CHAPTER VIII. LOOKING BACKWARD.
Now, if there was anything in the wide world that could give the fatscout a real hard scare, it had to do with snakes. Had he been told thatthere was a yellow-eyed wildcat crouching on a limb, and evidentlyplanning to spring straight at him, Bumpus might have exhibited acertain degree of courage, and at least have tried to reach around insearch of his gun; but a hideous, squirming snake was quite a differentproposition.
And only that morning he had heard Thad tell about how venomous thesenumerous water moccasins were; how indeed, in some places, their bite isfeared only second to that of a rattler; for while immediate death doesnot as a rule take place, often the wound will turn into an open runningsore, and create no end of bother.
And so doubtless that brain of Bumpus' instantly sent a "wireless" toother parts of his body, giving the alarm. Certain it is that at thevery same instant the squirming object flashed before his eyes, fallingin the boat directly ahead of Bumpus, who was in the bow, he made onemagnificent backward splurge, his feet kicking violently every-whichway, as in imagination he felt the fangs of the intruder fastened in hisleg.
It was a sight never to be forgotten by those other scouts; though hadnot the canoe been very staunch the chances were that Bumpus in hisfrantic zeal to part company with the moccasin must have tipped thecraft over, and deposited himself as well as his three companions in thewater.
Even as he kept both legs working like the piston rods of an engineBumpus was letting out roars that would have done credit to an angrybull. He afterwards confessed that it seems to be the one prominentfeature in his mind that Thad had told them to make all the splash andnoise they could if ever they were threatened by these contemptiblewater moccasins, as that would frighten them away. And as Giraffeafterwards avowed, the noise that Bumpus created would have given hiscomrades the one grand scare of their lives, had they not known theorigin of it all. Bumpus actually took that as a compliment, too, mindyou.
"Keep still, Bumpus, or you'll upset the boat!" shouted Thad, sternly;and he had to exert himself to be heard above all the row.
"You're safe enough, silly; he won't jump at you!" cried Davy Jones, whohad all he could manage with the head of the fat scout in his lap, andthose legs going like the arms of a windmill in a stiff gale.
"Gimme just one chance to whack the beggar!" demanded Step Hen, who hadmanaged to pick up the push pole, which was carried in case they becamefast in the mud at any time, and must depend on brawn and muscle to getclear.
As the result of all these objurgations Bumpus recovered enough sense toslightly raise his head, so that he could take a peep. He discoveredthat the moccasin had coiled in the very bow, and was acting as thoughintending to retain possession of the canoe; for it kept thrustingvenomously with its head, and showed a nasty disposition in the way itopened its mouth.
But Step Hen poised the push pole as though he meant business.
"Duck your head, Bumpus!" he called out; at which the other hastened toobey, not in the least inclined to feel the heft of that stout pole.
He heard a crash, and gave a yelp.
"Hey! that was my left foot you hit! Quit knocking me!" was his plaint.
"Well, you wouldn't give me enough room!" declared Step Hen,complacently; "but it's all right, Bumpus, you suffered in a good cause,and that ought to repay you. I got him, and he isn't agoing to jab youthis trip, mark my words!"
So Bumpus, despite his pain, raised his head again far enough to seethat Step Hen had indeed settled the snake; for it was wrigglingaimlessly this way and that, trying to strike even in its death throes,such was its venomous nature.
"Toss it overboard, Step Hen!" ordered the scout-master.
Managing to get the point of the pole under its folds, the otherhastened to do so, and the struggling reptile floated off, much to therelief of all those who had been menaced, especially poor Bumpus, whowas nursing his toes, and grumbling that he had "to pay the fiddler evenif he didn't dance."
"I hope now that pesky thing didn't go and get a bite at me unbeknown,"he said, as though a new feeling of alarm had suddenly taken possessionof him; and though the rest laughed at the idea, nothing would ease themind of the stout boy until he had taken off his leggings and closelyexamined both shins; when he felt relieved of his anxiety.
Of course the talk among the boys for some time afterwards was inconnection with these dangers that are ever present in Southern waters,especially those of the swamps.
And again Thad cautioned them to beware how they allowed a moccasin tobecome in any way familiar.
"I reckon," remarked Step Hen, after listening to these warnings, "thatthere ain't any place agoing where the watchwords of Boy Scouts come inbetter'n they do down here; because, seems to me a fellow's got to 'beprepared' about all the time. What with hungry alligators ready to makea meal off your feet; poisonous snakes dropping off slanting trees;bobcats waiting in the crotches above for a chance to scratch you intoribbons; escaped convicts atrying to steal about everything you own; andso-forth, it wouldn't be a bad scheme to own three pair of eyes and earsto keep on guard."
Thad was keeping up his watchful tactics of the preceding afternoon asthey thus slowly advanced into the depths of Alligator Swamp. He did notwish to make an error of judgment, if it could possibly be avoided; foronly too well did the boy know from past experiences how such a mistakecan keep on swelling until the final consequences are simply tremendous.
So they kept on marking each bend that they turned, and Thad saw to itthat he could pick up one "blaze," if it could be termed such, fromanother. He also broke a smaller branch, always on the side they camefrom; so that if in doubt later on, it would be easy to make sure whichway to go, a very wise precaution indeed, and one that Allan highlycommended when he saw what was being done.
They did not hurry, since nothing was to be gained by making speed atthe sacrifice of safety. And as they thus journeyed, it was perhaps onlynatural that, with the two canoes close together, one of the scoutsshould ask Thad further questions in connection with this man who hadapparently taken such a peculiar dislike to the Brewster family, in thathe could be suspected of having kidnapped the little girl sister whomThad remembered so well as a baby.
