THE MEETING ON THE ROAD
That the wildcat was in a savage mood and prepared to fight to a finish,
there could be no doubt. Evidently the wounded paw had made the beast
more savage than usual, and hardly had it struck the ground than it
tried to make a leap forward at Jack.
"Look out, Jack!"
"He means to claw you to death!"
Bang! went Spouter's gun, but he did not dare to take too close an aim
for fear of hitting Jack, and as a consequence the charge of shot merely
damaged the wildcat's tail.
It must not be thought that the oldest Rover was slow in moving. Had
this been true, the wildcat would undoubtedly have fastened its claws
and its teeth into the youth and done serious damage. As the animal came
forward, the young captain leaped to one side and the wildcat landed in
the snow, facing the others who had come up.
"Shoot him! Shoot him!" came from Fred excitedly.
"Plug him quick!" added Andy.
None of those who had followed Jack and Spouter were armed, so the fight
rested entirely upon the shoulders of that pair. Circling around so as
to avoid the others, Jack pulled the trigger and fired. The wildcat
began flipping and flopping on the snow, badly wounded. Then Spouter
discharged his firearm once more, and after this the creature lay quiet
where it dropped.
"Is--is he dead?" questioned Fred, who was the first to speak. The
youngest Rover was very much excited, and with good cause.
"Wait! Don't go forward!" ordered Jack, as he stepped back a few paces.
"He may be playing possum. Anyway, we had better load our guns first,"
he added to Spouter.
This advice to load immediately after discharging a weapon was one which
had been well drilled into the cadets, and so now the pair lost no time
in putting new charges into their weapons. Then they approached with
caution, and Jack turned the wildcat over with the barrel of the gun,
keeping his hand meanwhile on the trigger ready for action.
But the beast was quite dead, the charges from the two guns having gone
completely through its body.
"What are you going to do with the carcass?" questioned Randy, after all
had made an inspection.
"Might as well leave it here," declared Fred. "It isn't good for
anything. Even the skin is all torn from the shot."
"No, we might as well take it along. We can hang it on the back of the
boxsled," said Gif. "Perhaps we can use the meat to trap some other wild
animals."
A strap which one of the boys happened to carry was fastened around the
neck of the wildcat, and then they carried it from the spring to where
they had left the boxsled. The excitement for the time being had caused
all of the cadets to forget how late it was and how cold and windy it
was growing. But now, when they were once more ready to drive off,
several of them began to shiver.
"It's going to be mighty cold before morning," announced Randy.
"Yes, and I wish we were at that bungalow in front of a good log fire,"
added Andy.
"Now that we've discovered that wasn't the road, which way do you
propose to go, Gif?" questioned Jack.
"We won't count that as a road, and we'll take the other one on the
right," was the reply. "I don't know of anything else to do," Gif added,
somewhat helplessly.
None of the others could give advice, for the reason that this territory
was entirely new to them. Even Spouter, who had visited the woods a
number of times, had never been in that vicinity.
Onward they went once more, up a gentle hill and then down the slope on
the other side. At the foot of the hill the road became rougher and
rougher, and presently the horses had all they could do to make any
progress.
"Gif, this can't be the right road," declared Jack at last. "If it was
as rough as this, Jed Wallop would have told us about it. He said we
wouldn't have any trouble at all in reaching Cedar Lodge."
"Yes, and besides, we must have come at least five or six miles," added
Spouter.
"I'll bet we've come all of eight miles," broke in Fred.
"That's just what I think," declared Randy. "I'll bet an elephant
against a mouse we're on the wrong road."
"Well, I won't dispute that, Randy," answered the young driver of the
boxsled. "But you'll all bear witness to it that I followed directions
and kept to the right."
The road now ran along the side of a hill. Here the heavy fall of snow
had slid down over the rocks and the going was anything but safe. The
faithful old horses had all they could do to keep their footing.
"We'll upset the first thing you know!" exclaimed Fred, and he had
scarcely spoken when the runner on the up side of the road struck a
series of rocks, and the next minute all of the boys, including Gif,
went tumbling from the boxsled, and some of their provisions followed.
"Whoa there! Whoa there, Mary and John!" called Gif to the team. But
this command was not needed, for the tired old horses were only too glad
to stop, and had come to a halt the moment the youths tumbled off.
All had landed in the snow, which at this point was rather deep; so none
of them was seriously hurt, although somebody stepped on one of Randy's
hands and Spouter got a scratch on his ear from some nearby bushes.
"Well, here's a mess!" exclaimed Fred, as he picked himself up. "Now we
are in a pickle."
