CHAPTER V
A FIRST TASTE OF VENISON
"Get out! Get out, you rascals!"
That was about the burden of what Felix yelled, as he dashed at thethree timber wolves; although, when put to it afterwards he could neverbe sure of what he said, only that he endeavored to make his wholeappearance as fierce looking as possible.
It seemed to be a success, too, for the animals turned tail, and bolted.Wolves, as indeed about every other wild animal in the woods or in themountains, inherit a peculiar dread of fire, though of course the onlyacquaintance most of them have with its terrifying qualities is when aforest or a prairie fire threatens their lives.
Even before the white man came to these shores of America, the Indiansknew how to use flint and steel in order to kindle their fires; andbesides, now and then, doubtless conflagrations may have occurredthrough fire coming down from the clouds, and the lightning strikingsome dead tree in the woods.
Thus the fear of flames is born in these predatory animals; and as evenin the broad daylight the wolves saw the greasy newspaper flash up intoa little pyramid of fire, they just "scooted for all they were worth,"as Felix afterwards declared, when telling the story of his littleadventure.
He did not even waste a second in glancing over his shoulder as he ran,in order to ascertain how far this fear carried them. Chances were, theywould quickly get over the condition of panic, especially when seeingtheir expected dinner making off in that vigorous fashion. And Felixknew that once this occurred, they would be racing after him as fast asthey could run.
As the boy had always been fond of baseball, and kindred games, while atschool, doubtless he could look back to many an occasion when he put inwhat he considered his "best licks" in endeavoring to stretch out atwo-base hit into a three-bagger; or possibly trying to steal home, whenthe ball was being sent back to the pitcher, and his club needed a runthe worst kind, to win.
But Felix always claimed that had he been able to cover ground on thoseoccasions as rapidly as he did when those three wolves were after him,he might have easily counted a home-run on that two-base hit; or besitting on the home plate by the time the pitcher was ready to throw tocatch him.
He fairly flew, every muscle and nerve being "on the job," as he calledit. The yawning open door was just in front of him; but by now he couldpositively hear a terrible scratching sound in his rear, which must beproduced by the scrambling of his lupine foes over the interveningground.
They had recovered from their temporary scare, and were after him atfull speed, bent on pulling him down as they would a wounded deer.
But he reached the dugout, and shot through that opening like a flash.At the instant of doing so he reached out, and catching hold of thedoor, gave it a desperate fling.
He heard it strike something, which could only be the head of theforemost wolf. And turning as quickly as possible, Felix threw hisweight against the door, which was even then commencing to move inward,under the rush of enemies without.
But there was enough of vigor and alarm in the boy to crush the doorfast; after which he secured it with the bar.
He was safe, then, and had cheated the hungry beasts out of theirexpected dinner. Felix seemed to experience a sudden change in the stateof his feelings. He had been alarmed before; now he was angry at thosethree bold beasts. And turning around, he picked up the Marlin withwhich he expected to get his ferocious grizzly; and which had beenchosen particularly on account of its hard shooting qualities, as wellas its faithfulness in a pinch, the mechanism never failing to work, assome guns have a weakness for doing.
Once he had the hammer drawn back, and Felix walked deliberately over tothe door, which he meant to swing open. He might have taken to thewindow just as well, but somehow he felt so fortified by this accessionof the repeating gun that he scorned such "baby" action.
Taking down the bar, he allowed the door to open just a few inches. Thatgave him the chance he wanted to see the gleaming eyes and the red mouthof a wolf not two feet away.
With the shot he saw the animal roll over in convulsions; while theother two lost no time in making hasty tracks away from that dangerouslocality.
And here was where Felix showed that he knew what he was doing when heselected the door instead of the smaller opening that served as awindow, since it actually had a pane of glass, and a movable sash--he wasenabled to immediately step outside, gun in hand, and take a couple ofshots at the fleeing wolves.
With each report one of the scampering beasts rolled over. It was asfine shooting as Felix had ever done in all his life, and he had alwaysbeen accounted a rather clever hand with either rifle or bird gun.
"All down in that alley; set 'em up again!" he exclaimed, thrilled withthe remarkable success that had followed his work.
Not one of the ferocious beasts got up again, to try and limp away; sothat the young Nimrod was not compelled to use more than a singlecartridge apiece.
But when, presently, he went to the spring for that bucket of water,Felix, you may be sure, carried the rifle along with him; and the threecartridges that had been ejected were replaced by fresh ones.
There were no more wolves hovering around in that immediateneighborhood, apparently, and he was not disturbed any further. So Felixset about chopping his wood in the most unconcerned way possible, afterexamining the bodies of his prizes, and dragging them into a row underthe big tree.
A short time later he heard Tom's "cooie," and answered it. Of coursethe other had ceased his wild run as soon as he caught the regular soundof the descending axe; but when he came up presently, fairly panting forbreath, his face displayed more than ordinary curiosity.
