A QUARREL OVER THE GAME
"I'm getting to do first-rate at it, don't you think, Phil?" asked
X-Ray, after they had been moving along for an hour and more.
"Yes, you seem to have mastered the trick all right," he was told,
"though you did take a few headers when you grew too confident.
Snow-shoes can only be successfully mastered through experience. They
are clumsy things to a novice, and apt to play all sorts of sly tricks
on him. I've seen a chap with both feet sticking up out of a drift; and
unable to get out alone."
"Yes, I'd think they would act about the same as a life preserver
fastened down around a fellow's knees. The very thing you are depending
on to save you turns out your worst enemy when you treat it the wrong
way. Now watch me make a little speed, Phil."
"Take care. Pride goes before a fall, they say. There, that's the time
you did manage to tumble in good earnest."
"Help me up, that's a good fellow, Phil. I guess I'll feel my way after
this. You may think you have mastered snow-shoes, but as you say they
can spring a trick on you unawares. Your feet get twisted, and of course
down you flop. But I'm satisfied with as far as I've gotten. The next
thing is to learn to slide over a crust like the wind, climbing rises,
and spinning down the other side like you were on skis. Say, it must be
great sport; I hope it melts a little soon, and then freezes on top."
"Probably it will, now that you have expressed a wish that way,"
chuckled Phil, who was really having more or less fun observing the
actions of the new beginner.
A short time later and Phil uttered an exclamation.
"What have you struck now?" asked X-Ray, eagerly.
Phil pointed to the snow close by.
"Some animal has gone along here, sure enough!" said X-Ray, bending over
to examine the marks more closely. "A moose most likely, eh, Phil?"
"No, it was a caribou," the other assured him.
"A horse of another color, then; but it means game, all the same, Phil?"
"Yes, caribou are classed in that list, and make pretty good eating,
too," the other explained.
"Of course we might take a little turn after the old chap, just to give
me my first snow-shoe hunt; say yes, Phil."
"There's no reason that I can see why we shouldn't, though we don't want
to get too far away from camp, because it's heavy work dragging a pair
of shoes after you, once you begin to feel tired."
"We can stop whenever you think it's best," promised X-Ray.
Accordingly they began to follow the trail. It was so easy any novice
could have done it; and yet there was a certain thrilling sensation
about the whole matter that gave the new beginner much pleasure.
He had so often pictured himself in some such scene as this that the
reality afforded him more genuine delight than words could describe.
Phil allowed him to take the lead, thinking that would satisfy X-Ray;
who while not so fond of hunting as Ethan, at the same time was able to
enjoy it to a certain extent.
With the trees all heavily laden with snow, some of the birches and
pines bent almost double under the burden, it was a beautiful scene by
which the two boys found themselves surrounded. Phil admired everything
as he went along. X-Ray seemed to be thinking only of the chance they
might have to come up with the caribou, and wondering if they would have
the good luck to bring it down in case they did sight it.
He had never seen a caribou in his life, though he knew they were a
species of deer inhabiting the barrens of New Brunswick and Canada,
where they are often run across in herds of hundreds.
The snow was deep enough to give considerable trouble to the animal they
were following, though it seemed that he kept persistently on. He was
possibly heading for a certain rendezvous where he knew he would find
others of his kind assembled, to pass the severe weather in company, as
a protection against roving wolves that would soon bring a straggler
down, yet dare not attack a herd.
X-Ray was more or less excited. Every little while he would in a whisper
ask his companion what he thought about it, and if they were drawing up
on the caribou.
"Seems to me the trail is getting a heap fresher," X-Ray suggested;
though truth to tell that was put forward as a "feeler" to draw out an
opinion from Phil, and not because he knew much about the tracks.
"Yes, it is getting fresher all the time," admitted Phil; "which shows
that we are making much better time than the caribou. But it remains to
be seen whether he can put on a burst of speed when he sights us that
will leave us far in the lurch. He may be taking it easy along here."
"And what if he does flicker away and out of sight before we can drop
him, Phil; do we keep up the good work, or drop out?"
