THE STORM
ROGER was considerably relieved when he heard his chum say this with
so much confidence. A bear might be troublesome, but it was not to be
compared with an Indian, for the latter was likely to have allies close
at hand who could be summoned by a signal whoop.
"Do you think the beast can move the stump?" he asked Dick, at the same
time feeling for his knife, which the other had turned over to Roger on
discovering that it was really his property.
"He is trying hard to do so," replied Dick.
"Just listen how he keeps on sniffing at that crack," continued the
other boy. "He knows that somebody has taken to his hollow tree, and he
doesn't seem to like it at all. How about giving him a shot, Dick? At
such close range you could easily knock him over."
Dick, however, had his own ideas about that. At least, he did not make
any preparations for the shot.
"To tell you the truth, Roger," he finally explained, "I'd rather not
waste my powder and ball on the old fellow. He'd be too tough for us to
use as food, and besides, the sound of the report might bring some of
the Indians down on us."
"I suppose you are right, Dick," commented Roger; "but it looks as
if we might have to do something to frighten the bear away. There
he starts again, trying to thrust the stump aside, and as sure as
anything, Dick, the breach is getting a little wider every time he
works at it."
"It seems so," agreed Dick, "and, as you say, we ought to do something
to put a stop to his scratching and dragging. Wait a minute, I've an
idea I can fix it!"
With these words he put his long rifle behind him so that it was safe
in Roger's hands. In case of actual necessity the latter would know
what to do with the fire-arm; but just then he was very curious to
learn what Dick had arranged.
He could hear him moving, and he seemed to lean forward until his
hands were perilously near the small opening at which the nose of the
bear was working just as the snout of a hog might be used to move an
obstacle.
The champing of teeth, along with the loud sniffing, continued.
"What are you doing, Dick?" asked Roger, finally, unable to stand the
suspense any longer.
"Oh!" came the cheery reply, "I have wasted a charge or two of powder,
placing it as near the opening as I can, and running a thread this
way. Now I have my flint and steel ready, and, as soon as he starts to
poking his nose in at the hole again, I'll strike fire, and explode the
powder in his face!"
Roger saw the object of this, and was considerably interested in the
outcome.
"I hope he gets the full benefit of the flash," he observed.
Dick saw his chance just then, and he could be heard striking the flint
and steel rapidly together after the manner of one whom long experience
in this line had made almost perfect.
There came a little shower of descending sparks, and then a sudden
brilliant flash that lit up the interior of the hollow tree as though
the sun had found a means of ingress.
"Hurrah!" cried Roger, clapping his hands in glee, "that was the
time you gave old Eph the scare of his life! Hear him plunging off,
will you, Dick? It seems as if he'd lost all desire to make the
acquaintance of his new lodgers. And I don't think we'll be bothered
any more by Mr. Bear, do you?"
Dick also laughed softly as he replied:
"He must have had his nose singed that time, and got a bad fright in
the bargain, so I reckon we'll not be annoyed again."
"This powder smoke is choking me, Dick."
"But it's slowly rising in the tree, and things are getting better
right along," Roger was told. "We'll wait awhile until the air is
purer, and after that we'll drag the old stump back to where it was
before the bear moved it."
"And then?" queried Roger.
"Go to sleep again, if you feel like it, because we have some hours of
the night still ahead of us," Dick calmly told him.
Before they could settle down they noticed that the wind was soughing
through the trees with a louder note than before.
"That storm is coming closer all the while," remarked Dick, "and we
needn't be surprised to hear thunder at any time now."
"If it does come," added Roger, sleepily, "we'll be glad to have such a
fine shelter in the rain. But it may fool us after all, and for one I
don't mean to lie awake waiting for it."
Dick, too, managed to get to sleep before a great while. Both of them
were presently aroused by a loud crash of thunder.
"Why, it did get here after all, Dick!" exclaimed Roger, the first
thing.
"Listen and you can hear the rain further along beating down on the
forest trees. One good thing about it is that the storm will probably
not be a long one."
Dick's words were immediately followed by a vivid flash of lightning,
and then came another loud detonation that seemed to shake the earth.
In these present days two wide-awake boys who had picked up some
knowledge of woodcraft would be very much alarmed to find themselves in
a hollow tree during an electrical storm, knowing that there was always
a chance of the lightning's striking such an object and bringing about
their destruction.
Dick and Roger were not worried on that point. Perhaps it was because
they were accustomed to taking hazards; or it may have sprung from
ignorance of the danger.
