IN THE CAVE
The animal, in its death struggle, bit and clawed at the snow and bushes
about it, and actually came almost to the feet of the shrinking girls;
but they were safe from harm, for the shot had come just in time.
"I guess I'll have to give him another bullet," said the man who had
ended the career of the beast. "I'll put it out of its misery," and he
did so. The shot, so close at hand, caused Ruth and Alice to jump
nervously, and then, for the first time, as the beast stretched out, and
lay still, they took a look at their rescuer.
"Why it's Flaming Arrow!" exclaimed Alice, in delight.
"At your service!" he laughed. "I am glad I happened to be near here."
"So are we!" exclaimed Ruth, with a nervous laugh. "What sort of a beast
is that--a young bear?"
"No, it's a wildcat, and a mean sort of animal, once it attacks you.
This one must have felt that it was cornered, for they are not usually
so bold. It's a big one, though, and the pelt will make a fine rug for
your room. May I have the pleasure of sending it to you?" he asked.
"Oh, can you make it into a rug?" asked Alice.
"Yes, I know something of curing, and I have the materials at my shack
in the lumber camp. I'll make a rug for you, only I'm afraid it isn't
big enough for two," he said, ruefully.
"Oh, Alice may have it!" exclaimed Ruth, generously.
"Then I'll get another for you," offered Flaming Arrow. "They usually
travel in pairs, and the mate of this one is sure to be around
somewhere. I'll get him."
Later the Indian did get another wildcat, whether or not the mate of the
first one he shot could not be determined; but, at any rate, Ruth and
Alice each received a handsome fur rug for their room.
The sound of the shots brought up the others of the moving picture
company, and Paul turned rather pale when he realized the danger Alice
had been in.
"Why didn't you call for help?" he asked.
"We didn't need to. Flaming Arrow was right on the spot when he was
needed," replied Alice.
"I happened to be out on a little hunting trip," the Indian explained,
"and I saw the wildcat sneak in this thicket. I did not see the girls,
though, until just as it was about to jump on them. Then I fired."
"And just in time, too," declared Ruth. "Oh, if that beast had ever
jumped on me I don't know what I'd have done!"
"They're pretty bad scratchers," said Flaming Arrow. "I was clawed by
one once, and I carry the scars yet."
"Will you be able to go on with the play?" asked Mr. Pertell of the
girls, when he had heard the story.
"Oh, yes," returned Alice. "My nerves are all right now. We are getting
used to such experiences," she laughed.
"I am all right too," Ruth agreed. "But it was a trying moment."
Flaming Arrow stood to one side and looked on interestedly while the
remainder of the drama was being filmed, and then he showed the players
the road to his lumber camp. He invited them to come over to it, but as
the hour was late and as Mr. Pertell wanted to get a few more scenes in
a different locality, it was decided to defer the visit to some other
time.
Flaming Arrow said good-bye, and went off with the dead wild cat slung
over his shoulder.
"Isn't he just fine!" exclaimed Alice, as she watched him stalking over
the drifts on his snowshoes.
"I'm getting jealous!" laughed Paul, and there was more of meaning in
his remark than his outward manner indicated.
"Well, I do like him!" Alice went on. "He is so big and strong and
manly. And he can shoot straight!"
"Hereafter I'll bring along a gun every time we come out," vowed Paul.
"And I'm going to take shooting lessons."
"Yah! Dot vould be a goot t'ing," decided Mr. Switzer. "I gets me too a
gun!"
"Gracious! The game around here had better seek new quarters!" laughed
Alice. "Next we'll be having Mr. Bunn and Mr. Sneed taking up the
calling of Nimrod."
Mr. DeVere was rather disturbed when he heard the story of the wildcat,
and once more he spoke seriously of taking his daughters out of moving
picture work.
"I really am afraid something will happen to you," he said. "I think you
had better resign. I can earn enough for all of us now, for Mr. Pertell
has given me another advance in salary."
"Oh, Daddy! We simply couldn't give it up!" cried Alice. "Could we,
Ruth?"
"I wouldn't like to give it up," responded Ruth, quietly. She was always
less demonstrative than her sister. "And really, Daddy, we don't run
into danger."
"I know, my dear, but danger seems to have formed a habit, of late, of
seeking you out," said the actor. "However, we will wait a few days. I
suppose it would be too bad to disappoint Mr. Pertell now."
The next day, owing to a slight indisposition on the part of Miss
Pennington, a drama that included her as one of the cast had to be
postponed, and as no other was ready to be filmed, the players had a
little holiday.
"Who wants to come for a trip to the ice cave?" asked Russ, when he
found that he would not have to use his camera.
"What's the ice cave?" asked Ruth.
"Why, it's a cave made out of ice. There's one about two miles from
here, and Mr. Pertell is thinking of having some scenes made there. I'm
to go out and size up the situation. Want to come?"
"It sounds interesting," observed Ruth. "I believe I would like to go.
Shall we, Alice?"
"Indeed, yes."
"Count me in!" cried Paul.
So a little later the four young people set off for the ice cave. This
was a natural curiosity not far from Elk Lodge. Every year, at a
waterfall in a local stream, the ice piled up in fantastic shapes. The
flow of the water, and the effect of the wind, made a large hollow or
cave at the cascade large enough to hold several persons. Mr. Pertell
had heard of it and had laid one scene of a drama there.
There was a fairly good road almost to the ice cave, and then came a
trip across an unbroken expanse of snow, the snowshoes being used, they
having been carried strapped to the backs of the four.
"Oh, how beautiful!"
"See how the sun sparkles on the ice."
"And what big icicles!"
"Oh, if we could only keep that until Summer!"
Thus the young people cried as they saw the beautiful ice cave. It was
indeed a pretty sight. Nature, unaided, had done more than man could
ever hope to achieve.
"Let's go inside," suggested Russ.
"Will it be safe?" asked Ruth.
"Oh, surely. Why, we have to go in it when we make the moving picture,
so we might as well get used to it. They say this ice lasts nearly all
summer. It's down in a deep hollow, you see. Come on in."
"Go ahead! I'm game!" Paul said, grimly.
The girls hesitated, but only for a moment. Then they followed the young
men into the cavern.
The entrance was rather small, and they had to stoop to get through it,
but once inside the cave widened out until there was room for perhaps a
dozen persons.
"What a lovely place for a dance!" cried Alice, as she slid about. "It's
so slippery that you'd need those new slippers with rubber set in the
sole. Come, on, try a hesitation waltz," she cried gaily to Ruth.
Paul whistled one of the latest popular airs, and Ruth and Alice slid
about.
"Come on!" cried Paul to Russ. "I'm getting the craze, too."
The two young men danced together a moment, and then came an
interruption that caused them all to look at one another.
There was a grinding, crashing sound outside, and the next moment the
entrance to the cave was darkened.