CHAPTER XXIV.
THE CLOCK IN THE SKY.
"OH! Thad!"
Bob unconsciously gave utterance to this low, bubbling cry as he feltthe ground slipping from under him, and his eyes looking down into aninky void. Then something clutched hold of him, and his downwardprogress was stayed. Thad had shot out a hand, and grasped his chum byone of his legs, at the same time bracing himself for the shock.
This he did in the twinkling of an eye, dropping his gun, and with thathand laying hold of a sapling that, fortunately, chanced to be withineasy reach.
"Careful, don't kick more than you can help, Bob," he remarked, ascoolly as he possibly could, though a sensation akin to horror sweptover him immediately he had acted. "I've got a good grip on you, and myother hand is holding on to a stout little sapling, so we just can't godown. Now work yourself back, inch by inch, as well as you can.Yo-heave-o! here you come! Another try, Bob! That gave us quite somedistance. Ready to make it again? Why, this is easy. Here you are now,altogether boys, with a will!"
And after half a dozen of these concerted pulls and backward movements,Bob found that he had reached a spot where he could take care ofhimself.
"Whew! that was what I call a close call!" he muttered. "I wonder, now,just how far down I'd have had to go, if you hadn't been clever enoughto grab me just in time?"
"We're not going to bother our heads about that, Bob," replied theother, quickly; "only please go a bit slower. We won't make any time, ifwe have to stop, and go through that circus stunt every little while.And Bob, it might happen that I'd lose my grip, and either let you godown, or there'd be two of us take the drop. Does it pay to try and makespeed at such a terrible risk?"
"You're right, just like you always are, Thad," replied the hasty andnow penitent one; "and I'm sure a fool for taking chances that way.Here, you go up ahead, and set the pace. That's the only way we can fixit; because, like as not inside of five minutes I'd be rushing alongagain for all I'm worth."
"Perhaps that would be the best plan," Thad observed, with a chuckle. "Ithought of it, but didn't want to make you feel that I distrusted yourleadership. And I want to say right now that it isn't that makes me takethe lead, only because you are so excited that you're not fit to judgethings right."
"But don't let's waste any more precious time, Thad. Polly might havegotten to the place ahead of us, you know. Oh! wouldn't I be sore if shegot tired of waiting, and went back home."
"All the same," Thad remarked, confidently, "I don't think Polly wouldever do such a mean thing as that. She understands just how crazy youare to know, and she's right now putting herself in your place. No,Polly will wait up for us, make your mind easy on that, Bob. I wish Iwas as sure that we'd get there, safe and sound."
"Oh! I'm done with my capers, mind you, Thad," returned Bob, eagerly."Since you've taken the lead, there's no chance for us to go pitchingover a precipice. When they catch a weasel asleep, and no mortal manever did that, I've heard, they'll hear of Thad Brewster making a foolmove."
"It's nice of you to say that, anyway, Bob; I only wish I deserved thecompliment you pay me. But we'd better talk less, and get on a littlefaster."
And after Thad had given this gentle little hint the conversationlagged; Bob realized that it was really no time to carry on any sort oftalk; and that when they could not tell what dangers might be closearound them in that inky darkness, they would be far wiser to keep apadlock on their lips.
Each time they stopped they again saw the signal lights flashing outhere and there across the way, or below. They seemed like giantfireflies, striving to free themselves from some invisible bonds. Butthe boys knew very well what it meant, and that the moonshiners of theBlue Ridge were holding an animated fire talk.
They met no animal on the way, which Thad thought was a piece of goodluck. Even though he did carry his faithful little Marlin, which couldsend a powerful charge of shot a long distance; and close in, serve allthe purposes of a big bore rifle, or musket, all the same, Thad was notdesirous of meeting with any new and thrilling adventure.
Such things were all very nice after they had passed along, and one satcomfortably by a camp-fire, relating the circumstance; but while inprocess of action they were apt to bring a cold chill along in theirtrain, not at all comfortable.
"It must be after the time we set, isn't it, Thad?" Bob finally asked,in a low voice, when they rested again.
The scoutmaster could not look at his little cheap but reliable watchwithout striking a match; and there was really no necessity for doingthat. It made very little difference whether they were ahead, orsomewhat behind the hour arranged for their meeting with Polly. Andbesides, there were other ways of telling time pretty accurately,without even having a watch along.
Thad glanced up into the heavens. He had often studied the bright worldsand suns to be seen there, and knew considerable about the positionsthey occupied, changing, it might be, with the coming and going of theseasons.
"It's just close on to midnight, Bob," he observed, presently.
