CHAPTER XIII. MORE TROUBLE ALL AROUND.
"I tell you, Thad, it was all a mistake; we went and buried the wrongthing after all, and I don't care who knows it."
Davy looked fixedly at the back of Bumpus' head while he was sayingthis, for they were once more in the boats, moving along, and Bumpus hadthe bow, then Step Hen, Davy and Thad the steersman, in the stern.
"Now what's ailing you, Davy?" demanded Step Hen; "seems like you'renever happy any more."
"Well, if you'd only shake off that cold Bumpus gave you, so you couldget that onion scent, like I do this minute, chances are you wouldn't befeelin' any too happy either," lamented Davy.
"Well, I declare I thought that was all buried with the onions," saidBumpus, trying to twist his fat neck so he could look around, butfailing.
"All right, but it wasn't, all the same," avowed the complaining one,"'cause it's just as rank as ever. Wait till I tell Giraffe when we goashore at noon, and say, you'll see a mad fellow then, with all themonions sacrificed for nothing, and him that fond of them, too."
"You have got the greatest imagination of anybody I ever saw," declaredBumpus, indignantly. "To me the air is as sweet as anything."
"That's because you ain't got a big chump wearing a greasy old suitasitting right to windward of you," burst out Davy.
"Step Hen, ain't the air all right?" demanded the accused one.
"You'll have to pass me, boys; I'm out of the smelling class right now.I don't believe I could even smell a rat, as they say. Fight it outbetween you, but don't drag me in. Some other time I'll act as judge andjury, but not to-day."
"Well, I know what I know," Davy went on to say stubbornly, "and if me'nGiraffe can manage it there'll be a scout alookin' a hundred per centcleaner than he is now, by to-morrow morning."
"Better look out," warned Bumpus, belligerently.
"Lookout yourself, where you're running us," cried Davy.
Somehow or other the boat left its course and scraped into theoverhanging branches. Perhaps this was only a clever little trick on thepart of Thad, calculated to break up the dispute between the two scouts,which was rapidly becoming rather acrimonious.
It had the expected result, if this was Thad's design, for all of themfound it necessary to scramble around, using both hands to protect theireyes from the intruding branches, so that when the boat finally came outinto the open again, Davy forgot to resume his discussion, and justsuffered in silence.
The alligator hunter, in his own boat, led the van of the procession.With so clever and reliable a guide to depend on Thad wasted no time inmarking the way, for so long as Tom Smith stayed by them they did notanticipate having any further trouble in getting out of the swamp.
Nevertheless, it had become second nature for Thad and Allan to takemental notes of all things as they went along, a good habit that mayoften prove valuable in the extreme.
No scout can afford to fail to keep all his senses on the alert when inthe woods or on the waters. Besides seeing many interesting things thatless observant lads would pass blindly by, he notices the lay of theland, the direction of his course, and a multitude of queer formationsthat may easily be recognized again in case of necessity.
Thad knew that they were going in a new direction, and had been eversince starting out immediately after breakfast.
Undoubtedly Tom Smith had been considering the whole matter, afterlearning all those important points connected with the case. He hadsettled upon the region where they would be most apt to come upon theman and girl whom Thad yearned to meet.
First of all the swamp hunter felt positive that those they sought couldnot be anywhere along his haunts, because he must have come upon tracesof them while running his lines of traps.
In like manner he judged that they were not over at the other side ofthe swamp, where the voodoo doctor had his cabin, and the strange shedwhere the ignorant blacks gathered in the dark of the moon to carry ontheir strange and uncouth religious ceremonies.
Having eliminated at least half of the flooded tract in this wayAlligator Smith knew just what territory he had to cover. And as Thadmore than suspected, he had undoubtedly laid a plan of campaign in hismind, the first move in which he was even now carrying out.
Not knowing how soon they might find themselves in the neighborhood ofthe parties they hoped to meet, the scout-master had given strict ordersthat for the time being all manner of levity must be laid aside.
That meant Davy must not attempt to climb, monkey fashion, any treeswhen they came to land; that Giraffe must tone down his loud voice;Bumpus give up all thought of using his bugle, or even warbling a strainof some favorite song--in fact a subdued air must take the place of theboyish hilarity that as a rule reigned in their midst.
And had not his other little plan held good, no doubt Thad would havespeedily given Davy to know that he was making entirely too much noise.
After the little episode of the encounter with the branches, the forwardmovement was continued for a while in almost absolute silence.
The dip of paddles, the drip of water as they were raised monotonously,the gurgle of the boats' passage--these were nearly the only faintsounds heard in the swamp, which in places seems almost devoid of life.
Some noisy fish crows cawed at them while flying over, their sharp eyesdiscovering the creeping canoes. A couple of buzzards sitting on abranch of a dead tree, jumped into the air and went flapping away attheir near approach. There were always water moccasins, either glidingdown from the exposed roots of trees where they had been sunningthemselves, or coiling up in the water aggressively, until struck by thesharp edge of a paddle blade, when they would writhe in agony, and sink.
It was getting more and more gruesome all the time, and Thad took noticeof numerous things that he had not seen before, in the other section ofthe swamp.
Evidently the alligator hunter believed Thad was following the wrongtrack for he had turned in another direction entirely. Perhaps the boatthat had made the numerous signs Thad was searching for and using as atrail, had been that of Alligator Smith himself on his way in and out,and not the one containing the mysterious man and girl.
But Thad was quite satisfied with what they had done. He believed thatin the end the hide hunter would take them where they wanted to go; andmore than that they could hardly ask.
The three boats were very close together as the midday hour drew nearwhen, without the least warning there sounded the report of a rifle fromsome point not far away.
And the scouts not accustomed to being under fire, experienced a thrillin the region of their hearts when every one heard the strange zip-zipof a bullet cutting through the air just above their heads.