CHAPTER VIII. A SCOUT SHOULD ALWAYS BE ON THE ALERT.
When the young scoutmaster chose to, he could put a world of meaning inhis voice. And those two timber cruisers, upon seeing both guns coveringthem so steadily, doubtless realized that firearms are no respecter ofpersons; since a weapon fired by a lad is just as sure to make good, ifheld correctly, as though a mature man looked along the barrel.
And so they complied with the order, although grumblingly, and evidentlyloth to admit that a couple of boys had gotten the better of them.
"This hyars a nice how-d'ye-do, treatin' yer guide like he was pizenmean. What d'ye mean by it, younker?" growled the man who had claimed tobe Toby Smathers, the forest ranger.
"Oh! it only means that we've guessed who you are," remarked Thad,calmly. "We were warned down at the post to look out for a couple ofunscrupulous timber cruisers by the name of Hank Dodge and PierreLaporte. And we don't want to have anything to do with you, that's all."
"Take keer, young feller, who yer insultin'," growled Hank, ominously.
"Oh!" said Giraffe, airily, who made sure to have his own gun ready inhis hands at the time he spoke in such boasting tones, "we don't scare soeasy, Mister Hank Dodge, if that's your name. Fact is, the boys of theSilver Fox Patrol have helped gather in a few men even more dangerousthan you and your pal ever dared to be."
"Be still, Giraffe," ordered Thad, who knew it was unwise to add to theanger of the ruffians. "Now, we don't mean to bother you at all, HankDodge. Our business up here has nothing to do with timber cruisers; andwe're not hired by the Government to watch for any steels of lumber, orland frauds. We came here to camp out, and to hunt. And just now we'rebusy looking up the comrade who has lost himself in these big woods. Doyou understand what I say?"
"Reckon as how ye put it plain enuff, younker," replied the other,wondering if Thad noticed that he was gradually lowering his arms; butthe very next words uttered by the boy told him this.
"Hold 'em up high again, Hank! I don't want to have to shoot you throughthe shoulder or the legs, but I will, if you try to grab up that rifle."
With a string of hard words the man elevated his hands once more; but ifblack looks could kill, Thad must have expired on the spot.
"Step Hen," said the patrol leader.
"Yes, what is it, Thad?"
"Go forward, and recover your gun," the other went on, severely. "I'msurprised at you letting it get out of your hands at all. A wide-awakescout should be smarter than that. And Step Hen!"
"Yes."
"Be sure you don't for even a second get between the muzzle of my gun andour friend Hank, there; because I'm going to shoot the very second hemakes the first move looking to grabbing either you, or the gun. Hearthat, Step Hen?"
"Sure I do, Thad, and I'll be careful, just as you say," came the reply.
The boy crept up on one side, and lying down flat on his chest, reachedout an arm, thus starting to draw his own highly-prized little repeatertoward him.
Hank could see it going, and ground his teeth in helpless rage, for hecould also watch the determined gleam in those convincing eyes of ThadBrewster, and only too well did he know what sort of hard luck would beapt to overtake him, if he but allowed himself to be tempted too far.
When Step Hen gripped his little gun once more, he made haste to drawback the hammer. And thus a fourth weapon was brought to bear upon thepersons of the two notorious timber thieves.
Hank Dodge laughed.
It was not a mirthful sound at all, but rather caused a shiver to passthrough the forms of those who heard it.
"We throws up ther sponge, me an' Pierre, don't we, ole hoss?" said Hank.
"Four against two--zat ees too mooch odds. We cave; we gif in; we cryout, enough!" exclaimed the ferret-eyed French Canadian _voyageur_, who,they said, had once been the factor at a Hudson Bay Fur Company's postuntil he betrayed his trust, and fled to the States with a bunch of moneybelonging to his employers.
"Well, we want to say good-night then, to both of you," said Thad.
"We ain't agoin' ter forget this, let me tell yer," replied Hank.
"I don't see why there need be any hard feelings between us," Thad wenton. "It's only tit for tat. You held us up first, and now we've returnedthe favor. And we haven't taken anything from you, Hank Dodge."
"But--held up by a pack o' kids; we'll never be able ter look each otherin the face agin till it's wiped out, sum way," the man went on to say,angrily.
Thad knew that further argument would be useless. There was only onething men of their calibre could appreciate, and that was force.
