THE GAME POACHER, JEM SHOCK
RUFUS had involuntarily halted the car at the very instant the shot was
heard, so that the boys were stationary at the time the deer leaped past
them.
"Oh! what a beaut!" exclaimed George Robbins.
"The equal of any Scotch stag I ever saw in the preserves!" echoed Alec,
who had stared with eyes that were round with wonder.
"But somebody shot at him, all the same, don't you know, and the close
season on in the bargain," Lil Artha hastened to say, indignantly.
"Hush! here he comes!" observed Elmer.
They all heard a hasty trampling sound, as though someone might be
hurrying through the bushes close by. It came from exactly the same
quarter from which the alarmed buck had appeared.
Then a moving figure caught the gaze of the five scouts. A burly man,
roughly dressed, strode into view. He stared at the car and its
occupants, as though he considered the boys to be mostly responsible for
his recent ill-luck.
"Howdye, mister," sang out Lil Artha, not to be cowed by angry looks;
"are we on the right road for Raccoon Bluff, would you mind telling us?"
Suspicion lay in the look which the man was now bending on them. He
acted as if he imagined they might be more than they seemed; for a
guilty conscience can discover a game warden in every inoffensive
traveler, especially when the culprit is suddenly caught in the very act
of trying to kill a deer out of season.
"Raccoon Bluff ain't far ahead o' ye, if that's whar ye happen tuh be
headin' fur," he told them grumblingly; "but might I arsk what yuh
a-doin' away up here in this forsaken kentry?"
"Oh!" Lil Artha told him blithely, "we're off on a little trip, and mean
to spend a week or so under canvas around this section. You see, the
father of the young fellow at the wheel here, Rufus Snodgrass, of
Hickory Ridge, has lately come into possession of some property up this
way, and we're going to find out if it's been surveyed right and proper.
If you see our smoke some time or other, drop in and have a little chin
with us, stranger. We nearly always have the coffeepot on the fire, and
the latch-string is out."
Perhaps the man may have understood this sort of a genial invitation,
but all the same he gave no indication of being pleased because of it.
The look of suspicion could still be noticed about his dark face, and he
twisted his rifle about in his hands kind of nervously, as though he
wished he could keep it from being seen.
"I reckon I ain't a-goin' tuh bother ye much, strangers," he mumbled. "I
got my own business tuh look arter. Yuh see, I'm the assistant game
warden o' this region, an' it takes a heap o' trampin' tuh kiver my
territory."
With an odd sort of chuckle and grin he nodded his head toward them, and
then whirling on his heel vanished amidst the scrub. They soon lost
track of his retreating footsteps.
Lil Artha laughed in his peculiar way.
"Huh! smoked the coon out, didn't I? Game warden, did he call himself?
Whoo! to think of his colossal nerve! I bet you any warden in the State
would give a month's salary to have been here, and caught him in the act
of shooting at a deer when the law is on."
"Then he was a braw poacher, was he?" burst from Alec. "Aweel, I can
feel for him in a way, because, to tell you the truth, lads, I've snared
my hare more than a few times across the big water. But then it's
different there, because all the game country is owned by rich dukes and
lords, and the poor man hasn't any show; while over here all he has to
do is to tramp off into the wild woods for a couple of days, and take
his chances.
"Elmer, do you think that could have been Jem Shock?" asked Rufus just
then.
The patrol leader showed his surprise, for up to then he did not know
that Rufus had ever heard that name; at least, the other had kept his
knowledge to himself, for some reason or other.
"I'm pretty sure that's who he is," he told the boy at the wheel; "but
how did you know about him and his ways; when the farmer only told Lil
Artha and myself?"
Rufus chuckled, and looked wise.
"Oh! I plead guilty," he acknowledged. "I heard stories about Jem Shock
before I left home, but I wasn't silly enough to pass them along to the
rest of the party, because some of you might have changed your minds,
and found an excuse for not coming on the trip."