"Oh, it might have been worse," declared Jack, as cheerfully as he
could, because he could easily see that Gif was in a state of mind
bordering on desperation. "Nobody is seriously hurt, I hope?"
All scrambled up, and then looked at the roadway immediately ahead. Here
was a somewhat level spot, and to this the sled was driven, and the lads
picked up the stuff which had fallen off in the snow and replaced it,
this time tying it down with some ropes and straps which were handy.
"I don't believe I'll drive any further on this road," said Gif. "It
doesn't seem to lead to anywhere, and I'm quite certain now that it
isn't the way to Cedar Lodge."
"What will you do?" asked Andy. "Go back to that other road?"
Everybody was stumped, and for several seconds nobody made any reply.
"Might as well go back," said Spouter.
Fred and Randy walked on ahead, trying to determine where the road led
to. But all they could see was the blackness of the forest, and the
roadway seemed to grow rougher and more perilous at every step.
It was no easy task to turn the team and the boxsled around without
spilling everything again. But it was accomplished at last, and then
slowly and painfully they climbed along the hill until they reached the
point where there had been another split in the road. Here they came to
a halt.
"Listen!" cried Randy suddenly.
All did as requested, and from a distance heard the low musical jingle
of sleigh bells.
"There's a sleigh!" exclaimed Gif. "And unless I'm mistaken, it's coming
this way!"
They listened again, and were overjoyed to note that the sounds were
gradually coming nearer. Then they stepped out behind the boxsled, and
presently discerned a large two-seated sleigh, drawn by a powerful pair
of horses, approaching.
The steeds were making good time, despite the roughness of the road and
the depth of the snow.
"Hi there! Hi there!" called out Gif, and then Jack sent the rays of his
flashlight toward the on-coming turnout.
There were exclamations of astonishment from those in the sleigh, and
for a moment it looked to the boys as if the occupants were bent upon
passing them without paying any attention to their call. But then Gif,
Spouter, and Fred took a position directly in front of the on-coming
horses, and the driver brought them snortingly to a sudden stop.
"What do you fellows want?" demanded a heavy guttural voice from the
sleigh.
The words were uttered in a German accent, and by the look of his face
the speaker, who sat on the front seat beside the driver, was evidently
of Teutonic origin. He glared suspiciously at those in the roadway, and
Jack and Gif afterward declared that they saw the gleam of a pistol in
the man's hand as it was thrust in the flap of his overcoat.
"We've lost our way," said Gif, coming a few steps closer. "We thought
maybe you folks could direct us."
"Huh! I don't know about that," said the man in his thick German accent.
"Where do you want to go?"
"We want to go to Cedar Lodge. It's located somewhere up here, about
five or six miles from Timminsport."
"Cedar Lodge!" said one of the men who were seated on the rear seat of
the sleigh. "Do you mean the hunting lodge that is owned by the
Garrisons?"
"Yes."
"Then you are on the wrong road to get to that place," said the man.
"You'll have to go back the way we came for about half a mile, and then
take the road to the left. It is in from this road, I think, about a
quarter of a mile."
"Is it the first road we shall come to from here?" questioned Gif, bound
to fix matters so that he could not make another mistake.
"Yes."
"Thank you. That is all we want to know."
"What are you young fellows going to do at that place?" queried the
German who was on the front seat.
"We came up here for a season of hunting," answered Jack.
"The place belongs to my father and my uncle," explained Gif. "My name
is Gifford Garrison."
"I see. Well, have a good time," said the man on the front seat of the
sleigh. But he did not seem to be particularly pleased.
"Have you a hunting lodge around here?" questioned Fred curiously.
"No. We are just taking a little trip to visit some friends up here,"
answered the man on the back seat who previously had not spoken. "We
shall stay only a day or two," he added. Then the man on the front seat
spoke to the driver, and away they went once more, and were soon out of
sight, taking the road the cadets had just been thinking of pursuing.
"Well, I'm mighty glad we met those men," declared Gif. "Now I know
where I am. Thank goodness! we are not so very far out of the way after
all."
"Don't crow, Gif, until you are out of the woods--or at least until we
are in sight of the Lodge," cried Andy.
"I didn't like the looks of those fellows," declared Jack.
"They were a bunch of Germans, and not very nice Germans at that," said
Fred.
"Isn't it queer that we are running into so many Germans?" remarked
Spouter. "First that Herman Crouse on the train, and now these chaps."
"Oh, hurry up, fellows! Don't stand here and gas!" ejaculated Randy.
"Let's see if we can't find that lost Lodge. I want to get warmed up,
and I want to go to bed."
Then the boxsled was turned around once more and the journey to Cedar
Lodge was resumed.