CHAPTER XIX
TEDDY’S WOODCRAFT HELPS
Impulsive Dolph was for making the venture without delay.
Fortunately Teddy had long since learned the value of caution and howto apply the same in the ordinary affairs of life.
He saw that Big Gabe, for instance, was in a particularly irritableframe of mind, suspicious and exacting. To cross his will while heheld that many-shot Marlin in his hands would mean serious trouble allaround.
If they could hold in until this cross-grained giant was asleep andsnoring, their chances for success would be much improved.
That was the burden of the advice Teddy whispered in the ear of hisfriend; and Dolph, while impulsive, being also amenable to reason,agreed with him that it was best. Accordingly, they lay down upon theground to rest; for taken in all it had been a pretty strenuous day andnight to both of them, and they were beginning to realize that theywere feeling tired.
Dolph, as he lay there, ran over in his mind the succession of stirringevents that had been passing before his eyes of late.
Doubtless he would never forget the strange scene that demonstrated thepower of music; nor yet that which followed, and had to do with theinfluence of fear and ignorant superstition, acting on the hearts andminds of rough men.
So Dolph lay there, and pondered in the half-dreamy way a boy may dowhen he is very tired; until before he realized it he was asleep.
A hand shaking him aroused Dolph. Before he could utter a sound thevoice of his chum whispered in his ear.
“Sh! Don’t make any noise. You’ve been asleep more than an hour, andit’s time we were moving. Sit up, and take notice!”
Dolph did so.
It all came rushing back to him in a flash, and without waste of timehe turned his eyes in the direction of the camp upon the creek bank.
The fire had been allowed to burn low, but was still in evidence.With his first glance Dolph could see several figures lying around,which would seem to indicate that Big Gabe and the rest, overcome byweariness, even as he, Dolph, had been, had thrown themselves on theground, and, to all appearances at least, were sound asleep.
It looked as though the time might be favorable for the successfulcarrying out of the plan of the young scouts.
Teddy had not been asleep one single minute.
On the contrary, while his friend lay there reviving his flaggingenergies, Teddy had remained constantly on guard, and figuring out justhow they should presently proceed, in order to effect the rescue ofAmos, and the recovery of that gun.
He first of all whispered in Dolph’s ear the ideas that had beenhatched during this period of fruitful guardianship. The other realizedthat every point seemed to have been covered most beautifully, so thatif such a thing as failure did come, it must be laid to some othercause than lack of preparation.
Luck often enters such a game—just at the most critical moment one ofthe men might suddenly sit up, as campers sometimes will, disturbed bya bad dream or a belief that the fire needs looking after; and thusdiscovery be brought about.
All these things had to be taken into consideration; and whileprovision might not be made against them, some way of meeting theemergency could be arranged.
Teddy left no possible loophole uncovered, in making his arrangements;and by the time he had finished telling the other the many details,Dolph realized just how busy his chum’s mind must have been at the timehe himself slept.
So Teddy led the way, crawling down into the depression made througherosion, as the creek wound its way toward the lake.
Between the bank and the water, as a rule, there was plenty of surfaceto allow of a safe passage, though occasionally the boys might find itnecessary to wet their feet; but such a trifle as this did not worryeither of them; they were too much in earnest.
Again was Dolph forced to admire the clever tactics of his guide andmentor, as he moved noiselessly along, passing over yard after yardof territory without giving the slightest indication of his presence.Surely one could learn much by contact with so smart a woodsman,and that was really one of the Cincinnati boy’s best qualities—hiswillingness to be shown.
Occasionally Teddy would stop and hold out his hand to restrain the onewho was tagging along at his heels. Dolph was reminded of the familiargesture used by city drivers and chauffeurs, when about to turn aside.
At such times Teddy would raise himself up, and peeping over the edgeof the creek bank, take a cautious observation, that covered theadjacent camp and territory.
Apparently on each of these several occasions he found thingssatisfactory, since their forward progress would be immediately resumedafter every halt. It seemed to Dolph that presently they would havereached a stage in the game where perhaps a different system of tacticsmust be employed.
Between the fire itself and the edge of the bank of the creek extendeda space about thirty feet in width. While creeping across this, Teddy,on his way to cut Amos free—for before now the boys had learned thattheir chum was tied hand and foot—would have the sparse shelter ofonly a few small scattered bushes.
