PEPPER TAKES THE MESSAGE
When Rand arrived at the great oak, which stood at the fork of
the road on the outskirts of Creston, on the following morning, he
found Pepper impatiently awaiting his arrival.
"I thought you were never coming," grumbled Pepper, when Rand made
his appearance. "I expected to be half way there by this time."
"Plenty of time," said Rand. "How long do you think it will take
you to get there and back?"
"How far is it?"
"Five miles, as the crow flies," returned Rand, "and near six by
the road."
"That's an hour and a half on the road each way and an hour to
stop. I ought to do it in four hours and a half."
"Then you should be back by dinner time," concluded Rand. "We will
meet you here at 1 o'clock. Which road are you going to take?"
"The upper road," decided Pepper, "it runs through the woods, but
it's by far the shortest way."
With a whistle the boy started off along the thoroughfare at a good
pace. "Look for me at 1 sharp," he called back as he went off.
He had gone perhaps a quarter of a mile on his way when, as he was
passing a small clump of bushes by the side of the road, there was
a rustle behind the bushes, and a voice cried:
"Halt!"
Pepper, however, broke into a run which carried him past the clump,
when again came the command:
"Halt, or I'll shoot!"
The boy hesitated for a moment as to whether he should stop or run,
and as he did so Gerald and Jack came out upon the scene.
"Did we scare you?" asked Gerald.
"No," replied Pepper stoutly, "I thought it was a joke."
"We just wanted to test your courage," said Jack.
"That reminds me--" began Dick, who had now joined the others.
"That it is time for me to be getting along," broke in Pepper.
"Good-by, fellows," starting off again.
"Good luck," called the boys after him.
The road which he was following ran through the woods along the
top of the mountain and was comparatively little traveled, most
persons preferring the lower road which, although longer, was not
near so rough or hilly.
Pepper met but few people on the way, and had gone rather more than
half the distance when, as he was descending the slope of a small
hill, he observed coming down the opposite slope a horse and wagon,
about which there was something familiar.
"That looks like the rig that Monkey Rae was driving the other day,"
he thought, as he looked at it again. "If he is in it, I think I
had better do the disappearance act until he goes by."
Stepping from the road he waited behind a small thicket until the
wagon came nearer, when he saw that it was being driven by the man
who had been with Monkey when they had taken the boat, and that,
following the wagon was a big, ugly-looking, mongrel dog, that was
dashing from one side of the road to the other, interspersed with
little excursions into the woods.
"Gee!" thought Pepper, "I wouldn't want to fall into their hands.
I think it's to the woods for mine," at the same time making his
way as quickly as possible deeper into the underbrush.
"I didn't get out of the way any too soon," he continued to himself,
for on coming to the place where Pepper had left the road the dog
stopped, sniffed at the ground and gave vent to a gruff bark.
"What is it, Tige, old boy?" called the man, stopping his horse.
"Sic 'em!"
With a deep growl the dog started on the boy's trail. Pepper could
hear him crashing his way through the underbrush and ran as fast
as he could, looking about him, as he ran, for a stick or a stone
with which to defend himself, but could see none, and all the time
the dog was coming closer and closer, his growl becoming more and
more menacing. It was nearly upon him, and he imagined that he could
feel its hot breath and expected every moment to feel the snap of
its jaws, when he saw, a little way ahead of him, what looked like
a stout black stick lying upon the ground. "Gee! that's lucky,"
thought Pepper, running to where the stick lay and, stooping to
pick it up when, to his astonishment and terror, the supposed stick
glided from under his hand and he saw that he had been about to
grasp a large-sized snake. Springing to his feet he made a wild jump
upward and, as luck would have it, caught at the branch of a tree
above his head, and, getting a firm grasp, drew himself up just as
the dog, with its teeth snapping, sprang at him.
"Crickets!" said the boy to himself, "but that was a close shave,"
meantime climbing up into the tree to a more comfortable perch.
"I don't know which of them I like the least. It looks as though
there was going to be something doing now."
So intent had been the dog in its pursuit of Pepper that he did
not see the snake until he had run onto it as it lay coiled upon
the ground when, with a cry of alarm, the dog bounded into the air,
clearing the snake by half a dozen feet. Apparently forgetting the
quarry which it had been so eagerly pursuing, the dog now turned
its attention to the snake, which was the largest that Pepper had
ever seen.
For a few moments Pepper was too fascinated to move, as he watched
the strangest combat that he had ever seen going on beneath him. A
combat in which neither of the combatants seemed desirous of assuming
the aggressive. Lying in a close coil, with its head rising from
the center, its forked tongue darting in and out, and emitting every
now and then an angry hiss, the snake, swaying its head from side
to side, closely followed in its movements those of the dog, which
circled about it barking furiously, and apparently watching for an
opportunity to seize it back of the head, but which the snake was
too wary to permit.
[Illustration: "The strangest combat that he had ever seen."]
"This beats the circus," thought Pepper, after he had watched the
fight for a little time, "but this isn't getting the message to
Highpoint. I don't believe I have time to wait for the finale. I
wonder how I am going to get out of this. If I drop down there they
will be making a show of me. Looks as though I might get over into
that next tree. I'll try it, anyhow."
The trees here had grown so close together that many of the branches
were in-lacing, and it seemed possible to Pepper that he could get
from the one tree into the other.
"It looks kind of thin," thought Pepper, when he had picked out a
limb which extended into the adjoining tree, "but, perhaps, it will
do."
Crawling out upon the branch until it bent and swayed dangerously
under his weight, he caught a branch of the other tree and swung
himself over, narrowly missing a fall.
"So far, so good," soliloquized Pepper, working his way toward the
trunk. "I rather like this way of going. Now for the next one."
The next tree was a little farther away, but by climbing out on a
bough that extended into the other tree he crept on until he could
just touch one of the opposite branches, but could not get a hold.
"Looks as if I would have to go back," he decided, after he had
tried and failed to get a hold on the other tree. But this, he
found, was more easily said than done, for when he attempted to turn
around he slipped and only his quick clutch of the swaying branch
saved him from a tumble.
"This is a nice scrape I have got into," he thought, when he tried
to climb back onto the limb from which he had slipped, but found
it impossible. "I can't get back, and I don't see how I am to go
on. I hope it will let me down easy."