GOOD-BY TO THE SNOW FOREST
IT happened that very afternoon Lil Artha met with an adventure that
stirred his red blood at quite a lively rate, and for a little time
caused quite a lively excitement around the vicinity of the cabin.
Elmer, Toby and George had gone off with Uncle Caleb to investigate some
freak of Nature in which the old scientist was interested. Lil Artha at
the time was suffering from a chafed heel, and thought the long walk
through the deep snow was more than he cared to undertake; so he had
promised to remain home and look after preparations for supper.
As it was too early to think of commencing that job, he had wandered
forth for a little stroll, not meaning to go far away from the cabin. Of
course such a thing as danger never once appealed to the boy; and with
those new thoughts concerning hunting and destroying animal life in
possession of his mind, he certainly was not going to shoulder his
shotgun, which he had left in a corner of the cabin.
In the midst of his wandering he suddenly heard a strange scratching
sound that gave him a thrill. Looking up in the quarter from which it
seemed to come, Lil Artha was astonished to see a pair of yellow eyes
glaring down at him, and recognize the gray coat of a ferocious wildcat.
He instantly jumped at the conclusion that this must be the mate of the
animal they had killed after it had forced an entrance into the cabin,
to steal Uncle Caleb's smoked meat, and then savagely attacked them.
Yes, there could be no doubt about it; and the cat was evidently of a
mind to spring upon him, and through means of its terrible claws seek to
have revenge for the loss of its mate. Some feline instinct doubtless
told the beast that this boy must have been concerned in the death of
the partner of its joys and sorrows, which we happen to know was the
actual truth.
Lil Artha's first thought was to turn and sprint for the safety of the
cabin as fast as he could go. Then it struck him as a dangerous thing to
turn his back on such a treacherous foe as a wildcat; for there could be
no question but what the animal would immediately make its leap, and
land on his shoulders.
Lil Artha realized that the best thing for him to do was to keep his
face turned toward his four-footed enemy. If only now he could pick up a
suitable cudgel he might be able to give a decent account of himself;
but to struggle with that terror of the snow forest, with only his bare
hands, did not please him at all.
He shot a hasty glance all around him. The snow happened to have blown
away in that particular spot, where one of the boys had been chopping
fuel; and there Lil Artha discovered just the sort of stick he believed
he could wield to good advantage in keeping his feline foe at bay.
Giving a wild shout, in hopes of alarming the beast more or less, he
sprang toward the coveted trophy, with outstretched hand. And when his
eager fingers closed about the end of the three-foot club Lil Artha felt
considerably better.
It appeared, though, that his work was cut out for him. The cat actually
leaped directly for him, and never would the boy forget how terrible the
sight of that flying figure passing through space appeared to his
excited mind.
By a nimble jump to one side Lil Artha managed to avoid contact with the
extended claws of the cat; and the disappointed animal, upon landing in
a heap, instantly whirled around and again sprang toward him. This time
the boy struck with his club, and managed to knock his assailant over,
though the now thoroughly aroused animal seemed more determined to get
at him than ever.
So the battle raged, Lil Artha all the while shouting at the top of his
lungs, though he hardly knew what for, since his chums and Uncle Caleb
were more than a mile distant, and could hardly hear him at best.
He fought with all the dexterity he could command. When he struck at the
raging beast he knew that should he manage to make a miss nothing could
keep him from having the cat fasten itself on his breast, tearing and
biting with fury. Time and again did he bring that good club against
the hairy form of his enemy, and send the wildcat bowling over; but it
surely had the nine lives such tough animals are usually credited with,
for on every occasion it managed to once more regain its feet, and
crippled as it may have been come stubbornly straight at him again.
Lil Artha was getting winded, just as he might have been after knocking
a dozen tremendous fouls, when playing in a hotly contested game of
baseball. He felt a cold chill pass over him as he began to wonder
whether he might not be tired out by this beast that seemed never to
know when to give in; and what might not happen then?
Once more he had brought his stick against the creeping cat with such
good will that the animal was knocked fully six feet away; but to his
despair it immediately recovered, and started back toward him.
