The Outdoor Chums After Big Game; Or, Perilous Adventures in the Wilderness

by Quincy Allen

  CHAPTER XVI

  THE NEW CAMP

  "Well, how did you like it, Jerry?"

  "Talk to me about your shooting the whirlpool at Niagara in a barrel!That was bad enough for me! I swallowed enough water to float a ship!And here we are yet, each perched on a measly old slippery rock, in themiddle of the rapids. Say! tell me about that, will you, Frank? How arewe going to get ashore?"

  The situation was comical as well as tragical. Just as Jerry said, eachof the late inmates of the overturned bullboat, after being buffetedabout furiously for several minutes, had succeeded in wildly scramblingon to an exposed rock.

  There in midstream they sat, dripping wet, and with the foaming watersurrounding them on all sides. In spite of his recent scare, Frank couldnot help laughing.

  "What ails you? Perhaps you think I look funny?" exclaimed Jerry, whohad received a few bruises, and was not feeling quite as cheerful asusual.

  "Well, if you could only see yourself just now, you couldn't helplaughing. Do you know you just put me in mind of that little god of goodluck, Billikin!" called Frank, and in spite of his soreness Jerry had togrin in sympathy.

  "Well, all right, then; there are two of us, and I guess you look assilly as I do. But there's that fellow, Will, getting his work in, asusual. A nice pair of geese we'll look like in his book of martyrs."

  "Oh, that doesn't bother me one little bit just now. All I'm thinkingabout is how under the sun we're going to get out of this pickle," saidFrank, sweeping his hand around, as if to call attention to the angrywater that leaped and boiled in a frenzy of eagerness to get at itsexpected victims.

  "Can't swim to the shore, that's sure. I suppose we'll just have to slipin again and make another turn of it. Thank goodness! the bottom of theold rapids is in sight, and as Bluff and Reddy have picked up our boatand the paddle, they could turn their hands at life saving when we camebobbing along."

  "Hold on! Don't be rash, Jerry!" called Frank.

  "Well, have you got anything better to say about it--any bright schemeto propose that offers to soften the blow?" demanded the other, pausingin his movement toward slipping off his unstable seat.

  "I've just thought of something," answered Frank.

  "Good for you, then. I guess I'm too badly rattled just now, for once,to do much thinking. What's the game, Frank?"

  "Why not let Reddy and his reliable old rope come into play again?"

  "Say! we'll have to beg or buy that clothesline from Reddy when we goaway from here, and hang it up in our clubroom, as the most valuableasset we have. Without it what would become of us, eh? Talk about yourtrained nurses! That fellow is a whole hospital to the tenderfoot crowd.Call to him, please, and enlist his sympathy in the noble cause ofyanking us in out of the wet."

  So Frank did shout to the cowboy, who, having beached the two boatsbelow the rapids, was hurrying up the shore. Mr. Mabie, too, had joinedWill, so that presently the entire balance of the little party hadgathered opposite.

  Reddy entered into the game with spirit. He seemed to believe that thesetragic occurrences must have just happened to give him a chance to showhis skill in launching his rope.

  "Jerry first, please!" called Frank.

  "And why? Is it because I'm more valuable, or better-looking?" demandedJerry.

  "Oh, perhaps I want the pleasure of seeing how you look as you flounderthrough the rapids; and then, again, I may pick up a few points as tohow _not_ to do it."

  "Tell me about that, will you! Some people have all the nerve!" shoutedJerry, for the rushing water made so much noise that an ordinary callcould not have been heard.

  Nevertheless, he accepted the flying noose that came shooting straighttoward him, placed it under his arms, made sure that his gun was stillfast to his back, and then fearlessly dropped off his perch.

  There was considerable floundering on the part of the swimmer, muchstraining among the others who manipulated the rope, after which Jerrywas assisted up the bank. His first act, after coughing up a lot ofwater, was to shake his fist at the grinning Frank, and then call out:

  "Now you come on, and see how you like it!"

  Frank did not wait upon the order of his going. As soon as he had therope secured under his arms he slipped down into the foamy water, andbegan to buffet the current like a water spaniel.

  After an exciting experience he, too, was drawn ashore, really none theworse for his adventure.

  "Shake hands, Frank. You did nobly. I might have laughed, only I didn'tseem to have breath enough," said Jerry, but the look in his eyes toldhow he had enjoyed seeing his chum passing through the same experience.

  A fire was made, so that the soaked ones might dry off. Meanwhile, Mr.Mabie and Will succeeded in successfully shooting the rapids, though thelatter was wise enough to leave his precious camera in the care ofBluff.

  As noon found them still there, they took a "snack" before resuming thewater journey. Below the fierce rapids the current was still swift, butthere were places where the stream widened, and here the scenery wasvery fine, although the leaves looked more or less parched on account ofthe scarcity of rain during the summer that was passing.

  An hour later, and they saw signs of smoke below.

  "The boys have arrived ahead of us," said Mr. Mabie, pointing to thewreaths that ascended above the trees.