"What was it, Felix?" he asked.
"Do you mean, why did I fire those three shots?" asked the other,meaning to tantalize his chum a little; for he could see how Tom wasburning up with eagerness to know the cause of the firing.
"Yes, yes, of course. It's generally the signal that a fellow needshelp," said Tom, eagerly.
"Well, my time for needing help had about passed when I let drive withthe Marlin gun," Felix went on, in a mysterious way that the other couldmake nothing out of. "But if you could have dropped in here about aminute before that time, I tell you now, you'd have been the mostwelcome sight my eyes could have looked on."
"But why? Open up, Felix, and tell me what happened. You shot something,didn't you?" Tom went on to demand.
"I shot three times, and there were just that number of the scamps, Tom."
Whereupon Tom glanced around, and in consequence quickly discovered theseveral forms of the defunct beasts lying in a grim row under the bigtree.
"Well, I'll be hanged if it wasn't a whole pack of wolves; and whatfierce looking fellows, too!" he exclaimed, as he hurried over toexamine them.
"Huh!" grunted Felix; "I reckon each one looked about as tall as a houseto me, when they stood there, and showed me by their bared fangs, andsavage growls, that they didn't mean to let me make a dash from thespring to the shack without tackling me."
"The spring! D'ye mean to say they waylaid you there? But how lucky itwas that you didn't forget to have your gun along!" ejaculated Tom.
"That's where the joke comes in," remarked the other, drily; "because itnever once occurred to me that a fellow ought to go to get a bucket ofwater, with his gun under one arm. It was in the cabin at the time,more's the pity."
Tom plumped down on the ground, and mopped his face with his bandana;his run had apparently heated him up considerably.
"Spin the yarn, Felix; don't keep me guessing so hard. However in thewide world did you keep them off till you grabbed up the gun?" he urged.
"Couldn't have done it at all, I give you my word, because they werejust bent on tackling me off-hand; but it chanced that I had an oldnewspaper in my pocket."
"A newspaper!" echoed Tom; "what under the sun did that have to do withit! How could a paper interest wolves? Come on, tell me what you did,Felix?"
"Struck a match, and made a bully old torch. Then
I just jumped for 'em,and hollered to beat the band!" replied the other, with a grin.
Tom's face was a study as he listened, and he too smiled broadly.
"A great stunt, my boy, it sure was," he went on to say. "And so thatscared 'em off enough for you to get inside, where your gun was, didit?"
"But only by a close shave," replied Felix. "One of the critters cameslap up against the door even when I was banging it shut; and they alltried to outpush me."
"Then I suppose you just opened the little window, and gave the sassybeasts one, two, three, eh, Felix?"
"Just what I did, only it was the door I opened a little, Tom. After I'dbowled one over, the others put for shelter, just as I expected; and soI was able to just step outside, and plunk the runners as neat as youplease. I'm some proud of those two shots; they were as good as anythingI ever did at my best."
"Well, you have done yourself proud, let me tell you that; but in mymind the best part of the whole business was where you thought up thatclever dodge of using that newspaper for a torch. It was a stroke ofgenius," said Tom, earnestly, and there could be no doubt that he meantit.
"But I heard you shoot; did you get any fresh meat? Excuse me forasking; but I'm that hungry for a bite of venison I'll have to forget mymanners, Tom?"
"Oh! I downed a young black-tail buck, and was toting the meat to campwhen I heard you shoot three times. Of course I just thought you'dvisitors here in the shape of that Abe Cozzins and Perley Kline we'vebeen hearing so much about, as guides who've been doing all sorts oftough things, been fired from the Park, and are suspected of shootinggame on the Government reservation. You just bet I did some tallsprinting for a while; then when I heard you start chopping, I knew youmust be all right; but by that time I was too much worked up to turnaround and go back for the venison I hung on a limb. I'll do that assoon as I get my breath once more."
Felix swung his axe merrily, while the other watched him.
"You couldn't have better exercise than that for broadening your chestand hardening your muscles don't you know it, Felix," Tom asked,presently.
"Sure I do, and that's a sly hint I'm to be the steady wood chopperwhile we're up in camp at the foot of the Rockies," replied the other,laughingly; "but I really like the handling of an axe first-rate; andwith more practice I think I'll be able to bring it down exactly where Iwant, every time, just like those loggers up in Maine do."
"Well, I must say you're in an awful big hurry to load up with pelts,"Tom continued, with a whimsical grimace in the direction of the threewolves. "Here you hardly get in camp before you begin by knocking over abig cat that crawls out of our chimney; and before a single day goes byyou've lain out a heap of fine wolf hides for me to stretch and dry. Atthat rate I see myself keeping busy right along and we'll have a load totake back on our sledge that'll make Frazer's eyes stick out of hishead. I kind of think he laughed in his sleeve at the idea of two boyscatching any of these fur bearing animals. He'll have another guesscoming. But I ought to be hiking out after that venison. I'd hate tohave any critter make way with it, after going to all the trouble I did,eh, Felix?"