Teddy did not mean that his chum should make this last gap of theventure; but it had been arranged that Dolph crouch just under the rimof the bank, his eyes fastened upon the two men; and in case one ofthem aroused at a critical time, it was to be his duty to pop up likea “jack in the box,” cover them with his gun, and threaten to shootunless they remained submissive.
Dolph had really keyed himself up to the point where he was ready toproceed to extreme measures, if pushed; he entertained a pretty pooropinion of both these scheming rascals, and believed they would begetting only their just desserts if necessity compelled him to “pepper”them with the contents of his scatter gun, at thirty yards distance.
But then, that was going pretty far ahead, and Dolph was ardentlyhoping for a bloodless victory, with both Amos rescued, and the Marlingun recovered.
“When Teddy had taken one of his observations for the third time, heseemed ready to call a halt. It was evident that they must have arrivedat the point nearest the camp fire of the fugitives—that seemed rathera queer name to apply to these hardy rovers of the pine woods; butsince they had really fled in alarm from the ‘supposed-to-be haunted’cabin, it might be very appropriate after all.”
Without saying a word, and only through touch, Teddy indicated justwhere the other was to stand. At this point a convenient little “dip”allowed of a sweeping survey of the camp, and Dolph would be in primecondition to carry out that threatening part of the game, if it becameessential, which he sincerely hoped might not be the case.
He could thrust his gun over the top of the creek bank, and cover thesleepers; at the same time have his foot upon a friendly knob of stonethat projected from the soil, allowing a sudden upheaval, should hefeel it necessary to show himself.
All these arrangements were speedily settled; indeed, they did not takemore than a minute or so of time.
Then Teddy was ready to pull himself up over the edge, get down flat onthe ground and wriggle along one way or another, like a creeping catperhaps, in the direction of the spot where they could plainly see thestocky form of their chum, Amos, stretched out.
Dolph, having settled himself in his appointed position, made ready towatch the advance of his friend.
He could feel his heart beating almost with the rapidity of a triphammer; and even feared that its wild pulsation might awaken thesleepers; but on second thought Dolph realized the absurdity of such anevent, and from that time on became much more calm. His hands indeed,were perfectly steady, as they pushed the gun up, and rested it on thesoil, in the desired position for immediate use.
Teddy was tightening his belt, and making sure that everything abouthim was in apple pie condition for the little venture. After he hadonce salied forth, there would be no time to give any thought to thesematters.
Then he squeezed Dolph’s hand once more, perhaps forgetting that he hadalready performed this operation two other times already. But then itwas a
time of such tremendous importance, that after all Teddy couldbe excused. Perhaps he was excited but if so, he managed to hide thefact pretty well. Why, Dolph thought the other as cool as any iciclethat ever hung down from the woodshed gutter after a thaw in February.Doubtless he compared Teddy’s manner with his own when deciding thisfact. And that tumultuous heart made him only too conscious of his ownshortcomings.
Then Teddy climbed silently out of the sunken creek channel, andstarted, low down on his chest, in the direction of the fire.
He had not made more than two hunches than Dolph noticed something.Why, Teddy had abruptly stopped. More than that, he was flatteninghimself out upon the ground as if the one object of his life just atthat particular moment was to make himself seem as small as possible.
Now Dolph knew what this must signify. He hastily turned his troubledgaze in the direction of the smouldering camp fire and the sleepers,for only in that quarter could there possibly be any chance ofinterruption.
Had one of the men chosen to get up and stretch himself at this mostinopportune moment? If so, then Teddy’s mission must of necessity bepostponed.
What Dolph saw almost took his breath away, it was so entirelydifferent from anything he had expected; and immediately his feeling ofalarm and dismay gave way to one bordering on expectancy.
Someone was slowly and cautiously getting up near the half-dead fire;but it was neither of the rough men. On the contrary, he could see theslight figure of the girl, Sallie; and from the manner in which shepeered at the recumbent figures of her father and Big Gabe, it wasevident that she did not wish either of them to know of her action.
There was evidently about to be put upon the boards, a feature of thegame that neither of the boys had counted upon entering. No wonder thenDolph held his breath, while Teddy raised his head much as a tortoisemight protrude his from its shell, as their eyes remained glued uponthe camp of the game poachers.