ON THE BIG GAME TRAILS
Tad Butler was the only one of the party to grasp the note of wild
alarm in Stacy's voice. Nor did even Butler comprehend what had
caused it.
Tad, however, saw the fat boy lose his balance after clutching
desperately at the cane stalk.
At that moment, engaged in straightening out the coils of his lasso,
Tad had just slipped the coil into his left hand, the honda in his
right. As he did so Butler had swung the rope over his head,
intending to catch Stacy, giving him a slight scare.
Just as Stacy's feet shot upward Tad let go the rope, dropping the
loop neatly over Master Brown's left foot and drawing taut instantly.
Chunky, thus caught, sprawled between the cypress knees and the black
pool, looking more like a giant spider than anything else.
"Ow, wow! wow! In the name of goodness!" shrieked Stacy.
"Keep cool, if you can!" Tad yelled to the frightened victim. Then,
to the other boys:
"Get him out as quickly as you can, fellows! You'll have to be lively
now! Something is wrong with our comrade."
"What is it, where is he?" cried the boys.
"There, under the tree at the end of my rope. Be quick. There's
something down there. Be careful that you don't get in, too. I've
got him fast, but he may squirm loose."
Tad had snubbed the rope around a tree and now began hauling in.
Chunky's legs were spread wide apart, and Tad hauled him up little by
little until the fat boy's legs were on either side of one of the
cypress knees, the knee pressing against his body. Chunky could be
hauled no further unless he were to be split in two. But Butler was
satisfied that the fat boy was out of the reach of anything that might
be down in the pool.
Lilly was the first to reach the scene, followed in great strides by
Professor Zepplin and the other two boys. Now the problem of getting
both the boy's legs on one side of the cypress knee was presented to
them.
"Get--get me out of here! I've got a rush of blood to the head,"
pleaded Chunky.
"You are fortunate if you don't get more than that," snapped Billy
Lilly.
"Did de 'gator done git him?" questioned Ichabod apprehensively.
"Not yet. He may," answered the guide. "Let up on the rope a little,
Master Tad."
"You had better pass another one about his waist first, in case
anything happens to this rope. Get your rope, Ned. I can hold him
here until you have him safely secured."
Ned ran for his rope. All this time Stacy Brown was hanging head
down, looking into the pool, face to face with the terrible thing
that he saw down there. He couldn't keep his eyes closed, try as he
might. A strange fascination seemed to force him to look into the
big, bulging eyes of the 'gator patiently waiting for him down in the
black pool.
Ned, returning with his rope, climbed over on the knees and leaned
over to secure it about Stacy's waist. He quickly turned a pale face
up to those gathered about the scene.
"Hold fast to me, please. I don't fancy furnishing a meal for that
fellow down there," said Rector in a quiet voice.
"What--what is it, Ned?" gasped Walter.
"Never mind what it is. Just take tight hold of me. Hold my legs,
if you please, Mr. Lilly."
The guide did so, and Ned lost no time in taking a double hitch about
Stacy's waist. Lilly nodded to Tad to lower away on the rope, which
Tad did slowly and cautiously.
"Don't--don't let me down in there!" yelled the fat boy, squirming
and fighting and kicking.
"Stop it!" commanded the Professor sternly. "If you will behave
yourself we may be able to get you out, but if you don't keep quiet
we may let you go."
A moan was the only answer to the Professor's warning. Lilly now
grabbed one of the truant feet, jerking it over to the other side of
the cypress knee against its mate.
"Haul away, Master Tad," the guide sang out in a cheery voice. "I
guess we've got the young gentleman this time."
While Butler was hauling in on his rope, Lilly and Ned Rector were
pulling the fat boy up by his feet, each having hold of a foot.
Stacy came out squirming like an angleworm being pulled from the
ground after a spring rain. He surely would have fallen in again if
they had not held to him by main force.
"There, you wooden-headed--" began Ned.
"Tut, tut!" warned Professor Zepplin.
Stacy was tossed to the ground a safe distance from the scene of his
late unpleasantness, where he lay rubbing that part of his person
where the rope had fairly cut into the skin. Stacy was still sore
from contact with the thorn bushes, and the rope was an added
aggravation to his already tender skin.
"You may thank Master Tad and Ned for having saved your life, Tad
first of all," reminded the Professor.
"For getting into difficulties, young man, you win the blue ribbon in
all classes," declared Billy Lilly. "How did you ever come to get in
that hole?"
"He was fishing for something," grinned Tad.
"And he got a real bite," added Ned.
"He came near furnishing a bite for that gentleman in the pool. That
was the quickest move I ever saw," continued Lilly, gazing admiringly
at Tad. "How you can handle a rope! That's one thing I never could
do."
"How did you manage it so quickly, Tad?" asked Walter, his face still
pale from fright.
"I was casting at him for fun at the time. My getting him was not
due to any unusual quickness on my part, for the rope was in the air
when he lost his balance. I merely jerked it down over one foot, and
I guess it was lucky for him that I was preparing to play a joke on
him, at that."
