LAID UP BY AN ACCIDENT
"Cale fell down!" shouted Stacy Brown.
Tad Butler sprang up and ran out where they had dressed the moose.
"What is the matter?" cried the lad. "Ah, you're hurt, Mr. Vaughn?"
The guide was sitting on the ground with both hands clasped about his
left ankle. His face was drawn and pained.
"Did you turn the ankle?" asked Tad solicitously.
"Yes. If it isn't worse than that I shall be in great luck."
"How did it happen?"
"I slipped from a round stone that somebody had put in front of the
stretcher there."
"Chunky, was that your work?"
The fat boy shamefacedly admitted it was.
"If you can't cause trouble in one way you are sure to in another,"
rebuked Tad.
"He wasn't to blame. Don't blame him for everything," reproved Cale.
"Let me assist you to camp. We will see what is the trouble," said
Tad, placing both hands under the arms of the suffering guide and
raising him to his feet. "The left foot? All right, you put an arm
about my neck on that side and we will have you in camp in no time."
Butler helped Vaughn along slowly and gently, though Cale now and
then grunted from the shooting pains in his ankle.
"You are very strong," said Cale. "No one would imagine you were so
muscular to look at your slender figure."
"Oh, Professor," called Tad, "Mr. Vaughn has hurt his ankle. I think
it is sprained."
Professor Zepplin was not a little disturbed at the announcement. He
hurried forward, offering his arm, but Tad waved him aside, saying he
could support the injured man alone perhaps better than two persons
could do it. The boy guided his patient to the latter's tent where
he placed the guide on a cot, then tenderly removed the boot from the
injured foot.
"Thank you, little pard," smiled Cale. "You're as gentle as a
woman--and I'm as soft. I oughtn't to let a little thing like this
bother me."
"Professor, perhaps you had better examine it," suggested Tad.
Professor Zepplin did so gravely. He hurt the guide by pinching the
ankle here and there, while the boys stood about looking on. Charlie
John alone of the party went on with his work about the camp,
unmoved, undisturbed.
"I am of the opinion that some of the bones are broken," announced
the Professor.
"Oh, that's too bad!" groaned the boys.
"I suspected as much," nodded Tad.
"How did it happen?" asked the Professor.
"He slipped on a stone," answered Butler, while Stacy gazed up into
the tree tops.
"A round stone," observed the fat boy solemnly.
"Yes, a round stone," nodded Tad, giving Stacy a quick look half of
amusement, half of reproof.
Professor Zepplin did the best he could with the injured member,
bathing it in liniment, then bandaging it skilfully, while Tad looked
on with keen attention. He never lost an opportunity to learn, but
in this instance, like the others of the party, Tad was grave, for
this accident might seriously interfere with their journey. Mr.
Vaughn was made as comfortable as possible, but he suffered a great
deal of pain during the rest of the day. He was not a good patient,
insisting that he ought to be up and doing. Tad resolutely commanded
the guide to keep on his back and remain quiet. He devoted his
attention to Cale all the rest of the day and through the night,
bathing the injured member frequently. Stacy Brown, on the other
hand, spent much of his waking hours out by the moose.
On the following morning just as they were about to sit down to
breakfast a loud halloo caused them to start up and rush down to the
water's edge. The smoke from their campfire had attracted the
attention of some woodsman. They saw him making his way along the
shore of the lake.
"Got a snack for a hungry man?" called a cheerful voice.
"All of them you want," answered Tad.
"You are just in time. We were sitting down to breakfast when you
called."
"Hello, Patsey," called Cale as the man strode into camp and, with a
quick, keen glance at the party, unslung his rifle and stood it
against a tree.
"Hello, Cale. What's wrong?"
"Turned my ankle, that's all," growled the guide. He then introduced
the newcomer as Patsey O'Rell, a timber cruiser for a big lumber
company. Patsey said he was on his way in. He had been out taking a
survey of some timber plots and had been out two weeks. He had been
living, to a large extent, on what the woods could supply, carrying
his cooking utensils dangling from his belt. Patsey was especially
solicitous over the condition of the guide. He demanded to see the
ankle, and getting down on his knees examined it carefully.
"Yes, there's something broken in there," he announced. "I reckon
you'd better be a leetle bit careful of that ankle."
Tad suggested that they sit down to breakfast, which suggestion
Patsey accepted gratefully. There was moose steak for breakfast.
