CHAPTER VI.
TAKING A RISK FOR THE SAKE OF LITTLE LINA.
Thad understood it all now, and the knowledge gave him a thrill. Hethrust out his hand to the young guide, with boyish enthusiasm.
"Shake, Jim!" he exclaimed. "I just know you did what any decent manwould have done. And so you managed to run away with the old man'sdaughter, did you? Was she all he had?"
"On'y Little Lina; an' he believed the sun rose an' set in her, like.They cud all say as Cale Martin war a bad man, an' he _war_ roughas they make 'em, sumtimes; but he'd a laid down his life fur thet gal,any day. I was dead sorry tuh hev tuh do hit; but I knowed he'd nevergive in, an' I jest cudn't live without her. We gut outen this deestrictwhile Cale war off on a hunt, an' I hain't never seen hide nor hair o'him sense. But he sent me word thet ef so be I ever kim back tuh the oldstampin' grounds, he hed it in fuh me, all right."
"How long ago was that, Jim?"
"Nigh a yeah an' er half now," the other replied.
"And of course your wife has often wished she could see her fatheragain, Jim?"
The guide groaned.
"Cried her putty eyes out, awantin' tuh see her dad," he admitted; "butwhat cud a man do 'bout hit, if Cale, he wudn't forgive me? He sent wordas haow Lina cud kim back, but me, never; an' in course she wudn't quitme."
"But now, Jim; tell me about who gave you the orders you were sayingsomething about a while ago?" pursued Thad.
"She done hit, in course," answered the other, heaving a sigh. "I knowedthe risk I war takin', but I'd do a right smart more fur my Lina."
"Then as I take it, Jim, you don't really want to avoid Old Cale, thisfiery father-in-law of yours; in fact, you mean to see him face toface?"
"Got ter," replied the other, laconically; "'cause she sez so. Hit maybe I kin do hit on the way up to the lakes; but if not then I'm acomin'back with Eli an' the canoes thisaways, arter yuh gits aboard thertrain; an' I'll hang around this deestrict till we meets. Never'd dar'show myself tuh her, 'less I done everything agoin' tuh kerry it out."
"And don't you feel a little uneasy about your ears, Jim?"
"Wall, it wudn't be jest the nicest thing agoin' tuh lose 'em; but shesez as haow Ole Cale, he's bound tuh cave when he hears what I gottertuh tell him."
Evidently Jim had said all he meant to, and Thad took the hint.
"Well, all I want to say is that I admire your nerve, Jim; and the lotof us will stand back of you if you get in any trouble," he remarked,earnestly.
"Hit's right nice in yuh tuh say thet, sir, an' sure I 'predate hit,"the guide went on to say, with a tremor in his voice; "but arter all, Iguess thar hain't goin' tuh be any row, if me'n Cale, we kims tergether.I'm willin' tuh resk it. But I must say as haow I don't like the ijee o'him asettin' thar in them bushes, aimin' his gun at me. But CaleMartin's a squar man, as wudn't shoot daown another without givin' him ashow. An' I guess he jest done it fur fun."
So Thad went back to the fire, and sat down. But he did not join in themerry talk that was going around. His thoughts were wholly given up toJim and his story. He liked the short guide more than ever; and in thesame proportion detested the big Maine backwoodsman whose daughter Jimhad run away with.
Presently some of the boys complained of feeling sleepy, andarrangements were made for passing the night.
Both Jim and Eli declared that it would be only the part of wisdom tokeep watch. There could be no telling what deviltry Cale Martin,assisted by his two congenial spirits, Si Kedge and Ed Harkness, mightattempt to do. Perhaps, thinking that it would reflect on the guides ifthey annoyed the party whom Eli and Jim were convoying into the Mainewoods, they might even try to set fire to the camp, and thus spoil theentire trip.
When morning came Thad and Allan had taken their turn at standingsentry; but none of the other scouts were called upon, because theleader did not have the greatest of confidence in their ability toremain awake, not to mention hearing, and comprehending, any sounds thatmight arise, and which spelled danger.
A consultation in the morning showed that only once had there been heardsuspicious sounds. It was while Allan held the fort; and he declaredthat to the best of his knowledge they were far distant voices on theriver. But although he listened carefully, and was prepared to give thealarm if necessary, nothing further developed that might be considered aperil to the camp.
The boys were feeling pretty good that morning. They had most of themenjoyed a fine sleep, and were as active as young colts.
Davy in particular seemed to be full of animal spirits; and when he feltlike it, there was no end of the capers the athletic gymnast could do.One minute he was hanging from his toes from a high limb, looking like amonkey; and the next he had let go, whirled over three times in the air,and landed lightly on his feet on the soft ground; after which he wouldmake his little bow, just like the celebrated performer in the great andonly Barnum's Circus, after he has thrilled the audience with one of hismarvelous acts.
