CHAPTER XVI.
CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN.
"HEY! what's all this mean; morning, and nobody woke me up, to let mestand my trick at the wheel! I don't think you're treatin' me fair,that's what, fellers!" and Bumpus Hawtree sat up, rubbing his eyes as helooked around him in wonder.
The fact of the matter was it had been decided that they could get onvery well without calling on the fat boy to stand sentry duty. Most ofthem knew how unreliable Bumpus was when it came to such things, nomatter how sincere his desire to please might be; and Thad had secretlyarranged to leave him out.
And so Bumpus had not known a single thing of what was going on until,smelling the delightful fumes of boiling coffee, he had opened his eyesto find most of his comrades moving about, and breakfast well on theway, under the supervision of Giraffe and Allan.
"The whole blessed night gone, and me a sleepin' for all get-out,"complained the stout member of the patrol, as he climbed to his feet,and stretched. "Well, it looks good, anyway. Nothin' happened, afterall. Nobody ain't been kidnapped by the moonshiners, have they, becauseI can count--what, there don't seem to be only seven here! Somebody'sgone, and yet I don't miss any familiar face."
"Oh! you only forgot to count yourself, Bumpus," laughed Thad.
"Well, that goes to show how modest I am, you see," chuckled the other,as he started toward the spring to get the sleep out of his eyes by theuse of some cold water.
"Yes, as modest as a spring violet," sang out Step Hen; "but how aboutthat President Cornelius Jasper Hawtree business? Seems to me any fellerthat hopes to assume that high office ain't so very retiring after all."
But Bumpus refused to be drawn into any discussion of his merits as acandidate, at least so early in the morning. He came back presently,asking for a towel, which he had forgotten to carry along with him. Butas breakfast was announced just about that time, everything else wasforgotten in the pleasant task of appeasing their clamorous appetites.
While they ate they talked, and many were the schemes invented by someof the ingenious scouts, all looking to the undoing of the enemy, asthey chose to consider the combination of Reuben Sparks and Old PhinDady.
Bob asked that they remain over one more night in that camp, and therewas not a dissenting voice raised. They were fairly comfortable, andtheir haversacks still held a certain amount of food; though Thad didsay some of them ought to go skirmishing in the direction of the housesacross the valley, to see if there was a chance for buying fresh eggs;breakfast bacon; salt pork; or even grits, as the finer grade of hominyis universally called throughout the entire South.
As for Bob and himself, Thad had laid out a little campaign for the day.He believed that it might pay them to climb up the side of the mountain.This would be looked upon by any of Old Phin's followers, should theysee the boys, as in keeping with what the patrol leader had told themoonshiner about the doings and ambitions of Boy Scouts. There need notbe anything suspicious about such a move, when Thad had time and againdeclared that one of the main objects of their selecting this part ofthe country for their hike, had been the desire to climb mountains.
As to the benefits to be gained, they could at least have a goodbirdseye view of the entire region, the queer bowl-shaped little valley,at the further end of which nestled the pretentious house of ReubenSparks, and the nearby cabins; as well as the back trail.
Besides, possibly they might get some sort of information with regard towhat the moonshiners were doing. Most of these men lived in the littleramshackle cabins they had occasionally passed on the mountain road;where a few hens, a razor-back hog or two, and possibly a slab-sidedmule, constituted the sole possessions of the poor whites. But then,others doubtless had homes deeper in the depths of the great elevationsthat reared their rocky heads heavenward. These were the parties who,like Old Phin himself, were in demand by the authorities, and who wantedto take as few chances of arrest as possible.
No revenue men could very easily come into that well-watched regionwithout the keen eyes of a mountaineer noticing him. And often the crackof a rifle would be the first sign the daring man might have that he wasdiscovered.
Bob was only too glad of a chance to get off in the company of Thad. Hewanted to talk over matters with the other very much, and find out justwhat the patrol leader thought about the situation.
So, as they climbed steadily, though slowly, upward, they chatted inlow tones. Thad had warned his comrade that they must imagine an enemyback of every tree, and act accordingly, so as not to betray themselvesby unwise talk.
It was rough going. Plenty of times they had to pull themselves up bymain muscular strength, over some rocky obstruction. Then again, perhapsthey would have it comparatively easy for a brief interval.
"Here's a plain trail leading upward," remarked Thad, whose eyes hadbeen on the lookout all the time. "Suppose we follow it some. Chancesare it'll be easier going, because whoever lives up here would know thesoftest road."
"That's true," assented Bob; "but we'd best not keep on this same trailtoo long."