Just then Lil Artha heard a loud report, and saw the cat roll over in a
heap. As the relieved scout looked in the direction from whence that
shot had come he saw Zack Arnold standing there, his face drawn and
white with pain; for in handling Lil Artha's gun so as to relieve the
boy of his fierce antagonist he must have given his broken arm a severe
wrench, that for the moment made him feel sick and faint.
And Lil Artha, seeing how things were, threw an arm about the big guide,
weak by reason of his pain, and helped him back to the cabin. After that
Lil Artha forgot that he had expressed any doubt concerning the
reformation of Zack Arnold. The guide had proved his change of heart by
that action; and it would serve to cement the bonds of the new
friendship that had sprung up between him and Uncle Caleb, as well as
the old scientist's boyish guests.
Later on, when the others returned from their trip, the boys full of the
interesting things they had seen, great was their surprise to hear how
Lil Artha had been concerned in a stirring adventure. The report of the
gun had been wafted to their ears, but of course they expected that it
was only Lil Artha doing a little hunting on his private account near
the cabin, though Uncle Caleb did not fancy the boy taking any such
liberties with his familiar four-footed friends.
They all had to go out and examine the body of the dead wildcat,
remarking that if anything it surpassed its mate in the way of ferocity,
and blind recklessness, in attacking a human being without any
particular provocation, and in broad daylight at that.
"I'm sorry it had to be," remarked Uncle Caleb, with a sigh, "for I
expected to have considerable enjoyment later on in trying to get these
cats to play photographer for themselves; but no one is to blame in
either instance. If attacked by such a fierce creature I myself would
shoot to kill without any hesitation. After its mate was destroyed I
suppose this one would never have given me any peace. And at any rate it
afforded Zack a chance to prove that he was not ungrateful; which after
all is the best part of the whole affair, barring your escape from being
clawed, Lil Artha. Are you sure the claws or teeth of the cat didn't
scratch you the least bit, because in that case I'd want to take due
precautions. Blood poisoning might set in if the cuts were neglected,
all depending on the condition of your own blood."
The tall scout had examined his hands and face thoroughly before the
others of the party returned home, for he was not wholly ignorant
concerning the possible results that sometimes follow wounds received
through carnivorous animals. He knew that Elmer always made it a
practice to carry with him a small phial of permanganate of potassium,
to be freely used as a wash in such cases, as calculated to cleanse the
wound of all foreign matter, and neutralize any poison that might come
from contact with claws impregnated with it.
He assured the anxious woodsman that he had escaped even the slightest
scratch, and could consider himself especially fortunate, in which the
other heartily agreed with him.
Again did they spend another happy evening around the cheery fire. As
the flames glowed and crackled they coaxed Uncle Caleb to tell more
incidents connected with his explorations in faraway Thibet, when he was
the first white man to enter the Forbidden City and interview the Head
Llama, whose existence had up to that time been pretty much of a sealed
mystery to the civilized world.
Another peaceful night followed, and then came dawn again. This was to
be their nest to last day in the snow forest, because on the second
morning they must prepare to turn their faces toward home again, seek
the little station, signal to a passing train, and be carried back to
familiar scenes.
In many ways all of them would be sorry when the time for separation
arrived; and so they had planned to do divers things during these two
days, which it was sincerely hoped would turn out pleasant ones. The
weather had moderated, and even a thaw set in late the preceding day,
but as the wind whipped around once more into the northwest the surface
of the snow became covered with a sheet of ice that was almost thick
enough to bear the weight of a small boy.
Toby was wild with eagerness to be shown how to use those wonderful
snow-shoes which Uncle Caleb had given him for a present; and so the old
woodsman showed him just how to attach them to his toes, so as to leave
the balance of the foot free to bend at his will, though really Elmer
had explained this thing to Toby before.
Under the guiding care of first Uncle Caleb, and when he grew tired, of
Elmer on the old scientist's snow-shoes, Toby was enabled to perform
quite creditably, and in the end felt that he knew fairly well how to
spin over the ice-crusted drifts in a way that would hardly have shamed
those Canadian cousins of his who belonged to the famous Teuque Bleue
Snow-shoe Club up in Montreal, and wrote him such glowing accounts of
the long trips they took over Mount Royal, and into the bush, in the
dead of winter.
