THE FIRST CAMPFIRE
“Oh! what’s that?” gasped Perk.
“Stand perfectly still, everybody, or he may jump at us!” commanded
the leader.
“A whopping big cat, for a fact!” muttered Wee Willie, fumbling
about his waist, where he usually carried a homely so-called
“hunting knife” in a leather sheath, when on the hike.
“See his yellow and green eyes, will you!” muttered Amos. “He acts
as if as mad as hops because we came along. What ails him, do you
think, Elmer?”
“I couldn’t say,” replied the other, softly, “unless this one
happens to be a mother cat, with kits somewhere close by. They say
such a varmint is always doubly dangerous to a man in the woods,
especially after nightfall sets in.”
“What’ll we do about it—back out?” came in Perk’s quavering voice.
“I’d hate to do that, for fear of losing the trail,” said Elmer.
“But we’d get clawed up something fierce, wouldn’t we, if it came to
a fight with the savage critter? Just listen to the snarls, will
you?” the stout boy went on to say.
“Hold on!” suddenly remarked Amos; “leave it all to me, and I think
I can do the business. Just keep quiet for a minute or so, and then
see what’s going to happen.”
He was heard fumbling with some of the stuff he carried.
“You haven’t got a gun along now, have you, Amos?” asked Perk, with
possible visions of a wounded wildcat charging them, and committing
more or less scratching and biting before giving up the ghost.
“Something a heap better’n that,” panted Amos, himself excited for
fear the enraged beast might leap before he got his plans ready for
carrying out. “There, now I’ve got the thing loose; give me just
time enough to put a cartridge in place. Don’t be startled, fellows,
when I pull the trigger. It’s my camera flashlight I’m going to work
on the old rascal. Steady now!”
“Oh!” gasped Perk, comprehendingly.
[Illustration: “A whopping big cat, for a fact!”]
Even as he made this sound there came a dazzling flare that caused
every one to blink as if half blinded; indeed, a flash of lightning
could not have had a more startling effect.
“He jumped!” cried Perk, “but away from us! You certainly gave him
the scare of his life, Amos, with your bully camera outfit. Let’s be
pushing along, boys; somehow I don’t quite like this section of
woods very much.”
No one made any objection, and so the march was resumed. It might
have been noticed, however, that Perk made it a point not to lag
behind. He was continually imagining he saw crouching figures on
many a low hanging limb when Elmer’s light moved this way and that.
So they proceeded until finally Elmer announced that according to
his belief they were close to their destination.
“Thank you for saying that, Elmer,” remarked Perk, whole-heartedly,
as if he had never listened to more delightful words.
“Yes, here’s the river on our left,” added Wee Willie,
encouragingly; “and it looks to me as if we might be rounding the
bend right now.”
“Just what we are,” affirmed Amos. “A bit back we were heading due
east, and now our course is almost north.”
“Well, there’s the old moon going peeking up on the right,” Perk
commented, cheerily. “I can’t remember a time I felt happier to
glimpse her smiling face. I’m tired of seeing things lying in wait
for us. Ugh!”
Indeed, all of them felt somewhat the same way, so that when the
moon was discovered through the aisles of the forest her appearance
was greeted joyfully.
“Keep your eyes on the lookout for any signs of the old cabin,”
Elmer warned his three chums. “It would be a joke on us if we went
past without discovering it. But I’ve a notion this dim trail ought
to lead straight to the door.”
Accordingly four pairs of eager eyes kept on the alert every minute
of the time, and presently Wee Willie, who possessed remarkably keen
vision, made an eager announcement.
“There, over a little to the left—I’m sure it must be a shack under
that big tree!” he hastened to say.
“Something moved just then; didn’t you see it slip away?” Perk added
in a thrilling whisper.
“You’re still dreaming of cats by the wholesale, Perk!” chided the
tall chum, disdainfully.
“It was _something_ that seemed to double over, and disappear back
in the shadows!” sturdily declared the stout boy; “mebbe only a dog,
though!”
“And what would any dog be doing away up here?” demanded Wee Willie.
“Well, I’ve heard of wild dogs, that have run away from some farm,
and taken to living like their ancestors did by the chase,” Perk
maintained.
“You only imagined you saw something, so forget it, please,” the
other assured him. “Now, here’s the cabin, let’s see what she looks
like, Elmer!”
By making good use of his little hand torch the leader was able to
do as requested. They all stared eagerly, and then Wee Willie gave
vent to a grunt of disappointment.
“Huh! a rickety old shack it is, believe me, boys!” he grumbled.
