CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN.
"HEY! what's all this mean; morning, and nobody woke me up, to let me
stand my trick at the wheel! I don't think you're treatin' me fair,
that's what, fellers!" and Bumpus Hawtree sat up, rubbing his eyes as he
looked around him in wonder.
The fact of the matter was it had been decided that they could get on
very well without calling on the fat boy to stand sentry duty. Most of
them knew how unreliable Bumpus was when it came to such things, no
matter how sincere his desire to please might be; and Thad had secretly
arranged to leave him out.
And so Bumpus had not known a single thing of what was going on until,
smelling the delightful fumes of boiling coffee, he had opened his eyes
to find most of his comrades moving about, and breakfast well on the
way, under the supervision of Giraffe and Allan.
"The whole blessed night gone, and me a sleepin' for all get-out,"
complained the stout member of the patrol, as he climbed to his feet,
and stretched. "Well, it looks good, anyway. Nothin' happened, after
all. Nobody ain't been kidnapped by the moonshiners, have they, because
I can count--what, there don't seem to be only seven here! Somebody's
gone, and yet I don't miss any familiar face."
"Oh! you only forgot to count yourself, Bumpus," laughed Thad.
"Well, that goes to show how modest I am, you see," chuckled the other,
as he started toward the spring to get the sleep out of his eyes by the
use of some cold water.
"Yes, as modest as a spring violet," sang out Step Hen; "but how about
that President Cornelius Jasper Hawtree business? Seems to me any feller
that hopes to assume that high office ain't so very retiring after all."
But Bumpus refused to be drawn into any discussion of his merits as a
candidate, at least so early in the morning. He came back presently,
asking for a towel, which he had forgotten to carry along with him. But
as breakfast was announced just about that time, everything else was
forgotten in the pleasant task of appeasing their clamorous appetites.
While they ate they talked, and many were the schemes invented by some
of the ingenious scouts, all looking to the undoing of the enemy, as
they chose to consider the combination of Reuben Sparks and Old Phin
Dady.
Bob asked that they remain over one more night in that camp, and there
was not a dissenting voice raised. They were fairly comfortable, and
their haversacks still held a certain amount of food; though Thad did
say some of them ought to go skirmishing in the direction of the houses
across the valley, to see if there was a chance for buying fresh eggs;
breakfast bacon; salt pork; or even grits, as the finer grade of hominy
is universally called throughout the entire South.
As for Bob and himself, Thad had laid out a little campaign for the day.
He believed that it might pay them to climb up the side of the mountain.
This would be looked upon by any of Old Phin's followers, should they
see the boys, as in keeping with what the patrol leader had told the
moonshiner about the doings and ambitions of Boy Scouts. There need not
be anything suspicious about such a move, when Thad had time and again
declared that one of the main objects of their selecting this part of
the country for their hike, had been the desire to climb mountains.
As to the benefits to be gained, they could at least have a good
birdseye view of the entire region, the queer bowl-shaped little valley,
at the further end of which nestled the pretentious house of Reuben
Sparks, and the nearby cabins; as well as the back trail.
Besides, possibly they might get some sort of information with regard to
what the moonshiners were doing. Most of these men lived in the little
ramshackle cabins they had occasionally passed on the mountain road;
where a few hens, a razor-back hog or two, and possibly a slab-sided
mule, constituted the sole possessions of the poor whites. But then,
others doubtless had homes deeper in the depths of the great elevations
that reared their rocky heads heavenward. These were the parties who,
like Old Phin himself, were in demand by the authorities, and who wanted
to take as few chances of arrest as possible.
No revenue men could very easily come into that well-watched region
without the keen eyes of a mountaineer noticing him. And often the crack
of a rifle would be the first sign the daring man might have that he was
discovered.
Bob was only too glad of a chance to get off in the company of Thad. He
wanted to talk over matters with the other very much, and find out just
what the patrol leader thought about the situation.
So, as they climbed steadily, though slowly, upward, they chatted in
low tones. Thad had warned his comrade that they must imagine an enemy
back of every tree, and act accordingly, so as not to betray themselves
by unwise talk.
It was rough going. Plenty of times they had to pull themselves up by
main muscular strength, over some rocky obstruction. Then again, perhaps
they would have it comparatively easy for a brief interval.
"Here's a plain trail leading upward," remarked Thad, whose eyes had
been on the lookout all the time. "Suppose we follow it some. Chances
are it'll be easier going, because whoever lives up here would know the
softest road."
"That's true," assented Bob; "but we'd best not keep on this same trail
too long."
