CHAPTER XVI
GARRY SAVES A LIFE
They rushed back to the cabin and a sight met their eyes that stunnedthem all.
The youngster with childish curiosity, had climbed up on the table andcaptured the bottle of iodine. It was immediately evident that the childhad drunk some of the poison, for its lips were stained. There was notelling how much the child had drunk, for the bottle had fallen to thefloor, spilling some of the liquid over the floor.
The old man seized his child in his arms, and tears began to roll downhis cheeks.
"Oh, she's going to die, she's going to die," he moaned.
Garry's brain spun with thought.
"Quick," he shouted to the old man. "There's one thing that will saveher. What did you do with that foodstuff you took out of the packthere?"
The sharpness of his tone startled the old man into activity. The wordsof Garry that there was one way to save her galvanized him into action.
"It's up there on the shelf back of you. Can ye save my baby? Hurry!Save her an' there's nothin' on this earth I won't do for ye!"
Garry had fortunately remembered that he had in his knapsack a packageof cornstarch that they had brought to make thickening for gravy in casethey did any cooking. Garry, and for that matter both of his chums, werepastmasters in the art of first aid to the injured. They knew that theantidote for iodine was cornstarch.
Rushing to the shelf, Garry snatched the package and tore open the top.His eyes fell on a can of mustard and he seized that.
On the ground outside the door Garry had noted a campfire with an oldtin pail swung across it on a branch held up by forked sticks. Workingwith the speed of an express train, he dashed through the door andgrabbed the pail of hot water.
Back in the cabin, he took a tin cup from the table, and hastily meltingsome of the mustard, made an emetic. This he gently forced thefrightened child to swallow. Soon the emetic had the desired effect, andby this time Garry had moistened the cornstarch to the consistency ofcream.
While the frightened squatter looked on helplessly, Garry fed thecornstarch to the baby, who seemed instinctively to trust the boy, andmade little fuss over taking the pasty drink.
Throughout the morning Garry, with almost the skill of a trained nurse,watched the child's breathing and kept count of her pulse. As nothingdeveloped to show that the child was in any danger, Garry privatelyformed the opinion that the iodine had not gotten much further than theinside of her mouth, and that the burn of the poison had prevented herfrom drinking any great quantity of it. Then, too, the stain on thefloor, where the liquid had sunk into the rough boards, was large enoughto denote that most of the contents of the small bottle were on thefloor and had not been swallowed by the child.
As the youngster brightened up, the relief of the father was almostpitiful to see. He grasped the hand of Garry and in broken, haltingwords thanked him for saving the life of the baby. At the door was athrong of curious squatters, and when they saw that the King baby wasgoing to live, gradually broke away and returned to their duties. Allthis time Phil had stood by ready to lend a hand, in case Garry neededassistance.
"Boys," said the old man, "I've never broken my word before, but this isone time that I'm going to. It will mean that we'll be driven off here,but that can't be helped. You can go away whenever you want to. Mypromise to that Frenchman ain't nothin' to me since you've saved mybaby."
This was what Garry had hoped would happen. He did not want to trade thebaby's safety for freedom, but there was still Dick to consider. Hemight be and probably was in grave danger at that moment, and itbehooved the boys to return as speedily as possible to the lumber campto set in motion the machinery to effect Dick's release, for they haddecided that Dick was probably a prisoner at the camp. Of course theydid not know of the hidden room under the storehouse, where, at thatmoment, their friend was still languishing.
"I'll make you a promise now," said Garry. "It happens that my fatherowns this tract of land, and I'll give you my word that you will not beforced to move from here for the rest of the summer. Of course thelogging will soon extend in this direction and you will be forced off,but until that happens you can stay here unmolested. Now we're goingback to start a young war at the camp, and release a chum of ours who isheld prisoner there."
"You better stay here for awhile, for part of the word of the Frenchmanwas that another boy would be brought here to be kept. Now if you boysstay here and pretend to be prisoners when LeBlanc comes with yourfriend, you can wait till he goes and then all be freed together. Incase there's any trouble comes, I guess my men and I can take care ofit."
"That's fine," said Garry. "I don't think there's anything better thatcan be done. When did you expect LeBlanc to come with the other boy?"
