CHAPTER XVIII
A STAND IN GRIM EARNEST
Freed from restraint Stacy's horse darted into the brake. There werenow two horseless boys.
It was Tad to the rescue, firing, kicking, slashing with thebush-knife. Two of the bear hounds leaped into the rescue work withhim.
"Are you hurt?" cried Tad.
"I--I don't know," replied Stacy, breathing hard.
"Get up and fight, or we're goners!"
"Oh, I'll fight!"
Instead of being frightened, the fat boy's face was flushed withanger when he got to his feet. In the fall he had lost his rifle andhis revolver. With a yell Chunky launched a vicious kick at an open,snarling mouth just before him, kicking a mouthful of teeth down thebeast's throat.
Tad snatched up the lost rifle and began to shoot into the pack untilthe magazine of the weapon had been emptied. He then clubbed therifle and began whacking the heads of the wolves. Stacy recoveredhis revolver and resumed shooting, narrowly missing putting a bulletthrough his companion's body. As it was a bullet tore a rent inButler's shirt at the side.
"Look out there!" he warned, without even glancing towards Chunky,keeping his eyes on the force ahead of him and beside him.
The dogs, taking fresh courage from the boys' defense of them, tookup their battle with renewed vigor. Blood was dripping from themouth of every one of them; some had rents torn in their sides,others were limping about on two legs, here and there fastening theirfangs on a gray side or a gray leg as the case might be.
Stacy having emptied his revolver snatched up the limb of a tree, soheavy that he could hardly swing it, but when the limb landed it didgreat execution, leaving its imprint on the head that it hit. Everytime he landed on a gray head, the fat boy would yell.
"Save your wind; you will need it," shouted Tad.
"They'll need theirs more."
_Whack! Whack! Whack!_
It was a battle royal. But the boys were gaining, as Tad quickly saw.The pack was beginning to be fearful. These doughty fighters wereworking sad havoc among them. Scarcely a beast there that did notbear marks of the conflict.
A long winding blast from a hunting horn sounded, but neither boyheard it. Each was too busy with his own salvation to give heed toanything outside of the work at hand. Again the horn sounded, thistime closer than before.
A few moments later there were shouts and yells from the bush. BillLilly, followed by Ned Rector, Professor Zepplin and Walter Perkinsburst from the bush riding like mad, Lilly swinging his bush-knife,whooping and yelling, the boys to the rear of him making fully asmuch noise.
The party halted, gazing upon the scene before them with startledeyes. They were for the moment too astonished to move or do a thing.Neither Tad nor Stacy realized that help was at hand, and the partyhad an opportunity, in those few seconds, to see what Tad Butler andthe much maligned fat boy could do when they got into action.
The period of inactivity was brief.
"They've tackled the dogs!" roared the guide. "At them, boys, and becareful that you don't kill the hounds."
Red lights danced before the eyes of Professor Zepplin. Giving hishorse the spur, he galloped into the thick of the fight with hisheavy army pistol in hand. Its loud report furnished a new note inthe sound of conflict. And the Professor could shoot. Every time hepulled the trigger a gray wolf's body got a bullet from his weapon.
Lilly was laying about him with his bush-knife, as Tad had donebefore him. Ned Rector, too, plunged into the thick of the fight,losing his hat in the first charge, while Walter Perkins hung aboutthe outside of the lines, letting drive at a beast that now and thencame his way. Bullets and beasts were flying about rather toothickly to suit Walter. He felt safer on the outside, though he wasdoing his part.
The battle waged fiercely for a few moments after the arrival ofLilly and his party; then one by one the attacking band begansneaking away into the cane, some to be stopped by bullets beforethey reached the canebrake, others dropping from wounds alreadyreceived. There was a lively scattering, with those of the houndsthat were able to fight trying to follow their late assailants.
Lilly called them back, riding about and heading them off, shouting,commanding, aided by Tad Butler who understood what the guide wastrying to do. The more seriously injured of the hounds were lyingabout licking their wounds. Some already lay dead where they had madetheir last stand.
"Too bad, too bad!" muttered Tad Butler, pausing from his strenuouswork, breathing heavily as he gazed about. Lilly, having rounded upthe dogs, was counting the loss. Four hounds were dead. Six otherswere wounded, one or two so badly that he knew they would die. Butif the dogs had suffered, the attacking band had suffered much moreheavily. A count showed twenty-five dead wolves, the biggest killing,save one, known in the canebrake. And of these twenty-five, TadButler and Stacy Brown had killed more than half, as nearly as couldbe estimated.
Stacy, his clothes torn and his shins bleeding, had thrust both handsinto his pockets, and was strolling unconcernedly about, with chinwell elevated, as if nothing out of the ordinary had taken place.
