CHAPTER XII.
A STRANGE ANIMAL.
When Fred Linden reached the creek where he had met with his stirringadventure the day before, he could not help smiling. It had shrunk toits usual volume, and was winding along as lazily as usual, the onlysign of the violent freshet being the _debris_ left along the bank andthe slightly roiled appearance of the current.
The pioneers had so many occasions to cross this stream of water thatthey had made several attempts to put up a rude but strong bridge; butno matter what pains they took, they could never erect a structurestrong enough to withstand the furious freshets which, as you can wellunderstand, were often resistless.
The result, therefore, was a reliance upon the canoes, some of which layon one side of the stream and some on the other; but a surprise awaitedyoung Linden. Seeing no boat in sight, he walked along the shore inquest of one, for he was resolved to keep out of the water as long as hecould, though a lad on the frontier makes far less ado about drippinggarments than you or I.
That which surprised him was the sight of a long, uprooted tree which,coming down the creek, when the water was rapidly falling, had swungaround in such position that the roots caught fast in the clayey soil onthe bank, and the limbs were imbedded in the sand and mud on the othershore. The result was as good a bridge as a foot traveler could want.
"That will do until there comes another rise," he said, as he carefullystepped upon the limbs, using them to reach the trunk, along which hewalked across the water, leaping to the ground on the other side.
He stepped off with his elastic gait, keeping so close to the path thathe and Terry had taken the day before that he caught sight of the bushesaround the splintered trunk of the tree where the rifle captured fromthe Winnebago had been hidden.
"He'll be over early to get his prize," thought Fred; "for it is beyondall worth to him. If it wouldn't make him feel so bad I would plague hima little by hiding it."
He parted the bushes and peered within. The first object on which hiseye fell was the battered old cow-bell that had played such a curiouspart the day before, but he saw nothing of the gun itself; a brief buthurried search convinced him that it was gone.
"That will break Terry's heart," said he to himself; "he never owned agun, and now, to lose such a handsome one when it has been in hispossession only a brief while, will grieve him as much as the loss of adear friend."
Just then young Linden caught the faint but clear notes of some onewhistling. He had but to listen a second or two, when he recognized it,as he did the hearty laugh that followed. Looking to his right, he sawTerry himself standing but a few paces away, and, so to speak, in his"war paint." Bullet pouch, powder-horn, bundle on his back, and, morethan all, the splendid rifle was there. The round, chubby face, cleareyes, and pug nose of the Irish lad seemed to radiate delight as hemade an elaborate salute to his friend, and, with mock gravity, doffedhis hat and scraped his foot along the ground. "Why, Terry," said thedelighted Fred, asking the useless question, "what is the meaning ofthis?"
"I'm going wid ye to the camp in the Ozark Mountains; do ye think Icould rist aisy, knowin' that ye had to travel such a long distance widno one to take care of ye?"
"Well, now, that just pleases me more than I can tell you," said theoverjoyed Fred, slapping him on the shoulder; "there isn't any one inthe wide world whose company I want as bad as yours; I lay awake half oflast night trying to get up some plan by which I could have you with me,but I couldn't think of any, and had to give it up. Father sent only forme, and I didn't suppose that Mr. MacClaskey would spare you. Tell mehow you managed it."
A quizzical expression came upon the face of the Irish lad, who, leaningon his rifle, took off his hat and scratched his head for a few secondsbefore answering.
"Wal, bein' it's yersilf, Fred, I don't mind sayin' that it took somestrategy, as I suppose Deerfut would call it. Last night, after we hadeat our supper, and the chores were done wid, and Mr. MacClaskey hadtook his seat by the fire and lit his pipe, and Mrs. MacClaskey hadstarted her spinning-wheel a-hummin', and the children had been packedoff to bed, I told the folks the whole story. I managed it in such astyle that the owld gentleman, who, you know, has spint two winters inthe mountains, said it would make the folks out there desprit short ofhands. I observed, in me careless way, that such was the case, and thatMr. Linden had sent word to ye that he wanted ye to come, and, fromthings that I knew, me own prisence would give great satisfaction tosartin parties. Ye understand that I had yersilf in me eye, though Ididn't think there was nade of making it all plain how it was.
