A SUCCESSFUL BATTLE.
Hamp and Brick obeyed orders to the letter. Each carried a rifle, a
shotgun and a hunting knife, and each had a pocketful of shells.
The thought of what lay before them lent feverish speed to the boys'
weary feet. Ten minutes of stiff climbing brought them to the top of the
hill. They had taken their snowshoes off, and at present they had no
need of them. Owing to the high wind that prevailed during the storm,
there was not even a sprinkling of snow on the ridge.
They hurried along the rocky pathway, taking good care, however, to
tread on no dry twigs or branches. They could see nothing below them,
owing to the dense foliage. To right and left lay an equally deep and
gloomy ravine.
When the young hunters were a quarter of a mile beyond the spot where
Jerry was waiting, as nearly as they could judge, the top of the hill
suddenly began to drop downward in steep jumps. Then it sloped more
easily, and finally terminated on the brink of a flat, egg-shaped basin,
surrounded by hills.
It was a weird and dreary place, and the boys surveyed it for a moment
with vague feeling of abhorrence. Then they hastily strapped on
their snowshoes, and turned to the mouth of the valley, which was a few
yards to their left. They posted themselves behind rocks, on opposite
sides of the narrow pass. In between lay scrub bushes and the now frozen
bed of the stream.
"Got both your guns loaded?" Hamp called across, in a loud whisper.
"Yes; I'm ready," Brick replied.
His rifle was in his arms, and the shotgun stood beside him.
"How long do you think we'll have to wait?" he added.
"Not long," answered Hamp. "The thirty-five minutes are surely up by
this time. I'll bet Jerry is stalking the herd."
An interval of waiting dragged slowly by. The boys became fidgety and
restless. They imagined that something had happened to their companion.
Bang! the thunderous roar of a shotgun suddenly reverberated down the
ravine. The boys jumped with surprise, and nervously clutched their
weapons. They gazed eagerly up the valley.
"Now look out," cried Hamp. "They'll be here in a minute. Keep cool, old
fellow, and aim straight."
"I'll do my best," replied Brick. "You take the first one, and I'll pick
out one of the rest."
"All right," Hamp whispered.
Just then a loud halloo was heard up the valley, and an instant later
the crunching of hoofs and the threshing of bushes rose near by. Now the
herd burst into sight, and it was an unexpected surprise to the boys to
see eight fat deer leaping onward through the narrow pass.
Bang! went Hamp's rifle, and the leader of the herd, a huge buck,
dropped dead in his tracks.
Brick also singled out a buck, but excitement unsteadied his hand, and
he merely wounded the animal in the hind flank. As the rest of the herd
scurried by, the lads fired several shots apiece, but without visible
effect.
Then they sprang out from cover, well content with what they had
accomplished.
The wounded buck had toppled over, but at sight of his enemies he
staggered to his feet, and made a rush on three legs for Hamp, snorting
savagely. The lad had just time to dodge behind the rock. Indeed, his
escape from the antlers was very close.
The buck then turned and went for Brick, who skillfully and coolly
ended its career with a charge of heavy shot.
"Hurrah! two dead," cried Hamp, as he left his place of shelter. "What a
streak of luck!"
"Isn't it glorious?" answered Brick. "Jerry will hardly believe his eyes
when he gets here. Say, look there," he added, in a loud and excited
voice.
Hamp looked and uttered a yell of delight. Then both lads rushed toward
the mouth of the valley, taking great strides over the snow.
What they saw was a fat doe struggling across the center of the swamp.
At every step her hoofs broke through the crust, and she was making
but feeble progress. The rest of the herd had wisely swung aside into
the forest, and were long since out of sight.
Their snowshoes carried the lads swiftly forward, and they were quickly
within close range of the animal. Two shots were fired, and the deer
rolled over lifeless.
"We've bagged three!" exclaimed Hamp. "Just think of it!"
"It's a great haul," repied Brick; "but we're in pretty much the same
fix as the man who had an elephant on his hands. How are we going to
carry all this game?"
"Yes--how?" echoed Hamp.
The problem was left unsolved, for just then a hearty cheer rang on the
air. The boys hurried back to the mouth of the valley, reaching there
just as Jerry emerged from the bushes. His eyes opened wide with
amazement when he saw the dead bucks. Then he spied the body of the doe,
and simply gasped with open mouth.
"You--you fellows," he stammered. "Why, I can hardly believe it. I
thought you might knock over one between you--but three! Great
Jehosaphat!"
"Oh! we've got it down fine," laughed Brick. "But how did you make out?"
"I killed a good-sized doe," replied Jerry. "It was a long-range shot,
and I'm rather proud of it. I couldn't get very close to the herd on
account of the wind."
As he spoke a rasping cry floated toward the mouth of the valley. The
startled boys looked out on the swamp, but could see nothing.
"Some animal is lurking in the scrub," exclaimed Hamp. "Attend to your
guns, fellows."
"I hope it's not a catamount," said Brick.
"As likely as not it is," replied Jerry.
The question was not long in doubt. With a whining cry, a good-sized
wildcat sprang from a clump of alder bushes just beyond the dead deer.
It pounced upon the body, and began to rend it with teeth and claws.
"Did you ever see such impudence?" exclaimed Jerry, half angrily. "Come
on; we'll give the little brute a settler."
The boys moved forward, and not until they reached the edge of the swamp
did the wildcat become aware of their presence in the neighborhood. The
creature was evidently half famished, and, having found a meal to its
liking, it was determined to hold on to it. It stopped eating, and
glared at the intruders with a ferocious snarl.
"Watch sharp, now," cautioned Jerry. "We'll go pretty close, so as not
to run the chance of missing. I'll kill him with a rifle. If we all
fire, the skin will be ruined, and it's well worth saving."
This was agreed to. The wildcat remained on the body of the deer until
the boys were within four yards. Then it bounded forward six feet, and
crouched for another spring.
Jerry took hasty aim, and pulled trigger. The creature was already in
air when the shot rang out, and, more by luck than skill, the ball
passed through its head. It landed on the snow with a convulsive gasp,
and rolled over lifeless at Brick's feet.
"Pretty close quarters," remarked Jerry. "A miss is as good as a mile,
though. Now we've got a skin that is worth keeping."
"This is the sort of hunting I used to read about in books," exclaimed
Brick. "Four deer and a catamount. Just think of it. I'm afraid I'll
wake up and find I've been dreaming."
The others laughed, and Hamp playfully pinched Brick's arm.
"We've got to stir ourselves now," said Jerry. "In about an hour and a
half it will be dark. The mouth of the valley will make a good
camping-place, and after we've brought down the sleds and my deer, we'll
build a blazing fire. Then we'll skin the wildcat, and get the deer
swung up to the branches of some of these trees. We won't do anything
more to them until morning."
"Except cut some steaks off for supper," added Brick, in a hungry tone.
"Don't be worried," Jerry replied. "I'll give you a supper fit for a
king to-night."
"But what in the world will we ever do with all this venison?" asked
Hamp. "It will make an awful pile, even when it is cut up."
"It certainly will," admitted Jerry. "There's only one thing to do that
I can see. We'll take what we can to Chesumcook to-morrow, and when we
get a camp picked out, we'll come back for the rest with two empty
sleds."
This sounded practical, and the matter was dropped. The boys hurried up
the valley, and presently came to the deer which Jerry had shot. It was
a fine, plump animal, and lay in the very center of the salt lick. Two
minutes later they reached the spot where the successful hunt had been
planned.
As they emerged from the bushes they made a startling and mysterious
discovery. The sleds were gone.