EVIDENCE THAT TALKED
“Now tell us about Gabe, and how he came to be run out of the Woodstock
camp?” asked Teddy.
“Why, it was this way,” began Amos, without the slightest hesitation;
“he’d been known as the bully for years and years. Many’s the man he
knocked down, and beat up terrible like, just for crossing him. They
were that afraid of Gabe, that when he told a silly story everybody
just roared. And I take it there ain’t anything to beat that, to
show how one man lords it over twenty. But his time came,” and Amos
snickered, as though even the recollection of what he had witnessed
gave him the greatest pleasure.
“I suppose a bigger man than Gabe came to camp; and when set on, just
up and took him unawares?” suggested Dolph.
“Took him unawares goes,” replied the other, “but as for the rest, just
listen. You saw how Gabe, he looked at me lots of times uneasy like.
Guess he knew I’d be telling you all about his fall, after he went
away. Mebbe that helped to hurry him off, too, because I guess he ain’t
never gotten over being touchy on that sore spot. Notice that he’d had
his nose broke, didn’t you?”
“Why, yes, now that you mention it, there was a crook to it. Did the
new bully do that when he hit Gabe?” asked Teddy.
“It was like this,” continued Amos, soberly. “We had a little Swede
named Larz, the quietest and most peaceful man you ever saw. Nobody had
ever seen him lift a hand to hit anything. He used to do whatever he
was told by the rest, and since they took him to be just a good-natured
fellow, why I guess they imposed on him a heap.”
“Well, one night Gabe, who had been drinking, and was just wild for a
row with somebody, after trying all he could to get some of the men to
fight, picks on Larz. I think he struck him, and said something that
the Swede didn’t like one little bit. Just how he did it, nobody ever
knew. They heard the sound, and saw Big Gabe measure his length on the
floor, his head striking so hard that it must have made him see stars.
He started to get up, and was knocked flat again. And before Larz was
done, he’d made the big coward, who turned out to be only a bag of
wind, apologize to him before the whole shouting crowd.”
“And after that, of course, Gabe never dared stay in camp a day. And he
quit the company too. They called Larz the Terrible Swede after that;
but the man became just as quiet as ever, and refused to take the place
vacated by the bully. That was about two years ago; and I haven’t set
eyes on Gabe till tonight. But I did hear he was doing all sorts of
things, from shooting game out of season, to netting bass when the game
and fish warden was far away and selling ’em in the towns. And now you
know all about him, as far as I can tell you.”
Of course, both the other boys laughed heartily at the idea of that
husky logger being whipped by a mild-mannered, inoffensive man half his
size.
“These Swedes can go the limit when they get their mad up,” Teddy
remarked. “We have a number working for us; and such dare-devil fellows
you never saw. Why, they think nothing of risking their lives in a log
jam; and hardly a year passes but what a number of serious accidents do
occur to them at one time or another. Sometimes it’s a tree falls on a
man; then again a slip of the ax cuts his foot terribly; and in spring,
when the freshet comes, and the logs start down, you just ought to see
what goes on. They’re a hard lot, it’s true, but a braver batch of men
it’d be impossible to find.”
“I’d have given a lot to have had a picture of that little scrap,”
remarked Dolph, who was fond of taking snapshots with a kodak he
carried.
“Well,” continued Amos, “you’d have had a fine chance at the time
little Larz was sitting on Gabe, and pounding him for keeps, until he
made him roar out that he’d had enough, and took back everything he’d
said. I’ll never forget it. Gabe won’t either, though he never went
back to get satisfaction being afraid that there were too many of that
logging crew who had a bone to pick with him.”
“Yes, and I suppose nine out of ten believed they could down him, after
the little Swede had shown them the way,” added Dolph.
“Now, about keeping an eye on our stuff tonight; how had we better
arrange it?” asked Teddy.
“I could stay up on the watch,” remarked Amos.
“Yes, one-third of the time, and that’s all,” the other quickly
observed. “You had it even harder than either of us, paddling against
that current; because there were two in our boat to change about. And
you’ve got to have some rest, as well as us. So here is what we’ll do;
divide up the time between now and dawn into three parts. I’ll stand
guard the first watch; then I’ll wake up Amos, and he’ll surely promise
to give you a punch when his time is out. Get that, fellows?”
“Suits me all right,” declared Dolph; “and I don’t want any funny
business, either, about getting me up. I’d be as mad as a wet hen if
Amos lets me sleep on, and in that way cheated me out of my rights. We
agreed when we started out on this trip it was going to be share and
share alike, and no favors shown. Shall we crawl in now, Teddy, and
leave you to yourself?”
“Yes; but remember to take my gun, everybody. He seemed to like it
better than yours, Dolph,” the lumberman’s son went on to remark.
“Showed his good sense, that’s all; I’m not stuck on this gun half so
much as I used to be. If it goes back on me again, I’ll throw it away
after this trip, and get one like yours, Teddy. Come on, Amos, it’s
us to snatch a few winks, while our brave chum mounts guards over our
possessions.”
