A WILD CHARGE.
"Help! Help!" Jimmy was shouting, kicking wildly as he roared. "Keep off
me, you wild elephant! Somebody shoot him, quick, before he steps on
me!"
"Here, stop that kicking, if you want to be helped up, do you hear,
Jimmy!" exclaimed Frank, who had hastened to the assistance of the
comrade in distress. "Are you much hurt; and did the beast trample on
you any?"
Jimmy began to feel of his legs and arms, and upon discovering himself
apparently as sound as a dollar, grinned sheepishly. Meanwhile the two
guides had hastened, with the help of Ned and Jack, to gather the fire
together again. Teddy had snatched up the nearest rifle and was down on
one knee, peering out through the semi-darkness as though anticipating a
return rush on the part of the unknown monster that had created such
confusion in the camp.
"No great damage done, after all, seems like, if Jimmy says he's all
right," remarked Ned, now beginning to let a broad smile creep over his
face, for seeing Jimmy doubled up and had been a ludicrous spectacle
not soon to be forgotten.
"But what in creation was it that put the kibosh all over me like that?"
demanded the one who had been knocked over by the mad rush of the
invader.
Ned glanced toward Francois, and the voyageur simply said:
"Bull moose--him very much mad, charge camp like that!"
"Well, I should think he must have been," Frank Shaw declared. "Why, if
we'd had a little more warning we might have met him with a volley of
hot lead that'd have laid him out dead. Now that Francois says so, I do
believe he looked pretty much on the order of a monstrous moose bull. I
certainly saw his horns, and they were full grown, because the rutting
season is long since past."
"But what makes a moose get his mad up?" Jack asked. "We didn't do a
single thing to rile him, that I know of, but were sitting here as easy
as you please, when all at once he charges through the camp. Why, say,
he nearly carried off some of our property, when he knocked down that
tent. Look at the rip his horns made in the tanned canvas, would you?
Some more sewing for Teddy here, to mend the rip."
"Francois, do bull moose often act in that way?" asked Teddy, still
gripping the repeating rifle, as though not fully convinced that their
would be no repetition of the savage onslaught.
The guide shook his head.
"Know only few times when it happen, and then there be reason. He carry
off on horns what makes him rush our camp. I saw the same with my own
eyes. Bull moose much like farm bull, and hate ze red color ver' mooch."
At hearing this several of the boys gave a shout.
"There, see what you get, Jimmy, for keeping that silly red sweater
around. The old bull saw it hanging there in the light of our fire, and
it made him so furious, as it has us lots of times, that he lowered his
head and just charged us."
"But he took it away with him, as sure as you live, fellows!" gasped
Jimmy, as a sense of his deep affliction came over him. "My dear sweater
that I loved so much."
"Bully for the moose!" cried Jack.
"He'd done us all a mighty good turn, even if he never meant to," added
Frank, "now we've seen the last of that terrible old garment, and
Jimmy'll just _have_ to get out the nice new one he's been carrying in
his bag."
"Just think of the old fool, would you, a-tearin' around the woods with
that red flag hanging from his horns," Jimmy wailed. "Don't I hope it
keeps him wild right along, so that he'll smash into a tree, and break
his blessed neck! But I'm glad he didn't take a notion to carry me off
along with my sweater, and that's no lie!"
The little excitement soon died away. Not much damage had been done
after all by that mad charge of the infuriated bull moose. The rent in
the canvas could be readily mended, and as for Jimmy's loss it was his
companions' gain, so that there would be no lament made save by the late
owner.
"I didn't know moose ever roamed as far north as this," remarked Ned.
"How about that, Francois?" asked Frank, who, it might be noticed, kept
his gun close beside him now, as though meaning to be ready in case
another cause for excitement arose.
"It is not often zat ze bull moose come up here," replied the French
Canadian, in his queer patois; "but sometimes in summer zey wander far
afield. I haf seen ze same so mooch as three hundred mile north from
here."
"One thing sure, there are plenty of caribou around," Teddy went on to
say; "and when the meat's tender, it suits me all right. I'm running
across new things every day up here, and don't feel sorry I came, so
far."
