THE LONELY CABIN
Teddy Martin was as brave as any boy of his age could be. But he was
like nearly all other boys. When he heard or saw something about which
he did not know he became alarmed.
Perhaps if he had seen an elephant or a tiger really coming toward him
in the woods, he might not have been half as frightened as he was at
that strange cry from some unknown animal. For seeing a lion, a tiger,
or an elephant lets you know at once what you have to expect. And it
may be that by running, dodging and hiding you can get away from the
beasts.
“What is it that’s howling at me?” thought Ted.
He did not know, and there was none present to tell him.
That was the worst of it--not knowing what animal was trailing after
him--stalking him up in the trees, maybe--following him!
Teddy had stopped after calling out that he was there, thinking it was
some person who had been sent to rescue him. But after a moment, when
he knew that it was some animal, the boy prepared to run on again.
Though where he would go in the darkness, and how he could save himself
from the beast, he did not know.
“But I’m not going to stay here to be jumped on and clawed and bitten!”
thought the Curlytop lad.
There flashed through his mind all the stories he had ever read or
heard about wild beasts in the woods at night. For a few seconds Ted
thought the worst--that it might be a lion or a tiger.
Then his better sense came to his aid.
“How silly I am!” he exclaimed to himself, as he started off again in
the darkness. “Of course there aren’t any lions or tigers here. They
live only in hot countries in the jungle. The only wild animals around
here that might hurt me are bears, foxes and--bobcats!”
Teddy almost forgot about this last-named beast. But he had heard
the lumbermen talking about it only the other day. Bears, the
wood-choppers had said, were very scarce and hard even for a hunter to
find, so Ted knew he need not worry about them. He, himself, had seen
a fox, and had noted how the brown creature with the big tail had so
quickly run away.
“A fox won’t fight unless you corner him,” thought Teddy; “and I’m not
going to corner this one! Besides, a fox doesn’t climb a tree, and this
animal is up in the trees overhead.”
He knew this, because he had heard the branches rustling as the animal
sent out its strange cry.
There was only one thing left that the beast could be.
“It’s a bobcat!” whispered Ted to himself.
And as he heard again the strange, wailing cry of the beast, he felt
sure he had guessed right.
“They claw terrible, and bite!” thought Ted, with a shiver of fear, for
he had heard the lumbermen talking about the bobcat, or lynx, which is
another name for it. “But maybe it can’t find me,” thought the Curlytop
boy hopefully.
He wished that it was daylight, and then he wished that he had his
electric pocket flash lamp with him, so that he might see which way to
go. But he had to make the best of it, and so he slipped along as well
as he could, gliding amid the trees and bushes of the dark forest.
He bumped into stumps and the trunks of trees. His feet became
entangled in vines and, tripping, he fell. He stepped into mud puddles
of cold water. All in all, poor Ted was quite miserable.
Now and then he heard a rustling in the tree branches overhead, and he
felt sure the bobcat was following him, waiting for a chance to drop
down on him and bite or scratch.
“I’m going to yell!” decided Teddy. “Maybe that will scare that bobcat.”
And yell he did as loudly as he could. He not only wanted to scare away
the bobcat, if one was really chasing him in the tree tops, but Ted
also wanted to let those who might be searching for him, know where he
was.
Again and again Ted cried, sending his ringing voice out in the
darkness of the forest.
Had those who were searching for him only been near enough they would
surely have heard him and come to his rescue. There were two rescue
parties out, as I have told you. Mr. Martin led one and Tod Everett,
the foreman of the lumber gang, led the other.
Mrs. Martin remained at home in the bungalow with Janet, Trouble and
Lucy. They were much frightened and worried, and more than once Janet
would listen for any sound outside the cabin and then she would ask:
“Do you think they’ll find Teddy, Mother?”
“Of course they will,” would be the answer.
“When?” Janet would ask.
“Oh, soon now,” Mrs. Martin would reply. But as the hours passed and
the rescuers did not come back with the missing little boy, Mrs. Martin
became more and more worried, though she did not say so.
“Po’ honey lamb!” mused Lucy, as she rocked Trouble to and fro to keep
him asleep, for he was restless. “I done wisht he’d come!”
“So do I,” murmured Janet. And then her mother said she had better go
to bed and rest.
“But I’ll not sleep,” Janet answered. “I’m going to stay awake all
night--or until Teddy comes home.”
However, even worry about her beloved brother could not long keep Janet
awake, and soon her eyes were closed, as were Trouble’s. Then Mrs.
Martin and Lucy sat up, listening and hoping.
Mr. Martin had been very sure he or the other searchers would soon find
Teddy. He thought the boy had merely taken the wrong path through the
woods and was wandering about, not far from the bungalow.
But the truth of it was that Teddy had gone farther than even he
realized, and much farther than his father thought a small boy could
walk in the time he was gone.
“Another thing that’s against us,” said one of the lumbermen, “is that
it’s so dark. There’s any number of little hollows and ravines that the
boy could be in and we’d miss him even in daylight. And after dark it’s
harder yet.”
“I know it is,” said Mr. Martin. “But I think he’ll hear us shouting
and answer us. Besides the moon will be up pretty soon, and it won’t
be so dark.”
But as for the shouts, Ted did not hear those of the rescuers, and they
did not hear his cries as he yelled to drive away the bobcat, if such
it was that was trailing him. So the search was kept up.
