by Morgan Scott
CHAPTER XVII.
WHAT CARL’S PAIL CONTAINED.
Approaching the camp on their return, the three boys became aware thatat least one of their companions was up and stirring, for the clear,ringing strokes of an axe were echoing through the woods in the vicinityof Pleasant Point.
Now there is in the sound of an axe, when heard in timberland, somethingstrangely cheerful and enlivening, especially if the hour be earlymorning and the sun is in the sky. In a subtle way it seems suggestiveof that mysterious time in the practically unknown Dark Ages when man,newly awakened to the knowledge of his superiority over all otheranimals, came forth from his black cave and built himself a house ofwood. There is a joy, too, in the wielding of an axe by strong hands, inswinging it lightly and deftly and driving the blade home, and in thethrill of the yielding shock which passes with each blow from the handleto the fingers that grip it. And as a healthy, strength building, bodyinvigorating exercise, the use of an axe in the open air makes tame bycomparison the swinging of Indian clubs, tossing of dumb-bells oryanking at chest weights. As a tonic and a builder of strength andvigor, no doctor’s prescription can equal the use of the axe.
Gray smoke, rising from the point, told that a fire had been started,and near this fire, feeding it, sat Sleuth Piper. Crane appeared with anarmful of wood, which he cast upon the ground. Then, perceiving thereturning boys, he glowered upon them reproachfully.
“Think yeou’re smart, don’t ye?” he cried. “Think yeou’re smart,sneakin’ off without wakin’ a feller up. Well, what’d ye ketch?”
Sleuth, putting another stick on the fire, did not deign to look around.
“Nothing dud-doing,” confessed Springer, coming up and dropping theempty basket. “I’m afraid grim starvation stares us in the optic. AndPiper is to blame for it.”
Still Sleuth did not turn.
“Piper is to blame for it,” repeated Phil, with pretended condemnation.“Even in the tributaries of this lake, the streams which flow into it,the fish have heard of his arrival and——”
At last Piper turned. “Oh, go off somewhere by yourself and lie down,”he snarled. “You make me sick!”
“Dud-dear me!” grinned Phil. “The great detective, the bold pioneer, themarvelous angler, is extremely touchy this morning.”
“Joshing before breakfast sometimes produces unpleasant feelings,”laughed Grant. “We’ll all feel better, I opine, after we eat.”
“And, fortunately,” said Stone, “there’s a good supply in the larder.”
“You fellers didn’t have no luck at all, did ye?” chuckled Crane,evidently finding some satisfaction in this. “Up to date I’m thetop-notch fisherman, and yeou’ll have to go some to beat me.”
“Oh, but we sure did have fun,” returned Rodney.
“You bet,” eagerly agreed Phil; “regular circus. Wait till I tut-tellyou about it.” Stuttering somewhat more than usual in his eagerness, herelated the amusing story of the encounter with the Simpsons, and hisludicrous description of the elder man’s plunge into the pool causedeven Sleuth to crack a smile.
They were still laughing over this affair when, to their great surprise,Carl Duckelstein appeared upon the scene.
“Whoa! Stop!” cried the Dutch boy to the old white horse, that was nowattached to a light but rickety wagon. “It iss no further you vill hafto go py this direction. Pack up undt around turn.”
Before getting out he headed the horse away from the camp. Thisaccomplished, he gave the animal some unnecessary advice about standingstill and not running away, after which he turned cheerfully to greetthe campers.
“It peen again a goot morning,” he beamed. “You vas glad to see me, Ioxpect.”
“We sure are,” returned Grant, “though you near gave us heart failure byyour early arrival. How did you ever succeed in waking up at such anunearthly hour?”
“Oh, sometimes I up vake when you didt not oxpect me,” replied Carl,getting the can of milk and at the same time carefully removing from thewagon a sizeable tin pail with a cover, the latter being held securelyin place with a leather strap that passed the longest way round thepail.
Watching him, the boys noted that he handled that pail carefully,placing it gently on the ground some distance from the wagon, afterwhich he delivered the milk.
“What yeou got in there?” asked Crane, pointing at the pail.
“Oh, nefer you mindt about dot,” was the mysterious answer. “Vot I hafin der pail got is somethings my own amusements for. Yah.”
He could not have chosen a better way to stimulate the curiosity of theboys.
“Show us what it is, won’t you?” urged Springer.
The Dutch boy shook his head. “I couldt not so do. It vould not besafety.”
“Oh, come on,” entreated Sile. “Jest give us a peek.”
“Maype vot I haf got vould out come.”
“It must be something mighty dangerous, considering the way you’ve gotit sus-strapped up,” said Springer.
Piper rose to his feet. “I scent a mystery,” he declared in a low,sibilant tone, his eyes fixed on the pail as if they would bore itthrough.
Crane stepped forward, whereupon, with evident great excitement,Duckelstein hastened to intercept him.
“Don’t let it touch you!” cried Carl. “Maype it vill bite you.”
“Get aout!” retorted Sile. “There can’t be nothing in that pail bigenough to hurt if it did bite.”
“I varn you to avay keep.”
“Then yeou’ve got to tell us what it is. If yeou don’t tell, I’ll openthe thing anyhaow.”
“Maype you vould not peliefe uf I should toldt you.”
“Oh, go on. Course we will.”
Eagerly the boys gathered near while Carl seemed hesitating, and allurged him to tell what the pail contained. After shaking his head againand again, he repeated: “Maype you vould not peliefe.”
They assured him of their absolute faith in his veracity.
