THE WILD DOG PACK
"Well! well! what under the sun's been going on here while we've been
away?"
Bobolink burst out with this exclamation the very minute he passed
hastily in at the cabin door. A jolly fire blazed on the hearth, and
the interior of the cabin was well lighted by the flames.
Paul, as well as all the other arrivals, stared. And well they might,
for Sandy Griggs and Bluff were swathed in seemingly innumerable
bandages. They looked a bit sheepish too, even while grinning
amiably.
"Oh! 'tisn't as bad as it seems, fellows!" sang out Spider Sexton,
cheerfully. "Phil thought it best to wash every scratch with that
stuff we keep for such things, so as to avoid any danger of blood
poisoning. But shucks! they got off pretty easy, let me tell you."
"What happened?" demanded Jud Elderkin, curiously. "Did they run
across that old bear after all, and get scratched or bitten?"
"Or was it the other bobcat that came around to smell the pelt of his
mate, and gave you something of a tussle?" asked Bobolink.
"Both away off your base," said Bluff, with a fresh grin. "It was
dogs, that's all."
"Dogs!" echoed Jud, unbelievingly. "You must mean wolves, don't you?
They look a heap like some kinds of mongrel dogs."
"'Tis the lad as knows what he is talkin' about, I guess," remarked
Tolly Tip just then. "Sure, for these many moons now there's been a
pack av thim wild dogs a-runnin' through the woods. Many a night have
I listened to the same bayin' and yappin' as they trailed after a
deer."
A flash of understanding came into Jud's face.
"Oh! now I see what you mean," he went on to say. "Wild dogs they
were, that for some reason have abandoned their homes with people, and
gone back to the old free hunting ways of their ancestors. I've heard
about such things. But say! how did it happen they tackled you two?"
Bluff and his guilty companion exchanged looks, and as he scratched
his head the former went on to confess.
"Why, you see, it was this way," he began. "Sandy and I began to get
awful tired of staying indoors after you fellows went away. Three days
of it was just too much for our active natures to stand. So we made
up a plan to take a little walk around, and see if we could run across
any game."
At that Sandy held up a couple of partridges.
"All we got, and all we saw," he remarked, "but they were enough to
set that savage bunch of wild dogs on us. Whew! but they were hungry
and reckless. But you go on and tell the story, Bluff."
"When we saw them heading our way," continued the other, "we thought
they were just ordinary dogs running loose. But as they came closer
both of us began to see that they were a savage looking lot. In the
lead was a big mastiff that looked like a lion to us."
"But you had your guns with you, didn't you?" asked Jud.
"That's right, we did," replied Bluff. "But you see before we made up
our minds the kiyi crowd was dangerous they were nearly on us, yelping
and snapping like everything. That big chap in the lead gave me a
shiver just to look at him; and there were three others coming
full-tilt close behind him."
"We've since made up our minds," again interrupted Sandy, "that they
must have scented our birds, and were crazy to get them. Though even
if we'd thrown the partridges away I believe the pack would have
attacked us like so many tigers."
"At the very last," Bluff went on, "I knew we ought to be doing
something. So I yelled out to Sandy who had the shotgun to pepper that
big mastiff before he could jump us, and that I'd take care of the
next creature."
"Well, I tried to do it," Sandy affirmed, "but my first shot went
wild, because Bluff here knocked my elbow just when I pulled the
trigger. But I had better luck with the second barrel, for I brought
one of the other dogs down flat on his back, kicking his last."
"I'd shot a second creature meanwhile," said Bluff; "and then the
other two were on us. Whew! but we did have a warm session of it about
that time, let me tell you, fellows! It was at close quarters, so I
couldn't use my gun again to shoot; but we swung the weapons around
our heads as though they were clubs."
"I made a lucky crack," declared Sandy, "and bowled the smaller cur
over, but he was up like a flash and at me again, scratching and
biting like a mad wolf. I never would have believed family pets could
go back to the wild state again like that if I hadn't seen it with my
own eyes."
"I suppose the big beast tackled you then, did he, Bluff?" asked
Jack.
