbuckshot, nor were they courting discovery, for other good andsufficient reasons.
"There it goes again," exclaimed Ned.
All at once they caught sight of a man half way down the side of thegulch. A gun was standing against a tree near by, while the man wasscraping the ground with a stick.
"What is he doing?" whispered Ned as the boys, crouching down, eyedhim inquiringly.
"I don't know."
After a little the man, whom they now recognized as their old enemy,Jay Stillman, took up his gun, reloaded it, and then began walkingabout the place as if selecting a particular spot for furtheroperations.
To the amazement of the boys Stillman thrust the muzzle of the gundown to within two feet of the ground, then fired the charge into theearth.
A second barrel was fired in a similar manner.
"For goodness' sake, what is he trying to do?" whispered Ned.
"I don't know, unless he has gone crazy," answered Tad. "Shootingcharges into the ground is new business to me. I'll warrant he is upto some monkeyshine, though."
"Maybe he thinks he can hit a heathen on the other side of the world,"suggested Ned.
"He's going to shoot again," Tad announced.
Two loud bangs gave evidence that Stillman had done it again. Hecontinued these same tactics, covering quite an area of ground, hisoperations lasting until long after midday. All this time the twoPony Rider Boys were creeping along at a safe distance behind themountaineer, watching his every movement. Finally, leaving his gun,he began working among the rocks. What he was doing the lads wereunable to make out, and they were more puzzled over these peculiaractions than they ever had been in their lives.
Late in the afternoon Stillman shouldered his double-barrelled gunand started off toward the southwest. The boys promptly secretedthemselves, because it looked as though the man were going to passnear them. He did so, though all unconscious of their presence.
"Are you going down there to see what he has been doing?" whisperedNed.
"No, I'm going to follow him. We know where that place is. It can'tget away, but he can."
This being good reasoning Rector had nothing more to say. Stillmanhad swung off at a mountaineer's stride, a pace so rapid that he soonoutdistanced the two lads, making it necessary for them to run tocatch up with him. This running nearly proved their undoing.Suddenly they came in sight of the man. He was standing on a rise ofground, apparently listening, but looking off to the left. The boysdropped instantly, lying flat on the ground until they saw Stillmanshoulder his gun and start on again.
"He must have heard us," whispered Tad. "We must be cautious. We knowhim to be a bad man and we know he is up to some crooked business. Iwish I knew just what it is. Probably he's going to his shack."
"I see it!" exclaimed Ned.
"Yes, there's the roof of a building and a chimney. I reckon we'regetting near our friend's roosting place. This is fine. You seewhat a little patience does for one. Now go carefully."
Making a wide de
tour the boys came up to one side of the building thatthey had discovered. Stillman was nowhere in sight. It wasreasonable to suppose that he had entered the building.
The structure was built up of small logs, the cracks being chinkedwith what looked to be red mud, and a broad chimney extended some sixfeet above the low roof, built high to give the fire below more draft.All about the place was a dense growth of bushes, with occasionalpaths intersecting the plot.
"I wish we could get a look inside that place," muttered Tad.
"Not going to try it, are you?"
"No, not now. Not while he is in there. I wish he would go away."
"No such luck," complained Rector.
Almost ere the words were out of his mouth Jay Stillman stepped outfrom the cabin. This time he carried a rifle under his arm. Hestood at the doorway of the cabin for some moments as if thinking.After a time he started down a well-beaten path that led him within arod of where the two boys were in hiding. They scarcely breathed ashe strode past them. Tad was up soon after on the mountaineer'strail. The boys did not have far to go. Stillman's horse wastethered in a glade a short distance from there. The man quicklysaddled and bridled his mount; then, leaping into the saddle, hegalloped away to the eastward.
Tad started on a run, to keep the man in sight as long as possible,and further to make sure that Stillman really was going away.
"He's gone. Now for his cabin!" cried Tad.
"I do hope there's no one there. Perhaps we may be able to discoversomething."
Turning toward the log cabin, still on a dog-trot, the boys headedtowards more trouble and a most exciting experience in the cabin ofthe mountaineer.
The Pony Rider Boys on the Blue Ridge; or, A Lucky Find in the Carolina Mountains Page 21
