CHAPTER XXVII. WELL-EARNED REST--CONCLUSION.
Welcome indeed, was the sight of the two familiar tents, with a cheerycamp-fire blazing in front; Mike and Molly, the two pack mules, browsingnear by, and the three boys who had been left in charge caught in the actof cooking dinner.
It was just high noon on that day when Thad led his little victorioussquad out of the brush, and in sight of the camp.
What an uproarious welcome awaited them! The three boys, who had begun togrow heavy hearted with suspense from long waiting and watching, viedwith each other in trying to see who could make the most noise, and givethe greatest assortment of yells intended to take the place of a welcome.
Why, even the astonished mules looked up and "hee-hawed to beat theband," as Giraffe declared. And when Bob White, Smithy and Davy Jonesdiscovered that sure enough their comrades were fetching a pair ofhulking prisoners along with them, their delight surpassed all bounds.
"It's getting to be a habit with us, fellers," declared Giraffe, proudly."Why, we just can't take a little stroll any more, without bumping upagainst a pair of bad men, who need attention. Don't blame us; we justcouldn't help it."
Bumpus, bless his dear old heart, was looking as "fine as a peach;"nothing at all like the woebegone, half-starved tenderfoot, whom thoseleft in the camp had expected to gaze upon, if indeed they were luckyenough to ever see him in the flesh once more.
With a beaming face he came along, his gun slung over his back by theheavy cord that had come in so handy when the grizzly chased him up atree; and as he walked Bumpus had both hands up to his mouth, makingsounds that would do credit to any horn. And behold, the burden of theair, as the shouting scouts recognized, was "Lo, the Conquering HeroComes; Sound the Trumpets. Beat the Drums."
Such a great time as they had, shaking Bumpus by the hand, pounding himon the back, and telling him again and again how lucky he ought toconsider himself because he had such good and loyal chums, ever ready togo out and succor the unfortunate, and bring them home again safely.
And Bumpus never once lifted up his voice in protestations or boastings,simply grinned through it all, and kept one eye on Thad; who finallythinking it was time the fellows were made aware of the true state ofaffairs, called out:
"Show what you've got, Bumpus!"
Imagine the great surprise, bordering on consternation, of Bob and Davyand Smithy when the fat tenderfoot fished in his pocket and heldsomething up.
"The foot of a bob-cat, as sure as I live!" ejaculated Davy Jones.
"Did you kill it, Bumpus?" asked Smithy, awed by the very thought.
"Thad says so, and _he_ knows!" was what Bumpus remarked; and then witheven a wider grin he fished down in another pocket, this time holding upsome bulky articles that made the three camp guardians fairly gasp forbreath.
"Grizzly bear claws! Great Jehosophat! you don't mean to say that youfound your bear, Bumpus, and actually bagged him?" cried Davy Jones.
"Did I, Thad; you saw where I left him?" replied the Wonderful One.
"You sure nailed him, good and hard, Bumpus, even if it did take tenshots or more, fired into him from a tree, to do the business. If everanybody has a right to say he killed a bear all by himself, fair andsquare, Bumpus has. And here are three more truthful witnesses who willtestify the same way," with which Thad waved his arm around to take inStep Hen, Allan and Giraffe, all of whom put up a right hand, and gravelynodded approval of his words.
"And even that ain't all, fellers," quoth Giraffe, "what would you thinknow if I told you Bumpus had turned the tables on these here two critterswho'd captured him, and were makin' him do all sorts of slave stunts toplease themselves? Yes-siree, took all the shells out of their guns, andthen grabbed up his own to cover 'em. We _saw_ him do it all, so thereain't any mistake. If you doubt me, ask Hank there."
Mechanically the doubting ones turned toward the big timber cruiser, who,playing his little game of appearing to be very contrite and sorry, so asto be let off easily, made a wry face, and remarked:
"Jest what Fatty did ter us; he give us the biggest s'prise of our lives,Pierre and me. That's the time we fooled ourselves. He caught us, allright, and I ain't got no kick acomin', 'less so be he wants to pay meback that way; which I don't think's goin' to be the case, 'cause he'stoo fine a feller to be revengeful like."
"I want to shake hands with you again, suh," said Bob White, the Southernboy, as he pushed up to Bumpus. "And right now let me take backeverything I've ever said about your being a poor tenderfoot. I reckon,suh, a heap of the rest of us scouts'll have to sit at your feet, andtake a few lessons on _how to do it_."
"A wild cat; a bear; and capturing a couple of--what are they, Thad,pirates, or just plain hold-up men? That's going some for even afirst-class scout. Just as Bob says, we take off our hats to you, ChumBumpus, and now, while dinner is cooking, just gather around the fire andtell us the whole blooming story," saying which Davy led the returnedhero of the occasion to the seat of honor.
The story was all told over again, both during the eating of the meal,and afterwards. In fact it took almost two hours to get most of the factsout.
Then they concluded to hold the prisoners until the next morning, whenthey would be breaking camp, to head into the valleys of the RockyMountains, the tops of which reared themselves in great granite massesagainst the western sky.
"We'll probably have a good enough time the rest of our vacation outhere," said Giraffe, later on, "but you can be sure we'll never again seesuch a string of exciting adventures as fell to our lot, and that ofBumpus, when he was hunting through the big timber for a bear; and therest of us searching for a lost tenderfoot scout."
But Giraffe was really mistaken when he ventured to make this prophecy;for it was written that the members of the Silver Fox Patrol were to meetwith still another series of mishaps and adventures before they left forhome. What these were, and how cleverly Thad and his chums carriedthemselves under trying conditions, will be found set down in the pagesof the next volume in this Series, now ready under the title of "The BoyScouts in the Rockies; or the Secret of the Hidden Silver Mine."
That very evening who should come along but Toby Smathers himself. He hadbeen ranging through that section, really to find out what Hank Dodge andPierre Laporte were doing; and seeing the camp had hastened to join thescouts feeling a longing for human company.
Thad liked the forest ranger right from the start, and was very muchpleased when the other agreed to go with them as guide during the balanceof the time they expected to spend in the Rockies--several weeks atleast.
Toby Smathers gave the two men to understand that their every movementwas being watched by agents of the aroused Government. The InteriorDepartment was determined to put an end to timber stealing on a largescale by men who had grown enormously rich in the business.
Hank and Pierre professed to be alarmed; and when they went away in themorning to get their guns, which Thad had left ten miles off, theydeclared they were going to reform, and either go into the mines, or elseemigrate to British Columbia.
"But," said Toby Smathers, "they ain't goin' to do it, mark me. Themcritters are cut out for jail-birds, and they'll either bring up thar, orelse die with their boots on."
"Well, all I hope is," said Thad, as he gave Mike, the pack mule, a touchwith the whip to start him moving, "that we never cross their trailagain."
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Transcriber's note:
Obvious typographical errors were corrected without comment.
Dialect and non-standard spellings were left unchanged.
A table of contents was added for the convenience of the reader.
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