A FLANK MOVEMENT.
“I should say Sebattis _did_ hit something!” declared Giraffe, staring
hard at the tell-tale spot in the footprint.
“But it wasn’t Charlie that got hurt,” remarked Davy, evidently alive to
the fact that the track which showed the trace of blood did not have any
cross line, showing where the sole had been patched.
“No, it was the other fellow,” observed Thad. “Where was he hit,
Sebattis?”
“Left leg, not much, but bleed heap,” and the Indian pointed to several
other significant spots as he moved along the trail.
“Now how under the sun could he tell it was the left leg?” asked Step
Hen, evidently deeply puzzled to account for the positive manner in which
the guide made this assertion.
“Oh! that would be easy enough,” remarked the patrol leader. “Just stop,
and you’ll remember that each foot makes a different track. This one is
the left foot. And now you’ll be quick to think, even if you don’t say
it, that perhaps that drop could have fallen from the right foot as it
was raised, into the track of the left foot. Sebattis has other ways to
prove what he says. Show them, chief, won’t you; because they want to
learn all they can.”
“Huh! look this way, see how,” replied the dark-faced guide, leading the
several eager scouts to where he knew an extra-plain print of the foot in
question might be found.
Then he pointed out the difference between the mark of the right from the
left foot, and showed them that there was a heavier trail where that same
right shoe happened to be planted.
“You understand?” remarked Thad, who was following all this with
considerable interest himself, for he, too, had more or less to learn.
“Seems to me he means that if a feller happened to get hurt, sudden like,
in his left leg, he’d begin to limp,” Giraffe spoke up, eagerly.
“And when he limped,” Step Hen went on to add, “it stands to reason the
print of the foot on the leg he wanted to favor wouldn’t be near so plain
as the other. Why ain’t that the easiest thing you ever heard tell of?”
“Sure it is,” Davy Jones insinuated; “and after Columbus showed those
Spanish grandees how to stand an egg up on end by punching the top down
on the table, why, didn’t they think that was the silliest thing ever?
Oh! it’s just as simple as turnin’ over your hand—after another feller
has been and told you how.”
“All the same, it is easy,” Thad went on to say, “and next time, perhaps
some of you will be able to figure things out yourselves. That’s what
scouts ought to do every time. That’s the best part of the Boy Scout
movement, General Baden-Powell says; it makes boys stop depending on
other people, when they can just as well look out for themselves.”
“Will these hoboes haul off now, do you expect, Thad, and give the cabin
a wide berth?” asked Bumpus.
“Well, it begins to look as though they ought to steer clear of it, as
long as we’re in possession,” the patrol leader replied. “Still, you can
never tell. By now they must be feeling pretty ugly toward us; and when
such men have a grudge pushing them on, it’s hard to say what they
wouldn’t do.”
“Ketch me agoin’ to sleep then,” remarked Bumpus; but even while he was
making this brave remark, with one of his hands he was trying to suppress
a great yawn.
“Oh! I don’t suppose there will be as much danger as that,” Thad
continued, not wishing to alarm his chums unnecessarily. “The guides will
divide up the balance of the night into three watches; and if we like,
one of us can keep company; in fact,” he went on in haste, fearing that
Bumpus might, in the goodness of his heart, volunteer his services, which
it would be hard to decline, “I’ll appoint Allan here as one of the
assistants, to help out Jim; while Giraffe can stay up with Eli; and I’ll
share the watch of Sebattis, because I want to have a little whispered
talk with him as we sit alone.”
So it was arranged. Bumpus made out to feel a little hurt that he had
been overlooked in the distribution; but Davy showed him that both he and
Step Hen were in the same boat.
“Besides,” he added as a clincher, “you know you haven’t got any gun,
Bumpus; and don’t know much about firearms anyway.”
“Don’t you forget it,” remarked the stout scout earnestly; “I’m just
determined to know more about ’em right along, after this. The Boy Scouts
may stand for peace, all right; but I c’n see right now that the feller
that’s able to look out for himself is just the one that never gets
trampled on. Be prepared to defend yourself, and chances are you’ll never
be called on to do a blessed thing. Oh! I’m on to a few dodges. I ain’t
so much asleep as some of you think. Wait till we go off on our trip
across the Continent, with the money we’re going to rake in for
recovering this stuff, an’ capturin’ the thieves; mebbe I’ll show you a
thing or two then.”
“He’s got a programme all laid out, I do believe,” ventured Step Hen,
afterward to Giraffe; “and expects to take lessons in shooting, and all
sorts of stunts, once we get back to Cranford. But it’ll be the making of
Bumpus if he does wake up and do all kinds of things. He’ll quit bein’ so
fat then, and make muscle instead. And for one, I hope he carries it
out.”
The entire party went back to the cabin. Here arrangements for the
balance of the night were concluded, and the first pair sent out to take
their places as sentries.