When a heaping dish of it was passed to the timber cruiser he sniffed
it, then tasted it, after which he gazed up with a twinkle in his
eyes.
"Something familiar about this meat, eh?" he grinned. "Pretty good
piece of cow meat--"
"It isn't cow meat," exclaimed Stacy, unable to contain himself
longer.
"No?"
"No, sir. That's moose."
"Moose?"
"Yes, sir, and I killed him myself."
The cat was out of the bag. All the warning looks from the rest of
the party went unheeded by the fat boy. Once started there was no
stopping him.
"You killed him?"
"With my own hands, I did, and he was a big fellow. Why, you ought
to have seen him."
"That's curious. You shot him?"
"No, I didn't, I stuck him with my knife."
"And what was the moose doing all this time?" laughed the visitor.
"He was fighting. He fought me all over the place. Would you
believe it, sir, he charged me. I sidestepped just like this,"
explained Stacy, jumping up from the table and hopping about. "As he
passed me I struck him on the jaw just like this." Stacy made a
swing that turned him half way around.
"Hm-m-m! Did he feel it?"
"Did he feel it?" scoffed the fat boy pompously. "Why, sir, I knocked
him down. He dropped right down on his front legs."
"I'd hate to have you hit me a punch with that fist of yours, young
man," declared Patsey with a slow shake of the head.
"As I was saying, we had it hammer and tongs all over the place. I
hit him on his big nose until it was sore. Did you ever see a moose
with a nose-bleed?"
Patsey shook his head.
"Then you ought to have seen this fellow. I had him groggy after a
while. I just played with him; then, when I got him where I wanted
him, I let him have it."
"With your fist?"
"No, with my knife. I just cut him. I nearly cut his head off the
first swish of the knife. He's out there now if you want to look at
him."
A moment of silence followed Stacy's pompous announcement, the faces
of the party wearing solemn expressions.
"I reckon you'd better come along to town with me, Cale," said
Patsey, by way of changing the subject.
"That is my idea, too," agreed Butler. "He will be much better off."
Cale shook his head with emphasis.
"That will spoil your trip."
"What's the matter with the Indian?" demanded O'Rell.
"Does he know the woods sufficiently well to be able to guide us?"
asked Professor Zepplin.
"Yes. Trust an Indian for knowing the woods. You couldn't lose
Charlie for long at a time, if at all."
"I agree with you then, Mr. O'Rell. Mr. Vaughn can join us again
when he gets well. We can agree on some point of meeting, leaving
Vaughn to settle that. An excellent idea. By all means take him
in with you."
Cale protested, but the others added their voices to the proposal of
the timber cruiser until Cale ceased his protests.
"I don't like to be a baby," he objected.
"I should think it would be much better to be a baby, as you call it,
than to take the chance of having a stiff ankle for the rest of your
life. That would be serious in your calling."
"I reckon you are right," reflected the guide.
"Then it is settled. You go in with me. Can you let him have a
horse? I see you have your nags with you," said O'Rell.
"Mr. Vaughn has his own pony here, too," answered Tad.
"That's good. With luck I'll have him home and in the hands of old
Saw Bones before midnight."
After breakfast Tad packed the guide's kit, while Cale was giving
Charlie John explicit instructions regarding the care of the party,
where they were to be taken and where they were to go into camp and
wait for him some ten days to two weeks later.
The guide told the Professor that, in case they got short of
provisions, they could send the Indian in to any of the towns for
fresh stores. A night and a half day should suffice to them to a
town almost anywhere in that time, and Charlie could be trusted to
carry out his orders faithfully so long as those orders were in black
and white.
All preparations were made for the journey by Tad. He placed his own
saddle on Mr. Vaughn's pony, because it was a more comfortable saddle
than that owned by the guide. Finally all was ready. The boys
picked up the injured man and lifted him bodily into his saddle,
Patsey O'Rell regarding the proceeding with something of wonder in
his eyes, for the boys did not look as if they possessed so much
strength. With final instructions to Charlie, Cale rode away, O'Rell
striding along by his side, leaving the Pony Rider Boys a little blue
and unusually silent.
"We will cut up some of that meat, then bury the rest of the carcass
before some other visitors come to camp," ordered Tad. "You
shouldn't have said anything about the moose, Chunky."
"I guess I've got a right to talk about myself if I want to,"
retorted the fat boy.