"And then, we need it in our business so bad, too," remarked the other,drily; "so I think you'd better be getting it, Tom."
Accordingly, Tom started off again to retrace his steps, promising to beback in half an hour or less. With the pleasing prospect of fresh meatfor supper, Felix worked with additional vim, as he swung the light axethey had carried with them through the three days they had been on thetrail up here.
Now and then he would steal a glance toward the row of grim trophiesthat had fallen to his skill as a marksman; yet from certain words thatdropped from his lips it was evident that Felix gave much of the creditto his faithful gun.
"Just point it straight, and it'll do the rest every time," he chuckled,with a fond look at the rifle snuggled down close to where he wasworking, so that he could snatch it up at a second's warning, ifnecessary.
After a time the cheery whistle of his chum was heard near by, and thenTom appeared, staggering under his load, but making light of it whenFelix protested that he should not have tried to carry so much.
"Plenty of meat for a week or two, because it'll keep sweet and nice inthis mountain air, and particularly at this time of year," Felix hadsaid, as he helped unload the pack-horse and sized up the cuts.
"Don't examine 'em too close," remonstrated the Nimrod; "I never was agood hand at butchering; though I had ought to be, because I've beenraised among cattle, and have cut up many a steer. But it answers ourpurpose."
"Well, if you call that poor work, you'll take a fit when you see what Ido," remarked the other, shaking his head in despair.
As the afternoon was now getting along, they determined that they mightas well start things moving, looking toward supper. Both of them werefairly wild to get the first taste of meat on the trip.
At home, and cooked in the civilized fashion, with possibly only a poorappetite spurring one on, venison is apt to seem dry eating; but take itout in the woods with the proper surroundings, and hunger that isclamorous in its demands; with the game cooked after the hunter'sfashion, and there is nothing more delightful. Just so the coffee tasteslike nectar out of a rusty old tin cup, while at home much of thepleasure is lost if there happens to be a crack in the delicate chinacup in which the fragrant juice of the Java bean is served. Theconditions and surroundings have a great deal to do with the enjoymentof a thing; and venison was never intended to be eaten over a snow-whitetable cloth, and flanked by cut glass and china and silverware.
While Felix commenced to get supper Tom gave his attention to taking offthe gray "jackets," as he called them, of the wolves.
"Some day, not a great ways off," he remarked, "they'll be keeping achauffeur or a gentleman in a car snug and warm, and that's a better usefor them, than just covering three pesky calf-killers. I'm alwaystickled all to death to see a wolf knocked over, I despise the breed so;they're so sneaky and so cruel."
"Well, they looked that way to me, let me tell you," remarked Felix fromwithin the shack, where he was busily employed; "especially when theydrew back their lips and showed me what long fangs they had, all of 'em.But all's well that ends well; and we've got a nice bunch of wolf peltsto start on."
After awhile the tantalizing odor of coffee began to steal out to Tom;and then this was supplemented by the delightful smell of frying meat;for they had fetched along a good-sized frying pan, without which Tomnever would go camping.
He had just washed up, after completing his job, so far as the firstpart of it went, when Felix announced that supper was ready.
"I reckon you'd better take a look around tomorrow," Tom remarked, asthey sat there by the fire, enjoying a bountiful meal that made bothboys as contented as kings. "I had my inning today; and besides, I'vegot lots of work to do, what with getting these wolf pelts fastened onstretchers; and setting a few traps in places not a great ways from theshack. And after the time you had, I give you fair warning that I'llnever be caught out, with my gun at home. If you'd had time, of course,you could have climbed a tree; but those hungry chaps didn't mean to letyou try such a dodge. Chances were they'd have nabbed you in threeshakes of a lamb's tail."
"But we've got enough meat for awhile, haven't we?" asked Felix.
"Better lay in a stock while the chance offers," replied the other,wisely. "If we want to keep it I know how the Indians jerk theirvenison, and it ain't half way bad, cooked in a stew, or eaten as it'sdried. Pemmican they call it, and some of the lot they carry is about asblack as your hat, from the smoke it was dried in. An Indian brave canrun for days with only a handful of that stuff along to nibble at whenhe feels faint. It's a life saver, all right."
"Perhaps, then, I will take a look around," Felix admitted; for he waseager to try his luck with the deer, as well as have a chance to observewhat the surrounding country looked like.
They passed a pleasant evening, both busy doing some little thing; forthere could always be found plenty tha
t needed attention; and Tom was agreat hand to want to have everything about him shipshape.
And when finally, becoming tired, the two chums turned in, they did notneed any rocking to put them to sleep.