CHAPTER XVI
GOOD-BY TO THE SNOW FOREST
IT happened that very afternoon Lil Artha met with an adventure thatstirred his red blood at quite a lively rate, and for a little timecaused quite a lively excitement around the vicinity of the cabin.
Elmer, Toby and George had gone off with Uncle Caleb to investigate somefreak of Nature in which the old scientist was interested. Lil Artha atthe time was suffering from a chafed heel, and thought the long walkthrough the deep snow was more than he cared to undertake; so he hadpromised to remain home and look after preparations for supper.
As it was too early to think of commencing that job, he had wanderedforth for a little stroll, not meaning to go far away from the cabin. Ofcourse such a thing as danger never once appealed to the boy; and withthose new thoughts concerning hunting and destroying animal life inpossession of his mind, he certainly was not going to shoulder hisshotgun, which he had left in a corner of the cabin.
In the midst of his wandering he suddenly heard a strange scratchingsound that gave him a thrill. Looking up in the quarter from which itseemed to come, Lil Artha was astonished to see a pair of yellow eyesglaring down at him, and recognize the gray coat of a ferocious wildcat.
He instantly jumped at the conclusion that this must be the mate of theanimal they had killed after it had forced an entrance into the cabin,to steal Uncle Caleb's smoked meat, and then savagely attacked them.Yes, there could be no doubt about it; and the cat was evidently of amind to spring upon him, and through means of its terrible claws seek tohave revenge for the loss of its mate. Some feline instinct doubtlesstold the beast that this boy must have been concerned in the death ofthe partner of its joys and sorrows, which we happen to know was theactual truth.
Lil Artha's first thought was to turn and sprint for the safety of thecabin as fast as he could go. Then it struck him as a dangerous thing toturn his back on such a treacherous foe as a wildcat; for there could beno question but what the animal would immediately make its leap, andland on his shoulders.
Lil Artha realized that the best thing for him to do was to keep hisface turned toward his four-footed enemy. If only now he could pick up asuitable cudgel he might be able to give a decent account of himself;but to struggle with that terror of the snow forest, with only his barehands, did not please him at all.
He shot a hasty glance all around him. The snow happened to have blownaway in that particular spot, where one of the boys had been choppingfuel; and there Lil Artha discovered just the sort of stick he believedhe could wield to good advantage in keeping his feline foe at bay.
Giving a wild shout, in hopes of alarming the beast more or less, hesprang toward the coveted trophy, with outstretched hand. And when hiseager fingers closed about the end of the three-foot club Lil Artha feltconsiderably better.
It appeared, though, that his work was cut out for him. The cat actuallyleaped directly for him, and never would the boy forget how terrible thesight of that flying figure passing through space appeared to hisexcited mind.
By a nimble jump to one side Lil Artha managed to avoid contact with theextended claws of the cat; and the disappointed animal, upon landing ina heap, instantly whirled around and again sprang toward him. This timethe boy struck with his club, and managed to knock his assailant over,though the now thoroughly aroused animal seemed more determined to getat him than ever.
So the battle raged, Lil Artha all the while shouting at the top of hislungs, though he hardly knew what for, since his chums and Uncle Calebwere more than a mile distant, and could hardly hear him at best.
He fought with all the dexterity he could command. When he struck at theraging beast he knew that should he manage to make a miss nothing couldkeep him from having the cat fasten itself on his breast, tearing andbiting with fury. Time and again did he bring that good club againstthe hairy form of his enemy, and send the wildcat bowling over; but itsurely had the nine lives such tough animals are usually credited with,for on every occasion it managed to once more regain its feet, andcrippled as it may have been come stubbornly straight at him again.
Lil Artha was getting winded, just as he might have been after knockinga dozen tremendous fouls, when playing in a hotly contested game ofbaseball. He felt a cold chill pass over him as he began to wonderwhether he might not be tired out by this beast that seemed never toknow when to give in; and what might not happen then?
