CHAPTER XXII. THE CRIPPLE BUSINESS SEEMS TO BE CONTAGIOUS.
Of course these words from their comrade gave the other three Boy Scoutsquite a shock. Giraffe was on his knees by the fire, and he immediatelystarted to crane his neck, twisting his head in every direction. Step Henvery wisely first of all removed the little extra coffee-pot they hadbrought along, and set it safely on the ground, before scrambling to hisfeet.
Thad was already hurrying off. Not knowing what Allan meant by being in a"trap" the sagacious scoutmaster made sure to carry his gun along withhim. And seeing this, the other two did likewise. In that wonderfulcountry so close to the mountains, there was no telling what suddennecessity might arise for a means of defense.
"Where are you, Allan?" called Thad.
The woods were partly in darkness. It was possible to see the treetrunks, but all else seemed vague. This, of course, was partly caused bythe fact of the boys having had their eyes dazzled by the glowing fire.Had they stood there for ten minutes, until used to the semi-gloom,doubtless they could have distinguished objects around them much morereadily.
"This way!" came in Allan's voice, and rather close by. "No great hurry,boys; but I've tried to get out myself, and can't turn around so as toreach the spring, and step on it with the other foot."
"Spring!" echoed Giraffe.
"Yes, because I'm held fast in the grip of an old rusty bear trap, thatmust have been left here last season by the trappers," said Allan.
"Well! what d'ye think about that?" exclaimed Giraffe.
They were now close to where Allan could be seen standing up.
"Are you hurt much, Allan?" demanded Thad, horrified at the idea of theother having a badly-mangled leg.
"Oh! it hurts some, but I guess the old trap must have a pretty weak setof springs, and that's why they purposely left it behind. But if itdidn't get a bear, it caught me by the leg, all right."
"Which leg?" demanded Step Hen, quickly; but Thad spoke up before thequestion could be answered.
"Hadn't we better have some light here to work by, Allan?" he asked.
"I should say it wouldn't be a bad idea, because there are two springs,and they ought to be held down at the same time," the victim of the trapanswered.
"How about it, Giraffe?" asked the patrol leader.
"Do you want a torch?" exclaimed the fire builder, eagerly. "Oh! justgive me a minute or so, and I'll fix you out quick."
With that he whirled around in his tracks, and started to go back towardthe fire, with great bounds, that would have done credit to a leapingdeer. When those long "spindle" legs of Giraffe got to working properly,they were capable of covering ground at a tremendous rate. And if he hada few stitches of pain, because of that bad stone bruise, Giraffe paidlittle attention to it, so engrossed was he in carrying out the order toget a torch.
"I hope you're not hurt much, Allan?" said Thad, solicitously, as hereached the side of his chum, and began feeling for the trap with bothhands.
"It isn't as comfortable as it might be," admitted the other, with anervous little laugh, "and I guess I'll have to join the ranks of thelimpers for a few days; but then, think how much worse it might havebeen, Thad."
"You mean if the trap had been new instead of worn out, Allen?"
"Yes, that's it, with the springs good, and strong enough to hold even abig bear. Whew! I guess I'm some lucky at that. And then, if I didn'thave a lot of splendid chums close at hand to help me, I might have atough time getting out myself; because, you see, they staked the old trapdown to the ground, and I just don't seem able to turn far enough to getat the second spring."
"I warrant you've been trying, all right," suggested Thad.
"You just bet I have," chuckled Allan, "for five minutes or so, turningand twisting. You see, I didn't want the rest of you to know how I'dstepped plumb into an old bear trap, hidden under the dead leaves here."
"But of course you couldn't make it?" Thad continued, watching Giraffewaving a blazing brand about his head to induce it to flame up better, ashe left the fire, and started toward the others.
"Had to own up at last," admitted Allan, "because it hurt badly everytime I tried to turn around. But now it will be all right; for here'sGiraffe and his light."
"A good torch she is, too," declared the long scout, coming up just then;"burns just like that fat pine or light wood we had down in NorthCarolina. My! what an immense trap. It must pinch that leg of yours some,Allan."
"Get around on that side, Step Hen," ordered Thad, "and be sure, once youstand on the spring, not to get off until I give the word; because if youdid, it will close the jaws as quick as that, and perhaps do moredamage."
"Reckon I understand, Thad," said Step Hen, starting to follow outdirections.
