CHAPTER XI
ON THE BIG GAME TRAILS
Tad Butler was the only one of the party to grasp the note of wildalarm in Stacy's voice. Nor did even Butler comprehend what hadcaused it.
Tad, however, saw the fat boy lose his balance after clutchingdesperately at the cane stalk.
At that moment, engaged in straightening out the coils of his lasso,Tad had just slipped the coil into his left hand, the honda in hisright. As he did so Butler had swung the rope over his head,intending to catch Stacy, giving him a slight scare.
Just as Stacy's feet shot upward Tad let go the rope, dropping theloop neatly over Master Brown's left foot and drawing taut instantly.Chunky, thus caught, sprawled between the cypress knees and the blackpool, looking more like a giant spider than anything else.
"Ow, wow! wow! In the name of goodness!" shrieked Stacy.
"Keep cool, if you can!" Tad yelled to the frightened victim. Then,to the other boys:
"Get him out as quickly as you can, fellows! You'll have to be livelynow! Something is wrong with our comrade."
"What is it, where is he?" cried the boys.
"There, under the tree at the end of my rope. Be quick. There'ssomething down there. Be careful that you don't get in, too. I'vegot him fast, but he may squirm loose."
Tad had snubbed the rope around a tree and now began hauling in.Chunky's legs were spread wide apart, and Tad hauled him up little bylittle until the fat boy's legs were on either side of one of thecypress knees, the knee pressing against his body. Chunky could behauled no further unless he were to be split in two. But Butler wassatisfied that the fat boy was out of the reach of anything that mightbe down in the pool.
Lilly was the first to reach the scene, followed in great strides byProfessor Zepplin and the other two boys. Now the problem of gettingboth the boy's legs on one side of the cypress knee was presented tothem.
"Get--get me out of here! I've got a rush of blood to the head,"pleaded Chunky.
"You are fortunate if you don't get more than that," snapped BillyLilly.
"Did de 'gator done git him?" questioned Ichabod apprehensively.
"Not yet. He may," answered the guide. "Let up on the rope a little,Master Tad."
"You had better pass another one about his waist first, in caseanything happens to this rope. Get your rope, Ned. I can hold himhere until you have him safely secured."
Ned ran for his rope. All this time Stacy Brown was hanging headdown, looking into the pool, face to face with the terrible thingthat he saw down there. He couldn't keep his eyes closed, try as hemight. A strange fascination seemed to force him to look into thebig, bulging eyes of the 'gator patiently waiting for him down in theblack pool.
Ned, returning with his rope, climbed over on the knees and leanedover to secure it about Stacy's waist. He quickly turned a pale faceup to those gathered about the scene.
"Hold fast to me, please. I don't fancy furnishing a meal for thatfellow down there," said Rector in a quiet voice.
"What--what is it, Ned?" gasped Walter.
"Never mind what it is. Just take tight hold of me. Hold my legs,if you please, Mr. Lilly."
The guide did so, and Ned lost no time in taking a double hitch aboutStacy's waist. Lilly nodded to Tad to lower away on the rope, whichTad did slowly and cautiously.
"Don't--don't let me down in there!" yelled the fat boy, squirmingand fighting and kicking.
"Stop it!" commanded the Professor sternly. "If you will behaveyourself we may be able to get you out, but if you don't keep quietwe may let you go."
A moan was the only answer to the Professor's warning. Lilly nowgrabbed one of the truant feet, jerking it over to the other side ofthe cypress knee against its mate.
"Haul away, Master Tad," the guide sang out in a cheery voice. "Iguess we've got the young gentleman this time."
While Butler was hauling in on his rope, Lilly and Ned Rector werepulling the fat boy up by his feet, each having hold of a foot.Stacy came out squirming like an angleworm being pulled from theground after a spring rain. He surely would have fallen in again ifthey had not held to him by main force.
"There, you wooden-headed--" began Ned.
"Tut, tut!" warned Professor Zepplin.
Stacy was tossed to the ground a safe distance from the scene of hislate unpleasantness, where he lay rubbing that part of his personwhere the rope had fairly cut into the skin. Stacy was still sorefrom contact with the thorn bushes, and the rope was an addedaggravation to his already tender skin.
"You may thank Master Tad and Ned for having saved your life, Tadfirst of all," reminded the Professor.
"For getting into difficulties, young man, you win the blue ribbon inall classes," declared Billy Lilly. "How did you ever come to get inthat hole?"
"He was fishing for something," grinned Tad.
"And he got a real bite," added Ned.
"He came near furnishing a bite for that gentleman in the pool. Thatwas the quickest move I ever saw," continued Lilly, gazing admiringlyat Tad. "How you can handle a rope! That's one thing I never coulddo."
"How did you manage it so quickly, Tad?" asked Walter, his face stillpale from fright.
"I was casting at him for fun at the time. My getting him was notdue to any unusual quickness on my part, for the rope was in the airwhen he lost his balance. I merely jerked it down over one foot, andI guess it was lucky for him that I was preparing to play a joke onhim, at that."
