CHAPTER XIV
JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME
"Holy smoke! look at that, would you?" exclaimed Seth, who had been soclose on the heels of the scoutmaster that he sighted the strugglingobjects ahead almost as soon as Paul did himself.
"It's a big wildcat!" echoed Jotham, with a suspicious tremor in hisvoice.
Indeed, the animal in question was a sight well calculated to give anyone more or less reason to feel a touch of alarm.
Evidently she must be a mother cat, for a couple of partly grown kittensstood there in plain sight, with every hair on their short backserected, and their whole appearance indicating that they were "chips offthe old block," as Seth afterwards declared.
The wounded aeronaut sat there with a stick in his grasp. This he waswielding as best he could, to keep the angry animal at a distance,although his efforts were growing pitifully weaker, and only for thecoming of the scouts he must have been compelled to throw up the spongein a short time.
Evidently the wildcat had come upon him there after he had been droppedamidst the wreckage of his balloon. Whether it was her natural hatredfor mankind that tempted the savage beast to attack the balloonist, orthe scent of fresh blood from some of his scratches, it would be hardto say, possibly both reasons had to do with her action.
Just how long the scrimmage had been going on Paul could only guess; buthe did know that the beast must have ripped the clothes partly off theaeronaut's back, and in turn he could see that one of the animal's eyeswas partly closed, from a vigorous whack which the desperate man hadgiven with his cudgel, no doubt.
Paul instantly made straight for the scene of commotion, never so muchas hesitating a second. This was one of those emergencies spoken ofbefore now, when the scoutmaster did not allow himself to pause andconsider, but acted from impulse only.
The man saw him coming, and gave expression to his satisfaction in aweak hurrah. As for the cat, at first it seemed ready to try conclusionswith the whole troop of Boy Scouts, for it turned on Paul with theugliest glare in its yellow eyes he had ever seen.
Every fellow was shouting vigorously by now, and the volume of soundmust have had more or less to do with settling the question. Besides,the pair of kittens seemed to have been frightened off with the comingof the scouts, having slid into the friendly bushes.
So the mother cat decided that after all she could yield gracefully tosuperior numbers--seven to one was pretty heavy odds, and those wavingstaves had an ugly look she did not exactly fancy.
But all the same there was nothing inglorious in her retreat; sheretired in perfect good order, keeping her face to the foe, andcontinuing to spit and snarl and growl so long as she remained in sight.
Several of the scouts were for following her up, and forcing the issue;but a word from Paul restrained them. He saw that the animal wasfuriously angry, and if hard pushed would undoubtedly make thingsextremely interesting for any number of fellows; flying into theirmidst, so that they could not well use their sticks, and using her sharpclaws to make criss-cross maps across their faces.
Scratches from the claws of all carnivorous animals are dangerous. Bloodpoisoning is apt to set in, because of the fact that their claws arecontaminated from the flesh of such birds or small game as have servedthem for a previous meal. And just then Paul had nothing along with himto prevent the possibility of such a dreadful happening taking place.
Seth in particular was exceedingly loth to give over. He looked afterthe vanishing wild cat, and shook his head in bitter disappointment.Only for his pride in obeying all orders that came to him from thescoutmaster, Seth very likely would have followed the cat, and probablyrued his rashness when he had to call for help a minute or so later.
Meanwhile Paul had hurried to the side of the aeronaut, who raised hishand in greeting, while a smile broke over his anxious face.
"Welcome, my brave boys!" he exclaimed. "I never dreamed that you couldever get to me here, when I saw what a horrible sort of bog I haddropped into. And then, after that savage beast set on me I about gavemyself up as lost. She kept walking around me, and growling for a longtime before she made a jump. Oh! it was a nightmare of a time, I assureyou. I've seen some scrapes before in my ballooning experiences, butnever one the equal of this. I'm mighty glad to meet you all. But I'llnever understand how you found me. After this I'll believe Boy Scoutscan do about anything there is going."
Well, that was praise enough to make every fellow glow withsatisfaction, and feel glad to know he wore the khaki that had won thesincere respect of this daring voyager of the skies.
"I hope you're not very badly hurt, Mr. Anderson?" Paul ventured, as heknelt at the side of the other.
"I don't believe it's serious, but all the same I'm pretty much crippledafter all I've gone through with on this ill-fated trip. But I'm willingto exert myself to the limit in order to get out of this terrible swamp.You can't make a start any too soon to please me."
Paul drew a long breath. If it had been so difficult for active boys,used to balancing, and doing all sorts of stunts, to cross on thosetreacherous little hummock paths, how in the wide world were they evergoing to get a wounded man out of this place?
He only hoped Mr. Anderson would prove to be the possessor of tenaciouswill power, as well as a reserve fund of strength; he would certainlyhave good need of both before he struck solid ground again, once thereturn journey was begun.
"Well, while my chums are getting their breath after our little jaunt,suppose you let me look at any cuts you've got, Mr. Anderson," hesuggested, first of all, in a business-like way that quite charmed theaeronaut.
"What, you don't mean to tell me that you are something of a doctor aswell as a leader of scouts?" he remarked, with evident pleasure, as hestarted to roll up one of the legs of his trousers, so as to expose hisbruised ankle.
"I know just a little about medicine, enough to make the other fellowswant me to take charge whenever they get hurt. Let me introduce myfriends, sir."