"If he once gets going good and hard," Phil declared, "we might as well
say good-day to him, and head back toward the camp."
"The camp! Well, if you asked me now, I couldn't tell you which way we'd
have to go to get there; but of course you know, Phil? You always were a
great hand to keep tabs of things."
"Yes, I've been watching our course all the while," Phil told him,
confidently.
"And whereabouts would you say the camp lay from here, then?" asked
X-Ray.
Without the slightest hesitation Phil pointed straight into the
southeast.
"If you started off and kept a bee-line that way I believe you'd come
within pistol-shot of our shack," he affirmed. "When you struck the
shore of the lake it would be easy to locate the camp by the smoke
rising, if not from other landmarks that every wise hunter would have
jotted down in his memory."
X-Ray did not continue the low conversation immediately; he was trying
to remember if there was any such landmark that he might have noticed
close to the camp, and on the ice-bound shore of the lake.
"Oh! yes, there was the odd-shaped tree that looked like an old man on
his knees and saying his prayers!" he broke out with, a look of
satisfaction crossing his face at being able to recollect; "that was
near by, and I think I would know it from across the lake if I happened
to strike in there."
"I'm glad you remembered," said Phil; "but suppose we stop whispering
now."
"Oh, my, do you expect we're as close to him as all that, Phil?"
demanded X-Ray, beginning to finger at the lock of his gun, in order to
make sure it was in readiness for quick use in an emergency.
"He passed along here just a bit ago, for a fact," Phil told him.
They continued to push on, with that trail always before them, though
sometimes they turned aside on account of the barrier presented by a
growth of bushes, through which the caribou had gone.
Phil had now come up alongside his companion, and noticing this X-Ray
believed things must be quickly getting to a stage when something was
liable to happen. He was expecting to see the caribou ahead of them at
some little distance, and paid but small attention to points close at
hand.
When without the least warning there was a sudden rattling sound heard,
and a large brown animal was seen departing with great leaps, X-Ray gave
utterance to a gasp of disappointment.
Even as the two young hunters threw their guns to their shoulders the
fleeting caribou suddenly shifted its course, and turning abruptly to
the right, sped on. It now presented a splendid mark, and the two shots
rang out almost as one.
A remarkable thing happened just then. With the crash of their rifles
the animal was seen to leap high in the air, just as deer often will
when stricken in full flight. And to the astonishment of the boys
another report sounded from the other side of the caribou!
"He's down, Phil!" shrilled X-Ray, trembling with the excitement.
"Yes, come on!" replied the other, immediately starting forward as fast
as he could go on his snow-shoes.
"But, Phil, wasn't that another shot we heard?" expostulated X-Ray
Tyson, as he did his level best to keep close to the heels of his chum.
"Yes, it was a gunshot," snapped Phil, who seemed to be laboring under
some sort of emotion, though X-Ray could not say what its character
might be.
They could see where the caribou had struck when he fell. His antlered
head was resting on the snow, showing that he had fallen with that last
leap, with his legs under him.
Phil saw a figure advancing from the opposite quarter, and also on
snow-shoes. He was pleased to note there was only one, for he
anticipated that there was likely to be trouble of some sort around that
locality before long.
"There the other hunter comes, Phil!" said X-Ray, wanting to be sure
that his chum was made aware of the important fact.
"All right, but we're going to get up before he does," was all Phil
replied.
The first thing he did on reaching the spot where the stricken caribou
lay was to bend down and closely examine the right side. As said before
the animal lay just as it had fallen, so that both haunches were in
plain view, did any one take the trouble to step around.
Phil was gratified with what he saw in that hasty survey; but
nevertheless he immediately leaned over to ascertain the condition of
the animal's left side. By that time X-Ray had come up, and the stranger
sportsman was also close at hand.
Up to that moment Phil had not taken the pains to give the other a look;
but as he had found out all he wanted concerning the state of affairs in
connection with the game, he now turned his attention on the advancing
man.
He was a rather stout and exceedingly peppery looking individual, who
was rather out of breath, and puffing from his exertions. His florid
face did not impress Phil favorably at all; it seemed to sense the
bully, and the overbearing man of millions, accustomed to lording it
over others.
