CHAPTER XV
_Two Shots that Hit_
The days passed rapidly now, as they always do when people are busily atwork, and little by little the boys sent a great number of ties andtimbers and many cords of wood down the chute.
One evening Tom and Ed were "playing on the piano." That is to say theywere grinding axes by the firelight. For when the grind-stone wasprovided with a proper frame and set up in the house, Tom insisted uponcalling it the piano, though some of the boys wanted to consider it as asewing machine or a typewriter. One thing was certain, it must be keptin doors. Otherwise the water would freeze upon it, rendering ituseless.
As Tom and Ed played upon the piano immediately after supper, Tom saidto the Doctor:
"Tell us some more about beans?"
"I don't clearly catch your meaning," answered the Doctor.
"Why you once began telling us how valuable beans were as human food,"said Tom, "and as those that I ate for supper are sitting ratherheavily upon my soul, I want to be encouraged by hearing some more abouthow good they are for me."
"Wait a minute," said the Doctor. Then he went to his medicine case andput a small quantity of something white into a tin cup. After that heopened the camp box of baking soda and added half a teaspoonful of thatarticle; then he dissolved the whole mixture in a cupful of water andhanded it to Tom.
"There! Drink that!" he said, "and I think you will be in bettercondition to listen to what I may have to say about beans."
Tom swallowed the mixture and then insisted upon hearing about beans.
"Well," said the Doctor, "the most interesting thing I know about beansis that without them the great whaling industry which brought a vastprosperity to this country a generation or two ago, would have beenimpossible."
"How so?" asked Jack.
"Why you see in order to make whaling voyages profitable the sailingships that carried on the business, had to be gone for four years at atime, and of course they had to carry food enough to last that long. Formeats they carried corned beef and pickled pork. For vegetables theyhad to carry beans because they are the only vegetable product thatwill keep so long. There were no canned goods in those days, so it wasbeans or no whaling."
"Didn't they get fearfully tired of four years' living on nothing butbeans and salt meats?"
"Of course. And of course they managed sometimes to pick up some freshfood, like sea birds' eggs or the sea birds themselves--though they arevery bad eating because of their fishy flavor; and sometimes, too, thewhaling ships would stop at ports on their way to the North Pacificwhaling waters and buy whatever they could of fresher food. But in themain the men on whaling voyages had to live on salt meat and beans, andone of their most serious troubles was that they suffered a great dealfrom scurvy. By the way, that's something that we must look out for."
"That was caused by eating too much pickled meat, wasn't it?" asked Tom.
"They thought so then," said the Doctor, "but we have another theorynow. That's a very curious point. For a long time it was confidentlysupposed that there was something in the salt meats that gave menscurvy. After a while it was discovered that it was something _left out_of the pickled meats that produced that effect. It seems that the brinein which meat is pickled extracts from the meat certain nutritiousprinciples which are necessary to health, and that it is the lack ofthese nutritious principles that gives men scurvy. So an old whalingcaptain, with a sound head on his shoulders, concluded that the thingneeded to prevent scurvy was for the men to consume the brine in whichthe meat was pickled. He ordered that the brine should be used insteadof water in mixing up bread, cooking vegetables and the like."
"Did the thing work?"
"Yes, excellently, and the plan was adopted in all the Canada lumbercamps where scurvy was as great an enemy to success as it was on thewhaling vessels themselves. Another thing they do in the lumber camps isto quit cooking their potatoes the moment that symptoms of scurvyappear. Raw potatoes seem to have a specific effect in preventing andeven in curing scurvy."
"Scurvy is a sore mouth, isn't it?" asked Tom.
"Not by any means," answered the Doctor. "Sore mouth is one of theearliest and mildest symptoms of the disease, and nobody knows what soremouth means till he has had a touch of scurvy. It means that the mouthin all its membranes is afire, and that everything put into themouth,--even though it be a piece of ice--burns like so much molteniron. But the mouth symptoms are only a beginning. Presently the kneesand other joints turn purple and become excruciatingly painful. Thenthey suppurate, and in the end amputation becomes necessary. There arefew worse diseases than scurvy, and we boys must protect ourselvesagainst it by every means in our power. It threatens us with a much moreserious danger than any that the moonshiners can bring upon us."
"By the way," said Jack, "the moonshiners seem to be letting us alonenow. Perhaps they have given us up as a bad job."
"That's just what they want us to think," responded Tom. "They are lyinglow, in the hope that we'll accept precisely that idea and relax ourvigilance. That is the one thing that we mustn't do on any account. Thatreminds me that it's time for me to go and relieve Jim Chenowith onguard duty."