  "All on account of our mishap. We lost three hours that way," remarkedFrank, who felt a little provoked over the accident, since he aspiredto be a capable canoeman at all times.

  "Those things will happen to the best of guides at times," consoled thestockman. "I've often been in the drink myself. There are somecross-currents in our rapids, that one can only learn by experience. Irather expected you would go over, and instructed Reddy to be on thewatch below."

  "I wager I wouldn't get caught in that same way again, sir," assertedFrank.

  "And I'm sure you wouldn't, lad. Experience is the best teacher, and ifwe didn't have some of these bad turns we'd grow too confident."

  The camp was soon looking quite cozy again, when the tents had beenplaced and everything made snug.

  "I'm going to like this place almost as well as the one under thecascade," remarked Will, who had been rather skeptical all along.

  So the first evening came along, and supper was the same hearty,enjoyable meal they had always found it. The camp appetites workedovertime, the coffee tasted splendid, the elk steaks were just what eachone had been hungering for, and as the cook supplemented these with aheaping platter of flapjacks the contentment of the four chums seemedcomplete.

  "How long do we stay here, Mr. Mabie?" asked Bluff, never hesitatingwhen in search of information.

  "Possibly a week or so. Then back to the ranch, and a new line ofexperiences. This terribly dry weather is making me anxious, for therange is drying up, and we shall be hard set to find pasture for thecattle soon, unless rain comes along."

  "Do you have such a dry spell in summer often up here?" asked Frank.

  "Never saw the equal of this since I settled in the valley, many yearsago. Now, down in Ohio, where I originally came from, they have drouthseven in May, at times, and I've seen things go to the dogs more thanonce, gardens dried up, and even a forest fire in July, but never uphere," replied the stockman.

  "The woods look as though it wouldn't take a great deal to set themgoing," declared Frank. "One of the men threw a match down to-day, afterlighting his cigarette, and it seemed like magic the way the fireflashed up. He had to be quick to jump on it before the breeze carriedit along."

  Mr. Mabie frowned.

  "I won't ask you which man it was, Frank; but I must warn them again tobe more than ordinarily careful about throwing matches around andleaving a fire burning anywhere in the woods. Many a grand forest hasbeen ruined by such carelessness," he said.

  "How does that happen, sir?" inquired Bluff.

  "It is easy. The careless hunter or trapper leaves his dying fire whenhe breaks camp. Then up comes a sudden wind and some of the red cindersare bl
own into the dead leaves or punk grass. Fanned by the breeze, theybecome a roaring flame in a minute, and the mischief is done. Becareful, boys, please."

  "We certainly will, sir," replied Frank sincerely. "Not to speak of thedamage done, it must be mighty unpleasant to be caught in a forest fire.I've read of such things, but never hankered for a personal experience."

  On the following day they started to look into the possibilities for biggame around the new camp.

  "Reddy, here, says he knows of a bear den that we ought to visit sometime later. While at it, you boys must see all there is going in the wayof sport, for you may never come out this way again, though I hope thatwill not be the case. To-day, however, we will take things a bit easy,"remarked the ranchman.

  Although the stockman did not speak any plainer, Frank knew just whathe meant.

  "He thinks we must be feeling the effects of our little excitementyesterday, Jerry, and that the soreness in our muscles will take ourambition away for to-day," he said aside to his chum.

  "Tell me about that, will you! To prove that we're tougher than Mr.Mabie thinks, let's you and I engineer a little hunt of our own?"proposed the other quickly.

  Accordingly, they started out, going down the valley.

  "The walk will do us good, anyhow," declared Frank, "even if we don'trun across any big game."

  "I was asking Mr. Mabie about moose, and he said that occasionally oneis seen in this region, though generally they hang out further east.I've always wanted to get a moose, but was never able to be up in thewoods where they are found, when the law was off. How about you, Frank?Ever shoot at one?"

  "Never had that luck, though I've seen many in the summer time, inMaine. Somehow, it seems to go against the grain doing this hunting atsuch a queer time. I guess it won't be long before they have as strictlaws up here as we have to protect such game as deer and elk."

  "How about panthers and grizzlies?" asked Jerry.

  "They don't want to protect those fellows. You've got a right to knockone over, or a wolf, any time you want, if he doesn't get you first,"laughed Frank.

  An hour later they separated, Frank to look along one ridge, while Jerryhad taken a notion to see what the other might have in the shape ofgame.

  Frank spent quite a long time scouring the woods that covered the sideof the valley. He had not put up anything worth while, and was eventhinking about heading back to the place where he had agreed to meet hischum, when a distressing little accident occurred.

  Just as he was hurrying down a steep bank his foot caught in a vine, andhe was hurled forward with such violence that his head, coming incontact with the hard ground, received such a blow that he was renderedunconscious.

  Frank never knew just how long he remained insensible. It might havebeen only a few minutes, or perhaps half an hour slipped by while he laythere. When he finally opened his eyes he looked up into a dusky face,and realized that it belonged to an Indian!