BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY.
ON the following morning about ten o'clock Elmer was passing along the
road a short distance from his house, carrying quite a good-sized
package, when he heard his name called from the rear.
Turning around, he discovered the tall, angular form of Lil Artha
hurrying after him and making motions as though he wanted to overtake
him.
"Hello! were you looking for anyone?" laughed Elmer, as the long-legged
chap covered the intervening ground at a great rate and joined him.
"Well, I was just on my way to your house to ask you something when I
glimpsed you turning the bend. So I put on a little steam, and here I
am," replied the one who was considered by all odds the best walker
among the scouts, barring none.
"Why, yes, I'm on my way over to Mr. Bailey's with something he wants,
and which my father has just run across. Thought I'd take the short cut
through his patch of woods, as it cuts down the distance a third. If you
haven't anything else on hand just now, what's to hinder you going
along, Lil Artha?"
"Nothing that I can see," replied the party who received the invitation,
falling into step at Elmer's side. "And if you feel tired carrying that
big package just heave it over to me; I'll spell you."
"Oh, it looks heavier than it really is, but I'll take you at your word
if I feel that way. Now, what was it you wanted to see me about?"
It proved that the long-legged first baseman had been doing considerable
thinking in connection with the coming game of baseball. He believed he
had discovered a way where a few little changes in the batting order and
such things would add materially to the strength of the team.
This was a subject very close to Elmer's own heart, and he was ready and
willing to talk about it in and out of season.
So the two boys walked along the road debating the matter seriously. Lil
Artha had prepared himself to back up his claims with all the shrewdness
of a lawyer advancing his ease before a jury, and knowing how
enthusiastic the other was when he had a subject in his mind Elmer was
very careful not to allow himself to be carried off his feet by such
eloquence.
Such a little thing as the arrangement of the batting order has won and
lost innumerable games of baseball. Some fellows, once they manage to
reach first base, are almost certain to get around, if one or two sure
pinch hitters follow. And since Lil Artha knew the peculiarities of the
Hickory Ridge fellows much better than Elmer did, because the latter was
a comparative newcomer, he was in a position to give advice.
Of course, as field captain, Lil Artha had the right to make changes
himself, but he wanted advice from the pitcher, with whom he worked in
common for the good of the team.
When they came to the spot where the short cut through the woods began
Elmer turned into the path. Lil Artha had insisted on taking over the
package that was going to Mr. Bailey, and as the trail was exceedingly
narrow in places Elmer was compelled to step ahead.
He kept turning his head as he listened to the arguments advanced by his
comrade, and occasionally made a reply.
They were now in the midst of the Bailey woods, known all over the
region as the finest and most extensive grove within some miles of town.
On this warm August morning it was cool under those big trees, and one
of Elmer's reasons for taking the short cut now became apparent, since
the dusty road promised a hot walk as well as a much longer one.
Squirrels barked as they played among the branches above; birds
whistled, crows flapped their wings and cawed solemnly at being
disturbed in their caucus; a timid rabbit darted out of a patch of
brush, stopped to observe the intruders, and then bounded away as though
not very much frightened; for this being close season the report of a
gun was as yet an unheard thing in Bailey's woods.
All at once Elmer came to a sudden stop, so that Lil Artha, intent on
the point he happened to be arguing at the time, almost ran into his
comrade.
"What's the matter--stub your toe, or get a bug in your eye?" he asked,
as he clutched the package tighter to prevent its dropping to the
ground.
"Not a bit of it," replied Elmer; "but what in the world do you suppose
that queer sound can be?"
Now that his attention was called to it, Lil Artha also detected the
noise which had attracted his chum's notice.
"What d'ye think it could be, now?" he asked, turning a look of wonder
on Elmer.
The other shook his head as though puzzled.
"I thought I knew every animal you could find in these woods, and the
sound of his grunt or squeal, but that's a new one on me," he remarked.
"I tell you," said Lil Artha, after listening again intently; "it must
be a pig, that's what. There, didn't that sound just like a big grunt,
and wasn't it followed by a squeal? One of Bailey's hogs had sneaked out
of its pen and is rooting around. Perhaps it's got into trouble. We'd
better investigate this thing a little, don't you think, Elmer?"
"I think so a heap," replied the young scout leader; "because that last
grunt didn't have a piggy sound at all to me, and I give it to you
straight."
"Then what do you reckon it was?" demanded Lil Artha, with added
interest.
"More like a groan," remarked Elmer, starting on again.
"A groan--you mean a real human groan?" exclaimed the tall boy. "Say,
now, that would mean somebody might be hurt over there."
"Then the sooner we find out the better." Elmer answered over his
shoulder.
They had little difficulty in tracing the course of the sounds. And the
further they advanced to the left of the path the louder the singular
combination of sighs, groans, and grunts became.
"I know this place, all right," whispered Lil Artha, presently. "I've
been here more'n a few times, Elmer. There's the queerest hill just
beyond you ever saw. It's got one face shaved off just like it had been
split, and half of it carried away. Us boys call it Echo Cliff. I've
been up on it lots of times. Gee, it's sure a jump down to the tree tops
below!"
"Yes," Elmer remarked, "I remember hearing about it now, though I've
never been up on it, Perhaps some poor fellow has tumbled over the edge,
and is lying with broken bones among the trees."
