CHAPTER II. WHAT FRIGHTENED THE PACK MULES.
"Hold on to the rock, Davy! We'll get you out!" whooped Giraffe, greatlyexcited, so that Thad, believing the tall scout meditated jumping afterthe boy who was already at the mercy of that swift current, dropped arestraining hand on his arm.
"He must a hit his head when he fell; you c'n see he looks dazed!" criedBumpus.
"Just what he did, I reckon!" added Bob White, as he clenched his hands,and stared at the figure out in the midst of that rushing, boiling water.
Davy looked far from nimble just then. He was clinging desperately to aslippery moss-covered rock that just projected above the foamy water. Ifhe allowed his grip to slacken he would be instantly carried into apocket that had all the appearance of a whirlpool; and once lost in thatgap, where the water whirled around and around, Davy might never come outalive again.
Under ordinary conditions the agile lad might have had a fair chance towork out his own salvation, for he was a good swimmer; but just as Bumpussaid, possibly he had struck his head when falling, and this dazed him.He could only hang on there, and look appealingly toward his comrades,high up on the bank.
Thad saw immediately that the task of rescuing their comrade would proveto be not a little one, even though Davy could hold on for a few minuteslonger, which was uncertain, since the current was very strong, andseemed to drag at him with a dozen eager hands.
"A rope! We must have a rope!" he cried.
"Where's Bumpus? Take this rope!" came from Giraffe.
"That's so; here, get your coat off, Bumpus, in a big hurry!" exclaimedThad, whirling upon the fat boy, who was even then starting to obey.
Strange to say, as soon as he had undone his loose coat, one of thereasons for his apparent great size through the body became apparent.Bumpus had a small but stout clothes-line wound around his body manytimes.
While up in Maine he had taken a fancy for having a rope close to hishand. On many occasions he had seen the great value of such a thing; andit had by degrees become almost a mania with Bumpus; who secured justsuch a rope as he thought best adapted for the purpose, and carefullywound it around his body every morning.
And as the possession of such a thing caused the scoffing scouts to callit a lariat, of course Bumpus was privately and publicly doing his levelbest to throw the rope, as he had once seen some cowboys connected with atraveling circus do; but with rather poor success thus far, for his buildrather unfitted him for doing such strenuous work.
Bumpus was so clumsy about most things that it could not be expected thaton the present occasion, when there was so much need of haste he couldsatisfy the nervous demands of his camp-mates.
He started to unwind the rope, but twice the end fell from his shakingfingers, when he heard Giraffe call out that Davy seemed to be about tolet go his hold.
Unable to stand such dilly-dallying tactics, Allan and Giraffe presentlytook hold of the fat boy, and began to whirl him around as though he werea teetotum, while Thad pulled at the rope.
"Here, quit that!" roared Bumpus, throwing out his hands in an effort tocatch hold of something, for he was rapidly growing very dizzy under thistreatment; "what d'ye think I am, a top that wants spinning? Hi! ketch mesomebody, I'm going to tumble over!" and as the last remnant of theclothes-line slipped from his rotating form, the fat scout did reelaround like a drunken man, though quickly recovering from the dizzysensation.
Meanwhile Thad was busy. Fortunately Bumpus always kept a nice noose atthe end of the rope, with a running knot. Thad knew this, for he had manya time thrown the lariat with considerable skill, when showing the ownerjust how it should be done.
Hastily he gathered the coils of rope in his hand, and rushed again tothe edge of the little bluff looking out on the rapids.
He drew a breath of relief when he saw that the unfortunate gymnast wasstill there, clinging desperately to that slippery rock, and yetapparently well-nigh exhausted.
"Look out for it, Davy, and grab the noose when it comes near! Heregoes!"
With that the scoutmaster gave the rope several whirls about his head,and then launched it forward. The others watched the result, with heartsthat seemed to actually stand still with suspense.
"Missed him!" cried Giraffe, in despair, as the rope struck the surfaceof the swift water about five feet or more above the imperiled scout.
