WHEN FRANK STOOD GUARD.
Pretty soon things began to look fairly cheerful in that lonely glade
situated in the heart of the tropical forest. A fine fire crackled and
shot up its red flames, lighting up the opening in which the young
aviators had so luckily alighted.
Andy was bending over the fire making a pot of coffee, for they had
brought along with them the necessary cooking utensils, including a
frying pan, not knowing how long they might be adrift in the wilderness,
far from the domicile of any human being.
"How do you find it?" he sang out, for his chum had been examining the
aeroplane as well as possible under the circumstances.
"Everything seems to be hunky-dory," came the reply. "I'm going to start
up the engine now to see if it works without a hitch."
"Don't I hope so," was what Andy said, as he paused in his task to
watch.
A minute afterward he gave a little cheer, as the familiar throbbing
sound was heard, making the sweetest music that ever greeted the
listening ear of an aviator.
"That sounds good to me, Frank!" he cried.
"Nothing wrong about it, thank goodness!" came the reply of the other,
as he again shut off power, because they could not afford to waste a
drop of their valuable supply of gasoline.
"Well, suppose you drop in here and sample this brand of coffee. What
with the cold snack we brought, and which still holds out, we ought to
get along right decently, Frank."
"I tell you right now," replied the other, as he came up, "I'm hungry
enough to eat anything going; yes, even some of our native cook's worst
garlic-scented messes. And that coffee just seems to make me wild. Shove
a cup over this way as quick as you know how, brother. Yum, yum, that
goes straight to the spot. And this cheese and crackers isn't half way
bad, even if it is pilot biscuit."
"Well," said Andy, "ain't you a pilot all right, and don't they feed
sailors on this hard tack generally? Sure we've got no kick coming.
Everything is to the mustard, and if you asked me my opinion right now
I'd say things are coming our way."
"Listen to that chorus, would you?" remarked Frank, as various sounds
arose all through the dense timber around them; "they seem to be heading
this way sure enough."
At that Andy reached again for the gun on which he seemed to depend so
much.
"Well, if any of 'em take a sneaking notion to look in on us, why I'm
meaning to use up a few of these flat-nosed cartridges in this six-shot
magazine," he remarked, sturdily, as he glanced cautiously around.
"No fear of that now," said his chum, reassuringly. "The danger will
come, if it does at all, later on, when we have more trouble keeping the
fire going. So after we get this supper down we shall have to gather
fuel. It may not be quite so nice to go after it when we see a line of
yellow eyes watching all around."
"Oh, shucks! You're just stringing me now, Frank. If I really thought
they'd be as bold as that, why I'd climb a tree, that's what."
"What good would that do, tell me?" jeered the other. "Why, these cats
just live in trees and can leap twenty feet if they can one. Perhaps if
you found a hollow tree now you might feel safe, but in the branches of
one--never! Why, the monkeys would come and laugh at you. The ground
is the best place for us, after all, Andy."
"More coffee in the pot, if you ain't afraid of staying awake,"
suggested the cook.
"That would just suit me, for you see I'm more afraid of going to sleep
than anything else while on guard duty," Frank remarked, soberly.
By degrees Andy realized that this business of camping in the heart of a
tropical forest was no laughing matter. Still, they had escaped so many
threatening perils that he was beginning to believe they must be under
the protecting wing of some favoring god and that success lay just
ahead.
They sat up and talked for a long time. Neither would admit being at
all sleepy, and yet Frank caught his chum yawning ever so many times.
"Here, you, just make up your mind to turn in and get seven winks," he
said, pretending to be giving orders with all the airs of a commanding
officer.
"I suppose I'll just have to," came the reply, as the other started to
roll up close to the fire, for they had no blankets with them this
time. "Do you know I was just thinking about Puss."
"Well, what of him?" asked Frank.
"What if they start to chase us again in the morning? Are we going to
put up with that funny business right along? I say no. Let's warn 'em
that we're armed and can bore a hole right through their jolly old
biplane, upsetting them any time they get close enough. I'm drawing the
line on tomorrow, because somehow I feel it in here that it's going to
be the greatest day of my life," and Andy laid his hand on his heart as
he spoke.
