CHAPTER VI.
MORE SIGNS OF TROUBLE AHEAD.
"OH! did you see him kick his heels at us as he went down?" gaspedBumpus, as they hurried forward to the spot where the venturesome scouthad vanished so forlornly; "I'll never forget it, never! Just like thepoor old chap wanted to say 'good-bye boys!'"
Bumpus was too honest and warm hearted a fellow to say this with anyintention of being hilarious. He sincerely felt every word of it.
Of course the long-legged Giraffe had to be the first to arrive on thescene of the late tragedy. Thad felt constrained to call out to him inwarning.
"Be careful there, Giraffe, or else there may be another of us down inthat pocket. Look out for your footing, I tell you!"
The other had dropped flat on his chest. He was seen to stretch his neckin the endeavor to get the best results with a minimum of risk; and theydid say that when Giraffe really and truly did his prettiest in thisrespect he could cover more territory than any one else ever seen.
"Oh! is he smashed flatter'n a pancake?" asked Step Hen, as he drewnear, with his melancholy face looking longer than usual; and the whitesof his eyes showing strongly, as they always did when he was frightened.
Giraffe twisted his head around with the utmost ease; indeed, from thelength of his neck it looked as though he might continue the turningmovement until he had actually made a complete revolution.
And when Thad caught sight of the grin on his face he felt immediatelyrelieved; for surely Giraffe loving fun as much as he did, would notallow this smirk to decorate his angular countenance unless there seemedlittle danger.
Another minute, and all of them were ranged there along the edge of thegully, staring down at Davy Jones. It would seem that the other had beenagile enough to clutch hold of a small tree that jutted out from thesteep slope. He was hanging to it now, and straining the best he knewhow to fling his legs upward, so as to relieve the situation, and theterrific pull on his arms.
He looked upward toward the row of faces peeping over the edge above;and there was a humorous grin on his face. He knew what his comradeswere doubtless thinking about "the pitcher that went once too often tothe well;" and that their natural alarm having passed, they would seeonly the humorous side of the affair.
Again did Davy strain. There was something connected with the way he washanging there that seemed to prevent him from accomplishing the resulthe wanted to attain. For the first time they could remember the boys sawthat the gymnast and acrobat of the troop had certainly met his match.Left to himself he would surely have had to invent some other method fordrawing himself up on to the slender horizontal trunk of the littletree; or else let go, and drop.
As it was a matter of some twenty feet or so to the bottom of the gully;and the chances were that he might receive any number of bad scratcheswhile making the transit, Davy of course would be averse to trying thisplan.
"Guess you'll have to lend me a hand this time, boys," he called out,when once more he failed to make connection between his squirming legsand the body of the tree.
"Who'll go down, and yank him on to that tree?" asked Bumpus; knowingfull well at the same time that no one could have the nerve to ask afellow of his heft, when there were so many others better fitted for thetask.
"Don't all speak at once!" advised the hanging Davy.
Somehow all eyes were turned toward Giraffe. As the most agile of thelot, he might be expected to volunteer; and yet with not a particle offooting between the top of the bank and that tree, some ten feet down,the job was hardly one that might appeal to any scout, however nimble.
"Oh! you needn't look at me that way," he complained; "because I'm long,and active, you just think I c'n stretch that far; but it's a mistake.But if somebody _has_ to try and make the riffle, I s'pose it'll be me."
He started to take off his knapsack as he said this, when Thad stoppedhim.
"Wait, Giraffe," said the patrol leader, quietly; "perhaps, after all,nobody has to go down after Davy. You seem to forget, all of you, thatwe've got a stout rope along with us. What's the need of carrying such athing, if it can't help us out in a pinch?"
"Bully! Sure we've got a rope, and a dandy one at that!" cried Bumpus,growing so excited that he came near falling over the edge, and had toclutch hold of the nearest scout to steady himself.
"If you'd gone that time, Bumpus, think what a splash you'd have madedown there. Because Davy got hold of a tree don't think you could do thesame. It'll have to be a whopping big one that could bear up under_your_ weight, all right," said Step Hen, who chanced to be the one whomthe fat boy had caught hold of in his sudden alarm.
It turned out that Bob White was carrying the rope. He had it woundaround his body in a way Allan had shown him, so that it did notinterfere with his movements, and was not coming loose all the time.
Quickly then was it unwound. In order to hasten this, the boys evenbegan to turn Bob around like a teetotum, until he said he was dizzy.
"Lucky it's got a loop handy at the end," remarked Allan, as he took therope, and sought a position directly above the hanging scout.