“Tell us quick, or open she comes,” threatened Sile.
“Vale, listen,” said the Dutch boy, with a sigh of resignation. “Didtyou efer catch a young gougers?”
“Cougars!” exclaimed Rodney, regarding Carl suspiciously. “Do you meanto say you have young cougars in that pail?”
“Some young gougers hass me in dot pail,” solemnly asserted the fat boy.“It vas not easiness to catch does gougers.”
Crane suppressed a burst of incredulous laughter.
“What sort of a mare’s nest is this?” he scoffed.
“It vas a mare’s nest not,” snapped Carl; “it vas a gouger’s nest. Iseen dot nest yesterday der voods in, but when it vas daylights dosegougers vill pite, undt I avay kept. Vhen it dark got I up crept undtder gougers caught. I haf them der pail in. Yah.”
“Tell it to Sus-Sweeney,” jeered Springer.
“Sweeney didt not know me,” answered Carl soberly, “undt so he couldtnot tell it to me. You didt consist to know vot vas der pail in, undtnow you haf out found.”
“Who do yeou s’pose is goin’ to believe such ridiculous stuff?” demandedCrane.
“I couldt not help him,” asserted Carl sadly, “uf it didt not peliefeyou.”
“Take off that strap. Take off the kiver and let us see.”
“I vould not do dot uf one thousand tollars vould gif you to me!”excitedly cried the fat boy. “Money couldt not inducement me. Der minutedot cofer peen off took der gougers vould out pop.”
“Aw, say, that’s silly. Yeou jest watch me take it off.”
Duckelstein grabbed at Sile’s arm.
“You vill avay let my gougers get!” he shouted frantically. “It vas notright vhen so much troubles has made me to catch them.”
Grinning, Crane pushed the anxious lad away.
“I’ll be keerful,” he promised. “I’ll jest unbuckle the strap and liftthe kiver a bit, so we can take a peek without lettin’ the critters getaout.”
“Eferypody get avay off!” shouted Carl, as Sile advanced upon the pail.“Uf one of dose gougers does out come, he vill chump at you. Uf one ofdose gougers should pite you, you vill knew it.”
Apparently very much alarmed himself, he backed behind the tent, roundwhich he peered at Sile.
“Somehow, Ben,” said Grant, speaking to Stone in a low tone, “I’ve got anotion that it may be a right good plan to keep at a safe distance. ThatDutch boy doesn’t seem as sleepy as usual this morning.”
Standing a rod or more from Crane, Piper and Springer eagerly watchedthe proceedings of removing the strap and opening the pail. On hisknees, Sile performed this action, gently lifting one edge of the coverand leaning forward to peer through the crack. Suddenly something like abullet seemed to leap forth from that opening, striking the inquisitiveboy squarely between his eyes.
Over upon his back went Crane, giving utterance to a yell ofastonishment and pain. One of his feet, flung out, struck the pail,which upset, the cover flying off. Instantly a swarming, buzzing mass ofangry hornets rose from the nest that rolled out of the pail.
“Ow! Wow!” howled Crane, scrambling to his feet and frantically wavinghis arms around his head. “Jumpin’ Jehosaphat! Ow! Murder! Help!Confaound the——Ouch! Yeow!”
Attracted by his frantic gyrations, the hornets swarmed upon him in amass, all of them as mad as hornets can be, and eager to do their duty.They plugged him on the jaw, back of the ear, on the wrist, and they gotinto his hair, and sought to bore through his clothing. Yelling like anIndian, he danced and thrashed about, while the others, without anexception, made haste to retreat from the zone of danger.
“I toldt you dose gougers vould pite!” shouted Carl. “You couldt notplame me when a varnings I gafe you.”
“Run for the water, Crane!” cried Stone. “That’s the only way to get ridof them. Run!”
For a moment or two the tortured lad stumbled round in a circle, andthen, still uttering wild howls, he ran toward the lake, into which heplunged and disappeared. The hornets trailed after him and hummedangrily over the water, beneath which, encumbered by his clothing, Silewas swimming in a desperate effort to get as far away as possible beforehe rose for a breath.
“Lie low and keep still, everybody,” warned Stone, as a few strayhornets buzzed and circled around the point. “If we find it necessary topull Sile out to save him from drowning we will do so, but he’s a goodswimmer.”
All the way round to the end of the point Crane swam, rising eventuallyin the deep water close to the bold rocks. In this manner he succeededin eluding his vicious little pursuers, and they soon turned back tocircle and buzz around the nest that lay on the ground near theoverturned pail.
“Are you hurt mum-much, Sile?” asked Springer, cautiously creepingtoward the rocks, behind which Crane remained with only his head showingabove the surface of the water.
“Hurt!” was the wild retort. “I’m killed! Bate them critters plunked mein more than twenty places. I’m dying! Wait till I get my hands on thatinfernal Dutchman! I’ll wring his neck! Can yeou see any of the crittersaraound here?”
“They’ve gone back to their nest, I guess. You can cuc-come out.”
Cautiously Sile lifted himself and crept out upon the rocks, to which heclung with some difficulty. One eye was almost closed, there was a hugelump on his jaw, and he was marked in various other places. His friendsgathered near to condole with him.
“Yeou wait!” he moaned——“yeou wait and see what I do to the scalawagthat played this miserable trick on me! Where is he?”
They looked around for Duckelstein, but he was gone, and the absence ofthe old horse and the wagon indicated that he had taken the precautionto depart in a manner that would not make it necessary for him to returnimmediately.
