A PUGNACIOUS RATTLER
In good time they reached the narrow point on the animal trail which
marked the scene of their adventure with the rattlesnake. Perk, wishing
to be prepared for anything that might greet them, had picked up a stout
cudgel with which he believed he could give a good account of himself
should the occasion arise.
But they passed the place and he was beginning to breathe easier when he
was thrilled by a brisk and ominous sound from just ahead. Instinctively
Perk clutched his chum by the arm and dragged him back a pace although
this was really unnecessary, since Jack had stopped walking at the same
instant as Perk.
"Gosh all hemlock!" broke out Perk, "what d'ye think o' that--jest
awaitin' round for us to come along--what a 'commodatin' little pet he
is!"
Jack could see the suggestive bulk of the coiled snake lying on the
path, with scant room on either side for them to pass--oozy depths of
the swamp on one side and an angry rattler on the other.
"Just blocks our game whichever way you choose to look at it," chuckled
Jack with a shrug. "If we were monkeys, we could shin up a tree and
climb over to that other one beyond, but since we're neither simians nor
fox squirrels, we'll have to settle this thing some other way. Drop that
club, brother--it's too short for this business by three feet. To try
and use it on that chap you'd have to step up within range of his spring
and before you could get in your lick it'd all be over."
"Jest as you say, partner," remarked Perk, throwing the stocky club
away. "Wait up for me, Jack, an' don't let him skin out till I get back.
I saw a stick just back a bit that ought to fill the bill okay."
Jack stood on guard and waited but not for long, since Perk speedily
rejoined him, carrying a pole about eight feet in length and stout in
proportion.
"Careful how you work it," advised Jack, who would rather have done the
job himself but knew he would not be allowed by the ambitious one.
As Perk slowly advanced, waving his pole, the coiled serpent displayed
signs of redoubled anger--louder buzzed his rattle while he drew back
his flat head as though in readiness for action.
"Hold it there, buddy!" snapped Jack. "Now get a firm grip on your pole
and draw back for a vicious rap--you've got to get him square in the
middle and follow it up with more whacks in a big hurry. Don't step any
closer whatever you do. Now, give him fits, Perk!"
This the other proceeded to do with might and main. The sprightly buzz
suddenly ceased as the great folds of the monster began to squirm and
writhe--Perk lifted his pole and put in another blow for good measure.
"Huh!--guess now he's got his for keeps," gasped the victor in the
singular duel as he managed to get in a third and deciding stroke that
crushed the flat head of the reptile and forever ended its capacity for
business.
They were soon bending over the still squirming snake, Perk eagerly
measuring its length by footing it off and announcing it to be just one
inch over five feet.
"Gimme just a minute so's to whip off that bully rattle, partner," he
was saying as he produced a big pocketknife and opened its large blade.
"I want it to show if any guy ever questions the truth o' my yarn 'bout
these here Florida rattlers. There you are, an' now I'm ready to move
on. But we got to keep our eyes peeled, 'cause I been told these
critters nearly allers have a mate somewhere near by. An' I'm meanin' to
hang on to this bully pole, since we got to come back this way more'n a
few times, seems like."
Nothing else cropped up to disturb their peace of mind and in due time
the pair arrived at the secluded lagoon where they had left their
aircraft so artfully concealed. Apparently nothing had happened in this
quarter since they started forth on their mission, and yet what strange
things had they not seen inside those few hours.
"Seems like supper'd come in fair good jest new," Perk remarked after
they had climbed carefully aboard and were once more comfortably seated
in their accustomed places, "but sorry to say it's bound to be only a
'pology for real grub--dry fare and never even a drop o' water to wash
it down with." And he emitted a disgusted grunt, as if to display a
proper amount of displeasure over the doleful fact.
"I noticed a well of some sort just back of that shack," remarked Jack
as if he too, shared in this moan over the absence of drinking water.
"When we go back we'll try and snatch a drink apiece so as to take the
rusty feeling out of our throats. Until then we'll have to put up with
it, partner."
Necessity knows no law and so Perk was compelled to grin and bear it.
Just the same, as they were munching their simple fare,--and little of
that in the bargain--Jack could hear him muttering to himself and
chuckling from time to time as though he managed to squeeze more or less
pleasure in simply mulling over a multitude of his favorite dishes until
one would have imagined it was a waiter in a cheap eating joint down on
the Bowery enumerating what the house offered for dinner--_a la_ O.
Henry.
Later on Perk gave signs of being what he called dopey, whereupon Jack
asked whether he felt inclined to start out again or should it be left
to just one of them--meaning himself, of course,--to undertake the
further job of spying.
"Not much you don't monopolize the fun," Perk told him point blank. "I'm
bound to step along with you even if there'd be a legion o' them
rattlebugs lyin' in the trail awaitin' to sting us. When I get started
on anything I gen'rally keeps right on with it, even if I have to wade
through hell-fire. An' that goes, partner, see?"
"I knew you'd say that, brother," Jack assured him, seeing Perk act as
though hurt by the insinuation that anything would tempt him to let his
pal meet the danger alone. "If you feel a bit empty down below, just rub
your tummy briskly, then pull in your belt a notch or two and it'll make
you imagine you're full-up to the brim. I'll be ready to start off
inside another ten minutes."
Jack spent most of this time rummaging around in the locker where he
kept his own personal belongings. Perk knew when he got out that little
but valuable hand flashlight, by means of which they expected to be able
to keep on the winding and narrow trail when heading once more toward
the lonesome coquina shack on the border of the great inland sea.
"But I'm up in the air when it comes to knowin' what else he's stuck in
his pockets," Perk told himself, though somehow he managed to refrain
from asking questions nor did Jack seem anxious to enter into any
explanations.
"We'll leave things here all fixed so as to make a quick take-off," was
what the chief pilot remarked as they prepared to step ashore and while
he did not see fit to offer any explanation with regard to just what he
had in mind, Perk felt thrilled to believe there was already some daring
plan taking form in his comrade's wide-awake brain that might be carried
out if only the conditions seemed favorable, and the weather proved
considerate.
As they walked slowly along Jack kept frequently snapping his light on
and off so that they could take an instantaneous inventory of what lay
just beyond their feet for the night proved exceedingly dark although
all that would be changed after a while, when the late moon climbed into
sight.
Perk, just as he promised himself, had made certain to pick up that
serviceable pole with which he had dispatched the rattlesnake and this
he kept poking out ahead, as if to stir up any lurking reptile that
might be lying coiled in the path.
His nervousness increased as they drew near the spot where the one-sided
fight had taken place. He had apparently been brooding over the matter,
wondering if the mate of his victim could have come upon the scene of
the tragedy and sensing what had happened, was lurking thereabouts, bent
on exacting a terrible revenge in payment for the untimely demise of her
partner.
When he felt certain they had passed this particular narrow part of the
trail, Perk began to breathe easier, but he soon had reason to fear lest
he was crowing too soon for just then he felt Jack buck up against him
and heard him saying in a low but distinct voice:
"Hold up and listen, partner!"