CHAPTER XVII. THE SHERIFF'S ROUND-UP POSSE.
"How will that affect your game, Thad, do you think?" asked Allan,anxiously, after the alligator hunter had spoken so seriously about thepossible scouring of the big swamp by this energetic sheriff, bound toclean it up at last, after it had borne such a bad name for years andyears as a harboring place for desperate characters, voodoo worshippersand all such.
"I don't know," replied the scout-master, with a line across hisforehead, showing that the master was already beginning to loom up inhis mind as something that must yet be experienced. "Perhaps we'llprofit by his coming; and then again it may be just the other way. Butone thing sure, no matter what we wish, it isn't going to change thingsany. So we'll have to move along, and take them as they come."
"But they're heading this way, all right," said Giraffe, "because theyelps are getting louder all the while."
"Tell me, please," broke in Bumpus at this interesting juncture,"however can a dog follow a trail through the water? I don't know agreat deal of woodcraft, and tracking, and all that stuff, but I reckonI've read about fellows that were being chased by dogs, throwing 'em offthe scent by wading down a stream half a mile."
"And you're right there, Bumpus," replied Allan, immediately; "that's atrick as old as the hills, and one that's been practiced from the daysof the Pilgrim Fathers. Nothing like water to upset the keenest-noseddog that ever lived."
"Yes," added Smithy, also anxious to air his scanty knowledge along thisline; "and you can read about just such a happening in one of Cooper'sold Leatherstocking tales. I remember distinctly that such a thingoccurred."
"But hold on, don't everybody butt in, and keep me waiting so long,"Bumpus interrupted again. "I asked Thad a question."
"Well, we'll have to turn to Tom Smith here for an answer," said thescout-master; "though of course it goes without saying that dogs wouldbe worth mighty little in case the fugitives were in canoes."
"Dogs can swim, all right, but water leaves no trail, they say," StepHen ventured to remark, wanting to be counted as having also placed hisopinion on record.
"How about this, Mr. Smith?" asked Davy.
"Wall, it mout be thisaway," the swamp hunter told them; "yuh kin seethet thar be a heap o' land in ridges 'round heah, an' the dorgs is arunnin' o' 'em out. Mebbe they be men in boats along wid the rest; soday arter day they kin kiver a new section, an' jest clean up ther hullswamp in ther end."
"But why d'ye reckon, suh, they'd want to be doing this same right now?"came from Bob White, in his soft Southern tones.
"Yuh gits me thar, younker," replied the guide. "I dunno as how thisheah sheriff he done been set on tuh 'tempt this big job by the waypeople kept anaggin' o' him. Yuh see, ever sense I kin remember theybeen agwine tuh do this same thing, an' clean up Alligator Swamp; but asther yeahs slipped by it hain't neveh been 'tempted up tuh now. I shorejest clean 'spected ole Tom Smith'd neveh live tuh see thet day. Itlooks like a miracle war agwine tuh be kerried out, thet's what it doestuh me. But we'll soon know all 'bout thet same."
"Yes, because the dogs are certainly heading this way," Thad added.
"I knows every foot o' ther ground, suh," continued Tom; "an' guv yuh myword them hounds air jest a follerin' thet ridge yuh see right heah.Thar's a brace o' ther critters too, 'case I heard ther second un jestnow."
"Then the chances are that if we just lie on our oars as we're doingnow, we'll see the dogs, and of course the sheriff's posse too, beforelong?" Allan observed.
"Hain't got tuh move a yard, suh; jest wait," the other declared.
"What would we do if they just took a notion to swim out to us, andclimb aboard?" Bumpus wanted to know; as though that notion might becausing him not a small amount of concern; doubtless in imagination hecould see a pair of ferocious tan colored bloodhounds forcing their wayinto the canoes, and snapping at the occupants most savagely.
"Oh! we could poke the paddles down their throats, and gag them boththat way!" Giraffe gaily told him; for the tall scout did not take toforebodings the same way as Bumpus, to whom small things often lookedserious.
"I'm not bothering my head about what the dogs may do," Thad spoke up;"but it is a matter of some importance as to what their masters mayattempt. They're on the hunt for tough characters, and of course hardlyexpect to run across a party of Boy Scouts in the swamp. We must findout some way to let them know we're friends, before they start shootingat us."
"Oh! I hope we can do that same!" muttered Bumpus, much concerned. "Evenif they didn't hit any of us, they might make the boats leak likesieves; and I just know this black looking water must be awful deepright here. Besides, who wants to have to swim for it, with his clotheson, and all them nasty wiggling moccasin snakes awaiting to bite afellow? Excuse me!"
As usual no one paid much attention to his wailing, for they wereaccustomed to hearing Bumpus suggest all sorts of queer happenings thatwere hardly likely to come to pass.
"Do you happen to know the name of this sheriff, Tom Smith?" Thadinquired.