"New things seem to be running across us also," chuckled Frank; "for
instance, the monster that just invaded our camp. But as our supply of
red sweaters has given out now, we'll hope not to have a repeat of that
charge in a hurry."
"Me for a tree if ever I hear anything on four legs heading this way
again!" Jimmy told them. "Why, what would have happened to me if the old
four flusher had set his hoofs square on my stomach? I'd be feeling
pretty punk right now, believe me."
"I think I'll take to the tall timber myself if this thing gets common,"
was what Jack observed. "My stars! but he was a whopper. Looked like the
side of a house to me when he sizzled past, scattering the fire,
leveling our best tent, and kicking up a whole circus with a band wagon
attached."
"What was it we were talking about when we had that unexpected call?"
asked Teddy.
"Ned was telling us something more that trapper we met said to him about
the queer things that happen away up here in this uninhabited country,
which is so different from any other known land. Didn't he say something
about a phantom fleet of vessels that kept bobbing up every now and
then, only to speed away like ghosts. What did you make of that silly
rot, Ned?"
"I've been puzzling my head over it ever since," Ned replied, "but for
the life of me can't make head or tail of the story. I've almost come
to the conclusion that the trapper was a little dippy, and just imagined
he saw those vessels."
"Sounds like it to me, Ned," Jack declared. "Whatever would vessels of
any kind want up in Hudson Bay, if not to fish, or hunt whales, or
seals, or walrus? And why should they flit around like ghosts, as he
said? Chances are the old chap was using up his surplus stock of strong
drink, and saw things where they didn't exist."
"Well, anyway," Jimmy ventured, reflectively, "it's me that hopes we'll
run foul of this same queer disappearing fleet, because if we do it's a
pipe cinch we'll scrape all the mystery off the story. We always manage
that when we start into anything. It seems to be the scout way of doing
things."
"For my part," declared Frank, "I take little stock in that yarn of the
trapper. I imagine it's in a line with the big story of the mine
syndicate that wants to unload on Mr. Bosworth. This is the country for
whopping lies. Everything is on so big a scale up here, you know,
stories have to keep along with them."
"And moose are as big as houses," added Jimmy.
"How is it we don't see you busy with your fish lines to-night, Jimmy?"
asked Ned.
"Yes, it's been three mornings now since we had fresh fish for
breakfast, and as that job was handed over to you, we all want to know
what's gone wrong?" Jack added.
Jimmy shrugged his shoulders, and made a wry face.
"I've soured on me job, if that's what you want to know," he replied.
"I've pulled in so many fish since we started that me arm is sore with
the work. Besides, I've lost me taste for fresh fish. Them that feel an
itching for the diet c'n do the business. Here's me lines and hooks with
pleasure."
No one, however, seemed anxious to undertake the task on this particular
occasion. Truth to tell they were one and all pretty tired. It had been
an unusually arduous day, so that shoulders and legs ached more or less,
from packing all their possessions across country to the bank of the
river on which they now found themselves, and which Francois, yes, and
Tamasjo ditto, affirmed would carry them all the rest of the way to the
great inland sea known on the maps as Hudson Bay, in honor of the famous
explorer.
It felt good to lie there at their ease on blankets and enjoy the warmth
of the cheery campfire. There was more or less of a tang in the air most
of the time on account of being so far north; and this became more
evident when the sun had set, and the short night commenced, so that
the young explorers were glad to have tents and warm blankets along.
Once while they were talking Jack lifted his head and appeared to be
listening.
"A wolf pack hunting through the muskegs!" remarked Ned.
"Just what it must be," declared Jack. "And wherever we go it seems as
if there was no end to the hungry beasts. We ran up against them away
out in California, you remember; and they've given us no end of trouble
on this present trip."
"I only hope that swift bunch is hustling along on the trail of Mr. Bull
Moose, and that they overhaul the beggar right soon," grumbled Jimmy
viciously.
"What ails the little rascal now to make him feel so savage about that
moose?" laughed Frank.