"Thad wanted to send it there; see!" exclaimed Allan.
Just as the one who had thrown the rope expected, the noose was instantlyseized by the foaming waters, and swept downward, straight at theclinging boy. Although Davy may have been partly dazed, he had knownenough to hang on with might and main. And right then and there he seemedto understand what Thad meant to do; for as the rope was borne up againstthe partly submerged rock to which he clung, the boy made a quick snatchat it.
"He lost it!" shrieked Bumpus, who had recovered enough now to crawl nearthe edge in order to see what was going on; though not daring to trusthis weight too near the brink, lest the earth crumble under him, and lethim drop into the rapids where Davy was already fighting for his life.
"Not much he did!" echoed Giraffe; "he's got it all right! Good boy,Davy! Slip it under your arms, and we'll yank you out in a jiffy! That'sthe ticket! Hurrah!"
Davy seemed to understand what he must do. It was not enough that hegripped the noose at the end of the saving rope; for once in the power ofthe tossing current of the whirlpool he might lose his hold.
And so he managed to put his arm right through, after which he held onwith might and main with that hand while he got the second one throughthe loop.
It was the last straw that broke the camel's back; Davy was so completelyexhausted by this effort that he just had to let go, and trust to hiscomrades to do the rest.
Thad began to pull with all his strength, and others laid hold on theline, to add their mite to the work of rescue. Fortunately Bumpus hadselected a splendid braided window-sash cord when he picked out his rope,capable of standing an enormous strain; and it held, despite the drag ofthe savage whirlpool, and the rush of the rapids.
Through the white foaming waters Davy was dragged in great style. One ofthem managed to get down the little bluff, and helped the almost drownedscout to clamber up. But hardly had Davy reached the camp than he fell ina faint, utterly exhausted. Excitement had more or less to do with it,perhaps fright as well; for he had really been facing death during thosefew minutes when he held on with such splendid grit.
Thad soon brought him to; and upon examining the boy's head he diddiscover a pretty good-sized lump, showing that what they suspected musthave taken place; and that Davy had struck against a rock in falling.
Davy was unusually quiet for the rest of the afternoon, and prettyserious for one of his animal spirits. He realized that he had had aclose call; and never more would he make fun of poor Bumpus for such asilly fad as carrying a rope around with him wherever he went. Only forthat Davy might have had a much more serious time of it, even if he wererescued at all.
They were having an early supper for many reasons. The tramp had beenrather tiresome on this day; and besides, that location on the side ofthe noisy mountain stream had taken their fancy.
When the meal was ready Bumpus made a bugle of his hands, and blew the"assembly" in fairly good style. But none of the hungry scouts waited forhim to get through; for they were hard at it as soon as he started.Indeed, Bumpus himself cut his "call" short, as he saw the tremendousinroads being made on the visible supply of food; and hastened to takehis place, fearful lest he be left mourning, with a scant ration.
Had Davy been half drowned by his submersion in the water, thescoutmaster knew just what to do in order to restore him. He would haveplaced the boy on his stomach, with his arms elevated; and while two ofthe others worked these back and forth like pump handles, Thad would haveknelt astride Davy, pressing regularly downward with his hands or knees;the idea being to produce an artificial respiration, and encourage t
heheart to take up its suspended functions.
It still lacked half an hour of sunset when they finished supper; and BobWhite was even thinking of getting out some fishing tackle, in order tosee if he could coax a few trout from the stream, at the foot of therapids below.
The two mules, Mike and Molly, had been staked out at the end of theirropes, and were cropping the green grass that grew abundantly near by.
"Don't things look just fine and dandy around here, though?" remarkedStep Hen, as they lay there, feeling too full of supper to do anything.