"Why not?" asked the other, looking around at his chum.
"You must know that it sure leads, sooner or later, to some hidden cabin
of a man who's got some pretty good reason for keeping away from the
beaten road."
"Yes, I guessed that the first thing; and I suppose you mean he'd feel
angry some if he saw two fellows in uniform following his trail?" Thad
suggested.
"Angry--well, that hardly covers the ground," chuckled Bob. "When these
mountain men don't like a thing they start to shooting right off the
handle. Never waste time, suh, in asking questions; they judge things as
they see them, and act accordingly. And believe me, Thad, when their
guns speak, generally something goes down."
"Well, on the whole I think what you said carries so much weight with
me, Bob, that I've lost pretty much all interest in this same trail. It
don't look near so attractive as it did; and I wouldn't be surprised if
we'd make better time just keeping on straight up the face of the old
hill."
They looked at each other, and laughed softly, as though it was mutually
understood what meaning Thad intended to convey back of his words.
All the same the dangerous beaten track was immediately forsaken, and
once more they set out to climb straight upwards. Occasionally Bob, who
seemed more at home in this thing than his companion, as he had lived
among the mountains most of his young life; would discover that by
taking a side cut they could avoid a hard climb, and in that event the
direct line was changed to an oblique one.
The view was at times a fine one, with a stretch of the wild country
spread out before them like a panorama. Then again for a quarter of an
hour or more they would be unable to see anything, on account of the
formation of the mountainside, or it might be the presence of thick
foliage on the small trees growing in profusion all around them.
"So far we haven't seen the first sign of a living thing?" remarked
Thad, when they halted to get their breath.
"That's a fact, suh," agreed Bob White, "but we mustn't make up our
minds that we haven't been followed and watched at all times. These
mountain men can climb like goats, suh. It would make you stare to see
one of them go up a cliff that neither of us could dream of climbing.
They could keep us in sight right along, and believe me, we would never
know a thing about it."
"I can easily understand that, Bob. But it's some wilder up here than
ever I believed possible. I saw squirrels in plenty as we came along;
some birds flushed from alongside that bank that must have been
partridges; and right here's a bunch of feathers, showing where some
animal had a fine supper not long since."
Thad dropped down beside the telltale feathers that marked the end of a
game bird, and seemed to be examining the ground.
A minute later he looked up.
"I'm not as dead sure about this thing as Allan would be," Thad
remarked; "but it doesn't look like fox tracks to me. The claws are too
well defined; and I'm of the opinion that it might have been a wildcat,
if you happen to have such beasts here in the heart of the Blue Ridge."
"I reckon we do, suh, and mighty fierce fellows too," the Southern lad
made answer promptly; "I've myself met with one when out hunting, and
got him too, though he gave me a heap of trouble; and I was sore from
the scratches a whole week or so. No doubt you're right, and it was a
cat; though I'm surprised that he ate his catch on the ground, instead
of in the crotch of a tree."
"Perhaps he was too hungry to wait; or the bird tasted so good he just
had to pitch in right away," suggested Thad, picking up one of the
feathers, and sticking it in the cord of his campaign hat, boy fashion.
"It's getting pretty nigh dinner time," observed Bob, as he felt for the
package of food he had thrust into one of his pockets before starting
out, upon the suggestion of the patrol leader, who did not know just how
long a time they might be gone.
"Yes, and I suppose we've come up about as far as we ought," Thad added,
himself feeling the vigorous climb the more because his muscles were not
used to anything of that sort. "So, let's drop down right where we are.
It's a good enough lunching place. The cat thought so, you can see."
They soon settled in comfortable places, each with a tree to lean his
back against while he munched the dry sandwiches that had been hurriedly
put together, a little potted ham between crackers, with a slice of
cheese thrown in for good measure.
The sun felt warm overhead, but the atmosphere at this altitude was
bracing and refreshing indeed, as mountain air always is. The boys, as
they ate, talked incessantly, covering the ground of what they hoped to
accomplish, if fortune were only kind enough to favor them, and the
moonshiners to allow them to leave the mountains in peace.
Bob was explaining that after all it might be well for him to divide his
mission into two parts, and get Bertha disposed of, before thinking of
trying to find whether the mysterious prisoner of the moonshiners could
really be his dear father, when their conversation was interrupted by a
scream from a point close by.
The two boys sprang to their feet, and looked at each other blankly.
"That was a girl called out, Bob!" exclaimed Thad. "We can't tell but
what it may be a trap of some kind, but that's a chance we've just got
to take. Come on, and we'll soon see what it means!"