"I should say it was," muttered the guide.
"You come with me, old boy," said Tad, taking Stacy by an arm and
leading the fat boy to his tent. They did not know what Tad said to
his companion, but they did know that Stacy looked very solemn and
greatly subdued, when, after a ten-minute interview, Tad permitted
Stacy to leave the tent. The fat boy sat down without a word, gazing
reflectively into the campfire, and did not speak again, except to
answer questions in monosyllables, until they had finished supper.
That night, as usual, the music of the barred owls, their weird
screeches and yells, filled to the exclusion of all other sounds
except the busy buzz of the giant mosquitoes. The latter were kept
out pretty well by the smudge that Lilly built in front of the tents
and that he kept going through most of the night. Stacy turned in
early, having very little to say to any one. But by the next morning
he had forgotten all about his narrow escape and was the same old
Chunky, ready for any opportunity that might present itself for
getting into trouble.
Shortly after daybreak Tad slipped on his boots, and, with rifle
under his arm, sauntered out to the cypress tree, where he perched
himself on the knees at the edge of the black pool. The boy waited
patiently for half an hour, keeping a close watch of the pool, but he
discovered nothing.
After a time Butler gathered up some rotten sticks and dropped them
in. He had not been at this long before a loud splash below told him
that his bait had been seized, and a moment later the bulging eyes of
a 'gator slowly protruded from the water, the eyes gazing up at the
boy perched above them.
"Now I reckon I have you, my fine gentleman," muttered Tad, slowly
bringing his rifle into position.
It was perhaps three seconds later when Tad Butler's rifle, roaring
out its deadly message, brought every man in the camp from his tent.
They saw Tad sitting on a cypress knee, gazing down into the black
pool, a satisfied grin on his face. Lilly understood at once what
was going on.
"Did you get him?" he cried.
"I did," answered Tad calmly. "He won't have any more appetite for
fat boys. Are there any more of them down there, do you think, Mr.
Lilly?"
"I reckon there are plenty there."
"Then I am going to make it my business to thin them out," said Tad.
The bang of the Pony Rider Boy's rifle was heard three more times
that morning. That appeared to have rid the black pool of its
dangerous residents. While Tad was watching the pool Stacy Brown was
dancing about the camp in search of something to occupy his mind and
time, but the others kept a close watch on the fat boy and kept him
out of mischief.
Early in the morning Mr. Lilly had gone out with rifle and dogs in
search of "bear sign." The dogs were barking eagerly as he left camp,
but the animals were disconsolate when, along towards noon, hunter
and dogs returned to camp.
"Nary a sign," answered Lilly in response to Tad's questioning look.
"There's game here, just the same. The dogs scented something this
morning. Of course, I don't know what they scented, and what bothers
me is that I couldn't find any sign."
"How did the dogs act?" asked Tad.
"As if they were mad about something."
"I guess they must have been mad with you for taking them out on a
wild goose chase," suggested Stacy wisely.
"No doubt, no doubt," nodded the guide.
"I'll tell you what, I'll go out and find the trail for you. I don't
suppose there is a better trailer in the country than myself,"
declared Stacy. "Why, I can run a trail with my nose, even though
it's ages old."
"Are you speaking of your nose or the trail?" asked Ned.
"The trail, of course. My nose isn't ages old."
"Nor will it be if you don't watch out and keep away from trouble,"
warned Tad. "What are your plans, Mr. Lilly?"
"We will go out in the morning. Between us we ought to pick up
something. This afternoon I will take a run about to see what I can
pick up; then in the morning we will get an early start, all hands
going out."
"That will be fine," approved the boys.
They were enthusiastic over the guide's report when he came in that
night with the good news that he had found some "bear sign" about
four miles to the west.
"Do you think that was what the dogs scented when you were out
before?" asked Tad.
"I reckon it must have been. What you-all been doing this afternoon?"
"Oh, 'gator hunting."
"Get any?"
"I have cleaned them out."
The guide laughed.
"I reckon if you were to go swimming in there you'd change your mind.
They are moving back and forth all the time. It would take your time
for the next several years to clean them out of this river. Remember,
we start early in the morning for the hunting grounds."
Early in the morning meant just as the dawn was graying in the east,
and before the light really had filtered through the tall cypress.
All the boys turned out cheerfully, including Chunky, who didn't
utter a grumble. Ned said Chunky must be sick, but Chunky declared
that he always got up that way, and that it was Ned who was so grouchy
that he thought everyone else was. The other boys mischievously sided
with Stacy and against Ned Rector.
After a hasty breakfast a light pack of food was stowed in the
pockets of the saddles, and the boys jogged from the camp, leaving
Ichabod in sole charge. Lilly rode ahead, slashing as usual, Chunky
being sandwiched between Tad and the Professor.
The "bear sign" had been discovered in the canebrake about three
miles from camp. It was to this point that the guide was heading.
Arriving there he called the party about him for their instructions.
They were to split up, and at least two of them were to pass through
an exciting experience ere they returned to their camp on Sunflower
River.