There was no question at all in Phil's mind but that this man was a
member of the other party he had been told was in camp in that vicinity.
He might have even thought him to be a beef-eating Englishman only that
his information had been to the effect that they were all Americans from
below the border.
"I don't like his looks!" muttered X-Ray.
"No more do I," added Phil, under his breath, for the stranger sportsman
was getting close up by then, and might hear if words were spoken in an
ordinary tone. "But the game is ours without a question, and we're going
to have what we want to carry off, make up your mind to that."
"Bully!" muttered X-Ray, who was inclined to be pugnacious on occasion;
and at any rate never disposed to allow himself to be "used as a door
mat, for some other person to wipe his feet on," as he used to put it.
Perhaps Phil meant something when he calmly placed his foot on the
fallen game. It was a significant move, at any rate, and could hardly be
mistaken. It struck X-Ray as peculiarly defiant, and he felt like
chuckling as he watched to see what that red-faced individual did when
he arrived on the scene of action.
If anything his face took on a deeper tint until it looked almost
purple. When he saw that he had only two boys to contend with the other
hunter must have believed he could frighten them with his looks, for he
scowled like a pirate.
Somehow neither of the Mountain Boys drew back and began to apologize
for daring to rob him of any of the free air. And no sooner had he
arrived than the domineering tactics, with which perhaps he had pushed
himself through business so as to accumulate his million, began to make
themselves manifest.
"Here, what are you doing with your foot on _my_ caribou, I'd like to
know?" was what he jerked out, being still short of breath.
"Excuse me, sir, but you'll have to explain what you mean," said Phil,
coolly. "I am not aware of taking any such liberties with your caribou.
If it happens that you are referring to this animal here, you've made a
big mistake, that's all. It is _our_ game; we saw it first, shot it
first, and got here first. So you'll have to go to court and put in a
claim. Possession in this case is nine points of the law!"
The man stared at the speaker. He evidently had seldom been spoken to in
that manner before, certainly never by a mere boy. And yet something in
Phil's face must have impressed him as worth observing. He saw that
those eyes were fastened on him with a steady and keen look that did not
falter under his scowl, or his muttering.
"I tell you it is my caribou, for I shot it," he proceeded to affirm,
embellishing his assertion with certain strong words which he doubtless
expected might make the boys hesitate before they went any further and
incurred his ill-will. "I was just creeping up within easy gunshot when
you came along and scared the beast. I claim it as my prize."
"And we have been trailing the same caribou for at least two hours,"
said X-Ray under the impression that since he was a party to the dispute
he should at least be allowed to get a few words in.
"The matter is easily settled," said Phil, quietly.
"I am glad to see that you mean to act sensibly; for since you came up
after I had started to stalk the caribou it put you in the wrong," the
other said, as if rather relieved in his mind at the turn affairs had
taken.
"Don't mistake me, sir," continued Phil; "what I meant was that we can
easily prove which has the right to the game. There's a way to settle
that question that neither of us can rightly deny. If you look over here
at this side of the caribou, which was the side toward us, you remember,
you will find that _two_ bullets entered his body, one directly in the
region of his heart. That shot killed the animal instantly. He could
only make one jump, and then collapsed as you see him."
"Humph!" grunted the stout red-faced sportsman, with one of his ugly
frowns; "and I suppose then you'll make out that I missed him entirely?"
"I'm not making out anything, sir, for you can see from the red mark
just where your lead cut a little section from his hind leg. I'm sure I
heard it sing past me and hardly ten feet away. That hurt would never
have crippled a strong beast like a young bull caribou. You would never
have had the least chance to lay claim to any of the meat if you had
depended on your shot. But we're not greedy, sir; and if you care to
forget this little unpleasantness we'll gladly call it our combined
trophy of the chase, and divide the meat with you!"
It was a generous offer, and did the boy credit; but apparently the
quarrelsome sportsman with the purple face felt himself insulted by
being patronized by a couple of boys, for he ground his teeth together,
and looked daggers at Phil.