"Yes; and so far we haven't missed those two guides who gave us the coldshake," Giraffe added. "One of 'em had to go and get sick; and the otherbroke his contract, and went off with those two Eastern sportsmen whocame out here to shoot mountain sheep, just like they do chamois over inSwitzerland. But we're going to get on all right without 'em; though Ihope we manage to run across that Toby Smathers they told us about, andwho's up here somewhere on his own hook doin' something, nobody seemed toknow just what."
"Yes," remarked Thad, "they told us he was just the right kind of a guideto get. He's been through the whole mill--lumber-jack, trapper, hunter,timber cruiser; and forest ranger employed to look out for fires, andwatch some of those thieves of timber pirates sent in here by the biglumber concerns to steal millions of millions of feet of valuable lumberevery winter."
"Hello! now Mike's gone and caught it!" cried Giraffe.
This caused all of them to sit up, and take notice that one of the muleswas dancing at a lively clip at the end of his rope. He would stand up onhis hind legs, and strain at his stake; then turning, he would kick asfar as he could; and carry on in a most remarkable manner.
"What in the dickens ails the beast?" asked Step Hen. "Has a bumble beestung him on the nose?"
"Why, don't you see, it's catching," retorted Giraffe, grinning. "He sawthe way Davy here was walking around on his hands, with his feet in theair; and Mike wants us to see if he can do better than that. I reckonhe'll stand on one foot after a bit, and show Davy stunts he dassent tryto follow."
"Now, there goes Molly trying the same dodge," shouted Bumpus.
"Well, I declare, if that don't beat the Dutch!" ejaculated Giraffe. "Assure as I live, fellers, they mean to make it a double harness affair, ateam of educated mule gymnasts. Go it, Mike! Hey, show us what you cando, Molly! I'm believing she c'n beat her pardner all hollow. Look atthat jump, would you? Say, they must a been eating some of that loco weedwe heard about, fellers!"
"They're frightened, that's what!" exclaimed Thad, as he started to casthis eyes around in search of any unusual object, but failing to discoversuch; from which fact he judged that the mules depended on their sense ofsmell to tell them there was danger near by.
"Frightened; what at?" echoed Davy Jones.
"I don't know; but if ever I saw a scared mule, that Mike is one," Thadwent on.
"Look at him jerk, would you?" cried Giraffe. "Unless that stake givesway soon, he'll sure break his old stubborn neck. Whoa! there, you silly;nothing's going to hurt you. Wow! there he goes awhoopin', Thad! Thestake did give way, before he dislocated his spine. And there's Mollybound to follow after him, whoop! see her tear, would you?"
"She's broke away too, and is trailing the rope after her!" cried StepHen.
"And now, won't we just have a dandy old time hunting our pack mulesagain; unless by some accident that stake and rope get caught in therocks, and holds 'em up; which I'm hoping will be the case," remarkedGiraffe, looking blankly after the two disappearing animals, that, whenlast seen, were still acting in the most remarkable manner, and givingevery evidence of a severe fright.
"Now, what d'ye suppose, scared the fools that way?" demanded Bob White.
"P'raps they just felt frisky, and wanted to show us their heels. I toldyou they'd be mad, if you didn't include them on the roll call," Girafferemarked; though in truth, he was feeling anything but funny just then,as he contemplated the possibility of their being stranded away out thereunder the shadow of the great Rockies, without a single pack animal to"tote" their camp luggage either way.
"Look around, and see if you can spy anything moving," advised thescoutmaster, making use of his own sharp eyes at the same moment.
Immediately Bumpus called out:
"What's that lumbering along over yonder, Thad? Looks to me like an old,cinnamon-colored cow."
Thad took one look.
"You're away off there, Bumpus," he remarked, in a thrilling tone;"because those two wise mules knew what was coming. That is anything buta cow or even a bull. It's a bear!"
"A bear!" almost shrieked Bumpus, making a dive for the nearest tent, inwhich lay his nice ten-bore Marlin, loaded with buckshot shells.
"Yes," Thad went on, "and a great big grizzly bear at that. Let's hopehe'll give us the go-by, and walk on about his own business!"