"Well, before you go, Tom," said the Doctor, "I want to suggest that youtake a day off to-morrow and get some fresh meat for us. We have livedon salt meat for five or six days now, and a big snow may come at anytime to cut us off from fresh meat supplies. Besides our provisions arevery sharply limited in quantity and we mustn't use them up too rapidly.We don't want scurvy in the camp and we don't want a starving time. Soboys I propose that Tom, as the best huntsman in the party, be detailedand ordered to devote to-morrow to the duty of getting some game for ourlarder."
The suggestion was instantly and unanimously accepted. Then spoke upHarry Ridsdale:
"It'll be a hard day's work for Tom, as there's a slippery, soaplikesnow on the ground, and he needs to be fresh for it. So I volunteer totake his turn on guard to-night and let him get in a good, straightawaysleep."
"Good for you, Harry," said Jack. But Tom protested that he wasperfectly ready to stand his turn of guard duty and insisted upon doingso. The others unanimously overruled him, however, and so Harryshouldered his gun and went to relieve Jim Chenowith as picket. Beforegoing he said:
"Now, fellows, there is to be no more talking to-night, for when theDoctor talks I want to listen. I've a whole catechism of questions tobother him with, but it's bed time now and you fellows must crawl intoyour bunks at once, without any further chatter. To bed, every one ofyou!"
As it was full ten o'clock the boys accepted the suggestion, and in afew minutes afterward, Camp Venture sank into silence, while Harrystood guard out there under the cliff, and the stars glittered abovehim in a wintry sky. Meantime the logs blazed and sputtered lazily inthe great fireplace, and the night wore on, with no disturbance in thehut except when a sentinel came in, woke up his successor, replenishedthe fire and crept into his broomstraw bed.
About four o'clock the boys were startled out of sleep by the crack of arifle, and the instant response of both barrels of a shotgun.
They were up and out in a moment, for it was their habit just then tosleep in their clothes and even in their boots, and for each to keep hisgun by his side ready for instant use.
Running as fast as possible, they quickly joined Ed Parmly, who was onpicket at the time, and hurriedly questioned him.
He reported that the rifle shot had come from the edge of the cliff overwhich the road down the mountain led. He added:
"I sent two charges of buckshot in that direction, but without aim, ofcourse, as it is too dark to see. I reloaded at once, and while I wasdoing so I heard a groan off there. Perhaps we'd better look the matterup."
Just then came another groan, and, at Tom's suggestion, torches werelighted and an exploration made.
Just over the edge of the little cliff they found a mountaineer. He wasin a state of collapse, nine buckshot having passed through the fleshypart of his thigh, cutting arte
ries and big veins enough to causeprofuse haemorrhage.
"The man is badly hurt," said the Doctor. "We'll carry him to the hut atonce and see what can be done for him."
Willing hands lifted and carried the fainting man, and once in the hutthe Doctor called for all the torches that could be lighted. Hurriedlyhe inspected the man's wounds, taking up an artery and putting acompress on a severed vein as he went. Finally he said:
"Fortunately none of the buckshot struck the bone. It is only a fleshwound though it is a very bad one. By the way"--the Doctor was seizedwith a kindly thought--"Ed Parmly is probably more anxious about thisthing than any other boy in the party, and he is still out there onpicket. Suppose one of you fellows goes out there to relieve him and lethim come in to find out the amount of damage done by his shot."
The thought appealed at once to the kindly feelings of the boys and theyall instantly volunteered, but Jack, as the next in order on the sentrylist, claimed the privilege of relieving Ed.
When Ed came in he first of all wanted to hear whether or not the manhe had shot in the darkness was likely to die of his wounds.
The Doctor promptly reassured him on that point.
Then Ed said:
"Well, Doctor, if you are quite through with him, suppose you look at alittle scratch that he gave me. I didn't want to say anything about it,but maybe it is better to have it attended to."
The Doctor turned instantly and began stripping off the boy's clothing.He found that a bullet, striking him in the left side, had passedbetween two ribs, almost penetrating the hollow of the lower chest, butwithout quite doing so. It was one of those wonderful vagaries of bulletwounds that would kill in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, but whichin the hundredth case do a minimum of damage.
The Doctor having satisfied himself that no vital organ had beentouched, carefully disinfected the wound and swathed it in bandages. Ashe did so he said to the boy:
"Why didn't you tell us at the start, Ed, that you were wounded?"