"Oh! well," he said, as if carelessly, "you can do just as you pleaseabout it. But I want to tell you this plainly, right on the start. We'reall armed, and can shoot as well as the next one. We're no tenderfeet,like our chum who is lost. And if in spite of this plain warning youchoose to molest us, look out you don't get something you won't like.That's all I'm going to say; but you can put it in your pipe and smokeit. Back off, fellows, but keep 'em both covered, and shoot if they tryto grab up a gun!"
So the four scouts backed out of the hostile camp, the air of which didnot seem to agree with them. Those avaricious eyes belonging to HankDodge did not create a favorable impression on any of the young campers.
"I sure believe he meant to keep my dandy little gun," Step Hen wasmuttering, as, having passed out of sight of the two timber cruisers, thescouts walked along in couples, on the alert for any signs of furthertrouble.
"Just what he expected to do," replied Thad. "And another time we happenon any unknown men in this part of the country, see to it that you keepyour gun in your own possession, Step Hen."
"I sure will," replied the other, humbly enough; "I had my lesson, allright."
"What if they're coming after us?" suggested Giraffe; and the verypossibility of such a thing caused Step Hen to utter a little cry ofalarm, and turn in several directions, as though expecting to discovercrouching foes, or see the flash that would accompany the discharge of ahostile gun.
But nothing happened; and presently Allan, who had been looking back overhis shoulder many times, announced that there was no danger.
"They haven't left the camp up to now," he said, positively. "I can seetheir figures moving in front of the fire. It's all right, boys. We cango, and settle down after a little for the night."
Presently Thad called a halt.
"Here, we can make a stop," he announced. "There's a little swale at thebase of this rocky hill. If we wanted we could make a small fire, andfinish our supper. I don't think they'd see it; and besides, Allan andmyself will stand guard up on the ridge here."
This plan was carried out, since they had not wholly satisfied theirappetites at the time Allan discovered the camp-fire which they supposedhad been kindled by the lost tenderfoot, Bumpus.
Afterwards Thad and Allan came in, the fire having been extinguished, andate a little. Then they talked in low tones.
"It makes me feel uneasy," remarked Giraffe, "to think of that poorinnocent thing of a Bumpus, who wouldn't lift a finger to hurt even afly, wanderin' around all alone in these big woods."
"Yes," added Step Hen, seriously enough, "and with a couple of hard caseslike that Hank Dodge and Pierre Laporte around. What if he was unluckyenough to run across 'em? wouldn't they just take revenge on our poor fatchum. I hope that don't happen."
Thad was not saying anything, but it struck him that the fellow who couldshow enough ingenuity to get himself out of a quicksand, or a muck bed,the way Bumpus had done, might be far from the ignoramus some of hiscomrades still chose to believe him.
"I'm getting sleepy, and I move we turn in," suggested Giraffe after moretime had elapsed.
"Well, hold on then, because we've got to make a move out of this basin,"said the shrewd patrol leader.
"Seems a good enough place to bunk in," grumbled the sleepy Giraffe.
"But dangerous at that," Thad remarked. "Those men may ha
ve glimpsed ourfire, and give us a call. We'll not be at home to them. I've been toldthat a hunted man never sleeps where he eats. Come along; it won't befar, I promise you."
After a short walk, Thad announced that in his opinion, as well as thatof Allan, it was now safe for them to lie down, and get what sleep theycould.
"I hope Bumpus is as well off, and got plenty to eat still," were thelast words Giraffe spoke; "I remember the time we got twisted in ourbearings up in Maine, and nary a match between us, with a cold night athand. But I got fire all right with my little apparatus. Besides, therewas two of us, and it don't seem near so lonely when you've got companyalong, even if it is only a tenderfoot scout."
Soon all of them had made themselves as comfortable as possible. Theabsence of blankets was going to be severely felt. Without a camp-fire tocheer them, Thad feared they would be shivering before morning, even ifit was the good old summer time. The atmosphere close to the foothills ofthe great Rockies is quite rarefied, and the nights are apt to seem evencold.
The four scouts were pretty tired, and they not only went to sleepquickly, but they slumbered heavily--it might have been hours for all anyone of them could say, when they were suddenly awakened by a series ofheavy crashes and detonations that sounded very much as though anearthquake had shaken the Rockies to their foundation.
The Boy Scouts Through the Big Timber; Or, The Search for the Lost Tenderfoot Page 8
