CHAPTER II
THAD GOES AFTER THE YELLOW EYES
"He says a panther is up there!" echoed Giraffe, stretching that longneck of his at a fearful rate, in the endeavor to locate the animal inquestion.
All of them became immediately intensely interested in the furtherdoings of Davy Jones. The boy chanced to be in a position where hecould not apparently pass down the trunk of the tree, for fear lest hecome in contact with the sharp claws of the dreaded beast which heclaimed was hiding up there somewhere; but then that was a small matterto one so active as the Jones boy.
He immediately started to fearlessly slide down the outside of the tree,making use of the branches as he came along, to stay his program when itthreatened to become too rapid.
The sight of Davy spinning down from that height with such perfectabandon, was one none of those fellows would ever forget.
When he finally landed on the ground they gathered around him with somemisgivings, for Davy was addicted to practical jokes, and some of hischums suspected that even now he was, as Step Hen suggested, "putting upa job on his unsuspecting comrades."
One look at his really white face told them that at least Davy's frighthad been genuine. He may not have seen a truly savage panther up therein the tree, but he firmly believed he did.
"Where was it, Davy?" demanded Giraffe, who had hastened to snatch upthe camp hatchet in lieu of any better weapon with which to defendhimself.
"Did it try to grab you?" asked Bumpus, with a tremor in his voice thathe tried in vain to conceal by a great show of assumed bluster.
"And was there only one up there?" queried Step Hen, anxiously,fingering the double-barreled Marlin shotgun, which was the only firearmthey had with them, as this expedition had not been organized with anyidea of hunting; and the season for game was not on as yet, either, evenin this northern country; though Giraffe, who owned the gun, had fetchedit in the hope that they might be forgiven if they knocked over a fewwild ducks, should their rations run low.
"I didn't wait to ask," stammered Davy, "fact is, boys, I didn't reallysee the terrible beast at all, only his big yellow eyes!"
"Oh! is that so, Davy?" exclaimed Thad, turning to give Allan a wink, asmuch as to let him understand that the truth would soon be coming now.
"But see here," Step Hen wanted to know; "however was you agoin' to seehis eyes and not glimpse the panther himself; that's a thing you've gotto explain, Davy Jones."
The other bent a look of commiseration on the speaker.
"What's the answer to that?" he went on to say, recovering his voicemore and more with each passing second, now that his personal safetyseemed assured; "I'll tell you, Step Hen. You see, there's a bigyawning gap in the tree up there, as black inside as your hat afternight. And when I just happened to look that way what did I see but apair of round yellow eyes astaring straight at me! Guess I've seen apanther, and I ought to know how his eyes look in the dark--just likeyou've seen the old cat alooking at you to home, when you went into adark room. Wow! say, did you notice me acoming down that tree outsidelike greased lightning? I own up I expected I'd be pounced on anysecond, and that made me in something like a hurry, fellows!"
One or two of the scouts snickered at this. The sound appeared to annoyDavy, who was plainly very much in earnest.
"Huh! easy to laugh, you fellows," he remark, with deep satire in hisvoice. "Mebbe, now, you, don't believe what I'm telling you! Mebbe oneof you'd like to just climb up there, and see for yourself what it is?I dare you, Bumpus!"
"You'll have to excuse me, Davy; it's too big a job for a boy built likeme, you understand, though sure I'd like to accommodate first rate,"replied the scout with the red hair and mild blue eyes, shrinking back,and shrugging his shoulders.
"Then how about you, Step Hen," pursued Davy, determined to put it toeach of the scoffers in turn until he had shown them up in good style;"I notice that you're looking like you didn't reckon there couldn'tabeen such a thing as a genuine panther around this region in the lasttwenty years and more. Suppose you tumble up there, and take a look-in!"
But the party indicated smiled sweetly, and laid his hand on the regionof his stomach, as he went on to say:
"Why, really and truly, Davy, I think I'm going to have one of thosenasty cramps just like you used to have so often. There's agripe comingon right now, and you see how unpleasant it would be to find myselfdoubled-up while I was thirty feet from the ground. I'm afraid I'llhave to pass this time."
"Then, there's Giraffe who'll he sure to volunteer," continued theother, bound to take all the scoffers in by turns. "He's of aninvestigating turn of mind, and if he wants to, I reckon he might takethat gun along, so he could have some show, if the thing jumped rightout in his face!"
"Well, now," the long-legged scout answered, with a whimsical grin, "I'dlike to accommodate you the worst kind, Davy, but you know how it iswith me. I ain't worth a cooky before I've had my feed. Feel sorterweak about the knees, to tell you the honest truth; and I never was askeen about climbing to the top of tall trees as you were, Davy. Countme out, please, that's a good fellow."
At that Davy laughed outright.
"I see you've got cold feet in the bargain, Giraffe," he asserted."Well, then, if anybody's going to climb up there and poke that ugly oldbeast out of his den it'll have to be either our scout-master, or Allen;for I tell you right now you don't catch me monkeying with a buzz-sawafter I've had my fingers zipped."
"I'll go," said Thad, quietly.
"Here, take this, Thad," urged Step Hen, trying to force the shotguninto the hands of the other, as he stepped toward the base of the bigtree.
Thad and Allan again exchanged looks.
"Don't think I'll need it, do you, Allan?" the former asked.
"Hardly," came the reply; "and even if you did carry it up, the chancesare you couldn't find a way to hold on, and shoot at the same time.Here, let me take that thing, Step Hen; you're that nervous. Ifanything did happen to fluster you, I honestly believe you'd up and bangaway, and perhaps fill our chum with bird-shot in the bargain."
