BILLY BRACKETT'S SURPRISING SITUATION.
When Billy Brackett set forth on his search for a nephew and a runaway
raft he did not anticipate any difficulty in finding them. The
appearance of the raft had been minutely described to him, and,
according to this description, it was too distinctive in its character
to be mistaken for anything else. Three shanties, and they of unusual
construction, on a raft of that size formed a peculiarity sufficient to
arrest the immediate attention of all river men. Thus the young
engineer felt certain that by making an occasional inquiry and
proceeding at a speed at least double that of the raft, he could easily
trace and overtake it, even though it should not run aground, which he
thought more than likely to happen early in its voyage.
So Billy Brackett rowed down the creek without a trace of anxiety to
mar the pleasure of the adventure into which he had so unexpectedly
tumbled. One peculiarity of this light-hearted young man was that no
proposition to leave a beaten track and strike into an unexplored
trail, even though it led in exactly the opposite direction, could be
too absurd or unexpected to meet with his ready approval, always
providing it promised plenty of adventure. At the same time he never
lost sight of the fact that he had a living to earn, besides a
professional reputation to win and maintain. Consequently he generally
managed to make his adventures keep step with his duties. In the
present instance he felt that Major Caspar's aid was necessary to the
fulfilling of his timber contract. He also realized that the only way
to obtain it was by taking his brother-in-law's place in searching for
the lost raft and navigating it down the river to a market. He had no
family ties to bind him to times or places, and with Bim for company he
was ready to start at any moment for any portion of the globe.
"Bim" was a diminutive of Cherubim, a name bestowed by its present
owner upon the wretched puppy that he had rescued from an abandoned
emigrant wagon high up in the California Sierras, because like Cherubim
and Seraphim he "continually did cry." The little one was nearly dead,
and its mother, lying beside it, was quite so, when they were
discovered by the tender-hearted engineer. He had fought his way
through a blinding snowstorm and high-piled drifts to the abandoned
wagon on the chance of finding human beings in distress. When he
discovered only a forlorn little bull-pup, he buttoned it warmly under
his blanket overcoat and fought his way back to camp. During that
struggle the helpless creature won its way to Billy Brackett's heart,
as all young things, human or animal, were sure to do, and assumed a
place there that had never since been resigned.
From that day Bim, or "U-Bim," as he was sometimes called, had so
thrived under good feeding, kind care, and judicious training that when
he started with his master to voyage down the great river he was as
fine a specimen of a full-blooded bull-dog as could be found in the
country. He was pure white, bow-legged, and broad-chested. His upper
lip was drawn slightly back, so as to display his teeth; but this
expression of ferocity was relieved by the almost human intelligence of
his eyes. He was absolutely fearless, but as loving and gentle as he
was brave. He understood every word spoken within his hearing, and his
master declared that for his wisdom he ought to be named "Solomon." He
never made an unprovoked assault upon a living creature, and would
stand any amount of abuse from children or those weaker than himself.
Let an indignity be offered to his beloved master in his presence,
though, and his fury was as terrible as that of a young lion. Then woe
to the unfortunate in whose flesh those gleaming teeth were once
fastened. From the vise-like grip of the powerful jaws behind them
nothing but death or Billy Brackett's command could effect a release.
Such were the occupants of the skiff that soon after dusk shot out from
the mouth of the Caspar Creek on the broad bosom of the great river.
Billy Brackett talked to his dog as he would to a human companion, and
at that moment he was saying:
"Look here, Bim, I've a great mind to play a joke on that young nephew
of ours when we find him. You see, he won't know us from Adam, and
probably doesn't remember that he has an Uncle William in the world.
Now what is to hinder us from working the stranger racket on him?
Wrecked, or broke, or something, and want to earn a passage down the
river on a raft, it being easier as well as more sociable and
pleasanter in every way than a steamboat. What's to hinder us from
doing it, eh? Nothing? Right you are, old dog, and we'll do it, too,
if we get the chance. Thus will we discover what sort of stuff he is
made of, and get acquainted with his inside self, as Glen Eddy used to
say. So you understand, U-Bim, that you are not to give us away or let
on that we are any kin to the Caspars. _Sabe_? All right. Now for a
twenty-mile spin down-stream, and then we'll hunt a place to lie by for
the night."
With this the young man bent lustily to his oars, while Bim sat in the
stern of the skiff, alert to every movement made by his master, and
swaying his body like that of a genuine cockswain.
