THE FIGURE IN THE MOONLIGHT
"You couldn't beat this much, I'd say, if you want to know my opinion,"
Ethan was remarking, after they had finished the meal and were taking
things easy.
"Of course we all feel pretty much the same way," admitted X-Ray Tyson;
"but I'd be a whole lot better satisfied if I knew about that bright new
half-dollar. Is it a good one, or a bunker?"
"Chances are we'll hear no end to that squall all the time we're up
here," Ethan went on to say, with a pretended look of disgust on his
thin Yankee face. "Whenever you do get a thing on your mind, X-Ray, you
sure beat all creation to keep yawping about it. Forget that you ever
picked up the fifty, and let's be thinking only of the royal good times
we're meaning to have."
"What can that sound be?" suddenly remarked Lub, who had been listening
more or less apprehensively for some little time now; "seems like some
one might be sawing a hole through the wall. Course, though, I don't
believe that for a minute; but all the same it's a queer noise. There,
don't you hear it?"
There did come a distinct little "rat-tat-tat," several times repeated.
No one who was not deaf could have helped hearing such a distinct sound;
but Lub could not see that any of his mates seemed bothered.
"May be that old gray squirrel gnawing somewhere," suggested X-Ray;
"they've got long teeth like a rat, and can chew a hole through any sort
of board."
"Now, I'd rather believe it was the wind," said Ethan, who had a pretty
good knowledge of woodcraft in all its branches, and was therefore well
fitted to give an opinion.
"Why, how could the night wind make that sort of scratching sound?"
asked Lub, doubtless wondering whether the other were simply guying him
because of his being a greenhorn.
"Oh! the broken end of a branch might be rubbing against the roof of the
cabin," Ethan told him. "I've known that to happen lots of times. There
she hits up the tune again, you notice, Lub."
"Yes," added Phil, nodding his head approvingly, "and if you listen,
every time that scratching sound comes you can hear the wind soughing
through the tree-tops. That ought to prove it."
Still Lub seemed hard to convince, seeing which Ethan jumped up.
"Just stir your stumps, Lub, and come outside with me," he said,
positively. "I want to prove what I said, and you've got to be shown."
Lub saw there was no getting around it, and much as he disliked making a
move when he was settled so comfortably, he managed to scramble to his
feet.
Once out in the bright moonlight and practical Ethan was quick to
discover the source of the peculiar and often recurring noise.
"You see, Lub," he went on to say, "there's your saw at work right now.
Just as I told you it's a branch that's been worn off to a stub by this
scraping. Every time there's a fresh gust of wind it waves back and
forth, and scraping against the roof makes that funny sound. Now, I hope
your mind's easy, Lub, and that you'll sleep decent to-night."
"I hope I will," replied Lub, earnestly, at the same time remembering
about the bunks, and what one of the others had said with regard to
house-cleaning in the morning; "but say, it is a fine night, ain't it,
Ethan. Listen to the frogs singing their chorus in some little bay of
the lake."
"Yes," remarked Ethan, quickly, "I was listening to their serenade. Some
busters in that lot, too, because you can hear 'em calling more-rum,
more-rum' in the deepest bass. That always stands for the big bullfrogs.
I ought to know, because I'm an experienced frog-raiser. Cleared
sixty-seven dollars from my little pond this very summer; but I've never
seen frogs'-legs quoted _quite_ so high as that Mr. Brandon the
restaurant man down in New York pays me. I guess he favors me a mite
just because he happens to know some friends of Phil's."
Lub knew all about it, but he never let even a chuckle escape from his
lips.
"Well, in that letter you had from him which you showed me," he
observed, "he said he'd never had such fine frogs'-legs before, and
wanted to make sure to keep getting all you had to sell. A dollar a
pound is a cracking high sum, sure it is, but then good things always
bring fancy prices."
That frog pond of Ethan's went with his many other ways for making
spending money. It required almost no time at all to run it. When he
found an opportunity he caught frogs wherever he could find them, and
put them into his preserve. Then, on feeling that he had the right kind
of goods for a gilt-edge market he would make a shipment of a box of
"saddles" neatly arranged, so that they were attractive to the eye of
the proprietor of the fashionable restaurant in far-off New York.