"I reckons as how I voted fo' the same, an' orter know Hawkins Badgely,"the other replied, promptly.
"That sounds good to me," Thad went on to say. "I always like to knowthe name of the man I'm up against; it often saves lots of time. Now,when they get close up, you must call out at the top of your voice, andaddress him as Sheriff Badgely. Get that, Tom?"
"Yes, suh, I does."
"When he answers you," Thad continued, deliberately, "tell him to orderhis men not to shoot; that you are with a party of boys exploring theswamp, and would like him to come and join us. Until we know more aboutwhat brings the sheriff in here, perhaps we'd be wise not to tell himtoo much of our private business."
"I ketches on tuh what yuh mean, suh; an' I shore thinks hit a smartdodge. Arter we-uns finds out what fetches this heah posse 'round thesediggin's, we kin open up an' tell what we thinks best."
"How long will it be before they reach us, Tom?" asked Giraffe, alwaysimpatient.
"Yuh see the dorgs, they jest hes got tuh foller ther ridges tuh we-uns,an' I reckon as how it mout be ten minits er so," the guide informedhim, after what seemed to be a rapid mental calculation.
"And say, perhaps now, when this old moonshiner hears the hounds, maybehe won't sit up and take notice!" exclaimed Davy, chuckling, as thoughhe had a personal grievance against Ricky, because at the time the otherfired that warning shot Davy had been so quick to draw in his head, likea tortoise, that he felt a stinging pain in the muscles of his neck,which spot he had been rubbing ever since.
"He'll think the world is going to come to an end, with seeing uniformedscouts in two boats, and then the sheriff's posse coming. Listen, andyou can hear the men calling out to each other right now, fellows!" StepHen observed.
Somehow the sounds seemed unusually strange; for conditions go to makethings loom up; and with those weird surroundings on every hand the boyscould certainly find enough to imagine a mighty thrilling spectacle.
Yes, the members of the big posse which the energetic sheriff hadsummoned to make a clean sweep of this pestiferous swamp hole, thehiding place of every rascal for generations, were exchanging calls,possibly between the boats and those who followed the hounds on shore.
"Sounds like there might be a lot of the same?" remarked Bumpus, afterthey had been listening for several minutes; and without doubt the noisyparties were coming nearer all the while.
"I shore reckons as how the sheriff he wants tuh make a clean sweep o'hit this time," the guide commented.
"If he's been brought up in this parish he must know Alligator Swamp isa pretty big affair, and that if he wants to comb it all over, he's gotto have a little army of helpers," Thad went on to say.
"I wonder now, how they work them dogs?" Bumpus was heard to say, halfto himself.
"Oh! sometimes they keep the animals fast in the leash," Allan told him,knowing what was still worrying the fat scout; "though there areoccasions when they
have to let them run free. They are trained to makea coon take to a tree; and there they keep him until the posse comesalong."
"But if he just _won't_ get up in a tree, or happens to be too heavy tojump?" inquired Bumpus.
"Why, then he has to fight for it, because the hounds will surely attackhim, as they are pretty savage," Giraffe hastened to say.
"Well, there are only two of 'em anyhow; an' I shot a great big grizzlyonct, maybe you remember, Giraffe," the other remarked, grimly. "I'vegot a gun that can be depended on every time. All you've got to do is toaim straight, and pull the trigger, and it does the rest," and Bumpuswas seen to be gripping his weapon while making these truly ferociousremarks.
"Look here," spoke up Thad, severely, "none of that, Bumpus. These dogsare on land, and they'll not be apt to bother us one whit. No matterwhat happens, don't you dare to think of firing a single shot without Igive the order. It would be rank mutiny, and you know the penalty ofthat. If a scout is alone, and has to act on his own initiative, it'sall very well; but when the scout-master is along, every member of thepatrol must look to him for orders. Understand that?"
"Sure I do, Thad; and I wasn't thinking of doing anything to get us in apeck of trouble with this old sheriff; only, if I saw a dog trying tograb Giraffe here, or Davy, by the neck, I'd feel like shooing him off,wouldn't I? Well, after he'd give 'em a little scare I would, that'sall."
Bumpus relapsed into silence after that, though it could be seen that hewas very nervous, for he kept bobbing up and down every little while.
Closer came the loud calls, until it became evident that the sheriff'sposse must be almost upon them; for the hounds were now giving tonguejust beyond that fringe of scrub ashore, and they could hear both thecrackling of bushes and the splash of several paddles.
"I think it's about time you hailed the sheriff, Tom Smith," remarkedThad, when he was convinced that further delay might cause them trouble.
"Jest as yuh sez, suh," replied the swamp guide, as he raised his handsto his mouth to serve as a megaphone.
The Boy Scouts Down in Dixie; or, The Strange Secret of Alligator Swamp Page 17
