UP A TREE
Good night!
First I thought I was going to fall, but I reached up and got hold of the
branch above and scrambled up to it. The animal was crouching on the
ground, looking up, and its eyes were just like fire. Its tail was
wriggling just like a snake. _Oh boy,_ I was scared.
But anyway, I wasn't rattled. There's a difference between being scared and
rattled. That's one thing scouts don't get-rattled. I looked down and saw
him there and I knew I was in a mighty dangerous fix, but that only made me
think harder. It seemed to me that that animal must be a leopard because he
had spots, but of course, I knew there weren't any leopards in America.
Africa is where _they_ hang out. But you can bet I didn't think much about
how he happened to be there. He was there, and that was enough for
me. Gee, I like natural history all right, but not when there's a wild
animal just below me. Nix! He was crouching and he looked just as if he
was going to make a spring for the tree. Mr. Ellsworth says that most
fights are won by quick thinking, so I knew that if I could only think of
something to do quicker than that animal could spring, I'd be all right.
First I thought I'd just shinny down and run and maybe he wouldn't follow
me. That was a punk think. All of a sudden he opened his mouth wide and
kind of hissed at me and came just about two or three inches closer to the
tree.
Then, all in a jiffy I had a-you know-what do you call those things? _An
inspiration._ I pulled the bundle around from my back and tore it open and
tore open the paper that the two chops were in. Charlie Seabury says he
ought to have the gold cross because he saved my life, but I don't see it.
Do you? Just because I was bringing the chops to him. He says he made a
sacrifice. I should worry.
Even the sound of the paper crunching made the animal move a little nearer
and hiss louder and paw the ground with one of its fore feet. I guess in a
couple more seconds he would have had me, but I just threw one of the chops
right at him and he pounced on it.
Illustration #1 "The animal was crouching on the ground, looking up."
That gave me two or three seconds to think. Because you can see for
yourself that if an animal is ready to eat a boy scout it wouldn't take
him very long to eat a chop. Maybe you'll say it wasn't good to give him
raw meat, but how about me. Wasn't I raw meat? It was better to give him
the chop and have a few seconds to think than to let him do the thinking
and get me.
That was the time when I did some thinking in four or five seconds. Gee
whiz, you have to think quick at school exams, but cracky, leopards are
worse than school principals, I should hope. Anyway, they're just as bad.
Now was the time I wished that I had left the door of the spring house
open a little wider, because I had a dandy idea. As long as the animal
knew what it was I was throwing, he'd go after the other chop when I threw
it. Because chops were his favorite food, I could see that. So if I could
only just throw the other chop into the doorway he'd go in there after it,
and while he was eating it I'd shinny down in a hurry and shut the door and
wedge a board against it. I said to myself that I could do that quicker
than he could eat the chop, and one thing sure, he wouldn't bother with me
while he was doing it. An animal can never think about two things at once
and he thinks about food most of all. Maybe scouts think about food a lot,
too, but anyway, they can think about two things at once. That's the
difference between scouts and wild animals.
Oh, if I had only left that door wide open! Then I could have thrown the
other chop right through the opening and 'way into the house. But now I had
to throw it down and almost around a corner, as you might say; and even if
the meat went in at all, it wouldn't go in far. But if I could only throw
it in far enough so that I could slam the door shut, that would be enough.
Anyway, I saw that if I didn't throw it quick I'd be worse off than before,
because the animal had had a taste of raw meat and he'd be on the war path.
I could see he was looking up at me and his eyes were blazing and he was
making a sound that gave me the shudders. It seemed as if he was giving me
notice that he was going to spring for the tree. I guess he would have done
it that very second, too, only he noticed a leaf stuck to his paw and I
guess it bothered him, because he raised his paw just as a cat does when
she washes her face, and rubbed it off.
Oh boy, that made me think of something, but you can bet there wasn't any
time to stop and think then. I guess I felt as nervous as William Tell when
he was going to shoot the apple off his son's head. Only I had the chop in
my hand instead of a bow and arrow. Oh, didn't I watch that open space and
take a good aim I My heart was just pounding and my wrist hurt, because my
pulse was going so fast. Because, Suppose I should miss? _I'd_ be the third
chop, I knew that. I just couldn't throw the chop for fear I'd miss.
You can see for yourself that was the only chance I had. All of a sudden I
happened to think about tearing the chop in half and that would give me
two chances. But if one of the pieces landed inside maybe it wouldn't be
big enough to keep him busy two or three seconds. So I decided to take a
good careful aim and throw the whole chop. If it went in, all right; maybe
I'd have time enough. If it didn't--
All of a sudden, I heard the animal give a kind of a hissing growl and I
just closed one eye and braced myself against the tree and took a good,
long, careful aim and threw the chop.
It struck the edge of the door and felt outside the little stone house.
Almost before I saw where it landed, the animal had it.
I just crouched there in that tree shuddering and waiting for what would
happen next. First, I thought I'd take a chance and drop down and run.
Then I decided I wouldn't. I didn't exactly _decide_. I stayed where I
was, because I was too scared to move. I didn't even dare to climb higher
for fear the animal would hear me and give a spring. I could even feel my
teeth chattering.