Billy Brackett recognized the "Slant Crossing," when they reached it,
from the description he had received of its length and direction; but
below that point the river for a thousand miles was a blank so far as
his personal knowledge of it was concerned.
Although the night was dark, and there were but few guide-lights on the
river in those days, he found no difficulty in keeping the channel
until the skiff passed through the chute at the head of Winn's island.
At this point the false channel seemed, in the darkness, to be as wide
and desirable as the true one, and for a minute he was puzzled as to
which he should take. "Not that I suppose it would make any great
difference," he remarked to Bim. "It's about time to tie up, though,
and we want to be sure to do that on the main channel, so as not to
miss a chance of seeing the raft at daylight."
For answer Bim left his seat, ran to the bow of the boat, uttered a
short bark, and fixed his gaze pointedly down-stream.
"A light, as sure as you are a dog of wisdom!" cried Billy Brackett,
looking in the direction thus indicated. "I vow, Bim, your name ought
to be 'Solomon Minerva,' and I must have a 'howl' engraved on your
collar the first chance I get. That is, if you ever arrive at the
dignity of owning any collar besides that old strap. Your light looks
as though it might proceed from a camp-fire, and I reckon it's on the
main channel too. At any rate, we'll pull down there and make
inquiries."
A few minutes later the skiff was run ashore near the beacon blaze that
Winn Caspar had left on the eastern side of the island, and its
occupants were searching the vicinity for those whom Billy Brackett had
so confidently expected to find near it.
"It is very strange," he muttered. "Some one must have built this
fire; but why he did so if he didn't want to camp beside it beats me.
Hello! What's this? Hooray; we are on the right track after all! But
what foolishness is that boy up to? and what can he be doing on this
island? Thirdly, where is the raft? Eh, Bim! You haven't seen a
stray raft round here, have you? No. I thought you would have
mentioned it if you had. So he is on this island is he? and leaves
word that we can find him by following the trail? Perhaps the trail
leads to the raft; but where is the trail? Hello! you've struck it,
have you? Good dog! Here, let me tie this bit of twine to your
collar. There, now you're better than a lantern."
As we all know, the trail upon which Billy Brackett and Bim were thus
started led directly to the log-hut in the forest. When the former
discovered this, he fully expected to find his nephew within. To his
surprise, although a fire smouldered on the hearth, there was no other
sign of human occupancy. Then the young man searched in vain for some
bit of writing, such as had guided him to this point.
"I declare!" he exclaimed at length; "the corollary is worse than the
theorem, and things are becoming so decidedly mixed that we must begin
to go slow. I for one propose to replenish that fire, and then bunk
down right here for the rest of the night."
With this the young man went out into the darkness and began groping
about for wood with which to keep up the fire until morning.
In the mean time, Bim, left to his own devices, had struck the trail
leading from the hut to Winn's camp, and started along it, probably
thinking that his master was following him as before. The dog soon
discovered Winn, and undertook to establish friendly relations with him
by rubbing his cold nose against the boy's cheek. The suddenness with
which Winn started up caused the dog to spring back into the darkness,
from the shelter of which he regarded his new acquaintance
distrustfully. Just then Billy Brackett, to cheer the loneliness of
his log-hut, began to chant the ballad of "The Baldheaded Man," and
Bim, hearing his master's voice, darted off in that direction.
Now Billy Brackett, though very fond of music, and possessed of an
inextinguishable longing to produce melodious sounds, could not sing
any more than Bim could. His efforts in this line had so often been
greeted with derisive shouts and unkind remarks by his engineering
comrades that he no longer attempted to sing in public. When alone,
however, and out of hearing of his fellows, he still sometimes broke
forth into song. Bim always howled in sympathy, but the effect of
their combined efforts had never been so surprising as upon the present
occasion, when they caused the precipitate flight from the island of
the very nephew for whom the young engineer was searching.
In blissful ignorance of this unfortunate result of their performance,
Billy Brackett and Bim sang and howled in concert, until their
repertory was exhausted, when they lay down on the floor of the hut,
and with the facility of those to whom camp life has become a second
nature, were quickly asleep. From this slumber Billy Brackett was
startlingly awakened, some time later, by Bim's bark, and a pistol shot
that rang out from the profound stillness of the forest like a
thunder-clap. He grasped the dog's collar and sat up. Before he could
rise any farther there came a roar of guns, a trampling of feet, a
confusion of voices, a rush, and a crashing of wood. The next instant
the door of his hut was burst in, and the room was filled with armed
men, every one of whom seemed to be pointing a rifle or a pistol
straight at his devoted head.