Of course Bob was at once interested.
"You're saying that because of the stars, Thad," he remarked. "Pleasetell me how you managed to tell."
"It's like this," the scoutmaster replied, not averse to pointing alesson that might be seed sown in fertile ground; "notice those threerather small stars in the northeast, all in a line and pointingdownward? Well, those are what they call the belt of Orion, the Hunter.They point nearly direct down to a mighty bright blue star that you seethere, twinkling like everything."
"Yes, I've often noticed that, and I reckon it must be a planet near asbig as Venus or Jupiter," remarked the other boy.
Thad laughed.
"Well," he remarked, "I guess now you'd think me crazy if I told youjust how far that same star is away from us right now, ever so manytimes further than either of the planets you speak of. Why, Bob, that'sSirius, the Dog Star, said to be the biggest sun known to astronomers.Our little sun wouldn't make a spot beside that terrible monster; whichmay be the central sun, around which all the other tens of thousandsrevolve everlastingly."
"Oh! yes, I've heard of the Dog Star, but never reckoned it amounted toanything in particular," declared the Southern lad, interested, in spiteof the anxiety that was gnawing at his heart all the while; "but supposeyou go on, suh, and explain to me how you can tell the time of night byconsulting the Dog Star. You sure have got me to guessing."
"Nothing could be easier, if only you'd put your mind to it, and think,Bob?" continued the patrol leader. "These stars and planets rise at acertain hour every night. It grows later all the while, and many of themare not seen only half of the year, because they are above us in thedaytime the rest of the twelve months. Now suppose you had watched thatstar, as I did last night, and knew just when it crept above thatmountain ridge over yonder; you'd have a line on when it could beexpected to come up to-night. Now do you see?"
"Well, it's as simple as two and two make four," replied Bob. "And sothat's the way old hunters tell the time at night, do they? Reading theclock in the sky, you might call it, Thad. I'm sure going to rememberall about that; and later on, when my mind's at rest, I'll ask you aheap more questions about these things. They get more and moreinteresting the deeper you dip in; ain't that so, Thad?"
"I've found it that way," replied the scout leader, quietly. "A fellowwho keeps his eyes and ears open can almost hear the stars whisperingtogether, they say; and as to the secrets the wind tells to the trees inpassing, why that's easy to understand. But if you're rested by now,Bob, we'd better be on the move once more."
Only too willingly did Bob agree. He believed that they must by thistime be very nearly up to the point where Polly had agreed to meet them.She had asked Bob if he remembered the place; and he in return haddeclared he could easily find it, even in the darkness of night; foroften had he climbed the face of this ridge when he lived close by; forat the time, his father had owned the very place where Old Reuben Sparksnow had his home, the miser
having purchased it from Mrs. Quail upon hermoving North with her son.
"Keep on the lookout for three oak trees growing close together, Thad,"he said, presently. "It's always been a landmark around here, becauseany one can see it from the valley, you know. I reckon, now, we must beclose by the same; and I'd hate to miss it in the dark. It's been sometime since I was up here, and I'm apt to get mixed a bit."
"Well, I think you've done mighty well so far; because, unless my eyesdeceive me, there's the place right ahead of us," Thad declared.
"You're right about that," Bob added, feverishly; "that's the place ofthe three mountain oaks; and they stand out against the sky, now we'vechanged our position. Oh! I'm beginning to shake all over, Thad, I'mthat anxious. What if Polly shouldn't be on hand? Perhaps she justcouldn't learn anything, after all, and will only come to tell me shedid her best; but they keep the Still guarded too close, and shecouldn't get close in. There's a dozen, yes, twenty things that mightcome up to upset my hopes. They don't seem so strong, Thad, now thatwe've got to the point."
"Well, I wouldn't let myself get in any sort of gloom about it yet,anyway, Bob. Time enough to cry after the milk is spilt. Here we are atthe oaks, and we'll wait for Polly to come, if she's late; but I'm deadcertain she'll keep her word with you. When a girl like Polly saysshe'll do a thing, you can just make up your mind she will, unless theheavens fall."
"That's right peart o' you, suh," said a soft voice close by; and theyheard a rustling sound, as though some one might be coming out fromamidst the dense foliage just beyond the three oaks. "Here's Polly, be'nawaitin' this half hour fur you-uns to kim along. An' she's agettin'right sleepy, let me tell yuh."
Thad felt his chum quivering with eagerness as the mountain girl madeher way carefully down to where they awaited her coming. What sort ofnews Polly could be bringing neither of them could so much as guess; butit would not be long now ere Bob knew the best, or the worst.