Lil Artha snorted indignantly.
"Now, don't get mad, Lil Artha," said Rufus, promptly.
"Oh! I'm not riled so much because you kept your knowledge to yourself,
Rufus," the tall scout told him; "but on account of you thinking Elmer,
George and myself could be shooed off by such a little thing as that. If
you looked back at the history of the Wolf Patrol you'd find that the
boys belonging to it have all been through a heap of excitement. We've
exposed so-called ghosts, had adventures with ugly hobo bands, been in
forest fires, fought floods and--well, time wouldn't allow me to
enumerate one-half of the things that have befallen us."
"That's enough, Lil Artha," said Elmer, seeking to soothe the
long-legged scout, and pour oil on the troubled waters. "Rufus will come
to know us better after he's graduated from the tenderfoot class. But
suppose we start on again. That incident is closed. We may and we may
not see more of Jem Shock. For myself, I'm half hoping I do, because
he's something of a character, and opens up a new type for a fellow to
study."
"So far as I'm concerned," observed Rufus, scornfully, "I hope we never
run across him again. He looked like a bad egg to me, and his eyes had a
wicked stare in them, that I didn't like."
"Oh! that can be easily accounted for," said Elmer, as the car once more
commenced to glide along the rough woods-road. "You see, in the first
place he had that feeling of guilt that makes a rascal look at all the
rest of the world as his enemies. Then again I half imagine Jem thinks
the game wardens are back of our coming up to this neck of the woods."
"Game wardens, Elmer!" exclaimed Alec; "how could that be, and what
would scouts have to do with the officers of the State?"
"Well, scouts seem to have a hand in a good many things that are
connected with keeping the laws, and making communities live on a higher
standard," the patrol leader explained. "I could tell you of dozens of
things our troop has been connected with along those lines. And why
shouldn't they enter into an arrangement with the head warden to get
evidence against some of these guides who kill deer out of season, and
hotel proprietors who offer it to their guests as 'mountain sheep'?"
Alec apparently was a bit puzzled to understand all this, and so Lil
Artha, leaning forward, took occasion to explain it more fully as they
continued on.
They were passing into an even wilder section of country than any thus
far encountered. Not a sign of the white man's presence could they see
except in some sections where the original timber had been cut away
years back, and a second growth now covered the land; with here and
there an old forest monarch left to overtop its neighbors like a giant
looking down on a pigmy host.
"This just suits me to a fraction," Lil Artha was saying, as they began
to ascend what seemed to be another rise of land. "Why, it's as free
from the restraints of civilization as that Adirondack region where we
went with Toby Jones last winter, to visit his hermit uncle, Caleb, who
was living all by himself in the heart of the wilderness. My lands! if
only I thought we'd have half as much fun on this trip as we ran across
then, I'd be happy as a clam at high tide."
"Perhaps we will," Elmer told him. "You never can tell what's ahead of
you when starting out on one of these trips."
He was thinking at the time of Jem Shock, and wondering whether the
poacher might not take it into his head to make things interesting for
them during their stay along Raccoon Ridge. Secretly Elmer was almost
hoping he _would_ see something more of the strange man. He wondered how
Jem lived; what his ambition, providing he had any, might be; whether he
cared for a single human creature besides himself in all the wide
world--these and many more thoughts were gripping Elmer's mind, and he
could not shake them off.
Although, of course, he did not know it at the time, still it was fated
that the golden opportunity he so eagerly sought was destined to come
his way under conditions of a peculiar nature. But of that more anon,
since it would be hardly fair to lift the curtain now, and disclose the
presence of coming events long before they were due to arrive.
"Don't you think this must be the place they call Raccoon Bluff, Elmer?"
asked George just then, as they continued to climb the rise by means of
the winding road, so seldom used that Rufus had the greatest difficulty
in forcing the car over exposed roots and outcropping rocks.