Once more he had brought his stick against the creeping cat with suchgood will that the animal was knocked fully six feet away; but to hisdespair it immediately recovered, and started back toward him.
Just then Lil Artha heard a loud report, and saw the cat roll over in aheap. As the relieved scout looked in the direction from whence thatshot had come he saw Zack Arnold standing there, his face drawn andwhite with pain; for in handling Lil Artha's gun so as to relieve theboy of his fierce antagonist he must have given his broken arm a severewrench, that for the moment made him feel sick and faint.
And Lil Artha, seeing how things were, threw an arm about the big guide,weak by reason of his pain, and helped him back to the cabin. After thatLil Artha forgot that he had expressed any doubt concerning thereformation of Zack Arnold. The guide had proved his change of heart bythat action; and it would serve to cement the bonds of the newfriendship that had sprung up between him and Uncle Caleb, as well asthe old scientist's boyish guests.
Later on, when the others returned from their trip, the boys full of theinteresting things they had seen, great was their surprise to hear howLil Artha had been concerned in a stirring adventure. The report of thegun had been wafted to their ears, but of course they expected that itwas only Lil Artha doing a little hunting on his private account nearthe cabin, though Uncle Caleb did not fancy the boy taking any suchliberties with his familiar four-footed friends.
They all had to go out and examine the body of the dead wildcat,remarking that if anything it surpassed its mate in the way of ferocity,and blind recklessness, in attacking a human being without anyparticular provocation, and in broad daylight at that.
"I'm sorry it had to be," remarked Uncle Caleb, with a sigh, "for Iexpected to have considerable enjoyment later on in trying to get thesecats to play photographer for themselves; but no one is to blame ineither instance. If attacked by such a fierce creature I myself wouldshoot to kill without any hesitation. After its mate was destroyed Isuppose this one would never have given me any peace. And at any rate itafforded Zack a chance to prove that he was not ungrateful; which afterall is the best part of the whole affair, barring your escape from beingclawed, Lil Artha. Are you sure the claws or teeth of the cat didn'tscratch you the least bit, because in that case I'd want to take dueprecautions. Blood poisoning might set in if the cuts were neglected,all depending on the condition of your own blood."
The tall scout had examined his hands and face thoroughly before theothers of the party returned home, for he was not wholly ignorantconcerning the possible results that sometimes follow wounds receivedthrough carnivorous animals. He knew that Elmer always made it apractice to carry with him a small phial of permanganate of potassium,to be freely used as a wash in such cases, as calculated to cleanse thewound of all foreign matter, and neutralize any poison that might comefrom contact with claws impregnated with it.
He assured the anxious woodsman that he had escaped even the slightestscratch, and could consider himself especially fortunate, in which theother heartily agreed with him.
Again did they spend another happy evening around the cheery fire. Asthe flames glowed and crackled they coaxed Uncle Caleb to tell moreincidents connected with his explorations in faraway Thibet, when he wasthe first white man to enter the Forbidden City and interview the HeadLlama, whose existence had up to that time been pretty much of a sealedmystery to the civilized world.
Another peaceful night followed, and then came dawn again. This was tobe their nest to last day in the snow forest, because on the secondmorning they must prepare to turn their faces toward home again, seekth
e little station, signal to a passing train, and be carried back tofamiliar scenes.
In many ways all of them would be sorry when the time for separationarrived; and so they had planned to do divers things during these twodays, which it was sincerely hoped would turn out pleasant ones. Theweather had moderated, and even a thaw set in late the preceding day,but as the wind whipped around once more into the northwest the surfaceof the snow became covered with a sheet of ice that was almost thickenough to bear the weight of a small boy.
Toby was wild with eagerness to be shown how to use those wonderfulsnow-shoes which Uncle Caleb had given him for a present; and so the oldwoodsman showed him just how to attach them to his toes, so as to leavethe balance of the foot free to bend at his will, though really Elmerhad explained this thing to Toby before.