"Well you see," said Ed, "I was more concerned about the other fellow.It isn't a pleasant thing to kill a man, even when you've got to do itin self defence. So as I knew by his groans that he was worse hurt thanI was, I didn't say anything about what his bullet had done till youwere through with the job of dressing his wounds."
"Will you permit me to remark," said the Doctor, "quite casually and inparentheses as it were, that you, Ed Parmly, are a hero? I haven't met agreat many heroes in my time, but you are one of the few. Now you'regoing to bed, and I'm going to play tyrant over you till this wound getswell. But upon my word, I never knew two shots fired in darkness thatdid their work so effectively as yours and that mountaineer's did."
With the instinct of his science the Doctor had no thought ofquestioning the wounded moonshiner. But Tom had no scientific trainingand no particular scruples concerning the matter. So he turned to themountaineer, who was occupying his bed, and asked in a peremptory voice:
"Why did you shoot Ed? What harm had he done you? What right had you toshoot at him."
"Well, you see," said the mountaineer, taking up the familiar parable,"we fellers what lives up here in the mountings can't afford to have nointruders around. You fellers is intruders, and we're agoin' to driveyou out'n the mountings. You mout as well make up your minds to thatfust as last. We's done give you notice to quit, fair and square. Youwon't quit. So all they is fer it is to kill you an' that's what we'veset out to do."
"But, my friend," said the Doctor, whose training had taught him toregard reason as the ultimate court of appeals in human affairs, "we arehere with a perfect right to be here. We have in no way interfered withyou or your friends. You have absolutely no right to interfere with us."
"All that don't make no difference whatsomever," answered themountaineer. "We fellers what lives up here in the mountings don't wantno spies an' nobody else up here. You fellers has got to get out'n themountings an' that's all about it."
"But what right have you?" asked the Doctor, "to drive us out?"
"Well, we ain't a discussin' of rights now," answered the mountaineer."We're a talkin' business. You fellers has got to git out'n themountings."
Here Tom broke in, with his hot temper:
"So that's your last word, is it? Well, now let me give you our lastword. We are going to stay here. We are going to defend ourselves in ourrights, and now that you've threatened to kill us, and tried to kill us,we've a perfect right to do a little shooting on our own account, and Igive you warning that if any one of you is caught in this camp, oranywhere near it, we'll understand that he has come here to carry outyour threats, and we'll shoot him without waiting to ask any questions.As for you, we ought to send you to jail for shooting one of our party.I for one vote to do that. We can lock you up in the penitentiary forthat offense, and we're going to do it. Just as soon as the Doctor saysyou're able to travel, I'm going to take you down the mountains at themuzzle of a gun, and put you in jail. I'm tired of this thing."
This aspect of the case had not presented itself to the minds of theother boys, but they approved Tom's plan instantly. The right thing isalways and obviously to appeal to the law for redress where a wrong hasbeen done, and perhaps the jailing of the mountaineer, under a charge of"assault with intent to kill"--an offense punishable by a long term ofimprisonment,--might deter the others from like offenses.
"Well, it's pretty hard," said the mountaineer. "I've just got out onlythree months ago, after a year in prison, for nothin' but helpin' someother fellers to make a little whiskey without a payin' of the tax; an'now I've got to go back to grindin' stove lids for nothin' but shootin'at people that stays in the mountings in spite of all our warnin's."
Obviously the man was utterly incapable of realizing the nature or theatrocity of his crime. Obviously, also, he was incapable, as hiscomrades were, of seeing that anybody but themselves had a right to stayin the mountains when they objected.
But Tom was bent upon carrying out his idea of taking the man down themountain and bringing him to trial for shooting Ed, and the other boysfully sanctioned it.
"It may teach these people," said Jack, "that there are other people inthe world who have rights. That will be a civilizing lesson."
"Yes," said Tom, "and besides that, it will lock up a man who seems toknow how to shoot straight even in the dark. Anyhow, I've made up mymind. As a 'law-abiding and law-loving citizen' I'm going to put thatfellow into jail, and send him afterwards to the penitentiary for a tenyears' term, if I can, for shooting Ed Parmly with intent to kill him.It will be a wholesome reminder to the rest of these moonshiners thatthey had better not shoot at us fellows. So, just as soon as the Doctorsays he's able to travel, I'm going to escort him down the mountain anddeliver him to the sheriff of the county. In the meantime, daylight isbreaking and it's time for you fellows who have the job in charge tobegin the preparation of breakfast."
So, after all, Tom did not get much sleep as a preparation for his gamehunting trip of the coming day.