“The door hangs on one rusty hinge; and it looks to me as if the
roof might be as full of holes as a housewife’s sieve. Say, just
imagine a bally storm hitting us when cooped up in this rotten crib!
We’d get soaked to the bone, chances are. I think we’d be sensible
to make a brush shanty. Besides, now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the
old cabin was haunted.”
“Oh! what makes you believe so?” demanded the thrilled Perk, his
thoughts possibly flying back to the flitting shadow he believed he
had detected at the time of their arrival on the scene.
“Never mind what he says, Perk,” soothed Elmer. “Here’s the cabin,
and if it is rather dilapidated, what’s to hinder our mending the
roof to-morrow, I’d like to know? Not much sign of rain to-night, as
far as I can see.”
“It’s all right, boys,” Amos now went on to say, cheerily; “let’s go
inside and get shut of these pesky packs. My shoulders feel raw from
carrying such a load for miles and miles. Mine must weigh twice as
much as when we started out.”
“Oh, easily four times that,” chanted Perk, eagerly. “There’s one
good thing, though, they’ll be heaps and heaps lighter going back
home.”
“Sure thing, if your appetite is what it’s usually been, Perk,”
chuckled Wee Willie, as he pushed after Elmer, who had started to
enter the abandoned cabin.
“Drop the things here, and let’s get a fire started as soon as we
can,” suggested Elmer.
“Indoors or out?” demanded Wee Willie, as though by rights he took
that order on his shoulders; for it happened that he had long been
known as a veritable “crank” when it came to building fires, and
could manage to accomplish this result without the use of matches in
half a dozen different ways, some of them really wonderful.
“Outside for this time might be better, as the night is so warm, and
we don’t want to take chances of burning our shelter down about our
ears,” he was told.
That was enough for the tall chum, who tossing down his pack
borrowed Elmer’s hand torch so as to be able to gather some wood,
and passing out, proceeded to business. Perk pulled out a fragment
of a candle, purloined from home, which he lighted, and set on the
gaping hearth.
“It isn’t much of a glim, but better than nothing at all,” he
hastened to say in apology. “I always carry some fag-ends of candles
when I’m out camping; you never know when you’ll need such things in
a hurry. Whew! so this is the shack that gave the place the name of
Log Cabin Bend? You c’n see the stars through the holes in the roof,
for a fact.”
“We’ll mend that in the morning, Perk, so quit poking fun at our
palatial abode,” chided Amos. “And if you asked me, I’d say there’s
no apparent reason why we shouldn’t make ourselves mighty comfy
here, given a little time, and some elbow grease.”
Already had the fire-maker managed to start his blaze, though likely
enough he did not scorn to make use of a plain every-day match on
this special occasion, knowing it was hardly the time for any
“fiddling” with tedious methods of inducing a spark, coaxed into
being by means of flint and steel, or some other aboriginal method
of procedure.
As the flames leaped up, seizing on the dry wood Wee Willie had
arranged so cleverly, the glow attracted the others, who came
trooping out, showing by their actions how pleased they were to be
finally free from their burdens.
“The first campfire for this outing!” remarked Perk, his round face
aglow, while his eyes sparkled with satisfaction. “And how long will
it be before your fire is fit for cooking over, Wee Willie?”
The other gave him a queer look, and seemed on the point of saying
something sharp, but restrained himself.
“Right soon, so you might as well be getting the ham and eggs and
coffee out of the packs, fellows. Say, I’m as hungry as a homeless
dog; so be sure you cook double rations, Perk.”
“Leave that to me,” chuckled the other, ambling back inside the
cabin in order to round up the necessary cooking implements and then
root out the ingredients of the first meal in camp.
Elmer walked about meanwhile as though investigating the
surroundings, so as to figure on what they would find it necessary
to do in order to make the old shack habitable. Several times Wee
Willie glanced toward the other as though he might have something on
his mind. Finally he arose from his knees and joined Elmer.
“Noticed you sniffing like you suspected there might be a skunk in
the offing?” he finally remarked. “Fact is, I thought myself there
was a queer kind of odor around here, inside the cabin in
particular.”
“That’s the idea I had,” assented Elmer, softly, “but this isn’t
anything in the line of a polecat; if you asked me I’d say it was
some sort of villainous tobacco, such as a tramp might pick up in a
wayside field, and smoke in his pipe as he lay around after his
supper!”
“By George, fellows! there goes somebody now! I’m _sure_ I saw him
this time!” said Perk excitedly, coming through the door and
pointing through a dusky lane of trees. “Now tell me again that I am
only imagining things!”