CHAPTER II.
THE PRISONER OF THE TREE STUMP.
"Oh! perhaps a wolf has got poor Bumpus!" exclaimed Smithy, who hadnever had any real experience in the woods, and was therefore a genuine"greenhorn" scout.
"Or a bear!" suggested Step-hen.
Thad was not the one to stand and speculate, when a comrade appeared tobe in deep trouble, so he immediately cried out:
"Get your staves, and come along, everybody; no; you stay with ourknapsacks, to guard them, Bob White. This may be some trick of BroseGriffin and his cronies to steal our stuff. This way, the rest of you,boys!"
"Hurrah!" shouted Step-hen, showing great animation; but cautiouslyfalling in the rear of the procession that went rushing into the depthsof the woods.
"Which way did it come from, Thad?" asked Smithy; who, despite hisgirl-like neatness of person and belongings, and dainty ways, was closeto the leader, his face whiter than usual, but his eyes flashing withunaccustomed fire.
"I think over in this direction," said Davy Jones, before the leadercould reply.
"Listen!" commanded Thad, as he held up his hand, bringing them all to ahalt. Straining their ears, each scout tried to catch some sound thatwould give him the privilege of being the first to point to the spotwhere Bumpus was in sore need of assistance.
"I think I heard a groan!" remarked Step-hen, in an awe-struck voice,that trembled in spite of his effort to seem brave.
"So did I," declared Allan; "and it was over yonder to the left."
Accordingly the six boys went helter-skelter into the underbrush, makingall the noise an elephant might in pushing through the woods. Perhaps itwas only the result of their eagerness to reach the companion, whoseemed to be in trouble; and then again, a racket like that mightfrighten away any wild beast that had attempted to carry their stoutbugler away.
"Stop again, and listen," said Thad, half a minute later. "We must benear the place where that groan came from. Hear it again, anybody?"
"Help! oh, help! they're eating me alive!" came in a muffled voice fromsome unknown place near by.
Thrilled by the words, and half expecting to see some savage monsterstruggling with their fellow scout, the six boys stared about them indismay. Not the first sign could they see of either Bumpus or theattacking beast.
"Where under the sun can he be?" exclaimed Giraffe.
"Perhaps it was a big eagle, or a hawk; and it's carried him up into atree!" suggested Step-hen; and strange to say, no one even laughed atthe silly idea.
"Allan has guessed it!" cried Smithy, who had chanced to see a littlesmile chase across the face of the boy from Maine.
"Where is he, then?" asked Thad, wheeling on his second in command.
"I think if you move over to that big old tree-trunk yonder, you'll findBumpus, sir," replied Allan, making the scout salute; for he believed incarrying out the rules of the organization when on duty, as at present.
"But we can see the whole thing from top to bottom, and never a sign ofBumpus anywhere?" remarked Step-hen, doubtfully.
"And he ain't such a little chap that he could hide under the bark of adead tree either," remarked Davy, scornfully.
Thad was already advancing upon the stump in question. Perhaps he hadcaught the hidden meaning to Allan's words; and could give a pretty goodguess as to why the other smiled.
"Surround the stump, scouts!" he ordered; and the boys immediatelystarted to obey, holding their stout staves in readiness to resist anattack, if so be some unseen wild beast made a sudden leap.
"Say, it's all a mistake; there ain't a blessed thing here!" grumbledStep-hen, when, after reaching a point on the other side of the immensestump, he could see the entire surface of its trunk, some three feetthrough, possibly more.
"Yes there is; and I want to get out the worst kind! Ouch! they'rebiting me like hot cakes! I'm getting poisoned, I know I am! Oh! dear!"came the muffled voice that they knew belonged to Bumpus.
"Whoop! he's _in_ the old stump!" shouted Davy Jones, starting to grinbroadly.
"That's right," replied the unseen Bumpus; "but please don't standthere, and guy a poor feller, boys. Do something for me before I'm agoner. Oh! how they are going for me though! I'm beginning to swell uplike anything! Be quick, Thad, Allan, and the rest of you!"
"But what's biting him, do you think?" said Step-hen, looking seriousagain. "Can it be rattlesnakes, Thad, or bumble-bees?"
"Hardly," replied the other, readily; "I'd expect rather that it wasants. What do you say, Allan?"
"No doubt of it," came from the boy who had practical experience in theways of the woods. "They like to make their nests in old dead trees.But ask Bumpus."
Evidently the boy who was imprisoned inside the stump of the forestmonarch must have heard every word spoken by his mates, without, for heinstantly called aloud:
"Yes, that's what it is, ants, and they are fierce, I tell you. I'mcovered all over right now with lumps as big as hickory nuts. Be quick,boys, and get me out!"
