Chapter XXVII.
ANOTHER ENCOUNTER WITH THE WILD DOGS.
They trudged slowly on again until they thought they must be close tothe farther end of the island, when they found progress interrupted bya low headland of rocks partly covered by the brush of a fallentree-top. In trying to get past it they became entangled in thebranches, and Tug said he "'lowed they'd have to light the lantern."
With great care, therefore--for matches were precious--this was done,and its rays at once showed them that they were not the first personswho had been there that night. Branches were freshly broken, and thesnow was trampled. They set up a combined shout (and bark) as soon asthis was perceived, but nothing came back except the dull echo oftheir voices and the rustle of the sleet and snow among the leaflessand dripping branches.
"Well," said Tug, when he realized this, "our cue is to follow thetracks anyhow."
Crushing through the branches, they saw that the tracks, which hadapproached from the other side of the rocks and brush, led them tothe trunk of the tree, and that then Aleck (if, indeed, it were he whohad made them) had walked along the trunk towards its roots. Of coursethey followed, Tug going ahead with the lantern; but when they arrivedat the great base of upturned roots they could not see where Aleck hadleaped off, or that he had leaped off at all. On one side the snow laysmooth and untouched; on the other, close under and around the mass ofdead roots, was a little thicket of low bushes and a shoulder of blackrock. Beyond these the snow had not been disturbed.
This was very mysterious, and chilled their hearts with a namelessfear. They came close together on the high log, and talked almost inwhispers. Jim held Tug's arm with both hands, and trembled so that histeeth chattered, and the tears rolled down his cheeks; while Tughimself, old and brave and strong as he was, was so scared (as heoften said afterwards) that every creak and moan of the laboring,ice-coated trees seemed a frightful voice, and all the flitting lightsand shadows cast by their lantern among the dark trunks and swayinghemlock branches took on shapes that it chilled his blood to look at.Even Rex seemed to catch the panic, and cowered at their feet withbristling hair.
There had been only a moment of this helpless, causeless terror--andno doubt they would quickly have thrown it off--when they were rousedby a real danger, which they knew in an instant. All ghosts andgoblins, forms and voices, vanished at once, for they heard thewolfish howl of the dreaded dogs.
"Only mastiffs or hounds," you may exclaim, "such as we pass on thestreet every day, and babies play with, rolling over and on themunharmed!"
Very true; but these dogs had become savage again by their wild life;and no traveller in his sledge on the steppes of Siberia, or postmanbelated in the Black Forest at New Year, was ever in more danger fromwolves than were these two lads from the dogs, if the animals chose toattack them. Perhaps they had not yet been quite long enough in thewilderness to have overcome their once well-learned fear of men, andso would hesitate to attack, in open fight, the beings that heretoforehad been their masters; but this was all the hope the boys could have.
"The dogs!" cried Jim, in a hoarse whisper.
"Yes," said Tug, through his teeth. "Here! give me the lantern, quick:we must have a fire."
The tangle of dead roots was quite dry, and kindled easily when thelantern-candle was held against it, so that it was scarcely a minutebefore a bright blaze was crackling.
That moment had been enough, however, for the near approach of thedogs, as they knew by the increasing loudness of their cries, towhich Rex bravely responded; and it was not long before they heardthem crashing through the underbrush, and saw their eyes--fiery pairsof dots which reflected the firelight in flashes of green orred--though the forms of the savage animals were hidden in the gloom.
Tug had hastily lopped off a young sapling and trimmed it into a long,rough club, which he now held in the fire, in hope that the green woodwould get hardened, or perhaps even ablaze. Jimmy clutched the hatchettightly in his right hand, and his open jackknife in his left, whileRex bristled and barked. All the goblin fright had vanished, and theboys no longer trembled because sleet and wind made uncanny noises, orthe firelight seemed to summon eldritch forms from the aisles ofdarkness between the hemlocks.
There seemed to be three of the fierce brutes, and they stopped asthey came in sight of the fire and the group ready to receive them;but after a short pause the largest dog, with a tremendous bark,rushed forward, the others following savagely at his heels. Rex wascrouching and ready, so that before either of the boys could seize hiscollar he had sprung to meet his foes, and had gone down under theircombined weight.
It was one of the strangest dog-fights known to history, and had thestrangest end. In his broad collar, his long hair, and his greaterhealth the Newfoundland had the advantage; but he was one and his foeswere three, and they had no chivalrous ideas of fairness or mercy in afight, but were savages, bent not only upon the death of their victim,but upon tearing him in pieces and devouring him afterwards.
No sooner did Tug see Rex leap, and perceive the charge upon him, thanhe shouted "Give it to 'em!" and sprang into the snow, punching thenearest brute, bayonet fashion, with the hot tip of his sapling spear,while Jim got in at least one good blow with his hatchet. It sankalmost to the haft in the neck of one of the youngest dogs, and hedropped dead with scarcely a shudder.
Meeting this unexpected resistance, so determined, fiery (Tug'ssapling bore a little streamer of flame, like the banner on the headof a Cossack's lance), and so fatal to one of their number, the tworemaining dogs were abashed, and let go of Rex, intending to fightwith their human assailants. But they had no time to make the change.Seeing that he must follow up his advantage, Tug charged again, andfairly put the startled brutes to flight by the combined force of hisyells and his blazing bayonet, backed by Jim and his terrible hatchet.
When the boys saw that the dogs had really run away, they turned tolook after their own brave ally, but he was nowhere to be seen, thoughthe blazing stump lit up the whole scene of the battle.
"Why, where's Rex?" they asked one another, and called and whistled.Could he have fled into the forest? Impossible. Hark! was not that afaint whine?--and another?
"Do you think he can be dying, and has hid himself in the brush?"asked Jim. "They say wounded animals do do that."
"Looks like it," Tug admitted. "Here, _Rex_!"
A more distinct yelp, as though the dog was in pain, came to theirears, and they began to search in all the shadowy places.
"Poke up the fire a bit, Jimmy--let's have a little more light."
Jim hastened to follow out this suggestion, and in doing so enteredthe little thicket which I have mentioned between the shoulder of rockand the log. Suddenly he pitched almost headlong into a dark hollow.He drew back hastily, but as he did so, parting the bushes, he heardRex's yelping come plainly up, as though from beneath the sod.
"Hello! Rex has fallen down a hole," he exclaimed. "Come here, Tug!"
Sure enough, there was the mouth of a pit, how deep they could nottell, though they could see the Newfoundland's eyes shining at whatdid not seem so very great a distance.
"Why, Rex, old fellow, are you hurt?" they called out; and the doganswered by a short bark, which ended in a pitiful whine of pain.
"Get the lantern, Jim; we must try to see what kind of a place thisis; and look out where you step. This is a cave country, as I told youawhile ago. You may fall through 'most anywhere in this darkness."
The lantern was brought, and tied on the end of a pole, with ahandkerchief. Rex began to utter a series of peculiarly short, sharpbarks when he saw the light descending, and they knew he was dancingabout by the way his eyes moved.
When about twelve feet of the pole had been lowered the lanternrested, and they knew the bottom had been reached. By its faint glowRex could be seen standing on his legs, apparently not much hurt.
"There's something else down there that Rex seems to bother himselfabout a good deal," reported Jim, who was lying down
and peering overthe edge. "Move the lantern this way a little. It looks--Oh, Tug, it'sa man!--it's Aleck, and he's dead!"