WHAT SALLIE DID
Sallie seemed a long time in getting up on her knees. All the while,
too, she was keeping that watch upon the two men, as though the poor
little heart might be throbbing like mad for fear lest one of them
suddenly raise his head, and demand to know in gruff tones, why she was
leaving her blanket at that hour.
There could be only one explanation of her suspicious actions, Dolph
concluded; this was, that she had deliberately resolved to brave the
wrath of Big Gabe as well as her own ruffianly father, and help Amos
escape.
Dolph fairly held his breath with suspense when he grasped all that
she seemed bent upon accomplishing. At the same time he was saying to
himself in a whisper over and over again:
“Good for you, Sallie! Bulliest little girl I ever saw; don’t this beat
all, though!”
Sallie was now creeping away from her blanket. She certainly headed
straight for the spot where Amos was lying.
Turning his eyes in that direction Dolph saw the prisoner raise his
head. He seemed to be intently watching the silent advance of the girl,
as though, bound as he was, Amos understood what Sallie meant to do.
Something glittered in the hand of the child, as a tongue of flame
licked up a small bit of fuel that had dropped into the fire when a
log partly turned over. Dolph quickly guessed that it must be a knife,
though just where Sallie could have obtained the same he could not
imagine.
Here was a situation, dramatic enough to please the most critical.
No wonder, then, that the two boys hardly dared to breathe properly
as they watched the slow advance of the child of the lawless former
mink trapper, and now game poacher. No wonder Dolph, yes, and Teddy
too, blessed her mentally over and over, as she thus took her courage
in both hands and dared the wrath of the two rough men. She evidently
fully determined to assist the lad who had found the way to her poor
little heart through the fairy touch of his bow on the strings of the
old fiddle.
Perhaps she fancied that one of the sleepers moved, for suddenly Sallie
sank down flat upon the ground as though stricken with death, and lay
there while several full minutes passed.
Amos bobbed his head up again and again, as though he could not
understand just why the little girl had halted in her rescue work. He
seemed to have been expecting her coming, from which Dolph guessed that
Amos must have earlier in the night received some hint as to what he
might expect.
The alarm, however, proved to be without foundation, it seemed; for
presently Sallie was once more on the move, approaching now the
sprawling form of Big Gabe, who chanced to have cast himself down near
the prisoner, though perhaps after all it had been design on his part
that caused the timber cruiser to do this.
These sort of wood voyagers are accustomed to waking by instinct when
the fire burns low, and a chill pervades the air of the camp; the soft
footfall of a cat might arouse them.
And Sallie knew it.
Dolph remembered what his instructions had been. He was to make use
of his gun as a gentle persuader in case of trouble while Teddy was
creeping forward. Now that the task of setting Amos free had been
transferred to the shoulders of another there was just as much reason
for vigilance.
Accordingly, Dolph brought his gun to bear upon the burly figure of
Big Gabe. If that worthy had reared up at that particular moment, the
chances were the timber cruiser would have found himself precipitated
into a peck of trouble.
But now Sallie had managed to creep past the man who snored, as he lay
flat on his broad back. She was very close to Amos, who appeared to
be more or less nervous. Dolph could guess why. He understood that it
galled the woods boy to be compelled to lie there, incapable of helping
himself, and just wait to be set free by a small, weak girl.
Amos was proud and would feel the humiliation of this for many a day.
But of course he was too sensible a boy to refuse to profit by the
opportunity.
When the girl bent down beside the prisoner Dolph gave vent to a sigh
of genuine relief; for he had watched her slow and laborious progress
over the intervening ground with his heart almost in his throat, as
they say, with suspense.
She now seemed to be sleeping alongside Amos, but Dolph knew full well
that her knife must be diligently at work, sawing at the boy’s cruel
bonds.
Two, three minutes passed, and Dolph was beginning to grow impatient
for a movement to be made, when he saw Amos raise his head again, as if
for an observation.
This probably meant that he was free, so far as bonds went.
Would he hasten to slip quietly out of camp and leave the two rascals
in possession of the coveted Marlin repeater.
Dolph thought not.
He knew something of the stubborn disposition of his camp mate, and
would have been willing to risk considerable on his ability to guess
the next move of Amos.