"I've been looking around," explained the scout leader, "and according
to what that farmer told me, I'm sure this is our destination. We can
keep our eyes on the lookout for a suitable camp site right along now.
There'll be plenty of time for us to get our tent fixed, and a lot of
other things done, before sunset comes."
"Well, we seem to have mounted to the crest of the bluff, if that's what
this rough piece of ground turns out to be," said Rufus, with a sigh of
relief, for at times he had found it hard work navigating the rough
road, and occasionally he almost feared they would have to get out and
walk the balance of the way.
A couple of minutes later and Elmer called out to him to stop the car.
"I think I glimpse a dandy place for a camp over yonder!" was what the
patrol leader remarked to the others, pointing as he spoke. "And see
what a glorious view we'll have all the time we're here."
They faced the west, where the sun was heading toward the horizon,
though a good two hours must elapse before he sank from view. Through
openings in the dense forest they could obtain fine glimpses of distant
parts. It was really as delightful an outlook as any of the scouts had
ever gazed upon. Alec McGregor, accustomed to those Scotch mountain
views, was loud in his admiration.
So Rufus brought the car as near the camp site as was possible, and then
all of them leaped out. Filled with a burning desire to get things
started they proceeded to carry the cargo of the big touring car across
the intervening ground.
Lil Artha, George and the leader held a brief discussion as to the exact
spot that was most suitable for erecting their waterproof tent, rendered
so through a process of tanning that changed its color to correspond
with their own khaki-hued garments.
This important detail being finally settled they began work. Alec and
Rufus, being tenderfeet, of course had to be told about everything they
attempted; but as the spirit of willingness was strong upon them in the
beginning, they carried out orders cheerfully enough.
Elmer was looking for that inherent weakness on the part of Rufus to
crop out, and sure enough it came to the surface before they had been a
full hour on the ground. The tent having been properly set, and a
fireplace built after the most approved scout fashion by Lil Artha, with
the two new fellows taking accurate notes so they could in turn carry
out a similar task, Rufus was set to work chopping firewood, while Alec
had been given another job connected with making a drain on the upper
side of the tent.
"That is so the water will run aside, and not flood us out," explained
George, who was directing operations in this quarter. "You see, we may
have a whopping big storm while we're up here, and again not a drop of
rain may fall; but all the same a true scout gets things ready to meet
an emergency. That's what our motto 'Be Prepared' stands for. It's a
sort of insurance against possible loss by fire. Your house may never
burn down; in fact, you don't expect it ever will, but you take out a
fire policy all the same, if you're a wise dicky."
"I get what you are telling me, George," admitted the shrewd Scotch lad,
"and all the while I'm understanding this scout business better. There's
a muckle mair in it that I used to ken, but I like the way it turns out;
and I'm o'er glad now I joined the ranks o' the scouts."
Meanwhile Rufus was having his troubles a-plenty. Evidently he was not
very well posted as to the best way of handling an ax, though he swung
the tool with quite a lusty stroke, Elmer noticed. For some little time
he managed to smash a certain amount of wood, but finally he seemed to
have run across a section of hard oak that was giving him a lot of
trouble.
He stopped several times to wipe his reeking forehead with his big red
bandanna. Elmer could see him shake his head as though he felt that he
was up against a hard proposition. For some time the scout leader did
not interfere. When, however, he saw Rufus throw the ax down petulantly,
as though determined to give the job up as a bad bargain, Elmer
concluded the moment had come for him to take a hand in the game and
pilot the tenderfoot through his initial troubles.
As a greenhorn in camp, Rufus must be expected to do considerable of the
fuel getting; and in order to meet his duties with the least possible
friction and trouble, the sooner he learned how to handle an ax
properly, the better for his peace of mind. Besides, Elmer did not like
to see that "white flag" business. He disliked a quitter above all
things; and was grimly determined that before that camp broke up the
said Rufus would have learned a lesson or two that would be profitable
to him.