CHAPTER IX
THE COMING OF UNCLE CALEB
ELMER may not have exactly fancied the job, but he was one of thosefellows who can always be depended upon to perform any duty devolving onhim, no matter how disagreeable. And it was not to be thought of thatthey should pass on, to let the poor little animal gnaw its foot off; aswell as disappoint the trapper when he had made such a rare catch.
So handing his pack and gun over to the care of the others Elmer lookedabout until he spied the right sort of stick with which he coulddispatch the little beast by a clip on the head, so as not to spoil thevaluable skin in any way.
When this had been done in great shape they examined the silver fox moreclosely and admired the sheen of his coveted coat, for which wealthypeople are ready to pay almost any price.
"Shall we hang it up here above the trap?" asked Toby, presently.
"What for?" Elmer went on to say.
"Why, so Uncle Caleb can get it when he comes along," replied Toby; "youwouldn't want to make him die of heart failure, would you, by lettinghim see he'd made a catch of a silver fox, and that it was gone?"
Elmer laughed at him.
"Why, what's to hinder our camping right here, and waiting for UncleCaleb to show up?" he asked.
"Well, I declare, what a lot of ninnies the rest of us were not to thinkof that!" chuckled Lil Artha; "I tell you it's a good thing for George,Toby, and me that we've got you along, Elmer. We'd be losing our headsnext, I'm afraid."
"It wouldn't be the first time you'd lost your head, Lil Artha," Georgehastened to assure his comrade. "But I want to say that I think the ideais all to the good, and that I'm ready to camp right here, and keep onwaiting for Uncle Caleb to show up, whether it takes an hour, a day or aweek; so long as our supply of venison holds out."
"So far as that goes," Elmer continued, "I wouldn't be surprised to seehim any old time, because after the storm he'll be anxious to look intothis trap."
Toby stretched his neck and looked all around.
"Don't seem to see anything of him yet," he remarked.
"When he comes," resumed the scout master, "I think you'll find it'll befrom that direction over there. I see a good place where we can dropdown and hide; so come on, fellows."
"Hide?" echoed George; "whatever would we want to be doing that samefor, Elmer?"
"Just to see how disappointed Uncle Caleb looks when he gets here, andfinds all these signs around, the blood on the snow, the hair of asilver fox in the closed jaws of the trap, and footprints everywhere,"the scout master told him.
Toby was heard to laugh.
"I can just imagine how he'll act," he ventured; "but then, we'll lethim know who got the pelt before he's had much time to growl."
Elmer held the dead fox up by his bushy tail, and George was seen tolook keenly at it as he muttered:
"Fifteen hundred dollars, and for that measly little runt? I don'tbelieve there's a word of truth about the story. Somebody's beenstuffing you, Elmer."
There happened to be a pretty good hiding-place close by. It lay justabout where Elmer would have picked it out had he been given a chance.Here they proceeded to settle down, and make themselves as comfortableas the conditions allowed.
"Wonder how long we'll have to wait?" Toby remarked, after they hadscraped the snow away, and made places where they could stretch theirrubber ponchos out and with blankets on top form comfortable seats uponwhich to rest their tired bodies.
"That depends a whole lot on how soon Uncle Caleb would think to startout, and how far he has to come to get here," Elmer told him. "Thewalking is tough enough for us, and yet we're young. He's a pretty oldman, Toby says, and might have a harder time of it than we would. Butthen by noon there ought to be something doing, I'd think."
George had been looking around, and now gave them the benefit of hisobservations.
"Plenty of wood handy, notice, fellows; if we have to hang out here anylength of time, why, we could make a fire, and do our little cookingstunt all right."
"Why, what's getting into George," remarked Toby, pretending to besurprised; "he seems never to get enough to eat. Time was when he had alittle bird appetite, but these days he's like a hungry bear all thetime."
"I don't know what ails me," George replied, "but it must be going onhalf rations kind of frightened me, and now I'm thinking something mighthappen again; so I'm bent on laying in a good supply while it lasts."
"We'll have to look around for a whole herd of deer if you keep on thatway much longer, George. And I don't know what your folks at home'll dowhen you get back again. You'll eat 'em out of house and home, that'sright," Lil Artha expressed himself by saying.
George took this chaffing in good part. He was feeling splendidly now,since the danger of their facing real want was of the past.
"Oh! that's all right, boys," he told them. "It was only a little whileago my folks were worried about me eating so little, and I guess they'llsing the other way now. Dad'll talk about going into bankruptcy when hewatches me put away the food. Seems like I never could get enoughagain. I want to eat six times a day, and then complain because mealsare so far apart."
"Listen!" exclaimed Lil Artha.
"What did you think you heard?" asked Elmer, after all of them hadstrained their ears without any result.
"Guess I must have been away off, and it was only a hoot owl after all;but I thought I heard some one cough!" the tall scout declared.
"I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that way, because it's gettingon toward time for him to show up, if he means to come along to-day,"said Elmer.