The boys had not forgotten how they had been almost reduced to a diet of
musquash at the time Lil Artha so fortunately shot his deer; and upon
invitation from Elmer, who was genuinely desirous of learning whether
the dish could be as palatable as some hunters and Indians declared,
Uncle Caleb told them they could get a number of the little animals with
the glossy fur, and he himself promised to prepare the stew.
Well, they ate it, and George even came in for a second helping, but on
the whole it was the consensus of opinion that they did not really
hanker after "musquash," which might please some palates, and serve as a
means to ward off actual starvation, but did not seem to appeal to them
very strongly. All of which was fortunate indeed for the furry denizens
of the marsh, because there would be no further loud calls for a
repetition of the dish.
The last day was pretty much taken up with seeing all they could of
Uncle Caleb and trying to grasp the results of his labors in the cause
of science and natural history. Each of the boys was given a sheaf of
prints to carry back with him, many of them most interesting revelations
concerning the hidden lives of the four-footed neighbors of Uncle Caleb,
whose habits were so little known to the average person. And even George
admitted that he would not have missed what he had learned while up in
the great snow forest, with this observing relative of Toby for a good
deal. It had broadened his knowledge of many things, and given him a
much higher estimate of human nature in seeing how kindness had won the
game over an evil desire for revenge.
It was all settled, and Zack Arnold was going to stay there as the side
partner of Uncle Caleb. He did not appear like the same man when on that
last morning he shook each one of the four scouts by the hand and hoped
he would see them again. There was a look on his face that surprised
George and Lil Artha, who at one time had expressed themselves so
strongly to the effect that they did not believe any good could ever
come out of so tough a customer.
"I'll never say that again, as long as I live!" George admitted, later
on; "after this I'm going to look for the spark of good in every hard
case, instead of only seeing the evil."
"I sure have had a lesson I'll never forget," added Lil Artha; "and when
you get right down to facts that Zack Arnold isn't such a bad fellow
either. What he don't know about the woods you could put in a thimble;
and I can see that after Uncle Caleb has had him with him six months
he's going to turn out something more than half-way decent."
Fortunately they did not meet with another snow storm while on the
homeward road but on arriving at the little station they had only to
await the train. The same little urchin from whom they had received the
false information grinned at them. Lil Artha was for giving him the
drubbing he richly deserved; but Elmer counselled differently.
"After all it was a lucky thing he gave us the wrong directions," he
told the other scouts. "We have had a whole lot of experiences that
would never have come to us otherwise. And then you shot that fine young
buck, remember, Lil Artha. So, taking pattern from Uncle Caleb, suppose
we wash the incident from the slate."
And what did Lil Artha do but approach the grinning urchin, and actually
thank him for the trouble he had taken to direct them, stating that they
had had the "time of their lives," and tossing him a silver quarter as a
reward for his being so solicitous about their welfare. The last thing
they saw as the train carried them away was that country boy standing
there, staring at the coin he held in one hand while he scratched his
head in perplexity and evidently wondered what it all meant. So Lil
Artha had taken a page from the diary of Uncle Caleb, and applied the
kind-hearted old scientist's methods to his own case.
The four scouts reached home in safety, and with plenty to interest
those of their comrades of the troop who had not been along. It is to be
hoped that at some not far distant day in the future we may be permitted
to chronicle still further of the happenings that came the way of Elmer,
Toby, Lil Artha, George, and others belonging to the Hickory Ridge Troop
of Boy Scouts.
THE END
The Mountain Boys Series
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2. PHIL BRADLEY AT THE WHEEL
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Transcriber's note:
Obvious punctuation errors were corrected. Archaic spellings such as
"grummet," "develope," and "fryingpan" were retained. In addition,
varied hyphenation was retained as in "shot-gun" and "shotgun."
First advertising page, "Chenoweth" changed to "Chenowith" to match
actual book usage (Elmer Chenowith, a lad from)
Page 179, "touch" changed to "tough" (such tough animals)