"I was only a small chap at the time, which was nearly ten years ago,"Thad told them, as a strange look came over his young face, when thusrecalling the past; "but I can remember him very well as a dashinglooking man, smart enough too, but with a horrible temper, and some badhabits that finally got him into trouble; for he took things belongingto my folks, and was discharged from his position as manager of theproperty.
"That downfall he seemed to foolishly lay at the door of my mother,though to tell the truth she was only too lenient with the rascal, whoshould have been prosecuted, and sent to the penitentiary for a term ofyears. Then, later on, my baby sister strangely disappeared, and mymother never fully recovered from the shock; because although for someyears she spent money like water, and had the best detectives in thecountry searching everywhere; but they never were able to find the leasttrace of poor little Pauline.
"Of course, sooner or later suspicion fell upon this Felix Jasper, andas he was located in New Orleans a close watch was kept upon hismovements; but they found no reason to cause his arrest; and so it wentuntil my poor mother finally left me alone, and Daddy Brewster, abrother of my father's, came and brought me to his home in Cranford,where I met you fellows."
"Which, I take it, was a red letter day for old Cranford!" declared StepHen; "because right from the first you managed to inject more gingerinto the boys than they'd ever known before. When you went off thatsummer to visit some other relative, and came back filled chuck fullwith Boy Scout business, didn't you get every fellow in Cranfordexcited, and wasn't the Silver Fox Patrol formed as a result?"
"Yes," added Davy, for the subject was one that appealed to Thad's closechums very much, "and whenever we played baseball, or any other game,wasn'
t it you who took the lead, and made the name of Cranford respectedthrough the whole county, where before it had always stood close to thebottom of the list? I should say we did strike it lucky when you camealong the pike, Thad."
"That'll be enough for you, Davy; and suppose we change the subject,"remarked the scout-master; although his eyes snapped, and his cheeksgrew red with pleasure to know that his comrades appreciated him somuch.
"But do you reckon you'd ever be able to recognize this man if you seteyes on him again, Thad?" asked Bumpus, at this juncture.
"I am sure I would," came the positive reply; "because he couldn't havechanged so much, only to look older. I'd never forget those snappingblack eyes, and the straight nose, as well as the firm mouth. As Iremember him, Felix wasn't as cruel as he looked, but his temper oftenmade him do things that perhaps he was sorry for afterwards, though hehad a terribly stubborn disposition, and once started on a thing wouldcarry it through, regardless of every consideration."
"Did you ever hear of him after he was in New Orleans?" asked Allan,from the other canoe close by.
"I believe he prospered there for several years," said Thad; "and thengot into some sort of trouble. This same gentleman who wrote Daddylately, used to keep him informed as to what Felix was doing, becausesomehow my uncle always believed that sooner or later something would beheard about my little sister through that man. Then came this letterstating that he had been seen near Alligator Swamp, and a girl in hiscompany who might be some eleven years old; just what the age of Paulinemust be if she is alive."
"But when he was in New Orleans didn't he have the girl with him?"demanded Giraffe, who was generally pretty keen when it came to askingquestions.
"No, but then the chances were that he knew he was being kept underobservation, and that at the time he was smart enough to have her atsome other place. He did marry while in the city, but there were nochildren, and his wife left him, so we were told by the one who had beenemployed to keep tabs on the man, perhaps on account of his villainoustemper."
"Then you imagine that after he had to clear out from the city and hide,because of some crime he had done, this Felix Jasper may have gone andgotten the little girl, so that he would have company in his exile--isthat it, Thad?" questioned Smithy, who had once known of a casesomething like that of the other, and could sympathize with his chum.
"That's what I'm hoping, and what seemed to strike Daddy as perhaps thetruth," replied the other. "But if we have any decent kind of luck I'llknow more about it all before we start back home to Cranford again;because I'm determined to comb this old swamp through and through,asking every one I meet, to get pointers until I run across the man whowas seen with a little girl. And if it turns out that after all he isn'tFelix, I'll be feeling pretty sick, let me tell you. But something seemsto keep telling me here," and he laid a trembling hand in the region ofhis heart, "that there's glorious news waiting for me; and every night Ilie down I just pray with all my soul that it's going to turn out thatway."
"So do we all, Thad, don't we, fellows?" exclaimed Bumpus, soberly; andthere was not one among the other six but who instantly expressedhimself in the affirmative.
Thad quickly changed the subject, for he was feeling very much excitedand shaken because of the sad memories recalled by his talk; and theother scouts, realizing that he did not wish to continue along thoselines, readily fell in with his wishes in the matter.
The morning passed, and all of them noticed that it seemed to warm upgreatly as the day advanced, until they had stripped their coats off,and with sleeves rolled up to their elbows as in the good oldsummer-time up North, paddled along under the arches of the closelygrowing trees. These were cypress for the most part, since these seem todo better in the midst of water than any other species; and theirexpanded butts always several times as large in girth as the trunks werefive feet from the roots, gave the boys no end of argument as to thecause of such a strange growth.
"There!" suddenly exclaimed Bumpus, "that was an alligator bellering,Thad, wasn't it? You said they generally talked just before dawn, butstill one lonely fellow might happen to break the rule."
"Wrong again, Bumpus, because that wasn't any sort of animal orreptile," the scout-master went on to say, with a smile.
"But you don't mean to tell me a _bird_ could grumble like that, Thad?"continued the amazed Bumpus.
The rest set up a laugh.
"You sure have got snakes and 'gators on the brain, Bumpus!" declaredGiraffe, scornfully. "Why, if you was up home right now, you'd aguessedlike the rest of us did, that what you heard was the grumble of thunder,that's all!"
The Boy Scouts Down in Dixie; or, The Strange Secret of Alligator Swamp Page 8