"Wai, the owld gintleman wouldn't listen to me goin' away, but I managedit so well that after awhile he kind of remarked that if the folkswanted me, he'd no objection to me goin', as he belaved that I wouldmake more there than I would at home.
"_That_ was the p'int," added Terry, with a wink, as he replaced hiscap; "and there was where me genius showed itself; I spoke about the biglot of furs that had to be gathered, and how much money the hunterswould make, and what a chance there was for a risin' young man ofindustrious habits. The owld gintleman took it in, and at last said,bein' as I had the new gun, why he didn't know but what I might give ita trial.
"Wal, that was all I wanted. I started to run over last night to tellye, but afore I got to yer house I thought of this 'cute plan ofs'prisin' ye. I got all ready last night, ate breakfast airly, and wasdown here and had me gun just as I observed ye makin' yer way across theclearin' toward this spot."
And so it came about that on this beautiful sunshiny day in autumn, FredLinden and Terry Clark set out, each with ammunition and loaded rifle,for a hundred mile tramp toward the wild region of the Ozark Mountains.The air was crisp and cool, and every thing joined to give them abuoyancy of spirits such as falls to the lot only of rugged, growingboys in bounding health.
The two, however, had seen enough of life in the woods to know that thesunshine and clear air would not last. They might continue until theyreached camp, but more than likely clouds, rain, chilly weather andpossibly a flurry of snow would overtake them. Winter was at hand, andthough, as I have shown, they were in quite a temperate clime, it wassubject to violent changes, as trying as those in a much more northernlatitude.
Besides, the trail, although distinctly marked, did not lead over anything like even ground all the way. Long before they could reach thevicinity of the camp the character of the country told of the wild,rocky region, covering thousands of square miles, and known as the OzarkMountains. No route could lead to such a distance through an unsettledcountry without crossing a number of streams, and passing throughregions that were any thing but attractive to the traveler.
All this, however, gave just the element of danger and difficulty to theenterprise that was one of the most delightful features to the younglads, who stepped off with swinging gait to the southward. Had thejourney been smooth and even, it would have lost the major part of itscharms.
The boys carried enough with them to give them all they were likely toneed in the way of food for twenty-four hours. It would have been littletrouble to take enough to last through the four days; but there wassomething unprofessional in such a course which caused their souls torebel. The magnificent forest contained plenty of game, and they wouldhave been poor sportsmen, indeed, had they confessed by their actionthat they distrusted their ability to procure it.
The trail over which the two walked, Fred slightly in advance, wasmarked with such distinctness by the hoofs of the six horses that hadpassed along it in Indian file but a short time before that it was notrouble for the boys to recognize it, nor were they likely to have anydifficulty in keeping to it throughout the whole distance.
It was a little past noon, when they reached a small brook whosecurrent was so cold and clear that they took a long draught from it, andthen sat down and ate their simple lunch. They felt little fatigue, andas a goodly number of miles remained to be traveled, according to theschedule of Fred Linden, they leaped lightly across the waste and weresoon u
nder way again.
"Do you know," said Fred, later in the afternoon, "that I've beenthinking we have not paid enough attention to one or two importantmatters."
"What are they?"
"I don't know what has become of Deerfoot, and we may not see him again;but we know enough of him to understand that whatever he says is worthremembering. Now, he told us yesterday that that Winnebago, from whom hetook that rifle, belonged to a party of those warriors, and it seems tome that if they are anywhere, it is between us and the camp, and we arelikely to see more of them."
"I'm of the same opinion with yersilf, but jest now there is somethin'else that gives me concern."
"What is that?" asked the surprised Fred, stopping and turning around.
"Some person or animal has been followin' us for the last half hour.I've heard it more than once, and it ain't fur off this very minute."
The two boys stood still and looked over the trail along which they hadbeen traveling. Fred Linden's fear was that Terry had discovered thepresence of some of the very Winnebagos whom he dreaded, but he wasmistaken. That which they saw was not a person, but a strange animal ofsuch fierce mien and hostile intent that they instantly looked to theirrifles, knowing that a savage fight was inevitable.