Lilly galloped up to Tad and leaning over extended his hand.
"Good boy!" he said.
"Thank you," answered Tad with a grin.
"Good boy, Master Stacy!"
"Oh, that's all right. It was a mere trifle, not worth speakingabout," replied the fat boy airily.
"If it weren't for the poor dogs, I'd laugh, young man. Master Tad,tell me about it," said Lilly.
"The wolves set upon the dogs."
"Did you see them?"
"No, sir, we heard them and hurried over here to see what was goingon."
Lilly nodded to the others who had ridden up to listen.
"We tried to help them, but I guess some of the dogs were alreadypast help even then."
"And saved the greater part of the pack," added the guide.
"But, is it possible that wolves will attack dogs, Mr. Lilly?" askedTad.
"You have had the evidence of your own eyes. They do it frequentlydown here. It is a wonder they didn't finish you into the bargain.What puzzles me is why so many of them gathered on this trail."
"Does that mean anything special?" asked Rector.
"I don't know. It strikes me as queer."
Stacy stalked up pompously.
"Ah, Mr. Lilly, are there any other varieties of wild beasts downhere that we haven't met up with? If so I should like an opportunityto meet them face to face. I don't want to miss anything, you know."
"It strikes me forcibly that you haven't missed much," answered theguide, grinning.
"Hadn't we better look after the dogs? We can talk afterwards,"suggested Butler.
"Yes, yes," agreed the guide.
They hurried to the suffering hounds. Some had to be shot, but themost needed rest and their own treatment more than anything else, soit was decided not to try to move them until along towards night. Afire was built, and Lilly cut up one of the dead wolves, giving eachdog a liberal portion as his reward. He had some coffee which heboiled. The coffee put new life into the two tired boys, whostretched out on the ground for a rest while the others talked overtheir courage and grit.
Tad lay with arms under his head, reflecting over the guide'speculiar remark about the pack of wolves. He wondered, too, why solarge a pack had met and attacked the hounds. During the time of hisrest Lilly had gone out on the trail of the escaped horses, and foundthem a short distance from the camp. While the guide was absent, Tadgot up and walked out of camp.
"Where are you going?" called the Professor.
"For a little walk," answered Butler.
The boy was absent for nearly an hour. He returned with face wearinga puzzled expression, but he said nothing to his companions about thereason for it. Lilly questioned Tad further about the attack of thewolves.
"They must have been coming towards the hounds, judging from thetrail that I found beyond the camp," said Tad.
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"They were probably following the bear tracks," suggested Lilly.
"Perhaps," answered Butler reflectively.
"Have you boys fixed up your wounds?" asked the guide.
"Yes, the Professor dressed them. We were merely scratched a little.It doesn't amount to anything. But goodness! I never thought wolvescould be so ugly nor so plucky," wondered Tad.
"They would not be in smaller numbers. You know the old saying, 'inunity there is strength,'" smiled Lilly.
"I know it now," answered Tad. "I have had an object lesson. And sohave you all. You know, too, that Stacy Brown is not a tenderfoot.I'd like to see anyone show more grit than did he while we werefighting the wolves. It was an experience that would have frightenedmost anyone."
"Neither of you acted as if you were very badly scared," chuckledLilly.
"We didn't have time to be," laughed Tad.
"Fully as exciting as fighting wild boar in the Black Forest ofGermany," agreed the Professor.
"The wild pigs of the canebrake are as near as I have ever come tohunting boars," said Lilly.
"Are they ugly?" asked Walter.
"Well, I reckon they are kind of fresh now and again," answered theguide.
"The pigs are too small fry for me," declared Stacy pompously. "Iwant big game or no game at all."
"Chunky is afraid only of the barred owls," chuckled Tad.
"Owls and 'gators," Stacy corrected. "How about those bears? Theyseem to have given you fellows the slip?"
"Foxy bears," agreed the guide. "But never you mind. We will getthem yet. That old she-hear we have been after must be a big one,and she is an ugly one, too. There will be a lively time when thehounds bay her out. I hope we are all in at the death."
"So do I," nodded Stacy. "I shouldn't mind a hand-to-hand conflictwith an ugly old she-bear. I'd show her what sort of a bear-killer Iam, I would."
"I reckon it's time we were going," announced Lilly. "We have a longhike."
The boys were willing, so the party packed up, and, after herding thedogs, started on their return journey to camp, whence they were tostart on the second morning after that for the most exciting bearhunt in their experience.
They reached their permanent camp shortly after dark. Ichabod had awarm supper ready for them, and after having eaten, all gatheredabout the campfire to discuss the incidents of the eventful day.