SOME WOODS LORE.
“What d’ye call that, now?” exclaimed Step Hen.
Giraffe assumed a superior air, as he hastened to remark:
“Next time you hear an old alligator bull bellow, you’ll recognize the
same; but to tell the truth, I’m kind of disappointed, myself, because I
expected to get something bigger’n that.”
“Was it an alligator, Thad?” demanded Davy; while Bumpus was seen to
involuntarily move a little closer to the tree under which the camp-fire
had been made, and the twin, khaki-colored, waterproof tents erected.
The scout-master shook his head in the negative.
“Giraffe’s got another guess coming to him this time,” he said. “From
all I’ve picked up, I reckon we’ll not be disappointed when we do hear
some old scaly bull bellow. But they tell me this happens generally
along toward dawn. And the sound is more like the roaring of a lion,
than what a regular bull gives out.”
“But what was that we heard, then, Thad?” persisted Step Hen; for long
ago these boys had taken it for granted that a scout-master should be in
the nature of a “walking encyclopedia,” as Bumpus called it, filled to
the brim with general information on every known topic, and ready and
willing to impart the same to the balance of the patrol on request; and
truth to tell they seldom caught Thad Brewster in a hole.
“Well, now, there are a lot of things in a Southern swamp, any one of
which might make a noise like that. If you asked me my plain opinion I’d
guess it might have been a wandering night heron, which has a hoarse
cry, some of you happen to know, because we struck them up in Maine that
time we spent a vacation there.”
“What other creatures are we likely to run across here, besides snakes
and alligators, runaway coons and the like?” pursued Davy, always
wanting to know.
“Of course there are muskrats, because you can find them in every swamp
east and west, north and south,” Giraffe ventured.
“Yes, muskrats are found, though not so many as in the north, and the
skins are sometimes hardly worth taking. But there are plenty of
raccoons and ’possums: and I’m told they get quite some otter down here,
the most valuable pelt that comes up from the South, selling at
something like seven dollars a skin.”
“Whew! that’s talking some,” muttered the interested Bumpus. “Did I ever
tell you fellows that I once had a great notion of starting in to be a
trapper? Yes, I even read up a whole lot about it, but kinder got
twisted in the directions of how to go about things, so as not to let
the cunning little varmints get the human odor.”
At that there was a general laugh, causing the fat scout to look around
indignantly; whereupon the others, notably Step Hen, Davy and Giraffe
exchanged winks.
“Ain’t that so, Thad?” demanded Bumpus, turning to the scout-master.
“You’re right about that, Bumpus,” came the reply. “Allan here, who has
had lots of experience, will tell you that the most successful trapper
is the man who manages somehow to keep from alarming his intended game,
both by making few if any tracks around the place where he’s put his
trap; and by eliminating the human odor that their sensitive noses
detect.”
“There, didn’t I tell you?” demanded Bumpus, triumphantly. “Think you’re
smart to just sit there and chuckle; but you’ve all got heaps and heaps
to learn about the secrets of the woods. I know my own weakness, and I’m
studying hard, trying to remedy it. You’d never guess what a lot of cute
things them pelt-takers have to put up, in order to fool the woods
folks; ain’t that a fact, Thad?”
Bumpus knew that so long as he could get the scout-master to corroborate
all of his statements he was sure of having his opponents in a hole; and
it was amusing to see how he managed to accomplish this same thing.
“Yes, it’s all mighty interesting,” Thad assured them. “Nowadays nearly
every up-to-date trapper makes use of a prepared scent which he places
on the trap, even if he baits the same. It is sold by dealers in skins;
and they say a trapper can get much better results by using this, to
attract the little fur-bearing animals.”
“What’s that, Thad; you tell us they sell this scent to trappers, or
such as think they have a call in that direction?” demanded Giraffe,
suddenly.
“Of course any one can buy any quantity, if he’s got the price,” Thad
assured him. “You seem interested, Giraffe; perhaps, now, you’re
thinking of embarking in the game?”
But the lanky one only shook his head, and turning on Bumpus he demanded
severely:
“Looky here, Bumpus, did you, when you read up about all these here
interesting things connected with trapping the fur-bearing animals of
the wilderness, ever go so far as to invest a dollar in buying any of
this wonderful stuff that they say is so fetching that the silly little
beasts just can’t resist it?” and as he said this Giraffe tried to hold
the fat boy transfixed with his piercing gaze—some of them had at one
time even called Giraffe “Old Eagle Eye,” earlier readers of these
stories may remember.