Phil had recommended Ethan to try that place, and had even given him
permission to use his name as a recommendation. Ethan never knew that
the same mail had carried a letter from Phil to Mr. Brandon, who was an
old friend of his, making arrangements to stand for the difference
between the market price of frogs'-legs and the fancy sum he was to send
Ethan every time he shipped him a box.
While Lub was standing there, and apparently enjoying the sight of the
moonlight dancing on the water of the lake near by, he was at the same
time casting occasional apprehensive glances around him.
The woods looked mysterious enough and gloomy too, for the moon had not
risen far in the heavens, and the shadows were long and abundant.
Several times he fancied he saw something moving there on the border of
the dense growth. Finally he appealed to Ethan, because he had
considerable respect for the opinions of his chum, who had studied woods
lore so long.
"You don't think now, that any of that crowd we scared away from the
cabin would come sneaking back to spy on us, or try to steal any of our
things?" he asked, trying to appear as though such an idea was furthest
from his own thoughts.
"Well, I hadn't bothered with such a thing as that, Lub, but now that
you mention the same I can't see why they should. We haven't got
anything along worth stealing; and if they are afraid of the officers of
the law, as counterfeiters, or game poachers, why, they'd want to get as
far away as they could. So I wouldn't let that keep me from sleeping a
wink."
"Oh! I don't mean to," Lub hastened to exclaim, stoutly; but all the
same as he followed Ethan back through the cabin doorway the very last
thing he did was to take a parting survey of the forest fringe, and
shrug his fat shoulders.
"Seems like it was getting right noisy out there, Ethan," remarked
X-Ray, when Lub had carefully pushed the door shut, and both of those
who had just entered found places again in the half circle before the
red embers of the fire.
The interior was only dimly lighted, because they only had a single
lantern to do duty. But then it served them amply, because no one meant
to try and read; and whenever a fresh lot of wood was thrown on the
coals it flashed up brilliantly.
That firelight was a part of the charm of the whole thing. They could
have lamps, gas, or even electric light at home any time they wanted;
but only under such conditions as these was it possible to enjoy the
mystic firelight.
"Why, yes," Ethan replied, "I guess the woods folks are waking up. You
can hear crickets a fiddling away for dear life, and other sorts of
insects besides. Then there's a pair of screech owls calling to each
other; a whip-poor-will whooping things up; and most of all the frogs
have started in to get busy with their chorus. And say, I'm going to
promise you a feast to-morrow night."
"Frogs'-legs, you mean, I take it, Ethan." Phil quickly exclaimed,
looking pleased at the prospect.
"Yes, because there's some corkers out there; and leave it to me to get
'em. I'm an authority on frogs'-legs, you know. And when they fetch a
dollar a pound every time, you c'n see that they ought to be reckoned a
treat."
"A dollar a pound, did you say?" demanded X-Ray, as if he fancied he had
not heard aright; whereat he had his shins kicked by Lub, who happened
to sit next to him, as a warning that he was treading on perilous
ground.
"Why, yes, that's the price I always get!" declared Ethan, loftily. "You
see, it pays to do things up in style. My shipments look so attractive
to Mr. Brandon that he says it is a pleasure to just open my box. Of
course all of you fellows like frogs'-legs?"
Phil and X-Ray Tyson immediately declared they believed they could never
get enough of the dainty.
"To tell you the honest truth," said Lub, contritely, "I never tasted
any that I know of. My folks don't seem to care for queer things."
"Queer things!" almost shouted Ethan; "well, I like that now! Why, don't
you know that frogs'-legs are as delicate as squab. You'd think you had
a spring chicken, only when you come to think, it has just a _little_
taste of fish about it."
"Oh! my, I don't know as I'd fancy that very much," complained Lub.
"Huh! I know you better than to believe that, Lub," he was told by the
other; "and I'll just have to make sure to lay in a plenty, because I
c'n see you passing in your platter seven times, to say: 'Please see if
there isn't just one more helping for me, won't you, Ethan; they're the
finest things I ever set my teeth in, and that's no lie!'"
"Well, wait and see, that's all," Lub concluded. "I'm willing to be
convinced. I mightn't care for a thing like that at home, with a white
tablecloth, silver, and cut glass all around me; but then it's a
different case when you're up in the woods, with your camp appetite
along, and going just half crazy because supper is so slow cooking, with
all those odors stealing to your nose. Try it on me, Ethan; I'd be
willing to taste even dog just once, if I was hungry, and met up with a
bunch of Indians."