And accordingly Paul mentioned his own name, and then in turn that ofAndy, Babe, Jotham, Seth and Fritz; also stating that there were twomore in the patrol whom they had left stranded about half way out of theswamp, to be picked up again on the return journey.
The pleased aeronaut shook hands heartily with each boy. He wasexperiencing a delightful revulsion of feeling, for all of a sudden thedarkness had given way to broad daylight.
Paul on his part, after a superficial examination, was glad to findthere was really nothing serious the matter. He had feared lest he mightfind a broken leg or even a few ribs fractured; but nothing of the kindseemed to be the case.
It was true that Mr. Anderson had a lot of black and blue places uponhis person, and would doubtless feel pretty sore for some days to come,but really Paul could not see why he should not be able to keep companywith his rescuers. He seemed to possess an uncommon share of grit; hisdetermined defense against the savage wildcat proved that plainlyenough; and on the whole, with what help the scouts might give onoccasion, there was a fair chance of his getting out of the swamp insideof an hour or so.
"Now I'm ready to make a start, if you say the word," Paul observed,when perhaps five minutes had passed.
The gentleman had been helped to his feet. Trying the injured leg, hedeclared he believed he would be able to get along; even though he didmake a wry face at the very moment of saying this.
Paul endeavored to explain to him what sort of work lay before them,passing along on such insecure footing.
"Well, I must get in touch with a doctor, and that as speedily aspossible," remarked Mr. Anderson, "and I'll get out of this horribleplace if I have to crawl every foot of the way on my hands and knees.But I don't imagine it's going to come to such a pass as that, yetawhile. I'm ready to take my first lesson, Paul, if so be you lead theway."
Already the aeronaut seemed to have taken a great fancy for the youngscoutmaster; but then that was only what might be expected. Paul had ledthe relief expedition; and besides, there was someth
ing attractive aboutthe boy that always drew people to him.
"Then please follow directly after me; and Seth, you fall in behind Mr.Anderson, will you?" Paul went on to say.
"Huh! hope you don't mean that the way you say it," grunted Seth, with awide grin, "because, seems to me I've done nothing else but _fall in_ever since I got on the go. I've investigated nearly every bog along theline, and found 'em all pretty much alike, and not to my likin' onesingle bit."
But all the same, Seth felt proud of the fact that the scoutmaster hadselected him for the post of honor; for he knew that, coming just behindthe wounded balloonist, he would be expected to lend a helping hand atsuch times as Mr. Anderson experienced a slip.
Just the consciousness of responsibility was apt to make Seth much moresure-footed than before. It is always so; and wise teachers watch theirchances to make boys feel that they are of some consequence. Besides,experiences goes a great way and Seth, having tested nearly all themuddy stretches along the way, had in a measure learned how to avoidcontact with them again.
In another minute the boys and Mr. Anderson were on the move. No doubt,if that savage mother cat and her charges were secretly watching from aleafy covert near by, they must have been heartily gratified because themenacing enemy had seen fit to quit the oasis in the swamp, leaving theremnants of the wrecked balloon to be pawed over by the frolicsomekittens.
"I see that you are true scouts, for you have blazed the way asprettily as I ever saw it done, Mr. Anderson remarked presently.
"That was Paul's doing," spoke up Seth, not in the least jealous.
"Oh! it's the easiest thing to do that anybody ever tried," declared thescoutmaster without even looking back over his shoulder, for he neededhis eyes in front constantly.
"So I understand," continued Mr. Anderson, "but then, it isn't everybodywho can be smart enough to do the right thing at the right time."
"How do you make out, sir?" asked Paul, wishing to change theconversation, for, strange to say, he never liked to hear himselfpraised, in which he differed very much from the vast majority of boys.
"Getting along better than I expected, Paul," replied the woundedballoonist.
"It's only a question of time, then, before we pass out of the swamp,"the other went on to say. "And as we've got our trail all laid out, andSeth knows the best places to try the mud, I guess we'll make it."
He was already thinking deeply and seriously. A sudden wild hope hadflashed into Paul's brain, and if all went well he meant to put it up tothe other scouts after a while.
When he looked at his watch he found that it was now just a quarterafter ten; and doing some lightning calculating he believed they couldbe out of the morass, discounting any serious trouble, by another hour.
Then, supposing it took them forty-five minutes to get Mr. Anderson tothe nearest farm house, even though they had to make a rude stretcher,and carry him, that brought the time to exactly noon.
Could they really do it, make the eighteen miles that still lay betweenthemselves and the field at Beverly, where they were expected to show upsome time that day, if they hoped to win the prize?
Some how the very possibility of being put upon his mettle gave Paul athrill. He had no doubts concerning his own ability to finish the greathike within the specified space of time, before the sun had vanishedbehind the western horizon, but it was a grave question whether some ofthe other scouts could accomplish the task. There was Eben for instance,never a wonder when it came to running; and then fat Noodles would beapt to give out before two-thirds of those eighteen miles had beenplaced behind them.
But if there was a ghost of a chance Paul was determined to takeadvantage of it, and he believed that even the laggards would be keen tomake the attempt, once he mentioned the subject to them.
And so they kept pushing steadily along, Mr. Anderson showing wonderfulpluck, considering the pain he must be suffering all the while from hisnumerous bruises and cuts.