"The Frenchman was aiming to get back here by tomorrow night," repliedKing. "He'd have to start in the night time, which will probably betonight, and get here some time tomorrow afternoon."
"How will LeBlanc be able to find his way in the dark?" asked Garry.
"I left one of my men behind to meet him and guide him," answered theold man. Then a thought struck him, and he asked:
"What are you all such powerful enemies for?"
Garry then told him some of the adventures that they had encountered,and the part that the halfbreed had played in them. When he came to thetale of how LeBlanc had kidnapped little Patty Graham, the old man'seyes flashed fire.
"He's a treacherous weazel, that halfbreed. I don't mind some of theother things he did, but any man that will steal a person's baby oughtto be cut into pieces. I'll tell you that. When he comes here with yourfriend, we'll just tie him up and keep him here and you can do what youwant to with him."
This seemed like a stroke of real luck for the boys. It would meanLeBlanc would be safely held until time for them to have him taken toprison to pay the much deserved penalty for his crimes, and at the sametime would rid them of a dangerous enemy, as well as lessening by onethe allies of the rascally Barrows.
The rest of the day passed quickly, and they told the squatter king manyof the things of the outside world. He had heard little or nothing ofthe great cities, and had never seen a moving picture nor ridden in arailroad train. But he knew the woods as few men do, except perhaps theHermit, although there was no comparison between this giant of thewoods, who could neither read nor write, and the old recluse, who waseternally surprising the boys with a quotation from some poet, or asnatch of Latin.
"Now, Phil," said Garry, when they were left alone for awhile by thesquatter, "let's plan a war campaign. As soon as Dick gets here, we willlet him have a good rest, and then hike for the camp. We'll make it toget to the small lake without anyone seeing us, and there we'll get thecanoe and portage it through the woods to the other lake. There we canhide out and get the dope on the timber thieves. Once we have done that,we have only to draw in the strings, and we'll have the whole job done."
Phil assented to this as the wisest course to follow, and night comingon, they turned in. The squatter had insisted on giving up his own cabinto them, which although poor and bare, was the best one on the clearing.
They whiled away the next day waiting the arrival of Dick, and hopingthat no change would be made in the plans of Barrows to prevent Dick'sbeing sent to Misery Camp.
It was late afternoon when a man whom the squatter king had sent intothe woods to act as lookout came running back.
"He's got a young fellow with him," he told the squatter leader.
"Is it the Frenchman?" demanded the old man.
"Yes, it's a Frenchman, but," and here the boys met with adisappointment. "It's not the one that came the other time, but a fellowthat looks like him."
"Tough luck; that's Baptiste, not Jean. Look King, I've changed my mindabout having him captured. Let him go back and let the camp think thatwe are held prisoners safely here. That will allow us to work withgreater freedom. Now we'll duck under cover and you meet the halfbreedand bring Dick here."
"Just as you
say," said the old man. "All you have to do around herefrom now on is to say the word, and everyone in Misery will do just asyou order. I will, and I'll see to it that the others toe the line."
"Funny he don't come," muttered Garry.
"Oh, he won't be here for a time yet," said the chap who had brought thewarning. "I was in a tree top, and could see way down to a clearing, andsaw them there taking a rest. Ain't nobody on the clearin' here that canrun as fast as I can, and I came quicker than ever to tell you aboutit."
"Had we better let Baptiste see us so that he will know we are stillhere, Garry?" asked Phil.
"That's a good suggestion. Suppose you station a guard with a rifleoutside the door, King, and let Baptiste have a peek at us when he getshere," directed Garry turning to the squatter.
"That's what I'll do. Here you, Job," turning to the youth who hadbrought news of the coming of Baptiste and Dick. "You take your standoutside there like as if you were guardin't the door. Now I'll get outo' here and meet them."
The squatter king hastened out, while Job stood before the shack doorwith his rifle clutched in his hands. Garry and Phil, with someexcitement, waited the coming of Dick.
In a few moments they heard someone approaching, and King threw open thedoor. "Here's your friend," he whispered, and thrust someone in.Bewilderment spread over the faces of the boys.
It was not Dick who entered the cabin, but Art Howells!