"I'm not afraid of the verdict," announced the boy who raised frogs, and
thought he had a right to know considerable about them, since he topped
the market with the gilt-edge prices he received.
So they talked, and joked, as the evening wore along. Several times
they caught Lub in the act of yawning, and he was of course immediately
poked in the ribs as they besought him to please not swallow the cabin
while about it.
"But I tell you I am sleepy; and no matter what the rest of you say I'm
going to get my bunk made up. I want to be in apple-pie shape for
to-morrow, for I expect it's going to be a red-letter day with us."
Each of them had carried a warm blanket in their pack, which was one
reason for the bulk of these burdens. They had not been quite as heavy
as they looked; doubtless the greatest load consisted of canned goods,
and food of various kinds, which they would not have to pack out of the
woods again.
Lub was somewhat fastidious about how he wanted his bed made up. Three
separate times did he pull it to pieces again, to start in afresh.
"Hey, stop bothering so much with that!" X-Ray Tyson called out, having
been observing what the other was doing. "You certainly are the greatest
old woman I ever ran across, Lub."
"And you'll never make a woodsman, as long as you're so finicky,
either," Ethan warned him. "'The happy-go-lucky kind is best in the
end. They give their blanket a fling, and just crawl under. And they
sleep the soundest too."
"Oh! well, I'll learn some day, perhaps," said Lub, not at all
disconcerted by all this raillery, for it fell from him as water does
from a duck's back. "But I've got it fixed to suit me at last. This
bunch of dead grass rolled in the pillow slip I fetched will make me a
dandy pillow. I'm glad you gave me a hint to bring one along, Phil."
"Old woodsmen use then? boots for a pillow," chuckled Ethan, which
remark caused the particular Lub to shudder, and shake his head, as
though he began to despair of ever reaching that point where he could
claim to be a seasoned veteran.
While the others were again indulging in some sort of discussion, Lub,
thinking he was unobserved, sauntered over to one of the little windows
which the builder of the birch cabin had arranged so that he might have
light, and yet shut out the cold air of winter.
"Oh, come here, won't you, Phil; there's somebody walking along by the
trees, and standing still to watch the cabin every once in a while!"
When Lub said this in a voice that trembled with excitement the other
three boys of course hastened to scramble to their feet and reach his
side.
"Whereabouts, Lub?" demanded X-Ray Tyson, eagerly, as he pressed his
nose against the glass, and occupied so much space in doing so that he
prevented the others from having a chance to see fairly; so that Phil
and Ethan deliberately drew him to one side.
"There, over yonder where the moon shines between the little
second-growth trees!" the discoverer went on to say, huskily, and
pointing a trembling stubby finger as he spoke. "There, didn't you see
then, boys?"
"There certainly is something, and it moved!" admitted Ethan.
"Oh! it's a man, I'm telling you!" hissed Lub; "didn't I see him plain
as the nose on your face, X-Ray, and that's going some. He was moving
along where the shadows die out. Now he's past that place. It's a man,
believe me; and he's meaning to sneak in here to-night, to rob us.
There, see him moving again, will you?"
"Yes, I do believe it is a man, bending over at that," agreed Phil.
"He's moving off, seems like," observed X-Ray, who had not altogether
fancied Lub's allusion to his nose, because it _was_ rather large.
"Mebbe he's seen us peeking out and thinks it's time he sheered off?"
suggested Ethan.
"Had we better collar him, Phil?" asked X-Ray, who was inclined to be
very quick in his actions, and often without due thought making some
move he was likely to regret later.
"No, that would be silly," decided Phil. "The only weapons we've got
consist of one revolver, a couple of camp hatchets, and some hunting
knives. How do we know what he might do, or how many of them there may
be? Let him look at the cabin, and then go away. I don't think we'll be
bothered by anybody."
"And I'm not going to lie awake thinking about it," said Ethan. "If he
comes in here, and finds anything worth while, we could surround him and
make him go shares, you know."
"There, he's moving off at last," said Lub; "but I don't like all this
mystery. Who is he, and what does he want? We'd be happier if we moved
on, and built a cabin somewhere else."
"What!" exclaimed the belligerent X-Ray, "clear out when Phil owns the
whole shebang, and has invited us up? Well, I guess not!"