Bumpus had declared that he would not sleep a wink; but once he lay down,
he really knew nothing more until he felt some one tugging at his sleeve.
“Is it my turn to be on guard? All right, I’ll be up right away!” he
exclaimed, and then began to sniff the air. “Say, what’s all this mean;
are you goin’ to eat breakfast in the middle of the night?”
“Go over to the door, and look out,” laughed Thad. “You’ll think it still
funnier to see the silly old sun poking his face up at such a time; but
he’s gone and done it, all the same.”
“Blessed if I ain’t slept the whole night,” muttered Bumpus, not knowing
whether to be pleased because he had obtained such a refreshing sleep, or
miffed on account of having been neglected when there was “a call for all
brave men and true.” Finally he concluded that what was done could not be
undone; and besides, that venison did smell mighty appetizing. So he
folded up his blanket, and went outdoors to chase the last remnant of
drowsiness from his eyes by a dash of icy water.
There was no haste, for they did not mean to leave their present
comfortable quarters until about the middle of the morning. This had been
decided on as the best policy to be pursued; since they hoped that their
actions would be observed by those in whom they were so deeply
interested.
By degrees they started to pack their belongings, and stow them away in
their regular places; for each canoe had its own complement, the object
being to divide the many things besides tents which they carried, so that
the boats might be about equally loaded.
It is no easy task to paddle a heavily charged canoe up against a strong
current, hour after hour. Muscles hardened by constant use are needed to
accomplish such a feat successfully without great fatigue. The scouts
knew this now, if they had not been so wise before; for at sundry times
each of them had been given opportunities to wield the spruce paddle, and
battle with the swift current.
It was in the neighborhood of ten o’clock that the last thing was stowed;
and after looking all around to make sure that nothing had been
forgotten, the patrol leader gave the signal to depart.
Bumpus did not have his bugle along on this expedition. He had wanted to
carry it, being a clever musician, and quite fond of practicing the many
fine calls whereby scouts may regulate their going to bed, rising in the
morning, assembling for meals, and other things. But Thad and Allan had
shown him the folly of sounding a bugle in the Maine woods, where, as
hunters, they were expected to keep as still as possible, so that the big
game they hoped to secure might not take the alarm, and flee wildly from
the vicinity of such weird sounds.
But Bumpus, not to be entirely undone, placed his hand to his mouth, and
managed to give a pretty good imitation of the bugle call; though he
subsided suddenly when he saw the patrol leader frowning at him.
So they left the spot where so many interesting, as well as exciting,
events had come to visit them. And they carried away quite a few things
besides the memories that would always haunt them. There was the honey,
for instance, fastened up in every possible receptacle that could hold it
securely; then they had some bear meat that would do to chop up into
hash; the fine skin that Giraffe meant to have made into a rug for the
floor of his den at home; and last but far from least, that precious
packet so carefully tied up and sealed, containing the plunder which some
bank must have lost a year or more back.
This, of course, had been carefully hidden, so that even though the
hoboes were secretly watching their departure, they could hardly guess
that the scouts were carrying off their ill-gotten loot.
Gaily they paddled against the current. Although they were warned not to
seem to stare around in too curious a fashion, most of the boys were
really watching the shore as they bucked up against the stream. And a
short time after they had quite lost sight of the cabin and landing,
Giraffe quietly informed Thad, who was close by, that he was pretty
positive he had seen a man peering out at them from a clump of bushes
along the river bank. He had not mentioned the fact at the time, because
he said he was afraid one of the “tenderfeet,” meaning possibly Bumpus
and Step Hen, might betray themselves by appearing too curious, and thus
bring a shot from the shore.
On they pushed until fully a mile had been covered. Thad allowed the boys
to emit an occasional shout, meaning that it should be carried back to
the ears of the man on the shore, and by gradually growing fainter and
fainter, convince him that the party had really gone for good.
“There’s the very place where we want to land,” said Thad, after a little
more time had elapsed. “Plenty of rushes growing along the bank, where we
can hide the canoes, and leave two to guard them, which will be Jim, and
Bumpus here. The rest of us ought to be enough to do the business, if we
manage to surprise the hobo crowd.”
Hearing what his fate was to be Bumpus groaned; but remembering what a
scout must promise to do when given an order by one in authority, he shut
his teeth hard, and doubtless determined that the next time he would have
a gun, and then they must consider that he had rights, as well as the
remainder of the party.
Once in the rushes the landing was made. It proved to be a splendid place
for slipping away without showing themselves, for the woods grew
unusually thick just alongside, and the sun happened to be hidden by
clouds at the time, which was near noon.
And this was the way Thad led his company back toward the lone cabin,
with himself and Sebattis in the lead, then Davy and Giraffe; and old
Eli, in conjunction with Step Hen and Allan, bringing up the rear,—seven
in all.