CHAPTER IV
HEADED FOR THE BIG WOODS
On the second day after leaving home, the four chums found themselvesupon what Bluff called the "last leg" of their railroad trip.
They were already in the State of Maine and heading north, bound forthe station where they expected to get off, and somehow find their wayto the place where Mr. Samuel Darrel, the well-known lumberman, was tobe found, according to his letter to Uncle Felix.
This was a logging camp known as Lumber Run. It lay in the depths ofthe Big Woods, and was surrounded by a virgin growth of fine timberthat would consume some years in the cutting.
No doubt the crews were already starting in to work, and the boysanticipated considerable enjoyment in seeing how the loggers droppedtheir trees. Of course, the most picturesque part of the business camein the spring when, after the customary freshets, the logs were rafteddown the rivers to the accompaniment of thrilling exploits by thelumber jacks.
The train was filled with people, every seat having been taken in theday coaches at the time the four boys got aboard. As a consequence,although they did not much fancy it, they were compelled to sit in thesmoking car. At times they opened the windows a bit, so as to get somefresh air.
Of course there was a motley assortment of rough-looking men aboard.Some of them may have been honest tillers of the soil returning homeafter a visit down in Boston or Portland. Others were undoubtedlylumbermen, heading for regions farther north, where they anticipateddoing a season's chopping, for as a rule they carried their axes withthem.
There were sportsmen on the train, too, and naturally these claimedmore than a share of attention from Frank and the other boys. Anythingthat had to do with hunting interested them. They listened wheneverthey heard some of these men discussing the chances for making arecord bag that season.
"Sounds from the way they talk," remarked Bluff at one time, "asthough there never was so much game in the woods as this year."
"I only hope it turns out that way," Jerry went on, "because we'd benearly tickled to death if we bagged a big moose, after all our pasthunts. That's one thing I've dreamed of doing many a time."
"As for me," ventured Will, with a long sigh, "I'd rather be able toget a picture of the moose than plant a bullet back of his shoulder. Ithink I'll let the rest of you supply the game for the pot, while Ispend all my time trying for something that will give us pleasurelater on, whenever we look at it."
"Every one to his taste," said Bluff. "I admit that I wouldn't give asnap of my finger for crawling around in the night, trying to takepictures of silly little 'coons and foxes that have been baited tocome up and pull a string. When I hunt, I want to see something worthwhile drop."
"Like that grizzly bear we ran across when we were out West?"suggested Jerry, his eyes kindling with vivid recollections.
"I was thinking," remarked Frank, "how some of these city sportsmenaboard here, togged out in the latest clothes, and seeming as thoughthey'd stepped out of bandboxes, keep looking over at us every once ina while, just as if they wondered how a pack of boys had been able tobreak away from the apron strings of their mothers."
"If we up and told 'em one-half of what we've been through," suggestedBluff, "I reckon they'd either think us descended from old BaronMunchausen, who could tell the biggest whoppers ever heard; or elsethey'd believe we'd broken loose from some lunatic asylum."
"Watch that hard-looking fellow the other two call Bill Nackerson,"remarked Will, in a low tone. "He's forever taking a nip out of aflask he carries, and then offering it to each one of the bunch. Bothhis mates accept, but that big boy I've seen shake his head. Hedoesn't seem to like the stuff."
"Well," Frank observed, "can you blame him, when he sees such ahorrible example in his uncle, for that seems to be the relation hebears to the big hunter. There, look the other way, he's scowling atus as if he might have guessed we were talking about him. Pretendwe're admiring the scenery in this patch of woods where the snow hangson the pines and hemlocks and firs. It's pretty enough to admire,you'll all admit."
"Think of the nerve of that Nackerson, fetching his old partridge dogin here, when all the other dogs are chained in the baggage car,"observed Jerry.
"Well, the brakeman wanted to throw the dog out, but when he saw thatwould be sure to start a row, he gave it up, and went off growling,"said Will.
"Yes, but I saw one of the other hunters slip something into his handthat looked like a bank-bill," Frank told them. "They've all gotplenty of money, that's sure; and such men always believe they can buywhatever they want. He's still looking over this way from time totime."
"I hope he doesn't take a notion to make trouble for us," mentionedWill, who was the most peace-loving of the chums. "He's been takingmore than he ought to, and is hardly responsible for his actions. I'dhate to get into a quarrel with such a fellow."
"All the same," muttered Bluff, "a dozen like him couldn't make meknuckle down, if I knew I was in the right."
"Sh! not another word; he's coming over here!" hissed Frank.