"And now that you mention it," added Toby, "I remember Uncle Caleb doeshave a sort of cough. That was one reason he took to the woods, for hesaid it was going to add ten years to his life, living in the open,winter and summer, and eating the plainest kind of food."
After that they began to watch more closely than ever, and also listenedcarefully to catch a repetition of the sound that Lil Artha believed hehad heard.
The great woods in their white snow mantle seemed to be deathly quiet.The air had become far less bitter, and in the sun it was thawingslightly. Occasionally some branch would manage to dislodge its burdenof snow, which was apt to rustle through other branches on its way tothe ground. Away in the distance those crows were cawing again, asthough disputing some lucky find, or holding a council of warconcerning some contemplated movement in search of new feeding grounds.Beyond these little breaks the silence remained profound.
All at once Elmer gave a low "hist!"
The others had caught the same sound, and as it was repeated again andagain they began to believe that some one must be approaching from thevery quarter in which Elmer had said Uncle Caleb was apt to come.
"What's that queer scraping, shuffling noise mean, Elmer?" whispered LilArtha.
"I bet you I know," spoke up Toby, also in a cautious tone; "snow-shoes,and my uncle is wearing the same. How's that for a guess, Elmer?"
"You're right that time, Toby; and there he comes!" was the scoutmaster's reply.
Looking again they could all see the figure of an elderly man, dressedin khaki-colored hunting garments, but warmly clad. He was advancingover the surface of the heaped-up snow, and with the free movements ofone to whom the use of snow-shoes was an old story. To see the way helifted his feet, still dragging the long shoe made of bent hickory, andstout gut that crossed and re-crossed diagonally from side to side, itwas evident that Uncle Caleb had spent many days and weeks in the woodswhen it was impossible for him to get anywhere without the use ofsnow-shoes.
Toby watched him eagerly. He was evidently thinking that before he leftthis section of the wilderness he too would be able to walk deftly,after he had been shown the secret of manipulating the clumsycontrivances that served to keep the pedestrian from sinking into thedrift.
As the hunter and naturalist drew closer to the spot where he had placedhis fox trap they could see that he was getting more and more agitated.Evidently he must have alrea
dy discovered certain suspicious signsaround that gave warning to the effect that he was about to receive ashock of an unpleasant nature.
Uncle Caleb was almost running now. Had there been a glaze on thesurface of the snow he would have fairly flown to the spot; but as itwas he floundered more or less in advancing hurriedly.
Now they saw him bend down to examine his trap. The presence of thestains on the trampled surface of the snow would be enough to tell himthat there had been a victim held between those grim steel jaws of theNewhouse trap. When he found several almost black hairs present he wouldalso understand that he had caught the coveted silver black fox; andwhile that might add to his joy under ordinary conditions it was onlyapt to provoke his additional wrath just then; for those telltalefootprints all around gave him to understand he had been robbed of histreasure.
He presently got up from his knees. They could see that he was shakinghis head as though he did not like the way things looked. Many wintershad Uncle Caleb spent in this vicinity, and never before had he everknown of a case of thievery; that it should come when he had made such afortunate haul was doubly provoking.
It was hardly wise to carry on the joke any further, Elmer thought; andaccordingly he gave the signal for which Toby was waiting. The latterimmediately jumped to his feet, and shouted at the top of his voice:
"Hello! Uncle Caleb! how d'ye do? You see, I've kept my word, anddropped in to visit you at last. And as you told me to bring a friend ortwo along, I've fetched our scout master, Elmer Chenowith, also twoother bully good fellows, George Robbins and Lil Artha Stansbury!"
The elderly recluse stared at the four boys as though he found greatdifficulty in believing his eyes. It was as if they had suddenly bobbedup out of the snow-covered earth to surprise him.
"Why, hello! is that you, Nephew Toby?" he presently called back. "Comealong and shake hands with me. You're mighty welcome, my boy, let metell you; and your comrades too. I shall be delighted to meet the ElmerI've heard so much about in your newsy letters; also your other chums."
"But, uncle, we've got a little surprise for you, see?" and as he spokeToby suddenly held up the silver fox, which act caused the other tosmile broadly; "we were directed wrong by a boy, who must have had agrouch against all scouts; and so we got lost; and then that stormcaught us; but we were hunting around for some sign of your cabin whenwe came on this fox caught in a trap, and with his leg nearly cut off.Elmer said he'd soon be gone, leaving only a paw behind; so he knockedhim on the head, and then said we'd better wait here till you came. Isit a real silver black fox, Uncle?"
"And are the skins worth as much as fifteen hundred dollars, sir?" askedGeorge, as though he could never rest again until he had settled thatbothersome matter in his mind.
"Yes to both questions, boys," replied the scientist; "this skin may beworth anywhere from a thousand dollars to twenty-five hundred, accordingto how it is graded; and I'm delighted that you had the good sense tosave it for me."