"And you, Giraffe, hold the light so both of us can see," continued Thad."There, steady now. All ready. Step Hen?"
"Sure."
"Then push down hard and steady. There she comes!"
Allan had taken hold of the jaws of the old bear trap, and no sooner didthe pressure exerted by the two side springs cease, than he was able topush them wide apart.
He immediately snatched his leg out of the trap, and no sooner had hedone so than he rolled over on the ground.
"Oh! my stars!" exclaimed Step Hen, "he's hurt more'n he knows of. Whatif he's got a broken leg? Wouldn't we be in a nice pickle though?"
"It isn't so bad as that, boys," said Allan, who was feeling of the calfof his leg as he lay on his back, "though it hurts quite some. But helpme up, Thad, and we'll get to the fire. By the time I've used my leg alittle, and you get some of that magic liniment soaked on the spot, Iguess I'll make out, and be able to start when the rest of you do."
Allan was full of pluck. Moreover, he was an unusually hardy boy, for hehad always spent a good part of his time outdoors; and there is nothingmore calculated to build up a lad's system than that.
He limped some, of course, as he headed toward the fire; but when Allanput those firm lips of his tightly together, nothing of an ordinarycharacter at least, could force him to groan, or even admit that hesuffered.
Once by the fire he sat down. Step Hen went on with his simple cookingoperations, while Thad, assisted by the ready Giraffe, started to look atthe hurt.
"Lucky I had on my leggings," remarked Allan. "With those, and my trouserleg underneath, it made more or less of a bumper. And then again, youknow, traps are never made with teeth nowadays, like they used to be. Aman told me they found that the old style lacerated the leg of the animalso much, they used to lose a third of their catch; for the fox or themink or the otter would either pull and squirm till he'd amputated hisleg, or else gnaw it off."
"Gnaw it off--ain't you romancing, now, Allan?" asked Giraffe.
"Not at all," replied the other. "Why that's often been done, thoughtrappers are divided in their opinion about it. Some think the animaldeliberately gnaws its leg off, ready to make the sacrifice for the sakeof liberty. Others say that an animal naturally bites at anything thathurts it; and it's while snapping at the jaws of the trap they keep ontearing at their wounded and broken leg, till it gives way. Anyhow, thereare always a number of poor three-legged small animals in the woods wheretrapping is done. I've seen a red fox that was minus a leg; and I tellyou right now, the way he could get over ground was a caution."
While Allan was talking along in this fashion, doling out interestinginformation, he was rolling up the leg of his trousers, though Thad couldsee him wince a little as though it gave him pain to do so.
"Only a black and blue place on each side," Allan went on to say, as ifsurprised not to discover a worse looking wound. "Funny how that couldhurt as much as it does."
"Here, let me put on the liniment, and then bind it up," remarked Thad."You'll find it cooling; and I warrant it's going to help along a lot.These black and blue bruises are always mighty painful. That's where yougot the blow, and the blood's already settling there. This stuff willhelp to kee
p it moving, for there's witch hazel in it, and that, youknow, is really the extract of hamamelis. How's that now?"
"Feels better, yes, fifty per cent better," declared Allan, as theamateur scout surgeon fastened the wet bandage snugly with a couple ofsafety pins, and started to draw down the leg of the other's trousers, sothe outside covering of canvas legging could be replaced.
After this had all been done, Allan got up, and commenced to walk around.
"Sort of trying out myself, you know, boys," he remarked, laughingly, tohide any grimace of pain, his actions might be causing.
"How is it?" asked Thad, sympathetically.
"Better than I expected," the other replied. "Excuse me if I limp aroundsome, boys, but I think it'll let the liniment work in better, to keep itwarmed up. Oh! I've a lot to be thankful for, let me tell you. I'm notputting up any sort of kick."
"Well," remarked Thad, with a good-natured smile, "all I can say is, thatyou fellows are working the family doctor to the limit these days. Whatwith stone bruises, snake bites, and getting caught in bear traps, I'mmaking a big hole in the stock of salve and liniment I fetched along. Isuppose it's going to be my turn next. Perhaps you may have to make astretcher, and carry me back to camp with a broken leg, or something likethat."
"For goodness sake, I hope not," exclaimed Allan. "Just imagine the alarmof the other fellows when a procession of limpers came in sight, carryinganother. And with our chum Bumpus an unknown quantity too."
"What if he got lamed up too; wouldn't that just be the limit?" chuckledGiraffe, who often saw humor where no one else did.