Under the guiding care of first Uncle Caleb, and when he grew tired, ofElmer on the old scientist's snow-shoes, Toby was enabled to performquite creditably, and in the end felt that he knew fairly well how tospin over the ice-crusted drifts in a way that would hardly have shamedthose Canadian cousins of his who belonged to the famous Teuque BleueSnow-shoe Club up in Montreal, and wrote him such glowing accounts ofthe long trips they took over Mount Royal, and into the bush, in thedead of winter.
The boys had not forgotten how they had been almost reduced to a diet ofmusquash at the time Lil Artha so fortunately shot his deer; and uponinvitation from Elmer, who was genuinely desirous of learning whetherthe dish could be as palatable as some hunters and Indians declared,Uncle Caleb told them they could get a number of the little animals withthe glossy fur, and he himself promised to prepare the stew.
Well, they ate it, and George even came in for a second helping, but onthe whole it was the consensus of opinion that they did not reallyhanker after "musquash," which might please some palates, and serve as ameans to ward off actual starvation, but did not seem to appeal to themvery strongly. All of which was fortunate indeed for the furry denizensof the marsh, because there would be no further loud calls for arepetition of the dish.
The last day was pretty much taken up with seeing all they could ofUncle Caleb and trying to grasp the results of his labors in the causeof science and natural history. Each of the boys was given a sheaf ofprints to carry back with him, many of them most interesting revelationsconcerning the hidden lives of the four-footed neighbors of Uncle Caleb,whose habits were so little known to the average person. And even Georgeadmitted that he would not have missed what he had learned while up inthe great snow forest, with this observing relative of Toby for a gooddeal. It had broadened his knowledge of many things, and given him amuch higher estimate of human nature in seeing how kindness had won thegame over an evil desire for revenge.
It was all settled, and Zack Arnold was going to stay there as the sidepartner of Uncle Caleb. He did not appear like the same man when on thatlast morning he shook each one of the four scouts by the hand and hopedhe would see them again. There was a look on his face that surprisedGeorge and Lil Artha, who at one time had expressed themselves sostrongly to the effect that they did not believe any good could evercome out of so tough a customer.
"I'll never say that again, as long as I live!" George admitted, lateron; "after this I'm going to look for the spark of good in every hardcase, instead of only seeing the evil."
"I sure have had a lesson I'll never forget," added Lil Artha; "and whenyou get right down to facts that Zack Arnold isn't such a bad felloweither. What he don't know about the woods you could put in a thimble;and I can see that after Uncle Caleb has had him with him six monthshe's going to turn out something more than half-way decent."
Fortunately they did not meet with another snow storm while on thehomeward road but on arriving at the little station they had only toawait the train. The same little urchin from whom they had received thefalse information grinned at them. Lil Artha was for giving him thedrubbing he richly deserved; but Elmer counselled differently.
"After all it was a lucky thing he gave us the wrong directions," hetold the other scouts. "We have had a whole lot of experiences thatwould never have come to us otherwise. And then you shot that fine youngbuck, remember, Lil Artha. So, taking pattern from Uncle Caleb, supposewe wash the incident from the slate."
And what did Lil Artha do but approach the grinning urchin, and actuallythank him for the trouble he had taken to direct them, stating that theyhad had the "time of their lives," and tossing him a silver quarter as areward for his being so solicitous about their welfare. The last thingthey saw as the train carried them away was that country boy standingthere, staring at the coin he held in one hand while he scratched hishead in perplexity and evidently wondered what it all meant. So LilArtha had taken a page from the diary of Uncle Caleb, and applied thekind-hearted old scientist's methods to his own case.
The four scouts reached home in safety, and with plenty to interestthose of their comrades of the troop who had not been along. It is to behoped that at some not far distant day in the future we may be permittedto chronicle still further of the happenings that came the way of Elmer,Toby, Lil Artha, George, and others belonging to the Hickory Ridge Troopof Boy Scouts.
THE END