“No, I didn’t, if you want to know, Giraffe!” Bumpus broke out with;
“and I ain’t agoing to tell you any more about what I learned; because
you’re all the time apicking on me, and accusing me of things. I know I
make mistakes sometimes, and that one about not remembering whether I
fetched my mother back the medicine she wanted is abothering me like
everything right now; but the rest of you are in the same boat, ain’t
you? Here was Giraffe just a little while back awanting to rush after
that runaway convict, just as if we had lost anything like that. Course
it was a mistake and chances are we’d got in no end of trouble if he’d
had his way. Oh! everybody blunders sometimes; to-day it may be poor old
Bumpus; but to-morrow one of the rest of you is in the soup. Forget it,
now.”
“What about these swamp animals, Thad, or Allan; and why do you say the
skins don’t bring as good prices when they’re taken down here, as in the
North?” Step Hen wanted to know.
“Don’t it stand to reason that the colder the country the thicker the
fur Nature gives to the animals that bear it?” asked Allan.
“Why, yes, seems like that ought to be so; and I guess that must be the
reason Canada skins bring the best prices of all,” Giraffe admitted.
“Sometimes three times as much as ones taken far South,” Allan told him.
“I’ve no doubt that sooner or later we’ll find chances to examine the
tracks of ’coons, ’possums, foxes, muskrats, and even otter, while we’re
looking around,” Thad remarked; “and it’ll be interesting to notice what
difference there is between the various animals, as well as between the
same breed up in Maine and down here in Louisiana; for they grow
smaller, as a rule, the further south you go. A Florida deer can be
toted back to camp on the back of the average hunter, while one up in
Michigan or the Adirondacks would need two men and a pole to carry it
any distance.”
“This sure is mighty interesting,” observed Step Hen. “I’m always ready
to soak in information connected with the woods. I’m like a big sponge,
you might say; ready to give it out again on being squeezed.”
“On my part,” Giraffe mentioned, “I don’t seem able to get that coon out
of my head; because, if he was what we think, a hideout escaped convict,
chances are he must want a whole lot of things, from a blanket, gun and
clothes, to grub.”
“That’s unkind of you, Giraffe, to bother us with such gloomy thoughts
just as we are thinking of soon going to bed,” remarked Bumpus,
uneasily.
“But there’s some horse sense in what he says, don’t you forget it,
Bumpus,” pursued Davy.
“That’s a fact,” added Step Hen. “Just put yourself in his place for a
while, and try to imagine what your feelings’d be like, asneaking around
a camp of boys, nearly half starved at the same time, and scenting the
good smells that fill the air all around—of course I mean cooking meat,
coffee and the like. Say, wouldn’t it nearly set you crazy; and honest
now, Bumpus, don’t you think you’d take some risks to try and hook what
you wanted so bad?”
Bumpus, upon being thus deliberately appealed to, nodded his head in the
affirmative, and remarked:
“I sure would, and that’s a fact, fellows. Then you kinder look for a
visitor in camp to-night, do you? And that means everybody’s just got to
sit up and stand guard, don’t it? all right, you’ll find me as willing
and ready as ever to sacrifice my comfort for the public welfare. I’m
always there with the goods.”
“Hear! hear! Bumpus, we all know you like a book!” declared Step Hen,
pretending to clap his hands in enthusiasm, though no sound resulted
from the action.
“Yes, and if the will was father to the deed, there’d be nothing left
undone while Bumpus was around; for he’s always ready to try his best,”
Allan went on to say, while the object of all this praise turned rosy
red with embarrassment.
“Mebbe you’re only joshing me, boys,” he remarked uneasily, “but I’m
taking it for granted that you mean all you say, and believe me, I’m
grateful. If I wasn’t so full of supper I’d get on my feet, put my hand
on my stomach this way, and make you the best bow I knew how. Like a lot
more of things you’ll have to take the intention for the deed there,
too. It’s a case of the spirit being willing, but the flesh weak.”
“Well,” said Giraffe, “I didn’t know that there was anything weak about
you, Bumpus; but never mind starting an argument about it now. We’ll
just arrange things so that two scouts are on duty all the time through
the night. How would that suit you, Mr. Scout-master?”
“Just about right,” replied Thad; “because we are now eight, all told,
and that would allow us to divide up into four watches. And as Bumpus is
so anxious to do his whole duty by the camp, I’ll promise to take him on
as my side partner when my turn comes.”
“Well,” mused Giraffe, “it’s mighty nice to have a fellow along who
isn’t afraid of anything, and will even make a martyr of himself in
order to keep peace in the camp.”
“P’raps you wouldn’t mind explaining just what you mean by that,
Giraffe?” the stout scout quickly remarked, suspiciously.
“Oh! you’re as touchy as wildfire, to-night, Bumpus,” retorted the
other, with a chuckle, as though he felt that he had attained his
object, which was to excite the curiosity of the fat boy. “Just turn
your mind on what may happen while we sleep, and you’ll be happier. But
here’s hoping that breeze keeps acoming from that same quarter all the
night, because then we can plan better.”
Davy snickered audibly at this, but Bumpus assumed a lofty air, and
would not pay any further attention to those who were evidently bent on
badgering him.