CHAPTER VII
UNAVOIDABLE DELAY
There was a reason, and a good one, too, for Felix failing to show upthat afternoon or evening, which will become apparent to the readerafter a short time.
When he strode away from the camp under the big tree, it was ascheerfully as ever he had felt in all his life; nor was he dreaming ofthe possibilities of anything odd, or out of the usual rut, overtakinghim. But many times it is the unexpected that swoops down upon us; justas storms once in a while surprise the oldest weather prophets, comingfrom a point they have never considered.
Felix wanted very much to duplicate the performance of his chum. He hadmade up his mind to three things, which he hoped his trip to the Rockieswould bring forth. One of these, as has been said before, was to be ableto shoot a ferocious grizzly bear, alone and unaided. Then he yearned tobring down one of those sturdy jumpers of the steeps, a Rocky Mountainsheep, or bighorn, stories concerning which he had read so many times;and last of all, he hoped to get the head of a seven-pronged buck,something that in all his hunting before he had never been able tosecure for his collection.
He strode away, and in less than half an hour had begun to work thingsto suit the conditions of the hunt. The wind had changed materially fromthe preceding day, and was now coming out of the northwest. This allowedFelix a chance to head in a northerly direction, which was just what hewanted; because it gave him the option of covering ground which Tom hadnot touched in his little hunt.
Now he was moving cautiously along, eyes and ears on the alert; for hischum had warned him that in all probability the first thing he wouldknow concerning the presence of a deer would be when he heard it jumphurriedly to its feet in some thicket, and then catch a glimpse of itsbrown side as it leaped wildly away. And Felix, being a clever snap-shotwith his favorite gun, was on the watch ready to do himself credit.
Of course, even the best of hunters may make a poor shot at times, sincewhen a deer plunges madly through woods and brush there is no certaintyfor aim; but he believed that if the chances gave him half a show hewould make a success of his little excursion.
A more cautious or experienced lad than Felix would of course have takenmore pains to note the lay of the land, and its other features,calculated to prove of more or less value to him later on in case he gothis bearings mixed.
But he was buoyant and indifferent; besides, it happened that he hadlately discovered certain tracks that held his interest, to theexclusion of all such minor things as the possibility of his gettinglost.
These hoof prints had certainly been made by a deer of unusual size, afact he viewed with exultation, since it told him that undoubtedly herewas the very buck for which he had long been looking, and whose antleredhead he began to hope was to grace the wall of his den at home.
And as he moved along he registered a silent vow that he would letnothing come in the way to interfere with the success of hisundertaking, should he only have the good fortune to come up with hisquarry.
Felix could not tell exactly how old the tracks were. He saw by severalsigns, however, that they had been made since early morning, since inplaces they had broken down the partly frozen earth. He was trustingpartly to luck that the deer might not be miles away from him just then.If he had followed the usual custom of his kind he had lain down duringthe middle of the day, when the sun was warm, and might be feeding bythis time.
An hour passed away, and Felix was just as eagerly tramping along withhis eyes fixed upon those tracks as when he first started. If there wasone trait young Edmondson possessed that cropped out frequently, it washis stubbornness, once his mind was made up; no matter what difficultiesloomed up ahead, that were calculated to dismay the ordinary fellow, hewould not be deterred.
By now he had covered fully twice the distance from the camp that he hadintended to do; for instead of sweeping around, and making a halfcircle, he was keeping almost straight on, even though the trailzigzagged at times.
Even Felix, without the extended experience in tracking which hiscompanion possessed, could tell that he was gaining on the deer, whichhad stopped to browse from time to time, when some tempting bit of greengrass was come upon in small glades under the heavy timber growth.
This kept his excitement at fever height. What mattered it if he did notget back to camp that night; he had made ample preparations for spendinga short period alone under the trees; and in fact was not wholly averseto trying how it felt to be making a bivouac in that Wyoming wilderness,quite by himself; for Felix was always seeking new and novel sensations,and he could not remember ever camping in solitary state in all hislife.
At any rate Felix gave promise of some day making a splendid trailer;since the prime requisite to success along this line isstick-at-it-iveness, such as marks the wolf following the deer throughday and night, until finally he wearies his intended quarry, and bringsit to bay.
The tracks now looked much fresher than when he started to follow them.He began to hope that he might come suddenly upon his game in some quietnook; and hence his eager finger toyed nervously with the trigger, as hekept pushing ahead.