As for Ted, he wandered on and on, really going farther away from the
bungalow and his friends instead of toward them.
The boy listened after he had shouted to drive away, as he hoped, the
strange wailing beast. Then, as he did not hear any sound in the tree
tops and that strange cry did not again make him shiver, he took heart.
“I guess I’ve scared him away,” thought Teddy.
He started off again in the darkness as best he could. But he had not
taken many steps before that same cry welled forth again, sending the
shivers up and down poor Ted’s back.
“You old beast!” he cried. “Why don’t you jump down and be done with
it! I’ll hit you with a club if you do!”
Ted firmly grasped the piece of tree branch he had picked up and
waited. He stood under a tree, and he thought if the bobcat did leap
down the tree would be a good thing to dodge behind.
Then, just as Mr. Martin had told those in his party would happen,
the moon rose. Or, rather, it came out from behind some clouds that,
earlier in the evening, had hidden the silver disk. The woods were now
much lighter, and for this Ted was glad, even though the moon did cast
strange shadows.
Suddenly, as he looked up into the tree from which the strange animal
seemed last to have cried, Ted saw two green and gleaming eyes. The
moon shone on them.
And then a voice seemed to call:
“Who! Who! Whoo-oo-oo!”
Instantly Ted burst into a laugh.
“Why, it’s only an owl!” he told himself. “It was an owl that was
following me through the woods. But I didn’t know owls cried like a
bobcat. I thought they only made a sound like just now--‘who!’ I’m glad
it’s only an owl!”
The owl, for such it was, flew away. Ted saw it go, but he could not
hear the flapping wings, for an owl flies on silent pinions, its wings
being covered with such soft feathers as to make scarcely a sound.
In this way an owl can fly close to the creature it wishes to catch
without being heard.
Ted laughed again as the owl hooted and vanished in the night. The boy
felt better now, and he was beginning to wonder if he would have to
spend the night alone in the forest when, suddenly, that same strange
cry sounded again. This time so near at hand--in a tree directly over
Teddy’s head--that the boy jumped.
“It wasn’t the owl after all!” he thought. “It must be the bobcat still
after me!”
There was a rustling in the leaves of the tree, and Ted dodged behind
the trunk of the one he had picked out as a refuge. Then as the moon
became a bit brighter, for more clouds passed from it, the boy caught
sight of two other eyes, gleaming red and green as they reflected the
shine of the moon.
“He’s looking right at me!” thought Ted, for, indeed, the eyes seemed
to stare at him. “Come on down here and I’ll hit you with this club!”
cried the boy boldly.
However the bobcat--and by a glimpse he had of the beast Ted was sure
it was a lynx--did not accept the invitation to come down and be
clubbed. The animal snarled again and moved out on the limb over Ted’s
head so the boy had a good view of it. Then he saw more clearly what it
was--an animal like a cat, only three times as large, and with curious
tufts of fur on its ears. The lynx is about the only animal that has
ear tassels.
Suddenly Ted decided on a bold move. If the bobcat would not come down
to be clubbed, the boy would not exactly climb up the tree to hit
it--that would be dangerous indeed--but Ted could throw his club at the
beast.
“That’s what I’ll do!” decided the boy.
Ted was a good ball player for a boy of his age, and could throw
straight. He had often gone after chestnuts in the woods, and had
thrown clubs up into the trees to bring down a shower of brown nuts.
Now he stepped back until he saw that he had a clear aim for the bobcat
on a limb out over his head. Ted began to swing his club back and forth.
“I’ve thrown a club farther than this!” thought Ted.
He drew back his arm and let fly the heavy piece of wood. It went
straight for the bobcat, and, somewhat to Ted’s surprise, it struck
the animal on the nose, its most tender spot.
Instantly it felt the blow of the club on its nose, the lynx sent out
a loud howl. Then it snarled and began tearing at the branch with its
sharp claws, so that it sent down a shower of bark on Ted.
Then, with another howl, as it rubbed its sore nose between its paws,
the lynx turned as if to run down the tree trunk.
“He’s coming after me!” thought Ted. “I’ve made him good and mad and
he’s coming after me. I’d better run!”
Before this the boy had “invited” the lynx to come down and be clubbed.
But now that he actually saw the beast coming after him, as he thought,
Ted could not stand it. Turning, he ran away.
The moon now gave better light than at first, and Ted could see to keep
out of the way of trees and bushes. Thus he made better speed.
On and on he ran, not stopping to listen to learn if the lynx were
coming after him. He stepped into puddles, but his feet were wet
anyhow, and he no longer minded this. Suddenly he saw before him a well
made path through the trees--a path that seemed to have been often
used.
“Maybe this is the way home!” thought Ted. “I hope it is!”
He paused for a moment before turning into this path. He listened. No
longer did he hear the rustling in the tree branches overhead, showing
that the lynx was following him. Nor did he hear that strange, wailing
cry.
“Maybe I drove him away when I hit him on the nose!” thought Ted.
He started down the path, running as fast as he could. Then, a little
later, he saw that it did not lead to the bungalow at Mount Major.
Instead it led to a little clearing, and in the midst of this place,
where the trees were cut down, stood a lonely cabin.
Who lived there? Did anyone? Would it be best for Ted to knock and ask
to be taken in for the night?