"Ugh, you give me a cold shiver!" Lil Artha said. "But p'raps he didn't
fall all the way down, Elmer, because, seems to me those awful sounds
come right out of the air up yonder."
"That's just what they do," muttered the other boy, in a puzzled tone;
"but come on, and we'll soon find out the worst."
Resolutely he led the way and Lil Artha followed. No matter what
dreadful thing might suddenly meet their sight, Elmer would not be
deterred now.
"Listen!" whispered Lil Artha, as he gripped the shoulder of his
comrade; "he's talking to himself, Elmer. Where under the sun d'ye
suppose he can be? It don't stand to reason that he's up on the top of
Echo Cliff, because that's farther off."
Elmer gave a chuckle, and when he turned his face around his companion
saw that he seemed to be shaking with laughter.
"I think I've got on to it, all right!" said Elmer.
"Well, let me in, won't you?" pleaded Lil Artha. "You look like you
wanted to burst out laughing, and just didn't dare. If a human life is
in danger I don't see what there is funny about it."
"Tell me first, is there an open place just below this Echo Cliff you
talk about?" asked the other, in the same low, cautious voice.
"That's just what there is," Lil Artha replied, readily enough. "Many a
time I've dropped chunks of rock down, just to see 'em smash on the
ground below."
"That settles it, then; he was trying it out," remarked Elmer, nodding.
"Hey, what d'ye mean?" demanded Lil Artha. "Trying what out? And who
d'ye think it is? tell me that, Elmer."
"Come here with me; I believe I see him, all right," remarked the other.
"Follow my finger now; notice that thing moving up yonder in that
little old tree? Now it kicks like all get out. You'd think a fellow had
gone up there to take lessons in swimming. Well, that's _him_!"
"Who?" demanded the other, imperatively.
"A fellow by the name of Tobias Ellsworth Jones, known among the boys by
the more familiar name of just plain Toby," chuckled Elmer.
"Wow, now I'm beginning to get on, Elmer!" exclaimed the tall boy,
excitedly.
"You remember Toby is just crazy to fly like the Wrights and all the
other bird men who sail through the air in their aeroplanes?"
"Sure he is," commented Lil Artha; "haven't I heard him tell about what
wonderful things he was goin' to do some day, to make the name of Jones
famous? Say, honest, now, I believe you've hit her right, Elmer. Toby
_has_ been trying it out! And that big flapping thing up yonder in the
tree top must be his wonderful parachute he's been talking about this
long while. Say, I believe the silly must have dropped off Echo Cliff!"
"That's what he did," remarked Elmer, "and instead of lighting in that
nice little open place, as he meant to, the wind just carried him into
the top of a tree!"
"And he's caught up there right now--caught by his trousers seat mebbe,
and kicking to beat the band. I don't wonder he grunts and groans and
talks to himself. Now what d'ye think of that for a loon? Why, he might
have broken his leg if he had fallen on those stones! What're we going
to do about it, Elmer?"
As usual Lil Artha was only too willing to have his companion take the
lead in suggesting action. Some boys seem to be just fitted to occupy
the position of guide, and their mates soon come to rely on them
exclusively. Elmer occupied that position, and so Lil Artha looked to
him in this emergency.
"Why, we've got to get him down out of there, that's flat," returned
Elmer. "He's our comrade; and scouts must always help their fellows, or
anybody else, for that matter, when in distress. Let's move on a little
farther and give him the high sign."
All this talking had been carried on in such low tones that the sound of
their voices could hardly have reached the ears of the ambitious
aviator, who was caught in the tree, fully thirty feet from the ground,
unable to break away, and confronted by a nasty drop if he did succeed
in separating his garments from the branch that had gripped him.
They could now see that what Elmer had suggested was indeed the truth. A
boy was flapping at a great rate, his arms and legs going at the same
time, as he tried his best to squirm around so as to get at the seat of
the trouble, but apparently without success.
After each tiresome struggle he would give vent to a new series of those
queer grunts and sighs, and then do some more talking to himself.
Above him, and just barely caught on the tree top, was a strange affair
that had somewhat the appearance of a big umbrella, made out of canvas
or muslin. A number of holes had been punched through the parachute by
its descent through the branches, so that taken altogether, the brave
would-be aviator and his apparatus seemed just then to be in a state of
collapse.
Elmer waited until the squirming had ceased, with one last groan as of
despair. Then he gave the signal of the Wolf Patrol, as only one who had
actually heard the long-drawn howl of the timber wolf in the darkness of
a Canadian Northwest night could imitate it.
Evidently the sound stirred Toby to new life, for his movements began
again. He tried to make an answering signal, but the sound was more like
the bleat of a lost calf than anything else. However, it answered its
purpose, which was to let the comrade below, who had come to the rescue,
understand that his presence was known.
"Hello! up there, what are you doing to that tree?" called Lil Artha,
who could not keep from trying to extract some fun out of the situation
for all its gravity.
"Better ask the tree what it's adoin' to me!" wailed Toby, who had
managed to whip himself around so that he could now catch a glimpse of
the boys below. "Hey, Elmer, and you, Lil Artha, get me down out of this
first and have your fun afterward! I'm as dizzy as an owl in daytime,
and if my pants give way I'm going to squash flat! Come up here and grab
me, can't you? Tell you all about it later on. What I want now is
sympathy and brotherly kindness, don't you see?"