"How under the sun d'ye think he ever got inside that stump; for thelife of me I can't see any hole down here?" Davy asked, wonderingly.
"He must have fallen in through the top," replied Allan, casting a quickglance up toward the place in question. "The old thing's hollow, and itgave way under Bumpus."
"Sure, that's the way!" called out the unseen sufferer, eagerly. "Get amove on you, fellers. I want to breathe some fresh air, and take somestuff for all these poisonous bites."
"But what were you doing up that stump?" demanded Step-hen; while Thadand Allan were examining the remains of the once proud tree, as if todecide what ought to be done, in order to rescue the unlucky scout.
"I know what ails Bumpus," cried Davy; "his old curiosity bump wasworking overtime, and coaxed him to climb up there."
"Well, how'd I know the old thing'd give in with me like that?"protested the other, faintly. "I saw a bee going in a hole up there; andyou know I'm just crazy to find a wild bees' nest in a hollow tree,because I dote on honey. But I was mistaken about that; it's ants bitingme; because I caught one on my cheek after he'd taken a nibble. Oh!ain't they making me a sight, though? Where's Thad? I hope you don'tjust go on, and leave me here to die, boys. Please get busy!"
"Just hold up a little, Bumpus," called Thad, cheerily. "We haven't anyrope to pull you up again; and besides, Allan says the top of the rottenstump would like as not give way, if anybody tried to stand on it. ButI've sent Giraffe back to the spring after the ax we carried. We'll justhave to cut a hole, and let you climb out that way."
"But be careful not to give me a jab, won't you, please, Thad?" askedthe other, between his groans. "I'm bad enough off as it is, withoutlosing a leg."
"Don't be afraid," replied the scout-master; "we're going to let Allando the job, and few fellows know how to handle an ax as well as he does.And here's the tool right now; Giraffe made pretty quick time."
"But what do you want me to do?" asked the prisoner of the stump,piteously.
"Why, here's a hole already, big enough for me to stick my hand in; feelthat, do you, Bumpus?" and Thad inserted his hand, to clutch the leg ofthe other.
"Oh! how you scared me at first, Thad; I sure thought it was a wildcat,or something, that had grabbed me. I'm trembling all over, what with thebites, the tumble, and the excitement."
"Now keep as far back from this side as you can," continued the other."Is the hollow big enough to allow that, Bumpus?"
"It surely is, Thad," replied the other, somewhat more cheerfully, as ifthe confident manner in which Thad went about his business reassuredhim. "Guess there must be nearly a foot of space between."
"That's fine," Thad went on to say; "now keep back, and leave it all toAllan. He's going to commence chopping."
Immediately there sounded the stroke of the descending ax.
"Huh! went all the way through, that time," said Step-hen, who waswatching the operation closely; "reckon the old tree must be as rottenas punk."
"Make a dandy blaze, a
ll right," ventured Giraffe, whose mind was benton fires, so that he never lost a chance for making one; and who lovedto sit and watch it burn, much as the old fire worshippers might havedone in long-ago times.
"Take care, Allan," remarked Thad; "don't strike so hard next time. Why,you'll knock a hole in that stump in a jiffy. It's only a shell."
"I could drop the whole thing in fifteen minutes, believe me," answeredthe boy who wielded the ax so cleverly, having learned the trick fromthe native woodsmen up in Maine, his native State.
Again the sharp-edged tool descended; and the hole grew considerablylarger. The prisoner kept urging them to make more haste, and exclaimthat he was swelling up so fast as a result of his bites, that he'd soonbe unable to crawl out, even if half the tree trunk were chopped away.
But Allan was a methodical chap, and could not be urged intocarelessness when making use of such a dangerous tool as a keen-edgedax. He chopped close to the imaginary line he had drawn; and as largechips fell in a shower the aperture increased in size until they couldsee the lower limbs of the prisoner.
"Can't you drop down on your hands and knees, Bumpus?" called Thad. "Ishould think the hole was big enough now to let you get out."
"Oh! I'll try," wailed the other; "I'm willing to do anything you say,Thad, if only you can patch me up, and keep me from bursting. There, Idid manage to squeeze down on my knees; but I don't believe I can everget through."
"We're willing to help you, old fellow," remarked Davy, as he seizedhold of a hand; while Step-hen took the other; and between them theypulled, while Bumpus used his legs to kick backward; and finally he wasdragged triumphantly out of his strange prison.
But when the boys saw his swollen face they stopped their loud laughing;for although the fat boy tried to grin good-naturedly, he was such asight that pity took the place of merriment in the hearts of his chums.
The vicious ants had really bitten his cheeks so that they were swollenup very much, and Bumpus looked like a boy with the mumps.