Dolph was undeniably tired enough to welcome the chance for some
hours’ sleep. And it seemed to him that his head had hardly hit the
pillow, which consisted of a bag filled with the same kind of stuff
that constituted their beds, hemlock browse, stripped by hand from its
attendant stems, than he lost consciousness.
He was suddenly aroused by a tremendous bang; and although for the
moment Dolph found himself unable to place himself, some sort of
intuition caused him to feel for his gun, and crawl hastily out of the
tent.
Amos had been just ahead of him, and was on his feet as Dolph appeared.
“What is it; more cats invading us?” demanded the latter, when he saw
the figure of Teddy just beyond the fire, in the act of half raising
his gun, as if tempted to shoot again.
The other was laughing as if there might be something of a joke.
“No cats this time,” he replied; “unless you choose to call two-legged
thieves by that name.”
“Whew! did he come back, then?” gasped Dolph, as he suddenly remembered
their unwelcome visitor of the earlier evening, and the suspicion they
had entertained as to his thievish propensities.
“I heard a sound as of somebody or _some thing_ creeping through
the bushes,” declared Teddy, “and making as sure as I could of the
direction, I let one shot go.”
“Did he yelp?” demanded Amos, grinning as he remembered the fine,
dust-like shot which the owner of the repeating gun had said he meant
to use.
“Well, I didn’t hear anything like that,” admitted Teddy. “If he got a
dose he sure knew how to keep a tight upper lip. But I felt certain I
heard a patter of feet on the pine needles, like somebody scooting off
in a big hurry. I was just thinking I’d like to give him another shot,
when you came out and interrupted me. Now it’s too late, because he’s
gone.”
“But you ain’t sure of it, are you?” asked Dolph.
“Well, I’m just dead certain that I heard those sounds; but of course
it might have been some sort of animal pattering away. Tell you what,
we’ll light the lantern, and take a look over there where I fired.”
“Oh! do you expect to find drops of blood, or anything like that?”
asked Dolph, with a little catch in his voice.
“Hardly, but we might be able to run across a trail; and Amos here is
a pretty good hand at reading signs. Get some clothes on, both of you;
then we’ll take our lantern, and see.”
Apparently, then, Teddy must have considerable faith in the theory
he had advanced, since he was ready to put it to the test of an
examination. So both Dolph and the woods boy hastened to get their
missing garments, not being as warmly clad as they would like, when it
came to standing around in that night air.
Presently they made their reappearance again, and better prepared to
undertake the adventure which Teddy had proposed. He led them in a
direct line, as though he had been taking exact note, and knew where to
look.
“See here, you can see where my charge of shot cut through this lower
limb of this tree, and sent a lot of green stuff to the ground. But
I’m a little afraid, fellows, that we’re going to have some trouble
locating anything like footprints; because, you see, the ground’s as
hard as all get-out around here.”
Ten seconds later, and Teddy came to a stop.
“Now, as near as I could say,” he remarked, “this ought to be about
where he was at the time I fired. See anything, Amos?”
Carrying the lantern, the woods boy was carefully examining the ground.
He scratched his head as he looked up.
“Nothing doing yet, as I can see,” he remarked. “Just as you said,
Teddy, the ground is as hard as the mischief right here. I might come
on some sign where p’raps he broke off a twig when he hurried so, to
get away. That’s what I’m really looking for right now; something
that’ll tell there was a sneaker here.”
“Hope you find it, then, Amos,” said Teddy, who was more or less
chagrined because he had not been able, thus far, to advance the
necessary proof, in order to show he had not been mistaken in his
belief; and that it really was a man, probably Hackett, whose
retreating footsteps he claimed to have heard, after firing at random.
Amos did not give up so easily. He seemed to just _feel_ that there
should be some sort of evidence at hand, if one did not tire hunting
for the same. And so, holding his lantern low, he kept looking to the
right and to the left.
All at once the others heard him give an exclamation; and Teddy felt
that there was something akin to delight in the cry.
“Found the trail, have you, Amos?” he demanded joyously.
“No trail, but something better,” came the answer. “Come here, both of
you. What do you make that out to be?”
He pointed to some object on the ground. It looked like a bunch of
paper. Teddy bent down and secured possession of the thing, which he
instantly raised to his nose, as though anxious to make doubly sure.
“Some of our coffee, by the great horn spoon!” he exclaimed, “and since
we know who carried this away, stuck in his pocket, why, it ain’t a
hard thing to guess now, is it, that Big Gabe came back, meaning to
take away either one of our canoes, or, failing that, my dandy repeater
here. Well, I only hope he carried off some of the charge that was in
the barrel of this same gun.”
Solemnly the package was passed around, each of the others smelling
of it, and then nodding an assent to the explanation advanced by Teddy
Overton. The pretended hunter for wild ginseng had come back, filled
with a desire to lay hands on more of that delicious coffee, or some of
the other possessions of the camp mates.