"How is it, Davy?" he asked, while lowering the noose.
"If you mean how much longer I could stand it, I'd say not a big lot,"replied the one addressed. "You see, the old tree cuts my hands justfierce; and I've been twisting around here so long now that I'm gettin'tired. How're you goin' to fix it, Allan? Might toss the loop over myhead; but I'm afraid my neck wouldn't hold out. If it was Giraffe now--"
"Here, you just let up on Giraffe, and pay attention to what Allan'sgoin' to tell you; hear?" called out the party mentioned.
"Do you think you could hold on with one arm, and get the other throughthe loop?" continued the Maine boy. "Of course, if you can't, why, Imight swing it around, and you could somehow stick your feet through;when we'd drag the loop up under your arms. How about that, Davy?"
But Davy made a test, and declared that one hand would hold him for abrief time. So, in this way, the rope was finally placed under botharms, and tightened.
"Now, get hold here, fellows, and give a pull!" said Allan; "hold on,not so rough about it, Giraffe, or you'll rub his face against the rocksand make it worse than if he'd let go, and dropped down. Here he comes,boys!"
"Heave ho!" sang out the scouts, and foot by foot they drew the unluckyacrobat once more to the surface.
"Got off pretty slick that time, eh, Davy?" demanded Step Hen, after theother had been landed, and Bob White was coiling the rope around himselfagain.
"Never knew me to miss doin' that, did you, Step Hen?" queried theother; and from the flippant tone in which he said this it was plainlyevident that the lesson had been lost on him; and that Davy would bedoing his customary stunts right along.
The hike was presently resumed, and the little adventure reckoned athing of the past. Shortly afterwards they came suddenly on a man, withan old vehicle, and a slab-sided horse that looked half starved. Theramshackle wagon bed was covered to about the depth of three feet withpoor looking straw, that seemed to have done duty a long time.
As for the man himself, he was a typical mountaineer, thin and scrawny,with a small, weasened face, and keen, snapping eyes. Bob Whiteinstantly pulled his hat down over his face as he saw the man.
Thad noticed that the other looked alarmed at sight of these eightkhaki-clad boys strung out along the mountain road. Indeed, he had theappearance of a man who would have turned and fled, only that he wasafraid to do so after finding himself face to face with what looked likea squad of United States regulars, or at the least, North Carolinamilitia, on the hike.
He returned the greetings of the boys with sundry nods of his head, andurged his old nag along by several whacks from the hickory rod he heldin his hand in lieu of a whip. So ramshackle vehicle and scared drivervanished around the bend which had concealed the scouts from his viewuntil it was too late to run.
"Looked like he'd seen a ghost!" suggested Step Hen, with a chuckle.
"Well, you can't blame him,
if he saw _you_ roll your eyes, and makethat face of yours look like thirty cents," remarked Bumpus, cuttingly.
"He had mountain dew hidden under that straw," remarked Bob White; "Iremember the old fellow right well, and I'm glad he was that frightenedhe didn't think to take at look at me. Nate Busby is his name. He alwayswas connected with Old Phin, and the others who make the moonshine stufffurther up in the hills. Right now, you can believe me, suh, he's onhis way with that load, to hide it where somebody from town can findit."
"He don't know what to make of us, seems like?" suggested Giraffe.
"That is the truth," added Thad. "I thought his eyes would drop out, hestared so hard. Seemed to me as if he actually expected some of us tosurround him, and examine his load. How he did whip that old nag of his.The beast kicked up his heels, and galloped, perhaps for the first timein years."
All of them laughed as they went on, talking by the way. Boys candiscover a ludicrous side to almost anything. Good health, absence ofworry, and plenty of food are about all they require; and the worldlooks its brightest.
Sometimes, when Thad glanced toward the Southern boy, he wonderedwhether Bob had taken them wholly into his confidence on the lastevening when he told them about his life amid the mountains and valleysof the Blue Ridge Range. It struck him that Bob frowned too often toindicate a clear conscience.
"There's something else on his mind, and that's certain," Thad wassaying to himself. "He keeps looking in my direction every little while,and I wouldn't be surprised if he came over pretty soon to tell mesomething he's been keeping back. But it don't matter; we'll standbehind Bob all the time. He's a fine fellow, as true as gold; and onescout should always help another in trouble."
His reflections were interrupted by Bumpus, who edged over nearer thepatrol leader to impart the information that, happening to look back, hehad discovered some one thrusting his head out from behind a rock, asthough he might be following in their wake!
Boy Scouts in the Blue Ridge; Or, Marooned Among the Moonshiners Page 6