"Why not?" asked the other, looking around at his chum.
"You must know that it sure leads, sooner or later, to some hidden cabinof a man who's got some pretty good reason for keeping away from thebeaten road."
"Yes, I guessed that the first thing; and I suppose you mean he'd feelangry some if he saw two fellows in uniform following his trail?" Thadsuggested.
"Angry--well, that hardly covers the ground," chuckled Bob. "When thesemountain men don't like a thing they start to shooting right off thehandle. Never waste time, suh, in asking questions; they judge things asthey see them, and act accordingly. And believe me, Thad, when theirguns speak, generally something goes down."
"Well, on the whole I think what you said carries so much weight withme, Bob, that I've lost pretty much all interest in this same trail. Itdon't look near so attractive as it did; and I wouldn't be surprised ifwe'd make better time just keeping on straight up the face of the oldhill."
They looked at each other, and laughed softly, as though it was mutuallyunderstood what meaning Thad intended to convey back of his words.
All the same the dangerous beaten track was immediately forsaken, andonce more they set out to climb straight upwards. Occasionally Bob, whoseemed more at home in this thing than his companion, as he had livedamong the mountains most of his young life; would discover that bytaking a side cut they could avoid a hard climb, and in that event thedirect line was changed to an oblique one.
The view was at times a fine one, with a stretch of the wild countryspread out before them like a panorama. Then again for a quarter of anhour or more they would be unable to see anything, on account of theformation of the mountainside, or it might be the presence of thickfoliage on the small trees growing in profusion all around them.
"So far we haven't seen the first sign of a living thing?" remarkedThad, when they halted to get their breath.
"That's a fact, suh," agreed Bob White, "but we mustn't make up ourminds that we haven't been followed and watched at all times. Thesemountain men can climb like goats, suh. It would make you stare to seeone of them go up a cliff that neither of us could dream of climbing.They could keep us in sight right along, and believe me, we would neverknow a thing about it."
"I can easily understand that, Bob. But it's some wilder up here thanever I believed possible. I saw squirrels in plenty as we came along;some birds flushed from alongside that bank that must have beenpartridges; and right here's a bunch of feathers, showing where someanimal had a fine supper not long since."
Thad dropped down beside the telltale feathers that marked the end of agame bird, and seemed to be examining the ground.
A minute later he looked up.
"I'm not as dead sure about this thing as Allan would be," Thadremarked; "but it doesn't look like fox tracks to me. The claws are toowell defined; and I'm of the opinion that it might have been a wildcat,if you happen to have such beasts here in the heart of the Blue Ridge."
"I reckon we do, suh, and mighty fierce fellows too," the Southern ladmade answer promptly; "I've myself met with one when out hunting, andgot him too, though he gave me a heap of trouble; and I was sore fromthe scratches a whole week or so. No doubt you're right, and it was acat; though I'm surprised that he ate his catch on the ground, insteadof in the crotch of a tree."
"Perhaps he was too hungry to wait; or the bird tasted so good he justhad to pitch in right away," suggested Thad, picking up one of thefeathers, and sticking it in the cord of his campaign hat, boy fashion.
"It's getting pretty nigh dinner time," observed Bob, as he felt for thepackage of food he had thrust into one of his pockets before startingout, upon the suggestion of the patrol leader, who did not know just howlong a time they might be gone.
"Yes, and I suppose we've come up about as far as we ought," Thad added,himself feeling the vigorous climb the more because his muscles were notused to anything of that sort. "So, let's drop down right where we are.It's a good enough lunching place. The cat thought so, you can see."
They soon settled in comfortable places, each with a tree to lean hisback against while he munched the dry sandwiches that had been hurriedlyput together, a little potted ham between crackers, with a slice ofcheese thrown in for good measure.
The sun felt warm overhead, but the atmosphere at this altitude wasbracing and refreshing indeed, as mountain air always is. The boys, asthey ate, talked incessantly, covering the ground of what they hoped toaccomplish, if fortune were only kind enough to favor them, and themoonshiners to allow them to leave the mountains in peace.
Bob was explaining that after all it might be well for him to divide hismission into two parts, and get Bertha disposed of, before thinking oftrying to find whether the mysterious prisoner of the moonshiners couldreally be his dear father, when their conversation was interrupted by ascream from a point close by.
The two boys sprang to their feet, and looked at each other blankly.
"That was a girl called out, Bob!" exclaimed Thad. "We can't tell butwhat it may be a trap of some kind, but that's a chance we've just gotto take. Come on, and we'll soon see what it means!"