Step Hen disavowed any such weakness, but nevertheless he was apparentlyglad to hand over the weapon; because he realized that Allan knew muchbetter how to use firearms than he did, and if there was any occasionfor shooting, the responsibility would be off his shoulders; for StepHen never liked to find himself placed where he was in the limelight andhad to make good, or be disgraced.
Thad did not appear to be at all worried, as he took a last good lookaloft, as though wishing to assure himself that there was no panther insight among the thick branches above, before he trusted himself upthere.
His good common sense told him that the chances were as ten to one thatDavy had not seen what he claimed at all; but his fears had workedovertime, and simply magnified some trifling thing.
Of course had Thad really believed there was any chance of meeting sucha savage beast as a panther he would never have ventured w make thatclimb; or if he did he must have surely taken the gun along with him.
The others gathered around near the foot of the tree, and tried tofollow the daring climber with their eyes, meanwhile exchanging more orless humorous remarks in connection with his mission.
All of them, saving possibly Allan, seemed to be a little nervousconcerning the outcome; because Davy kept on asserting his positivebelief that it was a real true panther that lay in the aperture above,and not a make-believe.
"I only hope Thad can dodge right smart if the old thing does comewhooping out at him!" was the way Davy put it; at which the eyes ofBumpus grew rounder and rounder, and he began to quietly edge away fromunder the tree, an inch at a time; for he hoped none of his chums wouldnotice his timidity, because Bumpus was proud of having done certainthings in the line of bagging big game, on the occasion of their trip tothe Far West.
"There," remarked Step Hen, "he's getting up pretty far now, and Ireckon must be close by the place where you saw your old panther, Davy."
"
Yes," added Giraffe, "and you notice that Thad's marking time, so tospeak, for he's hanging out there, and trying to see what's above him."
"A scout should always use a certain amount of caution," interposedAllan; "there are times when a fellow might take chances, if it's a caseof necessity, and quick action is necessary in order to save life; butright now Thad's only carrying out the rule he's always laid down forthe rest of us.
"Be prepared, you know, is the slogan of every scout, and that's whathe's doing. He wants to be sure of his ground before he jumps."
"Hub!" grunted Davy, "if I'd stopped to count ten before I slid down, Iwonder now what would have happened to me. Some fellers act fromimpulse every time, and you can't change the spots of the leopard, theysay. What's dyed in the wool can't be washed out, as took as Bumpus herewith his carroty hair."
"You leave my hair alone, Davy Jones, and pay attention to your ownbusiness," complained the stout scout, aggressively. "You just knowyou're a going to get it when Thad makes his report, and you're tryingto draw attention somewhere else. Make me think of what I read aboutthe pearl divers when they see an old hungry man-eating shark waitingabove 'em; they stir up the sand with the sharp-pointed stick theycarry; and when the water gets foggy they swim away without the fishbeing able to see 'em. And you're atrying right now to befog the realcase, which is, did you really see anything, or get scared at your ownshadow."
"Hear! Hear!" crowed Giraffe, who always liked to see Bumpus aroused,and when this occurred he often made out to back him up with approval,just as some boys would sick one dog on another, or tempt rival roostersto come to a "scrap."
"You fellow's let up, and watch what Thad's agoin' to do," Step Henadvised them at that juncture; and so for the time being Davy and Bumpusforgot their complaint and riveted their eyes on the boy who was up inthe tree.
"I can't hardly see him any more, the branches are so thick," complainedBumpus ducking his head this way and that.
"That's because he's gone on again," argued Giraffe; "seems like hedidn't find any signs of a real panther when he took that survey."
"Hold your horses!" was all Davy allowed himself to say, though no doubthe himself had commenced to have serious doubts by now.
Half a minute later and there broke out a series of strange sounds fromup above their heads.
"Listen to that, now, would you?" cried Davy, bristling with importanceagain. "Don't that sound like Thad might a hit up against somethingbig? Hear him talking, will you? Didn't you catch what he said rightthen--no, you don't grab me, you rascal; I'm afraid I'll have to knockyou on the head yet! Say, don't that sound like Thad had found mypanther, and was keeping him off with that club he took up with him.Oh! what's that?"
Something came crashing down as Davy uttered this last exclamation. Theboys were horrified at, first, because they imagined it might bit Thadand the panther, that, meeting in midair, had lost their grip, and werefalling to the ground, fully forty feet below.
"Why, it's only his club," cried Giraffe, quickly.
"Then he must have let it get knocked out of his hand!" ejaculatedBumpus. "Oh! poor Thad. He'll be in a bad fix without a single thing tofight that animal with!"
"That's where you're mistaken, because I can see him now, and he'sacoming down the tree right smart!" Step Hen announced; whichintelligence allowed Bumpus to breathe freely again, for his face wasgetting fiery red with the suspense that had gripped him.
"That's so!" echoed Giraffe, "and I'm looking to see if there's anysigns of a big cat trailing after him, but so far nothing ain't come insight."
The five scouts on the ground hastened to close in around the foot ofthe big tree, so as to welcome their patrol leader when he dropped fromthe lower limb.
"Seems to me Thad acts kind of clumsy, for him," announced Step Hen;"now, if it'd been Bumpus here I could understand it, because, well Iwon't say what I was agoing to, because it might make hard feelingsbetween us; and with all his shortcomings Bumpus is a good sort of achap."
"Huh! dassent, that's what!" grunted the party indicated, making athreatening gesture in the direction of his fellow-scout.
The arrival of the scout-master caused them to forget all other things.Thad, as soon as he found his feet fixed on solid ground once more,strode straight up until he faced Davy Jones, and suddenly called out:
"There's your panther, Davy!"
There was a craning of necks, a gasping of breaths, and then a series ofyells broke forth that made the nearby woods fairly ring with theechoes.