HOOFS AND HORNS
"Get a move on, boys!" yelled Colon, as he unlimbered his long legs, on
which he had been coiled after the fashion of a tailor at work.
"Capture him!" shouted Corney Shays. "We ought to give him a licking if
he's hurt our boat!"
"First catch your rabbit!" warned another.
Everybody was on the jump, and it was a furious crowd that went rushing
down toward where the new shell had been laid, along the shore of the
river, at a point where a little beach offered an ideal spot for
launching.
"Where is he?" shouted several, as they drew near the spot, and failed
to discover the skulking figure of any enemy, trying to get away.
"I see him, fellow's; right there in that shadow!" cried Corney,
pointing.
"Surround the spot, boys; and if he makes a dash for it, Colon, we look
to you, with your sprinter legs, to overhaul the coward!" declared
Brad.
The lines were immediately extended so as to take in the dark spot
indicated; and every fellow gritted his teeth, indignant at the mean
trick being played by some unknown enemy, whereby perhaps harm was
intended their boat.
"Make him out yet, Corney?" asked one who was further removed.
"Sure I do," came the exultant answer. "We closed in around so fast he
didn't have sense enough to light out. Oh! we've got him cornered, all
right, boys. And won't we make him sick of his bargain though!"
"We ought to tie him up to a stake, and make him tell who sent him here
to stick a knife through our shell, ripping her wide open!" declared
Dick Hendricks, warmly.
"Is there more'n one feller in all Riverport that would get down low
enough to be back of a job like that?" asked Colon.
"Mebbe we don't know who you mean, but we think we do," sang out Sid
Wells; who had always been at loggersheads with Buck Lemington, from
the time they were, as Sid used to say, "knee high to grasshoppers."
"How about it now, Corney; is he there yet? Perhaps it was only a stump
you set eyes on," called another from the opposite side of the circle.
"Do stumps move, and duck their heads up and down?" asked Corney,
indignantly; "well, that's what this one is doing right now. Don't you
see him too, Brad?"
"I sure see something in that shadow, and it keeps right on moving,"
the one addressed replied, positively. "Hey Colon, suppose, now, you
run back to the fire and fetch us one of the blazing sticks you'll find
handy? We'll give this thief in the night a little illumination. He
thinks he can hide, does he; well, it's up to us to show him. Close up,
boys, and don't you let him have a chance to sneak it."
"He's our prisoner, all right, Brad; just you count on that," remarked
Corney, jubilantly. "Say, what we'll do to him will be aplenty. There,
didn't you see the way he yanked his head up that time? Reckon he's
beginning to get scared right now; and can you blame him."
"With all this crowd around," ventured Brad; "every fellow willing to
give him a punch to pay him up for what he tried to do to our
boat--well, I should guess not! Hurry along, Colon; that's the kind of
torch for you; just look at her blaze, will you?"
The long-legged boy came hurrying up, holding the burning stick in his
hand. And as he advanced closer to the spot where the suspected spy was
believed to be, the circle gradually narrowed, as the eager boys began
to push in.
"Wow! what do you think of that, now?" burst from Corney, as the light
gave a sudden flash, and plainly revealed the spot that had up to now
been in the shadows.
"It's an old red cow, and she's getting her dander up too, fellows,
because of all this noise, and the torch there! Look out if she charges
you; and run like everything! There she comes, fellows, like a tornado!
Run, boys! Scatter, to beat the band!"
It was Brad who gave this advice. He himself did not hesitate to take
it literally, for when the alarmed cow actually lowered her head,
whipped her tail around several times, and then made a lunge toward the
spot where Brad happened to be stationed, he whirled on his heels, and
fairly flew to place a tree between himself and the frightened animal.
Then there was a wild scene, every fellow being for himself. Colon
flung his blazing torch at the advancing beast, and with such good aim
that it actually came in contact with the cow's flank. Perhaps it
stung, or at any rate gave the beast a new spasm of fear, for there
immediately followed a fierce bellow, and the lunges grew more violent.
With flying tail and lowered horns the cow went charging past the
scattering boys. Luckily none of them was in her way, or they might
have been flung high in the air; since the most expert athlete among
them knew nothing about bull fighting.
"She's going to charge our tents!" shrieked Corney, who was part way up
a tree, so rapid had been his action after being warned by Brad of the
danger.
"Head her off, somebody!" whooped Colon, who, however, showed not the
least intention of doing anything in that line himself; for he had
found a convenient tree, that would afford plenty of shelter if
necessary, against the charge of half a dozen frightened cows.
If the animal headed directly toward the camp it was because she had
been so bewildered by the various shouts of the boys that she hardly
knew which way to turn, in order to escape from what she doubtless
considered an attack.
There came a crash.
"There goes one of the tents!" cried Colon; "that's because nobody
would do what I said, and head her off. Lots of you were closer than I
was. Anyhow, she's gone gallopin' away. Let's see what damage she did!"
Another torch was pulled from the fire; indeed, now that Colon had
shown the way, several of the others made haste to secure flaming
brands.
"Take care, there, and don't set anything afire!" warned Brad, seeing
that a few were inclined to be reckless; "there's quite a lot of dead
stuff around here, left over from last Fall. Look out how you handle
that torch boys!"
A hasty investigation disclosed the pleasing fact that no harm had come
to the racing shell through the wandering about of the grazing cow.
Then the campers set to work to get up the tent that had been knocked
over.
Of course the excitement died down presently, since there had been no
particular damage done, and the boat was uninjured. The boys sat around
for an hour or two, talking. Then some of them began to yawn, and to
examine the places inside the three tents where they had stowed their
blankets, carried along because the summer nights were apt to get cool
toward morning.
One by one they crept off, until by degrees the ranks were thinned down
to just three--Brad, Bristles and Fred. Even the captain of the club
finally declared he was done up with the exercise of the day, and might
as well "hunt up the soft side of a board," as he chose to remark;
though a soft blanket, doubled on the ground, was really the kind of
bed awaiting him.
Fred had a reason for waiting up. He had received a signal from
Bristles that the other wanted to speak with him in private; and
remembering that he had been made a sort of confident before by the boy
who was in trouble. Fred, though feeling very sleepy himself, sat it
out.
Bristles waited a few minutes after Brad had crawled into the nearest
tent. Apparently he did not want the others to overhear anything he
said to our hero. This caution on his part told the other that Bristles
must have more reason for feeling gloomy; though he had somehow kept
from saying anything all day.
Presently Fred saw him get up, and start around the now smouldering
camp fire, as if to join him; so he made a place on his blanket, which
he had brought out some time before, to sit upon.
"Did you want to see me about anything, Bristles?" Fred asked, as the
other dropped down close beside him.
"Yes, Fred," began the other, in a low voice; "you were so good to
stand up for me when I told you about those pesky opals, that I just
thought after all I'd let you know about some more that's happened."
Fred started, and looked uneasily at the other's long face.
"Does that mean, Bristles, your aunt has been missing more of her
precious stones?" he asked.
Bristles nodded his head in a forlorn fashion.
"Two of 'em gone this time, Fred, and I guess I'm the unluckiest feller
ever, because they disappeared yesterday afternoon; and mom sent me
over with a message to Aunt Alicia about four o'clock."