"You just b-b-bet he did!" exclaimed the other, excitedly. "And
s-s-say, I had all I could do to k-k-keep him from knocking me over
in a h-h-heap. Lots of t-t-times I cracked him with the b-b-butt of my
rifle, and staggered him, but he only c-came at me again full tilt.
Oh! but we had a g-g-glorious time of it I tell you!"
"And how did it end?" queried Jud. "Since we find you two here
right-side-up-with-care we must believe that in the final wind-up you
got the better of your canine enemies."
"C-c-canine d-d-don't seem to fit the c-c-crime this time, Jud,"
expostulated Bluff. "It sounds so mild. Well, we lathered 'em right
and left, and took quite a number of s-s-scratches in return. B-b-both
of us were getting pretty well winded, and I was b-b-beginning to be
afraid of the outcome, when all at once I remembered that I had other
b-b-bullets in my gun."
"Wise old head, that of yours, Bluff," commented Jud, with a touch of
satire in his voice. "Better late than never I should say. Well, what
did you do then?"
"Next chance I got I managed to turn my gun around and grip the
stock," and as he said this Bluff reached over to pick up his
repeating rifle to exhibit the dents, as well as the half dried blood
spots on the walnut shoulder piece, all of which went to prove the
truth of his story as words never could have done.
"That was the end of Mr. Mastiff then, eh?" continued Jud.
"Oh, well! I hated to do it," Bluff told them, "for he was a beaut of
a beast, so strong and handsome; but then those shining teeth looked
pretty ugly to me, and he was wild to get them at my throat, so there
wasn't really any choice."
"I should say not!" declared Phil Towns, shuddering at the picture
Bluff was drawing of the spirited encounter.
"So I shot him," said Bluff, simply. "And at that the remaining beast
lit out as fast as he could, because with the fall of the leader of
the pack he lost his grit. Course after that Sandy'n I couldn't think
of hunting any longer. We figured that we ought to get back home and
have our cuts looked after. And Paul, Phil has done a dandy job with
that potash stuff."
"Glad to hear it," said the scout-master, quickly, "though I'll take a
look myself to make sure. Scratches from carnivorous animals are very
dangerous on account of the poison that may cling to their claws. It's
always best to be on the safe side, and neutralize the danger."
"And Paul," continued Bluff, "will you accept one of these fat birds
from us?"
"Not much I will!" declared the other immediately. "Why should I be
favored over the rest of the crowd? You and Sandy earned the right to
enjoy a feast, and we'll see to it that you have it to-morrow. Let
them hang until then; game is always better for lying a few days
before being eaten, you know."
Of course, those who had remained at home were curious to know whether
the rescue expedition had been successful or not.
"We needn't ask if you found Hank and his crowd," declared Spider
Sexton, wisely, "for as scouts we are educated to observe things, and
first of all we notice that none of you has come back with the pack he
took away. That tells us the story. But please go on and give the
particulars, Paul."
"We managed to find them just when they had their last stick on the
fire," the scout-master commenced to relate. "We had to dig a way in
to them, for there was an enormous drift banked up against their exit
that they hadn't even begun to cut through."
"How lucky you got there on time!" cried Frank Savage. "Once more
scouts have proved themselves masters of circumstances. Bully for
Stanhope Troop! I bet you they were glad to see you! Yes, and like as
not told you they were sorry for ever having done anything to annoy
our crowd."
"You've hit it to a dot, Frank," admitted Jud. "Hank shows some signs
of meaning to turn over a new leaf, and Paul even believes there's a
hope; but somehow the rest of us reckon its the old story over again.
Once they get on their own stamping grounds, by degrees they'll forget
all we've done for them, and be back at their old tricks again. What's
bred in the bone can't easily be beaten out of the flesh, my father
says."
"But it does happen once in a while," admonished Paul; "so we'll drop
the subject for the present. If Hank starts in to do the right thing,
though, remember that it's our duty as scouts to give him all the help
we can. And now let's settle on the menu for supper, because we're all
of us as hungry as wolves."
While some of the boys were busying themselves around the fire, Paul
took a look at the slight injuries of the two aspiring hunters, and
complimented the pleased Philip on the clever way he had attended to
their necessities.