"Anyhow," spoke up Step Hen, still busy at the fire, and there was an airof satisfaction in his voice, Giraffe instantly noted, "Allan belongs in_my_ class."
"How's that?" instantly demanded the jealous Giraffe.
"Well! Just use your eyes, and you won't need to ask so many foolishquestions. Don't you see how he limps when he puts that old _right_ legdown? Well, it was my right one that got the snake bite. Allan and memake up the right leg brigade. You'll just have to herd by yourself,Giraffe--anyhow till somebody else takes a notion to drop in the fire, orcut his toe with the wood axe, or somethin' like that."
Thad and Allan laughed at the comical way in which the peculiar conditionof things was described by Step Hen.
"Well," said the scoutmaster, "let's hope that won't happen. BetterGiraffe should stay in a class all by himself to the end of the chapter,than another fellow meet with a serious accident. We've got cripplesenough."
"I guess this ends the run of hard luck," declared the Maine boy, stillkeeping up his movements, although perhaps unconsciously favoring theinjured leg, as any one is apt to do under similar conditions.
"Why d'ye say that?" asked Giraffe.
"Oh! you know they always say accidents come in threes," Allan replied,cheerfully. "The women folks in our house used always to believe that,anyhow; and this makes three of us hobbling around. If we were at homenow, perhaps we'd be wanting to use crutches; but up here in the woods wejust grin and bear it like true scouts."
"Yes," Giraffe went on, "guess you're right about women folks believin'in a broken looking-glass standing for coming trouble, and all suchthings; though my dad used to say he had all the trouble settle on him inpaying for a new mirror. But honest to goodness, fellers, I remember oncewhen my maw, she chanced to drop some dishes, and busted two--what doesshe do but walks right over to the dresser, gets out a cracked tumblershe must a been keepin' for just such a time to come along; and I giveyou my word, I nearly took a fit when she just deliberately smashed thatdown alongside the broken crockery, and I heard her say, says she:'There! that makes _three_ now!' just as if that ended it."
"Supper's ready," announced Step Hen, when the laughter induced byGiraffe's little story had subsided.
The coffee tasted just as good as ever. Besides, they had some venison,cooked in the hunter's primitive way, each piece having been pierced by along splinter of wood, the other end being stuck in the ground, so thatthe meat was close enough to the red coals to cook without burning--toomuch.
Perhaps at home, with a white table-cloth, silver, cut glass, and all theordinary "fixings" around them, some of those boys might have viewed thesuspicious looks of those half-cooked pieces of meat with more or lesshesitation. But appetite ruled here, and every one declared it was "justprime." And if a fellow found that his meat, while scorched on theoutside, was nearly raw in the center, why, you know, all good cook'sunite in saying game should always be juicy and underdone, rather thandry and overdone--Step Hen had read it in his mother's precious cook-bookat home, and boldly said so.
When they were done eating they just lay around talking and resting. Itwas very comfortable, and neither Giraffe nor Step Hen felt in the leastlike making any change. But they knew that after a while, when thedetermined scoutmaster thought they had rested long enough, he would givethe order that must once more see them limping along the trail, a band ofcripples.
Of course the talk was mostly about Bumpus, harmed. For, despite thefaith Thad professed to and what chances they had of finding him unharmedin the extraordinary good luck of the fat scout, there were times wheneven his stout heart became a prey to misgivings; and in his mind he sawpoor Bumpus being badly treated by those two bullies, the timbercruisers.
Latterly Allan had been selecting several good pieces of wood calculatedto burn well, and serve as torches.
When Thad finally gave the word, they prepared to depart. One of thesplinters of wood, taken from a near-by tree that must have been riven bya bolt of lightning in the recent storm, was lighted. Then they saw thatthe camp-fire was carefully put out, after which Allan, bearing thetorch, found the trail, and started off.
They kept this up for over an hour. Not one of them murmured, though nodoubt their lame legs hurt considerably. But they remembered constantlythat they were scouts; and that as such, their ability to stand pain wason trial.
It was the secret hope of every heart, however, that very soon now theymight discover signs calculated to tell them they were drawing near theend of their long pursuit of the lost tenderfoot.
The others were glad, therefore, when Old Eagle Eye, as Step Henpersisted in terming Giraffe, suddenly called a halt.
"I guess I've sighted a camp-fire ahead, fellers!" was what he declared.