"Yes, that would be our best plan," admitted Frank. "We've already stood
quite enough of that funny business, as you call it. They even fired at
us. Depend on it, Andy, they won't follow us very far next time."
And Andy, seeing the way his chum's mouth was firmly set, made up his
mind that Frank had reached the end of his patience. Contented with the
prospects for the morrow he therefore lay down to get some sleep.
"I say, Frank," he called out presently.
"Well, what now?" asked the one on guard, who had possession of the
rifle and had taken up his position so that he could have a clear view
of the open space all about the camp.
"If one of the prowlers tries to drag me off, remember I've got my leg
tied to this stake I knocked into the ground. While he's tugging you can
have a bully good chance to knock him over, see?"
"All right," grinned Frank. "I'll remember. But let out a whoop if you
feel yourself going. I might be looking the other way."
"You just bet I will," mumbled Andy, curling himself up as near the fire
as he dared creep.
And in three minutes Frank knew from the heavy breathing coming from
that quarter, that his chum had found no trouble in getting to sleep,
regardless of the various sounds welling up from the neighboring forest,
and the fears that possessed his boyish soul.
Frank sometimes sat down; and again, feeling cramped in this position,
he would rise to his feet, and walk back and forth. But all the time he
kept the gun in his possession, with the hammer pulled back, ready for
business. And constantly did he maintain a close watch along the nearer
border of the undergrowth that lay there, so dense and filled with
mystery.
Time passed on.
It seemed as though a thousand things flitted through the active mind of
the young aviator as he thus stood guard over the camp. Once again he
was back in good old Bloomsbury, where he had spent so many happy
days. He could see the faces of his boyhood friends, Larry, Elephant and
others.
Frequently he would detect a movement here or there among the trees; and
at such times he could easily imagine that some animal belonging to the
forest was creeping closer in. The question was, whether simple
curiosity urged them to do this thing, or a design upon the occupants of
the camp.
Frank had been in other situations calling for considerable pluck, and
never failed to meet the emergency, nor did he now.
It must have been some three hours back that Andy lay down to
sleep. That had been the limit of time arranged upon; but Frank did not
show any signs of intending to awaken the other.
"Let him sleep," he said to himself, as he walked up and down, for by
now he was beginning to feel very drowsy himself, in spite of the
coffee. "He needs it more than I do. And besides, I'm a little dubious
as to what sort of watch Andy would keep. Anyhow, I can stand it a while
longer. Hello! what's that mean?"
His attention had been attracted toward a movement in the brush at the
nearest point of the forest. It was not thirty feet distant. Could one
of those long-bodied muscular jaguars cover that distance in a wild
leap? What if without warning he should see a tawny figure flashing
through the air, and headed straight for him?
Frank threw the gun up to his shoulder as if to try and see how readily
he could cover such a flying form. As he did so he heard a low and
ominous growl, which undoubtedly sprang from the very spot where he had
just caught that suspicious movement.
He bent his head to look closer, and as he did so an exclamation fell
from his lips.
"And that's no owl staring at me, either," he said to himself, as he
caught the singular glow of what seemed like two balls of fire, just
under the lower growth.
Frank knew what they undoubtedly must be. He had seen the orbs of a cat
shine in this phosphorescent way in the darkness. There could be no
doubt but that he was being surveyed by one of those savage beasts whose
whining he and Andy had heard around the camp for hours.
"And I declare if that purring sound doesn't come from there, too," he
muttered, as he sank down upon one knee, the better to aim his
rifle. "What was that the old señor was telling me about these beasts?
Didn't he say they jerked their tail to and fro like a pendulum, and
made a queer noise just before they jumped? If that is so then this
fellow is getting ready to leap over right now. Time I was doing
something, if I don't want him to drop on my chum like a rubber
ball. Well, here goes to take him between those yellow eyes. Steady now,
my boy, steady!"