All of them felt their hearts beating faster than usual, as the bigsportsman advanced along the aisle, his eyes fastened on them.
"Does that heavy bag that fell on my dog belong to any one of youkids?" he asked thickly, in a threatening tone.
Some time before a little accident had happened. The dog, in prowlingaround as far as his tether would admit, had managed to knock over apack, and that it caused him a certain amount of pain his yelps hadtestified. At the time the owner had been in another car, but, seeingthe dog licking his hurts, he must have forced one of his companionsto tell him what had happened.
Frank hastened to explain, not in an apologetic way, but simplytelling the facts, that it was really the animal's fault he had upsetthe pack on himself.
"It was the only place the thing could be set, and the brakemanhimself put it there," he declared. "The dog was nosing around, andgot his rope caught in the bag, so that he pulled it over on his back.I've fixed it so the accident can't possibly happen again, sir."
The man was in a very ugly mood. He looked Frank over with a dangerousscowl, but so far as could be seen the boy did not quail.
Then Nackerson began to berate them for having such an unwieldy pack,and leaving it at an end of the car he wanted for the use of his prizedog.
"What d'ye mean, setting a trap like that?" he demanded. "I believeyou did it just to see how you could catch my dog. That sort of thingbelongs in the baggage car--and it's time you took it there, d'ye hearme?"
"I hear you all right, sir," replied Frank, pale, perhaps, and yetmeeting the ugly look of the other steadily. "But you must understandthat we have a perfect right to carry any hand-baggage in the car withus. If your dog had been where he belonged, in that same baggage car,possibly he wouldn't have been hurt. And it doesn't amount to much, Ifigure, sir."
His bold words infuriated the hunter. But for his two friends, whoseized hold of his arms, he might have attacked Frank, and then, asBluff said afterward, "there _would_ have been the dickens topay."
The other hunters must have realized that their companion was in thewrong. They saw that others in the car would have jumped to theassistance of the boys had a struggle been precipitated. Accordingly,they soothed him as best they could, and in one way or another managedto coax the big brute back to his seat.
There he sat, every once in a while twisting his head around to scowltoward Frank and his chums, while muttering dire threats under hisbreath.
Twice he even started to get to his feet, whereupon Bluff Mastersdoubled up his fists aggressively, and clenched his teeth hard, asthough ready for the battle that seemed imminent. On both occasions,however, the other men succeeded in pulling Nackerson back into hisseat before he could break loose. So all the rest of the journey waspursued with what might be called an "armed truce" prevailing.
"I'm feeling sorry for that big boy they call Teddy," remarked Franklater on, when they had reason to believe that another half hour wouldtak
e them to the station where they expected to get out.
"Me, too," added Bluff. "He seems made of different stuff from hisugly relative."
"He certainly looks disgusted with the way his uncle acts," Willdeclared. "How do you suppose he came to be with them up here, Frank?"
"Oh, I suppose they asked him to come along, and help out with thecooking," replied the other, "and he caught at the chance to get anouting without any expense. Some men come up here just to drink andlie around camp. They are ashamed to carry on that way at home, andtoo lazy to even bother cooking, so they either have guides to do allthe work, or else fetch some half-grown boy along. I'm sorry forTeddy, because I imagine he's in for a bad time all around, and withmighty little pleasure."
"Already the boy is more than half afraid of his uncle," Will gave ashis opinion. "Like as not he never dreamed he would turn out to besuch a brute, once he got started for the woods."
"I hope they keep the man quiet until we can leave the train," saidFrank. "It would be unpleasant to have a row to begin with."
"Didn't you say ours was the next one to this stop?" asked Bluffeagerly, as he pressed his nose against the glass and looked out, whenthe train came to a stop at a small country station.
"Yes, it's the next," Frank observed, "though if we chose we could goon to Clayton, and even then be about as close to Lumber Run. I wastold we might find the trail a little better from Burnt Pine, andthat's why I picked it out."
"Looks pretty lonely, doesn't it?" asked Will.
"Just what I expected to find," Frank replied. "I've always known thatin all Maine this section had gone free the longest from the operationof the loggers. That's why it's called the Big Woods. For many yearsit's been a favorite place for guides to bring parties of sportsmen,because they were pretty sure to find deer, moose, perhaps a bear, andalways an abundance of partridge."
"But," remarked Bluff, "now that Samuel Darrel and his company, inwhich Uncle Felix has a big interest, have bought up all this section,with the idea of getting out the timber, it'll only be a few yearsbefore the game is thinned out. Logging always hurts hunting."