"I should say it was," muttered the guide.
"You come with me, old boy," said Tad, taking Stacy by an arm andleading the fat boy to his tent. They did not know what Tad said tohis companion, but they did know that Stacy looked very solemn andgreatly subdued, when, after a ten-minute interview, Tad permittedStacy to leave the tent. The fat boy sat down without a word, gazingreflectively into the campfire, and did not speak again, except toanswer questions in monosyllables, until they had finished supper.
That night, as usual, the music of the barred owls, their weirdscreeches and yells, filled to the exclusion of all other soundsexcept the busy buzz of the giant mosquitoes. The latter were keptout pretty well by the smudge that Lilly built in front of the tentsand that he kept going through most of the night. Stacy turned inearly, having very little to say to any one. But by the next morninghe had forgotten all about his narrow escape and was the same oldChunky, ready for any opportunity that might present itself forgetting into trouble.
Shortly after daybreak Tad slipped on his boots, and, with rifleunder his arm, sauntered out to the cypress tree, where he perchedhimself on the knees at the edge of the black pool. The boy waitedpatiently for half an hour, keeping a close watch of the pool, but hediscovered nothing.
After a time Butler gathered up some rotten sticks and dropped themin. He had not been at this long before a loud splash below told himthat his bait had been seized, and a moment later the bulging eyes ofa 'gator slowly protruded from the water, the eyes gazing up at theboy perched above them.
"Now I reckon I have you, my fine gentleman," muttered Tad, slowlybringing his rifle into position.
It was perhaps three seconds later when Tad Butler's rifle, roaringout its deadly message, brought every man in the camp from his tent.They saw Tad sitting on a cypress knee, gazing down into the blackpool, a satisfied grin on his face. Lilly understood at once whatwas going on.
"Did you get him?" he cried.
"I did," answered Tad calmly. "He won't have any more appetite forfat boys. Are there any more of them down there, do you think, Mr.Lilly?"
"I reckon there are plenty there."
"Then I am going to make it my business to thin them out," said Tad.
The bang of the Pony Rider Boy's rifle was heard three more timesthat morning. That appeared to have rid the black pool of itsdangerous residents. While Tad was watching the pool Stacy Brown wasdancing about the camp in search of something to occupy his mind andtime, but the others kept a close watch on the fat
boy and kept himout of mischief.
Early in the morning Mr. Lilly had gone out with rifle and dogs insearch of "bear sign." The dogs were barking eagerly as he left camp,but the animals were disconsolate when, along towards noon, hunterand dogs returned to camp.
"Nary a sign," answered Lilly in response to Tad's questioning look."There's game here, just the same. The dogs scented something thismorning. Of course, I don't know what they scented, and what bothersme is that I couldn't find any sign."
"How did the dogs act?" asked Tad.
"As if they were mad about something."
"I guess they must have been mad with you for taking them out on awild goose chase," suggested Stacy wisely.
"No doubt, no doubt," nodded the guide.
"I'll tell you what, I'll go out and find the trail for you. I don'tsuppose there is a better trailer in the country than myself,"declared Stacy. "Why, I can run a trail with my nose, even thoughit's ages old."
"Are you speaking of your nose or the trail?" asked Ned.
"The trail, of course. My nose isn't ages old."
"Nor will it be if you don't watch out and keep away from trouble,"warned Tad. "What are your plans, Mr. Lilly?"
"We will go out in the morning. Between us we ought to pick upsomething. This afternoon I will take a run about to see what I canpick up; then in the morning we will get an early start, all handsgoing out."
"That will be fine," approved the boys.
They were enthusiastic over the guide's report when he came in thatnight with the good news that he had found some "bear sign" aboutfour miles to the west.
"Do you think that was what the dogs scented when you were outbefore?" asked Tad.
"I reckon it must have been. What you-all been doing this afternoon?"
"Oh, 'gator hunting."
"Get any?"
"I have cleaned them out."
The guide laughed.
"I reckon if you were to go swimming in there you'd change your mind.They are moving back and forth all the time. It would take your timefor the next several years to clean them out of this river. Remember,we start early in the morning for the hunting grounds."
Early in the morning meant just as the dawn was graying in the east,and before the light really had filtered through the tall cypress.All the boys turned out cheerfully, including Chunky, who didn'tutter a grumble. Ned said Chunky must be sick, but Chunky declaredthat he always got up that way, and that it was Ned who was so grouchythat he thought everyone else was. The other boys mischievously sidedwith Stacy and against Ned Rector.
After a hasty breakfast a light pack of food was stowed in thepockets of the saddles, and the boys jogged from the camp, leavingIchabod in sole charge. Lilly rode ahead, slashing as usual, Chunkybeing sandwiched between Tad and the Professor.
The "bear sign" had been discovered in the canebrake about threemiles from camp. It was to this point that the guide was heading.Arriving there he called the party about him for their instructions.They were to split up, and at least two of them were to pass throughan exciting experience ere they returned to their camp on SunflowerRiver.