Bumpus sat and watched all these performances with open mouth. Secretlythe fat boy aspired to imitate Davy in some of his antics; thoughGiraffe always scoffed loudly at the absurd idea of a heavy weight likeBumpus trying to play the part of a nimble ape.
Several times had the ambition of Bumpus got the better of his judgment,and he had endeavored to follow in the wake of the active member of theparty; but always with disastrous results; so that for some time now hehad taken it out in gaping, and wishing, and longing for the time tocome when he could get rid of his surplus fat, so that he might benimble like Davy.
Giraffe during breakfast was unusually silent and sober. Thad guessedwhere his thoughts were straying, and consequently it did not surprisehim in the least to overhear the tall boy muttering to himself, while heshook his head stubbornly:
"I c'n do it all right; I just _know_ I can!"
Step Hen amused himself watching a sharp-eyed little striped chipmunkstealing some bits thrown aside from the camp meal. Time was when StepHen might have been guilty of trying to hit such a fair mark with a clubor a stone; but that was in the past. He would not have lifted a fingernow to injure that innocent little creature for worlds; but sat there,deeply interested in observing every movement it made, just as if itwere a pet.
Jim seemed to be himself again; at least when Thad looked toward himinquiringly, the guide nodded his head, and smiled. Evidently Jim hadslept over his trouble, and decided that he was doing the right thing.For the sake of Little Lina he was ready to go right along, taking bigchances of losing his precious ears; for only too well did he know thatOld Cale was a man of his word; and that he must have meant everythinghe said to the messenger who bore the threat to Jim.
Davy was wild to develop the film upon which he had taken that snapshotpicture on the preceding night; but there were a number of obstacles inthe way of doing that. First of all, there were five other exposures onthat roll, as yet untouched; and as a clinching argument, Davy had notbothered bringing a developing tank, or printing outfit along with him,fearing that they would take up too much room.
And so he would have to be content to wait until they reached some placewhere a photographer held forth, who would undertake to do the job, fora consideration.
Of course the picture of that breakfast would hardly be complete withoutStep Hen suddenly breaking forth in his customary strain:
"Where's my--oh, here it is, on my head, of course! How queer that Ishould forget I put it there," and he had to actually take his hat off,and look at it, as if hardly able to believe his eyes, and that for oncehis anticipated difficulty had been smoothed over so easily.
Davy joined in the general laugh that greeted this outbreak; then hewalked gravely over, and insisted on feeling of Step Hen's neck.
"Hey! what you up to, now, you Jones boy? Keep your paws off me!"exclaimed the object of this solicitude, suspiciously dodging.
"I only wanted to make sure that the connection was sound still,"retorted the other; "because some fine day, all of us expect you to loseyour h
ead."
"Well, I've seen you lose yours more'n a few times, when you gotflustrated and excited; and it didn't seem to hurt much," Step Henretorted.
"There's a big difference in heads," remarked Davy.
"I should say there was," replied the other, meaningly; "and the graystuff that's in 'em, too. Some are hollow, like a punkin; while others,mine for instance, are just crammed full of thinks."
"Well, I'd advise you to use a few of the thinks trying to rememberwhere you put your belongings; and quit accusing the rest of us ofplaying tricks on you; or a silly little jinx of stealing things." Davywent on, shaking his finger at the careless scout.
"If all you fellows are done eating, perhaps we'd better get a move onus," suggested the scoutmaster; of course Thad was really only theassistant, for according to the regulations governing all troops of BoyScouts connected with the parent organization, there had to be agrown-up acting in the capacity of scoutmaster; though Thad had passedan examination that entitled him to receive his commission as assistant,from the headquarters in New York City.
As this gentleman, a Dr. Philander Hobbs, had been unable to get awaywith them on this trip to Maine, he had relegated his authority to theshoulders of Thad; a proceeding that was greatly relished by the otherfive scouts, because they liked to feel that they were depending onthemselves, with no grown-up along.
Accordingly there was a movement among the campers. Tents had to comedown, and be stowed away; and all the material connected with thecooking department made into as small a compass as possible.
All of them worked but Giraffe, who was on his knees near by, doingsomething that Thad could easily guess the nature of. Knowing thestubborn qualities in the angular scout Thad felt sure that none of themwould know any peace until Giraffe had finally managed to strike a clue,and effect the end he had in view, of making an actual boni-fide fireafter the way known to the South Sea Islanders, with his little bow, hissharp-pointed stick set in a hole made in a block of wood, and hisinflammable tinder, backed by indomitable energy, and "get there"spirit.
And for the sake of harmony in the camp, Thad really wished Giraffewould hurry up, and solve the knotty problem.
Inside of half an hour they were all packed, and ready to make anotherstart in the direction of the Eagle chain of lakes to the north.