However, the hollow tree had lost its top long years ago, and was
surrounded by loftier trees so the chances of its being struck were not
serious.
Then the rain came, and, from the sounds that reached their ears, the
boys decided that it was almost a tropical downpour. Roger was on the
alert to discover whether their shelter was going to prove its worth,
or begin to leak. After some time had passed he voiced his conviction
in his usual fashion.
"Not a drop so far, Dick, and I believe we're going to keep dry jackets
through the whole downpour. Why, this is better than being in one of
the tents, for they nearly always let a stream of water trickle down
your neck when you're not expecting it. I think we're mighty lucky to
have such good shelter."
"And I agree with every word you say, Roger," his companion added.
"How is the night going, do you know?" continued the other.
"I'm sure I can hardly say, Roger. At a guess I might venture to say
that we may have something like two hours more of darkness."
"Then all I hope is the storm will peter out before dawn, so we can
start for the river right away. We ought to come upon the expedition by
evening, unless we get lost, and that is something not likely to happen
to boys like us, who have lived in the woods since they were knee-high
to grasshoppers."
"One thing sure, we have had all the sleep we're going to get
to-night," Dick remarked.
"It seems to me the rain has slackened some. At least, it doesn't make
such a terrible noise when it strikes the trees. But there was a pretty
lively wind blowing, Dick, and I think I heard more than one tree crash
down before the gale."
"Yes," added the other. "And this old wreck did some groaning, too.
Once I was in a sweat thinking it might go toppling over; but the other
trees must have protected it some, for it stood through the wild storm."
When Roger hazarded the opinion that the gale was abating he spoke the
truth, for in a short time it became manifest that the thunder came
from a more distant point, the lightning was not so brilliant, and the
rain itself began to fall more lightly.
In fact, things took on such a different tone that Roger actually
settled himself down to try for a little more sleep.
Dick had been too thoroughly aroused to think of doing this. He
continued to sit there, keeping a vigil on the crack, through which
he knew he would catch the first glimpse of breaking day. He amused
himself while sitting thus by letting his thought go back to the happy
home far down the "Big Muddy," where his father and his mother, his
little brother Sam, and his grandparents besides, occupied the big
cabin in the clearing, close to the one where Roger's parents lived.
Finally, Dick discovered that it was no longer pitch dark outside. The
moon had broken out from the scattering storm clouds, and was giving a
fair amount of light.
Dick, always in touch with the positions of the heavenly bodies, knew,
after he had located the fragment of a moon, that morning was indeed
close at hand. Indeed, he believed that in less than half an hour the
dawn would break.
He allowed Roger to sleep until it was broad daylight, and then, acting
under the belief that they had better be on their way, he laid a hand
on the other's arm.
"Morning has come, and we ought to be getting out of here," Dick told
his comrade, as he felt the other move under his touch.
"Why, I did go to sleep after all, it seems," muttered Roger, as though
he considered this the queerest thing of all; but Dick only smiled,
for he knew of old some of the little weaknesses of his chum.
They succeeded in pushing the old stump away from the opening, leaving
a gap big enough for them to crawl through.
"If Mr. Bear ever takes the trouble to come back to his den," remarked
Roger, as he surveyed the big tree with its hollow butt, "he's welcome
to his old quarters. I'd like to tell him that his hole is all right,
too, when a fellow is caught in a storm; but we have other fish to fry
just now."
His words reminded him of the fine mess of trout they had caught on the
preceding day, just before the trap set by the cunning Indians had been
sprung, and shortly afterwards he remarked:
"I do hope our friends found all the strings of trout we left along the
bank of that stream; and that there were more than they could use at
one time. It would be fine if we got a taste of the same, Dick, after
all this fuss."
"I was just thinking," remarked practical Dick, who certainly was not
bothering his head about trout, or any other kind of food, "that, after
all, that storm may have done us one kindness."
"Tell me how, then?" demanded Roger, who failed to agree with him until
he could be shown the facts.
"The rain must have washed all our tracks out, so not even the
sharpest-eyed Indian brave could follow our trail," explained the
other, and of course Roger found himself in full accord with the theory
advanced, for, like the story of Columbus and the envious Spanish
courtiers, things looked very different after the explanation.
With a last backward look toward the friendly old tree that had
afforded them shelter in the storm, the two lads tightened their belts
and set off on their long tramp, expecting to strike the bank of the
Missouri by the time the sun was ready to set.