"Huh! if you had something you thought the world of carried away on the
horns of a rotten old bull moose, mebbe it's you that would be feeling
sore on him too, me boy," growled Jimmy.
"Well, they say that one man's food is another's poison," observed
Frank; "and all of us feel that your loss is our gain. Red sweaters may
be all very well on a baseball field, but in the woods they don't cut
such a wide swath."
"Forget it," added Jack.
The two guides were looking after the canoes. It was their customary
habit to attend to the craft every night before lying down, because they
realized the great value that lay in the only means of making progress
that the expedition possessed; while no one dreamed of robbery, still,
the motto of a scout is to shut the door _before_ the horse is stolen,
and not afterwards. An ounce of prevention is always much better than a
pound of cure, so Ned was accustomed to saying, and he was an
experienced patrol leader.
While they left some things to the guides, still, the boys were pleased
to keep constantly in touch with whatever was transpiring around them.
Long ago they had learned to enjoy making fresh discoveries in the field
and forest whenever abroad. And in this new and to them unexplored
country they were running across numerous interesting things every day.
They had just two tents along, and as neither of the guides would
consent to be under cover save in a rain storm, it allowed the five
scouts a chance to sleep comfortably, three in one shelter and a couple
in the other. Ned and Jack occupied the smaller tent, while Jimmy bunked
with Teddy and Frank in the second one.
Presently the guides came into camp again, though they had been within
sight all the time, as the canoes lay well inside the circle of light
coming from the fire.
"All well with the boats, Francois?" asked Ned, who was hugging his
knees now, and had been joking Frank over several weird pictures the
photographer of the expedition had lately developed.
"Everything O. K.," replied the voyageur, as though satisfied with his
labor. "No danger we lose same this night, zat is sure. Still, Francois,
me, and ze ozzer guide we expect to sleep wiz ze one eye open."
"If you should happen to see some stranger meddling with our boats,
Francois--what would you do?" asked Frank.
The voyageur shrugged his broad shoulders in a very Frenchy fashion as
he replied.
"I sall call out and ask ze same what he do, sare; and if so be he try
to run away, pouf; I ze gun will fire, taking aim to vound ze rascal in
ze leg, and not kill."
"Sounds rather war-like, don't it, Ned?" remarked Jack.
"Well, you must remember that this is a wild country up here," the
leader of the expedition went on to say, soberly; "and that men are
accustomed to looking on all others as enemies until they prove to be
friends. A man who would sneak up and hover over our boats, on being
addressed, if he were honest would throw up his hand at once and come
into camp. Only a sneak thief would try and cut for it. And from my way
of looking at it Francois would be justified in giving him a bullet in
the leg, or a charge of Number Sevens in the last place he could see as
the man galloped away."
As several of the scouts were yawning at a prodigious rate it was now
concluded that the time had come to crawl under their blankets and get
some sleep. This going to bed was never a very long-drawn-out operation
with the scouts when in the open. Each boy would remove his shoes, after
taking off his leggings, then follow with his outer garments, and after
that just snuggle down under his warm covering, and forgetting all his
troubles until the summons came that breakfast was almost ready.
On this especial occasion they vanished inside the tents, leaving the
guides at the fire smoking their last pipe of tobacco, which both of
them had to indulge in before they could think of sleeping.
After that none of the boys knew a single thing until they were rudely
awakened by hearing some one call out roughly.
Immediately afterwards there came a peremptory hail, and then a loud
report that must have come from a gun.
Of course there was a hustle in both tents, and it was astonishing how
quickly each scout managed to get some of his clothes on. A
professional fireman could hardly have shown more expedition about
dressing than Ned and Jack did, though hampered more or less in the
operation by the darkness.
They had been very careful to remember just where their guns had been
placed, so that as soon as they donned clothes it was easy to snatch up
these weapons, after which they burst out of the tent.
The fire was beginning to revive, showing that some one must have tossed
fresh fuel upon the smouldering logs. One glance that way told Ned
several hours must have elapsed since he lay down, and that it was even
now long after midnight. He would have been able to tell within an hour
what time of night it was, had he been given a few seconds to look up at
the heavens to note the position of the new stars in sight.