As soon as the woods boy rolled gently over, it could be seen that he
was moving toward Big Gabe and not in the direction where freedom lay.
A couple of turns proved quite enough to carry Amos close up to where
the husky timber cruiser lay.
Big Gabe had an abiding faith in his ability to awaken should anything
amiss come about in camp. At the same time he possessed a still greater
confidence in the value of the up-to-date repeating gun that had so
fortunately fallen into his possession just when he wanted such a
weapon very much.
When he lay down to sleep, therefore, he had clutched the precious
Marlin as though he meant to make it his bed fellow.
While he slept, however, in tossing about uneasily, as men are apt
to do when suffering from a wound, for Big Gabe’s conscience never
troubled him the least bit, he had lost something of his grip on the
gun. It was now lying close to his person, but was not in his grasp.
It was possible by a deft movement, to lift the weapon without
disturbing the sleeper; and this was just what Amos meant to do.
When Dolph saw Amos thrust out an eager hand toward the gun, he thought
he should almost smother, and there was a ringing in his ears, as
though all the blood in his body rushed to his head.
And when the weapon was actually lifted, and clutched in the hands of
the backwoods boy, Dolph felt ready to almost swing his hat and shout
for joy.
Now things were beginning to look somewhat more rosy.
Big Gabe was shorn of his power; for even should he awaken at this
juncture, it would be to hear a steady voice demand that he hold his
hands up, and find himself staring into the black and threatening tube
of that reliable repeater, with the determined face of Amos pressed
against the stock.
Where would his forlorn old-fashioned Winchester be then, with a relay
of six shells to back the boy in his demand?
In that moment Dolph felt that the game was as good as won.
They might still have few minor difficulties to overcome, especially
if the two men happened to awaken before Amos quitted the camp. But on
the whole it looked as though a positive end had been put to Big Gabe’s
wonderful scheme to capture the millionaire’s son, and hold him for
ransom.
Amos was again rolling over, only this this time he went in the
opposite direction, and away from the sleeping men. Having secured the
coveted gun, it seemed that Amos felt no further desire to seek the
society of the fellow who had held possession of it.
When he reached the spot where the girl crouched, Amos paused. She had
watched his every move with deepest satisfaction, to judge from her
attitude as she knelt there.
Amos when he halted, seemed to be saying something to Sallie.
It was easy enough for Dolph to guess the nature of this whispered
communication, for the same idea had been in the mind of the watcher.
He was again endeavoring to influence the child to desert her evil
father, and go with himself and chums. No doubt Amos had talked it all
over with Sallie before, and she knew full well that these kind-hearted
boys would see that she arrived safely at her maternal grandmother’s
home in the Soo, if she but consented.
But from the emphatic way in which she shook her head it was evident
that Sallie had not changed her mind a particle, and could not be
convinced that her reprobate old “dad” was utterly beyond hope of being
reclaimed.
Dolph felt his spirits fall, for somehow he had cherished a hope that
the child might give way to the pleading of Amos, for whom she seemed
to have taken such a fancy, and allow them to better her condition.
It was hard indeed to leave her there in the midst of such discomfort,
and with only those two rough men for company, when if she but changed
her stubborn little mind she might live in a pleasant home.
But she continued to refuse to go, and of course they could not think
of trying to carry her off against her will.
All the while she was pushing Amos from her, and pointing toward the
gully through which the creek ran, as offering the best means of
leaving the camp without being observed; which showed that even this
child of Nature had in her short life picked up considerable knowledge
of woodcraft from association with her father, who at times was still
engaged in trapping fur-bearing animals.
Teddy thought it just as well to rise up on his knees, so as to let the
girl know Amos had friends near by, who would see him through.
She did immediately catch sight of him, and from her gestures it was
evident that she was calling the attention of the woods-boy to the
fact, for Amos suddenly turned his head, and waved his hand toward them.
Both Teddy and Dolph thereupon beckoned wildly to him to make haste
because it seemed the height of foolishness for Amos to delay any
longer.
They saw him bend down and kiss Sallie—kiss her just as reverently
as a mother might her child at parting; and the act stamped Amos as a
true-hearted fellow. Little though he had seen of Sallie, the poacher’s
daughter, he had in that short time come to be deeply concerned about
her gloomy future, and to care for her just as though she were a little
sister whom he should always remember.