And just as he had anticipated many a time, the first thing he heard wasa loud snort. Then up jumped a buck of such splendid proportions thatFelix was thrilled doubly by the apparition. Nevertheless, he did notlose his head, as many boys would have done under similar circumstances;but as the big beast leaped away, the Marlin repeater was flung up tothe young hunter's shoulder, and its sharp report instantly followed.
With a crash the deer went down in a heap; but after a wild scramble,seemed able to get upon its feet again, proving that the first shot hadfailed to effect a fatal wound.
Felix naturally expected to see the animal go off with frantic bounds,and was prepared to send several shots after him, in the hope ofbringing him down with a lucky bullet; but he did not calculate what apainful wound might accomplish in arousing the combative spirit and furyin an old buck.
To his intense amazement and consternation, the animal, while "bounding"all right, headed directly toward him, instead of away.
This surprising fact must have disconcerted the young Nimrod a trifle,at least, as it has many a veteran marksman under similar conditions; atleast it caused him to aim badly; so that although he pulled trigger andthe gun spoke, the advancing animal did not seem to swerve from thedirect course he had taken in starting, and which if pursued, wouldbring him swooping down upon the boy.
Now Felix had heard Tom tell about the far from amiable qualities shownby these same hermit bucks, when aroused, and enraged by wounds; and howdangerous a charge on the part of one might prove.
He even noted that the antlers were much larger than the covetedseven-prongs upon which he had set his mind and hopes; and indeed justat that moment they must have appeared to his excited imagination aboutfive feet long, and each prong threatening to do him a tremendous amountof harm if it came in contact with his person.
Felix rejoiced in the fact that he was in the neighborhood of agood-sized tree, behind which he could take immediate shelter, for thecharging animal was so close upon him that he had no chance to shoot fora third time.
And it was with considerable activity and eagerness that the youngNimrod gave a leap to one side, and placed the tree-trunk between; buthe clung with a desperate clutch to his rifle, knowing instinctivelythat sooner or later this was the only thing that could rid him of theimplacable foe that his shots had aroused to such fury.
And then began a merry chase around that tree, with the wounded bucktrying all he knew how to reach the fleeing hunter with those terribleantlers, which Felix had coveted so much; it began to look just then asthough he might make their acquaintance in a fashion he had neverdreamed possible.
Of course the boy had only part of the distance to cover that the deerrequired, in order to pass around the large trunk; but he was compelledto do this so many times, and kept going at such constant whirlwindspeed that presently it began to cause Felix to puff a little; while tohis alarm the
raging beast seemed capable of keeping the chase upindefinitely, despite the wound in his shoulder, which Felix noted wasbleeding considerably.
This fact warned Felix that he had better get busy, and think up somenew line of tactics, if he hoped to come out of the scrape with flyingcolors, for he certainly could not gallop, or even slide, around thattree as he had been doing now for ten minutes, much longer.
The buck was desperately in earnest, and several times, came nearimpaling the boy with his antlers; so that Felix found himself kept busybetween rushes in avoiding these dangerous attacks.
His attention being taken up just then with trying to work the mechanismof his rifle, in the hope of being able to put another bit of lead intothe anatomy of his pursuer, possibly he failed to note just where he wasstepping, for suddenly Felix tripped over some object, and fell just inthe path of the swooping buck!
The rifle was twisted from his hands as he tried to save himself, anddropped far beyond his reach. As he tried to squirm out of the way ofthe charging buck, he felt a thrill of horror when the antlers of thebeast were thrust under him, just missing his flesh, as it were, by aninch.
Before he could think twice, he was raised in the air by a sudden upwardmovement of the deer's head; and then went sailing swiftly throughspace, with his arms and legs flying in four separate directions.
Just how high he really did go Felix never knew, though he oftenpondered over the matter with considerable amusement, and wished someambitious photographer might have been present with his little snap-shotcamera to take the picture, for his edification in future days.
At any rate, he felt his progress checked by the branches of the treeunder which he happened to be at the time; and with an involuntarymovement, for thinking was positively out of the question at thatmoment, he instantly threw out both hands, his one idea being to clutchsomething that would prevent his falling back upon those cruel lookingantlers of the wounded buck.
Fortune was kind enough to allow Felix to fasten to a friendly limb, andhold on tenaciously so that after a little struggle he found himselfastride the same, and looking down in mingled astonishment andsatisfaction on the chagrined buck below.
The furious animal seemed surprised that the object of his sudden hatredshould decline to drop back again, to be gored and trampled upon, inorder to satisfy the rampant spirit of revenge that was now whollydominating the buck's actions. He gave positive evidence of his humor byleaping upward again and again as if in hopes of reaching the pantinglad, who sat there just out of range; though once the sweeping antlersmanaged to touch the dangling foot of the hunter, causing Felix toexperience an involuntary thrill of apprehension, as he snatched his leghastily away.
Then by slow degrees the ludicrous nature of his predicament dawned uponFelix, and leaning back he laughed long and heartily; this only after hehad anxiously felt of his ribs and limbs, to make positive that nothingbeyond a few minor contusions and bruises had resulted from this heavingact of the animal in causing him to take an unexpected aerial flight.
After that he amused himself in addressing the animal, snorting andprancing below, calling him many sarcastic names that might have woundedthe buck's self respect, could he but have understood. But the stubborndeer seemed bent upon only one thing, which was to visit his wrath uponthe object of his hatred, or at least keep him treed, if it took him allnight.
When another hour had passed without the beast showing the slightestinclination of quitting his post, Felix gave over his playful mood, andbegan to survey the situation in a more serious light.
Why, the stubborn old chap was apt to keep up his vigil all night; andeven then some.
While the boy might be able to maintain his position among the branchesof the tree that length of time without great difficulty, Felixconsidered the possibility of having to remain there inactive during achilly night, with anything but pleasure. Thoughts of a cozy campfiretaunted him, and urged him on to devise some method of outwitting theold buck.
What could he do to frighten the beast away? Apparently Mr. Buck was notone to be easily scared; and unless heroic measures were adopted, thechances of his occupying that elevated position until at least dawn,seemed excellent.
Felix cudgeled his brains, endeavoring to recall anything he had everheard or read covering this strange ground.
Of course his first thought and expectation lay in the direction of hisrifle; for if so be he could only get this valuable asset in his grasp,it would soon be goodbye to his tormentor.
Then he remembered that there was also another method of frightening thebuck away, if only he could apply it. This consisted of taking somepowder from several of the cartridges belonging to his gun, which stillreposed in his belt, moistening it until it had the consistency ofpaste; then allowing it to partly dry; but while still in a softcondition thrusting a number of pins into the ball, with the pointssticking out like the quills on the back of the "fretful porcupine."
Watching his opportunity, he would have to make a skillful cast, afterfirst applying a lighted match to this boyish idea of a "spit-devil,"and fasten it to the back of the jumping deer. Rendered frantic by thepain, and fright, the animal would of course dash madly away, and leavethe prisoner of the tree a chance to descend at his leisure.
This latter scheme was very alluring in the eyes of Felix, in that itwould relieve him of his persistent enemy; but at the same time heremembered that he wanted that same buck's antlers, and more than evernow, since they had given him the strangest free ride of all hisexperience; and letting him get away was not at all to his taste.
Then again, not being an experienced bull fighter, expert in tossing theribbon-bedecked burrs that fasten to the sides of a bull in the ring,and make him ready for the sacrifice of the matador's sword, Felixdoubted his ability to land his projectile upon the back of the buck atjust the right second, and make it stick there long enough to frightenthe valiant old fellow.
On the whole, he concluded to attempt the other plan, which had to dowith the recovery of his precious rifle.
To accomplish this it was first necessary to produce some cord, and ahook; and then do some fishing for the weapon; all the while the buckmust be watching his labors, with a possibility of defeating his effortsjust when success seemed assured.
Fortunately Felix had the cord, all right; and in that wonderful littleditty bag, which Tom had taught him to always carry, there turned out tobe a solitary fish-hook; though what use Felix had intended putting itto, was a problem which he could hardly have answered, had the questionbeen asked.
He also hung a little weight upon the cord, to properly balance it, andallow of better angling.
Everything being ready, Felix crawled out on a limb where he would bejust above the coveted rifle. The watchful buck noted his movements withno doubt considerable curiosity; and even followed below, shaking hisantlered head from time to time, as if to warn the treed hunter what hemust expect if he should slip from his hold, and fall to the ground, anaccident Felix did not mean to have happen if he knew it.
The boy saw that if he commenced work now, the deer might frustrate allhis efforts by entangling the line in his horns, and jerking it from hishands; so he settled down, as if to locate there permanently on that newlimb.
Presently, as if reassured by his actions that there was nothing to befeared from the hunter, the deer began to move restlessly around,stopping now and then to look up questioningly; it seemed as though thebeast had an idea he might thus coax his enemy to descend; for hismanner was as plain an invitation as anything Felix had ever seen; butthe boy failed to take advantage of it, continuing his labor of allowingthe line to drop nearer and nearer the gun.
It was quite an exciting moment for the boy when the hook finallylanded.